Jozef Strašík

* 1929

PTP (Auxiliary Technical Battalions), Relative of a political prisoner, Witnesses of local events connected to WWII, Svědci lokálních událostí z éry komunismu
25. 2. 1948 - Communist coup d‘état in ČSR, 1944 - 1945 - The liberation of Czechoslovakia
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    Conditions in the 52nd PTP in Svatá Dobrotivá (1951)

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    “As we arrived there, we were seized everything we got in Karviná. They took us everything except aluminum mess tin, which we used as a lunch kit. They allotted us stuff not according to size or need, but just what the storeman caught first. We were exchanging things among each other. I got a dark blue German winter coat so long that I dragged it behind me on the ground; the trousers were after the Hungarian Army, blouse after the old Czechoslovak Army, and hats – such fur caps – we had with SS badges! And they shaved our heads. They did nothing of this with us in Karviná.”

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    “Family of high technical level and of religious fanatics!” (1953)

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    duration: 01:08
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    “I came to the commander. At first he introduced himself: ‘I am this and that. Not Svoboda, but Sloboda, I come from Bratislava.’ And he asked me, why I was there. I said: ‘I don’t know.’ He continued if I wanted to know the reason and I said I did, because I was interested why I had to be in PTP. When he asked me, if I wanted to hear it privately or publically, I said he could say it among all, so that everyone knew what I had committed to deserve this. So he read that, there were more guys present. At first he read my evaluation from the beginning of the war, where I was really praised and then he read: ‘The family of high technical level and of religious fanatics!’”

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    Two different experiences with partisans

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    duration: 00:32
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    “A unit of partisans came over, about 5 – 6, max 10 men. Their commander introduced himself: ‘If you can, please, help us and give us what you can.’ We helped them and probably not even a week passed and another group came. They didn’t introduce themselves at all, had guns and didn’t ask anyone anything. They turned our whole house upside down, took everything they liked and ran away!”

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    Štiavnik , 17.11.2017

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My dad had died and I didn’t even get a message

At a mature age
At a mature age
photo: archív pamätníka
photo: archív pamätníka
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Jozef Strašík was born on May 18, 1929 in Papradno, district of Považská Bystrica. When he was only ten years old, his mother died. He attended the elementary school in his home village, but didn’t finish it, so that he could help out his father at the farm. A little after the communist takeover, in 1951 Jozef’s father Leopold was imprisoned for two months, and he died on October 4, 1951. In March 1951 Jozef joined the compulsory military service in Považská Bystrica and on October 1, 1951 he enlisted in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP). He spent there 2 years and 2 months and stayed in different places as Karviná, Svatá Dobrotivá, Janovice nad Úhlavou, Šťáhlavy, Dobřany, Pardubice, Klecany, and at last in Praha - Smíchov. After the return to civilian life he got employed in Považské strojárne (machinery plant) in Považská Bystrica and for a short time he also worked in Mladá Boleslav. He studied to be a locksmith and worked within this field. In 1956 he got married and moved to Štiavnik, where he lives retired up to the present.  

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