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Published: June 28th 2005
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Eva and Antonin
Eva just received her masters and Antonin his Ph.D. We met Eva last June when we were in the Czech Republic on a hiking Elderhostel. She was one of our Czech guides, taking us each day to a beautiful location and hiking with us through fields and forest, hills and mountains. We learned at that time that she was finishing up her thesis for her masters degree. The thesis topic was what happened to the Jewish people, during the Nazi rule, who had lived in her home town. Besides the academic research required, she was also going to everyone she could find and creating oral histories of that era.
When we knew we were coming to Prauge we thought, "Good, we can get in touch with Eva and see her again. However, as we prepared to come here she was preparing to go to the States to study for a semester. To make a long story short she just returned and we were able to get together here in Prague. And, she has just received her masters. CONGRATULATIONS Eva.
We met Eva and her boy friend at the nice little Italian restaurant we like so much beside the Devil's Canal. As we ate and talked, the subject of her thesis came up and she showed it to us. It was rather amazing that she was able to discover so many interesting things since Jewish history of that period is not well documented. For instance one person told her he had an old hand-drawn map of the Jewish quarter of her town showing the names of the people living there, and showing the plots of land they owned. "Would she like to have it?" Of course she would! What a valuable piece of information. Others would suddenly remember they had some old photos and "would she like to have them." Again, of course she would. So, not only does her thesis contain valuable information on the fates of the Jewish people of her town, but also photographs and the map. It was very interesting. She is trying hard to prevent the destruction of the Jewish cemetery in her home town. It is threatened because of some building in the community
Eva has now applied to a Charles University Ph.D. program and hopes to begin her studies this fall.
Her boyfriend just began his work as a teacher in the University of Olomouc. He just graduated with his Ph. D.
The two of them are having a wonderful time in their lives full of graduations, new jobs, much academic success, etc. They are such bright and interesting young people.
An interesting thing happened. A man on a Fulbright teaching in Olomouc this past year spent a week here at the seminary when his family came to visit about two weeks ago. He told us about the wonderful tour he had of the university library and that he had seen a first edition Copernicus book. Eva's boyfriend told us about a nice day he had giving a tour to an American Fulbright scholar who was so WOWed by the fact that their library had a first edition Copernicus book. Neat coincidence, eh?
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