I don’t comment on events in the Czech Republic very often, but I simply can’t resist commenting on the Sudeten German Congress in Brno.
The Sudeten German Congress (the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft assembly) was held in Brno this year. It was the 76th annual gathering, taking place from 22–25 May 2026. And once again, a part of Czech society presented itself as a bunch of utterly ignorant idiots. It’s no coincidence that it’s the same segment of the public that mostly votes for SPD. For foreign readers: yes, the acronym is identical to that of the German Social Democratic Party, but the similarity ends with the letters. The Czech SPD is a commercially‑driven, quasi‑fascist political project targeting the least educated and most easily manipulated part of the population. The party is led by a former popcorn seller from the Tokyo metro, later the owner of a travel agency for stuffed animals, who eventually discovered that the biggest profits come from trading in fear and hatred — and so he founded this obscure political outfit.
The Sudeten German Landsmannschaft has repeatedly and publicly condemned the Nazi crimes committed on Czech territory during the Second World War. Unfortunately, it is the Czechs who still haven’t been able to fully acknowledge the crimes they themselves committed during the violent post‑war expulsion of Germans. And many of those acts were no less horrific than what the Nazis did during the war.
The Sudeten German Congress, held for the first time in the Czech Republic, was meant to be a symbol of reconciliation between Czechs and Germans. The Czech co‑organiser was Meeting Brno, the continuation of the Year of Reconciliation initiative, which emerged after the city of Brno expressed regret for the post‑war expulsion of its German‑speaking population on the basis of collective guilt. The first Pilgrimage of Reconciliation was part of this initiative, and it has taken place every year since. Over time, Meeting Brno has become a platform for Czech‑German dialogue.
This year’s reconciliation festival was attended by Nick Winton, the son of Sir Nicholas Winton, the rescuer of hundreds of Jewish children. Some of those rescued children came as well — for example Eva Paddock and Milena Grenfell‑Baines. Together with other guests, they wanted to clearly express their commitment to mutual understanding and reconciliation.
And standing against them was the classic lumpenproletariat of the SPD electorate — a loud, aggressive, uneducated and perfectly manipulable crowd that understands neither history, nor context, nor the meaning of reconciliation. What they do understand very well is hatred, because that is the only language their political idols speak. This worthless rabble, which during the Covid pandemic wore yellow Jewish stars sewn onto their jackets to “demonstrate their oppression” when asked to get vaccinated, this time dressed up in the striped uniforms of concentration camp prisoners. And not for a second did it occur to them how grotesquely inappropriate it was to parade like that in front of actual Holocaust survivors.
These self‑styled “Czech patriots” waved Czech flags this time, but usually they prefer the Russian ones. They are the same people who pound their chests about Czech sovereignty at home, yet openly cheer for Putin and parrot Kremlin propaganda.
And when these supposed “defenders of Czech values” began bellowing the 15th‑century Hussite battle hymn Kdož sú boží bojovníci, it was the grotesque climax of the entire pathetic spectacle. A song that once rallied people against real oppression became, in their hands, a ridiculous backdrop for small‑mindedness, hatred and sheer stupidity.
Watching this display of Czech pettiness and embarrassment, I felt ashamed to my core to be Czech.
