In those first November days, riot police confronted the demonstrators, beating many. But the police and central Party’s lack of sustained response – a sharp contrast to the crushing reaction typical of the regime’s 40-year history – fed a momentum that inspired thousands more to join. What in the first days was a march of 15,000 students became 200,000, then 750,000 within the week. At the nation’s popular theaters, rallies replaced performances. A citizens’ general strike followed as information spread. Eventually, state-run media outlets began to acknowledge the actual facts on the ground – rather than the Party line – inspiring other media to follow as the tide turned.

Webster student Tomas Zahorka was 14 at the time, living in his tiny hometown of Velky Senov, Czechoslovakia, as the events unfolded.

“Even now, it is still the greatest day of my life,” he says. The burden lifted off of the nation after 40 years under Communist rule was palpable. “You were always aware of how oppressive the political system was. You had the feeling of constantly being lied to, of not being able to move freely. Your teachers never explaining what really happened with historical events.”

"My grandfather would listen to Radio Free Europe and blast it out the window to the neighborhood…We had to make fun of the system, it was so absurd.”

And those are the feelings of someone who felt relatively fortunate under the system. As members of the Communist Party, Zahorka’s parents enjoyed some leeway in life. But they saw all too clearly the corruption and failings in the system.

“We weren’t poor,” Zahorka says. “My father’s position was a ‘businessman,’ so he got to travel a lot and see Western countries. But my mom would worry that one time he wouldn’t come back – because that sometimes happened when people saw the chance to escape.

“Of course he always came back, and he told me the things he saw abroad. But he would caution me: ‘Listen, you cannot talk about these things – to anyone – because you never know who is a member of the secret police, or who might report you.’ It was crazy. The simplest little thing could change everything for us, and he could lose his job.”

Nonetheless, Zahorka talked, stirred by an interest in history, politics, and the world outside that he could not see. “I guess I’ve always had it,” he says. “Even when I was eight, I would always talk politics with my best friend.”

Zahorka’s inquisitiveness was influenced by his world-traveling father – and perhaps by the devil-may-care attitude of his maternal grandfather: “My grandfather would listen to Radio Free Europe,” he says. “And he would turn it out the window and blast it to the neighborhood. It drove my grandmother crazy. But everyone knew what was going on. We had to make fun of the system, it was so absurd.”

The World Outside Leads to Webster

With the outside world suddenly accessible, Zahorka took flight after high school. With the support of his parents, he spent a year in England as an au pair and visited other parts of Europe, as well as the United States.

“I think I always knew I wanted to leave and see the world,” he says. “I think of myself as a global person. I love my home, but I wanted to explore the rest of the world, too.”

Eventually, he ended up in St. Louis, where friends and mentors encouraged him to look at Webster University.

“Webster looked like a good fit with its international feel,” he says. “And the European campuses, I knew those would help with recognition if I ever needed to go back home."

Zahorka has completed courses for his History major and for his certificate in International Human Rights. All that remains is his student teaching for his degree in Secondary Education.

This spring he’s student teaching 9th- and 10th-grade history at Pattonville High School. “We’re teaching World War II and the Cold War. I think the students like getting my perspective,” he says.

He also has completed an internship through Webster at the International Institute, which helps refugees and immigrants who settle in the St. Louis area.

“That was eye-opening,” he says. “The Czech Republic is part of Western culture, so it was great to see these refugees from other places where the mindset is completely different. The International Institute truly offers a new life to these people. They are very sensitive to refugees’ needs.”

As part of his internship, Zahorka researched cultures in Burma, Burundi, and Bhutan to help staff work with incoming refugees. He also helped prepare for a panel of political candidates who spoke with immigrants and refugees during the 2006 election.

“The panel was interesting – and stunning,” he says. “It’s incredible how uninformed some of the candidates were.”

Ignorance is something Zahorka has found throughout his travels. From racism in St. Louis – “It was shocking to see it still here yet not always dealt with,” he says – to Westerners’ impressions of Eastern Europe, breakdowns in cultural understanding are often on his mind.

“I can still see the impact here from the Cold War, in the lack of knowledge people have about Eastern Europe,” he says. “Just from lack of exposure, which is understandable. But people don’t realize that a country’s citizens aren’t a reflection of the political system that governed them.”

“We have our problems in the Czech Republic, too,” he says. “The so-called ‘Gypsies’ are a minority without a voice. They have no advocates, and people silently look the other way when they are mistreated.”

Between history, international human rights, and education, Zahorka has been very happy with his Webster experience – and his professors. “There are so many bright professors here, they capture the big picture of things. All of them are very interesting and so important to our success.”

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