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SUMMARY OF THE
FALL ISSUE
Volume 9, No. 3, Fall 2001
Slovak
Heritage Live
A Newsletter of the
Slovak Heritage and Cultural Society of British Columbia
published four times a year
Fall issue was published in October 2001 and it was mailed to
1500 recipients world wide.
Horses in Liptovska
Teplicka
FROM THE EDITOR
I
am getting ready for my fourth and final 2001 trip to Slovakia. By the
time you will be reading this newsletter the chances are I will be there.
You can call me anytime while I am there at my cell: 011-421-907-297-508,
if you need any genealogical research, ancestral videos or photography
done or you can E-mail me at: vlinder49@hotmail.com...
FROM THE MAIL BAG
Read the correspondence received from our members...
MY SUMMER 2001 TRIP
TO SLOVAKIA
I
was flying stand by again. This time I flew to Calgary and then it was a
smooth flight to Frankfurt as that is the one of the two European
destinations Air Canada flies these days. The other is London. I had a
little difficulty getting my car as I made the payment just hours prior to
my departure and it didn’t come through yes. So there was a delay caused
by overseas telephone calls, but at the end I did get Opel Astra as
ordered and it was a diesel. Just fantastic. Soon I was sailing again the
German Autobahn, I just love it. Since it was early afternoon and they are
doing lots of Autobahn repairs in both Germany and Austria, as they do
every summer, it took me about 8 hours to arrive in Bratislava...
ATTACK
ON AMERICA-A TRIBUTE TO NEW YORK
When
I was growing up in Czechoslovakia, since my childhood I was always
dressed in American clothes thanks to my aunt or a distant relative
of my grand mother who lived in Buffalo NY. My friends called me
American because of my clothes. Yes I was different and I hated the
communists and AMERICA was my idol of freedom and democracy. My
lifelong dream was to one day at least visit AMERICA that I thought
would be an impossible task and if it were possible it would be a
dream come trough.
One
thing I always dreamt about was walking the streets of the greatest
city in the free world The NEW YORK CITY. That was my dream of
dreams. I even got someone to send me a street map of New York City
and I studied it for weeks and months. Learning what buildings were
where, where were the attractions...
DETVA
2001 WHERE IS THE EXITEMENT? By: Ondrej Mihal
The
annual folklore festival at Detva, Central Slovakia was held this
year from July 13th to 15th, 2001. As is tradition, the festival
started with the regional dance groups that make up the "Polana"
region of Central Slovakia.
The locals come out in full force to cheer their favorite
singers and dancers. The guests, from other regions of Slovakia, or
the few "foreigners" get to revel in the magnificent
sights, sounds and dances of this unique Central Slovak region...
Editors
note:
I was invited by the mayor of Detva Mr. Sufliansky
to attend the festival, but I said before and I say it
again I refuse to go and waste my time by watching MEGALOMANIOAC'S
GRUSKA creations
and I went to GREECE to island CORFU instead and I had a really
great time there. I sure hope
that the organizing committee of DETVA FESTIVAL 2002 finally wakes
up and get rid of Mr. Gruska and won't
allow him to destroy yet another year of festival with his
MEGALOMANIAC CREATIONS.
SLOVAKS
IN CANADA
The Slovak Canadian
Cultural and Heritage Centre (SCCHC) has initiated the exhibit
project named “SLOVAKS
IN CANADA” whereby all interested Slovak Canadian
organizations will jointly present the history of Slovaks in Canada
over the last 120 years, in a major one-time exhibit.
The
exhibit will foster awareness of Slovak Canadians, both in Canada
and in the Slovak Republic. Within the scope of the project
are numerous exhibits in both Canada and Slovakia (Bratislava)
composed of Slovak Canadian artifacts, photographs, works of art,
literature, sports, as well as multimedia (WEB) and video
presentations. As of May 2001, over 43 Slovak Canadian organizations
have signed on to participate in this major undertaking.
The
exhibit will premiere in Bratislava, Slovakia in the summer of 2002,
tentatively July...
OLD
CASTLE-STARY HRAD VARIN
The
ruins of the castle are high, 1425 feet above the seal level, on the
hill above the river Vah. The castle already existed in the first
half of the 13th century. It used to be called Varin. It is
mentioned first time in 1267 and the lands of Varin, Teplicka above
Zilina belonged to it. However it obtained its present name Stary
Hrad after building of the nearby Strecno castle.
1968
THIRTY-THREE YEARS LATER NOBODY REMEMBERS
That
was the year of my graduation form trade secondary school of
electrical technology in Bratislava and also the year of PRAGUE
SPRING. The feeling was in the air that the communists were
loosening their tough grip on its people. Traveling to the west was
becoming easier; there was less censorship in the news media, they
started to promote the socialism wit human face. Everybody was
hopeful that finally at least a little we would be freer. Even I,
that never ever thought I would stay and live in Czechoslovakia
after graduation, since I was a son of former very rich businessman
having large holdings in Zvolen and being nationalized in 1948,
started to thing that it might be great to stay here and have
security and the pleasures of the western world in my hands. We were
all exited. I decided to go to University in Prague and study
diplomacy as I felt that I could live abroad and still be a citizen
and have a good life. I had no connections at the University in
Prague and to my and everybody else’s surprise even with my anti
communist past I made the entry exams and was accepted...
"Velvet
Revolution," that is what they refer to the events of November
1989. I may have the year wrong, but anyway, there was no
revolution. How could people with no arms go against the army and
the tanks and arms and everything, with nothing in their hands, if
the communists wouldn’t want to allow it?? Communist knew
everything around them is collapsing so they rung the keys to the
country and gave it to the first guy that wanted them. It was
all-fake. By doing that the communists bought themselves time and
they are all back in both republics however under different coat,
the coat of democracy.
In
1948 the communists stole from the rich capitalists and in 1990-91
and until now the communists stole from the state and still are
stealing everything they can put their hands on.
The poor people are still standing by as they been in 1968 and all
the years before and after that. That is the way it is.
Saddest
thing of all is, that 33 years after this act of terrorism, nobody
remembers.
TRENCIN'S
CASTLE
Picturesque
scenery of the Middle Vah River Valley is further enriched by a
number of cultural and historical monuments. Among them the Trencin
Castle a National Cultural Relic, one of the mightiest medieval
complexes in Slovakia, occupies an important place, second only to
the Spis’s
Castle.
Archaeological
findings made on the territory of Trencin Castle prove its
inhabitation already in the Early Bronze Age. In Roman times, namely
in the 2nd century AD, Trencin falls to the sphere of influence of
the powerful Roman Empire. A clear evidence of the Roman
inhabitation of Trencin is the inscription carved to the castle rock
glorifying the victory of the Romans over the German tribes (179-180
A. D.), which, at the same time, is an evidence of Roman Legions
having spent some time at the winter camp near Trencin. The fate of
this territory after the withdrawal of German tribes and before the
advent of the Slavs is completely obscure. The discovery of a
rotunda on the acropolis and the findings evidencing for the
existence of crafts in the area of the lower castle speak of its
inhabitation in the time of Greater Moravia...
NEW
BOOKS
VLKOLINEC
ALBUM
OF SLOVAK WRITERS
TIBOR
HUSZAR
NEW
YORK
CITY
OF TOLERANCE
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Copyright © Vladimir Linder 2001
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The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced,
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