Ján Novenko

“We were in Fiľakov, and we had to work at the Fiľakov plant, which produced things for soldiers, various things for the front. But I didn’t... simply, I started spoiling everything I could. Carefully, my brother taught me to watch out, that this was no joke. We made mines, and we drilled holes into the mines where the shells were to be placed. And it was enough to notch it a bit with a knife, and it didn’t work quite the way it was supposed to. But then someone snitched on me, so I was afraid, so my friends notified me. My collegue’s dad had rented a quarry near Fiľakov, about an hour’s walk away. But it was in the hills, forests all around, with plenty of hiding places and, mainly, a great view of the surrounding area. I worked in the quarry. Those were steep hills - not high, but steep. And I learnt to hand-drill the rock to prepare for blasting. And because I was so young and could run fast, I was tasked with the blast itself as well. But that meant I had access to explosives, fuses, and of course, those incendiary... And that was great for me. I managed - although it was kept under strict stock - I managed to hide some three pieces for the partisans. And then I found a building nearby where we could hide when it started to rain or something, you know, then we hade a safe place like that. It was enough to just hide it a bit, to dig up a little bit of sand.”

“Because it also happened, you know, twice in fact, that we had to intervene. [A woman] came and claimed she’d been raped, and so on. Well, she provoked him, you know, she’d embraced him and I don’t know what else, so you can imagine, and they gave him alcohol, so what could you expect... Then she found out he would be shot because the penalty was death, for these kind of things. In the army, I mean. In Czechoslovakia it was strictly forbidden under pain of death. [Q: Were you also witness to soldiers stealing things from people?] We were under very strict scrutiny, but don’t forget that the Second Ukrainian Front was called Ukrainian according to the region it traversed... but people were of all kinds there, and the army was made up of criminals, you know, and they were given the chance to redeem themselves by fighting well and behaving decently. But you know how it is. Look at all the things going on today – in a time of peace. And back then? It was war.”