Cyril Ďurica

“We were friends with Ďurkota because nobody wanted to be friends with him. He was imprisoned for six months for a very silly thing, for a drawing. We decided that before a military service we'd go for a visit. I had a brother living in Karlové Vary and his brother worked on Lipno Dam. So we travelled by train from Prešov to Budějovice, Certlov to visit his brother in Lipno. The border guards entered the train, but everything was fine. However, at the train station Certlov we were asked to come to an office for personal inspection. We traveled from as far as Prešov and according to them we were too far from home. We were not supposed to do that. Mom was sending cans to her son, made in Netherland, and bought in Tuzex. They weren’t Slovak, they were foreign. My friend’s dad was a teacher in Čaklov and his mom wrapped the cans for her son living by the Dam. My friend had many cans made in Netherland which were from Tuzex and were sent by his mom for her other son, Ďurkota’s brother. Those cans gave them the proof that we were connected with the West. Even though, they truly were for my friend’s brother at the Dam. Afterwards they transported us to the district, to the county and to Palace of Justice in Prešov, where we were detained for a month practically for nothing.”

“A month in solitary confinement. It's hard to believe it, but when the shift change came around 7 pm, he always banged with bunch of keys. Every few minutes there was a ‘BANG’ with keys on my door and shouting: ‘What are you doing?! Stay awake!’ He kept waking us up all night. I spent a month in prison for nothing. And during my whole life it casted a shadow that I wanted to run away from Czechoslovakia. We were released after the month, but immediately there was an officer from the Auxiliary Technical Battalion waiting for us with a call-up order.”