Correction Cell for Believing in God

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During his imprisonment in work camp, Eliáš Rudolf Duda, being a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, refused to work on Saturdays, because his church considers Saturdays to be holy days. “During the morning roll-call they were reading out the names of those who were supposed to work. The last name thy read was mine! So I told them that I wasn’t going to work. Then I turned around and ran back to the barracks. The guard followed me screaming: ‘What are you doing? Everyone is going. If you don’t go, you get the correction cell.’ So that was how I got to know the correction cell at Eliáš. It was a concrete dungeon with tiny windows. When they put me in, it was dark and moist. There were pipes on the ground and on the ceiling; I hardly squeezed through there. I lay down, and although I was tired, I couldn’t get much sleep. In the morning they took me out. It had been snowing, everything was white and that was really hard for my eyes. I staggered and fell down. The guard hit me, so I got up and we started to walk. Then all of a sudden he told me: ‘Go to the right! Out of the camp!’ But I didn’t move. ‘I’m not allowed to go there,’ I said. He started to swear and to hit me, and then opened the door and we entered the building for the guards. We went to the washroom and he screamed at me: ‘Clean the sinks!’ But I didn’t move; I just stood there. So he caught me and started to throw me to the left and to the right. I was careful not to fall down on my head. Then all of a sudden, the camp commander appeared. He ordered me to go out and just let me stand there while he was yelling at the guard.”

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Rudolf Duda

Rudolf Duda was born on May 25, 1929 in Košice. When he was six years old his mother, originally a Catholic, turned to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Rudolf Duda has two younger brothers – Dezider and Emanuel. All three brothers became Adventist preachers. From 1941 to 1949, Rudolf Duda attended classical grammar school and in 1949, he left the Catholic Church and was christened. After his leaving examinations, he decided to follow the example of his brother and go to Prague to study at the Adventist Seminary – the school in Prague-Krč was opened in 1946, but in 1950, the Adventist Church was forbidden and the school was closed down. After one year of studying, Rudolf Duda had therefore decided to return to Košice, where he started to work in iron ore mines in Spiš. Less than a year later, in the fall of 1951, Rudolf Duda was called to serve with the airborne unit in Levoč. For Adventists, the military service was the test of their faith that could significantly influence their future life. Rudolf Duda decided to follow his faith and refused to work on Saturdays, for which he was escorted to the military prison in Košice and put in the correction cell there. After several weeks, he was transported to Špilberk and again placed in the correction cell. During his imprisonment in Špilberk he was sentenced by the military tribunal to three years of imprisonment for disobedience of orders. After an appeal, his sentence was changed to one year. He spent his sentence in the Jáchymov area, in work camps Nikolai and Eliáš, where he kept refusing to work on Saturdays and was being repeatedly placed in correction cells. However, the end of the sentence by no means meant the beginning of free life for Rudolf Duda. Shortly after his release, he had to report for duty at mines in Radvanice by Ostrava, where he worked for two years at mines Fučík 1 and 2. On the New Year’s Eve of 1953 there was a cave-in in his mine and Mr. Duda was also affected, but luckily he was rescued. In 1965, he was finally given permission to become what he had always dreamt of – a preacher. He was given responsibility for the area of Moravské Slovácko, where he worked until 1969, when he started to teach at the Seminary. Since 1970, Rudolf Duda has preached in the Adventist Church in Prague-Vinohrady and he remains active there even after his retirement in 1989.

Stories of the 20th Century

Eliáš II

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The labor camp Eliáš II was built in the fall of 1950, right next to the Eliáš mine, in order to replace the unsanitary Eliáš I camp. However, the camp was built in haste and in a careless fashion. The bumpy surface had not at all been finished before the start of construction. In addition, it was built on a heap of intensely radioactive waste rock from the mine. The camp Eliáš II was closed down in April 1959.

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Correction Cell for Believing in God

Rudolf Duda