ŠTEFAN’S EARLY LIFE

In the following posts the name Štefan, the Slovak name, is used when discussing life in Czechoslovakia.  Steve, the English name, is used when discussing life in Iowa.

The next series of posts will be about Štefan’s early life in Drahovce, Czechoslovakia.  Most of this information was told to me by Steve, who enjoyed telling stories about life in the Old Country.  Other details I learned from visiting Drahovce and meeting Steve’s cousins, who still live there.  Some of Steve’s stories may have been “tall tales” or exaggerations.  Other information may be wrong because I misremembered what Steve had said. I have some of his stories on tape, but most of these I am reconstructing from what I remember of what he told me.  If he told you similar stories I would love to compare notes to try to achieve the most accurate account of his life.

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH

Štefan Miklo, Jr. was born July 17, 1913 in Drahovce, Slovakia.  At the time Slovakia was part of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. The Hungarian name for the village of was Vagdebrod – it was changed to Drahovce when Czechoslovakia became an independent nation in 1918.  In the Slovak language, Drahovce means expensive sheep.  The people of the village think that name is funny and don’t know how their village got the unusual name. It must have had something to do with shepherds in the region.

Štefan was baptized in St. Martin's Church in Drahovce. He later served as an altar boy there.  To tell you how historic this building is - it was built about 1790 at the time George Washington was president of the United States. A cemetery surrounds the church on three sides. The church’s exterior is a mustard-colored stucco and it has a red metal roof (see photo). There is a bell tower with a fake clock painted on one side - the other sides are blank. There is beautiful tree-lined sidewalk that leads from the main street of the village to the front of the church.  It is lined with little stucco shrines that contain the fourteen stations of The Way of The Cross.

Steve told me that during World War I there was fighting in the village.  Soldiers were shooting machine guns.  The villagers took refuge in the church because the walls were so thick they repelled the gunshots.  I do not know if this story is true or a village legend.  The war started when Štefan was a year old and ended when he was five.

Drahovce, like much of Slovakia is heavily Roman Catholic.  Village life revolves around the church and the celebration of Holy Days.  In that way it is similar to small Catholic towns in Iowa.   Here is a link to an article about the Easter in Drahovce as Stefan would have experienced it:

http://www.iarelative.com/easter/mihalek.htm