Michal Babej

* 1932

  • "They put the ammunition in their tents. As children we watched. And one German called for us to go help. I had had contact with the partisans and I knew by number what was in the boxes. When I saw that there was ammunition, I tore off the seal and released it into my trousers. And so I stole ammunition. Grenades, no. And I would bring it to them. And once an unpleasant thing happened to me, a soldier guarding the bridge. I followed him and saw my bloated shirt. He pounded on her and found that I had ammunition there. He whooped my ass. "

  • "After crossing the frontline, my friend and I also walked towards Lukavica. It was not very cold, there was no snow. We saw two people there. So we came closer. They were two German soldiers. One had a chicken under his armpit. They wanted to save their lives. Shot by Russians. We wanted to bury them, but it was frozen. We went back home for tools. When we returned, we saw a guardist there, Horulány was his name, he was a mason. He chopped off their legs under the knees for some felt. We cried when we saw it. "

  • "You have to be prudent and bold in life. You must not be afraid. If you are afraid, you will pay for it. I was like that and I still am now. Old people say - this is a gift from God. Not everyone has that. Some have the beauty of speech, some have a good figure and some remember well. And I'm somewhere in the middle. When I think about my life, it was very interesting, but very difficult. "

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    Bardejov, 08.06.2020

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I brought ammunition to the partisans

Michal Babej was born in 1931. His father, also Michal, was born in Tvarožec near Bardejov in 1906. In Bardejov he met Michal’s mother Žofia, who was born in 1909 and worked as an assistant in the pharmacy U Ružičku - in the laboratory. Michal spent his childhood in Bardejov and helped the partisans during the war. After the war, he began studying at the Secondary Military School in Vyškov near Brno. Later he wanted to study medicine in Hradec Králové. Due to health problems, he eventually worked as a medical assistant at the Military Hospital in Olomouc. In 1958 he left the army and returned to Bardejov. He worked as a painter and restorer, later in a housing company in Bardejov and after 1989 he established a business. To this day, he paints paintings as a naïve artist, depicting Bardejov from the 1930s. He had several exhibitions in Bardejov. He still lives and paints in Bardejov.