Posted on 06/27/2012 6:05:37 PM PDT by ak267
The year was 1968 and my earliest memory was that of my mother picking me up. She was scared...terrified. I didn't know why mom was so scared but when you're a small child, parents screaming and shouting leaves an indelible mark on you.
"They are coming for us...we must leave."
My parents were part of the reform movement in Czechoslovakia in the 1960's. Dad was a respected doctor, mom was a nurse. After suffering the tyranny of the Nazis, seeing a once proud and industrial country turned into a Communist hell hole, my parents decided to stand up for increased freedoms and an open country.
My ancestral people protested and revolted. They marched, and they staged strikes. They where the "Solidarity movement" of it's time....before it was "acceptable" for the world to get involved....before the time when a Pope, a Prime Minister and a President changed the world.
We were alone...the world watched and we were punished.
My parent's names were on "the list".
By the grace of God, we escaped to the West. With the sponsorship of relatives in the United States, we were granted asylum and we assimilated in a wonderful country called the United States.
It wasn't easy. My parents knew some English but not me. Both had to take thankless jobs. We had tons of gov't paperwork and interviews. We had the help of our Czech community and they gave us new rules to live by:
(1) Learn English (2) Forget your former country, you are now Americans (3) Work hard. Don't be a bum. (4) If you want to make friends, learn to love baseball (Cubs specifically)
Assimilation was hard but rewarding. In school, I was mocked for my poor English and heavy accent (long gone now). In high school, I was called a "commie spy" and picked on but it was worth it because I was free.
We took up American names, listened to that "decadent rock and roll music", became Cubs fans and went to sporting events regularly. Both parents, after many years of paperwork, night school and help from the Czech community got re-certified in their professions.
We were living the dream.
Dad died a few years ago. My mother and I revisited the Czech Republic recently to see how things have changed (mom cried a lot). As a reminder/souvenir, I have our family's arrest order framed and displayed at home.
With recent developments of "quasi-Amnesty" and "Obamacare" I sometimes wonder about my new home. We obey the laws and play by the rules. Is that too to ask these days?
I only wonder...
There are lots of problems in the Republic right now. Let’s try to fix what we can. Your contributions are critical, as they have been since you arrived over four decades ago.
Words of caution don't seem to fall on the legislative ears that are needed to quash the encroaching tyrany
Wow....amazing story.
Thank-you for posting, I appreciate it.
Well you could always go back...
This country is what it is, with its problems and all, most find it the best place on earth.
btt
I didn’t say I want to go back. This is my home. Just don’t want it to become my old home.
I’ve read articles here and there about how the former Iron Curtain countries of eastern Europe have become very freedom and liberty-minded.
With the collectivization of the US starting with the first commune, founded by British industrialist Robert Owen, in New Harmony, Indiana in 1826, and then accelerating during WWI and afterwards, I might be inclined to encourage you and/or your children to emigrate back to your homeland.
OTOH, there really is no place to run anymore from the collectivists, so I would encourage you to stay and try to change it here.
Totally agree. We are the last best hope for the world.
Well then the world is in deep doo doo.
You & me both.
Sure there is. To the high ground, with a case of ammo. ;)
/johnny
Bless you for posting. Too many people take freedom for granted. The lessons of the relatively recent past are not taught to young people. They don’t know what communism is or means. Thank you for this reminder.
Thank God for guns, huh, johnny?!?!!
All I had was personal firearms when the boat-tipping accident happened.
But even a 6 pounder might be something to thank God for.
I'm not arty. I'm a cook. I'm much more comfortable with personal arms.
/johnny
God love you, ak.
We had a friend in the UK who escaped East Germany for a better life. He left all of his loved ones. Hid in the woods and managed to escape (with help from the underground). He was working on his master’s degree at the local uni.
"They" learned a lot taking and then losing your family's country and have been working their plan here for a very long time.
They clearly are very effective, but sooner or later we'll come around.
obama and company turned the heat up too fast and we, the frogs in the pot, are finally noticing how hot the water is getting.
Stories like yours cut through the nightly mainstream propaganda and remind us what happens if we let it boil. It can and will happen here...
Three weeks after I left, the Soviet tanks rolled in.
As a kid our regular babysitter was from Czechoslovakia (she was the best), we sat and watched on TV as the tanks and troops took over Prague. We were well aware of the evils of communism. I now have neighbors who grew up in communist Poland. When I discussed this with them, they said the Russian army tanks and trucks passed through their town night & day for 2 or 3 days straight. As kids, it put a fear in them also. They have stated as well that they see how our country is becoming more like the one they grew up in and left.
Go Cubs
One of my favorite articles:
“Born American, but in the Wrong Place”
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/special/schramm.html
by: Peter W. Schramm
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