Ján Debnár

* 1934

  • "Liberation Day was amazing. I walked from the geese that were bathing in Jamniček up by Špankovie Street. Suddenly I hear bells ringing, and not only here, but also in neighbouring villages. In Petra, Vavrišov, Pribilina. The whole valley rang with bells. "What is being done?" "The end of the war, come to celebrate." As a 10-year-old boy, I attended an amusement outside a grocery store. In the village, they gave some drinks to adults and gave us such small chocolates for the first time in a long time. That's such a childhood memory."

  • "Later, when the liberation was near, we noticed that they had given the order at the stream to take off their caps and coats and remain only in trousers. That was the signal when we got scared when they were placed almost naked in the Anomaut cargo covered wagons. This was already bad, because the exhaust gases that were aimed at the hood killed them and their dead bodies were then thrown in the grove in Liptovský Hrádok, which was temporarily their final resting place. They were later exhumed and buried in Zvolen at the military cemetery."

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    Revúčka, 22.04.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:30:44
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Mr. Debnár's wife
Mr. Debnár's wife
zdroj: archive of Ján Debnár

Ján Debnár was born on July 7, 1934 in the village of Jamník in Liptov region. He studied at the Secondary technical textile school in Ružomberok. As a child, he witnessed several events during the II. World War. He saw how the Jews were loaded into trucks near the Jamníček stream and killed by exhaust gas. He mentions the conquest of Liptovský Mikuláš by German soldiers and the liberation of Jamník and the surrounding villages. During his mandatory military service, he guarded the borders near the village of Cetvina. After the war, he got a job in a textile factory in Revúca, where he still lives today. He established a construction housing cooperative here and helped ensure the construction of the House of Culture in Revúca. After the fall of the totalitarian regime, he was active in municipal politics and was the vice-mayor of Revúca. Currently, he enjoys artistic declamation, his hobby since school days.