11: From the Russian line back to Prešov

As they get closer and closer to the line of battle, they can hear shouting and gunfire. Not only do they hear the battle, but the battle itself closes in on them: mortar shells and artillery start to fall around them and fly overhead. At one point, they come across an abandoned German camp stocked with ammunition and weapons. Oscar is “ecstatic. All this stuff was here for the taking and I couldn’t get my hands on any of it. Anyu saw to that. [. . .] If I could have run over and taken a shiny bayonet, a couple of grenades, maybe a pistol. Wow, wouldn’t that have been fun? Once we got back to Prešov, I would have shown them off to all my friends.”

As they approach the Váh River, they see the bloated, floating carcasses of dead animals: horses, cows, and dogs. Irene instructs Oscar to look away.

The light fades and still they are walking—again through the forest.

Excerpt from Escape to the Tatras

As total darkness enveloped the forest, with it came an eerie silence. All I could hear were our footsteps tapping on the soft forest floor. We were walking with precision, almost in unison. By this time, we were all numb. The entire experience seemed unreal; I felt like I was in a waking dream with the long-awaited reality of freedom nearly within reach. As we drew closer to our destination, my heart swelled with happiness and my eyes filled with tears. We were so close. We had survived. We would really be free. Yet, in spite of all the signs behind us of an apparent Nazi defeat, for some unexplainable reason, I was also terribly afraid we might not yet reach our goal. 

[. . .]

From out of nowhere we heard sharp shouts, gruff voices of men screaming “Postoy, Postoy!” so loud they almost sounded like gunshots coming from behind the trees. More male voices echoed in the darkness, aiming flashlights and automatic weapons at us. What now? Were we under arrest?

Desperate cries of fear came from the adults in our group, but not from the partisans in the lead. They recognized the command “Postoy!” In Russian it meant “Stop!” Our reaction changed from shock to exhilaration. The message relayed down from the front of the line. We were now the wards of a Russian patrol and had reached the liberated territory at last!

In the darkness, Russian soldiers order them to line up, telling the partisans to lay down their weapons. They are searched and ordered to hand over their watches, which are never returned. The group then follows their Russian liberators into the town of  Žiar. There they are taken to a hall and given hot potato soup. It begins to dawn on the group that they are free, that they have food and shelter again. People smile and cry and eat with gusto. Everyone except for Oscar. His mother asks him, “Why aren’t you eating?” Oscar answers, “Because I hate potato soup.” “Ty si sa zblaznil?” (“Have you lost your mind?”) she asks in Slovak. But Oscar cannot be convinced; he cannot stand the smell.  More than soup, Oscar wants to sleep. The Russians give them cots and blankets, and the exhausted Oscar falls sleeps at once.

The Štaubs look for a military vehicle going towards Prešov, hoping to catch a ride. As they wait, they walk through Žiar in the sun and mild weather and see a man whom Irene recognizes. She calls out “Laci!” He stops, looking at her uncertainly. Then he recognizes her— “Irenke!” It is a friend from her teenage years in Sobrance. They are delighted to see each other. Irene’s friend is able to move the Štaub family into a house with nice beds and organizes transport for them to start making their way back to Prešov.  He also gives Irene some Slovak money. In their new accommodations, the Štaubs enjoy the experience of washing with scented soap and using an indoor toilet for the first time in months.

The next day, they again pack their meager belongings, which now include a set of clothes they have been given by the Russians. First they are driven to a house in Poprad, just blocks away from where Irene had faked an illness in the hospital. The house has been abandoned and they are able to sleep there.  The next day they try to find a bus to take them from Poprad to Prešov, but learn there will be no bus for several days. Impatient to restart their lives, the Štaubs hire a car to drive them home.