Karol Janoštiak

“The Prague Uprising (the witness probably means protests) against Gottwald caused quite a stir. They were giving out sentences. And there was this student. He was about to graduate, so he joined in the protests. He was amongst the group that organized the uprising against Gottwald, therefore he was amongst those who were supposed to be executed. And they did execute the students who were part of the committee. He managed to escape. His name was Boris Šrerka. They were getting closer to him. But he got together with my mom´s cousin Betka and she brought him to us. Naturally, he had to escape; otherwise, they would have had him executed.”

“They (the Germans, Ed.) had to leave. They sailed across the Morava River and left via Marchegg. Then, in 1947, he sent a letter to my mother. But she, not being very careful, had misplaced it. My grandma found it later. You should have seen the beating my mother got. In the letter, he wrote to her about the forest next to the Morava River. There is this turn; if you know it there. In that spot, the water was deep. It was deep enough for us to swim there during the summer. He was supposed to help us cross to the other side as he was from Austria. He promised to take care of my mother and the children. The letter was in German. But my grandma found it. She gave my mum a beating for trying to take away her grandchildren. Jesus! It was terrible.”