You say you want a (Velvet) Revolution...

Last week I had some midterms for classes so I stayed in Prague over the weekend to study for them and work on some projects. The first was a book report for my Czechs, Germans and Jews Class. It was a really interesting book about Czech and Slovak Jews after 1945. It discussed the role of youth groups in identity formation and the phenomenon of “discovering” Jewish identity. And not in the abstract way people talk abut it now, I am referring to literally discovering you are Jewish. Many Parents who were alive during the Shoah and then came into the Party’s regime in the 1950’s so feared persecution that they did not even burden their children with the knowledge that they were Jewish. Many find out when they found ritual items hidden in their home, inquired about relatives who died in the Holocaust or were harassed by a classmate.

The second midterm was a scavenger hunt that brought me all over Prague. I went to the Contemporary History Institute, The Czechoslovak Documentation Center, The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Libri Prohibiti. I did lots of other research based on clues, I had to do a lot asking around and research for it, as well as translations into Czech. However, the most striking thing about it was discovering how different the relationship between the Czech Republic and it's history is from Western culture. George Orwell said “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Under Communism and the occupation the Czechoslovaks had their history taken away from them. After the Velvet Revolution, it was necessary to completely reexamine recent history as everything was touched by communist ideology, hence the formation of the Contemporary History Institute, The Czechoslovak Documentation Center and the Libri Prohibiti. The Library collects banned and prohibited literature, some of which was self published often found in used bookstores around Europe. My professor, Barbara Day, was involved in getting prohibited literature into Czechoslovakia in the seventies. Last year the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes was founded. It seems like the Czech intellectual community is doing all it can to reassert ownership of their past.

Another thing that is special about Prague is its relationship with theater. It is very important to Czechs and is considered a much bigger part of the culture then in the West. Much of the dissident movement was based out of theaters in Prague. It was considered a huge accomplishment when the National Theatre was created. The election just ended in America (yes we did!) and a big deal was made out of the past jobs of the candidate. Community Organizer. Hockey Mom. Beauty Queen. Soldier. However, I think what speaks volumes about the Czechs relationship with theater and the difference between them and Americans is that their first President, Vaclav Havel, was himself a playwright before becoming a politician.
As for the election yesterday, I wanted to stay up and go to the Globe (Prague's homebase for Ex-pat life) which was open all night, but I had a Czech quiz and I was tired. So history was made while I slept and I’m ready for change.

Going to Berlin this weekend...