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On September 4^th, our Czech Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Petr Kolar, held a ceremony at which Dagmar White, daughter of General Antonin Hasal (1893 - 1960), donated her father’s WWII uniform to the permanent collection of the Military History Institute in Prague. This generous gift showed how much this family is still connected to the Czech Republic, Antonin Hasal’s home country.

General Hasal was born in 1893 in the Austro-Hungarian town Nova Hut pod Nizborem. During World War I, he was called to serve in the Austro-Hungarian Army but he decided to volunteer for the Czechoslovak legion in Russia. He returned to Czechoslovakia as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1920 and later he became Lieutenant General.

In 1940 Hasal joined the Czechoslovak Army in France. The Gestapo arrested his wife, daughter and son and interned them in Svatoborice Camp. Hasal stayed in France for the remainder of the war. Then he joined the Czechoslovak government-in-exile but after liberation of Czechoslovakia he moved back and lived there until the Communists took over the country in 1948. Then he immigrated to the U.S.A. along with his family, where he served as advisor to the United States Government.

Here are General Hasal’s achievements throughout his life:

1920 - 1925: Commanding Officer 2^nd Regiment

1926 - 1929: Commanding Officer 7^th Brigade

1929 - 1932: Head of Section I/1 (Infantry), Ministry of Defense

1935 - 1937: General Officer Commanding III Corps

1937: Acting General Officer Commanding Brno Military Command

1937 - 1938: General Officer Commanding III Corps

1938: General Officer Commanding XIV Border Zone

1938 - 1946: Acting General Officer Commanding 4^th Army

1946 - 1948: Chief of the Military Chancellery of the President

General Hasal followed and believed in democratic ideas, but he was not able to return to his homeland which was still under communist regime during his exile in the United States. Even though his family lives in the U.S.A., they still stay connected with their home country and their priceless contribution speaks for that.

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4. zari nas cesky velvyslaned Petr Kolar ve Washington, D.C. poradal oslavu, pri ktere Dagmar White, dcera generala Antonina Hasala (1893 - 1960), darovala uniformu jejiho otce do kolekce vojenskeho historickeho ustavu v Praze. Tento velkorysy dar ukazal jak je tato rodina stale spojena s Ceskou republikou, ktery byl domovem Antonina Hasala.

General Hasal se narodil v roce 1892 v Rakousko-Uherskem meste Nova Hut pod Nizborem. Behem prvni svetove valky mel slouzit v Rakousko-Uherskem vojsku, ale nabidl se dobrovolne slouzit ceskoslovenskym legiim v Rusku. Pote se vratil do Ceskoslovenska v roce 1920 jako podplukovnik a pozdeji se stal generalporucikem.

V roce 1940 se Hasal spojil s ceskoslovenskou armadou ve Francii. Gestapo zatklo jeho zenu, dceru a syna a uveznila je v internacnim tabore ve Svatoboricich. Hasal zustal ve Francii az do konce valky. Pote se spojil s ceskoslovenskou vladou v exilu a po osvobozeni Ceskoslovenska se prestehoval prestehoval zpet domu a zil tam az do roku 1948. Kdyz koministicka strana prevzala vladu v Ceskoslovensku, immigroval s rodinou do U.S.A., kde skouzil jako poradce Americke vlade.

General Hasal se ridil a veril v demokracii, ale nebyl schopen se vratit do sveho domova, ktery byl stale pod komunistickym rezimem behem jeho exilu ve Spojenych Statech. I kdyz jeho rodina zije v U.S.A, je stale spojena s jejich rodnou zemi a jejich nedocenitelny prispevek to potvrzuje.

Pro vice informaci o generalu Hasalovi v cestine:

http://www.army.cz/avis/vojenske_rozhledy/2001_2/100.htm

http://www.cesky-dialog.net/clanek.php?idcl=810&aidci=