Jasmine Novak

Paper 1: Who Are We

Dr. Harrison
10.21.15

My Czech Journey
Where I am from there is an immense array of differing cultures. However, when we
moved to Detroit in the summer of 1913, it was whole new experience of cultures; it was much
more than our neighboring Germans, Poles, Slavs, Hungarians and Austrians. It was so surreal to
us all. We wondered how we even ended up in America, nonetheless this emerging city. It was so
different and everyone was different. We had a difficult time adjusting, in fact, we never really
adjusted because during the war we decided to head west where agriculture was prominent; us
Czechs are good at agriculture. In fact, my father learned to farm from his father, who learned
from his father who learned from my great-great grandfather. As much as we wanted to stay in
Prague, Detroit had so much more to offer. Although, Detroit was not the place I wished to be as
a young girl, as I grew older, I realized the impact it had on my life.
My father, Jiri, was the most upset about our move, he felt as if he was leaving his
heritage. His great-grandfather was an original Novak in Prague. His Papa, was not originally
from Prague but he eventually settled in an area there with his wife and three children. The city
however, was already established and since he was a newcomer they named him Novak
(Vznikala). He never left there and no other generation left either, except for my father. So,
naturally, my father was distraught about the move, but in reality he had no choice. He began to
save money and once he had enough, he decided that America was our best bet. It was said that
industry was booming, especially in Detroit. He hoped that because industry was booming there
would be a need for farmers to feed all the people. We were also told the city was full of
immigrants and that around a third of its population were foreign born (Martelle). This gave us
hope that we would fit in. My brother, Evzen, and I asked why we could not move to another

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European country and my father replied, Because theres too much movement here. No matter
where we go there will be too many people looking to do the same thing. It was said that twice
as many people moved in and out of the town each year as were born or died there (Hoerder).
We gathered our stuff and after several weeks we finally arrived in America. It was a
rough journey and I missed school and my friends. I wept to my mother, Maminka, I miss
school. Will there be schools when we arrive? She looked at me with curious eyes and a faint
smile replying, I dont know Lyddie. Im not sure how many of us there are. But, if there is not,
Im sure we can figure something out. Education has always been important to Czechs. Nearly
all of us who immigrated to America could read and write due to the educational polices of the
Austrian regime (Molinari). Once in Detroit, it did not take long for us to find a place to settle.
Although there were not many Czech communities we found one. Everyone decided that it
would be best to establish some ground rules that would help us stick together. There were only
three set rules. The first being that the community would be named, Zabovni a Podporcujici
Spolek Buchlov which simply meant the Social and Benefit Society of Buchlov. Buchlov was a
famous castle in the Czech Republic in the city of Moravia. The second rule was that we all
needed to promote brotherhood, social entertainments, mother tongue and to strengthen the mind
by education. Then the final rule was that we were to support members in case of sickness and
death (Bicha, Survival). I was so ecstatic that I could finally get back to school. Plus, the society
made me and my family feel very secure and safe. This especially, reassured my father that he
had made the right choice. Back home, our community was very supportive, just like this one.
So, to come to America and have that same support really helped us to ease into our new life.
We stayed in Detroit until the First World War. My father and brother worked in the
factories. My father had trouble understanding how it all worked, while my brother quickly and

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efficiently learned the best ways to work. My father hated working there, and although there
were farms to work on there were not very many, so he never had the chance to do what he
loved. Soon my mother and father began to notice how people began to adapt to others. They
were not against this, however, they were afraid that with all the intermingling, Czech culture
would somehow get lost. It scared them because not only they leave their homeland, they were
the first generation to do so. Even though I was at the tender age of 15, I too, was very attached
to my culture and did not want to get lost in trying to be like others. Living in the society
enriched homage to our heritage though, and kept it in our minds. As the war approached more
and more Czech began to assimilate because they did not wish to be deemed as German
Sympathizers (Molinari). My brother who was 18 at the time was one of these assimilators and
was intrigued by the other people. He wanted to know more about them and often ventured
outside the society to learn about those people. He was becoming what would soon be called the
new generation. A generation that would make up their own common fund of stories and songs
that they would share and use to define their sense of life (Fisher 40). In fact, when my father,
mother and I left Detroit in the spring of 1914, he stayed. The main reason for our departure was
because my father felt remorse for leaving the homeland, so the least he could do was keep the
farming going.
While I enjoyed Detroit and could have stayed because there were many jobs that I could
do such as house work and cooking, I was too young to make my own choice. So, my father,
mother and I said our goodbyes to Evzen and headed to Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, Czech
communities were specifically founded for agricultural purposes (Bicha, Czechs). This was relief
for my father and he often quoted Tocqueville saying, Its the corn which saves the family of the
emigrant from inevitable destruction (Tocqueville 248). He was so thankful for this corn.

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Often times though, we missed Prague. But we knew that now there was definitely no going back
with the war and all. So to comfort me, my mother would read Josef Baudi, Czech Folk
Tales, and when she did it always made me feel better.
My parents never left Wisconsin. I always missed Detroit, though. I loved the fast paced
society and the opportunity to interact with the other Czechs but yet still learn about cultures and
adapt to the culture. Eventually, I moved back and became a teacher at one of the local Czech
schools. Im happy with my decision. I think it made me more appreciative of experiencing new
things. When I was 15, I was too young to comprehend that I did not have to change who I was
just because I was surrounded by others. Not to mention, my parents influence was very strong.
I have not lost my culture, I still know howand still do make our famous Kloaches. But I have
also learned a great deal from my husband who is Greek. Visiting Detroit opened my once closed
mind to all the possibilities life has beyond my Czech background, and for that I am thankful.

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Works Cited
Baudi, Josef. Czech Folk Tales. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1883. Digital Public Library of
America. Web. 14 Oct. 2015
Bicha, Karel D. "The Czechs in Wisconsin History." The Wisconsin Magazine of History 53.3
(1970): 194-95. JSTOR. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Bicha, Karel D. "The Survival of the Village in Urban America: A Note on Czech Immigrants in
Chicago to 1914." International Migration Review 5.1 (1971): 72-74. JSTOR. Web. 14
Oct. 2015.
Fisher, Phillip. Democratic social Space. Still the New World: American Literature in a
Culture of Creative Destruction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 33-55.
Hoerder, Dirk. "Metropolitan Migration in the Past: Labour Markets, Commerce, and Cultural
Interaction in Europe, 1600-1914." Journal of International Migration and Integration
1.1 (2000): 39-58. ProQuest. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
Martelle, Scott. "Chapter 7 A Great Migration." Detroit: A Biography. Chicago, IL: Chicago
Review, 2012. 85-93. Print.
Molinari, Christine. "Czech Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Ed.
Thomas Riggs. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2014. 619-632. Gale Virtual Reference
Library. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Tocqueville, Alexis. Fortnight in the Wilderness. Tocqueville in America. Ed. George W.
Pierson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1938. 229-259.

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Vznikala Nase Prijmeni, Jak. "Czech Surnames." Origin and Distribution of Czech Surnames.
Tripod, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.