"The invitation came that Kliment Ohridsky University had its centenary and organized a conference and invited others - as if universities - to contribute with something. I was intrigued, I said - well, that's great (...). So I said, well, I'm going for it. We were looking for what could be a topic I could research, and one of my advisers said: "So try this, this is such that we will connect Slovak history, Czechoslovak history with the history of Bulgaria, you will try something on it, you will learn." So I signed up for it and then I have written a paper, which I also presented at the conference. But in order to go there, I required a confirmation from a party group, a referral; basically, just a document confirming I can attend. So this was the conference in Bulgaria. And the funny thing was that I went there by train, a 24-hour train from Bratislava directly to Sofia, and I went with two Czech smugglers who were smuggling cigarettes to Romania, and I actually got into the compartment, I no longer remember whether with seats or beds. And suddenly I saw that those guys - in Hungary it was still fine and then - started putting those things in different parts of the ceiling and into the beds, and I thought, 'Oh, what will this be (laughs)?' It was incredible, of course, they bribed everyone, Romanian guides and customs officers, it was a fantastic (laughs) experience. Of course, one also saw that economic underdevelopment of Romania, the backwardness of that infrastructure, you could not have close your eyes before it. Well, those boys, or rather the two middle-aged gentlemen, got out, I think, in Brasov and took the plane back to Prague. Of course, they made money on it, it was such an experience. And then in Bulgaria, that was fine, in Bulgaria, it went very (well, editor's note), to my surprise, I had a very positive experience of intellectual freedom and open debate there, the country seemed to me as if connected to some broader discourses, so here I realized how "closed" was our environment. It was a very nice experience there. "
"Demonstrations in the squares - but I was really looking forward to the last one (first, editor's note), because I think the first one was on Wednesday. On Monday we went to Hviezdoslav's Square, then on Tuesday there was such a parade from the House of Trade Unions, also in the evening to Hviezdoslav Square, and I was not in that Square of Freedom, because there was also such a chain. That was a big thing and I saw that there were 100,000 or 200,000 people in Wenceslas Square in Prague, but it was amazing that it would be here as well. I went near Františkánské (square, editor's note) from Zámočnícká from the back of the post office, basically a there along Nedbalová to Náměstí SNP, and I saw a bus with those white shields, those cops, and I said to myself: 'Wow, that is going to be interesting, but here we go. 'And I had a camera, and I actually started taking photos intensively after Tuesday, and I basically documented constantly, because I was such an amateur photographer. So I did such photo documentation of the whole period. I remember it like this, I was standing right under the stands, so I perceived it with all the pores of my body (laughs). "
"I was interested in history, I read a lot. I was such a bookworm, so I was nominated for a round of "what you know about the USSR". So we were such a party (...) from the Catholic environment, which we had as a joke about (...) and we got to the national Slovak or what round. And now, this was in "the V": So we're sitting there, they were solving something there, some questions, and now such a guy came in: "Well, boys, then we're going to need you, it's great that you're that. .. “I remember that man, the gentleman's name is Professor Mešťan, at that time Professor PhDr. Mestan, DrSc., Who was in a position at the time and apparently there dealt with the youth and party and the right ideologically oriented youth, and he really liked that these young boys were so intensely devoted to the history of the USSR. But the moment, I will never forget it, as the one of that the kind of ... (dislike, editor's note), that then I realized: "Who you need to be, that you are telling me this?" That's unreal. If something illustrates the normalization for me, this is it. Later, I checked what was his research on, what was his ... (area of research, editor's note). I understand, that he could have had his reasons, I leave that aside, but for me as for a student, at that time, it clicked to the absurdity and a feeling of disgust, that this is something witch which I do not want to have anything in common."
Boris Strečanský was born in December 1967 in Bratislava into the family of a musician and a doctor as the younger of two children. He spent his childhood and youth in Bratislava, especially in Karlova Ves and Devín, near the then strictly guarded state border. His father and grandfather were part of the non-communist part of the resistance during the SNP. Father’s views on the direction of Czechoslovakia after February 1948 greatly influenced Boris’s view of the world. In connection with his interest in history, these factors determined the direction of his university studies, at the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, at which he enrolled in 1986. He decided to study the combination of history and philosophy despite the fact that the field was marked by communist ideology. At the university, together with other students, they formed a community that in its free time devoted itself to topics pushed into the background at the time, such as conservation or documenting sacred architecture. During the events of November 1989, the witness took part in demonstrations in the squares as early as November 16, documenting the entire period with his camera. He became a member of the coordination committee of students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Comenius University and later focused on the all-Slovak strike committee of students. After the revolution in February 1990, he left as a student ambassador for 4 months to the USA, where he helped to obtain scholarships for Slovak students, as well as to spread awareness of what was happening in Czechoslovakia. In 1991, he successfully completed his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Comenius University, and later became involved in the University Union of Slovakia. In 2002, he co-founded the Center for Philanthropy, where he still works today.
