Pri Obrane Života Bližneho Obetoval Vlastný Život

Blíži sa sté výročie tragickej udalosti, ktorá sa odohrala pri príležitosti ustanovujúceho snemu Kresťanského roľníckeho združenia v 20-tych rokoch 20. storočia, presne 28. marca 1921 na nádvorí vtedajšej meštianskej školy Albertinum v Trnave. Akcie sa zúčastnil medzi inými aj Otec slovenského národa Mons. Andrej Hlinka. Do snemovania sa votrela nepozvaná, bojovo naladená skupinka trnavských sociálnych demokratov. Tí v priebehu jednania snemu vyvolali roztržku a po slovných útokoch a výkrikoch aj fyzicky, drevenými polenami zaútočili na rečnícku tribúnu s jediným cieľom zabrániť za akúkoľvek cenu vystúpeniu Andreja Hlinku.

V momente, keď bolo jasné, čo sa chystá urobiť spomínaná skupinka, do cesty sa im pohotovo postavil aj jeden z prítomných účastníkov snemu a zároveň osobný priateľ Andreja Hlinku, roľník Štefan Mikuš, aby ho vlastným telom ochránil a zabránil tak fyzickému násiliu. Pri tejto obrane utrpel úraz – fraktúru lebky a o niekoľko dní 3. apríla 1921 na následky ťažkého poranenia skonal.

Správanie roľníka Štefana Mikuša nemožno hodnotiť inak ako slovami hrdinský čin. Na obranu zdravia a života blížneho neváhal nastaviť vlastné telo. Vo Svätom písme čítame, že nikto nie je hoden väčšej lásky ako ten, kto položí život za svojho blížneho. Tento jeho udatný počin ocenilo po viac ako 20-tich rokoch tejto tragickej udalosti v čase 1. Slovenskej republiky mesto Trnava odhalením sochy „Sedliak Štefan Mikuš“ na znak úcty k jeho obeti na území svojho mesta.

Žiaľ, tento pamätník inštalovaný v roku 1944 ako spomienka na hrdinský čin Štefana Mikuša na Univerzitnom námestí v Trnave neušiel krátko po skončení 2. svetovej vojny pozornosti iným socialistom a „bojovníkom“, príslušníkom prokomunistického Zväzu slovenských partizánov, ktorý tento pamätník v októbri 1945 svojvoľne strhli a zničili.

Skoro 80 rokov muselo uplynúť, aby sa na základe dobových záznamov roľníkovi Štefanovi Mikušovi pri výročí storočnice jeho hrdinského činu opätovne odhalila už len replika pôvodného pamätníka. Pochopiteľne presne na deň stého výročia tejto tragickej udalosti a výlučne len v réžii jeho blízkeho príbuzného, Jozefa Mikuša st. Veľká škoda, že sa v Trnave pre tohto hrdinu opätovne nenašlo miesto. Sklamanie je o to väčšie, že mesto tento nezištný hrdinský čin už raz ocenilo. Dnešní čelní predstavitelia nie sú pravdepodobne schopní dôslednej apolitickej reflexie, ktorá by im pomohla naprávať chyby a omyly svojich predchodcov. Replika tohto dobového pamätníka bude preto dočasne odhalená na súkromnom pozemku pred rodinnou firmou pána Jozefa Mikuša „JM vinárstvo“ v Doľanoch v okrese Pezinok.

Vzhľadom na momentálnu nejasnú pandemickú situáciu nie je vylúčené, že sa plánované slávnostné odhalenie repliky sochy nakoniec nebude môcť uskutočniť v pôvodne plánovanom termíne 28. marca 2021. Aktuálne informácie k tejto udalosti budú všetkým záujemcom včas oznámené.

“Štefan Mikuš – He Sacrificed His life in Defense of the Father of the Nation”

by Jozef Mikuš (edited and translated by Michael J. Kopanic, Jr.)

At the request of my colleague from Bratislava, Ivan Regula, a writer and publisher, I have translated the following story about Štefan Mikuš, written by his great nephew, Jozef Mikuš (not the same person as Professor Jozef Mikuš, the former Slovak historian and diplomat).

The article commemorates a man’s heroic deed on Easter Monday in 1921. This year of 2021 marks the 100^th year anniversary of the event. A ceremony is planned to rededicate a monument to him which the communists destroyed after World War II.

The Event

On March 28, 1921, Štefan Mikuš and over 5,000 other farmers went to Trnava to attend the Congress of the Christian Farmers’ Association. Notable Church and political dignitaries presided at the gathering, including the Bishop of Nitra, Karol Kmeťko (who celebrated the Mass), Dr. J. Buday, Ferdinand Ďurčanský, Senator Klimko, MP member Šmalík from Moravia, and Dr. D. Plechlo, the chairman of the Christian Association of Agriculture in Trnava. One of the keynote speakers was Monsignor Andrej Hlinka, a leading force behind the Slovak struggle for nationality rights in Austria-Hungary. After the war, he spearheaded the movement for Slovakia’s autonomy and the observance of the Pittsburgh Agreement of 1918

Following an opening Mass, the assembly gathered in the courtyard of the Abertinum to listen to convene the assembly. The historic Abertinum building was originally part of a Jesuit seminary for theological candidates, which was founded in 1635 by the Jesuit priest, Peter Pázmány. He had served as the Archbishop of Esztergom, the Primate of Hungary, and a significant leader of the Catholic Counter-Reformation in Hungary. Pázmány promoted the use of the Slovak language over the Czech language. As a result, Trnava became a center of Slovak education and literature, since most of its teachers and half of its students were Slovaks. Until recently, the Abertinum served mainly as a primary school, and part of the building was divided into a private art school and a dance conservatory. The building was recently returned to Trnava University, but is sorely in need of extensive repairs, which the EU will contribute to partially funding.

In the Abertinum courtyard, a left-wing mob viciously attacked Monsignor Andrej Hlinka, the renowned Slovak priest and national leader. Štefan Mikuš selflessly threw himself in front of the rioters to protect his beloved friend, one of Slovakia’s most famous national leaders in the early 20^th century. The uninvited mob was yelling “Musíme Hlinku zabiť!” (We must kill Hlinka!) . Mikuš shouted back, “Man, what are you doing, you’re going to kill him! We won’t let you have Hlinka!” (Človeče, čo robíte, veď ho zabijete! My si Hlinku nedáme!) An enraged attacker then hit Mikuš on the head with a club (Mikuš, 2014; Sidor, p. 457).

Several other farmers from Dolná Krupa and Špačinice were also severely injured. Štefan’s son and an acquaintance managed to escape the violent mob and rush him to safety. After treating his bleeding wounds, they took him home by train to Leopoldov, and then to Ratkovce in a rented wagon.

Despite his serious injuries, Štefan Mikuš was more concerned about Hlinka than his own well-being. He asked, “Did anything happen to Hlinka?” Unfortunately, Štefan came down with pneumonia and died after three days. Before dying, a priest heard his confession and administered last rites. He passed away on April 4, 1921 (Štefan Mikuš, Hlavné správy).

Biography

Štefan Mikuš was born on August 9, 1859 in Ratkovce, a village in the Hlohovec District of the Trnava Region of western Slovakia. He attended primary school in the Slovak language, which was still taught before the wave of Magyarization of schools started. Upon graduation, he worked at home on a farm and also served as his village’s leader (richtár).

Štefan came from a strong Roman Catholic family. In 1883, he married Anna (née Vávrová from Špačinice). They had five children together – two sons and three daughters. All went on to live productive lives. Rudolf’s eldest son was ordained a Jesuit priest and rose to be the Provincial of his order in Slovakia. Rudolf held that position until the communists suppressed the order on the Night of the Barbarians on April 13, 1950, when they liquidated all religious orders in Czechoslovakia. His other children also did well. Štefan Jr. started a teaching career and later was chief inspector at an ironworks. The eldest daughter, Valeria, and the youngest Philomena, both became teachers. The middle daughter, Mária, chose to be a housewife. The grandchildren did not forget their dedo and dedicated a commemorative plaque to him on June 21, 2014 at the cemetery in Ratkovce.

Interestingly, the author of the original article in Slovak, Jozef Mikuš, the great nephew of Štefan Mikuš, was also the first newborn citizen of the first independent Slovak state. He was born on March 14, 1939, around three o’clock in the afternoon, at the time the Slovak Parliament ratified Slovakia’s independence. His life paralleled the fate of Slovakia.

Because of his background, he was denied higher education, so he trained to be a lumberjack. Fortunately, he initially found employment teaching at a forestry school, but then lost his job when the communists found out he was a practicing Catholic. In search of better medical care for his ill daughter, he emigrated to Austria in 1971. To scrape by, he worked at various jobs to survive: a handyman in a garden restaurant at the Ferris wheel in Vienna; preparing furniture for carpenters to finish; a salesman for a Jewish merchant. After the fall of communism, he returned to Slovakia in 1991 and utilized some of the entrepreneurial skills he learned to improve and expand a family wine business. Today, the Mikuš family is one of the largest wine producers in Slovakia, annually producing a million liters of vino.

Additional Sources Consulted

Felak, James. At the Price of the Republic: Hlinka’s Slovak People’s Party, 1929-1938. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994.
Mikuš, Jozef, “Neznámy príbeh Štefana Mikuša,” May 14, 2018, http://www.andrejhlinka.sk/clanky/neznamy-pribeh-stefana-mikusa (Accessed Feb. 22, 2021).
Mikus, Jozef, Štefan Mikuš: martýr slovenského národa (1859 – 1921),” Kultúra, 11/2014 (28. mája), p. 9, http://www.kultura-fb.sk/new/old/archive/pdf/kult1114.pdf (Accessed Feb. 25, 2021).
“Obetoval svoj život pri obrane Otca národa,” Kultúra, 4/2021, 24. February 2021, p. 11.
“Obetoval život za Andreja Hlinku,” Národné noviny, Aug. 2, 2014, https://snn.sk/news/obetoval-zivot-za-andreja-hlinku/ (Accessed Feb. 22, 2021).
“Pohľady na život a dielo Andreja Hlinku,” \Novinky z radnice, Nov. 1, 2004, https://www.trnava.sk/userfiles/download/attachment/nzr0411.pdf (Accessed Feb. 21, 2021).
“PRVÝ SLOVÁK PRVEJ REPUBLIKY,” interview with Jozef Mikuš, Aug. 29, 2015, https://www.extraplus.sk/clanok/prvy-slovak-prvej-republiky (Accessed Feb. 21, 2021).
Sidor, Karol and Vnuk, Andrej Hlinka, 1864-1938, Bratislava: Lúč, 2008.
“Štefan Mikuš: Martýr slovenského národa (1859 –1921),” https://www.pecenady.sk/download_file_f.php?id=478916 (Accessed Feb. 22, 2021).
“Štefan Mikuš: Muž, ktorý položil život za Hlinku,” Hlavné správy, Oct. 11, 2017, https://www.hlavnespravy.sk/stefan-mikus-muz-ktory-polozil-zivot-za-hlinku/1167974 (Accessed Feb. 22, 2021).
Wikipedia contributors, “Péter Pázmány,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=P%C3%A9ter_P%C3%A1zm%C3%A1ny&oldid=1003899839 (accessed February 20, 2021).
Wikipedia contributors, “Trnava,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trnava&oldid=1003127677 (accessed February 20, 2021).