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In 1936 my grandmother left Veľkrop with her mother and baby sister and came to McKeesport. They crossed the Atlantic on the Berengaria. Her father was already there, and he told her "war is coming, if you don't come here, you're not my daughter!" Seems a bit harsh but I'm glad she made it. My grandfather's family was already living in Hamtramck, MI. They came from Warsaw in 1920.

Hi Joe, very interesting facts are in your talk. Actually, I did not realize the problem coming from combination of agricultural commodities prices decrease after the years of relative prosperity in Slovakia (Austro-Hungarian empire those days) in 1870 - 1880 and higher birthrate leading to increase of poverty and lack of land for farming for all. My grand-grandfather (born in 1887) also went to the US as 18 years old but after couple of years in Pennsylvanian mines and other works he eventually came back home. I am from Trnava, Slovakia. Good luck to you and your work and efforts.

There was no Slovakia in this period. It was the Kingdom of Hungary. In Upper Hungary what corresponds to today’s Slovakia there was a majority 60% Slovaks mostly in the north and villages.

The Slovaks and Czechs when they arrived un the US were called Bohuns as they were Slavs and treated like the Italians and Irish and were not offered employment. Only Germans and Austrians were. We as Slovenes had Austrian passports and all spoke fluent German as were were part of core Austria known as Carniola a region South of Styria. hence we were regarded as Germans and got employment. My great grandfather Andrew Skopec was a pastor from Laibach and went to America in Wisconsin and preached to the Germans in the logging camps in 1865 and my grandfather was born in 1872 and named Nicholas after the Czar of Russia ( Nikolai ) who was born in 1871.

4:33 John Paul II’s southern border and fellow Visegrads of Slovaks move and lives the his 2nd successor’s home country of Argentina

1:54 Some Hungarians lives in Slovakia and the man in this video Slovaks move to Hungary like Budapest it’s Capital but for me Slovaks descents in Budapest move and lives in Southern Slovakia

Stop this czechoslovak crap, it is offensive to slovaks as it just prompts the czech project to assimulate slovaks and moravians into czechs. Yes I know it was a saying as a nationality when czechoslovakia was around, as the czechs try to use czechoslovak as an ethnic identity too to again assimulate moravaians and slovaks into being czechs, but luckily it failed as the czechoslovak ethnicity was no longer mentioned after wwii, as all census of czechoslovakia had the slovaks and czechs as seperate ethnicities, sadly the czechs forcused moravaians to be czechs. Either way I get czechoslovak was a historical thing, and the first document to aid in the formation of czechoslovakia was done in Pittsburgh, with slovak and czech officials from europe alongside slovak and czech immigrants in Pittsburgh, and the document had czechoslovak/czechoslovakia in it. But since 1993 the office in Pittsburgh University should have been split with a slovak and a czech office, because we are not one people, never were one people, we just were in a federal union as two different states, and again it harms the identity of slovaks. As no one cares about the second half of a joint name. When people hear czechoslovakia they hear czech and just think and say czech. Thus giving the idea only czechs exist and nothing else. Like how with austrohungary people how hear and think of austria, thus harming the identity of the maygars (hungarians). This is why in international affairds of the late 1800's and ealry 1900's people mainly viewed austrohungary as just austria, which is false. Again stop this crap as it just prompts people to think slovaks are just czechs.

I wouldnt call these traditions.

8 000 000 a ako málo sa ich hlási ku Slovensku, to je strašne smutné, pozrite sa na Írov …

Awesome video i love it

Many Slovakian families settled in Whiting, Indiana, bordering Chicago, with later generations still living in the area today.

Wow, what a coincidence. My great grandfather was in the Austro-Hungarian army around 1904 (I don't quite understand how this worked, but your explanation in the video gave some insight) and ended up in small town PA by 1909, where he was a coal miner his whole life. He eventually got black lung and my understanding is he never fully learned English, but his sons (including my grandfather) all served in the military during WWII and went to college after that. This video filled in a lot of gaps for me, thank you very much, I love learning more about my family tree. My great grandfather had 10 kids, which is wild to think about. It should be noted that my grandfather was never taught the Slovak language, which seems to be a theme!

Similarly, my Slovak grandparents settled in Buffalo NY. Gdad 40 years with American Brass.

I am 72 and 100% Slovak. My parents were the first born here in the U.S. Both sides of my family, Grand parents immigrated here, to Pittsburgh area around 1905. The men all worked in the steel mills, including my father and myself. Very much as you described, both my parents had an 8th grade education but were quite intelligent and versed in most educational subjects.Grand parents as I was told had about 3 to 4 years of education in Slovakia. My one grand father made violins and did repairs to musicians string instruments as a hobby while working in the mill, where he became a foreman. They were inventive, and hard working talented people who became proud citizens of the U.S. When I asked my parents why us kids weren't taught Slovak language, she said you are Americans, you don't need to know that. It was that way, passed down to them by their immigrant parents, saying the same to them as children. Thank you for the information which most confirms what I had been told and learned over my life time.

Your videos are so interesting! I wish you could make more of them!

I'm Slovak but now live in Texas. Will there be any online videos of the event?

thank you😃

Fals information: population according to cencus in 1910 was 2,78 million not 4 million! Is it hard to google it? In years of 1880 - 1968 around 1/3 of slovak population emigrated to US. Can you inagine that 110 millions of americans will emigrate? In some parts of Zemplin municipality emigrated whole small villages.

I am from Slovakia🇸🇰

Greetings from Mosc-ow 🤗 my own life is signed by the way that my ancestry helps to keep .. 🚂 I already lived in 3 different countries .... My gran grandfather settled in Ontario CA and rest of the family are fragmented between Canada and USA ..... take care and God bless you all 😘😘😘

hi im a proud 100 perent mill hunky slovak from whitaker. my granny was from indiana

This is a twisted speech that does not match with reality.

Love this Talk!

This is how my family came

Ďakujem za krásne video posielam srdečný pozdrav

Kolač on the table slovak called šatečky 😁 , kolač is generally , thank you for explanation easter tradition 👍

Sadly i live in a city very far away from the nearest cultural organization in my country. That makes it impossible to participate in it thus impossible to get the letters from them that need to be presented at the consulate.

Hi, I find it amazing that there are americans still interested in their Slovak heritage :) About the Easter Monday tradition, I think you have it a bit mixed up. Its not the ladies pouring water and spraying perfume on the boys. Its the boys doing all three things to the ladies. First pour water on them, then whip the with "Korbac" and then spray perfume. The whipping is very very gentle, more like pretending doing it, than actual whipping. And each thing represents wishing a good health, fortune, and beauty to the ladies. Each thing represents something else, which im not gonna write into detail here, but if you want more details, let me know and I can tell you anything you want to know about SLovak tratidions :) In return the ladies thank them for this good fortune and offer them food and drink, and some painted eggs (this is more old tradition still present on some villages in Slovakia) . However, now in the more modern present and mostly in towns and cities, the boys usually get chocolate easter eggs, sweets, and a bit of money as well, but you are not interested in that :) Either way, its very fun day, for boys on Slovakia, I remember when I was the boy, this day I was looking forward the most out of all year :)

Great talk! I never even factored in the US Civil War aspect.

You should include the time zone on this so that there's no confusion as to which 1 p.m. it is.

th-cam.com/video/Ri9U27TroAw/w-d-xo.html

This is a great talk. My great uncle came in 1909 as a 20 year old. I was curious, he came here legally. He wasn't made to do military service. Was this common then?

Very interesting. I have several pieces of glass art by Frantisek Zemek. I’m Lou Zemek and must be related in some fashion. Very nice presentation.

Thanks for showing our video on the festival :)

Very informative and interesting festival, especially the portion on Slovak immigration TO the USA as well as Slovaks moving BACK to Slovakia. If anyone is interested in the Slovak Living Abroad certificate or Slovak citizenship, we created a group to share information on it. Here's the link: facebook.com/groups/1454484788071370/

This was an amazing presentation showing the stunning landscapes of Slovakia as well as introducing the culture and history of the country. People who view this will surely want to see it in person.

Thank you for finding a way to continue with the festival tradition. Dovidenia buduci rok!

Great Festival. Thank You, and look forward to visiting live in Pittsburgh next year.

Hello from Ontario, Canada

Loved the Immigration history, Hudson MI.

Hello from Windsor, ON Canada

Welcome all slovak s or part slovak

I heard this is going to be good.

Looks wonderful! I see there will be cooking demonstrations. Will written recipes be on file on the Facebook page?

Excited!!!