Bratislava, Slovakia - "We were almost there when a bullet hit me again – this time in my right foot. Instantly, my shoe filled with blood." These are the words of Alexander Dubček, describing his desperate escape from German troops in the aftermath of the Slovak National Uprising of 1944.
These dramatic events took place near the village of Motešice, as Dubček and three comrades made their way home through the hills and forests of Western Slovakia. Dubček gives a gripping account of this journey in his autobiography, "Hope Dies Last", published posthumously in 1993.
As a historian with an interest in Dubček and the SNP, I recently set out to trace part of his epic route.
The SNP was the second largest war time uprising against fascism in Europe. Dubček, along with his brother Julius, joined thousands of other rebels to seize control of Slovakia's mountainous central region around Banská Bystrica. They hoped to defeat the pro-Nazi puppet government, or at least hold out long enough to join Soviet forces advancing from the East.
Dubček writes movingly of hastily packing his bag, kissing his mother farewell, and leaving the family home to go to war. He was assigned to an artillery unit and saw action between Nováky and Prievidza in the Nitra Valley. Early optimism soon gave way to despair as the enemy – pro-fascist Slovak troops supported by the German Army - advanced into the liberated zone. Dubček describes the vastly superior weapons of the German forces and the sense of disappointment as promised supplies from the Soviet Union were repeatedly delayed.
Dubček explains that, at the end of October, following "the fall of Banská Bystrica, the organised phase of the Uprising was over. All remaining Slovak forces […] went over to guerilla warfare." Dubček's small unit of four men headed west towards the village of Mníchova Lehota where one of the men had a cousin who could give them refuge. Avoiding roads and German patrols, the small group crossed the Strážov Highlands, bypassing Kremnica, Handlová, and Previdza.
In early December they reached the village of Motešice. Dubček describes the scene: "Motešice is a crossing of two mountain roads. Watching from the forest, we realised that the Germans had built a machine gun emplacement at the intersection, commanding the narrow lowland north of the village, which we had to cross. A shallow stream ran from north to south, parallel to one of the roads." They decided to cross the stream and then crawl towards the road but were only halfway there when the German machine gunners open fire.
Looking north from the village of Motešice. The stream runs behind the line of trees to the right. Dubček had to cross this narrow strip of land, get over the road and reach the forest on the far side of the road.
The four fugitives make a run for it, crossing the road and sprinting for the forest on the far side. "We ran as fast as we could to the edge of the forest, Bulko always ahead, myself a few steps behind him." It's at this moment Dubček gets hit in the foot but still they dare not stop. "Once inside the forest, we waited only a short while before moving again, up the hill to get away from the road and the searching Germans."
The men soon hear the sound of barking dogs and jump into a nearby pit, covering themselves in leaves until the patrol passes by. Dubček puts the dogs' failure to detect them down to luck. "That day in the forest on Ostry Mountain, we were saved by the fact that the wind was blowing towards us and away from the dogs." I couldn't be sure of Dubček's route at this point, but dutifully scrambled up the mountain passing several leafy pits where desperate fugitives might conceal themselves.
After a while, the men move on again, covering the final kilometers to the village of Mníchova Lehota where they can get shelter and medical attention for Dubcek's foot. In the following weeks of recuperation, Dubček learned that his brother, Julius, had been killed in a shootout with German troops.
At the time, Dubček saw the Uprising as a glorious but unsuccessful revolt which at least tied down thousands of enemy troops and undermined the legitimacy of the pro-Fascist puppet regime. So, it was with some bitterness that he learned later of Stalin's deliberate lack of support based on the Soviet Union's "suspicion of any actions over which they did not have complete control."
Getting the train back to Bratislava from the little village railway station at Mníchova Lehota I'm reminded of what a beautiful country this is. Meanwhile, a discarded newspaper tells of the latest developments from Ukraine. Outside the window, we pass an election poster encouraging voters to support one of Slovakia's far right parties. I wonder what Dubček would make of it all?
By David Keys
David Keys is a historian and co-author of the book 'Super Slovaks'.
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