The case for oral history, as made by Leo Tolstoy

Monica Rokus and friends at school in Košice, 1967

Two things that I have been reading recently have caught my eye and shaped the way I think about some of the materials being gathered as part of Recording Voices & Documenting Memories. The first is an extract from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. On the capture of Moscow by Napoleonic troops in 1812 Tolstoy writes:

“The stories and descriptions of that time all speak without exception of self-sacrifice… despair, grief and heroism… In reality, it was not like that. It seems so to us only because all we see in the past is the general historical interest of the time, and we do not see all those personal, human interests that the people of that time had. And yet in reality the personal interests of the day are so much more significant than the general interests that as a result the general interests are never felt (or even noticed at all). The majority of the people of that time paid no attention to the general course of things, but were guided only by the personal interests of the day. And those people were the most useful figures of that time.”

Of course Tolstoy is not discussing oral histories and the benefits of interviewing eyewitnesses in this paragraph, but the extract does remind me of another quotation, which is about oral histories in particular, and which conveys something rather similar. In an article entitled Talking about War, historian Edward Coffman writes:

“Meeting and talking with [interviewees] provides a human touch and a richness that one cannot get from paper documents and, in many instances, one can get information that is not available elsewhere.”

One of my favorite clips from all of the oral histories gathered to date is that of Melania Rakytiak recalling the Warsaw Pact invasion as she experienced it in Bratislava in August 1968. I think I find it so interesting because she contrasts information about “the general course of things” – panic buying, queues in shops, food shortages and the requirement of a birth certificate to buy baby milk – with her own “personal interests” throughout the invasion:



In the paragraph I cited above, Leo Tolstoy was not talking about oral history (which was not even a concept until after his death). But he does express one of the strengths of oral history particularly well. It seems to me that speaking to people who witnessed historic events in Czechoslovakia and the United States during the 20th century provides information on both the “general course of things” and “the personal interests of the day.”

-posted by Rosie Johnston

The Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences

The Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (Společnost pro vědy a umění - SVU) was founded in Washington, DC in 1958. According to the organization’s website, the main goal of the society was ‘to provide a forum for the free development of Czechoslovak culture in exile and make the world aware of Czech and Slovak cultural traditions, which date back more than a millennium.’


SVU Presidents Jan Mladek, Jan Triska, Rene Wellek, Mila Rechcigl, Frantisek Schwarzenberg and Jaroslav Nemec at the 9th SVU World Congress, Cleveland, 1978

The SVU’s first president was Professor Vaclav Hlavaty. The longest-serving head of the organization, however, was Dr. Miloslav (Mila) Rechcigl who led the SVU from 1974-1978 and then again from 1994-2006. Dr. Rechcigl became involved in the organization shortly after its creation; in his interview with Recording Voices & Documenting Memories, he discusses the context in which the SVU was formed:



Today, the SVU has different, expanded functions. The society wants to ‘become a bridge between Czech and Slovak professionals and those in other countries. It allows scholars abroad to benefit from contact with their Czech and Slovak colleagues, as well as helping to reintegrate the intellectual life of these two nations into the main stream of world science, arts and letters, from which they were separated for so long by political barriers.’

One of the ways in which the society attempts to facilitate communication between Czech & Slovak professionals is through its very useful SVU Directory, which lists contacts and brief biographical details for each of the organization’s members:


The well-worn copy of the SVU Directory used by Recording Voices & Documenting Memories

The SVU continues to publish a review entitled Kosmas as well as a number of books. In Washington, DC (where the local SVU chapter continues to be particularly active) an annual Christmas bazaar of Czech & Slovak crafts remains particularly popular. Dagmar White is an SVU member who contributes each year to the Christmas fair; she believes the organization’s purpose is changing:



The SVU is known in particular for its biannual World Congresses (which Dr. Rechcigl has been involved in since the inaugural meeting in 1962). The next World Congress will be held in 2012 in Žilina, Slovakia. For more details, check the SVU’s website over the coming months.

In the course of Recording Voices & Documenting Memories, many people have spoken of their involvement with the SVU. For more on the organization over the years, see Zdenek David, Vera Borkovec and Paul Burik's full-length interviews.

Tramping

Tramping is a Czech and Slovak pastime which has been referred to by a number of interviewees in the course of the NCSML’s oral history project. The activity itself consists of spending time in nature and sleeping rough. Particular types of music and clothing (very often influenced by American, Wild West imagery) accompany the pastime.


Peter Vodenka at the 'Corral OK,' South Bohemia, 1980s

In his interview with Recording Voices & Documenting Memories, Peter Vodenka explains what tramping meant to him growing up in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s:



Bob Rychlik also enjoyed tramping in Czechoslovakia in his youth:



Trempové or tramps may be, as Bob Rychlik says, ‘without leaders,’ but they are often loosely organized into osady (tramping colonies). The head of each osada is known as the ‘sheriff.’

Several tramping groups were established by Czechs and Slovaks who emigrated, amongst the most prominent of which was Chicago’s Dálava, headed by Sheriff Eda Vedral:


Eda Vedral in a '35 years of Dálava' t-shirt, Chicago

If you are interested in finding out more about tramping on both sides of the Atlantic then Jan Šikl’s film See you in Denver is an excellent, subtitled resource.

The Slovak Institute, Cleveland

The Slovak Institute, Spring 2010

The Slovak Institute was opened in Cleveland in 1952. It houses books and publications which, according to its website, “explore the growth of the Slovak people both in Slovakia and around the world.” It can be found in St Andrew Abbey, on Cleveland’s Buckeye Road.


Two views of St Andrew Abbey, Cleveland

As well as books, the Slovak Institute houses traditional kroje (or folk costumes), pictures of Slovak personalities, and even the ashes of First Slovak Republic President Jozef Tiso and politician Andrej Hlinka.


Ashes of Andrej Hlinka


Some of the items and pictures on display at the Slovak Institute

For many years the Slovak Institute had a publishing arm. It brought out journals and reviews pertaining to religion and culture.


Copy of Slavistica from 1964, published by the Slovak Institute

The Institute has impressive document collections pertaining to Slovak-American organizations and personalities. Correspondence, newspaper clippings and articles from various publications are collected and filed for the public to access from Monday to Friday, 10am-3pm.


Personality file at the Slovak Institute

The Slovak Institute currently has a staff of two. Joe Hornack, an American of both Slovak and Czech extraction has been helping out at the Institute for the past few years.


Joe Hornack at the Slovak Institute, Spring 2010

…While the Institute’s director since 2002 has been Andrew Hudak. He talked to Recording Voices & Documenting Memories about his role:



More information about the Slovak Institute can be found on its website (http://www.slovakinstitute.com/) and by phone at (216) 721-5300 Ext. 294.