What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 13 November 2022.

Na Smetance was built in 1889.

Smetanka (translation: ‘Dandelion’) is a homestead and vineyard that used to lie in this spot.

It’s old enough for it to be unclear when it was built. What we do know is that it housed a pub, and, from 1859, was also the location of the Novoměstské divadlo / New Town Theatre.

Made of wood, the theatre was the creation of Josef Niklas, a technology professor, who designed it as a replica of the first theatre in Dresden.

It presented pieces in both Czech and German; as it couldn’t be heated, it generally only operated in the warmer months.

The theatre was demolished in 1886, and the New German Theatre – now the State Opera – was built in its place. More on that one in a couple of days.

The photo is taken from the book Divadla a divadelní sály v českých krajích by Alfred Javorin (1949).

Back to Smetanka, part of the settlement was destroyed in 1871 to make way for Praha hlavní nádraží (the train station).

The owner, Františka Bachheiblová, started selling the estate off in the 1880s. A few years into the 20th century, Smetanka was no more.

The most impressive building in the street is probably the kindergarten and elementary school at number 1, built in 1896 as a secondary school.

A plaque recalls the building’s role in the Battle for Czech Radio (Boj o Český rozhlas) during the Prague Uprising in May 1945, when it was used by the German SS artillery to shell nearby streets.

Since May 2021, there’s also a plaque to two British soldiers, William Greig and Thomas Vokes.

They escaped from a prison camp in the Third Reich, hiding in forests in Bohemia and then being helped to get Prague by locals.

Both joined the battle, fighting in and around Balbínova, keeping patrol near the Czech Radio studios. Grieg also requested Allied assistance on the airwaves.

On 7 May, Grieg and Vokes, travelling house-to-house via interlinking cellars, managed to reach a house next to the school, where the SS were stationed and causing multiple civilian deaths.

They pretended to be from a British parachute unit, and told the SS that other British troops were about to arrive in Prague and would liquidate the SS fighters upon their arrival.

The SS fighters believed this and surrendered, handing their weapons over to the insurgents.

In May 1945 as in November 2022, then: invading forces are often not that smart and that’s a fact worth taking advantage of.

Слава Херсону, слава Україні.