Franko and Řehoř: friendship between Prague and Galicia

Goal: To show, through two people, that ties between nations are built from concrete letters, journeys and shared work.

Lesson plan

1. 3 min · Introduction. Show Lviv and Prague on a map. Ask: in the 19th century, without a telephone or the internet, could two people from different countries be close and work together? Tell the class they will look for the answer in real letters.
2. 4 min · Two people. Introduce Ivan Franko (1856–1916), a writer and scholar from Galicia, and the Czech František Řehoř (1857–1899). Řehoř lived in Galicia for almost fifteen years (with interruptions), studied local people's language and way of life, and sent collected objects and photographs to Prague, to the museum of the Náprstek family.
3. 5 min · The letters of 1894. Read aloud three facts about Franko's letters to Řehoř: in February an exchange of journals and borrowed books, in March a Ukrainian journal and Czech scholars, in May a request to send works for an ethnographic exhibition. In pairs, pupils answer: what does Franko ask for, and what does he offer?
4. 3 min · Wrap-up. Remind pupils that Franko visited Prague in 1891 and in 1899 wrote a survey of new Czech literature. Today part of Řehoř's legacy is kept by the National Museum in Prague. Discuss the questions and set the task.

Facts

• Ivan Franko (1856–1916) was a Ukrainian writer and scholar who lived and worked mainly in Galicia, especially in Lviv and its surroundings. N0001
• Franko was in Prague from 16 to 19 May 1891 for a congress of progressive Slavic youth. It was a visit, not a move. N0001
• In his letter to Mykhailo Drahomanov of 8 June 1891, Franko did not idealise the event: he thought the congress largely improvised. N0001
• František Řehoř was born in 1857 in Stěžery, lived in Galicia for almost fifteen years (with interruptions) and sent collected objects and photographs to the Prague museum of the Náprstek family. N0017
• Franko's letters to Řehoř from February, March and May 1894 survive: they deal with exchanging periodicals, borrowed books and a request to send works for an ethnographic exhibition. N0001
• In 1899 Franko published a survey, "New Czech Literature and Its Development". According to the museum database, more than 2,500 entries relating to the territory of Ukraine are associated with Řehoř's collection. N0001

Questions to discuss

1. Why are letters better evidence of friendship than general talk of "brotherly nations"?
2. What did Franko and Řehoř send each other, and why did it matter to scholars?
3. What role do museums and archives play in ties between countries?

Task

Find Lviv, the village of Vovkiv near Lviv and Prague on a map. Write three sentences about what could travel along this route between the two friends (letters, journals, books, photographs).