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We have one son, he was born in 1955 and is named Peter. We brought him up in both Christian and Jewish tradition. But he doesn’t observe either one. During Communist times, our son had problems because of my father being a landowner. It was hard for him to get into university. He graduated from medicine. He’s got a son, Daniel, who’s 23 and is studying medicine. We’re proud of our son, he’s a good and decent boy.
Peter attended nursery school from the age of 3. Education was always very important for him, he was always very diligent. To a certain extent, his education was important for me as well. He didn’t have to be encouraged. He’s the kind that reads a lot and was also a relatively good student. He graduated with honors, during his whole time at school he had straight A’s. He had great problems getting into university. There were problems with cadre [political] background. On my wife’s side there weren’t any, so it was kind of neutral, and finally they accepted him. He expressly wanted to go into medicine. I advised him not to, because I knew that there would be problems, that it would be hard for him to get in. After the first round of entrance interviews, they told him that he hadn’t been accepted due to a lack of space. Back then he found it hard to understand, because he said that if his marks were good, why shouldn’t he get in? Later, at the rector’s office, he found out that 2,200 students had been at the entrance interviews, and 250 had been accepted. He did the entrance interview as second best of all, and despite that they didn’t take him in the first round. Not until he appealed. We wrote a heartrending letter. They accepted him, and at that time told him that the only reason they hadn’t accepted him in the first round was that his father had a flawed cadre profile, that he was a kulak’s son [13]. He couldn’t comprehend it, but finally he began to understand what it was actually all about. Back then there were many such cases, and it was unjust. Many also didn’t get into university, which was a very big mistake by the regime back then. There were also cases when the person in question was already supposed to get his diploma, and they wouldn’t let them give it to him. That didn’t happen in our case, but we’ve got friends whose child was supposed to get his diploma, but because they were kulaks, they didn’t give it to him. But after five or six years they finally did give it to him. For younger people it was simply incomprehensible.
My son’s childhood was normal. He didn’t live the kind of life young people do now. He didn’t go to parties and discotheques. He read quite a lot. He’d meet up with friends and here and there go see a movie. When he was young, it never happened that he wouldn’t be home by 10:00 p.m. My son is a friendly type of person. When he was in elementary school and high school, there were many boys his age in this street. The street wasn’t as busy, and in the evening they played soccer here. He had five or six friends, and used to meet up with them here in front of the building. He’s fairly serious, but also sociable. He likes to read a lot, he’s a bookworm. I’m even getting annoyed with him, because he doesn’t know where to put them all. Whenever he sees some book, he orders it. My grandson is the exact opposite. All he does is sit on the internet.
While he was studying at university in Bratislava, my son lived in a dormitory. When he left, we had a hard time adjusting for the first few weeks. He used to come home every week. Until fourth year, when he was going out with our daughter-in-law, then he’d occasionally come home every other week. He’d arrive on Friday evening, and return on Sunday. When I was taking him to the dormitory for the first time, we went by car. It was quite hard for me to get used to the fact that he was already out on his own. In the beginning we missed him a lot, we were used to him always being at home. In the evening we’d always be waiting for him to come home... But within a month we got used to it. I didn’t cry over it, as he wasn’t all that far away.
Peter attended nursery school from the age of 3. Education was always very important for him, he was always very diligent. To a certain extent, his education was important for me as well. He didn’t have to be encouraged. He’s the kind that reads a lot and was also a relatively good student. He graduated with honors, during his whole time at school he had straight A’s. He had great problems getting into university. There were problems with cadre [political] background. On my wife’s side there weren’t any, so it was kind of neutral, and finally they accepted him. He expressly wanted to go into medicine. I advised him not to, because I knew that there would be problems, that it would be hard for him to get in. After the first round of entrance interviews, they told him that he hadn’t been accepted due to a lack of space. Back then he found it hard to understand, because he said that if his marks were good, why shouldn’t he get in? Later, at the rector’s office, he found out that 2,200 students had been at the entrance interviews, and 250 had been accepted. He did the entrance interview as second best of all, and despite that they didn’t take him in the first round. Not until he appealed. We wrote a heartrending letter. They accepted him, and at that time told him that the only reason they hadn’t accepted him in the first round was that his father had a flawed cadre profile, that he was a kulak’s son [13]. He couldn’t comprehend it, but finally he began to understand what it was actually all about. Back then there were many such cases, and it was unjust. Many also didn’t get into university, which was a very big mistake by the regime back then. There were also cases when the person in question was already supposed to get his diploma, and they wouldn’t let them give it to him. That didn’t happen in our case, but we’ve got friends whose child was supposed to get his diploma, but because they were kulaks, they didn’t give it to him. But after five or six years they finally did give it to him. For younger people it was simply incomprehensible.
My son’s childhood was normal. He didn’t live the kind of life young people do now. He didn’t go to parties and discotheques. He read quite a lot. He’d meet up with friends and here and there go see a movie. When he was young, it never happened that he wouldn’t be home by 10:00 p.m. My son is a friendly type of person. When he was in elementary school and high school, there were many boys his age in this street. The street wasn’t as busy, and in the evening they played soccer here. He had five or six friends, and used to meet up with them here in front of the building. He’s fairly serious, but also sociable. He likes to read a lot, he’s a bookworm. I’m even getting annoyed with him, because he doesn’t know where to put them all. Whenever he sees some book, he orders it. My grandson is the exact opposite. All he does is sit on the internet.
While he was studying at university in Bratislava, my son lived in a dormitory. When he left, we had a hard time adjusting for the first few weeks. He used to come home every week. Until fourth year, when he was going out with our daughter-in-law, then he’d occasionally come home every other week. He’d arrive on Friday evening, and return on Sunday. When I was taking him to the dormitory for the first time, we went by car. It was quite hard for me to get used to the fact that he was already out on his own. In the beginning we missed him a lot, we were used to him always being at home. In the evening we’d always be waiting for him to come home... But within a month we got used to it. I didn’t cry over it, as he wasn’t all that far away.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Bedrich Hecht