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STILLWATER — John Yilek is of half-Czechoslovakian ancestry, but it’s the Norwegian half that’s fascinated him all his life. A fourth-generation descendent of Norwegian immigrants, the retired lawyer has taught the history of his ancestral homeland in multiple venues. He’s traveled to the Land of the Midnight Sun multiple times. And most recently he published a nonfiction book
— the aptly named “History of Norway” — that’s been a lifetime in the making. He figures the Norwegian types who make up about 12 percent of Minnesota’s population (source: 2009 U.S. Census) might be as lured in as he. To limit the scope of the book, he focused on significant people and events “with the intention of giving the reader a fundamental understanding of Norwegian history in just a few hours of reading time.
“I know I’m biased, but Norwegian history is pretty interesting,” said the Stillwater resident, 65. “If you walk into a bookstore, in the history section there are a lot of books about American, British and German history, and some Russian. But you rarely see anything about Scandinavia, which is kind of strange for this part of the country — so many are of Scandinavian descent in Minnesota and Wisconsin.”
Growing up in Sauk City, Yilek picked up some Norwegian language from his mom, who made sure the family only spoke that language until he was 5. Later he was able to step right into intermediate Norwegian language classes at the U of M, which he followed with more study at 93-year-old Minneapolis church and Norwegian culture center Mindekirken.
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