In order to graze the cows, he had to collect mines from the pastures
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Štefan Kondáš was born on February 2, 1932, in Bačkov in Eastern Slovakia. He experienced great hunger and poverty in his childhood. His father had a hot temper and did not refrain from beating him. Just before World War II, the family finally began to do better. During the war, the whole family helped the partisans, each within their bounds of possibility. Two of the witness’ siblings became members of the partisan group Čapajev for a short time. In 1944, the front reached their village, and they had to flee. During the bombing, the witness and his brother wanted to hide in a stack of straws - they narrowly escaped death. After the war, the Kondáš family returned home, but their house was razed to the ground by bombs. The thirteen-year-old witness was supposed to graze cows like other boys. But before that, he had to collect landmines from the pastures. It was only by luck that he escaped death again. In 1946, the Kondáš family left for Jeseníky to settle in the borderlands. Later, a large part of the family returned to Slovakia, but Štefan Kondáš remained in Bohemia. In 2022, he lived in his house in Chrast near Chrudim.
