Ján Haščák

“The barracks were out of wood. Another labor camp. It was something horrible. Just the invitation: ‘Traitors of the Republic!’ I was about a week in Litvínov, from where they transferred me to Břežánka near Bílina. Of course, they let us know we were the unreliable citizens and so on. I had to work in mines for 25 months. We couldn't do anything about that, we just had to adjust; there was no other way out. The times were like that. And when speaking about the military service, every single day they threatened us – called us traitors that would've deserved to be hung, etc.”

“Some agents from the uranium mines came. ‘Who signs up for Jáchymov, goes to civilian life. The one, who doesn't sign up, has to serve on. Nothing could be done about that. More of us signed the paper and left to civilian life. However, that mine was catastrophic as well. Some of the inmates were real smart alecks, who knew how to use others. There were also criminals having really high sentences, like life imprisonments and such. What could we do? We had to adjust the situation. I earned some money, but quite soon I began to suffer from pancreatitis. I couldn't work in the pit anymore, so I worked just on the surface. The salary was smaller there, but I endured for five long years.”