In early 1919, Polish Army officer Stanislaw Kawczak was responsible for border negotiations in a disputed area of Silesia following an armed conflict between Czechoslovakia and Poland over the city of Cieszyn.  Brought in blindfolded to the Czechoslovak Army camp for talks, Kawczak shared dinner and beer with his former battlefield opponents after the official business was done.

Learn more on Saturday, May 15 at noon Central Time as Kawczak’s grandson Andrew Kavchak of Canada talks about a new English translation of his grandfather’s book Dying Echos: Memoirs of the War 1914-`1920, an account of the 20th Infantry Regiment of the Austrian-Hungarian Army during World War I, and Kawczak’s successor Polish unit in 1919-1920 during the Polish-Soviet War.

Kawczak’s unit served in the same Carpathian foothills area east of Krakow as the Austrian-Hungarian 98th infantry Regiment, an ethnically Czech unit that defected to Russia in early 1915. Dying Echos was originally written in Polish and in 1920s Poland held in same literary regard as Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front were for English-speaking audiences.

Kawczak was killed during the 1940 Katyn Massacre by the Soviet Union. His book was banned in Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Communist period.  

The May 15 talk is sponsored by the American Council for Polish Culture
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/902135013

An excellent resource for those just getting started in Czech genealogy is the Czech Genealogy for Beginners blog.

Here is a post everybody should read from the site. It answers the following questions about house numbers:

- When did house numbering begin and why?

- How were house numbers first given?

- How did the systems change over time?

- How frequent were house renumberings and how did that work?

- How can I know which house number I'm looking at?

Slovakia and the United States are separated by thousands of miles.  Slovak architect Lenka Petráková is hoping to make the waters that have historically connected us – the world’s oceans – a cleaner place.  

Petráková has designed The 8th Continent a “floating station restores the marine environment's balance by collecting plastic debris from surface and breaking it down to recyclable material. It connects the ocean plastic recycling centre with a research and education facility.”

The station’s unique floral design recently earned an architectural award from the Jacques Rougerie Foundation of France, a non-profit that “encourages boldness and innovation in architectural undertakings as well as artistic creation relatd to sea and space in order to bring out the next Leonardo da Vinci, Jules Verne, Gustave Eiffel, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier of the 21st Century.”

From her office in London, Petráková will share more about her work as CGSI celebrates global innovation in architecture by Slovaks and Czechs at a webinar on Saturday Jan. 30.  CGSI will highlight the acocmplishments of three giants of the profession who respectively made an impact in 19th Century America (Leopold Eidlitz), China in the 1920s (Laszlo Hudec) and in the Caribbean of the early 20th Century (Antonin Nechodoma)..

Journey with us across the seas to unique tropical Prairie School homes in Puerto Rico, to the first skyscrapers in the commercial heart of pre-Communist Shanghai and to the historic sidewalks of New York. See our home page for sign up details.   

Petráková studied architecture at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her proposed ocean cleaning station consists of five parts:

• A Barrier to collect waste and harvest tidal energy
• A Collector, where waste is sorted, biodegraded and stored
• A Research and Education Centre to study and showcase aquatic environments
• Greenhouses where plants are grown, and water is desalinated
• Living Quarters with support facilities

Original Czech:

"Ajta! Jaroslav jak orel letě:

      tvrdú ocel na mohúcech prsech

      pod ocelí chrabrosť, udatenstvie,

      pod helmicú velebyster věhlas;

      jarota mu z žhavú zrakú pláše.

      Rozkacen hna, jako lev drážlivý,

      když mu teplú krev sě udá zřieti,

      tehdy nastřelen za lovcem žene:

      tako vluti sě, vz-Tatary trči;

      Češie za niem, jako krupobitie.

      Vrazi kruto na Kublajevica,

      i by pótka ovšem velelutá:

      srazista sě oba oščepoma,

      zlomista je oba velím praskem.

      Jaroslav, ves ve krvi s ořem sbrocen,

      mečem Kublajevica zachváti,

      ot ramene šúrem kyčlu protče;

      takož spade bezduch mezi mrchy,

      zarachoce nad niem túlec s lukem." -

I was reading this article when I discovered that the mythical 13th century legend Jaroslav ze Šternberka did not exist.

Jaroslav... who?

I had not heard of this particular person before, but one can't get very far into Czech history before hearing the name Šternberk. (It's Sternberg in English, because apparently we are allergic to diacritical marks). 

In fact, when we visited the Czech Republic in 2017, we stayed one night at Zámek Jemniště, which is still owned by a branch of the Šternberk family. They gave us a personal tour, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. I highly recommend it! Our fictitious 13th century Jaroslav apparently even appears in the 19th century art in this castle, too!

Jaroslav was allegedly sent to Moravia by King Václav (you know, Good King Wenceslaus?) with 8,000 Czechs. He gathered the Moravian forces into Olomouc, totaling 12,000 men. They defended themselves from Tatar attack there for a long time, and then when the time was right, attacked furiously - and won a decisive and glorious victory against the Tartars (as was described so eloquently in the Rukopis královédvorský poem from above). 

Except that Rukopisy královédvorský was a 19th century forgery of a 13th century document, so none of this actually happened. The whole thing was supposedly discovered in 1817 (then transribed and printed in 1819) to look like it was from the 1220's.

I mean, there are multiple other real people named Jaroslav ze Šternberka, but the one who heroically defeated the Mongols? No. Yet many, many people were fooled, including artists who went to great lengths to paint intricate frescoes about the subject. It was a popular topic for 19th and very early 20th century artists, poets, and writers, fitting nicely into the Romantic ideals of the Neo-Baroque style.

The manuscript even fooled František Palacký, famous historian and politician. 

I personally think that somebody ought to make a movie about this.

Or at least a Wikipedia article in English...

In case you're wondering,  the first translation was mine (with help), and the English to medieval English translation was entirely mine, with the help of this awesome dictionary. The best part? It doesn't even have to be proper "ye middle Englishe" - it just has to be passable! 

And yes. If you're wondering, I had wayyyyy too much fun with this. It doesn't really get much better than forged epic medieval poetry.