Vojtech Budický

(Štefan Haško: “I am used to ask the witnesses whether they were able to forgive those, who harmed them the most.”) “I have fully forgiven them, since they alone didn´t know what they were doing. Fully.” (Štefan Haško: “And did you forgive immediately?”) “It took me a while.”

“It became much harsher then. They came again: ʻHands behind your back – up – down!ʼ There were three of them around me in the office asking me questions. Now I know those were the cross-questions. My answers were just: ʻI don´t knowʼ - ʻI wasn´t anywhereʼ, simply the negative questions. It made the interrogators really mad. At first they just slapped me from one side, from the other one, I screamed. Then much rougher interrogation began. They took turns and when I got to know the first one, another man came, even harsher. One of the greatest experiences was, when they told me to take off my shoes. They tied me to the chair and tickled my feet. Do you know what is it like?! Up to now when I get my feet tickled, I have goose bumps and the hair I miss, bristle. It was terrible... At first they took one foot, then the other, I yelled and screamed, you can´t even imagine. They slapped me, asked questions in the mean time... and then one of the eager guys knocked out my front tooth. I fell down from the chair, bleeding, they poured some water over me. For a while it was calmer, then they switched and continued in the interrogation. Again I didn´t see anything, didn´t recognize anybody. ʻWhen were you...?ʼ - ʻWhere were you?ʼ - ʻDid you have a gun?ʼ I asked: ʻA gun?!ʼ And that´s why they got mad again. They didn´t get a word from me, since I had nothing to confess. [ ] When they tripped my chair up, I fell and hurt myself a lot. [ ] They picked me up and ... as they hit my back, I fainted. I don´t know how long I was lying there, I felt huge pain in my back and then they carried me to a cell. I wanted to lie down and rest a bit, but I wasn´t able to lie on my back. So I lay prone, although, one cannot lie prone for a long time, since the head is too twisted. [ ] There I even lived to see how somebody hung himself. I don´t know how he managed to have a tie, since we didn´t have anything like that, no strings, laces, nothing alike. One of his co-prisoners tied it so much that we weren´t able to free him. The man was just kicking his legs on the bed [ ] ... and at the very last moment someone released the tie and revived him. It was a terrible experience for me; I squeezed into the corner and ever since I had jangled nerves. It really stroke me immensely.”