I know whom I believed - no time or regime can change that
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Štefan Zamiška was born on January 1, 1930, in Kolačkov, a village near Stará Ľubovňa. He, along with his seven siblings, grew up in a modest family in “lazy” (a dispersed mountain settlement). Being a talented pupil and of a religious disposition, he was later admitted as a postulant into the Society of the Divine Word, a religious order at the Calvary of Nitra. During the transit of troops, he and his family witnessed a great many tense and dangerous situations. After the end of the war, Štefan resumed his theology studies at the Calvary, in Spišský Štiavnik, and completed his novitiate in Nitra, specifically at the Zobor Mountain and the Calvary. The state-organized operation “Akcia K” put an end to his life of monasticism. In 1950, Štefan, amongst other monks, was deported to Podolínec, later to Kostolná, and was eventually put to forced labor in the construction of Priehrada Mládeže (present-day Nosice water reservoir). In the autumn of 1950, he was called up for service in the military camp of forced labor of PTP (Technical Auxiliary Battalions). There, he spent more than three years doing the hardest manual labor before being released in 1953. In the time that followed, Štefan worked in the Nováky Chemical Plant being assigned the heaviest work due to his cadre report. In 1957, he married Mária Matušková and they had four children together. Štefan attended evening classes and successfully graduated from the Slovak University of Technology (STU) Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology in Bratislava. Throughout the whole communist era, he was discriminated against on account of his Christian activities and views. Štefan Zamiška is currently retired and lives in Bystričany.
