SVU |
CZECHOSLOVAK SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES |
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