The House as Shelter and Target

The Glass Room

This flow traces the house’s wartime physical vulnerability and Laník’s struggle to survive within it as armies pass through Město.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Glass Is Requisitioned The Glass Is Requisitioned from "The Glass Room". A Changed Building Institutional occupation The Nazi research centre fills the house with staff, records, and equipment.

The Glass Is Requisitioned from "The Glass Room". A Changed Building Institutional occupation The Nazi research centre fills the house with staff, records, and equipment.

A Changed Building Institutional occupation The Nazi research centre fills the house with staff, records, and equipment. Curtains divide the open room, and measurement apparatus replaces the domestic furnishings. The house’s apparent order makes its new function look controlled, even as the people examined there are subject to coercion. A fragile authority The building is occupied by one institution after another, while Laník and his sister remain vulnerable residents on its margins. Neither ownership nor caretaking gives them full control.

Scarcity in the City Scarcity in the City from "The Glass Room". Ordinary Needs Become Currency A city reduced to basics Město’s inhabitants live on roots, bread, fuel, and whatever can be exchanged.

Scarcity in the City from "The Glass Room". Ordinary Needs Become Currency A city reduced to basics Město’s inhabitants live on roots, bread, fuel, and whatever can be exchanged.

Ordinary Needs Become Currency A city reduced to basics Město’s inhabitants live on roots, bread, fuel, and whatever can be exchanged. Money loses significance as scarcity reshapes daily life. Laník gathers goods in the house’s basement and trades with neighbors who have few alternatives. The basement economy The hidden rooms that once supported a wealthy household now sustain a small, informal market. Survival depends on knowing what others need and what they can surrender.

The Bomb in the Garden The Bomb in the Garden from "The Glass Room". A Near Miss The explosion A bomb strikes the garden near the house, killing the silver birch and shattering the Glass Room’s plate-glass windows.

The Bomb in the Garden from "The Glass Room". A Near Miss The explosion A bomb strikes the garden near the house, killing the silver birch and shattering the Glass Room’s plate-glass windows.

A Near Miss The explosion A bomb strikes the garden near the house, killing the silver birch and shattering the Glass Room’s plate-glass windows. Laník and his sister survive in the basement. The impact breaks the building’s defining transparency, leaving glass fragments and torn interior surfaces. Damage without explanation Rumors blame different air forces, but no one can establish the bomb’s origin. Its randomness resembles the larger uncertainty of civilians caught beneath wartime air raids.

A House Under Canvas A House Under Canvas from "The Glass Room". Shelter After the Shattering Temporary repairs Laník covers the broken windows with tarpaulins.

A House Under Canvas from "The Glass Room". Shelter After the Shattering Temporary repairs Laník covers the broken windows with tarpaulins.

Shelter After the Shattering Temporary repairs Laník covers the broken windows with tarpaulins. The Glass Room loses its light and becomes a dim shelter marked by damaged flooring and exposed weather. The makeshift repair keeps the interior usable but cannot restore the building’s former balance. A changed perception The house no longer appears to float above the city. Its inhabitants experience it as a wounded structure, subject to the same material vulnerability as the people inside it.

The Russians Arrive The Russians Arrive from "The Glass Room". Liberation and New Risk Battle reaches the house As German forces retreat and Soviet troops enter Město, Laník and his sister hide in the basement.

The Russians Arrive from "The Glass Room". Liberation and New Risk Battle reaches the house As German forces retreat and Soviet troops enter Město, Laník and his sister hide in the basement.

Liberation and New Risk Battle reaches the house As German forces retreat and Soviet troops enter Město, Laník and his sister hide in the basement. The battle is heard through explosions, gunfire, and footsteps overhead. After the fighting passes, mounted Soviet soldiers arrive at the door. Survival under new authority Laník offers slivovice to the soldiers and adapts to their presence. The war has ended, but the uncertainty of occupation gives way to a new set of power relations.

During the German occupation

During the later war years

November 1944

After the November 1944 bombing

During the Soviet capture of Město in spring 1945