Chapter One

Historic Background




Click here to go to an interactive map of the Czech Republic.



Czechoslovakia was a historical land composed of Bohemian and Moravian Czechs and Slovaks. The Czechs and Slovaks are closely related members of the Slavic nations that originally lived in present day Poland and western Russia. The Slavic ancestors moved into the territories now occupied by the present day Czech Republic and Slovakia in the early 5th and 6th centuries A.D.

Beginning in the 7th century the Moravian Empire brought Christianity and civilization to central and eastern Europe but declined due to the wars with Germany and the Magyars (Hungarians). By the beginning of the 9th century, the Czechs emerged. They were under the rule of the Prince of Premysl for centuries. Among the first rulers was Prince Wenceslas, from the Premysl family. He was assassinated in 924 A.D. In 1198 he was canonized by the church, and became known as "The Good King Wenceslas". After the early date of 1198, the Bohemian Princes of Premysl house were known as kings, and Bohemia was a kingdom. Finally all the male Premysl's died by 1300. A princess of the Premysl family married King John of Luxembourg and their son, Charles IV, ruled 1346-1378. He became known as the "Father of the Land". He brought the country to a high peak of prosperity and civilization.

King Charles IV started the University of Prague in 1348. It was the only institute of high learning in central and eastern Europe. In 1356 King Charles IV issued what was know as the Golden Bull which made the imperial throne elective where emperors were to be chosen by a majority vote of seven German electors. However, in 1438, Albert, Archduke of Austria of the Hapsburg family, became emperor and although the imperial power remained elective it passed permanently to the Hapsburgs. It remained with their family until the end of the empire in 1806.

John Huss, born about 1370, was a Bohemian reformer who became a priest and then Rector of Prague University in 1402. He began to preach doctrines that differed from the Catholic Church and was charged with heresy. By then he had collected a large following and despite excommunication from the church he continued to preach. In 1415, 77 years before Columbus landed in America, John Huss was burned at the stake as a heretic. His martyrdom made his followers more fanatical and they rose up in arms to avenge his death. They continued what he had started and they began the Hussite wars that lasted till 1471.

An event occurred in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, in 1618 that began the Thirty Years War between the Catholic and Protestant powers of Europe. The Czech leaders in Prague, protesting against the strict rule of the Catholic Hapsburg family, threw out their state officials and elected as king, Frederick the Elector of Palatine, who was a Protestant Prince. In 1620, the same year the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in America, Frederick was defeated in battle and it seemed the revolt was over but the conflict that had begun in Bohemia became a European conflict that did not end until 1648.

The Bohemian Empire was converted to a distinctly German character by the Hapsburgs and was governed from Vienna by German bureaucracy. This would have been during the time when Mozart lived in Austria (1756-1791). By the end of the 18th century Bohemia was the only province of the German Empire.

Prince Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich (1773-1859) was appointed as Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Austria in 1809. The spirit of revolution had been widespread in Europe since the French Revolution in 1789 and Metternich did his utmost to suppress it wherever it occurred. At time of the California gold rush in our country in 1848, every important country in Europe, except Britain, was shaken by revolt. Within the Austrian Empire, the Hungarians and the Czechs rebelled and Metternich fell from power.

For years the great European powers remained suspicious of each other's motives. In this mood of fear and aggression, Europe was sitting on a keg of gunpowder. During this time, many Europeans began to leave and immigrate to other parts of the world. The Czechs immigrated because the Hapsburg-led Austrian Empire had controlled their homeland since 1620. They despised the Austrian military draft, which forced them to fight in behalf of policies that they opposed. Others sought job opportunities and land in America. These Czech immigrants hoped to leave behind the poverty and class limitations of the old world and to embrace the opportunities of the new.

Most of these immigrants had owned some land in Czechoslovakia. Often they had farmed five to twenty-acre parcels and had supplemented their incomes as artisans and craftsman. Encouraged by reports from friends and relatives, shipping companies, and American advertisements, they had obtained tickets for passage to America by selling their land.

Among the many thousands who left their birthplaces, homes, families and loved ones and came to the United States during this time of turmoil in Europe was a 34-year-old man named John Palat. John left his birthplace of Hoštálková in Moravia and brought his 30-year-old wife Johana and their three children to Galveston, Texas aboard the S.S. Hanover from Bremen, Germany, arriving in December 1904.

Another who left his homeland was a young man named Frank Foukal. Frank was 24 years old when he sailed from Bremen, Germany on the S.S. Hanover April 25, 1907 and arrived in Galveston, Texas May 20, 1907. The home and birthplace that he left behind to never see again were in Rakvice in Moravia.

Still another who left his European home to come to what he hoped would be a better world was 20-year-old Joseph Kucera from Pilsen in Bohemia. Joseph arrived in New York and began processing through Ellis Island April 9, 1909.

These are just three instances of thousands who came, but these three are the beginning of a beautiful story. Hopefully you will read on.



(Contents) (Foreword)

(Chap 1) (Chap 2) (Chap 3) (Chap 4) (Chap 5) (Chap 6) (Chap 7) (Chap 8) (Chap 9) (Chap 10) (Chap 11)

(After Thoughts)