“I don’t know what others went into, in this revolution... absolutely everything came true for me... I went ahead with the idea of removing the communists from the leading role of the party... let them run for favor in the elections, but it cannot be an order!”
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Agnesa Piasecká was born on January 29, 1954 in Jablonec nad Nisou. Relatives from the mother’s side came from the Orava region, specifically from Zákamenné. Mother’s name was the same as Agnesa and grandparents, Helena Polťáková and Anton Michalica. As for her father, Agnes was raised by her stepfather, Ján Slivka. After 1948, i.e. after the communist coup, Agnes’s grandfather was labeled a kulak, and since he owned a large farm and a significant portion of land, he was obliged to pay the so-called state contingent. Agnesa spent her early childhood with her grandparents in Gemer, in Orávka. After an unsuccessful attempt to start elementary school near her parents in Stropkov, Agnes decided to return to Gemer. In 1960, Agnesa became a pupil of the so-called fifth grade in nearby Rimavská Seč, where she commuted by train. She was extremely happy there, having gone there not for five, but for the first six years of school. Despite the political regime at the time, Agnes’ grandmother never resented the church and guided her granddaughter in the same way. Even though no one left Oravka, they were not swayed and remained true to their beliefs. In 1967, Agnesa entered the seventh grade of primary school in Stropkov, where she completed primary school. In 1970, even because of the not entirely satisfactory home environment, Agnesa decided on the Secondary Medical School in Prešov, where three years later she successfully graduated as a midwife. As soon as she finished high school, she decided to work as a nurse at a psychiatric hospital in Šternberk, where she once worked part-time in 1971. In the meantime, however, she met her future husband in Stropkov, who was studying in Košice. She did not stay in Šternberk for long, and in 1974 their first son, Aleš, was born. However, Aleš was far from the last child in the family, as Agnes and her husband have eight children together, five sons and three daughters. Agnesa started to be significantly more active right in Šternberk. There she met her aunt’s friend, who was studying at the theology faculty and had access to the-forbidden literature. She initiated Agnes into the basics of samizdat, thanks to which she learned many things that were not taught at school. In 1974, the family moved to Košice, where Agnes was intensely involved in Christian activities. She was able to devote herself to them thanks to visiting the local church, where she was able to create this community. In the apartment, she organized meetings, groups for children, showed Franciscan films, and even accepted a visit from missionaries. She also took part in a pilgrimage to Velehrad in 1985, where she took many photographs, which she then projected at her home. During the Gentle Revolution, she presented the VPN demands that came from Prague to a huge crowd in Košice. She was significantly active in Christian life, but also during the revolution. After the revolution, in January of the following year, Agnes was co-opted into the Council of the National Committee of the city of Košice. Several were co-opted, and they had the task of monitoring the work of the communists who remained there. Their task was to gradually remove individual leaders and replace them with new ones. Later during the nineties, she started a business together with her husband, while in a small shop she devoted herself to the work of an economist for sixteen long years. Currently, Agnesa is retired, which she is very proud of.
