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I of course traveled to Zilina illegally. At that time the anti-Jewish laws [13] were already in effect, and Jews weren’t allowed to travel. Everyone that traveled had to obtain a Fahrschein, or permission to travel. I didn’t have any document. I didn’t wear a star [14] out of principle. I bought myself a copy of Gardista Magazine, and when the Guardists were checking ID, I read the paper and they left me alone. When I finally met my parents, Viktor was completely numb. Because he was a farmer, and in the fields the wheat was slowly ripening. He couldn’t understand how they could tear him away from his land. My mother was somehow resigned to what was to come. I tried to pass them bread through a gap in the wagon. Some Guardist saw it and threw a rock at me from behind. If I wouldn’t have ducked, it would’ve killed me. From that time I had no news of my parents.
After many years I found out that I had had an exemption until the end of August 1942. I didn’t know about it at all. It wasn’t a presidential exemption [15], but an exemption from the Minister of Education. It’s well known that the Minister of Education helped where he could. He was one of the moderate supporters of the Slovak State. And then I found out that the school inspector in Trencin, who was an exceptionally decent person, had arranged the exception.
On the 14th or 24th of October, my wife and I arrived in the Novaky labor camp [16]. Like all the other prisoners, we also worked. Anicka worked in the sewing shop, and I was a bricklayer. There was one Guardist there, named Breznik, who took pleasure in beating us. In time they transferred me to the quarry. There was one Guardist there, originally a miner from Handlov [Trenciany region], a decent person. He taught us how to drill into the cliff wall, how much dynamite to insert, how to jump away when the wall was collapsing. I even enjoyed it, as I like creative work, and this was creative work. Later they permitted the founding of a school in the Novaky labor camp. With the camp commander’s agreement, they put me in charge of setting it up. The Guardists put me in a truck and drove me off to look for furnishings and equipment for the school. We brought back blackboards and desks from abandoned Jewish schools. I don’t even know any more if it was from Nitra [Nitra region] or Sered [Trnava region]. Then Juraj Spitzer moved my wife and me into the school building. We got one little room, and across from it was another, larger one. That’s where we set up the one-room school. I was even allowed to bring my pedagogical library from Trencin. Well, and so I began working as a teacher in the Novaky concentration and labor camp.
After many years I found out that I had had an exemption until the end of August 1942. I didn’t know about it at all. It wasn’t a presidential exemption [15], but an exemption from the Minister of Education. It’s well known that the Minister of Education helped where he could. He was one of the moderate supporters of the Slovak State. And then I found out that the school inspector in Trencin, who was an exceptionally decent person, had arranged the exception.
On the 14th or 24th of October, my wife and I arrived in the Novaky labor camp [16]. Like all the other prisoners, we also worked. Anicka worked in the sewing shop, and I was a bricklayer. There was one Guardist there, named Breznik, who took pleasure in beating us. In time they transferred me to the quarry. There was one Guardist there, originally a miner from Handlov [Trenciany region], a decent person. He taught us how to drill into the cliff wall, how much dynamite to insert, how to jump away when the wall was collapsing. I even enjoyed it, as I like creative work, and this was creative work. Later they permitted the founding of a school in the Novaky labor camp. With the camp commander’s agreement, they put me in charge of setting it up. The Guardists put me in a truck and drove me off to look for furnishings and equipment for the school. We brought back blackboards and desks from abandoned Jewish schools. I don’t even know any more if it was from Nitra [Nitra region] or Sered [Trnava region]. Then Juraj Spitzer moved my wife and me into the school building. We got one little room, and across from it was another, larger one. That’s where we set up the one-room school. I was even allowed to bring my pedagogical library from Trencin. Well, and so I began working as a teacher in the Novaky concentration and labor camp.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Jozef W.