Pavel Kamaráš

“From the printing works where I worked I went to do my basic military service on 2nd January 1960 to Zákupy in Bohemia. Few weeks later I was transferred to Krnov in Moravia for one year of school for non-commissioned officers. There was a problem because as a Hungarian I had to study in Czech in the school. Although I knew Slovak and I could somehow speak it, Czech language was ‘all Greek to me.’ So I had to start learning Czech.”

“In 1993 there was a problem for me again, because Czechoslovakia broke up and the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic were established. Again, as a Slovak, if I remained a Slovak, I would not have the same benefits in the Czech Republic. So in order to get the right to vote and to get social security and retirement insurance I applied for the Czech citizenship at the local administration office, and my application was granted. In 1999 I was thus granted Czech citizenship. You can thus see how it goes, from an ordinary Hungarian I became a Slovak, and now I remained a Czech, and it is actually my third nationality.”