Humanities Iowa event in Des Moines, October 17

The NCSML is opening its oral history traveling exhibit, Leaving Czechoslovakia, in Des Moines Public Library Central Branch on Wednesday, October 17. 

At the opening, speakers will include Dr. Kieran Williams (Drake University), Dr. Mila Saskova-Pierce (University of Nebraska - Lincoln), Dr. Igor Tchoukarine (Macalester College) and Recording Voices & Documenting Memories interviewee Peter Vodenka.

The opening will run from 6:00pm - 8:00pm. It is free and open to the public. Leaving Czechoslovakia will remain on display at Des Moines Public Library until October 31. 

Please RSVP to Rosie Johnston by October 12 at rjohnston@ncsml.org. 

The event is co-sponsored by the Iowa International Center and Des Moines Public Library. It is made possible by a grant from Humanities Iowa, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

New Transcripts Just In

Recording Voices & Documenting Memories is happy to welcome a new intern. For the past two months, Cecilia Greco has been producing transcripts of interviews with former Czech & Slovak political prisoners and their families. Watch the NCSML's oral history web pages over the weeks to come for the complete transcripts and, in the meantime, here is a taster of what to expect:

Jana Svehlova three weeks before her father's arrest

Jana Svehlova was interviewed in Washington, D.C. in 2010:

"My parents left Czechoslovakia in 1939. But they married in England – they met in England. My father was with the Royal Air Force – with the 311 Czechoslovak Squadron. And my mother managed to get to England as a domestic person. And her War duty was delivering milk to English homes. And all her life she complained about those dirty English women not washing those glass milk bottles properly."

So, both of your parents fled the Nazis?

"Yes, they fled the Nazis. And my father and mother met in Cardiff, because my mother went with her friends to an official Air Force Club in Cardiff. And she was still very sad because her boyfriend in Czechoslovakia told her he wouldn't marry her. But she was persuaded by her friends, and she went. And in walks a group of handsome Czechoslovak airmen. And one of them asked her to marry him – I mean, I'm sorry, to dance with him. And she said yes. And next, he asked her to lend him money for cigarettes. (Laughs) And next thing, they have a date. And then he asked her to marry him because he said, 'look, I'm going to get killed anyway. So why shouldn't a nice Czech girl get a good pension?' And so they married in May 1943. And I must admit, I was born December 1943."

So, when did you then return to Czechoslovakia?

"Well, my father couldn't wait to get back to Czechoslovakia. So in August 1945 – immediately after the War when they demobilized – he went back to Prague. And my mother did not want to return because she was from the Sudetenland, her first language was German, and she didn't have the best memories of Prague just before the War. So she wanted to stay in England, but my father wouldn't hear of it. So, first the families of people who fought with the Allies were flying back. But so many planes crashed that the Red Cross organized that the spouses - basically the wives and the children - would go by train and boat. So my mother and I then came by train to Czechoslovakia in 1945."

... Jana's father was arrested in December 1949, when she was 10 years old. Despite this, Jana says she still has good memories from childhood:

"I was never hungry. My mother told me, and I have lived with this – my mother complaining, not having money for example for coal. So, I know that one of the neighbors – we found out later that that particular neighbor was the one that was reporting on us to the Secret Police. But she was very nice to us. (Laughs) And she gave us money, or lent us money for coal. And also, when my mother was writing to the president and everybody else, you know, 'Let my husband out; he's been out there now five years; I think he's reeducated.' Because her first language was German, she was never sure about the Czech grammar. So this particular neighbor was also helping her with those letters. And I – after my mother died, she died when she was 92 in England – and I found she kept all the letters from my father from prison. All those 10 years, year-by-year. So I found those letters and it was kind of funny. Oh, and some of the letters she wrote to the president. And she also wrote a letter to the commandant of the labor camp, 'My husband has been there for seven years now; let him out. I'm sick, and my child needs a father.' And he wrote back, 'Your husband's behavior is not right. He is not reeducated and he plays cards.' Because sometimes when they were down in the mine, you know, the guards wouldn't go down there. So, somebody obviously must have said it that he played cards. (Laughs) My mother wrote back, 'Well, he was a gambler before he went to prison, and I guess the prison hasn't cured him yet.' (Laughs) So, they didn't let him out. Maybe because he was playing cards." (Laughs)

Visit http://www.ncsml.org/Content/Oral-Histories.aspx for more full-length transcripts over the months to come.

Bistro Bohém, Washington, D.C.

Bistro Bohém is located in Washington, D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. The “Bohemian-styled” restaurant was opened by Czech-American Jarek Mika in spring 2012.

Jarek Mika at Bistro Bohém, September 2012

A former banker, Jarek left his job in finance a couple of years ago to study at culinary school. He says his cooking at Bistro Bohém is influenced in equal part by what he learned at college and his Czech grandmother’s traditional recipes.

Bistro Bohém's menu, September 2012

The goulash and vepřo, knedlo, zelo (pork, dumplings and cabbage) at Bistro Bohém are accompanied by a formidable cocktail list. Diners can choose from Bohemian Margaritas, Fernet Martinis or Becherovka Old Fashioneds - to name but a few of the Czech-ified drinks.

In early September, Bistro Bohém doubled in size when it opened a café in the building next door.

The newly-opened Kafé Bohém

Bistro Bohém is open every day except Monday at 600 Florida Ave NW, Washington, D.C. Watch the NCSML’s oral history pages for clips from an interview with owner Jarek Mika over the months to come.

Recording Voices & Documenting Memories in Washington, D.C.

It has been a long time since Recording Voices & Documenting Memories staff were in Washington, D.C. This August, the NCSML set out for the capital to record the stories of a number of Czech & Slovak immigrants who settled there after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Here is a small sampling of some of the materials gathered:

Photo courtesy of Jana Kopelentova Rehak

Anthropologist and photographer Jana Kopelentova Rehak settled in the United States in 1994. In the Czech Republic she had worked as a photographer and studied at the film and photography school FAMU in Prague. She continued her studies in the United States, writing her doctoral thesis on Czech & Slovak political prisoners, whom she also photographed. Today, she lives in Baltimore and teaches at Towson and Loyola Universities:

Jana Kopelentova Rehak at home in Maryland

Ludmila Sujanova came to the United States from Kosice, Slovakia. She settled first in New York City and then Florida before coming to Germantown, Maryland. Following her interview with Recording Voices & Documenting Memories, she shared these photos from her youth in Eastern Slovakia:

While in D.C., we revisited former interviewee Juraj Slavik and rummaged through some of his old class photos from the Czechoslovak State School of Great Britain during WWII. Here’s an image from a music lesson complete with the Allied powers’ flags as classroom decoration:

In this clip from his interview with Recording Voices & Documenting Memories, Juraj remembers his school days in Great Britain during WWII:

The NCSML also met with Czech restaurant owner Jarek Mika while in Washington. Look out for another blog post about his business, Bistro Bohem, over the weeks to come:

Jarek Mika at Bistro Bohem, September 2012

… And be sure to check the NCSML’s oral history pages for each of these interviewee’s profiles and more!