For freedom and democracy

A walk in the historical footsteps of the Social Democrats in Brno

Which places in Brno are linked with Social Democratic stories? What were the fates of Brno’s Social Democrats? And what part does this historical chapter play in contemporary Czech-German relations?

Answers to these questions will be provided by a thematic walk through Brno, led by the historian Dr. Thomas Oellermann, an expert on the history of the Sudeten German Social Democrats. The walk is organised in collaboration with Seliger-Gemeinde.

The Czech and Sudeten German Social Democratic Parties were among the most important parties in the interwar Czechoslovakia. They campaigned for workers’ rights and better living conditions. Unlike the Communists, the Social Democrats sought to promote their policies not by revolution but by reform of the democratic Czechoslovakia. Yet the Social Democrats were especially important for their resolute opposition to the Nazis. This is particularly true of the German Social Democratic Workers’ Party, which in a desperate situation fought the National Socialists and Konrad Henlein’s Sudeten German Party until the demise of Czechoslovakia in 1938. Many Social Democrats were persecuted, jailed and murdered. Only a few managed to flee to the free world.

Thomas Oellermann – historian, expert on the history of Sudeten German social democracy
Jan Budňák – assistant professor – Department of German, Nordic and Dutch Studies

In collaboration with Seliger-Gemeinde, German Cultural Association of the Brno Region and TIC.

Programme will be held in czech and german and it will be interpreted simultaneously.
Limited capacity. We suggest booking your place below on this site.