Czechs - New Zealand

Date: [1993-2002]

By: Hurrey, Marjorie, active 1996

Reference: MSX-6270

Description: To have and to hold is a revised edition of an earlier compilation by Hurrey, `Down the years', and brings the history of Puhoi up to 1996. It is a chronological compilation of photocopies of text, newspaper clippings, photographs, certificates etc covering Puhoi's history, `Forerunners' (1858-1862), `Arrival of the first ships' (1863-1872), `Development (1873-1882), `Silver jubilee' (1883-1892), `Turn of the century' (1893-1902), `Peak population' (1903-1912), `War years' (1913-1922), `Depression years' (1923-1932), `World war Two' (1933-1942), `Life again a usual' (1943-1952), `Ninetieth celebration' (1953-1962), `Centenary' (1963-1972), `Changes' (1973-1982) and `Overseas visiting' (1983-1993) which then goes on till 1996. Source of title - Transcribed Other Titles - Down the years by Marjory Hurrey Quantity: 1 volume(s). 0.03 Linear Metres. Physical Description: Typescript and printed matter (photocopy) Provenance: Donor/Lender/Vendor - Purchased from Ms M Roase, Puhoi, Oct 2002

Date: March 1999, Feb-Apr 2000

By: Egermayer, Vera, 1940-

Reference: OHColl-0473

Description: Interviews with Jana Babor, George Pressburg, Natasa Valenta, Liselotte Turnovsky, Augusta Bohmer, Miroslav Paulik, Arnest Wratislav, Miroslav (Mirek) Smisek and John Mautner. Arrangement: Original recordings: OHC-017418 to OHC-017455 Form folders: OHA-6231 - OHA-6239 Quantity: 38 C60 cassette(s). 9 interview(s). Search dates: 1999 - 2000

Date: ca 1914-ca 1940

Reference: PAColl-2482

Description: Images relate to a Czechoslovakian family, refugees and immigrants to New Zealand either just before or after World War II. Quantity: 14 b&w copy negative(s). Transfers: Transferred from MS PA Series 14: 173.

Date: 25 March 1987

From: European refugees to New Zealand - oral history interviews

By: Steiner, Charlotte Caroline, 1907-1991

Reference: OHInt-0009/12

Description: Access Contact - see oral history librarian Venue - Wellington Interviewer(s) - Ann Beaglehole Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-003815-003816 Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 interview(s). 2 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - no abstract(s) available.

Date: 22 June 1988

From: European refugees to New Zealand - oral history interviews

By: Hess, Lydia, active 1988-1990

Reference: OHInt-0009/10

Description: Access Contact - see oral history librarian Venue - Wellington Interviewer(s) - Ann Beaglehole Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-003813-OHC-003814 Quantity: 2 tape(s). 1 interview(s). 2 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - no abstract(s) available.

Date: Sept 1983 - 01 Sep 1983

From: Archive of New Zealand Music - Oral History interviews

By: Turnovsky, Frederick, 1916-1994

Reference: OHInt-0133/21

Description: Frederick Turnovsky describes city life in Czechoslovakia where his family were `normal middle-European' people and attending concerts was one of their activities. Describes the music scene in Prague from 1930-1938 and the community of Jewish artists. Notes that because of his political involvement he was targeted by the Gestapo and knew that he had to leave. Recalls going to London and deciding to come to New Zealand. Recalls his devastation on arriving in New Zealand and discovering there was no professional orchestra or opera company. Describes getting to know Spencer Digby, Greta Ostova, a Czech cellist, John Beaglehole, Dorothy Davies, Marie Vandewart and Erika Schorss in sessions playing chamber music. Recalls the decision to establish a chamber music society and perform concerts. Comments on how this was a huge success. Describes the visit of Lili Kraus to New Zealand. Briefly describes establishing his own business in leather manufacturing. Discusses setting up the Chamber Music Federation which was a national body. Mentions Vincent Aspey and Don Irwin. Discusses the Federations revival of the Australian based group Musica Viva and its performance throughout the Pacific. Recalls bringing out the Smetana Quartet and the Griller Quartet. Describes ending his involvement with the Chamber Music Federation in 1960 because of involvement with the Arts Council and the New Zealand Opera Company. Traces the growth of the Opera Company founded by Donald Munro. Describes New Zealand Breweries sponsorship. Recalls works performed and taking them to small towns. Comments on the popularity of this but it was uneconomic. Recalls the tour of Peggy & Bess with Inia te Wiata and how this led to a lot of Maori becoming involved on the stage. Comments on losing good singers to Australia. Discusses the decision to discontinue the concert orchestra when Broadcasting became a Corporation. Recalls the founding of New Zealand Players, New Zealand Ballet and the Opera Company; the formation of The Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and the beginnings of a more systemised method of funding arts. Discusses inadequate funding and how arts should be properly subsidised or not subsidised at all. Comments on his resignation from the Arts Council and how opera has been `cast to the wolves'. Suggests that opera should be performed and televisied nationally rather than taken on tour. Comments on the overall growth in the arts since the 1940s. Access Contact - see oral history librarian Venue - Wellington Interviewer(s) - John M Thomson Venue - Wadestown, Wellington Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-000944, OHC-000945, OHC-000946, OHC-000947 Quantity: 4 C60 cassette(s). 1 transcript(s). 5.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - Brief abstract and information sheet available.

Date: 25 May 1993

By: Pressburg, Hanka, 1920-2011; Carlisle, Anita, active 1993-1996

Reference: OHColl-0089/1

Description: Hanka Pressburg was born in Rakovnik, Czechoslovakia on 28 August 1920. Describes family background, childhood, schooling and life before the German occupation. Discusses different religions in Czechoslovakia. Comments the family did not have a kosher home but her father closed the shop for Jewish holidays. Describes what happeneed to Rakovnik's Jewish synagogue. Describes restrictions on Jews and the reaction including that of her non-Jewish friends. Recalls the first incident of anti-Semitism to herself. Recalls 15 March 1939 when the German Army entered Prague. Mentions the Nuremberg Laws. Explains why her family did not leave Czechoslovakia before the war. Talks about her fiance, Frederick Weil, and reasons for their marriage. Describes being sent to Theresienstadt on cattle trucks and from there to Krivoklat. Recalls first impressions and being tattooed with an identification number. Describes layout of the camp, general hygiene and the day to day routine. Explains how they dealt with life in the ghetto. Talks about the groups people formed to survive. Describes sexual behaviour of SS to some inmates including the extermination of children which resulted. Discusses inmates involved in sending people to the gas chambers and their lack of choice. Describes being greeted by music from the Auschwitz Orchestra. Discusses being used to clean up the roads in Hamburg after bombing and working on an oil refinery. Describes being sent to Bergen Belsen concentration camp and staying there until liberation on 15 April 1945. Describes the chaos of liberation and arriving back in Prague. Talks about post-war employment and readjustment including a job dealing with restitutions to victims of the Holocaust. Reflects on what contributed to her survival. Explains the procedure involved to prove her husband's death before marrying Jiri(George). Explains their reasons for emigrating and choosing New Zealand. Describes getting money for a house and their need for security. Talks about working for twenty two years at Golden Kiwi lottery. Comments on some anti-foreigner attitudes. Discusses the importance of education about persecution. Language - English with Czech accent Venue - Wellington : 1993 Interviewer(s) - Anita Carlisle Accompanying material - Transcript from a tape recording made in 1981 describing Hanka's early days in Czechoslovakia and time in concentration camps (bound in to abstract) Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-005880-005883 Quantity: 3.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 1351.

Date: 18 Oct 1984

From: European refugees to New Zealand - oral history interviews

By: Halberstam, Lucie Martha, 1931-

Reference: OHInt-0009/16

Description: Lucie Halberstam recalls her childhood as one of the German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia, her father's work in an oil refinery, his treatment after the German Occupation, and the family's decision to emigrate to New Zealand. Describes her childhood impressions of New Zealand's attitude towards `friendly' (i.e. Czech) aliens, speaking German; Czech and other refugee social and cultural clubs; parents' adjustment to life in New Zealand. As a child of a Jewish-Gentile marriage, she provides insight and comments on the New Zealand Jewish Community from a partially `inside' and partially `outside' perspective. Access Contact - see oral history librarian Venue - Wellington Interviewer(s) - Dr Ann Beaglehole Venue - Wellington Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-003802-003803 Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 transcript(s). 1 interview(s). 2 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - transcript(s) available OHA-1614.

Date: 08 Nov 1985

From: European refugees to New Zealand - oral history interviews

By: Hilton, Lisl, 1915-

Reference: OHInt-0009/30

Description: Access Contact - see oral history librarian Venue - Wellington Interviewer(s) - Ann Beaglehole Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-003826 Quantity: 1 C60 cassette(s). 1 interview(s). 1 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - no abstract(s) available.

Date: 24 Aug 1988

From: European refugees to New Zealand - oral history interviews

By: Beaglehole, Ann (Dr), 1948-; Halberstam, Lucie Martha, 1931-

Reference: OHInt-0009/32

Description: Interviewer(s) - Ann Beaglehole Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 interview(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - no abstract(s) available.

Date: [1930s-1970s]

By: Ostova, Greta, 1910-1988

Reference: MS-Group-1256

Description: Memorabilia of Greta Ostova, a Czechoslovakian immigrant and cellist, and teacher; includes some correspondence, reviews, programmes etc. Part of the Archive of New Zealand Music Source of title - Supplied Quantity: 14 folder(s). 0.15 Linear Metres. Physical Description: Holograph, mss, typescripts and printed matter Provenance: MS-Papers-12439 donated by cello teacher Jean Rombach who was former student of Greta Ostova. The scores were given to Ms Rombach by Ms Ostova. Transfers: To Photographic Archive - Three mounted photographs and one loose photograph - To Ephemera Collection - Four concert posters.

Date: 1949, 1957-1968 [2014]

By: Egermayer, Vera, 1940-

Reference: MSDL-2297

Description: Translation of Vaclav Egermayer's account of his emigration to New Zealand from Prague in 1949, with his wife Pavla, and two children, Paul and Vera. The account was written in instalments to his sister Olga living in Czechoslovakia, from 1957 to 1968. The translation was done by his daughter Vera Egermayer in 2014. The document discusses Vaclav Egermayer's journey from Prague via train through Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, eventually leaving Genoa on 3 February 1949 on the 'Toscana' via the Suez Canal, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Melbourne, Australia. The account discusses conditions on the train through Europe and the ship to New Zealand, and mentions others on the voyage with him. The reminiscences end with his arrival in Wellington, New Zealand on 22 March 1949. Source of title - Supplied by Library Vaclav Egermayer was born in Falknov, Czechoslovakia, in September 1905. He married Pavla Mautnerova, who was Jewish, on 11 March 1939, four days before the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. A tailor by trade, he and his family left Czechoslovakia in 1949, and settled in Karori, Wellington. He became a New Zealand citizen in 1958, and died in 1983. Quantity: 1 Electronic document(s).

Date: 24 May 1955

From: Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002) :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper

Reference: EP/1955/1044

Description: Miroslav Josef Smutny, born in Czechoslavakia, submitting his naturalisation certificate for counter signing by the Mayor, R L Macalister, and a representative of Internal Affairs, Ted Fairway, at the first public naturalisation ceremony in New Zealand. Photographed in Wellington on 24th May 1955 by an unidentified Evening Post staff photographer. Publication notes: Published in Michael Bassett's 'The Mother of all Departments: The history of the Department of Internal Affairs', 1997, p.151. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Cellulose triacetate negatives, 5.6 x 5.6 cm

Date: 20 Aug 1985

From: Alexander Turnbull Library: Portraits of prominent New Zealanders, taken by Kenneth Quinn

Reference: 1/4-089271-F

Description: Portrait of Frederick Turnovsky (1916-1994), taken on 20 Aug 1985 by Kenneth Quinn. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s). Physical Description: Cellulose triacetate negative