Ladislaus Bolchazy
<p>Ladislaus (Lou) Bolchazy was born in Michalovce in eastern Slovakia in 1937. His father Eugene was born in the United States and returned to Slovakia with his parents when he was ten years old. Eugene was a carpenter, and he also farmed the Bölcsházy family’s plot of land. Lou’s mother Maria stayed at home raising him and his four brothers and sisters. In the fall of 1944, Lou and his family were evacuated to Liptovský Hrádok in north central Slovakia because of bombing raids on Michalovce. He says that the fighting seemed to follow them, as they were forced to evacuate from Liptovský Hrádok back to Michalovce the following spring. Lou remembers that his neighbors and relatives helped his family get back on their feet after returning home. In 1948, after the Communist coup, Lou’s father decided to move back to the United States. One year later, he had saved enough to send for his family; because he was an American citizen, the family had no trouble obtaining passports. Lou remembers being very excited about the journey to America, which took the family through Prague and Paris before embarking on a ship in Cherbourg, France. They arrived at Ellis Island in May 1949, where they were met by Lou’s father.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Bolchazys settled in Yonkers, NY where their neighborhood was largely Slavic. Eugene took care of a church, meeting hall, and bowling alley while Maria found a job at a dress shop doing piecework. Lou went to Holy Trinity School until eighth grade, and he then attended Divine Word Seminary in Girard, Pennsylvania, with the intention of becoming a priest. He earned degrees in classics and philosophy before leaving the seminary in 1963. Lou found a job teaching high school at Sacred Heart in Yonkers and, in 1965, met his wife Marie; they were married in June the following year. He earned his master’s degree in classics in 1967 and completed his doctorate in the same subject in 1973. After a series of teaching jobs, Lou was offered a one year appointment at Loyola University in Chicago, and he and Marie moved to Oak Park, Illinois. Shortly after, he began Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, which specialized in textbooks and scholarly literature in classical studies.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Lou and Marie founded the Slovak American International Cultural Foundation, a non-profit that promotes and publishes Slovak literature in translation. A dual citizen of the United States and Slovakia until his death in July 2012, Lou referred to Slovakia as his ‘mother’ and America as his ‘wife.’ He is survived by his wife, Marie.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
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Oliver Gunovsky
<p>Oliver Gunovsky was born in Trenčín, western Slovakia, in 1944. When he was four years old his father, Peter, left the country under the threat of arrest for his involvement in the black market, and his mother, Maria, felt pressure to move as well. Oliver lived with his grandparents, Gregor and Maria Malec, for a number of years in Trenčianske Teplice before joining his mother in Liptovský Hrádok where she was working in the restaurant industry. He remembers enjoying elementary school where he participated in sports, plays, and poetry readings and had a lot of friends. Because of his father’s illegal exit from the country, Oliver says his choice of secondary school was limited. He applied to three schools, including a military school, and was rejected from all of them. He was given a place in an engineering school in Bánovce nad Bebravou, but transferred to Ružomberok after one year to be closer to his mother. During secondary school, Oliver played many sports, and he especially excelled at cross-country skiing. Even though he had no contact with his father and, at this point, did not know his whereabouts, Oliver says he was not allowed to compete internationally for fear that he would try to leave as well.</p><p> </p><p>Oliver graduated from engineering school in 1962 and worked for one year in a machinery factory before joining the army. It was at this time that he first got in contact with his father and discovered he was living in England. When he left the army in 1965, Oliver attempted to obtain a visa to visit his father, but says he was repeatedly denied. In the spring of 1968, he was issued a travel visa and left for England on August 13. Upon hearing about the Warsaw Pact invasion eight days later, Oliver decided to stay in England. His wife, whom he had married only a few months earlier, was able to join him in the fall. Oliver worked for his father, who owned a butcher shop, grocery store, and restaurant. After a short time, Oliver then found a job at a hotel. He and his wife applied for immigrant visas to several countries and were granted permission to move to Canada. They settled in Kitchener, Ontario, with their young son, also called Oliver, in 1970. In Kitchener, Oliver worked his way up the restaurant business and eventually owned the Metro Tavern, which he says was known as a schnitzel house, but also served other Central European fare, and became a gathering place for Slovaks in the area.</p><p> </p><p>In 1982, Oliver and his family moved to Florida where he hoped to open another restaurant. When that plan fell through, he moved to Bethesda, Maryland, and opened a fast food schnitzel restaurant, which he sold after one year. After the Velvet Revolution, he was a founder of the American Czechoslovak Society (later the American Czech and Slovak Association), which assisted young Czechs and Slovaks who were visiting the United States to learn about western businesses, politics, and communities. In 1991, Oliver went back to Slovakia for the first time since leaving, and he continues to visit his mother there regularly. Today, Oliver lives in Washington, D.C.</p><p> </p>
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