Dagmar Kostal grew up in Susice, Czechoslovakia. Her parents owned a bakery in the town and so the family did not go hungry during WWII, she says. Dagmar left Czechoslovakia to train as a pastry chef in Switzerland after the War. She immigrated to Australia following the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948.
Today, Dagmar lives in Berwyn, IL with her son.
Geraldine Kraupner left Czechoslovakia with her husband following the Communist coup in 1948. She spent over a year in refugee camps in Germany before coming to America. She was very active in the patriotic sports organization Sokol. Here is a program she kept from a Sokol gathering in Ludwigsburg refugee camp in 1949:
Today, Geraldine lives in Forest Park, IL:
Vlastimil Surak left Brezova pod Bradlom, Slovakia, for Chicago in 1948. At his interview, he showed us this photo of himself as a baby in his hometown in 1927. Vlastimil is the child in the pram, which he says was brought back from America by his parents, who had already spent time in the United States:
Vlastimil's family owned a tannery in Brezova pod Bradlom. When he came to the United States, he eventually raised the funds to set up his own tanning business in Chicago. Here's a picture of one of his employees at work in the 1950s:
Valentin Turansky came to the United States after leaving Czechoslovakia with his family in 1948 and spending time in Belgium and then Australia. He joined the Slovak soccer club in Chicago:
In Chicago, Valentin worked as a printer in a part of town which is still referred to today as Printer's Row:
Alice and Eda Vedral told us their stories of leaving Czechoslovakia in 1948 and 1949 respectively. Here they are pictured in their home in Cicero, IL with their eldest daughter, also called Alice. Watch our web pages for their stories over the months to come:
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