Michal Gálik

* 1932

Failed attempt if illegal border crossing , Underage political prisoners, Member of the Czechoslovak People's Army, PTP (Auxiliary Technical Battalions), Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
25. 2. 1948 - Communist coup d‘état in ČSR, 30. 5. 1953 – 3. 6. 1953 – The monetary reform and subsequent public upheaval
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    The shovel and the pickaxe

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    duration: 00:33
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    “And then it was getting into the work. We go to the warehouse and get the big shovels with which we were digging coal and throwing it onto pickaxes . And the second corporal, a Czech, tells us: 'Take one weapon each! These are your weapons to learn how to work for socialism! ”

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    Toliet open only in winter

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    duration: 00:36
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    "We were about 14 or 15 in one room again. In wooden barracks. I'm going to the toilet, I am looking for it, it was there, but closed! One of the elders on guard told me, 'If you want to shit or piss, you have to do it outside! ‘That was like a concentration camp! During the summer, during the winter, they opened the toilet inside."

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    Circumstances of the escape to Austria (1948)

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    For me it did not matter that I knew a little German, I still know Hungarian and of course, Slovak. And we made friends. And the oldest one said, 'What if we ran across the border?' He actually told me that: 'You know Hungarian, you can talk to me in Slovak and you can speak even German.' They knew nothing. I was the youngest of them and they just talked me into it. And then we agreed I don't know which day it was exactly and we crossed the border through the Peceny Forest.

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    Bratislava, 26.08.2019

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    duration: 01:59:14
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These are your weapons, you have to learn how to work for socialism

During service in PTP
During service in PTP
photo: archív pamätníka
photo: archív pamätníka
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Michal Gálik was born on 8 January 1932 in the village of Německý Grob (the current Veľký Grob). He attended a folk school in his birthplace, a grammar school in Pezinok, and in 1947 he joined the Alojz Bezúch company in Bratislava as a car mechanic. In 1948, after the advent of communism, he fled through the Pecka Forest and with his friends to Austria, where they were detained. Michal’s parents wrote to Vienna, eventually taken him to Břeclav and from there to Bratislava to the “Two Lions”, where he had a trial and was conditionally sentenced as a minor. In August 1952 he enlisted in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP) and served in Most, Dobřany and Liny. He returned to civilian life on January 20, 1954, but in October this year he was again recruited for civil defense in the Ostrava region for the second time. After returning to civilian he worked in several jobs. He lives in Bratislava, has 3 sons and 1 daughter.

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Photos (3)
  • The witness during recording
    The witness during recording
    photo: Vyfotené počas nahrávania
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  • Current photography
    Current photography
    photo: Vyfotené počas nahrávania
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  • During service in PTP
    During service in PTP
    photo: archív pamätníka
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