Hi - My mother is travelling to Czech Rep in August and I am helping her track down some relatives (hopefully some english speaking ones). Mum was born 21 June 1946 in Halenkov and came to Australia (I think) in 1950's. Her mothers name was Joska Gasek (maiden name) and father Pavel Konarikova. Grandparents Josef and Helene Konarikova. She believes there may still be relatives in Veke Karlovice and Halenkov. I hope I have the correct spelling. Is anyone able to assist. Many thanks Julie
First, some trivia. In Czech we differentiate male and female surnames. In most cases, the female form is formed by adding the ending “-ová” to the male form. So the surname of your male relatives should be rather “Konarik”. There could be more Czech names corresponding to your spelling, e.g. Konařík(ová), Konarík(ová), Konárik(ová), but all my Google tests indicates that the right form is “Koňařík(ová)” which seems to be frequent surname in that area. I suggest you to start with contacting the official authorities in Velké Karlovice, that means mainly the registry office (matrika@velkekarlovice.cz). It could be even reasonable to contact the mayor of Velké Karlovice (starosta@velkekarlovice.cz). Usually, the mayors are not interested in such inquiries, but your case could be exception because the mayor himself happens to be Koňařík.