Ms Joy, battling a strong current, continued her way slowly up river to today’s destination – Bratislava, Slovakia. We arose early to watch as we went through one of the thirteen locks – the highest we will encounter, raising our ship 66 feet. The whole process took only 15 minutes.
Danube lock doors are closing
Almost there – 66 foot rise
Later in the morning, we attended an outstanding lecture on the history of Slovakia by Pavol Kopecny to frame our trip. He’s a member of the Board of Directors of American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia and published numerous articles on Slovakia’s business environment and investing in Slovakia for The Economist and The Slovak Spectator. I audiotaped his presentation to make sure I would remember the incredible amount of data. I was amazed to learn how this part of Europe has been under constant change as borders moved, countries appeared, divided, and faded, resulting in a fluid movement over the centuries. Today’s lecture focused on Slovakia at the center in the 21st century. This part of the world continues to change, the consequence of many different drivers: cultures, religions, languages, wars, marriages, and economics.
Map of Slovakia
Following the end of World War I in 1918 and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Czech-Slovakia region declared its independence as a democratic republic. The creation of Czechoslovakia was sanctioned by President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points, which outlined peace terms after the war. They went further and used the U.S. Constitution as the model for their own constitution. The close ties with the USA also promoted the industrialization of the Czech region, with the result that by the time World War II started, Czechoslovakia had experienced almost twenty years of peace and prosperity. It had become the eighth largest economy in the world, and the fifth largest exporter of military equipment. It had become an industrial powerhouse. The Slovakia region was primarily agricultural, and was heavily dependent on the Czech region for funding and benefits from national programs – a sore point that would surface again and again, eventually driving to a permanent separation in 1989 into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
As Hitler’s ambitions became clear in 1935, Czechoslovakia recognized they could not depend solely on the mountain range between the two countries for fortification. It quickly built a line of 8,000 bunkers behind the mountain range. Despite this defensive line, Czechoslovakia’s one-million-person army, and a 1,500 pilot air force, they recognized that these barriers would not keep the Germans out. The goal was to slow the invaders down and to buy 2-3 weeks – sufficient time for their mutual protection partners, England and France, to mobilize their forces and to come to their aid. A good plan, but as we know, it didn’t happen. France and England bailed, with England’s antihero, Chamberlain, referring to Czechoslovakia as, “This far away country that we know so little about,” and declaring his pseudo-victory of “peace for our times.”
Hitler gobbled up the country, without a shot being fired, in two tranches in 1938-39, absorbing the Czech part into Germany, while setting up a puppet government in Slovakia and referring to it as his ‘little Switzerland.’ The real reason for capturing Czechoslovakia soon became clear. He needed their army, air force and defense industry to attack Poland. His German Wehrmacht was not sufficiently built up to accomplish this goal without the Czech component.
Fast forwarding to the end of the war in 1946, as agreed to between the Allied forces and the Soviet Union, both Czech and Slovakia were delegated to the Eastern Bloc. The regions conducted a democratic election in which they voted to reunite into one nation, and to set up a coalition government with communists in the key positions. As the country began to drift towards liberalization, in 1968 the Soviet Union and several members of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia with tanks, aircraft, and a half-million soldiers, to bring it back in alignment with communism. Harsh times ensued for the next twenty years until the Soviet bloc dissolved in 1989. The historical nationalism between the Czechs and Slovaks drove the country to the 1993 Velvet Divorce which created two countries – Czech Republic and Slovakia, peacefully without any bullets being fired.
During the 40 years following the war, much of the arms development and production moved out of the Czech region to the Slovakia region, a safe distance away from Germany and NATO, to ensure its security as the arms supplier to the Eastern Bloc nations. Arms drove Slovakia’s economy. Once the country divided, in 1993, Pavol Kopecny claimed that Slovakia made a decision to get out of the arms business, and to apply their industrial might to the automotive market. I do believe his claim that Slovakia has the highest per capita production of automobiles in the world. I do believe his claim that all the major brands have factories in Slovakia – including Kia, Hyundai, VW, BMW, Audi, Land Rover, and Bentley. If you purchased an Audi A7 or Porsche Cayenne in the USA, it was made exclusively in Slovakia. Kopecny is clearly an avid champion for Slovakia, but I’m not quite sure about his utopian view of the country. Slovakia continues to have a penchant for the production and exporting of arms weapons to the Middle East and the Black Market. On a different note, the most populous Slovakian cities in the world are Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, followed by Pittsburgh and Cleveland in America.
Main Square
Slovakia National Theatre
We reached Bratislava early afternoon, giving us a chance to tour the city for a couple of hours. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and has a population of just under half a million residents. The city’s rich history dates back to the 9th century when it was named Pressburg, and was part of Hungary. It was designated the capital of Hungary in the 16th century, included in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in which it served as the governmental and religious seat. At that time, most of the population was Hungarian. Eleven Hungarian monarchs were crowned at St. Martin’s Cathedral.
St. Martin’s Cathedral – Coronation site for 11 Hungarian monarchs
It became the capital of the newly formed nation of Czechoslovakia in 1919, and renamed to Bratislava. The city’s German and Hungarian population were stripped of their citizenship, forcing them to flee or wait to get expelled. By the start of World War II, the Hungarian population was down to about 13%. As Germans and Hungarians moved out, Slavic people moved in to fill their jobs and housing. Starting in 1940, the city participated in anti-Jew activity, including the deportation of 15,000 Bratislava Jews to concentration camps. Large parts of the city were destroyed by Allied bombing.
Home of the Slovakia Philharmonic
Museum of City History
Bratislava was the epicenter of the demonstrations and resistance during the 1968 invasion by the Soviet Bloc nations. The famous photo of a student facing down a Soviet tank was taken in the Main Square in Bratislava – and not in Prague. Following the Soviets take-over, the Slavic population rose significantly. To accommodate all the additional people, they built large residential complexes in their favorite architectural style: high-rise, prefab panel buildings.
Church of Elizabeth AKA Blue Church
Street leading from the Main Square
Our tour proceeded through the old part of the city, beginning with the Main Square, then on to St. Martins Cathedral and the Blue Church (aka Church of St. Elisabeth). The cobblestone pedestrian-only streets leading from the Main Square are lined with busy outdoor cafés, filled with young people – very charming. Several whimsical statues caught everyone’s eye, producing a smile, and a desire to take a photograph. My favorite was the guy climbing out of a sewer. The Baroque buildings are a flashback to the noble days of past centuries. The city continues to be a work in process as historical buildings are being restored, and Soviet era buildings replaced.
Fun: Man crawling out of sewer
I agree, let’s think about this!
Mel was very excited to visit the city and was eager to see if he recognized any parts of it. He was on active duty with the Army in 1963, stationed in Orleans, France. One weekend he decided to drive to Bratislava, without permission or orders. He had no problems crossing the border and enjoyed the sights of the city. That is, until a military squad spotted him taking photos. They approached him. He had no visa, no orders – perhaps a Gulag vacation was in his future? They asked him for his camera. While fearful that they would seize it, they merely removed the film (yes, they were using film in those days – the good ol’ days), exposed it, and returned the camera. They did not ask for his non-existing papers. This brush with the military convinced him that it might be prudent to immediately head back to France. As Mel looked around today, he did not recognize any of the places he had visited in 1963 – after all, its been more than 50 years.
Returning to our ship, we cast off to make our way to the next destination – Vienna.
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