Eva Králiková

„He began to confess to his father that, as he is at home and as he is not at war, he is still young. And the father honestly told him everything, how it was, what it was, and that they hadn't called him to this day. And he reported him as a fugitive, or I don't know what they called it. A deserter? A deserter, yes. So... And those in Galant were shot almost every day. So then the policeman came. Even for nothing, my father explained how it was. He had no paper. The problem was that when he was there at the embassy and paid, they should have given him a paper that he was there and that he reported and it was no longer his fault that no one cared about him anymore. So there was already chaos. But they didn't like it here. So they took my father and we didn't know what would happen next. Then they threw him..., they didn't execute him, so it was lucky. But they threw him into a mine, he was in a mine somewhere. He did this in Slovakia. And how long or when was he released after that. This happened on the forty-fourth before Christmas.“

„And when we were already going home from the city, a plane came and shot at people on the street. So we lay down under a gate, I remember everything, I have it in front of me. How did you experience it? Such an obvious thing, but even a child is afraid. But then again, as long as I had that mother with me, she always calmed me down. Well, when we got home, people went there with backpacks, ran away. So we asked where they were going. And they said that to the basement of the Esterházy family. That was in Majeri. And then my mother also made such a backpack, packed what we still had at home, such as bread and some food, and we went to the cellar. And there were about fifty people there, children, mostly women and some older guys. And that's where we spent the next day, when there was already fighting specifically in Galanta. So I just heard those sounds in that cellar. And then soldiers came, Russian soldiers, and they were looking for German soldiers. But they weren't in the cellar. Then, some guys knew a few words of Russian, so they told them that there were only women and children here. So then they chose some women there and kicked us out. I remember this. That they stayed there with those women? Yes.“

"When this agreement fell through, they actually had to have passports when they wanted to go to Bratislava, because this was already Germany. And my sister actually graduated from German schools, she went to a German school there for four years. And she learned to speak German quite well . But then things got difficult, because my father had already been called. He was supposed to enlist as a German soldier. And since we were of Hungarian nationality, they gave us another chance, that in twenty-four hours we could go to Hungary and enlist as a Hungarian soldier. I want to do this to receive, only I would also be interested in whether they described the annexation at all, how it went. Did they talk about the fact that some soldiers came to that Petržalka when it was being annexed to Germany? Yes, the soldiers came and immediately everything changed . There was a ticket system, some families disappeared overnight. Well, when they gave us the chance to leave in twenty-four hours, my father decided to leave everything there and go to Hungary. He didn't want to enlist as a German soldier."

"We - this generation that was there then was interesting. Generations never repeat themselves, each generation brings something new. But we were the generation that lived through the war as children, and we knew what war was. And we, immensely, we valued life. We greatly valued the fact that we could go to school, that we could study, that we could have some plans. There was no animosity between us, there was no condescension between us, we were more like a family to each other. And that continues to this day... Those who are still alive, that still, when we meet or have the opportunity to call or write, we look forward, as if I met a brother or sister, so we hug, kiss and look forward to being. .. still. And today's generation doesn't experience this anymore, they don't experience this - that they don't enjoy work, sometimes they don't even enjoy school, they don't enjoy each other, they are more envious. And that cohesion, that of helping each other, doesn't exist at all anymore."

"Well, that was the beginning of my era of photography, because after that I photographed constantly and for many years. Even during school, then I started privately here in Galant for a while, already when I was married. Well, and then I was called to the district and told me that what am I doing here, black shops, I can't do it. Come on, I say, but I learned, learned, and now what, if I don't do it, I'll forget. I have to do it, so if you give me a job, I I will do it for you, too... Well, then they offered me a shop that was here in Galant... a so-called photo studio, but it was a mouse hole, without water and without everything. There, a gentleman took such various photographs for civic card, and usually he had a sign saying "I'll be right there." and opposite was an inn and he usually sat there. Well, I took over this business from him, but in three months after that, it was working so that people were going there, and I just did good advertising. I did enlargements for the storefront and I asked that it should be created, and that the atmosphere should be more pleasant when someone enters there."

"Well, we weren't rich enough to be resettled, maybe if it had continued, maybe it would have happened... - because no one knew who had to leave and why, when they didn't want to leave... Because those whom they resettled, nobody wanted to leave... They were born here, their parents were also born here, they had property here, so why would they go to Hungary... and this was Hungary. They didn't want to go away. But since the system changed and that system wanted Slovakia to have this... So it was allocated to Slovakia, not that it wanted to have it, and thus it had to be nationalized. The only way to make it legal is to send the rich to Hungary, let them stay at home there. And in Hungary, those people announced that they wanted to go to Slovakia, but they did not know that they would come to a Hungarian environment. They wanted to go to Slovakia... - and this was Slovakia, only Hungarians were here."