Nástup (translated as "line up"[1] "forming ranks",[2] "deployment",[3] or "ascent"[4]) was asemimonthly Slovak periodical, published between 1933 and 1940,[4] that advocated Slovak autonomy,ethnonationalism, andantisemitism. Founded byFerdinand Ďurčanský and his brotherJán, the magazine was oriented at younger Slovak Catholics, especially university students. Its readers, the most radical wing of theSlovak People's Party, were called "Nástupists"[2] or "Nástup faction";[5] many of them had been previously affiliated withRodobrana paramilitary and later with theHlinka Guard paramilitary.
Noted for its hostility to the Czechoslovak state and its insistence that Jews could never be part of the Slovak nation, the paper admired some aspects ofNazism, but disagreed with those which could not be reconciled with Catholicism. Israeli historianYetayashu Jelínek describedNástup as offering "asui generis brand of extreme rightist ideology".[6] Ultimately, the paper was banned and shut down in 1940 following Nazi interference in theSalzburg Conference, asNástup favored an independent, as opposed to pro-German, foreign policy.
Nástup was founded byFerdinand Ďurčanský and his brotherJán in April 1933 following the decline of theRodobrana paramilitary organization, officially dissolved in 1929. Officially, its name wasNástup mladej slovenskej autonomistickej generácie (The Ascent of the Young Slovak Autonomist Generation), but it was commonly referred to asNástup.[7][8] HistorianSabine Witt suggests that the title may derive from the 1929 poem "Nástup otrávených" (The Deployment of the Poisoned) byAndrej Žarnov, which was banned for its advocacy of Slovak autonomy.[9] Publishedsemimonthly,[1][10]Nástup was popular among young Slovak nationalists,[9] especially students and university graduates.[1][11] Editorial staff was derived from theSlovak People's Party's main publication,Slovák [sk] (Karol Murgaš [de]), as well asRozvoj (Jozef M. Kirschbaum [sk]).[12][5] There was a significant continuity between Rodobrana,Nástup, and the laterHlinka Guard paramilitary, founded in 1938.[9][5]Vojtech Tuka andAlexander Mach, some of the movers behind the creation of Rodobrana, were also key members of the Nástup faction[5] and supported the paper.[13]
In 1933, Nástupists disrupted a commemoration event forSaints Cyril and Methodius, forcing the organizers to allowAndrej Hlinka, leader of the Slovak People's Party, to speak. This triggered arrests of some of the rioters and a temporary ban on the paper.[14] It was also banned for six months in late 1934 and early 1935.[15] From late 1934, the paper received funding from thePolish Foreign Ministry.[16] Although Hlinka once denied thatNástup had any affiliation with the Slovak People's Party, in fact all of the periodical's writers were party members and wielded increasing influence over Hlinka and his party.[17] The paper was banned again following the July 1940Salzburg Conference in which the Germans targeted Nástupists, objecting to their refusal to follow an exclusively pro-German foreign policy,[6] and permanently discontinued the same year.[4]
According to Israeli historian Gila Fatran,Nástup was the first Czechoslovak newspaper "to come out openly with anti-Czech, antisemitic and anti-democratic statements".[18] In its first issue in 1933,Nástup called for Czechoslovakia to become afederation, which was anathema at the time because it would require a fundamental change in the constitution.[9] It opposed the proposal that the Slovak People's Party should support forEdvard Beneš in the1935 Czechoslovak presidential election or join the government after the1935 Czechoslovak parliamentary election,[19] and tried to removeJozef Tiso from a position of influence in the Slovak People's Party.[15] The journal's hostility to the Czechoslovak state also led it to support theSudeten German radicalKonrad Henlein, and it was skeptical that the Slovak People's Party could accomplish its goals by democratic means.[17]
The first issue also contained a pseudonymously authored two-part article onAdolf Hitler andNazism, which concluded: "We are basically fighting for the same goals as German Nazism: for a political, economic and cultural renewal. Only our circumstances are different."[9] The same article also condemned racism and violence as contrary to Catholic teaching, and Nazism as a potential enemy because it did not adhere to Christian values.[9] The magazine at times admired Nazism in Germany,[1] and promoted fascism to the Slovak People's Party, although it disagreed with theanti-clerical element of Nazism. Nevertheless, historian Thomas Lorman wrote that, despite attempts to distinguish its ideology from Nazism, this could come across as ambiguous or a "perfunctory afterthought".[20] From its first issue, the paper predicted the victory of Nazism all over Europe.[17]
Israeli historianYetayashu Jelínek describedNástup as offering "asui generis brand of extreme rightist ideology" because it insisted on an independent (as opposed to pro-German) foreign policy.[6] The newspaper opposedalliance between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia;[4] instead,Nástup preferred closer relations with the right-wing authoritarian regimes in Central Europe. As its primary audience was young Catholics, the periodical frequently aired grievances related to professors and the Slovak language in education.[9] Viewing itself as part of a "fascist new order" in Europe,Nástup advocated for aracial or ethnic definition for the Slovak nation and "cleansing" of minority groups, especially Jews.[5][17]
Nástup promoted antisemitism, and "blamed Jews for everything",[15] including theFrench Revolution, liberalism, immoral capitalism, socialism, and an alleged globalmoral decline.[15][17]Nástup also blamed Jews for theRussian Revolution andSoviet communism, according to the conspiracy theory ofJudeo-Bolshevism.[7] In the first issue, the paper argued for extending theNazi boycott of Jewish businesses to Slovakia and urged readers to "shop only in Slovak shops... advertise only in Slovak newspapers... give jobs only to Slovaks".[17] The periodical argued that Jews constituted a separate race from Slovaks.[17][9] A typical claim was that Jews try "to subvert what is steadfast, to devalue what is valuable, to disrupt what is harmonizing, and to corrupt what is beautiful".[17] The paper also connected the Czechoslovak tolerance for Jews with previous tolerance by Hungarian authorities, condemning both.[17] According toNástup in 1938:
A Jew brought up on the text of theTalmud will always remain Jewish, and can never become Christian... It is necessary to eliminate Jews from the life of Christian nations. It is necessary to chase Jews from Christian nations. Jews must be deprived of all influence, their property, acquired by fraudulent means, must be confiscated, we must begin to act.[21]
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