- 51/1 Dykova Street, Praha 10 Vinohrady; a mast - U vodárny Street
Hus Congregational House
We Are Calling the Czech Police, Czech Gendarmerie, Czech Army…
… every good Czech to help Czech Radio! The SS want to murder us!’ This urgent message was heard over the radio waves from the Vinohrady studio on 5 May 1945.
On the first day of the uprising, a radio technician visited the Hus Congregational House, from which organ concerts were broadcast during the war, to see whether a provisional studio could potentially be established there. Arnošt Šimšík, then Hussite parish priest, agreed with the idea. After one of the aerial bombs struck the Vinohrady radio building on 6 May, the radio began broadcasting from there between 7 and 9 May 1945. The legendary reporter Mančal and his two colleagues made the announcements from the building’s basement, using available technology and equipment that was partly transported from the damaged studio in Vinohrady.
Back then, radio played an irreplaceable role, distributing appeals for the uprising, ensuring communication with the insurgents, and informing the public about the advancing allied armies. Thanks to radio broadcasting, the uprising spread faster and grew significantly more intense. (Czech radio)
Hus Congregational House of the Czechoslovak Church in Dykova Street in Vinohrady. Museum of Prague, unknown photographer, around 1939.
In the provisional broadcast room located in the basement of the Hus Congregational House in Vinohrady, with Zdeněk Mančal among those present. Museum of Prague, photo by J. Huka, 7–8 May 1945.
In the provisional broadcast room located in the basement of the Hus Congregational House in Vinohrady, with Zdeněk Mančal among those present. Museum of Prague, photo by J. Huka, 7–8 May 1945.
