English Translation

3a - 2 - "As Catholic as the Czechs seem to be today, religion in itself is equally valid for them," is proof that Heckel has probably never been seriously concerned with the history of Catholicism in Bohemian Moravian territory, with particular regard to the position and effect of the Catholic Church during the Czechoslovak system period. That Hus, the heretic, is a national hero for all Czechs, is no proof that the Czechs are not Catholic-religious. That the "religion" is not by any means indifferent to the Czech is only shown by séhon, that in the programs of the former Czech parties from right to left also. the "Christian" has always been emphasized and that the prototype of the Czech Freethinker, Masaryk, has never dared to make himself organizationally free from Christianity. He belonged to the then so-called Czechoslovak Church. Masaryc knew his Czechs much too well in their religious feelings, not only in their denominational ties. The Catholic Czech is by no means Catholic only because, as Heckel assumes, the Catholic Church gives him the opportunity to gather, work and confess politically. When 19l8 the Prague Czech mob smashed the columns of Mary, it was not because he wanted to express his aversion to the Austrian K at h o l i z i s m u s in it, but because, as Bruno Brehm probably explained, the most subtle and historically trained observer and illustrator of this fact, these columns were symbols of the "baroque imperial style", the central power of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Therefore, the conclusion of Heckel must also be wrong that a measure against the Catholic Church would hit the Czech people "n u r in its political feelings" and not in its religious ones. It is directly dangerous if Heckel claims, for example, that the Bohemian-Märt. Church is "no political community at all" by its very nature; the opposite is the case. It is precisely in it, as was shown again in the local daily report No. 144/43 of 7.12.43, that rich and anti-state elements with partly directly pro-Bolshevist orientation are gathered. Degpandeikanzlei measured the 77359