Milan Ballek

“Then I tried my hardest to get employed as soon as possible. At that time the Orava Dam was being built. I had a neighbor who worked as a machine minder there, so I asked him to give me recommendations. He helped me and I got the job. I was interviewed and accepted by a political director named Dzuroška. I was very surprised I didn´t have any problems. It was my first construction work and a very hard one.”

“It was in 1949 when priests were being imprisoned already. There was also Fr. Bishop Vojtaššák who already assumed he would be interned as they monitored him constantly. Once in November something extraordinary happened, though. An Auxiliary Bishop, named Geberič, came dressed in white like an angel and we didn´t know what was going on. Then also Bishop Vojtaššák came, because a secret ordaining of a new bishop was supposed to take place there. It was our rector Dr. Jozef Barnaš [cor. Štefan – note ed.], who was about to be ordained in our chapel of Zápoľský. Well known professor Hanus was in charge of this event. It was magnificent! However, for sure the ŠtB found out about all of this, what mostly aggravated the situation of Fr. Bishop Vojtaššák. At the end of May, even before we could finish the school year, they announced us that the seminary was being closed.”