Alexander Bachnar and his friends in Hashomer Hatzair

I am the first on the right in this photograph. It's a photo of me and my friends from Hashomer Hatzair - from Mirek Todorov's farming co-op. I don't know who took the photo. I only know that it's from sometime in the 1930s. My life before World War II broke out wasn't particularly unusual. After graduating from high school I attended the Pedagogic Academy in Bratislava, on Lazaretska Street. I didn't finish teachers' college for two reasons. One was political, because it was already after 14th March 1939 and the other was because I had practically no place to live and eat. I returned home to Topolcany and for three months worked as a typographer in a local print shop. Then I worked at a farm belonging to the Bulgarian Mirek Todorov. Then I went to Trencin to work for Zamaroci at a sawmill.