John Palka, a retired Professor of Biology, is a first-generation immigrant to the United States. His parents and he were driven out from home twice for political reasons. The family was culturally and politically prominent for many generations.
His grandfather, Milan Hodža, was the only Slovak Prime Minister of democratic Czechoslovakia. As a result, John grew up in a home where Slovak culture and traditions, including the language, were vibrantly alive. This intimate connection with Slovakia has enabled John to maintain active ties with his extensive family, friends and colleagues there.
John Palka's story is part of a Global Slovakia Project- Slovak Settlers , authored by Zuzana Palovic and Gabriela Bereghazyova. The book is available for purchase via info.globalslovakia@gmail.
com. My roots in Slovakia are very deep. Except for our two daughters, their children, and two cousins in England, all the members of my family live in Slovakia.
I know the history of my family back to the late 1600s. And I know all too well exactly how and why my parents and I had to leave Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia) twice, escaping first from the Nazis and then from the Communists. The United States has been a safe haven for me, and I love this country dearly, but those roots continue to bind me tightly to Slovakia even after over seventy years of living in the U.
S. Being forced to leave home did not break those ties. Neither has living for so long in American society caused them to wi.