history

history

Old Town Square will never be the same / Staromestske Namesti se zmeni

Marian column in Old Town Square /radio.cz image Marian column in Old Town Square before 1918

The Old Town Square, the most visited place in the Czech Republic, is expecting big changes. If you have ever been there, you probably remember the monument of Jan Hus, a fearless protestant who got burned at the stake in 1415. Now they want to put another monument next to him – a controversial, 16-meter tall Marian column. It was actually part of the Old Town Square architectural set up until a mob toppled it in 1918 to rid the capital of the new Czechoslovak republic of a symbol of catholic Habsburg oppression. You see, originally the Marian column was built in 1650 to commemorate the Habsburg victory over the Swedes. Do you see the dilema? [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, Prague

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No Americans = No Czech Republic / Zadni Americane = zadne Cechy

President Woodrow Wilson may not be  the most famous president on the domestic soil but he is a celebrity in the Czech Republic. The main Prague station together with some parks and streets was named after him and now a new statue of him was unveiled in Vrchlicke Sady in Prague (the original statue from 1924 was taken down by the Nazis). The unveiling ceremony was attended by the highest Czech state officials such as the president Vaclav Klaus, the former president Vaclav Havel (it was also his 75th birthday on that day). The former secretary of state Madaleine Albright was also present.

Why such fame? Wilson was considered the foster father of Czechoslovakia for championing (together with T.G. Masaryk) its independence after World War I. The Czechs lost their independence to the Habsburg Empire in 1620 in the infamous Battle of White Mountain. For the next 300 years we were ruled  by the Austrian Monarchy until the end of World War I. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czechoslovakia, history

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Benjamin Kuras:Events that made Czechs who they are now (part 2) / Udalosti, ktere Cechy udelaly (cast 2.)

It’s history time! What made Czechs who they are now? Last time we reviewed the unfortunate and quite brutal Prague defenestration, today we are going to go back and look at the very beginning of the Czech nation.

(The following summary is taken from Benjamin Kuras’ book called Events that made Czechs who they are now)

1. THE ARRIVAL OF THE CZECHS

The first Czechs came to the middle of today’s Czech Republic in about 6th century.

2. KING SAMO’S EMPIRE

Samo was a Frankish merchant who was the first ruler of the Slavs. He created Samo’s Empire which lasted for 35 years (623 – 658) but it falls apart after his death when about 35 of Samo’s sons try to steal everything in the orphaned empire for themselves. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, literature

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One of the Masin brothers,a well-known anti-communist fighter, passed away at 81/ Ctirad Masin zemrel vcera ve svem Clevelandovskem dome


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both handsome brothers as well as their father were known for their resistance tendencies. Josef Masin (the father) was executed in Prague after being tortured several days by the Gestapo, which he was feverishly fighting against. His sons, Ctirad (who passed away yesterday in his Cleveland home) and Josef, inherited his courageous spirit and fought against the communist regime. What they are most known for, however, is their incredible escape to Western Germany. Why was their escape so controversial and why do some people call them heroes and others label them as murders?

 

Read a short version here (New York times)

Read a longer version here (Wikipedia.org)

CZ: Jablko se neodkutalelo daleko od stromu, protoze jak Ctirad (ktery zemrel vcera ve svem Clevelandovem dome), tak Josef se proslavili svymi svymi bojovymi postoji. Otec Josef byl za svou protinacistickou propagandu poslan do koncentracniho tabora, kde take zemrel. Jeho synove pak prebrali zezlo, a stali se odbojari proti komunismu. Nejvice se ale proslavili svym neuveritelne dobrodruznym utekem na Zapad. Proc je kvuli nemu nekteri lide tak obdivuji a jini je nazyvaji vrahy? Prectete si vyse uvedene clanky:

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Tagged as: communism, Czechs in Ohio, history

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Antique gypsy wagon gets a challenging facelift/ Stary cikansky vagon prodelal narocnou ‘plastickou’ operaci

 

Here is a wonderful article that one of the CMD readers wanted to share with us: a story of a vintage gypsy wagon from Fallbrook CA, how it got there and what kind of restoration process it underwent. However, here is the most important part of the article which is relevant to Czechmate Diary: [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: art, history

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Sandy curiosity / Pisecna kuriozita

What is this? 6-meter tall statue of 2 Christian missionaries, Cyril and Methodius, made out of SAND !!!

Who made it? Radovan Zivny, Czech artist who lives in Portugal

Where? Svatopluk’s Square in Nitra

Why? Because an important anniversary of these two Christian missionaries is coming up. The statue will be uncovered July 3rd

Sand? From where? 145 tons of beach/sea sand from a secret European location (let’s hope it’s not from Prague beach!)

Source: http://magazin.ceskenoviny.cz/zajimavosti/index_img.php?id=180758

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Tagged as: art, history, Slovakia

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How Scott found his Czech ancestors / Jak nasel Scott sve ceske predky

Little Scott with his Czech grandmother

And it is guest-post time again! This time the author’s name is Scott who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. After several years of tedious searching Scott came to learn that his ancestors were some of the very early Bohemian immigrants to settle in Cleveland. While  in 1910 Cleveland had a Czech community  of about 75,000, when his ancestors came to this city they were among the first 19 Czech families there.

Now living in the Midwestern United States, Scott has written for the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in their journal Slovo and has been featured in the blog for the software company, myheritage.com.  He writes his own blog at http://onwardtoourpast.blogspot.com and has a Facebook page entitled Onward To Our Past.
CZ: Autorem dnesniho clanku je Scott, ktery vyrostl v Clevelandu, Ohio. Jeho dlouholetym konickem je patrani po svych predcich. Po nekolikaletem vyzkumu se dozvedel, ze jeho pra-pra-prarodice byli jednou z prvnich 19ti rodin, ktere se v Clevelandu usadily!
O sve zkusenosti se podelil psanim clanku do casopisu Slovo, do National Czech and Slovak Museum a dnes take do Czechmate Diary. To ovsem neni vsechno – ma take svuj vlastni blog, ktery se jmenuje “Onward to our past”.

How I Got to Milevsko

I began my genealogy ‘travels’ when my son and his wife informed us that they were pregnant with our second grandchild and if it was a boy they were going to name the baby after my father, William.

Soon I ‘needed’ to know more than the history of my dad’s name.  I accessed every site I could — Ancestry.com, Footnote.com, Myheritage.com, LDS, message boards at Delphi and Roots.com, etc. In my earliest readings I noted every ‘How To’ genealogy article started with the admonition to speak with elder family members for their firsthand information.  Thinking I knew better and that the Internet was a powerful tool, I ignored that advice.  It was not long before I became so muddled and confused by names, surnames, place names, and dates that I was on the phone to every senior member of our family. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: ancestry, Czechs in Ohio, history

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The dramatic evolution of the Skoda car / Dramaticka evoluce nasi Skodovky

If you say ‘To je skoda‘ in Czech it means ‘That’s a shame‘ or ‘That’s too bad‘ or simply just imagine a sad face. The word ‘skoda‘ means ‘loss‘ or ‘harm‘ or ‘injury‘; but it is also the name of the biggest Czech car company which cranks out a new Skoda model almost every year. Why would someone name a car ‘Skoda’ or “Harm” is beyond my comprehension but it did not seem to slow down the business a bit. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: cars, history

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Crash course on the Slovak Republic / Rychlokurz o Slovenske Republice

A reader of mine pointed out a very good article about the First Slovak Republic, which was a puppet country existing throughout the WWII as an ally of Nazi Germany. If you are part Slovak as I am (my grandfather was Slovak), you may be interested in reading it….AND it is only 1, 287 words long! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: history, WWII

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Benjamin Kuras:Events that made Czechs who they are now: Prague defenestration (part 1) / Benjamin Kuras: Udalosti, ktere Cechy udelaly: Prazska defenestrace (1. cast)

I have just finished reading a REALLY good book which I would highly recommend to anyone (both Czech and English translations are available). It’s called ‘Czechs and Balances – a Nation’s survival kit‘, written by Benjamin Kuras, a Czech-born British author and journalist. The book depicts a historical overview of the Czech lands, from the very beginning up until  20 years after the Velvet Revolution. Although I have had a Czech history lessons at school for years no one really managed to connect all of the historical events until now. And on top of that Kuras manages to do it with humor too! [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: books, history, politics

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