170 YEARS OF CZECH NEW YORK

321 East 73rd Street,New York NY 10021

27 September, 2021

Description

Join us for the talk with Martin Nekola about his book Czech New York on the history of fellow emigrants in the city. Czechs began to settle in New York City in large numbers during the second half of the 19th century. This great wave of immigration came as a result of the Revolution of 1848 and the so-called “Bach´s absolutism”, the oppressive regime of Austrian interior minister Alexander von Bach. But the fact is that the very first Czech came as early as 1836, a furrier Frantisek Vlasak from Prague. The first Czech neighborhood if we can call it that was between Avenues A and C, and 8 th Street and Houston Street on the Lower East Side, close to Tompkins Square Park. Avenue B became known as Czech Boulevard. The simple apartment houses they lived in were owned by tobacco manufacturers, big employers in that area. Many cigar makers from the region of Kutná Hora settled in New York, because there was a high demand for their experience in the field. Next to Czech Boulevard, in the South Bronx was Morrisania (or Marazín in Czech), located at Third Avenue and 164th Street. Also, big companies hired button makers from Vysočina region. Starting in late 1880s, Czechs and Slovaks in Manhattan settled mostly between Second Avenue and the East River, roughly from East 65th to East 78th streets. The three neighborhoods, Upper East Side, Yorkville and Lenox Hill already had diverse Central European ethnic enclaves but the Czechs dominated soon after with about 10,000 souls. The Bohemian National Hall at 73rd Avenue was the beating heart of the Czech quarter. After its opening in 1896, it contained a restaurant, a hall for theatre plays, concerts and balls, and a number of rooms where up to 90 Czech clubs and associations held meetings and assemblies. Czech tracks are to be found also in Astoria, in the northeastern part of Queens, together with the German, Greek, Irish and Italian, who also helped to build up and develop this residential part of town. A number of Czech businesses, craft workshops and associations grew here over a large area of the neighborhood after the second half of the 19th century. However the most important center of Czech life, culture and language has always been located on 24th Avenue, between 29th and 31st Street. In 1892, Astoria’s Czechs established the Bohemian Citizens Benevolent Society and, eighteen years later, they started to raise the money to build a gathering place. These were the beginnings of the Bohemian National Hall, started on October 1, 1910. Above the entrance the sign „Český domov“ (Czech home) dominates, to stress the fact that the Czech community bonds together even overseas and that every visitor is warmly welcome. Inside, there was a lot going on: school classes, folk-dancing and singing groups in the Sokol gym, meetings of compatriot clubs and societies, as well as weddings, and other celebrations. Czech New York played a significant role in the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, in the struggle against the Nazi occupation during the World War Two and also later after the Communists took power in 1948 and many political émigrés (politicians, artists, scientists, journalists, sportsmen) settled in the city and began to work for the liberation. PhDr. Martin Nekola, Ph.D. received his doctorate in political science at the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. His research is focused on non-democratic regimes, Czech communities abroad and the East-European anti-communist exiles in the USA during the Cold War. From time to time he participates in the election observation missions organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He is the member of Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEES), Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU) and Czechoslovak Studies Association (CSA), he is the author of more than three hundred articles and has published twenty books. He is also the Czechoslovak Talks Project (www.czechoslovaktalks.com/en) coordinator. Courtesy of Martin Nekola Proof of Vaccination is required to enter the venue. Photo ID will be checked. Thank you!