Under the rubble of Stalin
There are nations who have come to terms with their past and there are nations who didn’t. It is safe to say that Czech Republic falls more into the second category.
Post Bellum, a non-governmental organization, which organized a new exhibition on totalitarianism, seems to agree with that.
Post Bellum consists of numerous journalists and historians, who are collecting the life stories and memories of witnesses of important historical events. And oh, have Czechs seen many. Experiencing the Nazi invasion of (then) Czechoslovakia in 1939, 40 years of living under communism, and everything suddenly ending with the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
Visiting the exhibition Paměť národa (Memory of a Nation) allows you to hear the stories of the survivors, stories of people who have lived through two totalitarian regimes and have transitioned into the crazy world of capitalism we live in now.
Climbing the stairs to Prague Metronom, where up to 1962 stood the majestic Stalin Monument, doesn’t quite prepare you for what you’re going to experience. Especially not when the skies are blue, it’s October and your phone shows you it is 23 degrees Celsius outside. Stopping every few steps to take photos of the view — and honestly, to catch your breath — might prolong your way to the top. Tip: start your journey up from the tram station Čechův most.
When you reach your top, certainly use the time you have to explore the place. Still referred to as ‘Stalin’ amongst the locals, this place is full of skaters and other young people just chilling, enjoying the view. Immerse yourself into some of that carelessness, because the exhibition won’t leave you indifferent.
It consists of two parts — the multimedia installation on the right-hand side and the testimonies of people living through it all on the left-hand side.
The multimedia installation, even though very well made, can leave you a bit confused, especially if you don’t know anything at all about the history of Czech Republic. Nevertheless, that part is about experiencing it, and it will definitely make you feel other stuff besides confusion.
You’re going to find yourself on a square with a German voice coming out of the speakers, people raising their hands and exclaiming the well-known “Heil, Hitler!”. Driving in a death carriage to unknown might make you feel dizzy and it could also feel like you’re moving for real. There are more peaceful moments, too, like autumn leaves falling from the trees; but even that leaves you with a feeling of unease somehow, because you sense something tragic is about to happen any second now.
After 15 minutes of emotional rollercoaster, you exit out of the dark cage into the blinding light. The contrast is quite shocking and your eyes might need some time to readjust. While transferring to the part of the exhibition with people’s testimonies, you might take some time to look at the boards with additional explanation and photographs about the totalitarian period. Entering the second part of the exhibition, complete darkness overwhelms your senses all over again. In the literal and not so literal sense. You can save yourself by using the flashlight on your phone or you just try to get to your seat without falling over.
Six flickering screens welcome you. By the way, that goes on for quite some time, so there should be a warning beforehand about possibility of a seizure.
A person appears on all of the screens, each screen showing a different part of their face. The testimonies begin with people recalling Nazi Germany’s invasion of then Czechoslovakia in 1939. One man clearly remembers being careless and happy that day, coming home from school. Careless and happy, until seeing the looks on his parents faces when they realized what happened. Probably the most striking testimony from this period was a man with a distorted smile on his face, recalling the sweet smell coming from the chimneys in the camps. “It was the smell of burning human flesh,” he explains. The most shocking thing about this whole exhibition is not just the words the survivors used to tell their stories, but their eyes — one can clearly see on their faces how they’ve been transported to another time, another life, in their memories. At the end of every period, you learn the names of the people and a short version of their fate.
The longest totalitarian regime Czech people lived under, was in fact the communist regime, so the fact that the exhibition takes place under the rubbles of a Stalin monument, is poetic in its own sense. What’s most shocking about these testimonies, is the sharp contrast between people telling the horrors they experienced during the Communist era, and the people saying that life was good back then. As one of the man put it: once a communist, always a communist.
It all ends quickly, with the Velvet Revolution in 1989, that marks the end of communist domination. Czech people have to adapt overnight again, and what was normal for them yesterday, isn’t acceptable anymore today.
If you think about it, Czech Republic is an interesting country.
Second world war survivors, people who suffered and lost everything under the Communists, people who were the Communists; all of them living together on 78,866 square kilometers. It is going to take some time before the generations change and the young people are able to turn a new leaf — although there is, unfortunately, always the collective memory of a nation left.
Until then, organizations like Post Bellum (actually from Latin “after the war) will have to light the way with projects like this.
Paměť národa is expected to run until December, but the organizers hope they will be able to establish a permanent, publicly funded museum to totalitarianism, which the country lacks.
There is some opposition, as the Prague City Hall wants to change the space into a contemporary art gallery. Ironically, they plan it could be opened in five years. A five-year plan … sounds familiar, right?
