What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 8 January 2023.

Rybalkova was built before 1884.

Prior to the Nazi occupation, and again from 1945 to 1946, the street was called Jablonského, after Boleslav Jablonský (1813-81), poet and priest.

During the Nazi occupation, it was known as Labská, after the river Labe (and as in ‘Ústí nad’), known in English and German as the Elbe.

Pavlo Semyonovich Rybalko was born in Malyy Vystorop, now in the Sumy Oblast of Ukraine, in 1894. During World War One, he fought in the Russian Army, and joined the Red Army in 1917.

In World War Two, he was commander of the 3rd Guards Tank Army, which distinguished itself in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Stalingrad and Kursk.

The 3rd Guards Tank Army entered Prague on 9 May 1945, at which point Prague was virtually liberated from Nazi rule anyway (see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/18/prague-3-day-1-konevova/).

Rybalko died in Moscow in 1948. Here’s a Soviet envelope with his portrait, from 1970.

Rybalkova eventually ate up other streets in the area, which seems quite fitting for a street named after a Soviet general.

In 1952, Na Borovance, named after Borovanka, a former vineyard, and Půlpánova, named after Karel Půlpán (1885-1914), a Czech writer and socialist, became part of Rybalkova.

Then, in 1985, some of the Půlpánova part was given to U Vršovického nádraží, another nearby street.