Ladislav Ruman

* 1950

  • “It was me who proposed and enforced not to found the Public against Violence movement, because I realized that it might have been joined also by people who didn´t pursue democratizing process. At one school meeting that took place in P-2 room there was a discussion about its founding and some members from the Communist Party had been suggested there. That´s when I stood up, said I refused to cooperate with those suggested people and I left. Probably thanks to that gesture I convinced my future colleagues – as are Dr. Ivan Mačura, Ing. Mitterpach, Lacko Tatár, and maybe also others I forgot names of. Later on, together we founded the Non-Party Members Forum and not the Public against Violence movement (VPN), like it was in case of many other universities and organizations. At our school there was up to 40% of party members. That was really a high number for a school organization and I was sure they would prevail in leading of the preparing VPN. That was why I enforced the Non-Party Members Forum and I assume we were truly unique in it.”

  • “When my colleague, Mr. Kočiš, secretly dropped a hint he could lend me some literature, illegal in the former Czechoslovakia back then, of course, I agreed. However, he warned me I should have kept it in secret. I was already informed and I truly didn´t talk about it with anyone. I will mention just the last book I had borrowed from this sir and I read it over the whole night. It was a German edition of book from Viktor Suvorov – Der Eisbrecher, an Icebreaker in Slovak translation. After reading it, though, I didn´t return it to its owner, as I got some info, unfortunately I don´t know from whom, that I was supposed to deliver it to a person sitting on the prior arranged bench in the park. This person was supposed to address me with a password: 'The sun is not shining today.' By happenstance, the sun shone like crazy that day. Thus I handed the book to a man I never saw before, or afterwards. It was probably a channel from Hungary which made it all work, since I had the book from Mr. Kočiš.”

  • “From my point of view I would like to mention one more thing. When it was already decided about the collapse of the old structures and victory of the democratizing process, we often used to discuss with students, whether we wouldn´t be accused of attempting to gain some posts. Therefore we unanimously agreed that no one would accept any of the vacant functions. It was quite logical for me, because I was more of an observer of the political events than its active participant. However, unfortunately, later on I had to break this promise.”

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    Nitra, 03.03.2015

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We can´t let students be alone

Ladislav Ruman
Ladislav Ruman
zdroj: dostupné na internete: http://www.univie.ac.at/fdz-geschichte/itt/index.php?id=54

Ladislav Ruman was born on September 17, 1950 in Bratislava. He gained his elementary and high school education in years 1957 - 1969. During the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact Troops he joined the students´ strike. In 1976 he finished studies of English language and History at the Comenius University in Bratislava. After the graduation he moved to live in Nitra, and since 1979 he has lectured at the Faculty of Education (since 1998 at the Faculty of Arts) of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. During the turning year of 1989 he was actively engaged in the Velvet Revolution. He got involved in the Strike Committee and co-founded the Non-Party Members Forum. The first months in 1990 he worked as a secretary of the Faculty of Education and at the same time he founded the Department of History. At the present he pursues not only teaching activities, but also the research work. He especially focuses on the history of the international relationships in the first half of 20th century.