RADIO DOCUMENTARY

IN BRIEF

"Trinksaifen was home for us"

is a 36 minutes long radio documentary by Eva Blechová, produced and broadcast on Czech Radio Vltava in March 2013. The documentary is in Czech (and some German). It tells the story of three old ladies from Trinksaifen. Born in the 1920’s, they lived all their lives in the same village and witnessed the events of World War II and the post-war expulsion of the German population from Czechoslovakia. 

This web page was created to provide further information  – the audio version (in Czech) is  here,  you will find here the Czech/English transcript here, and  background information here. If you have any ideas for additions to this site, please contact us

"Trinksaifen was home for us" in Leipzig for Gerauschkulisse

21st of March 2019

The dynamic Gerauschkulisse has invited us to present the documentary in a public event which will take place in Leipzig at the time of the Leipzig Book Fair. All details here. The event was very well organized, we had an audience of more than 30 people of all generations. The discussion afterwards was insightful – both on radio making and on the Czech-German history and current affairs. Migration and home are timeless topics.  

Washington D.C. - "Trinksaifen was home for us" as part of the "Hear Now" listening series on June 11th, 2014

Bill Gilcher has chosen „Trinksaifen is Home For Us“ documentary as part of the listening evening „The Best of Prix Europa 2013“ at the Goethe Institute in Washington D.C. on 11th of June at 8.30 p.m., together with „A Message in a Bottle“, an Irish documentary. We are honored and pleased! 

Eva connected on Skype with the audience and despite the strange hour (2 a.m.) was happy to answer some excellent questions from an enthusiastic audience. The audience was interested to know more historical details about the region, more about the life of our protagonists as well as about how the documentary was made. Thanks again for the discussion! 

We asked Bill about the reasons to select those programs: „I selected two of my favorite programs from Prix Europa 2013 to present for the “Hear Now” series at the Goethe-Institut Washington. (I always present some of my favorite programs from the previous year’s competition.) I am especially sensitive to radio that conveys a strong sense of location – that’s the main reason I chose these two wonderful pieces. Both “Trinksaifen“ and “Message in a Bottle” put emphasis on radio’s wonderful ability to capture a sense of place. In the case of “Trinksaifen,” we are treated to some wonderful voices that bring the complex and emotionally laden history of this town to life. It was a delight to the ear.“ A delight to hear that :-)!