PRELUDE I / As If We Were to Die Today

ABOUT

Zahrádka is today a place that no longer exists – and yet it does. This evening carries within it both its shadow and the light that once burned there. This evening is not merely a concert. It is an encounter with memory, with the silence that has remained, and with the music that tries to give it voice.

In the authentic space of the Church of St. Vitus in Zahrádka, words and sounds will be heard that touch upon the story of Fr. Josef Toufar – a priest whose life was cut short by violence, yet whose legacy has not disappeared. Miloš Doležal’s text As If We Were to Die Today is not only a document of the past. It is a reminder of conscience. And the music of Milan Pala is not an accompaniment – it is a cry, an echo, a prayer, and a protest at once.

Let us listen together. Without defense, without simplification. Just as truth sounds – sometimes quiet, sometimes painful, but always necessary.

The Church of St. Vitus in Zahrádky constitutes a primary historical locus for understanding the life and posthumous legacy of Josef Toufar (1902–1950), a priest whose violent death under the State Security interrogation apparatus has become one of the most thoroughly documented cases of political repression in early communist Czechoslovakia. Zahrádky formed the core of Toufar’s pastoral work between 1940 and 1950; it is a site deeply entangled with the formation of his theological outlook, community leadership, and social engagement. The forced removal of Toufar from this environment in January 1950—followed by his death after weeks of torture—marks a turning point in the regime’s escalating campaign against the Catholic Church.

Miloš Doležal’s Jako bychom dnes zemřít měli has emerged as a foundational text within contemporary Czech historiography of totalitarianism. It is distinguished by its meticulous integration of archival research, including interrogation protocols, surveillance documents, and internal State Security correspondence, with oral history methodologies drawing on testimonies of witnesses and parishioners. Doležal reconstructs not only the chain of events surrounding the so-called “Číhošť miracle” and its exploitation by the regime, but also the broader structures of ideological mobilization, media manipulation, and juridical violence that characterized the consolidation phase of the communist dictatorship.

The selection of excerpts presented by foremost Czech actor Petr Štěpánek foregrounds these documentary elements. His interpretation emphasizes the polyphonic nature of Doležal’s text: the convergence of personal memory, institutional record, and historiographical analysis. Performed in the Church of St. Vitus, the reading acquires a site-specific dimension—transforming the architectural space into an implicit participant in the act of historical recollection. The locale functions almost as an extended archive: a spatial repository of the community life abruptly disrupted by political power.

The evening’s musical counterpart, performed by Milan Paľa (1982), introduces a contemporary artistic response to the historical material. Paľa’s compositions—rooted in an uncompromising instrumental idiom and a keen structural sensibility—do not aim to “illustrate” Toufar’s story. Rather, they operate as an autonomous analytical lens, inviting reflection on themes such as suffering, agency, and the ethical weight of memory. His music provides a parallel, non-verbal mode of engaging with historical trauma and its afterlives.

Together, the reading and musical performance form an interdisciplinary event that situates Toufar’s case within the evolving field of memory studies and Czech post-war historiography, underscoring its enduring significance for understanding both individual moral agency and the mechanisms of state oppression.

Programme

Milan Pala: Objects

Miloš Doležal: As If We Were to Die Today

Performers

Milan Pala – violin, Jan Šťastný – spoken word