Rudolf Pípaš

Rudolf Pípaš.

Born 21. 8.1908 in Obsolovce, died 1969 in Bratislava (killed by a truck on the street of Bratislava-Rendez). Note: the surname has several variants according to the sources: Pipas, Pipás, etc. I am not sure which one is correct. The one above is taken from (death certificate??).
Grave in Bratislava-Rača (desecrated & destroyed in around 2016).
Wife Mária nee Cingeľová, children Mireille (my wife) and Margaret (also known as Petra); second child, a boy baptised Rudolf, died in infancy in Buchloe in 1941.

On the picture above is Rudolf with his wife Maria.

Rudolf Pipaš - Maria Cingelova wedding, Belgium, 1939

    He was my wife's father.

    Medium built, slim, darkish complexion, with leathery skin from working outdoors most of his working life.

    Before the second world war he worked in Belgian mines around Peronnes-lez-Binche, where he met and married his wife Maria nee Cingeľová. Their first child, Mireille, was born in the same town. Running before the advancing German army they fled to Paris and eventually ended up in a town called Buchloe in Germany. Their second child, a son named Rudolf, was born and died as infant in Buchloe. Their third child, Margaret, was also born in Buchloe, Germany, where Rudolf worked for a few years at the local railway station.

    Returned to Slovakia sometime around 1944/45, lived initially in the area he was born (Radošina, Obsolovce). Apart from his native Slovakian language he spoke both French and German.

    He once said to his daughter Mireille (many years before Mireille heard of my Australian dreams) that "once you leave this country, my daughter, make sure that you never return". At the time M. had no idea why he said that but guessed that he rued his return from Belgium. It needs to be added that their return from Belgium to Czechoslovakia was based on the assumption that Czechoslovakia will after the end of WW2 become the same civilised and prosperous country as it was before. Instead, the country turned to "socialism", a political system not unlike slavery, or rather serfdom, of old...
    On coming to Bratislava, he worked as a railwayman along the line from Rača to Trnavske myto (a street crossing in Bratislava); for a few years he was a stationmaster at a small but busy stop at Rjazanská ulica. Continued living in a railway house about 200 metres from where I lived in Račianska ulica 794 even after his wife and two daughters moved some 7 km away to a flat in (about) 1961.

    According to Mireille he had three brothers, one of whom changed his surname to Podhorsky. Mireille does not remember much of them, except that they lived in the Obsolovce region of Slovakia.

   Personally, I've never had a chance of speaking with him. He was in charge of the single railway line just behind the line of houses some 200-300 metres from our house. He used to chase us as children when he saw us near the line, and we used to keep our distance from him. On one occasion, when I was already married to his daughter, he stopped me while I was walking to work. He was on the railway line overseeing a gang of workers repairing the track, and we were smack between the two local airports: aeroclub airfield to our left, some 1 km distant; international airport to our right, some 3km distant. With a sly smile he told me that he observed some strange things above the aeroclub airfield. I suggested that I would be interested, as I was in the charge of powered flying at the aeroclub. My remark ignored, he continued that some of the airplanes he saw were doing strange manoeuvres, as if the pilots did not know how to fly straight or were unable to control their airplanes. I told him that we were preparing for the aerobatic championship... Never mind, it was all too strange to him. He imparted to me similar pedestrian observation about some airliners preparing to land nearby, again ignoring my remark that I am on my way to work as an air traffic controller on the same airport. A few days later we met again close to a little cafe frequented by the railway gang. He dragged me inside and poured a few shots of local gin into me; what we were talking about I have no recollection of, and that was the only time I ever had the chance of speaking with him. At the time I had no idea about his life until many years later my wife - his daughter - told me about their life in Belgium (where she was born), France and Germany. He must have had an interesting and fairly difficult life as the WW 2 was raging all around him, his wife and their children, and at times, even above them...

Added Nov. 2017
We have been contacted by Vladimir Podhorsky, the son of Rudolf's brother Gustav. He is about 76 years old & lives with his wife Eugenia in Nitra, Slovakia. Vladimir is interested in restoring Rudolf's grave in Bratislava, which has been demolished by my sister Hanka a few years previously; the grave was still recorded under her name.

After negotiations the ownership of the grave has been transferred to Mireille in 2019. As of 2021 the fate of the grave is uncertain, negotiations between Mireille & Rudolf are ongoing.

Final word regarding the grave: Mireille decided to return her ownership of the grave back to the cemetery administration, as of 24. 6. 2021. Contact with Vladimir (rather mild-mannered man) & Eugenia P. (a shrew) suspended indefinitely on Eugenia's urging.

Early in 2026 Mireille heard from (?) that Vladimir has died, our written enquiries with his wife remain unanswered.