A literary-historical walking tour with Lukáš Gliniarczyk and Ostrava writers.

Where did Ostrava’s interwar bohemians go? To Café Palace. By the late 1920s, it had become one of the centers of Ostrava’s social and cultural life. Czech and German actors, musicians, and writers gathered here, as did young, free-spirited Ostrava residents who called themselves “chachaři.” It was not an organized group, but a unique world of young people of various nationalities, religions, and social backgrounds, united by Ostrava, a sense of adventure, and a certain defiance of convention.

One of them was Ostrava native Joseph Wechsberg (1907–1983), who later became a successful American writer and journalist. In his books, he repeatedly returned to his summers in Chachar and the Palace Hotel, describing the café as “the geographical and social heart of the city.”

On this literary-historical walking tour, we’ll follow in the footsteps of the Palace Hotel, its famous “American Café,” and the people who frequented it. We’ll explore the history and architecture of this extraordinary place, First Republic-era Ostrava with its Czech, German, and Jewish cultures, and the figure of Joseph Wechsberg and his friends in Ostrava.

We’ll connect the stories of interwar Ostrava with literary excerpts from that era as well as readings by contemporary authors from Ostrava. Through these, we will attempt to gain insight into a world in which a café was not just a place to go for coffee, but above all a place for discussion and where modern life in Ostrava took shape.

Dates: 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 6:00 PM

Meeting place: Palace Hotel, 28. října Street

Limited capacity, reservations here.