Znojmo

Czech

“Too lazy to be ambitious,
I let the world take care of itself.
Ten days’ worth of rice in my bag;
a bundle of twigs by the fireplace.
Why chatter about delusion and enlightenment?
Listening to the night rain on my roof,
I sit comfortably, with both legs stretched out.”

Ryokan

We sleep in and take an early morning walk. I make a wrong turn, and it takes us some time to find the forest with the walking trails.

Breakfast provided.

We have only 285 km to Znojmo, but it is expected to take over four hours. A good indication that we will not be on freeways – my type of driving.

We wind our way through Austria. Grab a bite to eat near a river.

As we make our way toward Altenburg, we can see a huge church steeple. We decide to make a detour to see what this spire is all about.

Altenburg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1144. Sprawling and impressive, at its centre is its beautiful conventual church. Surrounded by extensive gardens, it houses eight monks today.

The grounds and the abbey may not retain the splendour of their history, but the church is stunning.

A shout out to Abbot Ambros Minarz, who refused to fly the Nazi flag during World War II. Defying both the Nazis and Pope Pius XI, who maintained public silence during the Holocaust, negotiated diplomatic neutrality with Germany and signed off on the Vatican’s 1933 Concordat with Hitler.

If only all Catholics were as brave as Abbot Ambros Minarz. If Pope Pius XI wasn’t indifferent enough, when he died in 1939, Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became God’s main man in the Vatican. Did he make things right? Not a chance. He went even further – on the eve of Hitler’s invasion of Prague, he penned Hitler a love letter with the opening “To the illustrious Herr Adolf Hitler”. It was only pressure from his Cardinals that prevented the letter from being sent.

Instead, representing Catholics all over the world, the following month, at Pope Pius XII’s express wish, Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, the Berlin nuncio, hosted a gala reception in honor of Hitler’s 50th birthday. A birthday greeting to the Führer from the bishops of Germany would become an annual tradition until the war’s end.

We arrive in Znojmo. Our apartment is great. In the heart of the old city, a bath, a balcony, a top floor, and a full kitchen.

We find a local place for dinner. The food here is inexpensive, as is the beer.

Shell orders bramborami a salátem and I order the vepřový řízek s hranolky.

And beers.

Home, and we plan some winery visits for tomorrow.

“To the illustrious Herr Adolf Hitler, Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich! Here at the beginning of our pontificate we wish to assure you that we remain devoted to the spiritual welfare of the German people entrusted to your leadership… May the prosperity of the German people and their progress in every domain come, with God’s help, to fruition.”

Pope Pius XII