INTERCULTURAL CENTER IN POSTOLOPRTY

In my work, I respond to the historical events surrounding the end of the war in Postoloprty and the associated violent expulsion of Czech Germans. Germans from Postoloprty, Žatec, and nearby villages were subjected to mistreatment at the Postoloprty barracks, which were privately owned and demolished in 2016. The issue of commemorating the victims remains controversial. The investor's intention is to divide the site into plots for family houses. Adjacent to the barracks site is the princely courtyard area, which is in very poor technical condition and requires urgent preservation (see analytical section). I propose a new functional use for the courtyard and an alternative option for utilizing the barracks site, linking the two in a meaningful way. I transform the princely courtyard into a social intercultural center with a Czech-German museum, fostering intergenerational encounters free of prejudice. On the barracks site, I create a memorial for those expelled and murdered, designing it as the starting point of a commemorative trail between Žatec and Postoloprty.