Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003

Politics, Economics, and the Mendel Museum in Margaret Heřmánek Peaslee, University of Pittsburgh at Titusville Titusville, Pennsylvania, USA 16354

The monastic order of the was founded in Moravia in 1350. The order soon became a vital center for the study of theology, culture, philosophy, music, mathematics, and science. The convent church was promoted to abbey status in 1752, and the abbey was moved to the former Cistercian Monastery within Staré Brno (Old Town) in 1783 (Samek 1993).

Much of the information in the following six paragraphs can be found in further detail in Dr. Orel’s book, , The First Geneticist, 1996.

Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) joined the Augustinian Monastery of St. Thomas in Brno in 1843. The Monastery already had established itself as a center of learning, and Mendel thrived in that environment. After achieving a solid educational foundation in the natural sciences, physics, and mathematics, Mendel designed and performed plant breeding experiments, and his most significant accomplishments resulted from work with the garden pea (Pisum sativum), published in 1866. Mendel’s revolutionary use of mathematics and statistics in the analysis of his data was not understood by his contemporaries, and it was only after his rediscovery in 1900 by de Vries, Correns, and Tschermak that he was recognized as the father of the science of genetics. As the significance of Mendel’s insight became apparent to scientists around the world, efforts were initiated in Brno to develop a center with lasting influence in recognition of this great man’s contributions. In the early 1900s Fr. Anselm Matoušek began collecting what remained of Mendel’s relics, and these materials formed the basis of the little Monastery Museum, the “Museum Mendelianum.” A statue of Mendel was commissioned in 1910 by the Natural Science Society to be erected on Mendel Square, near the abbey in Brno. The design of Theodor Charlemont from Znojmo was selected for this marble statue.

World War I put a temporary halt to further development of the museum, but efforts were resumed soon afterwards. The year 1922 marked the 100th anniversary of Mendel’s birth, and a great festival was held in Brno, with participants from around the world. The “Museum Mendelianum” again became a focus of attention. A sandstone monument was erected near Mendel’s garden site with text in four languages: Czech, German, French, and English, symbolizing the international scope of Mendel’s discoveries. In English the inscription reads: “Prelate Gregor Mendel performed the experiments for his law here.”

In 1930 Dr. J. Bělehrádek, Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at Brno University, presented a plan to the board of the faculty for establishing the “Mendel Institute of Genetics and Eugenics.” Professor Bělehrádek together with Professor Jaroslav Kříženecky drew up a program for the university, which would include studies in the history of genetics, contemporary genetics, and experimental research for the future of genetics.

Science and the Abbey suffered when World War II broke out. German armies entered the country, and the Nazis executed members of the resistance, , and local priests and churchmen. Czech universities were closed by the German occupiers and deep silence descended

- 1 - Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003 on scientific life in Brno. Mendel’s theories were twisted into support for the propaganda of the Nazi’s racial ideology.

After the liberation in 1945 attempts to expand the museum and establish a living and working memorial were again initiated, but with no success. Only the Faculty of Sciences of the Brno University passed a resolution for instituting a Department of Genetics and establishing a Chair in Genetics. However, the arrival of the Soviet army in 1945 had a strong effect on the Czechs and Slovaks, and by 1948 the Communist Party was in full control. In all the regions of the USSR the science of genetics was completely subordinated to Marxist ideology. T. D. Lysenko had persuaded Stalin and the party officials that the theory of “acquired characteristics” was the foundation of inheritance. Lysenko believed that exposing plants and animals to certain harsh conditions would cause them to produce offspring that could thrive under those conditions. For example, a lemon tree could be “taught” to survive in northern climates if sufficient generations of plants were grown under those conditions. These inane beliefs nearly destroyed agriculture in the USSR. Those who disagreed with Lysenko’s ideas were persecuted, imprisoned, and/or executed. The doctrine, of course, was also imposed on Communist Czechoslovakia. Not only did the science of genetics suffer under Soviet control, but in April 1949 the Augustinian Monastery was abolished, the members of the Order were dispersed to other localities, and the monastery buildings were occupied for public purposes. Mendel’s statue was removed from public view and placed in the courtyard of the monastery.

By the 1960s, when the Lysenko madness had subsided, the Mendel Museum was reestablished, and Dr. Jaroslav Kříženecky (1896-1964) was appointed the first director of the Mendelianum in 1962. Dr. Kříženecky, a professor and geneticist, was an expert on Mendelian history. He himself had been imprisoned earlier for by the Communists for 18 months.

Upon the death of Dr. Kříženecky, his former student, Dr. Vítězslav Orel, also a professor and geneticist, became Director of the Mendelianum. Dr. Orel is the author of hundreds of publications on Mendel and the history of genetics. Upon Dr. Orel’s retirement in 1991, Dr. Anna Matalová assumed the position of Director.

The author of this paper, a biologist, first visited the Mendelianum in 1992, while tracing her Bohemian roots to a location where her science and ethnicity intersected. At that time the artifacts of Mendel’s career were the main focus of the museum, with pictures from his life plus his books, microscopes, spectacles, furniture, scientific instruments, and various awards on display. The site of Mendel’s garden and the foundation of his greenhouse were visible in the courtyard. The country was just emerging from the Communist stranglehold, and a democratic government was working to bring prosperity and freedom to its citizens.

The current abbot, Lukáš Evžen Martinec, who took charge of the Monastery in 1995, recognized the need for restoration and renovation of the Church and the Monastery buildings and for the creation of a center for genetics. He and Mgr. Imma Mautner Markhof, Local Project Coordinator, have totally transformed the displays in the Mendel Museum and have secured funds for renovation of the property. The most recent exhibition, in 2002-2003, created by Wallace Kemp Artakt, takes the museum in an entirely new direction (Albano and Wallace

- 2 - Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU North American Conference, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 26-28 June 2003

2002). The exhibit first introduces Friar Gregor Mendel with photographs and samples of his notes and papers. The focus then turns to the artists’ experiments. Gerhard Lang, in The Typical Marking of the Cow Herd in Schöntal, uses black-and-white photography to illustrate that animals carry signs of their genetic make-up on their skin. Matilda Downs, in Atlas of Cows, shows the similarity between the coat and markings of cows and the graphic representations of geographical maps and atlases. herman de vries, in Ilex canariensis, uses leaves to show the wide variations in size and shape that can be found from plants of the same species. Cornelia Hesse- Honegger, in Drosophila melanogaster, eyes, photographs the eyes of fruit flies demonstrating the unusual configurations caused by genetic modifications. Rob Kesseler, in Stages of Mitosis, has frozen the moment of creation in time using blown-glass forms filled with natural substances, such as dried peas, dried flowers, and pollen. Susan Derges, in Vessel, 1 – 6, demonstrates living processes and transformations with frog development, spawn, tadpoles, metamorphosis, and adults. An entire wall is filled by Christine Borland, in A Treasury of Human Inheritance, the pedigree of a family with Huntington disease depicted as a mobile using slices of agate to represent each individual. Technology is used when Mendel’s experimental design is illustrated in computer simulation.

In the new climate of freedom in the we see a rekindling of the innate spirits of curiosity and creativity at the Mendel Museum, at the Abbey, and in the country as a whole.

REFERENCES:

Albano, Caterina and Marina Wallace. 2002. The Genius of Genetics, A Celebration of Gregor Mendel through Science and Art. Moravia Print, Czech Republic. 64pp. Mendel, Gregor. 1866. Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden. Verhandlungen des Naturforschenden Vereines, Abhandlungen, Brünn, 4:3-47. Orel, Vítězslav. 1996. Gregor Mendel, The First Geneticist. Translated by Stephen Finn. Oxford University Press, New York. 363pp. Samek, Bohumil. 1993. The Monastery of Augustinians in Brno. Translated in English by Jindřiška Machatová and Michael Kahn. Augustinian Monastery, Brno Old Town Abbey with cooperation of Institute for Protection of Monuments in Brno. 64pp.

- 3 -