Albín Berky

“Then I went to the SNP Square. Everyone came to the square, both the young and the elderly. There were thousands of people. And everyone asked the soldiers the same question, ‘What are you doing here?’ – ‘Ja neznaju, ja neznaju.’ The soldiers replied they didn’t know. They thought it was a military exercise as well. They didn’t know they were about to invade Czechoslovakia. That was an agreement of politicians, but no one else knew. At the square there was a man shouting, ‘Kill me, you Russian swine!’ and he had torn his shirt. People incited the soldiers so long that one of them grabbed a machine gun and began shooting all around the square. They were shooting towards the church tower near the former cinema Čas. Thousands of people on the square found themselves lying on the ground in a second. Everyone was on the ground, as they were afraid to get shot. At the nearby post office, a bullet killed a boy…”

“At night of August 20, 1968, the whole Bratislava was shaking. ‘My Lord, what is it going on?’ I looked out of the window at Steiner Street (today Krížna St.) and spotted a line of tanks queueing up by the former central market. Hundreds of them. ‘Is that a military exercise or what?’ Thus, we thought it was just a military exercise… Then my brother told me, ‘Give me a ride to work.’ He worked at a gas station that was on a way towards Lamač. My brother was also a cellist, but he let that go and worked at the gas station. I gave him a ride on my motorbike and on our way, we saw about twenty tanks aiming at Bratislava. It was a shock. It was such a shock for me that I shall never forget it. I was only a child back then; I was only fifteen.”