Anton Facuna was born on 1 February 1920 in Horné Jaseno in central Slovakia. He was one of the most famous partisans in Slovakia. In the post-war period, Facuna also became known for his political activities as the first chairman of the Slovak association Zväz Cigánov-Rómov [English: Union of Gypsies-Roma, Czech: Svaz Cikánů-Romů].
Family and Childhood
According to his sister Anna Virágová (ca. 1925–unknown), Facuna’s family of four was the only Romani family living in Sklabiňa. Adriana Daneková (born 1978), however, refers to the ‘Gypsy Register‘ from 1939, according to which a family named Gregor also lived there. Facuna’s parents worked in a quarry, and during the winter months his father worked as a blacksmith.
Anna Virágová recounts the history of the family and Facuna’s resistance activities in the volume of testimonies edited by Milena Hübschmannová (1933–2005), ‘Po Židoch Cigáni’ [After the Jews, the Gypsies]. Between 1926 and 1931, Facuna attended primary school in Sklabiňa, and on the basis of his excellent academic performance he studied at a municipal middle school (Bürgerschule, meštianska škola, citizen school) in the regional capital Martin between 1931 and 1934. After leaving school, he took on casual work.
Partisan Activity
On 1 March 1944, Anton Facuna was sent to Italy as a member of a Slovak technical brigade carrying out military fortification work, where he was deployed in the construction of bunkers.
In May 1944, he managed to escape to the ‘Rinaldo’ partisan group, which carried out attacks on German positions. In the course of the fighting, he crossed the front line in mid-May 1944 and joined the Allies.
He then took part in a military operation in Bari, Italy, and in the American military mission ‘Day’, which was carried out in the Slovak State in the autumn of 1944 by the Office of Strategic Services (intelligence service of the United States War Department) under the command of Edward Victor Baranski (1917–1945).
This was part of the larger ‘Dawes’ mission led by Captain James Holt Green (1909–1945), whose goal was to free captured Allied pilots, partisans and other resistance fighters in Slovakia. The mission also aimed to overthrow the regime in Slovakia and win over Czechs and Slovaks to the resistance movement.
The members reached the rebel airport Tri Duby [Three Oaks] in central Slovakia in two groups of just over ten people. According to Jim (James Daniel) Downs (1931–2016), the military mission ‘Day’ included Anton Facuna and commander Edward Victor Baranski, radio operator Daniel Pavletić (unknown–1945), Slovak civilian Emil Tomeš (biographical data unknown), and pilot Lieutenant Lane Humphrey Miller (1921–1945).
Facuna took part in the Slovak National Uprising under various aliases, including Tony Novák. In October 1944, the members of the mission split into three groups; one remained in Banská Bystrica, another in Brezno, and the last group, ‘Day’, consisting of Facuna, Tomeš, Pavletić and Miller under the command of Baranski, was transferred to Zvolenská Slatina. There they gathered information about the movements of the German army, a task entrusted primarily to Facuna as Chief Intelligence Collector.
After a failed operation by the ‘Day’ mission, Anton Facuna was sent to Zvolen to gather information about the German treatment of prisoners. Thanks to this assignment, he avoided an attack on his military unit in Poľana and also escaped the arrest of its members in Banská Bystrica. While on his way to Poľana, he was stopped by a German patrol but managed to escape.
He returned to Zvolenská Slatina, where he had previously been staying at the home of Ján Zvára and Vera Zvárová. This family was also involved in the ‘Dawes’ mission. For a short time, Anton Facuna commuted between Zvolen and Zvolenská Slatina, procuring necessary materials such as ink and distributing illegal leaflets.
After the Zváras were arrested, he managed to flee to Belgrade and later back to Italy via Hungary and Romania, using forged identity papers. There he informed the relevant authorities about the failure of the mission.
The Murder of his Brother-In-Law and Father
Anton Facuna’s brother-in-law Rudolf Facuna (unknown–1944) also participated in the armed resistance during World War II. However, he was betrayed and arrested by German units on 29 September 1944 along with other members of his partisan unit. Together with 20 other residents of Sklabiňa, he was murdered on 3 October 1944. Sklabiňa had been the first Slovak municipality which the partisans declared to be part of ‘liberated territory of Czechoslovakia’ on 21 August 1944, just before the beginning of the Slovak National Uprising.
According to the chronicle of Sklabiňa, Anton Facuna’s father, who was probably also named Anton and whose dates of birth and death are unknown, was forced by German troops to participate in the burning of Sklabinský Podzámok on 30 September 1944.1See the articles at https://myturiec.sme.sk/c/6031397/podzamcania-si-pripomenu-i-vyrocie-vypalenia-obce.html and https://myturiec.sme.sk/c/7414284/fasistickemu-besneniu-padol-za-obet-sklabinsky-podzamok.html [accessed: 14/10/2026]. Houses belonging to Roma in the settlement of Prieslop in the immediate vicinity of Sklabiňa were also destroyed. He was then arrested by gendarmes and imprisoned in the basement of the Slovan Hotel in Martin. After a failed suicide attempt, he was beaten to death by gendarmes. His body was thrown into a nearby canal and never found.
After the War
On 15 May 1946, Anton Facuna returned to Sklabiňa. He married and had five children. Facuna worked as a chauffeur, technical officer, head of the construction department at the district national committee in Šamorín in south-western Slovakia, technician at Agroprojekt, designer at Keramoprojekt and test engineer for the firm Investing in Bratislava.
Between 1959 and 1963, he attended an industrial and construction training college in Bratislava. In 1964, he received a medal for his participation in the Slovak National Uprising. In the post-war period, he made several attempts to establish an organisation for Romani people, but did not succeed until 1969. Until October 1970, he was chairman of the Union of Gypsies-Roma and its production cooperative Butiker. Anton Facuna died on 10 October 1980 in Bratislava.
