Even though they would arrest or kill me, I know the way I live. It is the same way my grandma, who raised me, used to follow for the whole her life
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Alfonz Czima was born in 1928 in Košice where he spent his childhood and youth as well. He was raised by his grandmother in accordance with the principles of Christianity and she also influenced his effort to live honestly. As an adolescent at the end of the Second World War he was deported to Germany to do forced labour. On the way to Western Front he stayed in a small town of Gmunden for some time and witnessed the holocaust. After coming back to Slovakia, Alfonz continued studying and was present at building of railway line called Trať mládeže in Štiavnica. In 1956 he had finished university education in the field of constructional engineering and as he was an expert on structural engineering and architecture he got the offer to work for Regional Administration of Ministry of Interior. Definitely he had a moral dilemma, but finally he decided to accept this offer. He intended solely to do his job. When working there, he had an opportunity to look into the system and organization of the State Security that tried to persuade him to cooperate. They had mostly prospecting reasons because he designed the construction of Danube waterworks. His moral values didn’t allow him to accept the ideology and manners of the state authorities, so he was dismissed from the Ministry of Interior. In 1966 he illegally fled across the border, immigrated to Canada where he obtained a dual citizenship. The State Security prevented Alfonz’s wife from immigrating and forced her to divorce. Although The State Security tried to contact Alfonz Czima, he clearly refused collaboration with them. During his stay in Canada he worked with immigrants and lectured on communism at schools. He did it for fifteen years. He came back to Slovakia in 1992, but also at present he has to face many attacks from devotees of communism.
