We survived, thank God. Life brings different things. You will survive physical pain, but the mental pain will haunt you until your death
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Albín Strapko was born on 6 April 1932 in Paris to Slovak parents from Čičmiany who were working there. After his birth, they returned to Cicmany, where Albin lived his entire life. When he was 7 years old, the World War II started. Čičmany as a mountain village were at the center of the fighting of the German army and partisan units. During the war, the Jewish family Glaselovci was deported from the village. Cicmany survived two musters. During the first, everyone was spared. During the second muster on the April 6, 1945, Germans dragged 65 men aged 14-60 years from the village into the concentration camp Muhlberg in Germany. Luckily, the all returned to Čičmany in nine weeks. Albin’s father was also in the group of dragged men. At the end of the war Čičmany was burned down, half of the inhabitants moved out of the village and they never returned. After taking the men away and burning the village, the Germans occupied the village and lived also in Albin’s house. The village of Čičmany was liberated by the Romanian and Soviet armies on April 27, 1945. Albín Strapko spent his entire life in Čičmany, with his wife Anna, he raised 3 children. 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren are making them happy today.
