JUDr. Vojtech Novák
* 1946
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"It was very hard, as every month we had to attend some seminars and trainings, where they explained to us the reason and justification for the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and at the same time, they were lecturers who could not even read and write properly. They were old party fighters who graduated from elementary school and then graduated in one year. They read the brochure for hours, their own opinion nothing. This is how they cleaned our heads. Then everyone had to sign a declaration that: "We agree with the entry of the Warsaw Pact troops, because we considered it the only and unique solution for Czechoslovakia to remain in the socialist bloc." I no longer wanted to work there, as they did not let me go to college. I wanted to study remotely and they didn't sign me. They called me to the district party committee and told me that since my parents were freed by the Soviet troops, that I should go to the Union of Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship, that it has a very bad name, as there are only drunkards there, and with Russians and others, terrible things are happening there they told me to take it. I didn't agree with that, that I didn't want to go. They told me that if I take it, they will let me go to university."
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"It happened on June 13, 12, 13 and 14. Those trains were dispatched in such a way that everything went through Komárno, south through Komárno. The people from Komárno were also loaded into those cattle wagons on the same day or a day later. It was very hot, warm, and where my mother was with my grandmother and sister there were 78 of them. Somewhere there were 80 of them in one wagon. They couldn't even sit down. They put something for the necessities and some water and that was it. They traveled for three days, some simply had gold sewn into their coats and sweaters, and somewhere, when there was a stop, they were willing to give some water, and many people died there. 12 people died in mom's wagon. Back then, they didn't ask who was 85 years old or disabled, nobody cared. There were children, not infants. It went very fast there. It was a world record that they were able to deport 535,000 Jews from the territory of Hungary and southern Slovakia in 2 and half months. That was a record. And it must be said that it was gendarmes from southern Hungary trained for this and they were very cruel, much more cruel than the Germans. They left it to these, and the German guard who was in charge only controlled and directed it, but they did not interfere. This means that the Hungarian Jews were deported by the Hungarians, not by the Germans.(...) There was misung in the wagons, they were simply printed. They took it to pieces there. The railwaymen had a plan and invoiced for the removal and cleaning of the wagons. We have seen the invoices. Even for the armed guard that escorted them to Auschwitz, they billed normally. My grandfather in Zlatna had to pay tax in advance. You pay retroactively for the past year, but the tax for deportation had to be paid in advance. This means that they financed the deportation themselves."
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"Already in the fact that they took men in their prime - husbands and fathers - the family was already suffering because of the drop in income. And besides my family in Gyor, my grandfather died, but besides that in Zlatna, they took my father and his brother, they were left with no income. Grandfather had a shop, so the income still remained there. But those who worked somewhere in the office or in the administration, some respectable profession, it was missing there. The biggest and hardest (damage), as in 1943 they had to write down their assets, bank accounts and then they had to hand over their radios, bicycles and so on. But gradually like this, because it can't be done all at once, because a revolution would break out. The trick was that you have to punish these people to gradually numb them, then the resistance is not so strong. The men were taken, and the women, children and old people were left without certain protection. And that's why even the deportation went much easier than expected. The fundamental turning point was after March 19, 1944, when the Germans came to the territory of Hungary, now southern Slovakia, and in three weeks immediately imprisoned those who were in the Social Democratic Party and who were members of the self-government. And what was important, that after three weeks they already had to, was the order to wear the yellow star. And then, in April, the move to the ghettos already took place."
0:34:15 – 0:36:30 - Vojtech describes the gradual process of subjugation of the Jewish population in southern Slovakia in 1943 and 1944
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Respect for people, respect for life, decency, education and the possibility of understanding the other person who has a different opinion than mine must work
Vojtech Tomáš Novák was born on October 10, 1946 as Vojtech Tomáš Neumann in Zlatná na Ostrove. Father Jozef Neumann came from a Jewish family, and his grandparents had a small mixed goods store in Zlatná na Ostrove. During World War II, he worked at forced labor, his parents and brother were taken to the ghetto in the Veľký Meder and later deported to Auschwitz, where they perished. Mother Eva, nee Teichner, also came from a Jewish family and lived with her mother, brother and sister in the Hungarian town - Györ. The brother managed to hide, the women were sent to the ghetto in 1944 and deported to Auschwitz in June. Eva’s mother was murdered and burned on the day the transport arrived. After a few days, the Teichner sisters were transferred to the Pieszyce concentration camp in southern Poland, where they worked in a textile factory. The camp was liberated on May 9, 1945, and after a week of difficult travel, they reached Bratislava and Györ, where they found their apartment occupied by foreign people. Vojtech’s father returned home from forced labor in April 1945 and also found a looted and destroyed house and a shop for his parents. Jozef and Eva got married in August 1945, settling in Zlatná na Ostrove. Vojtech was born in October 1946 and Ondrej three years later. In 1947 they had to change their surname to Slovak, they chose Novák. The family was afraid of anti-Semitism and also that they could send their mother away from Slovakia, as they had Hungarian citizenship. The boys attended Slovak schools, as the Jews believed that out of loyalty, their children should study in Slovak schools. For the same reason, they joined the Communist Party. Vojtech and his brother had no idea about their Jewish origin, his parents did not talk about it. In 1957, the family moved to Komárno, later Vojtech studied at a grammar school and wanted to continue his medical studies, but he did not succeed. He joined the basic military service in Karlovy Vary, where he also experienced the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia. Upon his return, he worked as a cultural officer and took part in organizing youth events. He wanted to study, but his superiors did not allow him to do so. He also formally joined the party structures. He later made his studies conditional on accepting a position in the Union of Czechoslovak-Soviet Friendship, and in 1984 he completed his law studies. During his time in the union, he received several party punishments for his disagreement with the leading party’s policies, which prevented his daughter from going to college. In November 1989, he co-organized a meeting. ŠtB watched him and was interrogated several times. After the change of regime, he worked as the chairman of social organizations, later as a lawyer at the town hall in Komárno and also as a deputy mayor. He believes in the power of education and the European ideals of today’s society.
