Albín Strapko

* 1932

  • The second muster came. But then it happened by blocking everything, by occupying the village. They came with tanks and cannons. They stayed there, firing. We had a tile on a sloping roof. We were hidden and called on men to cut the trees, so that the Germans couldn't get through with the machinery. But they couldn't catch up, the Germans were already there. The men returned home, the village was already burning, the Germans set the village on fire. With my mother, we were hiding, my father was not at home, he went to block the road with the tress. We hid behind a rough wall. I didn't even let out hte cows, we run away into the mountain. I have seen the village is burning, so we run away."

  • "I came there in the morning. I was coming there through the yard and it smelled like pig-sticking. I come closer and the Germans already had a pan of cracklings and they had already warmed them up and wanted to consume them, I suppose. I sniffed them and I waited for the Germans to disappear. There were people in the cellar who had nothing to eat. Misery. I waited for a while until the air was clear and when the last German went away, I took the pan. There were no fences, everything was broken. I took the pan, put it on some wood, there were many kids who had nothing to eat. Everyone took a handful, nothing remained."

  • "My father was in the concentration camp and we didn't even know that. It was already late, the war ended on May 8th and he returned only on July 11th. We were searching for him, we asked the people who were in the concentration camp. No one knew anything about him. One day, some boys who were more capable came from Zliechov and Ilava by foot. We didn't know, they arrived so suddenly as if they had fallen from heaven. It was huge joy, I recall."

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    Čičmany, 03.01.2020

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    duration: 01:42:34
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We survived, thank God. Life brings different things. You will survive physical pain, but the mental pain will haunt you until your death

Albín Strapko, soldier
Albín Strapko, soldier
photo: archív A.S.

Albín Strapko was born on 6 April 1932 in Paris to Slovak parents from Čičmiany who were working there. After his birth, they returned to Cicmany, where Albin lived his entire life. When he was 7 years old, the World War II started. Čičmany as a mountain village were at the center of the fighting of the German army and partisan units. During the war, the Jewish family Glaselovci was deported from the village. Cicmany survived two musters. During the first, everyone was spared. During the second muster on the April 6, 1945, Germans dragged 65 men aged 14-60 years from the village into the concentration camp Muhlberg in Germany. Luckily, the all returned to Čičmany in nine weeks. Albin’s father was also in the group of dragged men. At the end of the war Čičmany was burned down, half of the inhabitants moved out of the village and they never returned. After taking the men away and burning the village, the Germans occupied the village and lived also in Albin’s house. The village of Čičmany was liberated by the Romanian and Soviet armies on April 27, 1945. Albín Strapko spent his entire life in Čičmany, with his wife Anna, he raised 3 children. 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren are making them happy today.