HOTEL RADIUM

An idyllic resort town in the Bohemian mountains – this film tells a different tale and shows the other, horrible face of Jachymov (Joachimstal). During the middle ages Joachimstal, with its rich silver mines and affluence, gave its currency its own name (“taler,” or in English “dollar”). Just a few centuries later, however, Joachimsthal was subjected to the atrocities of the Soviet terror in Central Europe. During the 1950’s and 1960’s tens of thousands of political prisoners suffered and died in the uranium mines and the sixteen affiliated concentrations camps in the woods surrounding the picturesque resort town. Thousands of trains loaded with uranium travelled from this town in Bohemia to the farthest reaches of Russia. Thanks to Joachimsthal (Jachymov) and its natural resources the Soviet Union was able to build its first atomic bomb. Today, however, all traces of the Communist gulag have been erased by the trappings of a budding tourist industry – ski lifts, cafes and restaurants, and prostitution.

Communism, Atomic Bomb, Uranium, Concetration Camps, Stalin