Prague and Český Krumlov

Last week I went to Prague and Český Krumlov with my core course, European Memory and Identity. This course focuses on how different historical events are remembered, commemorated, and memorialized in Europe. We spent the last several weeks analyzing the history of the Czech Republic in preparation for this trip. 
  

A statue of King Wenceslaus (a normal statue  of a noble figure on an upright horse) stands at the top of Wenceslaus Square. This sculpture by David Cerny hangs in the atrium of a nearby shopping complex. 

This poster is for the Museum of Communism. In case it's unclear, it's a Matroyshka doll with fangs and a rather menacing expression. There were several other posters for the museum around the city as well, all depicting communism as an evil, foreign presence. 
  

 Most of the buildings throughout Prague exemplify the style of Art Nouveau. Mucha may be the most famous artist of this period. Below: one of Mucha's depictions of the Four Seasons. 

Fresh Trdlo!

 

The Astronomical Clock

The Organ in the church of the Prague Castle

 

The church at the Prague Castle complex

 

View from Prague Castle

The Children's Memorial at Lidice. 

On June 10, 1942, all the men over age 15 were shot, 173 in all. All the women and children were relocated to concentration camps. The entire village was burned, and the Nazis exhumed the graves and filled in the lake. This attempt to erase Lidice from existence was done in retribution for (supposedly) harboring two special agents who assassinated Heydrich. 

The remains of the farmhouse where the men were shot.

Other than a few memorials, the space where Lidice used to be has been left empty as a testament to the terrible destruction. 

 

The picturesque village of Český Krumlov. It's beautiful enough to be a Unesco World Heritage site

The Castle

The Castle at Český Krumlov is unusually large for a city of its size. It also houses the world's best preserved Baroque theater - complete with sets, costumes, and original librettos.

Ballet!

Hans Christian Andersen's start in the artistic community of Copenhagen began at the Danish Royal Ballet. He was gawky and awkward (some critics consider "The Ugly Duckling" to be his most autobiographical tale) and didn't last long, but he loved the ballet for the rest of his life. That's the connection that got my Hans Christian Andersen class tickets to the Danish Royal Ballet's production of Dans2Go. Rather than a large ballet production, this performance was several smaller pieces intended as an introduction to ballet.

There's a gallery of photos here: http://kglteater.dk/Alle_forestillinger/11_12/Ballet/Dans2go.aspx
And here's some photos I took in the theater: 

 Tomorrow morning I'm off to Prague! Vi Ses!

Deer Park and Fastelavn

After spending time hiking in one of Denmark's nature preserves, I understand why many people from Scandinavia ended up in Minnesota - the scenery was quite familiar. This Sunday I went hiking in Dyrehaven, the king's old hunting grounds. The deer still live there, but today it's a park rather than a hunting preserve. In some parts we almost slipped because of mud and in other parts ice hindered our path, but it was still a great time. We did see a herd of deer go thundering across the path, and there we also saw several groups grazing in the woods. Here's one picture I took, and several more can be found here: http://www.copenhagenpictures.dk/dyrehaven-deer-park-klampenborg-denmark.html

Like many other European countries, Denmark still celebrates its pre-Lent carnival traditions. Unlike other countries, their traditions previously included putting a cat in a barrel and hitting the barrel for good luck. Now there's only a picture of a cat on the barrel, and instead it's filled with candy. Children dress up and collect candy, and sometimes adults dress up too. It's still considered a holiday primarily for children, though that didn't stop me from getting my face painted. Happy Fastelavn!

Short Study Tour

 

Studying with DIS includes the opportunity to participate in various study tours. This weekend my core course traveled to parts of Western Denmark and Germany. 

 The first place we stopped was the battlefield of Dybbøl. Denmark used to posses a great deal more territory than it does now, including Sweden, Norway, and much of Northern Germany. Many consider the loss of Southern Jutland in 1864 the end of Danish power in Europe. There wasn't too much to see on the battlefield itself -- just an iconic windmill in the background.

After that we visited a site that under German (Nazi) administration was called Frøslev. Towards the end of the war as anti-Nazi sentiment was building in Denmark, Germany built a camp to house various groups, including the majority of the Danish police force. While there were no summary executions or instances of starvation in Frøslev, it certainly was not summer camp. After the end of WWII, the Danes re-purposed the camp as a holding facility for German Prisoners of War and was renamed Fårhus. Currently the museum on the camp grounds only commemorates victims of Danish descent, but next year the director plans to open an exhibit detailing the events after the war as well. 
 

From there we traveled to Hamburg, the second-biggest city in Germany. One of the most interesting places we visited was the church of St. Nikolai, a memorial to the victims of the firebombing of Hamburg. Only the church tower and a few of the walls remain, and they clearly exhibit damage done during the war. However the memorial's overall attitude towards war intrigued me the most. At the end of the  plaque commemorating the destruction of Hamburg was a sentence that essentially apologized for the destruction that Germany brought to the rest of Western Europe during WWII. 

 

On the way back from Hamburg, we took the international ferry. I wish we could have spent the last 2 hours of the bus ride on the ferry instead -- there were duty-free shops on board, as well as cozy lounge decks. But the bus was fine too.