Prague, Oct 25 (CTK) – The Embassy of Canada in Prague received no information that Holocaust survivor Jiri Brady, an 88-year-old Canadian citizen of Czech origin, would be granted any Czech state decoration, the embassy’s officer Michael Vlcek told CTK yesterday.
An alleged deletion of Brady from the list of personalities to to be awarded on October 28 by President Milos Zeman has aroused a dispute. A few days ago, Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) accused Zeman of having said he would bestow the Order of T.G. Masaryk on Brady, who is Herman’s relative, if Herman refrained from meeting the Tibetan Dalai Lama during his visit to Prague. After Herman met the Dalai Lama on October 18, Zeman decided to not decorate Brady. The Presidential Office has denied the accusation.
Presidential Office protocol head Jindrich Forejt told journalists that the embassies of foreign countries always receive information on state decorations granted to their citizens in advance.
Vlcek said the Canadian Embassy received no official information related to Czech state decorations.
Forejt told DVTV news video channel that the embassy of the country whose citizen is selected for a Czech state decoration is always notified in advance because some foreign countries require that the head of state approve the decorating.
Brady, who survived the Terezin (Theresienstadt) internment camp for Jews, north Bohemia, and the Auschwitz Nazi extermination camp, left for Canada in 1949. He has written and lectured on the Holocaust and helped immigrants. The Chamber of Deputies nominated him for the state decoration.
