Vraz in Moravská Ostrava, 1945-1946
Svornost newspaper, the first Czech daily in the United States
Vlasta Adele Vraz was a Czech-American who served as the director of American Relief for Czechoslovakia after World War II and was arrested as a spy by the Communist government in Czechoslovakia. After her release, she became the president of the Czechoslovak National Council of America.
As the only daughter of Vlasta (nee Geringer) and Enrique Stanislau Vraz –a naturalist and explorer– Vlasta enjoyed a quiet childhood in Chicago. Her grandfather, August Geringer, founded the first Czechoslovak newspaper in Chicago, called "Svornost" which began publication in 1875. Vraz helped work on the newspaper during her childhood, but it ceased in 1931.
In her young adult years, Vraz lived in Prague and helped her father, who lectured there from 1919 until his death in 1932. While there, Vraz became a translator of Czechoslovak literary works and wrote a biography of her father.
In 1939, Czechoslovakia was invaded by Nazi Germany. During World War II, Vraz returned to the United States with her mother and became a secretary in Washington, D. C., for the Czech government in exile.
Vraz returned to Prague in 1945 to help direct American Relief for Czechoslovakia. She was first an aide to the director, then the director. She distributed $4 million in food, clothing, and other supplies for the American Relief program there. Jan Masaryk, the noncommunist foreign minister, decorated Vraz with the Order of the White Lion for her work on behalf of the children of Czechoslovakia.
New York Times article from April 17, 1949
After the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, Vraz was suspected of being a spy for the United States government and was arrested in 1949. Her role as the Prague representative of American Relief for Czechoslovakia was viewed as a front for her spying activities, and the arrest brought heavy United States scrutiny of the Czech government. Because of backlash, Vraz was released after only a week, following a letter of protest from Ambassador Jacobs to the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry. The letter expressed concern over the increasing number of arrests of American citizens in Czechoslovakia and demanded a full report of Vraz’s arrest or her release, should charges prove to be unsubstantial.
Upon her release, Vraz returned to the United States. For 40 years, she was editor of two monthly publications for the Czechoslovak National Council of America: The American Bulletin and Vestnik. Her reactions during the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia were coveted. Her death in 1989 marked the end of her family line.
Written by Jaime Johnston
Craig, Jim. “A Czech-American Patriot - Vlasta Adele Vraz.” A CZECH-AMERICAN PATRIOT - Vlasta Adele Vraz, 18 Jan. 2013, undereverytombstone.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-czech-american-patriot-vlasta-adele.html.
U.S. Department of State, history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1949v05/d243. Accessed 10 Aug. 2023.
“Vlasta Geringer and E.S. Vraz.” Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois, 18 Feb. 2020, csagsi.org/vlasta-geringer-and-e-s-vraz/.
“Vlasta Vraz.” Wikipedia, 12 Mar. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlasta_Vraz.