The expulsion of German-speaking citizens from Brno and Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War, which often involved bloody and violent acts of revenge, was remembered last Saturday by participants in the “Pilgrimage of Reconciliation”. Photo credit: Casadei Graphics. // For illustration purpose.
Brno, Jun 4 (BD) – The Pilgrimage of Reconciliation remembers the victims of the last days of May 1945, when twenty thousand German-speaking citizens of Brno, including seniors and children, were expelled from their homes. More than 1,700 of them did not survive the journey to the Austrian border, an event known as “the Brno death march”.
The pilgrimage takes place every year as part of the Meeting Brno festival.
As in previous years, the pilgrimage started at the mass grave for victims of the expulsion in Pohořelice and made its way back to Brno. The march was attended by 250 people, reads the official website of the City of Brno.
The 32-kilometer route runs through Ledce, Rajhrad and Modřice. Its final destination is the Augustinian abbey in Mendel’s Square.
The first Meeting Brno festival took place in May 2016, building upon the project “Rok smíření (Year of Reconciliation) of 2015”. The Year of Reconciliation was a set of events with two goals – to remember the victims of World War Two and postwar events, and to explore Brno’s history in the European context.
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