"Well, December came, Christmas was coming. My parents did not support our emigration. They were very unhappy about it, they wrote very unhappy letters, etc., etc. So I was deeply convinced that when I go to visit at Christmas, I note, not to return home, to visit ... Igor was not against it, the whole family was against it. My father said they had to let me go after my husband, so I trusted my father and not the whole family, who didn't think so. I would also like to point out that Igor's family really accepted me as a daughter, really, really. I found other parents there, so it was, all honour, really, I felt very good among them. "
"They wrote very sad and not encouraging letters and I was very, very sad about it. It certainly affected me, I'm not saying that in our marriage, because we were two young people and in love with each other. It was hard for them, it was very difficult for them, despite the fact that I have two sisters. It is difficult to evaluate my parents, they were entitled to it. Then my father probably blamed himself for not actually forcing me, but in a way, he was the reason I went to visit. Because when I watched - today I had it in my hands - his appeals (letters) to move out, he must have suffered terribly, that he cannot help me, that I won't be allowed to return. He wrote all those appeals for me, first to the regional committee, or as it was called, to the passport office, first to Bystrica, then to the Slovak I do not know what, then to the federal, I do not know what to Prague, I do not know the exact names of those authorities. And then the very last appeal in the 72nd to the presidential office. Nothing helped. I think then he started to blame himself. We never talked about it. Then, when I said, that I was going to marry the second time and have children, I know my parents at once said: "How could you do it?" I said, of course, I want to have children, I do not want to stay like this forever. By that, I've seen they felt bad about it."
"It simply came to our notice then. I think 99% of the nation was horrified. Unequivocally. Surely those self-righteous communists must have been terrified of this before they remembered that they could not be terrified. Like that. Those were terrible times. Then I did not perceive it so much as a result of this decision: to go, not to go, yes, to arrange, with one another. I left, emigrated twice: first on August 30, telling the sisters, the older sister who was already in Bratislava. Of course, she alerted our parents. So in Devínská Nová Ves, the guide got on the train, where we normally went with a clause - it was put in the passport to wait at that time - a guide walked all over the train and shouted to each compartment: 'Is there any Kopalova ?' Until he found out that Kopalova was there, 'Yes, I am.' And he says, 'I thought it was some child, that they were looking for a child.' You have at the head of the station your father on the phone. So I went downstairs with my suitcase because I just couldn't do that, I could not leave without taking my father's phone and the train left without me and I stayed in Devínská Nová Ves, where my parents came for me. So it was very dramatic. But I started teaching because it was September, everything seemed to be okay. And then there was another opportunity, they were in Vienna in the meantime, it was September 12th, I had my 11th birthday and on September 12th one handball coach went to Vienna, he trained there for many years. So I drove him to Vienna, and I didn't tell anyone anymore. So it worked out for the second time. "
Sláva Melečková (née Kopálová) was born on September 11, 1945 into a Catholic family in Prievidza. After graduating from the 11th year, she began studying mathematics in 1962 at Comenius University in Bratislava. At the same time, she devoted herself to ballroom dancing, thanks to which she met her great love and future husband Igor Bielik in 1966. He was a handball representative of Jewish origin. Her parents and sisters were not thrilled about their relationship. Igor‘s family decided to leave Czechoslovakia a few days after the invasion of Warsaw pact troops on August 21, 1968. Slava joined them. In early October, they flew from Vienna to Australia to visit a relative of Igor‘s father. In November, they got married to reassure Slava‘s parents. They missed their daughter very much, they wrote her sad letters. Since there was no handball as a sport in Australia, Igor took advantage of the offer from the Israeli handball club and went to Israel with Slava and his mother in May, where they were warmly welcomed and taken care of. Slava felt very welcome in Israel, but her parents did not accept her departure. In December 1969, she legalized her stay abroad, and despite Igor‘s family‘s warning, she decided to visit her parents at Christmas. In the meantime, the situation in Czechoslovakia has worsened to the point that she has not been issued a travel clause to return to her husband. She tried her best and referred to various authorities, state institutions, she even wrote to Gustav Husák, but she always received a negative response. They met Igor twice in Romania, in 1970 and a year later. It was their last meeting until 1990. In a few years, they formally divorced, and Slava tried to obtain a foreign exchange promise and travel to the West, but she was not successful. In 1978, Igor started a family, and a year later Sláva also found another husband. After the revolution, she visited Israel with her family several times and still maintains friendly relations with Igor‘s relatives in Israel. She never spoke openly about her life tragedy with her own parents and sisters.
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!
