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The chairman of the National Committee made sure that I got to Brezno by train. I arrived at the hospital’s reception. Not far from the hospital, there was a building occupied by the Gestapo. The head physician at the hospital was a very decent person. He gave orders that they should admit and treat everyone, regardless of who he was, what he was! I said to a nurse: “I’m a Jew and a partisan. You could hand me over to the Germans.” “We’ll never hand you over, the head doctor said that we’re supposed to treat people, and we’ll put you in a ward where the Gestapo doesn’t go.” They put me in the typhus ward. In that typhus ward I got unsweetened tea, cooked unsweetened and non-greasy rice and of course medicines. I stayed there until I was cured.
When they released me, I said to myself that if my wife is alive, she’ll be trying to get to the East, where she was from. In the East the front was already approaching. Both the Soviet Army and the Czechoslovak Svoboda’s Army were advancing. When I left the hospital, one of Vlasov’s soldiers approached me. I had a watch. I didn’t wait for him to take it from me, but offered it to him straight away. He answered: “I don’t want it!” Imagine, he paid me for it. Then I set out by train for Eastern Slovakia. I got near Presov, and suddenly a fellow countryman noticed me. He greeted me in a very friendly fashion. He asked where I was headed. I said: “I want to get to the other side of the front, otherwise they’ll kill me.” I asked him to get in touch with Juraj Anderko, our family friend. He told me that I should hide out at his sister’s place until he finds Anderko. After some time Juraj Anderko also arrived. He gave me a gold watch, a family heirloom from my father that my parents had hidden with him. I then sold the watch to a jeweler. I’m sure that I sold it too cheaply, but despite that I got a lot of money for it. Once I had that money I was able to move about.
Now I could set out for the front. I got to a village not far from Margecany. I remember buying a razor blade. A razor blade so that in the event that the Germans captured me, I’d commit suicide. I wouldn’t let myself me captured. I stayed in that village for a while. I told people that I was running away from the Germans, so that they couldn’t send me for forced labor. Because I had money, I was able to pay for accommodations. I even attended church there, so that I wouldn’t be conspicuous. I don’t know how they would have reacted had they known I was a Jew. I was already quite exhausted by the constant hiding and so I went to the pub in Margecany, like that time when we had been saving the Jewish children in Polish Tesin. I ordered a beer. Sitting beside me was a Hungarian soldier from Kosice. We started talking and suddenly I sensed that he’s probably not a big Hungarian, and a big supporter of Fascism. He told me how at the Eastern front they’d been dropping leaflets down on the Hungarian and German units, for them to surrender, that the war was lost. Because he had confided in me, I also told him who I was. He was named Hoffmann and told me that he’d try to save me. We became friends.
Hoffmann right away went to see his commander and told him that he’s got a Hungarian colleague who wants to join the army. That the problem is, however, that he doesn’t speak Hungarian, because his mother was Hungarian, but died and he was raised by his father, a Slovak. As they didn’t have any more uniforms, I got only a Hungarian cap. The next day an order sounded, which was, retreat! The Soviet Army is advancing. So we got from Margecany to Nizny Medzev [in 1960 the town of Nizny Medzev and Vysny Medzev merged into the town of Medzev – Kosice region]. It was a mostly German village. The Germans that lived here were loyal Hitler supporters. We were boarded with one Fascist, who would have done anything for us due to the fact that we were fighting alongside the Germans. Suddenly the commander summoned my friend, that it was necessary to go get pants for the soldiers at the joint Hungarian – Slovak army warehouse. The warehouse wasn’t far from Martin [Zilina region]. Hoffmann said: “All right, but I won’t go alone, as I’ve got my friend here.” And so we got near Martin as soldiers, showed our papers and each got one sack of pants. We were returning via Krutky and Poprad [Presov region]. In Poprad we got off and walked in the direction of Krompachy [Kosice region]. Behind Krompachy was already the front line. We kept going until we arrived above the town of Zakarovce [Kosice region]. The forest was full of people. Down below there was already shooting. The people from Zakarovce who were hiding from the Germans in the forest didn’t trust us. Luckily Hoffmann, or rather his father, had had some contact with people from Zakarovce. He remembered the name of one miner from Zakarovce. That identified us. We had basically deserted from the Hungarian Fascist army.
Finally a boy arrived with news that the Soviet army was already in the town. Right away a celebration started, with liquor and all. The Soviet soldiers got properly drunk. The friend from Zakarovce took us two in right away. We stayed there for about two days. Suddenly a Russian soldier, who supplied the units with food, arrived. Kosice had been liberated [Kosice were liberated on 19th January 1945 – Editor’s note]. Neither the Hungarian nor the German army was there. Hoffmann and I left for Kosice, to go see his parents. As they hadn’t had any news of their son up to then, they were very glad to see him. It was an unbelievably joyful occasion.
When they released me, I said to myself that if my wife is alive, she’ll be trying to get to the East, where she was from. In the East the front was already approaching. Both the Soviet Army and the Czechoslovak Svoboda’s Army were advancing. When I left the hospital, one of Vlasov’s soldiers approached me. I had a watch. I didn’t wait for him to take it from me, but offered it to him straight away. He answered: “I don’t want it!” Imagine, he paid me for it. Then I set out by train for Eastern Slovakia. I got near Presov, and suddenly a fellow countryman noticed me. He greeted me in a very friendly fashion. He asked where I was headed. I said: “I want to get to the other side of the front, otherwise they’ll kill me.” I asked him to get in touch with Juraj Anderko, our family friend. He told me that I should hide out at his sister’s place until he finds Anderko. After some time Juraj Anderko also arrived. He gave me a gold watch, a family heirloom from my father that my parents had hidden with him. I then sold the watch to a jeweler. I’m sure that I sold it too cheaply, but despite that I got a lot of money for it. Once I had that money I was able to move about.
Now I could set out for the front. I got to a village not far from Margecany. I remember buying a razor blade. A razor blade so that in the event that the Germans captured me, I’d commit suicide. I wouldn’t let myself me captured. I stayed in that village for a while. I told people that I was running away from the Germans, so that they couldn’t send me for forced labor. Because I had money, I was able to pay for accommodations. I even attended church there, so that I wouldn’t be conspicuous. I don’t know how they would have reacted had they known I was a Jew. I was already quite exhausted by the constant hiding and so I went to the pub in Margecany, like that time when we had been saving the Jewish children in Polish Tesin. I ordered a beer. Sitting beside me was a Hungarian soldier from Kosice. We started talking and suddenly I sensed that he’s probably not a big Hungarian, and a big supporter of Fascism. He told me how at the Eastern front they’d been dropping leaflets down on the Hungarian and German units, for them to surrender, that the war was lost. Because he had confided in me, I also told him who I was. He was named Hoffmann and told me that he’d try to save me. We became friends.
Hoffmann right away went to see his commander and told him that he’s got a Hungarian colleague who wants to join the army. That the problem is, however, that he doesn’t speak Hungarian, because his mother was Hungarian, but died and he was raised by his father, a Slovak. As they didn’t have any more uniforms, I got only a Hungarian cap. The next day an order sounded, which was, retreat! The Soviet Army is advancing. So we got from Margecany to Nizny Medzev [in 1960 the town of Nizny Medzev and Vysny Medzev merged into the town of Medzev – Kosice region]. It was a mostly German village. The Germans that lived here were loyal Hitler supporters. We were boarded with one Fascist, who would have done anything for us due to the fact that we were fighting alongside the Germans. Suddenly the commander summoned my friend, that it was necessary to go get pants for the soldiers at the joint Hungarian – Slovak army warehouse. The warehouse wasn’t far from Martin [Zilina region]. Hoffmann said: “All right, but I won’t go alone, as I’ve got my friend here.” And so we got near Martin as soldiers, showed our papers and each got one sack of pants. We were returning via Krutky and Poprad [Presov region]. In Poprad we got off and walked in the direction of Krompachy [Kosice region]. Behind Krompachy was already the front line. We kept going until we arrived above the town of Zakarovce [Kosice region]. The forest was full of people. Down below there was already shooting. The people from Zakarovce who were hiding from the Germans in the forest didn’t trust us. Luckily Hoffmann, or rather his father, had had some contact with people from Zakarovce. He remembered the name of one miner from Zakarovce. That identified us. We had basically deserted from the Hungarian Fascist army.
Finally a boy arrived with news that the Soviet army was already in the town. Right away a celebration started, with liquor and all. The Soviet soldiers got properly drunk. The friend from Zakarovce took us two in right away. We stayed there for about two days. Suddenly a Russian soldier, who supplied the units with food, arrived. Kosice had been liberated [Kosice were liberated on 19th January 1945 – Editor’s note]. Neither the Hungarian nor the German army was there. Hoffmann and I left for Kosice, to go see his parents. As they hadn’t had any news of their son up to then, they were very glad to see him. It was an unbelievably joyful occasion.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Jozef W.