Liberec, Czech Republic — This small Czech city is our base for the 18th Conference of the International Bryozoology Association. Kamil Zágoršek is again our hard-working host. Above is the Liberec Town Hall.
Liberec has a deep history, which was particularly fraught just before and during World War II. This city was German and named Reichenberg and in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia after World War I. In the infamous 1938 Munich Agreement it was given to Germany. Following its liberation by the Soviets in 1945, almost all of the inhabitants of Liberec were deported to Germany. This was virtually the entire city. Czechs then moved in (or were moved in by the Czechoslovak government).
The German roots of the city are now visible in the architecture of old city blocks, much of it run-down.
Whole city blocks were razed to build standard Soviet Bloc housing complexes.
This is the Imperial Grand Hotel in Liberec where I stayed with most of the IBA participants.
This is the same building in 1938 following the Munich Agreement. It became the Nazi headquarters for administration of the Sudetenland.
On a less grim note, here is the building (“G”) in the Technical University of Liberec where we held the IBA meeting.
I always arrive early to check out the speaking equipment — and the speaker’s view. Anticipation is excruciating.
My long-time friend and colleague Paul Taylor was the speaker before me. He’s good at this — very good.
The title slide for my presentation. It went well enough, and I know the audience appreciated the landscape images of southern Utah. This talk was based on work done this past year in Utah, along with bryozoan studies Paul and I did 20 years ago.
At last I headed home on Friday, June 21. After an adventurous car ride through the very center of Prague, I arrived at an airport hotel. Here’s the view from my window. Pretty close!
