Magdaléna Konečná (Bínovská)

* 1938

  • Every teacher who went to church was dismissed. We, as headmasters, had to go at least twice a year to the District Committee and answer if our staff went to church. Then I told the girls I know you are a believer, but I don't want to hear you talking about it at school. When I say I don't know, I don't have to lie. So this topic was taboo in front of me and when I said I didn't know, I wasn't lying because I really didn't know.

  • There were four people. They had two beds, one bucket for hygiene, and some jug for water. The door was barricaded (by the mother of the witness) by a wooden closet. At night she put the bucket outside, gave them food and that was it. There was only a tiny window. They could not speak or use light (the hidden Jews), so that no one finds out about them.

  • I went to the Seredi camp. From there my father left for the Terezín concentration camp in February or March. In Terezin it was terrible when he returned, he couldn't eat meat at all. The last transports were full of dead bodies, the father and other prisoners had to put these bodies in the shape of a bonfire and burn them. You can imagine the smell when the meat is burning. It took him a long time to start eating meat, because it reminded him of that smell. For a long time, our mother only cooked pasta. He died in 1949, because he returned with a malfunctioning heart from Terezin.

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Pezinok , 11.11.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:03:11
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Príbehy 20. storočia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

The memories stayed, those experiences were immensely powerful

Witness Magdaléna with parents: mother Rozália and father Herman Pessel.
Witness Magdaléna with parents: mother Rozália and father Herman Pessel.
zdroj: Magdaléna Konečná

Magdaléna Konečná, nee Bínovská, was born on May 29, 1938, in Pezinok. Her memories of childhood are inextricably linked to World War II. During the war, the Binovská family hid two Jewish families: the Diamantovci family and the Horski family. For the help to these families, the witnesses‘ mother Rozália received the Righteous Among Nations award. After the war, Magdalena graduated from a pedagogical school and worked most of her professional life as a nursery school director. The witness is currently living in Pezinok and attends further education at the University of the Third Age.