Novacek - Border crossings : coming of age in the Czech resistance : a memoir

BORDER
CROSSINGS

Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance

A Memoir

Charles Novacek

ten21
press
Detroit

TEN21 PRESS
Detroit, MI 48211

Copyright 2012 by Sandra A. Novacek

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information write to Ten21 Press, P.O. Box 11232, Detroit, Michigan 48211 or visit the website www.charlesnovacekbooks.com

Peace In Our Time
Words and Music by Elvis Costello
Copyright 1984 by Universal Music Publishing MGB Ltd.
All Rights in the United States and Canada Administered by Universal Music MGB Songs
International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved
Reprinted by Permission of Hal Leonard Corporation

Jacket/Cover design by Kimberly Glyder Design
eBook design by Five Rainbows Services (www.FiveRainbows.com)
Cartography by Bruce Grubbs

All cover and interior photographs courtesy of Sandra A. Novacek
All Charles Novacek artwork courtesy of Sandra A. Novacek

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Novacek, Charles.
Border crossings : coming of age in the Czech resistance / Charles Novacek.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-9854151-0-5 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-9854151-1-2 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-9854151-2-9 (e-book)
1. World War, 1939-1945Underground movementsCzechoslovakiaBiography. 2. World War, 1939-1945Personal narratives, Czech. 3. CommunismCzechoslovakia. 4. ImmigrantsUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.
D802.C95 N68 2012
943.703dc23
2012905875

For Mother and Father

Out of the aeroplane stepped Chamberlain with a condemned mans stare

But we all cheered wildly, a photograph was taken,

as he waved a piece of paper in the air

Now the Disco Machine lives in Munich and we are all friends

And I slip on my Italian dancing shoes as the evening descends

And the bells take their toll once again in victory chime

And we can thank God that weve finally got

peace in our time

Theres a man going round taking names no

matter who you claim to be

As innocent as babies, a mad dog with rabies, youre still a part of some conspiracy

Meanwhile theres a light over the ocean

burning brighter than the sun

And a man sits alone in a bar and says Oh God,

what have we done?

Elvis Costello, Peace In Our Time

Preface

V olumes have been written about World War II and the Cold War, but few are eyewitness accounts by adolescents. Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance is a one-of-a-kind story written by my late husband Charles (Karel) Novacek, who as a child and young adult served in the Czech Resistance against the Nazis and then the Communists. Charles died in July 2007, shortly after finishing this memoir. He wanted it published so that one of the little-known stories of wartime Czechoslovakia would be read and preserved.

On October 21, 1996, Charles and I took a leap of faith that astonished our colleagues, friends and families. We married. Charles Novacek was a retired, Czechoslovakian-born engineer/artist and widower nearly two decades my senior. I left my successful position as a small-town library director, sold my picturesque Victorian home, gave away much of my furniture and belongings and moved to Charles twenty-third floor apartment building in downtown Detroit, Michigan. What to some seemed an act of impulse was for me an act of joy.

It wasnt by accident that the American, native English-speaking librarian met the Czechoslovakian-American widower with the enchanting accent. The lonesome widower contacted a mutual friend (a known matchmaker) with his list of specifications: an educated woman who could be a good companion for travel and a friend and muse to inspire him to create paintings and craft a memoir of his coming of age in wartime. Charles was no Nabokov and I was no Vera, but with humor he told me thats how he thought of us. He had a story he needed to tell and I had the qualifications to help and encourage him.

After our first meeting I felt a strong attraction to Charles. He was charming, witty, and disarming. I had a job I loved for twenty-one years. I was divorced and self-sufficient. I knew I would not be the love of Charles life, but I would be his last love.

For nearly eleven years the two of us had a good life together. We traveled to many of the scenes of Charles childhood, the happy places with his parents Antonin and Maria and the strife-filled places of the German and Russian occupations. In the Czech Republic, I met his sister Vlasta; her husband Mirek; and Uncle Josefs wife, Aunt Helena. During these times Charles started to reveal his story. He told me about the photos on his desk of Tom Garrigue Masaryk, his hero and the first president of Czechoslovakia, and of his deceased uncle Josef Robotk, another hero and leader in the Czechoslovakian Resistance.

Charles never doubted he had a story to tell. He had tried to write the book many times. But he struggled, trying to find his voice while enduring the pain of remembering. It had been better to wait, but now was the time. He wrote and I read and offered suggestions.

The more I learned from Charles the more I wanted him to tell. I knew he had an important story. Like most Americans, I knew nothing of the chronicles of Czechoslovakia. We have been well served by historians who documented World War II, its causes, its battles and the fall of the Third Reich. But few Americans are aware of the Munich Agreement of 1938 and how the dishonesty of Englands Chamberlain coupled with the cowardice of the French Daladier sold out to Hitler and destroyed Czechoslovakia. And not many people realize that when World War II ended for the rest of the world, the Soviet troops rolled in and the Communists occupied the remaining Czech territory. In fact, the toll the Communists would exact on the people of Czechoslovakia (and the other Eastern bloc countries) would not be fully understood for several years.

When Charles died I lost my confidant, but I have the memory of his loving eyes, his sense of humor, his crooked smile, his grace and tenderness. I still feel like a very lucky woman even though hes not hereto have been given so much love and devotion, to have learned so much, I could never in my wildest dreams have wished for more.

A few months after Charles death, I decided by chance to attend a public library program featuring noted Chinese author Da Chen speaking on writing and publishing memoir. Arriving early I was able to speak to him about Charles life and manuscript and his determination to have it published before his death. Da Chens message to me was, He gave you love, now you must give him immortality. These words and the memory of Charles have kept me moving forward to publish his memoir even when the task seemed overwhelming. I am thrilled to present Charles story, Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance , to be read and preserved as he wished.

Sandra A. Novacek
2012

Introduction

M any people sought out predictions for their futures in the year 2000, but I chose to look back to my past instead; and so I began writing this memoir after graduating that year, at the age of seventy-two, with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. For a long time I postponed writing, hoping to attain even greater proficiency in English. However, my advancing age set memory deficiencies in motion, and soon I realized that I was beginning to have difficulty remembering certain details. It was a noteworthy discovery. With astonishing accuracy, memories of my childhood through middle age were well preserved in my mind; yet to clearly recall the 1970s and later years I had to revisit and research some segments of my life.