Asher Lastovecký

“‘My name is Lastovecký Asher, I was born in the village Lastovice, the region Trebišov in Slovakia.’ ‘Lastovecký in the region Lastovce?’ ‘My former surname was Schachner. I was a notary public after the war, there was no such office in Bohemia (public administration representative – author's note). At the Ministry of Interior the vice minister told me: ‘You are not ashamed for such a German name, Schachner.’ It was in 1945. And I said: ‘But that's how I was born.’- ‘Well, it doesn't matter. I'll change it to you on spot. Where were you born?’ - ‘Lastovce.’ - ‘OK, your surname is Lastovecký.’”

“Although I was a candidate of the Communist Party, I've got a card, but I didn't like it very much. As a notary public I was commanded that farmers had to hand in all their crop. I had to do it. I didn't want to do such things. I knew if I didn't do it they would put me in prison. So I left for here (for Israel).

“When we came to the state of Israel we brought a few guns with us. As an instructor I was not far from Tel Aviv for about a month in 1949. I was an instructor, I taught how to dismantle it and then put back again. I was there for a month because I was trained for it. I worked with a shovel but I had that training then. Those were the Czechoslovak Bofors. I was in the Army for training every year. I was in reserve.”

“I did many occasional jobs but I had to join up the Army as I was twenty. I turned twenty in 1941 so I joined up in Humenné but we got no arms into our hands. There were horses so we worked with horses. We were reserved for labor, it was VI Labor Regiment. We did very hard draining work there in Sväty Jur. It's about seven kilometers from Bratislava. We did draining to the Danube. The soil was soaked with water, when I stood on one leg then I couldn't pull the other one out. I was there for three years. Then the Slovak National Uprising came and I took part in it – August 28th, 1944. I was there for four months, we were trained a little bit and we even fought then.”

“‘We were soldiers for two years. We had officers, we were given soldier supplies. We were soldiers but we didn't serve with weapons.’ ‘Did you take an oath with a shovel?’‘Yes, it was our weapon. We were dismissed on June 1st, 1943. We were not dismissed home but we stayed in the labor camp at the same place.’”