198042.czech news - Czech Cultural Center Houston

New MembersVelke KoloBeatrice Mladenka-Fowler& Jesse FowlerFounderErvin Adam, MD &Vlasta Adam, MDHelen & Lynn BlankenburgMidred & Joseph BordenElizabeth CupittMarion & J.H. FreemanZahava HaenoshMarietta HetmaniakJerry & Victor HolyDoris & Edward JanekMary Jane RozypalSallie & Wayne WendtPatronSara Ann BartonJanet & Glenn RawlinsonShelly Sekula-Gibbs, MDMargaret & Albert SmaistrlaDan UrbanekSandra & Ken VoytekHon. J.C. Zbranek &Nelda ZbranekJerry ZmeskalFriendMelinda & Mark KubalaLinda MayElbert & Emma MachacMontgomeryTeryle & Lyle MorrowRev. Msgr. Dan ScheelValeria & Ben SheppardBetty Joyce SikoraPam VojacekStephen VranaMargaret WakemanTracey & Norman ZetkaCorporateJody BlazekFamilyLaura Bowne &Lana SullengerElise & John CyrRobert & Anne DybalaSharron & Tamim El HajeMildred & DonaldGrahmannLinda & Barry HluchanNellie & Louis RychlikClaudine & Chris SkuciusIndividualAnna AshmoreHelen A. BaineIn Memory of Peter J. BaineRosie BodienRaymond FitzgeraldAndrew Hardwick-BohovcikFrank HorakFrances JonesTommie LostakThomas PesekLaura PilgrimDorothy M. RainerPamela RezabekMatthew RobeyThomas RyzaLawrence SodolakLisa Sikora ThompsonMember Update (September 9, 2003 to January 9, 2004)Dorothy TumlinsonMember RenewalsMary Ann AkersBeatrice R. BarlerLadd BednarTerri K. BernathRobert & JoAnn BilyJoyce & Willie Bohuslav, Jr.Lucy & J. J. BroschMarge CalvertWilla Mae CervenkaNancy ChlodnickiDorothy H. ChowenskiViola Krejci CoxIrene CrossEsther Fojt CunninghamCzech Catholic UnionMarilyn DeMarcoTerri DockalJames DoubekPamela & William DrastataFr. Vincent DulockJan V. DuraEdward J. DworskyGladys & Marcial ForesterVeronica H FrostCarolyn & Glen GerkenHelen Komanec GreenCathy & Ted HajdikSibley & Milton HavlickEdwin HlavatyStephen HlavinkaJerrie & Victor HolyMary & Daniel HolubMargie HornColleen HruskaJoseph HurkaBette & Jerry HurtaDaniel I. JezekJean & Joe JungbauerAnn JureckaHenrietta KleckaViola KlinkovskyJuanita & Daniel KocianDennis KokasLynne & Doug KokasPalma & Jerry KoudelkaVictor KovarRichard KratovilLinda KutachDorothy & Emil KvapilKatherine & Eugene LabayErnest & Delores LaitkepJudith & John Lanik, Jr.Robert A. LoganHelen & Roger MarshLydia & Thomas MarshVickie MatochaCathy & Ronnie MatthewsVlasta MatticeSusan & Roger MechuraGrace A. MensikDonna & Guenter MerkleLeta Mae MiddletonDavid Miller, MD &Sally Miller, Ph.DLois & Paul MizerakDorothy & Alois MladenkaLinda & David MooreAnn & Charles OrsakElizabeth & Steve OrsakPat ParmaMary Grace & Tony PavlikAlice & W.F. PearsonElsie PecenaRonald D. PechacekJoseph PeslBernice & Robert PetruDonald Pisar, MDSr. Rosanne PlagensMary Ann PolkRichard PowellDolores PowerKay & Ronnie PruettVal & Jan RaslDennis RoederRose Marie Baca RohdeElsie RoznovskyBarbara Jircik Schlattman &Russell H. Schlattman II,DDSJean & Drew ShebaySylvia Jez SchillerAnna SchindlerLillie SchneiderMarilyn & Charles SikoraFrances SowderSPJST Lodge #172Sylvester SudaMary & Ben SymmankMargie Jez TomanDiane & Jorge TraconisCharlotte & Henry A. TyrochDorothy & Ben UlbrichMarjorie E. WhiteCarole & Clifford VacekRebecca & Roy VajdakSylvie C. VavraLinda & Gene VeselkaMaureen & SylvesterViaclovskyStanley VrlaCharles WaliguraCecile WheelerLoretta & Dale WhittingtonRita WilhiteNatalie WoodruffFrank Yanda, Jr.HonorsCecilia ForrestBob ForrestAndrew ZurikRobert Z. ZurikMemorialsAdele GlombCharles PustejovskyHarvey & Olga DolezalMeaselsDianna & Ken DormanAlfred Kolar & Frank SobolikKaren HallMemorial/Honor WallBurnette Jurica BoyettLucy & J. J. BroschClara & Johnny BrozRaymond R. Darilek, Jr.Lillian Horak DulaneyConnie & James EdeLinda G. EllisJ.H. & Marion FreemanAdelma GrahamZahava HaenoshJerry & Victor HolyLeslie & Gladys KahanekKelli & Phillip NevludClarence & Bobbie PertlBernice & Robert PetruPamela RezabekJustine Jurica RivoireT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r3Margaret & Albert SmaistrlaAnn Maresh WheelerCapital CampaignAnnual Fund GiftsSpecial BenefactorBetti & Charles SaundersBenefactorDelores Jansa &Arthur M. Jansa, MDLouis J. and Millie M.KocurekCharitable FoundationMBC FoundationMary Grace & Tony PavlikMary & Frank Pokluda, Jr.Patron SponsorJustine J. RivoireFounding FriendBank of America,Matching GiftMary Jane RozypalKarolina Adam, MD &John G. DickersonHelen & Lynn BlankenburgEugene CernanGeorgia KrauskopfMinnie PetrusekDebbie & Billy ShortnerNaomi Kostom SpencerPamela VojacekSpecial SponsorEdna & Bill CoxLillian DulaneyRobert J. DvorakJan V. DuraCharles HeydaAudrey KlumpKathy KokasDavid KvapilEleanor & Thomas LeibhamJeanette & James MalloryDennis MasarRev. George J. Olsovsky, Jr.Gerald OpatrnyErnest J. OpellaCathy & Thomas PolkAnnual SponsorJerry ElznerJean & Joe F. Jungbauer, Jr.Garry M. KramchakIsabel MatusekSylvester SudaAnnette M. ZinnRobert ZurikOtherRosalie & Frank BannertVeronica H FrostGarry KramchakHouston Alumnae of ZTASr. Rosanne PlagensDonationNorma AshmoreRosie BodienJoseph HurkaKrogerLawrence SodolakClarence TarnowskiGala VIII UnderwritersBarbara Von Zuben FosdickCLUB 200Norma Ashmore*Martha & Earl AustinJoyce & Jim BrausVictoria CastleberryFather Paul ChovanecAllen+ & Dorothy ChernoskyMarvin Chernosky, MD &Jean ChernoskyRobert J. DvorakDanna & James ErmisCecilia & Bob ForrestCynthia GdulaLorraine Rod GreenOleta & Louis HanusLynn & Purvis Harper, MDVirginia & Henry HarperBernice Cernosek Havelka+Chris HlavinkaAnn HornakRoy M. HuffingtonDelores Jansa &Arthur M. Jansa, MDEdwin JureckaGladys & Leslie KahanekTomas Klima, MD &Marcella Klima, MDJulie Halek KloessLillian & Robert KokasTim Kostom+ &Rosa Lee Kostom+Betty & Mark Kubala, MDMarta R. LatschAnn & Elbert LinkCora Sue & Harry MachThelma Burnett MareshMBC FoundationJohn P. McGovern, MDJudy & Paul PasemannCharlie PavlicekLindsey, Sarah, &Sherry Rosene PierceTony & Mary Grace PavlikMary & Frank Pokluda, Jr.Frank Pokluda, IIIJustine RivoireEffie & Bill RoseneBetti & Charles SaundersDon Sheffield &Nancy Chernosky SheffieldGrace SkrivanekClarice Marik SnokhousRaymond J. SnokhousLilian & H.M. Sorrels, DDSWilliam E. SouchekNaomi Kostom SpencerJohn R. VacekPatsy A. Wells*Denotes new listing+DeceasedMembershipAmembership in the CzechCultural Center Houstonbeside being rewarding to theindividual is a necessary andvital component of our organization.Please considerthese membership levels:Donor’s Circle MemberFriend $150 (3 year)Patron $500 (5 year)Founder $1,000 (lifetime)Benefactor $5,000 (lifetime)Velke Kolo $10,000 (lifetime)Basic Annual MemberFamily $40Individual $25Student $15Corporate $100Non-profit Org. $100

Board of DirectorsEffie M. Rosene, ChairmanJames E. Ermis, Vice ChairmanRev. Paul ChovanecRose Hrncir DeatheRobert J. DvorakAnn HornakRobert KokasBeatrice Mladenka-FowlerPaul PasemannSandra Jircik PickettLarry PflughauptBetti Friedel SaundersClarice Marik SnokhousPatsy Veselka WellsNatalie WoodruffHonorary Board MembersThelma Burnett MareshWilliam E. SouchekDorothy Chernosky &Allen Chernosky+Julie Halek KloessLouis & Oleta HanusBernice Cernosek Havelka+Tim+ & Rosa Lee Kostom+Leslie & Gladys KahanekFrank & Mary PokludaGrace SkrivanekNaomi Kostom SpencerJohn R. Vacek+DeceasedOfficersEffie M. Rosene, PresidentW. G. Bill Rosene, V. P.AdministrationJames E. Ermis, SecretaryAnthony E. Pavlik, TreasurerLindra Vondra Smith, Ass’tTreasurerHonorary Czech ConsulsRaymond J. Snokhous –(Texas)Kenneth H. Zezulka –(Louisana)It should be noted we appreciatethe work of former Czech Consul,Jerry Bartos of Dallas recentlyretired.Masterpiece: Our Lady of theHoly Rosary.Czech Republic Floods – A RetrospectiveAletter from the Prague Post Endowment Fund acknowledging receipt of a $1,000.00 donation to be used to restock books and rebuilddamaged structures of Czech schools and community libraries damaged or destroyed in the Czech Republic floods of August 2002 rekindleda thought of this momentous event that had been obscured by events here in the United States and events that were occurring affectingour own organization.Floods unlike any in living memory struck Bohemia beginning on August 7, 2002. The resulting disaster is unprecedented in modernCzech history. The flooding, which resulted in the highest water levels in more than a century, was primarily the result of rainfall over abroad area, including southern Bohemia. Here, in just a few days, more rain fell than is normal for the entire year. The first flooding tookplace on the Cerna Malse River flowing out of the Nove Hrady Mountains, along the Czech-Austrian border. Soon after, rivers all oversouthern and western Bohemia began to rise simultaneously.The first reports of flooded towns and villages came from Ceske Krumlov, a UNESCO world heritage site which found itself submergedunder 13.1 feet of water from the Vltava River. Seven bridges in and around the city were swept away and dozens of roads damaged ordestroyed. In the city of Ceske Budejovice, waters flooded the center of the city, two residential districts and an industrial area. The municipalarchives were totally flooded. Nearby towns also found themselves under water. The stone bridge in Pisek, which dates from the thirteenthcentury and is the oldest bridge in Central Europe was badly damaged and one of its Baroque statues was carried away in the torrent.(The Czech Cultural Center contributors sent funds to aid in the restoration of this historic structure along with money to anelementary school in Pisek that had suffered damage to its library.) A catastrophe on this scale had not been recorded in the 755-year historyof Pisek.The Luznice River, swollen by waters from the huge fishponds around Trebon, flooded towns and cities all along its course. Fears thatthe dam holding back the Rozmberk pond would burst fortunately proved to be unfounded – the town ended up awash in “only” six andhalf feet of water. The swollen Dyje River in southern Moravia flowed over the dam of the Vranov reservoir flooding homes in the townof Znojmo. Majdalena and Metly, two southern Bohemian villages that were almost completely destroyed have become symbols of theCzechs’ futile struggle with the floods. Metly was wiped out of existence in only ten minutes by a 26-foot wave of floodwater from a burstdam. (Majdalena was the recipient of contributions from the CCCH for the repair of their church.)By Monday, August 12, it was clear that the floods posed a serious threat to Prague. First to be evacuated was Karlin, a day later policecleared Kampa Island. The Prague zoo had to be evacuated and unfortunately a number of rare animals were lost that could not be movedin time. The Vltava continued to rise and by the time it crested it was flowing at the rate of 159,000 cubic feet per second, a new record.Old town was partially flooded, Charles Bridge survived the onslaught, unlike other bridges and water gradually engulfed eight percentof the city territory.Tens of thousands of irreplaceable documents disappeared into the waters from the archives of the Academy of Science, the CzechPhilharmonic, the Czech Statistical Office, several government ministries, the National Technical Museum and the Historical Institute ofthe Army. Water made its way into sixteen of Prague’s Metro stations in some cases reaching to the ceiling. Many parts of the City werewithout electricity. Even northern Bohemia was not spared. Damage is incalculable but estimates range from two billion dollars in propertylost from the flood.Ed: The Czech Cultural Center Houston was proud to be a contributor in a small way to several villages, the Prague Post Endowment Fund and theJewish Museum thanks to the largesse of many caring individuals that are members of our organization. We thank them for their caring response. ❧Masterpiece PaintingsFound Restored at Fayetteville ChurchIt started with the surprise discovery of a beautiful old painting, found hiding behind a mirror in a room that was used for storage inthe rectory at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fayetteville, Texas.Current priest, Father Jack Maddux, was clearing stored items to do a little remodeling in the rectory when he discovered the painting.A parishioner took the work of art to Houston to try and get it dated, and have it re-framed. Well known historic art restorer Antonio Loroof St. Mark’s Fine Arts Conservation and Restoration informed the parish priest that he had found a museum-quality work of art.Word of the find leaked out, and soon it was discovered that three more paintings were housed in the Fayetteville Museum on thesquare, where they had been in safekeeping for many years. Soon two ladies brought another one back to the church as it had been loanedout some years back. No one is really sure who loaned it to whom, but the women involved felt it was time to return it to the church.Finally, a last painting was found in what is called the “smallest Catholic Church in the world,” St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church inWarrenton.All of the paintings needed some restorative work, some more than others. But Father Maddux had a picture of the church from the1870's, from the inside that showed all the paintings in their original splendor inside the beautiful church.Loro did some research and discovered that the masterpieces were created by Ignaz Johann Berger, a Moravian artist who paintednumerous altarpieces. He was most known for his religious paintings, including several passion cycles that were of typical compositionand likenesses of the day. Ignaz Johann Berger was the artist who painted these masterpieces for St. John the Baptist Catholic Church inthe late 1800’s. A Moravian he was born July 8, 1822 and died June 29, 1901 in a small town called Neutitschein. Moravia was once partof the Austro-Hungarian Empire surrounded by Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, and Prussia. He was the father of Julius Victor Berger andthe nephew of Anton Berger, both painters as well. He worked with his uncle from 1842 to 1860 in the Company Workshop in Neutitschein.In 1841, he took a field trip for instruction to Vienna where he made numerous copies of old masters to improve his technique.Berger worked most actively in Moravia and Silesia as well as Slovakia where he painted numerous altarpieces. He was most wellknown for his religious paintings, including several passion cycles that were of typical composition and likenesses of the day. He did genrescenes as well as portraits. His genre paintings and historical paintings were painted more in the style of Biedermeier. His interpretationof flora and fauna in the backgrounds of his work was naïf in the style to Russeau. His paintings reflect a highly skilled and educatedartist. His skin tones are full of life and his likenesses are of real people that the onlooker can identify with. Berger was lucky to haveenjoyed great success in his life.There is a long list of parishes, which house his paintings, mostly in Moravia, but also in Poland and Hungary as well. Even after hisdeath, his work was seen and appreciated as etchings used to illustrate calendars, hymnbooks and religious texts.The six paintings include: St. Martin de Tours, right inside the church; and over the altar are, from left to right: Our Lady Queen ofHeaven, Sts. Peter and Paul, St. John baptizing Jesus, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, and Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.Father Maddux has documentation that the congregation, in the mid 1800’s, wrote to Frenstat requesting a Czech-speaking priest forFayetteville (the one they had spoke Polish and they couldn’t understand him) and a painting of their church’s namesake, St. John theBaptist. This is likely where they got that painting. How the church got the rest of the masterpieces remains a mystery.“I feel blessed to be a small part of this.” Maddux said. He quoted one parishioner, Louis Polansky, who said: “These other places havethe painted churches. We have the church of the paintings.”Cyndi Wright, Fayette County Record ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r4

Bill Souchek (continued from page 1)correct! His meaning was: “Your age is toomuch more than the age of the college studentswho are going!” So forgive me, Dr. Skrivanek!Fate must have played a part in all that happenednext! The following week I drove toAlvin, Texas because I always saw its name inthe periodicals I received. Their CommunityCollege was well known and many Czechnamedstudents lived in the surrounding area. Itwas relatively easy to get to see Dr. Webber, whowas in charge. After our introduction he askedwhat my visit was for. I told him, and receivedthe most cordial and interesting response.“Believe it or not, Mr. Souchek, but I have hadtwo calls already this morning about a CzechLanguage course. And to top it all, Ms. OlgaDolezal Measels just left this office and wants usto start an enrollment.” He asked about mybackground and how I had been employed. Heordered an application, asked about past experiencein teaching and other more minor questions.“Mr. Souchek, I’m sure this will check-outperfectly, so you might as well start gettingready for your next September class.” Wow, thatwas easy!The oldest record of the September, 1976 classcontains the following students: Foster Burnett,Annie Chovanec, Jan Jircik, Dorothy Kuchar,Tommie Lostak, Olga Measels, Harry W.Monych, Joe Netiack, Eddie Sebesta, HildaSebesta, Eleanor Stuksa, Dolores Tacquard, JoeVrazel, Nina Vrazel and Sally A. Mikulastik.They formed a dedicated, hard-working group,met promptly and were sincere in their efforts tohave a speaking knowledge of Czech. Recordsindicate many reregistered for future classes,and their efforts clearly show their love ofCzech, the language of their forefathers. Thissincerity of purpose was evident during aboutten years of study. Frequently I hear from` a fewof the class even today.The Alvin class met once per week, and someoneheard there was a demand for a similar classat San Jacinto Community College. A brief meetingwith Dr. Honeycutt of San Jacinto assured usof a night-scheduled period. The registered listincluded: Francis Buchta, Kay Cernoch, StanleyCernoch, Elsie Esterak, Toni Hart, AndrewHolub, Edith Holub, Cecilia Klecka, HenryKorenek, Tommie Korenek, Joe Machann, VlastaMachann, Mary Masterson, Glenda Mikeska,Viola Mulraney, Billie Oliphint, Lillia Mae Peter,Victor Peter, Diane Prochazka and LarryProchazka. Just as in the Alvin class, all wereloyal students with the exception of two whowere anxious to show their importance. Theyknew a better instructor who quit after a shortperiod. Even today those misfits are all smiles,but watch-out!The third evening class was registered atSpring Branch. Like the Alvin class, it had studentswho were positive they wanted to learnthe language of their ancestors. The night drivingto the three classes was beginning to showits effects on my wife and me, so we had to giveup our interesting classes. At that time SPJSTwished to offer Czech classes, they suggestedmy doing the teaching. We also met once weekly,there was less nighttime driving and it totaledabout 14 years. Father time does keep hisadding machine oiled well and it indicates therestill is a serious request by the present day Czechpopulation to learn more about their ancestors.You can get busy with the question, or let someother up-and-coming city do it!At this writing there is a three-grade levelCzech language study being held at CzechCultural Center Houston. There seem to bemany who are interested in learning about theCzech Republic and especially about the townsor villages of their ancestors. So, good luck inyour quest and study about the land of yourforefathers!Tombstones Reveal Our ThoughtsOur parents lived in Chicago for about twoyears where brother Joe was born. They didn’tlike it there very much because of the crowdedcity. Father had a pretty good job in Gary,Indiana at a steel mill. It was very heavy workand rather dirty, so when the opportunity aroseand several workers heard that the chances ofemployment in Iowa City were good, theymoved to Iowa to work in the limestone quarries.The work was just as tedious as in the steel millin Gary, but it was all in the open air and cleaner.Mr. Joseph Foucek was living alone. His wifehad passed away recently and he didn’t like livingalone. His home was in east Iowa City abouta mile from the quarry. As luck would have it,father and Mr. Foucek met accidentally. Mr.Foucek’s home was a one-story home with abasement apartment for it was built on a hillside.There was sufficient room for our family tomove-in, so two families with similar namesoccupied the one building. Mr. Joseph Foucek(the owner) and Mr. Joseph Soucek (the renter).Agreements were reached in all things mutually.Brothers Henry and George were born at thebasement apartment address. Sister Helen wasto be born soon and more space was required forcomfortable living. The neighborhood was whatthe folks liked so they purchased a lot for theirfirst home. There was space for a large garden,an area for chickens and a large barn for a cow..Money was needed for construction of a framehome and barn. They applied for a loan at CSPS,they became members of the organization, andbefore long they were building their first homein America.. Sister Helen was born there a fewmonths later. The quarry job, though difficult,paid $1.75 per day and mother walked aboutthree miles to do Dr. Saunders’ stacks of officelaundry. Life was good, they grew their ownvegetables, had all the eggs needed for makingnoodles, etc. and milk galore for the family. I wasto be born the next year, and grandmotherNerad together with aunt Vincie were to comelive with us. That was a grand idea, for mother’sworkload would be less with the help of grandmother.The greatest problem was housing ofthe whole group. Mother noticed a two-storyhome for sale while trudging through the snowto Saunders.The home at 1014 North Summit Street onfour acres, a large garden, beginning of a vineyard,an orchard and a barn. The cost was$2,000.00. CSPS was satisfied with the paymentsof the other home so gladly made another loanon the new home. I was born there December 1,1905. Good Luck played along with us becauseall of us worked as a team. There is where thegood old Czech work-habits gave the necessaryshove upwards.Mr. Josef Foucek became an atheist, he livedby himself after we moved but came to see usoften. He arranged all the details of his funeraleven to the selecting and making of a rather largetombstone. The stone was erected on his cemeterylot months before his death. It was aboutfive feet tall, the tall column supported a series ofround plates and the base was a series of foundationblocks. But the most noticeable featurewas the Czech epigraph inscribed in two curvedlines: Zaziva o Boha nedbal, A po smrti dabla se nebal.“While living he did not care for the Lord, andafter death he wasn’t afraid of the devil.”Whenever we’d take a summer vacation tripback home we always went to see the tombstone.About twenty years ago we went to seethe unusual tomb. We couldn’t find the stoneand regretted that we had never snapped a pictureof it. The sexton was digging a grave nearby,so we went to him with our question. Hetold us that about a year ago distant relatives ofJosef Foucek were ashamed of the stone, so theypurchased a special lot and had the bodiesmoved from the old lot to the new burial spot.Mushrooms at $1.29 a PintWhenever I hear the word mushroom I immediatelythink of Vlasta, my sister-in-law. When itbecame necessary for my two oldest brothers togive-up their title to their Dakota homesteadbecause Frank became ill with pneumonia, theymoved to Omaha. He finally, regained hishealth and both searched for employment. Tomsecured a job at a Czech print shop. A short timelater Frank also got a job there because theyspoke and wrote Czech. Line-o-type is a specialty-learnedtalent. There is where Tom metVlasta. The three of them moved back to IowaCity. Finding employment was relatively easyfor the two brothers. The Iowa City PressCitizen, the daily newspaper, also printed for theUniversity. It was a standing joke among us,that the two never had any time for themselves.Though the use of mushrooms in cooking is astandard thing in a Czech family, we never didso at home. Vlasta, the big city (Omaha) daughter-in-law,introduced us to the delicacies. Wesoon learned that there are many varieties ofmushrooms, some are edible and some deadlypoisonous. The edible variety grows in cut-overtimberland and during certain seasons. Thosewere times we looked forward to. “Mark it onyour calendar, the last two weeks of Septemberand the first two weeks of November.”Saturdays were ‘no school days’ so those fourSaturdays meant doing something special. Afterour usual chores were accomplished, we’d headfor Stillwell’s pasture about two miles distant,climb the fence and start searching for mushrooms.We carried a bushel basket with usinstead of a flour sack so the prizes wouldn’t bemashed and ruined. The only other equipmentnecessary was a sharp kitchen knife. ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r5

The House Signs of Old Pragueing, for instance “At the Iron Door,” or “Atthe Three Steps.”The first house signs appeared in Praguearound the middle of the fourteenth centuryon the imposing houses of the rich merchantclass in the city’s commercial center, and inthe coming centuries they spread to most ofthe buildings on the markets, squares andmain commercial streets. Because these werebuildings whose owners had the right tobrew and sell beer, the house signs also invitedpassers-by to come inside for a drink.In an era when hereditary family names andcoats-of-arms were the privilege of the aristocracy,and family names had not yet come intogeneral use, the house sign identified not onlythe buildings but also their owners. In shortenedform, the name of the house might wellbe taken for the family name: Simon Prsten(“Ring”), for example, was in fact the owner ofthe house that went by the name “At the Signof the Ring,” while city councilor Pstros(“Ostrich”) was really Havel from the house“At the Sign of the Ostrich.” Many names thatoriginally designated buildings then remainedpermanently as family names.Since house signs are in a sense the illegitimateoffspring of heraldry, they were originallygoverned by heraldic rules. This is clearfrom the figures that were used (the oldestknown being the stork, deer, lion, star, unicorn,hat, crayfish, lily, rose and so on) as wellas from the colors that were employed. Overthe course of time, house signs began to distancethemselves from the world of heraldryfor purely practical reasons. For example, theauthentic heraldic crayfish is red and mostcrayfish used as house sign over the centurieswere also red. But in order to distinguishbetween several houses employing the sign ofa crayfish, Praguers needed more colors, andso blue, green and even silver crayfishappeared. The range of medieval symbols wasnot great, and as the number of imposing housesgrew, the symbols began to be repeated.At the end of the seventeenth century cityofficials introduced a regulation (not widelyheeded) stipulating that in addition to thehouse sign, every building should also have avisible orientation inscription stating thename of the building, for example: “This goesby the name of At the Three Pheasants,” or“This goes by the name of At the GoldenHead.” The reason for this was to avoid confusionbetween genuine house signs and thegrowing number of votive statues and signboardsthat tradesmen and craftsmen placedoutside their shops. But because culturaldevelopments are seldom shaped by officialregulations, the officials in the end had to givein and accept more than one craftsman’s signboardand votive statue as valid house signs.In most cases, unfortunately, the origins ofthe hundreds of house signs derived fromcraftsmen’s signs will always remainunknown. Only exceptionally is it possible totrace one back to a specific individual. InT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r6They slumber timelessly above the changingstreets, like pale, dusty illustrations in along forgotten picture book. They are characterizedby a rich variety of shapes, colors,materials and styles. They include paintings,inscriptions, actual objects and symbols,heavenly bodies, wild animals and saints. Butonly some of them: those that gave the buildingstheir names – deliberately or by chance,as byproducts of the endlessly inventive fermentof cultural creation. They play theirsmall role in helping to create the specialatmosphere of the streets and have become somuch a part of the facades that only by lookingat them carefully are we able to perceivethem as something separate. Even then weare most interested in their form from theartistic point of view, sometimes more, sometimesless accomplished, at times very grandand at others charmingly simple.“One of the most modest arts,” as thepainter and writer Josef Capek put it, whendescribing the signs on the facades of thebuildings of Prague.More than three hundred house signs stilldecorate the facades of Prague buildings.Each of them has its own history, often morethan six hundred years old, as well as its distinctiveappearance and the charm of beingone of a kind. But how did people in the pastgo about choosing symbols for their homes sothat no one was misled or confused?House signs date from the Middle Ages,and were a product of the culture of the richurban merchant class. They were introducedfor very practical reasons. In the long streetsthe similar facades of the Gothic buildingsmerged into one another in such a way thatonly someone who knew them well could orienthimself: x lives opposite Jira the cobbler,beside the red door, where the blue shuttersare, behind the meat stands. But for anyonenew to the city, this was of little help. And soin the fourteenth century there suddenlyappeared visible designations of the housesthat took the form of highly visible signs withimages of various kinds. The rich merchantclass imitated the way the aristocracy andhigh clergy of the age of chivalry markedtheir property. While the coats-of-arms of thenobility were bound by strict rules of heraldry,the signs on the houses of the merchantclass took on all sorts of forms. Most oftenpanel paintings were found, but also statuesin wood and stone, frescoes painted directlyon fresh plaster, inscriptions and actualobjects hung from the facade of the building.But not everything affixed to the facadebecame a genuine house sign. This was onlytrue of those that were taken up by the peopleof the city, those that they quite unconsciouslycame to associate with particular buildingsand so employ as designations for the buildings.Sometimes a building received a nameby chance, as when some incidental detailwas transformed by the playful spontaneityof cultural creation into the sign of the buildtoday’sJungman Street, for example, the signof three bells was originally used by thefamous bell-maker Brikci; the sign of a wheelin Karmelitska Street goes back to the wheelwrightJan Stefl; the painting of three ostricheson the house at the western end of CharlesBridge was ordered from the painter DanielAlezius of Kvetna by Jan Fuchs, who madeornaments for hats (in which ostrich featherswere a key element).For practical reasons, the signs for alehousesand taverns (and later coffeehouses) were thesame all across Europe. This meant that noone was in any doubt as to the meaning of the“wisp” (small bundle of straw), green “bush”(bunch of vine leaves) or blue or goldengrapes that marked these establishments.These often became house signs, but eventhese signs changed with the times. So forexample in the seventeenth century redhedgehogs were popular as a sign for alehouse,while in the eighteenth century goldentigers could often be found on signboardsoutside coffeehouses.The profession of a former owner of a buildingcan often be deduced from the house signit bears, since people liked to dedicate theirhouses, which also served as their workshops,to the patron saint of their particular crafts.Even when the house sign depicted awhole scene from the life of a saint or holyperson, the house was sometimes namedafter a single detail, not necessarily thatsaint’s particular attribute. This can be seenparticularly often in the case of manyMadonnas, whose number meant that theycould hardly serve as identification markers.Buildings with statues of the Virgin Maryhave names like “At the Golden Grating,”(the grating protecting the statue), “At theGolden Rock” (the small mound on which thestatue stands, “At the Golden Apple” (held inthe hands of the infant Christ cradled by hismother), “At the Painting,” “At the GoldenFrame,” “At Our Lady of Mercy,” and so on.The gallery of saints in the streets of Praguedropped dramatically with the onset of theRenaissance, which led to a secularization ofthe motifs used in house signs and a rise inthe frequency of natural motifs. However,from the mid-seventeenth century on, theCounter Reformation set out deliberately toincrease the number of religious symbols. Butthe great variety of patron saints of crafts andtheir attributes found in the Middle Ages wasnever again attained. The main additionstended to be crucifixes, angels and paintingsof the Virgin Mary.In the eighteenth century, the steady urbanexpansion led to a realization that in the largeEuropean City that Prague was becoming, thesystem of house signs and names was a relicof the past, impractical for purposes of orientationas well as from an administrative pointof view.(continued on page 7)

The House Signs(continued from page 6)In 1770 Prague buildings were numberedfor the first time, and then again in 1795, butit was only with the third attempt in 1868 thatthe idea really caught on. Three generationsof Praguers stubbornly rejected the use ofnumbers, preferring in their conservativefashion to stick to the system of house names.Proof of this can be seen in a number of neoclassicalhouse signs from the end of the eighteenthand first half of the nineteenth centuriesthat include both the visual symbol ofthe house name and the number. They beareloquent testimony to the extent to whichhouse signs had become firmly associatedwith the buildings they graced and with theday-to-day life of the city dwellers.At almost the same time that house signsbegan to fade away and lose their significance,the first modern champions of the phenomenonappeared on the scene. They did notdefend the signs out of a love of the past perse; it was more that they regretted the way thestreets of the city were losing the modestbeauty that was so much a part of them.When the modernization of Prague at theend of the nineteenth century began to bringwith it the widespread demolition of oldbuildings and whole streets in some quarters,the priority shifted from defending the signsto rescuing them. The Prague MunicipalMuseum began to seek out signs recoveredfrom demolished buildings, in the end collectingaround seventy of them.The people of Prague are very proud of thesigns on the city’s old buildings. They lookafter them and take delight in them and tellstories about them. In the last decade in particular,when many of the city’s buildingshave been returned to their former owners ortheir descendants, they have regained theirold color. Their new owners have not onlycarefully restored the remaining signs, buthave in many cases made new signs toreplace the old ones that had long sincedisappeared, but which are attested to inhistorical records.Lydia Petranova, The Heart of Europe ❧“At the Three Hearts,” 14 Uvoz Street.Czech Language LessonsCzech is a hard nut to crack.This lesson we discuss peas, nuts, seeds andthe like. Although peas were a staple food inthis part of Europe only a couple of hundredyears ago, they were later replaced by the morefilling potatoes and never regained their onetimefame.Probably the most favorite type is the greenpea-hrach. If you are trying to persuade somebodyor make them do something and the personjust won’t listen to you, you can say to je jakoby hrach na stinu hazel or “it is like throwing peasagainst the wall,” or “it’s like talking to a brickwall.” Very large tears can be likened to greenpeas-slzy jako hrachy. About oversensitive andpicky people, especially women, you can saythey are like princezna na hrachu - the Princessand the Pea, who was so delicate that she couldfeel a single pea under twenty mattresses.Attractive, strong and healthy looking women -the opposite of the delicate princess - can bereferred to as holka jako lusk - a “girl like a pod.”Poppy seeds have an important place inCzech cuisine and it’s no wonder that theyfound their way into Czech phraseology as well.If you do not like something ani za mak - “not fora poppy seed” - you don’t like it at all. If somethingdoes not make an impression on you, if itis neither fish nor fowl, you can use the rhymingexpression ani takovy ani makovy - literally “neithersuch nor with poppy seeds,” neither onething, nor another. If you feel indifferenttowards something, for example if you don’tcare whether you buy black or brown shoes, youcan say you will take takovy nebo makovy. Theword for poppyhead - makovice is often used in ajoking way to describe a person’s head.A nut is orech in Czech. The figurative meaningof the word is “a difficult problem.” If a taskis described as tvrdy orech, it means it will be atough nut to crack. And to solve a difficult problemis rozlousknout orech-“to crack a nut.” Onetype of nut is the almond - usually used todescribe the beauty of a woman’s eyes - oci jakomandle.English and Czech share the expression “toplant a seed of doubt” - zasit semeno pochybnosti.Another agricultural metaphor is used toremind people that they will have to bear theconsequences of their acts. Co sis zasil, to si takysklidi what you have sown you will have to reap.Forest fruit and mushrooms.There are Czech idioms concerning wild floraspecifically for wild berries and mushrooms.Mushroom picking is a popular pastime in thecountry and maybe that’s why there are quite afew idioms using the words mushroom – houba -the boletus, a kind of edible mushroom. Anidiom: Nove domy rostou jako houby po desti - newhouses are springing up like mushrooms afterthe rain. New houses, or anything like that, suchas restaurants or factories, are shooting upeverywhere and very quickly. If something fitsinto its surroundings very well, if it sits prettilyin the middle of something, such as a house in agarden, we can say that it sits there like a mushroomin moss - jako houba v mechu.To describe someone in sterling health, we sayje zdravy jako houba - he’s healthy as a mushroom,he’s hale and hearty, he’s as fit as a fiddle.In informal language the word houby can bealso used instead of the word ne - no as anexpression of strong disagreement or it can beused as a synonym for the word nic - nothing.Muj zivot stoji za houby – my life is worth nothing,my life isn’t worth living. Another expressionusing the word mushrooms or houby iswhen parents or grandparents talk to little childrenabout the time before they were born; theysay, To jsi jeste byl na houbach - “It was when youwere still picking mushrooms,” or “It was whenyou were just a twinkle in your father’s eye.”But why unborn babies are thought to be pickingmushrooms is a mystery.About berries: A pretty girl can be likened to astrawberry - divce jako jahoda, or a raspberry-divcejako malina. The same comparison can be used todescribe appealing red lips: rty jako jahody, lipslike strawberries or rty jako maliny-lips like raspberries.If somebody is really hungry and wolfsdown his food, you can say slupnul to jako malinu- he gulped it down like a raspberry.The touch of wood lesson.The Czech word for wood or timber is drevo.In metaphorical use it also means a clumsyperson. One can also sleep like a piece of wood- spat jako drevo. People can be stupid like wood- hloupy jako drevo or deaf like wood - hluchy jakodrevo. Although Czechs more often say hluchyjako poleno - as deaf as a log, or hluchy jako parez -as deaf as a tree stump. The expression sladkydrevo or sweet wood is a poetic name for aguitar.The short Czech word les means forest. Nositdrevo do lesa is to carry wood to the forest, or touse an English idiom, to carry coals toNewcastle. If a child is growing up withoutenough supervision, if he or she is allowed torun wild, Czechs say roste jako drevo v lese - he orshe is growing up like timber in the forest.About people who can bear a lot, who let peoplebehave badly to them and do not protest, Czechssay necha na sobi drevo tipat - “He lets others tochop wood on him” or he lets people walk allover him.The next expression has a similar meaning tothe English phrase “you can’t make an omeletwithout breaking some eggs.” It goes: kdy se kaciles, padaji trisky, and the literal translation is“when a forest is being cut down, splinters fall,”meaning there are unpleasant side effects toimportant things. Another idiom: Pro stromynevidit les means “not to see the wood for thetrees.” The meaning is the same in both Czechand English: to be so involved in the details andnot realize the real purpose or importance of thethings as a whole.Amoralizing phrase: Jak se do lesa vola tak se zlesa ozyva - “the way you shout at the forest, theway the sound comes back.” The closest Englishidioms would be “you get as much as you give”or “what goes around comes around.”Na shledanou.Thanks to Radio Prague ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r7

Concert HowlThursday evening, the 23rd of October 2003,Zdenka and I arrived at the PragueRudolfinum concert hall, breathless as usual,for our regular Thursday night concert of theCzech Philharmonic. We’ve had our subscriptionseason tickets for thirty-five years, andearly on we managed to secure what we felt tobe the best seats in the house; 1st row balcony,seats one and two, on the right side curve justover the orchestra, with a clear view of the conductorand soloists. Attending these concertshas been one of our greatest pleasures inPrague over all these years. But on thisevening, for second time this season, there wasanother couple sitting in our precious seats –German tourists. As politely as we could, weinformed these people of their mistake. Theseat numbering could be confusing, and perhapsthey should have been on the left side ofthe great arc of the balcony. But no, they firmlydisplayed their tickets, and sure enough theyhad been issued the exact same seats as ours.I muttered to Zdenka, “With all their newcomputers, these ticketing nitwits were stillcapable of selling the same seats twice!” Shetrotted off to the balcony entrance and summonedthe usher, a gentle woman, who certainlydidn’t want any fuss just before the concertwas to begin. With a discreet glance atboth tickets, she suggested that the touriststake the two seats behind us, which luckilywere unoccupied.The concert was sensational, one of the verybest of the season. The brilliant star-quality ofthe new chief conductor of the CzechPhilharmonic, Zdenek Macal, led the orchestrain a superb performance of Sergei Prokofiev’sPiano Concert in D Major, with the brilliantRussian/American pianist Alexander Toradze.We were dazzled and delighted that we didn’tmiss this major musical event.During the intermission, we went to ourusual spot in the Rudolfinum lobby for ourcustomary chat with old friends who share thesame concert dates. They are even older thanwe, and have both been in frail health. Theydidn’t appear, and we were worried aboutthem. Zdenka intended to phone them, but thenext morning we had to leave for Germany toattend an animation workshop in the city ofHalle. Our next concert was shortly after wereturned, and we hoped to see our friends thistime during the intermission. But as wearrived and settled in our usual seats, this timewithout squatters, we began to rave about theprevious concert with people who regularly sitnear us. They were baffled. “There wasn’t anyProkofiev concerto at the last concert,” theyinsisted.By this time surely, you can guess the endingof this story. We had mistakenly arrived atthe wrong concert, somehow gliding in, wavingour plastic season tickets and haughtilydisplacing the German couple who had paid ahigh price for these prime seats!Neither the concert hall doorman whowaved us in, nor the kindly woman ushernoticed that our tickets were for the wrongevening – nor of course had we, who arealways in a rush, and have something goingnearly every evening.Somewhere out there is an angry Germancouple, probably spreading the word about theinept ticket handling in the Czech Republic,and who may not wish to ever return! To themwe are on our knees, begging for forgiveness,and offering our most humble pie apologies!On the other hand, we enjoyed a sensationalsymphony concert, including a superb performanceof Beethoven’s 5th Symphony afterthe intermission, with prime seating, absolutelyfree! And we did have a funny story to tellour friends during the intermission of the nextconcert, which we properly attended with ourproper tickets!Gene Deitch – author of For the Love of Pragueon sale at our Gift Shop. See www.czechcenter.orgto order. ❧CSGSI Conference in Houston:President CSGSI,Paul Makousky andEffie Rosene.Guenter & Donna Merkle,Houston Folk Dancers.Robert Ermis, Sr. AnitaSmisek and at piano,Robert Dvorak performfor the CzechoslovakGenealogy SocietyInternationalConference in HoustonOctober 2003.James Ermis, Mom and her son Mark Bigouette.Part of the CSGSI group tours the Czech CenterHouston Museum Gift Shop.Kroj Review at CSGSI conference under direction ofHelene Baine Cincebeaux.40th Annual Slavic FestivalDan & Kathy Hrna,Slavic Festival October2003.Czech Princess, SarahPierce and ProgramChair, Donna Merkle.Czech Heritage Singers & Dancers of Houston,Bessie Treybig, Isabel Matusek, Viola Dworaczyk,Mary Peska, Henrietta & Jaro Nevlud, Frances & BillBollom at the Slavic Festival.Leslie & Gladys Kahanek, daughter Diana andhusband Brian Weldon and flagbearers grandsons,Justin 18, Nathan 15, Andrew, 11.Fall Music FestivalConcert Master,ChristopherAnderson greetscomposer RobertDvorak at theNovember 22, 2003Regional FallPhilharmonic MusicFestival (both areCCCH members).T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r8

Paths of Glory and TribulationsThree historical vignettes will focus on crucialevents and leading personalities, whichshaped the history of a small, but by no meansinsignificant country in the heart of Europe.The purpose of these is to enhance the appreciationof their ethnic heritage.Beginning with an explanation of“Bohemia.” It is derived from the Latin termBoiohaemum, home of the Boio, coined byancient Romans in reference to a Celtic tribe ofBoii who inhabited this territory from the middleof the 4th century BC until the 1st centuryAD. The flowering of the fairly advancedCeltic civilization was interrupted by hostileinvasions of the Germanic tribe of Marcomanniwho in turn encountered the vanguards of theRoman legions. Emperor Marcus Aureliuswrote his Meditations on the banks of the HronRiver deep within a territory claimed by anotherGermanic tribe, the Quades.The original homeland from which theSlavic tribes began their migration sometimebefore the turn of the 5th century AD, wasbehind the Carpathian Mountains, between theriver Dnieper in the east and the Vistula Riverin the west. The cause of the mass Slavic migrationis the subject of speculation. It might havestemmed from the relative overpopulation ofthese regions where primitive agriculture wasnot productive enough to sustain populationgrowth, or in the aggressive drives of neighboringtribes to obtain more land for themselvesby pushing the Slavs from their settlements,or even drastic climatic changes. Thewestward movement of the Slavs to new territorieswas facilitated by the fact that manyregions had been either deserted by theGermanic tribes, or their population was decimatedby the plague pandemic that ravagedmany European locations during the 6thcentury.There are many legends relating to thearrival of the Czech people into their newhomeland. However, it is important to understandthat despite their plausibility and popularappeal, these stories, passed on throughoral tradition, fall into the category of fiction.These mythological tales which glorify thevaliant exploits of ancient heroes are foundamong many civilizations. The so called“Revivalist Movement” of the 19th centurywas aimed at reawakening of national awarenessand nourishing aspirations for autonomyamong the Czech people who were subjugatedunder the autocratic regime of the AustrianHabsburgs. The revivalists (buditele) in theirpatriotic zeal frequently embellished theseearly sagas to bolster the movement towardself-determination. This romantic trend toimmortalize the heroic past continued into theearly 20th century. Among the outstandingpainters who devoted much of their talent,time, and energy to extol the heroes and heroinesof Czech antiquity, were Josef Manes,Mikolas Ales, Frankisek Zenisek, VojtechHynais, Vaclav Brozik, and Alfons Mucha. Inthe sculptural genre it was primarily JosefVaclav Myslbek and Antonin Wagner whocreated remarkable classical statues conceivedhistorical figures. Many of these masterpieceswere awesome allegories based on harsh warfareas well as peaceful domestic life of theSlavic people. Alois Jirasek, an accomplishedstory teller and author of patriotic novels, succeededadmirably in popularizing legendarynarratives to the extent that they have becomewidely accepted by the populace as true historicalevents and were assigned as requiredreading in Czech schools.The first among the early legends is thestory describing the arrival of the Czech tribeunder the leadership of Forefather Cech(Praotec Cech – see Editor’s note) into the territoryknown by the Romans as Boiohaemum.This tale is undeniably analogous to theBiblical story of Moses leading the Israelitesinto the Promised Land. According to thisversion, after many months of peregrinationand struggle with hostile elements, the Czechscrossed the river Vltava and climbed upon thenearby mountain Rip, from all indications anextinct volcano. From its summit Cechviewed the fertile land below and pronouncedit highly suitable for permanent colonization.After appropriated sacrifices offered to theirpagan gods, the tribesmen decided to namethe new homeland “Cechy,” after theirrespected leader. These first Czech settlersengaged in agriculture, animal husbandry,hunting and fishing, while their arts and craftsdeveloped from various forms of idolatry andworship of dead ancestors.The alleged successor of Cech was aFrankish trader Samo who reportedly unifiedthe Slavic tribes and developed a successfulmilitary strategy against the invading Avars.Samo’s realm disintegrated after his death in659. Very few historical facts are availableabout the period of 174 years, between 659 –833. (There is well-documented history of theGreat Moravian Empire founded by Mojmir Iin 830.) Another early Czech legend is Samo’sheir apparent, a man called Krok, highlyesteemed for his judicial wisdom. Krok iscredited with moving his sovereign residencefrom Budec to a newly built fortress on theright bank of the Vltava River. His threedaughters were Kazi, Teta and Libuse. Kazibecame known for her healing skills, Teta forher priestly ability to communicate withpagan gods, and Libuse for her kindness, wisdomand prophetic powers. It was Libusewho ascended the throne after her father’sdeath. Unable to maintain full respect andconfidence of men, she chose a husband forherself, a nobleman named Premysl. Anappointed delegation of elders followedLibuse’s white horse that led them to a fieldthat was being plowed by Premysl. He at firstbemoaned the untimely arrival of the messengers,predicting that an unplowed field signifiedfuture scarcity of food, even famine, forthe land. Following the emissaries toVysehrad, Premysl was espoused to Libuseand together they founded the Premysliddynasty, which ruled Bohemia for several centuries.In an inspired moment Libuse prophesiedthe glorious future for the newly establishedtown of Prague in these words: “I see alarge metropolis whose glory will reach thestars.” The Libuse legend, especially herauguries, inspired the great Czech composer,Bedrich Smetana to create a highly patrioticopera, performed only in the Czech languageand presented on special occasions.Another ancient Czech legend describes thetime when the Czech women rebelled againstthe male domination. Under the leadership ofVlasta they waged war against the men oftheir tribe. At first the maidens were quitesuccessful in staging surprise attacks andscoring victories both in small skirmishes andeven in large battles. The turning point in thisMaidens’ War was a treacherous assault conceivedby an enchanting seductress Sarka,against a small hunting group of men led byCtirad. Pretending to have been chained to atree and abandoned by her female companions,Sarka convinced Ctirad and his retinueof her misfortune. After loosening her chains,the unsuspecting men drank from a flask ofintoxicating mead and fell asleep in the heat ofthe summer day. Deceitful Sarka, using ahunting horn, then summoned the femalewarriors hidden nearby who quickly attackedand slaughtered the drowsy male hunters.This tragic episode so angered the men thatthey staged a final attack upon the maidens’stronghold, Devin, which they burned downand killed all remaining female combatants.There are many other ancient Czech legends,which have over the years inspirednumerous Czech painters, sculptors, poetsand composers to create impressive works ofart. Most Czech schoolchildren can also recitefrom memory the names of the first eightPremyslid rulers: Premysl, Nezamysl, Mnata,Vojen, Vnislav, Kresomysl, Neklan, andHostivit.Tony Jandacek Hlas NarodaEd: Article submitted by Julie Skubal. The CzechCultural Center Houston has acquired a beautifulpainting by Czech artist Jiri Grbavcic that has as itstheme and is based on the legend of Praotec Cech. Thispainting will be proudly displayed in our new culturalcenter building. ❧We Need You!Desperately!We are in need of bookkeeping/accounting assistance.We are in need of sales associates in theMuseum Gift Shop – The Market Place.We are in need of docents for the CzechCultural Center Houston.We are in need of pretty much anythingyou could offer to assist.The Czech Cultural Center Houston isbuilt on a Volunteer Foundation –people building a legacy. Flexiblehours would be available. You will besurprised at the pleasure and good feelingyou derive from working from theheart meeting other people as fine asyou. Czech heritage is helpful, butcertainly not a requirement.Thank you!Effie M. RoseneT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r9

Czech President’s Visit to DallasOn Monday, September 22, 2003 a delegationof Frank and Mary Pokluda, James andDanna Ermis, Father Paul Chovanec, RobertDvorak, Effie and Bill Rosene from the CzechCultural Center Houston was present alongwith 350 others at an event at the AnatoleWyndham Hotel to hear economist and CzechPresident Vaclav Klaus in a dialogue with JohnGoodman, president of the National Center forPolicy Analysis, which organization arrangedfor his visit to Dallas.Mr. Klaus maintained that the CzechRepublic’s whirlwind shift from socialism to afree enterprise system proves that marketswork and the subject of his visit was to discusshis part in the mammoth change.When Vaclav Klaus was inaugurated aspresident of the Czech Republic in March, hedeclined to deliver his first address from a balconyof the spectacular old palace overlookingthe square. He chose instead to speak in thesquare itself after which he ordered therestraining ropes removed and was mobbedby hundreds of his appreciative fellow citizenswhile the band played “When the Saints ComeMarching In.”The road from the “Velvet Revolution” of1989 through the “Velvet Divorce” of theCzech and Slovak sections of Czechoslovakiaat the end of 1992 to the relative prosperity ofthe present has been difficult.Klaus was appointed finance minister in thefirst post-communist government. His taskwas enormous: Change a Soviet-style socialistsystem into a free-market economy “as fast aspossible.” He noted that in 1989, “everythingwas in state hands.” Not a single privaterestaurant or hairdressing establishment couldbe found in gracefully aging Prague.“The people really expected some results,”so the new government decided to make thetransition from a centrally planned to a privatizedeconomy as abrupt as possible. Priceswere freed with a single stroke of the pen. “At8 o’clock in the morning, it’s done,” said Klaus.It was a dramatic step that led to an“inevitable” economic contraction that precededan acrobatic leap to prosperity. Within fouryears, 80 percent of the country’s assets hadbeen privatized. Klaus joked that MargaretThatcher has been justly praised for privatizingthree or four British firms per year. “Wedid three to four per hour.” Small companieswere sold at public auction. Major enterpriseswere liberated from state ownership via“voucher privatization,” in which ordinary citizenscould pay what Klaus called “a symbolic”(modest) price to acquire shares. “We werereally afraid that the people would not understandit,” Klaus explained. But 75 to 80 percentbought in, and “the stock market works.”President Klaus is an economist by academictraining, steeped in the free-market principlesof the Chicago and Austrian schools. Yethis “thinking was mostly formed by the irrationalityof the communist system,” heacknowledged.“In the 1980’s,” he said with a laugh, “therewere more Marxists on the Berkeley facultythan in all of Czechoslovakia.” And he added,“I didn’t know anyone who was a genuineMarxist.”Klaus’ evolution from economist to politicianwas spurred by this observation that the“crucial condition” for reforming a dysfunctionaleconomy “is to persuade the people thatit must be done.” So he organized a politicalparty and was elected Prime Minister.“Not all the Czech people feel better off,”Klaus admitted. Although everyone enjoysimproved material conditions “absolutely,”some have seen themselves decline relative toeconomic winners. Capitalism does not guaranteethat all enterprises prosper.President Klaus observed that he has notwon every political battle. He is not happythat his Republic’s membership in theEuropean Economic Union has come at a steepprice: adoption of Europe’s absurdly expensivewelfare system and rigidly controlledlabor markets.As an economist, Klaus understands thatthese burdens on production are destructive“in the long run.” But as a politician in a freecountry, the Czech president knows that hemust sometimes be flexible.Reported by Effie Rosene ❧His Excellency, Czech President, Vaclav Klaus(center) and Bill & Effie Rosene.Frank & Mary Pokluda and Bill Rosene.Paul Geczi, Effie Rosene,Professor Milan Reban.Rev. Paul Chovanec,Robert Dvorak.The President signsautographs.James & Danna Ermis,prior to event attendance.Fallout of Living underCommunist RuleThe first of May this year was just fine.Years ago when my niece was five she camehome from Kindergarten and said “Mommy,it’s OK if you die now, our Daddy Lenin willtake care of me.” My sister got one shock afteranother when soon after that, she caught thelittle girl cutting out pictures from a fashionmagazine she had been lucky to get fromsomebody coming from the West. “Why areyou angry?” she asked. “I’m just cutting outpictures of beautiful Soviet people. Ourteacher has told us about them.”When Chernobyl blew up at the end of Aprilsixteen years ago, the air was loaded with radiation.Our communist government tried tokeep the information from the people. Theirmain worry was that the people would notattend the traditional May Day Parade.I went away to the country with my childrenthat fine first of May Day. We were pickingdandelions to make dandelion honey. I hadexcused myself from attending the parade,stating that there were pressing family problems.Later, we threw out the dandelions eventhough the Party assured us that althoughthere had been an explosion, we had nothingto fear. It’s true that I have always been apeace-loving creature but at that moment mysincere wish was that the Soviet comrades aswell as ours, experience the very worst of tortures.The first of May 2003, Czech TV presentedits viewers with a lovely surprise. For a whole24 hours, people were able to watch old programsdating back to 1953 when TV broadcastinghad begun.What a variety of programs! The newsreports dealing with May Day celebrationswere really fascinating, the marching throngswith banners proclaiming “Long Live theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia!” thegoverning comrades on their tribunals lovinglywaving to the working masses. It wasmandatory for school children to march fromtheir school onto Wenceslas Square. Onlythere, were they allowed mixing in with thecrowd and disappearing. Nobody wanted tobear the banners and flags since it was thentheir job to carry them back to school.It is unbelievable that even today, fourteenyears after the official fall of communism, therestill exists a lot of totally confused people likemy little niece. They were there screaming inthe Letna Park. They no longer have the SovietUnion; all they have is Cuba and ComradeFidel Castro. It was in this spirit that thisdemonstration was being held. ComradeJirina Svorcova promised us from the tribunethat our land should again be happy after thecommunists gain back their power. Dear God,don’t let that happen! I’d rather be unhappylike I was yesterday as I picked the dandelionswith my grandchildren telling them about theMay Days of years ago. They laughed, notreally understanding, but found it amusing.For you my dear readers, I have a newspaperclipping of those “beautiful Soviet people.”Well, not really Soviet, but Czech communistsin Letna Park.Eva Strizovska, Czech Dialogue, May 2003 ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r12

Folk Painting on GlassFolk pictures on glass are from the very beginningof ethnographic activity some of the bestknown and the most collected products of folkart. Frantisek Mares paid attention to them in1893, two years before the CzechoslovakianEthnographic Exhibition was held in Prague.For those who were interested in folk art and forconnoisseurs of ethnography these pictureswere precious evidence of the folkways of lifeand their spiritual orientation. The next generations’attention was directed to the indisputableartistic value of the pictures, refined materials,alluring gaiety of colors and variety of individualthemes and subjects.Pictures prove, by their extraordinary form,graphic ability of folks of Czech and Moraviancountryside, as they show fundamental orientationof folk spiritual culture issuing from theinstigation, endeavor and devoutness ofBaroque time. Josef Pekar attempted to makeevident that roots of Czech folk culture fromboth ethnographic and art-historical point ofview lie in Czech patriotic Baroque, which is alsothe source of The National Revival. Similarly tomost of folk artifacts, painting on glass is not apure and sterile outburst of folk aesthetics andfolk habit as the romantic enthusiasts wished itto be. As well as folk woodcut and paintedNativity Scenes glass painting creates a transitionbridge from “high” norm-setting art to folkexpression. It is an evidence of mingling ofCzech and Moravian culture and culture ofprovincial towns and cities as this process wasspeeded up in the 17th and 18th century. Glasspainting substantiates how impulses and stimuliinspired the so-called “culture of high classes”were reshaped in folk and semifolk environment.Nevertheless, to be able to fully understandthis process we have to disregard the widelyspread supposition about the impoverished andpoor countryside. The countryside was fairlywell economically self-sufficient and did notlead such a gloomy life. Quite often even thecountryside middle classes were on a higher economiclevel than towns where every adversity oflife (poor crop, epidemics, and wars) was easilyreflected. Government decrees objecting to theluxury of folk classes are the best evidence of theliving conditions in the countryside. A CzechParliament ruling issued in 1545 (written in OldCzech) censures country people for wearing andbuying inappropriate and too showy clothes asgold lace bodices, cambric shirts embroideredwith gold, ostrich feathers, etc.The Czech countryside experienced similareconomic booms during the time of MarieTerezie’s reforms, during the French wars after1800 and especially as consequence of the devaluationof the Austrian fiduciary currency, socalled “schein” in 1811 and 1817.Pictures on glass together with faience andpewter dishes used to be a part of every cottageor manor house equipment. In addition to theirhousehold function they also played some sortof representative role, the quantity of themshowed wealth of the householder.People were buying them as suitable presentson various life occasions such as Baptism,Communion, Confirmation, church wedding,and later also saint’s name day. Believers collectedthem as reminders of pilgrimages to distantplaces.Pictures on glass created a significant dominantof otherwise whitewashed rustic chamber.They, as a rule, used to be placed on a ledge inthe corner over a corner cabinet in which thehouseholder used to keep documents, moneyand prayer books. This part of a cottage room inVallachia was called for the pictures placedthere, “holy corner,” and the place at the table onthis side was the most honorable one and wasreserved for the householder. Later the pictureswere hung symmetrically also in between windowsover a door or beds. In the second half ofthe 19th century they were gradually replacedby attractive pictures, made with industrialgraphic techniques as lithography, brominechromatographyand color prints.Painting on glass was popular in the15th century.Italian glass works in Venice produced inthe middle of the 16th century cycles on Christlife painted with precise renaissance techniques.From here popularity of glass painting wasspread to France where at the end of the 17thand beginning of the 18th century two mainstreams were separated. The old folk streamaffected Colmar and Alsace and ultimatelyGermany. The newer stream developed in theindustrial areas of France and was inspired bythen trendy miniature paintings. It depictedfirst and foremost world motives and drew itsinspiration partly from Boucher frivolous graphics.The process of transition from the styleforming art of glass painting to provincial art ofcraftsmen and painters of Altar Pieces developedin Bavaria and the Tyrol where someresearchers find roots of folk painting on glass inthis particular Bavarian - Austrian area of theSudeten. From this area these pictures wereexported in large quantities to Czech lands in the18th and 19th centuries.The Bohemian Forest (Sumava) is consideredthe cradle of glass painting in Czech lands. Theproduction of pictures on glass in the southBohemian town of Pohpro and Buchers and onthe Austrian side in the little town of Sandl isdocumented from the 18th century. Also at thesame time some centers in north Bohemia startedtheir production. Painting on glass inMoravia had fairly developed in the 18th centuryand that is why we can trace a strong influenceof late Baroque and Rococo.Approximately till 1700 pictures on glass preservedthe character of style arts and crafts andthey resembled with their style distemper paintings,if they were not painted with complicatedtechniques of enamel, grisaille or eglomisee.Not until classicism and empire were the characterof pictures more adapted to the style of thecountryside with its deeply preserved traditionalBaroque aesthetics. Secular themes were excludedand resplendent gaiety of red and gold colorscame back again. Rococo surrounded figureswith cartouches, medallions replaced more figuresor a whole series of scenes in the pictures.Pictures on glass were not produced only byglassmakers or professional glass painters inglass works (as it was thought beforehand), butalso by unskilled dilettantes. Authors were takingbasic material - most of the time defectivesheets of glass - from glass works. It does notmean that the production was concentrated inthe centers of glass industry. On the contrary,this gives an evidence of the development oftransport and trade. Sheets of glass were deliveredto painters even to quite faraway places.Considerable demand caused the necessity toincrease production. The production of pictureson glass was quickly manufactured. Specializedproducers, most of the time whole families,worked using and outlined pattern of the contoursof the pictures and then each of the otherworkers carried out according to his or her specializationa specific stage in the production. Forinstance one was an expert on faces, others onrobe folds, third on flower ornaments, etc. Atthe end the least skilled workers filled in thebackground. Folk producers drew their inspirationboth from older patterns and almost contemporaryart work from woodcuts, color printsand altarpieces and church decorations.There were many more centers of productionthan we are able to document today. Manywere in the Bohemian forest (Sumava), northand west Bohemia, Silesia (Jeseniky), the AshMountains, Javorniky (the Maple Mountains),Bohemian-Moravian Uplands (Ceskomoravskavysocina), central and south Moravia, and in theLuhacovice area.The paints were applied on the backside of asheet of glass. To emphasize the technique ofpainting “under glass” people used then atrendy term “underpainting.” This method ofpainting is very interesting. First the contourswere outlined, and then the actual painting wascarried out with parts of the picture that werecloser to the eye of an observer painted first.Fingers were painted before hands, eyes beforefaces, ornaments and folds of clothes before theactual dress. Then the background decoratedwith various ornaments was filled in. At the endthe picture was covered with the colored surfaceof background. The colored backgrounds weretypical for particular regions and bore evidenceof the origin of individual pictures: white fromSlovakia; black, south Bohemia and Moravia;light blue, north Bohemia and Silesia; marble,Frydek region. Glasspainters used first distemperor glue colors, later the pictures were paintedin oils. We should not forget to mention backgroundscreated by glass techniques such ascutting, matting either on regular glass or evenon mirror glass as such pictures are consideredto be produced in glass works alone.Pictures on glass are predominantly of religiousinspiration in folk environment and onlyrarely find secular motives as such as housenumbers, landscapes as in a cycle by Janosik, thefolk rebel, which was created at the end of the19th century and was rather a theme fromSlovak or Polish times. Janosik and “upperboys” were folk rebels from mountains andpainted out of purely commercial reasons.In the pictures one sees a whole rank of saints.They are patron saints of baptism and epidemics,Rochus, Rosalie, Sebastian; diseaseseyes, Ottillie, teeth, Apollonia; cattle pests,Wendelin and Linhart; and of blissful death,Barbara, Ann, Joseph. An important placebelongs to patron saints of different crafts andagrarian estate, Isidore, Lawrence, Urban. Someof the most popular are saints on horses, Martin,George, Anthony of Paduan, Francis of Assisi,Catherina, Wenceslas and John Nepomuk.Pictures depict saint of the Holy Family, Joseph;and of the life of Christ, The Miracle in Galilee,Whiplashing, the Last Supper, Ecce homo andHoly Sepulchre. Jesus as a child together withSt., John the Baptist is often portrayed. The mostwidespread are pictures of the Blessed VirginMary. There were more than 3000 pilgrim placesin Czech lands most of them being St. Mary’s(continued on page 14)T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r13

Folk Painting (continued from page 13)holy of holys. Country people paid them frequentvisits as almost every third day in a weekwas a feast day during the reforms of the emperorJoseph II.Particularly popular in the 18th century andin the beginning of the 19th century was thecycle from legends of Saint Genevieve ofBrabany of scenes of the saint life as her burial,wedding, founding. Pictures in evangelic environmentwere covered with quotations out ofthe Holy Writ framed in rich decorative flowerornament, sometimes supplemented with symbolsof sacrificial table or chalice. Region playedan important role in this field of folk art and thatnot only in the choice of themes but also fromthe point of geographic location. Paintings onglass are not to be found in the Orthodox environmentof Russia or Balkans which is due tostrict canonical orders of Orthodox religious artprescribing that solid transportable religiouspictures had to be painted in distemper on woodas icons. In this part of Europe are found paintingson glass only in Romanian Transylvaniaand further to the south among Turkish minoritywhere those were in the form of sheets of glasswith quotations out of the Koran caligraphicallywritten on them.Swiss writer Max Picard wrote in 1918, “Apicture on glass is like a song in painting.” Andhe was right. Pictures on glass are not only asbeautiful, but both forms of folk art have in commonalso a wide range of expression. Some ofthem are tender and delicate, others hide a heartfull of emotions under tough skin, others seemlike unfinished. In some pictures can beobserved a kind of luxury, others are full ofdevout, inward joy, sadness, the opposite areaffected and smooth. Some are calm, some flamboyant,those full of the Sun, others gloomy. Alldifferent motifs are bound together with meekness,faith and creative ardor that helped to createthem. May you find the same calmness ofheart full of inspiration. ❧LettersWe so enjoyed the trip! We had fun; we werehappy to hear the president of the CzechRepublic, Vaclav Klaus. The banquet was great– good company and good food! The trip to themarket (Dallas Market Center) was a pleasantadventure for us….Mary & Frank PokludaI was delighted to read of your recognitionby the Museum District Alliance. You two havemade such a wonderful contribution to the Cityof Houston Museum District and all our Czechfamilies in Texas. Thanks for all you do.Sandy PickettYou are so very kind in sending the hugepacket of thrilling news about the cultural center.The copy of Prime Minister Spidla’s addressand of the press release of the marvelous gift ofOleta and Louis Hanus and The News of theCzech Center with its featured foreword by UncleBill (Souchek) have been read and reread withintense joy. My great congratulations to you forthe reward you are feeling in the culmination ofyour work. Especially do I thank you for yourpersonal note. I so much appreciate yourincluding Bill Souchek in all the Czech eventsand work. That’s what is sparking his need tocontinue living.I am borrowing Mr. Spidla’s farewell: “GodBless the Czech Cultural Center in Houston,God Bless Czech Texans!”(We Iowans remember fondly our Czechgrowing years too.) S panem Bohem.Helen GrahamCongratulations for the well-deserved annualcommunity award for your unprecedentedeffort to bring the Czech Cultural Center to realityas a meaningful addition to the MuseumDistrict.Vlasta Adam, MD & Ervin Adam, MDImpact of Czech HeritageBoardmember Beatrice Mladenka-Fowlerresponded to the Czech Center’s request forreturn of Census form by noting the impact ofher Czech heritage as follows:I grew up on a farm in south centralTexas where all the rural folks were Czech.Being Czech was so ingrained in my senseof self that I didn’t really know anyonewho was not Czech until I was abouttwelve years old. My mother and her sistersspoke Czech when they got togetherfor quilting or butchering pigs, and mytwo grandfathers lived with us and hadgreat arguments over words, politics andreligion in Czech. (I recall one calling theother a “Bohemian” in a heated debateonce.) When I married, I refused to changemy last name, so my compromise was tohyphenate it, rather than lose the Czechname I was so proud of. Overall, beingCzech has impacted me in all ways – food,clothing, world politics, the way I speak(mixing up my ‘e’s and ‘a’s at times), andhow I feel about myself (mostly good!). Iam proud to be a Czech American.XÅutááç Éy à{x Véxv{ exÑâuÄ|vDear Mrs. Rosene:It is my pleasure to inform you that the book,Gratias Agit Award Laureates, has been published.I am honored to send a copy of this publicationto you, President of the Czech Cultural Center,one of the Awardees.Please accept my congratulations and sincerethanks for all your contributions to preservingthe Czech heritage in the United States ofAmerica.On behalf of the Embassy of the CzechRepublic in the USA, I would also like to wishyou and all the officials and members of theCzech Cultural Center a Merry Christmas and avery happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.Best regards,/s/ Ivo BroskevicCultural Section, Czech EmbassyVictoria Czech Heritage Society celebrated its 19thAnnual Czech Festival on September 28, 2003,beginning with Mass celebrated by Fr. JosephHybner of Assumption Catholic Church, Ganado,Texas. The participating Czech Heritage Choirconsists of (front row) Alice Wright/director, IreneHubenak, Mary Spacek, Margie Merta; Ella Merta,Frances Vesely (second row) Hattie Kristynek,Gladys Rod, Aurelia Cerny, Virginia Balusek (thirdrow) Jimmy Hubenak, Mike Martinak/trumpet,Adolph Motal, Charlie Motal, Theofil Kocian, JohnNovak, Fr. Hybner (top row) Carl Wright/organist,Alan Kristynek/trumpet, Henry Jedlicka, JohnnyDornak, Leon Kristynek and lector, Thadius Polasek.Ed.-Rev. Hybner is a longtime CCCH supporting member.The Rosenes entertain Texas Czech PhysicianExchange Program Drs. Mathias and Steinbach ofCharles University Medical Fakulty, Prague, inDecember.This photo was taken…as Joe Rychlik and Iwere lined up for the Burleson County Fairparade. He was a past King of the KolacheFestival. I believe this car is a 1931 FordVictoria. He’s a large person (Grace’s wordsJoe) and he was practically squeezed in – welaughed all around the “square” in Caldwell.I have a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria – My, modelshave changed! Notice the stamp!Grace Skrivanek – Kolache Festival Queen!Ed: We are proud to have as our Honorary Board Member,Grace Skrivanek, who joined us nine years ago much to ourgood fortune. She is such a delight personally and always givingof her time and enthusiasm to all of the organizations,especially Czech ones and she is not of Czech heritage! Thepostage stamp was of a vintage Ford shown in the picture!T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r14Holiday Greetings to the Czech Cultural Center fromPrague include:Prime Minister Vladimir a Viktorie Spidlova.Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cyril Svoboda.Czechoslovak Foreign Institute: JaromirSlapota, Antonin Simek, Milan Trojan.Prague Post Endowment FundFrom Czech Embassy in Washington:Ambassador Martin Palous; CommercialOffice, Jiri Kulis, Viktor Danielis andMarketa Janikova; Cultural Section, JakubSkalnik, Ivo Broskevic and Mary Fetzko.From Mayor Maria Michalicova, Hlohovec,South Moravia.First, I want you to know that I am sorry I didnot come by to do my regular Christmas shopping.My car-driver helper has been sick andfrom time to time she was available and thentoward the end of mid-December, she no longerwas although I had been looking for her to callme. No Luck! So, I neglected not only comingby but failed to send gifts to some of my niecesand nephews as well. Happy New Year.Naomi Kostom SpencerEd: We missed you, Naomi.

We Salute Our Lifetime MembersListed below are more than 200outstanding individuals that bytheir financial support (Founder,Benefactor or Velke Kolo membership)have signified a Lifelong commitmentto the Czech CulturalCenter Houston. We are proud ofthem and invite you to join them.Karolina Adam, MD &John DickersonErvin Adam, MD &Vlasta Adam, MDCathy Rosene Anderson &Larry AndersonNorma AshmoreEarl & Martha AustinJoy Koym BalderachMarion & Phyllis BellAlma Mazoch BergerLynn & Helen Dornak BlankenburgJoseph & Mildred Dziadek BordenThomas & Burnette Jurica BoyettJim & Joyce Drapela BrausVictoria Lysek CastleberryCaptain Eugene CernanNorma E. ChernoskyDorothy ChernoskyJean & Marvin Chernosky, MDRev. Paul ChovanecMary & Richard ConroyBill & Edna Petters CoxElizabeth CupittJohn & Rose Hrncir DeatheVicki DresslerRobert J. DvorakElizabeth & Ted EmrDanna & James ErmisCarolyn FilippFrancine Mikulik FlemingVelma Chernosky FordtranCecilia & Robert ForrestCaroline FreemanMarion & J. H. FreemanLawrence & Silvie Kelarek GaventaCynthia Gdula &L. Charles WesterveltLorraine Strnadel Rod GreenZahava HaenoshLouis & Oleta HanusHenry & Virginia Ermis HarperLynn & Purvis Harper, MDImogene HassellBarbara & Leroy HermesMarietta HetmaniakCharles J. HeydaChris HlavinkaJerry & Victor HolyAnn HornakShirley & Jerry Hosek, DVMRoberta & Jimmy Howell, MDRoy M. HuffingtonAlan & Glen HusakRev. Joseph HybnerBobby & Ruby Kocurek JacksonRobert JanakDoris & Edward Janek, Sr.Delores & Arthur Jansa, MDChristie Rosene Johnson &Eric JohnsonEdwin JureckaGladys & Leslie KahanekSonia & John Kahanek, IIIJerrie & Frank KalendaMargaret & Joe KleckaGeorgia & John KleselTomas Klima, MD &Marcella Klima, MDJulie Halek KloessAudrey KlumpThomas KocurekLouis Kocurek, Jr.Lillian & Robert KokasDarlene KolajaBarbara & W. C. KolinekAgnes KosarekAnna & Edward KrpecAlyce & Joe Krupa, Jr.Betty & Mark Kubala, MDMichael KuceraMarta R.LatschHelen Kopecky LaymanWoody LesikarElbert & Ann Bordovsky LinkCora Sue & Harry MachJacqueline & Bennie MarekStan MarekJudith & Marvin MarekThelma Burnett MareshJeff MasekMBC FoundationJohn P. McGovern, MDKenneth & Ethel Kuzell MeekBarbara MikulikMarcella & W. C. MileyDavid Miller, MD &Sally Eisen Miller, PhDBeatrice Mladenka-Fowler &Jesse FowlerJohnelle & Edwin MoudryBobbie & John NauKelli & Phillip NevludGerald OpatrnyPaul & Judy Tallas PasemannStanley PavlasCharlie E. PavlicekMary Grace & Anthony PavlikClarence & Bobbie PertlDorothy & Larry PflughauptEd & Sally Jircik PickettSherry Rosene Pierce &Lindsey PierceFrank J. Pokluda IIIMary & Frank Pokluda, Jr.Janell & Wesley PustejovskyGeorgana RepalJustine Jurica Rivoire &Nita BagleyAnn & Hugh Roff, Jr.Bill & Effie Sojak RoseneMary Jane RozypalCharles & Betti Friedel SaundersDon Sheffield &Nancy Chernosky SheffieldJennifer Paul Sibille, MDJean & Walter SkripkaGrace SkrivanekRaymond J. Snokhous &Clarice Marik SnokhousSokol HoustonLil Hornak Sorrels &H.M. Sorrels, DDSWilliam E. Bill SouchekNaomi Kostom SpencerSPJSTSPJST Lodge 88Edie & John Stavinoha, MDYvonne & Glenn Sternes, PhDJohn R. VacekNina & Ray VitekJoAnn & Jerry VojacekJohn & Patsy Veselka WellsSallie & Wayne WendtDorothy WheelerDollye & Kenneth ZezulkaMarie Koranek ZinnantecÄxtáx vÉÇá|wxÜ}É|Ç|Çz ã|à{à{|á w|áà|Çzâ|á{xw zÜÉâÑ Éy |Çw|ä|wâtÄáuç uxvÉÅ|Çz t Ä|yxà|Åx ÅxÅuxÜ4exÅxÅuxÜà{tà tÄÄ vÉÇàÜ|uâà|ÉÇá àÉ à{xVéxv{ VâÄàâÜtÄ VxÇàxÜ [ÉâáàÉÇtÜx vâÅâÄtà|äx tÇw uç wÉÇtà|ÉÇá|Ç à{x tÅÉâÇà Éy7D?CCCACC ÉÜ ÅÉÜxçÉâ Åtç tv{|xäx à{|á ÄÉyàç áàtàâáACzech Cultural Center HoustonHonor and Memorial WallYour donation for a tile on our honor andmemorial wall may be used to upgrade yourmembership to a higher status, as all contributionsto the Czech Cultural Center Houston arecummulative.Celebrate your contribution to theCzech Cultural Center Houston by honoringsomeone important in your life or your associationwith the Czech Cultural Center Houston. Inscribe yourname or your honoree’s name on a tile as a lasting and meaningfulmemento of thoughtfulness and support of the mission to provide a unique new siteto celebrate the culture, language, scholarship and the arts of Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia andSilesia. The inscribed tile will be mounted in an appropriate location in the cultural center building.A personalized tile, in your name, memory or honor of family and friends, will foreverbe a part of the history and tradition of our organization.T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r15

Glassart in Northern BohemiaWheat WeavingWheat weaving is a very old practicedating back to ancient times. No exact dateor place of origin has been found, but it isbelieved people created weavings as earlyas 8,000 years ago. Wheat is known to havebeen cultivated in the Nile Valley in Egyptat least 5,000 years ago. Even early cavedrawings show the use of gathered fibersin simple totems.Early agriculture was an inexact processdependent on favorable conditions ofweather and soil. Farmers relied on anample harvest to sustain their communitiesthroughout the year and realized the relationshipof planting and harvesting cyclesto their own process of human birth anddeath. Wheat stalks were woven into itemsof beauty to act as a “home” for the spiritsThe northern Bohemian region is inextricablylinked with the most important stages in thedevelopment of the production of glass in whatis now the Czech Republic. The earliest knownproducers of glass date back to the Middle Ages,when the Kingdom of Bohemia was just rising toprominence on the European stage. The country’sborder region, covered in deep forests, providedglassmakers with the hardwood theyneeded for the production process. So muchwas consumed, however, that once they hadfelled all the trees in their vicinity they wereforced to move higher up into the foothills andmountains to get closer to further supplies ofwood. The medieval glassworks producedround panels of glass of window glazing andbeads; later they also turned to hollow glass.The change lifestyle that came in with theRenaissance brought with it a greater demandfor glass products. In addition to the green tintedbeakers and other drinking vessels in a varietyof shapes produced in this period, glassmakerswere also known for their large “welcomingcups,” enameled with imperial eagles. Manyfamilies, whose members enjoyed great socialprestige, were freed of feudal obligations, benefitedfrom various privileges and in some caseswere even raised to the nobility by the emperorin recognition of their services, dominatedGlassmaking at the time. One such case was thatof the Wander family from Mseno in the JizeraMountains. In the Baroque period, Bohemia wasknown for its ruby glass and for “Bohemiancrystal;” thick, hard, crystalline brilliant glass.After the glass was produced in rough form inthe glassworks, glassmakers ground it and moretypically, engraved or cut it according to designsbased on contemporary graphic works. Onceagain glassworks from northern Bohemiaplayed a particularly important role in the creationof glass whose main purpose was to advertisethe wealth and taste of its owners. The eighteenthcentury witnessed the appearance ofanother type of glass product that in fact representsone of the great achievements of Czechglassmakers in the Baroque period – doublewalledtumblers, which clearly came from aglass works in northern Bohemia but whosename has been lost. Gradually glass became avery valuable trade item. Despite many difficulties,traders carried it off to distant lands in backbaskets,wheelbarrows and later on in carts.Merchants established glass-exporting firmswith representatives scattered throughout theWestern world. In the Rococo period, the outstandingglassworks were those belonging to theCounts Harrach. Here the most up-to-date productionprocesses and methods were employed,in cutting, painting, engraving, gilding andmany other techniques. From the 1760s the localglassmakers blew elegant opaque milk glass asan imitation of the more expensive porcelain,with painted allegories of the elements, continentsand months of the year. The production ofchandeliers with crystal pendants flourished inNovy Svet and the environs of Ceske Lipa. Thedevelopment of the production of mirrors owedmuch to the efforts of the Counts Kinsky. TheTurnov region held substitutes for preciousTankard – 1647 Flagon – 1830stones, a specialization that led later to theworld-famous production of costume jewelry inJablonec.In the Biedermeier period Czech glassmaker’sskills were such that they were able to meet thecurrent demand for highly colored glass. In the1820s they carried out successful experimentswith new glass-metals and ways of decoratingglass surfaces. One of the best known was theglass merchant Friedrich Egermann (1777-1864),a tireless experimenter in the town of Plevskoand later in Novy Bor. He rediscovered thesecret of yellow glazing and invented red glazingand was the father of lithialine glass, whichresembles semi-precious stones. In southernBohemia, glassmakers invented a superb blackof the grain and saved until the springseeding. At that time, the weavings werereturned to the field to ensure a plentifulharvest the next year.Generally, any artistic work done withstraw is referred to as “wheat weaving.” Inparts of Europe the craft was also referredto as making “corn dollies” - “corn” beingthe common term for almost any grain.Not all weavings were dolls, however.Depending on the place of origin, some ofthe more popular shapes were hearts,cages, spirals, small farm figures andcrosses.Wheat weaving almost died out with thearrival of threshing machines which tatteredthe stems. Fortunately the art hasbeen conserved in Bohemia, Moravia andglass. Typical types of glass in this periodincluded one made of several layers of differentcolors that was then ground, painted opalineglass, uranium glass and threaded glass. Therich tradition of engraved glass in Bohemia wascarried on by the brilliant Dominick Biemanjn, anative of Novy Svet famous for his delicate portrait.Other outstanding engravers worked inKamenicky Senov and in the Bohemian spatown of Karlovy Vary, the “Glass King of theJizera Mountains,” Josef Riedel, expanded hisglass empire. The activities of the oldest specializedGlassmaking School in the world, foundedat Kamenicky Senov in 1856 had a major influencein supporting glass production.At the turn of the twentieth century glassmakers,inspired by Art Noveau, decorated theirwork with stylized vegetation and abstractforms. In the 1920s glass was produced in theArt Deco style in Kamenicky Senov. FollowingWorld War II the main challenge facing Czechglassmakers was how to deal with the loss oflarge numbers of highly qualified workers whowere forced to leave the country as part of theexpulsion of the country’s German speakingpopulation. But the movement of individualsfrom the interior of the country to the borderregions was crucial for the development of thetwentieth century artistic glass. Czech glasswon awards at many important competitions,including that at EXPO 58 in Brussels. The workof designers came to be increasingly differentiatedfrom that of artists working in the field ofglass sculpture. Thanks to the highest technicalstandards of glass production, it was there thatmany leading artists produced their most importantworks in glass.Historically speaking, the production of glassin northern Bohemia was closely linked with theeconomic and political situation of the countryand changing artistic fashions; even moreimportant, however, was the natural competitionbetween the Czech minority and theGerman-speaking majority in the region. Thiscoexistence was shattered by the tragic events ofWorld War II.For devotees of glass art you owe it to yourself tovisit the many museums in north Bohemia and whenin Prague a visit to the Museum of Applied Arts hasan outstanding collection you would not want tomiss. ❧Slovakia and other countries where wheatis a staple.Woven wheat items will last for decadesonce dried. Some have been found whichare over 100 years old. It is easy to maintainwoven wheat. If it appears too dry, simplymist some water on it once or twice a yearto restore moisture content. It can also bebrushed gently with a soft brush in thedirection of the fine wheat whiskers toremove excess dustIf readers would like to begin the traditionof keeping or giving a Czech wheatweaving, The Market Place at CzechCultural Center Houston, has a beautifulnew shipment of these intricate folk artitems. ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r16

The Sickle’s AssaultThis is the third in a series of excerpts from abook by Bishop Petr Esterka titled “Never SayComrade,” which chronicles his life beginningwith the realism of an underground bomb shelterand ends with his escape from communistCzechoslovakia.Just when does a priestly vocation begin?What is it that actually prompts a boy towant to be a priest? Only God Himselfknows for sure.In my case, perhaps the first seedof a vocation was planted when Iwas very young. My father spenthours with me at night, telling meabout the universe with its moonand stars, and the glories of Godwho made them. Bible storiesbecame my fairy tales and my adventurestories. He had a way of telling storiesso vividly about Noah’s ark, Abraham’ssacrifice of Isaac, Moses, Joseph and manyother biblical personalities that they seemedto come to life. The picture he showed me ofthe Christ Child in the temple, of Saint Peter,the horrible face of Judas at the Last Supper,the crucifixion and others made a life-longimpression on me. This was the beginning ofmy education.I loved these times with my father and thewondrous doors he opened for me. Eventhough he did not have the opportunity to geta good formal education himself, he was verywise in many ways and wanted me to have achance to scale the intellectual heights hecould not hope to attain.However, like most young boys everywhere,I loved the thrill of sports better thanthe drudgery of intellectual pursuits. Soccer,a game as popular in Czechoslovakia as footballin the United States, especially appealedto me. Since I disliked sitting for hours tostudy and memorize, I often omitted myhomework to play soccer with my friends. Asa result, my grades in grammar school werenot so outstanding as my soccer playing.From the age of about eight, I particularlyloved being an altar boy, and made it myresponsibility to be at weekday Mass frequentlyand always at both Masses onSunday. In my home every priest wasrespected. Never had I heard one wordagainst him. Consequently, I thought thatperhaps being a priest would be a cherishedvocation. Somehow, from the very beginning,I felt the priesthood was a life of sacrifice andof great responsibility. But the final decisionof my vocation was far from settled.The Bishop of our diocese realized therewas an urgent demand for well-trained layreaders, as well as priests, so after the war, heopened a Catholic high school in Brno, thecapitol of Moravia. Since this was the onlyCatholic school for boys in the diocese, it wasa combination high school and minor seminary.The school was designed for acceleratedstudents with high standards to meet theever-increasing needs of the Church. My parentsand my pastor were most anxious for meto attend this school in order that I might geta higher education, and perhaps they had asecret hope of my finding my religious vocation.I, myself, was not aware of a priestlycalling at that time – who can at such an age?– but I was happy to be accepted by theschool. So, at the age of thirteen, I was sent toBrno to be trained by the Jesuits.I was placed in the second class at theschool, experiencing all the nostalgia of everyother young boy away from home for the firsttime. As a consequence of my attendanceat the small school in a village wherethe standards were not particularlyhigh, I experienced very great difficultiesin my studies. I had to studyvery diligently to catch up with myclassmates. Initially, my gradeswere quite poor, and had it notbeen for the patience of my teachers,I would probably have been senthome.Another drawback was the fact that Ispoke Czech in a provincial dialect. I wasmocked and mimicked by the other boys.Their ridicule made me feel very bad, but Iwas determined to fit into the new life. TheJesuits were very good to me, as they were toall the boys. They understood my problemsand helped me as much as they possiblycould.Slowly I began to adjust to the other boys,the studies, and the whole environment.Before long, I actually began to enjoy life atschool. The second year was a happier one;my studies were very much improved; I wasplaced in charge of the students’ store. I stillloved soccer and I also took a great interest intrack. I played these sports every chance Ihad during our free time, becoming rathergood in both of them. I practiced hard, wonseveral events in track, and was on the firstsoccer team.By the spring of my second year, I felt thatlife in general was quite good. Soon schoolwould be out for the summer vacation, and Iwas looking forward to my visit home withmy family and to carrying out of all the plansI had made for the summer. I went to bed onthe night of April 13, 1950, with a wonderfulfeeling of well being – not knowing that nightwould be one of the most memorable nightsin my life.About 2:00 a.m. the lights of our dormitorywere suddenly flashed on. Imagine the reactionsof twenty-five sleeping boys who weresuddenly awakened by three men who worethe hated leather jackets that were the symbolof the STB (communist secret police)! Thethree men entered the room, trying to concealtheir revolvers in their pockets. We wereyoung but still we had an idea of what wasgoing on. One man stationed himself near thelight switch, while the other two inspected theroom. When they were convinced that therewas only a roomful of startled boys, they nonchalantlysaid they had come to check oursleeping accommodations. We were not sostupid as to believe such a story as that, andwe fully realized the implication of what wasmeant when each of us was made to answer:“What is your name? Place and date of birth?Parents’ name? Where do they live?” Thereplies were recorded in a notebook by one ofthe secret policemen. The men left with a sardonic“Goodnight” and a warning not toT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r17enter the corridor. Who could sleep afterbeing awakened in such a manner? At firstthe dormitory buzzed with subdued whispers.Gradually, the speculation grew louder.The most adventurous students cautiouslyedged to the door. One even slipped out intothe corridor. “Where are you going? Get backin there immediately,” came the gruff soundof a male voice. “But I have to go to therestroom,” stuttered the surprised student.The light in the corridor was turned on andthe student recognized the man as one of ourrecent visitors. The rest rooms were at theopposite end of the corridor, so the boy wasable to pass the room of the dean of studies.“The dean’s door is sealed with tape,” was thereport he brought back to us.Naturally, the rest of us wanted to see thedean’s door for ourselves, and soon otherboys “had” to go to the rest room. Reluctantlythe guard assented, but he stationed himselfby the stairs so no one could escape. Up tothat point, escape had not occurred to us.Around 7:00 a.m. we were allowed to leavethe dormitory. It was only then that we discoveredthe extent and the seriousness ofwhat had actually happened. All the professorsand superiors, all the brothers and priestsin our school had been arrested during thenight. We learned later that the Churchthroughout the entire nation had been ravished.Only a very few religious who workedwith the sick and old, escaped the onslaughtof the hammer and sickle. The arrested wereallowed to take only the bare essentials. Thenthey were herded into large transport trucksand taken away. Years later, I learned that therector of our seminary died of tuberculosis ina concentration camp at the age of fifty-three.He was a very intelligent man, fluent inRussian, German, English, and other languages.He was an excellent preacher, educatorand professor, but he was in the way of thecommunist take-over of young minds, and he,as so many others, was expendable.We also found that the upper classmen hadbeen even more rudely awakened than wehad been. Their visitors made no pretense ofconcealing their revolvers in their pockets.They brazenly flourished them until theywere sure there would be no trouble from theolder boys who slept in smaller dormitorieswith ten boys in each. They were questionedin the same manner we had been.On the morning of April 14, the school waswithout superiors. In their stead were thesecret police, who wore their hated leatherjackets. Two hundred students waited in vainfor Mass to be said. Usually classes began at8:00 a.m., but that bleak morning there wereno teachers and the professors that came fromtown were not allowed to enter. There wasnothing to do…. “All students will gather onthe field in front of the college where an interclasstournament of soccer will be organized,”blared the loud speaker. Such an announcementunder normal circumstances wouldhave made the walls swell with echoes ofcheer and enthusiasm. But not this morning.There was gloom and an air of evil forebodingeverywhere in the Bishop’s school.Continued on page 18

The Sickle’s Assault (continued from page 17)Since we were ordered to go, we went. Weplayed because we were ordered to do so. Noone was interested in the outcome of thegame…About noon we were allowed to enterthe building only long enough to eat…Soonwe were again sent outside for more socceruntil 6:00 p.m. When we returned to our dormitories,everything looked as we had left it.However, upon closer scrutiny, we could seethat our desks, chifforobes, and night tableshad all been searched. Instead of the cheerand feeling of well being of the night before,we went to bed terribly lonesome and sorelyfrightened. We missed our friends and wantedthe comfort and security of families andhomes.The second day was like the first. Duringthe second day the police and militia wasreplaced by a group of civilians. Only theleader of the whole action, ComradeZahradnik, stayed and became the director ofthe boarding school, the seminary and theday school. Our new tutors were men we hadnever seen before, but the insignias on theircoats denoted them as communists.The communists adhered to the predecessors’time schedule, but everything else waschanged. The cross was replaced by the communistred star and with the hammer andsickle. The catechism classes were replacedwith the doctrine of Marx, Engel, Lenin andStalin. We were indoctrinated in the importanceof the socialist state, the necessity offighting against capitalistic exploitation andAmerican imperialism and the interest of theSoviet Union for happiness and peace for allthe people. Another thing that I personallycould not abide was their demand that weaddress each communist by the title of“Comrade.”Tepla, The Premonstratensian MonasteryAfter a few days, the usurpers agreed toallow a priest from town to celebrate Mass forus. As was the habit of many students, one ofthe upperclassmen stopped by the chapel fora visit during an afternoon break in classes.He was shocked at the sacrilege being perpetratedon the altar before his eyes. Standingat the altar with a set of scales was a memberof the STB and Comrade Zahradnik. Thelocked tabernacle had been broken open andthe consecrated hosts were spilling out on thealtar cloth. The chalice, monstrance and ciboriumwere conspicuously on the altar. Sincethese vessels are rich in gold or silver platingand often have jewels or semi-precious stonesset in them, the communists were evidentlyinterested in their monetary value. “Don’tyou dare touch those things. In God’s name,get away from the altar immediately,” the boyshouted as he rushed toward the men at thealtar. He was shaking with holy indignationand rage. “Who do you think you are talkingto?” haughtily inquired Comrade Zahradnik.Trying to regain his composure, the studentstammered, “What do you think you aredoing here? That’s no way to treat the consecratedhosts and vessels.” “We are your superiorsnow. We will give the orders. As foryou, you had better get out of here before Iarrest you,” the secret policeman in theleather jacket warned. The student saw it wasuseless to argue, so he left and ran to theschool. “The new superiors have broken intothe tabernacle,” he called to his fellow students.Before he could finish his incrediblestory, the whole group swarmed toward thechapel. The news of the desecration spreadthrough the school like wildfire. The intruderswere in the act of weighing the ciboriumwhen the doors flew open and the first groupof boys streamed into the chapel. The studentswere horrified at the spectacle. As ifforced by some inner command, they all kneltdown and bowed profoundly, adoring theSacred Hosts scattered on the altar table.They wanted to amend the sacrilege committedagainst God in their chapel. The twointruders looked up in amazement to see theadoration of the students. Before they couldfinish weighing the ciborium, the most daringof the students charged at them and pushedthem from the altar. By that time, the entirestudent body was in the chapel and seeing theheated temper and bold resolve of the students,the two men slunk out of the chapel. Inreprisal for their action, not one of the firstarrivals in the chapel was allowed to finishhis studies for a degree. The student who discoveredthe desecration and informed theothers, was treated the worst of all. As a punishment,he was expelled from school, wasrefused admission to every other school, andwas denied the completion of his studies.When my parents heard what had happenedat the school, they came and took mehome. I left two months before the schoolyear was over. At the close of the school year,all remaining students were notified not toreturn after the holidays. The Bishop’sschool, along with his hopes for dynamic newpriests and laymen, was suppressed.It is rather ironic that in less than a yearafter that communistic sacrilegious action,Comrade Zahradnik committed suicide inone of the buildings of the seminary he hadtried to “re-educate.”Ed: Bishop Esterka is Moravian born in DolniBojanovice. He lives in California and serves asPriest in Diaspora to Czech expatriates inAmerica, Canada and Australia. ❧Czech nobleman Hroznata founded themonastery of Premonstratensian Tepla in theyear 1193. The oldest part is the Roman-Gothicchurch Zvestovani Pane; Krystof Dienzenhoferbuilt the Baroque convent and prelature from1690 to 1721. The north wing, which containsthe museum and library, are in the newBaroque style from the beginning of the 20thcentury. Nearly eight hundred years of themonastery’s history ended in 1950 on expropriationby the communist government.Ceiling Painting in ConventThe monastery’s area was used as a militarybarracks. In 1958 the museum and library wasopened to the public. It was returned to thePremonstratensian order in 1990 and reconstructionbegan. The public tour consists of the convent,the library, which is the second largest historicallibrary in the Czech Republic with over100,000 books, and the exhibition of artifactsfrom the collection of the monastery’s museum.Castle Becov nad TeplaThe remarkable complex of the Gothicfortress and Renaissance and Baroque castlestands on the rocky tongue of land over theriver Tepla. The fortress was built in the 13thcentury as a customs duty station. Expansionduring the next centuries was made withoutsignificant changes to the previous buildings.The historic event of recent time is the exhibitionto the public of the relics of St. Maur.This unique important European artifact ofimmense magnitude was found under thefloor of the castle tower in the year 1985. Thediscovery of the shrine of St. Maur was calledthe find of the century. It ranks as the best ofsimilar items in Europe because of its outstandingvisual and artisan art. The shrine ofSt. Maur is the work of the artist of Kolin-Mosel area from the first quarter of the 13thcentury. It shows the exceptional craft andartistic quality of the Romanesque goldsmiths.Statues of Christ and St. Maur are placed in therichly molded sides under the gables. AfterReliquary St. Maur in Castleextensive restoration the shrine is exhibited inits full beauty in the castle.Ed. Tepla is located eight miles from MarinanskeLazne in western Bohemia’s famous spa country.The Monks were aware of the healing properties ofthe water when they established the village ofAuschowitz near the springs in 1341. A pilgrim’slodge was later built and the springs were tappedwith the Monks decanting the water into barrelsselling it to prosperous cities and nobleman’sestates. Eventually the water was evaporated cuttingtransport costs marketing the much more convenientTepla salt! ❧T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r18

Thirty-Five Years Ago in PragueWith the fall of communism in Europe severalyears behind us, it’s hard to remember what ColdWar tensions were like. Yet thirty-five years agothis month, the Cold War became extremely coldwhen the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. As sooften in modern warfare, radio was there to playan important role.Events preceding the invasion began onJanuary 5, 1968. With the economy in bad shape,there was unrest among both the Czechoslovakpeople and the ruling communist party. FirstSecretary Antonin Novotny and his hard-line compatriotsresponded with the usual suppression,but the rest of the party elite revolted, voting himout of office and replacing him with AlexanderDubcek. Gradually Novotny and his allies werepushed out of most important party and governmentalposts.Dubcek and his faction launched a reform campaignunheard of in the Soviet block. Under theslogan “socialism with a human face”, they endedpress censorship, freed political prisoners, allowedfree travel abroad, decentralization of the economy,and totally turned the old Stalinist system onits head. Others dubbed the awakening the“Praque Spring.” Yet, Dubcek’s government continuedto insist that it supported communism andplanned to remain allied to the USSR, especially inforeign policy matters.Nevertheless, Moscow saw Dubcek’s movementas a threat to its dominance in EasternEurope. Tensions between the Soviet and Czechgovernments rose as the Soviets denounced thereforms and worked behind the scenes withDubcek’s opponents. But, Dubcek remained solidlyin control. At the end of July, Dubcek and Sovietleader Leonid Breshnev and their advisors met forseveral days, and produced an agreement calledthe Bratislava Declaration, which seemed to guaranteeCzechoslovakia’s freedom to follow it’s ownpath. In reality, everything was far from rosy.Secretly, the Soviet government had been preparingan invasion of Czechoslovakia under the guiseof the Warsaw Pact. At 10:00 p.m. on August 20th,at least 250,000 Warsaw Pact troops - mostlySoviets, but also East Germans, Poles, Bulgarians,and Hungarians crossed into Czechoslovakia.News of the invasion traveled slowly to the capital,and not until 1:00 a.m. did Czechoslovak radiobroadcast the first news of it to a startled world. Anearby Associated Press TV audience at 1:25 a.m.{9:25 p.m. EDT}, about the same time the Sovietambassador visited the White House to informPresident Johnson. Short-wave listeners, however,reported that Radio Prague’s external services carriedon with their normal prerecorded broadcast,without any mention of the invasion.As the invaders moved into key towns andeventually Prague itself, they took over governmentbuildings, intersections, and other strategicpoints. Reformist leaders, including Dubcek, werecaptured and arrested. Everything started outvery smoothly, just as expected. But, the Sovietshad no idea of what really awaited them. TheSoviets knew that controlling the flow of informationwould be key to the success of their invasion.But, the Czechoslovaks knew that also. ThePrague Radio Building on Vinohradska Street, justbehind the National Museum in the Central City,would be the center of resistance. Within minutesof the radio’s invasion announcement,Czechoslovak youths began gathering onVinohradska Street. Using wood, stones, busesand trolley cars, they began constructing massivebarricades across the street.At 8:00 a.m. Soviet troops surrounded the stationbuilding. A woman announcer reported thisto the listeners, noting that, “They are going tosilence our voices, but they cannot silence ourhearts.” The microphone was passed from hand tohand as the announcers asked the audience toremain calm and have courage. One man held themicrophone to the window so the listeners couldhear machine gun fire outside. As her companionssobbed in the background, the first womanannouncer came back on and reported, “Theyhave entered the building, but we are still here andwill be with you as long as we can hold out. We arebehind Dubcek and we will never give up, never!”Then the national anthem was played. In fact, thetroops hadn’t entered the building yet. As theymoved onto Vinohradska Street they were met bythousands of people waving Czechoslovak flagsand screaming, “Russians, go home!” When thetanks moved towards the barricades, students ranout on the street with Molotov cocktails and flamingrags and newspapers to set the tanks on fire.Old mattresses, garbage, and wooden crates wereadded to the fires. The invaders were shocked bythe strong resistance. They retreated, leaving onetank and two munitions trucks in flames in frontof the barricades. Radio Prague would remain onthe air a little longer. But, the Soviets regroupedand a few hours later launched another attack, thistime smashing through the barricades. Just before11:00 a.m. Troops stormed into the radio building,the last in Prague to fall. The station went off at11:00 a.m. Surprisingly, only seven Czechoslovakswere killed in the two battles for the radio station,out of a total of 23 killed in Prague and other cities.Later in the afternoon, thousands of citizens carryinga blood splattered flag made a funeral processionalong Vinohradska Street in honor of the fallenin the battle for Radio Prague.Contrary to their earlier declarations, the staffdid not wait around for the Soviets to storm intothe studio. A few people, including Director KarelHrabal, stayed at the microphone until they werearrested. But most of the technicians, announcers,and reporters slipped away into the crowds once itwas apparent the building would fall. They werenot deserting their cause in its hour of need. Theyhad plans for another fight that the Soviets hadn’tcounted on. Within half an hour of Radio Prague’sfall, a clandestine anti-Soviet broadcaster came onthe air in Prague. Gradually others were addedelsewhere in the city, and in cities such as Brno,Pilsen, and Ceske Budejovice. Around the country,local radio staffs left their studios and took to theairwaves from secret locations.At first, the clandestine provided news andmoral support for the resistance. As they becamemore organized, the stations actually began toorchestrate the resistance. Then, as the resistancecentered on the clandestine network, the stationsbecame a sort of quasi-government for a nationwithout a real one. Their slogan was “Jsme s v mi;bud’te s n mi!” or “We are with you; be with us!”Although the underground stations denouncedthe Soviet invasion, they always stressed their loyaltyto the Socialist system as represented byDubcek and his “Prague Spring.” Rather thanbeing anti-communist, they supported a liberalform of communism. And they always pointed outthat they were “free, legitimate” radio stations ofthe Czechoslovak people.Surprisingly, in concentrating on closing downofficial Czechoslovak radio studios, the Sovietsdidn’t bother to occupy several key medium andlong wave transmitter sites. Radio techniciansthen set up makeshift studios and connected themto the usual high-powered transmitter on theirnormal frequencies! This not only made it easy forlocal listeners, it allowed BBC monitors atCaversham Park to record almost all of the keyoutput of the clandestine broadcasts during thefirst few days of the invasion. Soon, however, theSoviets wised up and also occupied the transmittersites. By that time, the free radios had set up anumber of a hodgepodge of true clandestine transmitters.Some came from the Czechoslovak armyand others from factories, especially the TeslaElectronics Equipment plant. In other cases amateurtransmitters were pressed into service. Stillothers were put together at the moment withwhatever parts were at hand. As one staffer withthe clandestine network said, "We always sworeabout our obsolete equipment, which was alwaysbreaking down, but it made our technicians intomasters of improvisation, and that is what they arenow.” Equipment was limited, however. Forexample, often listeners were asked to record thebroadcasts for future generations, as the stationslacked the equipment to do so.The stations worked together, and soon a trueclandestine network came together. Up to nineteenstations took turns broadcasting for fifteenminutes at a time on the same frequency. Each stationhad local and national news, plus coded messagesfor members of the resistance. Numberedcodes signaled the end of a transmission so thenext station in the link could come on. At first thebreaks between stations were choppy with asmuch as five minutes of dead air. Later the engineersbecame so proficient that the switches wereoften not even noticeable. During their time off theair some stations moved their transmitter to a newsite before their next turn, as a further guardagainst discovery. The network operated 24 hoursa day, giving the announcers and technicians littlechance for sleep. Listeners provided food andother supplies. In some cases stations made livebroadcasts from streets or parks; watchful citizenswarned them if the Soviets were coming near.Most programming was news about the invasionand resistance against it, but this was no propagandaoperation. The broadcasts were alwaysobjective, telling good and bad. Sometimes it wasdifficult to get accurate information, but wheninformation turned out to be incorrect, it wasalways corrected on the air as soon as possible.Everyone at the stations knew that the truth wasimportant to their people. The quiet, calm, unemotionalreading of news and announcements on thefree radio stations became the symbol of the resistance.Still, with highly critical events, womenannouncers were used because it was believedtheir voices would create a more emotional reactionin the audience. Only a few breaks were takenfor music, and those were to allow the announcerstime to compose upcoming news and announcements.Most of the broadcasts were on mediumwave, but several, including Radio Bratislava,used short wave. Frequencies included 233, 428,and 492 meters on medium wave and 1103 meterson longwave. In Prague, the international service’snormal 7345 and 11990 kHz outlets was taken overby Radio Free Prague with lower-powered clandestineequipment. Both frequencies were loggedin North America.The invasion gave Dxers some unwanted signalsto tune in as well; the Soviets began jammingthe VOA and BBC for the first time since 1961.Continued on page 20T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r19

Thirty Five Years Ago (continued from page 19)While Czech and Slovak were the primary languagesused, clandestine broadcasts were alsoaimed at the invading troops and listeners abroad.Other languages used at different times includedRussian, Polish, Ruthenian, Hungarian, Romany,German, French, and English. When appeals inRussian for the soldiers to go home were broadcast,listeners took their transistor radios out intothe streets and held them up so that the soldierscould hear.The clandestine operators didn’t limit themselvesto radio either. They put on at least fourunderground TV stations also. The broadcastswere highly professional, and in addition to newscarried a lot of comedy programs making fun ofthe invasion. Humorous Russian lessons wereespecially popular, as was a satirical tour for visitorsof the sites of occupied Prague.Ironically, the Soviets were indirectly responsiblefor the clandestine network. Years before theyhad suggested that Czechoslovak radio makeplans for clandestine operations in case of aWestern invasion. Soviet generals in 1968 probablywished that the Czechoslovaks hadn’t been socompliant on this one instruction!The stations reported fighting against the invasionin many cities with many dead and wounded.A few broadcasts even ended with the sounds ofRussian troops storming in, firing machine guns.Yet, this was not the way Dubcek or his supporterswanted it. The Free Radio stations always urgedpassive resistance; no one wanted another 1956Hungary, when hundreds were killed fightingSoviet troops. On August 22nd at noon, 20,000people demonstrated in central Prague’sWenceslas Square as part of an hour-long generalstrike across the country. As cars and busesstopped in the streets, everything was paralyzed,even the invaders’ military traffic. But when anevening demonstration was planned and theSoviets threatened to impose martial law, the freeradio network urged the demonstration be canceled,and no one showed up. Young people stoodon nearby streets and directed passers-by to takeother routes so the square would remain empty.Instead of confrontation, listeners were told toresist without getting shot. School children, wholearned Russian in school, were told to pretendthey didn’t understand the language if questionedby soldiers. When KGB agents were identified,the license numbers of their cars were given to thestations for broadcast. Listeners then painted thenumbers everywhere. It may not have stoppedthe KGB, but it certainly made them spend a lot oftime changing cars!One of the easiest and most effective way to resistthe invaders was to confuse them. The Soviets andtheir allies did not know their way aroundCzechoslovakia and its cities and towns. Housenumbers were taken down and street and highwaysigns were switched around. In some towns, all thestreet signs were renamed Dubcek Street. When theresistance learned of additional Polish troops comingin along a certain route, listeners were told tochange the road signs. The column followed thesigns and about the time they expected to be arrivingin Prague, they found they had taken a circuitousroute back to the Polish border!The free radios also urged compassion. Most ofthe invading soldiers were naive 18 year oldRussians. Listeners were told to treat them kindly,as the soldiers were not responsible for theiractions and often didn’t even know where theywere. Some units had been told they were invadingGermany and others that they were puttingdown a rebellion in the Soviet Ukraine. The stationsalso discouraged listeners against takingaction against Czechoslovaks who were collaboratingwith the invaders. Not only was this againstthe spirit of passive resistance, in many cases theevidence against supposed traitors was little morethan gossip. In one instance, a man spying for theresistance by collaborating with the Soviets wasbeaten up by other members of the resistance.Although the Czechoslovak clandestine broadcastscaught the Soviets by surprise, the Soviets hadtheir own clandestine stations, too. Just a few hoursafter the invasion began, Radio Vltava came on 210meters, claiming to be a Czechoslovak station andjustifying the invasion as the will of theCzechoslovak people. The broadcasts, however,were in Russian-accented Czech and broken Slovak.The free radios announced Radio Vltava’s frequencyto their listeners and invited them to listen to it foramusement. Radio Vltava was actually located inEast Germany, and eventually its frequency wastaken over by Radio Berlin International. Later atleast three other Soviet-operated clandestine stationsbroadcast briefly to Czechoslovakia. One,Vysilac Zare (Dawn Transmitter), pretended to bepro-Dubcek, but careful monitoring proved it to bea subtle attempt at spreading misinformationamong the underground.Of course as soon as the Soviets realized thescope of the free radio network, they set out toclose it down. However, the use of multiple andever-changing frequencies and locations made triangulationto find the stations difficult if notimpossible. Furthermore, the Soviets had been soconfident of an easy invasion that they hadn’teven brought along the equipment to do it, and ittook several days to get it shipped in. Meanwhile,the Soviets frequently drove right by clandestinestudios without even knowing it. Gradually, frustratedofficers began ordering their troops to confiscatetransistor radios out of people’s hands inthe street.When the Soviets tried jamming equipmentfrom Poland to Prague, the resistance found outand Czech engineers refused to run the trainsbringing the equipment in from the border. Whencompliant engineers were found, someone cut theelectric line powering the train, delaying it somemore. Finally, the invaders located a list of government-registeredhams and the troops systematicallybegan shutting them down one by one.Indeed, quite a few had been using their equipmentto relay the clandestine broadcasts.Direction-finding equipment and police state tacticshelped them shut down more stations. Otherstations realized the fight was over and shut downon their own. By Wednesday, August 28, mostclandestines were off the air. One of the last messageswas “People, from now on you will have tothink about what you read and hear. You havealways been good at reading between the lines.Now our writer will have to practice the art ofwriting the truth by concealing some of it.” OnThursday, August 29th, the last free radio station,on 950 kHz at a location near the Austrian border,closed down. The radio battle for Czechoslovakiawas over.EpilogueIn the end, the Czechoslovak clandestine radionetwork only delayed the eventual Soviettakeover. But, it did show how easily radio can beused to bring together a vast passive resistancemovement, and that people dedicated to a causecan make a difference. The Soviets may not havebeen defeated on the streets, but they were clearlyrouted on the airwaves.Thanks to the passive resistance sponsored bythe clandestines, the political battle forCzechoslovakia cooled down. The Soviets werenot interested in the political embarrassment of along, difficult occupation, and Dubcek and his governmentsupporters realized that they could neverdefeat the USSR. The two sides reached a compromisein favor of “normalization.” The Soviettroops withdrew from government buildings,including radio and TV facilities, to camps outsidethe cities. Dubcek’s government was returned topower, intact. Theoretically, life continued forCzechoslovaks with the freedoms of before theinvasion, but it was difficult to take advantage ofthem with the invaders watching nearby.This stalemate continued until March 1969when a Czechoslovak ice hockey victory over theSoviet team at an international match produced awave of anti-Soviet protests and vandalism acrossCzechoslovakia. This caused Moscow to send ahigh level delegation to Prague. Either Dubcekand his most important advisors would resign, orthere would be another intervention. There wasno question that with the current tensions the newinvasion would be far bloodier than the first.Dubcek and his allies resigned and Gustav Husak,a close Soviet ally, took over. Husak set about systematicallyto dismantle the “Prague Spring” andreturn Czechoslovakia to a hardline communistrule that would last until once again the people ofCzechoslovakia took to the streets, in December,1989, to overthrow communism for good.Radio Free Prague ❧Sarah Lynn Rosene PierceSlavic Festival PrincessThird generation Czech-American, daughterof Lindsey and Sherry Pierce, granddaughter ofBill and Effie Rosene. Sarah was 16 at the timeof the festival.A Junior at Bellaire High School, Houston,Texas, she is involved with cheerleading, memberof the Fashion Board at Nordstrom’s, a volunteerwith the Children’s Museum and theCzech Cultural Center Houston. Sarah reignedas Czech Princess at the October 19, 2003 40thAnnual Slavic Festival held at St. Rose of LimaChurch in Houston.This past summer she concluded her fifth visitto the Czech Republic. An Honors student hercurrent plans include making the best gradespossible in order to attend college without financiallyburdening her parents. She plans a collegestudy program of a degree in business managementto some day be President/CEO of her owncompany involved with fashion industry.Ed: Sarah turned 17 before this article went to press! ❧Sarah Lynn Rosene Pierce, Slavic Festival PrincessT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r20

Heydrich’s WarIn the 1960s in a time when we should havebeen enjoying our happy youth, Czechoslovakiawas under the Protectorate of Hitler in the worsttype of war, which was documented in historyunder Heydrich war.Czechoslovakia was forced to sign theMunich agreement on August 30, 1938 to give upand surrender Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenlandwithout fighting to Hitler’s Germany. Hitlerpromised that he would not have any otherrequests, and Chamberlain returned to Englandas a heroic figure peacemaker, a savior of peace.Soon thereafter, March 15, 1939, without warningand reason, Hitler occupied what remainedof Czechoslovakia. Neighbors Poland andHungary took what they believed was rightfullytheirs. The world noticed too late that Hitler’spromise could not be believed. Hitler made outof Slovakia a satellite state and with the remainingof our state ironically called the Protectorateof Czechia and Moravia. Following K. VonNeurath, Reinhardt Heydrich, SS and Generalled the protectorate and installed a terroristregime. So that the world is drastically awareand conscious how badly Czechoslovaks suffered,it is important to describe the followinghorrendous punishing experiences from theHeydrich era. At the end of May 1942 Englandsent to Czechoslovakia a group of members inexile that were parachutists with the assignmentto liquidate Heydrich.Before graduation from Middle School at theend of May and beginning of June we receivedtwo weeks free to study for our oral examinations.I spent them at a student friend of mine ina castle in Svihove. Vlasta often lived with us atKlatove during the school year. The assassinationoccurred on May 27, 1942, just as our 2 week longstudy period began. We studied in Vlasta’s roomon the first floor often even in the night and wewent down only for food. That morning Iwalked down the stairs before Vlasta. Tired aftera long night of studying and hungry, I was lookingforward to a good hearty breakfast, whichwas prepared for us each day. As I opened thedoor, I stood still as if frozen. Vlasta’s motherwas seated by the table and was crying into awhite handkerchief, which was covering her face.Vlasta’s father was pale and sat like an unmovablestatue with his hands on wrinkled newspapersand stared at them in horror.In the corner by the stove the maid sathunched and raised her arms towards the ceilingand made such horrible sounds, as if shewere a criminal that had been ordered to deathrow and was now praying out of despair andyet at the same time horrified. It was a scene ofindescribable tragedy. Vlasta pushed me roughlyaside and went to the table. “What is? Whathappened? Talk, tell me!” Her mother’s handraised the handkerchief onto the table glancingat Vlasta with her red eyes and said: “All aredead, everyone has been shot.” Vlasta leanedover to her parents with her chest tightened andstared at them in disbelief. She tried to saysomething, but she couldn’t get words to comeout of her throat. Finally, with a restricted voiceshe threw out a few words: “Who is dead?What are you talking about? What happened?”Her father raised his eyes, which were filledwith sorrow and sadness, as though he wereapologizing to his one and only dear daughterthat he couldn’t protect her from the horriblehappenings. The palm of his hand fell heavilyonto the table onto the newspaper laid out infront of him. Instead of the most interestingarticle of the day as was usual on the front page,was a list of names of people and above the listof names of people was the title: “InReciprocation for the Attempted Murder on theHead of the Protectorate SS R. Heydrich, theFollowing People Have Been Killed.” Amongthe names were several names of friends ofVlasta’s parents. On the orders of Hitler that daythe SS and Gestapo shot many innocent people,chosen by chance from offices or on the streets.That day there were many German spies. Whenthe spies heard that someone said somethingabout the attempted murder, they were immediatelyjailed and killed the second day.Day after day the first page of the newspaperwas filled with names of people, who werekilled the day before. The fury of Hitler knewno mercy. He proclaimed that until they foundthe guilty persons that attempted the assassination,every 10th Czechoslovak would be killed.Surrounded by this horror we studied long daysand nights for our oral exams. Hitler’s threathung over me like a black cloud. Will we be putin a line and will I be the 10th person in the rowpulled out of the row and be shot before the eyesof my loved ones, or will it be my dearest motheror dearest father or my dearest brothers? Twotowns, Lidice and Kladna and Lezaky andChrudimi were leveled, all men were shot,women were ordered to concentration campsand children were given to German families forGerman upbringing.On Friday June 20, 1942 our final examsended. With eagerness we waited to hear ourclass professor tell us the results. Not all studentspassed. The Germans ordered that a certainpercentage has to fail and so with sadnesswe listened to those names called out that werechosen to repeat the 8th grade.With relief and happiness that such an importantfinal stage of my life is successfully completedand behind me, a group of my friendswent home with me. Mother promised us a celebrationdinner. Before my house waited apoliceman. I had to sign a statement that statedthat I had never before seen the bicycle and coatthat he showed me. They were items that wereleft at the place of the attempted assassination.Horror of the time period surrounded me. Fordinner we received hot dogs with apologiesfrom mother. She said, she had been at churchto pray for me for most of the afternoon and notime left to cook.On Sunday we went for a walk with mother. Idon’t remember what we talked about, but as Iheld my mother by her hand, I felt such a closenessand love towards her, mixed with unbelievablypainful sorrow, that it might be the last timethat we are together, that I could lose her in thedays we are closest. The day was sorrowful andcold despite that it was mid-June. Even the sunseemed to be crying with its weak golden rays.On Monday morning instead of going on atrip to the seaside of Yugoslavia, as my fatherhad promised before the war when I completemiddle school, I entered work at the train station.Totally out of place. In that time when wedidn’t know if we survive until tomorrow, myonly relief was that I don’t have to go to a factoryin Germany.That was the beginning of three lost years ofmy youth. How many lost years and lost lives.We saw their names daily on the title page in thenewspaper. Once there was the name of ourmath professor. With my friend we went to anempty train wagon and cried in each other’sarms. She had loved him. They also came formy future husband. He wasn’t at home and thenext day Heydrich’s assassins killed themselvesin the crypt of the church, which I passed byalmost daily after the war. The assassinationattempt was carried out May 27, 1942. Heydrichdied of injuries June 4, 1942.The threat of that time scared us all and wecarry that in us until today, which I realized bywriting this article. I had to stop writing often,as my memories shook me.Maruska Sedlackova, Czech Dialogue, May 2003Ed: On one of our recent visits to Prague we were surprisedto find ourselves passing the church where the braveHeydrich parachutists were forced to take their lives. Aplaque on the wall, their names, a wreath of flowers andburning candles gave one a pause to consider. ❧Tyler & Parker Sherrill,grandchildren ofRudy and JerrydeneKovar.Holden, Alex and Amy,children of formerboardmember Trey Havlickand Ellen, who writes “welove tracking the growth ofthe Czech Center.”Tori, Dustin, Zachary, Grant, the Victor & EllenOelsen group.Building Progress ReportYou may recall that as a result of the largesse ofOleta and Louis Hanus, we were faced with thepleasant task of enlarging the scope of our firstphase construction project to include the completionand finishing of the second floor. Thesecond floor comprises sufficient space toaccommodate from 300 to 330 persons for a seatedbanquet. We were delighted to have thischore as it means that use of this area will allowan income stream from additional rentals.Necessarily, there were architectural plans to beprovided for rest rooms, storage area for chairsand tables, cleaning facilities, area for use bycaterers and all the attendant design for plumbing,electrical, partitions, fire sprinklers andalarms, etc. Of course, all the work had to bepermitted by the City of Houston. This has allbeen completed and the contractor is workingon this change order to the contract. He hasgiven us a tentative date for completion by earlyApril 2004, however, we are hoping that it willperhaps be sooner in order to have our ownMembers and Scholarship Award Dinner in ournew building. We will notify you as soon as wehave a firm timeline. Meanwhile you are welcometo view the progress of what we have allaccomplished by driving by 4920 San Jacinto atWichita. S panem Bohem!Effie RoseneT h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r21

A Son’s TributeIn 1989, after years of oppression under aCommunist regime, the newly formed CzechRepublic emerged as a free democracy. Fouryears later, Joseph Hurka, the son of a Czechémigré, decided to visit his paternal homelandand write a travel article. But while waiting inthe airport for his flight home, he instead foundhimself sketching stories of his father, JosefHurka, and his Aunt Mira.“Their story was going to bethe focus of my writing,” herecalls.The result is Fields of Light: ASon Remembers His HeroicFather, the winner ofPushcart’s 19th annualEditor’s Book Award. Thebook, which was nominatedfor the award by the late shortstorymaster Andre Dubus, hasgarnered critical praise fromthe Boston Globe to the PraguePost and was called “a welcome change fromother memoirs” by Publishers Weekly.Part travelogue, part memoir, the book meldsHurka’s trip to Prague with the story of hisfather’s life. While retracing his father’s steps,Hurka was able to draw a portrait of a complicatedman and patriot. “I felt like he had beenerased from history,” Hurka says. “I wanted towrite him back in because of my profoundrespect and love for him.”In the book, Hurka, who teaches creative writingat Tufts, gives a concise history ofCzechoslovakia, weaving his family’s story intothat of the country. Hurka’s father witnessedtwo of the darkest periods of Czech history: theinvasion by the Nazis and the Communisttakeover shortly after the end of the war.Josef Hurka, a hero of the Czechanti-communist underground andhis son, Joseph.As a boy, Josef Hurka helped other Czechsfight against the Nazi invaders, smugglingdynamite from Nazi-controlled mines in oneinstance. As a young man, he worked with theanti-Communist underground, escorting importantCzech figures out of the country to safety.In one of the book’s more dramatic sequences,Hurka’s father and a partner are ambushed. Hisnarrow escape through thestreets of Prague with a bullet inhis back reads like a scene froma cold war spy novel. He waslater smuggled out of the countryand eventually immigratedto the United States.In another chapter, Hurka visitsPankrac prison where hisfather was imprisoned ontrumped-up charges and wherehis grandmother would visitdaily, bringing her son packagesthat he never received. This,Hurka says, was the hardest section to write.“There was grief and silence inside me,” hewrites about the visit, “for my grandmother andmy father and for all the people who had beenhere.”The trip allowed Hurka to come to grips withhis father’s past and to understand more fullywhat his family had been through. Emotions ranhigh on the trip, from anger, remembering whathis father had endured, to affection, feeling anaffinity for the Czech people – “realizing thatyou actually come from someplace.”Ultimately, the book is the story of a son’s loveand respect for his father. Today, when bookstoresare often filled with bitter memoirs thatlay blame on parents, Fields of Light is refreshing-ly free of parent bashing. “I’m grateful that myparents brought me up,” says Hurka. “I don’thave any resentment against them. And afterseeing what my father went through, I’mamazed that he’s here and that he was able tosurvive.”Of the many people who helped Hurka alongthe way with his story, one was his mentor andfriend Andre Dubus. Dubus read two drafts andencouraged his work. “Andre taught mepatience,” Hurka says. “He watched over me asa young writer and taught me to be thoroughand take my time with what I was doing. Fieldsof Light took seven years to finish and often,while I was working on it, I was remindingmyself of Andre’s insistence that art only comesform going deep, no matter what the commitmentof time.”In the spring, the Czech countryside is ablazewith repka flowers. These bright yellow flowersappear to glow, creating “fields of light.” Thesefields, which inspired the title of the book,reminded Hurka of St. Wenceslas, who legendsays will rise from the fields with his soldiers tohelp the Czech people in their time of need. ToHurka, the luminous flowers symbolize thesouls of the people who sacrificed everything fortheir country’s freedom, his father included.Josef Hurka, who is retired and lives inVermont, is pleased with his son’s book. Hurkatried for years to get the Czech government torecognize his father’s heroism. He has, as awriter, found his own way.Michele Gouveia, Tufts MagazineEd: Fields of Light may be purchased at The MarketPlace. Please see www.czechcenter.org or call 713686 6362. Joe Hurka is a long-time CCCH supportingmember. ❧Czech Class & Souchek BirthdayCelebration December 8, 2003.Remembering the 2003 GalaJoseph Pesl, Roger & Susan Mechura, Hope Hruska.Consul Raymond Snokhous, legendary speaker,Bob Murphey & Effie Rosene.Ray Snokhous & Bill Souchek; those two are upto no good!Effie Rosene, HelenBlack.Robert Ermis, StanyaSestakova.Happy Hours!A couple of youngsters; Hilda Mikulik &Bill Souchek.The Looks from Florida, the Kreneks fromBrno, CR, parents of Dale Look & PetraKrenkova Look.Chris Konikowski, Melanie Pasemann,Charles Waligura.Consul Ray & wifeClarice Snokhous athonorary Czech FrankieMandola’s.Former Boardmember,Charlie Pavlicek & Czechlanguage instructor MarieMann at Bill Mraz Since1948 Dance Hall.“Command Performance,” at their ninth Gala – theRosene children and grandchildren!22

Sights and Sounds of the HolidaysChildrens Christmas TraditionsParty December 6, 2003Christmas Elves include: Robert Dvorak, EffieRosene, Malinky the Christmas Clown nee LeroyHurta, Barbara Mikulik and Guenter Merkle.Cathy, Judy & Mom,Angie Jalufka.Chris & ClaudineSkucius.Vicky Castleberry,Boardmember emeritus anddaughter, Therese Lewis ofPittsburgh enjoying their treeof Santas.Petra Krenkova Lookand Marie Mann,fellow Czechinstructors.Anne Dybala & daughter, Christie.Malinky and MollyBalderach.Christie RoseneJohnson and E.J. fromWharton.Chris Hlavinka, CCCHarchitect.Robert J. Dvorak,Boardmember.A rapt audience.Barbara Horak Matlock, brother, Frank Horak &sister, Lillian Horak Dulaney.Volunteers Appreciation PartyDecember 11, 2003Effie & Bill Rosene, CCCH volunteers.Hosts John & Rose Deathe and Effie & Bill Rosene.Jerry Hurta builds antique wood nativities.Rudy & Jerrydene Kovar, Gladys & Leslie Kahanek,Elsie Pecena.Fr. Wm. Vela & Fr. David Zapalac – men of the cloth.Carolyn Lightfoot, Pres. & Esther Simon, Vice Pres.San Jacinto Chapter, Daughters of the Republic ofTexas with Christmas tree filled with Czech Centerornaments.Bob & Cecilia Forrest, Lillian & (not pictured) BobKokas, James & Danna Ermis.Henry Ermis, Jr., forensicarchitect.Mary Lee Grant of theHouston Chronicle.High school friends meet in The Market Place:Johnnie Mae Svrcek Brokmeyer, Jerrydene Kovar &Henrian Svrcek Schumacher.Tony & Mary Grace Pavlik, Dan & Mildred Mohel,Paul Pasemann. (Unable to attend: Judy Pasemann,Marta Latsch, Linda Vondra Smith and CarolWilliams.)T h e N e w s o f T h e C z e c h C e n t e r23

Calendar of EventsJanuary 12, 2004, Czech Language Conversation Classes. Mondays 7:00 –9:00 p.m. Enjoy the challenge and have fun! No charge for members, workbook/tapeis recommended and available for sale. The Market Place,Northwest Mall, 290 at 610 West Loop. All levels of learning offered. Call713 686 6362 to register.Special Fundraising Events to be announced: in private homes featuringspecial food, refreshments and entertainment. These small private eventsare not to be missed. Three were held to rave reviews with funds raisedsupporting the Capital Campaign Building Fund.Tuesday Socials, January 20, February 10, April 26 at the Czech CulturalCenter Houston, The Market Place, Northwest Mall, Contact Robert Dvorakfor information 281 342 1312.Annual Members Dinner and Scholarship Awards, 6:30 p.m. (Normallyheld in March.) Date and location to be announced.Parents, Grandparents and Friends. Please note the Czech Cultural CenterHouston awards three $1,000 scholarships to full-time undergraduatedegree candidates of Czech heritage. Mary Karele Milligan Scholarshipapplication available at www.czechcenter.org Submit by February 21, 2004.Building Dedication Ceremony – Dedication ceremony for the new CzechCenter building at 4920 San Jacinto in the Museum District of Houston. (Tobe announced.)Czech Center Building Grand Opening Ceremonies - Grand OpeningCeremonies predicated on completion tentatively scheduled spring 2004.(To be announced.) ❧The Czech Cultural Center Houston“When we build let us think that we build forever. Let it not be such for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it besuch work as our descendants will think of us for. And Let us think, as we lay stone upon stone, that a time is to come whenthese stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor andwrought substance of them, ‘See this our father did for us’.”John RuskinVOL. VIII, No. IV Museum • Library • Archives Winter 2003Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostageP AIDHouston, TexasPermit No. 10259Czech Cultural Center Houston, Texas (KULTURNI CENTRUM CESKE)The News of The Czech CenterCzech Cultural Center Houston2315 Del NorteHouston, Texas 77018-1018Tel: 713-682-4608The Market Place: 713-686-6362“The Czech Cultural Center Houstonbelongs to all of Czech heritage, notjust a few of us and everyone needs tobe reminded of that. We know no onewho can not give something. Everyonecan give to the level of their capacityso that the Center represents all ofCzech heritage.”John R. Vacek