prague

Today was a mixed bag of things as we wandered around in Prague trying not to get too wet (snow had been forecast but it was raining to much for that) We found the John Lennon Wall which was a wall used by the dissidents in the Communist era to voice there opinions it was always painted over and it wasn't long before things would reappear on the wall. The wall is on the Knights of Malta compound which is near the French Embassy and I guess dissidents decided that it would be good to voice their protests and not get beaten for it in a place that is constantly under surveillance by the French, When Lennon was murdered his face became a symbol for the peace movement and no matter what happened and how much graffitti was on the wall became his face would always reappear. even after communism fell the wall has been used for people to express themselves TImes have changed though and the wall has become a cultural site and protected so only a section can be used by the public so it will be interesting to see if it has the same draw card that it did when people could vent their feelings on the wall. From here we wandered to the Jewish Quarter and I thought I had my fill of tears at Auschwitz but wandering through the Pinkas Synagogue was enough to set me off again, Etched on the walls are most of the names of the 78.000 Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust, and like a prayer in the background the names of those people are spoken and where they died. Then there was the artwork, children's drawings found at Terezin after the war (Terezin was not an extermination camp but of the 150.000+ people that passed through the gates only 17.000 survived (30,000 died within the walls and the rest were sent to Death Camps) The camp was seen to be a 'model camp' and even was visisted by the Red Cross in the early years so it had to have some semblance of normality so the children were allowed to have art lessons and drama classes and many pictures depicting their lives were found and have been displayed, along with the dates of when they lived and died. The rest of the day was spent wandering, enjoying the sites and sounds of Prague (even in the rain it is a beautiful city) and I have really enjoyed my time here.

#cZecHrePubLic #pRagUe