Project Surgite Caput - Historical Memory in the Service of Democracy
The Surgite Caput project, supported by the FF Endowment Fund, aims to strengthen historical memory, democratic values and civic engagement - with an emphasis on dialogue with the young generation. This project has also received the support of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Berlin and Ambassador Jiří Čistecký, who have established cooperation with the FF Endowment Fund to develop a broader initiative in the field of education and historical research.
The project is based on the conviction that a deeper knowledge of the past is the key to a better understanding of the present - and an important tool for defending democratic values. The current uncertain geopolitical situation is turning attention back to periods that bear many parallels with today. A detailed historical examination of the fate of forgotten heroes not only provides us with new insights, but also important warnings and inspiration for today. It shows what problems our ancestors faced and what strategies proved effective.
The current phase of the project focuses on the personality of General Václav Ždímal (1890-1942) - a participant in the first and second Czechoslovak resistance, who gave his life for the freedom of Czechoslovakia in the fight against Nazism. He was executed on 2 September 1942 in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison. After February 1948 he was systematically erased from the official memory of the nation - because of his participation in the Czechoslovak Legions during the struggle against the Bolsheviks in Russia (1916-1920). For this reason, his family continued to face persecution by the communist regime until 1989, even after his death.
It took more than three decades before the democratic Czech state began to take notice not only of his fate, but also of the fate of other officers, soldiers and civilians who were condemned and executed in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, outside the territory of today's Czech Republic. A major impetus was the research led by German historian Johannes Tuchel and his team, which - with the support of the German side - has been researching Czechoslovak victims of Nazi justice in Berlin, especially in the Plötzensee prison. This research contributes not only to the expansion of knowledge, but also to changing the attitude of the Czech state and its institutions towards these forgotten chapters of our history.
In the academic year 2024/25, a bachelor's thesis dedicated to the personality of General Ždímal was created on the initiative of the FF Endowment Fund and in cooperation with historians from Palacký University in Olomouc. Its outputs will serve as a basis for extended research.
In the medium term, the Surgite Caput project aims - in cooperation with historians from Czech and German institutions - to map in detail the fates of all six generals who were executed in Berlin's Plötzensee prison during the Second World War.
In connection with this historical research, a web platform is being created in cooperation with the Final Final Studio, on which the results of the research and the findings will be presented to the general professional and lay public - online.
The long-term goal is to establish a concrete memorial to General Václav Ždímal and other high-ranking officers of the Czechoslovak army executed in Berlin-Plötzensee. This memorial should be built according to the design of the architectural office H3T in one of the trenches in the border zone XIII 'Rostislav' in the area of Jeseník, where the general was stationed at the time of mobilisation in 1938. The memorial will be linked to the above-mentioned online platform.