Libuše (Lela) Hrdonková was born in the small Czech village of Stod in 1922. She was 16 when the Nazis invaded and occupied her country. She was forced to work in a munitions factory. She would throw bread to prisoners in rail cars, crowded and starving to death on their way to concentration camps. She…
Category: History
Cesta z Čech až na konec světa: část první
And so we embarked on our voyage along the coasts of Bohemia, inspired by pan Lva z Rožmitálu. A rather difficult task, as this is a completely landlocked country. Those ponds you see everywhere? Man-made creations devised for irrigation and keeping carp fresh until Christmas. My friend lent me his time machine, and we could…
Franciszka Corvin-Krasińska, friend of Maria Theresa
Here is Franciszka Corvin-Krasińska, whose diary I just read. It was fascinating. Somebody should make it into a movie. I liked that she did a good job of describing her surroundings, as well as foreshadowing (which is crazy, because she had not yet lived her story!) She also was an admirable, brave woman, and I…
Historic Life Expectancy: What being “old” means
Would I rather be old, or young? To me, the answer is obvious. I would much rather be old, but not old enough to lose my mind. There are so many obvious reasons why being older is better than younger, but mostly it is summed up in one of Stephen Covey’s ideas about maturity, which…
Víra, Naděja, a Láska – Faith, Hope, and Charity
Here are two poems from Josef Al. Svoboda’s 1893 book: Svoboda, Josef Al, Víra, Naděja, a Láska. Modlitební kniha pro vzdělané dívky katolické. [Faith, Hope, and Charity. Prayer Book for the Education of Catholic Girls.] (Královske Vinohrady: A. J. Cellerina a syna, 1893). Věnování. Zde svatá >víra<! Jež jste obtíženi, a jimž tak těžko v klamech světa…
Our Czechs were NOT all Catholic
Guest Post by Lukáš Svoboda, author of Kulanův rodopisný blogIf you have Czechs among your ancestors, the probability that they were not all Catholics but Protestants is quite high, especially when they were living in Bohemia. Of course we are talking about times before Bílá Hora, that turning point which changed the course of not…
Dominikál vs. Rustikál
When you are reading Czech land records, you will inevitably encounter the terms dominikál and rustikál. What do these words mean? Why are they important for genealogists to understand? Dominikál comes from the same root as the word dominion. It refers to manorial/estate land owned by the nobility and tilled under their direction by the…
Přemysl the Ploughman
I came across an interesting Czech legend about a man named Přemysl. From wikipedia: According to a legend, Přemysl was a peasant of the village of Stadice who attracted the notice of Libuše, daughter of a certain Krok, who ruled over a large part of Bohemia. Libuše succeeded her father, and her councillors demanded that she married, but because…
Follow Friday: Czech House Numbers
Today it is my great pleasure to have a guest post by Lukáš Svoboda. He has an excellent Czech genealogy blog called Kulanův rodopisný blog that anybody interested in Czech genealogy should look at. If you open the page in google chrome, you can right-click and select “translate to English” if you don’t speak Czech. He…
Valentin Haidusek and the founding of Dubina, Texas
I have been doing some research on the Valentin Haidusek family who immigrated from Mniší, Moravia. Specifically, I have been trying to find other Haiduseks that were related to Valentin Haidusek, who was one of the founders of Dubina in 1856. I love the story of Dubina’s founding. I have read several versions of it…