Michal Malejko

* 1922  †︎ unknown

Veteran of WW2, eastern front, Prisoner of a Soviet concentration camp, Gulag, A 1938 – 1945 emigrant/refugee, Inhabitants of Subcarpathian Rus, Witnesses of local events connected to WWII
8. 9. – 1. 11. 1944 - The battle of the Dukla Pass, 1944 - 1945 - The liberation of Czechoslovakia, 3. - 6. 11. 1943 - Battle of Kiev, 8. 5. 1945 - End of WWII, Deportations to the Far East, Siberia and North Kazachstan 1939–1941 and 1944–1950
  • 1
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    From a Siberian prisoner to a Czechoslovak soldier in Buzuluk and at the front in Kiev

    (audio)
    duration: 02:15
    Download file
    Info

    “When we were able to travel on the water in the spring, we went 200 kilometers to the port Igarka. We boarded a ship and sailed on the Yenisei River further 2 200 kilometers to Krasnojarsk. From there we continued by train to Buzuluk. There I enlisted into the army. We had about three-months long training, where they prepared us for fighting at the battlefront. From there we left to Novochopersk, where we got on a transport leading directly to the front. At the front we were within the 1st Czechoslovak Brigade embattled to the operation for Kiev´s liberation. I was in a communication battalion. After the city´s liberation we continued in fights for Beloj Cerkva, Obruč. When this operation ended, our unit was re-formed and reinforced by Volyn Czechs.”

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    neznáme, 01.01.2000

    (audio)
    duration: 01:02:53
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th century
    Download file
    Info
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

The heaviest fights were near Dukla and Liptovský Mikuláš. At Dukla there seemed to be white snowy mountains, but the battlefield, that was just a black soil.

Michal Malejko was born in 1922 in Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, which was back then a part of the first Czechoslovak Republic. After the Vienna Award in 1938 and the subsequent break- up of Czechoslovakia, the Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia was taken by Hungary. From this reason many citizens chose to immigrate to the Soviet Union. In 1940 Michal Malejko happened to find himself in such a group of people as well. However, after the immigration he was arrested and sent to forced labor in a Siberian camp. In 1943 he enlisted into the forming 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps in USSR. He was released from the camp and underwent a military training in Buzuluk. Later on he took part in liberating fights with the so-called Svoboda´s Army from the city of Kiev to Prague.    

Show witness full story (Slovak)
Photos (0)
Links (0)