The 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia will without a question be not only touching but also pathetic affair, so I ask - did it make any sense to create this new state against the will of all it neighbors and at least a third of its own population?
The long time established Danube monarchy could have been modernized, but instead she was cut apart by silly ethnic spite and hate. So, if you shall celebrate, better light a candle and remember millions victims of illusions about national exceptionalism in the Central Europe.
Czechoslovakia – the beautiful, splendid dream of democratic republic where the loyalty of every citizen will in the first place belong to the Republic and only after that to language and ethnicity. Something like a small America in middle of Europe. It never worked. Despite that, tens of thousands of Czechoslovaks fought and died for this splendid dream. Will those souls that in effect died needlessly, be remembered during the time of pompous celebrations?
100 years later, the territory of their country is divided into three different countries. And Edvard Beneš. He destroyed Czechoslovak democracy and on two occasions handed country to other dictators, yet we still name streets and public squares after him, and put up his statues.
Misters Klaus and Mečiar, who together destroyed the last possible chance of Czechoslovak state, consider themselves national heroes. Now, we Czechs for the first time in history, have an ethnic-pure state. To reach that we shamelessly expelled three million Czech Germans, with great enthusiasm accepted Communist dictatorship, and in the end disposed of Slovakia. And it still doesn’t look that we are happier, nor more decent.
Try to recall something else. We were not the only ones, but it was whole Central Europe that started this march on a dangerous trail. Now, 100 years after the end of WWI, almost 70% of Hungarians consider Slovak state as an unjustifiably usurped territory of Hungary.
You should also realize that this celebrated nationalistic principle has one giant drawback. It provokes purges and excludes seeking common interests. We see this everywhere and every time where this intolerant entity took its hold. Was it worth the trouble? Let’s consider this question, and maybe that lighted celebration candle reminds you of one John Huss, who more over 600 years ago proclaimed that “Good German is dearer to me than malicious brother”. And as I look around, I can see a plenty of dumb morons who for words like these, even today, would gladly burn him at the stake again.
So, let’s celebrate…
Jan Urban, 6.5.2018
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How much can be said during 168 seconds… From the ranks of the Czech Germans and their descendants come 10 Nobel Prize winners, including first woman, Bertha von Suttner-Kinsky, a friend of Alfred Nobel and an antiwar activist … Now, on the medals issued to the 100 anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, we do not see the symbol of Sub-Carpathia, a shape of a bear?! Yet, we can still see this bear on the building of our Finance Ministry. Essentially, the medals are fakes. We are remembering the creation of our Republic, but not its independence. We are still behaving timidly, cowardly, without any pride or bravery, only for fear not to offend anyone. So, we should not be surprised by the condition of our today’s society and country that is still afraid to accept the truth about our past. Who is afraid of the truth and lives in lies, is in a danger of repetition of the past. During significant anniversaries, civilized countries usually build memorials and/or something special, for example National Library, but all we were able to manage are few fake medals…
Jan Šinágl, 13.5.2018
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