Anna Malá

“That miserable year 1968 came and we didn’t want to believe when they came to tell us what had happened. My brother Jozef used to go for a weekly work to Krajná Poľana village, where they, workers from Piloimpregna, repaired machines in sawmill. Another brother of mine, Mišo, went for manoeuvres and was called to Olomouc. He left home on Tuesday evening, but already at night army tanks were passing our house, so we worried about him as we didn’t know where he was and the like. And then, on Wednesday at about one in the afternoon, they let us know that my brother Jožo was shot dead in Poprad. However, nobody believed it, because we didn’t believe he went so far.”

“Later, we had to be quiet, because we were identified as belonging to him and he was considered to be a counter-revolutionist. It means I was watched when I was putting flowers there, at that place, because I simply had to go there with a bunch of flowers when I was in the town. Although they got the board broken I put flowers there and when I walked few meters away I saw them kicking the vase or throwing it away. Or when the board was still there, I put flowers there and they disappeared till the next day. They were doing these things, such bad they were. However, after I had been warned to be careful because I had been pursued, I let it be, I didn’t want to tease them. I let it be, he remained in our hearts either way. We know how it all happened and how much it still hurts.”

“I worked in Svit when my children grew up a bit, so I went there. There was a plaque (commemorative) in Svit in 1972. It was placed where my brother Jozef was shot dead. I am on the verge of tears. Every time I was in the town, I put a bunch of flowers there, but, unfortunately, the chairman of the Communist Party ordered to break that board and throw it into a rubbish bin. A man, who used to sweep there, came to my brother, Mišo, who worked in a bank, and told him that the plaque was broken and thrown into the bin. He took it from there and along with his brother in law glued it and brought it to our house. Then, we had that board at home for several years. After the revolution, it was an initiative from a mayor of Poprad and a chairman of the Democratic Party, Kubík, who suggested placing the plaque on the house where my brother had been shot dead. At that time my mother was still alive. Then, the plaque was there for about two years. However, the owner of the building planned to destroy it, so the plaque had to be taken from there. Subsequently, it was placed on the wall of the Kostol svätého Egídia church with assistance from the mayor Kubík and the Confederation of Political Prisoners, Czechoslovak prisoners.”

“Twelve young boys were injured. One man, he was only a boy then, now he has a sort of restaurant, then, his calf was shot. One woman working in a clothes shop had a shoulder shot, two boys their bellies, so there were twelve injured people in Poprad. Only my brother got it into his liver and bled to death there. Although people tried to help him right there near the pharmacy, the pharmacist said that he wasn’t able to do anything for him and advised people to take him to the health centre. Doctor looked at him and ordered to put him on a stretcher and on the lorry and to drive him to the hospital in Spišská Sobota. However, the ambulance driver told us that when they came to Spišská Sobota, he only could close his eyes as he had already been dead. At least he told us that.”