A stirring memorial to Nazi resistance

There's a grandiose Baroque church right down the road from us, and while it looks quite normal from the outside...

The stately Ss. Cyril and Methodius

...when you look a bit closer, you'll notice a section of wall riddled with bullet holes.

We'd passed by Ss. Cyril and Methodius numerous times (and I briefly mentioned it in posts HERE and HERE), but we saved a trip inside for when we had guests. With BW's brother here, we finally visited.

Below the church is the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror, and it explains the bullet holes - as well as the vile Nazi persecution of the Czechs and Slovaks.

In May of 1942, seven exiled Czechoslovak paratroopers as part of Operation Anthropoid attempted to assassinate Reichprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, aka the Prague Butcher, the head Nazi in Bohemia and Moravia. After training and preparing in the UK, the paratroopers sneaked into Czechoslovakia via parachute, hid out in allies' homes for months, and then bombarded Heydrich's car with grenades as he was being driven to his office. He died 8 days later - from sepsis from his wounds being infected by the horsehair in his car seat.

A paratrooper's clothing and weapons

Hitler was so enraged by the assassination that he went on a murder spree, ordering the small mining town of Lidice, where one of the assassins was rumored to have hidden, to be completely exterminated and razed. The men and boys were shot and the women and girls were sent to Ravensbruck Concentration Camp.

The Nazis threatened to slaughter more people if the assassins didn't give themselves up, but the many Czechs who had aided the paratroopers remained silent. The tactic that finally worked was promising a reward of a million marks as a reward for information - and one of the paratroopers stepped forward and gave everyone in the anti-Nazi movement up. Thousands of people were jailed, tortured and sent to concentration camps.

Sewing by a female inmate

Through torture, it was revealed that the paratroopers had been hiding out in the crypt of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church in Prague for three weeks. It's possible to enter the crypt through the memorial museum.

Over three hours, the Gestapo tried to shoot, smoke and flood the resistance fighters out of the crypt. The paratroopers shot back and attempted to dig a hole to a nearby sewer to escape, no no avail. Two died by gunshot wound and four committed suicide. The cathedral's bishop and other church leaders were sent to the firing squad for hiding the men.

The memorial is a moving tribute to these brave soldiers and their allies, and we learned a lot about the Nazi occupation - and the many people who resisted it. 

If you go to Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church and the National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror:

Address: 

Resslova 9a, Prague 2

Opening hours:

March - October

Tuesday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

November - February

Tuesday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Website

Linking up with The Sunday Traveler

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MISSION: Recover Christmas package

Mission: To retrieve Christmas presents from the Czech Post

Time: One week, or they get sent back to the USA

Location: Post Office of Exchange, Plzeňská 139/290, Prague 5 – Košíře

*Cue spy music*

It was a rainy afternoon when my husband pulled the mysterious white envelope out of our mailbox. The contents were indecipherable - they were all in Czech. Using my slight knowledge of the language and Google translate, we were able to decode the following from the five wordy sheets of paper in the envelope:

We had just under a week to retrieve a parcel from the customs post office in Prague 5.

This was a job for an experienced, worldly emissary...

...or a clueless American hiding behind a book in a cafe. Yes, that's me.

I mapped out a route on www.dpp.cz and set off on a tram in the grim rain. This mission was not for the faint of heart. Or the rainboot-less.

The tram dropped me in an unfamiliar sector of Prague. I hurdled dog doo and muck puddles as I persisted toward the Prague 5 locale.

And all of a sudden, there it was: A looming steel building that looked like Ikea's ugly stepsister.

I entered its metal mouth, under buzzing florescent lights and lines of rust. Where to go? Not a clue. All senses and brain synapses were engaged.

First, incognito, I tried this area. Behind a pane of glass, a cryptic man with an epic comb-over murmured  třetí patro (third floor). I left in pursuit of it.

Once on the third floor, a perplexing sign bearing the names of many rooms greeted me. I went to one, then another. A woman pointed me here; a man pointed me there. I began to think it was a ruse to bewilder me and render me vulnerable so I could be smuggled into the basement to sort mail indefinitely.

Finally, I reached a door where they made me show my passport and residency visa. My cover was blown! I had to pay a fee in another room, then a hefty VAT customs tax (20% of the value of our Christmas presents) in another, and then get a stamp in another... this was a highly intricate government process. Door after door.

And all of a sudden, they slipped me the parcel. Mission accomplished!

I fled the scene and was back to my domicile by nightfall (i.e. 4 p.m. these days). The contents of the covert customs package?

Wool socks. Lots of them. And some clothing items and a kit that makes a Christmas ornament out of your dog's paw print.

This international operative felt very loved. Thanks, ma!

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Czech cures for homesick blues

BW and I chose to live abroad, so we take responsibility for any granules of homesickness that creep into our hearts. He has been much more stoic than I lately, but his wonderful parents were here in October, and his hip younger brother is visiting now, so "home" has been around enough to keep him from pining for it too much. 

Welcome, bro! A bearded bit of Minnesota.

I, on the other hand, have been pining quite a lot. Coincidentally, I ran into a woman at church in mid-December who was visiting Prague from North Dakota as part of a Lutheran Women's Missionary group. I almost bear-hugged her when I found out she was from Fordville, only a 35 minutes from my hometown of Larimore.

I also watched the entire first season of "Fargo" these past few days, mainly because the accents reminded me of my roots and the barren, snowy landscapes were so familiar - without all the murders. 

Prague is a long way from the American Midwest, especially during the holidays. Consequently, in true Eeyore fashion, I spent far too much time this month feeling frustrated and morose about menial things. Oh, bother. 

So, rather than a "highlights of 2014" or "goals for the new year" post, I made a list of some Czech silver linings that made December far from home brighter in the midst of homesickness.

Czech cures for Homesick Blues

- We discovered a Czech Monopoly game at a pub in our neighborhood, complete with Prague street names and paper koruna bills. My family is big on board games, so this was a welcome find :)

- I made it a point to walk through the Franciscan Gardens whenever I was near Wenceslas Square; they're so peaceful and a great place to practice mindfulness. Go through Pasáž Světozor from Vodičkova Street to reach them.

- I bought a much-needed, very warm, cozy and comforting pair of Winter boots from Bat'a. If you haven't owned a pair of Czech Bat'a shoes, you're missing out. They last forever, especially on cobblestones.

- We finally visited DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, which I'd been wanting to do for months but never made the time for. BW and I are big modern art fans; we were frequent visitors to the world-renowned Walker Art Center back in Minnesota.

- I smiled back at the big, friendly visage hanging on the National Museum of Václav Havel, beloved former President and famed writer, on the day of his passing, Dec. 18.

- We ate lots of Czech comfort food, like utopence (pickled sausage) and koláče (pastries).

- But most importantly, as stated above, we welcomed Ben's brother to Prague. It was incredibly generous of him to come all the way here to spend his holidays with us, and we've  enjoyed showing him our cherished Czech Republic. 

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