Mária Bancíková

Jánošík has been topic of many Slovak and Polish legends, books and films. According to the legend, he robbed nobles and gave the loot to the poor. The legend were also known in neighboring Silesia, the Margraviate of Moravia and later spread to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The actual robber had little to do with the modern legend, whose content partly reflects the ubiquitous folk myths of a hero taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, the legend was also shaped in important ways by the activists and writers in the 19th century when Jánošík became the key highwayman character in stories that spread in the north counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (present Slovakia) and among the local Gorals and Polish tourists in the Podhale region north of the Tatras.

Nazi soldiers committed atrocities even when sober – and if they got drunk, they did even worse. The inhabitants of a Slovak village during the national uprising learn this when they have to accept an arrogant Hitlerite guard. When two soldiers go missing, the unit commander threatens to have five hostages executed for each of them as a warning. And he refuses to change his order, even when it turns out that drunkenness is to blame for the unfortunate incident. But the villagers get justifiably angry and take up arms.

Two roommates – Ivan Trnovský, a university student from a wealthy family, and Petr Gazdík, a young composer, try to win the affections of a young teacher, Hanka. She teaches schoolchildren to ski, and Ivan arranges a Christmas stay with her in the Tatra Mountains, in a cottage under the Devil's Wall...

Little Jerguš's father was killed by gendarmes. To help his mother, the boy is hired as a laborer, then goes to the factory, to the city, but, unable to withstand the cruel exploitation, hoping to become free and independent, returns to the mountains, where his father once fought for the good of the people.