European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

The soldier said: Yeah, yeah, yeah… and what will you do without any money?

I explained that we record our dues in a booklet and that we pay the balance at the end of the year.

He was suspicious of me. He couldn’t figure out how to get me caught.

After flipping through my papers he finally whips out a photograph of my first love, Elvira from Stanjel.

‘Forever yours Elvira’ was written on the back. He knew a little Slovene and said to me:

Translate this for me. I did what I had to. Because of his little knowledge of Slovene, he then feeling victorious, snorted:

Now I’ve got you. So this is a theological seminary? And you’re a priest?!

I hung my head and said: What can I say, youth is youth.

I was repentant, as if to say I’d disobeyed the rules of the seminary.

He watched me and then said: That’s quite a tall story you’ve told, huh?

I looked him straight in the eyes and said to him:

Is it that difficult to discern when someone is telling a lie or the truth?

I was looking straight at him, but I was dripping sweat from fear and horror. He told me to go.

I probably never could have pulled off a trick like that without the four years of high school.

I was at least a little above the level they were used to meeting in a regular fighter.

A peasant boy would only look on in horror once he was caught.

Once I discovered the effectiveness of the rosary, I was more than happy to continue carrying it.

I related this story two times after that and it always worked.

…Those were the little guys; they were still learning how to read.

I had a hidden bunker in school.