Zuzana Petreje

* 1923

  • “Once we hoed potatoes on the field in Liptovský Hrádok and a gunfight broke out. There was sawmill of forestry and on the other side were mountains. The Germans walked along the road. We were hoeing potatoes on such a large field, but if we didn't lie down to ground, we would have probably ended up shot dead. The bullets whistled around us.”

  • “Two Germans came to our house. One was really unattractive, I thought to myself he would search even for a needle in our house. We had a barrel full of bullets for the light machine-gun and grenades were there too. If they had found it, it would have been really bad. And in the palliasse I had one more automatic disassembled, which if had been revealed, we would have been dead. But the unattractive man took off his shoes, since he was wet, opened the stove door, and dried his socks. And the other one asked me if I was a dressmaker, as I sewed a dress to my sister. I told him I wasn't a dressmaker, but if he needed, I could make some clothes for him. He said he didn't need anything, but that his wife was a dressmaker and he showed me her pictures. I looked and said: 'Inge, … Lotta,' and he was very surprised I recognized them. I explained him that in 1942 there was a retreat for children in Tatry Mountains. He knew nothing about his family since 1940. So when I told him this, ever since then, whenever there was a German raid, these two always came to our house.”

  • “When Veličko (Piotr Alexejevič Veličko – a partisan commander, note of ed.) came to Liptovská Kokava, firstly, of course, he visited the mayor. By this he knew immediately who returned from the battlefield. They knew everything as they had military intelligence service. My brother told him that he was done with the war for good. However, Veličko literally told him: 'I shoot you down right here if you don't join the Uprising!' This is how my brother was assigned to become an intelligence service commander.”

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    Opatovce nad Nitrou, 01.09.2017

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We should help out every time the freedom asks for it

Zuzana Petreje - 40´s
Zuzana Petreje - 40´s
zdroj: z archívu pamätníčky

Zuzana Petreje, née Uličná, was born on January 15, 1923 in Liptovská Kokava. When she was a child, she lost her father and had to help her mother to take care of the family. In times of the Slovak National Uprising she actively joined the resistance movement as a supplying and informing mediator of the partisan division „For the Freedom of Slavs“. During this activity, she experienced a number of critical situations, when her life was in danger. After the war she completed studies to become a kindergarten teacher, followed by an elementary school teacher qualification. In 1951 she married Alfonz Petreje and they had two children together. Since 1954 she worked as an elementary school teacher in Opatovce nad Nitrou. Zuzana was an active member of the Slovak Union of Women, the Red Cross, and the Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters. She has received various awards for her resistance activity as well as for her educational, cultural and community activities. At present she lives retired in Opatovce nad Nitrou.