Photographer, Bookseller, Naturalist

Slovakia

Introduction for Slovakia

Hitchhiked northeast from Budapest and crossed into (what was then) Czechoslovakia, close to Košice. My intent was to search out my mother’s mother’s home town (village) that she had told me was Michalovce, about 30-40 km. from the border with the Ukraine. The only information I had was the name of the village and grandmother’s last name before marriage. The last two photos were taken at a country farmer house inhabited by a ‘Bak’ family. I was deposited by a truck driver on the side of the road and told that this is where the Baks lived. I tried to explain to the Bak family that I likely was a family relative. They did not know the story of my grandmother Anna but were happy to let me stay overnight with them before heading back to Košice where the first group of photos were taken. Autumn 1970.