Czechs & Slovaks Around the World

Cover of The Australian Slovaks' Calendar, 1957, courtesy of Anne McKeown

While Recording Voices & Documenting Memories focuses on Czechs and Slovaks who immigrated to the United States, it is important to remember that this is only one part of the story, and that thousands of Czechs and Slovaks settled elsewhere around the globe.

Here are a few of the highlights from our own oral history collections, which show some of the other locations in which Czechs and Slovaks set up a new home at various points throughout the past century:

Vera Borkovec, who was born in Prague, lived with her family in Tehran, Iran until after WWII. Her father worked as the director of the Škoda factory in the city, which employed a number of expatriate Czechs, some of whom are photographed below:


Vera Borkovec's father (second row from the bottom, fourth from right) with colleagues from Škoda Tehran

Joseph Ben David fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 and lived in Israel until 1954. The picture below shows him on the beach in Tel Aviv in the early 1950s.


Portrait of Joseph Ben David, Tel Aviv

Vera Roknic found herself stranded in Sweden, where she was on a work placement, at the time of the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948. She lived there for a number of years before emigrating to America in 1952. This photo shows her on a camping trip in the Swedish countryside with her late husband, Vaclav (himself a Czech émigré in Sweden):


Vera Roknic camping in Sweden, 1950

Jerri Zbiral, meanwhile, lived in Norway for three years before emigrating to Canada with her family. She refers to the years she spent growing up in Norway as ‘extremely happy.’


Jerri Zbiral competing in a skiing competition in Norway, 1954

A large number of Czech and Slovak emigres settled in Canada during the Cold War period. The photo below shows Ivana Edwards’ father selling Czech and Slovak books at a summer fair there in the 1950s. His International Book Service operated out of the Edwards’ adoptive hometown, Montreal.



Oliver Gunovsky settled in 1970 in Kitchener, in the Canadian province of Ontario, after two years spent in England. He found work in the restaurant business and eventually came to own the city’s Metro Tavern, which he says specialized in Central European fare - in particular schnitzels:


Promotional postcard for Metro Restaurant & Tavern, Canada

Émigré Otto Ulc has spent years documenting the stories of Czechs and Slovaks who settled around the world. This photo from his collection shows the Czech staff at Praga Technical Services & Manufacturers in Pretoria, South Africa:



Two good websites with lots of information about Czechs and Slovaks around the globe are krajane.net (in Czech) and Slováci vo svete (in Slovak).

Interviewee Vladimir Krman In His Own Words

It is rare that we have an article in Slovak or Czech on this Recording Voices & Documenting Memories blog. But happily, that is just one of the things that this blog provides a platform for – especially when it is one of our interviewees who is the author:


Fred Tornil/ Vladimir Krman in Air Force uniform, 1949

Fred Tornil (aka Vladimir Krman) spoke to Recording Voices & Documenting Memories in January 2011. He recently contacted the NCSML to say that interest in Slovakia had led him to translate his profile into his mother tongue. In his correspondence with the museum he wrote:

“I sat down and spent a few evenings doing this literary ‘assignment’. I did modify some small details, but basically it is a "loose" translation of the original. I don't have a Slovak keyboard, so I typed it without the customary diacritics. People in the old country have no problem reading it…”

So here you have it, Fred Tornil in his own words, in his own tongue:

Vladimir Krman sa narodil roku 1929 v Bratislave. Tam studoval na Obchodnej akademii, lebo rodicia chceli, aby sa stal bankovym uradnikom, ale so studiom neskor skoncil a v 1948 vstupil k vojenskemu letectvu. Lietat zacal v 1946 roku v bratislavskom aeroklube na Dubravke a vo Vajnoroch. Ziskal niekolko kategorii uznania v plachtarstve i v parasutisme. Po absolvovani vojenskeho vycviku ako catar, neskor rotny a starsina, bol zaradeny do vycviku vojenskych pilotov v Piestanoch a na Troch Duboch pri Zvolene. Postupom casu bol podla sovietskeho vzoru povyseny na podporucika, potom na porucika. Ilegalne opustil Ceskoslovensko zaciatkom 1953 roku, ked, ako hovori, dostal sa do nesnadzi kvoli "politickej neaktivite". Bol tiez clenom leteckej akrobatickej skupiny. Vladimir hovori, ze by bol zbaveny funkcie ucitela lietania a teda i moznosti lietat, preto sa odhodlal k uletu.

Vladimir, koncom 1952 roku, spolu s bratrancom Jozefom Fleischhackerom a ich priatelom Gustavom Molnarom vymyslel plan ako opustit Ceskoslovensko. Hovori, ze plan uteku bol planovany v tanecnej sale Reduty v Bratislave, za zvukov Americkeho slagru Domino. A tak i pomenovali ich akciu “Operacia Domino”. Bolo dohodnute, ze ked Gustav bude mat funkciu “dozorneho straze,” Vladimir a Jozef za noci vklznu do hangara a pripravia lietadlo ku startu. Potom v skorych rannych hodinach odstartuju smerom do Rakuska, kde poziadaju o “azyl”. Moznost uteku nastala v piatok 13. marca 1953 v Piestanoch. Vladimir hovori, ze plan uteku prebiehol bez chyby, az na to, ze kratko po prelete Rakuskych hranic uzreli dva Ruske Mig-15-ky. Za stalej tmy sa im ale podarilo uniknut zmenou kurzu a nizkym letom.

Tito traja bezpecne doleteli do Graza, kde po “de-briefingu” mali tlacovu konferenciu a zverejnenie ich uteku. V priebehu 10 dni sa ocitli v Londyne, kde im k voli bezpecnosti britsky hostitelia navrhli zmenu mien. Vladimir si zvolil meno Frederick Tornil, ktore pouziva dodnes. Po jedom roku v Anglii, Vladimir emigroval do Kanady. Posobil tam ako instruktor na Torontskom letisku a zaroven pracoval v General Motors v Oshawe. V 1958 pre-emigroval do Spojenych Statov a usadil sa v Chicagskej oblasti. Pracoval v Rockwell-Standard Corporation, potom v Zenith Radio & Television a konecne v General Motors EMD v La Grange, kde posobil vyse 30 rokov. Ma licenciu “Obchodneho Pilota” a lietal z letiska “DuPage County Airport”, uz len iba zalubou. Ozenil sa s jeho niekdajsiou laskou z bratislavskeho aeroklubu, Ruzenou. Za Dubcekovej ery prisla do USA so synom Romanom, (ktory neskorsie sluzil u Americkeho Vojenskeho letectva - USAF). Vladimir a Ruzena maju dvoch dalsich synov Martina a Daniela. Vladimir hovori, ze rad hraval fotbal, lyzoval a zucastnoval sa zabav v Slovenskom atletickom klube (Slovak A.A.) v Chicagu. Dnes sa venuje roznym opravam okolo domu, aut a motoriek.

Vladimirovi rodicia chceli, aby bol bankovym uradnikom a nie pilotom:

“Rodicia boli velmi proti tomu, nechceli aby som bol pilotom i napriek tomu, ze som zacal lietat uz v 1946, skoro po vojne. Vstupil som do plachtarskeho odboru aeroklubu Bratislava, dosiahol som podmienku stupna "C" a tiez jednu podmienku na strieborne "C". Popri plachteni, zacal som parasutisticky vycvik a vykonal 6 zoskokov. Mal som teda prijatelnu kvalifikaciu k vojenskemu pilotnemu vycviku.”

Vladimir spomina na podmienky u Ceskoslovenskeho letectva, kratko po 2. svetovej vojne:

“Zacinali sme s tym co zostalo po prechode fronty, teda koristny material, klzaky, vetrone a cvicne lietadla pozivane nemcami. V tych rokoch, ked sme zacinali skakat padakmi, boli to pouzite vojenske kamuflazove padaky v ktorych si mysi urobili hniezda. Museli sme napred "zaflakovat" diery, nez sme ich mohli pouzit k zoskokom z americkeho DC-3. Lietadla Dakota a Piper Cub, ktore nam boli darovane nadaciou UNRRA, (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) bola velka pomoc v dobe nudze! Tieto mali este zelene bojove zafarbenie. Letecky vycvik u vojenskeho letectva i napriek viacerym havariam starsich lietadiel prebiehal prudkym tempom. Letecka osnova v 48-mom roku bola anglicka z Royal Air Force. Nasi instruktori boli zo zapadneho i z vychodneho frontu s bohatymi bojovymi skusenostami.”

For the full translation of Vladimir's profile, visit http://www.ncsml.org/Oral-History/Chicago/20110322/99/Krman-Vladimir.aspx.