INTRODUCTION

For many years I collected data on the life of my parents, Alexandre Tichy and Marie Vaça Tichy, hoping one day to record their story for the rest of their descendents.

 

Alexandre Tichy (1905-1997) and Marie Vaça (1910-1990) were married in 1932. Together they had five children: Gustav (1933-2018), Alexander (1936), and Ivan (1939), were born in Czechoslovakia. Jan was born in Belgium during the WW II years (I believe around 1943), and unfortunately died around 1946 when the family had returned back home to Czechoslovakia. It was after fleeing from the Communist regime in 1948, that the family went to France where I was born in 1950 and was named with a French version of George, Georges. (I am the only one with a middle name, Alexandre).

After living in France for three years the family moved to Brazil in 1951, and settled in the big City of São Paulo which is currently the 4th largest city in the world, after Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai. At that time my parents just wanted to get out of Europe since they had been through two World Wars and a Communist regime in their homeland of Czechoslovakia. To them, Brazil appeared a safe place, far from the center of so much conflict and with Communism being an ongoing threat posed by the Soviet Union.

Thus, on July 9th, 1951 we disembarked from a ship coming from Marseille (France) and arriving in São Paulo City, the capital of the State of São Paulo in Brazil. Five weeks later my first birthday was celebrated.

I will be posting this fascinating story in short portions to make it easier and more palatable to read. Tentatively, at least once a week a new post will be uploaded and the link shared on my Facebook page. It will be a very interesting journey, and anyone willing is invited to follow the postings.

I decided not to always follow a strict chronological order but rather focus on one particular story at a time so that each one will have its own conclusion. Also, I will indicate when I am reproducing my Dad's own description of the facts as he recorded on seven 90-minute cassette tapes - at age 90! I will refer to him as either Dad or Saša (pronounced Sacha, the abbreviation of his name in Czech). There will also be some parts where I will be describing some events from my own memory as I remember him telling us. This material will stay posted on this blog permanently.

I hope you will enjoy this fascinating story. Here are some pictures to start with:

TAbove, tree generations, my grandpa Gustav, dad Alexandre, and brother Gustav

examining a legit "Gustav Tichy Shotgun" - in 1934.

My mother, Marie Tichy, probably around 1950:

Marie and Alexandre, probably around 1970

Dad's soccer team, date unknown. He is the 3rd from the left,

standing (rubbing hands, ready to score...)

Dad and his four boys in 1972. From left, George, Ivan, Alexander, Dad, Gustav

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