Our family spent the summer holidays together. Our favorite place was Odessa and the suburbs of Odessa: Chernomorka, Sergeyevka, and Karolino- Bugaz. Sometimes Liana's parents went there with us. We also traveled to Sochi, Sukhumi and Yalta renting a room like everybody else at the time. We sometimes went to Odessa on weekends: my colleagues and their families got together, rented a bus and went to the seashore for a weekend. Transportation, food and travel were inexpensive. We read a lot during vacations. Reading was very popular: we read newspapers, magazines and fiction. We gathered a big collection of books in Russian. Liana and I had many scientific manuals and guides in our collection.
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Ivan Barbul
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Liana was the supervisor of her laboratory in the institute and was working on her candidate's dissertation. In January 1969 she achieved a degree in technical sciences. In December this same year, our second son Boris was born. Boris was an individualist in contrast to Alexandr. He didn't want to go to the kindergarten and whatever efforts of even my colleagues to convince him to agree to attend a kindergarten failed.
Besides working at the Academy, I read lectures in the In-Service Teachers' Training Institute, and in Tiraspol Pedagogical College. I used to travel to Tiraspol for a day to deliver lectures to students. It took me one hour by train. The ticket cost three rubles. I returned to Kishinev in the evening. I liked teaching and got along well with my colleagues and students. I meet some of them now. After work I always spent time with Alexandr, teaching him things. My pedagogical experience happened to be very handy. Alexandr finished the first and second grades in one year, but my wife thought I was overloading the boy.
After finishing the postgraduate course I returned to Kishinev where I went to work as a senior scientific employee at the Scientific Research Institute of Pedagogy. I dealt in mathematics teaching methodology. I was involved in the scientific research work. I published a book: 'Elements of geometry in primary school'. In 1968, I defended a candidate's dissertation [see Soviet/Russian doctorate degree] [27] in Moscow.
Our son Alexandr was born in 1963. Liana was working and I received a stipend of a postgraduate student. Liana's parents supported us a lot. Liana often traveled to Moscow on business trips, and her parents took care of Alexandr during this time. We were always happy to see each other. We went to art exhibitions, theaters or just walked around Moscow. Liana spent the money I saved to last for a month in those few days.
When I was director of the school, I was offered a job at the District Party Committee, but Liana believed that I should stick to science. She insisted that I entered a postgraduate course. I enrolled in the postgraduate course of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in Moscow [today Russia] and lived in a hostel in Pluschikha [a district in the historical part of Moscow] in the early 1960s. There were postgraduate students from all over the USSR and we had a full international student body: from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and I was a Jew from Moldova.
My sister Anyuta's visit from Israel in 1962 was a great pleasure for me. She took a plane to Odessa and from there she traveled to Kishinev. This was shortly after our wedding. This was our first meeting after she had moved away. I told her the story of our family. Anyuta brought me Shmilik's photograph. Anyuta had a husband and three sons: Noah, Judah and Zvi. They lived in Rishon Le Zion [today Israel]. Anyuta's husband grew and sold oranges and their sons helped him. You can imagine how concerned I was about my relatives during the wars in Israel: the Six-Day-War [25], and the War of Judgment Day [see Yom Kippur War] [26]. I listened to BBC and The Voice of America. In the early 1970s my sister Nehoma and her husband Semyon Abramovich moved to Israel. They lived in Rishon Le Zion.
When Bessarabia was annexed to the USSR in 1940, Liana's family returned to Soroki. During the war they were in evacuation in Kurgan, Tuba region, Tajikistan. In 1944, the family returned to Soroki after it had been liberated by the Soviet forces. Liana's father was a lecturer in an agricultural school, and her mother was a housewife, when we met. Liana graduated from the Faculty of Physics of Kishinev University and worked as a scientific employee at the laboratory of the Scientific Research Institute of Electric Instruments. We had a quiet wedding. Our friends and my wife's colleagues came to the registry office. Then we had a small party in Liana's room. Then we went to Liana's parents' house in Soroki and celebrated with the family and their acquaintances. After the wedding I moved in with Liana.
After finishing my college I began to work as director of the school in Raspopeny. I often went to see my brother in Kishinev and met my future wife, when visiting my distant relatives. She rented a room from them. Her name was Liana Degtiar. I liked Liana at once and I met with her each time I went to Kishinev. In summer 1961 we went to the Crimea by boat. We sailed to Yalta [today Ukraine] and then traveled across the Crimea. We stayed in Gurzuf, climbed mountains for two days, walked to Alushta and went to Yevpatoria. We got married in spring. Liana is three years younger than me. She was born in Bucharest in 1933.
I remember the day of Stalin's death, how people cried. I was calm about it: I wasn't going to exhaust myself for this reason. The Twentieth Party Congress [22] in 1956, and the publication of the Khrushchev's [23] report, made me learn many new things. Like many others, I had no idea about the extermination of the leaders of the party, I didn't know about the number of camps [see Gulag] [24], and the number of prisoners or how many people perished there. It was a shock for me. It was a shock to learn that the people moving from Moldova [Romania] across the Dnestr to the USSR, who were communists, were taken to Stalin's camps. The situation in the country changed after the Congress, and I joined the Party in 1956.
Alexander Bachnar
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All of our children got married. The first to marry was our older daughter, Sasha. That marriage wasn't very good. It wasn't a very good marriage, because my daughter was oriented towards the humanities, literature, art. Her husband - my son-in-law, was the exact opposite. He never read one single book, didn't attend the theater, it was something foreign to him. Later they divorced. They had one child, a daughter, Lucia. After the divorce, he almost completely broke off his relationship with the daughter. When my granddaughter, his daughter, has her birthday, he sends her a postcard, that he's congratulating her on her birthday. That's all. This is how his relationship to his own daughter expresses itself. At the same time, one has to take into account that he has in the meantime remarried. He and his second wife have two or three children.
Our second daughter, Ivana, married very young. At the age of 17. While she was still of school age. She met her husband in school. They have three children together. The oldest, Barbora, is 24. She graduated from high school. Her younger daughter is named Ivana and is currently studying at university. At the age of 40 they had a very dear and talented little boy. So, thank God, that family is very well balanced. They live a downright model existence. So there that environment is very positive.
My son Ivan also had a very unsuccessful, unhappy marriage. It basically led to the fact that due to stress, mainly as far as family relations went, he had a heart attack in 2003, from which he died. He and his ex-wife had two children, a son and daughter.
Despite the fact that I didn't take my children to synagogue, they knew that their father is a Jew. So that also they are half Jewish. The most inclined towards Judaism is my older daughter Alexandra. She feels that she's more of a Jewess.
Our second daughter, Ivana, married very young. At the age of 17. While she was still of school age. She met her husband in school. They have three children together. The oldest, Barbora, is 24. She graduated from high school. Her younger daughter is named Ivana and is currently studying at university. At the age of 40 they had a very dear and talented little boy. So, thank God, that family is very well balanced. They live a downright model existence. So there that environment is very positive.
My son Ivan also had a very unsuccessful, unhappy marriage. It basically led to the fact that due to stress, mainly as far as family relations went, he had a heart attack in 2003, from which he died. He and his ex-wife had two children, a son and daughter.
Despite the fact that I didn't take my children to synagogue, they knew that their father is a Jew. So that also they are half Jewish. The most inclined towards Judaism is my older daughter Alexandra. She feels that she's more of a Jewess.
Slovakia
In my household we spoke only Slovak. As far as foreign languages go, Alexandra speaks fluent English. So when I was in America that time in 2001, I took her with me. Ivana, the younger daughter, speaks only Slovak, and Ivan spoke some English, but only a little, unfortunately he was the type to never finish anything.
Slovakia
Our older daughter soon got a position in the Federation of Employers' Associations. [Editor's note: Federation of Employers Associations of the Slovak Republic (AZZZ SR) - is the supreme employers' organization in the Slovak Republic (SR). The AZZZ SR is an incorporated special-interest association, which was founded in 1991 to help form conditions for the dynamic development of business in the SR.] That's a quite prominent organization. So she asserted herself very well there. Our younger daughter worked at one time at a gardening center in Bratislava. And then thanks to her sister got into a branch office of the Eastern Slovakia Steelworks here in Bratislava, so there she had a very good job. [Editor's note: the Eastern Slovakia Steelworks Kosice. On 24th November 2000, the entire smelting plant of the steelworks was sold to the prominent American steel company The United Steel Corporation.] At one time she worked for the secretariat of the General Director of the Eastern Slovakia Steelworks, Rezes. [Alexander Rezes (1948 - 2002): 1994 - 1997 Minister of Transport, Post and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic.] Then when Rezes became minister, she worked in his secretariat. In 2002 her son was born and she left to go on maternity leave. She's currently a housewife and is taking care of raising her son. My son Ivan didn't do very well in his field.
Slovakia
At the very end of this conversation, I'd like to talk about those who are nearest and dearest to me - that is, my children and grandchildren. As I've already mentioned, my wife and I had three children. Our oldest son was born in 1956, and we gave him the name Ivan. After him, we had our daughter Sashka [Alexandra], that was in 1958, and after her, in 1963, our daughter Ivanka [Ivana]. All three children were born in Bratislava and spent their childhood, adolescence and also adult life here. All our children attended nursery school, and then of course finished elementary school. You know, the older daughter graduated from high school with honors. She had an almost photographic memory. So during the entire eight years of high school, I practically not even once had to tell her to go and study. Things were different with our younger daughter, who wasn't exactly the best student, and went to gardening school. She went to school in Malinovo, near Bratislava, and finished it. Our son also had problems with school. He finished vocational school without graduating. He was an electrician, and then specialized in computer repair.
Slovakia
As far as the present and my social contacts go, I've also got to mention my lively contacts with friends. Mostly they're Jews. I'm in constant contact with them. No, not a day goes by without me meeting or visiting someone. Yesterday, for example, I visited one friend with whom I take care of the agenda around the so-called Sixth Work Battalion. We live a very rich social life, and I'm very emphatic in this, because I'm of the opinion that people should meet. It's very important for us to meet, for us to show the other that we're here for him. I also visit a Jewish senior citizens' home. I gave them lectures on classical music and Jewish songs. Then I also played music for them. They've even been calling me, for me to come again. I brought for them recordings from when they were young. So they returned to their youth. In this respect, as I say, I'm very active and energetic.
These days I quite often go on trips and holidays. I can finally afford it, both financially and time-wise. For example, this year [2005], we were in say, Budapest, three times. Just now we've returned from a two-week stay in Israel. Before that we were in Piestany for two weeks, in Podhajska for a week, we were on a tour of journalist seniors in Ostrihom, we were on a three-day tour in Sobibor. We've managed to do all that this year.
To finish this chapter, I'll mention one more thing, that for all of the suffering that I had to live through during the Holocaust, I got reparations after 1989. I get them from the Claims Conference. I also got a one-time reparation for my time in the Novaky labor camp.
These days I quite often go on trips and holidays. I can finally afford it, both financially and time-wise. For example, this year [2005], we were in say, Budapest, three times. Just now we've returned from a two-week stay in Israel. Before that we were in Piestany for two weeks, in Podhajska for a week, we were on a tour of journalist seniors in Ostrihom, we were on a three-day tour in Sobibor. We've managed to do all that this year.
To finish this chapter, I'll mention one more thing, that for all of the suffering that I had to live through during the Holocaust, I got reparations after 1989. I get them from the Claims Conference. I also got a one-time reparation for my time in the Novaky labor camp.
Slovakia
If I was to talk about the present, I'm a relatively active and socially occupied person. I'm also very active in the Jewish community. I'd say that my activity increased mainly after 1989. I have to mention that I became a member of the religious community already in 1976, that is, in a time when it wasn't yet popular. Back then I realized that everyone has to belong somewhere. That he can't stand isolated and apart from the rest of the world. And I said to myself, that with my origins and my upbringing, I'm more inclined to belong to the Jewish community. What's more, I also became convinced that it's very honorable to be a member of such a community, which gave the world its greatest thinkers. And for that I went back in history, not only of Jews, but also in history in general.
Jews were the first to give the world one God and the First Commandment: 'I am your God, and you shall not have any other gods before me.' All religions up to that time had many gods, which they could depict in various ways. Jews said, I am a God invisible to the human eye. Jews gave the world Moses, who gave the world God's Ten Commandments. They gave it Jesus, who gave the belief in life after death. They gave the world the awareness that one can correct his errors or shortcomings. Jews gave the world people like Spinoza [31], they gave the world Einstein, they gave the world Freud. And when a person considers that Jews make up a scant one percent of the world's population, but gave the world I don't know how many bearers of the Nobel Prize, then it's not any sort of a disgrace to be a member of such a community. So, that was also one of the reasons why at that time the tendency to be conscious of my Jewish identity strengthened.
In my case, it started to show itself in that I was more and more studying the issues of Judaism, more and more concerning myself with the problematics of the Holocaust. For two years, in the National Archive, I collected a large quantity of documents that are connected to the problematics of the Holocaust, during the years 1939 to 1945. I participate in practically all activities that have some sort of connection with Judaism. I attend various openings of restored synagogues. I go to openings of exhibitions about the Holocaust. I participate in various tours. I've already been to Auschwitz three times. I was on a tour of Sobibor. Further, it has to a large degree affected me that during the Slovak National Uprising I was a commander of one Jewish partisan group. Today I'm practically the only living commander of this group. I was also for this reason recommended for decoration. Decoration with a memorial medal of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. That I was invited to meet the President of America, Bush.
Jews were the first to give the world one God and the First Commandment: 'I am your God, and you shall not have any other gods before me.' All religions up to that time had many gods, which they could depict in various ways. Jews said, I am a God invisible to the human eye. Jews gave the world Moses, who gave the world God's Ten Commandments. They gave it Jesus, who gave the belief in life after death. They gave the world the awareness that one can correct his errors or shortcomings. Jews gave the world people like Spinoza [31], they gave the world Einstein, they gave the world Freud. And when a person considers that Jews make up a scant one percent of the world's population, but gave the world I don't know how many bearers of the Nobel Prize, then it's not any sort of a disgrace to be a member of such a community. So, that was also one of the reasons why at that time the tendency to be conscious of my Jewish identity strengthened.
In my case, it started to show itself in that I was more and more studying the issues of Judaism, more and more concerning myself with the problematics of the Holocaust. For two years, in the National Archive, I collected a large quantity of documents that are connected to the problematics of the Holocaust, during the years 1939 to 1945. I participate in practically all activities that have some sort of connection with Judaism. I attend various openings of restored synagogues. I go to openings of exhibitions about the Holocaust. I participate in various tours. I've already been to Auschwitz three times. I was on a tour of Sobibor. Further, it has to a large degree affected me that during the Slovak National Uprising I was a commander of one Jewish partisan group. Today I'm practically the only living commander of this group. I was also for this reason recommended for decoration. Decoration with a memorial medal of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. That I was invited to meet the President of America, Bush.
Slovakia
I had a good reputation and standing among the editorial staff. It can't be said that there had been any direct anti-Semitic conflicts. What happened was that many Jews were expelled from the Party and fired from work. The origin wasn't directly with the paper; it was within the scope of the overall politics of the Communist Party in those days.
But a problem nevertheless cropped up. It was an interview. Usually, when they summoned someone for an interview, it happened that they announced to him: '... Dear ... based on the decision of the District Committee of the Communist Party, you are expelled from the Communist Party, and also from your employment.' With me the interview lasted seven hours. It wasn't that easy to expel someone who had been a member of the party since the pre-war years, a partisan commander and active party member. I also had quite prominent political functions. I was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Union of Cultural Employees, I was a member of the Presidium of the Czechoslovak Peace Movement... As a journalist I was also involved in various activities. My guess is that they didn't want to get rid of me completely, only to cancel my party membership.
However, the chairman of the organization and of that interview committee began to rail against my colleagues who had emigrated in those days. While at the same time, he had prior to this confided to me that if he were younger, he would have taken his wife and two children and left the country. It was he who during that interview began to abuse my colleagues and especially one, Peter Hirsch. Peter was, among other things, also a journalist at Kulturni Zivot [Cultural Life]. He was very clever, and by the way had been a very courageous partisan, who had even by himself destroyed a German tank. He began to really rail against him. I couldn't stand it any more, and said to that chairman, 'Palo! It was tougher for Peter to leave than for you to stay here!' And that was the final straw. They expelled me from the Party and also from work. Then I was unemployed for I think three or four months. In the end a lady who was the director of the Health Education Institute took me under her wing, and I worked there until 1976, and then went into retirement.
During my retirement, I at one time, I think it was in 1986, was earning some extra money as a sales clerk in a kiosk. It belonged to the Postal News Service. I sold newspapers. After about three months they summoned me to the head office, that I've got a shortfall of 7,000. My God, how can I be short, when I didn't do anything wrong?! So my wife told me to quickly go to the bank, withdraw seven thousand, give it to them and be done with it. When I wanted to do this, they then suddenly told me that they apologize, but that I've got a surplus and not a shortfall. Despite this I ended there.
Then I had one friend at the Slovak Union of Manufacturing Cooperatives, where they needed a gatekeeper, so I went to work as a gatekeeper until the year 1989. [Editor's note: This association of manufacturing and other cooperatives was created in 1953. Currently (2005) it includes 143 member co-ops with a total number of almost 12,000 employees. Its main focus is consultancy, procedural and informational assistance for its member co-ops in economical, legislative and legal areas, in financing, with issues regarding taxes, payroll, accounting and statistics.] I was the kind of gatekeeper where when the director needed a speech, he sent someone to the gate in my place, and I went up to the head office. There they made me coffee and I wrote speeches for the director. On the occasion of the Velvet Revolution [28] he read a speech by me. During that time the invited me to come and work at the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters [29]. At the Slovak Union I at first worked as the manager of the politico- organizational department, then I worked as the manager of the Secretariat, the union secretary, up to the moment when I didn't agree with the stance of General Husak, the union chairman. The two of us had differing opinions regarding the activities of this union. Then I worked for only two more years for the Simecka Foundation [30], where I worked in the archive on the restoration of a large quantity of documents to do with the Holocaust.
Life after 1989 continued for me, and progressed in a very interesting fashion. One didn't need to have a lot of political savvy to see that the totalitarian system, and the regime that existed here, couldn't hold on. It had no future. You can't have democracy in a society when the party, which proclaims itself to be the leading force in society, is itself not democratic. When the decision about who is going to be the director of a factory isn't made by professional officials, but the Secretary of the Communist Party. For the second time I saw that the totalitarian system was floundering between contradictions. Different were the political proclamations and different the practice that they implemented. I was among the first who even before November 1989 held the opinion that the regime was untenable. That doesn't mean that I was against socialism. No, not that. But against the practical application of that regime.
Recently my friend Vlado Czech and I were reading together a document from November of 1989, which I could sign again today. This document was also my creation, where I very critically evaluated the practices of the totalitarian system, and basically sketched out our notions of how society should further develop, especially concerning the application of democracy, solidarity and so on. Vlado Czech and I were the main people involved in the fact that the then leadership of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters was forced to resign. A new leadership was formed on new democratic principles.
My friend Vlado Czech then became the chairman of the City Committee of the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters in Bratislava, and I became the head of the politico-organizational department of the Central Committee of the Anti- Fascist Fighters. At that time I was taking care of practically all documents of a political nature. At the next congress of the Union of Anti- Fascist Fighters I was elected as the General Secretary of the union, which was basically the second function after the chairman. And I can tell you, that in this function I gained a relatively large amount of support and popularity, and still to this day, functionaries reminisce that when I - I'm not saying it to brag or anything - but to this day they reminisce that in those days the union was a lot more active. It was the time from 1992 to 1996. After that I refused to run again, because there were disagreements between the chairman, General Husak and me.
As a former high-ranking military functionary, he instituted a 'military regime.' I, on the other hand, promoted democratic principles in this respect. What's more, I also had a different opinion as far as the future of the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters was concerned. I promoted the idea that the union transform itself into one sociopolitical movement, and the chairman was for the union remaining a special-interest group. In this respect we differed. He had more support within the older leadership, and I saw that I won't be able to push through my opinion on the future of the union, and so I left. But the passage of time has shown that my opinion on this future of the union was justified. The union is now in the situation, that in a few years, when this generation is gone, its existence will be threatened.
But a problem nevertheless cropped up. It was an interview. Usually, when they summoned someone for an interview, it happened that they announced to him: '... Dear ... based on the decision of the District Committee of the Communist Party, you are expelled from the Communist Party, and also from your employment.' With me the interview lasted seven hours. It wasn't that easy to expel someone who had been a member of the party since the pre-war years, a partisan commander and active party member. I also had quite prominent political functions. I was a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Union of Cultural Employees, I was a member of the Presidium of the Czechoslovak Peace Movement... As a journalist I was also involved in various activities. My guess is that they didn't want to get rid of me completely, only to cancel my party membership.
However, the chairman of the organization and of that interview committee began to rail against my colleagues who had emigrated in those days. While at the same time, he had prior to this confided to me that if he were younger, he would have taken his wife and two children and left the country. It was he who during that interview began to abuse my colleagues and especially one, Peter Hirsch. Peter was, among other things, also a journalist at Kulturni Zivot [Cultural Life]. He was very clever, and by the way had been a very courageous partisan, who had even by himself destroyed a German tank. He began to really rail against him. I couldn't stand it any more, and said to that chairman, 'Palo! It was tougher for Peter to leave than for you to stay here!' And that was the final straw. They expelled me from the Party and also from work. Then I was unemployed for I think three or four months. In the end a lady who was the director of the Health Education Institute took me under her wing, and I worked there until 1976, and then went into retirement.
During my retirement, I at one time, I think it was in 1986, was earning some extra money as a sales clerk in a kiosk. It belonged to the Postal News Service. I sold newspapers. After about three months they summoned me to the head office, that I've got a shortfall of 7,000. My God, how can I be short, when I didn't do anything wrong?! So my wife told me to quickly go to the bank, withdraw seven thousand, give it to them and be done with it. When I wanted to do this, they then suddenly told me that they apologize, but that I've got a surplus and not a shortfall. Despite this I ended there.
Then I had one friend at the Slovak Union of Manufacturing Cooperatives, where they needed a gatekeeper, so I went to work as a gatekeeper until the year 1989. [Editor's note: This association of manufacturing and other cooperatives was created in 1953. Currently (2005) it includes 143 member co-ops with a total number of almost 12,000 employees. Its main focus is consultancy, procedural and informational assistance for its member co-ops in economical, legislative and legal areas, in financing, with issues regarding taxes, payroll, accounting and statistics.] I was the kind of gatekeeper where when the director needed a speech, he sent someone to the gate in my place, and I went up to the head office. There they made me coffee and I wrote speeches for the director. On the occasion of the Velvet Revolution [28] he read a speech by me. During that time the invited me to come and work at the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters [29]. At the Slovak Union I at first worked as the manager of the politico- organizational department, then I worked as the manager of the Secretariat, the union secretary, up to the moment when I didn't agree with the stance of General Husak, the union chairman. The two of us had differing opinions regarding the activities of this union. Then I worked for only two more years for the Simecka Foundation [30], where I worked in the archive on the restoration of a large quantity of documents to do with the Holocaust.
Life after 1989 continued for me, and progressed in a very interesting fashion. One didn't need to have a lot of political savvy to see that the totalitarian system, and the regime that existed here, couldn't hold on. It had no future. You can't have democracy in a society when the party, which proclaims itself to be the leading force in society, is itself not democratic. When the decision about who is going to be the director of a factory isn't made by professional officials, but the Secretary of the Communist Party. For the second time I saw that the totalitarian system was floundering between contradictions. Different were the political proclamations and different the practice that they implemented. I was among the first who even before November 1989 held the opinion that the regime was untenable. That doesn't mean that I was against socialism. No, not that. But against the practical application of that regime.
Recently my friend Vlado Czech and I were reading together a document from November of 1989, which I could sign again today. This document was also my creation, where I very critically evaluated the practices of the totalitarian system, and basically sketched out our notions of how society should further develop, especially concerning the application of democracy, solidarity and so on. Vlado Czech and I were the main people involved in the fact that the then leadership of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters was forced to resign. A new leadership was formed on new democratic principles.
My friend Vlado Czech then became the chairman of the City Committee of the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters in Bratislava, and I became the head of the politico-organizational department of the Central Committee of the Anti- Fascist Fighters. At that time I was taking care of practically all documents of a political nature. At the next congress of the Union of Anti- Fascist Fighters I was elected as the General Secretary of the union, which was basically the second function after the chairman. And I can tell you, that in this function I gained a relatively large amount of support and popularity, and still to this day, functionaries reminisce that when I - I'm not saying it to brag or anything - but to this day they reminisce that in those days the union was a lot more active. It was the time from 1992 to 1996. After that I refused to run again, because there were disagreements between the chairman, General Husak and me.
As a former high-ranking military functionary, he instituted a 'military regime.' I, on the other hand, promoted democratic principles in this respect. What's more, I also had a different opinion as far as the future of the Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters was concerned. I promoted the idea that the union transform itself into one sociopolitical movement, and the chairman was for the union remaining a special-interest group. In this respect we differed. He had more support within the older leadership, and I saw that I won't be able to push through my opinion on the future of the union, and so I left. But the passage of time has shown that my opinion on this future of the union was justified. The union is now in the situation, that in a few years, when this generation is gone, its existence will be threatened.
Slovakia
It also had a concrete result, which was that as a journalist working for the then party paper Pravda [24], I was immediately fired. From the National Committee I got an order to go do manual labor at a cable plant, and then to Dimitrovka. [Editor's note: Chemical Plant of Juraj Dimitrov, from 1991 named Istroch. The company was founded by the Swedish inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel, in 1873 as a part of his wider business activities in Europe.] I worked there for two years as a welder. Understandably, it strengthened my doubts, as far as the concrete application of socialism in everyday life is concerned. Back then I adopted one quote by Laco Nomesky [25], who said, and it's true today as well: 'The symphony was nice, but the orchestra was bad.' That was my conviction, that socialism is a nice idea whose realization is worthwhile, just the application isn't good.
As far as leaving the country goes, when the conditions were as they were: Immigrating to the West - never! It absolutely never occurred to me. Immigrate to Israel? I didn't even concern myself very much with it, despite certain connections, whether ideological or personal. I was of the opinion that I had fought for this nation, for this republic. I was prepared to, now I'm going to use strong words - sacrifice my life! It's my country, which no one will make me leave, I'm not going to let myself be driven out anymore! Due to this idea I in fact stayed here. I lived with the notion that a person is at home in the place where he lived his childhood, to which are tied his memories, friends, where he can succeed, and that was important for me.
Quite often and willingly I participated in various parades, demonstrations or celebrations of holidays. Whether Communist or not. I practically still participate to this day. As a journalist I'm interested in, among other things, how people act during these events. Just the day before yesterday I was at a demonstration against neo-Nazism [November 2005]. I go to all events like this. To May Day parades, as well as on the anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, October 28th [26]. I used to also go to Stefanik's memorial [27]. So with me it wasn't limited only to Party events, but I used to generally go wherever people were gathering. I've always done this, up to the present day. It was from an internal impulse. I always had this idea: 'To be there.'
I'll return back to my work. After the war, and mainly after the year 1949, my career developed in such a way that I was asked to go work on the staff of Pravda, the central Party paper, where I worked for only two years. Because then the Slansky trial took place. Then I was fired and did manual labor, but I've already talked about that. For two years I was a welder in Dimitrovka. Even a good one, so I became a foreman. Then they offered me the position of master welder. But in those days, the Secretary of the UVKSS [Central Committee of the Slovak Communist Party] was Gusto Michalicka. I knew and was friends with him from pre-war times. He arranged for me to be let go by the Dimitrovka plant. And then he called me in to the central committee of the KSS [Communist Party of Slovakia] and asked me whether I'd like to work at a paper again. I said that if he could arrange it, then yes. To which he said that tomorrow I could start working for Praca, and for me to report to the editor-in-chief. I worked as a journalist for Praca, as a secretary at Praca and then as a foreign politics journalist. I worked there until 1969, when they threw me out of Praca, and also expelled me from the Party. They labeled me as a right-wing anti-socialist element. This happened despite my having been a party member since I was a student, from 1936.
As far as leaving the country goes, when the conditions were as they were: Immigrating to the West - never! It absolutely never occurred to me. Immigrate to Israel? I didn't even concern myself very much with it, despite certain connections, whether ideological or personal. I was of the opinion that I had fought for this nation, for this republic. I was prepared to, now I'm going to use strong words - sacrifice my life! It's my country, which no one will make me leave, I'm not going to let myself be driven out anymore! Due to this idea I in fact stayed here. I lived with the notion that a person is at home in the place where he lived his childhood, to which are tied his memories, friends, where he can succeed, and that was important for me.
Quite often and willingly I participated in various parades, demonstrations or celebrations of holidays. Whether Communist or not. I practically still participate to this day. As a journalist I'm interested in, among other things, how people act during these events. Just the day before yesterday I was at a demonstration against neo-Nazism [November 2005]. I go to all events like this. To May Day parades, as well as on the anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, October 28th [26]. I used to also go to Stefanik's memorial [27]. So with me it wasn't limited only to Party events, but I used to generally go wherever people were gathering. I've always done this, up to the present day. It was from an internal impulse. I always had this idea: 'To be there.'
I'll return back to my work. After the war, and mainly after the year 1949, my career developed in such a way that I was asked to go work on the staff of Pravda, the central Party paper, where I worked for only two years. Because then the Slansky trial took place. Then I was fired and did manual labor, but I've already talked about that. For two years I was a welder in Dimitrovka. Even a good one, so I became a foreman. Then they offered me the position of master welder. But in those days, the Secretary of the UVKSS [Central Committee of the Slovak Communist Party] was Gusto Michalicka. I knew and was friends with him from pre-war times. He arranged for me to be let go by the Dimitrovka plant. And then he called me in to the central committee of the KSS [Communist Party of Slovakia] and asked me whether I'd like to work at a paper again. I said that if he could arrange it, then yes. To which he said that tomorrow I could start working for Praca, and for me to report to the editor-in-chief. I worked as a journalist for Praca, as a secretary at Praca and then as a foreign politics journalist. I worked there until 1969, when they threw me out of Praca, and also expelled me from the Party. They labeled me as a right-wing anti-socialist element. This happened despite my having been a party member since I was a student, from 1936.
Slovakia
In every Jew there's a bit of a Messiah. Every Jew lives with the idea that he must, according to Jesus' example, take the sins of mankind upon himself and must be a redeemer. I was also one of those that thought that now [with the coming of Communism] equality was arriving. All national, religious and other social relationships will be leveled. So I also went to 'redeem' mankind. I thought that socialism would address all of these issues that had a conflicting character. I was very active, both politically and in the party. But I shortly came upon the fact that there are certain uncertainties. For example, among the first things to evoke certain doubts in me was one of Gottwald's [23] speeches. In it Gottwald spoke about the fact that Czechoslovakia will take its own road to socialism. A Czechoslovak road. This formulation of his, which at that time we welcomed, was publicized in the first edition of his book 'Deset Let' ['Ten Years']. But the interesting thing is that when the second edition of this book 'Deset Let' came out, that formulation wasn't there any more. That means that it was clearly said: 'No Czechoslovak road to socialism. One and only one exists, and that's the Soviet road.' So already then, the first doubts set in.
Other doubts came during the practical realization of socialism, which were the Slansky trials. Understandably, this evoked in me quite significant doubts, especially after when in the first edition of the trial transcripts it was cited that Slansky was of Czech nationality. In the second edition, it was already cited that he was Jewish in origin. So there, after that, quite serious doubts were raised. And moreover, these doubts in me were also solidified by the fact that one of my good lady friends - an important party functionary, actually even a pre-war one, who when she saw that here it wasn't about opponents and enemies of socialism, but that it was an unambiguous, obvious anti-Semitic attack, she gave up her membership in the Party. So this doubt finally also came to me.
Other doubts came during the practical realization of socialism, which were the Slansky trials. Understandably, this evoked in me quite significant doubts, especially after when in the first edition of the trial transcripts it was cited that Slansky was of Czech nationality. In the second edition, it was already cited that he was Jewish in origin. So there, after that, quite serious doubts were raised. And moreover, these doubts in me were also solidified by the fact that one of my good lady friends - an important party functionary, actually even a pre-war one, who when she saw that here it wasn't about opponents and enemies of socialism, but that it was an unambiguous, obvious anti-Semitic attack, she gave up her membership in the Party. So this doubt finally also came to me.
Slovakia
When the children were still small, we used to very frequently go on trips and vacations. We were for example in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania. Then I was with everyone in Israel. We also used to go to Israel during the time of Communism. We never went all at once, but gradually all of my children were there with me, and later also my grandchildren.
Slovakia
My wife, not that she ended with it, but she didn't insist on observing Catholic rituals. She didn't for example go to church. The only thing that was observed from Christian customs was Christmas. But that wasn't so much for religious reasons, but she wanted the children to see that the custom was observed in our home just like in other families. Basically it was about social observance of this holiday. When my wife eventually died [1987], she had a civil, not a religious funeral.
After the war, religion wasn't cultivated in our family. Our offspring weren't religiously inclined either. With us Judaism had a more, I would say traditional character. And partly the relationship was based also on the fact that my father and brother lived in Israel. So we were tied to Israel with family ties as well, and thus also to Judaism. Plus I can't forget to mention my Jewish upbringing. They brought me up in a Jewish spirit. At the same time I also studied Judaism. They taught me Hebrew and thus I could learn directly in that language the history of Jews throughout the entire time of their existence. I had a rich collection of literature, which was connected for one to Judaism, for another to Jewish history, which was, precisely because I was already concerned with it during my childhood, very close to me.
As far as our children and their upbringing are concerned, that absolutely wasn't approached in a Jewish fashion at all. What I'm saying is, these religious and ritual practices didn't exist in our home. Our children expressed their relationship with Judaism by for example sympathizing with Israel. In fact, at one time one of our daughters was considering moving to Israel. So their stance towards Israel was very, very positive and thus also their stance towards Judaism as a whole. What's more, it was influenced by the fact that their father and grandfather were Jews and always stood by their origin and identity.
After the war, religion wasn't cultivated in our family. Our offspring weren't religiously inclined either. With us Judaism had a more, I would say traditional character. And partly the relationship was based also on the fact that my father and brother lived in Israel. So we were tied to Israel with family ties as well, and thus also to Judaism. Plus I can't forget to mention my Jewish upbringing. They brought me up in a Jewish spirit. At the same time I also studied Judaism. They taught me Hebrew and thus I could learn directly in that language the history of Jews throughout the entire time of their existence. I had a rich collection of literature, which was connected for one to Judaism, for another to Jewish history, which was, precisely because I was already concerned with it during my childhood, very close to me.
As far as our children and their upbringing are concerned, that absolutely wasn't approached in a Jewish fashion at all. What I'm saying is, these religious and ritual practices didn't exist in our home. Our children expressed their relationship with Judaism by for example sympathizing with Israel. In fact, at one time one of our daughters was considering moving to Israel. So their stance towards Israel was very, very positive and thus also their stance towards Judaism as a whole. What's more, it was influenced by the fact that their father and grandfather were Jews and always stood by their origin and identity.
Slovakia
She even learned to cook traditional Jewish foods from my sister Ela. My sister, also not for religious [reasons], but more due to tradition, observed some customs like before the war. For example, separation of dairy and fatty [meat] foods. Besides this my sister was a very good cook and liked Jewish cooking. Jewish cooking, that was for example seafood. Fish with nuts for example that was this specialty of my sister's and my wife adopted it. And not only that one. I personally liked fish with jelly and nuts. That was a specialty that my sister prepared almost regularly - every week. And she always put aside one portion for me. My wife, a non-Jew adopted this food, so we quite often had, for one, that fish, and for another she adopted and made them very well, matzah dumplings. Among good Jewish foods also belonged stuffed gooseneck. That was a recipe where you ground a piece of goose liver, goose cracklings with flour and that was stuffed into this larger gut casing and baked.
Slovakia
I can't say that Jewish traditions were observed in my family after the war. I myself didn't become a member of the religious community in Bratislava until the year 1976. For the High Holidays, like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I did however go to synagogue. It wasn't for religious reasons however, but from respect for traditions and my parents. I know how to pray, I learned it in cheder. I even understand the prayers, because I learned Hebrew. I also know how to read the prayer, and translate it. Despite this I don't pray. I visit the synagogue on one more occasion, during the remembrance of the dead, for maskir. At that time I recall the memory of almost my entire family, who died during the Holocaust. My wife respected it, and I respected her. That's why we used to have a tree at Christmas time. From my side it wasn't any sort of a problem.
We had three children: two girls, Alexandra and Ivana, and one son, Ivan. I didn't take them to synagogue. Well, all of my children have been to Israel. Even my grandchildren have been there. So there is a certain tie to Judaism and to Israel in them. In our family, as far as relationships to religion go, there were never any problems. My wife very much respected my origins. She respected them to the degree that she knew better than me when the Jewish Easter, Passover, was. She used to prepare traditional foods like matzah dumplings for me. So in this respect she was not only tolerant, but also obliging. With this she basically demonstrated her solidarity with Judaism. She didn't address our children in any other way than 'my little Jewlets.' So in this respect there really were absolutely no problems in our relationship.
We had three children: two girls, Alexandra and Ivana, and one son, Ivan. I didn't take them to synagogue. Well, all of my children have been to Israel. Even my grandchildren have been there. So there is a certain tie to Judaism and to Israel in them. In our family, as far as relationships to religion go, there were never any problems. My wife very much respected my origins. She respected them to the degree that she knew better than me when the Jewish Easter, Passover, was. She used to prepare traditional foods like matzah dumplings for me. So in this respect she was not only tolerant, but also obliging. With this she basically demonstrated her solidarity with Judaism. She didn't address our children in any other way than 'my little Jewlets.' So in this respect there really were absolutely no problems in our relationship.
Slovakia
My wife finished four years of high school. Her father was a locksmith and worked as a custodian at a hospital in Trnava. Then he worked at a farm machinery repair workshop in Bernolakov. Her mother, that is, my mother-in- law, was a housewife. She had six sisters. One of them died. And the other five are still alive. I'm in regular contact with them. On 1st November [All Saints' Day. On this day in many countries people remember the deceased by putting flowers on their graves and lighting candles.] I usually always go to Bernolakov, to my in-laws' grave.
Slovakia
Being from a very devout Catholic family, my wife also attended a convent school in Trnava, run by nuns. Her father, my father-in-law, had before been a functionary in the Hlinka Slovak People's Party. And I was still living under the impression that she wanted to basically show her revulsion at the politics that her father had represented before. And this is very well characterized by one event. After the arrival of the brotherly armies [the armies of the Warsaw Pact] [21], I had to leave the staff of Praca. And they wanted to keep my wife there, because she was an excellent worker. So she said, 'If Bachnar isn't good enough for you, then I'm not good enough for you either.' And she left the newspaper to go work at the VUKI Cable and Insulation Research Institute, where she was the deputy of the planning department manager, and became one of the most exemplary employees at the institute. Which is illustrated by the fact that when she died, at the relatively young age of 57, three busloads came from the company to the funeral. The farewell speech was given by the company director, who described her as the best worker that the institute had ever had.
Well, I'd like to describe one more episode, which describes her very well. During the time when anti-Semitism was disguising itself as a struggle against Zionism [during the time of the Slansky trial [22] and at the end of the 1960s], when people didn't say 'we're against Jews,' but 'we're against Zionism.' At VUKI there was this mass gathering, where everyone was railing against Jews. My wife was standing in this group of managers, and said, 'I'm Jewish too.' When they heard this, they started backtracking, that you know, they didn't mean it like that, and so on and so on. And it's typical, that she, who came from a devout Slovak Catholic family, suddenly proclaimed: 'I'm a Jew.' Back then, when everyone was railing against Jews.
Well, I'd like to describe one more episode, which describes her very well. During the time when anti-Semitism was disguising itself as a struggle against Zionism [during the time of the Slansky trial [22] and at the end of the 1960s], when people didn't say 'we're against Jews,' but 'we're against Zionism.' At VUKI there was this mass gathering, where everyone was railing against Jews. My wife was standing in this group of managers, and said, 'I'm Jewish too.' When they heard this, they started backtracking, that you know, they didn't mean it like that, and so on and so on. And it's typical, that she, who came from a devout Slovak Catholic family, suddenly proclaimed: 'I'm a Jew.' Back then, when everyone was railing against Jews.
Slovakia
In 1953 I got married. My wife wasn't Jewish. She was named Jozefina and was born in 1931. We met at work. She worked as a secretary at the editorial offices of Praca [20]. In this way we had quite a bit in common. She came from this one quite devout Catholic family. Just to give you some idea, on Friday evening she announced to her parents that she was getting married on Saturday. When they reproached her that she had told them late and told her that they're not going to go to the wedding, she said that she had waited until the last moment only so they wouldn't try to stop her: 'You would have stood in my way, if I would have told you earlier, because he's of a different religion.' The result was, that they didn't come to the wedding, but invited us over to their place for Sunday dinner. When we arrived, they greeted me very warmly. They accepted me as their son. My wife was one of seven girls and I was their favorite son-in-law. I even took care of them when they were ill. And I buried both of them, both my father-in-law and my mother-in-law. As far as my family goes, my siblings didn't care at all that she wasn't Jewish. They accepted her very well.
Slovakia
After the end of World War II, I didn't even think of emigrating. Despite the fact that many of my friends, especially after 1949, decided to leave the country and emigrate. It was either to Israel or to the West. In those days I was still living in the ideal that socialism would solve everything. That there won't be anti-Semitism, that people will have a feeling of closeness, solidarity, and so on and so on. I had all of these false, naive notions. I also created this fixed idea that this is my country, and that no one is going to drive me out of it. It was this obsession of mine. And that was also one of those reasons why I didn't show interest in emigrating. I even had a brother in Israel, whom my father emigrated to go be with. On the other hand, I had a sister here, in Bratislava. The issue of emigration basically didn't exist for me.
Slovakia
Then came that sad occurrence, the Topolcany pogrom against Jews, in October 1945. At that time I was already not living in Topolcany. I lived and worked in Bratislava. On the day of the pogrom, however, I was in the town. Because at that time I was working as an army journalist, my editor- in-chief sent me there as a Topolcany native. I went in an army uniform, I had the rank of second lieutenant. They told me to take a pistol with me! We got to Topolcany around 4pm. At that time the town was already calm. I visited my sister and father in the apartment where they were staying. What happened there I don't know. I only found out later from documentation. At home we didn't talk about it and later, when my sister and father moved to Bratislava, we never got around to the subject.
After the war I stayed in Topolcany for only a few days. In May of 1945 I left for Bratislava. Later, one of my friends, who was editor-in-chief of the daily army paper Bojovnik called me to his office. [Editor's note: an organ of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters. The word 'bojovnik' means fighter. Was founded after the merger congress of Slovak resistance organizations in the spring of 1948 (press run of more than 20 thousand). In the year 1951 it merged with the magazine Hlas Revoluce (Voice of The Revolution).] By the way, he was the well-known playwright Leopold Lahola [Lahola, Leopold (1918 -1968); b. Leopold Arje Friedmann, dramatist and filmmaker]. So he was editor-in-chief, and he called me, for me to come work for that magazine. I accepted the offer. Because it was an army paper, I stayed in the army as a journalist until 1949.
After the war I stayed in Topolcany for only a few days. In May of 1945 I left for Bratislava. Later, one of my friends, who was editor-in-chief of the daily army paper Bojovnik called me to his office. [Editor's note: an organ of the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters. The word 'bojovnik' means fighter. Was founded after the merger congress of Slovak resistance organizations in the spring of 1948 (press run of more than 20 thousand). In the year 1951 it merged with the magazine Hlas Revoluce (Voice of The Revolution).] By the way, he was the well-known playwright Leopold Lahola [Lahola, Leopold (1918 -1968); b. Leopold Arje Friedmann, dramatist and filmmaker]. So he was editor-in-chief, and he called me, for me to come work for that magazine. I accepted the offer. Because it was an army paper, I stayed in the army as a journalist until 1949.
Slovakia
I think about four or five years ago, I proposed that Dr. Petelen be decorated, with the award Yad Vashem - Righteous Among The Nations [19]. He received the award, unfortunately he didn't live that long. His daughter accepted the decree regarding his decoration. So that's my father's story.
The town [Topolcany] as such hadn't changed, I mean looks-wise. The spirit of my hometown was different, though. The local inhabitants' welcome wasn't very pleasant. It's best described by comments of the type: 'More of them returned, than left.' Despite the fact that in the first postwar days, only 25 Jews returned to Topolcany! Well, and these about 25 returning Jewish citizens were put up at the house of the former president of the religious community, Gelenyi, who died in the Holocaust. I also remember that my sister Ela was cooking for these people. They also slept at that house, because their apartments and houses were basically occupied - Aryanized. Of our family possessions, nothing remained. We didn't have all that much in the first place, but even of that little bit, practically nothing remained.
The town [Topolcany] as such hadn't changed, I mean looks-wise. The spirit of my hometown was different, though. The local inhabitants' welcome wasn't very pleasant. It's best described by comments of the type: 'More of them returned, than left.' Despite the fact that in the first postwar days, only 25 Jews returned to Topolcany! Well, and these about 25 returning Jewish citizens were put up at the house of the former president of the religious community, Gelenyi, who died in the Holocaust. I also remember that my sister Ela was cooking for these people. They also slept at that house, because their apartments and houses were basically occupied - Aryanized. Of our family possessions, nothing remained. We didn't have all that much in the first place, but even of that little bit, practically nothing remained.
Slovakia
My return home after the war wasn't very merry. After the war I returned to Topolcany. I found only my sister Ela and my father. All of my other siblings and also my mother had died during that horrible period of the Holocaust. My father survived as if by miracle. It was this singular coincidence, that could be used as a theme for a film. Part of my family, together with other Jews, was held at the district courthouse in Banska Bystrica. Then when they were leading them to Kremnicka to be executed, it was at night, my father couldn't keep up with the pace. One of the German soldiers hit him with his rifle. My father fell and broke his leg. They didn't see, however, that my father had remained lying there in the forest. So they escorted the others to Kremnicka and there they killed them.
My father remained lying in the forest with a broken leg until the next day. Local residents of Kremnicka found him there and had him taken to the hospital in Banska Bystrica. The director of the hospital in Banska Bystrica was Dr. Petelen, who was this one prominent, immensely noble person, who helped Jews and partisans. He placed my father in the hospital, and so as to somehow conceal him, he wrote in the register that my father had been sent to his hometown, to Topolcany. But in reality he stayed in Banska Bystrica. Then when the Gestapo was going around the hospitals picking out Jews and partisans, there was the danger that the Germans would take my father as well. Doctor Petelen put my father in a room for those with infectious diseases, and on the door he wrote spotted typhus - 'Flecktyphus.' The Germans, when they saw that sign, didn't even touch him. My father then survived there until the liberation.
My father remained lying in the forest with a broken leg until the next day. Local residents of Kremnicka found him there and had him taken to the hospital in Banska Bystrica. The director of the hospital in Banska Bystrica was Dr. Petelen, who was this one prominent, immensely noble person, who helped Jews and partisans. He placed my father in the hospital, and so as to somehow conceal him, he wrote in the register that my father had been sent to his hometown, to Topolcany. But in reality he stayed in Banska Bystrica. Then when the Gestapo was going around the hospitals picking out Jews and partisans, there was the danger that the Germans would take my father as well. Doctor Petelen put my father in a room for those with infectious diseases, and on the door he wrote spotted typhus - 'Flecktyphus.' The Germans, when they saw that sign, didn't even touch him. My father then survived there until the liberation.
Slovakia