Jan Klenotič

* 1937

  • “A lot of them just didn't come to work. I believed that because it was time to harvest, I couldn't dare to say, I'm not going to drive the combine harvester. I thought to myself that this is why it was necessary to harvest. So that we would have something to eat if bad times came. As to provide people with sustenance. That was my credo, which stuck with me. I have lived for agriculture all my life.”

  • "'You've said many things against our grain multiple times, but you can do things well, you understand things, you can be trusted, and your job worth looking at. That's why, no matter how many times you have said something to us that was against our grain, we let it go. We put up with it and were glad you were doing a good job,' said my former boss."

  • “Behind our village is a bank, bellow which the Torysa River flows. The shore is all rock, and the whole face is rocky. Before the end (of the war), three long-range cannon shots arrived. They hit the rocks, shattered, and shards flew all over the village. So the Germans pushed off and ran away. That was quick. Only after the missiles arrived did they realise that somebody was on their tail, so they cleared off and disappeared, I don't know where. None of them came back.”

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    Šumperk, 22.05.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 02:09:44
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the region - Central Moravia
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Life has taught me to value land and work with honesty

Jan Klenotič, 2022
Jan Klenotič, 2022
zdroj: Post Bellum

Jan Klenotič was born on May 2, 1937, in the village of Tichý Potok in eastern Slovakia. The family was of Greek Catholic religion. They spoke Rusyn at home. The witness‘ father, Jan Klenotič, took part in the fight against the Nazis during the war. He supposedly lived in the Soviet Union and joined the partisans after his return. In 1946, the family moved to Skřivánkov, a settlement of the town Zlaté Hory (formerly Cukmantl), as part of the resettlement of the borderlands. For some time, they lived together with the original German house owners. After their withdrawal, they took care of a small farm. His father never joined the Communist Party, and during collectivisation, the family continued to farm privately. Jan spent his childhood working and taking care of his three younger siblings. He couldn‘t study. The military service of the witness during the years 1956-1958 was affected by the anti-communist uprising in Hungary and the increased alertness of the units. In 1958, the Czechoslovak-Polish border was adjusted, and Skřivánkov became part of Poland. The parents returned to Slovakia, and thus Jan Klenotič lost his home for the second time. By that time, he was already married, and with his wife Helena (née Trnková) and their youngest son, they moved to Sobotín near Šumperk after a while. With time, they had two more sons. The witness worked in the local JZD (communal agricultural cooperative) and devoted himself to agriculture all his life. In 2022 he lived in Sobotín.