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Dec.26/04 - Jan.2, 2005 |
9 - When Soviet Tanks Stormed In
Hungary and Czechoslovakia were treated harshly throughout history
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2004-08-22
In addition to Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, on May 1 the European Union was joined by the Czech Republic, Slovakia (until 1993, one country under the name of Czechoslovakia), Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, and Cyprus. In the previous installment we told of the price paid by the first four countries for their desire of independence; in this one, we shall examine the events that led to the "Prague Spring" and to the Budapest insurrection, both cut short by Soviet tanks.
And spring brought freedom
Charles IV of Luxembourg, the humanist emperor, elected Prague to be the cultural as well as political capitol of his domains, by establishing there the Carolinum, the first university in Central Europe, still in existence today.
Rudolph II of Habsburg, the emperor who wanted the philosopher's stone that would turn any metal to gold, turned it into a luxurious, almost magical, city. There were not only the scores of alchemists, enlisted by the sovereign for his paranoid quest, but also one of the most ancient Jewish enclaves where the Kabbalah was jealously guarded, preserving the mystical thoughts orally passed on from father to son through the centuries.
In the Prague Ghetto, great Jewish legends and sagas that would later spread through Europe were shaped, such as the one about the mythical rabbi Low ben Bezabel, in front of whom even an emperor had to bow. Low ben Bezabel was not just a great rabbi, however: according to legend, he created the Golem as a defender of the Jewish community from persecution. The Golem was a clay giant that animated and wrought havoc whenever rabbi Low wrote EMET (truth) on its forehead, and dissolved when the rabbi erased the first letter, turning ENET into MET (dead).
Created as independent duchies, Bohemia and Moravia have always been the target of the expansionist appetites of neighbouring states. In the late sixth century they suffered the great Slavic invasion, and four centuries later the even more massive invasion of the Magyars. The duchies were inhabited by the Czechs and Slovaks, converted to Christianity in the nineth century by Saints Cyrill and Methodius, recently proclaimed by Pope John Paul II 'protectors of Europe'. Duke Boleslav II unified Bohemia and Moravia in 995, and they remained joined until they passed to the Habsburg crown in 1526. The Czech and Slovaks did not submit graciously, but the imperial army and intelligence managed to control any attempt at independence.
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