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As Europe faces yet another major crisis only 80 years after the end of World War Two and confronts the threat of war while latter-day dictators set the terms of peace in Ukraine, it is timely to revisit the role and aim of the Runciman Mission to Prague from 3 August to 16 September 1938. The context then was Hitler’s geo-political ambition and Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy to gain ‘peace for our time’. On 30 September 1938 the Munich Agreement ceded Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland to Hitler – ‘O nás bez nás’ [‘about us without us’]. Must history repeat itself? On 15 March 1939 it was followed by the total occupation of Bohemia and Moravia.
Dr Ann Shukman, granddaughter of William Runciman, will answer questions received in advance regarding the Mission and her insightful book 44 Days in Prague: The Runciman Mission and the Race to Save Europe published by Hurst & Co. UK in 2024. She will be joined by her daughter, Clare Ramos, and her son David Shukman.
Please send any questions for Dr. Shukman to events@bcsa.co.uk.
Dr Shukman graduated in Modern Languages from Cambridge and gained a doctorate in Russian Literary theory from Oxford. Her lifelong interests have been Russia and the Christian church. In 1994 she was one of the first women ordained in the Church of England.
This event will be held via Zoom only.
It is held jointly with the Friends of Czech Heritage (FCH) www.czechfriends.net
BCSA and FCH members enjoy free registration which is essential see booking link below
Non-members £10, full-time students £5. Eventbrite fees will be added to the cost of your tickets at checkout.
All proceeds from this event will go to the BCSA School Support Fund established in 2004 to provide support for English language skills in Czech and Slovak schools and other educational institutions. For more information about our fund see www.bcsa.co.uk/school-support-fund/
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