A Trip to the Czech Republic: The Story of The Search for Vucic
When you think of the Czech Republic, a country in central Europe, what comes to mind first? I am afraid that many people will think of the Adventures of the Good Soldier Shuai ke (Chinese translation of "Good Soldier Shuai Ke"), which is a satirical masterpiece created by the Czech writer Jaszek, whose literary value and social influence are as the French novelist Bullock said: "The Good Soldier Shuai Ke is one of the greatest classics today." "I remember watching the movie of the same name when I was a kid. In the Czech Republic, everyone knows that the "good soldier Shuai ke" is mentioned, and the good soldier Shuai Ke has almost become a symbol of the Czech Republic. Its creator, Hašek, was praised by European literary critics as a Czech writer on a par with Rabelais (author of The Legend of the Giants) and Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) of the 16th century. However, I will not talk about the good soldiers here, but leave it to bragg and his story later.
Another famous Czech who is also very popular in China, a journalist, writer, and anti-fascist fighter, Julius Vöček, whose book "Reports Under the Gallows" was one of the classic works of the revolutionary tradition education in China after 1949, and was still in elementary school, but at that time did not fully understand the contents of the book and the truth it expounded. It is not until I become an adult that I have read more books, traveled more roads, and seen more people of all kinds that I have a deeper understanding and understanding.
After writing and completing the classic book "Report Under the Gallows" in prison, Vucic was hanged by the German Nazis in Berlin's Berochens Prison on September 8, 1943. In his honor, 8 September is celebrated annually as World Journalists' Day.
I. Vucic and the Report Under the Gallows
Julius Vöczek was a Czechoslovak literary critic, writer and journalist. Born in 1903 to a working-class family in the Smykhov Workers' District of Prague. When he was a teenager, he studied very hard, and he liked to run to the old bookstore to buy books. From his youth, he deeply felt the miserable life of the working class. Under the influence of the October Revolution in Russia, he actively participated in revolutionary activities, participating in the "May Day" march at the age of 15 and joining the newly established Czech Communist Party at the age of 18. In 1921, he entered the Faculty of Letters of Charles University in Prague, and from 1928 he became the editor of the Red Rights Newspaper, the party's organ newspaper.
After 1936, when nazi Germany's clutches of European appropriation reached czechoslovakia, Vucic, like his comrades, wrote many sharp and sharp articles exposing Nazi conspiracies with strong patriotic enthusiasm. On March 15, 1939, the Nazis' iron hooves shattered the beautiful mountains and rivers of Czechoslovakia, the Nazi German army occupied the Czech Republic, the Czech Communist Party was forced to go underground, Vuchek resolutely stayed in Burg to persevere in the struggle, and in 1941 was elected a member of the Party Central Committee.
On April 24, 1942, at 10:00 a.m., Vucic came to meet at Yelinnek's house, and was about to leave when the Gestapo, armed with a short gun, smashed the gate and arrested them. Vucic was pushed into a car and imprisoned in Poncrats prison. As a result of the traitor's betrayal, the Gestapo asctor clarified Vucic's identity as a member of the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party and editor of the Red Rights newspaper. After his arrest, Vucic was subjected to all sorts of inhuman torture in Nazi prisons, subjected to numerous brutal beatings and tortures, and despicable inducements to surrender, he was arrested on Friday, but woke up again on Tuesday night. The Nazis, seeing that Vucic was on the verge of death several times but refused to confess, seized Vucic's wife and tortured her in front of him. Vucic was extremely angry at the inhumane practices of the fascists, and his wife was also very heroic, insisting that she did not know Vucic. When the enemy took his wife, he knew that this was their eternal skill, and despite the grief in his heart, he still parted with a happy and resolute gaze.
In those inhumane days, Vucic overcame physical pain with superhuman will, lived and fought, maintained a positive spirit of optimism, and organized and led political struggles in prison. His spirit moved a Czech guard and helped him get some pencil heads and shredded pieces of paper, and he used these rudimentary tools to write the world-famous immortal work, the long documentary literature "Report Under the Gallows".
On June 9, 1943, Vucic was taken to the "Empire" for trial, where he died for 411 days in Poncrats prison. Vucic stopped writing. On 8 September, Vucic was murdered in Bloxensy prison in Berlin. In this book written with blood and life, Vuchik recounts the struggle with the Nazis and his arrest and imprisonment, expressing his love for life and his deep attachment to his homeland and homeland. In May 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the release of Vucic's wife, she found the Czechoslovak guard, asked for Vucic's manuscript, and sorted it out and published it. It was only when the work, which embodied the blood and lives of Vucic and his comrades-in-arms, "The Report Under the Gallows," was able to meet the world.
The Report Under the Gallows is a documentary work written by Vucic. Since its publication in Czech Republic in 1945 after the victory of the anti-fascist war, the book has been translated into more than 90 languages and published in more than 30 editions, and has been widely circulated in various countries in the world. In the 1950s, two translated Chinese versions were released, which were widely circulated in China, which had a great educational and encouraging effect on readers, and Vucic became a model for Chinese youth. It was selected as the third unit text of the second volume of the second volume of the Beijing Normal University Edition of Chinese Language in 2014. The book concludes with the aphorism: "People, I love you, be wary!" It became a famous aphorism of revolutionaries all over the world.
The Quest for Prague: The Footprints of Vucic
1. Place of birth
In the Smykhov district of the Czech capital Prague, there is a long Duškovo Street, and at 20 Avenida is a five-story building with three rooms on the left side of the first floor of the gate, two of which were where Vucic and his family lived. Vucic was born here on February 23, 1903. On the beige façade of the building, above the middle of the two windows, there is a small stone slab, which is a stone monument shaped like an open book, and the page is engraved with Vucic's name and date of birth. The environment in which he grew up here had a very close relationship and important influence on Vucic's life and thoughts.
Looking out from his home through the window, on the grassy hillside across the street, there is a hut called "Biltramka", where Mozart lived and created. The street extends to the distance to a small cemetery called "Strana", which is quiet and picturesque, and the famous poet Neruda's "Flower of the Cemetery" has received many images and inspirations from here. From an early age, Vucic was able to skillfully recite many of the chapters and phrases in The Flower of the Cemetery. The subtleization of music and literature has cultivated Vucic's human nature and yearning for beauty, making him show his talent for poetry and drama from an early age.
Next to the building, on the street, there is a path that slowly rises up the hillside, and at the end of the ramp is the Linhof machinery factory where Vucic's father worked. As a result, the young Vuchik witnessed the hardships of life with workers and commoners at an early age, and thus grew into a hot-blooded youth who sought to change social injustice. He founded the weekly magazine "Slavs" at the age of 12, led a strike at the age of 15, joined the Czech Communist Party at the age of 18, entered the Faculty of Letters of Charles University in Prague in 1921, and became the editor of the party's organ newspaper, the Red Rights Newspaper, in 1928. While waging fierce political struggles, he also engaged in the creation and research of literature and art.
2. Place of arrest
Prague 14 is a secluded area far from the city centre, home to a large residential building, a Pomkolac prison nearby, and not far from a Situhi Street, where Vucic was arrested at 1133. 78 years ago, the owners of the house were the tram workers Jelenek, who were also members of the Czech anti-fascist organization, who used their home as a secret point of contact between Vucik and the underground resistance.
At ten o'clock on April 24, 1942, the German Gestapo broke into the building and captured Vucic. At that time, there were 6 people in the Yellinek family, and 9 Gestapos broke into the house and ordered the other 5 people in the house to raise their hands, but they did not find Vucic hiding behind the door. At this time, Vucic had a loaded pistol in each hand, and opened the safety in the moment the door was opened, if he shot at the unsuspecting Gestapo from behind, at a distance of only 2 or 3 meters, it would not be a big problem for them to kill and injure more than half of them, and the 6 Czechs would not be without a chance of defeating the remaining Gestapos. That scene should be the same as the hero in the Hollywood blockbusters we often see now or Chow Yun-fat in Hong Kong movies, with gunshots in his hands, bullets without false hair, and the villains fell to the ground one by one... Unfortunately, it was just movies and not life, and life was always more realistic and harsh than art. The real historical situation is that Vucic hesitated slightly, then came out from behind the door, left two pistols on the bed, and grabbed them.
Many people who embraced the philosophy of struggle and worshipped violent revolution questioned Vucic's choice, believing that he should choose to shoot in such a favorable situation, even if wounded or killed in a shootout, and could not let the Gestapo easily succeed. Some people also believe that Vuchik, who loves literature and art, is deeply influenced by the humanistic spirit, advocates humanistic values, and does not want to endanger the lives of the other 5 compatriots in the chaotic close-range shooting, no matter what the outcome of the gun battle, bloody casualties are always inevitable. Perhaps, Vucic felt that the Gestapo had come to arrest only himself, and that he could give up his resistance to save the lives of the other 5 people... No one can really accurately interpret and deeply understand what Vucic really thought at that moment, and everyone's interpretation inevitably carries its own value standards and emotional colors, and history is written in that sparkling moment of calcium stone - at most 3 seconds.
Today, 78 years later, walking into this tree-lined residential area, pushing open the iron gate of The Street At No. 1133, walking down five steps, there is a row of four-story houses in two colors, light yellow and dark yellow, and the first room on the right side of the building is where Vucic lived. The furniture and bookshelves in the room were unpretentious, there were some pictures hanging on the walls, the window screens fluttering in the wind, and the sound of children laughing and chasing on the high ground outside the iron gate. May they live forever in the sunshine and joy, and never again experience that dark, terrifying, and inhumane era.
3. Interrogation
Prague is divided into two parts: the Old Town and the New Town, connected by the Charles Bridge with 30 statues on the Vltava River, and the famous Wenceslas Square in the center of the new city.
Vaclavske namesti is the most important and busy day and night trade and social center of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is the representative of modern Prague. Built in the 14th century, Vazlasplatz was one of the three major markets planned for trade exchange when Charles IV founded Prague New Town, and was once the trading center of horses, which is actually hundreds of years old, because at the end of the nineteenth century there was a large-scale renovation and became known as the New Town. However, with the evolution of history and social changes, it has gradually become the site of many famous historical events in the Czech Republic, which have witnessed the founding of the Czech Republic, the end of World War II, and major historical events such as the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution, thus being given unique historical and political significance.
Wenceslas Street and Wenceslas Square, which are 750 meters long and 60 meters wide, form the heart of Prague's New Town. Wenceslas Avenue leads directly to the National Museum, and in front of the door stands a tall statue of the ancient emperor Wenceslas riding a horse and holding a battle flag, which is placed on a high-rise marble pedestal. Known as Prague's "Champs Elysées", this square street is lined with elegant classical buildings built in the early 20th century, and the colorful shops are lined up in lining, making it the most prosperous commercial district in the city. Built in 1930, The Baja Department Store is a typical pragmatist style building, a steel forest filled with the aroma of materialism. The casino next door, on the other hand, is all night long. The square is surrounded by a large number of hotels, restaurants, and large shops, and it is bustling with tourists. Walking down this historic, modern street, young street performers can be seen performing from time to time, dancing to the music of the 1930s songs. The square is surrounded by green spaces and seating for naps, and food stalls like ticket booths. At night, Wenceslas Square is even more heart-pounding and haunting, with neon lights on, expensive cars parked in front of the casino, and taverns, cafes, ballrooms and clubs.
Near Wenceslas Square is a splendid mansion called Pecheco Palace, which turned out to be the private residence of a millionaire Pecheco. On the wall at the corner of the building is a bronze plaque inscribed with Vucic's famous sentence: Man, be sober! and a sculptural image of an anti-fascist man with the date 1939-1945. Because since the German Nazi invasion of the Czech Republic in 1939, the Gestapo has occupied this building as its headquarters in Prague, and the beautiful and beautiful building has become a bloody and terrible hell on earth.
After his arrest, Vucic was taken to pecheco palace the same night and began a terrible day of repeated interrogation and torture. The basement of Pecheco Palace, even though the Gestapo's torture chambers and temporary cells were once used, now house a thematic memorial here. Stepping into the Pecheco Palace, into the underground level, in the dim light, a breath of killing terror swept over the face. The interrogation room was filled with all kinds of torture equipment used by the Gestapo to torture people, the dark cells were cramped and cramped, and the stretchers lined up on the ground and soaked with the blood of anti-fascist heroes...
The "cinema" described by Vucic in "Reports Under the Gallows" is actually a place to wait for interrogation, a spacious room with six rows of dark brown benches, no armrests and backrests, and the candidates must straighten their backs, legs together, put their hands flat on their knees, sit upright on the stools and face a bare white wall like a movie screen... The Gestapo ordered the subjects to reminisce about their past on the screen, as if they were playing a movie. Vucic writes in the book: "I have seen a movie about myself hundreds of times here, repeating the details of the film again and again, and now I try to repeat it. That was the first thing he would do after returning to his cell in Ponkorats prison every time he was tried, using the tip of a pencil to record what he had experienced on shredded pieces of paper. Only when you personally sit on those benches and touch the traces left by the years will you feel an incomparably strong shock in your heart, will you resent the cruel tyranny of Nazi totalitarianism, sympathize with the good and ordinary innocents, admire the righteous and awe-inspiring heroes and benevolent people, oppose the bloody and corpse-strewn war, and love the hard-won peace.
4. Monuments
Khorishowitz Station was called "Vucic Station" until 1989. This is the transport hub of Prague, the roar of trains, the vibration of the subway, the noisy voices, the endless flow of people... It merges into the eternal rhythm of year after year, day after day. In honor of Vucic, two marble pillars in the station hall are carved with a side portrait of Vucic and his famous words.
But with the political evolution and social development of the Czech Republic, there were speeches and trends of thought that denied Vucic. He is considered a deified figure overly praised by ideologically supreme historical narratives. As a result, the station and park named after Vucic were renamed, the statue of Vucic at the entrance of the park was moved to the Orsani Cemetery, and the National Museum no longer retained the statue of Vucic. The two marble pillars in the station hall are load-bearing and certainly cannot be removed, but the side head of Vucic on one of the pillars has been chiseled off, and the famous quote of Vucic on the other pillar has been preserved: "We live for joy, fight for joy, and we will die for joy." So, never associate our names with sadness. ”
The stones, statues and statues commemorating Vucic that were once ubiquitous in many parks and in front of large buildings in Prague are now hard to find. Only the Vucic monument, which stands in a street garden on the outskirts of Prague, is still intact, with a side portrait of Vucic carved in the upper part and a small poem in his memory inscribed on the lower part: "He is not dead, he is alive, and he is still shining everywhere, every person." ”
The clear stream outside the garden in the center of the street, flowing day and night into the distance, as if singing the words of the "Report Under the Gallows" that had been recited countless times: "I love life, for the sake of the beauty of life, I have thrown myself into the battle." People, I love you, and I am happy when you reciprocate with the same love; I am miserable when you do not know me; if I have sinned against anyone, forgive me! If I have ever comforted anyone, forget me! With such words, Vucic left it to the people, bid farewell to his beloved motherland and the world, and thus lived forever in the hearts of those who loved him.