Pavel Vitek
ROCKY: Where were you born?
PAUL: I was born in 1950 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia. Today this part of the former Czechoslovakia is known as the Czech Republic.
R: How long did you live there?
P: Well, back in 1968, when I was 18, the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia and occupied our country. 10,000 Russian paratroopers were dropped in ahead of the tanks; the sky was black from all the parachutes. So, in 1968, I began to try and leave my country.
R: And how long did that take?
P: Fifteen long years. I would apply for a passport every year and I'd never even receive a refusal- the Russians would just ignore my requests. Then, in 1983, I applied for a temporary visa to visit the former Yugoslavia, and miraculously, it was approved.
R: That was your chance to escape, huh?
P: Yes. Once inside Yugoslavia I took a train to Belgrade and hitchhiked through the mountains to near the Austrian border. Then, in the middle of the night, I climbed the border fence and started running.
R: Did anyone see you?
P: Oh, yes. The soldiers on the Yugoslavian side started shooting at me as soon as they saw me. I was fast like a rabbit, though, and I zig-zagged until I reached Austria. They couldn't fire at me once I made it into Austria.
R: That's crazy. What did the Austrians do?
P: Well, I didn't speak German and when I turned myself into the police in Klagenfurt, Austria, they kept me in jail there for a week before sending me to a refugee camp near Vienna that used to be a concentration camp.
R: How did you make it to Kasilof from an Austrian refugee camp?
P: First I applied for political asylum at the New Zealand Embassy. It's very hard to get into New Zealand, and they denied me. Next, I tried the U.S. Embassy and was accepted. A few weeks later I was working in the kitchen of a fancy restaurant in Millwood, New York, very close to Sing Sing Prison.
R: How long did you stay in New York?
P: Not very long. I read an article in the New York Times about Alaska and knew right away I had to come here. I told my boss, “I'm sorry, but I have to go to Alaska and shoot the moose!”.
R: When did you arrive in Alaska?
P: I think it was February of 1984. It was very cold and I had a thin European wardrobe. Luckily, I met a fellow Czech, Jan Masek, very soon after arriving in Anchorage. He hired me on as a dog handler at his sled dog kennel outside Anchorage.
R: What brought you to Kasilof?
P: Well, Dave Scheer from Kasilof leased a team of dogs to run the Iditarod in 1990 from the Masek Kennel where I was working. The next thing I know I'm living in Kasilof, setnetting with Dave Scheer and helping with his dogs.
R: What are some other jobs you've had in Alaska?
P: All of them! I've been crabbing out of Kodiak, worked at canneries from Naknek to Kodiak to Kasilof, managed the Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, long-lined for halibut, and many other things. Last year I finally bought my own permit, fixed up an old skiff, and fished for myself for the first time, over in Bristol Bay.
R: Did you ever become a U.S. citizen?
P: Yes, in Anchorage in 1989.
R: If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?
P: Kasilof. I am a happy man, right where I want to be.
R: Thanks, Paul, for your time, and a great interview.
P: Thank you.
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