Selected text
Currently I am the vice-chairman of the Jewish religious community in Presov, but it’s only an honorary function, I’d say. As far as synagogues are concerned, that’s a little worse: a person would have to see them to know what state they’re in. Look, it’s fair to say that once there was a synagogue in every town in Slovakia. Wherever there were 50 Jews, they built a synagogue. These synagogues disappeared after the war. But the rest prosper, some less, some more. Now these things are being exposed to the wider public, even TV sometimes broadcasts something. Back then [before 1989] no one rather said anything. It was a different situation.
Certain changes took place in my personal life as well. I could for example travel freely. I was in the USA, Switzerland – there where before I couldn’t go. I didn’t have to worry about any informants, and that someone was watching me. I wasn’t afraid before either, but in this political system a person is conscious of freedom. Well, and of course exceptions of the type ‘you’re a Party member, you’re not,’ stopped being made. You can, you can’t. There was a lot of negativity in that. In fact it was mostly negative. But larger changes didn’t happen in my life; after all, I did have my years and was in retirement.
The separation of Czechoslovakia was also something that could be expected. You know, there were always such tendencies. Maybe it’s also because according to me it’s not good to always listen to a certain refrain that was sung by certain nationalistic parties. For my part, I was never in favor of it being divided. After all, during those decades something had been mutually created. When a person looks at it from my viewpoint, the viewpoint of a person that isn’t considered to be a born and bred Slovak, separation was a mistake. But when you ask people here, most of them will tell you the same thing. However, you can also find a few of those that will say that it’s better this way. In politics it was all caused by Klaus [15] and Meciar [16]. Everyone was sick of it, and in the end we split up. After all, now we’re in the European Union, and it doesn’t matter any more. Currently the political party that’s closest to my views is the SDKU [Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, leader Mikulas Dzurinda]. Lately though, Dzurinda’s [17] statements aren’t the best.
Certain changes took place in my personal life as well. I could for example travel freely. I was in the USA, Switzerland – there where before I couldn’t go. I didn’t have to worry about any informants, and that someone was watching me. I wasn’t afraid before either, but in this political system a person is conscious of freedom. Well, and of course exceptions of the type ‘you’re a Party member, you’re not,’ stopped being made. You can, you can’t. There was a lot of negativity in that. In fact it was mostly negative. But larger changes didn’t happen in my life; after all, I did have my years and was in retirement.
The separation of Czechoslovakia was also something that could be expected. You know, there were always such tendencies. Maybe it’s also because according to me it’s not good to always listen to a certain refrain that was sung by certain nationalistic parties. For my part, I was never in favor of it being divided. After all, during those decades something had been mutually created. When a person looks at it from my viewpoint, the viewpoint of a person that isn’t considered to be a born and bred Slovak, separation was a mistake. But when you ask people here, most of them will tell you the same thing. However, you can also find a few of those that will say that it’s better this way. In politics it was all caused by Klaus [15] and Meciar [16]. Everyone was sick of it, and in the end we split up. After all, now we’re in the European Union, and it doesn’t matter any more. Currently the political party that’s closest to my views is the SDKU [Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, leader Mikulas Dzurinda]. Lately though, Dzurinda’s [17] statements aren’t the best.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Otto Schvalb