From Nobility to Tragedy: The Swan Song of the First Republic at the Esplanade Cafe
The gradual increase in the popularity of cafeterias in our country was perhaps a little surprising, because in previous centuries they belonged more to pubs. After all, tradition has it that it was on the hard benches with beer in hand that revivalists argued about how to improve the Czech language. For a long time, cafes were more of an environment in the German-speaking part of the population. After the First World War, however, change gradually came.
We can afford it
The Golden Age was started by several individuals. First of all, it was the rising standard of living. And as the black drink’s availability improved, so did its price, and thus its popularity. Artists, intellectuals and often people who just wanted a quiet moment to read the daily newspaper headed to the businesses.
There were more establishments in Prague inspired mainly by Parisian models, but Brno, influenced by nearby Vienna, kept pace with the rapidly developing culture. Under the influence of functionalist architecture, the first truly famous businesses began to emerge in the Moravian metropolis. Next to Zeman’s cafes or Savoy it was especially soon very popular Esplanade located in close proximity to today’s Janáček Theatre.
An architectural gem
If we were looking for the most important interwar architects, he would not be missing among them Ernst Wiesner. He built the Brno cafe according to his project Alois Strompf in the years 1925–1927, on the corner of today’s Roosevelt and Jezuitská streets, one of the most beautiful cafeterias: the Esplanade.
The artist spared no ideas. For example, he used elements of sacral architecture. At first glance, every visitor was attracted by the fragmented space with loggias reminiscent of a prayer hall, which was perfectly illuminated by a large glass dome. The details were a combination of classic western elegance with eastern motifs. There were brocade wallpapers and oriental elements in black frames.
It also included a hall, which at first glance caught the eye with three mirrored walls, and the equipment consisting of round or rectangular tables and simple wooden chairs did not stand up either. Everyone could see that it was a luxury space for mobile customers. In addition, Strompf made no secret of who was to form the core of the clientele from the beginning. It was supposed to be mainly Jews from Brno.
Years before the war
The business offered quiet seating, excellent refreshments and a space where many of the approximately twelve thousand Brno Israelis could chat. After a few years, the business really became a famous place. After all, almost all the important foreign newspapers are located here, and important intellectuals and artists, including actors from the nearby theater, were invited here. Many architects, led by Wiesner himself, also met here.
But the period of calm was slowly coming to an end. The clouds of a new war were gathering over Europe, and the hatred between the Czechs and Germans, fueled by Hitler, was simmering, especially in the Czech borderlands. After the Munich Agreement, Jews from the newly occupied borderlands began to move to Brno. However, they did not find safety there for long. In March 1939, the country was occupied by German troops and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was declared. Laws came into force that restricted the movement and social life of all Jews. The cafe thus became an imaginary last bastion.
End of an era
In the middle of 1939, there was an ominous tension in Brno. The situation worsened day by day. Groups of Czech fascists, members of the Wehrmacht and members of the Gestapo constantly attacked pedestrians and organized all kinds of riots. It all culminated on August 15, when a crowd of anti-Semites gathered right in front of the Esplanade cafe.
It happened quickly. Suddenly, several people burst into the cafe armed with batons and sticks, with which they immediately began to beat all the Jews present – among them the fifty-year-old procurator Paul Drexler, who ran out of the cafe under the onslaught to save his life. But even there an angry crowd was waiting for him. “He was running down that street and blows were raining down on him from all sides. He didn’t lie, but he suddenly muscled up. He didn’t make a sound and he was dead!” described the terrible moment of the editor at the time People’s newspaper Bedrich Golombek.
In addition to Drexler, who died of a heart attack during the escape, many other people were brutally beaten that day. Some directly in the company, others in competing cafes or right on the streets in the center of Brno. If until that day some did not believe how far persecution could go, now they saw it clearly. The era of the First Republic was definitely over, as were the golden years of Czechoslovak café culture.
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Imaginary peace was replaced by fear, blood and finally the unimaginable suffering of millions of people dying in concentration camps. Even the Esplanade itself didn’t have much time left. In September 1941, the Gestapo broke into the cafeteria for the last time to drag away the visitors. In 1944, the building was damaged by Allied bombers, and after the war, demolition brought the final stop.
More victims of Bloody Wednesday
German riot police were present at the bloody incident, but they only looked on. The subsequent arrival of the Czech police emergency was greeted by the chanting of slogans such as “Yuck police!” AND “Beneš’s pigs!”
According to the report of the Presidium of the Police Directorate in Brno, other visitors were also lynched inside the Esplanade cafe: “At 7 p.m., a 37-year-old Jew, an unemployed accountant, Leo Neubauer from Brno, ran to the police station. He stated that he was ambushed and beaten by assailants at the Esplanade cafe around 6:45 p.m. In the process, his clothes were completely torn off him and he was finally thrown out into the street. He then ran completely naked to the main police station. She suffered a laceration about 4 cm long on the right side of her head near her temple, which was bleeding profusely. In addition, he had bruises all over his body. After an examination by a police doctor, he was transported to the hospital by the Czech rescue station”.