Madej: I don’t think I will achieve something big in my life that people forget my

4. June 2025 at 18:49

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He first sang and danced on stage as a three -year -old in a children’s folklore ensemble. When he was eight years old, Peter Nagy chose him in the audition for the album, whose pilot single was Bobi. Thanks to the hit, he was known to the whole of Slovakia.

Today Martin Madej works as an actor in several theaters. As he says, he does not think that he will still achieve something big in life that people forget his singing career. « If I was now cast in a series and I would become known among the younger generation, who does not remember Bobi, there is still an older generation who likes to commemorate, » he says.

The most striking character of his acting career is clearly Jozef Tiso. Portrays it in the Hitler’s production President in DPOH and plays it so that the viewer is in doubt whether there was a little humanity in Tiso.

« It would be unattractive if we played Tis as an ordinary villain who is bad from beginning to end, » says Madej, saying that he did not find compassion for Tiso. He realized that he should not be talked about as a controversial character: Historians were clear about what it was.

In addition to acting, he entered the world of politics. Since April, he became an assistant to the deputy PS Branislav Vanča in the field of communication. “I know that people will now say that I’m a political activist. This is very difficult to influence, ”he says.

Twenty years ago, Jozef Tisa, Marián Labuda, played the Elder in Monodram at the Arena in Bratislava, then played in a renewed premiere by Marián Labuda Jr.. Did you not worry about comparisons?

I have a huge respect for the Labud family. But I tried not to admit it, because then I wouldn’t even sleep. Moreover, I think we should not compare in art.

What level of responsibility did you feel that you will portray Tis?

Of course, I was looking for more information about Joseph Tis, because I have to admit that I am a “great” example of how history teaching does not work.

Although I thought I knew something about Tis, there was not much. I felt that I had to do everything possible to get true history among people.

Furthermore, it was important to realize that Tiso should not be talked about as a controversial figure, because historians are clear about what it was.

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You say that you had to go to. So how did you perceive Tis before?

I am ashamed of it, but I didn’t see it. In short, I knew that it is definitely not the best character of our history and that it is responsible for very many ruined human lives.

As it will sound in the production: Sin is not only when a person commits evil, but also when he knows and does not prevent him or does nothing to prevent him. Tiso certainly had a chance to save the Jews from concentration camps.

Gradually, I learned more and more information. We were lucky that we worked with director Valeria Schulczová and author Ľuba Lesna, who were absolutely historically oriented. Everything they told us in studying the game was supported by documents, facts. I have no doubt that his role in our history was not positive.

Pupils from secondary schools were also at the production. Education in this way is much more lively for them, as if they were to just read something about the Slovak state in the textbook. Everyone who has some influence should try to know our history. This is the past we have in our genes and which we should avoid in the future.

Martin Madej in the role of Jozef Tisa and Marián Mitaš in the role of Alfred Wetzler. (Source: Ľuboš Kotlár)

Tiso is confronted with the fates of different people in the production, but although he sees the consequences of his decisions, he has not moved anything: he considers himself a martyr, feels like a political prisoner. How did you approach Tis’s character?

The more we talked to our colleagues and historians about whether Tiso had acted with full consciousness, the more we confirmed that he knew everything. He was convinced that the Jews had to be rid of. However, playing him as the wrong one would be too easy.

Therefore, I tried to choose a few moments in which the viewer may be in doubt whether there was a little humanity in Tiso. Nevertheless, even human in us can sometimes be bad. It would be uninteresting if we played Tis as an ordinary villain that is bad from the beginning to the end. We all know how it turned out: that if he could make the same decisions again, he would make them.