Czech Senate head to join Brno Reconciliation March

Czech Senate Speaker Miloš Vystrčil will join Saturday’s Reconciliation March during the Meeting Brno festival, which will also host the congress of the Sudeten German Association (SdL).

Vystrčil said he wants to support the festival organizers, whose event has received patronage from both himself and President Petr Pavel, as well as broader efforts toward Czech-German reconciliation and dialogue.

He said his decision was also influenced by last week’s vote in the Czech lower house, where the governing coalition majority opposed holding the Sudeten German congress in Brno and called for the event to be cancelled.

Vystrčil said reconciliation would not be possible unless people on both sides of the border continued meeting and listening to one another.