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Texas Czech Genealogical Society: Blessed Beyond Measure

When Texas Czech Genealogical Society envisioned the idea of paying a special tribute to our Czech heroes who paid the Ultimate Sacrifice while serving our great nation in uniform, our thought was to have a special recording via an internet link lasting an hour. Because of our Czechs in Uniform Volumes I, II, and III books, and additions we have received since publishing them, we were in possession of many names and photos.

Wanting to pay tribute to as many as possible, we asked for additional submissions. Because of the response, all we can say is “Thank you. We have been blessed beyond measure.”

It is estimated that in order to pay tribute to all our heroes we currently know, it would take nearly seven hours of watching the recording. For this reason, we are saddened to say we will not be able to proceed with the project for this upcoming 2023 Memorial Day week as planned. However, plans are already in the works for a special Tribute to Czech Veterans, especially those who gave their lives for our freedom, in 2024.

Charlene Hurta TCGS Vice President —SPJST—

Czech Center Museum Houston welcomes Stribrnanka for May 23 concert

Dear Friends,

Don’t miss this special opportunity! Join us in welcoming the Moravian band Stříbrňanka back to Houston on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. Touring from the Czech Republic, the band will play only four engagements in Texas. Enjoy an evening program featuring Czech classics, folk, waltz, and polka music.

The performance is Tuesday, May 23 at 7:15 p.m. at Czech Center Museum Houston. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary light refreshments and a Jelinek tasting. Beverages will be available for purchase featuring Moravian wine, Czech beer, and freshly canned beer from Pivovar in Waco, Texas.

Post-performance meet-and-greet to follow. Complimentary valet parking will be available. Tickets may be purchased on our website at czechcenter.org

Czech Center Museum Houston is located at 4920 San Jacinto Street in Houston. General admission tickets are $25 and $15 for students (valid ID required upon entry). We hope to have you join us!

The tour is organized by Czech Educational Foundation of Texas and the University of North Texas College.

—SPJST—

The Origin And Evolution Of The Kolache

Czech Heritage Museum

119 West French Avenue

Temple, Texas

Thursday, May 11, 2023

5 to 7:30 p.m.

Rudolfina Schefcak Nevolova: Queen at Rad Cislo No. 29, Praha Taylor 5-Year Jubilee

Dear Vestnik Readers, I am looking for any information (letters, photos, or stories) on Rudolfina Schefcak Nevolova. A story from my youth has always stuck with me and made me wonder what happened to her. We would go to my grandparents’ (Roland Hugo Sefcak and Bertha Rozacky Sefcak) home for Sunday svačinas. During one visit, we were told Papaw (Roland) had a relative named Rudolfina who came to Texas to visit from Czechoslovakia. She went back to Czechoslovakia, and no one ever heard from her again. They thought she was killed in a concentration camp. My grandparents’ scant information on her included one Vestnik article Rudolfina had written that someone had translated from Czech and the back pages of someone’s will, listing Rudolfina and her son as beneficiaries. My journey began.

The information in this letter is what I’ve gathered trying to translate articles printed in the Vestnik in the late 1930s and early 1940s from Czech to English, finding information from the internet, and listening to family stories. I could be incorrect in some of it, but it might jog someone else’s memories about her.

Rudolfina went by Ruby and sometimes Ruth and was born around 1882. Her husband was Jan Nevola. They had a son born in 1906 in Hostalkova, Czechoslovakia, named John Nevola. Her parents were Jan and Franciska Schefcak. She came to the United States twice, in 1900 and 1937, from Hostalkova to visit. While she was in Texas, she visited with many friends she had made and her many relatives in the Taylor area -

Leshikar, Svedlenak, Holly, and Glover, to name a few, and the Joseph Holick family, her cousin, of College Station. She stayed with her brother and sister-inlaw, Hugo Schefcak and Mary Svedlenak Schefcak, in Dallas at 221 Starr Street. Her first trip was recorded on the passenger list of the Borkum dated July 1900. She was 18 and arrived with her father and brother Albert. She stayed for about three years. During that time, she was the queen of the 5-Year Jubilee of the founding of SPJST Lodge 29, Taylor, Texas. The second time she came to the United States was in 1937 on the Normandie, arriving in New York. While she was here, she wrote a lot for the Vestnik between 1938 and 1939 about the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. She was receiving letters from friends and family from back home describing how the Nazis made things look better to the outside world than they were, food shortages (my grandmother, Bertha Rozacky Sefcak, remembers an aunt from Texas making a roux of flour and lard and putting it in a jar to mail back to relatives in Czechoslovakia that didn’t have much to cook with), and the rough life of the civilians. Ruby’s articles asked for donations of gold items to send back to Czechoslovakia to help defend it from the Nazis. The donation project was mentioned as Golden Treasure.

Ruby had to leave the States on July 20, 1939, and return to Czechoslovakia, to the dismay of her friends and relatives. It sounded as if her visa was about to expire as she had entertained the idea of staying in Canada or Mexico for a while and then coming back, but she didn’t know anyone there. She had her home and family in Czechoslovakia to get back to. The last letter she wrote on United States soil was printed in the July 26, 1939, issue of the Vestnik. She writes about wishing she could take the letters from Czechoslovakia she had received while in Texas back with her, but that it would have been dangerous for her to have them in her possession and for the letter writers if the Nazis found them. I’m wondering about those letters. Did she destroy them before she left or leave them in Texas with someone?

I can only find one letter of Ruby’s that made it out of Czechoslovakia when she got back there. It was printed in the July 24, 1940, issue of the Vestnik and had been written on May 1, 1940.

The Dallas Morning News printed an article on March 21, 1953, about Rudolfina’s halfbrother, Emil Schefcak, and his family escaping communism in Czechoslovakia by coming to the United States to stay with his half-brother, Hugo Schefcak, with whom Rudolfina had stayed during her time here. Emil mentioned in the article he had a sister and a brother killed by the Nazis. There is a book called Vsetin: Its Fight for Freedom by Richard Pavlik. It is a compilation of the stories gathered by John Koluch soon after World War II ended from the residents of Vsetin County about the Nazi persecution they endured during the Nazi occupation in their area. In the back of the book is a list honoring the fallen heroes fighting for freedom who had died at the hands of the Nazis. Rudolfa Nevolová and Otto Sefcak, Rudolfina’s brother, both of Hostalkova, are listed among the deceased from Vsetin county in the book.

The letters submitted to the Vestnik in the late 1930s and early 1940s have been fascinating to read. There is a lot of interesting history about Czechoslovakia during World War II. Translation of the letters is daunting, but what you find and learn is a reward.

If you have any information on Rudolfina, please email or call me. It would be much appreciated to know more about Rudolfina.

Best regards,

Stephanie Kunze Patschke TCGS member Hutto, Texas Lpgroundrk@aol.com 512-826-7453

Dallas Sokol welcomes Czech band Stribrnanka on May 28

Dallas Sokol, located at 7448 Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Texas, will host Stribrnanka on Sunday, May 28, 2023. Stribrnanka, a band from the Czech Republic, will conclude their Texas tour at Sokol hall. A roast dinner will be served from 4 to 7 p.m. Music and dancing is from 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is free of charge. Dinner is $15 for adults and $8 for children.

Czech Kolache Klobase Festival

June 10 in East Bernard

This is the 32nd year for the Czech Kolache Klobase Festival scheduled for Sat., June 10, 2023, at Riverside Hall in East Bernard, Texas, located about 45 miles southwest of Houston on Highway 90-A. This event brings people together to enjoy good music, good food, and to celebrate ethnic heritage and culture.

Entertainers

Beginning at 10:30 a.m. and continuing nonstop until 8 p.m., this year’s festival again features a first-rate lineup of entertainers – Ennis Czech Boys, Czech and Then Some, Dujka Brothers, Red Ravens, and Al Sulak’s Country Sounds. The three-band concert at 4:30 p.m. inside the hall will feature Czech and Then Some, Dujka Brothers, and Red Ravens.

Kolache Eating Contest

A kolache eating contest sponsored by the KJT State Office is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the pavilion.

Festival Details

Festival admission is $10 per person - children 12 and under are admitted free of charge. The admission fee covers all entertainment and music provided by bands and entertainers in the hall and outdoor pavilion. Parking is free of charge, and there are plenty of handicapped parking spaces. Massive water fans will cool the pavilion to provide a more comfortable setting for dancers and spectators. Arts and crafts booths will be located both inside and outside the hall. Crafts and goods of every kind will be available for sale, and there will be a silent auction. This is a good opportunity to shop for all types of handcrafted items, jewelry, and clothing. Win something sweet in the cake walk, buy raffle tickets to win great prizes including beautiful handmade quilts.

Food Available

A plate lunch will be available for purchase featuring sausage, barbecue chicken, sauerkraut, and other trimmings. The sausage and chicken will be prepared on site the morning of the festival by society members assuring a fresh-cooked meal. Serving begins at 11 a.m. Drive-thru plates-to-go will be available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Of course, there will be hundreds of kolaches for sale throughout the day. Hamburgers and sausage sandwiches will be available for purchase in the afternoon.

Kroj Encouraged

The Festival Committee welcomes and encourages the wearing of Czech costumes to add a festive atmosphere and to further promote the preservation and celebration of ethnic heritage. The Po.L.K. of A. are also urged to attend in their “red and whites” and to join in the spirit of fun and appreciation of the happy sounds of polka and waltz music. A moving flag tribute is scheduled at 3 p.m. and will recognize attending armed services veterans. This will be followed by a grand march featuring the Czech and festive costumes on parade.

For information about game or arts and crafts booths, call 979-531-9747 or email srdujka@gmail.com. For general information or band schedules, call 979533-1902 or 979-232-0265. Visit the festival website at www.kkfest.com for further information.

KJT Society No. 40, the festival sponsor, is a non-profit organization and has been in existence in East Bernard since 1905. The society participates in a program of charitable works including scholarships, social welfare, and civic support. KJT Society No. 40 would like to extend a special invitation to everyone to come out and enjoy the festival.

Martha Viktorin

SPJST Lodge 28, East Bernard —SPJST—

Travis-Williamson Counties CHS meets June 13

The Travis-Williamson Counties Czech Heritage Society will meet Tuesday June 13, 2023, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Springhill Catfish Restaurant,

32nd Annual Czech Kolache Klobase Festival

Saturday, June 10, 2023 • 10:30AM - 8PM

Riverside Hall • East Bernard, Texas

2505 West Pecan Street in Pflugerville, Texas. The restaurant has a buffet from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., or order from the menu. Eating is optional.

TWCCHS will be presenting the $500 TWCCHS scholarship to Jenna Danek. Jenna is a Jarrell High School graduate and is the daughter of Jacqueline and John Danek.

Texas Czech Genealogical Society

Website: txczgs.org

Promoting the study of the genealogy of the particular group of people known as “Texas Czechs.”

For membership: Marie Dulak 979-324-7871

Please consider joining our society to help preserve Czech heritage and try to attend the meetings. For additional information, contact President Dotty Davis at dottydavis9@gmail.com or call 512-663-6592.

Janie Zbranek TWCCHS Reporter —SPJST—

INSIDE AIR CONDITIONED HALL, WOOD DANCE FLOOR: ENNIS

BOYS

-1PM CZECH & THEN SOME 1- 2PM, 5 - 6PM

DUJKA BROS. 2 - 3PM, 6 -7PM RED RAVENS 3:30 - 4:30PM, 7- 8PM

FLAG/VET TRIBUTE AND GRAND MARCH 3-3:30PM

THREE BAND CONCERT 4:30-5 PM

UNDER PAVILION IN WATER-FAN COOLED COMFORT:

AL SULAK’S COUNTRY SOUNDS 12-2PM, 2:30-4PM

KOLACHE EATING CONTEST 2-2:30PM

Sausage/Barbecue Chicken Plate Lunch - 11AM

Drive-Thru Plates - 11AM -1PM

Sausage Sandwiches and Hamburgers Available in the Afternoon

Cake Walk • Arts/Crafts • Raffle • Silent Auction • Lotsa Kolaches!

Booth info: 979-531-9747 or email srdujka@gmail.com

General info: 979-533-1902 or kkfest.com