Events 2009
The First Lady of the United States in Prague
Michelle Obama a Leo Pavlát, the Director of the Jewish Museum, at the Old Jewish Cemetery.© Jewish Museum in Prague
By David Gainer, Cultural Attaché of the U.S. Embassy Prague
During the visit of President Barack Obama to the Czech Republic, I served as the Embassy Control Officer for Mrs. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States (or, 'FLOTUS,' as we like to say in the Embassy). Shortly after arriving in Prague, President and Mrs. Obama, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, met briefly with U.S. Embassy employees and their families at the Hilton Hotel.
The next morning, the First Lady awoke around 5 a.m. to get ready for her Sunday program. The motorcade left the Hilton Hotel around 8:45 a.m. for the welcome ceremony at the Castle. Then the President and Mrs. Obama entered the Castle, signed the Guest Book, and exchanged gifts. After a short meeting with Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Mrs. Livia Klausova, the two First Ladies went for a tour of the Castle Grounds. Mrs. Obama visited the Cathedral of St. Vitus and the Basilica of St. Jiři, where she listened to a concert by musicians from the Prague School for the Blind.
Mrs. Obama then accompanied President Obama on the stage for his speech, and rejoined him at the end of the speech to shake hands with the audience. Then it was off via motorcade for a tour of the Jewish Quarter in Prague. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Senior Advisor David Axelrod joined the First Lady on a solemn tour of the Pinkas Synagogue, where she honored the 80,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia whose names are inscribed on the synagogue walls. Mrs. Obama also viewed the moving exhibition of the drawings by children in the Terezín ghetto, including an original collage by Marie Mühlstein (1932–1944), who, like the majority of children imprisoned in Terezín, did not survive the Nazi persecution.
The First Lady then went through the Old Jewish Cemetery, stopping by the graves of important figures from Prague’s Jewish history. Mrs. Obama left a secret, hand-written wish, on a folded piece of paper, on the grave of Rabbi Loew ben Bezalel. She exited the Cemetery, and walked down U starého hřbitova, stopped for a photo by a shopkeeper, and waved to excited onlookers enroute to the Old New Synagogue, where she met with leaders of the Czech Jewish community. Then it was back in the motorcade for a quick trip to the airport and a flight home to be with her daughters before they started school again on Monday morning.
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