On Valentine's Day in 1945, the U.S. mistakenly dropped a bouquet of bombs on residential areas in Prague, thinking it was Dresden, Germany. Malfunctioning radar equipment, clouds and high winds were blamed; hundreds died; and the horrific error was fodder for Nazi propaganda.
Nearby, there's a Potrefena Husa pub good for Playing e-Scrabble and eating thick cuts of fried bread (topinky) rubbed with fat bulbs of garlic. Apparently there's also a chic cafe in the Dancing House, but we were in a pivo mood.
And just up Resslova Street from the twisty building is a much more visceral reminder of Nazi brutality, Sts. Cyril and Methodist Church. After an assassination attempt on Protector Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, Czech resistance fighters hid in the crypt of this church. The Nazis discovered the hiding place - after already murdering hundreds in retaliation - and flooded the crypt, then sprayed the church with bullets. The resistance fighters took their own lives.
The Resslova area today is so peaceful, so normal. Just another street under a lemon-colored sunset, but with so many stories to tell.
Decades later, you can find Prague's trippy Dancing House, also known as "Fred and Ginger," standing at the end of Resslova Street in one of the areas that had been decimated by the aerial attack. It was designed by Czech-Croatian architect Vlado Milunic and American Frank Gehry in a gesture of cooperation. We didn't go inside on this visit, but we plan to someday.
Nearby, there's a Potrefena Husa pub good for Playing e-Scrabble and eating thick cuts of fried bread (topinky) rubbed with fat bulbs of garlic. Apparently there's also a chic cafe in the Dancing House, but we were in a pivo mood.
And just up Resslova Street from the twisty building is a much more visceral reminder of Nazi brutality, Sts. Cyril and Methodist Church. After an assassination attempt on Protector Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, Czech resistance fighters hid in the crypt of this church. The Nazis discovered the hiding place - after already murdering hundreds in retaliation - and flooded the crypt, then sprayed the church with bullets. The resistance fighters took their own lives.
The Resslova area today is so peaceful, so normal. Just another street under a lemon-colored sunset, but with so many stories to tell.
Gah. These stories really bother me...the horrors of war. I'm glad they didn't try and cover it up or polish it out and just left the story to stand for itself. So sad. Pretty photo of the sunset, though!
ReplyDeletePS. I tried to find an "about you" section of your blog. You know, so I can figure out why you're in Prague, from Minnesota, etc. All that important stuff :)
Hi Megan, I hadn't thought of that; I will put something up in the next few days. Thanks for writing!
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