Aleš Hrdlička

“ Religious persecution and then general oppression of Bohemia follow. The freely chosen king becomes tyrant and before long the greatest enemy of Bohemia. Backed by the rest of his dominion, by Rome and Spain, he tramples over the privileges of Bohemia; depletes its man-power as well as treasury; by subterfuge or treachery occupies Prague and other cities, and follows with bloody reprisals and confiscations, which lead to an era of ruthlessness and suffering such as the country has not experienced in its history. ”

“ The first recorded war with the Germans dates from 630, when the Frank Dagobert endeavors by force of arms to impose vassalage on the Czechs, but suffers defeat; and from this time on the Bohemian history is replete with records of fighting with the Germans. How the nation escaped annihilation must remain a marvel of history. It is sometimes reduced to almost a German vassal; yet it is never entirely overcome, and rises again and again to assert its individuality and independence. ”

“ One such nation is surely, it seems, that of the Czechs or Bohemians. A 1,500-year-long life-and-death struggle with the race who surround it from the north, west, and south, with a near-burial within the Austrian Empire for the last three centuries, have failed to destroy the little nation or break its spirit.
As President Wilson has said: "At least two among these many races [of Austria] , moreover, are strenuously, restlessly, persistently devoted to independence. No lapse of time, no defeat of hopes, seems sufficient to reconcile the Czechs of Bohemia to incorporation with Austria. ”

“ A military genius arises in Jan Zizka, and after him another in Prokop Holy; a new system of warfare is developed, including the use of some frightful weapons and of movable fortifications formed of armored cars; and for fifteen years wave after wave of armies and crusaders from all Europe, operating under the direction of Rome, Germany, Austria, and Hungary, are broken and destroyed, until religious and national freedom seem more secure. ”

“ Every nation has its local heroes, local geniuses, but these mean little for the rest of the world. Bohemia had a due share of such among its kings, reformers, generals, and especially writers; but it also gave the world many a son whose work was of importance for humanity in general and whose fame is international. ”

“ Inclined at times to melancholy, brooding, pessimism, he is yet deep at heart for ever buoyant, optimistic, hopeful—hopeful not of possessions or power, but of human happiness, and of the freedom and future golden age of not merely his own, but all people. ”

“ The fateful period for Bohemia comes in the sixteenth century. The people are weakened by wars, by internal religious strifes. A fearful new danger threatens central Europe—the Turks. In 1526 the Bohemian king, Ludvik, is killed in a battle with the Turks, assisting Hungary; and as there is no male descendant, the elective diet at Prague is influenced to offer the crown of Bohemia, under strict guarantees of all its rights, to the husband of Ludvik's daughter, Ferdinand of Habsburg, archduke of Austria. ”

“ The knightly John does little for Bohemia, but he gives it Karel (Charles IV) , his and Elizabeth's son, who proved a god-send to the country.
In Bohemian history he is known as "the father of his country." Under his long, wholesome, patriotic, and peaceful reign (1347–1378) the whole nation revives and strengthens. Independence of the country, except for the honorable connection with the Roman Empire, is fully reestablished. Education, art, and architecture thrive. The University of Prague is founded (1348) on the basis of the high seat of learning established a century before by Otakar. ”

“ The Czechs [2] are the westernmost branch of the Slavs, their name being derived, according to tradition, from that of a noted ancestral chief. The term Bohemia was applied to the country probably during the Roman times and was derived, like that of Bavaria, from the Boii, who for some time before the Christian era occupied or claimed parts of these regions.
Nature has favored Bohemia perhaps more than any other part of Europe. Its soil is so fertile and climate so favorable that more than half of the country is cultivated and produces richly. ”

“ Notwithstanding the most bitter struggle for every right of their own, the Czechs have extended a helpful hand to all other branches of the Slavs, in whose intellectual advance and solidarity they see the best guarantee of a peaceful future. They have extended their great organization Sokol, which stands for national discipline, with physical and mental soundness, among all the Slavic nations, and they are sending freely their teachers over the Slav world, and this while still under the Habsburgs. ”

“ Under the leadership of fanatics, every house, every nook, is searched for books and writings, and these are burned in the public squares "to eradicate the devil" of reformation. Rapine reigns, until there is nothing more to burn, nothing to take, and until three-quarters of the population have gone or perished—a dreary monument to the Habsburg dynasty, to the status of mankind in the 17th century. ”

“ He is easily hurt and does not forget the injury; will fight, but is not lastingly revengeful or vicious. He is not cold, calculating, thin-lipped, nor again as inflammable as the Pole or the southern Slav, but is sympathetic and full of trust, and through this often open to imposition.
His endurance and bravery in war for a cause which he approved were proverbial, as was also his hospitality in peace.
He is often highly capable in languages, science, literary and technical education, and is inventive, as well as industrial, but not commercial. ”

“ And what is true of the Czechs is also true of the Slovaks, who suffer even more under Magyar oppression.
The Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary fight only under compulsion; their unwilling regiments were decimated; their political and national leaders fill the Austrian and Hungarian prisons. Thousands of Bohemian and Slovak volunteers are fighting enthusiastically under the banners of France and Great Britain, and there are whole regiments of them attached to the Russian army. ”

“ In its mountains almost every useful metal and mineral, except salt, is to be found. It is the geographical center of the European continent, equally distant from the Baltic, Adriatic, and North seas, and, though inclosed by mountains, is so easily accessible, because of the valleys of the Danube and the Elbe rivers, that it served, since known in history as the avenue of many armies.
Beside Bohemia, the Czechs occupy Moravia and adjacent territory in Silesia. The Slovaks, who show merely dialectic differences from the Czechs, extend from Moravia eastward over most of northern Hungary. ”

“ Books have been burnt, educated patriotic men and women driven from the country, memories perverted. It would surely seem that the light of the nation would now, if ever, become extinct. And it becomes obscured for generations—yet is not extinguished. The roots of the stock prove too strong and healthy. The people sleep for 150 years, but it is a sleep of rest, not death—a sleep healing wounds and allowing of a slow gathering of new forces.
BOHEMIA REAWAKENED
Toward the end of the eighteenth century the Czech language is almost wholly that of the untutored peasant. ”

“ The immigration of the Czechs into this country dates very largely from near the middle of the last century, when, following the revolutionary movements of 1848, from which Bohemia was not spared, persecution drove many into foreign lands. During our Civil War many Czechs fought bravely in the armies of the North.
The total number of Czechs now living, exclusive of Slovaks, is estimated at 9,000,000, of whom 7,000,000 are under Austria-Hungary ”

“ All children, without exception—rich or poor, noble or common—should receive schooling, and all should learn to the limits of their possibilities. "They should learn to observe all things of importance, to reflect on the cause of their being as they are, and on their interrelations and utility; for the children are destined to be not merely spectators in this world, but active participants." ”

“ He is ambitious, and covetous of freedom in the broadest sense, but tendencies to domineering, oppression, power by force over others, are foreign to his nature. He ardently searches for God and is inclined to be deeply religious, but is impatient of dogma, as of all other undue restraint. ”

“ The most prominent modern statesmen of Bohemia are Karel Kramář (1860–. . . .) , since the beginning of the war in Austrian prison, and Thos. G. Masaryk (1850–. . . .) , since the war a fugitive from Austrian persecution, now at Oxford University, England. The sister of the latter is well known in this country and her recent liberation from a prison in Vienna was in no small measure due to the intervention of her American friends. [5]
BOHEMIANS IN THE UNITED STATES
It seems a far cry from Bohemia to this country, yet their relations are both of some import and ancient. ”

“ Bohemian literature, music, art, science come against all obstacles to occupy again an honorable position among those of other nations.
Agricultural and technical training progresses until the country is once more the richest part of the empire. ”

“ Into it flowed, from all parts of Germany, youths and men of mature years alike, through love of virtue and study, who, seeking the treasures of knowledge and philosophy, found them there in abundance. ”

“ They are not as well known in foreign lands as the Bohemian composers and musicians only because of the almost unsurmountable difficulties which attend the translation of their works. In novelists and other writers, of both sexes, Bohemia is rich, but as yet translations of their works are few in number and they remain comparatively unknown to the world at large. ”

“ Under their kings the Czechs reach an important position among the European nations. They rule, in turn, over large parts of what are now Austrian provinces, and briefly even over Hungary, Poland, and Galicia. But their fortune varies. From the time of Charlemagne they struggle, often for their very existence, with their neighbors, irritated by their presence, their racial diversity, and their riches. ”

“ He was one of the first to advocate teaching science in schools."
The child should "learn to do by doing." Education should be made pleasant; the parents should be friends of the teachers; the school-room should be spacious, and each school should have a good place for play and recreation.
A public school in Prague, Bohemia
A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN PRAGUE, BOHEMIA
The Czech philosopher Comenius, who lived during the seventeenth century, the bloodiest of all centuries excepting our own, urged that all children, rich and poor, should be taught to read and write. ”

“ The same natural law of preservation that rules over individuals rules also over nations—only the strongest survive the struggle for existence. Not the strongest in numbers, nor even physically, but the richest in that healthy virginal life-current which suffers under defeat, but is never crushed ”

“ He is kind and with a stock of native humor. He is musical, loves songs, poetry, art, nature, fellowship, the other sex. He is an intent thinker and restlessseeker of truth, of learning, but no apt schemer. ”

“ They paid for this with their blood, and almost with the existence of the nation; but Luther and a thousand other reformers arose in other lands to continue on the road of liberation.
For a small nation, not without the usual human faults, and distracted by unending struggles for its very existence, the above contributions to the world during the dark age of its rising civilization, would seem sufficient for an honorable place in history.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CZECHS
As to the modern achievements of the nation, they follow largely in the footsteps of the old. ”

“ Languages should be taught, like the mother tongue, by conversation on ordinary topics; pictures, object lessons, should be used; teaching should go hand in hand with a happy life. In his course he included singing, economy, politics, world history, geography, and the arts and handicrafts. ”

“ He condemns the system of mere memorizing in school, then in use, and urges that the scholar be taught to think. Teaching should be, as far as possible, demonstrative, directed to nature, and develop habits of individual observation. ”

“ They are agricultural and pastoral people, of patriarchal organization. Their government is almost republican, under a chief, elected by an assembly of representatives of the main classes of the people. ”