World War Two – Page 7

Why I like living in Prague

St. Vitus Cathedral from Petrin — St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague photographed from Petrín Hill on New Year's Day 2011 © Ricky Yates

“Do you like living in Prague?” This is a question I’m frequently asked by Czech people once they discover that I’m not a tourist but that I’ve actually chosen to live and work here. Many Czechs cannot understand why someone from Western Europe might actually want to come and permanently reside in their country.

The same question is also frequently posed by English-speaking visitors who join us for worship at St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church and by family and friends when they write or speak with me. So for my first post of 2011, I’m going to set out some of the reasons why I enjoy living particularly here in Prague and more widely in the Czech Republic. Some of these I’ve mentioned in previous posts so there are an inevitable number of links to things I’ve written previously in this blog.

Jiriho z Podebrad — Metro station at Jirího z Podebrad © Ricky Yates

Public Transport

Prague has the most wonderful public transport system consisting of buses, trams, the Metro and even a number of little ferries. Why is it wonderful? Because it is:

Incredibly cheap – Last week, Sybille and I went to renew our annual season tickets for the Prague public transport system. It cost each of us 4750 Kc – at current exchange rates, just over £160.00 / €193.00 / US$250.00. For this sum we can travel anywhere in Prague, at any time, for a whole year! The Church reimburses me for my season ticket – we just have to pay for Sybille’s.

Escalator on the Prague Metro © Ricky Yates

Integrated – Each part of the system links to the other. At Dejvicka, the current terminal of the A/Green line of the Metro and the nearest Metro station to our flat, you walk out of the station and immediately in front of you is place where buses depart to take you out further into the suburbs or to the airport. The Dopravní podnik hravního mesta Prahy or dpp for short, have a wonderful website that speaks Czech, English and German. Put in the starting point of your journey and your destination, the time you either want to start or arrive and then click. Out comes a journey plan with times, where to transfer from one form of transport to another, etc.

Frequent – If you know where you are going and you are travelling on a weekday between 07.00 and 19.00, there is no real need to visit the dpp website. Once you reach your point of departure you will only need to wait a few minutes at the most. Even on Sunday mornings, there is a tram every twenty minutes which will take us from the Podbaba tram terminus near our flat, all the way to Dlouhá Trída, just around the corner from St. Clement’s Church.

Reliable – there is a timetable and nearly always, it is adhered to. Sometimes buses and trams do get delayed by other vehicular traffic, but usually only at peak periods. And when it snows, everything keeps running – it doesn’t grind to a halt as in Britain.

It isn’t just within the city of Prague. The Czech Republic, along with Slovakia, has the densest rail network of any country in the whole of Europe. One member of my congregation lives in Milovice, about 50 km from the centre of Prague. But in 45 minutes, he can travel by train into the city centre and then have a 10 minute walk to Church. I don’t exactly know what his rail fare is for the return journey but he assures me it is extremely reasonable.

Eating and Drinking

Prague has an abundance of bar-restaurants. And provided you avoid the expensive tourist traps in the city centre, ‘eating out’ can be remarkably inexpensive. As I’ve written previously, some single people tell me that it is often cheaper for them to ‘eat out’ rather than buy food from the supermarket and cook for themselves.

Large Beer — Half a litre of Kozel beer © Ricky Yates

The photo on the left is of U Topolu which, since it’s refurbishment in July 2010, has become our favourite local place to eat and drink. A main course here, even with a side dish, costs no more than 150 Kc / £5.00. The quality is excellent and portions are generous.

The further great attraction at U Topolu is the beer. As well as Pilsner Urquell and Gambrinus, they have Kozel beer, directly from the tank. It is light, fresh and costs 26 Kc for half a litre. In British terms that is under £1.00 a pint! What more do I need to say?

Architecture and Buildings

As I’ve previously written, Prague suffered remarkably little structural damage during the Second World War. And whilst many historical buildings suffered years of neglect during the Communist era, since 1989, great effort has been put into restoration. What is really pleasing is how well restoration work has been done.

Restored Building — Restored building in Vinohrady © Ricky Yates

This photograph is of a building just around the corner from where my dentist has her surgery in the suburb of Vinohrady. It consists of residential flats on four floors with retail outlets on the ground floor level. But as you can see, all the intricate detail above the windows on each level has been lovingly restored, together with the ironwork that forms the railings to each balcony. Likewise, the render on the outside of the building has been repaired before being attractively painted.

These buildings are typical of those which form much of the inner suburbs of Prague. Yes – there are still ones like these that are crumbling. But increasingly they are a minority. And rather than wholesale demolition, buildings like these are being preserved and their interiors sympathetically modernised.

I could write and illustrate several blog posts about the architecture of Prague which I promise I will do during the coming months. But for the time being, just let me say that walking the streets of the centre of Prague, together with the inner city suburbs, is always a delight to the eyes.

Not too big but not too small

Prague only has a population of about 1.3 million people. Therefore, as cities go, it is relatively small meaning that the nearby countryside can be easily reached. Yet because it is the capital of the Czech Republic, (10.3 million population), it has all the assets and facilities of a capital city.

There are many more things that I could list as to why I like living here in Prague, but this post is probably long enough already. And yes – there are also a small number of things that I don’t like. But they are minor irritants compared to the joy of living in this delightful city.

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.

Slavonice 2 — Sgraffito decorated house in Slavonice © Ricky Yates

Slavonice 8 — Sgraffito decorated house in Slavonice © Ricky Yates

A rare sight in Prague

Statue of Marshall Konev in Námestí Interbrigády, Prague 6 © Ricky Yates

The statue pictured on the left here, is an extremely rare sight in the present-day Czech Republic. It 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. The reason that it is such a rare sight is because it portrays a Marshall of the Soviet Red Army, Ivan Stepanovich Konev.

As you can probably imagine, following the Velvet Revolution at the end of 1989, steps were rapidly taken to rid Czechoslovakia, (since 1^st January 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), of anything that celebrated the preceding nearly 42 years of Soviet imposed communist rule. Anything that was part of the so called ‘normalisation’ that followed the crushing of the Prague Spring of 1968 by the Soviet Red Army was particularly detested.

Therefore, not many weeks after the Velvet Revolution, 14 Metro stations which bore names to supposedly celebrate Soviet-Czech friendship, were re-named. Thus Moskevská (Moscow Station) became Andel (Angel) and Leninova became Dejvická. Most poignantly, Red Army Square in the centre of Prague was re-named Jan Palach Square to commemorate the self-immolator whose death became such a focus for those who opposed communist oppression.

However, the statue of Marshall Konev remains, simply because he just pre-dates the Communist coup of 1948. For it was he who led the troops of the Soviet Red Army that liberated Prague from Nazi oppression, entering the city on 9^th May 1945, a few hours after the German unconditional surrender across Europe had come into force. The sixty-fifth anniversary of these events occurred just over two weeks ago, hence the floral tributes lying at the foot of the statue when I took the picture a few days later.

WW2 memorial plaque 1 — Memorial plaque to victims of May 1945 Prague uprising © Ricky Yates

All around Prague there are quite a number of memorials on buildings similar to these ones illustrated here. On 5^th May 1945, there began an uprising by Prague citizens against the Nazi occupying forces. Those involved in the uprising expected that the US Third Army under General Patton, which was advancing from the west, would soon come to their aid. What they did not know was that a previous agreement between the US and Soviet governments, only allowed for American troops to advance as far as a line linking Karlovy Vary – Plzen – Ceske Budejovice.

The Soviet government insisted that this agreement be honoured. Thus, many Prague citizens commemorated on these plaques lost their lives because the Soviet Red Army advancing from the east took 24-48 hours longer to reach Prague than US troops from the west would have done if they had been allowed to do so. Eventually, the Nazi forces withdrew westwards, keen to surrender to the American rather than the Soviet authorities. They knew who would treat them better! And because of their withdrawal, relatively little damage was done to physical structure of Prague itself, leaving it with the multiplicity of architectural gems that continue today to delight the eye of resident and visitor alike.

WW2 memorial plaque 2 — Memorial plaque to another victim of the 1945 Prague uprising © Ricky Yates

Correcting History

Town Hall, Klatovy. The two plaques referred to below are either side of the bottom left window. © Ricky Yates

When I moved to live and work in the Czech Republic in September 2008, I believed I had a pretty good grasp of European History. I had studied the subject for many years at school and it was one of the three subjects I read, along with Geography and Theology, during my first year as an undergraduate student at university. However, during these past 16 months, my historical knowledge and understanding has been greatly increased as I’ve sought to understand the Czech people and this country which has become my current adopted home.

Good students of history do not just learn dates and places when and where certain events took place, such as knowing that the Battle of White Mountain occurred in 1620 on a hill just to the west of Prague. Rather they will want to understand the causes that led to the battle taking place and the consequences that followed from the victory of the Catholic League over the supporters of the Bohemian Estates. But a student still needs to know the dates and events before s/he can do any historical analysis.

During the last hundred years, the Czech and Slovak people have suffered much. Until 1918, they were a subjugated people incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then, having enjoyed twenty years as an independent democratic nation, their country was partly carved up without any consultation, by Neville Chamberlain and others at Munich. Six months later, the whole of Czechoslovakia was under Nazi occupation. Then, two and a half years after being liberated from the Nazis, the country was subjected to nearly forty-two years of Soviet inspired communist rule.

Under communist rule, many Czech and Slovak people suffered greatly. But it was not just people who suffered, another victim was historical truth.

Czechoslovakia has the distinction of being the country that endured the longest period of Nazi occupation. It was already fully occupied by March 1939 and was not liberated until the last days of World War Two in early May 1945. Liberation came from two different directions. Slovakia and Moravia and eventually Prague in Central Bohemia, were liberated from the east by the Soviet Red Army. But the whole of Western Bohemia, including the major city of Plzen, was liberated from the west by the Third US Army under General G.S. Patton.

After the Communist seizure of power at the beginning of 1948, there was a systematic campaign to suppress all acknowledgement of the U.S. Army’s role in liberating Western Bohemia. This effort continued until December 1989 when the Communists were removed from power. History textbooks declared that the whole of Czechoslovakia was freed from Nazi oppression by the valiant efforts of the Soviet Red Army. Schoolteachers were obliged to perpetuate the myth – to suggest otherwise would mean the loss of your job.

Last month, we drove out to Western Bohemia in order to visit our friend, Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, so he could carry out a couple of minor repairs to my car. But we combined the trip with a pastoral visit to one of our congregation who lives in a village very near to the German border but who regularly comes to Prague at weekends in order to worship at St. Clements.

Driving from Nepomuk towards the German border, we arrived in the attractive town of Klatovy where we stopped for lunch. We parked in the large square in the centre of the town which is surrounded by many architecturally interesting buildings including the Town Hall, pictured above. As we explored the square we saw two plaques, either side of a window on the outside of the Town Hall.

Incorrect History, Klatovy — Soviet Communism's version of history, Klatovy © Ricky Yates

The first is only in Czech and reads in translation;

9th May 1945 the Soviet Army liberated Czechoslovakia

Unveiled as part of the celebrations of the 700th Anniversary of founding of the town of Klatovy

Klatovy was founded in 1260 so the plaque was presumably unveiled in 1960, twelve years into Communist rule.

Not only does the wording on the plaque perpetuate the myth that it was the Soviet Red Army that liberated the whole of Czechoslovakia, it also includes another little Soviet quirk. The German surrender that brought World War Two to an end in Europe came into effect late on 8^th May 1945. This became known as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) and is a public holiday in many Western European countries such as France. But because it was late on 8^th May in France and Germany, it was already past midnight in Moscow. Therefore as far as the Soviet communists were concerned, VE Day was 9^th May 1945! Since the Velvet Revolution, the VE Day public holiday is now marked on 8^th May each year in the Czech Republic, not 9^th May.

On the other side of the window is a second plaque, pictured below, with text in both Czech and English. Although not dated, it has clearly been put up since 1989.

Correct History, Klatovy — Post-1989 correction of history, Klatovy © Ricky Yates

With this second plaque, the facts of Czech history have been corrected. Klatovy was liberated on 5^th May 1945 by the US Third Army under General Patton. The following day, they moved on and liberated Plzen.

What I was most struck by was the fact that the Town Council had obviously decided not to take down and destroy the first incorrect plaque. They clearly felt that it was important to preserve it as a historical record of the Communist era. But the truth has eventually triumphed and is now clearly displayed for all to read. Much as many people would like to, especially Communist dictatorships, you cannot re-write history.

Terezín

The imposing fortress and small town of Terezín lies about 80 km north of Prague. It is situated at the strategic location of the confluence of the Labe (Elbe) and Ohre (Eger) rivers and was constructed on the orders of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph II in order to keep the Prussians at bay. It was formerly known as Theresienstadt in honour of the Empress Maria Theresa. On the eastern side of the Ohre lies the original small fortress whilst on the western side there is a far larger fortress within which there is a small town with a sizeable central square and a grid iron pattern of streets.

In 1940, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, the Gestapo took over the small fortress to use as a prison. A year later, the resident population of about 3000 people were evicted from the town inside the main fortress and the whole complex was then turned into a transit camp for European Jews as part of Hitler’s ‘final solution‘.

Over the following four years, more than 140,000 Jews passed through Terezín. Around 33,000 died here because of the appalling cramped conditions. At one point, there were over 58,000 inmates in a town that previously had a population of 3000! More than 87,000 were sent on to their death in concentration camps further east, in particular to Auschwitz. Only around 17,000 survived and some of these died from an outbreak of typhus around the time the camp was liberated by the Red Army in May 1945.

Ironically, despite the horrific role Terezín played in the Jewish holocaust, it was also used as a vehicle for Nazi propaganda and portrayed to visitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross as a self-administering ‘Jewish Refuge’. Despite the awful conditions, there was an amazing amount of community life with plays and concerts being performed and artwork and literature produced.

The Terezín Memorial was established in 1991 in order to retell the story of what happened here, to preserve and display art and literature produced by those interned, and to preserve numerous buildings including the crematorium, a fascinating Jewish Prayer room with Hebrew inscriptions from the Psalms on the walls, together with the whole of the small fortress, little changed from how it was in 1945.

Terezín had been on Sybille’s and my list of places to visit since we moved to the Czech Republic. Therefore when my sister Jenny stayed with us recently and also expressed an interest in going there, we took the opportunity to do so. It is not an enjoyable day out – far from it. Rather it is quite a sobering experience but certainly one I’m very glad I’ve experienced.

There is an excellent museum in two parts. The Ghetto Museum itself tells the story of Terezín and puts it in the context of the wider events of the Second World War. Then within the nearby Magdeburg Barracks there are displays of the amazing cramped conditions in which internees were forced to live, as well as displays of artwork, music and literature, all of which was produced in these appalling circumstances. You can then walk around the town to visit the other sites including exploring the whole of the small fortress. Everything is explained in four languages, Czech, German, English and Hebrew, and for once, the English is excellent with hardly any examples of that peculiar language I call Czenglish.

Terezín is a slightly eerie place and it must be somewhat strange for the nearly 3000 people who once again reside in the town to be surrounded by all this horrific relatively recent history. But as the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two is currently being marked in Poland and elsewhere, it is important that all that happened at Terezín is preserved and re-told to the next generation.

National Cemetery in the foreground of the Small Fortress, Terezín © Ricky Yates