Karol Mudrák
* 1924 †︎ unknown
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“There was gunfire at five in the morning. Some lieutenant and a Russian partisan came to us and led us with machine guns to one road. For in case Germans went this way, we were supposed to start shooting at them. However, the Germans didn´t come, moreover, by that time they had already captured our soldiers. All of those being in Kríže were captured. We retreated upwards to the mountains and we dragged along those heavy machine guns and arms. In the end, the lieutenant told us to dismantle and bury the machine gun, to take just lighter weapons and disperse: ʻAnywhere you can, just go and disappear. Because if the partisans catch you, they shoot you down as deserters, and if the Germans do – they shoot you as their enemies.ʼ So I screamed for those being from Trenčín surroundings, where I used to live by then, and one soldier from Bánovce nad Bebravou responded to me. Thus we went together. We went for seven days across the mountains to Brezno nad Hronom.”
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neznáme, 03.03.2016
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In Trenčín I asked a German soldier from the transport to throw my letter into a mailbox. My family at least knew I was still alive.
Karol Mudrák was born in 1924. He lived in Trenčín. In 1943 he enlisted in the Slovak Army for the compulsory military service. After few months along with his unit he was transferred to the Eastern Slovakia, where the soldiers were supposed to build defense fortifications and fight against the partisan units. After the outbreak of the Slovak National Uprising, the soldiers joined the side of the insurgents, however, after a heavy fight, the unit disintegrated near the village Kríže, not far from Bardejov. Karol Mudrák went across the mountains to Low Tatras, where he joined the partisans. He operated in Vyšná Boca, Čertovica, Ďumbier, and Staré Hory. Unfortunately, he was captured near Banská Bystrica and little later, in February 1945, he was transported to a forced labor camp in Austria.