Anton Srholec

Anton Srholec (12 June 1929,

He spent 10 years in prison, mostly at uranium mines in Jáchymov. (He depicted his life at this labour camp in his book Svetlo z hlbín Jáchymovských lágrov. The book was later translated and published in Slovenian, German and English language with the title Light From the Depths of Jachymov Concentration Camps). He was released from prison on 9 May 1960 and found employment as a labourer at construction sites, at the factory for prefabricated parts and later at furnaces at Ostrava steel plant. At the same time he secretly studied theology and managed to pass the state exam from the English and German language. He twice tried to unsuccessfully enrol to study at the seminary in Bratislava. As a Salesian he professed his final vows secretly on 9 August 1964. In 1969, during the Prague Spring, he received permission to travel to Italy for three months. He extended his trip for a year and completed his theological studies at the Salesian Pontifical University in Turin.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Pope

Four years before his retirement he worked as an operator at a depot, first at a Ružinov hospital in Bratislava, later at Doprastav. He continued with his pastoral work. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he started caring for people on the margins of society. As a pensioner he became a board member of a Konto nádeje and the Slovak Confederation of Political Prisoners where he was a head for some time. In 1995 he founded a shelter for the homeless called Resoty in Bratislava and became its manager.

Death

Anton Srholec died at the age of 86 on 7 January 2016 in early hours in Bratislava after 68 years of religious life and 45 years as a priest. The last farewell took place on 12 January 2016 at Church of Assumption of Virgin Mary - Blumental in Bratislava and the Church of St Michael in Skalica, where he is buried.^[5]

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