Brno

Truth: Brno (the capital of Moravia) was nothing special. Its good points: it is on the crown (not the euro, thank God), and it is a good place from which to embark on many day trips.

To the right, a photograph from the Jewish cemetery in a town whose name I don't remember. Most of the stones were from the nineteenth century on. The town was sunny and quaint, with winding streets that had our guide walking in circles (he was not very competent or well-liked). We saw some castles, palaces, and caves.

During our stay we also visited the museum of Roma history and culture. "Roma" is the politically correct (...as far as I can tell) term for "gypsy." There's a good deal of prejudice against the Roma. The museum visit illustrated the persecution the Roma suffered during WWII. With my terrible history education (probably largely my own fault) I always think of the Jews as target group, but my time here (with visits to Dresden, Terezín, and Moravia) has reminded me that others suffered greatly, too. At the museum they actually had us do an activity that was perhaps childish but really underlined a lot of what I've been thinking about this whole semester: what would I have done if I were living here about 65 years ago? How far would I go to protect my family? Would I have done right? What was right? No answers, just questions.