Vojtech Budický

“It became much harsher then. They came again: ʻHands behind your back – up – down!ʼ There were three of them around me in the office asking me questions. Now I know those were the cross-questions. My answers were just: ʻI don´t knowʼ - ʻI wasn´t anywhereʼ, simply the negative questions. It made the interrogators really mad. At first they just slapped me from one side, from the other one, I screamed. Then much rougher interrogation began. They took turns and when I got to know the first one, another man came, even harsher. One of the greatest experiences was, when they told me to take off my shoes. They tied me to the chair and tickled my feet. Do you know what is it like?! Up to now when I get my feet tickled, I have goose bumps and the hair I miss, bristle. It was terrible... At first they took one foot, then the other, I yelled and screamed, you can´t even imagine. They slapped me, asked questions in the mean time... and then one of the eager guys knocked out my front tooth. I fell down from the chair, bleeding, they poured some water over me. For a while it was calmer, then they switched and continued in the interrogation. Again I didn´t see anything, didn´t recognize anybody. ʻWhen were you...?ʼ - ʻWhere were you?ʼ - ʻDid you have a gun?ʼ I asked: ʻA gun?!ʼ And that´s why they got mad again. They didn´t get a word from me, since I had nothing to confess. [ ] When they tripped my chair up, I fell and hurt myself a lot. [ ] They picked me up and ... as they hit my back, I fainted. I don´t know how long I was lying there, I felt huge pain in my back and then they carried me to a cell. I wanted to lie down and rest a bit, but I wasn´t able to lie on my back. So I lay prone, although, one cannot lie prone for a long time, since the head is too twisted. [ ] There I even lived to see how somebody hung himself. I don´t know how he managed to have a tie, since we didn´t have anything like that, no strings, laces, nothing alike. One of his co-prisoners tied it so much that we weren´t able to free him. The man was just kicking his legs on the bed [ ] ... and at the very last moment someone released the tie and revived him. It was a terrible experience for me; I squeezed into the corner and ever since I had jangled nerves. It really stroke me immensely.”

“There was never communism, but just socialism. And if the socialism mixed with democracy... That would be ideal. Today´s system isn´t quite well accepted – the freedom is misapprehended. The youth doesn´t take it the way it should be understood. And because of excessive benevolence we have crimes, frauds, and so on...” (Štefan Haško: “So since you perceive the previous era as an excessive lack of freedom, the present is characterised by an excessive freedom?”) “Lack of freedom, come on?! I was able to travel to Bulgaria, Romania, to Yugoslavia. I could go wherever I wanted. Yes, I had to report that, but it didn´t hurt. For the salary I had I was able to travel. Now? Now I cannot go even to Bratislava. [ ] If I travel by car to see my son living near Bratislava, it costs me almost a hundred euro, and that is a lot of money for me. Back then I could travel to many places for such money. We went to vacation for one and a half salary – mine and the half of my wife´s – we were out for three weeks and had some money saved yet.” (Štefan Haško: “Didn´t you have a problem to travel because of your past prison experience?”) “The only problem I had dwelled in that I had to report everything when I returned... To say whom I met, what I said, who wanted to know about stuff from me, etc. Well, what did I tell them? Nothing as I knew nothing. I talked about common things, and so on. I never did anything like that and I am not willing to do anything political at all. Except the fact, I am a political prisoner now.”