The Czech Lion Has Taken Back the Castle

Hello from Prague! I am so happy to be here - especially because this is my first time abroad! Today was our first full day in the city. After leaving the hotel around 11 a.m., we started walking toward the Prague Palace, then on to Letná Park, next stop: Museum of Communism (by way of the Jewish quarter), and finally, food at Meduzzy.

As we walked through Prague, learning about Czech history, I was reminded of the differences between our two nations. Today Professor Elavsky used the saying, "The Czech lion has taken back the castle" to describe how the Czechs finally won their freedom from communism. This struck me as interesting because America has never been taken over by another country. We have always had our freedom since we fought for it in the Revolutionary War. Because of this, our history is largely a point of pride. We are proud to be Americans because, to us, America stands for excellence, freedom, and leadership.

The Czechs, however, have a very different perspective about history. They have almost always been controlled by another empire. As we discussed in class, this makes it very difficult to tease out the Czechs' attitude. For the most part, as long as they were comfortable, they were fine with living under an empire. Depending on how you look at it, this attitude can be seen as complaisance or resilience.

One story that showcases this tendency is the building of the Stalin Monument, which was unveiled in 1955. It was the world's largest representation of Stalin and it was placed in Letná Park (atop a hill) for all to see. However, shortly after it was revealed, de-Stalinization spread throughout Europe as people began to reveal his crimes. Embarrassed, the Czechs decided they needed to get rid of the statue, so slowly, they began to take it down until it had disappeared. As it came down, no one dared speak a word. To this day, Czechs will avoid talking about it even though they know it exists.

It seems strange to us, but under Communism, Czechs had to adopt this attitude to survive. Any given day during this time period, they could be forced to change their minds or gloss over a part of history because the Party dictated it. This reminds me of the doublethink concept from George Orwell's 1984. In the book, doublethink requires people to accept certain notions even though they may contradict each other. When it became inconvenient to remember the Stalin Monument, the Czechs decided they didn't. It was better to rewrite the past than suffer the embarrassment that it brought with it.

I think it would be unfair to say that Americans do not change history - there are definitely parts we sugar coat - but overall, these myths only solidify the achievements of our nation. One example of this is our tendency to gloss over the fact that many of our founding fathers owned slaves, which is very hypocritical when you consider that they were fighting for their freedom from Britain. But, I would argue, that we do not try to hide this history. We acknowledge it because we are secure in our identity as a free nation. I would argue that in some ways, the Czechs are still a bit insecure about their identity (and in some cases divided, as there is still a large population that supports Communism). I am so excited to learn more this week!

Thanks for reading my first post! Let me know if you have any thoughts. I also included an excerpt from 1984 below that I think sums up doublethink well.

"To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary."