Ladislav Uko

* 1938

  • "We were threshing, the thresher broke down and we needed to repair it, so my dad and I went to Bohuslavice on a motorcycle to find a part. There was not a single car there, everything was deserted. Well, there was a ton, some were beating, the Russians went up in a car. They had machine guns there and that there was a revolution. And nothing here. And then, when the Russians stayed here and occupied us, that Troskanský from Šumperk, who was here with us, came back. What they were, (1974 - 1975) the chairman of the district national committee, the chairman of the party from there and our chairman came. It was here, we entertained them, we also gave them lunch. And that one asks if we are for Dubček." 0:34:42 – 0:36:19 - Memories of the arrival of occupation troops in the Bošácká dolina

  • "My parents only farmed, my mother was also from such a family, my grandfather farmed. They cultivated the land. Hard times came after the front, supplies were given... (contingents). There was a lot to be filled, 75 meters were transported to Zemianské Podhradie, 50 meters of potatoes for 15 crowns per meter, beef, pork. They gave us 4000 eggs, 4000 liters of milk. And those who did not comply were neither allowed to buy sugar nor to buy clothes for clothing. 0:02:40 – 0:03:57 - Memories of the transfer of contingents after the war

  • "The Russians stayed with us here for three weeks. Because we went to Bošáca, they had a grandfather and a sister there, but they came back. But they didn't want us to remain both children and grandparents. But the parents returned, but the Russians did not want to let them go. And everything that was buried here, that they had clothes, shoes, everything was dug up from the ground and taken away. They took our horses, two horses. Everything (Russians). After that, when we ran to that Bošáca, we are then down from those Kubiček family, like the ditches to Predpolomská dolina to Janego and from there we are to Bošáca. And then, when they came back, the Russian overtook us there and was already riding one of our mares, and when they called to her, she turned around, they caught her, and he pulled out a gun on dad. And they also asked where we were going and where our cottage was. Well, then they came back for the cows, here and there they even ran into Bošáca. But otherwise, there was only one ox left here, about 400 kilos, the Russians killed that too, they killed the pigs, everything that was there. There wasn't a single glass in the whole barrack, everything was broken." 0:06:36 – 0:08:35 - Ladislav remembers the stay of Soviet soldiers in their house

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    Grúň - Nová Bošáca, 07.04.2023

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First they came to liberate, then they devoured us

Witness Ladislav Uko as a soldier of basic military service
Witness Ladislav Uko as a soldier of basic military service
zdroj: Witnesses archive

Ladislav Uko was born on July 23, 1938 in the village of Grúň in Bošácká dolina as the first of three sons of Pavlo and Emília. As a child, he remembers from World War II the downing of an American plane near their settlement. During the liberation of our territory, their house was damaged by a German mine and they had to flee to their neighbors. He remembers the heavy fighting near Veľký Lopeník, when the Germans were retreating towards Moravia. Soviet soldiers lived in their house, the household had to dig bunkers in the mountains and bring them food. They killed their livestock and destroyed their house. After the war, the family had to pay high contingents. In August 1968, occupying troops came to Bošácká dolina and were looking for a „revolution“. A soldier who fought under Veľký Lopeník as a 19-year-old came to visit them. They had to hand over 12 hectares of land to the cooperative and he got a job as a technician in forestry melioration. After the revolution, they asked for the return of the land and started farming on their own again. Today retired, he and his wife Matilda have raised two sons and a daughter, they still live in Grúň.