Olga Horak - Return To Bratislava

Return To Bratislava

As the situation in Hungary worsened, Horak’s father started making arrangements to return to Bratislava. They had the same guide as in 1942 and took, roughly, the same route. They took the train and stopped at the same little Hungarian border village. On the way out of the station, Hungarian gendarmes were positioned to verify papers and travel documents. Horak and her parents got through safely. Her Aunt Aranka and Uncle Jacob did not; they were deported to Auschwitz while their 15-year-old son, Thomas, kept walking. He never saw his parents again and would never again speak of them.

In late August 1944, the Germans invaded Slovakia. Eugene, a cousin of Horak and a young solicitor who worked with the underground, was pushed from the third story of a building in broad daylight. With the invasion of the Germans came more deportations to death camps. In early August 1944, Horak and her family were told to go to Marianka, another area outside of Bratislava. After two weeks, a group of SS guards and Hlinka Guards surrounded the building.