Juraj Steiner

“I worked as an ironworker at the precast concrete factory and learned about all the types of precast panels used to build Karlova Ves and the other locations which were being built at the moment. That´s what I was doing for two years. Then I came back to work for the television as a make-up artist again. I experienced the Warsaw Pact invasion and a part of the normalization period, de facto, as a workman. When I came back to the television, I was informed about those who had not made it through the vetting. At that point, I was beginning to understand the rules of the game because, in a way, I had been confronted with the reality of it. Maybe I did not understand it completely at that time as it was still not important for me. I considered it important to be able to take care of my family, earn money, and coincidentally I liked my job and was successful in doing it. It was my priority and a sort of driving force during those times. Precisely on August 22, I lived on Veterná Street, in the apartment where my mother lived. As I was going to the factory for my morning shift, at that time, we were on a rotating 8-hour shift schedule, I saw the tanks outside, in front of the Slovak National Council and Saint Trinity. They were parked everywhere. And I saw the chaos in the streets, the helpless people and there was no public transport, nothing. So I returned home, told my wife to not go anywhere. Our daughter was four months old at the time, in August. And I went to work again, on foot, across the town. I saw everything that was happening, and when I got to work, the people there were agitated, and they were outraged.”

“My father was named Alexander Steiner. He was the eldest son of my grandfather, Artúr Steiner. During the interwar and the subsequent Slovak State era, Artúr was a wholesaler with flour. The company was called Stea. He was one of those people who were of strategic value for the economy of Slovak State because flour was one of those commodities… So he was not put at risk, but the Gestapo interrogated and murdered his son. At least, that is how I heard it later from my father. He said they questioned him on suspicion of involvement in some illegal activity. So my uncle, after whom I am named Juraj, died as a result of the Slovak State´s policy. And his other brother, who left for Prague as an adult, was in Terezín. That one really enjoyed holocaust, I mean, in quotation marks, by being a prisoner there. The other relatives were taken away. Afterward, my father worked with his father and because grandpa Artúr died in 1944, my father ran the business until he was allowed, even after the war. Then, the business was nationalized and my father was made the person responsible for the property. Following the year 1948, it was taken away altogether.”