KATOLÍCKY KŇAZ ĽUDOVÍT VESELÝ AKO ÚČASTNÍK SNP A AKO TÉMA VEREJNÉHO DISKURZU

The article describes the fate and afterlife of the Catholic priest Ľudovít Veselý, as a participant in the Slovak National Uprising. The authors focus on the profile of this interesting personality, who represented unconventionality in his behaviour already during his preparation for the priestly profession. In the following years, Veselý joined the army and became a curate, but after the creation of the wartime Slovak Republic, due to his disagreement with the regime, he got into trouble with the law. After the intervention of Bishop Blaha, he was pardoned under the threat of prison, but was expelled from the army. After the outbreak of the Slovak National Uprising, he joined the resistance and was later betrayed, arrested and interned. Information about his death remained veiled and only emerged when his body was found in a mass grave in Kremnička near Banská Bystrica. This became the basis for building his myth and „second life“, which had different shades due to the time in which it was created and still divides public discourse today.