Následující text není historickou studií. Jedná se o převyprávění pamětníkových životních osudů na základě jeho vzpomínek zaznamenaných v rozhovoru. Vyprávění zpracovali externí spolupracovníci Paměti národa. V některých případech jsou při zpracování medailonu využity materiály zpřístupněné Archivem bezpečnostních složek (ABS), Státními okresními archivy (SOA), Národním archivem (NA), či jinými institucemi. Užíváme je pouze jako doplněk pamětníkova svědectví. Citované strany svazků jsou uloženy v sekci Dodatečné materiály.

Pokud máte k textu připomínky nebo jej chcete doplnit, kontaktujte prosím šéfredaktora Paměti národa. (michal.smid@ustrcr.cz)

Ján Zeman (* 1923  †︎ 2023)

I never stopped hoping that they wouldn‘t execute me

  • born December 20, 1923 in Myjava, Slovakia

  • grew up with his grandparents after the death of his mother and his father‘s emigration to USA

  • started working in the construction department of the Tauš factory in Myjava after his studies

  • became active in the anti-communist resistance together with his wife Olga in 1949

  • his collaboration with Štěpán Gavenda was revealed in August 1949 and he was subsequently arrested

  • sentenced to death in a show trial

  • his wife Olga Sandanusová was sentenced to fourteen years in prison (of which she served eight)

  • spent almost a year on death row in Leopoldov

  • spent two years of his sentence in the uranium camps ‘Bratrství’ and ‘Vojna’

  • also imprisoned in Opava, Mírov and Valdice

  • released in February 1964

  • after his release he and his wife stayed in Myjava where he found a job in the district industrial plant

  • during the Velvet Revolution he was a founding member of the Myjava cell of the Public Against Violence organization

  • served as a councilman in Myjava

  • received many awards for his activities in the anti-communist resistance, including the Medal of the President of Slovak Republic

  • still lives in Myjava (as of 2020)

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