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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

It is hard to live abroad and speak a second language. We do speak English at home but sometimes we just miss watching Czech and Slovak movies or reading books and periodicals that our family members bring over during their visits. We were also very happy when we found out that we could also find some very priceless pieces of Czechoslovak history right here in the United States.

One of the places where you can find Czech and Slovak publications is The University of Chicago Library. Their Archives of Czechs and Slovaks Abroad (ACASA) consist of several thousands of books, brochures, almanacs, periodicals, and personal papers of Czechs and Slovaks, who have lived outside of Czechoslovakia for a while. Most of them were published in North America in the past 150 years. Their collection, however, also includes titles originating in Western Europe, Australia, or South America.

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Our October calendar lists all activities for Czechs and Slovaks around the world. One of them is a concert of a Czech band called Plastic People of the Universe (PPU). We have to admit, at the time we were preparing our calendar of events, we did not know the band or its contribution to the freedom of all Czech and Slovak citizens.

A couple of days ago we decided to find articles about the band and to watch their video clips. What we found was great music and a remarkable life story of their pride and resistance to the Czechoslovakian Communist party.

The band was formed by bassist Milan Hlavsa right after the Soviet invasion on August 21^st, 1968 in attempts to stop the Prague Spring, a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia. The name was taken from Frank Zappa’s song entitled Plastic People. The same year Russians initiated a “normalization” program to reestablish moral and social behavior to make it more appropriate for a Communist country.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

A couple of days ago I introduced to you a new Czech national anthem composed by Varhan O. Bauer. Little did I know there will be more of them created for other official Czech holidays. Why is there so much interest in remaking our anthem? Can we even do that?

The new initiative of the Czech Prime Minister, Miroslav Topolanek, led to four new arrangements of the Czech national anthem. The public airing, according to Mlada Fronta Dnes, will be on Sunday, September 28^th, to celebrate the national holiday of Czech Statehood. Topolanek also declared that these new versions of the national anthem were performed by the orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague conducted by Jiri Belohlavek.

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Between the two world wars, Czechoslovakia was one of the Europe’s most industrialized countries and one of the world’s biggest arms producers. The LT-35 light tank was the most cutting-edge weapon in its category. It was admired by Nazis during World War II and also by Americans after the war. Now, it is coming back to the Czech Republic from the United States thanks to the Czech Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova, who negotiated its transport within the framework of US radar-base talks in the United States in July.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

The national Czech anthem was composed over 170 years ago by Frantisek Skroup as the opening scene of a patriotic opera called Fidlovacka. The opera was written by Josef Kajetan Tyl at a time where Czechs were only a small ethnic minority within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The anthem is known to every Czech living at home or abroad as a festive patriotic piece. But to the Czech conductor and composer Varhan Orchestrovic Bauer it is envisioned as a melancholic and sad folk song that needs a makeover.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

The Czech government has pledged 10 million crowns (~$630,000) in flood recovery for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In the next month or two, the US Czech and Slovak Museum will be able to use this gift to repair damages to the building and its contents from the floods in June 2008. The total damage to the museum’s five properties in Czech Village is about $9 million but the gift is a wonderful gesture of support and solidarity that proves that Czechs in USA are still connected with their home country.

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Anyone who has tried Czech food knows that it consists of lots of sauces, dumplings, sausages, potatoes and more. The list of Czech dishes is long and not very healthy but this does not stop anybody from eating it. Czech food is not actually very original and you can find similar ingredients or whole menus in other European countries.

The Czech cuisine was influenced by countries that dominated the country throughout its history. Germans brought to the country sauerkraut, dumplings or roasted goose, Hungarians introduced goulash, and Austrians inspired Czechs to incorporate schnitzels in their diet.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

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.

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It has been 40 years since Russians occupied Czechoslovakia (last Russian soldier left in June 1991) and started a 20-year long repression. Prague was the main target for this attack since it was a center of political happenings. About 160,000 soldiers entered our country on August 21^st, 1968 with about 6,300 tanks. Approximately 80 people died during the first days of occupation and hundreds were injured. The harm to our nation can be still seen today.

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