Page 18 - NEWNORMAL_ANIMATED

NEW NORMAL

WHERE THE BOOK WAS BORN

I have already mentioned that the creation
of this book was stimulated by an initiative
with roots in the Czech Republic. No, it is nei-
ther Chechnya nor Slovenia. The Czech Repub-
lic lies in the heart of Europe - literally. More
precisely, the geographical center of Europe
lies in the Czech Republic; The exact point
depends on the scientific method used but in

any case it is somewhere between the towns
of Kuřim, Jakubovice and Golčův Jeníkov.
Czechia does not belong to Eastern Europe.
It is true that since the communist putsch in
1948, we were ruled from the East for over 40
years and occupied by the Russian army for 20
years. It‘s long gone, though it will never be
forgotten. Our capital is Prague and it lies 300
km further west than Vienna! Until 1918, Bohemia and Moravia were the
Czechia borders Austria, Germany, Po- industrial heart of the Austro-Hungarian Habs-
land and Slovakia. burg Empire. Our banking system was com-
pared to the Swiss, our sugar factories pro-
duced sugar on all continents, our machine
shops produced industrial breweries and our
brewers brewed beer all over the world. The
fourth largest city is Pilsen, the city that gave
the beer its name and in the south, there is the
city of Budweis, where the original Budweiser
(not the American „light“ one) comes from.
On January 1, 1993 the former Czechoslova-
kia peacefully split into Czechia and Slovakia.
We have been a member of the European Uni-
The memorial stone „Belly of Europe“ on since May 1, 2004.
18