The Accidental Hero: how a WWII Czech liberation story is a current event

 

Organizer:  Patrick Dewane

Date: Jan 25, 2025

Time: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

Location:  Shoreview Library
4560 Victoria St N
Shoreview, MN 55126

A string of jaw-dropping coincidences in the last week of WWII had Colonel Matt Konop liberating the same Czech villages his grandparents had left for Wisconsin in the 1860s. Konop’s first language was Czech, and the townspeople paraded him around town on their shoulders, declaring, “one of our own has freed us!” However, like many returning veterans, Konop didn’t talk about his experience after the war. And when he died in 1983, his family knew nothing of the story that changed his life.

When the Czech Communist Party took power in a coup in 1948, his story, and America’s role in Czech liberation, was whitewashed out of the official history. Twenty-three years after Konop’s death, his grandson discovered his unpublished memoir and turned it into a one-man show called “The Accidental Hero” that he’s performed across America, and annually in the Czech Republic.

The Czechs have posthumously made Konop an Honorary Citizen, and have awarded the grandson, Patrick Dewane, a Medal of Honor for reviving their history. In this program, Dewane will perform excerpts of his award-winning show, and will read from his book about his grandfather. With tyranny on the rise worldwide, democracy and freedom are now under threat more than at any time since the end of WWII. The Czechs had to shirk three oppressive empires in the 20th Century to secure a lasting freedom. Their perspective is timely, particularly as the Americans who defeated Hitler exit the national stage.

Patrick Dewane has performed his one-man show, The Accidental Hero, over 250 times across the United States, including Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC, the University of Florida, the Marcus Center in Milwaukee, and the University of Notre Dame. His annual tour of the show to the Czech Republic began in 2013 and has included the US Embassy in Prague, Peklo Theater in Pilsen, and Kino in Domažlice, where he was awarded the city’s Medal of Honor. Dewane’s management career in the arts includes a stint on Broadway and senior-level positions with The Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Minnesota Opera, where his New Works Initiative program produced Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for music. He was nominated for an Emmy as Executive Producer of the PBS broadcast of Silent Night. He has an MFA from Brooklyn College and taught writing at the graduate school of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. He and his wife live in Edina.