Adriana Šeboková
* 1927 †︎ 2022
-
“It is hard to say how it was, what is true, nobody knows now because everybody died, it has been almost a hundred years since the War. My father worked for the Slovak Grain Company (in Slovak: Slovenská obilná spoločnosť) and his friend, Mr. Ándori, wanted to build a water mill, but he had no money. I am not totally sure, I just assume that my father lent him some money to build the mill. When he finished work on it, it was the end of June, he came in a wagon and took us, the children, up to the mill for the holidays. Then the information came that Jews will be in danger so he did not let us to go back and we stayed hidden in the mill. We stayed there until April 1945.”
-
“I cannot even imagine that mass of people that came to Banská Bystrica on one day. The town was crowded with carts, with babies who were crying, with mothers who were suckling their children. It was nothing beautiful to look at. That feeling survived inside of me. We walked through town watching what was happening around. And nowadays some people say it was nothing.”
-
“We came to the mill to spend our holidays there. Someone had passed away in the village then and everything was prepared for the funeral. The problem was that the man who had brought us to the village from Banská Bystrica, had just his daughter and his son confirmed as his children in the passport. They didn't know what to do so they put blankets in the ditch, put the duvets on them, I laid down there, they wrapped me in the duvets and put the boards on top so I could breathe. I slept, then they came for me, picked me up and asked me what I had heard and seen. But I had not noticed anything. The Germans coming from Rimavská Sobota, who they had been afraid of, were said to just passed by.”
-
Full recordings
-
Ohel David, Bratislava
(audio)
duration: 02:43:33
Full recordings are available only for logged users.
She had to hide during the WW2 because of her Jewish background. She survived thanks to her knowledge of German language.
Adriana Šeboková was born in 1927 in Banská Bystrica. She is of a Jewish origin and despite of the fact that she was christened, she had to hide during the WW2. She experienced a lot back then, and once she had to be hidden in the empty grave that had been prepared for burying. During the War, she lived together with her brother Igor and their godparents in a mill in the village of Čerín near Banská Bystrica. A lot of German troops were present in that area. After the WW2, she married Ondrej Šebok. He was the interpreter of the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Brigade during the War. She currently lives in a retirement home called Ohel David.
