Dušan Lukášik

* 1929

  • “There was a situation that the partisans were running with wagon full of bread. They dropped the bread at gamekeeper's lodge. My uncle quickly hid the bread to the pantry room. In a little while, the Germans were already banging on the door to be opened. Probably two sacks of bread were left in the entry hall and when the Germans noticed them, they asked, to whom they belonged. My uncle told them: 'You know, I am so lonely up here that when the bread is baked down in the village, I get the bread to have some for my family, because otherwise we would be starving.' And this is how he got away with it. They didn't search the pantry room anymore, they didn't know about it, as the door was hidden in the back.”

  • “The 1st of May was just wonderful. Impossible to even describe. It was something great what happened that day. There was probably no man or woman, nor children who wouldn't have come to the city and waved to glory. The tribune was built in front of the Máj cinema, the military band played, commander of the garrison rode a beautiful horse and the music started to play when the big drum was hit. The commander's horse jumped on his back legs; the captain could hold on it and that horse managed to walk under that tribune just on those back legs. He stood on the front ones yet after walking through the whole tribune length. What an applause that was!”

  • “One more story I have. My brother had sent me a telegram. 'Please, come home, our mom is dying.' So I went to the commander holding that telegram and I asked: 'Excuse me, please, but my mother is dying and I would like to see her alive.' So what! Do you actually think you can help her?' He didn't let me leave. Poor mom lasted until I returned home; I guess it was around the December 11. She was emaciated because she had a very high stage of cancer. I couldn't even recognize her. You know, it was such a difficult era back then.”

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    Liptovský Mikuláš-Palúdzka, 15.09.2017

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If you want to achieve something in life, you have to strive for it

In youth
In youth
photo: archív pamätníka

Dušan Lukášik was born on April 14, 1929 in Liptovská Sielnica into an evangelical family. His parents worked in local supermarket and later they moved to Liptovský Mikuláš. There they led a business and operated a pub named Slovan. After an early death of Dušan’s father Ján, Dušan had to help out his mom in the family pub and was apprenticed as a waiter at the vocational school. After the communist takeover in February 1948, the family property was confiscated. In May 1950 Dušan began working in distillery of Liptovský Mikuláš as a planner, from where he was sent to study at the Technical Distillery School in Havlíčkův Brod. In October 1951 he had to enlist into the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP), to a military training camp in Mimoň. From there he was assigned to work in Karviná and later to Radvanice. After he returned to civilian life he continued working at the distillery in Liptovský Mikuláš, later he was an inspector of distilleries, for three years he lived in Dubnica nad Váhom, and at last he became the head of the St. Nicolaus factory in Liptovský Mikuláš. He has been retired since 1989 and lives in Liptovský Mikuláš-Palúdzka.