Before the 19th century, few Czech’s immigrated to the United States. “The first major immigration wave occurred in 1848 when the Czech "Forty Eighters" fled to the United States to escape political persecution by the Habsburgs” (Molinari 498). Most Czechs immigrated to Chicago in the 1850’s, but they also immigrated to New York, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Milwaukee towards the 1870’s. Czech immigration to Chicago began in the 1850s, after the railroads had linked the city to the East Coast states Cozine. Molinari states that unlike other ethnic groups, Czech’s were more likely to make the journey to the United States with their families (499). “On arrival, many Czechs Americanized their last names” (Molinari 500).
While migrating to America, the customs and traditions they brought with them were their food, celebrations, and language. The kolace is a well-known Czech desert. A kolace is a sweet, squared-shape dough bread filled with cheese, stewed prunes, apricots, or other fruit. Czechs celebrated many holidays such as Christmas eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve (St. Sylvester’s), Epiphany, St. Valentine’s day, Whitsunday, Sprinkling day, St. Joseph’s day, Mother’s day, and Rogation days. The language of the Czech’s is a Slavic language. It has a declension system based on seven cases. The language was created by Jan Hus, a religious reformer. As stated by Molinari, “Czech is a phonetic language; every sound is pronounced the way it is written, with the accent always on the first syllable” (503).
My great-great grandmother traveled to the United States when she was 13 years old with her mother and brothers while her father came a few years before. They grew up in Burlington, Iowa, where she soon met her husband and moved to Chica...
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... and job lined up. My family did not hold on to our language, customs, religion, or clothing, but my family does still make the food, especially deserts. I have not visited my homeland, but sometime in the future I would love to.
Works Cited
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Ember, Melvin, and Carol R. Ember. "Czech Republic." Countries and Their Cultures. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 598-613. Print.
Gall, Timothy L., and Jeneen Hobby. "Czechs." Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Cengage Learning, 2009. 143-47. Print.
Molinari, Christine. "Czech Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. By Robert Dassanowsky and Jeffrey Lehman. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 497-510. Print
Heda Margolius Kovály’s memoir, “Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague, 1941-1968” recounts her experience of the Holocaust and the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia, during the 20th century. In 1945, after the holocaust and after World War II, Czechoslovakia was in a period of distress, which made people seek for communism as a solution. Communism, a totalitarian regime, was a form of government in which nobody was allowed to own any private property and the government controlled all economic activity. This government structure was not only corrupt, but it also caused more economic crisis in Czechoslovakia. Despite the rough situation that Czechoslovakia was going through, none of its
At the time that this family arrived in the United States, a new wave of Eastern European immigration - spurred by growing industrialization and the advances in technology leading to the establishment of steel mills and other manufacturing and raw material processing factories and plants - was reshaping the American labor force. Djuro's experiences, and those of his son-in-law, Mike Dobrejcak, reflect a certain level of hostility towards these Eastern and Central Europeans from "mainstream" Americans and earlier, more acc...
A girl from Sarajevo Bosnia settled in Florida along with her family after escaping Bosnia as war refugees. Since her aunt lived in Florida, she helped facilitate the proper paper work for acceptance into America. In the interview we discussed, gender roles, spiritual beliefs, food, in addition to the benefits and disadvantages of being part of this cultural group. It was a fascinating experience to learn about her family, history and culture.
During the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century the rise of immigration centered around two specific ethnic groups. Irish and German immigrants provided a large portion of immigrants that were entering the United States between the 1820’s and 1920’s. Both ethnic groups invested in making the journey to the United States for several reasons, however some immigrants were not given much choice. Economic opportunities attracted both ethnic groups into making the migration to the America, however others came because they felt dislocated or threatened in their own country. Choosing to come to America for these two groups was a similar decision but with their similarities came differences as well.
Soon after World War II the Soviet Union had created a red iron curtain around Eastern Europe, communist regimes could be seen throughout with countries like Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These regimes where severely oppressive and violated basic human rights, hence a growing opposition was beginning to form. From the mid-1970’s Vaclav Havel, a former playwright would become the most prominent Czechoslovakian “dissident” and campaigner against the abuses of the Communist Regime by actively defending the rock group Plastic People of the Universe, being one of the three public spokespeople for Charter 77 and by writing various essays critiquing the communist regime. No essay has had more influence and been instrumental in “dissident” movements in Eastern Europe than the essay “The Power of the Powerless”. Within this essay and others that Havel wrote throughout the 1970s and 80s Havel describes the Communist system, critiques it and explains his strategy for overcoming the regime.
Lopez, Jose Javier. "Dominican Republic: Traditions & Etiquette." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World. ABC-CLIO, 2000. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
On the other side of the Iron Curtain, Slavenka Drakulic was born in the former Yugoslavia, now Croatia, and was the daughter of a Communist party member. As a girl, she was privileged: she received a great education and had opportunities that other girls of her backgrou...
(11) T. Buksinski, „Kategoria etycznosci a rzeczywistosc krajów postkomunistycznych" ["The Category of the Ethical vs. the Reality of the Post-Communist Countries"], Edukacja Filozoficzna, 1995, No. 19, pp. 123–132.
The Warsaw Ghetto was a Jewish-populated ghetto in the largest city of Poland, Warsaw. A ghetto can be defined as a part of a city in which large quantities of members of a minority group live, especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure. Ghettos were commonly attributed to a location where there was a large Jewish population. In fact, the word Ghetto originated from the name of the Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy, in 16th century.The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Ghetto, as a part of the Holocaust, and as an early stage of it, played a very significant role. Today, in our museum exhibit, we have several artifacts, including primary evidence relating to the Warsaw ghetto. We will be discussing how and why it was created, the lifestyle
Ray, Rob, and John S, eds. “1956: The Hungarian Revolution.” Libcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
During the nineteenth century the amount of immigration to the united states was increasing rapidly. The largest proportion of these “new” immigrants were from Italy, Russia, and Ireland. There was a combined reac...
The Polish heritage has been an important part of my life. It has taught me to be respectful and caring towards my family, friends, and others. My father’s side of our family is Polish. My great-grandfather came from Poland to escape the perils of World War II. He was a farmer, who traveled to the United States for the promise of a new life. He taught himself how to become a wood-worker and a handy man, but he worked as a miner in the United States. My great-grandfather was extremely determined to provide for his family, and wife in the United States. After a many years, I was born. From my birth, I was introduced to our Polish heritage. My great-grandfather would read to me in Slavic. He was extremely family oriented. After he left his fourteen siblings in Poland, he still made an immense effort to remain in contact with them. Even at my young age, when he was alive, I remember seeing his relatives visiting, even though I could not communicate with them. After he passed, our Polish culture still remained dominate.
"Early Croatian Contacts with America and the Mystery of the Croatans." Early Croatian Contacts with America and the Mystery of the Croatans. http://www.studiacroatica.org/jcs/01/0103.htm Web. December 1, 2014).
There are several reasons for why Poles have made the 4,000-mile journey to America, many of which have already been explored and discussed within past research studies. In the present research study, the Polish immigration rates to America during the years of 1929 to 1931 will be examined. Statistics show that a large number of Poles move to the United States in 1929 and an even greater number of Polish immigrants come during 1930. Why such a large of mass of new emigration Poles came to America during this time frame poses as an interesting question as the ...
Polish food is not exactly the healthiest, but at least once a year a lot of us try to get together and either go out to a Polish restaurant or one of us has the family over for lunch or dinner and traditional food is served. We do not have any of the traditional clothes, but I do have memories of growing up in the 60s and 70s, visiting our Polish relatives who lived in Canada, and seeing them in those garments. We had many cousins and there would be music and dancing at a large family gathering. A few of them played instruments and formed a family band of sorts and others would dance in the traditional outfits. When it comes to an artifact, a few members of our family have a piece or two of Polish pottery or stoneware in their homes. The oldest of my siblings is the one who is the most proud of, and connected to, our cultural heritage and has a good amount of bowls, plates, and coffee mugs mostly adorned with the cobalt blue designs. Regarding current dress customs, our family generally takes pride in appearance and typically the men wear shirts and ties to work and the women wear skirts or dresses. During casual times, most of us still do not lean towards looking sloppy or undone, although we do know how to dress comfortably. My parents and grandparents on both sides were the same with their dress and casual, athletic wear, pajamas, or sweat pants were