July 19-21, 2011 -- Prague was the fourth city in Europe I visited after London, Brussels and Berlin. But it was unlike any other city I've ever seen because its Gothic and Renaissance architecture survived World War II largely intact, and also because the city was behind the Iron Curtain until 1989 and when the Czech Republic became an independent nation in 1993 it rapidly modernized and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.
In a word, Praha is spectacular. Walking to the Prague Castle, Charles Bridge or Old Town Square you get a feeling that the views aren't much different than what Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV saw in the 14th century when he ruled Bohemia or what early 20th century writer Franz Kafka experienced wandering the streets of this magical city on the banks of the mighty Vltava River.
Everywhere you turn there is a postcard picture to be taken. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, which is why I'm glad I took a tour to help explain the story behind all the amazing buildings and districts in Prague.
Like Berlin, Prague is a place that has survived both Nazi and communist tyranny to become arguably the most important city in Central Europe and certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
But democracy and freedom have not come easy for Prague and the Czech Republic and its citizens have paid a heavy price. The 1930 census of Bohemia and Moravia (where Prague is located) listed 117,551 Jewish citizens. In 1945, 10,090 Jews registered with the Jewish communities as returning deportees, out of a total of 80,614 who had been deported; 6,392 had died in Theresienstadt (a Nazi show camp used to fool foreign observers into thinking that Jews were treated humanely), 64,172 had been murdered in the extermination camps, and of the Jews who had not been deported, 5,201 had either been executed, committed suicide, or died a natural death.
In the former Pinkas Synagogue in Prague's Jewish Quarter there is a moving Holocaust memorial with the names of every Czech Jew who perished written on the walls. Upstairs there are drawings from doomed Jewish children imprisoned in Theresienstadt. This is the Old New Synagogue in Prague's Jewish Quarter. It is the oldest active synagogue in Europe.
Prague was behind the Iron Curtain from 1948 until 1989. During this time of communist totalitarian rule, the Czech people's basic human rights were suppressed, which led to the 1968 Prague Spring reforms and then to the strong Soviet reacton, which involved a military invasion of Czechoslovakia by four Warsaw Pact countries. Soviet troops would be present in Prague until the Velvet Revolution of 1989 that ended communist rule. In 1969 two students separately set themselves on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the Soviet suppression of free speech -- Jan Palach and Jan Zajic. There is a memorial for the pair who bravely gave up their lives to protest brutal Communist rule in front of the National Museum. The plaque reads: "In Memory of the Victims of Communism."
Click here for more observations of Prague on Green Center Blog.
Here are photos and videos of this special city. Click here to see the photo set on Flickr.
