ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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throughout the country were executed as well. The Germans targeted public figures <strong>and</strong><br />
those suspected of being Czech nationalists. My gr<strong>and</strong>father, as a representative of the<br />
town government, <strong>and</strong> his brother who had been a military officer in the Czech army,<br />
were arrested within days of Heydrich’s death. They were executed by firing squad on<br />
June 10, 1942. About 180 other people from Tabor were also executed over the course of<br />
the next few weeks. My mother was 17 years old at the time <strong>and</strong> learned of her father’s<br />
<strong>and</strong> uncle’s execution through the newspapers. It was a defining experience <strong>for</strong> the rest of<br />
her life.<br />
Q: Would you talk a little more about the town of Tabor <strong>and</strong> how far back it goes. Where<br />
did the town fit into Bohemian history? I don't know much about that area.<br />
PERINA: Well, the name Tabor comes from Mount Tabor, which is referred to in the<br />
Bible. The town was founded by the Hussites in the early 1400’s. The Hussite movement<br />
was really a type of religious uprising by followers of Jan Hus who was a precursor of<br />
Luther in criticism of Church corruption. He was invited to meet with representatives of<br />
the Pope at the Council of Constance in 1415. Though guaranteed safe passage, he was in<br />
fact arrested <strong>and</strong> burned at the stake as a heretic. This sparked other social <strong>and</strong> ethnic<br />
tensions of the declining feudal order <strong>and</strong> led to a kind of peasant uprising against the<br />
Church <strong>and</strong> the establishment. The rebellion gained momentum <strong>and</strong> led to what is known<br />
as the Hussite Wars. All of this was, of course, more complex than I am making it sound<br />
here. The most famous leader of the Hussites was a fellow named Jan Zizka, <strong>and</strong> it was<br />
his followers who established this town of Tabor. He was a brilliant military comm<strong>and</strong>er<br />
who defeated Papal armies across Bohemia despite eventually losing both eyes in battle.<br />
Tabor is very identified with this history <strong>and</strong> with Jan Zizka, whose statue is on the main<br />
square.<br />
My mother’s side of the family moved there from the Pilsen region after World War I.<br />
My father’s side of the family, as far as I know, had been in Tabor much further back.<br />
Q: Sudetenl<strong>and</strong> or not?<br />
PERINA: No. It was outside the Sudetenl<strong>and</strong>. It was part of Bohemia <strong>and</strong> then it became<br />
part of the Bohemian Protectorate established by the Germans.<br />
Q: Given the Hussite history, was this a Protestant area? What was your family?<br />
PERINA: Following the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620 when the Hapsburgs<br />
defeated the Bohemian <strong>for</strong>ces, there was a counter- Re<strong>for</strong>mation <strong>and</strong> most of the country<br />
was re-Catholicized. So most Czechs are Catholic but not very good Catholics. The<br />
Church does not have the st<strong>and</strong>ing that it does in Pol<strong>and</strong>, <strong>for</strong> example. This applies to my<br />
family. We were technically Catholic but not practicing Catholics or particularly devout.<br />
Q: What about the education of both your mother <strong>and</strong> father?<br />
PERINA: My father was raised to inherit the family lumber business as was the custom<br />
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