Presidential bears at Prague Castle
One of the forgotten buildings that Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had built after his arrival at the Prague Castle in Jeléní říkop was – the bear’s den. It was created according to the proposal of Jiří Janda, the founder of the Prague Zoo, and has been preserved to this day, even including the bear keeper’s house. It was put into operation in September 1920, and as it is stated everywhere, it was intended for bears that were brought to Masaryk by legionnaires returning from Russia. It was necessary not only to place them in a dignified manner, but also to show them to the public. It was certainly not by chance that these cute coppers were involved in building TGM’s image in the following years. For example, Jan Herben v Little stories about a big man writes:
“Mr. President receives a note and gifts from the children. However, he liked one piece of writing from Moravian children the best, which he often quoted. The children sent him a barrel of honey and a note: Dear Daddy, we are sending honey for your bears, but don’t let them eat it all. Lick yourself too!”
The truth is that the first two presidential bears were a gift from Uzhhorod’s robe-maker Ladislav Moyš, and the next five had to do with legionnaires. Two brown bears were brought to President Masaryk in March 1920 by members of the 1st platoon of the 5th company of the 1st regiment. At the end of July 1920, “an unknown legionnaire regiment passing through Prague unloaded it at Wilson’s station for the Castle”. Finally, at the end of August 1920, the Prague Castle Administration took over two eared bears from Lieutenant Berka of the 8th company of the 7th regiment.
Some of these bears gradually died, others were added, but everything worked until August 3, 1942. Then something happened, which probably had to happen: The attacking bear was a wounded Peka, and the intervening police shot four of them. The other two, who were already closed at the time of the accident, lived in the Deer Ditch for another year, until they were transferred to the Prague Zoo on August 10, 1943 at the initiative of the Air Defense Command.
However, the history of the castle teddy bear did not end there. In 1957, during the presidency of Antonín Zápotocký, new “presidential” bears were purchased. But their former glory was already gone. In addition, the following year, a serious incident occurred when two apprentices deliberately helped one of the bears to escape and attacked him in two stables .and injured the wife of the driver of the Office of the President of the Republic.
After another two years, when Antonín Novotný was president, the definitive end of the bear house in Jelení kopok followed. Petr Šulc, a former longtime employee of the Prague Zoo, recalled the events of that time as follows: “Because the bears were no longer allowed to stay at the Castle, we took them to the garden. In front of the battered zoo truck with three crates of bears and us who had caught them, a police car with siren and gas was driving. That guy had a machine gun mounted on a stand, and they were aiming at us and watching to make sure the bears didn’t run away.”
Thus ended the possession of bears in the Deer Ditch. Hopefully permanently. And so much for today Zoo writer to wait for the result of the presidential election.
Written for MF Dnes
One of the forgotten buildings that Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had built after his arrival at the Prague Castle in Jeléní říkop was – the bear’s den. It was created according to the proposal of Jiří Janda, the founder of Prague Zoo, and has been preserved to this day, even…
In the fall, I received my first email from Vienna’s Österreichisches Filmmuseum. In it, the curator of the amateur film collection, Stefanie Zingl, referred to my article about the founder of the Prague Zoo, prof. Jiří Janda and continued by announcing that…