Archive: Czechs abroad | Czechs in the USA Czechs in the USA
Gail Naughton and the Czech books of Iowa
If you want to find out more about the long history of Czechs and Slovaks
in the United States, the place to start is The National Czech and Slovak
Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The museum was devastated by
floods in 2008 and some 6,000 flood-damaged volumes from the library are
still being painstakingly restored. But the pace of recovery has been
remarkably fast, and within the next couple of years, an ambitious project
to rebuild and expand the museum should be complete. With it the library
will also be up and running once again. In Czech Books this week, David
Vaughan finds out more about the library’s rich collections.
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Publisher calls time on leading Czech-language newspaper in US
An era has come to an end with the demise of Americké listy, the leading
Czech-language newspaper in the United States. Its publishers Petr and Vera
Bísek have decided to call time on the bi-monthly publication, which
succeeded a paper started in the mid 1960s by another Czech émigré, Frank
Švehla. The couple, who are in their late 60s, live in New York state but
are currently visiting family at a village near Plzeň. On the phone from
there, Petr Bísek explained why they had taken the decision to close
Americké listy.
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2010 election marks third time Czechs abroad able to take part in vote
This Thursday and Friday marks the third time Czechs abroad – from as far
away as Japan or the US – have been able to take part in the national
election. Polling stations abroad opened at 14 pm on Thursday – a day
earlier than they opened in the Czech Republic. Worldwide as many as 6,000
Czechs expatriates are expected to cast their ballot.
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Professor Lubomír Doležel – now retired doyen of Czech Studies in Toronto
Professor Lubomír Doležel, who was born in the Moravian village of
Lesnice in 1922, is an internationally respected academic best known for
his pioneering work in literary theory and linguistics. After three years
at the University of Michigan in the second half of the 1960s, he was
invited to the University of Toronto, where he established the study of
Czech language and literature. On Friday Professor Doležel received the
Czech Foreign Ministry’s Gratias Agit prize for promoting the good name
of his native country.
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Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids celebrates reopening
In June 2008, the Czech and Slovak Museum in the US state of Iowa was hit
by a devastating flood, which has caused damage running into millions of
dollars. Now, nearly two years later, it has opened in a new location in
the Kosek Building, right in the middle of the Czech Village. To mark the
first step on the road to its recovery, the Czech and Slovak Museum has put
up a new exhibition called “Rising Above: the story of a people and the
flood”. I spoke to the museum’s director Gail Naughton.
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Radio Prague woman to coordinate project collecting Czech- and Slovak- Americans’ stories
This Wednesday is reporter Rosie Johnston’s last day here at Radio
Prague. Why? Because Rosie is heading to the United States, to undertake a
new national project, interviewing Czechs and Slovaks who emigrated to
America under communism. Rosie joins us now in the studio with more details
about the project:
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Genealogist Tom Zahn on reuniting emigrants with their Czech relatives
My guest for today’s One on One is Tom Zahn, an American who has been
living in Prague for most of the last fifteen years, and who has, during
his time in the capital, been specializing in a somewhat unusual trade. Tom
runs a firm called P.A.T.H. finders which tracks down clients’ long-lost
Czech and Slovak relatives, and in many cases, reintroduces both parties.
When I met Tom in his office, overlooking Prague’s Vyšehrad fortress, he
told me when his interest in Prague, and genealogy, was born:
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Historian Milan Hauner on his own fascinating family history
Milan Hauner is a leading Czech historian whose area of expertise is World
War II, Germany and Czech-German relations. He himself was born during the
war, in 1940, to a Czech-German couple who were both deaf. In this edition
of Panorama, Professor Hauner, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin,
outlines aspects of his own, fascinating family history – starting with
his grandfather Vilém Julius Hauner, a leading military historian,
translator and anti-Nazi journalist. More
Refurbished Bohemian National Hall in New York reopens after two decades
After years of discussion, planning and extensive renovation work, New
York’s Bohemian National Hall finally reopened on Thursday evening in a
lavish gala event. The imposing five-storey building on Manhattan’s Upper
East Side first opened in 1896, but closed in 1986, and was left unused for
many years. Now it’s ready once again to serve as the centre of Czech
cultural and social life in the Big Apple. Radio Prague’s director
Miroslav Krupička was at the opening.
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Peter Bisek – publisher of the leading Czech and Slovak paper in US
Peter Bisek and his wife Vera edit and publish the leading Czech and Slovak
newspaper in the United States, Americké listy. Mr Bisek is also the
president of the Bohemian Citizens' Benevolent Society, which runs the
popular Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in the New York borough of Queens. It
was in the Bohemian Hall that Peter Bisek outlined the past and present of
the bi-weekly, Czech-language newspaper.
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