FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS THE CZECHS AND SLOVAKS
STRUGGLED FOR THE RIGHT TO LIVE ASA FREE PEOPLE.
IN 1918 THEY FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN REGAINING THEIR
INDEPENDENCE. FROM THE RUINS OF THE PAST THEY
STARTED TO REBUILD THEIR COUNTRY AND FOUNDED THEIR
CONSTITUTION ON THE SAME PRINCIPLES AND IN THE SAME
SPIRIT IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS WHICH HAD INSPIRED THE
FOUNDERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN THE
TWENTY YEARS THAT FOLLOWED. CZECHOSLOVAKIA ATTAINED
A HIGH DEGREE OF MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY
AND SHE WAS RIGHTLY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE BEST
GOVERNED NATIONS IN EUROPE.
IT HAD BEEN ORIGINALLY PLANNED THAT THIS PAVILION WAS
TO BE A MONUMENT OF THAT PROGRESS AND WAS TO PROVE
WHAT MAY BE ACHIEVED WITHIN TWO DECADES IF INDUSTRY,
LABOR, ART AND CREATIVE PATRIOTISM WORK IN HARMONY.
BY AN UNFRIENDLY STROKE OF FATE THE YOUNG REPUBLIC
BECAME THE VICTIM OF A RUTHLESS IN VASION WHICH
STRANGLED THE LIBERTY OF HER PEOPLE, MORE ELOQUENTLY
THAN WORDS COULD EXPRESS IT, THE EMPTINESS THAT
SURROUNDS YOU TELLS THE STORY. BUT THE FREEDOM OF
THE SPIRIT OF A PEOPLE CANNOT BE EXTINGUISHED.
THIS UNFINISHED PAVILION REPRESENTS A SYMBOL OF
THAT SPIRIT AND A SYMBOL OF THE MOTTO OF THE REPUBLIC
THAT TRUTH WILL ULTIMATELY TRIUMPH AND THAT IN A FREE
EUROPE THE CZECHS AND SLOVAKS WILL AGAIN BREATHE
FREELY
Czechoslovak Pavilion
New York World's Fair 1939
