Husák told us he never inwardly acquiesced in the occupation
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Jaroslav Kalný was born on April 27, 1929 in Veľké Rovné. His father was a post office administrator and his mother was a housewife. The family had to move quite often because of his father´s work. Slavo Kalný grew up in Ilava, later in Trenčín, where he studied at the local grammar school. More than a school he was keen on sports; he played soccer and table tennis. However, he exchanged the auspicious career of a sportsman for journalism, where he transferred after a year of his law study. Slavo Kalný is one of the first four journalism graduates in Slovakia. Yet during his studies he began writing for Smena daily, what was the central body for Youth Union back then. In February 1955 he got married with Valéria Schmitzová, later their sons Igor (1957) and Peter (1959) were born. As an editor at the educational department in Smena, in 1956 he experienced so-called Pyjamas Revolution and the related following studentsʼ resolutions criticizing the ruling regime and unbearable conditions at universities. Grouped around Gavril Gryzlov at the editorial office, he managed to become a renowned journalistic personality of 1960s. He focused on social issues of the population and he wrote news reports on this topic. To the first ones written as well as published belong fates of Romany people across the Eastern Slovakia named Cigánsky plač a smiech (Romany Weep and Laugh) (1960). Later on he moved with his wife to Košice for three years, where he was supposed to map life stories of people for Smena daily. In 1963 he returned to Bratislava editorial office and since 1965 until 1968 he was its managing editor. The invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 meant the end of socialism with a human face. The normalization process affected not only the daily, but also its employees and Slavo Kalný had to leave the newspaper from political reasons in 1969. He resorted to literary-dramatic centre of the Czechoslovak Radio in Bratislava. He couldn´t write under his own name, however, under his baton there was broadcasted a popular radio program Čo nového, Bielikovci? (What´s New, Bielik Family?) He experienced the Velvet Revolution at the SNP Square in Bratislava, but after the fall of the regime he decided to leave to retirement in 1990 and focus on a non-fiction literature. He wrote several valued books, for example Drámy na hraniciach (Dramas at the Borders) (2003) about escapes of people from Czechoslovakia after the communist coup, or Bombardovanie Apolky (Bombing of Apolka) (2007) about the youngest spy girl in Europe. He honored his journalistic colleagues in books Páni novinári I. and II. and a book Svedkovia mojej doby (Witnesses of My Era) (2011) is some kind of summary of author´s life memories and people in his surroundings. Slavo Kalný is a widower and recently lives in Bratislava.
