Czech: Food

Czech food is heavy. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a meat and potatoes kind of gal, but I think I’ll steer clear of the goulash and gravy for a long while.

Fruit in the market

All too common sight of kielbasa and spiced wine stands


Mmm, sugar rolls

Czech: Cesky Krumlov

Czechoslovakia became a nation in 1918. The new borders, drawn by the post WWI Treaty of Versailles, include the Sudetenland, a predominantly German area. When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, his goal is to unite all German speakers into one country, so his first target is the Sudetenland, which included Cesky Krumlov. To avoid another war, France and Britain sign the Munich Agreement officially giving the Sudetenland to German. Czech representation was not invited. The Czechs of the Sudetenland were transferred elsewhere and Germans moved into their homes. After the war, the roles were reversed as Germans were transferred from the Sudetenland, often using the same tactics as the Nazis had with armbands and cattle cars. Nationality, a concept created in the 19th century, ceased to be a choice by the 20th century.

Today, Cesky Krumlov is a town untouched by time, hidden in the bend of a river. Tourists are attracted because of the castle (not to mention the Vampire Princess, Eleonora who is doubly sealed into her grave under the church). Without knowing the history of the transfers, you would never know that some 70 years ago, Hitler marched through these very streets.

Czech: Lidice

We went to see what wasn’t there: a town obliterated by the Nazis. Lidice was found to be connected to the assassination of Heydrich, so it was ordered to be destroyed as a symbol of Nazi power. The men were lined up and shot, the women sent to concentration camps, and the children assessed for racial purity to be “reeducated” or sent to a concentration camp. What was once a small farming and mining community is now negative space in memorial to the victims.

Children's memorial

Steps to what was the church

Czech: Cubist Architecture

Prague is one of the only places in which Cubism is translated into architecture: House of the Black Madona, which houses the Grand Cafe Orient, with one of the few Cubist interiors
Hmm, Cubist fruit? I think deliscious!

Even a Cubist lamppost

Czech: Art Nouveau

My favorite part of the trip was exploring the work Alfons Mucha. Mucha grew up in the Czechoslovakia but became famous in France with his poster ads for actress Sarah Bernhardt. When he realized his art was being shown in wealthy galleries while his people anguished in poverty, he devoted the remainder of his life to art that would glorify Slavic history in his 20 painting series known as the Slav Epic.

Mucha’s depiction of the seasons

While he never directly associated himself with the movement, his style of curves, natural motifs, and organic women became characteristic of Art Nouveau. In Prague Art Nouveau translates into architecture:

The Grand Hotel Europa, where we had a fine dinner of eggplant and cheese; duck, beets, and bread; and apple strudel.
Stained glass on The Municiple house, designed by Mucha. The restaurant inside is called Francouzska and served us mango crème brulee for dessert. Couple of fine Art Nouveau gals

Czech: Historically Speaking

I think what makes Prague so phenomenal is the mixture of medieval and contemporary history. Our focus was the communist era which begins with the communist revolution in 1948. While it was a popular movement and marked by a peaceful shift, the realization of communism quickly shifted from idealism to practicalism as the government “consolidated” to rid opposition. This all culminates with the Prague Spring in 1968. The Prague Spring had been a general period of warming, of reformed communism, of less restricted freedoms of expression. In 1968, the Soviets decided more order was necessary, and they invaded Czechoslovakia.

As rights were slowly taken away, maybe more in self censorship and fear than de jure, the resistance movement grew. In 1969, student Jan Palach set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square to protest compliance with extinguished rights.
Resistance continued with Charter 77, an unofficial civic movement of intellectuals and artists who petitioned their government to implement the human rights they had agreed to by signing the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Our class met one signer, Jaroslav Hutka, a folk singer who was sent into exile for singing about freedom to rally resistors.

Communism fell in Czechoslovakia in 1989 with the Velvet Revolution. It was a peaceful overthrow in response to violent police intervention of a student protest. Havel, the same Havel Jaroslav sings of, was elected president of the new Czech Republic.

Long Study Tour: Czech it out

I’ve spent the last 6 days in the Czech Republic exploring themes of nationalism as it relates to WWI, WWII, and the communist era. The trip was associated with my European Memory and Identity course at DIS. For the first four days, I was in Prague which may just be the most beautiful, inspiring place I have ever been (aside from the woods back home of course):