Across Continents and Cultures: A Journeyer For Truth (Pt.1)

(What follows will be an ongoing series about the life and times of my Great Grandfather John Švagera. He truly had a remarkable life which included being a Czech Legionnaire during the First World War, working with the Borglum family and raising a family on the farm fields of Nebraska during the Great Depression.)

He was three times a stranger. A Hussite Slav in a Catholic, Germanic ruled empire. A foreign alien, alone in a strange land. A soldier fighting for the freedom of a country that did not yet exist. What follows is the story of Ján Švagera, born to a poor farm family in Valašsko (Wallachia), the easternmost part of the modern day Czech Republic. He would go on to be a world traveler, spending his life journeying for truth and freedom.

Ján Švagera as a young man.

Domov Můj

For people most born in the high mountainous hillside of Valašsko, in the latter part of the 19th century, they would never have dreamed of travelling much past their family ancestral village. Leaving this remote area and travelling the 80 km to Olomouc, let alone the 330 km to Praha (Prague), was not even the stuff of daydreams. These were, for the most part, poor serfs and farmers, who were often born, raised and died all in the same home. Living and dying on the land of their ancestors.

Any longtime farmer will admit that they are, in a way, slaves to the land. In a more sacred way though, they are also born of the land and the land remains forever a part of them. The very essence of their souls. So much so that their culture, their language and their religion all become a harvest of the earth upon which they live and work.

Yet for a boy born at the turn of a century, which would ultimately see the world break in two, the whole world was waiting. The oldest of six children, four sisters and one brother, he would see his father die before he was eighteen, effectively becoming the head of the family. By all rights, he should have never left his homeland. Even at this relatively young age though, he was haunted by assaults upon his personal and cultural dignity and refused to be used as a pawn by his oppressors. He sought truth and freedom and would journey far to find them.

Švagera ancestral home Roketničé, Češká Republíka

Eyes That See The World-Beholding Truth

In many ways he was a renaissance man. Although a dutiful son and a proud farmer, he was on a quest to better his mind, his life and his work. From his youth he was eager to learn. This yearning for knowledge would lead his eyes to search for infinity. Looking well beyond his family’s small plot of earth. First a relatively small distance then an eternity away, across oceans and cultures.

Going to college during the early 20th century, anywhere in the world, was usually only a luxury of the rich. Ján though, seeing beyond entitlement, left home at eighteen to travel to Velké Meziříčí, in order to obtain a college degree. He hoped that a degree in agricultural practices would help him better manage the family farm. Better soil conservation methods and more efficient animal husbandry practices.

After two years he would return home, degree in hand, ready to fulfill his destiny, managing the soil upon which his ancestors had sweat and in which they now slept, including his father. Everything seemed to be just as it should be, as it was prescribed to be, yet there was turmoil brewing. Throughout the entire European continent, in the traditional Czech lands and in Ján’s personal life. The ruling empire was becoming increasingly oppressive. Ján had also discovered something else at college, the deep rooted sense of nationalism, genetically transposed over multitudinous generations. He would be the first to journey outside the ancestral homeland to find truth though.

Tensions Rising

Had it not been for the enforced conscription of all males into the Austro-Hungarian army, and especially the German bred officers well known ploys of seeing Slavs as sub-human, perhaps Ján would have stayed. Improving the farm, caring for his mother, sisters and little brother. Perhaps marrying, having children of his own there and dying in his birthplace. Just like generations immemorial of his ancestors. When one has opened their mind philosophically, however, they think and these thoughts lead to the defining of ideals and principles which become ingrained for life.

There are many different forms of slavery or indenturing. Perhaps the worst though is the form which gives the indentured the illusion that they are free. Religious tolerance, land rights and relaxed enforcement of language mandates all gave the impression of freedom. The notion that perhaps, after centuries of foreign rule, maybe a Czech renaissance was returning. Ultimately though, broad national reforms do not matter greatly when citizens are still being treated as subhuman. A race devoid of purity and intelligence.

As tensions grew and skirmishes popped up throughout their empire the ruling military class consistently worked to systematically eliminate the Slavic peoples. Using Slavs as pawns, that is always in the front ranks, would result in a Slavic ire that could not be squelched. Even in his remote village Ján would not escape this brutality. The search for truth was going to cause him to journey outside of Roketníče.

Mandatory Duty

If nothing else the Germans have always been great record keepers and this meant that every male throughout the empire was conscripted for military service at the age of eighteen. A conscription which would last for three years of mandatory service starting from the eighteenth birthday. In principal a three year commitment to defend one’s nation may, for some, be a duty of honor and loyalty. When you are an indentured servant for occupying oppressors, however, honor and loyalty play no bearing in commitment. In fact it was a burden which Ján sought to avoid at all costs.

To be clear he was not a coward. He was though a nationalist whose nationalistic pride had deep roots in the soil of his ancestors. The soil which had once been ruled by the great Bohemian crown and even further back by the Great Moravian Empire. Although, rooted deep in the soil, the hope that one day this great statehood would rise again had never died. The Czech nationalists still waited anxiously for the day Saint Wenceslaus and his knights would once again emerge from Mount Blaník and redeem the nation. Ján was indeed a nationalist and every bit of his spirit detested wearing an enemy uniform. Serving a king whom he philosophically was at odds with.

Mother Knows Best

Every month that passed, in which he mandatorily had to report, brought increased unrest and vexation. Working the fields and tending the animals, he always kept looking over his shoulder, wondering. When would he be permanently displaced to guard one of the empires outermost borders? He had to get out but who would care for his mother and siblings? He was twenty-one and his life was being held in limbo. His only brother, Josef, was only eight years old, so safe from conscription for now. Much to young, however, to be head of the family. Which meant more, family honor and duty or his personal duty to remain true to his journey for truth.

Fortunately, as they have from the beginning, mothers’ know best. His personal fears and anxieties were not hidden from his mother. Although I’m sure that it broke her heart to send her Honzík away, knowing she may never see him again. Růžená, however, knew that the alternative would almost definitely be morally and ethically worse. So with Mom’s help plans began to be put into place. Ján prepared to leave the only homeland he had ever known, most likely never to return.

Všetín, Češká Republíka circa 1900

Next up: Part 2: The Great Escape.