These are the words that the students will always remember after the history excursion to Prague on 5th December. The whole programme started in the Army Museum in Žižkov, where the students took part in the lectured educational program for schools with the topic of First Curfew. The students could learn some useful pieces of information about the life of resistance fighters during the Protectorate Czech and Moravia between years 1939 and 1941.
Then we moved to the expositions and we could see a lot of exciting and interesting artefacts connected with this era. We also had some time to grab a cup of coffee in the café Kupka on the top floor of the museum with stunning views of Prague.
We didn´t finish our excursion here. We walked to the Heydrich Times Hero Memorial to Reslova Street. We walked so it was also quite a sport performance as there was a very cold day in Prague and we had to walk over 4 kilometres to the Monument. Military History Institute in Prague is in charge of both places – the museum and the memorial. The students had a unique opportunity to look inside the St. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral and its crypt where the seven parachutists were hiding after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. They fought their last battle in the crypt on 18th June 1942 and died there. Their word towards the Nazy soldiers while trying to survive: “We will never give up!” still resonate in the crypt. The most emotional part of the excursion was when the guide switched off the lights in the crypt and we could experience for a while the real atmosphere in which the parachuters had to spend several days.
The students could also see a short document reconstructing the events of the assassination and the heroic death of the parachuters.
“Good” end of the event, a usual delay of the Czech Railway train back finished our fantastic excursion.
Mgr. Martina Walterová, loose translation
