Little Serbia in Hungary

On Saturday, as there was no rugby to play, we took a trip on the HEV from Margit Island to the town of Szentendre, the first town in the Danube Bend after leaving Budapest.

Whilst being a complete tourist trap in the height of summer, it is easy to see the appeal of this small town that has enjoyed an interesting history due to the large influence of Serbs following the Turkish invasion of Serbia in the 14th and 15th Century - to the extent that the architecture is very balkan in style - especially the Orthodox Catherdral, with its red tower and walls and the small cobble streets - reminding us of parts of Zagreb (couldnt really comment on how much like Serbia it is as have only been to Belgrade)

Now the town does not really have any Serbian connection and the population is very much Magyar but the influence remains.

Szentendre information

First snows of the winter?

The view from the window on my plan flying back into Prague from Riga was a pretty spectacular this afternoon with the first snows of the winter being visible on the top of the mountains - I am not sure that the photos do the views justice but...

Strange conversations I have overheard

Sitting in hotel lobbies means that without any effort, you can end up overhearing some weird and wonderful topics of conversation, but the one I have been ear wigging on this morning probably takes the prize so far

The concept of a long range and/or short range sniper rifle being discussed by 3 deep south american gentlemen in the hotel lobby in Riga - certainly there seems to be some professional differences of opinion and I have no idea what the final outcome of the conversation was but if I catch up with them, I will update!

Early morning sunrise in Latvia

Having arrived at 1am last night, it was great to be greeted by the sun this morning - especially considering that the last time I was here was white night time and so there was over 20 hours of daylight - this time, it is the other way round (or certainly moving that way)

St George and his Dragon - this time in Prague

It would appear that St George, so beloved in England, can be a little fickle with his affections, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. He is also to be found in the castle in Prague - this may of course have something to do with a suggestion that the Dragon represents not a real dragon, but the Turks, and St George is the christian army defeating them and so in this part of the world, it has some real meaning.
Personally I prefer the story of some little bloke on a horse fighting a huge dragon to save a damsel in distress but then again, I did always have my head in the clouds a little

Believe it or not, its a Skoda

Whilst we were in Prague, we saw some amazing Skodas - here is one of the best, and not it is not a joke!!

Operation Anthropoid and the Church of St Cyril and Methodius

On a small street, less than 5 minutes walk from the river in Prague is small church, one of the hundreds that seem to be dotted about the city - and it is one of the less impressive ones but it was the scene of the culmination of one of the most incredible stories of bravery of WWII.

In 1942, Operation Anthropoid was put into operation - the idea being to assasinate Reinhard Heydrich, at the time, the 3rd most powerful main in the Third Reich - and someone seen as a potential successor to Hitler. He was also the 'Protector' of Bohemia-Moravia (Czechoslovakia) and more importantly, the author of the Final Solution - the programme to clear Europe of the Jewish race. Arguably, one of the most evil and notorious men in a regime known to be crammed full of evil and notorious men, he was also known as the 'Butcher of Prague' and his cruelty would appear to have not been limited by any moral or philosophical boundaries

In May 1942, 2 Czech agents of the SOE, parachuted into occupied Czechoslovakia, along with 6 other agents, 1 of whom would turn betrayer for the sum of 1 million Reichsmarks and a new identity, with the plan to assasinate Heydrich as he drove to work one morning.

Ultimately, their operation did not go to plan and they were forced to abandon their previous escape route and take refuge in the church, with 5 of the other operatives, where they were eventually surrounded and took shelter in the crypt (not before 3 of the party had taken poison and committed suicide). After several days of unrelenting attack with bullets, explosives and even an attempt to flood them out by the occuping forces, the remaining 4 men killed themselves - but not before they had managed to succeed in the overall mission as Heydrich died of blood poisoning following complications in surgey to remove shrapnel caused by the SOE attack.

Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik were certainly brave men - they escaped from Czechoslavkia after the invasion in 1939, joined the French Foreign Legion, fought in the fall of France in 1940 where they were both decorated for their bravery and then escaped to England and joined the Free Czech forces - where they were selected for the SOE with the brief to set Europe alight.

The assasination of Heydrich led to some incredibly brutal acts of reprisal from the Nazis, including the total destruction of Lidice, where, as in Oradour-sur-Glane in France, the Nazis liquidated a complete village of around 500 inhabitants, men, women and children - all told, historians estimate that around 5,000 people were murdered in repsonse to the assasination of Heydrich.

As for the man, Karel Curda, who accepted his 30 pieces of silver to betray them, he married a German woman, was given a new identity, worked for the Gestapo and despite it all, was caught, tried and executed for treason in 1947 - I would love to say that he was severaly tortured and divulged his secrets under extreme duress and so was forced to turn traitor but there is no evidence to suggets that he did - it was a decision motivated by greed and money - and this was man who had trained and prepared for the mission with the 7 men he betrayed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Anthropoid

It is possible to visit the crypt of the church where the men took shelter and it has been turned into a small musuem detailing the story of the operation and its aftermath - it is possible to see the last efforts of desperate men as they attempted to tunnel through the crypt wall and into the sewer network as a means of escape but unfortunately, it was all too late for them as the cellar was being flooded

I remember watching a film called 'Operation Daybreak', starring Anthony Andrews and Martin Shaw about this event and beign so sad at the event of it as there was no happy ending but it is even sadder to see where it all took place and to know that there was no way out for the men who took up the challenge and did ultimately sacrifice themselves - but I suspect that the human cost of the war in Central and Eastern Europe would have been a lot higher if Heydrich had been allowed to live, purely given his racial policies and implementation of some abhorant practices