Emil Konfala

“Then the persecution of Jews began and I was close to tears when I saw those poor old people being taken by the Hlinka's Guard. One old lady was squat in a gypsum form, in which she had to sleep when lying down. I cried when I saw how awfully and harshly they treated them. The guards were heartless when taking the Jews. Me being a little boy, felt very sorry for all of that, since the people were nice and honest, helping out those who didn't have money and giving them on dept for even a half year!”

“I got a note from home that my brother was getting married, so I went to ask my commander to give me permission to leave for the wedding. He signed me a leaving note for three days. Since there was no other way, I had to climb the ladders from the pit, that were 1012 meters (3320 feet) long. The coal was mined on the pulley that used to go up and down. However, it was only carrying people in the morning and after the work shift. Thus I had to climb up afoot and I was completely wet until I got to the surface, since the water dropped everywhere. The ladders were all around the pit in case of an accident, so I climbed them to get out.”