Back in 1945, you may recall that the Czechs were involved in a little kerfluffle that started with a depression in Germany and ended with a madman and WorldWideWar.com. One particular battle included a heavy American bombing run over a weapons factory in Plzen. Several US planes were shot down over the town which was later liberated by Americans. (Luckies--when the Russians liberated towns, they just stole stuff. Especially watches.) Every April Plzen hosts several Thank You America ceremonies.
We had the chance to attend one of those ceremonies today (as VIP Super Duper Special People, no less). It was an incredible experience. There are three different monuments that commemorate the men who died, and it was very moving to see the people of this small town turn out en masse for something that happened 67 years ago. There was a small choir from the grade school that sang songs in English--I am certain that I will never hear "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" quite the same way again.
The most interesting part of the day, though, was when an older woman invited the children and me to walk through the park. The park was attached to a small castle. I learned that she and her husband owned the park and the castle (which is not open to the public, but we did get a private tour). The woman was warm and gracious, and her story was Fascinating. The castle had been in the family since the 1200s. She told us that her husband (who was born in the castle) had a grandfather with 12 children. You could easily imagine 12 children laughing and running around the estate, hanging out windows, climbing walls and trees. I have never seen a more perfect layout for a family!
In the 1940s, the family refused to collaborate with the Nazis, and lost many privileges and most of their servants (they had 20 servants, most of whom fed the giant wood stoves that heated the castle). The Nazis cut down the woods that belonged to the castle and left the family poor and freezing, but not homeless. The communists one-upped the Nazis, and kicked the family out of the house, turning it into worker dormitories for the Skoda factory (they vandalized it, destroyed it, and painted everything on the inside the most unpleasant {probably with leaded paint, too} color of green that you can imagine).
Mr. Lobkowicz became the lowest of the low. As a former aristocrat, he wasn't allowed to attend college or to receive career advancements of any kind. He became a television repairman and a private in the communist army. After Prague Spring (Russians invaded Czechoslovakia with 500,000 troops due to a bureaucratic misunderstanding involving free elections and the Communist party), life became unbearable in Czechoslovakia. Mr. Lobkowicz emigrated to Germany, which welcomed him with open arms, and there he went to university, met a lovely French lady, had three children, and settled down to a nice, fairly middle class life.
But then! After communism fell, all of the properties that had been confiscated were restored to their original owners. This nice man and his wife became the owners of several large but barely functioning properties, and suddenly faced the prospect of restoring heaps of rubble to something approaching their former glory. The 12-acre park that we walked through? She and her husband cleared it by hand. He did eventually get a machine, she said, but to begin with, it was the two of them, pulling up seedlings and clearing brush.
And contrary to our fears, the missing Brigham was not locked in the crumbling bell tower. He was down at the pub, using the WC. (The castle, with two wings, and numerous bedrooms, originally was home to two bathrooms. That number has been reduced to zero).
We had the chance to attend one of those ceremonies today (as VIP Super Duper Special People, no less). It was an incredible experience. There are three different monuments that commemorate the men who died, and it was very moving to see the people of this small town turn out en masse for something that happened 67 years ago. There was a small choir from the grade school that sang songs in English--I am certain that I will never hear "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean" quite the same way again.
The most interesting part of the day, though, was when an older woman invited the children and me to walk through the park. The park was attached to a small castle. I learned that she and her husband owned the park and the castle (which is not open to the public, but we did get a private tour). The woman was warm and gracious, and her story was Fascinating. The castle had been in the family since the 1200s. She told us that her husband (who was born in the castle) had a grandfather with 12 children. You could easily imagine 12 children laughing and running around the estate, hanging out windows, climbing walls and trees. I have never seen a more perfect layout for a family!
In the 1940s, the family refused to collaborate with the Nazis, and lost many privileges and most of their servants (they had 20 servants, most of whom fed the giant wood stoves that heated the castle). The Nazis cut down the woods that belonged to the castle and left the family poor and freezing, but not homeless. The communists one-upped the Nazis, and kicked the family out of the house, turning it into worker dormitories for the Skoda factory (they vandalized it, destroyed it, and painted everything on the inside the most unpleasant {probably with leaded paint, too} color of green that you can imagine).
Mr. Lobkowicz became the lowest of the low. As a former aristocrat, he wasn't allowed to attend college or to receive career advancements of any kind. He became a television repairman and a private in the communist army. After Prague Spring (Russians invaded Czechoslovakia with 500,000 troops due to a bureaucratic misunderstanding involving free elections and the Communist party), life became unbearable in Czechoslovakia. Mr. Lobkowicz emigrated to Germany, which welcomed him with open arms, and there he went to university, met a lovely French lady, had three children, and settled down to a nice, fairly middle class life.
But then! After communism fell, all of the properties that had been confiscated were restored to their original owners. This nice man and his wife became the owners of several large but barely functioning properties, and suddenly faced the prospect of restoring heaps of rubble to something approaching their former glory. The 12-acre park that we walked through? She and her husband cleared it by hand. He did eventually get a machine, she said, but to begin with, it was the two of them, pulling up seedlings and clearing brush.
And contrary to our fears, the missing Brigham was not locked in the crumbling bell tower. He was down at the pub, using the WC. (The castle, with two wings, and numerous bedrooms, originally was home to two bathrooms. That number has been reduced to zero).
