Ivan Hupka

“The welcoming was really great. There were many people, just like some delegation, and they welcomed us as if we were some precious visitors. There were about twenty people. They came to Vienna. People of various ages came there, from the oldest to the youngest ones. So during the whole month we spent here, we were just moving from embrace to embrace. Actually it is still the same, it happens again every year when we are here.”

“That period of time caught us in Bratislava. We went in the morning, just like my wife, Marienka, told you, we got up at five when we came to know what had happened there, that military troops arrived to Bratislava during the night. We found it out only in the morning. Thus we went downtown because we lived near the Holy Trinity Church under the Michael’s Gate. And there happened that incident with an army tank, etc. However, there is one thing I will never forget about. We were standing near Tatra where our studio or rather the whole television was located at that time. And when they opened fire on that church, the square was crowded, you know, there were thousands of people, so we could hardly walk among them. And when that firing had started everybody fell down. On the ground. It was a real humiliation.”

“Well, we couldn’t work. Certainly, we had to leave but we usually met in Luxor. Our editorial board along with our editor in chief. And we set us tasks of doing something in the given situation. People said a lot about the broadcasting, but somebody had to prepare all the news to be broadcasted. And we were one of the small crews that got the opportunity. We had a camera and cameraman as well and the like. My wife used to travel with me; we were assigned to the area from Bratislava to Dunajská Streda. It wasn’t simple at all because we never knew whether we would come back from that journey; it was really dangerous. Army tanks were moving towards us, so if they had wanted to do this, we would have fallen dead into the ditch. And as for the material, I had to tell that our driver was really scared, so I told him: ‘You know what? Get out of the car and I will drive the whole way. We must record all of it.’ Then I convinced him and finally we brought all the documents. And, of course, we weren’t alone there, but I don’t know what has happened with all the others or where they are now.”

“So we told ourselves that it wouldn’t have been wise to notify our parents or acquaintances about our departure. I met my sister at the tram station in front of Slovan. She got off the tram and I gave her some personal things which I wanted to send to my mother. At that moment I knew it was the last time I saw her but I couldn’t tell her anything.”