Karol Mrázik

“It happened at once. We were hearing artillery fire from the south and gradually, day by day, it was coming closer. Suddenly, to Mníchova Lehota, where the partisan units were hidden, a heavy machine came and began to break all crossties on the rails. You can’t even imagine how much noise it made! The Germans also drilled all telephone poles, but didn’t manage to fire them anymore. We already knew the front was near.”

„Ale naraz na nás mínomety spustili paľbu, išlo to od letiska, tam bola železnica a za ňou ich mali schované. Okamžite sme sa schovali, kde kto mohol. Na konci cintorína bol pán Lifka, ten mal zeleninárstvo, mal tam pareniská a cez ne sme utekali aj s koňmi. Tie sme uviazali, schovali sme sa do jeho pivnice a čakali do rána, kým paľba neprestala. Ráno, prvé čo som urobil, bolo, že som išiel za koňmi. Ani škrabnutie nemali! Ako sa to stalo, je nepochopiteľné!“

“I returned home and in Mr. Gajdošík’s yard I found his stable boy and his son, there were also the neighbors and they all were celebrating. And you can just imagine my return and the welcoming. It was an experience, because everyone greatly appreciated that as a 15-year-old boy I had served the war in such a way. After the war, I left school and went to work in heavy industry, to a mine. In about five years, I found out that each man joining the front, received a reward of about 5 000 crowns. Probably, also that Mr. Gajdošík received the reward, even though it was me who went to the front instead of him. I didn’t get anything.”