March is WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH when tribute is paid to the generations of women and their contributions to history, culture and society. One such woman is Charles’s sister Vlasta Jakubová (my sister-in-law). Vlasta was born in Ozdany, Slovakia in 1925 and died in Brno, Czech Republic in 2017. Like her brother, in her youth she …
Charles (Karel) Novacek, 1947 Vlasta Jakubová, the sister of my late husband Charles (Karel) Novacek was born on March 13, 1925 in Oždany, Slovakia. During World War II she was engaged in the Czech resistance as a contact to her uncle, Colonel Josef Robotka. After February 1948, she joined the anticommunist resistance, again working with her …
It seems everyone’s gone crazy over tomorrow’s total eclipse. The program director of the National Science Foundation has said, “There’s never been an event like this in human history where so many people could participate and with such unique technology.” It’s the celestial event of a lifetime in the U.S.! To avoid chaos, the library …
I keep thinking about Charles‘ sister Vlasta Marie Nováčková Jakubová (1925-2017). Sadly, she died this year at the age of ninety-two. Vlasta was three years older than Charles and started her work in the Czech anti-Nazi resistance at age fourteen during World War II. She worked for her uncle Josef Robotka’s Rada Tri (R-3) guerilla organization. She …
I started this blog three years ago in May 2012, to promote my late husband Charles Novacek’s memoir Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance. Charles believed most people, especially Americans (including me) know little about World War II and Czechoslovakia. For example, before the war it was a beautiful and thriving country, …
Book Beat called Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance “a dynamite tale by a local hero” and named it among the Top 13 books about Detroit in 2013. Detroit’s MetroTimes included Border Crossings in its 2013 Gift Guide, A Year in Detroit Books, : “Best of all was Border Crossings and it’s hardly about Detroit …
