The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences - still building bridges between Czechs at home and abroad after 46 years
In the days of communism the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, the SVU, was one of the most important emigre organizations and one that was despised by the regime. It was founded by exiles in 1958 to provide a forum for the free development of Czech and Slovak culture abroad, away from the stifling restrictions back home. It also struggled to prevent Czechoslovakia from fading from international awareness in the shadow of the Iron Curtain. Today the Society is still going strong and Radio Prague's director, Miroslav Krupicka, has just returned from its annual gathering:
With totalitarian rule rapidly becoming a distant memory the Society of Arts and Scientists has done much to rethink its role. Today it is important in bridging the sometimes gaping divide between Czechs and Slovaks at home and people of Czech and Slovak origin abroad. One delegate at the gathering was Steven Klimesh, a fifth generation American, who has never forgotten his Czech roots, and is now revisiting the land of his fathers.
"This is my first time in the Czech Republic. I will be here for 25 days. I've been travelling through Southern Bohemia, which is where my ancestors came from - a very small community just south of Tyn, north of Ceske Budejovice, and I've been discovering and rediscovering my roots and where my family came from."
Steven Klimesh comes from one of the most fascinating Czech communities in the United States, a village with an important musical connection. He has done a lot of research into the community's history, as he told Miroslav Krupicka:
"I came to Olomouc to present a paper on St Wenceslas Catholic church in Spillville, Iowa. It's a church that was built by our Czech ancestors, who settled in Spillville in 1855 after being freed from serfdom as a result of the 1848 and 1849 revolutions. St Wenceslas is the oldest surviving Czech Catholic church in America and it is also a place frequented by Antonin Dvorak. The church contains the 1876 Pfeiffer organ that Dvorak would have played for daily mass and other church events such as weddings and funerals, during his stay in Spilville during the summer of 1893. I felt it would be appropriate to bring a pictorial tour of this church to this conference to share with the attendees."
Are you a member of the Society of Arts and Sciences yourself?
"Yes, I joined the SVU two years ago, and have found it to be a very informative organization, and one where contacts can be made and have been made to help us to further our efforts in saving some of the important Czech properties that remain in Spillville."
Could you name a few?
"Well, we are very fortunate in Spillville to have the home of Antonin Dvorak, the home that he resided in during the summer of 1893. It's a brick structure which now contains his museum. We also have the house of Josef Kovarik, who was Antonin Dvorak's American music secretary, in which Dvorak, after having completed Opus 96 and Opus 97 the "Americana" Quartet and Quintet in Spillville, instructed Josef to form a quartet and quintet so that the pieces could be played. And those pieces were first played in the 1870 old school with Dvorak playing the first violin and the Kovarik family playing the remainder of the instruments."
To find out more about Spillville, Iowa, you can visit: www.bilyclocks.org/spillville.html.
The website of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences is: www.svu2000.org.
