Members from the opposition Stacilo! and Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) failed to push through a proposal yesterday at the South Moravian regional assembly that the region distance itself from the upcoming Sudeten German congress in Brno.
Their request to the regional assembly to cut ties with the congress, and withdraw subsidies from the Meeting Brno association, was not approved. The association invited representatives of the Sudeten German Regional Association to Brno, but is not organising the congress.
About 20 opponents of the Sudeten German congress attended yesterday’s session, carrying Czech flags and flyers. They cheered the opposition’s proposals but did not comment further. Toward the end of the session, several of them took the floor and spoke against the congress, citing crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II.
The congress is organised by the Sudeten German Regional Association (SdL), which represents the interests of Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, and their descendants.
The 76th edition will be held in Brno from 22 to 25 May, for the first time in the Czech Republic. The Sudeten Germans were invited to Brno by representatives of the Meeting Brno festival, which is an association for the promotion of cultural activities. Among other things, the initiative organises the March of Reconciliation in South Moravia, which commemorates the expulsion of Brno’s German inhabitants after the war.
In mid-April, the topic of the meeting was also on the agenda of the Brno City Assembly. At that meeting also, several protesters attended the meeting. Brno Mayor Marketa Vankova (ODS) supports the congress of the Sudeten Germans.
Brno assembly members did not approve the resolution supporting the congress, but neither did they approve a proposal to cancel the event, only taking formal note of the information about the event. They did, however, agree to welcome reconciliation efforts. The Brno-born playwright Milan Uhde supported the congress at the meeting, even though he himself experienced the Nazi occupation, and part of his family perished in concentration camps. Opponents of the event labelled him a traitor.
Speaking at the session of the South Moravia Regional Assembly yesterday, Bohumil Smutny (Stacilo!) proposed that they take note of the amendment to the subsidy agreement that the South Moravian Region concluded with the Meeting Brno association. According to him, the addendum should specify non-reimbursable expenses related to festival activities and directly or indirectly connected with the congress. The proposal failed and the item was not included in the agenda.
Assembly members from the opposition ANO also criticised the grant for Meeting Brno. “The region provided financial support specifically to Meeting Brno, which invited the Sudeten German Congress to Brno,” said Vaclav Trojan, chair of the Brno branch of ANO. “However, at the time we approved the four-year subsidy for the cultural programme, the topic of the Landsmannschaft and this congress was not mentioned even once. I find that very unfortunate.”
Some three million Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. According to a Czech-German commission of historians, between 15,000 and 30,000 people lost their lives. During the previous more than six years of Nazi rule, some 320,000 to 350,000 people were killed in Czechoslovakia.
