I am Charles Karol Juraj Štefan
Hatvani. My father's name was František Hatvani, my mother's Marie nèe Havelková.
Greetings to you alive and yet to be born. The people listed here were
but a fragment of your lives; remember, there are millions of such ancestors in
the haze of time not far behind me and you…
This is our family in Healesville in 2020 (John with his family was unable to come due to the virus pandemonium):
And this was my Hungarian/Slovakian family in about 1950:
At the beginning it must be mentioned that the country they all lived in has politically changed several times during their lives. Both Bohemia (Czech land, which includes Morava) and Slovakia used to be part of Austrian Empire since about 1550 (Emperor Rudolf II) until 1918. Bohemia (the word comes from the Latin name of Boiohaemia, after the Celtic tribe of Boii living there before the Slavs began to arrive around the fifth century A. D. and started to peacefully merge with the variety of indigenous tribes, Celts, Germans, Quadi, etc.) used to be politically and culturally associated with Austria, Slovakia with Austria and Hungary. From 1918 to 1939 the two countries, together with the western part of Ukraine, were known as (first) Czechoslovakia. From 1939 to 1945 Bohemia was part of Germany, and Slovakia was an independent state politically aligned with Germany. From 1945 to 1992 the two countries were together again, but gradually being absorbed into Russia, after the collapse of which in 1989 became independent again.
Since early 1800, persons born and living in the same place would have the following nationalities, depending on the year and district of birth: Austrian, Austrian or Hungarian, Czechoslovak, German, Polish, Slovak or Hungarian, Czechoslovak, Czech or Slovak. My father's family, for instance, living in and around Bratislava, the Hungarian part of the Austrian empire, would be Austrians prior to 1848, Hungarians after that year, Czechoslovaks after 1918, Slovaks from 1939 to 1945, Czechoslovaks again, Slovaks after 1992 (& variations to be continued, no doubt).
Geologically speaking, the entire country used to be under a shallow sea (Tethys), some dunes of which can still be seen in westernmost Slovakia. At the confluence of Morava and Danube rivers there is a sandstone hillock containing a profusion of seashells, possibly the last remnant of the last beach. There is an underground aquifer under the entire country and beyond, with constant level of water and numerous warm springs, the best known of which are Piešťany and Karlovy Vary. There is a daily geyser in Eastern Slovakia (Herľany), possibly caused by the tides in the aforementioned aquifer.
During my time there.
A couple of years after I was born Czechoslovakia surrendered the Czech half of MY country to the Germans (& for 6 years I lost the Czech side of my family, grandparents, even a great-grandfather, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.). Immediately after that, about 1/3rd of the remaining Slovakian half was given to Hungary (and for the same 6 years I lost the Hungarian side of my family). And a few years later the entire Czechoslovakia was put into the suffocating Russian embrace, for some 40 years altogether.
Surrounding nations had varied influence on the cultural make-up of the Czechs and Slovakians: Germans, Austrians and Poles on the Czechs, Austrians, Hungarians, Romanians (sheep industry), Poles and (chiefly around the eastern end) the Ukrainians on the Slovaks. And, of course, they were influencing each other, the Czech influence on the Slovaks being stronger than the other way around. Bratislava itself used to be (almost) part of Vienna until 1918, and strong influence of that city and culture has always been felt.
The Czechs have a strong sense of their history and culture: they used to be protestants long before Luther (read about the Husites), they had a number of prominent kings (Přemyslid dynasty, Ladislaus of Lithuania, John of Luxemburg, his son Charles, George Poděbrad - the first ruler ever to espouse European unity!), one of their princesses was married to a British king; many words from their fairly difficult language found their way into the world's dictionaries (robot, bren, haubwitz, pilsener, budweiser, dollar), they produced Smetana, Dvořák, Suk, Janáček, Dusík, Mysliveček, Stamic, Emmy Destinn, Friml, Martinů, Rejcha, Fučík, Vejvoda, Příhoda, Kubelík, Talich, Hollar, Hrdlička, Komenský, Diviš, Purkyně, Stránský, Neruda, Kafka, Winter, Jirásek, Čapek, Hašek, to name but a few (Hrdlička, Martinů, Stránský, Mahler, Kafka's parents, they all came from my mother's birthplace Humpolec district), they produced Nobel laureates (Heyrovský, chemistry, Seifert, poetry) and their industrial products are world renown (Škoda, Tatra, CZ, Seiler-Bellot, Avia, Letov, CKD, Zlín, Jawa, various beers, Bohemia Glass, Jellinek, Becherovka, Baťa, etc.). Many Czechs used to work on the Habsburg Imperial Court: Chotek, Kaunitz, Kolowrat, Hadik (Slovak), A. F. Kollár (ditto), Andrássy (ditto), Apponyi and many others. Curiously, I am unable to think of many inventions by Czech inventors. Maybe a soil turning plough (brothers Veverka), studies of genetics (Mendel), Janský (blood groups), Doppler effect (Doppler), ship's propeller (Ressel), contact lenses (Wichterle), Antonín Svoboda (computers)...
The Slovakians, having spent centuries under Hungarians, who were
far less tolerant than the Austrians, industrially backward and politically,
economically and culturally predominantly feudal, have their sense of national
identity and pride less developed, and are more than the Czechs prone to
accepting meekly whatever somebody else has to say at any given moment in
history.
Of the Slovakian contribution to the world a few names come to mind: Banič (inventor of parachute), Bahyľ (inventor of helicopter, heavier-than-air), Mikovíny (steam power), Bell (cartographer), Max. Hell (astronomy), Kempelen (water reticulation system, voice simulator, steam turbine, etc.), Beňovský (adventurer), Štefánik (astronomer, soldier and politician), Pantoček (glass manufacture), Dopiera (musical instruments), Segner (jet propulsion principle), Jedlík (electrical machines), Stodola (turbines), Petzval (mathematics, optics - his system is still being used in all mobile telephones with cameras), Murgaš (radiowaves, possibly before Tesla and Marconi), Philipp Lenard (cathode rays, Nobel prize winner), J. D. Matejovie (forestry. "Forests are the foundation of all life on Earth!"), Tihanyi (TV plasma screen). Some connection to Slovakia had musicians Nedbal, Bartók, Kodály, Lehár, Kálmán, Marschner and Dohnányi; Hummel was born in Bratislava, van Beethoven spent a few holidays nearby, Haydn was born and lived for a time between Bratislava and Vienna, Liszt had some connections to Slovakia as well, Tilgner (sculptor) was born in Bratislava). Poets and letter writers are good and famous only to those who understand the rather complicated language.
The Czech country is a bit colder and wetter than Slovakia. The predominant forests are pine and related species. Forests in Slovakia, except for higher altitudes, consist of deciduous trees, mostly oak, beech and related species. Czech rivers, with one exception, flow into the northern seas, Slovakian, with one exception again, into the Black Sea.
In general, Czech people are industrious, cautious with their money, widely travelled, well read and articulate; the Slovakians are hard-working, less cautious with their money, less travelled, less read and less articulate, than the Czechs. The religious influence has been rather strong in Slovakia (predominantly catholic, with remnants of pre-christian rites), much less strong in Bohemia (predominantly protestant – long before Luther - of various creeds; their Moravian Brethren are world-renown).
Unable to bring to fruition some of my projects (two radar centres above Bratislava, inception of, and follow-up on the success of, the First Aerobatic Championship of the World, etc.), and following the continuous political turmoil mentioned above I have decided early in the 19 sixties to emigrate to Australia. Why Australia? Because it was far away from the turbulent Europe, because it had a stable political system, because the official language was English and because it was a constitutional monarchy, which I prefer to a republic. Fortunately, my future wife agreed with my dreams and intentions. Living behind the so-called Iron Curtain traveling abroad was near impossible and we had no money, the Czechoslovak currency not being convertible to any "western" money at the time.
After our first son was born, and we were expecting our second child soon, our hopes to emigrate were becoming dimmer, we were almost resigned to remain in Czechoslovakia, when in August 1968, a neighbouring army invaded (not for the first time) OUR country and in the ensuing turmoil we managed to slip across the border to Vienna, Austria. Our possessions consisted of one suitcase, and we had no money. Our second child was born in Vienna a day after we crossed the border. I applied for immigration to a number of non-European countries, namely Australia, USA, Chile, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. Some European countries were asking us to come, namely Switzerland, Germany and Sweden; in Austria I was offered a job in their Area Air Traffic Control Office. Luckily, the first country to reply and accept was Australia. Towards the end of September 1968, we boarded (for free!) a Qantas Boeing 707 and 2 days later we found ourselves at Sydney airport. From there we boarded a TAA 'plane (a Lockheed Electra), were taken to Melbourne Essendon airport and from there to Migrant hostel at Broadmeadows, where we received board, lodging and medical care, all that for free for the first month.
Within a few weeks I found a job (washing airplanes at Essendon airport, soon another one at Ericsson factory, and so on) and was able to start paying for the board and lodging; I was also able to repay the money lent to me in Vienna by a few Austrian associates from my time in the aviation industry. My attempts to get a position as an Air Traffic Controller with the Department of Civil Aviation were unsuccessful, for one of the conditions was that the applicants must be "British Subjects", as it was phrased at the time. According to the system at the time we were allowed to apply for that hallowed status after 3 years of residence, by which time I would be at the top edge of the age limit for the new ATC intakes. As we had no money, I was forced to change tack and started looking elsewhere. After Ericsson, I found a job at General Motors-Holden's, then contract engineer, etc., etc. My wife was keeping the home flames burning, what with 4 children that were born to us over the time. After the Broadmeadows hostel we found a flat at Elwood, then Glen Huntly, Glen Iris and Carnegie. From Carnegie I started dreaming of building a house, in 1973 we bought a block of land, found a builder, borrowed some money ($22,000, at some 7.5% interest; my annual income at the time was about $6,000) and we moved into our new house at 11 Valley Ho rd, Chirnside Park in 1974.
Now, in 2014, our relatives mentioned in the following pages are all long gone. We have four children, two boys and two girls, and they have their children; soon, their children will start having have their children. Janus-like, with one part of me looking into the past, the other into the future I have a sense of quiet satisfaction of .... ? .... of a life job fairly well done, perhaps. Hopefully, someone - children George, John, Julia and Janet, and grandchildren Natasha, James, Jake, Ella, Tom, Finn, Jj - will read these lines in 20, 50, 100 years' time, and devote a moment of reflection to those left behind in time, the grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-great, and take a quiet bow same as I am bowing to their memories now...
As our children - and their children, and their children - are taking possession of their world, my wife and myself, having emerged from their past, are now slowly receding into it - may your future be happy, our children, beloved...
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