Josef Dušak(left) with his son-in-law Sjaak Lousberg in front of his farm at Schinveld (circa 1962).

From the early 1930s Josef Dušak, thought to be an Austrian officer from Ljubljana, inhabited a primitive house built by himself with a number of outbuildings attached and hidden deep in the woods of Schinveld, right on the German border. Though he was certainly not an unfamiliar figure in the Slovenian community he was not an active member. For many, he was no more than a notorious drinking companion, who hung a portrait of Stalin above the door and called Napoleon and Radetzky the finest war generals. He called believers 'Rozencrantz bandits' and referred to the pastor as a 'swine priest' ('Schweinepriester'). He resembled a lost cowboy and travelled in a coach ('cootch') pulled by a pitch-black racehorse. He was also known for having many wives - he married five times - and having thirteen children and likewise for his ruthlessness and fearlessness. Through his activities in the willow trade, Dušak became involved in the ferrying of stranded French and British pilots and the offering of shelter to French prisoners of war whom he helped to escape across the border. In 1949, he was rewarded by the French embassy with a 'passeur bénévole' for his help to French prisoners of war. The document was officially signed by Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French resistance during the Second World War and later president of France.