Velvet Revolution

Celebrating brave Czechoslovak Airmen and the Official Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen

The 'Winged Lion' monument © Ricky Yates — The ‘Winged Lion’ monument © Ricky Yates

As I mentioned at the beginning of my previous post, I had a most interesting week in advance of my laptop computer lock-out problems. The highlight was attending two interrelated events on the afternoon and early evening of Tuesday 17^th June.

The first event was the official unveiling of this monument, entitled ‘The Winged Lion’, by Sir Nicholas Soames MP, grandson of Sir Winston Churchill. It commemorates the nearly two and a half thousand Czechs and Slovaks who escaped from Czechoslovakia after the country was occupied by the Nazis in 1939, and served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

As this BBC news article explains, the idea for the memorial came from members of the British expat community currently living and working in the Czech Republic. They in turn, successfully raised the £100,000 that the monument has cost. However, contrary to what the news report says, it wasn’t just British expats who contributed towards the cost, but also other English-speaking expats and some Czech business people too.

Unfortunately, after the communist coup of February 1948, as is briefly referred to the BBC news report, the Czechoslovak airman who returned to their native country following the defeat of Hitler, were extremely badly treated by the communist authorities, who deemed them to have fought for ‘the wrong side’. Some were imprisoned whilst others were made to undertake demeaning manual labouring jobs. Seen as heroes in the West, they were regarded as a security threat by the communists.

One part of this story which is not recounted in the BBC report is that, just as many young British women met and married American servicemen who were ‘overpaid, oversexed and over here’, and became ‘GI brides’, so also, quite a number of young British women married these Czechoslovak airmen. They came to live with their husbands in Czechoslovakia in 1945-6 and then were treated just as badly by the communist authorities because of the men they were married to. If their husbands were imprisoned, then they were left to fend for themselves, often in small rural towns and villages and with little fluency in Czech or Slovak.

I first heard the story of these remarkable women from Linda Duffield, who was the British Ambassador when I first came here in September 2008. She told me that each year just before Christmas, she held a tea party at the embassy for these Czechoslovak airmen’s wives and widows, but that each year, there were inevitably fewer and fewer of them attending.

Crowds attending the unveiling ceremony © Ricky Yates

Since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the brave Czechoslovak airmen who served in the RAF, have had their, rank, medals, pensions etc restored to them and they are now rightly regarded as national heroes. But as the BBC article states, only nine survivors were able to be present at the unveiling of this monument that celebrates what they and their colleagues did in the service of freedom.

My official invitation - minus the 'Rev'd' :-( — My official invitation – minus the ‘Rev’d’

Following the unveiling ceremony, I went on to attend a Garden Party at the British Embassy, celebrating the official birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, a regular annual event about which I’ve previously written on this blog. This year, having been greeted by the current British Ambassador Jan Thompson, the guests were invited to walk down to the terrace where we then had a splendid view of the flypast by a WW2 Spitfire which is referred to in the BBC report.

After the flypast and the playing of ‘Where is my home?’ and ‘God save the Queen’, there was speech of welcome in both Czech and English by the ambassador, followed by a speech in English, by President Zeman, in which he praised Sir Winston Churchill and at the end, proposed a toast to Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of her 88^th birthday. In case any reader is wondering about the Czech National Anthem, the Czechs do know where their home is – the title is a rhetorical question.

After the formal part of the evening, we then all returned to the embassy garden for drinks and refreshments which were, as in previous years, an interesting eclectic mix of things British and Czech. As usual, I both reconnected with people who I already know, be they embassy staff, fellow Brits or Czech business people. I also got to meet in person for the first time, Marie Knezová, who I previously only knew online. She asked me to pose with her for this delightful photograph, taken for us by her sister Jana who is the Vice Consul at the Embassy.

With Marie Knezová at the Queen's Birthday Garden Party © Marie Knezová — With Marie Knezová at the Queen’s Birthday Garden Party © Marie Knezová

In her description of this photograph on Facebook, Marie describes me as her ‘favourite pastor and blogger – charismatic Ricky Yates’. Now that’s a reputation to live up to 🙂

The Soviet invasion of 1968 and its aftermath

Memorial to the victims of the Soviet invasion of August 1968 © Ricky Yates

This past week saw the forty-fifth anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Red Army, which brought to an abrupt end, the short period of liberalisation known as the ‘Prague Spring’. On the night of 20th – 21st August 1968, around 200,000 Soviet troops poured over the borders from surrounding Warsaw Pact countries, supported by airborne troops, equipped with artillery and light tanks, who were flown in via Prague Airport. Along with the Soviet forces, there were also contingents of troops from Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and East Germany.

Whilst Alexander Dubcek, the Czechoslovak leader who had sought to introduce, ‘socialism with a human face’, called on his people not to resist, many ignored his advice and over one hundred citizens were killed and many more injured. This memorial commemorates those who died in the city of Liberec in northern Bohemia. Many more employed passive resistance, such as painting out or completely removing road signs, so the invading troops would not know where they were. The only signs left standing, were those pointing the way back to Moscow!

The forty-fifth anniversary of the Soviet invasion has been marked this past week by a number of official events across the country. This report, from Czech Radio’s English service, tells of a commemoration held outside their own Headquarters, where several people died trying to defend those inside the building, who were broadcasting details of the invasion and calling for help from the West.

On social media such as Facebook, many Czechs have been posting black and white photographs, taken on the day of the invasion or shortly afterwards. It is interesting to note that some of those posting were not even alive at the time of the invasion!

Forty-five years on, it is also interesting to reflect upon the various consequences of the brutal implementation of what became known as the ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’ – no challenge to Soviet hegemony over all of the communist satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe.

One immediate consequence was the departure of around 300,000 people from Czechoslovakia, predominantly skilled and educated individuals that the country could ill afford to lose. In my time of living in the Czech Republic, it has been fascinating to meet several of them and hear their stories – some who have chosen to return post 1989, and others just visiting from the countries where they have now settled.

Both before and after the Soviet invasion in 1968, the one foreign language that Czech people were taught and required to learn, was Russian. Since 1989, Russian has very much become the language you don’t use within the Czech Republic. Most Czechs aged over thirty-five, who once were were able to speak Russian, seem to have since done their utmost to forget what they were taught 🙂

For as I have discovered, the people Czechs most dislike, are Russians. This is partly historical – the Russian Federation is seen as little different to the former Soviet Union who invaded in 1968 and exercised de-facto control here, until 1989. There is a strong feeling that Russia still wants to have a strong influence, but is now seeking to do so via economic means such as the supply and price of natural gas.

The other reason for a dislike of Russians is that those Russians who do live here, are seen as arrogant, wealthy, and in control of some of the less attractive aspects of life – twenty-four hour Herna (gambling) bars, prostitution, and associated people trafficking. As always, stereotypes don’t apply to everyone. There are Russians living in Prague, doing perfectly legal business and wanting only to steer well clear of Putin. But nearly all Russians living in the Czech Republic tend to get tarred with the same brush, at least part of which is the legacy of the events of forty-five years ago.

Liberec

The city of Liberec is situated 110 km north-east of Prague, quite close to the border of the Czech Republic with both Germany and Poland. Known in German as Reichenberg, it lies within the former Sudetenland and had a majority German-speaking population until the vast majority were expelled in 1945-6, at the end of the Second World War.

We paid our first visit to Liberec on my day-off four weeks ago, Monday 8th October. The chief reason for our trip was to visit Liberec Zoo, which is home to a pair of rare White Bengal Tigers, who earlier this year, successfully produced three tiger cubs.

Liberec Zoo is located in a leafy suburb east of the city centre. It has the distinction of being the oldest zoo in the Czech Republic, having been founded in 1919, well before Prague Zoo which was founded in 1931. On the day we visited, there were remarkably few other visitors, and nearly all of them seemed to be German 🙂 It was also noticeable that once any member of the local population realised we were not Czech, we got spoken back to in German!

Whilst we did get to see the white tiger cubs, it was near impossible to get a decent photograph of them. But Sybille did get this photograph below of their mother.

Liberec 2 — White Bengal Tiger © Sybille Yates

Liberec 3 — Sign in four languages © Ricky Yates

Just outside the building housing the White Tigers and their cubs was this sign. Friends on Facebook will have seen my photograph already as I posted it there the same day as I took it. As I entitled it then;

“In Deutschland wird englisch gesprochen, aber in Großbritannien sprechen wir deutsch – In Germany we speak English, but in Great Britain we speak German.”

And yes – both the English and German texts are in need of considerable improvement. The English text seems to imply that the White Tigers are being bred in the collection box 🙂 It reminds me of a line from a letter written by a lady to her employer explaining her absence from work – “This is to advise you that I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope” 😉

Liberec 1 — Meerkats in Liberec Zoo © Ricky Yates

There were many other interesting animals and birds to see elsewhere in the zoo including these delightful meerkats.

Later in the afternoon, we drove from the zoo to the centre of the city, parked the car, and set out to explore on foot. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Liberec was a very prosperous city, home to a thriving textile industry resulting in it being known as the ‘Manchester of Bohemia’. Some of the city’s most significant buildings date from that time including the Town Hall featured in the photograph at the beginning of this post and the F.X. Šalda Theatre pictured below.

Liberec 9 — F.X. Šalda Theatre, Liberec © Ricky Yates

Both the Town Hall and the Theatre are situated on the main city square, Námestí Dr. E. Beneše. Here are some more attractive buildings on another side of the same square.

Liberec 6 — Attractive buildings on one side of Námestí Dr. E. Beneše, Liberec © Ricky Yates

Liberec 7 — *Valdštýnské domky* (Czech) or *Waldsteinhäuser* (German) dating from 1678-81 © Ricky Yates

However, the origins of Liberec can be traced back to at least the fourteenth century. These half-timbered houses are some of the earliest remaining buildings still standing within the city and date from 1678-81. They are known as Valdštýnské domky (Czech) or Waldsteinhäuser (German).

Liberec 4 — Memorial to the victims of the Soviet invasion of August 1968 © Ricky Yates

Adjacent to the Town Hall is this reminder of more recent history. It is a memorial to those Liberec citizens who died trying to resist the Soviet invasion of August 1968. Most were killed being run over by tanks, hence this memorial, presumably erected since the Velvet Revolution of December 1989, is in the form of caterpillar tracks that are found on tanks. The reversed imprint of the victims names on the lower half of the memorial, bears an uncanny resemblance to writing using the Cyrillic alphabet, the alphabet with which Russian is written.

An even more recent edition to the landscape of Námestí Dr. E. Beneše are these three cats. I had to wait sometime to get this photograph because so many children were busy either jumping on or sitting on them!

Liberec 8 — Three cats in Liberec © Ricky Yates

Liberation Day – 8th May 2012

Marshall Konev 1 — Statue of Soviet Marshall Ivan Konev with floral tributes © Ricky Yates

Marshall Konev 2 — Inscription alongside the statue © Ricky Yates

Today is a public holiday here in the Czech Republic, as it is in several other European countries. The public holiday marks the ending of World War Two, sixty-seven years ago, on 8^th May 1945.

I took the photograph on the left today. It is of a statue that stands in Námestí Interbrigády, a large square on one side of Jugoslávských partyzánu, the main thoroughfare leading from our nearest Metro station at Dejvická, to Podbaba where we live. And the person it portrays is Marshall Ivan Stepanovich Konev of the Soviet Red Army, who led the troops that liberated Prague from Nazi occupation, finally entering the city early on 9^th May 1945, just a few hours after the unconditional surrender of all Nazi troops across Europe, had come into force.

As I wrote in an earlier post on this same topic two years ago, this statue is a rare sight today, anywhere in the Czech Republic or Slovakia, as it features a leading figure of the Soviet Army which, during nearly forty-two years of communism, was regarded as an army of occupation by the people of Czechoslovakia. Nearly all public monuments featuring or seeking to celebrate, ‘Soviet friendship and brotherhood’ have, since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, been quietly removed. But, because it commemorates an event that took place before the communist coup in 1948, it remains standing.

As you can see, a large number of floral tributes have been placed at the foot of the statue in recent days. Some are official, such as the ones from the Czech Military and from the Defence Office of the Czech President. Others are simple bunches of flowers, left by private individuals. Although there is a considerable dislike of Russia and Russians amongst the Czech people today, (see some of the comments on my previous post), there is a recognition that it was the Soviet Army that was responsible for liberating Prague and two thirds of what is now the Czech Republic, early in May 1945.

Marshall Konev 4 — Floral tribute with Cyrillic writing © Ricky Yates

However, I was intrigued by one large floral tribute pictured here, whose ribbons have an inscription written in a language using the Cyrillic alphabet, presumably Russian. If anyone can tell me what it says or which organisation might be responsible for it, I would love to know.

Marshall Konev 3 — Inscription behind the statue which refers to the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic © Ricky Yates

And I was also intrigued by this inscription on the low wall behind the statue, which refers to the country as the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the name used only during the years of communist rule. Whereas elsewhere in the Czech Republic, specific communist logos and references have been removed from war memorials such as in Tábor, here communist nomenclature remains.

Whilst the liberation of the country from Nazi occupation is still marked each year here in the Czech Republic, what has changed since the Velvet Revolution, is the attitude of Czech people towards Germany and the German people. Most Czechs are now freely able to distinguish between Nazi Fascist ideology as exemplified by Hitler’s Third Reich, and present-day democratic Germany, still very much aware of it’s relatively recent past history.

Therefore these days, Germany is the Czech Republic’s biggest trading partner. Germans also travel here in considerable numbers to enjoy the delights of what this country has to offer and in doing so, make a major contribution to the Czech Republic’s tourist income.

On the other hand, although the part played by Russia and the Soviet Red Army to liberate the country from Nazi occupation is still acknowledged each year, those who liberated, in turn became an army of occupation. And although all Russian troops had left Czech soil by June 1991, there remains a strong feeling that Russia still wants to control its former republics and satellite states using its economic power, particularly with regard to the supply and distribution of natural gas.

Slavonice

Less than 30 km south of Telc lies the little town of Slavonice. On the morning of Thursday 7^th October, we drove from Telc to Slavonice, stopping off to briefly explore the intervening town of Decice en-route.

Slavonice has some of the best examples of buildings with sgraffito decoration in the whole of the Czech Republic. The reason that so many of these architectural gems have survived is because of the town’s somewhat unfortunate history. A prosperous town in the latter part of the sixteenth century from which period, many of the town’s historic buildings date, it lost much of its prosperity during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and suffered a further economic downturn when the main road between Prague and Vienna was re-routed in the eighteenth century.

In the twentieth century, two further events had a dramatic effect on Slavonice. At the end of the Second World War in 1945, most of the minority German-speaking population of Czechoslovakia, the Sudeten Deutsche, were expelled. This included the majority of the population of Slavonice. Less than three years later, following the coup that brought the Communist Party to power in February 1948, because the town lies less than 2 km from the Austrian border, it was made part of a restricted zone which was off limits for most of the Czechoslovak population, for fear that they might try to escape from their Communist ‘paradise’.

It is ironic that, a combination of economic degradation followed by a period of social isolation, has maintained so much of Slavonice’s architectural heritage. Fortunately, since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, a considerable effort has been made to both restore and preserve it.

One of the many restored buildings with sgraffito decoration is now the Bar-Restaurant Besídka. We ate lunch here soon after our arrival and enjoyed the English version of the menu which has several humorous items on it and a total absence of Czenglish. Clearly it had been translated by someone who had a very good understanding of the English language rather than using ‘Google translate’. The food was very good too! The interior walls are used to display a fascinating collection of pictures and other artwork and it is worth stepping inside Besídka just to see these.

Slavonice 3 — Sgraffito decorated buildings in Slavonice. Ubytování Eva Giordanová is the building on the far right of the picture © Ricky Yates

A few doors along from Besídka, we saw a sign on the large wooden doors of Ubytování Eva Giordanová declaring Zimmer frei. So we went in, climbed the stairs to the first floor office and enquired about their rooms. We were shown a very attractive room with simple kitchen facilities adjacent, all for a very reasonable price. I was also able to move the car from the main square and park it securely in the yard at the rear of the building.

Not only does Ubytování Eva Giordanová have accommodation, it also houses a museum of old agricultural and household machines and implements. And on the first floor, adjacent to our room, is a former Lutheran prayer room, with the walls decorated with sixteenth century frescoes, illustrating scenes from the Book of Revelation. They date from the time when there was a strong Protestant community in Slavonice before the re-imposition of Roman Catholicism at the end of the Thirty Years War. I was not allowed to take any photos of the frescoes but there are pictures of them on their website, together with some very interesting Czenglish descriptions!

Slavonice 6 — Gateway into Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Slavonice 7 — Gateway into Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Here are two of the gateways that lead into the historic centre of Slavonice, one of which also features sgraffito decoration.

Slavonice 4 — More sgraffito decorated buildings in Slavonice. The one on the left features scenes from the Old Testament © Ricky Yates

Slavonice 5 — Sgraffito illustration of the story of 'Jacob's ladder' © Ricky Yates

One building that particularly fascinated me was the one on the left in the picture above. It is covered with scenes from stories recorded in the Old Testament, together with the associated biblical reference.

It was still fairly grey and cloudy when we walked around the town in the afternoon which meant the light was not so good for taking detailed pictures of the individual illustrations. However, I was pleased with this one on the left, which illustrates the story of Jacob’s dream at Bethel, recorded in Genesis chapter 28, where he saw a ladder or stairway between earth and heaven with angels ascending and descending.

Slavonice was a place that Sybille & I very much enjoyed. Whilst is has visitors, it is a little more off the tourist track than Telc. Being so close to the Austrian border, German is often spoken and understood – a great help with our relatively limited Czech! However, it doesn’t suffer from the blight that affects so many towns and villages in the Czech Republic that border Austria or Germany – a proliferation of casinos and gambling places together with associated prostitution that I have described previously in this blog. There is just one Herna Bar, (bar with slot machines), and even that wasn’t open all the time.

The surrounding countryside consists of rolling wooded hills with many waymarked walking routes and cycleways. Certainly a place we plan to re-visit at some future date.