Michal Babej

* 1932

  • „Muníciu odkladali do stanov. My ako deti sme na nich pozerali. A jeden Nemec na nás volal, aby sme šli pomáhať. Ja som mal kontakt na partizánov a vedel som podľa čísla, čo je v debničkách. Keď som videl, že je tam strelivo, odtrhol som plombu a púšťal som ho do nohavíc. A tak som kradol muníciu. Granáty nie. A nosil som im to. A raz sa mi stala nepríjemná vec, vojak strážil most. Ja som po ňom išiel a videl, ako mám nadutú košeľu. Pobúchal po nej a zistil, že tam mám strelivo. Dal mi po zadku."

  • "After crossing the frontline, my friend and I also walked towards Lukavica. It was not very cold, there was no snow. We saw two people there. So we came closer. They were two German soldiers. One had a chicken under his armpit. They wanted to save their lives. Shot by Russians. We wanted to bury them, but it was frozen. We went back home for tools. When we returned, we saw a guardist there, Horulány was his name, he was a mason. He chopped off their legs under the knees for some felt. We cried when we saw it. "

  • "You have to be prudent and bold in life. You must not be afraid. If you are afraid, you will pay for it. I was like that and I still am now. Old people say - this is a gift from God. Not everyone has that. Some have the beauty of speech, some have a good figure and some remember well. And I'm somewhere in the middle. When I think about my life, it was very interesting, but very difficult. "

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Bardejov, 08.06.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 02:18:03
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Príbehy 20. storočia
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I brought ammunition to the partisans

Michal Babej was born in 1931. His father, also Michal, was born in Tvarožec near Bardejov in 1906. In Bardejov he met Michal‘s mother Žofia, who was born in 1909 and worked as an assistant in the pharmacy U Ružičku - in the laboratory. Michal spent his childhood in Bardejov and helped the partisans during the war. After the war, he began studying at the Secondary Military School in Vyškov near Brno. Later he wanted to study medicine in Hradec Králové. Due to health problems, he eventually worked as a medical assistant at the Military Hospital in Olomouc. In 1958 he left the army and returned to Bardejov. He worked as a painter and restorer, later in a housing company in Bardejov and after 1989 he established a business. To this day, he paints paintings as a naïve artist, depicting Bardejov from the 1930s. He had several exhibitions in Bardejov. He still lives and paints in Bardejov.