Longest-Serving Bookseller Among 25,000 Czech Virus Victims

Bookseller Jaromir Vytopil, left, appoints the youngest schoolchildren to the order of readers at a library in Pelhrimov, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2020.  (AP Photo/Miroslav Krsek)
Bookseller Jaromir Vytopil, left, appoints the youngest schoolchildren to the order of readers at a library in Pelhrimov, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Miroslav Krsek)
TT

Longest-Serving Bookseller Among 25,000 Czech Virus Victims

Bookseller Jaromir Vytopil, left, appoints the youngest schoolchildren to the order of readers at a library in Pelhrimov, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2020.  (AP Photo/Miroslav Krsek)
Bookseller Jaromir Vytopil, left, appoints the youngest schoolchildren to the order of readers at a library in Pelhrimov, Czech Republic, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Miroslav Krsek)

A year after the Czech Republic recorded its first death from the coronavirus, the central European nation paused to remember all the citizens who lost their lives in the pandemic. By the end of the day, the number had surpassed 25,000.

Bells tolled across the country at noon last Monday to mark the anniversary of when the pandemic's first Czech casualty, a 95-year-old man, died in a Prague hospital. On March 22, 2020 and for some days to come, the Czech Republic reported daily COVID-19 deaths in the single digits. Few imagined then that the nation of of 10.7 million eventually would have one of the world's highest per capita death tolls.

But it's not just grim statistics that have torn the fabric of Czech life. There's always a personal story behind each life lost. And the deaths of some people affected entire communities.

Jaromir Vytopil's was one of them. Without him, the town of Pelhrimov won’t be the same.

As the country's longest-serving bookseller, Vytopil had served the town's readers for almost six decades. They came to his eponymous shop to buy books, maps and music, or just to have a chat with him when they passed by. Books and customers literally were his life: He got into the trade at age 15, studied at a special school for booksellers and worked in six different towns before settling in Pelhrimov in 1963.

He died at the age of 83 on Nov. 9, another grim day during the month that until Saturday was the Czech Republic's deadliest of the pandemic, Marie Vytopilova, says both of them likely caught the virus in the bookstore.

“We didn’t expect that to happen,” she said of her husband's death. “He was still full of life.”

The Czech Republic was spared the worst of the pandemic in the spring only to see its health care system near collapse in the fall and again in January and March after the coalition government led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis repeatedly let down pandemic guards despite warnings by experts.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the Czech Republic has the world's second-highest mortality rate after the microstate of San Marino.

Activists painted thousands of white crosses on the cobblestones of Prague’s Old Town Square this week for all of the people who died. They blamed the government for an inadequate response to the pandemic. One of the crosses honored Vytopil.

As the news of Vytopil's death spread in November, people placed flowers and lit candles in front of the bookstore, turning it into an impromptu memorial. About 600 mourners expressed their sorrow on the store's Facebook page.

“A legend has gone, the only citizen everybody knew in Pelhrimov," resident Petr Kostka commented.

“People like him form the heart of the town,” Milan Pavlicek added.

Vytopil used to leave his family's home in a nearby village on his scooter at 7 a.m. On the way, he stopped to have a coffee and to read newspapers. Then, he was ready to greet his customers.

“What was shining from him was an appetite for life and an effort to give people what he knew well, and that was the books," Marie Vytopilova recalled. "He used to read a lot, really a lot, and over the course of the years, you accumulate knowledge.”

US poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died last month at age 101, was among the bookseller's favorite authors along with Czech writers Josef Skvorecky and Bohumil Hrabal. But he praised the people who visited his store for their choices and if needed, offered recommendations.

“Many times, I laughed and called him a walking encyclopedia,” his wife said.

Vytopil’s mission as a bibliophile extended beyond his shop. He advised Pelhrimov’s public library on what titles to acquire, helped organize readings and book signings with authors, and once a year dressed up as a king to welcome children into the order of readers during a ceremony in which they received library cards, director Iva Rajdlova said.

“He was young at heart,” Rajdlova said. “He was interested in everything, and it was so nice to talk to him about anything, not just about books. He was interested in people and anything that was going on. Simply, he was a very good man.”

Promoting books and literacy, however, could be a dangerous pursuit during the communist era of Vytopil’s country. Private ownership of bookstores was prohibited. After the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia that crushed liberal reforms known as the Prague Spring, the hardline regime banned numerous authors and ordered bookstores to purge their works from store shelves.

“My dad hid all the banned books he could, so when we attended high school, we were reading his favorite, Skvorecky, and also (Milan) Kundera and other banned writers,” Vytopil’s son Jan said.

Martin Vana, who visited Vytopil’s bookstore for the first time in 1978, said he wasn't surprised by local reaction to his death. Vana, who works for the regional public radio station, approached Vytopil about 13 years ago to ask him to present new books on the air. For about 10 years, he had a popular show mixing the books and stories from his life.

“He was such a distinctive personality. We didn’t go to a bookstore, but instead we went to Vytopil’s," Vana said. "In the course of his years in business, his name became synonymous with bookseller."
After the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution, Vytopil finally could open his own family bookstore, which he and his wife did on July 1, 1991.

“He did exactly what he liked and did it right, no matter what it was,” his wife said. “When we started, I remember his enthusiasm for the business. It was him who was carrying the weight of it.”
Despite his age, he didn’t plan to retire, according to son.

“The bookstore was all his life,” he said. “He used to say he only wanted to be carried out of it. That wish turned true, in a way.”

The family announced in January they were putting the bookstore up for sale because they realized they didn't want to run it “without our dad, husband and its soul" any more.
___



Germany Goes Nuts for Viral 'Dubai Chocolate’

Pieces of Dubai chocolate with gold leaf are pictured at Abu Khaled Sweets oriental pastry shop in Berlin's Wedding district on November 14, 2024. (AFP)
Pieces of Dubai chocolate with gold leaf are pictured at Abu Khaled Sweets oriental pastry shop in Berlin's Wedding district on November 14, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Germany Goes Nuts for Viral 'Dubai Chocolate’

Pieces of Dubai chocolate with gold leaf are pictured at Abu Khaled Sweets oriental pastry shop in Berlin's Wedding district on November 14, 2024. (AFP)
Pieces of Dubai chocolate with gold leaf are pictured at Abu Khaled Sweets oriental pastry shop in Berlin's Wedding district on November 14, 2024. (AFP)

When Ali Fakhro lays out a row of pistachio-filled chocolate bars in the morning at his bakery in Berlin, he knows they will be gone in a matter of hours.

Inspired by the viral success of the crunchy delicacy known as "Dubai chocolate", Fakhro, 32, hunted down a recipe and began making his own version two months ago.

"On the first day I made 20 bars, but they went fast. The next day, I made 50 -- all gone too," he said.

So-called Dubai chocolate was invented in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, who is based in Dubai.

The chunky treat consists of a blocky, hand-decorated chocolate bar with various quirky fillings -- the signature flavor being a rich pistachio cream.

The treat went viral when TikTok food influencer Maria Vehera posted a video of herself eating a bar in her car, which has since been viewed more than 100 million times.

The real thing is only available to local customers in limited quantities, but the trend has led to an explosion of copycat versions of the chocolate around the world.

Shop owner Ali Fakhro prepares Dubai chocolate at his Abu Khaled Sweets oriental pastry shop in Berlin's Wedding district on November 14, 2024. (AFP)

- Queueing in the cold -

Fakhro, who runs Abu Khaled Sweets in Berlin, experimented "several times" with different recipes before finally landing on the right ingredient to give the pistachio cream its famous crunch -- a finely shredded Middle Eastern pastry known as kataif.

Germans have been scrambling to get their hands on the chocolate with bars selling for over 100 euros ($104) on the internet.

Last week, a 31-year-old man was caught by customs attempting to smuggle 45 kilograms of the sweet treat into Germany from Switzerland.

When Swiss manufacturer Lindt launched its own version of the Dubai chocolate in Germany this month, customers queued for hours in the cold to get their hands on a bar.

At up to 20 euros per bar, the delicacy is far more expensive than your average chocolate bar -- but that didn't seem to be putting anyone off.

"I waited 10 hours. I've been here since midnight just to taste this chocolate," 18-year-old student Leon Faehnle told AFP outside a Lindt shop in Stuttgart.

Customers line-up in front of a branch of chocolate producer Lindt before the sale of 100 Dubai Chocolate bars starts in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on November 15, 2024. (AFP)

- 'Easy money' -

Lindt launched the chocolate in Germany with 1,000 numbered bars in 10 shops, a spokesman for the group told AFP, and is planning a similar launch in Austria on November 30.

Dubai chocolate has also been a hit in France, with a version by chocolatier Jeremy Bockel on show at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris earlier this month.

Yannick Burkhard, 21, queued for three hours in Stuttgart to get his hands on the chocolate -- but is not planning to eat any of it himself. Instead, he will sell it on the internet.

"I would never pay that much for this. It's quick and easy money," he said with a smile.

"This bar cost 15 euros, but it can sell for almost 100 euros... There are lots of offers on eBay, up to 300 euros," said a customer who gave his name only as Lucas, 24.

Faehnle had a more wholesome plan for his bars as he exited the shop in Stuttgart beaming with pride at his purchase.

"Now I'm going to go home and share them with my grandparents," he said.