When they went to visit relatives in New York in 1969, they knew it was a one-way trip
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Jan Tomeček was born on 21 September 1926 in a farmhouse in Tvarožná Lhota in Moravian Slovakia (Slovácko). Together with his brother Josef and sister Anežka, they helped with the farm work from childhood. In the third grade, he and his classmates personally congratulated President Masaryk on his birthday. The war had a noticeable impact on their otherwise peaceful childhood. Many of their acquaintances became fascists and denounced their neighbours. Because of their location near the border with Slovakia, guerrillas were active in the area and repeatedly approached the witness’s father for cooperation. The Nazis beat him savagely because of this, but Jan managed to escape and hid in barns in the area for several days. After the war, Jan Tomeček graduated and entered mandatory military service in Brno. In the 1950s, he witnessed the communists confiscating his parents’ farm, including fields and cattle. Jan Tomeček worked on the railroad and was newly married. He tried to avoid politics. When his wife Maria succeeded to visit her relatives in the US during the thaw period of the 1960s, it changed their lives. Marie Tomečková’s (née Polášková’s) extended family lived in New York and offered them a home. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, the family was clear that they would be better off in America. They applied for a visa to visit the family. When they received permission, they began to prepare to leave. The Tomeček family arrived in New York with their two daughters in late June 1969. The witness first found a job as a roofer and later got a job at a city park. His wife was unable to pursue her original job as a teacher. The family was active in the local expatriate community and especially in Catholic associations such as the Manhasset community. Jan Tomeček raised two daughters, Jiřina and Jana. In 2023, he and his wife lived in a house in the suburbs of New York City.
