Ján Mitter

* 1928

  • “My dear, PTP – those were the Auxiliary Technical Battalions. We weren´t humans, we were just creatures; we were nothing, only vermin. We were a group of four… We didn´t have any rights. At the military service, our only weapons were pickaxe and shovel. What an awful life it was.”

  • “I had a sister in America. And I guess if I was a tenfold murderer, it would have never been as bad as having a sister in America. Due to that I was politically unreliable. Officially, I couldn´t hold any leading function, even though in any kind of company I worked, I was always at the top position.”

  • “I tell you the truth, I never trusted communists, since I knew there were no experts, just amateurs among them. And what can amateurs do? If someone wants to lead and do something, he needs to know! And an ordinary amateur cannot achieve anything. Any kind of activity one shall do, would always have its constraints, no matter what. And if he/she is unable to solve and operate it, it is not worthy. One has to be an expert, specially trained for everything. Only when he is able to manage it, monitor it, that´s when it makes sense.”

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    Martin, 11.03.2017

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    duration: 01:07:44
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th century
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I have never complained about my life. I´ve always taken it as it was and tried to overcome its obstacles

IX. edition of the tournament in the Blitz Chess (1972)
IX. edition of the tournament in the Blitz Chess (1972)
photo: archív pamätníka

Ján Mitter was born on April 29, 1928 in Mučín, Lučenec district. He comes from a peasant family. He graduated from an agricultural school. After the communist takeover in 1948, as a politically unreliable person, he had to leave to manufacture, since his sister and her husband emigrated to the USA. As a soldier he was forced to enlist in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions, which had the elementary unit located in Prešov and a detached one in Košice. After returning back to civilian life, off campus he graduated from civil engineering at the university and until his retirement he worked as a civil engineering expert witness. At present he is retired and lives in Martin.