ZajednicÌŒar = Fraternalist. [volume] (Allegheny, Pa.) 1894-current, 1955-02-02

they had a fairly we'll or
ganized national state of
Great Moravia, in the very
heart of Europe (the geogra-
phical center of Europe is
located in Bohemia).
They adopted Christianity
in the ninth century and had
the New Testament and litur-
gic books translated into
their native tongue very ear
ly in 1868, which marks the
beginning of their literature.
Nation Once Great Power
Under the name of the
Kingdom of Bohemia this ma
ton rose to a great promi-
nence and power during the
Middle ages.
The Charles University Of
Prague, then the capital of
Bohemia and now of Czecho-
slovakia, was founded six
hundred years ago, in 1348.
1t was the first university in
Central Europe, antcdating
the oldest German university
in Leipzig, and is one of the
five oldest universities in Eu-
rope.
In the fifteenth century
Bohemia became the first
Protestant country on the
uropea continent. The
Czech Reformation, which
was founded on teachings of
Jan Hus (John Huss), who
was strongly influenced by
the English Reformer Wyck-
life, preceded the German
Re alton of Martin
Luther by one century.
Swallowed By Austrians
Bohemia lost it independ-
ence to the Austrian Empire
in the seventeenth century
during the Thirty Years War,
a total war which left only
100000 out of 100000
Czechs living.
Yet in spite of tremendous
odds the sturdy people sur
vived and their country was
reestablished as an independ-
ent nation under the name of
Republic of Czechoslovakia,
headed by President Thomas
G. Masaryk, the leader of the
liberation movement.
Czechoslovakis was born in
the United States, it's declara-
ton of. independence was is
sued by Masaryk, on October
1, 1918, in Washington, D. c.,
and the original of this docu-
ment is preserved in our Lib
rary of Congress.
The Czechoslovak Republic
became the most democratic
nation in Central Europe. 1t
was the last democracy to go
under in the upsurge of Nazl-
ism and Fascism in 1888.
Again it was one of the
last democracies to succumb
to the onslaught of Com
munism in 1948, but was the
first of the captive countries
to resist openly and actively
the new totalitarian rule: the
Czech revolt in Pilsen which
occurred on June 1, 1858,
preceded the revolt of East
Germans in Berlin which took
place on June II the same
year; it was the first blow
for freedom struck against
the Soviet tyranny and be-
came a spark igniting wide
spread revolt against the
totalitarian rule behind the
Iron Curtain.
American Background
The early Czech immi
grants to this country were
known as Bohemians and Mo
ravians Bohemia and Mo
ravia were provinces of the
ancient Kingdom of Bohe
mia).
The first Czech settler
landed in America only thir
teen years later than the Pill
grim Fathers. This pioneer
Augustine Herman by name
came here from his nativ'
Bohemia in 1888. He becam'
a founder of the tobacco in
dustry in Virginia and, bein,
a surveyor by profession, ha'
drawn the first accurate ma
of Maryland.
Frederick Phillipse, an
other Czech of note, is know
as the builder of Manor Hal
in Yonkers, n. Y, in 1853
and of a church edifice i
Tarrytown, one of the oldes
church buildings in tha
state. These two pioneers ar
the best known of a group Q
Czech political and religion
exiles who fled to Americ
when their native countr
lost its independence in 1926