End of War in Jiří Mahen Library

No less than three events of the Year of Reconciliation series will be organized this Thursday, 21 May, by Jiří Mahen Library. At 5 pm you can listen to author's reading from the novel The Expulsion of Gerta Schnirch by Kateřina Tučková. The book and its adaptation by Feste Theatre and HaDivadlo has largely contributed to raising the awareness of post-war violence in Brno. The novel won the  Magnesia Litera Readers' Prize in 2010 and was also nominated for the Magnesia Litera Prize for Prose, Josef Škvorecký Prize and Jiří Orten Prize.

The reading will take place in the building on Kobližná 4, where also a discussion with Vladimír Filip, co-author of the publication Brno 1939-1945. Years of Unfreedom, will start  at 6 pm. The book shows nearly a thousand photographs, the vast majority of them never published. The cross section of the war years in Brno starts from the period before and immediately after Munich, the occupation of the city and the visit of  Adolf Hitler on 17 March 1939. The publication describes military parades, Winter Help collections, various celebrations and visits of contemporary personalities in Brno.

If you are interested in military history, you should not miss the lecture by Tomáš Javorek  Czechoslovakian Fortifications 1938: Yesterday and Today. This event will be accompanied by screenings of historical footage and will be held on the same day in the library reading room on Mozolky 52. You will learn details about the initial plans for the defence of the country as well as the final concept of 1937. You will see draft designs of light and heavy fortifications that included artillery cabins, swivel towers, mortar domes and watchtowers. You will learn about individual types of weapons and their use in various types of buildings.

Tomáš Javorek will also speak about the fate of the fortifications after 1939 and in the post-war decades, as well as the current status of these facilities. Although after the adoption of the terms of the Munich Agreement there was no longer any use for them and they fell into enemy hands, the border fortifications illustrate the commitment of our ancestors to defend the country and show their engineering skills.

Jaroslav Ostrčilík