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Článek v ČEŠTINĚ dole (Klikněte na “Read the rest …”)

Author: Miroslav Sígl (CzechFolks.com PLUS)

I did not realize how much attention the encyclopedia “Who was and who is” (of Melnik, Kralupy and Neratovice, a region with a total of 76 municipalities) would get. The encyclopedia was published in 2008 by Libri Praha. In its 640 pages one can get to know more than two thousand people. As compatriots they lived or still live, worked or still work abroad. It is commendable that one still remembers them and that many of our towns, villages, schools, institutions or businesses continue to be in contact with them and are met with interest when they visit their native places. Our Czech Institute of Foreign Affairs in Prague pays them great attention, but also the press of foreign countrymen. I briefly mention some of the significant among them, their story is generally very interesting and their remarkable life deserves further interest from the public. Some names are missing some biographical data, I shall welcome (as well as the publisher) any further comments or additional information.

Jiří Havelka, Ing. (*31. 1. 1882 Přibyslavice in Kutná Hora, †8. 3. Obříství 1959), an agricultural entrepreneur. He came from an old 18th century peasant family (his father Václav Havelka (1850 - 1931), cultivated land in the region of Čáslava and Kutná Hora). Jiří graduated from the College of Agriculture in Vienna and after World War II he bought what was left of the original estate of the owners of the Tranttmannsdorf family in Obříství. There he soon was among progressive farmers, public officials, but also became renowned as a great benefactor: helping the local Sokol to build a football and a volleyball court. In 1938 he donated a castle to the community, to enable the foundation of a Jubilee school called Svatopluk Čech. He also provided his land free of charge for the purpose of horse riding lessons for the whole district of Mělník. He was instrumental in the development of horse riding helping to make it into a sport and also organized peasant rides with horses. His son, Ing. Libor Havelka (1912 - 2000), married a daughter of the family of the sculpturer Václav Platzer and after 1948 immigrated to Australia where he established a company that grew and designed a variety of ornamental trees for homes. Today, the farm is managed by his son Igor Havelka (*14. 11. 1943), whom, during restitution proceedings in 1993, received the castle property, where the mentioned school was located, as well as extensive lands and forests.

Johanna Herzogenberg (*1921 in Sychrov near Turnov), a publicist. She spent her youth in Ústí nad Labem, she studied philosophy in Prague, but after the Second World War she was persecuted in Prague. Although she was German, she spoke perfect Czech. In her book, From My Life (published in German and Czech) she described her life in Přívory, where she was sent to work as a German citizen. Since the sixties, she cooperated with Radio Free Europe in Munich, she published in Czech and German press and also wrote about Jan Palach.

Augustin Herman (*1621 Mšeno near Mělník, †1686 Bohemia Manor, USA), the first known Czech settler in America. As the son of the last evangelical priest from Mšeno, he left the country during the period of the Thirty Years War and persecutions of non-Catholics. He spoke several languages and became a personality of New York in 1647 and a member of its Management Board. He was the author of the first map of Virginia and Maryland from 1670 and for this work he claimed the land, which he called Czech Estates - Bohemia Manor. He was the first to introduce the cultivation of indigo in America (blue dye found in the roots of a plant that was initially used to manufacture inks and fabric dyes), he owned his own shipping company and his trades with fur and tobacco made him famous. He was very proud of his home country, and as a matter of principal he added to his name a Latin term Bohemiensis. Based on the recent historical research there are some doubts about his native place. In Mšeno Cinibulkova Street there is a commemorative plaque from 1935 mounted on the house where he was born (which was donated to the town by Romanov association).

Heřman Chromý  (*29. 9. 1947 Prague), a politician and a poet. In high school, he studied economics and then foreign trade and economics at the University of Blagoevgrad (Bulgarian Vraca). He lived in Mělník from 1970 until 2002. In the 1970s he organized banned cultural programs in the House of Youth (along with Miloslav Fuxa and Margaret Hánlová), translated to English as Dinners Under the Candle (Vecery pod svickou). He also worked with the Cultural Center District, Masaryk Cultural House and Mělník Gallery in the Tower. With Vladimír Libal, Vojtěch Lindaur and others he staged programs about a rock musician Frank Zappa; in addition to private performances he attended events with many songwriters and rock bands (Josef Nos, Petr Lutka and others). In 1986 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for sedition under the so-called poetic, journalistic and political activity. In August 1989 the Secret Police of Mělník launched another preliminary investigation. In 1982 he signed the Charta 77 and in 1988-1990 he published a biweekly journal called Information about the Charta 77 (Infoch) along with Petr Uhl and Anna Sabbath. In 1988 he participated in the foundation of the John Lennon Peace Club (1940 - 80), founded in honor of the British rock singer and strong artistic personality. The club refused discrepancies between verbal proclamations of peaceful coexistence and opposing acts of then government officials. Heřman also wrote poetry and these are some of his collections: A Long Chanting Citizen (1978), The Boy Rock (1980), Pork Tenderness (1982-1985), Public Accidents (1984-85), Our Landlord God (1985-86). All collections were published in the samizdat edition of Ivan and Václav Havel Edition Expedition, which Ivan Martin Jirous (*23. 9. 1944 Humpolec) prepared for publication. Some poems have been translated into Dutch (in 1990 he received, along with Petr Cibulka and Václav Havel, the Literary Prize Erasmus, Rotterdam) and into Persian. At the turn of the seventies and eighties he won awards in various poetry competitions - including two top awards at the highest award in the Wolkerův Prostějov competition. In January 1990 he was co-opted into the Federal House of Nations Assembly, in the same year he was elected into the Czech National Council, where he briefly worked in the CNR and the Bureau of Prisons; he also became chairman of the Club of members of the parliament of the Civic Forum. In 2004 he participated in a chain of hunger strikes for the resignation of the former Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross (born 1969) and supported many initiatives to eliminate activities of the Communists under the illegally contradictory name of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. Since 1995 he worked at the State Department, in the diplomatic service in Bulgaria (1995 - 98), Romania (1998 - 2002) and since 2005 in Belarus.

Eduard Ingriš (*11. 2. 1905 Zlonice, †12. 1. 1991 Lake Tahoe, California, USA), a composer. He graduated from grammar school and taught first in Líbeznice and then Dolní Počernice, but gradually he became a broadly talented artist – a musician, pianist, film and stage actor, composer, songwriter. Soon after he appeared in theater and opera, composing some 1000 tunes. Reasonable Mirror was played in the John Snížek theatre, portraying Ingriš’s music, 1600 times in five consecutive years. He had a weekend house by Svatojanské currents on the river Vltava, several of his friends visited him: including Hašler Karel (1879 - 1941), R. A. Dvorský (1899 - 1966), Jan Werich (1905 -1980), Jiří Voskovec (1905 - 1981) and Jaroslav Ježek (1906 - 1942). It was also a place where a large number of his unforgettable tramp songs were born. Before Christmas 1947 he left to tour the U.S., but after 1948 his Czechoslovak passport was no longer valid, so he decided to remain abroad. He lived in Brazil for a while, but for a while he “dropped anchor” in the South American country of Peru on the land of Indians that received him warmly. He became a conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru in Lima and made five blockbusters there. At the age of 42 he set out on a dangerous journey through the river Amazon that lasted nine years, where he collaborated with a Norwegian seaman Thor Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002). In 1962 he settled in Los Angeles, married an excellent Czech-Russian singer Nina Karpuškinová, worked in radio and television, made records and staged concerts. When he died, the memorial Mass was held in his native Zlonice, which was attended by the Peruvian Government and representatives of the Embassy of Peru from our country. His urn was placed in the Memorial of Antonín Dvořák in Zlonice.

Klementina Kalašová, used her artist name Callas (*9. 9. 1850 Horní Beřkovice, †13. 6. 1889 Bahia, now San Salvador), a phenomenal mezzo-soprano and alto singer. She had an explosive career and went on numerous foreign tours (Prague, Milan, London, St. Petersburg, USA, Brazil), which ended after her sudden death. Her sister, Marie (*26. 11. 1854 Horní Beřkovice, †17. 2. 1937, Prague) was devoted to translating, as well as her writing her own literature. With another sister - painter Zdeňka she purchased a house in Prague (Úvoz), where the famous photographer Josef Sudek (1896 - 1976) later lived. For many years, in the first third of the 20th century, the sisters organized a renowned literary salon. In the summer seasons, Marie stayed several times in Veltrusy, she knew Jaroslav Vrchlický and another poet, playwright and writer Julius Zeyer (1841 -1901).

Zikmund Karásek (* 21. 2. 1917 Mělník), a career soldier, a participant of foreign resistance. Graduate from the School of Air and Fighter Aviation Regiment in Prague. In 1939 he emigrated through Poland to France and England, where he was admitted to the British RAF Royal Air Force and then joined the 312th Czechoslovak Fighter Wing. As a result of a heart defect, diagnosed in 1942, he worked as an aviation instructor and translator of technical aviation manuals. After returning home in 1945 he demobilized, but soon left for England where he married, lived on the Isle of Man, then in Belgium, Paraguay and then travelled via Venezuela to the State of Arkansas (USA), where he settled permanently. He manufactured shoes, sculpted figures from sheet metal and devoted himself to optics. After November 1989 he visited the Czech city Mělník.

Jan Karafiát (*4. 1. 1846 Jimramov, †31. 1. 1929 Prague), a priest and a teacher. He worked in many places (Köln, Edinburgh, Čáslav, Hrubá Lhota in Wallachia). In the years 1870 to 71 he lived in Roudnice nad Labem, where he worked as an evangelical priest and often attended evangelical choirs in Ledčice and Krabčice. During his stay in Roudnice, he wrote a book Master Jan Hus, and began to consider writing a book for children. His book Broučci about small beetles significantly affected the development of Czech children’s literature (first published in 1876 and since then there have been almost 100 editions). From 1895 he lived in Prague and published Reformni listy (Reform newspaper) until 1905. He was also involved in the revision of Kralická Bible, and he summed up his valuable testimony about his life and his writings in Memoirs of the author of Broučci (five parts in the years 1919 - 1928).

Knobloch Ferdinand, doc. MD. CSc. (*15. 8. 1916 Prague, †? Canada), a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He finished University studies after World War II and after returning from a concentration camp, where his wife (Susan Hartmanová) died of typhoid in 1944. He participated in London University placements in British hospitals, trying to put into practice a theory of psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, a neurologist and psychiatrist of a Czech origin) and became a pioneer of group therapy in Europe. He started to apply the therapy in a daily sanatorium for neuroses in Prague (known Palata) and in a newly established Psychiatric Hospital in Lobeč (in a castle which was nationalized in 1954). His views and methods (e.g. described in two publications Methodological Analysis of Psychoanalysis and Neurosis) caused disputes with the communist power and ideology. Yet he was still appointed as secretary of a section of the World Psychiatric Association in 1967 and organized several workshops in the world. In 1968 he founded a Czechoslovak company for integrated psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, presided over the International Congress on psychodrama in Austria and lectured at universities in the U.S. In 1970 he immigrated to Canada, where he, with his second wife Jiřina (born Skorkovská), wrote the world-famous book Integrated Psychotherapy (Czech edition only since 1993).

František Kovárna, PhDr. (* 17. 9. 1905 Krpy - at that time belonged to the District of Mělník, †19. 6. 1952 New York, USA), a teacher, translator, and writer. He graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University, since 1935 he was an associate professor at the Institute of the History of Art at Charles University. He also was a member of an editorial group for Otto Encyclopedia and a leading collaborator of a monthly magazine Kriticky mesicnik, Kmen, Host and Volne listy. He published, in rapid succession, a series of monographs of modern Czech art, the work of current painting (Soucasne umeni) - first in our country, focused in the direction of the modern art and ism. In 1947 he became a professor of aesthetics at a newly established Faculty of Charles University, stood in the forefront of the struggle for freedom of culture, as evidenced by his controversial articles from that time. In 1948 he was deprived of a chair post, excluded from the Syndicate of Czech writers, and in April the same year he moved with his family into exile. First, he lived in Germany (there he was a professor at Masaryk halls in Ludwigshafen), then in France (he published a newsletter in French and a Czech literary magazine called Stopa “A Trace”). Since October 1951 he settled in New York. He escaped the same fate as that of Marie Horáková, who was convicted to death in an illegal process on 8. 6. 1950 (in the same process he was also sentenced to death in absentia – the first sentence was abolished in 1990 and resulted in a residual penalty of 15 years of hard labor and in 1993 it was repealed in its entirety). The same year he received an honor in memoriam by order of the TGM. In the U.S., he founded an amateur theater, for which he wrote the drama Pulnoc nad Prahou (Midnight in Prague), contributed with essays to Svobodny zitrek (Free Tomorrow) and Zpravodaj cs. Emigration (a Newsletter of Czechoslovakian emigration). He was always engaged in efforts to restore democracy in Czechoslovakia. To his literary works belong novels O zivote s smrti (About life and death, sometimes also called Alive and Dead), Bojacni a rvac (Fearful and Brawler), a book of essays Listy mrtvemu priteli (Sheets to a Dead Friend) and large numbers of critical studies about the Czech art and its place in the European traditions and presence.

To be continued…

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Česká verze ZDE

Translated to English by (Překlad do angličtiny): Martina Roe, Daniela Olszová a Paul Nelson