• In 1963 my father was granted permission to travel abroad. He visited Belgium, the Netherlands and France. At the time his younger brother didn’t know if he would return, but he did, to finish his veterinary studies. And he didn’t want to break his mother’s heart. She died the following year of breast cancer.
• After the Warsaw Pact invasion, on the 21st of August 1968, over 300,000 Czechoslovakians would leave during a relaxed 13 month window. Many escaped without proper documentation – on foot, through tunnels, swimming across channels, or by other creative means. Some paid with their lives.
• For most of my life I described the event as “escaping”, but that wasn’t the case. We legally crossed Eastern and Western borders with proper documentation. The basis of our travel was vacation, but we simply didn’t return. The act of Unauthorized Emigration, i.e. “failure to return”, was a crime. My parents and others that did not return within the approved timetable were considered political criminals. They were subsequently “convicted in absentia” and would have been jailed if they returned to Czechoslovakia. On the 22nd of August 1969 a new, so-called “Truncheon Law” was approved and signed in secrecy. It was not publicized at the time. But a renewed grip on travel restrictions meant that the borders were essentially closed. My family learned of the new travel restrictions when they arrived in Paris on the 5th of September 1969. In hindsight it was fateful timing. That day we also celebrated my father’s 27th birthday.
• Dusil
If you missed the previous posts on Dusil, then click on these links:
49.May.22 – Ostrava · Karol, Vaclav, Robert Jr. & Sr. Dusil49.May.22 – Ostrava · Maria, Robert Jr., Vaclav, Robert Sr., Karol Dusil
• 4 minutes 7 seconds
57 – Košice · Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil Sr., Karol Dusil, Maria Dusilova, Vaclav Dusil
• This photo was taken in Košice in the garden of the house where the Dusil’s lived. The house is still standing today, across from the main police station on Moyzesova street, but has since been converted to offices.
61 – Košice · Robert jr., Maria, Robert sr., Karol Dusil
61.Apr – Stankovce · Vaclav Dusil, Robert Dusil, Andrej Collak, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Michal Korytko, Karol Dusil, Michal Korytoko Jr, Orendas, Anna Collakova
• Anna Collakova stayed with the Dusil’s when she attended high school in Košice. She was from Stankovce, a village around 25km east of Košice.
62 – Opava · Zsigmondy, Csaba Kende, x, Karol Dusil, x, Igor Fridrich, Nalevanko, Sano Drabcak, Robert Dusil, Vaclav Dusil
• My uncle did his military service from Aug 1961 to Aug 1963 in Opava together with Sano Drabcak, another judoka from Košice. The other two soldiers just happened to walk by, so they have not been identified.
• 8 minutes 12 seconds
64.Sep – Košice · Maria Dusilova64.Sep – Košice · Karol, Vaclav, Maria, Robert Sr., Robert Jr. Dusil64.Sep – Košice · Maria & Vaclav Dusil
• This photo was taken in front of “Dom umenia, Centrá kultúry” situated beside the Dusil family residence. That day my dad came to Košice from Brno where he studied veterinary medicine for one year. It was an emergency visit because his mother had terminal cancer. One breast was removed in February of 1964, but her cancer had metastasized to her entire body. She died on the 24th of October, 1964.
63 – Plzeň · Vaclav, Maria & Karol Dusil
• The Dusil brothers, with their mom visiting their father in Plzeň-Bory, while also competing in a judo event.
• Tags
Andrej Collak, Anna Collakova, Attila Kende, Csaba Kende, Darina Poprenakova, Digital Restoration, Dusil Family, dusil.com, Edo Novak, Erika Dusil, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, Ivan Spisak, Iveta Kende, Juraj Bialko, Karol Dusil, Kende Family, Ladislav Kende, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Maria Dusilova, Michal Jr, Michal Korytko, Nyarjas, Orendas, Pepo Vesecky, Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil sr., Slavo Sykorsky, Stefan Kende, Vaclav Dusil, Valeria Kendeova, Vera Kendeova
• Our nickname for my dad came about when I was a toddler. I wasn’t able to pronounce “Tati” – Slovak for “Dad”. The best I could do was “Taci”, pronounced “Tat-see” so it stuck for everyone among the extended family. I had many miss-pronunciations throughout my childhood. They were never corrected and became part of my household vocabulary. It eventually became a problem when we visited other friends of my parents. I was around eight years old when we visited a Czech family and I asked the lady if I could “pikat”. She looked at me with confusion, and I repeated the request. I started to get nervous as she still didn’t understand me. So I said in English if I could please have a drink. To my horror she laughed uncontrollably, and said something along the lines of, “chceš niečo pit? (Do you want something to drink?)” Suddenly, with this one mistake it occurred to me that my Slovak was terrible, and I would barely speak a word of Slovak until my mid-20’s when I moved to Prague, Czech Republic.
• My dad died 35 years ago today. I miss him tremendously.
I love you, Taci
• Technical Notes
• I don’t like scratch removal solutions provided by scanners. Even though they offer a quick-fix in removing unwanted damage, I find that it degrades the overall image significantly in the process. My methodology is to always preserve as much detail and texture in the photo as possible, and manually manipulate the images in Adobe Photoshop instead. Even though I sharpen the images, the process will never restore lost data (contrary to what we see on CSI TV shows). Sharpening results in an increase of grain, but I prefer grain over a blurry image.
• My approach is to scan all images without any fancy correction tools, and make the corrections on a pixel by pixel basis in Photoshop. In some cases I will add content around the edges in order to correct composition issues. I will also paint detail that may be completely damaged. I call this “digital restoration with creative license”. The entire process requires a lot of patience, but at the same time, while I am restoring the images, I feel that I am apart of that moment in time, and that makes the work more adoring.
• Taci
If you missed the other Taci posts, you can link to them here:
• Prior to matriculation (graduation) from the agricultural middle School in Barca (now a part of Košice), students had a mini-scientific conference. My dad won the first prize, and in this photo he is presenting his findings. In the background is one of his teachers. My mother graduated from the same school.
• Postscript from my Mom • 2014 September • We commuted by streetcar, which took about half an hour. Taci would be around 18 years old in this photo. This high school was focused on veterinary studies. The table is covered with velvet, so it must have been a special event.
Article – Prečo Práve Poľnohospodárstvo
60.Jun – Košice · Document, Vaclav Dusil (High School class photo)
• My dad went on a trip to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris in the summer of 1966. These are a selection of photos from that trip. I still have the leather jacket that he has on in these pictures.
• Tags
Andrej Collak, Anna Collakova, Attila Kende, Csaba Kende, Darina Poprenakova, Digital Restoration, Dusil Family, dusil.com, Edo Novak, Erika Dusil, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, Ivan Spisak, Iveta Kende, Juraj Bialko, Karol Dusil, Kende Family, Ladislav Kende, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Maria Dusilova, Michal Jr, Michal Korytko, Nyarjas, Orendas, Pepo Vesecky, Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil sr., Slavo Sykorsky, Stefan Kende, Vaclav Dusil, Valeria Kendeova, Vera Kendeova
• In my last visit home, to Burlington, Ontario, Canada, I decided to digitally scan a selection of old family photos. My wish is that one day, my boys and their offspring will have a high quality digital library of their family heritage. This is part of an ongoing pursuit to establish an archive of our family history, and build on the depth of work that my Mom has done with our family genealogy. My wish is that generations that follow us, will enjoy the the efforts that we made in the preservation of their family history. I hope to scan more photos on my next visit. So this is just a start.
• Each month I plan to post a selection of new photos that have been restored. I also wanted to record the restoration process, so that you can see the tedious process needed to achieve a near perfect restoration. I suggest viewing the videos in high definition and in full screen (both options can be selected, using the bottom right icons in the YouTube player). Enjoy.
♥HappyBirthday ♥Mamička♥
I love you,
Mamička
If you missed the other posts on Mamička, you can link to them here:
• All photos in this blog can be downloaded by just clicking on them – the images will open in a new tab in your browser, where you can then right click on them and save the file to your computer. If you want an even higher quality version (to print, for example) then let me know, as I have the original uncompressed Tiffs.
• If you have anecdotal information related to any photos in this blog, then please send me the details, and I would be happy to add your postscript below the photos. Just send me an email or post your comments at the end of this blog.
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • This photo was taken in Keszthely, Hungary in 1961, I was 16 years old. My Mom and I were at my grandmothers, where we visited every second year.
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • On my right is my brother, Attila in military uniform, 23 years old, I’m 16 years old, and my other brother, Csaba (28 years old) is on my left, photographed at my parents apartment, Krmanova 3, Kosice, Slovakia.
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • This photo was taken in Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia, where there was a horseback jumping competition. On this occasion I was attending as a spectator, although my club was taking part in it. • Since my mother was born there, I used the opportunity to visit the villa she grew up in, where I spent a happy childhood. Beside the villa was the Haltenberger Textile factory that her grandparents owned in the 1920’s. This textile factory eventually was abandoned and in bad shape, and the business was sold by mother’s uncle Rudolf Haltenberger Jr., to Budapest around 1921-1922. • In this photo I am 19 years old. I am wearing a top which was very fashionable at that time.
• Postscript from me • 2014 September • I love this photo so much. It’s currently my favorite photo of my Mom, from before we emigrated. She is so beautiful… and still is!
• 1964 March 8 • Košice, Slovakia • International Woman’s Day • Eva & Valeria Kendeova
• 4 minutes 45 seconds
64.Mar.8 – Kosice · Eva & Valeria Kendeova (Woman’s Day)
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • Here I am about 18 years old. My mother and I were attending an International Women’s Day celebration at my Mom’s workplace.
• Postscript from me • 2014 September • It’s rare to find a photo of my grandmother where she is smiling. I think this is the best one I found so far. I really love the emotion in this photo. You can see the happiness in her eyes, and how my mom is also enjoying the moment.
65.July – Keszthely · Eva Kendeova (Jumping with Furioso horse)
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • September 2014 • In this photo I am 20 years young. My Mom and I were visiting my grandmother in Keszthely, Hungary, during the summer holidays. Every time we visited, I would ride at the local stud farm. Here I am jumping the trainer’s stud. He was a really powerful horse, and a beautiful animal, from the Furioso breed. They liked when I visited, and eventually I took part in a competition for them. Later on I represented them at a horse pageant, at a different location.
• Postscript from me • September 2014 • We often hear our parents say that they did ‘this and that’, when they were young. As kids we don’t know the true extent of their accomplishments until we are old enough to appreciate them. Memories may fade with time, but these photos will (hopefully) last forever. My mom was an accomplished horseback rider. This is a great photograph of her in action.
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • This photo is from a ski expedition we had in the Tatra mountains, organized by my university. I was in my first year of veterinary college.
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • Here I am 21 years old, at an equestrian competition in Poprad, Slovakia. I was representing my university’s equestrian club with my Arabian stud horse named Shagya. This was my last competition I took part in, because Taci did not like me pursuing a sport that was mostly in the company of men. Because of my love for him, I gave up the sport • Times have changed… Today the sport is mostly pursued by women. In a way, you can say that I was ahead of my time. By studying veterinary medicine, this was also considered a male’s profession, at that time.
• 1967 December 25 • Košice, Slovakia • Engagement Party • Dusil Brothers & Spouses
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • This photo was taken at Taci’s and my engagement in my parents apartment in Kosice.
• Postscript from me • 2014 September • What my dad was about to do with his cup… I think I inherited some of that blood. • Standing, along the top row (left to right): Robert, Vaclav & Karol Dusil, sitting down are Zuzana Dusil, Eva Kendeova (not yet married), and Erika Dusil
67.Dec.25 – Kosice · Dusil & Kende family (Engagement party)67.Dec.25 – Kosice · Dusil & Kende family (Engagement)
• Postscript from Eva Dusil • 2014 September • Interesting, that on the left hangs the painting of “The Old Man” that burned in the fire years later. I have since painted it myself. It hangs now in the hallway near the kitchen. My mother loved this painting and once when I visited, my Mom wanted to give it to me. I refused to take it, because said told me on a previous visit that as long as she lived she is not giving it away. I told my Mom to live for a long time, and enjoy the painting.
• Postscript from me • 2014 September • A rare photo with so many Kende and Dusil family members in one photo. It was great to restore this one. I love the odd composition of the photo, by capturing “The Old Man” painting so perfectly. • Standing, along the top row (left to right): Robert Dusil, Csaba Kende, Erika Dusil, Karol Dusil, Eva Dusil, Vaclav Dusil, Anka Kendeova, Ladislav Kende, Attila Kende • Along the bottom row (left to right): Zuzana Dusil, Vera Kendeova, Stefan Kende, Valeria Kendeova, Robert Dusil sr.
• Tags
Andrej Collak, Anna Collakova, Attila Kende, Csaba Kende, Darina Poprenakova, Digital Restoration, Dusil Family, dusil.com, Edo Novak, Erika Dusil, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, Ivan Spisak, Iveta Kende, Juraj Bialko, Karol Dusil, Kende Family, Ladislav Kende, Maria Collakova-Korytkova, Maria Dusilova, Michal Jr, Michal Korytko, Nyarjas, Orendas, Pepo Vesecky, Robert Dusil, Robert Dusil sr., Slavo Sykorsky, Stefan Kende, Vaclav Dusil, Valeria Kendeova, Vera Kendeova
Gabriel Dusil • Time Is Relentless 