Sunrise over Brno
I have been invited to give the keynote speech at a symposium in Brno on Hermann Ungar and Frantz Kafka, where leading experts will gather to discuss their lives and work. It’s pretty daunting, 80 people, and will involve simultaneous Czech translation. In addition there will be an interview in the Malý Mehrin, a small Jewish cultural centre which is planning to build a museum near the station, chaired by Táňa Klementová, a local historian. Then there will be a VIP visit to Boskovice where we will be hosted by the mayor. Wow! And all because I’m Herman Ungar’s granddaughter!
Where to start? Big shout out to Ryanair who delivered us cheaply and painlessly direct to Brno, in contrast to my recent BA experiences. Whisked off to our hotel, the International, a dreary-looking but comfortable modern building where we are ushered into a suite (all paid for by the conference). Then an evening stroll around this very attractive city, the Manchester of Moravia, known for its textile industry – largely Jewish – before the war. Also home to my Great Great Uncle Max who married out and came to live here as a maths lecturer, having been harried out of Vienna through anti Semitism. His memoirs of life in Brno can be found here (in English).
The main square hosts lively market of local foods and drink – plenty of beer; and nearby there is a ‘cabbage market’ where local farmers bring their produce every day.
The next day we hike up to the castle, where my father’s uncle and stepfather Richard Kohn was incarcerated. He was married by proxy to my grandmother in 1939 to try and save him – but too late. He was arrested in 1939 and imprisoned here before being sent to various camps including Dachau, ending up dying in Buchenwald in 1942. Brno, like Vienna has such a dark side lurking beneath its splendour. For instance the conference hall where I speak – the ‘new’ Town Hall – has a balcony where Hitler gave a speech when he invaded…
We have booked a tour to see as much as we can. We are the only takers and Robert Kpert, a local historian, arrives and whisks us off in his car which he says will be more interesting. He is overwhelmed when he learns who I am and even turns up to the symposium later and suggests a street in Brno be named in Hermann Ungar’s honour!
The Cabbage Market
And he certainly packs it in! We whizz around in his stream of consciousness but see so much – like Veveří castle where Winston Churchill spent part of his honeymoon. To get there we drive past the reservoir, with is charming lakeside houses and boats, through thick forests, and rolling hills, astonishingly beautiful with the autumn colours just beginning.
We also manage to see an ancient villa marooned amongst the modern buildings in the industrial trade fair area, now a media station and the most important building in Brno, the Villa Tugendhat, designed by Mies van der Rohe, but commissioned by the rich Boskovice Löw-Beer family. There is an exhibition there of the work of Adolf Loos, born in Brno, who became renowned as an architect in Vienna. Those Moravians get everywhere!
Then to my fist engagement at the Malý Mehrin. En route we visit the one remaining synagogue in Brno – the great synagogues were burned enthusiastically by the citizens of Brno at the behest of the Nazis. It was built in 1934 for ultra-orthodox Polish emigres. Now the remaining Jewish congregation meets here for worship (800 returned out of 13,000, now down to a few hundred). Designed by Otto Eisler, the renowned homosexual architect, who extraordinarily survived Buchenwald and lived to a ripe old age in Brno where he resumed his architectural practice. Guess what – he is a distant relative!
The Malý Mehrin is packed with people of all ages; it is a lively space dedicated to exhibitions relating to Jewish life in Brno. Táňa has arranged a translator so I have to speak very slowly! The talk can be seen here. It was wonderful that friend and genealogist Julius Muller who helped trace my family popped from Prague/Vienna and stayed for dinner. The atmosphere was warm, the questions good and the wine flowed! Thanks Táňa; it was special and I wish you and Martin luck with the fund-raising for the big project!
The following day I am to open the conference, so after a typical Moravian lunch of hors d’oeuvres (ham in aspic, cream cheese filled ham rolls etc; soup, Svíčková (traditional boiled beef in cream sauce with dumplings!) and a creamy dessert, time to go. Be assured I only had the main course, no dumplings! The room is extraordinary – the main council chamber for Brno, fin de siècle and full of imperial-style ancient Greek/Roman motifs and statues, in trompe l’oeuil! We find this all over Brno and Vienna.
We had experts on Ungar, Prof. Ingeborg Fiala-Fürst and former minister and playwright, Milan Uhde, and the world expert on Kafka, Reiner Stach, author of a 3-volume work on his life work – and me! I think it went fine, although the simultaneous translators had to ask me to slow down! As no one spoke much English it was a good opportunity for me to practise my rusty German! I slipped away during the first language presentations as there was no simultaneous translation for me – but I do have copies of the papers in English if anyone is interested. The event rounded off with a speaker dinner – this time fish not red meat!
You can hear the talk by clicking on the audio at the bottom of the page.
Altogether it was an honour and privilege to share my family memories with such an esteemed audience, and I hope that this helps resurrect Hermann Ungar’s memory.
Our visit to Boskovice will be the subject of the next blog.
vickygoestravelling 
October 11, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Ahhh Brno, my hometown 🙂 I hope you had a great time there!