Ján Slovenčák

* 1955

Politický väzeň po roku 1968 v ČSSR, Emigrant, Emigrant 1948 – 1989, Život podél železné opony, Ilegální přechod hranice
21. 8. 1968 - Invázia vojsk Varšavskej zmluvy, 18. - 21. 8. 1969 – Masové demonštrácie proti sovietskej okupácii, 17. 4. 1969 – Odstúpenie A. Dubčeka, začiatok tzv. normalizácie
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    Harsh practices towards political prisoners

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    délka: 01:54
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    “The prison practices were harsh. The guards were cruel to political prisoners. Even murderers were treated in much better way than a common man who didn´t do anything. There were cases, when people just mentioned emigration in pubs, and they were already arrested for that. Not speaking, that those people had never got even close to the borders. Some guards literally behaved meanly just because we were political prisoners. And we had nothing in common with politics. They gave us a cover name: Head 1 – opponents of the state. In Czechoslovakia there were officially never present any political prisoners. All regime´s representatives denied a fact there were political prisoners. I only remember names of my two co-prisoners: Jurenka and Jožko Nedeľka. I would love to meet Jožko Nedeľka from Piešťany once again. He helped me spiritually very much. It is a good man, very respectable gentleman. I had gloomy thoughts in the prison and he prevented me from doing something stupid. He said the communists were expecting me to hang myself and that more I would be resistant, harder it´d get for the communists. And that´s how it really was.”

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    Attempt to flee over the wires

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    “In Germany I was with one Bulgarian who crossed the border exactly at the same place as I planned. So I thought it could work out. He said it took him about 2 – 3 minutes and he was on the other side. It was between Devín and Devínska Nová Ves. Back then the watch towers were behind the barbed wires. The wires were on the left side when going to Devín. The runaways used to stop the car, jump on a blanket and from there jump across the border. That´s what I wanted to do. At first I crawled under the wires and yet when being in the water, a boat rushed at me.”

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    Inequities in the military service

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    “My eyes got wide-open when being in the compulsory military service. It was a real brainwashing and ‘antics’. The dumber brass, the better soldier. We used to have various absurd political trainings about the Soviet Union Brotherhood. And we didn´t pledge allegiance to the nation, but to one person, to the general secretary of the Communist Party, Gustáv Husák. The whole military service dwelled in bullying, bossing around, and in pointless orders. To give you a particular example – two soldiers went for a walk and returned a bit later. The party´s candidate wasn´t punished at all, and the other one, regular soldier, got 21 days of imprisonment. I got disgusted by the whole communist party and its machinery.”

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    Bratislava, 16.06.2017

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Not a common man, but the regime should be ashamed

Jan Sovencak before emigration
Jan Sovencak before emigration

Ján Slovenčák was born on October 11, 1955 in Bratislava, where he grew up with his mother, brother and a sister. Invasion of the Warsaw Pact Troops into Czechoslovakia and experiences from the military service convinced Ján to emigrate from this country along with his girlfriend. In the end he had to set off alone, since his girlfriend didn´t get the necessary permission to travel. He promised to come back for her. After few months spent in Munich, Ján headed back to Czechoslovakia, however, on his return journey he was detained by German policemen because of yet invalid documents. In Czechoslovakia he was arrested and sentenced to one year imprisonment. He was forced to work with acids in the prison, what severely damaged his health. After the release he had difficulties with getting employed and he was under constant surveillance of the State Security. Despite of that he planned to flee across the borders again, but he didn´t succeed. Due to his health he had to be investigated out of prison, but he has never reached his goal to emigrate to the West anymore. After the fall of the communist regime he stayed living in Bratislava.

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