Eyewitness Testimony Stefan Buri

I. Prisoner No. 530980 222-223: Years of Youth The antifascist Stefan Búri grew up in Nová Baňa in a workers' residential community, where he was raised progressively from his youth. Life at that time in this Neumontan district in the bourgeois Czechoslovak Republic was characterized by rising unemployment. In the critical years 1929–33, there were around 3,000 unemployed in this district, whose rights the Communist Party tirelessly supported, despite being continuously persecuted by a bourgeois-state apparatus. Neumontan communists continued their anti-state and illegal activities even after the downfall of the Czechoslovak Republic. They criticized the harsh conditions and the inhuman face of fascism and conspired (rather prepared) the working people for the main struggle, which ultimately culminated in the Slovak National Uprising (SNP). In the critical period of the so-called Slovak State, two groups existed in our district. One group was clerical-fascist and held official power. This group was represented by careerists and people supported by the police apparatus. This group also included small fanatical German minorities in the villages of Velke Pole and Pila. These minorities were mainly influenced by fascist radio and German fascist propaganda. In the village of Handlova, there was also a strong fascist influence on the German minorities. The other group supported the progressive politics of the Communist Party. This group consisted of the proletariat from the Lanicky group from Hodrus, Handlova, factory workers in Dolne Hamre, mechanical engineering in Vyhne, the glass factory in Handlova, and the lumberjacks from Zarnovica. The illegal party leadership, together with other illegal groups, organized secret meetings where they could inform themselves and also organize in the spirit of antifascism. They controlled the results of secret tasks, distributed new tasks such as preparing leaflets and illegal press, and also guided new people into the work of the illegal group. In this contradictory environment, Stefan Buri also developed his political stance on the right side. He was born on July 30, 1918, in Nová Baňa in a poor family. Here he also spent his not easy childhood with his mother. His first and most beloved teacher was Frantisek Sobek. Mr. Sobek was from Czechia, which the little boy did not know at the time. He later unexpectedly met him during the dramatic escape from the concentration camp. After finishing school, he began working as an apprentice with the painter Ferdinand Pittner. After training, he worked in various cities, such as Zarnovica or Martin. There was little work at the time because people had little money to paint their apartments. Employers paid workers poorly and dismissed them in winter when there was no work. The young Stefan Búri also experienced this. The growing Stefan already heard during his training from older colleagues about the Soviet Union, where the working class led the country. He remembered how Jozef Hlavaca showed admiration and love for the Soviet country and described it. For this reason, the first socialist country became his ideal. P. 223/224: In September 1935, when he was only 17 years old, he enrolled in a Montanist association of friends of the USSR. 224-225: This happened at a public meeting. There was also a lecture by the then deputy Vladimir Clementis from the KSČ (Communist Party of Czechoslovakia). This identification card with number 30,697 and date 1.1.1936 meant a lot to Stefan. He always carried this card as a memory and out of reverence for the first socialist country. He still wears and values it, and when times are bad, he draws strength and faith in the victory of workers' truth and the arrival of socialism from it. It is no wonder that he treasures the card as his treasure to this day. He participated in basic military service from 1.3.1939 to 15.7.1939 in Dolný Kubín. The service was shorter because he was a family provider (he had a mother and sister) and was released earlier. When he married Bozena Trgova, a girl from an enlightened proletarian family, in 1941, he sought a permanent place to live. He then had to work for two more years in other cities, for example, one year in Partizanske (then Batovany), then in Senica nad Myjavou, Hlboky, and finally in November 1943, he got a job at the Ziar nad Hronom train station. Although he was always on the move because of work and rarely at home, when it was a holiday or Sunday, he always came home to Nová Baňa. He received various tasks from the connection, such as putting up posters, distributing party press and party materials. He also carried out these activities illegally during the Slovak State. At that time, he was not a real party member and therefore was not suspected and was not pursued by the state police. He used this as an advantage and operated as a connection between the old members who were persecuted at that time. It was mainly about the connection between Mr. Stefan Holy senior, Jan Šoly, František Holy, Štefan Tužinsky, and Jozef Moravsky. He only helped with such illegal activities until the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP). II. Slovak National Uprising On August 24, 1944, he received an order to report and immediately joined a barracks in Zvolen near Malá Stanica (Little Station). After being equipped and outfitted, his military unit was named "Korund IV" and assigned to the locality Podkriváň – Pstruša. Their task was to secure the direction towards Lučenec because the command expected an attack from the German military units coming from Hungary. Stefan Búri recalls the names of the commanders: Captain Hlucháň, Captain Oškvarok, First Lieutenant Špála, and First Lieutenant Rudolf Strmeň. In this area, the military unit stayed until September 12, but the expected attack did not occur. On the other hand, battles were already taking place in other areas, such as in the north or west. Therefore, the command decided that this unit must be sent west. There, the units had retreated before the strong German Nazi forces and needed help. From that time, Stefan Búri belonged to a marching column under the command of First Lieutenant Rudolf Strmeň. The unit was immediately bombed by German bombers after unloading the transport in Handlova on September 18. The soldiers had no air defense, so they had to hide in various places. Stefan Búri survived the bombing with a few friends in the cemetery between the trenches. During the bombing, many of our soldiers, as well as workers from the hospital, died because the Nazi pilots ruthlessly bombed the hospital, even though it was marked according to international rules. Pages 225/226: Among the dead, Stefan Búri recognized an acquaintance, Mr. Török from Nova Bana. He later brought his physical remains along with others to the cemetery. Pages 226 – 227: After the air raid ended, Lieutenant Colonel Markus came by and immediately reformed this weakened unit for combat. The Germans had counterattacked somewhere from the Velky and Maly Grič mountains towards Handlova. The weak and only temporarily formed unit could not stop or avert the German attack. To be honest, the command did not perform its duties well. Búri's unit under First Lieutenant Strmeň retreated to the village of Janova Lehota and was then sent to Kunešov, then through Lúčky and Kremnica to Tajov. The unit was finally sent to Čremošné, where the hardest battles took place. At the end of October, the command sent the unit to Hron near Horná and Dolná Mičina, where the insurgent units gradually lost their combat positions under enemy pressure. The unit with Buri moved one night from Mičina through Banská Bystrica, Senica, Selce to Kališt and spent the night in a valley there. During this time, German air units bombed the retreating paths of the insurgent soldiers every day to prevent an easy withdrawal. The fascist military units slowly advanced in the mountains. From Španna Dolina, one could already hear artillery and mine fire. The insurgent units could no longer withstand the fascist pressure. Chaos broke out. Some units retreated headlessly towards Kolište. Commander Strmeň kept his combat unit in position from the beginning. During this, the commander told Buri to prepare food. Buri went to the kitchen and cut meat from a cow. He started cooking. He was so focused that he did not notice that his combat unit had moved on and forgotten him. Then other soldiers from other combat units came by and told him to move on as well because the German units were already very close. After a few minutes, he no longer heard gunfire and went outside. Now he really saw the first German soldiers 100 meters away and behind the armored vehicles. It was immediately clear to him that he had to leave. He wanted to somehow stop the German soldiers and therefore put a few grenades in the oven so that they would burn and explode in a few minutes. That is what happened. The grenades caused a big explosion, and Buri gained time for his escape. Buri ran in the rain towards Kalište. The houses there were already full of fleeing soldiers, so Buri had to sleep in a woodshed. He hoped to find his combat unit there. All the soldiers were already mixed here. Food and ammunition supplies were no longer available. Mostly, the commanders released the soldiers so they could save themselves. His combat unit no longer existed. What does he do now? He does not know this land, nor the people, what will he do? He decided to go to the Štiavnické Mountains. There, a partisan unit Sitno under Ladislav Exnár operated. The illegal Neumontan organizations also worked in close cooperation with the partisan units. Therefore, Buri hoped he could find his acquaintances there. This idea was shared with him by two countrymen (presumably district countrymen, M.B.). Their names were František Beranec, Jozef Lehotsky, and later a young soldier Filondcok from Banská Hodruša. They had no map, no compass. They mostly oriented themselves by the sun – heading south. Pages 227/228: They did not dare to use the roads. They wandered through forests and meadows to hide. With fear of German soldiers, they also moved around small villages. If they absolutely had to go into a village, it was only at night. They were often completely soaked and starving and still rarely received anything to eat from the people. The people were afraid to help. Afraid of the Germans. pp. 228 – 229: They did not make it to the Sitnianske Mountains. One night they dried their clothes by a fire in a forest near Badin. The fire could be seen from a long distance. While they were relaxing by the fire, they were surrounded and arrested by German soldiers. The soldiers took the two to Badin and held them captive in the school for two days. Then the soldiers transported their prisoners to Kremnica and after a few days to Horna Stubna. There, on the night of October 13 to 14, 1944, they were loaded into unknown wagons. The group was sent to Germany to a concentration camp, about which they had no idea at the time. Now let's see how the young wife of Stefan Buri lived in Nová Baňa. When she was still single, she also worked with neo-Montanist communists. Her uncle, Karol Dolinsky, introduced her to the communists. The local fascists knew this too and therefore often caused her unpleasant times. When Stefan Buri joined the SNP (Slovak National Uprising), his wife took over some of his tasks. Mostly, she delivered various messages from Mr. Šály to a secret mailbox in a forest. Mrs. Šály also knew nothing about the secret activities of the two. It was not that Mr. Šály did not trust her, but that he did not want to put her in danger. There was a rule among the secret illegal communists that if someone did not absolutely have to know something, they would not say it. For Mrs. Buri, October 13 was an incredibly difficult day. It was good that she did not know that her husband had been sent into captivity to a German concentration camp, from which return was more than unimaginable. On October 13, 1944, Mrs. Buri gave birth to her second daughter, Beata. She gave birth to Beata at home because the workers were not allowed to give birth in the hospital. That same afternoon, fascists arrived at the apartment. Probably because of betrayal. In one bed was the mother, who had been seriously ill for a long time, and in the other bed the tired mother who had just given birth. The violent fascists shouted at the helpless women and searched the entire apartment. Fortunately, they found nothing suspicious. Despite this search, Mrs. Buri continued to work in the illegal circles. She continued to bring secret messages from Mr. Šály to the forest. She always disguised herself as a man and went through her garden into the forest. In February, she almost put herself in mortal danger with her illegal activities. As always after delivery, she changed in the shed, put on her dirty warm slippers, and only then entered the apartment. There she froze. There were Germans in the room! "We received a message that a partisan was supposed to visit your apartment. Who is it!? Where is he!?" Of course, she "knew nothing." They searched the entire apartment and still found nothing. Then her seriously ill mother gave her a note from Mr. Šály's son. It said: "Do not go anymore, they are on the trail, Fero was arrested!" pp. 229/230: III. No. 53 980 in the death factory A sad path began. Actually, it was only the first hour that was sad. Then the path was terrible and dreadful. pp. 230-231: In the fully official bark (wood?) wagon, the prisoners also had to attend to their bodily needs, and therefore the air became almost unbreathable over time. Some prisoners became ill, some had fevers and screamed, and some cursed. Over time, they became increasingly hungry and especially thirsty. Many men wanted to escape from the wagon during the night, to jump out, but they had no chance because there was no way to open the wagon from the inside. The Germans only allowed the wagons to be opened in Austria near Vienna. Then they threw old bread to the poor prisoners and mockingly said it came from President Tiso. Then the transport continued through České Budějovice towards Germany. The prisoners then got off at the station near a temporary concentration camp Bad Schultz (presumably the large prisoner-of-war camp IXC Bad Sulza, M.B.). This was a so-called transit station where prisoners were delivered to other camps after an "insect" cleaning and registration. Even here some men died because they had to stand naked, weak, and sick for hours during the night. Eventually, they underwent delousing, but then they understood it was only a pointless formality. They had to undress and all shower together. The shower was sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold. Then they came back and all their valuables were gone. If they said anything against it, they were immediately hit. Afterwards, they were sent to a room where they were supposed to sleep. There were three-tier beds and the room was the complete opposite of the delousing. This room was very dirty and full of insects. Anyone who by chance had not yet had lice would certainly get them here soon. Later there was a rumor that when a Russian unit was imprisoned here, a typhus epidemic broke out in this dormitory. In the following days, the Germans vaccinated the prisoners. It was supposed to be against typhus. But the conditions were terrible – the equipment was not sterilized, the skin was not disinfected beforehand – simply the hygienic conditions were not met at all. This was even worse than not being vaccinated. Every prisoner was photographed for a card index and given a number. They lost their names. They only had a number that designated them as slaves. Slaves without value. The prisoners of the SNP were in the eyes of the guards only "all Hunderpartián" (original p. 231 – presumably "partisan dogs", perhaps also a kind of "pidgin Slovak of the guards," M.B.) and so the prisoners were treated and their fate influenced accordingly. After two weeks in the camp with terrible provisions that should not be called that (overcooked turnip, black coffee without sugar), about 1400 prisoners were transported to a camp in the town of Kleidembach (sic!, first with n, handwritten second sheet, M.B.). The Germans housed them here in a building that was then a porcelain factory. In a small hall, 300 men had to sleep. There were no beds, so they had to make them themselves from old wooden boards. On the "wooden beds" they laid some moldy straw so it would not be so hard. But there were not enough wooden boards and straw, so some men had to sleep on the wet floor. Some windows and doors were broken. They also repaired these with wooden boards. The walls were also wet and for covering they only had a thin blanket. One could say nothing about human dignity (presumably human dignity, M.B.). How could the prisoners spend the night here, one might ask. Did they even sleep? Yes, they did. Not sleeping meant dying faster. Actually, they had no problem falling asleep after the whole day. Every day they had to get up at 4 a.m. For breakfast, they only got 50 grams of bread with 20 grams of jam and a black cup of coffee. That was actually also the lunch because they did not get anything to eat until the evening. pp. 231/232: After breakfast, they marched to the station and then took the train to Orlamund, from where they continued on foot to the airport construction site.pp. 232-233: The forced laborers often worked there until 7 p.m. under artificial lighting, until an enemy air raid was reported. For lunch break, they received boiled water, which was supposed to be tea. Some did not drink it at all because there was a rumor that it would make you sick. Some men really did get sick and died from it. After 7 p.m., they returned again. There was always a long inspection in front of the camp. The prisoners were counted there. If someone happened to be so tired that he could not stand properly in line or was trembling all over from the cold, he was immediately beaten with a stick or rifle. It was bad if there was a case of desertion. Fortunately, this was rare in winter. Sometimes it happened that someone suddenly needed to urinate during work, ran briefly to the bushes, and died there from exhaustion. This was not always noticed. If later a number was missing during the inspection, all his group members had to stand outside all night. For supper, they only received a turnip soup with cabbage leaves and sometimes a potato. Supper time was around 8–9 p.m. They then had to go to bed immediately at 10 p.m. That means they only had 6 hours for sleeping and relaxation. Many men simply fell into bed in the evening. They were terribly tired, exhausted, frozen, and wet. They did not change clothes at all and went straight to bed like that. They only covered themselves with a thin blanket and fell asleep immediately amid the noise, croaking, and terrible sounds of the dying. But that was not all. In bed, they had thousands of lice that bit them terribly. Nevertheless, they fell asleep from exhaustion—some forever. There was no hygiene at all. They did not wash themselves or their clothes. They would have liked very much to splash some water on their faces after the whole day, but there was no possibility. One day, typhoid broke out there and killed prisoners en masse. In this situation, at the end of December, 10 to 15 prisoners died every day, and in January even around 20. The naked human remains were thrown onto a cart like wooden pallets and transported to the cemetery. In one corner, they buried the bodies in a mass grave. First a layer of corpses, then a layer of lime, and so on until the pit was full. What kind of work did the prisoners do in the airport construction? A new military airport was being built on a summit. The prisoners had to clear the forest and then create a flat area. Under this summit, a large depot for weapons was to be built, which thousands of prisoners excavated. The V-1 and V-2 rocket projectiles were also to be constructed there. Thousands of prisoners from various countries worked every day on the airport construction: Russians, Poles, French, and many others. The Slovak group, in which Stefan Búri also worked, was active alongside the Russian group. This reality had two advantages. They got along well and often helped each other. They dug the channels and then laid pipelines. They also installed electrical cables, but also concreted and built small buildings. Stefan Búri was lucky when he was assigned to an electrician. Búri worked with him on an electrical line. The master electrician was a very good man with a big heart. He often shared his food with Búri. Because of this, Búri became healthier and perhaps the electrician saved his life. The master also often lifted his spirits by talking about the imminent end of the war. Under the master’s influence, Búri’s physical and mental health improved significantly. The master said they would soon go home because the war would end soon. By then, Búri already understood many German words that were often used.pp. 234-235: The following story separated the two good friends forever. One day during a break, a prisoner, Holuško, asked Štefan Búri if he could borrow his pocket knife. A pocket knife was truly an indispensable item in a camp. Therefore, Búri was curious about what Holuško needed the knife for. Holuško revealed to him that he had found a rabbit in the forest not far from here and wanted to skin it (probably rather: "slaughter" it). Stefan did not lend him his pocket knife but went with him. Of course, Stefan did not want to lose his knife, but he was also curious. He had not eaten meat for a long time. So he went with Holuško into the valley. When they had skinned the rabbit and torn it into two halves so they could hide it better, a guard arrived. He shouted at them and fired shots into the air while running. He thought they wanted to escape. When the guard and other soldiers arrested the two, they were violently beaten and taken to the camp. They were presented as if they had tried to run away and had also gotten food for the escape. The camp guards immediately started an investigation. For this, they got an interpreter, Mr. Hulira from Martin (in Slovakia). He was also a prisoner and spoke good German. At first, the Germans wanted to have the two shot in front of everyone as an example so that everyone would know what happens if someone tries to escape. Then, fortunately, it turned out that they were very good workers and had worked diligently all day this time as well, and that they had not stolen the rabbit but found it already dead and only wanted to eat something. So fortunately, no execution took place. The interpreter had a great merit in this, but especially the work group leader, who testified that both were diligent workers, which could not be said about all prisoners. So, it would have been a shame if both had been shot. In the end, Búri and Holuško not only saved their lives but also had some of the rabbit left, which they then ate together with other friends. Unfortunately, the camp guards were still not quite satisfied and scolded and beat them again in the evening after work. Then Búri and Holuško ended up in the cellar in the dark. They had to stay in prison for 14 days, where they received only little food because they did not work. But one cannot say that those who were not in prison fared any better. Always just scolding, beating, working – that was more than what they got to eat. Many prisoners were shot because they could no longer work from exhaustion. They were no longer valuable. Many simply died during sleep at night. The prisoners only noticed in the morning when they did not get out of bed. Thus, Rudolf Filoncok from Banska Hondrusa, Holecka from Hronske Klecany, Jozef Bakaj from Nová Baňa, Emil Šmondrk from Velká Lehota, and many others died. The suffering cannot be described. The guards intensified the hell with their brutality. The Germans even beat prisoners in the sleeping quarters and occasionally shot them. Stefan Búri remembers when a prisoner, Gabriel Tichý, got a shock during such a shooting in a sleeping room and fell to the floor as if dead. He was then transported to a treatment room and awakened there. The prisoners knew nothing about it and thought the guard had shot and murdered him. For the sake of objectivity, it must also be said that among the local inhabitants there were many people who were against the inhumane treatment and, if only a little possible, gave them something to eat. Many prisoners remember Mr. Ernst Först, the Schultze family, and others who did not lose their feelings and kindly helped them. Of course, it was only little and rare and could not save the lives of thousands of prisoners. pp. 235/236: After the 14-day punishment in the cellar, the two prisoners became so weak that they could no longer manage the hard work on the airport construction.pp. 236-237: They were then taken to another construction site near the town of Pößneck (brought?). There they built houses from wood for the evacuated Germans. Not far from this place was a rubble dumping site where waste from the hospital was brought. This foul-smelling place became a food depot for the prisoners and was often visited by them. During their lunch breaks, they often found something small to eat there, such as a piece of moldy bread, potatoes, carrots – simply food for the hungry prisoner. One day they found a shot dog there. They cut it up and secretly cooked it in a bucket. The entire group of 32 men ate some of it. While they were feasting, the group's guard passed by. He did not like it because the dog's meat and all the remains could be diseased, and if the men became ill and died, it would be very bad for the responsible guard. The commanders could say that he had not watched carefully and had thus wasted human labor. That would not be good for him at all. Therefore, he forbade visits to this place. If anyone were to visit the site again, they would be shot. But hunger is a bad advisor. For one or two days they did not go there, but then, when they were so terribly hungry and knew they could certainly find something there, they dared to go back. They thought they faced daily the threat of shooting or execution, so why not risk it and try. One tragic day, three prisoners visited the rubble dumping site looking for something to eat. They were Búri, Pružinský, and another. As they were digging through, they heard shots. Immediately after, Jan Pružinský fell to the ground. He was dead. The guard had shot him in the back. Búri and the other immediately lay down on the ground and waited, convinced that they would die here like the dog. At the same moment, another guard without an arm, who had some feeling, shouted to the one with the weapon: "Don't shoot!!!" He really stopped shooting. Nevertheless, he angrily rushed over and mercilessly beat and scolded the two prisoners with the weapon. Then he sent them back to work, and only in the evening after work could they retrieve their dead friend from the rubble dumping site. The guard needed the dead body as proof for his superior that the prisoner had not tried to escape. In the camp, they were interrogated again by the camp command and terribly beaten again. Afterwards, they were sent back to prison. They would certainly have died there if an old French German who supervised them had not occasionally brought them some food. It should also be said that some prisoners from Slovakia also worked as assistant cooks. Unfortunately, it cannot be said that they gave more food to all the sick or prisoners and thus could have helped. When a sick or prisoner asked for more soup (the sick and also the prisoners only received half portions to eat), the cooks were unfriendly and sometimes even aggressive. pp. 237/238: IV. Escape from captivity and agonizing journey home After many days of suffering, spring 1945 finally came, which for the prisoners meant that the daytime temperature slowly rose and became more pleasant. The cruelty of the guards was still terrible and frequent. One might think that the guards wanted to avenge the lost war and therefore beat them even more. The war was as good as lost for the fascists and their allies. In April, liquidation of the camp began in Kleidembach (actually "Kleidenbach, bend near n handwritten addition, M.B.). The destroyed and already overloaded railway was no longer allowed to be used for prisoner transport. Therefore, those who could still walk were gathered in columns and marched somewhere. The others who could no longer walk remained in the camp under the supervision of the Volkssturm.pp. 238-239: Allegedly, the US Army approached the camp, and because of this, the guards fled with the prisoners out of fear. This was actually good for the rest who stayed in the camp. Finally, no more beatings and insults. Stefan Búri was assigned to the last column that left the camp on April 13, 1945. The column was supposed to march westward towards Czechia – Austria. Along the route the prisoners took, many human remains lay scattered. It was terrible. A prisoner who was so sick or tired that he could not continue marching was simply shot. The other prisoners then had to clear him out of the way so he would not block the path. Then the column could continue. In the evening, they arrived in the town of Hof. There they were housed in many small barns. They were locked in there, and a guard waited outside the door. In the morning, to their surprise, they did not have to get up early and march on. Something was going on. Some prisoners thought the Germans did not know which direction to continue. There were rumors that the liberation army was supposedly already on the way, from the east and even from the west. The food here was as always poor and meager. It was only a few potatoes per day. Some men even ate barley in the barns. At least they could rest and give their bodies a little recovery. Here, for the moment, it was all over. They were no longer prisoners. The American planes began bombing everything. In the end, not only was the whole town destroyed, but many prisoners died in the process. On the other hand, this bombing enabled the men to escape. This was also the case with Búri’s group. The guards probably hid in the cellar during the bombing, which allowed the prisoners to flee. They broke out of the barn, took barley and even pig feed (boiled potatoes mixed with barley) with them, and ran away. Búri and the group ran through the town into the forest. Some then split into small groups, and some, like Búri, continued alone. At the edge of the town, he found a piece of bread and then immediately hid in the forest. He stayed there until dark. Only then did he dare to continue and begin to orient himself a bit. Near him was a destroyed plane half buried in the ground. He slowly approached it to see if he might find something to eat there. This example shows how it affects someone who has been starving for so long. He did not even think about whether someone might still be lying there. But it was empty, and he found nothing to eat. As he went on, he discovered some potatoes in a field. He was very happy. He gathered the potatoes and went back into the forest, where he made a fire and roasted the potatoes. When the potatoes smelled so good, he could not wait and ate them all. Immediately afterward, he got stomach pains; whether it was because they were too hot or not fully cooked, he did not know. Right after that, he got diarrhea. pp. 239/240: He scolded himself for his impatience but then thought that some barley might relieve the pain. So he cooked and ate barley. After half an hour, it was already better, but he still had stomach pain. Nevertheless, he was glad he no longer had diarrhea. pp. 240-241: The next morning he faced the question: Where should I go now? He only knew that Czechoslovakia lay to the east. But it was not so easy to find the right direction. Sometimes it was cloudy all day and he couldn't follow the sun at all. Then he was not allowed to go through the cities. He often had to hide, and therefore he occasionally lost his sense of direction. Once, after a long day, he noticed that he had been in the same place before. But then he was lucky to find a city's rubble dump. He was already used to searching through a rubble dump. He was so hungry again that he looked for food. First, he found a jar with some jam. After he had finished the jam, he just wandered around and continued looking for something to eat. Suddenly, he found a road map. He hadn't been so happy in a long time. "Now I won't get lost anymore," he thought. He found the town of Ölßnitz, where he was, on the map and now knew in which direction he had to continue. On the way home, he became increasingly convinced that the end of the war was slowly but surely approaching. This was in the second half of April. On the way, there were more and more groups of prisoners, many of whom were already without guards. They had probably already fled somewhere. Then Búri also had more courage to use the roads. This saved him a lot of time because he no longer got lost off the paths. When he first met a German soldier, he said that his column had been bombed and he had lost the column, but now he was looking for it. Although he had learned many German words, he still had to use his hands to simplify the conversation. In the next encounters with the Germans, he did not wait for them to ask who he was and where he came from. He himself asked first because it seemed trustworthy: "Please, journey to Ölßnitz? To the town of Ölßnitz again: journey to Adorf? ... Journey to Aš...?" Once, when he took a break in front of a large house, a German officer came out of the door and asked Búri many things. When the officer noticed that Búri understood everything, he began to speak in Czech. He was probably a Czech who had somehow been drafted into the German army. He gave him bread, coffee, and also three cigarettes. He was probably not a fascist, or he had reoriented himself after the war. Finally, he reached the First Czechoslovak Republic. Nevertheless, it was nowhere marked because this part had been annexed to Hitler's Reich. But he knew that Aš was a Slovak town and ultimately it was also shown that way on the map. Perhaps the town sign had been removed by a "conscious" German because it demonstrated the pre-war border. Of course, a conscious fascist could not look at that without feeling guilty for insulting the Führer. In Aš, he was again checked by Germans, but the officer let him go immediately. Perhaps he belonged to those who had slowly realized how much evil and sadness they had caused in the war—and above all, unnecessarily. Near the town of Cheb, at a military airfield, he survived another dramatic bombing. He survived unharmed in a concrete shaft. War distress during the war was frequent and already normal for him. He was hungry again and immediately left the shaft after the bombing. He went into a military house and asked for food there. The survivors gladly gave him something. He continued to wander through Ždanov, Velké Hledsebe, Chodová Planá, Černošín, Stříbro, through the borders drawn by Hitler, and then further to Pilsen. Before this large West Bohemian city, he reached the town of Krimice. He arrived just as it started to rain. He wanted to spend the night here. pp. 242-243: Štefan Búri will never forget this town. After the hell of the camp, he felt like a human being among people again. He entered the school because he knew that schools now played a different role, namely as shelters for those who were traveling home, refugees, evacuees, and soldiers. On the door was a sign with the name František Šebek. That was also the name of his first teacher! Was that just a coincidence? Or was it really him? "I'll check," he thought. He knocked on the door fearfully, but his heart was pounding noticeably. And—really! The door was opened by his favorite teacher. Of course, the teacher did not recognize him. He only saw a dirty, thin, hairy prisoner and not his student. But it only took a few sentences and he was warmly welcoming him and his family. They immediately offered him a seat at the table and plenty of food. They also offered him a place to stay overnight, but he gratefully declined this offer because of his hygienic condition and it would have been dangerous for the whole family if the house were searched by fanatical Nazis during the night and he was found. He preferred to spend the night in the shelter where many people like him were. The next day he spent again with this kind family. They thought about the town of Nová Baňa, which they loved very much. They had to leave the town under bad circumstances against their will during the formation of the Slovak state. Nevertheless, the family remembered Slovakia in a good way. They had many fond memories of work, friends, students, and the house they had built there. They also talked about the Slovak National Uprising (SNP). Our then prisoner continued wandering through the towns of Nepomuk, Bistná, Sedlice, and Pinek. While resting before the town of Pinek, about seven cars with Slovak license plates passed by. He recognized some people in the cars. There were the then government members with Dr. Tiso. "Now they are finished ruling," he thought. How much evil you have left behind! He suspected they were fleeing to Austria from the Soviet army. After the break, he continued to Tábor. He was already out of danger and felt human again—especially after visiting the Šebek family—he could no longer search for food on the rubble dump. But he was very hungry and therefore begged for food, which he did not like doing. On one hand, he was embarrassed, but on the other hand, he knew he had a wife and children at home and naturally did not want to die of hunger. Some people were not so kind but still gave him something to eat, and others were very kind and hospitable. He also did not like sleeping in the hayloft and therefore asked people. He wanted at least to sleep in a shed, but on the other hand, he would not sleep in a house like with the Šebek family. Some were afraid of the Germans, some were more hospitable. There were also cases where the landlord was against it but his sons convinced him because they had also been in the camp and knew how hard it could be. When he thought his journey would continue without problems, on the way to Písek on a bridge over the Vltava, he encountered a German patrol. He had to go with them to their accommodation in an inn. Here he sat sadly, waiting for his fate, and thought: "Never say hop before you jump!" But in the end, he was lucky. A German soldier who spoke perfect Czech pitied him because he was also from the town of Hodonín and was already tired of the war. This pity gave him courage. Then a conscious German officer arrived and ordered that Búri must go with other soldiers in the vehicle to Tábor, where he would be taken before the command. pp. 243/244: The soldiers did not want to detain him, so he ran away in the town of Tábor. He then looked for a way out of the town when an old woman spoke to him. She asked where he came from and what he was looking for. He told her the truth. Then the kind old woman knocked on a window and a woman opened it. The old woman said, "Maria, give me a loaf of bread!"pp. 244-245: He thanked her surprisedly and hid the bread under his coat. Then he left the town somewhat fearfully. He was now uncertain and a little frightened because he had not expected to be captured again. Therefore, he did not ask for a place to stay the next night but slept in a hayloft outside. Early in the morning he got up and continued in the direction of Chýnov. He heard the sound of artillery, the roar of airplanes, and general commotion. All this meant that he was approaching the front. In this situation, he reached the village of Kozmice. Actually, he was no longer alone because he had previously met a compatriot, Dominik Tužinsky from Nová Baňa, and they continued traveling together. In Kozmice, they met a kind man, Jozef Sláviček from the Czech lands. This good man had a small shop in Kozmice and also worked on a few small fields of his own. He hid them in his house, and they were able to stay with him for two weeks. He risked this every day in case the Germans found them there. They were allowed to stay in a small but clean storage room at the back, where they could wash and even shave. They received new clean shirts from him. They were very grateful for all this and always gladly helped him and his whole family. Simply like at home. The housewife once asked them if they had any special wishes regarding food, to which Búri nervously said that he had not eaten sheep cheese dumplings for a year. "And can you prepare the sheep cheese?" the housewife asked. "I could gladly try," Búri said. Dumplings with cheese and spirkel /They did not have sheep cheese/ were very tasty for the whole family. In such a good mood, Búri and Tužinsky spent the last beautiful days with this kind family. Only occasionally did they feel a little afraid that the fascists might catch and shoot them at the last moment, as had happened in many cases. Then they experienced a big event when a folk music band passed through the village, playing and singing. Everyone sang along, and the Czechoslovak flag was raised on the houses. The people were very happy. Suddenly, the people's militia was also on the street, wanting to arrest collaborators. After May 9, Štefan Búri and Dominik Tužinsky left the caring family and continued eastward toward Slovakia. Búri continued to write letters with this Czech family for many years—until Mr. Sláviček passed away. Then the former prisoners passed through Jihlava, where they received new shoes and provisions. After that, they continued toward Brno. After the end of the war, the roads were no longer as dangerous as before, but occasionally there were still armed fascist units hiding in the forests threatening people. But the situation was getting better and better, also thanks to the increasing number of people's militias. On the way home, the fellow prisoners from various concentration camps sometimes met. Búri especially remembers his friend Aloiz Korenek from Halenkovo near Vsetín, from the death factory, with whom he still writes many letters. The march ended in Brno because they continued by train. They watched how quickly it approached home—they were soon in Břeclav. Here they were warmly welcomed and cared for by Soviet soldiers. Then they traveled further through Kúty to the town of Trnava, which Búri remembers bitterly. Near the train station, they entered a house and asked for water because there was none at the station and they had not drunk for a long time. To their negative surprise, they were thrown out of the house—this family was surely badly affected by the war. pp. 245/246: They took the last part by train to Nitra. Then they rode in a Romanian military vehicle to Levice. pp. 246-247: The railway from Levice to Nová Baňa was still not repaired, so Búri had to travel this last stretch by horse-drawn carriage, which was intended for postal delivery. Finally, on May 16, 1945, he arrived home. He opened the door to his apartment and was very happy to find and reunite with his family in good condition, to have survived all the bad and difficult times, and that fascism had finally fallen, mainly thanks to the Soviet Union—the great, strong socialist country he had admired since childhood. The last bad moment was perhaps when he entered his own kitchen and his wife did not recognize him at first—she could not immediately recognize the aged, impoverished man—but time quickly healed everything. pp. 246-247: V. Work on the liberated homeland (probably rather something like: "During the construction of the liberated homeland? M.B.) When Búri spent some time with his wife and children, he first visited Jozef Moravský. Mr. Moravský was a chairman in the local organization of the KSS (Communist Party of Slovakia) in Nová Baňa. When Búri was still in the concentration camp, during the hardest times he often thought that if he survived all that, he would immediately visit the workers' party in Nová Baňa. He had already helped there as a student and now he was convinced that only the communist party could prevent a repetition of fascism. His old dream quickly came true after his return home and on May 17, 1945, he became a member of the KSS. His well-intentioned guarantors were the old Neumontan communists – Štefan Holý, older, a member since 1924, and Štefan Tužinský, a member since 1932, for whom he had worked as a minor in the Czechoslovak Republic and then several times in the Slovak State. After he physically recovered in six weeks, he began his work. He worked as a laborer on the railway reconstruction Svätý Kríž – today Žiar nad Hronom. He worked there until July 17, 1945, and then was transferred to Levice. Here he worked on building reconstruction and then on building maintenance. At the new position, he quickly established himself and gained the trust of superiors, especially party organs. Thus, in a short time, he was elected to the district committee of the KSS in Levice. At that time, the KSS in Levice was led by the chief secretary Anton Štrbik. In February 1948, he was actively involved in organizing the people's militia in Levice. In 1949, he was recalled so that he could concentrate exclusively on political interests. He then participated for six months in training at the main political school in Harmonia. After successful training, he became the chief secretary of the district committee of the KSS in Levice. / It should also be noted that before his political career, in 1946, he moved with his family to Levice. He was transferred to Bratislava already in 1950 and was entrusted with an important task at the first institutional committee of the KSS. He always valued the party's trust and always gave his best, despite his health not being particularly good after the time in the camp. Frequent travels, irregular nutrition, and little rest worsened his health condition. He became ill. Therefore, he applied for dismissal from this work function so that he could return to Levice and improve his health there. pp. 247/248: When he was healthy again, in 1953 he was entrusted with the leadership of the third committee of the ONV Levice. pp. 248-249: He served in this function until the next election in 1954. Then he was selected for membership in the ONV chairmanship and simultaneously as vice-chairman in the ONV. During this time, he again had too much work, was often on the road, and did not eat healthily. Therefore, he stopped this function after this election period in 1957 and continued for several years as a foreman in railway construction and simultaneously as chairman of the KSS in Levice. After a few years, his health condition worsened again and in 1963 he had to have stomach surgery. After convalescence, his health improved and he could work another six years in railway construction and politics. The political crisis in 1968 did not shake his Marxist internationalist thinking and he continued to successfully lead his organization. Proof of this was that in 1969 he was delegated by the OV KSS as a member of the review commission in the ZO railway depot Levice. In 1969, his health suddenly worsened again, which happened due to nervous tension because of the difficult year 1969. He had to be operated on twice in May 1969. On August 1, 1971, he became an invalid pensioner. Nevertheless, he remained politically active. When his health improved again, he continued working in a higher function as general secretary at the ZO SZPB in Levice. This section, with 250 members, was the largest not only in Levice but also in the wider area. He was very diligent and proud of this function, which is also proven by the fact that after a few years in this function, he knew almost all the members of the organization, their difficulties, or health conditions. Moreover, he had worked for many years in an organization for Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship. Now, when he is no longer politically active but enjoys time at home with his family, he sees that everything he and his colleagues achieved was very important for the next generations. He is sure that his work was not in vain, that despite the enemies who also live among us and their hostility, we are advancing victoriously toward the goal of communism. He often thinks of the past in Kleindenbach, where people nowadays live in peace and quiet – where he experienced such terrible situations, where thousands of soldiers died – about which young people today know very little. Hopefully, they sometimes remember it when talking about prisoner delegations, when they visit the great tomb of thousands of soldiers. On the highest side, one can also see the border where a grave for 178 soldiers stands. A grave with the call sign – as if he would "guard the border of peace and socialism." Awards and Commendations On the most important memorial days, Štefan Búri's chest is decorated with 13 awards – medals mainly for "Active participation in the SNP," "For merit in construction," or "For devoted work for socialism." Additionally, he has 14 recognitions and 4 plaques – altogether 31 proofs of a person who did not live in vain. /Processed by: Juraj Červenák/ Photo on the page with photographs between pp. 146 and 147 (back side)