The StB were used as an instrument by the communist party to show their power, they intimidated, spied and even forged false allegations and evidence against anti-communists. Their aim was to keep any talk against the party and therefore chance of uprising at a minimum. One of the many visible actions they took against the Czechoslovakian people was by trying to destroy or erase any signs of their revolutionary actions against the regime. One of these was the self-immolation and suicide of Jan Palach in 1973, the StB tried to destroy any memory of his action by trying to stop the demonstrations that occurred at his funeral as well as exhuming his body after burial and cremating it. An anonymous body replaced his at the grave site, reassuring the communist party that they had deprived the Czech and Slovak people of a martyr. It is not until October of 1990 when the cremated remains were returned to their rightful resting place. Actions such as this were seen as normal for the StB, as it was very important for them to keep the communist agenda.

The StB now

Though the StB was dismantled and dissolved in 1990, their headquarters still remains in Prague. It is currently being used as the police headquarters.

Some members of the public that we spoke with felt that this was not a coincidence as some members of the StB still held powerful positions in companies, businesses and even the police force. This is not meant to be the case, as with its dissolving in 1990 former members of the StB and associates were banned from specific and powerful roles such as that of a police office, government official etc.

Support for the opinion that this rule has not been adhered to exists in a lot of sources some of which can be seen at the bottom of this post, showing that perhaps the StB still has former members in powerful positions.

http://www.jrnyquist.com/bolshevik_inquisition_3.htm

http://www.prague-tribune.cz/2003/9/7.htm

                                                             Mwen Fikirini

Source: Photographing Prague Architecture (1922-1968)

“One of the symbols of communism, everyone who been around Europe knows panelak can be found in France, if you look at south cell it’s one of the biggest panelak in France, in Czech republic it depends on the location, you can be part of the cities with panelak which are beautiful with good transports and some that are isolated. Now I talked about shortage, the same shortage that there was with wages was the same with housing, I remembered that my family, it was so hard for them to get a flat because they could not buy a flat. So we had to wait for the regime to build a new one and it took the regime 15yrs to build a flat… for some people that was quite a long time.

Yes it was a solution to quiet a massive shortage in housing and people were all glad for having this, not all the buildings were that bad, some of them were in beautiful location. What the problem was…the management of the building where you have 8 buildings and 40 flats. (I am talking about the panelaks where I grew up) I remember several things when the lights went out, it took days for someone to get it fixed because you had to call to get it fixed, there was no private sector who would fix the problem, you had to call the municipality  and they would say we would put you on the waiting list, our electrician would come and solve the problem in a few days, the same with the lifts systems as well. These are for common places as well as flats.

The flat was also owned by the state so the state was responsible for fixing it, this happened frequently that the people started to help themselves; I would say this was irresponsible form the government, under normal setting, you are a tenant, and you are investing in fixing up the place. People started developing close ownership of the flat. So when the regime failed on of the first question was to what is there to do with all this state flat, they had to find a way to give it out to people so the flats were privatised, so people where glad that they had one secured thing in their lives which was housing.

Again I am coming to my flat 8 stories 40 flats, 40 families. In 1994 each family got the chance to buy the flat which was on the condition that all families would do this, which not everyone wanted to stay or to buy. So there was a huge negotiation we had to renovate all the building, this went okay but there was no law about the management of the public space. So again the problem of lift and light management was still the same, it took some time to develop a strategy on how to solve the problem even though it did not work, one of the problem was, that we shared difference flat but who share the ground beneath the building all this little things lead to do with the ill management of the building and it started to de-tolerate which again was a huge contribution to all the bad image of housing.

The interesting thing about Czech panelaks which is difference from British housing, French housing, I would say even American housing, was giving their housing shortage which was distributed all around society. We had very great mix of social demographic mix in one building it was not like only poor people would leave there, we got professors, physicians and workers in the same building.”

Marina Gogeanu

Interview transcribed by: Lesoda Otu-Iso

I think its fair to say that Prague is a pretty spread out city. Roman lived probably 30 minutes from the central train station by car, but it was technically a Prague address. I think it was like Praha 10? As we get closer he tells me about how you can really see the Communist influence in the ugliness of the building construction in his area. I hear what he is saying but its not all that ugly, just very functional. The apartment buildings are all solid block type buildings that they painted bright crazy colors to make them a bit more pleasing. We roll up to his apartment and its really nice inside. From the feelings of apprehension and the anxiety of meeting him again was taking its toll on me. I ended up taking a shower and feeling more human again. His girlfriend, Iveta make me some lunch which was super awesome. I thought on the train I would be too tired to go out, but once I was showered and felt better I was ready to explore!

That first afternoon/night we went to this area near this open metro stop. We got out and immediately you are confronted by the beautiful river below. We walked and talked and Roman was a great tour guide. He told me lots of interesting little known facts and I was fully entertained by the impressive scenery. I think this day, or evening I should say, was literally one of my favorite of the entire trip. Prague had put on its best face for me that evening, and the sunset as we walked around was breaking me heart. I was so in love with the look of the city that day. You could see miles from a top this beautiful park. I wish I knew the name of it, and the nearby church and church wall, because if I knew the name I would recommend it to everyone going to Prague. My feelings of anxiety and apprehension from just being a bit too tired and travel weary evaporated on top of that wall.

Roman, being a local Prague guy, knew of a great outdoor pub close by that served the best and cheapest beers. I am pretty sure I asked him a thousand times what the name of the place was, and I am pretty sure it had no name. Maybe it did, but I couldn’t find mention of it anywhere. It was so beautiful watching the sun set on Prague, the weather warm, but not hot. The sky was so clear and all the stars were coming out. We had a real heart to heart moment that night. I was so incredibly happy that I had come to Prague, and I think me being there really closed a door for Roman as well. It felt like the universe was happy that I was there, and I was ok with being its little pawn.

I think it touched my heart being in that city. It’s hard to say quite why, but I will always think of that night and say, yeah best night of that trip.

Post Edit : the area that we walked around us called Vyšehrad. It is an old fortress that you can walk all around the wall overlooking the city. It is absolutely beautiful!

The bar is called Hospůdka Na Hradbách which translates to bar on the wall. The address is
V pevnosti 16/2
128 00 Praha, Tschechische Republik

I really loved it, so if you are looking for an amazing experience in Prague, go there. You won’t forget it.

Today Im going to write about an amazing city where I’ve been two weeks ago: Prague. The streets of this city part of the  Czech Republic are full of beautiful monuments and historic memory but there is also another face of this city that really surprised me which is the creative and artistic atmosphere that surrounds it. You could perceive this artistic facet in the Wall of John Lennon, but if you want to avoid the touristic aglomerations, just take a walk around the city and you will discover musemus,galleries or just little pieces of art decorating the walls of Prague. But also at night you can find really artistic and original locals where you can take a drink listening  the  beats of the latest musical trends; Cross Club, where I’ve been in my first night is a good example. This club is ornamentated with recycled scrap and its rooms are full of lights effects creating an underground atmosphere that combines perfectly with the music and the people that you can find there. If you preffer something more commercial you should go to Karlovy Lazne, one of the biggest clubs in Central Europe, with 5 floors with different music, an ice bar and quite a good price ( 6€ aprox.)

The night life in Prague is amazing, for sure but if you go to visit it, be sure to not forget the day life which is also really nice. I encourage anyone to visit the Charles Bridge and the Castle, where you can have a panoramic view of the city. But in my opinion, the best way to visit a city is to walk around it and not focusing only in the touristic points, this way you can really enjoy the best of Prague and discover the heart of the city.

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I hope you enjoyed the post, and dont forget to visit again!

Chedes

The nice thing about next week is I only have class Friday…. All of my classes cancelled class and then Wednesday is Labor Day in Europe so obviously no class that day, and then just my gender studies paper and final are next Friday and then everything else is the week after that…. aka my last week here. I am so not ready to say goodbye to everyone here and Praha my home…. but I guess it will be nice to be home.

My name is Ivan Hurnik, I was born in Czechoslovakia in year 1954, September 22^nd. It was really a hard time of communism. I was growing up during the time of communism in the 50s and 60s.

My father was an Army pilot; he was flying on the Mid 15 and one of the Mid15 almost killed him, so he stopped his career as an Army pilot… And processed to work for Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In the beginning of his career, as a Foreign Affairs Minister he was working as a diplomatic courier, so he visited all the countries in the world. But at the time of 1986, my father was working in Czechoslovakia embassy. My father took part in the political movement of Prague spring 1968, while he was still a minister. At the end of the spring he was sent to Africa Sudan as a Czechoslovak diplomat, so our family left Czechoslovak on the 25^th of July 1968, just one month before the invasion in August. Our family was eight thousand kilometers away from Prague. Of course it was a very big surprise what happened there, we were even affected in Sudan because of the Invasion, we were imprisoned in our house in Kartun, we were guarded by Sudanese police, we were not allowed to go to school, my father was not allowed to go to the embassy for a week.

In 1969 it was exchange of the general secretary of communist party of Czechoslovakia, instead of Alexander Dubcek, Gustav Husak took over and became general secretary. He was very good friend of comrade Brenzhnev in Moscow, Gustav said it was not an invasion, it was an international help. The communist party in the year 1970 made some kind of questioning of other members of the party, and who said during the questioning that it was an inversion, was dismissed from the party. So my father did not say it was an inversion, he only asked, if it was a help, why did the come with tanks? Of course he got a simple answer; he was kicked out of the party in the year 1970, but the main reason why he was kicked out, was that he took part in the political movement of Prague spring 1986.

When he got back from Sudan in May 1971, my father was fired out of the Foreign affairs minister, and he was unemployed for three years, in a socialist country, which was officially impossible. My siblings and I were not allowed to study, travel, or have good jobs, because our father was fired out of the communist party. Just imagine we finished school in Africa, but we were not allowed to finish secondary school in our country.

I did not have a passport for nine years, when I ask for a passport from the foreign police, I was told three times to go to eastern Germany… you can’t travel with an ID card only, which means you can’t travel anywhere else because they had power to say so.

From the beginning, I was working in a company which was called Foreign Trade Corporation. Companies were not allowed to import product directly, they were doing it through foreign trade corporation. I was using English every day at work, so my boss told me to go to the management and ask to take the English exams which will give me 30 crown over my normal wage per month.  30 crowns which is approximately just one dollar more, my salary was 800 crown in the year 1971, and I was just asking for 30 crown over the wage. When I went to the management office, and said to them I want to take the exams for English, since I am using English every day, The asked me do I speak Russian and I said to them no I don’t, they said to me you can’t have 30 crown for just English.

Until the first half of the 1980s there was nothing to buy, let say the tropical fruit, oranges, bananas, melon etc, we usually have them three or four times in a year in a shop, it is not like now where we have them every day, and it was very expensive. Life was completely different.

My experience with communism is not good;[...]

I have a group of friends… we know each other from the 60s, in that group there are two friends which I know each other from the 60s, because we were in elementary school from the first class. We were always going to the pub every Friday, just for drinking, of course… and the boys were studying at the university; we usually talked about politics and other things and also singing forbidden song sometimes… And…Someone heard us and said something to the police and three boys from the group were in prison for six months!!

Later on there was a trial, but the secret police called STB made a little mistake, because during the time of communism, when the police is searching your apartment, the usually have a witness with them it could be anybody. But the police made the search without a witness, so they lost the trial.

Anyway the boys were kicked out of university. Later on one of them immigrated to Austria. Then there was another trial, it was said that the guy who immigrated was at fault. So the others were allowed to study again. It was normal.

In fact if you said political jokes and someone heard it, you will go straight ahead o prison. Also, it was a crime to have one dollar bill in your pocket, it was not allowed to have foreign currency, it was a crime.

In simple terms what does communism mean to you?

Very bad time, and very bad memories, because I was not allowed to travel, but now I can go anywhere I want to, I don’t even know where I have my passport, because I don’t need it. The last time I used it was when I was travelling to Ukraine, but now within Europe I don’t need my passport. I can now say anything I want to say, and of course if I have the money, I can buy anything I want to, But during communism, if I want to buy a car, I will have to have good friends.

During the time of communism everything that was good was only for the members of the party, we can say we had two categories of inhabitants: members of the party and non-members, if you want to have well-paid jobs, your children going to school, and travel around, you have to be in the party, really everything was just for the members of the party.

But life in Czechoslovak was best in all the socialist country, because Czechoslovak was used as a shop window of socialism, because we had boarder with western Germany and lot of people from Germany and Austria were coming here for business purposes. But the life here was best compared to other countries, let’s say in the Soviet Union it was much worst, because in the Soviet Union, everything was under control of the KGB, let’s say you were living in one city and you wanted to travel to the another city which is just 100/150 kilometres away, you will have to ask for a permit to travel around in your own country.

Marina Gogeanu

Interview transcribed by: Lesoda Otu-Iso

Prague. My second option of going abroad. I was really close to going here and I loved the city, but I am happy I chose Barcelona.

My friends and I went to Prague for my friend Frish’s 21st birthday. We were in Prague from Thursday to Sunday. What a trip.

Thursday. We took a mid-afternoon flight and got into Prague around 5pm. We checked into our hotel, the Sheraton and put our bags down and freshened up for dinner. My friend wanted sushi, so we got a recommendation from other friends and went to Yami. The rolls there were delicious. After dinner, we went back to the hotel to relax a little and get ready for the night out. Our first stop was a bar called N11. We had a few drinks before going to the main spot, Karlovy. This is a 7-story club in Prague, including an icebar on the main floor. Each floor plays different types of music such as radio hits, oldies, hip hop, dance, etc. We tried out each floor and we there until about 5 in the morning.

Friday. Time to explore the city. We were still pretty exhausted from the night before, so we slept until about 11ish. To cure our tiredness, we went to Bohemia Bagel and had coffee and bagels. We decided the best way to see the whole city was to do a free walking tour, which lasted a few hours. Our tour guide’s name was Martin and he was a native Czech. He took us all around the city and we saw the Old Square, Tyn church, a Baroque church, the Astronomical Clock tower, Charles University, the opera house, the New Square, Powder Tower, the Black Madonna and Cubism, Franz Kafka statue, Spanish synagogue, the old new synagogue, and the Pinkas synagogue. The tour ended at around 5:15 near the Charles bridge, so we decided to walk on the bridge and find the John Lennon wall, the prime example of being abroad. It took us a little while to find, but we finally found it. We all wrote our names on it and found the names of our friends who had been there a few weeks before us. We took the typical abroad pictures with the wall and then left to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We decided on Mexican food and went to a restaurant called Cantina. We had margaritas, fajitas, quesadillas, etc. This was my favorite night of going out, as we went to the famous 80s/90s club called Lucerna. This is one of my favorite periods of music, especially the 90s. We had the best time and were thee pretty late also.

Saturday. This was an early and intense day. We had to be outside of our hotel at 8:15 to be ready for a tour of the concentration camp, Terezin. This is about an hour away from Prague and a very well-preserved concentration camp. This was my first time ever at a concentration camp and it was horrifying, upsetting, and extremely sad. I cannot put my experience into words, but the victims of this camp and all of the victims of the Holocaust will always be remembered. After this experience, we went back to the hotel to nap before dinner and going out. We went for thai food at a restaurant called Lemon Leaf. Most of us had chicken pad thai. It was delicious. A lot of the people we knew studying in Prague were not going out, but it was our last night and we decided to go out anyway. We went back to Karlovy and had another amazing night.

Sunday. We took an early flight back to Barcelona.

Prague was an awesome experience and I highly recommend visiting it.

Černý created the piece in response to the question of what role the intellectual would play in the new millennium, as Freud was, in Černý’s words, “the founder of psychoanalysis – the intellectual face of the 20th century”. Like his other works, Man Hanging Out starts as a surprise to ordinary sensibilities, then intimates the artist’s frustration with the way things are (or were) and, for those in tune with the message, insinuates the personal questioning of the status quo. Man Hanging Out is a fine example of the reason why Černý is considered a leading sculptor and a pop-culture icon.” (OpenConceptGallery n.d.)

Reference: OpenConceptGallery (2012) Man hanging out by David Cerny [online] available from <http://www.openconceptgallery.org/portfolio/man-hanging-out-by-david-cerny/> [22 April 2013]

Marina Gogeanu

“This hotel is known in Prague under the name of Hotel Internazional, which was the original name. It is a hotel which was constructed in the early 1950s, which was a period of the style called ‘socialism realism’ and this was after the communist regime took the power in the 1948. This was the only official style of the early 1950s, so new buildings and new housing estates were built only in this style which was a style that took elements from the history and also linked it to some decorative elements, and it was meant for the working class, for the working people to bring joy into their everyday lives.”

Marina Gogeanu

Thursday night after we got back from the game my friend Val from high school who is studying in France right now came and visited me for the weekend. It was so great to catch up with her, we talked about everything you could imagine…. school, our programs, life… everything. 

On Friday I had a day trip with my program to Kunta Hora in the Czech Republic to see the Bone Chapel and some churches and the silver mines. Val was a tourist in Prague that day which she was super excited for. So I left at 9 to go to Kunta Hora and we saw the Bone chapel which was really weird since its just bones decorating the whole chapel, they are bones from people that died in the Plague.

After we went to the Bone Chapel we went to the Cathedral of the Assumption of our Lady which was like any other church.

We then went and saw the St. Barbara Church, which is a good example of late gothic in Bohemia.

We ended the trip with going to the silver mines, it was so cool, we had to wear a white coats with a white hard helmet. It was the greatest thing ever. We even got to go into the mines, which was so sick… walking in narrow spaces and spaces that are shorter. It was so exciting and adventurous, I loved everything about it.

On Saturday Val and I spent the day sight seeing around Praha, my home, and it was so much fun. We saw the Lennon Wall, the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and so many other things. We had a great day and I loved showing her everything about my home.

On Sunday we did the same thing with sight seeing, we went to Petrin Hill and did a lot of other things. It was the most beautiful day ever too so we were loving it. It was sad when she had to leave but it was fine, we had a great weekend and we could not complain about it. I also had the Ellie Goulding concert last night with the roommies and others and the concert was so amazing. Ellie literally sounds the same live as on the radio and CDs it was the greatest thing ever and she is so cute too. I had a blast at the concert with my girls. It has also been a crazy week being home while the whole Boston Marathon Bombing has been going on. I kept up with the news, and I still can’t believe it but I felt as hurt as everyone in the states because Boston is my home and I love that place. On the Lennon Wall someone wrote something about it and Val and I took a picture with it since obviously we love Boston and its our home and since we aren’t home we can at least feel like we are supporting everyone we know out there.

Also I read this little article and it made me feel bad for the people in the World and how smart we actually are….. Like seriously Czechoslovakia has not been there for over 20 years.

http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/48547675807/the-definitive-people-who-thought-chechnya-was-the

“David Černý is one of the most popular and also most controversial artists at the moment. Here, in Czech Republic, his way of working is an art of provocation, so he often creates works which are very offensive to some groups of people; so, on one hand, people notice him a lot because very much often his artworks are very much popularized and criticized by the media and he’s also known abroad for that.”

Pavel Kalina:

The Zizkov television, the babies crawling

“It’s joking. It’s a bit parasiting, of course, of the past, but it’s a joke, it’s a groovy joke.  But I think, the author of the building, of the tower, which is still alive, probably was not happy. You find tv tower many times and today they are not necessarily. and… it is stupid to have this tower on the skyline of Prague, especially …. On the historical district. On the other side, it is a part of the history.  The babies are also today a part of history, but I think that the babies,.. the power.. the tower.. it is useless..the babies are just added to the architecture..”

Marina Gogeanu

“The communist architecture has many negative connotations, of course. The architecture [...] of those townships or settlements built in 1960s, 1970s, are of course not taken as the good address. In the same time, the townships din not change islams, anything like that. They are normally inhabited by the new generations, but usually are the old generations of people. Many of those buildings were renovated, in the last 2 decades, many of them were given façades  for example, so sometimes you would not recognise that they are from the time of the communist regime. So, I think normal people do not take these houses as good addresses, good architecture, as a good place to live. But they are cheap, they are a form outside of the historical cities, so in this aspect is not completely a bad place to live and they are sometimes defended as urban textures by historians of architecture who are interpreting these buildings as a part of our heritages.

I think very problematic. I myself live in a town from 1994, which was designed in the 1980s. And I’m not completely satisfied with the building, but I live there since 1994, so.. but it is not a typical housing, but I think it is a normal place where you  live in present day Prague. In present day Prague, people do not live in the historical centre. The historical centre is futurist and for managers and international accountants, but not so much for normal people.”

Klara Mergerova

“I’m a historian of architecture, so I, myself see the qualities and of course I try to show that there are buildings which were constructed during the communist regime, but which still present some qualities, but I think the general opinion is that those buildings were there to abrupt intrusion and most people refused even to think about qualities connected to the regime, so even buildings which are considered from architectural point of view are not appreciated by the general public. But there are of course, more and more tourists, which try now to see them as something specific for this region and who come to see them.”

Pavel Kalina

“Here in Prague, the  most despised project of the communist era was the so called Palace of Culture. It is just behind the border of the historical city, but even this project, which is ugly, even this project was no exception in the European architecture in the 1970s, 1980s, including Western European. You will find many ugly buildings in Western Europe as well. This building was not much bigger, not much ugly than the lords houses… I don’t like… I would never say that …in this aspect… that the communism expressed the totalitarian character in every house, or in every part of the town. It would be very, very exaggerated.”

Klara Mergerova

“Then you have Czech Department Stores, which are also found all over the country and also in Prague. We have some really good examples in the city centre (Department Store Kotva) which are representants of the most quality architecture of the period.  On the other hand, they are also disputable and not maybe … the quality isn’t fully recognized until today because they are very monumental  and people still see them as the residues of communist architecture. [...]

These buildings were financed by the communist regime, so they reflect (the department stores) reflect their aims to compete with the other world, the Western commercial centres, etc. The other buildings reflect the aim to impress and to prove the power of the regime.”

Marina Gogeanu

Interviews transcribed by: Marina Gogeanu

“The very people that were sentenced or killed on the board are about 300… this number is not high and…

this is a problem of those politicians [...] who want to keep the one-sided view of communism as a pure repression that did not allow their citizens to live good lives at all… the repression was quite deep especially at the end of the 40s and beginning of the 50s with short trials especially collectivisation. This was quite violent not only in Czechoslovakia; collectivisation was a nightmare for many people at the same time; this kind of violence was exerted in Czechoslovakia and it [...]was different from the Soviet one and from other countries because many people and part of Society as I mentioned already expected somehow the very promise of Stalinist order and there were many volunteers who did this kind of violence by collectivising.

These believing communists, [...] this continuity is quite typical for Czechoslovakia… the people who participated in the Stalinist project and were very active in exerting violence voluntarily, when they were seeing the disastrous consequences of their actions… they began to change their mind somehow.

Back to your question… it is strongly linked to what we were talking about at the very beginning, communism in Czechoslovakia especially in the Czech land, Slovakia is different, communism had as an idea, as an ideological goal that had to be realised…  had strong support of the Czech population (of course, not of the whole population) we have to reconstruct the attitude of various social groups… of course the peasants whom the fields were taken, these were not happy,  but other peasants who could have worked in the centralised agricultural etc would have been happy, but great part of the urban population supported the Stalinist model and afterwards some kind of reform, socialism etc.  Then 70s and 80s were completely different in this respect cause the political elite that represented the post 1968 regime knew that these attempts to activise society are disastrous precisely the new model of communism.  The Stalinist were proud to be violent. The issue of radical violence is completely away because the normalisers knew it is much better to hide the violence from the normal citizens, in prisons, schools, hospitals.  It was very successful model for Czechoslovakia even though the people rejected afterwards because the regime was not able to keep its own promise of non-violence of the quiet life, with the violence of the 2^nd half of the 80′s.

So the issue of violence is extremely important in Czechoslovakia and an issue that is not opened completely because the very master narrative is built on what you have mentioned, by killing people, by imprisoning them in concentration or work camps and this is something that works for Czechoslovakia but works predominantly for the beginning of the 50s but does not work for Prague Spring and for the 2^nd half of the 60s, 70s or 80s where the violence was deliberately minimised by the state, was exerted on the groups that were condemned or stigmatized within the society… I have in mind the forced sterilisation of the Romanian women which was very typical violence practice of the 70s but was highly approved because the people did not resist it and majority of people did not think it was abnormal.  The techniques of power in the 70s and 80s was much more clever and they knew that over exerting much can be counterproductive and this is a problem of the Czech and communists today cause they cannot find too much violence and it is impossible to find some kind of violence resistance in the Czech case.

The people who want to keep the totalitarian explanation of communism in Czechoslovakia have huge problems because of the fact that there were not as many victims as in the Soviet Union or Romania and these are the problems of the contemporary hardliners who try to keep the totalitarian model in explaining and who feel it as a kind of mission that they have to, and they go to schools explaining that communism was violent and that it brought only scarcity and violence to the people and they feel a great deal of loss of something moral if they would admit that the Czech society voted for the communism and that the majority of population accepted somehow the system and there were many parts of the Society who even profited from that and were happy even with the violence of the state… and this is something in my view that needs to be introduced in the Czech public realm and has to be profoundly discussed because I am not very content even though no one of us wants something coming back, on the other hand the attempt to keep the totalitarian explanation does not work when looking into the sources in the Czech, Slovak case does not work is a desperate attempt and its better to be open-minded and to talk about issues that can be unpleasant on first glance especially regarding the popular support of the communist Regime that had different roots in the 50′s and 70′s… but let’s say that these things are unpleasant for the people to remember… it is unpleasant to tell that the majority of population did not do anything in contrast to Hungarians, Romanians and Poles; there was huge resistance there at all times and this is a problem and from my view it would be much better to open some issues that do not fit into totalitarian views on one hand but can have important or would have important healing consequences for public discussion in the Czech case.”

 Marina Gogeanu

Lauantain kunniaksi tuli tehtyä visiitti työkaverin yksivuotiasta moikkaamaan ja siinä sivussa tekemään kevyt kahden tunnin treeni. Yhtä pitkää maratontreeniä en olekaan tainnut koskaan tehdä, nyt kuitenkin oli kyse voimatreenistä joten palautukset olivat pitkiä ja siksi tuli kulutettua kaksi tuntia salilla.

Sali ei ollut oma vakiosali vaan mentiin kollegan omalle Kotvaan eli ankkuriin, kyseessä on ostoskeskuksen neloskerroksessa sijaitseva sali aivan Prahan keskustassa. Kotva on laitesali jossa on vain yksi kyykkypaikka ja yksi penkki. Näitä toki Praha on pullollaan mutta erikoisen paikasta teki se että siellä ei ollut yhtään ylimääräistä tankoa. Tasan kaksi siis löytyi, yksi kyykkyyn ja yksi penkkiin.

Kotvan kyykkyhäkki

Salilla ei ollut ruuhkaa ja siksi saimmekin heti vara(ste)ttua kyykkypaikan itsellemme. Kyykkyhäkki olikin hyvä, helppo säätää ja asettaa turvaraudat yms. Treenin tarkoituksena oli siis testata missä maksimit menevät. Mikä olisikaan parempi keino aloittaa maksimitestaus kuin kyykky, juuri se liike mikä on sujunut viime aikoina huonosti eikä tänään sujunut yhtään

Tuli mielenkiintoinen päivä kun sekä kyykkymaksimi että penkkimaksimi oli tasan satasen. Periaatteessa jos penkistä nousee satanen niin kyykystä pitäisi mennä ainakin joku 125, mielellään 150kg. Fiilis ennen salia oli hyvä ja ajattelin että tänään voisi nousta joku 120 mikä on tässä vaiheessa ihan ok. No, ei ihan sujunut. Molemmat polvet valittelivat, vasen ennen treeniä ja lämmitellessä, oikea treenin aikana ja jälkeen. Mitään pahaa kipua niissä ei ollut, lähinnä sellaista pientä ärsyttävää mikä on koko ajan mielessä vaikkei se itse treeniä haittaisikaan. Positiivista oli se että se satasen nosto oli suht helppo mutta taas selkä petti, alaselkä vähän notkahti nostaessa mutta jaloissa riitti kyllä voimaa. Toisin sanoen kun saan keskikehon pysymään lukossa (mikä yleensä ei ole ollut ongelma) niin isommatkin painot kyllä nousevat sieltä pikkuhiljaa.

Penkissä oli omat ongelmansa, Kotvan penkki oli ehkä sentin tai pari kapeampi kuin mihin olen tottunut ja sen huomasi heti siitä kun nosti painot telineestä niin tuntui kuin tanko seilaisi puolelta toiselle. Itse nostot olivat suht helppoja mutta tosiaan hämäsi tuo penkin kapeus. Omalla salillakin on sellaiset penkit että pitää asetella itsensä tasan oikeaan nostoasentoon ettei lavat putoa penkiltä pois, tämä ei kuitenkaan haittaa koska yleensä onnistun saamaan nostoasennon oikein.

Ettei treeni menisi liian helpoksi niin heti kyykyn ja penkin jälkeen tehtiin kolmas voimanostoliike eli maastaveto. Mave sujui muuten ok mutta isoin paino mitä kokeilin, 190kg, nousi juuri ja juuri. Olin jo ehtinyt toivoa että saisin taas 200 rikki mutta ei. Senkin takia olisi ollut hienoa nostaa 200 että olisi saanut yhteistulokseksi 400kg (joka on oma ennätys vuodelta 2006, sen jälkeen en ole kokeillut). Jos ensi kerralla vaikka kuukauden päästä saisi kyykystä oikeasti jonkun 120 niin sittenhän tuo 400 pitäisi olla helppo. Kohta tulee vaan kiire jos meinaa tämän vuoden aikana saada kuntonsa sinne 500kg tienoille…

Kun raskaat liikkeet ja maksimikokeilut saatiin alta pois niin otin vielä kevyen hauisjumpan. Viitisen sarjaa jossa mukana pari pidempääkin. Yhteensä koko treeni kesti noin 1h 55 min mikä on kyllä oma ennätys. Paljon tuli jauhettua asiaa ja asian vierestäkin mutta kyllä siinä ihan treenikin tuli tehtyä, 31 sarjaakin joista ehkä kolmasosa suht kovia.

• Kyykky: ~10 x 20kg, 6 x 30kg, 40kg, 52,5kg, 3 x 70kg, 80kg, 2 x 90kg, 1 x 100kg, 4 x 60kg
• Penkki: 10 x 20kg, 6 x 50kg, 5 x 70kg, 3 x 80kg, 1 x 90kg, 1 x 100kg, 5 x 60kg
• SJMV: 4 x 70kg, 90kg (supersarjana olankohautusten kanssa)
• Olankohautukset tangolla: 4 x 70kg, 90kg
• Mave: 1+1 x 130kg, 1+1 x 160kg, 1 x 190kg, 3 x 160kg
• Hauiskääntö mutkatangolla: 6 x 20kg, 2 x 6 x 3okg, 15 x 20kg, 12 x 20kg
• Ojentajat taljassa: 2 x 6 x 65kg

Huomasin noin kahdeksan aikoihin illalla että unohdin syödä tänään Sattuuhan sitä, vähähiilarisesti kun elelee niin kone polttaa rasvaa energiaksi, ei ole niin väliä syökö joka päivä. Tämä nyt ei ehkä palautumisen kannalta ole se kaikista optimaalisin tapa mutta ei pelkoa, kyllä mä normaalisti syön ihan riittävästi. Annetaan kropalle vielä vähän proteiinia tässä illalla niin eiköhän se siitä. Hyvin kuitenkin jaksoi pari tuntia jumppailla ilman ruokaakin. Nyt lepoa ja ensi viikolla lisää pumppailua.

Ciudad de buenos anfitriones y buenos amigos, de gente loca por la cerveza y por el té y por los perros, de gente corriendo tras los tranvías… Ciudad acogedora.

1. juoksutreeni jäi väliin koska tänään (perjantaina) rentoudun ja valmistaudun huomisen kovaan treeniin
2. selkätreeni on nyt turhan lähellä lauantain kovaa treeniä (1,5 päivää)’
3. aivan järkyttävän kuuma ilma veti mehut pois treenistä

Ihan jees iltasää

Näin meillä Prahassa vielä hetki ennen kuin menin salille ILTAyhdeksältä. Hiki tuli jo siinä kun sitoi kengännauhoja kiinni eikä se johtunut siitä että on läskissä kunnossa. Onneksi koko loppuviikko muistuttaa enemmän suomalaista juhannusta, kelpaa jääkarhunkin elellä täällä etelässä.

En tiedä aiheuttiko aurinkoinen ja lämmin päivä sen että kaikki rantakunnonhakijat yhtäkkiä tajusivat kesän olevan ovella mutta ruuhkaa oli kyllä ihan kiitettävästi. Ei oikein päässyt tekemään mitään ja jouduin kikkailemaan huoneesta toiseen.

Noh, itse treeni. Jouduin aloittamaan vipunostoilla sivuolkapäille SEISTEN koska yhtään penkkiä ei ollut vapaana. Olkapäitä ei toki ole pakko treenata istuen vaikka siten pystyykin keskittymään paremmin kun on tukevampi olo. Syy miksi halusin penkin oli se että tarkoitus oli tehdä yhden käden soutua käsipainoilla ja siinä penkki on suht tärkeässä roolissa. Jälleen kerran, onnistuuhan sekin ilman mutta kun isoilla painoilla haluaa leikkiä niin tukeva alusta on parempi kuin polviin nojailu.

Yhden käden soutu meni hyvin ja tein uuden ennätyksen sarjapainossa, käytin taas vetoremmejä apuna että pystyin sormien kanssa tuskailun sijaan keskittymään selän treenaamiseen. Tein myös treenin lopuksi suht tiukan sarjan alataljaa lapiokahvalla ja koska kyseinen kahva on liukas, käytin siinäkin apuna remmejä. Hyvät olla käytössä kunhan muistaa treenata myös niitä sormivoimia joskus.

Toisinaan on ihan ok käyttää remmejä

Kaikenlaista pientä selkäpumppausta laitteilla tuli tehtyä mutta muistin myös pohkeet. Laitoin taas kymmenen kiloa lisää sarjapainoihin ja toivoin että menisi edes viidentoista toiston sarjoja. No, yllätin itseni positiivisesti kun tuli 3 x 20 ja päälle vielä 17 ja 15, täytyy siis pohtia jos ensi kerralla laittaisi taas lisää painoa.

Tarkoitus oli tässä treenissä tehdä leukoja ja lisäksi ottaa joku kokonaan uusi liike kokeiltavaksi. Uusi liike jäi pois ja kun selkä oli jo väsynyt niin keskityin tekemään muutamat negatiiviset leuat. En usko että tällä hetkellä menisi montaakaan leukaa, kaksi varmasti mutta tuskin neljää. Siksi onkin hyvä tehdä vain liikkeen negatiivinen vaihe, saa kunnon rasituksen ja tälläkin saa voimaa kerättyä.

Tässä joku kevyen jumputuksen tahtiin tekemässä negoja:

Itse tein vain nihkeitä ykkösiä, sen verran väsytti selkää. Oli kyllä todella hitaita toistoja, sain aika rauhallisesti laskettua alas joka toistolla. Kokeilin erilaisia otteita ihan vain huvikseni: leveää myötäotetta, vastaotetta ja hammerotetta, jos sitä nyt tuolla nimellä voi kutsua.

• Vipunostot sivuille kp: 10 x 10kg, 2 x 6 x 12,5kg
• 1 käden soutu kp: 6 x 32kg, 40kg, 50kg
• Ylätalja: 6 x 50kg, 60kg
• Kulmasoutukone: 2 x 6 x 85kg
• SJMV: 2 x 5 x 70kg (olankohautusten kanssa putkeen)
• Olankohautukset tangolla: 2 x 5 x 70kg (SJMV:n kanssa putkeen)
• Pohjekone seisten: 3 x 20 x 180kg, 17 x 180kg, 15 x 180kg
• Negatiivinen leuanveto: 4 x 1 (kehonpainolla)
• Alatalja lapiokahvalla: 6 x 60kg, 70kg, 80kg

41 minuuttia siinä meni hikoillessa. Hyvä treeni siihen nähden että oli liian kuuma ja joutui koko ajan vaihtamaan paikasta toiseen ruuhkan takia. Tästä hyvillä mielin lauantain äijätreeniin Massa-Antin kanssa, katsotaan jos irtoaisi jotain ennätyksiäkin kun kerrankin on joku varmistamassa. Toivottavasti tulee hyvä treeni ja pysytään ehjänä.

Here is what he said:

“The perception of Romania and Czechoslovakia was also ambivalent in this way; on the other hand Romania was perceived as a country where the communism had the most violent practices.  The Securitate was very well known in the whole Eastern block and was referred to as a kind on non-human or was synonymous for non-human approach of the system towards its inhabitants, towards the people.

At the same time, the Czechs and Slovaks saw the social situation of Romania which belonged to the worst ones in the whole Soviet block and it was very bad but on the other hand they knew the political representation who was very violent and repressive at home refused soviets in 1968 to invade Czechoslovakia and Romania even did not provide any technical, nothing… cause as we know the Germans did not come because it was not acceptable till 20 years after the war that the East German army to come to Czechoslovakia, so the East Germans stayed at home but provided, they provided  technical equipment for the Soviets; but Romania refused even that and this was the main ambivalence of perception of Romania  at the end of the 80s and it was of course, no public topic in the time of the 70s and first half of the 80s because of the brotherhood of Ceausescu and Hauseck… or both of these political representations with were strongly (specially the Czechoslovak one was) strongly bound to the Soviet politics but to some kind of hard administrative line of building socialism with a hat of communist party… so it became a topic in the very days of upheaval or in the splendid days of November 1989,  the fact that the Romania had not invaded Czechoslovakia.[...]  The people knew somehow but did not care too much because Romania is not the direct neighbour so they accepted the fact that Romania was not participating in any way at the occupation fell into oblivion a little bit in the public sphere.”

Marina Gogeanu

Transcribed by Rose Muzvondiwa

(Alexander Dubcek) ”was extremely popular in the time of Prague Spring. People were shocked there can be someone who is open minded, who is flexible in ideas and can talk in variety of languages… who has fantastic contacts in the whole world and is recognised as the person who represents the Democratic Socialism which was an idea broadly acceptable in 1968, the very notion of democratisation, of solutions. He was the person who was also admired at that time.

Everything changed with the Soviet occupation in August 1968. Already this negotiation of the Soviets political representation and the Czechoslovak one was very difficult because both sides had to do some compromises that were not perceived positively in their home countries.  Alexander was pushed afterwards to be an ambassador to Turkey because it was a way of removing him from political negotiation.   Eventually he was dismissed from this position and became a forest worker in Slovakia… and had to do a hard job. Afterwards he rose again in the second half of the 80′s on the background of renewed attractiveness of the idea of democratic socialism, of course.

He was the person most popular in the days of November 1989 because everyone knew him as the representative of what people really wanted at that time (in 1968), that was the democratic socialism but now, he was much older and had less personal/physical power or possibilities and then, the developments did not go towards the democratic socialism but rather towards democratic capitalism or privatised  which was not his idea and unfortunately came his death on the highway.”

Marina Gogeanu

Interview transcribed by: Rose Muzvondiwa

“This is a very complicated, hard and complex topic and we need [...] long time to explain precisely post war period when the Slovak political representation hoped to have some kind of autonomy even though they did not agree with the split of Czechoslovakia in the 1938 and then especially in 1939.

They hoped to keep some kind of autonomy they were not successful at the time between 1948 and 1968 did not recognise any special rights for Slovakia then the federation came.  Federation was one of the most important things taken from the Slovak perspective.  October 1968 the introduction of the federation, of some rights in Education and culture was perceived positively. that was one of the reasons why the normalisation regime was so much more accepted in Slovakia than in the Czech land.

This of course had radicalised after 1989 when the public space was opened, not only for democratic forces but also for regressive movements such as the national one.  And the Czech Neo Liberal ruling elite was able to take part or to do some kind of agreement with the Slovak political Elite and to split the republic because this was somehow attractive for both side.

The Czech were not limited in their attempt to introduce neo liberal system in the Czech land and the Slovaks political elite were not limited in the introduction of their Nationalist Populist national; it was a kind of deal between these two elites in 1991/92 and they suddenly realised it was attractive for both sides so they just did.

At the same time I just want to add just one idea (not resisting the split) it was unconstitutional, I have to say it openly because there was no poll about that, because it is written in the constitution that when the sovereignty of the state changes there must be some kind of referendum but this political elite I was talking about it in 1991/92 knew that majority would reject that so they did not do any kind of popular decision making they just decided.  But with that I do not want to be under thin eyes because it is difficult to talk about these things, today the Czechs and Slovaks approve of this because they see somehow it brought bad things but also good things and best thing was there was no war. The Elite knew, the popular rejection of the split would come which led them to do split technocratic ally, from that point of view, the split even though its acceptable now has a big deal of internal legitimacy problem. “

Marina Gogeanu

Interview Transcribed by Rose Muzvondiwa

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“The communist regime in Prague did not change so much the character of the historical city.

The communist regime in Prague, in the Former Czechoslovakia was slightly conservative in many issues, including various aspects of architecture.  It means no large destructions or important changes were made in the historical centre of Prague (and it was very similar in other historical cities in Czechoslovakia). The main problem was rather the negligence or raw investments in historical buildings… because many of them ended in bad technical condition.

But what was the real problem and what is even today a problem of Czech towns, it is more what happened around the historical centres, not exactly in the city centres. It means in the time of the communist regime, of course, just like in Western Europe people needed housing, people needed jobs, especially the young families and the regime was not able to supply housing possibilities for large segments of population. There was no market there, there was no market for these housing, these buildings, these flats; everything was seen…the distribution of housing was completely in the hands of the state, so it was no ideal situation.  And, as a result, they constructed large settlements, large townships around the historical city centres. There were many problems:  the housing standards were generally low, or sometimes there were problems with transportations, there were always problems… or the cultural life of those not living in the historical towns…but in fact, I would say never, maybe with some exceptions, the regime didn’t care about the existential problems with supplying people with the most important items or transportations. Anything like this. It would be very exaggerated[...].  It was a political organisation, which of course caused some problems, especially with housing. I would never say that everything was bad, everything was completely bad or that  it was impossible to live in the country… anything like that.

It is even a defence when compared to other parts of Eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia, in the times of the  communist regime, the monuments, including those monuments created to religious side, were not destroyed, with few exceptions. Especially in the bold religion of the Czechoslovakia, but generally they kept them in good conditions. The maintenance was usually sponsored by state, because state was the only institution able to finance all these projects, so it was not so much of destruction compared to the situation in Russia where many churches were physically destroyed and destroyed on purpose. This was different. [...]In this aspect, the conservatism of Czech communists was not that big.”

Marina Gogeanu

Interview transcribed by: Marina Gogeanu

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