SVU

CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

MN CONFERENCE 1999

Echoes from the SVU MN Conference

Mila,
I had a great experience in Minn. Thank you for insisting I attend. I also want to thank you for keeping the promoters out of the SVU conference. There are many who just want to promote themselves and their tours etc. The event was professional and the organization is therefore something that I am interested in supporting more and more in the future. My son is 22 and speaks Czech now after living for 2 years in the Republic. I've mentioned the organizations interest in having young people get involved and he is interested. Perhaps he can attend the conference on 2000 with my wife and me. I enjoyed meeting your wife for the first time.
Tom Hrncirik
Co-Director, Moravian Historical Society
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Dear Miloslav:
Congratulations on leading a very well-organized and successful conference. With so many people and activities that needed to be planned and coordinated, it must have been something like moving a circus. But it went off flawlessly; nothing failed; everything and everyone was where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be,  and the whole thing appeared to run like a well-oiled Swiss watch.  Nice job.
I'd like to thank you for your courtesies and the many kindnesses you extended to me and Kathy while we were in Minneapolis.  We appreciated the opportunities you provided us to see and hear Pres. Havel so "up-close", and especially the opportunity to be in the group photographed with him.
Joe Vosoba
Past President of the Nebraska Czechs
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Dear Milo !
We want to congratulate you on the most successful SVU conference ever. Well done!  I am spreading the  word around.  In every respect, it was clearly one of the most memorable event in the history of SVU.  You can be proud.
Jan F. Triska
Stanford University
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First, let me thank all of you for your presentations and outstanding contributions to the discussion. I need to tell you that a lot of people made very positive comments about our session. They liked the discussion, it had a good dynamics - and we had a very good crowd of people attending. It was a joy for me to meet some of you in person for the first time!
Vera Kovacovic,
Chair of the Youth Panel
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A very good conference with excellent topics.  The conference covered a variety of subjects and touched on some very important and interesting ideas. It was especially impressive to hear from individuals raised in the Czech Republic regarding their views on the educational system before and after the Velvet Revolution. I look forward to taking part in the 20th World Congress in Washington in the year 2000.
Deborah Zeman
Vice President, CSA Fraternal Life
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Well organized, high intellectual level, a lot of food for thoughts...
Nada Humlova
President, ST. Catharines Branch of the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada
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Excellent organization, selection of first class topics, well presented, very worthwhile.  
Zdenek Hruban
University of Chicago
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Dear Mila:
I enjoyed very much your recent visit to our center.  I thought the conference and other occasions surrounding President Havel's visit were a success -- I hope you were pleased as well.
Joel Wurl
Curator, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota
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Bylo vse vynikajici.
Lubomir J. Novotny
Executive Director, Czech -North American Chamber of Commerce
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Minnesota byla fajn, skoda, ze bylo tolik zajimavych veci proti sobe, takze to clovek nestihl.
Vera Rollerova
Sefredaktorka Noveho domova
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Viivat Minnesota !
Se zajmem jsme sledovali konferenci s Minnesote v pondeli 26. 4. na Hlasu Ameriky, kde byla zminena cinnost Spolecnosti pro vedy a umeni, rovnez cast projevu halasneho, osobiteho pana guvernera. Tesim se na detailni informace, ktere urcite vyjdou ve Zpravach SVU.
Marie Bokova,
predsedkyne Brnenske skupiny SVU
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Dear Dr.  Rechcigl:
I was pleased to accept your invitation to speak  in a symposium of your Special   Conference last April on Czech and S1ovak America:Quo Vadis? It was the first large-scale SVU activity  I had  attended, and was much impressed by the uniformly high quality of your program and by the scholarship displayed by the participants.
The  overwhelming impression I  carried away, however, was the thought that this grand project had been put together by just two people. Joe Mestenhauser and Mila Rechcigl. Of course, there was a massive institutional support. There was a small   army of volunteers.  All  of them,  however,  had to be recruited,  their effort coordinated and meshed,  and eventually managed to keep obligatory glitches to a tolerable minimum.
With best wishes to you and SVU,
John Richard
President, Czechoslovak National Council of America
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Vazeny pane Rechcigle,
konecne vysilam svoje "echo" ke konferenci. Konference byla skutecne jedinecnym zazitkem. Zda se, ze v jejim usporadani naslo SVU svoje "niche", ve kterem je nemuze zadny krajansky ani exilovy spolek nahradit. Diky mnozstvi ruznych organizaci, ktere se na ni podilely, byl jeji program nicmene odrazem rozlicnych zajmu -- mnoho se mluvilo o vztahu exilu s domovem, NEPRIMERENE mnoho o problemech vlastnich Ceske republice, a  mozna jenom maximalne 1/2 vsech prednasek se tykala hlavni otazky konference -- kam kraci ceska a slovenska AMERIKA. O to vice je potesujici, ze v zaverecne rezoluci ze sve 40. vyrocni schuze si SVU klade za ukol "navrat ke korenum a zvyseni pozornosti venovane nasim kulturnim snaham v zahranici". Na to je opravdu nejvyssi cas. Nemeli bychom podporovat provincialismus Ceske republiky (jak to nazval Petr Pithart) sami tim, ze se -- my take -- zajimame jenom o ni... Cesky narod by mel fungovat po CELEM svete, kazdy z nas tam, kde zijeme -- tak, jak to delaji prislusnici praveho svetoveho naroda.
John Krondl
Vydavatel a sefredaktor Ceskoslovenskych novin

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1999 SVU Conference in Minnesota