The ceiling of the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul at Vysehrad, Prague.
Tour Day 1: Vysehrad & Our 1st Group Walking Tour
VysehradDeb, Brett and I have already been to Prague so instead of doing the Jewish Quarter (which is very worthwhile if you haven't been) we decided to do something different for the day before meeting up with our group. We went to visit the park and fortress at Vysehrad. The Czechs consider Vysehrad their stronghold of Czech culture throughout a history of being bombarded by the Catholic Church, Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg Empire. We enjoyed the Rotunda of St. Martin, the views from the walls, the statue's in the park, the Basilica of Sts. Peter & Paul and the National Cemetery.
Prague Tour Guide has a video on Vysehrad on YouTube if you'd like to view it before making your decision to visit. |
Map of Vysehrad Fortress, Prague. We used the handy metro to get here and started our visit at the Leopold Gate and ended through the Brick Gate.
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Image of the DayTwo members of the Prague Castle Orchestra were hired to play and sing some Czech folk music for us with dinner. They were fantastic and so much fun, it was a blast!
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Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror
Upon leaving Vysehrad we walked along the river and then headed up Resslova Street to the Greek Orthodox Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius and its' National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror. The exhibition was unfortunately closed for refurbishment, opening again the day we were leaving Prague. Guess that means I'll have to come back to Prague for a 4th visit sometime:) But, we were able to see the interior of the nave, learn the story the memorial commemorates, and view the outside remnants of the event.
So, what is the story the memorial tells? Well, in September of 1941 Reinhard Heydrich becomes the governor of the occupied Czech lands. He is a rabid anti-Semite and one of the architect's of the Final Solution. The British Special Operations decides to train two paratroopers, Jan Gabcik and Jan Kubis, for a secret and very likely suicidal mission to assassinate Heydrich. The morning of May 27, 1942 Heydrich was on his daily commute and as his car slowed down at a tight turn Gabcik tried to gun him down, but it jammed. Kubik threw a grenade that caused enough damage to Heydrich that he died a few days later. The Nazis gave him an extremely elaborate funeral during which he was held up as the model for all SS men. The Nazis response to his assassination was brutal.
The Children of Lidice: Selected for 'Germanization' - 9; Murdered at the Death Camp Chelmno - 82; Placed in an Orphanage in Prague - 7, died - 1; Born after the Razing of the Town - 7; Number of Newborns who Survived - 2; Of 105 children 88 lost their lives. Of the surviving children 17 returned to Lidice.
After Heydrich's assassination, in the early morning of June 10, 1942 the inhabitants of the Christian village of Lidice near Prague were forced from their homes. All 192 men of the village, along with 71 women, were shot on the spot. The remaining 198 women were imprisoned at the Concentration Camp Ravensbruck in Germany. Of these, 143 returned to the site of the village. After 'justice' was dispensed the village was razed to the ground. Lidice was rebuilt in a different spot, and the original village of Lidice no longer exists. It is used as a place of remembrance, as a symbol of Nazi terror and barbarity, and as a tribute to the Czech resistance.
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Martial law was declared and two villages, Lidice being one of them, were razed to the ground. 5,000 people were executed in the following months. The two assassins along with other paratroopers were hiding out in Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church and its' crypt when they were betrayed by a paratrooper from another unit. June 18, 1942 at 4:15 am the Gestapo surrounded the Church, and after Kubik and the other guard in the nave were killed those in the crypt committed suicide. The British Government revoked the conciliatory Munich Agreement and recognized Czechoslovakia's pre-war boundaries. Heydrich's assassination was one of the most significant acts of resistance in Nazi Occupied Europe. He was the highest ranking Nazi official killed while in office.
LidicePlease forgive my extras about the Holocaust and WWII throughout this scrapbook, but I will ask for your indulgence as its' my passion and so very important to learn about. I visited Lidice (one of the towns razed after Heydrich's assassination) while working on my Master's Degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. It profoundly affected me and I want to share it with you. If you visit the Czech Republic someday, please consider visiting Lidice.
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Pro-Tip: Watch Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh as Heydrich to get a well done cinematic glimpse and understanding of how the Final Solution was hashed out, like the men doing it were at some sort of business retreat instead of discussing mass murder. For the most part, the men involved were highly intelligent Dr.'s and PhD's, yet they had no sense of humanity. The decision we know as the Final Solution was made at a villa in Wansee outside of Berlin. It was known as the Wansee Conference. You can still visit the villa today.
Our First Group Walking Tour
After our first group meeting learning about each other, picking buddies, and going through the housekeeping of the tour we met Theresa for our evening walking tour. She was our local guide for Prague and an absolute hoot! She had a lot of wonderful sayings from her time as a guide and I will share what I can remember. She took us on a walking tour of the Old Town including the Old Town Square with its' famous clock and across Charles Bridge to the Little Town where we would have a wonderful first group dinner.
Theresa, in her beautiful black and white dress, is telling us about the New Town at the bottom of Wenceslas Square. |