Czechast about Czechs in America with Ivan Dubovický

From early explorers to Cold War émigrés, Czechs have made a lasting impact on American society. Understanding the role of Czech communities abroad is an essential part of how the country represents itself to the world.

Dr. Ivan Dubovický from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote a book "Czechs in America". It’s a subject that touches not only on history, but also on public diplomacy—because understanding the role of Czech communities abroad is an essential part of how the country represents itself to the world.

Ivan Dubovický|Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International

From early explorers to Cold War émigrés, Czechs have made a lasting impact on American society. As Dr. Dubovický explains, it goes all the way back to the 16th century:

“I would start with Joachim Gans. He was a Prague-born Jew who is considered to be the first scientific scholar on American soil, what is today the United States.”

We also discussed the long-standing myth about Comenius and his supposed invitation to Harvard:

“It was mentioned in a very famous ecclesiastical history of Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, but many historians disagree with this because searching through the papers of Jan Amos Komenský, there is not a single evidence of this invitation.”

Photo: Epocha

And he talked about how Cold War exile communities were united in opposition to communism, there were tensions along the national, religious and generational lines:

“They always opposed communist regime, but their ideas about how to organize Czechoslovakia after communist regime differed very drastically, I would say. So you can find these tensions everywhere, I would say.”

Why is such a book important?

“Because I always felt that we here in what is today Czech Republic, we forgot the great contribution that Czechs abroad in general, and especially in the United States, contributed to us.”