Today, 23 May, a new reality TV-serie called Dovolená v Protektorátu will premiere on Czech TV in the Czech Republic. A family had to survive a two-month ordeal of German occupation including being guarded by Gestapo guards, rationing of food and stress of life.
After reality shows like Big Brother, Survivor or Keeping Up With the Kardashians it probably will not come as a surprise that the next logical step would be to survive German occupation and to experience it just like World War Two when Czechoslovakia was under the rule of Nazism. Creator Zora Cejnková of the show Dovolená v Protektorátu, which means Holiday in the Protectorate, went all in on her new TV project.
Set in 1939, a real-life contemporary family has been placed in a re-creation of the conditions in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, shortly after Hitler’s annexation of the since-divided Central European country. According to Expats, the family was subjected to the stress of life under Nazism rule, with rationing of food and basic necessities, while costumed actors play German soldiers and Gestapo guards.
Filmed in the summer of 2014, the family was selected through a rigorous audition process to live on a rural farm-turned WWII-era homestead, and if they’re able to survive the two-month ordeal, will be awarded an undisclosed cash prize. According to Expats, the family was subjected to the stress of life under Nazism rule, with rationing of food and basic necessities, while costumed actors play German soldiers and Gestapo guards.
Not everyone in the Czech Republic is happy about the new series as TV owners must pay mandatory license fees to fund government operated Television and various people shared their mind: one described the show’s premise as a “perversion,” and said Dovolená v Protektorátu is “an insult to those who really suffered through it.” or another “What’s next? Big Brother Auschwitz?”
Zora Cejnková defended herself “The entire production team is aware of the controversy about returning to such a precarious period… However, we think that while maintaining specific ethical rules and historical accuracy, this is an appropriate way of presenting the period.”
