“The Russians came at night; they really were in our hospital. We all got warning to be careful. I went with my mother superior, he was there. He pinched mi reaching above her and asked me: ʻWhere is your man?ʼ And I pointed towards the cross saying: ʻThat´s our man.ʼ And he knew he was not allowed to tease us anymore.”
Did he suspect you were hiding someone?
“No, obviously, by saying that he meant if I had a husband.”
“We had an evening prayer in the chapel. Somebody opened the door and shouted: ʻJustína.ʼ But sometimes it used to happen that they needed to examine blood for leucocytes in the laboratory. So I went out and there stood two men and one of our sisters. They asked me: ʻAre you Tuková? You are arrested!ʼ”
“Fráňa Zemínová was a social democrat. She was old, over eighty already. She used to walk in the hall – in times, when our cells were being opened – as only the hall was locked. She walked and shouted: ʻGirls, girls – Way of the cross, way of the cross! (Prayer)ʼ. Or we used to sing the Pope´s hymn. She really liked these young girls and so she often joined them. I liked it a lot that even though she didn´t keep in with faith too much, she adjusted because of the young ones.”
“They exerted pressure to my father. I know that somewhere in the village they wrote he was a kulak just because he had three daughters in a convent. There were three of us in the convent. So this was the reason why they addressed him as kulak.”
So it wasn´t just you on the spiritual journey, but also your sisters later on, as well?
“Yes, my two sisters.”
Full recordings
1
Dom Matky Alfonzy Márie Vrícko, okres Martin, 27.10.2017
Sister Justína Tuková was born on January 23, 1922 as Terézia Tuková in Nižná, in Orava region. After finishing the people´s school, followed by the secondary school in Tvrdošín, she entered the religious order of Sisters of the Holy Cross in Podunajské Biskupice. Later she transferred to Sisters of the Divine Redeemer in Spišská Nová Ves. She spent her novitiate in Raslavice convent, where she accepted the religious name Justína. During her ministry in Prešov hospital, on December 20, 1944 she witnessed Soviet bombing of the city. In 1950 she met here with a priest Štefan Sninčák, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia. Two years later he sent Sr. Justína a letter from the USA, with a plea for helping other priests. The whole situation reached its peak on February 4, 1954, when Justína was arrested by communist interrogators. The court in Prešov as well as the court of appeal in Pankrác found her guilty for treason and sentenced her to 10 years of imprisonment. Since 1955 she served her sentence in Pardubice. On May 13, 1960, based on the amnesty of President Novotný she was released and sent home to Nižná. After the regime admitted returning of nuns into their convents, she was placed to the castle in Slovenská Ľupča. In 1964 she left to the former Premonstratensian Abbey in Jasov, which served as a social care institute back then. Here she stayed for 17 years. Since 1982 she worked as a sacristan in Levoča and later in years 1994 - 2008 she served at the Department of Geriatrics in Košice hospital. Sister Justína Tuková lives in the Convent of Mother Alfonsa Maria in Vrícko since 2008.
