Yelsk honoured memory of Slovak hero Jan Nalepka

The participants laid flowers to the stone and honoured the hero’s memory with a minute of silence.

The brave son of the Slovak people, Jan Nalepka was killed on November 16th, 1943, fighting to liberate Ovruch city (Zhitomir Region, Ukraine). He’s remembered and venerated in his native Slovakia, as well as in Yelsk.

Jan Nalepka was a partisan fighter in Gomel Region during the Great Patriotic War. Mobilized to the Slovak Army in March 1939, in 1941 he was deployed with his unit to the Eastern front. In early 1942, serving as chief of staff of the 101st Slovak regiment, he set up a secret resistance group and established contact with the Soviet partisan fighters. On May15th, 1943, with a group of officers and soldiers from his regiment, he defected to the partisans, meeting with them near the Remezy village (Yelsk District). Nalepka was a unit commander in the Saburov partisan division formed mainly from Slovak defectors. In summer and autumn of 1943, his unit repeatedly demonstrated great bravery fighting German Nazis in concert with the 1st Ukrainian front troops and other partisan units in the course of the Kiev offensive. In May1945, Jan Nalepka was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title (posthumously) for his great courage in fighting the Nazi occupiers. He was also awarded the Hero of the Slovak National Uprising title in his native Slovakia. His heroic deeds have been honoured in Yelsk by a memorial stone and a street that has been renamed after him. The local history museum keeps some of his belongings. Jan Nalepka is always remembered there, in times of patriotic celebrations, as well as in everyday life.