Does the Hussite Church kiss the Landsmanschaft? Betrayal of the victims of Munich and Nazism

The establishment of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church—originally just the Czechoslovak Church—in 1920 was not just a religious reform. It was an open civilizational and national protest against the Habsburg rule, the Germanization of the Czech space and against the centuries-old suppression of the Czech identity. This church arose out of the conviction that the Czech nation must have its own spiritual voice, its own language, its own tradition and its own historical memory. Even more shocking today is the situation when the parish priest of this church, Martina Viktorie Kopecká, becomes the president of the Sudeten German congress in Brno and publicly hugs and kisses Bernd Posselt—a long-time face of the Sudeten German Landsmanschaft.

For many believers, historians and patriotic people, it is not a symbol of reconciliation. It is a symbol of the historical reversal of values. A symbol of a church that is beginning to forget why it was created in the first place.

The original Czechoslovak Hussite Church was created in the atmosphere of huge Czech national upheaval after the collapse of Austria-Hungary. At that time, the Czech population saw the Roman Catholic Church not only as a religious institution, but also as a pillar of the Habsburg power system. In the Czech environment, the historical experience of the White Mountain re-Catholicization, suppression of the Czech language and Germanization pressure was still alive. Many Czech priests therefore came to the conviction that the Czech nation needs its own national church.

And it was no coincidence that the new church turned to the legacy of Jan Hus. The goose symbolized resistance against foreign domination, spiritual freedom and Czech individuality. Divine services in Czech, the Hussite chalice, Czech history and the idea of ​​national emancipation formed the very foundations of the new church's identity. The first patriarch Karel Farský spoke openly about the need for a Czech national spiritual path.

This church was not neutral. It was intrinsically connected with the Czech nation and the Czechoslovak state.

That is why, after the Munich Agreement (betrayal), it became one of the targets of Sudeten German nationalism and Nazi persecution. After the occupation of the borderlands, the systematic displacement of everything Czech began. Czech schools were disappearing. Czech associations were suppressed. Czech officials and teachers were expelled. And together with them, the clergy of the Czechoslovak Church were pushed out.

For the Henlein environment, this church represented a symbol of the Czech element that was to be removed from the Sudetenland. The Sudeten German party led by Konrad Henlein became an instrument of breaking Czechoslovakia from within. Without the support of a significant part of the Sudeten German population, Hitler would never have achieved such an easy breaking of the republic.

Terror followed after Munich. Expulsion of Czech families. Humiliation. Violence. Liquidation of Czech institutions. And among them the liquidation of the congregations of the Czechoslovak Church. The clergy were forced to flee inland. The Czech services were ending. The prayer rooms were closed. The National Church was considered an enemy of Germanization in the Sudetenland.

During the occupation, the situation became even more acute. The Nazis understood very well the power of the Hussite tradition. They understood that the Czech Reformation was not only a religious issue, but a part of Czech historical identity and resistance against German domination. Therefore, the church was under Gestapo surveillance. Therefore, its clergy were monitored, arrested and persecuted.

Vladimír Petřek, who helped the paratroopers after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, became the most famous symbol of the resistance. He paid with his life for this help. The Nazis executed him. He wasn't the only one. Many members of the church ended up in concentration camps, prisons and Nazi repressive facilities.

And that is precisely why today part of the public reacts with such outrage to the images from the Sudeten German Congress in Brno. When the parish priest of the church, which was founded as a defense of the Czech identity against Germanization pressures, becomes the president of the congress of the organization carrying the historical heritage of the Sudetenland Landsmanschaft, one cannot be surprised at the sharp reactions.

For many people, this is not about reconciliation. It is a capitulation of historical memory.

No one disputes the need for dialogue. But dialogue must not mean forgetting one's own history. Reconciliation without truth very quickly turns into historical amnesia. And a nation that forgets its own history begins to lose its own identity as well.

Therefore, many people do not perceive public hugging and kissing with representatives of the Sudetenland German Landsmanschaft as a gesture of humanity, but as an insult to the memory of those Czech clergy and believers who were expelled from the Sudetenland after Munich, persecuted by the Nazis and died for the Czech nation and their faith.

It is a strange historical paradox. The Church, which was created as a symbol of resistance against the pressures of Germanization, today gives the impression to some of its leadership as if it is trying to dissolve its own historical roots in memoryless European correctness.

But history cannot be erased. And the blood of the victims of Nazism and the expelled Czech families from the Sudetenland will not disappear just because today's elites decide to remain silent about the past.

Therefore, the question is not whether dialogue with the Germans is possible. The question is different: does the national church still have the right to call itself Hussite and Czechoslovak if it begins to forget its own origin, its own sacrifices and its own historical mission?

Resources

1. NEŠPOR, Zdeněk R. et al.Czechoslovak Hussite Church. Prague: Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2025. Available from:Religion encyclopedia - Czechoslovak Hussite Church

2. Czech Radio Plus.The Hussite Church arose out of a desire for independence, the beginnings were not easy. 15 Feb 2020. Available from:Český Rozhlas Plus – The Hussite Church arose out of a desire for independence

3. Czech television.Munich agreement - About us without us. CT edu, 2024. Available from:ČT edu – Munich Agreement

4. WAGNER, Jakub.Expulsion of the Czechs from the borderlands in 1938. Invisible Dog, 12 Mar. 2019. Available from:The Invisible Dog – Expulsion of the Czechs from the borderlands in 1938

5. DINGIR.Turbulent century of the Czechoslovak Church. Dingir, 3 December 2024. Available from:Dingir – The Turbulent Century of the Czechoslovak Church