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I think you're onto something. I don't speak Czech but I've been there a number of times and I know people who live there. When Hašek wrote Švejk the Czechs we

I think you're onto something. I don't speak Czech but I've been there a number of times and I know people who live there. When Hašek wrote Švejk the Czechs were surrounded and influenced by vastly different nations—the crumbling remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—which they were part of—the Russian Empire and Germany—both of which were in chaos after WWI. Even today they're still surrounded but at least now they're an independent nation with their own language so perhaps it's not surprising what comes out of them is quite unique. It's quite some years since I saw Closely Watched Trains with English subtitles and it had a huge impact on me. It's one of those films that one cannot get out of one's mind for days. In its own understated way it's a great film and it's not surprising that it was a Czech production. Its ending upset me greatly because whilst its story was fiction, it reminded me of similar tragic scenarios that were played out for real many times during WWII (it seems to me one of the purposes of the film was to remind us of the fact). BTW, when I first went to Czechoslovakia it was still under communist rule and the only practical (easiest) way to get from Vienna to Prague was by train from Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof and Emperor Franz Joseph Railway line. For some reason seeming known to the communists we had to use this single track line instead of the more modern dual track line via Brüno. I mention it because the Franz Joseph Railway was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to travel on, the track was in such terrible condition that one thought the train would derail any moment and the train only did about 30km/h max. After Communism fell the track via Brüno was opened up and although a much longer route the trip only took half as long.

foobarian 3y ago
When I went there first it was also still under communist rule, and the thing I still remember the most is that bread loaves commonly sold in the grocery stores had the price embossed into the crust (IIRC "5 Kčs"). Centrally controlled economies eh? So stable that it was practical to make price stamps distributed to bakeries. I wish I could get my hands on one of these brands...
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  You reminded me of my own childhood. Yes, 5 Kčs was a standard price. I was not yet 13 when the no-longer-Communist Czechoslovak government liberalized the prices. Back then, I was profoundly unsettled by the idea that the same loaf of bread could cost a different amount of money in two different stores. It felt as unnatural as having multiple birthdays.
- hilbert42 3y ago
  "I wish I could get my hands on one of these brands..." Ha, right. That brings back memories from when I was living and working in Vienna. When walking by building or construction sites around the city one would often come across bricks that were several centuries old and one could tell this because the molds from which the bricks were made had the coat of arms of whomever Hapsburg/Archduchy ruler of Austria was in power at the time embossed into them, thus bricks produced from them are time capsules time-stamped with the era from which they came. It was commonplace to see bricks made, say, in the time of Archduchess Maria Theresa who—as we're talking about Czechoslovakia—was also Queen of Bohemia around the time of the Silesian Wars/Battle for Prague. (It seems to me the many wars in and around Bohemia over the centuries only adds to the point about why the Czechs are the way they are; essentially wars and politics likely framed Hašek's worldview and thus Švejk.) Anyway, it had been my intension to souvenir one of these bricks in pristine condition and bring it back home to display on my mantelpiece but unfortunately I never quite got around to it. :-) For me, one thing that truly stood out in Czechoslovakia under Communism which was in stark contrast with noncommunist countries was the lack advertising and billboards on streets and roadways and that was especially evident in big cities such as Prague. Moreover, when I first went to Prague it seemed to me that I was stepping back in time as communist Prague had been preserved as a beautiful 18th Century city because the communists had done very little modernization during their time in power; that was also the situation for much of the country, witness my comment about the woefull state of the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway. I recall reading somewhere the reason for why the 1984 movie Amadeus, which was about Mozart and his rival Salieri, was filmed in Prague, and it was because its center remained so much like it was in the 1780s as that was the period in which the film was set. The film's producers specifically made the point that the lack of visible advertising and billboards was one† of the primary reasons for choosing the city. That's not the situation now, not long after Communism fell Prague began to look like other Western cities, which to me seems like a shame. That lack of modernization and not keeping up with best practice under Communism wasn't all positive. The crawling, almost walking speed of train trips on the Franz Joseph Railway line and various trips by car allowed me to spend much time looking out of windows at the countryside. On the train at some short distance south of Prague I recall seeing pollution from what seemed to be a cement factory. For miles around tree leaves were covered with a dirty cement-colored dust which gave the nearby countryside a horrible yellow-grayish appearance. I may be wrong but after viewing both cities and countryside and talking with those who lived there I formed the opinion that back then this sort 'malaise' was reasonably widespread over much of the country. Nowadays, that's changed much for the better. _ † Others were that Prague holds relevance for the story in that its present architecture is similar to Vienna of the 18th C. which made for an authentic backdrop, and that in the 1780s Mozart's Don Giovanni was deemed too salacious and sleazy for conservative Viennese society and had to have its premiere performance in more liberal Prague.
- int_19h 3y ago
  I grew up in the USSR, and while I don't remember this done with bread, prices were indeed routinely stamped on physical goods, even factory mass-produced ones (and those weren't stickers - it would often be literally engraved on the surface). Pretty much anything that already had any kind of label on it would have price embedded as part of that label, from appliances to matchboxes.

foobarian 3y ago

When I went there first it was also still under communist rule, and the thing I still remember the most is that bread loaves commonly sold in the grocery stores had the price embossed into the crust (IIRC "5 Kčs"). Centrally controlled economies eh? So stable that it was practical to make price stamps distributed to bakeries. I wish I could get my hands on one of these brands...

inglor_cz 3y ago
You reminded me of my own childhood. Yes, 5 Kčs was a standard price. I was not yet 13 when the no-longer-Communist Czechoslovak government liberalized the prices. Back then, I was profoundly unsettled by the idea that the same loaf of bread could cost a different amount of money in two different stores. It felt as unnatural as having multiple birthdays.
hilbert42 3y ago
"I wish I could get my hands on one of these brands..." Ha, right. That brings back memories from when I was living and working in Vienna. When walking by building or construction sites around the city one would often come across bricks that were several centuries old and one could tell this because the molds from which the bricks were made had the coat of arms of whomever Hapsburg/Archduchy ruler of Austria was in power at the time embossed into them, thus bricks produced from them are time capsules time-stamped with the era from which they came. It was commonplace to see bricks made, say, in the time of Archduchess Maria Theresa who—as we're talking about Czechoslovakia—was also Queen of Bohemia around the time of the Silesian Wars/Battle for Prague. (It seems to me the many wars in and around Bohemia over the centuries only adds to the point about why the Czechs are the way they are; essentially wars and politics likely framed Hašek's worldview and thus Švejk.) Anyway, it had been my intension to souvenir one of these bricks in pristine condition and bring it back home to display on my mantelpiece but unfortunately I never quite got around to it. :-) For me, one thing that truly stood out in Czechoslovakia under Communism which was in stark contrast with noncommunist countries was the lack advertising and billboards on streets and roadways and that was especially evident in big cities such as Prague. Moreover, when I first went to Prague it seemed to me that I was stepping back in time as communist Prague had been preserved as a beautiful 18th Century city because the communists had done very little modernization during their time in power; that was also the situation for much of the country, witness my comment about the woefull state of the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway. I recall reading somewhere the reason for why the 1984 movie Amadeus, which was about Mozart and his rival Salieri, was filmed in Prague, and it was because its center remained so much like it was in the 1780s as that was the period in which the film was set. The film's producers specifically made the point that the lack of visible advertising and billboards was one† of the primary reasons for choosing the city. That's not the situation now, not long after Communism fell Prague began to look like other Western cities, which to me seems like a shame. That lack of modernization and not keeping up with best practice under Communism wasn't all positive. The crawling, almost walking speed of train trips on the Franz Joseph Railway line and various trips by car allowed me to spend much time looking out of windows at the countryside. On the train at some short distance south of Prague I recall seeing pollution from what seemed to be a cement factory. For miles around tree leaves were covered with a dirty cement-colored dust which gave the nearby countryside a horrible yellow-grayish appearance. I may be wrong but after viewing both cities and countryside and talking with those who lived there I formed the opinion that back then this sort 'malaise' was reasonably widespread over much of the country. Nowadays, that's changed much for the better. _ † Others were that Prague holds relevance for the story in that its present architecture is similar to Vienna of the 18th C. which made for an authentic backdrop, and that in the 1780s Mozart's Don Giovanni was deemed too salacious and sleazy for conservative Viennese society and had to have its premiere performance in more liberal Prague.
int_19h 3y ago
I grew up in the USSR, and while I don't remember this done with bread, prices were indeed routinely stamped on physical goods, even factory mass-produced ones (and those weren't stickers - it would often be literally engraved on the surface). Pretty much anything that already had any kind of label on it would have price embedded as part of that label, from appliances to matchboxes.