Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beneš got the Allies to sign on to this idea.
Shortly after the end of World War II, three million people
of German ancestry were forced to leave their homes. Millions
of Germanic people in Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and elsewhere
met with a similar fate. Many of these families had been living in
these areas for centuries. The methods employed to expel them
included murder, rape, and plunder. (Today, we'd call it “ethnic
cleansing.”)
In 1945, Český Krumlov lost 75 percent of its population,
and Czechs moved into vacated German homes. Having eas-
ily acquired the property, the new residents didn't take much
care of the houses. Within a few years, the once-prosperous
Sudetenland was reduced to shabby towns and uncultivated
fields—a decaying, godforsaken region. After 1989, displaced
Sudeten Germans—the majority of whom now live in Bavaria—
demanded that the Czechoslovak government apologize for
the violent way in which the expulsion was carried out. Some
challenged the legality of the decrees, and for a time the issue
threatened otherwise good Czech-German relations.
Although no longer such a hot-button diplomatic issue,
the so-called Beneš Decrees remain divisive in Czech politics.
While liberals consider the laws unjust, many others—espe-
cially the older generations—see them as fair revenge for the
behavior of the Sudeten Germans prior to and during the war.
In the former Sudetenland, where Czech landowners worry
that the Germans will try to claim back their property, Beneš
is a hugely popular figure. His bust in Český Krumlov's Hotel
Růže is one of the first memorials to Beneš in the country. The
bridge behind the Old Town has been named for Beneš since
the 1990s. The main square—the center of a thriving German
community 70 years ago—is now ironically called “Square of
Concord.”
the strings on their favorite fairy tale (80 Kč, daily 10:00-21:00,
Radniční 29, tel. 380-713-422, www.inspirace.krumlov.cz). For
more on Czech puppets, see page 141.
Torture Museum:
This is just a lame haunted house: dark,
with sound effects, cheap modern models, and prints showing off
the cruel and unusual punishments of medieval times (80 Kč, daily
9:00-20:00, English descriptions, Náměstí Svornosti 1, tel. 380-
766-343).
Egon Schiele Art Center:
This classy contemporary art
gallery has temporary exhibits, generally featuring 20th-century
Czech artists. The top-floor permanent collection celebrates the
Viennese artist Egon Schiele (pronounced “Sheila”), who once
spent a few weeks here during a secret love affair. A friend of
