Magazine

Czechoslovaks at World Expositions - Part VI - New York and San Francisco 1939/40

In June 1936, the Czechoslovak General Consul in New York informed the Ministry of Trade that preparations for a world exposition were underway; an official invitation arrived in December and in November 1937 the decision to participate in the New York World's Fair was made. On May 25, 1938, the Council of Ministers set up the Czechoslovak Exhibition Committee headed by General Commissioner Hugo Vavřečka. An executive committee was formed with Vavřečka, Jan Třebický and Ladislav F. Feierabend as its members. Seven ministries took part in preparations, but in October 1938, this number was reduced to three (public works, trade and education) and the government reduced the budget by 35%. The pavilion project was entrusted to Kamil Roškot and F. X. Hruška. The steel structure was manufactured by the Vitvokivice Steel Works. The pavilion, which measured 107 meters in length and 25 meters in width, with a 16-meter high faćade, was assembled and erected by the New York firm of Hegeman & Harry. In addition to the pavilion, we also received space in the Building of Nations for a State Hall that was designed by Ladislav Sutnar. Sutnar and Václav Vilém Štech were given the task of developing the State Hall, which was to present our history and culture. By early March virtually all the exhibits had been sent to the United States. However, this period was the climax of the second republic's agony. During the first half of March, Vavřečka was able to send a number of key specialists to the United States including Roškot

At the last minute, Sutnar also left for America. As late as March 12, 1939, he had requested "that the guide to the Czecho-Slovak State Hall be published anyway." Following the establishment of the protectorate, the committee was renamed the Exhibition Committee for Organizing the Participation of Bohemian and Moravian Industries and tried to continue its work. But the Nazi Foreign Ministry in Berlin ordered the termination of our participation and in April the Nazi Ministry of Finance made reference to $10,000 for removal work by the firm of B. Soumar and Associates, who had been responsible for the installation of the exhibits and running the pavilion. The organizers of the New York World's Fair refused to recognize the protectorate committee and gave control over the Czecho-Slovak Pavilion to a new exhibition committee headed by George J. Janeček. On April 14, 1939, Sutnar, who had been given the task of dismantling the pavilion, sailed into New York and immediately began work on completing the pavilion with Bedřich Grünzweig and other Czechoslovak compatriots. The pavilion was finally opened on May 31 (a month after the official opening of the world's fair). Representatives of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile were present at the opening ceremonies. Compatriot organizations saw to the running of the pavilion. This means that in New York we exhibited as a state which no longer existed on any maps.

The steel structure of the pavilion was covered a ceramic faćade with rows of windows around the outside. The mass of the monumental faćade at the pavilion's front (which was higher than its rear wing) was broken up by the Czechoslovak coat-of-arms and doorways in its corners. Underneath the coat-of-arms, the words of Jan Ámos Komenský (Comenius) translated into English served as a rallying cry: "After the Tempest of Wrath has Passed, the Rule of thy Country will Return to Thee, O Czech People." Antonín Heymuth was responsible for the pavilion's interior arrangement. Our lot was wedged between the pavilions of Japan and the Soviet Union, (who closed and took down their pavilion prior to the opening of the fair's second season; in its place the famous American Common was created) not far from the Lagoon of Nations and its fountains, and near the Flushing Gate. The architects František Cubr and Zdeněk Pokorný, who gained experience here and in Paris in 1937, designed three display cases (for gloves, embroidery and jewelry) and arranged the area around them. Other elements of the exhibition were designed by the firms Waldes, Záhruda, Dětva and Glaser & Goldstein (Czech garnets). The Baťa company's exhibition was located in semicircular space measuring 24 meters in diameter with five large windows (7 meters wide and 2 high). The windows were painted with the Baťa family tree, portraits of Tomáš Baťa and Jan Antonín Baťa and the city of Zlín.

In the center was the boudoir of a modern American woman. Soft choral music played in the background and all was reflected by pinkish mirrors mounted on the ceiling. The firms Pavel Meisel, Srb & Štys and Josef & Jan Frič exhibited in the precision mechanics and optics section. Václav Fiala created a diorama of George Washington's inauguration (9 meters long, 1 meter high and deep); the figures were added by Minka Podhajská. In the diorama, Washington is seen taking the oath of office from the balcony of Congress with soldiers and civilians looking on. A hand-knotted carpet measuring 107 square meters was made in the Jedlička Institute for the Handicapped. Max Švabinský painted a personification of Czecho-Slovakia for the pavilion's Ceremonial Hall. A glass mosaic of Prague with Romanesque and Gothic towers (criticized for its stylized verticality) was designed for the entry hall by Kamil Roškot and made by Master Jan Tumpach. The Prague City Council bought the mosaic for 50,000 crowns from the exhibition committee and presented it to the city of New York after the fair had closed.

The text beneath the mosaic read: "Prague - Capital of Czecho-Slovakia, whose first towers were erected for the praise of God a thousand years ago, greets New York City, the gate to the United States." Negotiations for the return of the mosaic were held in 1946 and '47 but the costs were too high. In the end a compatriot organization placed it in a Chicago cemetery. A flaxen tapestry by Marie Hoppe-Teintizterová entitled Czechoslovak Flax as designed by the painter K. Putz. The four phases in the processing of flax were depicted using the figures of girls, which at the same time expressed the history of the country. The restaurant on the pavilion's roof offered visitors a wonderful view of the Lagoon of Nations. Compatriots asked the Prague Chefs' Association to use the World's Fair as an opportunity to "bring new life to the declining tradition of Czech cuisine in Czech-American families" - something they invested a great deal of energy in.

In 1939 and 1940, our country also participated in the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. The person most responsible for this was Dr. Jaroslav Kose, Deputy Director of the Export Institute and General Commissioner. Working closely with Kose was Ervin Ladislav Chloupek, the honorary consul in San Francisco. Our 557 square meter exhibition was located in Exhibit Building C between the Netherlands and Poland. The exhibition stand was designed by Antonín Heymuth and its motto was "Buy Goods Made in Czecho-Slovakia." The stand was flanked by glass display cases with blue frames mounted on white metal columns that were 3.3 meters high and joined at the top by red banners with white lettering. Rotating octagonal display cases were placed in the corners. An information office stood in the center with four flags waving over it. The flags were blown by a fan located above the office's desk. A total of sixty firms exhibited here.

The exhibit was ceremonially opened on March 4 (a two-week delay was the result of American work habits and the five-day work week), with the mayor of San Francisco and the exposition's vice-president in attendance. On March 29, the German Ambassador Ritter ordered the immediate termination of Czecho-Slovak participation and on April 15, an official letter authorizing the sale of the exhibits was issued. However, they managed to redefine our participation as an exhibit of manufactured goods and were able to continue under this semi-official status. The exhibit manager A. Rücker received a letter on April 27 ordering him to call the exhibit "an exhibit of goods from Bohemia and Moravia" (ignoring the one Slovak exhibitor). The exhibit catalog was modified to reflect these new facts.

Jaroslav Halada

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