History of Local Chapters

(see also SVU Milestones)

On this page, you can read:

• From the Early History of the Washington DC Chapter
• New SVU Chapter in Nebraska
• History of SVU in Slovakia
• New SVU Chapter in Texas

From the Early History of the Washington DC Chapter
By Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr.

I have lived in Washington, DC since 1958 and thus remember well how the Washington, DC Chapter started. During 1960-1962 I also served as the Chapter's Secretary and was responsible for the Minutes keeping. This narration can thus be considered authentic and authoritative.

The Chapter was officially established in November 1959 and was initially known as "Pracovni skupina" which would be translated as a working group. It grew out of the "Study Section of the Washington Branch of the Czechoslovak National Council" (Studijni odbor washingtonske odbocky Ceskoslovenske narodni rady americke), under the chairmanship of Dr. Jaroslav Nemec. The Section was initially charged with the responsibility for laying down the groundwork for the future Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) which was officially established in New York on October 24, 1958.

Following the election of Dr. Jaroslav Nemec as the new SVU Secretary-General, the Washington DC-based Study Section fell under the chairmanship of Dr. Jaroslav G. Polach. Through his initiative, starting in November 27, 1959, the newly established Washington, DC Chapter began organizing a series of lectures, "Contributions to the Development of the Idea of the Czechoslovak State in the Years 1938-1948".

In the 1959-60 period the following lectures were delivered:

November 27, 1959 - Dr. Ladislav K. Feierabend: "Between Munich and March 15, 1939". Chaired by Jaroslav G. Polach

January 8, 1960 - Dr. Juraj L. Slavik: "President Benes' Letter to President Mosczicki during the 1938 Munich Crisis". Chaired by Jaroslav Nemec

February 12, 1960 - Dr. Stefan Osusky: "The Soviet Stand during the Czechoslovak Crisis". Chaired by Josef K. Hasek.

March 4, 1960 - Dr. Jozef Lettrich: "The Idea of the Czechoslovak State and Slovakia". Chaired by Cestmir Jesina

April 8, 1960 - Dr. Arnost Heidrich: "Foreign Political Causes of Our Tragedy in 1938 and 1948". Chaired by Dr. Frantisek Kase.

May 7, 1960 - Prof.Dr. Vratislav Busek: "Importance of Czechoslovak Universities during 1938/39 and 1948". Chaired by Jaroslav A. Drabek, Jr. With banquet and reception.

In addition to the above, on December 1, 1959, there was a special lecture by Prof. Vaclav Hlavaty, the newly elected SVU President, about "Problems of Space and Time"

During the Annual Meeting on June 1, 1960, it was generally expected that Jaroslav Polach would remain the Chapter's chairman. He, however, decided against it because of pressure of his job. The members therefore proceeded to elect a five-member working group, with the responsibility of coming up with the slate of candidates for various offices. Jasa Drabek initially expressed interest in the post but then changed his mind. The chairmanship was therefore offered to Dr. Ladislav Feierabend who accepted. Miloslav Rechcigl,
Jr.was elected Secretary, Milos Jansa Treasurer and Vojtech Nevlud Vice Chairman and Press Officer. Jasa Drabek and Josef Kucera were elected members of the Board without specific functions.

My main job as Secretary was to write minutes, send out the invitations and also keep track of the membership. My responsibilities were, however, soon augmented to also include the responsibility for correspondence and in addition became a member of the program committee.

Josef Kucera, a kind old man who lived with his wife on Park Road, not too far from Jaroslav Nemec, usually helped me with the printing of the announcements. He was a journalist by background who published regularly, in monthly intervals, the newsletter, Zpravodajstvi z Washingtonu. As such, he had access and knew how to operate a somewhat primitive mimeo-graphic machine.

In our activities, we essentially continued in the lecture series to preserve historical documents and memoirs relating to the "Development of the Idea of Czechoslovak State in 1938-1948". The meetings were held in monthly intervals, usually at 7:30 PM, second Friday of the month, in the Alliance Room of the All Souls Church on 16th & Harvard Sts., N.W., Washington, DC.

We customarily invited prominent politicians of the 1938-1948 period to give us personal and authoritative accounts of their activities and experiences, accompanied with explanations and documentary evidence. In addition to oral presentation, which was tape-recorded, each participant also had to present his contribution in writing.

The presentations usually were followed by intensive discussions and commentary from the audience. Because of the frequently controversial nature of the topics some of these discussions were quite lively and even confrontational. The meetings were run with iron hand so that they never got out of hand.

It should be noted that the referenced series of lectures were actually the first occurrence in the Czechoslovak post-World War ll exile of having politicians of opposing views talking from the same platform. Until SVU came up with this lecture series, they would hardly ever speak to one another.

To get more people interested and involved, we followed the practice of having each speaker introduced by a different person and have him moderate the discussion. This required some preparation and the person also gained invaluable experience in speaking in public.

To make the meetings more sociable my wife, Eva, came up with one innovation, namely to have every meeting followed by refreshments, as was customary among Americans. This practice, which has been kept to date, gave each meeting a friendlier and more sociable atmosphere conducive to opening up and talking to one another.

I remained secretary for two terms (June 1, 1960-June 22, 1962). Subsequently I had to relinquish this function in order that I could devote attention to publications and other SVU matters at the national level.

During the two-year period, we had the following program:

1960-1961 Period

October 7 - Vaclav Majer: "Trip to Moscow and the Beginnings of the Kosice Program".
Chaired by Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr.

November 8 - Dr. Ladislav Feierabend: "Hacha and Experiences in the Government of the Protectorate".
Chaired by Jaroslav Drabek, Jr.

December 9 - Dr. Jaroslav Drabek: "Beginnings of Czechoslovak Resistance during the WW II".
Chaired by Vojtech Nevlud.

January 13 - Dr. Theodor Prochazka: "Berlin 1938-1944. My Reminiscences".
Chaired by Dr. Jaroslav Nemec.

February 10 - Dr. Jozef Lettrich: "Recollections from the Czechoslovak
Domestic Resistance and Slovakia in 1939-1943" Chaired by Dr. Jaroslav G. Polach.

March 10 - Gen. Josef Schejbal: "Czechoslovak Air Force during the World War II"
Chaired by Dr. Milos A. Jansa.

April 4 - Dr. Arnost Heidrich: "International Political Causes of Our National Tragedy - February 1948".
Chaired by Ladislav K. Feierabend.

May 2 - Banquet and Reception - Dr. Ladislav Radimsky: "Commentary at the Margin of Contemporary Czech Literature".
Chaired by Dr. Ladislav K. Feierabend.

1961-1962 Period

September 8 - A Discussion Panel: "Goals and Aims of the Czechoslovak society of Arts and Sciences in America" Panelists: Dr. Jaroslav Nemec, Jan Hajda, Cestmir Jesina, Dr. Frank Meissner, Dr. J. Polach, Ivan Herben and Dr. Jozef Lettrich

October 16 - Dr. Karel Steinbach: "Karel Capek and His Times"

November 10 - Mikulas Ferjencik: "Recollections from and Experiences in Moscow and the Slovak National Uprising "

January 12 - Ivan Herben: "Brother Josef - Memories of the Capek Brothers from Lidove Noviny and Josef Capek from Concentration Camp"

February 15 - Marie Provaznikova: "The Sokol Contributions to the Origin, Development and Democracy of the Czechoslovak State"

April 1962 - "First Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences in America"

June 22 - Annual Meeting - Discussion Panel: "Comments on the First SVU Congress" Panelists: Dr. Jaroslav Drabek, Dr. Zorka Cerna, Fr. Josef Hasek, Vojtech Nevlud, Dr. Zora Prochazkova, Arch Emil Royco.. Moderated by Dr. Ladislav K. Feierabend.

Upon leaving, as I reported in my report to the Assembly, the Chapter had 83 members, in comparison to 74 in September 1961. The list of members of the Washington DC Chapter (as of June 22, 1962) is reproduced below.

List of Members - Washington DC Chapter (as of June 22, 1962)

New SVU Chapter in Nebraska

The Nebraska SVU Chapter was officially established on August 20, 2001. The Nebraska chapter will be affiliated with the Czech Komensky Club at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Some of the goals of this new chapter are to be supportive of the Czech Heritage Digitilization Project, to publish manuscripts and books by Czech Nebraskan authors, and to involve the youth of Nebraska in the 'Accent on Youth' SVU initiative. The chapter will align closely with the other Czech organizations in the area and Kacenka Oslzla will serve as the SVU liaison to the six other local groups. The Nebraska Chapter will be working very hard to have a significant representation of people and panels at the Plzen World Congress in June 2002. They want the Czech and Slovak world know that the culture is very strong and being preserved in the Midwest.

Officers were elected at the second meeting which was held on August 27, 2001. The slate of officers for 2001-02 is: Dr. Jitka Stiles, President; Helen Pejsar and Dr. Mila Saskova-Pierce, Co-Vice Presidents; Cathy Oslzly, Secretary; John Fiala, Treasurer; Jeanette Pribyl Smith, Publicity; John Fiala and Cathy Oslzly, Membership Coordinators. Members of the Board of Directors include all officers and the following: Dr. Lawrence Jindra, Dr. Patrick Kudlacek, Prof. Robert Kuzelka, Dr. Gordon Pejsar, Layne Pierce, Ron
Stiles, Dr. Joseph Swoboda, Mary Swoboda, Ed Trouba, and Tom Zumpfe.

A membership drive will be taking place very soon. Anyone who joins the Nebraska SVU Chapter prior to December 31, 2001 will become charter members of the organization. The Nebraskans are looking forward to being a very active chapter of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences.

History of SVU in Slovakia

After the fall of communism the first SVU chapter in the liberated Czechoslovakia was established in Prague on March 16, 1992 with the aim of intensifying the contacts between the Slovaks and Czechs living abroad and their colleagues in the old homeland. Prof. Rudolf Zahradnik of Prague became President and Prof. Alexander Tkac of Bratislava Vice President. The country's division into two independent states on January 1, 1993 led to the establishment of two separate chapters, one in Prague and another in
Bratislava. Subsequently, two more chapters were established in Slovakia, i.e. Kosice and Presov.

The Bratislava SVU Chapter was formally established on July 21, 1993 at the International Division of the Rectorate of the Slovak Technical University by the then Rector Prof. V. Molnar. Prof. Alexander Tkac was elected President and MUDr. Ladislav Macho of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Prof. Ivan Hubac of Comenius University, Vice Presidents. Vido Hornak, a TV producer, became Secretary and Milada Tkacova Treasurer. Prof. Karol Marton was elected President of the SVU Kosice Chapter and PhDr. Edita Voloscukova became President of the Presov Chapter.

Following the demise of the former Czechoslovak Republic, a joint Declaration was issued by the Prague and Bratislava representatives stating that "...the SVU should strive, both at home and abroad, toward assuring that the relationships between the Czechs and Slovaks become a contribution to world culture..."

In this spirit the SVU in Slovakia charted its activities for seven years with regular lectures in arts and sciences and cultural activities. The Bratislava Chapter has some sixty registered members from the academia and the art world, as well as personalities from humanistic and philosophical sphere. Nearly all Rectors of Bratislava university opted for membership in the Society, the first Honorary President of the chapter being Prof. Igor Hudoba, Rector of the Slovak Technical University.

Regular meetings are held in the in the STU Club Room once a month, except the summer holidays, with the participation of colleagues from the Czechlands and abroad.  To date the chapter realized more than sixty such meetings with lectures and stimulating discussions.

The members of the Bratislava Chapter were active participants at the SVU World Congress in Prague in 1992 and 1994. In the latter year the Chapter also organized in Smolenice a special conference entitled "Science and Arts without Borders." A year later, SVU held its annual meeting in Kosice with the conference on "Technology - Humanity - Art - Tolerance". It was a historical meeting since it was the first time in the 37-year history of the Society that the SVU General Assembly met outside the American continent.

Following the 18th SVU World Congress in Brno, in 1998  the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences commemorated its 40th anniversary at its 19th SVU World Congress in Bratislava on July 5-10. It was an immensely successful congress, with more than 200 participants from abroad. The central theme of the congress was "Science and the Arts on the Eve of the 21st Century."

In addition to its regular meetings and other cultural activities, the Bratislava Chapter cultivated mutually beneficial contacts with various institutions throughout Europe, e.g., Academia scientiarum et artium Europeae in Salzburg, or participation in the 1999 meeting of "Europa-Tag" in Esienstadt.

In the future the Chapter hopes to involve more young people in its activities.

Alexander Tkac
Bratislava, November 2000

New SVU Chapter in Texas

Among the officers and members attending the annual meeting of the SVU in Belton, Texas last July, one of the most frequent topics of conversation was the possibility of creating a new chapter in Texas. This has now been done.

The organizational meeting of the new Central Texas Chapter of SVU was held in College Station, Texas (the site of Texas A&M University), on November 15, 1997. Officers include  Clinton Machann (President), David Z. Chroust (Vice-President). James W. Mendl (Secretary), Lorence Bravenec (Treasurer), and Zora Bravenec (New Membership).

Meeting sites for the Central Texas Chapter will alternate between College Station and Austin. However, since this is the only SVU chapter in Texas, all SVU members with addresses anywhere in the State arc encouraged to join. Annual local dues are $5 per person. Anyone interested in joining should contact Zora Bravenec at 1101 Goode St., College Station, TX 77840 (tel. 4091693-0308).

Among the initial projects of the chapter is to sponsor a series of lectures on subjects related to Czech and Slovak history and culture. The first lecture will be held in the College Station area in mid-February 1998. Future projects will include the identification of Czech and Slovak historical sites in Texas and support for existing research projects about the Czechs and Slovaks in Texas.

Czech immigration in particular has a significant place in Texas history. The first immigrants, in the 1850s, were chiefly poor laborers from the area and around Nepomuky and Cermna in northeastern Bohemia. A little later, immigrants from Moravia, especially eastern Moravia, were in the majority About 700 Czechs had established themselves in Texas by the time of the Civil War. 71 The Central Texas counties of Austin, Lavaca, Washington, and, especially Fayette, has early Czech settlements. By 1900 the number of foreign-born Czechs in the state had climbed to over 9,000 and by 1910 to over 15,000, before immigration leveled off. The number of Czech "foreign white stock" (defined by the US Bureau of the Census as those who spoke Czech at home during child hood) had climbed to 62,580 by 1940.

The SVU meeting in Bclton last year, in conjunction celebration of the 100th anniversary of the SPJST (Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas), helped to demonstrate that Czech ethnicity is still a significant part of Texas culture. One of the aims of the new Central Texas chapter of SVU will be to make Texans, and all Americans, more aware of the part Czech Americans have played in the development of the State.

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