Thelocal Jewish population (according to 1930 census Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had 136,737 Jewish inhabitants, before the loss of Slovak territory to Hungary) was heavily persecuted, with almost69,000 Jews being murdered or deported (two-thirds of the 89,000 Slovak Jewish population). In 1942, the countrydeported 58,000 Jews to German-occupied Poland, paying Germany 500 Reichsmark for each deportee. Internal opposition to the fascist government's policies culminated in theSlovak National Uprising in 1944, itself triggered by the Nazi German occupation of the country. Although the uprising was eventually suppressed,partisan resistance continued. The Slovak Republic was abolished after the Soviet liberation in 1945, and its territory was reintegrated into the recreatedThird Czechoslovak Republic. The currentSlovak Republic does not consider itself asuccessor state of the wartime Slovak Republic, instead a successor to theCzechoslovak Federal Republic. However, some nationalists celebrate 14 March as a day of independence.
The official name of the country was the Slovak State (Slovak:Slovenský štát) from 14 March to 21 July 1939 (until the adoption of theConstitution), and the Slovak Republic (Slovak:Slovenská Republika) from 21 July 1939 to its end in April 1945.
The country is often referred to historically as theFirst Slovak Republic (Slovak:prvá Slovenská Republika) to distinguish it from the contemporary (Second)Slovak Republic, Slovakia, which is not considered its legalsuccessor state. "Slovak State" was used colloquially, but "First Slovak Republic" was used even in encyclopedias written during the post-war Communist period.[13][14] Other names were commonly used such asTiso's Slovakia,Slovakia orTiso regime.[15][16]
AsHitler was preparing a mobilization into Czech territory and the creation of theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, he had various plans for Slovakia. The Hungarians initially misinformed German officials that the Slovaks wanted to join Hungary. Germany decided to make Slovakia a separatepuppet state under German influence and a potential strategic base for German attacks onPoland and other regions.
On 13 March 1939, Hitler invitedMonsignorJozef Tiso (the Slovak ex-prime minister who had been deposed by Czechoslovak troops several days earlier) toBerlin and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence. Hitler added that if Tiso had not consented, he would have allowed events in Slovakia to take place effectively, leaving it to the mercies of Hungary and Poland. During the meeting,Joachim von Ribbentrop passed on a report claiming that Hungarian troops were approaching the Slovak borders. Tiso refused to make such a decision himself, after which he was allowed by Hitler to organize a meeting of the Slovak parliament ("Diet of the Slovak Land"), which would approve Slovakia's independence.
On 14 March, the Slovak parliament convened and heard Tiso's report on his discussion with Hitler and a possible declaration of independence. Some of the deputies were skeptical of making such a move, among other reasons, because some worried that the Slovak state would be too small and with a strongHungarian minority.[17] The debate was quickly brought to a head whenFranz Karmasin, leader of theGerman minority in Slovakia, said that any delay in declaring independence would result in Slovakia being divided between Hungary and Germany. Under these circumstances, Parliament unanimously voted to secede from Czecho-Slovakia, thus creating the first Slovak state in history.[17] Jozef Tiso was appointed the first Prime Minister of the new republic. The next day, Tiso sent a telegram (composed the previous day in Berlin) announcing Slovakia's independence, asking the Reich to take over the protection of the newly minted state. The request was readily accepted.[18]
Jozef Tiso served as president of the Slovak Republic
Vojtech Tuka served as prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic
Germany and Italy immediately recognized the emergent Slovak state a few weeks later. Britain and France refused to do so; in March 1939, both powers sent diplomatic notes to Berlin protesting developments in former Czechoslovakia as a breach of theMunich agreement and pledged not to acknowledge the territorial changes. Similar notes – though without reference to Munich – were sent by the USSR and the USA. Some non-Axis states, likeSwitzerland, Poland, and theVatican, recognized Slovakia in March and April 1939.
The Great Powers soon changed their position. In May, British diplomacy asked for (and received) a newexequatur for its former consul in Bratislava, which markedde facto recognition of Slovakia. France followed suit in July 1939. However, Czechoslovak legations kept operating in London and Paris. Some international organizations like theLeague of Nations or the International Labour Union still considered Czechoslovakia their member, but some – like theUniversal Postal Union – admitted Slovakia.
Celebration of the second anniversary of Slovak independence with members of Hlinka Guard and Slovak Army atHviezdoslav Square inBratislava, March 14, 1941
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the British and French consulates in Slovakia were closed, and the territory was declared under occupation. However, in September 1939, the USSR recognized Slovakia, admitted a Slovak representative, and closed the hitherto operational Czechoslovak legation in Moscow. Official Soviet-Slovak diplomatic relations were maintained until the outbreak of the German-Soviet war in 1941, when Slovakia joined the invasion on Germany's side, and the USSR recognized theCzechoslovak government-in-exile; Britain recognized it one year earlier.
In all, 27 states eitherde jure orde facto recognized Slovakia. They were either Axis countries (like Romania and Hungary) or Axis-dominated semi-independent states (likeVichy France,Manchukuo)[19] or neutral countries like Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden, as well as some beyond Europe (like Ecuador, Costa Rica, Liberia). In some cases, Czechoslovak legations were closed (e.g., in Switzerland), but some countries opted for a somewhat ambiguous stand. The states that maintained their independence ceased recognizing Slovakia in the late stages of World War II. However, some (e.g.,Spain) permitted operations of semi-diplomatic representation until the late 1950s.[20]
TheUnited States never recognized Slovak independence. It remained consistent in their initial approach, as they never recognized theMunich Agreement, the extinction ofCzechoslovakia, or any territorial changes made to Czechoslovak territory in the period 1938–1939.[21]
From the beginning, the Slovak Republic was under the influence of Germany. The so-called "protection treaty" (Treaty on the protective relationship between Germany and the Slovak State), signed on 23 March 1939, partially subordinated its foreign, military, and economic policy to that of Germany.[22] The GermanWehrmacht established the so-called "Protective Zone" (German:Schutzzone) in Western Slovakia in August 1939.[citation needed]
A Slovak-Nazi propaganda poster, "Our friendship is inseparable!", 1940
Following Slovak participation in theinvasion of Poland in September 1939,border adjustments increased the Slovak Republic's geographical extent in the areas ofOrava andSpiš, absorbing previously Polish-controlled territory.[23]
In July 1940, at theSalzburg Conference, the Germans forced a reshuffle of the Slovak cabinet by threatening to withdraw their protection guarantees.[24]
On 24 November 1940, Slovakia joined theAxis when its leaders signed theTripartite Pact. Shortly after the signing of the Tripartite Pact, Slovakia, following the Hungarian lead, sent messages of "spiritual adherence" to Germany and Italy.[25]
The Slovak-Soviet Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was signed atMoscow on 6 December 1940.[26]
The state's most difficult foreign policy problem involved relations with Hungary, which had annexed one-third of Slovakia's territory by theFirst Vienna Award of 2 November 1938. Slovakia tried to achieve a revision of the Vienna Award, but Germany did not allow it.[citation needed] There were also constant quarrels concerning Hungary's treatment of Slovaks living in Hungary.
Territorial changes of Slovak Republic from 1938 to 1947 (Red indicating areas which became a part of Hungary, due to theFirst Vienna Award. Changes on the border with Poland are missing)
2.6 million people lived within the 1939 borders of the Slovak State, and 85 percent had declared Slovak nationality on the 1938 census. Minorities included Germans (4.8 percent), Czechs (2.9 percent),Rusyns (2.6 percent), Hungarians (2.1 percent), Jews (1.1 percent), andRomani people (0.9 percent).[28] Seventy-five percent of Slovaks were Catholics. Most of the remainder belonged to theLutheran andGreek Catholic churches.[29] 50% of the population were employed in agriculture. The state was divided in six counties (župy), 58 districts (okresy) and 2659 municipalities. The capital, Bratislava, had over 140,000 inhabitants.
The state continued the legal system of Czechoslovakia, which was modified only gradually. According to the Constitution of 1939, the "President" (Jozef Tiso) was the head of the state, the "Assembly/Diet of the Slovak Republic" elected for five years, was the highest legislative body (no general elections took place, however), and the "State Council" performed the duties of a senate. The government, which had eight ministries, was the executive body.
Slovak women performing the Nazi salute
The Slovak Republic was an authoritarian regime where German pressure resulted in the adoption of many elements ofNazism. Some historians characterized Tiso's regime asclerical fascism. The government issued manyantisemitic laws prohibiting the remaining (after loss of territory to Hungary) 89000 SlovakJews from participation in public life and actively supported their deportation toconcentration camps erected by Germany onoccupied Polish territory by paying 500 Reichsmark for each deported Slovak Jew to Nazi death camps.
The only political parties permitted were the dominantHlinka's Slovak People's Party and two smaller openly fascist parties, these being theHungarian National Party which represented the Hungarian minority and theGerman Party which represented theGerman minority. However, those two parties formed part of a coalition with the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party; for all intents and purposes, Slovakia was a one-party state.
The state advocated excluding women from the public sphere and politics. While promoting "natural" maternal duties of women, the regime aimed to restrict women's space to the privacy of family life.[30] Slovakia's pro-natalist programs limited access to previously available birth-control methods and introduced harsher punishments for already criminalized abortions.[31]
Slovak koruna, the official currency of Slovak Republic
Stamp of Slovak Republic issued March 14, 1945 in the value 10 slovak koruna
Temporary Slovak passport issued in 1940 to a Jewish refugee family
Cover of Slovak weekly magazine "New World", August 1940
Although the official policy of the Nazi regime was in favor of an independent Slovak Republic dependent on Germany and opposed to any annexations of Slovak territory,Heinrich Himmler'sSS considered ambitious population policy options concerning theGerman minority of Slovakia, which numbered circa 130,000 people.[32]
In 1940,Günther Pancke, head of the SSRuSHA ("Race and Settlement Office"), undertook a study trip in Slovak lands where ethnic Germans were present and reported to Himmler that the Slovak Germans were in danger of disappearing.[32] Pancke recommended that action should be taken to fuse the racially valuable part of the Slovaks into the German minority and remove the Romani and Jewish populations.[32] He stated that this would be possible by "excluding" theHungarian minority of the country and by settling some 100,000 ethnic German families in Slovakia.[32] The racial core of this Germanization policy was to be gained from theHlinka Guard, which was to be further integrated into the SS shortly.[32]
Jozef Tiso began his career as aCatholic priest inAustro-Hungary. As such, he operated primarily in the Hungarian language. Yet, immediately after the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation ofCzechoslovakia, Tiso transformed himself into a Slovak nationalist and career politician.
After declaration of Slovak independence fromCzecho-Slovak Republic, Tiso was initially Prime Minister from 14 March 1939 until 26 October 1939. Tiso not only supported Nazi Germany'sinvasion of Poland in September 1939, but also contributed Slovak troops, which the Germans rewarded by allowing Slovakia to annex 300 square miles of Polish territory.[33]
On 1 October 1939, Tiso officially became chairman of theSlovak People's Party. On 26 October, he became President of the Slovak Republic, and appointedVojtech Tuka as Prime Minister.
President Jozef Tiso celebrating a Catholic mass, 1941
After 1942, President Tiso was also styledVodca ("Leader"), an imitation of GermanFührer.[34] Mainly as a Catholic priest, he was moral and natural authority for the majority of Slovaks.
Tisocollaborated with Germany in deportations of Jews, deporting many Slovak Jews to extermination and concentration camps in Germany andGerman-occupied Poland, while some Jews in Slovakia were murdered outright. Deportations were executed from 25 March 1942 until 20 October 1942.
Presidential standard of the Slovak Republic
In August 1942, after the majority of Slovak Jews had been sent to German-occupied Poland and it became clear that the deportees were being systematically murdered, Tiso gave aspeech inHolič in which he called for Slovaks to "cast off your parasite [the Jews]" and justified continuing deportations of Jews from Slovakia. On 30 August, Hitler commented "It is interesting how this little Catholic priest Tiso is sending us the Jews!".[35]Vatican undersecretaryDomenico Tardini complained: "Everyone understands that theHoly See cannot stop Hitler. But who can understand that it does not know how to rein in a priest?"[36]
On 23 March 1939, Hungary, having already occupiedCarpatho-Ukraine, attacked from there, and the newly established Slovak Republic was forced to cede 1,697 square kilometres (655 sq mi) of territory with about 70,000 people to Hungary before the onset of World War II.
Slovak forces during the campaign against Poland (1939)
Slovakia was the only Axis nation other thanGermany to take part in theInvasion of Poland. With the impending invasion planned for September 1939, theOberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) requested the assistance of Slovakia. Although the Slovak military was only six months old, it formed a small mobilecombat group consisting of several infantry and artillery battalions. Two combat groups were created for the campaign in Poland alongside the Germans. The first group was a brigade-sized formation that consisted of six infantry battalions, two artillery battalions, and a company ofcombat engineers, all commanded by Antonín Pulanich. The second group was a mobile formation that consisted of two battalions of combined cavalry and motorcycle recon troops along with nine motorized artillery batteries, all commanded by Gustav Malár. The two groups reported to the headquarters of the1st and 3rd Slovak Infantry Divisions. The two combat groups fought while pushing through theNowy Sącz andDukla Mountain Passes, advancing towardsDębica andTarnów in the region of southern Poland.
Slovak forces during the campaign against the Soviet Union (1941–1944)
Slovak soldiers force Red Army soldiers to surrender
The Slovak military participated in the war on theEastern Front against theSoviet Union. TheSlovak Expeditionary Army Group of about 45,000 entered the Soviet Union shortly after theGerman attack. This army lacked logistic and transportation support, so a much smaller unit, the Slovak Mobile Command (Pilfousek Brigade), was formed from units selected from this force; the rest of the Slovak army was relegated to rear-area security duty. The Slovak Mobile Command was attached to theGerman 17th Army (as was the HungarianCarpathian Group also) and shortly thereafter given over to direct German command, the Slovaks lacking the command infrastructure to exercise effective operational control. This unit fought with the 17th Army through July 1941, including at theBattle of Uman.[39]
At the beginning of August 1941, the Slovak Mobile Command was dissolved, and instead, two infantry divisions were formed from the Slovak Expeditionary Army Group. The Slovak 2nd Division was asecurity division, but the Slovak 1st Division was a front-line unit that fought in the campaigns of 1941 and 1942, reaching theCaucasus area withArmy Group B. The Slovak 1st Division then shared the fate of the German southern forces, losing their heavy equipment in theKuban bridgehead, then being badly mangled nearMelitopol in southern Ukraine. In June 1944, the remnant of the division, no longer considered fit for combat due to low morale, was disarmed, and the personnel were assigned to construction work. This fate had already befallen the Slovak 2nd Division earlier for the same reason.[39]
The Hlinka Guard was a paramilitary organization of theHlinka's Slovak People's Party. It was created in 1938, and it was built according to the Nazi model. Even though there was an attempt to establish it as an organization with compulsory membership for all adult citizens (except Jews) in 1939, this idea was soon changed, and membership in the Guard was voluntary.
The Hlinka Guard was Slovakia's state police and most willingly helped Hitler with his plans. It operated againstJews,Czechs,Hungarians, theLeft, and the opposition. By adecree issued on October 29, 1938, the Hlinka Guard was designated as the only body authorized to give its membersparamilitary training, and it was this decree that established its formal status in the country. Hlinka guardsmen wore black uniforms and a cap shaped like a boat, with a woolen pompom on top, and they used the raised-arm salute. The official salute was "Na stráž!" ("On guard!"). Throughout its existence, the Hlinka Guard competed with the Hlinka party for primacy in ruling the country.
In 1941 Hlinka Guardshock troops were trained inSS camps in Germany, and the SS attached an adviser to the guard. At this point many of the guardsmen who were of middle-class origin quit, and thenceforth the organization consisted ofpeasants and unskilledlaborers, together with various doubtful elements. A social message was an integral part of the radicalnationalism that it sought to impart.
Boy members of Hlinka Youth during training with weapon, 1940
Girl members of Hlinka Youth performing the Nazi salute, 1941
A small group called Náš Boj (Our Struggle), which operated underSS auspices, was the most radical element in the guard.
After the anti-NaziSlovak National Uprising was crushed in August 1944, the SS took over and shaped the Hlinka Guard to suit its purposes. Special units of the guard (Hlinka Guard Emergency Divisions – POHG) were employed against partisans and Jews.
The Hlinka Guard was known for its participation in the Holocaust in Slovakia; its members appropriated Jewish property and rounded up Jews for deportation. In 1942, the guard was involved in thedeportation of almost 60,000 Slovak Jews to occupied Poland. The victims were given only four hours' warning, to prevent them from escaping. Beatings and forcible shaving were commonplace, as was subjecting Jews to invasive searches to uncover hidden valuables. Some guards took advantage of their power to rape Jewish women.[40]
The Hlinka Youth was also an organization subordinated to the Hlinka's Slovak People's Party. It was formed as a single nationwide organization in 1938. Initially, it was just for boys, but later, there was also a chapter for girls.
A Slovak propaganda poster, "Do not be a servant to the Jew"
Soon after independence and along with the mass exile and deportation of Czechs, the Slovak Republic began a series of measures aimed against the Jews in the country. The Hlinka's Guard began to attack Jews, and the "Jewish Code" was passed in September 1941. Resembling theNuremberg Laws, the code required Jews to wear ayellow armband and banned them from intermarriage and many jobs. By October 1941, the Slovak Republic had expelled 15,000 Jews from Bratislava, sending many to labor camps.
At the end of 1941, the Jews were concentrated in three labor camps located within Slovakian borders –Sereď,Nováky andVyhne.
Deportations of Slovak Jews to concentration camp
Labor camp inNováky, the largest labor camp in Slovakia, held 1,600 Jewish prisoners
The Slovak Republic was one of the countries that agreed to deport its Jews as part of the NaziFinal Solution. Initially, the Slovak government tried to make a deal with Germany in October 1941 to deport its Jews as a substitute for providing Slovak workers to help the war effort. After theWannsee Conference, the Germans agreed to the Slovak proposal, and a deal was reached where the Slovak Republic would pay for each Jew deported, and, in return, Germany promised that the Jews would never return to the republic. The initial terms were for "20,000 young, strong Jews", but the Slovak government quickly agreed to a German proposal to deport the entire population for "evacuation to territories in the East" meaning toAuschwitz-Birkenau.[41] The Slovak Republic paid Germany 500RM per every deported Jew for "retraining and accommodation" (a similar but smaller payment of 30 RM was paid byCroatia).[42]
The deportations of Jews from Slovakia started on 25 March 1942 but halted on 20 October 1942 after a group of Jewish citizens, led byGisi Fleischmann and RabbiMichael Ber Weissmandl, built a coalition of concerned officials from theVatican and the government, and, through a mix of bribery and negotiation, was able to stop the process. By then, however, some 58,000 Jews had already been deported, primarily toAuschwitz. Slovak government officialsfiled complaints[citation needed] against Germany when it became clear that Germany had gassed many of the previously deported Slovak Jews in mass executions.[41]
A Slovak propaganda poster, ordering Jews to "Get out of Slovakia!"
Jewish deportations resumed on 30 September 1944, when the Republic lost independence to a complete German occupation due to the Nazis' concern that theSoviet army had reached the Slovak border, and theSlovak National Uprising began. During the German occupation, another 13,500 Jews were deported, and 5,000 were imprisoned. Deportations continued until 31 March 1945. In all, German and Slovak authorities deported about 70,000 Jews from Slovakia; about 65,000 of them were murdered or died in concentration camps. The overall figures are inexact, partly because many Jews did not identify themselves. Still, one 2006 estimate is that approximately 105,000 Slovak Jews, or 77% of their pre-war population, died during the war.[43]
A Pro-Slovak National Uprising propaganda poster, "For democracy, for Czechoslovakia", 1944
In 1944, during the Slovak National Uprising, many Slovak units sided with the Slovak resistance and rebelled against Tiso's collaborationist government, while others helped German forces put the uprising down.
This resistance movement was represented mainly by members of theDemocratic Party,social democrats, andcommunists. It was launched on 29 August 1944 fromBanská Bystrica to resist German troops that had occupied Slovak territory and to overthrow thecollaborationist government ofJozef Tiso.[44] Although German forces largely defeated the resistance, guerrilla operations continued their efforts in the mountains.
In retaliation,Einsatzgruppe H and theHlinka Guard Emergency Divisions executed many Slovaks suspected of aiding the rebels as well as Jews who had avoided deportation until then, and destroyed 93 villages on suspicion ofcollaboration. Several villages were burned to the ground, and all their inhabitants were murdered, as inOstrý Grúň andKľak (21 January 1945) orKalište (18 March 1945). A later estimate of the death toll was 5,304, and authorities discovered 211mass graves that resulted from those atrocities. The largest executions occurred inKremnička (747 killed, mostly Jews and Roma) andNemecká (900 killed).
Bratislava was often bombarded by theAllies. Major air raids included the bombing of Bratislava and its refineryApollo on June 16, 1944, by AmericanB-24 bombers of theFifteenth Air Force with 181 victims.[45]Bombardment group attacked in four waves with overall 158 planes.
After the anti-NaziSlovak National Uprising in August 1944, the Germans occupied the country (from October 1944), which thereby lost much of its independence. The German troops were gradually pushed out by theRed Army, byRomanian, and by Czechoslovak soldiers coming from the east. The liberated territories again becamede facto part of Czechoslovakia.
The First Slovak Republic ceased to existde facto on 4 April 1945 when theSoviet Red Army2nd Ukrainian Front captured Bratislava during theBratislava–Brno offensive and occupied all of Slovakia.[46][47]De jure it ceased to exist when the exiled Slovak government capitulated to GeneralWalton Walker leading theXX Corps of the3rd US Army on 8 May 1945 in theAustrian town ofKremsmünster. In the summer of 1945, the captured former president and members of the former government were handed over to Czechoslovak authorities.
Several prominent Slovak politicians escaped toneutral countries. Following his captivity, the deposed president Jozef Tiso authorized the former foreign ministerFerdinand Ďurčanský as his successor. Ďurčanský, Tiso's personal secretary Karol Murín, and cousin Fraňo Tiso were appointed by ex-president Tiso as the representatives of the Slovak nation; however, they failed to create agovernment-in-exile as no country recognized them. In the 1950s, fellow Slovak nationalists established the Slovak Action Committee (later Slovak Liberation Committee), which unsuccessfully advocated the restoration of the independent Slovak republic and the renewal of war against the Soviet Union. After thedissolution of Czechoslovakia and the creation of the modernSlovak republic, the Slovak Liberation Committee proclaimed Tiso's authorization as obsolete.
At the end of the war, Vojtech Tuka suffered a stroke which confined him to a wheelchair; he emigrated together with his wife, nursing attendants, and personal doctor toAustria, where he was arrested by Allied troops following the capitulation of Germany and handed over to the officials of the renewed Czechoslovakia. Following a brief trial, Vojtech Tuka was executed by hanging on 20 August 1946.
Jozef Tiso was sentenced to death, deprivation of his civil rights, and confiscation of all of his property.[48] Tiso appealed to the Czechoslovak presidentEdvard Beneš and expected a reprieve; his prosecutor had recommended clemency. However, no reprieve was forthcoming.[49] Wearing his clerical outfit, Tiso washanged inBratislava on 18 April 1947. The Czechoslovak government buried him secretly to avoid having his grave become a shrine,[50] but far-right followers of Tiso soon identified the grave in the St Martin cemetery in Bratislava as his. Decades later, after a DNA test in April 2008 that confirmed it, the body of Tiso was exhumed and buried inSt Emmeram's Cathedral inNitra, in accordance with canon law.[51]
Members of the far-right in admiration of Tiso created a memorial grave inMartin cemetery in October of 2008 to commemorate Tiso.[55] It has since been used as an occasional gathering place for many far-right groups, including thePeople's Party Our Slovakia. Ultranationalist propaganda proclaims Tiso as a "martyr" who "sacrificed his life for his belief and nation" and so tries to paint him as an innocent victim of communism and a saint.[56]
In 2018, Slovak public broadcasterRTVS in the television poll The Greatest Slovak (spin-off of British television series100 Greatest Britons), nominatedJozef Tiso, president of the wartime Slovak Republic, as one of the contenders for the title of the ‘Greatest Slovak’. After criticism RTVS excluded Jozef Tiso.[61]
^Views differ on Slovakia's relation to Germany.István Deák writes, "Despite the claims of some historians, [Slovakia] functioned not as apuppet state but as Nazi Germany's first but not last Slavic-speaking military ally".[1]Tatjana Tönsmeyer, who maintains that the puppet-state narrative overstates German influence and understates Slovakia's autonomy, notes that Slovak authorities frequently avoided implementing measures pushed by the Germans when such measures did not suit Slovak priorities. According to German historian Barbara Hutzelmann, "Although the country was not independent, in the full sense of the word, it would be too simplistic to see this German-protected state (Schutzstaat) simply as a 'puppet regime'."[2]Ivan Kamenec, however, emphasizes German influence on Slovak internal and external politics and describes it as a "German satellite".[3]
^according to 1930 census Slovakia had 136,737 jewish people
^Some historians date the end of Slovak independence to the Declaration of the Slovak National Council on 1 September 1944, while others date it to 8 May 1945, when the government signed the surrender document.[11]
^Badie, Bertrand;Berg-Schlosser, Dirk;Morlino, Leonardo, eds. (7 September 2011).International Encyclopedia of Political Science. SAGE Publications (published 2011).ISBN9781483305394. Retrieved9 September 2020.... fascist Italy ... developed a state structure known as the corporate state with the ruling party acting as a mediator between 'corporations' making up the body of the nation. Similar designs were quite popular elsewhere in the 1930s. The most prominent examples wereEstado Novo in Portugal (1933–1974) and Brazil (1937–1945), the AustrianStandestaat (1934–1938), and authoritarian experiments in Estonia, Romania, and some other countries of East and East-Central Europe,
^Piotrowski, Tadeusz (1998).Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947. Science Publications. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 294.ISBN9780786403714. Retrieved9 February 2017.Between 1920 and 1924, some areas of Orawa and Spisz fell to Poland, others to Slovakia. With Germany's support, on the basis of the November 1 and 30, 1938 agreements between Poland and Czechoslovakia, Poland annexed 226 square kilometers (and 4,280 people) of Orawa and Spisz. The following year, on the basis of an agreement (November 21, 1939) between Germany and Slovakia, these territories, along with some previously Polish sections of Orawa and Spisz (a total of 752 square kilometers of land with 30,000 people) were transferred to Slovakia.
^Denisa Nešťáková (2023) In the Name of Helping Women: Women Against the Family Policy of the Slovak State, Central Europe, 21:2, 78–96, DOI: 10.1080/14790963.2023.2294409
^Weinberg, Gerhard L. (2005).A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (2 ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 52.ISBN0-521-85316-8.OCLC986290507
^abBranik Ceslav; Carmelo Lisciotto (2008)."The Fate of the Slovak Jews".Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Holocaust Research Project.org. Retrieved20 January 2016.
^Nižňanský, Eduard (2010).Nacizmus, holokaust, slovenský štát [Nazism, holocaust, Slovak state] (in Slovak). Bratislava: Kalligram.ISBN978-80-8101-396-6.
Deák, István (2015) [2013].Europe on Trial: The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution during World War II. London: Routledge.ISBN978-0-8133-4790-5.
Evans, Richard J. (2009).The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Press.ISBN978-1594202063.
Hutzelmann, Barbara (2016). "Slovak Society and the Jews: Attitudes and Patterns of Behaviour". In Bajohr, Frank; Löw, Andrea (eds.).The Holocaust and European Societies: Social Processes and Social Dynamics. London: Springer. pp. 167–185.ISBN978-1-137-56984-4.
Nedelsky, Nadya (7 January 2003). "The wartime Slovak state: a case study in the relationship between ethnic nationalism and authoritarian patterns of governance".Nations and Nationalism.7 (2):215–234.doi:10.1111/1469-8219.00013.
.svg)
.svg)
.png)
.svg)
.png)
.jpg)
_variant_2.svg)
.png)
.jpg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
