Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-05
Hvasta Flying Home
After 5 Hectic Years
Under Red Czechs
BY The Assoeloied Press

V4O4N4A14s NACAAAAeAA S0s
A happy John Hvasta few back
today toward freedom in the
United Staes. the land Of his
adoption. after five fantastic
years-in prison and in hiding
in Red-ruled CZechoSlovakia.
the land Of his birth.
The winner of a grim cat
and-mouse game with Commu-
mist officialdom took off for
Zurich, Switzerland. on the first
leg Of q flight to New York.
Mr.. Hvasta reached the air.
port from Nuremberg in a United
States consulate Car Just in time
to board the plane. He is due
at New York's Idlewild Airport
at 1925 am. EST tomorrow.
Sheltered In q. s. Embassy.
First a prisoner, then a fugi-
tive, then a refugee sheltered for
four months in the United States
Embassy in Prague, the 26-year-
old Czech-born United States
Navy veteran started catching up
on freedom when a State De-
partment car whisked him
through the Iron Curtain at the
Czech German border yesterday
The full story of at least one
phase-how he bounced from
pillar to post as a hunted man
in Czechoslovakia for 81 months,
always one step ahead of his Red
pursuers-may never be publicly
told It could touch of reign
of terror against the anti-Red
Czechs who sheltered him.
Like Associated Press Core
spondent William N. Oats, freed
from Czech imprisonment last
May II, Mr.. Hvasta was accused
by the Red regime of espionage.
He was sentenced to 10 years.
He had served 2kz years when he
took part in a five-man break
from Leopoldov prison near
Bradshaw early in 1852. Then
came his 81 months as a fugitive
and four months in the Prague
Embassy. technically American
soil. while diplomats dickered
over his fate.
The Prague radio. skipping the
details, reported he had been
released" and ordered expelled.
will Rejoin Family.
United States military police
men stood guard as Mr.. Hvasta
slept overnight at the Grand
Hotel in Nuremberg, IS miles
north of Munich. His final
flights to safety were all ar
ranged by a jubilant United
States Government.
Mr.. Hvasta looked forward to
the reunion tomorrow with mis-
parents, Mr.. and Mrs. Michael
Hvasta of Hillside, N. j.. like him
naturalized citizens of the United
States. The family came to the
United States in 1899.
Their JOY at his release was
reflected in the tumbled words
of Mrs. Hvasta in Hillside: I'VE
waited for this day; oh, how we
waited for this day"
Johns younger brother, Ste
ven, %. said: For five years we
have been hoping. It's been up
and down. and we didn't know"
Steven is brewery worker. as
is his father.
Studying in CzechOsIovakia.
John Hvasta returned to
Czechoslovakia in 1948 as a stu
dent under the CT Bill of Rights
at the University of Bradshaw.
He worked four months at the
United States consulate general
In Bratislava. But Czechoslo-
vakia still considered him a
Czech citizen. He was arrested
in October that year as spy.
The conviction came the follow
ing May.
There was no immediate news
about Mr.. HvaSta's wife, beau
tiful young Czech he married
while in prison. Ironically, the
wedding was five years ago to the
day on which he left Czechoslo-
vakia a free man.
Gabrielle DAMS Hvasta, Ill
with tuberculosis and harried by
Czech police. has been in and
out of sanitariums and jails ever
since her wedding, February 4.
1949. There has been no wore
of her whereabouts since late
1850.
The State Department re-
vealed the carefully guarded
secret of Mr.. HvaSta's successful
fight in an announcement yes
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