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I didn’t register the onset of Communism in any unusual fashion. I was only a child. I knew that they had nationalized our business. As a child I took it that that’s how it should be. I didn’t feel that anything was wrong. In the 1950s during the Slansky trial [14] I began to think more seriously, and came to the conclusion that something wasn’t right. In school I was a pioneer [see All-Union pioneer organization] [15] and also in the Socialist Youth Union [16]. I was even a leader of our pioneer troop. My father, mother and uncle were in the Communist Party [of Czechoslovakia] [17]. They didn’t become members due to their convictions. After the liberation it was fashionable to join the Communist Party. Later, during screenings everyone was thrown out. Due to this I had one plus in my dossier, but that didn’t help me get into university. I never joined the Party. My husband was a member, but during the purges in the 1970s they threw him out. Since then we haven’t concerned ourselves with it, we don’t follow any political party.
During Communist times I wasn’t afraid that we’d be persecuted. Our professions weren’t in any sphere in which we could have been a threat to someone. Both of us worked in medicine. We never had any conflicts with the authorities. My husband had patients all over, and when he needed something, he always managed to get it. In 1978 he even traveled to Australia. They let him go visit his relatives. His mother also got permission to go. Now that they’ve opened the Nation’s Memory Institute [18] website, my children found his name, that he was among those that had been vetted. It was logical, as they had let him go abroad, they must have been watching him. Relatives from abroad also came here to visit us, which was a very rare thing. I never had problems at work due to my Jewish origins, for a time I was even a divisional secretary of the ROH [19].
In 1968 [see Prague Spring] [20] I was on vacation with my children in Zilina. There were horrible things happening in Zilina, I suffered a mild shock from it. Not far from where we were staying, a tank ran someone over. I was frightened, because I didn’t know how the children and I would get back to my husband. When the tension eased a bit, we managed to get to Presov. In general everyone was railing against the Russians, that they had come. People forgot that they had also liberated us, that was already history, people judged only the present. It was definitely a shock, but we got used to it. During those years they had trained us to listen and as the Germans say: Keep your mouth shut and toe the line. We did everything that was necessary. We didn’t belong among those that were in the dissident movement or engaged in similar activities. We went to work and kept on working.
During Communist times I wasn’t afraid that we’d be persecuted. Our professions weren’t in any sphere in which we could have been a threat to someone. Both of us worked in medicine. We never had any conflicts with the authorities. My husband had patients all over, and when he needed something, he always managed to get it. In 1978 he even traveled to Australia. They let him go visit his relatives. His mother also got permission to go. Now that they’ve opened the Nation’s Memory Institute [18] website, my children found his name, that he was among those that had been vetted. It was logical, as they had let him go abroad, they must have been watching him. Relatives from abroad also came here to visit us, which was a very rare thing. I never had problems at work due to my Jewish origins, for a time I was even a divisional secretary of the ROH [19].
In 1968 [see Prague Spring] [20] I was on vacation with my children in Zilina. There were horrible things happening in Zilina, I suffered a mild shock from it. Not far from where we were staying, a tank ran someone over. I was frightened, because I didn’t know how the children and I would get back to my husband. When the tension eased a bit, we managed to get to Presov. In general everyone was railing against the Russians, that they had come. People forgot that they had also liberated us, that was already history, people judged only the present. It was definitely a shock, but we got used to it. During those years they had trained us to listen and as the Germans say: Keep your mouth shut and toe the line. We did everything that was necessary. We didn’t belong among those that were in the dissident movement or engaged in similar activities. We went to work and kept on working.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Judita Schvalbova