Fukov will capture your heart and never let go. Remembering history matters, says the organiser of Zažít město jinak in a village that no longer exists

The place we’ve been talking about is surrounded by Germany on three sides. It is connected to the Czech interior by a strip of land just three kilometres long and 600 metres wide. Fukov was once the northernmost municipality in Czechoslovakia and is the only place in the Czech Republic where the River Spree flows through the country. Even today, 66 years after Fukov ceased to exist, Czech-German relations remain a strong theme here. You can experience this for yourself on the third Saturday in September as part of a varied programme of the Zažít město jinak neighbourhood festival. One of the organisers, Žaneta Strohová, invites you to join us.

What inspired you to bring this long-lost village on the very edge of the country back to life?

We’re a bit of a loose group of individuals brought together by civic initiatives and associations working all over the Ústí nad Labem region. At some point in our lives, we simply fell under Fukov’s spell. The place has an incredibly powerful sense of place. It makes you stop and think about things you may never have encountered before. We’d like to give other people the chance to experience that, too.

Do you mean the experience of seeing how places can disappear?

Yes. The stories of abandoned villages and what happened to them are incredibly fascinating. Over time, we’ve also realised how important it is to work with the local community, which is incredibly lively. There’s a real appetite here for meeting up and exploring Fukov’s legacy.

So are these people from the surrounding villages?

Not necessarily. After the population was expelled, the people who had lived here for generations ended up in different parts of Germany. Some settled just across the border so they could remain as close as possible to the place that had been so dear to them. But people also come from much further afield, including from the Czech side. We’re also aware that Fukov is fascinating to people who have no direct connection to it.

How did you first come across the place, and what makes it different from the rest of the Sudetenland?

I went to secondary school in Šluknov, and those four years gave me the opportunity to get to know the whole Šluknov Hook quite well. Among other things, I became interested in the many small religious monuments scattered throughout the area. Fukov was the first abandoned village I ever visited, and I think that played a big part. I also have a very vivid imagination… (laughs). And I like urbex and history…

The Šluknov Hook is quite distinctive in its own right. And the fact that Fukov had its own little territorial projection, surrounded by the border on three sides, is something strangely difficult to grasp. I started wondering how it had come about… There are plenty of other fascinating things, too. For example, a German railway line ran through the village, but it never had a station there. A lot of things here were far from straightforward.

From last year´s Světlo pro Fukov. Photo: Jiří Stejskal

You mentioned that you organised something similar last year, although it wasn’t part of Zažít město jinak…

Our main initiator, Gabriela Jeřábková, has been working with Fukov for a long time. We actually met by chance. I run an association in Ústí nad Labem, and community activities are close to my heart. I see the impact they can have on local communities. So we got together and came up with our first community gathering, which was named after our initiative, Světlo pro Fukov (Light for Fukov).

It was a commemorative event, and we were surprised by the response it generated from all sides. What began as a memorial lighting of candles in honour of St Wenceslas’ Church, the last building in Fukov to be demolished, turned into a half-day event featuring local artists and attracting 500 visitors. We really didn’t expect that. The atmosphere was extraordinary.

Some of our team also started working with people who remember Fukov as it was, recording their stories and interviews. In the future, we’d like to create an exhibition and find other ways of making use of this material and sharing it with the public.

Do you mean that there are still people alive who remember the expulsion?

Our oldest interviewee is almost 100 years old. She even came to our gathering last year, and her story brought tears to the eyes of just about everyone there. Most of the people we’ve had the chance to work with live in Germany, and their memories certainly deserve to be heard. Fortunately, there are now many organisations that understand how important it is to preserve this memory.

Would you have expected this year’s meeting between Czechs and Sudeten Germans to stir up such strong emotions?

My immediate answer would be no, I wouldn’t have expected it. On the other hand, I’m interested in politics and I know there are many different views out there – although I hope some of them remain minority views. Even so, it’s unpleasantly surprising.

I wouldn’t say that the wounds have healed; that could take generations. Which makes it all the more painful when someone wants to visit the place they come from and someone else responds to that in an aggressive or hostile way.So the reconciliation that you have on this year’s programme is still very much relevant…

It’s more relevant than we could have expected. Although I’ve been working with Czech-German relations for some time, this year’s situation surrounding the Sudeten German Congress in Brno took me by surprise. It has prompted even more people and organisations to engage with this legacy. They can see that there is real value in doing so.

Žaneta Strohová

Do you work on this professionally as well, or is it more of a personal interest?

I studied history, but these days I mainly work with children. I’m an instructor running leisure activities for kids, I also work at a volunteer centre, and ever since becoming a mother, I’ve been involved in the civic sector, associations and volunteering. And I also have a hard time saying no… (laughs). When something feels worthwhile, I’m happy to give it my time and energy.

Why is the Czech-German question so important?

History matters – and not just in the place where you live. Understanding doesn’t stop at your doorstep. Once you start exploring the past, you begin to understand the world around you better, too.

The Second World War touched everyone’s lives. Even those who lived through it in relative peace were affected by its consequences for generations to come. And today, with another war being fought almost on our doorstep, it’s difficult to ignore those lessons. We can see how profoundly war changes both human and international relations – how we perceive different nationalities and states, whom we see as the aggressor, and to what extent we can recognise that ordinary people live on the other side of a conflict, too.

That is precisely why the Czech-German question, and understanding our shared history, remain so important.

Fukov invites you

What moment from last year’s Světlo pro Fukov has stayed with you the most?

There were several. I was putting up a photograph of a house that once stood there when my stapler stopped working, and an older German couple who happened to be walking past offered to help me. Then we discovered that their father had been born in that very house.

It’s deeply moving when, despite the language barrier, you can feel the emotions involved and understand what returning here means to the descendants of people who once lived in Fukov.

We also managed to obtain a recording of the church bell, which fortunately survived. We arranged with the surrounding villages that at eight in the evening – the exact time when St Wenceslas’ Church was demolished – we would ring its bell again, while churches in the neighbouring communities would ring their own bells along with us. It was magical.

And this year you’ve joined us – Zažít město jinak…

Events organised as part of Zažít město jinak are held in our area, and we enjoy going to them, so we simply thought we’d bring the two together. I suppose it’s also because we’re able to imagine this place differently…

What can visitors look forward to this year? What would you highlight?

After last year’s gathering, we decided that we wanted visitors to be a little more involved in what was happening. So we’ve prepared several workshops.

Personally, I think the Reconciliation mosaic bench will be particularly interesting. We’ll be creating it together with visitors. We approached the artist Magdaléna Kracík Štorkánová, who specialises in mosaic work. She’ll be working with the public on site to create a mosaic that will refer not only to Fukov, but also to one of its native sons, Franz Tippel. We chose mosaic in connection with his life because he himself worked with the medium.

And, of course, I’d also like to invite you to my own workshop, where we’ll be planting bulbs in the local cemetery.

As for the performers, I’d definitely mention cellist Jiří Bárta, who will be playing in the early evening among the exposed foundations of the church. I think that will be a beautiful experience. We have a really varied programme, and we’ll be delighted if you find something that speaks to you.

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