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 Germany |  Slovakia |
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German–Slovak relations are foreign relations betweenGermany andSlovakia. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1993 but previously had relations duringWorld War II when Slovakia was a separate state, theSlovak Republic. Germany has an embassy inBratislava. Slovakia has an embassy inBerlin, an embassy branch inBonn, and a consulate-general inMunich. Germany plays an important part in the Slovak economy as it is Slovakia's main trading partner.
Both countries are full members of theEuropean Union,NATO,Council of Europe and theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.Germany has given full support to Slovakia's membership in the European Union and NATO.
Parallel to the establishment of theWeimar Republic,Czechoslovakia was born. Slovakia was a part of this new-born state. German diplomats inBratislava and inKošice tried to influence Czechoslovak domestic policy by allying with factions of theCarpathian Germans and theSlovak People's Party. Both groups in their majority proved to be incompatible with German goals in the region. Weimar's policy failed.[1]
During World War II, Slovakia was an ally ofNazi Germany as part ofthe Axis.[2][3] TheSlovak Republic under PresidentJozef Tiso signed theTripartite Pact on 24 November 1940. Slovakia had been closely aligned with Germany almost immediately from its declaration of independence fromCzechoslovakia on 14 March 1939.[4] Slovakia entered into atreaty of protectionSchutzvertrag with Germany on 23 March 1939. This treaty aligned Slovakia's foreign and defence policies with Germany, and allowed German troops to form aprotection zone in the western parts of Slovakia.[5]
Slovak troops joined the German invasion of Poland, having interest inSpiš andOrava.[citation needed] Those two regions (along withCieszyn Silesia) were divided and disputed between Poland and Czechoslovakia since 1918, until the Poles fully annexed them following the Munich agreement. After the September Campaign, Slovakia reclaimed control of those territories.
In July 1940, Germany successfully demanded the resignation of Slovak politicians who advocated an independent foreign policy at theSalzburg Conference.[6] During the war, approximately 70,000 Slovak Jews were sent toconcentration camps to perish inthe Holocaust.[7] In September 1942, a Slovak-German treaty was signed detailing the conditions for the deportation of Slovak Jews.[8]
Slovakia was spared German military occupation until theSlovak National Uprising, which began on 29 August 1944, and was crushed by the Waffen SS and Slovak troops loyal to Jozef Tiso, dictator of Slovakia.[citation needed]
Following World War II,Slovak Socialist Republic became a communist state with theCzech Socialist Republic asCzechoslovakia. This continued until a peacefuldissolution in 1993 into the Slovak Republic andCzech Republic.
Relations during this period were primarily between theGerman Democratic Republic (East Germany) and Czechoslovakia under theWarsaw Pact.
Following the creation of democratic Slovakia andGerman reunification, both countries traded under a free market economy.
In March 2001, a German court rejected compensation complaints from Slovakia's surviving Jews from the Holocaust.[9] Claims were rejected again in 2002.[8] In 2003, Slovak Jews made a collective claim of 77 million euros to Germany.[9] The 2003 lawsuit filed against Germany by the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Slovak Republic (UZZNO) was made to reclaim compensation for monies paid by the wartime Slovak government to Germany to cover the cost of Germany's deportation of 57,000 members of the country's Jewish population.[10]
The following state visits have occurred in recent times:[11]German Federal PresidentHorst Köhler visited Slovakia on 2 November 2005. German ChancellorAngela Merkel paid her first official visit to the Slovak Republic on 11 May 2006.
PresidentIvan Gašparovič visited Germany in July 2006. In the same month, the new Slovak Foreign Minister Kubiš paid his first official visit to Berlin. Prime MinisterRobert Fico visited Germany in April 2007.
Germany is Slovakia's largest trading partner.[7]
In 2003, Germany was the biggest investor in Slovakia, with its volume of direct investment at about 1.94 billion euro as of 31 March 2003. At the time, Germany made 26.4% of all foreign direct investments in Slovakia.[12]
This trend has continued in 2009, around 400 German firms are active in Slovakia investing 2.5 billion euro, making Germany the biggest investor in Slovakia.[13]
In 1991,Volkswagen AG opened a factory in Bratislava. Revenue from the plant in 2003 was 4.5 billion euro.[14] By 2006, the company had invested 1.3 billion EUR in its operations and employed 9,000 staff at the time.[15]
In April 2009, Volkswagen AG announced plans to build a new compact family vehicle in Slovakia. The company will invest about 308 million euros. VW currently builds itsTouareg,[14]Škoda Octavia[16] as well as itsAudi Q7 in Bratislava and employs about 7,800 people in the nation, which has emerged a major hub in the global car industry.Porsche also builds its Cayenne model in Bratislava.[17]
In 1997, the two countries signed a military cooperation agreement.[18]
In 2003, an e-government partnership was developed between the countries with the assistance ofSiemens andMicrosoft.[19]
Key bilateral agreements include those on social insurance (instrument of ratification signed on 17 October 2003) and on road transport (signed on 14 June 2002).[11]
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see also:Foreign relations of Czechoslovakia | ||
