Funding
The project Reconciliation March 2020, Reg. No. KPF-02-173, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of the Interreg V-A Austria – Czech Republic programme. The Institute of Rural History (zhmf/Centre for Historical Migration Research) is a cooperation partner of Meeting Brno.
Duration
January – October 2020
Researchers
Rita Garstenauer (zhmf)
Niklas Perzi (zhmf)
Description
For the 14th time we will follow in the footsteps of more than 20,000 Brno people who were driven towards the border with Austria 75 years ago. While able-bodied men had to stay in the city to endure forced labour, women, children and old men were ordered to march. At least 1,700 of them perished along the way and in the following days and weeks.
Since 2015 we have been walking, symbolically, in the opposite direction to the historical march, that is, from the mass grave in Pohořelice back to the garden of the Augustinian abbey in Staré Brno. Five years ago, Brno’s councillors adopted a
Declaration of reconciliation and a shared future
, which became a milestone in Czech society’s coming to terms with this chapter of its history.
This year’s march will be a remarkable experience and an opportunity for inspirational encounters. Dozens of witnesses and public figures from Czechia, Austria and Germany will take part in the event, and societies involved in relations with our German-speaking neighbours will present their activities at their stands and provide an accompanying programme.
Participants may join or leave the march at any point, thanks to special shuttle buses available throughout the day.
During the event, special buses commute along the route, allowing to join or leave the March at several stations.
On the day of the Reconciliation March, there will be a blessing celebration at the newly-constructed Church of Blessed Maria Restituta in Brno’s Lesná housing estate. Thus, this year’s March will also be dedicated to commemorating this brave nun, a native of Brno, who opposed Nazi terror and became one of its victims. Those interested in participating in the ceremony (11:00) will be brought to Lesná by bus direct from the Reconciliation Cross in Pohořelice.
The following press reports have been published about the Reconciliation March 2020:
> Report by Niklas Perzi from 9 September 2020 at volksgruppen.orf.at in German and Czech: Versöhnungsmarsch von Pohořelice nach Brno | 12. September and Pouť smíření z Pohořelic do Brna | 12. září
> Report by Patrick Huber, March of Reconciliation, in: Kronen Zeitung, 20 September 2020, p. 54-55 (wr), online version in Press Reader.