Uzel shares stories of his 'trip of a lifetime'

By Julie Buchanan

Progress-Index, Petersburg, Virginia, Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 3:00 AM EST

In August, Uzel and 16 other Tri-City residents of Czech descent spent three weeks traveling through six Czech villages tracing their family roots.


They spent one weekend in the historic Romanian village of Gernik. Before World War I, the mountainous village was part of Austria-Hungary. After the war, it was annexed to Romania, but its residents maintained their native Czech culture.


"It was set up as a border village to keep watch on the Czech and German villages," Uzel explained.


Many of the travelers' ancestors had emigrated from Gernik to the United States more than a century ago. The trip allowed them to meet distant relatives and experience the life their grandparents and great-grandparents knew.

Gernik, Uzel said, has remained mostly unchanged over the last 100 years - electricity is a fairly new phenomenon and families still farm their own food.


"They have really held to the old Czech customs that were practiced," he said.


While the group from Virginia was visiting, they were treated as honored guests to the village's annual harvest festival, a unique cultural celebration. Uzel's photographs document the festival as well as the homes, landscapes, churches and colorful daily life of Gernik's people.


The presentation is open to the public and will take place at 7 this evening at the Colonial Heights community building at 157 Roanoke Ave.