title: St. Elizabeth’s Square (Námestie svätej Alžbety)
abstract: was born in Turzovka in the Northwestern Slovakian region of Kysuce. He grew up in a poor family without a father. He studied at high school, but he had to interrupt his studies for financial reasons. He worked as a labourer in Zln (1935Zln ( -1938)). In 1938-1940, he was unemployed and imprisoned for Communist agitation. From 1940 he had to serve in the Slovak army. 1941 he was taken to the Eastern Front where Slovakia, as an ally of Germany fought, against the Russians (he served in Crimea and