László Szlávics was born on 24 February 1927, at Henyehegy (today: Kislengyel) in Zala county. His father, Ernő Szlávics, was a fitter, his mother, Mária Burucs gave life to eleven children. Laci was three when the family moved to Győrszentiván as the father got a job in Győr. Győrszentiván was mainly populated by industrial labourers, which determined the life and atmosphere of the village. The one-room abode house, their home, was the last one in a street on the outskirt of the village. Beyond the fence, kilometres of fir and beech woods stretched, the Danube was an hour's walk away; it often flushed over its banks or swelled the inland waters to the corner of their house. Laci was hardly four when he whittled wood, and later, as a schoolboy, he collected clay on the bank and made statuettes at home. Supported by his father, he learnt the violin and other