Focus on National Monument at Vítkov and discuss the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located underneath the Equestrian Statue. The Czechoslovak Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was originally established in the Old Town Hall in 1922 as a temporary place of piety and contained the remains of an unknown soldier from the Battle of Zborov. At the beginning of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, the Tomb became a place where people expressed their symbolic resistance against Nazi rule. It was demolished by the Nazis in 1941.
After World War II, consideration was given to renewing the tomb and moving it to Vítkov. As part of the 30th anniversary of the Battle of Zborov, the Headquarters of the Czechoslovak Army decided to establish the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the National Monument in Vítkov, which would contain the remains from Zborov, but Soviet embassy officials denied the transfer of those remains. In June 1949 restoration work was underway in the military graveyard near Dukla, and during exhumation work on 14 July 1949 the remains of one of the unknown soldiers were unearthed in the graveyard in Vyšný Komárnik. They were transported to Prague and temporarily lodged with the National Museum. On Sunday 9 October 1949, when celebrations of the 5th anniversary of the Battle of the Dukla Pass were at their peak, the remains were moved to the Liberation Monument.
On 8 May 2010 other remains of an unknown soldier from Zborov were put in the Tomb next to the unknown soldier from Dukla, thus fulfilling the original idea of the Monument. The remains are lodged in one of the coffins. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is today perceived as an expression of thanksgiving to the Czechs and Slovaks who fell in the struggle to liberate the Czech and Czechoslovak states. In 2006 General Alois Eliáš and his wife were also buried here.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Battle of the Dukla Pass Old Town Hall Dukla General Alois Eliáš Alois Eliáš World War II Czech National Museum Prague World War I Battle of Zborov Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Nazi Czechoslovak Vyšný Komárnik