Eva Pacak of Scotts Valley grew up at a time when Czechoslovakia became a Soviet satellite country. Communism, the only powerful political system in the Soviet Bloc, was forced on the people. As a child, she was unaware of the injustices taking place.
“The system was so inhuman and absurd that people who never lived under it as adults cannot even remotely imagine what it was like,” Pacak explained. “No matter what your ability level, there’s no way for a Czech to advance unless you’re engaged politically.”
The situation began to improve in 1968 during the Prague Spring, when Pacak was a second-year university student. This was a period of political liberation. Certain freedoms were granted, including a loosening of restrictions on travel. A large wave of emigration swept through the country.
“We were full of hope, because it looked like we could get out of the Soviet grasp. I was able to travel to France during the summer to work and study French,” she said.
The reforms were not well received by the Soviets, however, and thousands of troops and tanks were sent to occupy the country.
“I wanted to leave at this time, but my husband, Vojtech, thought that things would improve. Everything changed in 1969. The border closed, and we were no longer able to travel.”
Pacak realized she didn’t want to be confined to Czechoslovakia. Between 1969 and 1979, the situation became more oppressive. Vojtech, a physicist for the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, was pressured by the secret police, because he was not a member of the Communist Party. That’s when their escape plan started taking shape.
“It was very difficult to get an exit visa for a family of four,” Pacak said. “We knew that we had to have a flawless plan of escape, with no way back. If we were caught, we’d lose our jobs, our children would not be permitted to attend high school and we’d be sentenced to prison. My father had some connections, but the repercussions were dire if we failed.”
When they decided to leave, a friend wrote a fake medical certificate for their son, saying that he needed to go to Italy for two weeks for treatment for asthma.
“We could not tell anyone — except my parents, who helped bribe the right people — for fear of being denounced by the police,” Pacak said. “We left on June 5, 1980, our two sons, ages 3 and 5, in tow, with no documentation and only the necessities. We headed west to Germany. The moment we crossed the border into Germany, I kissed the ground.”
Vojtech let their friends know they had arrived, and two days later, he went to the embassy in Bonn and applied to immigrate to Canada.
It took three months to get a visa, and the family avoided outside contact the whole time.
“I was so scared that the secret police would find us and make us return that I stayed in the house with our kids,” Pacak said.
The family sold their car and bought a one-way ticket to Montreal. Soon after, they moved to Vancouver, where Vojtech took a job as a physicist. Pacak learned English, got her master’s degree and worked at a bank. Eventually, her husband took a job as a physicist in Dallas, Texas.
But the Pacaks were suddenly faced with a series of misfortunes. The project in Dallas closed sooner than expected, a tornado damaged their home, a motorcycle crash took their son and Pacak’s mother died unexpectedly in Europe.
Fortunately, the family was able to get a green card.
The family started over in 1996, when Vojtech found a job in Scotts Valley at Watkins-Johnson. Pacak began teaching and tutoring with the local chapter of L’Alliance Francais, and when Watkins-Johnson closed, Vojtech went to work for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center as a radio frequency engineer in Menlo Park.
The family bought a home in Scotts Valley and began to settle down. Pacak, now 63, vividly remembers how beautiful she found the area and how lucky she felt to be on the West Coast.
“I love Scotts Valley,” Pacak said.” I’m from a big city, but I love a small town.”
An avid tennis play and skier, Pacak spends her free time at La Madrona Swim and Racquet Club. She has no regrets about leaving her former county. Her life has been challenging, she admits, but she is grateful for what she has.
Sandi Olson of Scotts Valley is a writer, speaker and teacher. She writes about interesting people in Scotts Valley and the San Lorenzo Valley. E-mail her at [email protected].
