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Uncle Pinchas and his wife were deported in 1942. And their sons? During the war Jakub was being hidden by one 90-year-old farmer. When the Czechoslovak army was approaching, he didn’t want to hide any more. According to an eyewitness, he went to nearby Milkulas [Liptovsky Mikulas – Zilina region] to join the army. Svoboda’s Army [2]. Of course there was fighting, and that’s why soldiers used passwords to communicate. Well, because he didn’t know the password, and on top of that was blond, they thought that he was a spy, and shot him.
I met Reuben as a partisan, north of Banska Bystrica. He was serving in a rebel unit of the Slovak police. The way it was, was that one part of the Slovak State [3] police joined the rebels, just like many soldiers and others served the Fascist Slovak State. Unfortunately, he also died tragically, which another eyewitness told me about. Reuben was sent to a partisan unit whose commander was a Russian, a big anti-Semite, which sealed my cousin’s fate. When he arrived with his orders, the Russian spotted him. As a blue-eyed blonde, he seemed suspicious to him. But Reuben protested, that he was a Jew. With this he was ordered to show that he’s circumcised. And it was this that sealed his fate, as he was leaving they shot him in the back. That’s how my two cousins Reuben and Jakub died.
I met Reuben as a partisan, north of Banska Bystrica. He was serving in a rebel unit of the Slovak police. The way it was, was that one part of the Slovak State [3] police joined the rebels, just like many soldiers and others served the Fascist Slovak State. Unfortunately, he also died tragically, which another eyewitness told me about. Reuben was sent to a partisan unit whose commander was a Russian, a big anti-Semite, which sealed my cousin’s fate. When he arrived with his orders, the Russian spotted him. As a blue-eyed blonde, he seemed suspicious to him. But Reuben protested, that he was a Jew. With this he was ordered to show that he’s circumcised. And it was this that sealed his fate, as he was leaving they shot him in the back. That’s how my two cousins Reuben and Jakub died.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Jozef W.