Viliam Maretta

* 1933

  • “As the two partisans led him and held him under his arms, one of them told my father: 'Jožo, is that you?' The partisan remembered they served in a military together in Dolný Kubín. 'You won't sleep here in the basement, but upstairs, on the bed!' They lodged him as he said, but when some prominent partisan came and needed a bed, my father had to move to the basement anyway. There he waited until morning. One of the partisan leaders gave my father different questions about how he used to hand flower bouquets to Germans. And my father said: 'Yes, I had a bouquet, but I held my child in my arms and not flowers.' Such kinds of false accusations were against my father. My father was a bit flippant, he liked to talk directly. Many people got to hate him and tried to liquidate him. At last the interrogator asked: 'And do you have any enemies?' My father said: 'I don't know about any. I know I am quite plain-spoken, but I don't know about anyone having such a great hatred towards me.' 'But you don't have the same opinion as we do, do you?' The commander told him. And my father took out his rosary and said: 'This and our nation is what I believe in. I love the Slovak nation!”

  • “They began to take away priests. We had a good parish priest, so we defended him. They took him directly from school. Then someone came to tell us this news from Vyšný Kubín, what is about three kilometers from Dolný Kubín. They kidnapped him right from the school and in the meantime they searched his house. They took him to Vyšný Kubín, where the police station was. A man came to inform my father about what had happened and since my father was very active and ardent for justice, he quickly mobilized whole crowd of people. He even called up a former communist who owned a car and used to sell vegetables for living. Subsequently this man gathered so many people using his car, but unfortunately, he was also arrested, imprisoned and even sent to the labor camp.”

  • “He was also interrogated in Ružomberok, right before Christmas. They tried to influence him psychologically, saying: 'Look, nice holiday is behind the door, everyone, and surely including you, is looking forward to this great season of the year. And you know what? What would you do if for example someone approached the factory with the intention to blow it up?' My father said: 'Well, I would pull out all the stops to stamp such a man out!' And that's what they liked about him, that he would have been so devoted to act this way. Then they gave him a paper and requested: 'Sign it!' And after my father read it, he told them: 'Well, I shall sign that if I find here, or if you add here, a note that I won't have to act against the Ten God's Commandments. Then I sign it.' 'Oh, we cannot do that, since it's an official document. We cannot add there anything else.' Thus my father said: 'Then I can't sign it!' 'Well then you stay here!' So he stayed there during the Christmas. I went to the station in vain. I hoped they would release him and I could accompany him home.”

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    Dolný Kubín , 12.08.2017

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I believe in God, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth

During military service
During military service
zdroj: archív pamätníka

Viliam Maretta was born on May 28, 1933 in Dolný Kubín. His father was a baker and at first he owned a bakery in Kláštor pod Znievom, then in Dolný Kubín. During the Slovak National Uprising was Viliam‘s father captured by partisans and after the communist takeover he was imprisoned for 13 months due to the Catholic Action. The family bakery was nationalized. In years 1953 - 1955 Viliam had to enlist in the penal military service in Auxiliary Technical Battalions (PTP) at nine different locations. After the release to civilian life he began working at the Elektro-Praga factory in Dolný Kubín. However, later because of conflicts with communist co-workers he left to a factory in Mokraď, where he stayed working until his retirement. In 1961 he got married to Agnesa née Kampošová and they‘ve had three sons and three daughters.