The Czech Community

 

Every June on Czech and Slovak Day, Sokol Exercises take place at Masaryktown, a Czech and Slovak cultural and social centre in Scar -borough. Sokol Exercises are designed to emulate the qualities of the Sokol (falcon), a bird admired for its strength, intelligence, and self-discipline. Young Czechs and Slovaks engage in physically challenging calisthenics, gymnastics, and track and field events, while the older generation displays its patriotism by watching soccer games or attending memorial services. The first Toronto Sokol unit was established in 1931. Jan Waldauf, a member of the unit and one-time president of the world-wide organization, made significant contributions to the development of physical fitness in Ontario.

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The first Czechs in Canada were Moravians from the United States, who settled Ontario’s Moraviatown around 1791. A wave of Czech immigration began in the 1880s as farmers, miners, artisans, and labourers came seeking opportunities in the Canadian West. In the 1920s, Czechs who had arrived in Ontario moved into farming communities and cities such as Hamilton, Windsor, and Oshawa, where many found work as auto mechanics and skilled tradesmen. In Toronto, the community settled in Parkdale around Queen Street West. Prior to the Second World War, Czech entrepreneur Thomas Bata established his world-renowned shoe company, helping many Czechs skilled in the shoe trade to immigrate to Canada. Political refugees fled Czechoslovakia after the Munich Surrender in 1938 and again in 1948 following the Com munist takeover. A third wave left with the Soviet invasion of 1968.

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One of the first organizations of Czechs and Slovaks was the Czech -oslovak National Association of Canada, formed in response to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. The organization, now called the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada, promotes Czech and Slovak culture and assists new comers. In 1988, the organization arranged a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Indepen dent Republic of Czechos lovakia. In 1992, it co-sponsored a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the birth of Jan Amos Komensky, a great theologian and scholar, proclaimed by UNESCO as a “world person.”

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In the 1940s, Masaryk Hall in Parkdale became a gathering place for community cultural and social events. The building was later sold to the City of Toronto. The Masaryk Memorial Institute transformed farm property it owned in Scarborough into a park called Masaryktown; a portion of the lands are protected by the conservation authority. Children of Czech and Slovak origin have spent many summers at camp at Masaryktown. On Czech and Slovak day, celebrations at Masaryktown honour the founders of the Republic of Czechoslovakia and pay tribute to the community’s new homeland.

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Toronto’s Czech community is the largest in the country and has made important contributions to the city’s cultural life. The rich musical and literary traditions of Czech and Slovak culture are exemplified by artists such as opera singer Jan Rubes; composer and pianist Oskar Morawetz; pianist Antonin Kubalek; Walter Susskind and Karel Ancerl, former conductors of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Milan Ichniovsky, interpreter of Slovak folk songs; Professor Josef Vaclav Skvorecky, winner of the Governor General’s Award and the City of Toronto Book Award.

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Places to Go

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At Masaryktown, two monuments have been erected by members of the Czech and Slovak community. One monument bears the names of the founders of the Republic of Czechoslovakia: Masaryk, Stefanik, and Benes; the other, designed by Czechoslovakian Canadian artist Josef Randa, is dedicated to the victims persecuted during the Communist domination of Czechoslovakia in 1948. It was sponsored by the K-231, a club of former political prisoners. The grounds are maintained by The Masaryk Memorial Institute, (Tel. 416-439-4354, 450 Scarborough Golf Club Rd). The Institute operates a library, the largest of its kind in Canada, and the Prague Restaurant, (Tel. 416-289-0283), which serves Czech specialties. Favorite foods include snitzel with potato salad, roast pork, cabbage and flour dumplings, spanish birds, and roasted goose or duckling. Deserts include “Kolace”—pastry filled with poppy seeds, sweet cottage cheese or plum marmalade. Pilsner beer and slivovitz are popular drinks before or after a good meal.

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Czechoslovakian-born artist Lea Vivot’s sculptures can be found around the city, including The Endless Bench, outside the Hospital for Sick Children; and Mother and Child, outside St. Joseph’s Health Centre.

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New Czech Theatre and Slovak Young Scene perform classic and con -temporary plays of Czech, Slovak and international play writers.

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Religious Centres, Schools and Other Institutions

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Many Czech Torontonians are Roman Catholic or Baptist and frequent the two Czech and some of the Slovak churches in Toronto.

• ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. WENCESLAUS, (Tel. 416-532-5272, 496 Gladstone Ave). The first parish in the community was organized in 1951 and the church was built in 1963. Rev. Libor Svorcik.

• SLOVAK EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF ST. PAUL, (Tel. 416-658-9793, 1424 Davenport Rd). Rev. Ladislav Kozak.

• SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. MARY, (Tel. 416-531-4836, 257 Shaw St).

• MASARYK MEMORIAL INSTITUTE, (Tel. 416-439-4354, 450 Scarborough Golf Club Rd). Publishes the newspaper Novy Domov, runs a library, a Czech school on Saturdays, organizes Czech and Slovak Day and concerts and used book sales throughout the year.

• PACE CREDIT UNION, (Tel. 416-925-0557, 740 Spadina Ave), is the community’s financial institution.

 

 

Holidays and Celebrations

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• BIRTHDAY OF TOMAS G. MASARYK (1850–1937), March 7, celebrates the renowned philosopher and founding president of the Czechoslovak Republic, established in 1918. The Masaryk Memorial Institute organizes speeches and concerts on the nearest weekend to the day.

• MEMORIAL DAY, on the third weekend in April, sees a commemorative service in honour of those who died fighting for freedom in Czechoslovakia.

• DEATH OF GENERAL MILAN STEFANIK, May 4, commemorates the Slovak astronomer and soldier who was one of the founders of the Independent Democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia. The former minister of defence was killed in an airplane crash in 1919.

• ST. CYRIL AND ST. METHODIUS are honoured on July 5. Czechs hold church services to remember the Apostles of the Slavs who influenced the religious and cultural development of the Slavic people in the ninth century. The two were responsible for creating a new Slavonic alphabet and were named saints of the Roman Catholic Church.

• DAY OF SHAME. On August 20 and 21, the invasion of Czecho slovakia in 1968 by military forces under Soviet leadership is commemorated. Prior to the fall of communism, this day was held in conjunction with Black Ribbon Day on August 23.

• INDEPENDENCE DAY, held on the nearest weekend to October 28, celebrates the day Czechoslovakia attained independence in 1918. The Masaryk Institute and the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada organize speeches, seminars, and concerts with dancing and singing.

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See Holidays and Celebrations in Glossary.