Sometimes you have to talk to the devils

A Conversation with Jan Urban

For a man who has been pounded by history, Jan Urban is surprisingly cheerful. His stories are wry, punctuated by laughter and pause-for-effect drama. Born into a family of stalwart communists in post-war Czechoslovakia, Jan grew up as “the perfect commie kid” ready to rescue wage slaves in the imperialist West. But a classroom fistfight, and a surprising confession by his father, a high-ranking party member, began to change all that. A trip to London in the swinging ‘60s – and a chance encounter with Paul McCartney – didn’t hurt either. After listening to the music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and the Beatles, Jan said, “no propaganda could win us over anymore.”

FULL STORY

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Meet Us:
Steve Sachoff & Daisy Sindelar

Steve Sachoff is a journalist and editor with a background in political science and international relations who has lived and worked in Prague and Brussels. He has served as managing editor at a global business news and commodity price reporting agency, as senior editor at an international newswire service, and editor-in-chief of a pan-European publication on the security industry. Steve has also worked at the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Institute of International Relations and with the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need Foundation (Člověk v tísni).

Daisy Sindelar loves a good listen. She got her start as a reporter and editor for The Moscow Times and went on to work at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, where she served as editor in chief, directing award-winning coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mass pro-democracy protests in Belarus, and the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. She also led the Current Time network, providing millions of Russian speakers worldwide with a fact-based news alternative to Kremlin propaganda. She has reported from Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Balkans. She lives in Prague.