A bit of land unites former foes

"The Czechs blamed us for the war, but when it started, I was too young to understand," Flegel says. "Then 42 men from our village were killed [fighting in the German army]. Some of them were boys from my school, just 17 years old. Then, I wished the war would end."

When World War II did end, Flegel's father was interrogated, and her mother was raped by Russian soldiers, while Flegel and her sister hid in a nearby forest. Then her family was expelled to Germany, and she didn't return until that day in 1976 when she watched Melichar working on her old house. "When we saw a Czech was living in our house, we were afraid," she says. "I have found a new home, but my sister and parents never really recovered. It takes a long, long time to heal these wounds."

Finally, just after the fall of communism, a German-speaking neighbor named Ida Adamcova persuaded the two to meet. A visit was arranged, and Flegel was able to enter her childhood home for the first time in 44 years. With tension crackling between them, she and Melichar sat down to breakfast together with Ms. Adamcova as interpreter. Cautiously, as breakfast turned into lunch and then into dinner, they told each other their stories.

In 1992, the second time Flegel visited Melichar, she brought a map her father had drawn, which described where he had buried the family's gold and silver for safekeeping during the war. Melichar agreed to let Flegel and her relatives dig in his garden. They quickly unearthed a small bundle of heavily tarnished treasure.

"It was a tense moment," Melichar admits. "They put it all on my coffee table and told me to take whatever I wanted. I didn't want it, but eventually they gave me a little silver heart on a chain." Flegel was able to salvage her parent's gold wedding rings.

Such meetings between Germans and Czechs are not always so friendly. For both sides, the wounds of half a century still go deep. Sudeten German organizations have been clamoring for restitution from the Czech government since the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

Last month, the argument came to a head as Czech, Austrian, and German politicians traded insults. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had to postpone a state visit to Prague, and threatening leaflets appeared in Czech border towns declaring: "The Sudetenland was and will again be German."

Flegel disagrees with this approach. "Our children have a different home in Germany," she says. "I am thankful that Zdenek saved our house from being destroyed. So many other Sudeten Germans have no place to go back to for memories."

For just that reason, Melichar and Flegel have begun organizing visits to Lichkov for groups of Sudeten Germans. They come to sit around Melichar's big table and sing folk songs. Melichar plays his accordion exuberantly and passes out the cakes that Czech women in the village bring as peace offerings.

"Sometimes reconciliation takes a long time," Melichar says. "But now our friendship is not affected by the fake atmosphere of politics. I am glad my German friends feel welcome here, and I know what I need to know about history."

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