Czech resistance memorial - Gestapo, Prague

The Petschek Palace (in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

Petschkův palác or Pečkárna) is a

neoclassicist Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

building in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. It was built between 1923 and 1929 by the architect Max Spielmann upon a request from the merchant banker

Julius Petschek Julius Petschek (14 March 1856 – 22 January 1932) was an industrialist of Jewish origin in former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). Together with his brother Ignaz, he was one of the wealthiest persons of interwar Czechoslovakia. Petschek was ...

and was originally called "The Bank House Petschek and Co." (''Bankhaus Petschek & Co.'') Despite its historicizing look, the building was then a very modern one, being constructed of reinforced concrete and fully air-conditioned. It also had tube post, phone switch-board, printing office, a

paternoster lift A paternoster (, , or ) or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two people) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can ...

(which is still functioning), and massive safes in the sublevel floor. The building was sold by the Petschek family before the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and the family left the country. It was during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

years that the place gained its notoriety, as it immediately became the headquarters of

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

for the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

. It was here where the interrogations and torturing of the Czech resistance members took place, as well as the

courts-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

established by

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

which sent most of the prisoners to death or to

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

. Many people died as a result of imprisonment and torture in the building itself. A

memorial plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

that commemorates the victims was unveiled on the corner of the building. In 1948 the building was acquired by the then-

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

Ministry of Foreign Trade. Today it is the residence of a part of the

Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 1989 the building became a National Cultural Monument (''Národní kulturní památka''). The exterior was used as stand-in for the Gemeinschaft Bank (Zurich, Switzerland) in the 2002 film Bourne Identity.

External links

Radio Prague article in English, March 24, 2010, by Christian Falvey
{{coord, 50, 04, 53, N, 14, 25, 52, E, region:CZ_type:landmark_source:kolossus-cswiki, display=title Office buildings completed in 1929 Palaces in Prague Buildings and structures in Prague National Cultural Monuments of the Czech Republic 1929 establishments in Czechoslovakia 20th-century architecture in the Czech Republic

See also

External links