From Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 11:00 AM until Friday, December 22, 2023 at 4:00 PM, visitors were able to discover the incredible journey of 60,000 Czech and Slovak soldiers who were stranded in Russia during the Russian Revolution near the end of World War I as they united while seizing the Trans-Siberian Railway for a 5,000-mile trek to Vladivostok. This war train vitalized the Allies and paved the way for Czechoslovakia.

At the outbreak of World War I, Czechs and Slovaks had no country to call their own. Their lands were a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, an old aristocracy that had ruled over them for centuries. Seeing this war as an opportunity to free themselves, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik formed the Czechoslovak National Council and worked tirelessly to establish an independent and democratic Czechoslovakia.

Czech Center Museum Houston would like to thank Diana Austin, Rev. Paul Chovanec, James Ermis, Adelma Graham, Sharon Schweitzer J.D., Valerie Sheppard, William and Marie Vavrik, and donors who wish to remain anonymous for generously supporting our Czech Heritage Month programs.