Róbert Novotný

* 1963

  • "The people smuggling was either from Hungary and Yugoslavia, or from Austria. Mainly from Yugoslavia via Italy. It was either on foot or by car. For foreign but legal passports. We were always looking for someone who looked like that person, and we lent him a passport if that person allowed us to. Most of them were emigrants who got so incredibly involved because it was super dangerous. So, this is how I got my brother and his current wife from Czechoslovakia. Via Yugoslavia. Then we helped them either in Switzerland or to move from Switzerland somewhere else. When they wanted to go to Germany, I took them through the forest in Basel. That was my smugglers trail."

  • "I was also trying to get my brother from Czechoslovakia, I began with some activities among the emigrants, and I got into such a smuggling group of Czechs and Slovaks who transported people from Czechoslovakia, mainly from Yugoslavia or directly from Czechoslovakia. It was such an insider group, where, of course, under the greatest punishment, one had to swear that would not betray others if one did not want to cooperate anymore. I set out on that because I wanted to get my brother out of there, which I finally managed to do - get him out of Czechoslovakia with his wife. They still live in Switzerland. I was at a few events, whether they were Czechs or Slovaks, then they went to Germany or Australia, or to America ... We smuggled a lot of people in this way, which was a huge risk, because we were threatened - there are seven years in prison everywhere for the people smuggling, I guess everywhere - plus deportation from Switzerland would follow. We did everything for free, purely out of conviction."

  • "This gentleman was an agent at first glance. He offered me various things, me and my family could become free and we would have incredible benefits if I worked with him. I flatly rejected it. There was an argument, then there was a battle, they pushed me on the seat ... everything happened very quickly. The gentleman suddenly had a small-calibre revolver in his hand, I guess a seven-millimetre, a shot rang out and they shot in my hand. I still have a scar from it. Everyone was quite frightened, I took advantage of that moment and jumped out the window. It was a higher ground floor ... so it was almost from the first floor. I ran away, but I started to bleed terribly, it ripped out almost half of my hand. It was Friday and, of course, since I had things in progress, I could not go to the doctor, also because it was clear that it was a gunshot wound, and I would have problems because the doctor would have to report it. So, I kind of treated it at home and I waited. but of course, the wound inflamed, as almost always after gunshot wounds - I did not have just one. It inflamed over the weekend, so I had to go to a doctor. Finally, I called a surgeon, he was Czech, his name was Dr. Piško. He had a private surgical clinic. He told me to come to his clinic in the evening. He waited for me there, I told him what had happened, he treated me and gave me antibiotics. He helped me a lot and made me a secret diagnosis. "

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Banská Štiavnica, 16.11.2020

    (audio)
    délka: 51:39
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th century
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    Banská Štiavnica, 27.03.2021

    (audio)
    délka: 30:45
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the 20th century
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Today, communists and fascists are in high political positions and I find it scandalous.

Róbert Novotný
Róbert Novotný
zdroj: witnesses archive

Róbert Novotný was born on March 20, 1963 in Bratislava to his parents Emil and Irena Novotný. Both parents worked on the radio, so they automatically became dissidents after invasion of the Warsaw Pact forces. They lost their jobs, the children had trouble getting to high school due to due to poor personnel assessments. Róbert has been actively involved in mountaineering since childhood, thanks to which he was selected for an expedition to Switzerland in 1982. He used this opportunity to emigrate. He settled in Basel, where he continued his dissident activities. Later, he was lured to a conspiracy apartment, where secret agents offered to cooperate. He turned down the offer. An argument followed, after which he was shot. Róbert also became a member of a secret smuggling group of Czechs and Slovaks, in which he helped several people, including his brother Emil, escape from Czechoslovakia. After more than thirty years, he decided to return to Slovakia permanently. Today he lives in Banská Štiavnica.