In late 2010, Slovak-born Igor Mikolaska began working on the Recording Voices & Documenting Memories project as a field interviewer in Chicago. One year and around 30 interviews later, the NCSML asked him a couple of questions about what he had learned through his participation in the project:
“Since I started work on the oral history project I have learned to appreciate the society we live in now. I have realized that people cannot be caged in their opinions and in where they live, since they always strive for freedom. It is a universal law of life and everybody gravitates towards it.”
Which are your favorite and least favorite parts of the job?
“Recording memories that otherwise might be lost is an exciting part of the job and there is a lot to be learned from older generations. Many times I’ve found myself wondering how they were able to find the strength, courage, and amazing tolerance required to go through such a difficult process of creating a new life. On the other hand, getting to where you are actually sitting in front of that person isn’t easy. People find themselves reluctant to open closed chapters of their life, so as not to suffer again.”
Which has been your favorite interview to record and why?
“Vladimir Krman has an amazing story that could be in a Hollywood movie. Three friends meet in a dance hall in Bratislava and orchestrate an extremely difficult escape out of the country. The fact they escaped in an airplane is truly spectacular…
“...Their road to freedom was not an easy one, but I guess they took a shortcut through the sky.”
What is, in your opinion, the importance of oral history projects such as Recording Voices & Documenting Memories?
“I would have been very grateful if somebody had recorded an interview with my grandparents. The stories they told are gone with time and I am left with just a vague image of the life of my grandparents. At the time I did not think of taking a pencil and scribbling down their amazing past adventures and they are lost now. Through documenting the past we can understand better the future and can learn aspects of history that have never been told to anyone. We record stories that otherwise could be lost.”
In which ways do you hope the project develops over the next two years?
“I hope that the oral history project can be used also for educational purposes and as an inspiration to future storytellers. I hope that people will take more interest in the lives of their relatives. I hope that though the project people will also appreciate present times more since this turbulent past is behind us.”
The NCSML has just started recording the oral histories of Czechs and Slovaks, such as Igor, who came to the United States following the fall of Communism in 1989. Watch our website over the coming days to see excerpts from Igor’s interview with Recording Voices & Documenting Memories.
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