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Meet Hana Pichova - Choosing Her Own Path

WUNC | By Hady Mawajdeh,
Frank Stasio
Published September 8, 2014 at 12:30 PM EDT
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gazette.unc.edu

Hana Pichova grew up under a totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia during the 1970s. 

For Pichova, opportunities for learning and discovery were rare under the control of the communist government.

At 18, she and her parents fled to Switzerland. Pichova decided she wanted to  immigrate to America. Unbeknownst to her parents, she went to the German border to seek political asylum. When they learned of her move, they decided to follow her, despite their reservations. 

Part of Pichova's assimilation involved American television. She had difficulty understanding why news would be interrupted with commercials. Only when she saw the famous Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" ad did she understand that humor mattered in advertising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0

Pichova teaches slavic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is working on a book about Stalin. Host Frank Stasio talks with professor Hana Pichova about her journey and life under communist control.

EducationczechoslovakiaCommunismmeetImmigrationIron CurtainThe State of ThingsSOT Meet Series
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Hady Mawajdeh
Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.
See stories by Hady Mawajdeh
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
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