As my mind starts to forget more than it takes in now, I had completely forgotten what a architectural smorgasbord Prague slaps you in the face with. Mix in thousands of young Europeans who come for the great food, great prices, and great party atmosphere, Prague just explodes with raging hormones and people ready to have a good time. So...let's enjoy the trip.
Old Town Square in Prague. Great fun.
If you dig just a little bit beneath the surface, though, you can easily find another Prague...one that is a lot more tragic than the German love fest that jams the bars and restaurants in front of you. Prague sits in the middle of central Europe. For centuries, it has not only been a cultural and artistic magnet but an easy target for any power crazed lunatic with an oversized army. The Huns, the Russians, the French, the Austrians, the Germans, and now Vladimir Putin. When Hitler wanted to annex the Czech Republic in 1938, the then British Prime Minister, Nevil Chambetlin just let the German SS troops walk right in and take the place over. After all, why risk starting a war over some useless chunk of Central Europe? Surely he could trust a fine chap like Hitler to do the right thing in Czechoslovakia. Just as long as he didn't bomb London, who cares?
And when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1956, the Americans told the Russians how naughty they were to slaughter thousands of people on the streets. Those naughty, naughty, Soviet boys, just out having a good time in their new tanks. They should be more careful where they point their howitzers. Someone could get injured!
So, when Russian tanks rolled into Kiev 18 months ago, the people of the Czech Republic had nightmares of Deja vu...all over again...as the great Yogi Berra used to say. They had seen all this before and it was all to real for them.
Enter Tanya. A refugee from Ukraine. Home for her had been the port city of Odessa on the Black Sea. But the Russian high command had other objectives in mind for Odessa. Odessa was much too quiet and way too strategic to just sit there. They needed to bomb the place to a pile of rubble so it looked more like Russia. So that's what they did.
Fortunately, Tanya had friends and family that insisted that it just wasn't safe to stay in Ukraine. It took about 3 days and a lot of different means of transport to make it to the Czech Republic but escape she did.
Peter Lawson with his new "partner", Tanya
The situation for Peter and Tanya was fun. Peter had lost his wife of more than 40 years, Blanka, about 19 months ago. He met Tanya through a mutual friend in Prague. One thing led to another, and soon they were living together in Peter's apartment. Peter desperately needed someone else in his life and Tanya needed someone new as well. Perfect match. They repeatedly opened up their home to me and I was delighted to enter as a guest. It was a great resolution to two people adrift who could find a new life together. That's my happy part of this story. Two disasters turning into one feel good ending.
Terezin was a different animal altogether. Peter suggested that I should take a day tour to this place about 50 miles away because it was " important ". He was right about that. He also warned me that it wouldn't be " pleasant ". Right again.
Terezin is the site of an old fortified 17th century military fortress, with imposing red brick walls that reminded me of Lucca. But the Lucca walls have been transformed into a public park. The walls in Terezin were modified to act as a prison. The Nazi occupiers used the structures in Terezin to hold and then transfer Jews and various political opponents to other " camps" with more remote locations and more recognizable names. Places like Auschwitz and Buchenwald might be more familiar to most Americans. But for hundreds of thousands of Czechs, they began their ugly descent into hell at Terezin.
The grave markers in front of the Terezin "camp"
Terezin was established as a model "camp" where the Nazi propaganda merchants regularly gave tours to Red Cross representatives to show how well the prisoners were behind cared for. Modern clinics, social clubs, organized sports, work skills training, and so much more were shown off to the world in sanitized and staged demonstrations in the town of Terezin just down the road. Happy prisoners living the "good life" in Nazi death camps.
The nearby town of Terezin was used to stage "The Good Life" experience of prisoners. Note the sign for the Jewish
Crematorium. It wasn't that good evidently.
Most people confined to Terezin died from communical diseases like pneumonia because they were crammed into barracks and locked up together regardless of health conditions. 60-80 packed into a single room with 3-5 sharing a single wooden bunk with a sink and a few buckets that served as sanitation facilities.
It didn't take long for diseases to spread in a place like this
These modern reconstructions can't begin to recreate the horrific conditions that these people were subjected to. It seems impossible to imagine how any person could survive this ordeal. It seems even more impossible to believe how an entire world could just pretend it wasn't there.
This wasn't real was it? Unfortunately, yes.
In order to make everyone feel good about an outrage like Terezin, the Nazi occupiers, made it seem somehow noble to be in the camps. They wanted people to feel like their existence there had some noble purpose. So they invented a wonderful German fairy tale about the glory of work. Yes indeed, work was what would liberate prisoners from their captivity. Work would set you free! And I have the picture of the inscription that proves how liberating work can be.
Just in case you didn't know... "Work Makes You Free!"
I came away from Terezin with a profound silence. I really didn't want to talk to anyone when I got back to Prague. It was just too much. Later the next day, Peter called and invited me over for dinner at the apartment. It was a good way to get me out of my dark mood. After a fun meal and a trip out for a couple beers and some dessert, life was back the the beautiful Prague that people come to experience.
You've got to move on and you have to lean on other people to keep your perspective.
Fortunately, I had Peter and Tanya to bless the evening.
That's my story, and I'm stickin to it
Dan
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