Ján Haščák

* 1927

  • “That´s where the interrogation began and they yelled at me: ‘Spy! Spy! Spy!’ They investigated me for 14 days and then they sentenced me to 16 months. I got to gulag in Ukraine – in Nikołajewski raion, and as much I remember, there were horrible conditions. It was truly awful, unbelievable how people lived there. Referring to meals, it was very poor and if talking about hygiene, it was even worse, catastrophic. We had beds, but no mattresses, anything. What one wore during the day, had to sleep in during the night. Simply catastrophic. We had hygiene once in fourteen days.”

  • “The barracks were out of wood. Another labor camp. It was something horrible. Just the invitation: ‘Traitors of the Republic!’ I was about a week in Litvínov, from where they transferred me to Břežánka near Bílina. Of course, they let us know we were the unreliable citizens and so on. I had to work in mines for 25 months. We couldn't do anything about that, we just had to adjust; there was no other way out. The times were like that. And when speaking about the military service, every single day they threatened us – called us traitors that would've deserved to be hung, etc.”

  • “Some agents from the uranium mines came. ‘Who signs up for Jáchymov, goes to civilian life. The one, who doesn't sign up, has to serve on. Nothing could be done about that. More of us signed the paper and left to civilian life. However, that mine was catastrophic as well. Some of the inmates were real smart alecks, who knew how to use others. There were also criminals having really high sentences, like life imprisonments and such. What could we do? We had to adjust the situation. I earned some money, but quite soon I began to suffer from pancreatitis. I couldn't work in the pit anymore, so I worked just on the surface. The salary was smaller there, but I endured for five long years.”

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    Martin, 01.04.2017

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One couldn’t do anything about that, he just had to adjust; there was no other way out

Young soldier
Young soldier
photo: archív pamätníka

Ján Haščák was born on June 2, 1927 in the village of Vislanka near Stará Ľubovňa. He came from a big family - having nine siblings. When he was eleven, he ran away from home because of his tyrannical father. He pretended to be an orphan and during the Second World War he served at different farmers’, mostly as a shepherd. In 1946 he got to Ukraine, where he was interrogated and sentenced to 16 months in the Gulag. In years 1950 - 1952 he was ordered to enlist into the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP) to work in coal mines of Litvínov and Břežánka near Bílina. Between 1952 - 1957 he worked in uranium mines of Horný Slavkov. Since 1958 he has been living in Martin. He retired in 1987.