Recording Voices and Documenting Memories

Dear Friends of Czech Culture:

The Embassy of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML), will present the NCSML's oral history project: Recording Voices and Documenting Memories, on Thursday, March 24, at 6:30 pm.

The project captures and preserves the stories of Czechs and Slovaks who left their homeland during the Cold War era and who settled in Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington, DC. At this event, project coordinator Rosie Johnston will moderate a panel discussion to include previous interviewees Vojtech Mastny, Dagmar White, Charles Heller, Juraj Slavik, and John Palka. Major Gifts Officer Leah Wilson will be on hand to talk about the NCSML's progress towards rebuilding and expanding the museum campus since the flood of 2008.

Wine and light refreshments will be served after the discussion.

The event is part of the project Democracy and Human Rights: Lessons from the Past for the Current Czech Foreign Policy, organized by the Embassy of the Czech Republic from January through June 2011.

R.S.V.P. to czech_events@yahoo.com (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=31349762&msgid=136472&act=QGKK&c=787019&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fczech_events%40yahoo.com) (http://us.mc459.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=czech_events@yahoo.com%20&subject=NCSML%20Oral%20History%20Project)with “Oral History Project” in the subject line by March 23.

Additional questions: 202/274-9108, e-mail: jana_racova@mzv.cz (http://us.mc459.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jana_racova@mzv.cz&subject=NCSML%20Oral%20History%20Project)

Location: Embassy of the Czech Republic, 3900 Spring of Freedom St., NW, Washington, DC 20008

https://staticapp.icpsc.com/icp/loadimage.php/mogile/787019/0f70cbc2fa5336ac7b87b9442c27fbee/image/jpeg
Photo Credit: NCSML

About the NCSML's Oral History Project

Recording Voices & Documenting Memories of Czech & Slovak Americans is a two-year oral history project being conducted by the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. The project aims to capture and preserve the stories of Czechs and Slovaks who fled their homeland during the Cold War and settled in Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington, DC. On the project’s website, you can watch video extracts from interviews, look at photos and other archive materials, and read biographies of Czechs and Slovaks who began a new life in the United States. More information: www.ncsml.org (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=31349762&msgid=136472&act=QGKK&c=787019&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncsml.org)

About The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library

The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the foremost U.S. institution interpreting Czech and Slovak history and culture. The organization was originally established in 1974 and was added to the Congressional Record on July 2, 1992. Construction of the first 60,000 sq. ft. building began in 1993. President Bill Clinton, President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and President Michal Kovac of the Slovak Republic presided over the building's dedication. In 2008, an epic flood inundated the NCSML campus, resulting in over $11 million in damage. At present, the NCSML is on the road to recovery: the museum’s grand re-opening is planned for 2012.

Biographies of Participants

Vojtech Mastny was born in Prague in 1936. His great uncle, of the same name, was one of the most important Czechoslovak diplomats of the interwar period. Following the coup in 1948, Vojtech was not allowed to attend gymnazium due to his class background. He was sent instead to work as a mechanic at Elektrosignal. During this time, he attended Stredni skola pro pracujici (Workers’ Middle School). He obtained a degree in medieval history from Charles University in 1962 (after being sent for further reeducation to work on a collective farm). Shortly after graduating, Vojtech left Czechoslovakia. He settled in New York City, where he studied at Columbia University. His PhD focused on Nazi rule in Bohemia and Moravia. He has taught history and international relations at Columbia University, the University of Illinois and the Naval War College. He is currently a senior research scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Vojtech has written a number of award-winning books on the Cold War and heads the Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Dagmar White is the daughter of General Antonin Hasal, who served as military advisor to President Eduard Benes both during and after WWII. She was imprisoned with her mother at Svatoborice internment camp in Moravia by the Nazis in 1942. She spent the rest of WWII in confinement. Following the War, she returned to Prague and began her studies at the Prague Conservatory and Charles University. She left Czechoslovakia with her family in July 1948. She holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Kansas and the Juilliard School of Music, a master’s degree in music education from Columbia University and a doctorate from Charles University in Prague. As a soprano, she has had an extensive career in opera, concert, radio and television, and appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras. She is a dedicated promoter of Czech opera and Czech vocal music in America, for which she was recently awarded a medal by the Senate of the Czech Republic. She sang the titles roles in four American premiers of Czech operas, among them Dvorak’s “the Devil and Kate” at the Kennedy Center. As a founder and director of the Vienna Light Opera Company, she has produced and directed Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.” Dagmar served as vice president of the SVU’s Executive Board for six terms, and continues to chair the organization’s annual Christmas Bazaar. She is a member of the music faculty of Northern Virginia Community College and also teaches in her private studio.

Charles Heller was born Ota Karel Heller in Prague in 1936. His father owned a clothing manufacturing firm in Kojetice near Prague, which was seized by the Nazis at the beginning of WWII. Charles’ father, who was Jewish, fled Czechoslovakia in 1940 and made it to Palestine, where he joined the British Army and fought as part of the Czechoslovak Division. Charles’ mother was arrested and sent to a labor camp in 1944 and Charles himself spent the rest of the War in hiding. Following the War, the family moved to Prague. In 1948, the Hellers’ clothing business was nationalized. Charles left Czechoslovakia with his parents in March 1948. He attended high school in Morristown, New Jersey and then Oklahoma State University on a basketball scholarship. An engineer by training, Charles has in recent years become involved in venture capitalism and conducts seminars for new managers, both in the Czech Republic and the United States. His memoirs, entitled Dlouha cesta domu, will be published by Mlada fronta in the Czech Republic in April.

Juraj Slavik was born in Prague in 1929. At the time, his father (also called Juraj Slavik) was Czechoslovak minister of the interior. Juraj spent WWII in Britain (where his father was a member of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile). He attended Magdalen College School in Oxford and the Czechoslovak State School of Great Britain in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. In 1946 Juraj’s father was appointed Czechoslovak Ambassador to the United States and so the family came to Washington DC. Following the coup, Juraj’s father resigned from his post and the family decided to stay in the United States. Juraj studied philosophy at Dartmouth College and then volunteered for the draft, serving in the US Army between 1953 and 1956. In recent years, he has worked with Slovak and Czech historians to publish his father’s letters. A volume edited by Czech historian Jan Nemecek entitled Moja pamat – Ziva kniha: Moje poslanie vo Varsave 1936-1937 has just been brought out by the Slovak publishers Veda.

John Palka is the grandson of Milan Hodza, the prime minister of Czechoslovakia between 1935 and 1938. He was born in exile in Paris in July, 1939. He spent most of WWII in Chicago, attending kindergarten and elementary school there. In 1946, the Palka family returned to Czechoslovakia and settled in Liptovsky Mikulas. Following the coup in 1948, John’s father spent four months in jail, and the family fled in 1949, when it was suggested that he may again face arrest. The family settled in New York, where John’s mother worked for Radio Free Europe. John has recently retired from the University of Washington, where he taught biology. In 2010, he published a book in Slovakia entitled Moje Slovensko, moja rodina about his family’s history and experiences of emigration.

The Czech Republic and Human Rights

Based on her own historic experience, the Czech Republic holds human rights and democracy very dear. Calling upon the international community to follow suit, the Czech Republic is a staunch advocate of respect for human rights and democracy in various places in the world where these are under threat. The numerous activities in this field, where the Czech Republic is involved, are portrayed in the Embassy´s project “Democracy and Human Rights: Lessons from the Past for the Current Czech Foreign Policy.” The various events put together within this project include exhibitions, conferences, documentary and feature film screenings, and lectures focusing namely on the country’s totalitarian past, its current human-rights-promotion priorities and, topically, on the rights of women and children.

Upcoming events:

March 29, 7 pm Documentary Screening: Tomorrow There Will Be...

April 7, 7 pm (TBC) Cuba: Exhibition Opening

April 13, 7 pm (TBC) Cuba: Documentary Screening and Discussion