Branislav Oláh

* 1974

  • "A: Before the outbreak of the Uprising, my paternal grandfather, Ľudovít Oláh, was in a partisan group. He and his four brothers took part in the uprising. Actually they were four, so all four took part. And two of them, after retreating to the mountains, fell captive. Even before that, they were members of the Slovak army. Their names were Mikuláš Oláh and Jozef Oláh. These two were briefly interned in Banská Bystra and then were taken to a concentration camp in Germany. It was probably, with great certainty, Mauthausen, where they were interned until the end of the war. And one of them - Josef died there from the difficult conditions that prevailed there. He died there, and only returned Mikulas home. He didn't want to talk about it very much, but when the situation came, he told these stories, but they were so terrible that the children, us, were not allowed to listen to it very much. It was only later, as I got older, that I processed it all. And finally, this story of our family that happened, so I worked it into a short novella, which is called Notes on Death and Life."

  • A: If you wanted to, you could tune in to Radio Free Europe or similar stations, but even television and radio in Czechoslovakia were already reporting what was going on. Because you could read between the lines, we knew that something was happening and, above all, we could see that the Berlin Wall was coming down. That is to say, the collapse of the system that we hated and that was not good for us was coming. And that was such a general mood in those socialist countries. We were quite well informed. That's why I was maybe one of the first to organize people in high school that we were going to Zvolen for a demonstration that was going to take place. In the end, one hundred and five of us from that school came together. We went there, we even visited the high school in Zvolen, where we went to see the students, who told us that we were not eighteen years old, that they couldn't do it, that it would be as if they were baiting us to do it. But they gave us some promotional materials, we met with the committee who they had elected there. I mean, it was such a hectic time. We participated in that as well. Even though we were threatened by the professors at the school or the masters of training that they were going to chase us away with airplanes and that the batons were going to come and so on, and that we were going to be thrown out of the school. That it would impact anyone who would go..."

  • A: So I also managed to capture some of those testimonies, from people who did not personally survive, but it was their parents, and they were children. So I have also contributed in a small way so that it is not forgotten. Because the word Ma bisteren! is Don't forget! It's very important that we the people don't forget that history. Because as they say, when we forget history, we are forced to relive it. And we probably wouldn't want that. It is very important for us Roma people, because this topic, especially for young people, is something they have never encountered. For example, I gave lectures on the Roma Holocaust in primary schools in Žiar nad Hronom. And it wasn't for Roma children, it was for all children, eighth and ninth graders. I was shocked at how little they knew about it. Terribly little. The information is really quite sketchy. They have an idea who Hitler was, but nothing else. When I talked about what was going on, they were completely shocked when I showed them pictures, for example... and things like that. They were shocked, but I liked to shock them into thinking about it, to make it stay with them. Because I also came across the fact that there was a young boy who was clearly showing based on his clothes and appearance that he was one of those right-wing extremists. But when I talked about it, all eyes were on him. Those kids from the desks at the front, he was sitting in the last desk by himself, they were all looking at him, that what's his face. The boy put his head down, he was red and he couldn't even look at me. So I guess it made sense to me. If he was ashamed of it, it's a way of making him realize that what he professes is not good, that it's evil."

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If I didn‘t see a way out, I wouldn‘t get involved

Branislav Oláh - Campaign Against Hate
Branislav Oláh - Campaign Against Hate
zdroj: Archív pamätníka

Branislav Oláh comes from Detva. He was born on 13 August 1974. He has eight older siblings. His father‘s name was Ladislav, his mother Agnesa. His maternal grandfather was interned in a labour camp in Ilava and Hanušovce nad Topľou. Branislav‘s father was active in a partisan group and with his brothers they took part in the Slovak National Uprising. Two of them were probably in the Mauthausen camp. The witnesses‘ father was one of the members of the Union of Gypsies - Roma in Slovakia. Branislav attended primary school in Detva from 1980 to 1988. From 1988 to 1992 he studied at the Secondary Vocational School of Mechanical Engineering in Detva, majoring in the field of metallurgical materials as a storage operator. At school, he organized his classmates to protest during the Velvet Revolution in Zvolen, which they also took participated in. After the fall of the regime, he had jobs, mostly in the construction industry. In 2000 he became a journalist at the newspaper Roma New Letter, and later a blogger. He writes books about the Second World War and the Roma Holocaust. He collaborates with the civic association In Minorita on the project Ma bisteren! (Don‘t forget!). Since 2006 he has also been working as a field social worker. In 2021 he is still working and living in Detva.