American Fundfor

Czechoslovak RefugeesInc.

1%8.1990

American Fund

Czechoslovaknrr.,s.fS[Inc.

pa.1980

Over many centuries the territory ofCzechoslovakia at the crossroads of Euro-pe was the victim of inctrrsions of neigh*bors. Its people were subjected to rE)res-sive rule that resulted in waves of expa-triation of many thousands of individualsand families to escape from injustice,threat"s of pensecution or e'ren death fortheir religious beliefs or opposition to anew political order to seek securit5r andlife in freedom. Among these, the bestIgnown w.as Bishop Jan Amos Komensky(Commius), educational reformer, teadterof natioars in the l?th century, and in'World

S/ar I Thomas G. Masaryk, EdwardBenes and the famous astronomer, GeneralMilan Rastislav Stefanik, who workedfor the independence of Czeehoslovakia.

The Republic of CzechoslovaHa stab-lished in 1918 beoame the haven ol trnsof thousands who fled from Rnssira afterthe comrnunists came to power. firey werehoused, fed and employed in all fidds ofendeavor. Schools and evenr a uni\rersiiywere provided for the young. The Russianlibrary and archives established in Praguewere the largest in Europe outside theUSSR.

In the 1930s Czechoslovakia gave asy-lum to thousands of Germans fleeing fromNazi op,pression, arnong them ThomasMann, Italians from fascist Italy untilMunich in 1938, when these and Czecho-slovak citizens by the thousands fled frornthe bonler regions first seized by HiUer,and even in greater nurnbes after theGerman occupation and partition of Czechoslovakia in Mareh 1939.

After World War II in 1945 the briefrestor:ation of democracy and independenceended tragically with the corumunistcoup d'6tat with the support of the So-viet Union in February 1948. Again thou-sands of men, women md ehildrert fledfrom their homes in despair to escape ar-rest or perseeution and er/en death beeausethey opposed commurnism and all totalita-rian regimes. They fled with little but theclothing they wore, leaving behind theirhomes with everything in thenrn, some-times even beloved family meurrbers whowene ill or too young and unable to actom.pany them at that time.

Dr. Jan Papanek, then Permanent Dele-gate of Czechoslovakia to the United Na-tions protested the commwrist coup d'6tatin Czeo?roslovakia in th€ Security Councilof the llnited Nations and immediately

began to plan how to provlde help for thethousands fleeing to Germany, Austria andother western European countries. With asmall group of friendq after initial nego-tiations, the Americam tr\md for Czecho-slovak Refugees was founded to extendlmmediate aid to ths esoaping Czechoslo-vax citizens, to provide not omly the ba.sic neede to survive, but also to seek op.portunities that would enable them to bs.come self-sufficient and inrdependent incountries of the free world that wouldreceive thern.

The AFCR was incorporrated on lVlay 3,1948 under the laws of the State of NewYork- It is ,a tax $r€trnpt organization as apublic cha,rity according to Section 501(C) (3) of the trntennal Revenue Code of1969 and at thst time was resistered withthe Advisory Cornrnittee on Volultary

.ft*igt Aid of the Department of State.From its inc.eption the AFCR has arr

Executive Committee, a Board of Directorsa,nd. a Comrnittee of Sponsors that includep€ople representing rnany facets of Ame-rican life including leaders of organizatiocrsof Arnericans of Czechoslovak origin. f,F.James T. Shotwell, President Emeritus ofihe Carnegie Endowment for Interns.*ionalPeace, whose interest in Czechoslovakiawas first manifested u*ren Thomas G. Ma-saryk led the stmggle for its independen-ce i,n \fiorld'War I, acc@ted the chairmann-ship of the Board of Uhe AFCR arrd servedin that post devotedly until the e'rd of195?, when he was elected F{ononary Chair-man. Dr. Jan Parpanek ums electecl Presi-dent and Maleolm Davirs of the CarnegieEhdowment, Alfred Politzer, President ofthe Amerlican Committee for the Liberra-tion of Czeehoslorzrakia of Clevel'arnd, TedF. Silvey of the CIO and Mrs. llanees B.

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Stoddard were its first Vtee.Prestdents.Miles Rehor, New York lrwyer, g,ave g€n-etrously of his time and efforts as ltea-s'urer dlrring the first yea,rs with l[rs.Itroward M. lVtrorse ss Assistsnt Trssurer..dndrew J. Vah.rshek jonnalist and ttrenhead of the Slorrak Cryrnrnastic Union Sokolwtas SBcretary and l\4rs. Anno Peppel waeAssistant Secretary. Dr. Rndolf Sturm wasAdministrative Secretfly aard was suceed-ed by Dr. Irran Ta'borslry. Vojtech Jera-bek soon followed and has remai,ned atheadquarters with Ilr. Papanek over theyeers. IIe is preserrily E:recutive Director.Dr. Kemeth D. Il[iller served as Chair-man from 1957 to 1967 and Malcolm \il.Davis followed until 1970. Jan Hird Po-korny besame Chairmao and continues inths post to the present.

Officers, board meznbers and sXrcnsomof the AFCR included eirch prourineelt per-sons as Mrs. Elealror Roosevelt, SenatorHerbert H. Lehmu. Gover,nor Frank J.Lausche of Ohio, Colonel Joseph Ttiner,President of tr[re Chechoslovak NationalCouncil ol America, Judge Otto Kerner,Drew Pearson, Dorothy Thornpon, MarciaDaveorport, leading represeertati'res of Cze-choslovak press and orgunizations and Dr.Petr Zenkl. President of the Council ofFree Czeehoslovakia. Tlrey were all peoplewho knew and had sylnpathy for democrat-ic Czechoslovakia'and for the victims ofthe new dictatorstrip.

In Novernber 1948 Ih. and Mrs. papa-nek visited refugees in Germrarry who werehoused in unused barraeks and in the di-lapidated woodem buildings that had ser-ved as over.night sleeping quarters forthe rnasses of mm, women and youth that

had attended Hitler's rallies. Ittrey werein desperate need. They suffered cold, andhunger. Theg' lacked warm clothing, shoes,blamkets, food. While their material needswere vital, uncertainty about their futnrewas nerveracking. The visit was reassur-ing to the refugees for Dr. Papanek wasknown not only fo'r his h'umanitarinn serv-ice helping refugees who had fled. toPnague from the border areas aarnexedearlier by Hitler, but also becarxe he haddirected efforts to provide rnudh needdfood, clothiurg and hospital ,supplies for theCzechoslovaks who fought in France andEngland during World \il'ar II and moneyfor their famrilies, as Delegate of tlre Cze-ehoslovak Red Cross. He assured the ref-ugees that there were concerned people inthe free world who wanted to help thernas he d:id, even while he informed themthat there were many difficulties and prob-lem,s that had to be overcome.

The refugees needed to have someoneto speak to in their own lang'uage, to learnof the possibilities of integration in thecountry of first asylum or about resettle-ment elsewhere. They needed to discusq<lpportunities of emplo;rment, not only forthose who had the education, trai,ning orprevious experience in a profession, butfor those who worked in all other fieldsas mechanics, farm€rs, craftsmen, et al.They needed to be urged to study thelanguage' of the country in whieh theyhoped to start new lives. Moreover, theyhad to be advised about existing restric-tions on working in certain occupationeor prrofessions. Many would have to pre-pare themselves for nerur vocations andacq,trire new skills in the months theywaited for integration or resettlement.

Medieal eore, schools for ehild,ren, m,a-

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terial assistance, vocational retraining andlanguage classes had to be provided. Ttrerefugees needd assista,nce to establishcontacts with relatives or friends in thefree world and to secure personal docu-ments wNch they dared not take withthem as thry tried to escape for fear ofbeing catrght by the comrnunist police.Field offices in Europe were essential.Changes in existing imrnigration laws andregulations were required in sorne cou,n-tries befors refugees could be admitted.Working relationehips were set up withgovernmenrt, officials amd the post TtroddWa,r II ocorpation authorities of the coun-tries of first asyh.r,m in Western Europe,primarily in Western Gmmany and Aue-tria.

The AI'CR became one of the voluntaryagencies cooperating with tthe Departmentof State a,nd other federal offices inWashington. Working relations wer€ e6-tahlished with the International RelugeeOrganization (IRO), subsequently with theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Re-fugees ONHCR) and the Intergovernmen-tal Comrnittee for Europeam Migration0CEI/D.

Headquartens of the AI'CR offices wereestablished aI 1775 Broadrvay and a.r,e pres-ently at 1790 Broadway in New York,N. Y. 10019. Its original sta,ff of one sala-ried member grew to two aurd presentlynumbers 10 in expanded office space.Braneh offices have been established asneeded.

The main Eumpean office of the A.FCRlvas opend in Munich in 1949. By theend of 1950, 30,000 Czeehoslovaks hadfled from their homeland. For the distri-

bution of relief sryplis and for the proc-essing for resettlernent bra,nsh officeswere established in Ludwigsburg andCamp Valka near Nu,rernberg. By 1957there were offices in Berrlin, Frankfurt,Hamburg, Nurcmberg and Stuttgart inGermany; Salzburg and Vienna in Austria,Salerno and Ttieste in Italy; in Paris,London, Oslo, Montreal, Toronto; Rio deJa,neiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil. Ttlith adiminishing of nurnbers of new refugeesi,n 1960 many of ths oarnps as well asauxiliary offices were elosed.

At present the AFCR has offices in Mu-nieh, 8000 Munich 5, Reichenbaehstrasrsel2/I. and, Zirndorf in Gerrnany; in Vierura,Gum,pendorferrstrasse 5a, 1060 Vienna andTraiskircheql in Austria; in Paris, 3 rueJules Lernaitre, ?5012 Pqris and in Rome,Via Carlo Dossi 14, 00137 Rome.

The AFCR was fortunate to have theserrrrices of dedicated volunteers, both in-dividuals and organizatioors, not only inNew York, where Mesdames Stodd'a.rd,Morse, Papanek, Hurban and Boor with.Mr. Jaroslav Pokorny were stalwarts, butalso in Califor.nia, Colorado, Florida, Illi-nois, fowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Min-nesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregonr, Penn-sylvania, Texas and in other states in less-er numbers. Ttrs voluntary services rrang-ed from lectures to inform groups of theneefu of the refugees, appealing for funds,colleeting tinned food, elothing, mediealsupplies, etc. to send to the camps to helpseeure assurances for immigr:ration, eoun-seling and eventually providing housingand employtneqnt for the refugeers as theyarrirre'd. CARE provid,ed food pareels,elothing, blankets, ete. when they wenemost needed.

There were rrolunteeqs ln Oa,nada, lnNorway and other westent European coun-tries, Australia and elsewhere oversea{iwho helped in this work. The fine recordof effort and early achieveonent, the self-sufficiency and advanc€ment of the refu-gees in their varied fields of woflk, theirbecoming assets to the conmunities inwhich they settled, provided satisf'actionand pride to the volunteers who workedindefatigably to help those wtro neededhelp.

The European representatives of theAFCR included Rev. Josep,h Novotmy underand arrangement with ttre YMCA, JamesK. Stoddard, M. D., Dr. Jaroslav Peel,Mrs. Consta,nce Sefl, General FrantisekDastieh, Ferdinand Jicinslry, Rw. BLa,tro-slav Hruby, Miehaiel A. Farrell, Dr. Ken-neth D. Miller, Dr. Ivan Taborcky, Dr.Jindrich Andrial, Dr. J. John Brazda, Dr.Vr,atislav Trcka, Dr. Bedrich Syrow, Dr.Barbara Podoski, Jan Krmcir, Miss Eu-genia Tautssig, Dr. Marie Miller, Dr. Bo-humir Bunza. At present Frantisek lfieloun is european director in Munich, CtiborPeeiva in Vieurna, Dr. Jiri Opocsnsky inParis and Mrs. Mim B. Vanek in Rome.

Over the years the staffs of ths Euro-pean offices nu'mbered five to sixteen asthe numbers of refugee registrants flr.rc-tuated. Serrvices in Durope derpended andcontinue to depend on the eooperation andeontraetual support of the Government ofthe United States and private domationrs.

The seope of AFCR serviees to refugeesgrew with the contributions and g€rneroucrregular gifts of many thousands. The rna-jor support eame as the result of the hardfought court action of Dr. Jan Papanek towin the suit brought agaimst hirn by theeomrmunist regime of Czeehoslovakia ln

the Suprerne Court of the State ol NewYork to take possession of ths re nainingunspent 9100,000 that were entrusted tohim for relief of needy Czechoslovaks dur-ing World War II by generous donors.

The principal supporters of the AICRfrom 1948 to the present include Councilof Free Czechoslovakia, National Councilof

'Women of Free Czechoslovakiq Cze-

choslovak National Council of Ameadca,Czechoslovak National Association in Ca-nada and its Women's Council, Czeehoslo-vak Committee of Clevela,nd, Bata ShoeCompany, CARE, Czechoslovak ReliefComrnittee in Oslo, Czechoslova,l< Ttr(}rnen',sCou,ncil in Exile in Ohicago, Boston AFCRheaded by 1Ws. J. Philip Lane, membersof the Executive Comrnittee, Mount AiryLodge witrtr donations arnd ennploymeart,Olga Vondtacek and Frederiek Novy II,sonr€ colporations, morrbers of the Board,sponsom, a few who Ieft legacies alrdothers who wish to remailr anonyrnou;.

In its tltrirty two years of service theAFCR prwided not only rnaterfal aid,food, clothing and medical aid, but also'schola,rships for students to make possiblrthe ccmpletion of univ€Fsity studie inEurope and the United States, suqportedschools for Czeehoslovak refugee ehildr€namd with the dedicated help of Anna Kva-pilova and R.agnar Anderso,n in OsIo, pro-vided for sumrner vacations .annually foran average of 100 of them in Norway,published a read'er with the help of CAREnelped with languag€ eourses and vocational training in Europs and the UtritedStates, traorslated doo.r,ments, arranged forSocial Seeurity c,ards, organled speci,alprojects, sush as the Ellenror Lane BostonIlrla,nch's supplyill,g beautiful layettes toexpeetant mothers and Christmas pack-

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ages for scores of farnilies, helped arrangefor the support of hand,ioapped refirgeesand medical care w.hen needed, traced rel-,atives ,and friends in various countrig ofthe world, provided loar:s in ernergencieqcounseled Czeehoslova,h refugees where-ever they were on sush matters as regis-tering patents, legal matters, claims, re-s'umes, publishing books, office iartervienrs,naturalization proc€durrs for citizenship,social assistance, tr,avel, pereonal pro-blemq etc. In thib way the Atrf,B, carneto function in a sense as a conzulate wouldfor its people.

The most important activity, howeveF,was and continues to be resettlement as-sisbance. Since 1948 the AI'CR has reg-istered and processed some 115,000 Ctecho-slovak refugees for resettleme,nt ol{ lDte-gration. Those who oame to the UnitedStotry were met urpon arrirml, housed. terrr-porarily, provided with pocket rnoney andwhen arra,ngemenb were ready to hanetheurr met, were serrt on to sponsors whoprovided initial food, housing and employ-ment and helped in theio orientation pro-cess. TLre sarne procgdure was followed inCanada. The AICR negotiated wittr gov-ernrnent repres$rtatives of all countriesthat acuepted our refurgees. T?re msjorityof the 115,000 Czechoslovah refugee re-mained in Gerrnarry or Austria or w€[rtto countries of Tlrestern Eurupe, Canada,Australira, United Startes, and fewer tocountries im Africa and Latin America.

Srpecial resettlement projects were €r-ra,ngpd for a g?eat numbe,r of difficult-to-resetUe people - the aged, tuberetrlar andotherwise ill, handlcapped people and fa-milies with mrany childr,en, Norway, Swe-den, Switzerlamd, Canada, Englaqd, Den-rnark, A,ustralia, and the United States

conrrpassionately accepted mailly. However,there still remain scores of trhe originaldifficult cases in countries of first asylurn,mostly in Germnny, and new ones havekept about equal the nu,rnber of thosewho cannot errnigrote. Ttre AFCR providessupplement'al help for these.

In the 1960's the AFCR helped ma,nyCzechoslovak refugees receive some indern-nification from the UNHCR's Indemnifi-cation Fund for the perseution by theNazis they endured dlrring World War II.

Over the years the setting up ol watchtowers, placing of mines along its borders,the clearing of the forested bomdaryareas, barbed wire fences, electrified tripwires and increasing border patrols withtrai,ned dogs made esoape from Czechoslo-vakia much more diffisult and dangerousand the nurnbers of refugees decreased-

The invasion of Czechoslovakia by theSoviet amd W,a,r:sraw Pact armies in Au-gust 1968 after the so callsd Prague Springeaused a sudden great wave of over 100,000men, $rom€n and children to seek asylurn"in the West. Thousands of them remainedin Western Europe, for hhe moot pert inGerma,ny, Switzerland and Austria whearethe gorrernments made special provisionsfor housing and employ,rnent of the pro-fessionals and those with special skills.The AFCR offices were again sw,ampedwith responsibility for arra,nging to placethem. working together with other vol-untary oranizationrs. The greatest num-bers that chose to go overseas were helpedto emigrate to Oanada, Australia and theUnited States.

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The aid provided by the countries olfirst asylum, mainly Germany and Austriirand the support of ths Government of thgUnited StatEs of the refugees during theirstay in Europe was inestimable. Withoutthis government sutrlgrort the AFCR wouldnot have been able to oarry on. So, too'was and is the s€rvice of the intergovenr-mental organizations, such as the UnitedNations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) that is responsible for the legalprotection and counseling of political ref-ugees and provides some limited finaneialsupport to eligible refugees integrated inthe countries of first asylum. The Inter-governmental Committee for European Mi-gration (ICUM) makes possible the over-seas transportetion of refugees to countriesof permanent resettlemreort at very low cost.Without this s€rvice the tens of thous'andsof refugees could not have been resettled.The refugees are to relray tihe tnavel coststo the AFCR and the AFCR recnits themoney to ICEM.

The AFCR extecrds its humanita,riaa ser-vics: in Europe without discrimination tomany Hungarialrs, Poles, Romaliaors andBulgarians, as well as to Czechoslovak rne-fugees, In 1972, the Deparknent of Stateinvited the AFCR together with the othprresettlement agencies tn the ACVAIS tohelp in the resettlement of the Asia,nsexpelled from Uganda by Idi Amin.

In 19?5, the AFCR was one of the agen-cies that was ,asked to participate in theresettlernent of refugees from Cambodia,Vietnam and later Laos. Dr. Jan Paponekwent to the Manine Clarnp Pendleton in Cal-ifornia to set up the Amerloan Fund forCzechoslovak Refugees field office therre.

then deys later he asked his wife Betk4who had been a volunteer with him in theAFCR since its establishment to come andhelp him. They worked together until theCamp closed, taki,ng on additional workersas sp€Ice was dlotted and the arrivals in-creased. The majority of refugees processedby the AFCR were single men, end srnallfarnilies. Registration indicated pensonaldata, their eduoation, former ooculration,rural or urban background, language facil-ity and the prefererrce of the a,rea or statethey wished to live in the United States.

Sponsors who vohmteened to help an in-dividual or farnily were listed from allstates with details of their choice as toage, sox, education, sorne English orFrench requirement or no, trainilrg in acraft, profession, or for manual labor, witha dessiptiorn of the housing they wouldprovide and employment tlrey could. offer.

Ttr€ A-FCR's hard working sta,ff besidesthe Paparneks included ca{ie workers, secre-taries and interpreters. Ttre work, 6 andoccasionally ? days a week entailed, notonly registering the refugees and arrangingintervierils with rsponsors. There w€'r,e tlromailed-in and telephoned offens of sponsor-ships, records to file, deily reports to taketo headquarters l0 miles distant, Agencies'and Task Force rneetings to attenil at noonand late afternoon, arrangements to tra,ns-port refugees fo,r aeeurity and medic"alexrninations, ticketc to secure for theirdepa.rture and inform the sponsors aboutmeeting them on arriral.

A seeond AFCR fleld office u/as openedin Indiantown GaIr, Pennsylvania withKlement Sirhoncic in eharge of securingslrcnsors for the Vietnamese and Cambo-dians who were billeted there. Ttre work-ing proeess was the s,ame aF in Pendlston.

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When in 1979, the Government of theUnited States decided to receive manymore of the great mass,es of refugees whori,sked their lives to escape from Vietnarnin small boats and overl,and and somehowreached Thailand, Mala5es'ia, Singapore, In.donesia, Hong Kong or elsewhere, theAFCR and the voluntary agencies thratwere active in the resettlement of the135,000 in 1975 are presently involved inhelping resettle these.

The AFCR has helped sesure sponsorsfor thousa,nds of Indochinese refugees inthe United States. These sponsors providehousing, needd clothing and food, ernploy-ment for adults, assure attend;ance inschools for the children, send adults toEnglish clases, help orient them to adjwtto Americals qle\M and to them strangeways. The primary goal in the work foq'the Indochinese as for those from Czecho-slovakia and Eastern Europe is to provi-de opporhmities that will make possiblethe self-sufficiency of the newcomers assoon as possible. Yet, atl ane adjust-ing to the new life ,and are eontributingmembers of our society with an apprecia-tion of the freedoms it aJfords.

T?re expanded Indochinese program hasnecessitated the taking on of 5 staff rnem-bers at headquarters who speak Vietna-mese, Carnbodian, Laotian and Chinese andthe opening of new offiees in Boston, SaltLake City and San Francisco with moretha,n 20 additional employees.

Ttrese additional services were mad.epossible with contractual agreernents, co-opena,tion and support of the Governrnentof the United States. Ttre financial accou.nt-ing of the AFCR is mbject to the exami-nation and control of both Nenr YorkState and United States' federal autho-rities.

The expenditurs of the AFCR in sen-ving refugees since 1948 are conservative-ly estimated at $7,000,000 u'ithout con-sideration of the incalculable contributionsof time, effort and money of both indivi-duals and organizations all over the world.

This brief history of the American F-undfor Czechoslovak Refugees cannot ade-quately aclcrowledge the good will, sacri-fices and serrvices of the thousands of com-passionate people all over the world whocontributed to the sum total achievementof the thirty two years of hum,anitarianservice.

16

American FundforOzechoslovak RefugeesInc.1790 Broadway, Roon7l0New York, N.Y. lfi)19212-265-r9r9

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

JANHIRD POKORNY . . .Cha imJANPAPANEK . . PresidentPETERKORDLTLAK. . . . . . . . . .V i ceP res i&n t

andTYwurerALFREDFOLITZER , VicePresidentADOLFKI IMEK. . . . - . . . .Ass i s t an tT reowrM A R T H A S . C 0 G A N . . . . . S e c r e t a r y lANDREWJ.VALUSHEK ..Assista tsecretaryPETERR.duPOI{IERNESTA.GROSSFRANCISL. KELLOGGJOSEPHR.NOVOTNY Members

BETKAPAPANEK . . . ,npv.FneNro.svoebDA . . . : . : . . : . : . . . : . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . .JOSEPHW.TURNWALDVLASTAVRAZ

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

JAN HIRD POKORNYJANPAPANEKMARTHAS. COGANPETER KORDULAK

VOJTECHJERABEK.. . . . .Execut iveDirector

sPoNsoRs

JOHNM. BABUSHKAAUGUSTIN F. DOLEZALMRS. MALCOLM DONALDLIBUSE DROBILKOVAANNA FALTUSMIKULAS FERJENCIK

I VLADIMIR J. FLEISCHERJOHNW. GOLOSINECJOSEPH HASEKVACLAV L. HOLYGEORGE MATULA

' ETHELA.P. MILLERRUTH CRAWFORD MITCHELLMRS- MAURICE T. MOOREFREDERICK G. NOVYRONALDPAPANEKJOSEPH PAWICEKJOZKA A- PE.'SKARMOJMIR FOVOLNYVAVBORYSAVYPAI'L L SAFFOHENRYT. SC}TTYANDARICHARDJ. SEFLJOTHN SLEZAXPAI]LSTI'RMANELIZABETH V. SULLIVANIVANTABORSKYFRANKJ.VODRAZTAEMILIE WEI.CLRUZICKA