Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntag

Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntag is a dark Czech comedy.  It was released in 1992 Czechoslovakia and it is a cult classic here in Czechland.  Probably in Slovakia too.   

In English, the title translates to The Inheritance of Fuckoffguysgoodday.  

Just based off the title I should have know I was going to be in trouble.

The movie is about Bohuš, a lazy village guy who loves to drink and doesn't do much else.  He then inherits a large estate and fortune.  The film satirises post-communist Czechoslovakia.  

The movie has some rough edges and there's a lot of vulgar humour.  I watched the film without, English or Czech, subtitles and I really struggled.  There's a lot of dated slang and cultural references that just went over my head.  I watched the whole thing but I doubt I'll be watching it again any time soon.

Here's the movie trailer that I found on YouTube.

©Dvdpremierycz

Normalizace

Normalizace was the period that followed the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 that brought an end to the Prague Spring.  

"Normalisation" began in 1969 and lasted 20 years until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. 

It was the systematic restoration of hard-line control of the communist party in Czechoslovakia characterised by political repression, censorship, and enforced societal conformity.

In April 1969, Gustáv Husák replaced Alexander Dubček as First Secretary of the Communist Party.  There was no Stalin-style executions or gulags but rather administrative and bureaucratic oppression to keep people under control.  

• About 500.000 people who had supported the Dubček's reforms were kicked out of the communist party.  Many were demoted to manual labour positions regardless of their education or expertise.  
• Loyalty declarations were required to:
• Keep your job
• Study at university
• Hold cultural or academic positions
• Travel abroad
• Censorship was fully reinstated.
• Books, films, and music from the reform era were banned
• Artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers were blacklisted
• Independent organisations were dismantled
• StB surveillance increased dramatically with informants recruited, or coerced to inform, in workplaces, apartment buildings and student dorms

Normalisation relied on quiet pressure, social isolation and the fear of consequences to keep people in check.  

Basically that the system will leave you alone so long as you don't challenge the system.  

This helps explain why today Czechs are often so skeptical towards authority, don't trust political slogans and value personal freedom.

Žabovřesky Walk

A while ago I found a map for a self-guided walk of Žabovřesky at the Tourist Information Office.  Since yesterday was Labour Day so decided to get some fresh air and go for a walk.  

Žabovřesky is one of Brno city districts, next to where I live, that covers 4,35 km² (about 1.7 miles²).  It dates back to the Middle Ages.  It was an independent municipality until it was annexed to Brno in 1919.  The name translates to "Frog screams."

Kounicovy koleje are student dormitories that were built in 1922.  Following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, on 17 November 1939, about 200 students were taken from the dormitory and sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.  From 1940, the Gestapo used the facilities for interrogations and as a prison.  Tens of thousands of prisoners passed through the prison and at least 800 people died here.

After Brno was liberated, it became a prison for Nazis and collaborators from May to September 1945.  During this time at least 300 people died there from torture and were buried in mass graves at the Central Cemetery.    

In 1978, the dorms were declared a national cultural monument and in the garden is a memorial for the victims and to victory over Fascism.  

Since 1999, the dorms belong to the Brno University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Across the street from the dormitories is the headquarters of the Národní úřad pro kybernetickou a informační bezpečnost (NÚKIB).  The National Office for Cyber and Information Security is the central office for cybersecurity and cryptography.  NÚKIB has jurisdiction over the National Security Centre (NCKB).

Bohuslav Fuchs House was built in 1928, by the renowned architect who worked from a private studio in his villa.

In 1929, he resigned from his position as the city's main architect but continued to work from his home office.  He then connected his villa to the neighbouring house. 

Kino Lucerna is began screening films on 29 May 1915.  The single-storey Art Nouveau building still functions as a single-screen movie house.  It is the oldest operating cinema in Brno and the second oldest in Czechland.  

The Church of Our Lady Help of Christians was built in 1994 and consecrated in 1995.  The 500 seat church was built on the original site of Church of the Salesian Order.  The original church was built in 1939 but the order was banned in the 1950s by the Communist regime.

Sono Centrum is a multi-purpose facility that opened in 2016. The  "Death Star" is a nine-story building that combines a hotel, a music club, a conference hall and a restaurant.  

The Masaryk University Faculty of Law opened in 1919 and is one of four law schools in the country.  The present building opened in 1932 until 1939 when the Gestapo made it their headquarters until 1945.  Classrooms were used as cells and interrogation rooms.  Eventually the building was used by the Military Academy until after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 when it was returned to the Law Faculty. 

In 2010, a monument of former President Edvard Beneš was unveiled in front of the faculty.  The statue cost 1,6 million Kč (~$77K) and ame at the request of members of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires' Association and the Association of Czechoslovak Foreign Pilots 1939-1945.  Although not at some controversy as the Beneš Decrees played a significant role in relocating ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after the war. This is locally know as the Brno Death March.  Later this year it will be 75 years since he passed away.

The Chapel of St. Wenceslas was built in 1906 and is dedicated to the patron saint of Czechland.  The chapel facade is a protected cultural monument and the the building was renovated in 2018.

The Dušan Jurkovič Villa was built in 1906 by one of the best 19th century architects in Central Europe.  

Wilsonův les, Wilson's Forest, is a 34,4 hectare (85 acre) forest park on the southern edge of the Žabovřesky.  In 1888 it was called Kaiserwald, the Imperial Forest, to honour Emperor Franz Joseph I who was celebrating the 40th anniversary of his reign.  In 1918, it was renamed in honour of American President Woodrow Wilson who supported the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia.  During WWII it was called Kaiserwald again and from 1953 to 1991 it was known as Jirásek's Forest after writer Alois Jirásek.  I guess having a forest named after an American President isn't something that would have been something favoured by the Communist regime.

From the hill you get a great view of the city.

There's quite a bit to see just walking around Žabovřwsky.  Of course I supposed it couldn't be called "Frog Screams" if there wasn't some kind of frog motif.  

The art nouveau building, built in 1908, has a golden frog at the entrance.

The weather was perfect so it was great to walk around the neighbourhood all day.  Definitely need to explore some other Brno neighbourhoods as well.

Petrov Birthday Wine Cellar Party

Yesterday we went to Petrov, about 4 km (2,5 miles) southeast of Strážnice, to celebrate his friend Verča's birthday. 

The area has about 80 wine cellars that date back to the 15th century.  

The wine cellars form a street with two squares and is frequently visited by wine tourists.  In the past, local farmers weren't able to build wine cellars under their houses due to the high groundwater level.  So instead, they set up cellars on a slope a short distance behind the village where it wasn't suitable for cultivation.

During WWII the cellars served as shelters for people who were illegally escaping from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to the Slovak puppet state.  

The wine cellar area was declared a monument reserve by a decree of the Ministry of Culture of the Czechoslovak Republic on 15 September 1983.  I understand that it took more than 10 years of effort before the government listed it as a monument.

The party was a lot of fun and obviously there was plenty of wine for the celebration.

The Slav Epic

The Slav Epic, Slovanská epopej), was painted by the famous Art Nouveau Alphonse Mucha between 1910 and 1928, and is a cycle of 20 large canvases.  The cycle shows the mythology and history of the Slavic people.

The paintings are on display in Moravský Krumlov, about 51 km (31 miles) from Brno.

Mucha worked on these paintings for 18 years and the cycle is considered his biggest success.  After finishing the cycle in 1928, it first went on display in Prague and Mucha bestowed it to Prague, on the condition that the city build a special pavilion to display it.

Mucha died in July 1939.  He was interrogated by the Gestapo because he was culturally important in Czechoslovakia.  During WWII, the paintings were hidden away to prevent the Nazis from seizing them.

After the 1948 Communist Coup, the communist government wasn't keen on Mucha who they considered a bourgeois artist and whose art wasn't in line with socialist realism.  So building a special pavilion to display Mucha's work wasn't a priority for the communist government so they were put on display in Moravský Krumlov in 1963.

The Slav Epic was on display in Moravský Krumlov for almost 50 years.  Prague waged a decade-long legal battle to move the paintings to the city which intensified in early 2010.  The city of Prague felt the paintings would be seen by more people...tourists...if they were located in Prague but none of the city's galleries had space for the pieces.  They are huge; up to 6 metres tall and 8 metres wide (19.8 feet tall by 26.25 wide).

In 2012 the paintings were moved to the National Gallery and stayed there until the end of 2016.  In 2017 they were taken on a two-year tour of Asia before returning to Prague in 2019.  The Asian tour was controversial and Mucha's grandson unsuccessfully sued Prague to stop the tour.

The paintings returned to Moravský Krumlov in July 2021 where they are to remain for up to five years.  In 2022, Prague signed an agreement to renovate Savarin Palace, in Prague, which is to be the painting's new home.  In my humble opinion, Prague being the capital and all, the city has more than enough things to see and do.  There weren't any problems with having the paintings in Moravský Krumlov and having the paintings outside of Prague brought tourists to South Moravia.  

Seeing The Slav Epic has been on my list of things to do for a long time.  Claudia and Nat went and saw it about 12 or so years ago but on a weekend when I was out of town somewhere.  It was worth the wait. 

Here's a Rick Steves video I found out on YouTube about Alphonse Mucha and The Slav Epic.

©Rick Steves

Czech National Bank

Česká národní banka, (ČNB), is Czechland's central bank it supervises the country's financial market.  It's primary objective is price stability by setting monetary policy, it issues the koruna, manages the payments and transfers between banks, and oversees the banking sector, capital markets, pension funds, the insurance industry, and foreign exchanges.  It holds reserves of more than $62,5 million and tries to stabilise inflation to around 2% per year.  The headquarters are in Prague.

The Austro-Hungarian Bank was the central bank of the Habsburg Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Czechoslovakia didn't have a central bank for the first six years of independence.  The country's ministry of finance was responsible for all central banking functions.

Národní banka Československa was the central bank from 1926 to 1939 during the First Republic.  From 1939 to 1945, during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, there was the Národní banka pro Čechy a Moravu v Praze.

The national bank was re-established after WWII and in 1950 it was renamed to Státní banka Československá.

Following the Velvet Divorce, the State Bank of Czechoslovakia was replaced on 1 January 1993 by the Czech National Bank.

Slovakia has the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS).

Here's a short video, in Czech, about the ČNB that I found on YouTube.

©Česká národní banka

So this January was the 30th anniversary of the Czech National Bank (and Slovakia's too).  

To commemorate both the 30th anniversary of the ČNB and the Czech currency, the bank is issuing a special 1000 Kč banknote.  

Here's a short video about the commemorative bank note.

©Česká národní banka

Emil Boček, R.I.P.

General Emil Boček turned 100 years old on 25. January.  He was a Brno native and the last remaining airman of Czechoslovak Royal Air Force.  On 25. March he passed away.

When he was 16, he illegally escaped the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and he joined the Czechoslovak foreign army in France.  Later he became one of the youngest recruited in to the RAF.

He was an aircraft mechanic in the 312th Fighter Squadron.  From 1944, he served as a fighter pilot in B Squadron of the Czechoslovak 310th Fighter Squadron.  He was credited with 26 operational flights, flying almost 74 hours. 

Although he was a hero and fought in the resistance, the Communists frowned that he was a member of the non-communist resistance and he left he military in 1946.

He had owned a car repair shop in Brno but he had to give up ownership when Czechoslovakia nationalised private property following the 1948 coup.  He continued to work at the shop and was never persecuted by the state.

The general was awarded the Order of the White Lion of Military Group, 3rd class in 2010.  In 2017 he was awarded the Order of the White Lion of the First Class Military Group for extraordinary services to the defence and security of the state and excellent combat activities.

Following his passing, Prime Minister Fiala said that "General Boček was fighting for our country to be democratic, free and independent."  

Here are two short videos, in Czech, that I found out on YouTube.

©TV Nova

©sleduju37p

Update April 2023:  Here's a video from the funeral, showing military honours, that I found on YouTube.

©Petr Komůrka