Ján Križan

* 1929

  • “I have to say that none of our animals dropped dead. We had Germans in our room; they lived with us as they were the front soldiers delivering provisions to the front. They came during Advent and every morning they got up early, returned late at night, but never wanted anything from us. We used to go to Bzovík for Advent morning mass, which was at 6 am. So we left at 5 am to Bzovík and they fed our pigs and cows, the whole farm. They helped us with everything, saying: ‘Just go, don’t worry, we will take care of it.’ They really did everything and it was very nice of them. I cannot say anything bad about them. However, when the Russians came, or by us particularly there were the Romanians, there was screaming and riot in the village. They spread around and robbed, stole everything around them, even the henhouses.”

  • “Well, we already knew we were defrauded. They prepared us: ‘Oh, you will be great. There you get also salary and everything.’ They promised us anything, but two weeks later, they were transporting us by cars to Mimoň and from there by freight cars to Ostrava – Orlová. In Orlová we were also only for two weeks and then they divided us into pits. I got to a mine pit, where was a huge explosion half a year before. And it was me, who got into that spot, where the explosion happened. Oh, my God! When I saw it, those tunnels, traverses, it all was messed up. It seemed like it was just about to fall down and I was so close to giving up the ghost like never before. But then we got to the place it all ended, where the next passage was being mined and there was three meters high layer of coal to be mined. Such thick wooden columns, three meters tall, were placed on each squared meter, however, when the pressure arose, it all was cracking. There I worked for about a week, but really, that was the worst experience for me there.”

  • “Once we got very angry and that’s when we almost rose up. We lived in a wooden barrack, where were many bedbugs. So, what had they done? If they only had done that after we moved away, but yet during the time we were on duty, they packed our stuff into blankets and set the barrack on fire. They placed us into a barrack built of bricks that was left after soldiers who already departed, and it was quite fine there. There we stayed until the release. However, when we came there, we didn’t know what was ours as it all was mixed up. It was the worst, what could have happened, because even things a man owned he lost, since he was unable to recognize them. You know, there were also such men, who seized things which were someone else’s. That was really tough, back then.”

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    Čekovce, 12.01.2018

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To pray and live well, as the Lord God has told us

Before military service (September of 1951)
Before military service (September of 1951)
photo: archív pamätníka

A native of Čekovce lost his father when being only three years old, thus his whole childhood and youth Ján spent by the side of his mother. Only thanks to the help of his grandfather they survived and were able to pay debts left behind his father. As a young boy, Ján experienced horrors of the Second World War, and he personally encountered with German as well as Romanian Army. After 1948, as a farmer he got into conflict with communist socialization of the village, because allegedly he didn’t want to surrender his farm into a cooperative, which wasn’t founded in that village yet.  He was sent to Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP) and for more than two years he worked hard in mines. Because of his modesty he managed to support his poor mother, who had to work on farm alone and had to hand in unbearably high contingents. After completing the military service in PTP he returned home, got married, but nevertheless, he had to hand in his farm property. Regarding this fact, there was no real justification for his already served punishment. It was too late. It all was pointless.