Final Word from Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Public reaction to the Sudeten German Landsmannschaft gathering in Brno later this month is more or less split down the lines of coalition vs. opposition, so the timing of it is significant. If it had been, say, last year, ANO, SPD and Moto wouldn't have had the same platform to mount a protest. The Landsmannschaft's statutes stipulate explicitly that the annual event serve to carry out the group's mission, which includes condemning expulsions and ethnic cleansing and seeking redress for them. The Landsmannschaft revised the statutes in 2015, and this was treated by the media as a breakthrough, but the "unshakable principles" were in fact reaffirmed in the statutes and principles, as Bernd Posselt informed members in March 2015. It isn't therefore politically astute for ODS Chair Martin Kupka to claim in Parliament that the Landsmannschaft hasn't in any way questioned the validity of the Beneš Decrees since 2015, not even in its documents. Kupka is digging his party into a hole that it will be difficult to get out of. [ Czech Republic Motorists spokesman policy statement ]
Glossary of difficult words
to go out on a limb - to do something risky or extreme, which puts one in a position of weakness;
redress - remedy or compensation for a wrong or grievance;
astute - having or showing an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one's advantage;
to dig oneself into a hole - to get oneself into a difficult situation.