During the day the Germans rummaged through the village, at night we hid partisans and Jews
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Viliam Turek was born on March 25, 1936 in Uhrovské Podhradí to Štefan and Mária Turek. He has a sister, Margita, who is two years younger. His father worked in the woods, his mother was a housewife taking care of a small farm. He attended school in Uhrovské Podhradie, where they had to greet each other: “On guard!” At the end of the summer of 1944, foreign people began to appear in the village, whom the locals hid in their houses. The Turek family housed a Jewish family, a total of about 120 Jews hid in the village. At the same time, partisans also appeared in the village. The Jews lived in a closet above the barn, the partisans in houses or in stables. In the vicinity of Uhrovec and Bánovce nad Bebravou, a strong partisan movement began to form, II. Jan Žižka’s partisan brigade, which had up to 1,600 members. A large field kitchen was set up in the adjoining courtyard, and the school served as a field hospital for wounded partisans and resistance fighters. In October and November, Uhrovské Podhradie experienced several raids. A car of Jozef Tiso was parked in their yard, which was stolen from him by partisans. Viliam witnessed the shooting of a local partisan. He also remembers the mass execution of Jewish families who previously hid also in their home. After the suppression of the SNP, the village and its surroundings were being attacked by German troops, several villages were burned, 1,000 people were taken for interrogation, to concentration camps, and some ended up in mass graves. During one raid, the Nazis discovered sacks of flour with the inscription “partisan” in a chamber near the Turkovci and wanted to burn the whole yard. Uhrovské Podhradie was liberated on April 1, 1945 by the Romanian army. Viliam graduated after the war and left the house for basic military service in Karlovy Vary. Later he worked in road transport for three brothers Bežo, who were taken to the mines in Jáchymov. He returned to Slovakia and worked at Nitratex as a manager. He is married, he has one daughter and a grandson with his wife.
