Wanka, Wilhelm (Willi), 1910-1992 : Born in 1910, in Staab, Austria-Hungary, Wilhelm Wanka, became active in the Social Democratic movement in the newly formed Czechoslovakia shortly after he graduated from the German Commercial Acadamy in Pilsen. Between 1930 and 1933, he served as Secretary to Member of Parliament Wenzel Jaksch, work which included editing several Social Democratic weeklies. Between 1933 and 1937, he served as Secretary of the Social Democratic Party for the constituency of Pilsen-Budweis, comprising the area of southern and northwestern Bohemia. From March 1937 to July 1938, he served as Executive Director of the Central Office of the German Activist Parties of Czechoslovakia, a union of Social Democrats, Christian Socialists and the Agrarian Party. Soon after the signing of the Munich Agreement, he and Wenzel Jaksch flew to London to request aid for Sudeten Social Democrats who preferred exile to National Socialist rule.
While Jaksch continued on to Paris, Wanka remained in London, where he served as the London Representative of Sudeten German Refugees, who were fleeing their homeland in increasing numbers. Following negotiations between the Sudeten Social Democratic leadership and the British and Canadian governments, Canada in 1939 approved the admission of an unlimited number of Sudetens for settlement on the land, on the condition that immigrants arrive with ,500.00 per family or ,000.00 per single person. In total, 1054 Sudeten men, women and children came to Canada to establish two settlements, one in Saskatchewan and the other in the Peace River region of British Columbia. When his work was done in London, Wanka joined the Sudeten group in the Peace River region with his wife Mary and an older brother and sister to take up farming.
In Canada, he acted as spokesperson for the settlers of the Peace River area, while the settlement was under the general administration of the Canada Colonization Association, a subsidiary of the CPR. He served as manager of the Tate Creek Development Company, which functioned to transfer the land to individual families. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Tate Creek Cooperative Society, which operated both to help settlers purchase goods and market their products.
Soon after the end of World War II, Wanka helped organize the Committee for the Relief of Democratic Sudeten Refugees, which worked to send aid to Sudetens expelled from the Sudetenland and co-operated with other groups to persuade the government to open its doors to refugee immigration from Europe. As the International Refugee Organization, set up to deal with the post-World War II refugee problem, excluded Germans from its mandate, the Committee for the Relief of Democratic Sudeten Refugees as well as other German Canadian organizations establishing the Canadian Christian Council for the Resettlement of Refugees (CCCRR). The CCCRR provided the financial means and the organizational structure through which Sudetens worked to bring Sudeten refugees to Canada. Between 1947 and 1949, Wanka worked in Mühlenberg near Hannover to help process Sudeten refugees who sought to begin a new life in Canada.
In 1949, Wanka returned to his farm in British Columbia, where he remained until 1956, when he was offered the position of Administrator of the Pouce Coupe Community Hospital, a position he held until 1965. In 1961, he helped organize the Dawson Creek Medical Clinic. He served as Director of the clinic from 1965 until his retirement in 1975. He also became involved in local political affairs and served on the Pouce Coupe village council for a number of years. In the meantime, he continued to participate in the organizational life of Sudeten Germans and German Canadians in general. In 1968, in "recognition of valuable service to the nation," he was awarded the Centennial Medal.
