Here I review as part of my Prague Quintet Series:

National Memorial Prague: Bus 207

I took Bus 207 to - near - well not near really (thanks Gemini - ever been anywhere you know nothing bitch?) - the National Memorial on Vítkov Hill. Concrete, vast, Albert Speer-esque, built in the years prior to the Nazi takeover. Robbed by the communists post war and then repurposed after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. It’s seen some changes.

I took the bus there from Old Town as directed by AI. Bought a 30 minute ticket via my PID app. But I activated it too soon as the bus driver was having a - probably union inspired - break. He chomped on some gruesome meat sandwich with one hand, fag in the another, dick in the last as he hung out of the bus doorway giving some serious ‘don’t fucking ask me a question’ vibes to the queue waiting at the stop. A naive tourist asked him when the bus would leave in Japanese accented English. Taking a bite of his sandwich, and a drag on his fag, this civic employee gave the earnest enquiry the full Czech version of, ‘fuck off, I’m on my break, bitch’.

Anyway, it took thirty minutes by bus to pass through the mandated eight stops and negotiate the Prague traffic. I had twenty seconds left on my ticket. So, being young and fit, I decided instead to walk back to Náměstí Republiky. Which took me twenty minutes. Twenty-five with my hawk-like, fuck the data allowance, unnecessary, scrutiny of Google Maps on my phone. There’s a lesson to be learnt here, children. Remember it. I’ve preached this gospel before - read my Paris walk guides. Or my London walk guides. It’s often cheaper, quicker and more interesting to walk. Don’t be a sheep. And here in Prague, you get to walk off all the fucking beer and those heavy dishes they keep serving me. And I keep ordering. More sausages, vicar?

Should you go to the National Memorial? Yes, of course. The views over Prague are spectacular. It’s free and the statue of national hero Jan Žižka is vast and impressive. It’s a good anchoring point to the city and, being in the opposite direction, a quiet counterbalance to the tourist mandated Prague Castle. Best of all, it was completely empty. I had the place almost to myself. The park surrounding it is also beautiful.

Museum of Communism: The Once and Future State?

And onto the Museum of Communism. Bottom Line Up Front: These commies were evil, murderous soul-destroying bastards. Like the Nazis they are the (often forgot/forgiven) bad guys of recent history. Maybe if Stalin had a comical moustache and kept his murderous instincts to one racial group, our collective view would understand what a satanic bastard this guy was. But, Uncle Joe followed his egalitarian principles in all things; he - and his Czech fellow-travelling bitches - just killed anyone and everyone. Did you spill my pint? Look at my bird?

Control always leads to repression which leads to the gulag. Every time.

The museum was laid out - like the Oskar Schindler Factory in Krakow - in chronological order starting with the foundation of Czechoslovakia after WW1. I must admit, I was drawn to the subject so I read everything on display. Each panel, each exhibit was clearly labelled with explanatory notes in both Czech and English (sorry French! Germans; well, you know. You know.)

What I found interesting is that a) there always was a large communist movement in Czechoslovakia b) the economic conditions of the country weren’t great (an unhappy proletariat) c) the Brits (and the French) sold them out in Munich undermining their massive prepared defensive lines on the German border. This sell out ‘gave’ the Sudetenland and all those defences away leaving the rest of Czechoslovakia easy prey to Hitler’s later brutish expansions.

And then onto the communist era. Like Poland, out of the frying pan and into the fire. No wonder these ex-communist states leapt into the EU. There’s not much difference between the Nazis and Communists. The horseshoe meets with these two extremes. What was it that Orwell said about a boot stamping on the human face forever? A leadership cult combined with control of labour, industry, media, thought, family life, travel, money (the 1953 devaluation fucked any Czechs with money). Just a grim life with petty restrictions, pointless activities and savage repression. Fuck! The Czechs were butt-fucked in the 20th Century. Like the Poles and many others. You forget that living in God’s own sceptred isle.

Thank god we escaped this in Britain.

History: Not everything is a Munich sell-out. Except when it was

History is right there in front of you, if you’re prepared to look back just a tiny amount. But increasingly, we’re not. The Tudors have been au courant for so long now, perspective is lost. Even our modern obsession with the Nazis is superficial and one dimensional. Poland. Belgium. France. Russia. Dunkirk. Battle of Britain. Yeah. Yeah. GCSE syllabus. But what about Greece? Bulgaria? Yugoslavia? Czechoslovakia? Burma? Yeah, I’m reading Churchill's History of the Second World War so I’m newly educated (you can’t get enough autodidaction).

Hitler bad and, er, everything that isn’t total war is another Munich these days. But what, my friends, was the actual deal in that original Munich Agreement? A sell out, but of what? Does anyone know? A Czech sell out. The future of Czechoslovakia without anyone from that country being present. Thanks Chamberlain. Revisionism (ie, the game obscurantist historians play where everything you know is wrong) will applaud you for simplicity. But this plucky nation remembers.

I’m reminded of Tim, idiot-clever, going to Iceland years ago on a business trip and being schooled by my hosts about the British take-over in 1940. Who the fuck knows that? I didn’t. WW2 is not all Dunkirk and D-Day. It really was a world war and all these smaller nations remember and we, well, we don’t. Sideshows and footnotes in our Island Story.

Tim’s Mandated Histories - Brave Paratroopers

The National Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror at the crypt of St Cyril and St Methodius (Operation Anthropoid)

Now if you have a couple of days in Prague, it’s mandated that you go to the Dancing House which is rather interesting architecturally. Good for a picture anyway and not much more. What you probably won’t do - but should - is visit the crypt of St Cyril and St Methodius Church which is about 200m up the hill away from the river. This is where the seven brave (British trained) Czech paratroopers made their final stand in 1942 after assassinating that Nazi scum Heydrich who ruled Czechoslovakia as Reich Protector.

It’s tastefully done. Again, panels are in Czech and English and explain the background, the plot, the botched but ultimately successful assassination. The brutal Nazi repressions that followed and the ultimate victory of the Czechoslovakians. Most moving is that having proven their resistance credibility with this act - an act which provoked the shocking Nazi response - Britain, in the form of Anthony Eden the Foreign Secretary recanted, followed by De Gaulle, their shameful Munich Agreement appeasement. Finally, the Brits did right by the Czechs and it’s gracious of them to acknowledge this in a moving panel. This small gesture on our part meant so much to this nation.

Into the creepy crypt itself where most of the paratroopers made their final stand (two others were shot in the church itself) after being sold out. It’s cold, claustrophobic and not much changed from the pictures. Wounded, caught and with no escape, they finally took their own lives rather than surrender to the Nazis. The Nazis then revenged themselves by wiping out their families, any acquaintances and frankly any fucker they chose. This is the nature of autocratic regimes.

What is somewhat heartbreaking to know - thanks to my earlier visit to the Museum of Communism - is that the brave Czech fighters who fought with the British and Americans and helped liberate Czechoslovakia were then persecuted by the Communists as not being sufficiently loyal to the new post war regime and Comrade Stalin. They’re honoured now as patriots and this small (free) museum tells their story. You should go. I took no pictures inside out of respect.

**The Memorial to the Victims of Communism Petrin Hill**

Quiet Reflection

Walk back on the other side of the river and choose your bridge - not Charles - to get back to Old Town. I found I prefer the opposite bank of Smíchov and Lesser Town. Tourists don’t really go here. It’s more peaceful, more normal; life is good and full of trees and happy families playing in parks and business people snatching a coffee and talking cheerfully together.

All is how it should be, not as once was. It’s best to remind ourselves of that every now and again.

Quotidian Notes / Further Reading

Part of my Prague Quintet Series of Articles about my recent (Sept 2026) trip to Prague. Read them all. I cover art, comedy, Bohemian Cafe Society and nights out on the town.
For a touristy type of further reading, start with Prague Castle - Is it Worth a Visit?.
The National Art Gallery Prague and a Baroque Concert is a good place to read up on high arts in Prague.
For more low brow Prague insights, try a Comedy Night and Tech Bro’s. Less serious. Apart from the comedy.
I mentioned Poland a few times. It’s almost a companion piece. Read my Krakow Trilogy which covers museums, history and Polish cafe life.

Repressions and Redemption: Nazi & Communist Museums in Prague