"We were called to school. There were 32 of us, me being the youngest. I was sitting behind my father. There were two SS men - one calling, the other standing. And whoever he summoned had to stand up. And we were the last name on that one list. And I, as he called "Ondrej Hanko and Hedvig's daughter..." but then 20 SS men broke into that school, they reported something big and important. But I held my father's cloth coat, he didn't stand up. But no one revealed that we did not get up, imagine. And he didn't notice, turned the page and continued reading. So he summoned only ten. And those he summoned all had to go out to the yard from the school, to the wagons and to the concentration camp in Bánovce."
1:44:55 – 1:46:15 – Hedviga was with her father at the school where they were concentrating those who help the partisans. A lucky accident saved them from being dragged away.
"And when it was so close, that's what I'm saying, everyone already had a place to escape. And when they were already arriving completely, it dissolved - the cows left for the field, the stables were opened and the nation was already running away. When the entire front arrived, we fled to Železné. Anyone who could. On horseback, he took what he could. She ate a little and there we ran to such a valley and such big rocks and we poked ourselves under those rocks. And the bullets just whizzed by. But everyone was surprised that since no one shot me then, the bullet didn't hit me, so I don't need anyone anymore. Because Mila, our poor sister, kept crying, she was hungry. I didn't have anything to give her, so I saw that we still had something hidden somewhere under a rock, and Šebeni and old Ondrej were afraid to go there, so I went there. So I took the bread from there, but only because she didn't hit me. It was simply a matter of life. No one was safe.'
0:06:05 – 0:07:27 – Hedviga was hiding under a rock with her sister and other villagers during the passage of the front
"My mother used to sew those camouflages for them. They brought a bundle of white cloth. She sewed day and night. Then she sewed when they were in the room, so she sewed in the pantry. They took it, took it. Well, in the winter, when it was cold, they had it on both their caps and their uniforms. Well, when they were, that one had very frostbitten feet, so we, my father, helped him a lot. He treated. He added all kinds of things. He knew it that way. He disinfected with a quince and such herbs, such leaves are suitable for this. In less than a month, I guess, he could have already gone into battle. He helped who respected life and freedom, everyone helped in whatever way he could. Everyone was afraid of the Germans, people would hide even in a mouse hole. Because everyone already knew that disaster was coming. That only desolation remains behind them. Everyone was afraid of them."
0:28:03 – 0:29:45 – Hedviga's parents helped the partisans - mom sewed camouflage, dad treated their wounds
Hedviga Bôriková, nee Hanková was born on February 8, 1934 in Závada pod Čiernym vrchom. Father Ondrej Hanko and mother Anna were small farmers. The Hank family had seven daughters, Hedviga was the second oldest. The parents were involved in the anti-fascist resistance. Father helped partisans in the mountains, mother sewed white camouflage for partisans. Hedwig carried messages and hid them under rocks. For a while, the partisan staff was based in their house. In the fall of 1944, they hid a group of Jews in the attic. They had to leave and later perished during a raid near Kšinna. Guardsmen were also active in the village and its surroundings, they took Hedvig‘s father to Bánoviec nad Bebravou for questioning. At the end of January, the partisans and their helpers from the ranks of civilians, including Hedvig and her father, were caught in the school. They were saved by a happy accident before being dragged to the camp. In the spring, they hid Jews again, this time in a bunker near the house. With the arrival of the front, they had to run to the mountains and hide under the rocks. The Hank family had a lot of dead soldiers and partisans in their yard, which they later carried to the cemetery on ladders. Hedviga took identification cards from the breast pockets of the fallen so that they would not be destroyed by blood and could later be identified. After the war, Hedviga finished school and went to Bratislava, where she worked in the Red Cross and worked in a military hospital, where she cared for war veterans. Later she worked in Danubiuska in thread production. She returned to Závada, her mother hid love letters from her boyfriend and forcibly married her to someone else. However, she soon got divorced. She experienced co-operatives in Závada. She later went to live in Trenčianske Teplice, had three children and raised a granddaughter. She worked in a spa and in a teaching institute, she was not politically active. Today retired, Hedviga died in september 2022.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
