European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

When we got there someone asked me my surname. Once more I said Ivan Ivanovic Srcnikov.

He spoke Russian and said something about some measurements; I didn’t understand because he was speaking too fast.

He explained to me that I was standing before a table and that something is on the table, but he didn’t say what.

He said that I would have to show him by the time he counted to ten.

I still didn’t know what.

My eyes were still tied.

He untied my eyes and said that I must show him where Celje is.

I forgot to mention that I had said I was from Celje.

I thought that if I were to say I was from Kropa, they wouldn’t know where it was.

If I were to say I was from Gornji grad, it’d be even worse. So I said I was from Celje.

This man, the one who pulled out the map said that if I can show him where Celje is on the map, then I am a Yugoslav.

He said by the time he counts to ten; if I can’t, then I go to the Slivnjak, down by the plum trees.

Then he counted ras, dva, tri, shetiri… And I showed him, here it is.

He patted me on the shoulder and said ti Jugoslav, meaning: you are a Yugoslav and now you’ve convinced us.

I went to Siberia.

We went with these German people; they took us to Siberia, where we met up with other Slovenians.

All the Slovenians gathered together and we were told that we may each choose our own group.

And once the group was formed we would get our work.

That’s how we came together; there were ten of us Slovenians. Then we got our tools, saws, axes …

We were sent into the forest to cut down trees.