You can read this exclusive content thanks to the FALATH & PARTNERS law firm, which assists American people with Slovak roots in obtaining Slovak citizenship and reconnecting them with the land of their ancestors.
For many descendants of Slovak emigrants, the opportunity to give something back is one of the main reasons to seek Slovak citizenship.
At the beginning of this series, The Slovak Spectator talked to Gregory Tears whose dream is to help Slovakia qualify for the Olympics in lacrosse. Earlier this year, Slovakia, with Tears as assistant coach, qualified for the Lacrosse World Championship, a small step forward towards that goal. The team comprised of players with dual citizenship and foreigners with Slovak heritage.
Soon, a similar thing may happen to Slovak speed skating – coincidentally, just like lacrosse, a niche sport in the country – thanks to Jamie Jurak, a third-generation Slovak-American and a world-class long track speed skater.
“I would love to try to pull people into the sport that has brought me so much joy and to share that with them. That would be great,” she told The Slovak Spectator.
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Digging up the past
Jurak’s family always knew they had Slovak roots, but besides having traditional Slovak dishes such as kapustnica (sauerkraut soup) and pastries such as poppyseed rolls, nut bread, and kolach around Christmas it was not at the forefront of their lives. She also admitted that she was young and didn’t ask questions. But the older she gets, the more she is interested in her past.
Everything changed in 2022, when Jurak was browsing the web and found that Slovakia had changed the law regarding citizenship, which prompted to her to be curious about her great-grandfather Lawrence Jurak’s background.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that would be really cool if I could represent his heritage,’” she said, adding that since she is a speed skater, maybe she could do something in this regard for Slovakia as well.
With information mined from her family, she was able to dig up some information, including his baptismal record from Banská Bystrica.
Lawrence Jurak was born in 1905 in Kostiviarska, now a borough of Banská Bystrica, central Slovakia. Together with his mother Hermína he immigrated to the US in 1912 as a little boy. His two brothers were later born in the US.
“I don’t know the reason why they left. I know very little unfortunately. I know they came to Chicago and they basically started their life there. It was such a leap of faith and they had the determination and the perseverance,” she recollected. Lawrence earned his living as an electric welder. “I remember my dad used to say that he could weld anything,” she added. Other than that, not much has been passed on.
“That’s kind of funny. Well, I really wish they could have passed on the language. I’ve been trying to learn a little bit of Slovak and oh my goodness it is definitely hard,” she said, laughing. Just like many of their compatriots, they wanted to integrate, so once they were outside the country, it was strictly English. Her father doesn’t know any Slovak.
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Training in Slovak team skin suit
Jurak herself is a long track speed skater, but it wasn’t always like that. She used to be a figure skater until she broke her ankle and had to have multiple surgeries. Since she couldn’t jump anymore, she switched sports first to short track, then to long track.
“I was pretty good at it, so I stuck with it through college and made it to the national level pretty quick. In 2019 I made a World Cup team and qualified for the 2022 Olympics,” she explained. Unfortunately for her, a different skater was chosen to represent the country – since it was a discretionary spot, anybody regardless of the results could have been chosen for the race.
Jamie Jurak. (source: Archive of J. J.)
“Honestly, it was really disappointing. So I decided to get my back fixed – I had spinal fusion (a surgical procedure to join vertebrae – Ed. Note) – and thought that I was done with skating. Last year I decided I was going to try to come back. Now I’m back on track, literally,” she said. When training, Jurak wears a Slovak skin suit.
“I got it from this girl that works out of Germany and she makes the Slovak national team suit for one male skater. I was like, ‘Oh, I need one, can you make it for me, please?’,” she said, laughing again.
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Ambassador of her sport
As soon as Jurak figured out her roots, she shifted her whole mindset.
“Yes, I do skate and yes, I want to represent Slovakia, but the main thing is to honour the heritage and to make the name Jurak mean something and make everybody proud. That’s my main reason for wanting citizenship. What my family underwent getting here was a hundred times harder than what I’m doing, so if they could do it I can do it,” she said.
Jurak already obtained the Slovak Living Abroad certificate in in December 2024 and took the oath this September. Originally, her goal and hope with the citizenship was to represent Slovakia at the upcoming winter Olympics, but unfortunately, she didn’t get the paperwork to get the passport on time so that she could try to qualify.
“There’s a saying that if you don’t make it you come back and try harder right?” she pointed out.
According to her, Slovakia has a small speed skating team based in Košice and is mostly oriented towards inline and short track skating. The only skater that represents Slovakia in long track is a man.
“It would be really nice to get a team going, but we need more people. I could do a little outreach and see if anyone here has Slovak roots. I would love to like try to pull people into the sport that has brought me so much joy and to share that with them,” she said, adding that she could also see herself as a coach later, but that would obviously be up to the Slovak Speed Skating Union. They are already in contact.
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Enjoying the Christmas markets
Jurak has visited Slovakia twice. Her first trip was in regards to the certificate and took place in December last year.
“I got to see all the Christmas markets and everything and it was beautiful. I was hoping so much to be able to apply for my passport this December but it didn’t work out. I was lucky that I got to experience that,” she said, adding that there is no such tradition in the US. Back then, she also visited Devín Castle, drove around a bit, and also got to visit the birthplace of her great-grandfather.
“It was a bit nostalgic. The town felt homey and kind of everybody knew everybody and that if you needed help the neighbours would be right there. The town I’m in now is big, nobody really knows anybody,“ she explained.
Lawrence Jurak. (source: Archive of J. J.)
Jurak returned this September for the oath and spent only six days in Slovakia because she wanted to be back on track to train in case she could race for Slovakia. However, seeing how things panned out, she wishes she could have stayed longer. Still, she managed to see picturesque Bojnice Castle.
“It was really cool to see the historical artefacts, artwork, and architecture. I was most impressed with the inlays of the ceilings and how intricate the details of every room there,” she said.
Currently, she is the only member of the family who’s trying to get citizenship, mainly because it’s a very expensive process. She tried to convince her dad, but at the moment the focus is on her and whether everything goes through. She hopes they may change their mind later.
Jamie Jurak in Bojnice. (source: Archive of J. J.)
Jurak is also trying to learn Slovak. Like many others, her main gripes are with prefixes, suffixes, singulars, plurals and the grammatical genders of the language, which lead to so many slight changes in words. So far she has relied on apps, with one providing her with a tutor who has helped her learn the basics.
“I just feel like if you’re granted citizenship, you should at least know some of the language. If you don’t know any language, why are you even applying? I also feel like you’ll get a little bit more respect when you show that you’re at least trying,” she said.
Her goal during the September visit was to try to order a coffee in Slovak. And she did it, which made her happy.
“My fear when I go to Slovakia and I’m trying to order a coffee or whatever is that I’m going to look stupid if I make a mistake, but it it’s really not the case. Everyone was super helpful,” she enthused.
Spectacular Slovakia travel guides
In the distance is the town of Banská Bystrica, Poľana is further back on the horizon. (source: TASR)