Slovakia
Region in East central Europe. Until 1918, Slovakia was part of Hungary, and in the inter-war years it was part of the Czechoslovak republic. Between March 14, 1939, and April 29, 1945, it was a satellite of Nazi Germany; since the end of World War II, it has been part of Czechoslovakia. Before the war, some 70 percent of the population was Roman Catholic, and the rest were Greek Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish.
A Separate Slovak State
Slovak nationalists agitated for greater autonomy within the Czechoslovak republic, and they made their first major gain following the Munich conference of September 1938. The Munich agreement resulted in the establishment of the second Czechoslovak republic on October 6, with Slovakia as an autonomous region. The first Vienna Award (November 2) allowed the annexation of parts of Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine by Hungary. When the areas of Bohemia and Moravia were made a protectorate of the Reich, Slovakia became a separate state, on March 14, 1939. A one-party totalitarian regime took control: the Hlinkova Slovenska Ludova Strana (Slovak People's Party of Hlinka), more commonly known as the Ludaks. Under their leader, the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, they advocated Christian solidarism. That ideology espoused the values of extreme nationalism, a social order purportedly based on Catholicism, the acceptance of authoritarianism, and an extreme anti-Communism. The government also aligned itself with Nazi Germany. One of its first acts was to sign the Treaty of Protection (Schutzvertrag) with Germany, in effect allowing Germany to interfere in Slovak internal affairs and to dictate Slovak foreign policy.
The Tiso Regime
From the first days of the new regime, two factions struggled for power. Tiso was made president of the Slovak state and thereby gained the upper hand. His rivals were Dr. Vojtech (Bela) Tuka, a professor and frustrated intellectual who served as prime minister, and Alexander (Sano) Mach, head of the Hlinka Guard and later the interior minister. The faction of Tuka and Mach was more reactionary than that of Tiso, courting Nazi Germany's favor more vociferously. Both factions favored discriminatory laws against the Jews. The Slovaks entered the war in 1941, sending soldiers against the Soviet Union shortly after the start of Operation "Barbarossa."
The Slovak National Uprising
A minority of Slovaks, mostly non-Roman Catholics, never supported the regime. Anti-Ludak partisan units came into existence in Slovakia as early as 1942. Supporters of Edvard Benes and the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, Slovak Communists, and other opponents of the Tiso regime established the Slovenska Narodna Rada (Slovak National Council; SNR), which was dedicated to overthrowing the pro-Nazi state. Relying heavily on sympathetic officers in the Slovak army, the SNR planned an uprising under the leadership of Col. Jan Golian. As the Germans suffered increasing reversals, more and more Slovaks were drawn into the rebel camp. Early in the summer of 1944, Moscow sent guerrillas to Slovakia to engage in partisan activities. These forces made little effort to coordinate with the SNR. Nazi intervention to quell the partisan fighting led to a premature declaration of an uprising on August 29. The rebels at first captured much territory, making the town of Banska Bystrica their center. But the situation deteriorated rapidly, and on October 28, Banska Bystrica fell, heralding the end of the rebellion. After the crushing of the Slovak National Uprising, the Nazis were not ousted until April 29, 1945, when the Soviet army took Slovakia.
National Uprising
A revolt in Slovakia from August 28-29 to October 27, 1944. The uprising was planned by several groups: the Czechoslovak Agrarian party, the right wing of the Social Democratic party, the Communist party, estranged Slovak nationalists, and army officers. In late December 1943, these groups, except for the officers, set up the Slovenska Narodna Rada (Slovak National Council; SNR). The primary aim of the uprising was to oust the Hlinkova Slovenska Ludova Strana (Slovak People's Party of Hlinka; HSLS) from power and free the state from its dependence on Nazi Germany. Not all the participants shared the same long-term goal. Members of the Czechoslovak Communist party and the bourgeois "Flora" group (which formed around a well-known Slovak politician, Dr. Vavro Srobar), aspired to a united Czechoslovakia. The Slovak faction of the Communist party advocated that Slovakia become a Soviet republic, whereas the Agrarian party wanted to see the emergence of a united Czechoslovak republic, but with a good deal of Slovak autonomy.
The Outbreak of Fighting
The plans for the uprising were based on the hope that it would coincide with an advance by the Soviet army which would breach the German lines on two fronts. If the Wehrmacht were to launch a surprise invasion of Slovakia, the planners expected that their rebel forces would be able to hold out in the center of the country for as long as it would take the Soviets to arrive.
In the spring of 1944, partisan activity, especially under Soviet command, was intense. To forestall further partisan gains, on August 28-29 the Germans invaded Slovakia and the uprising began. The rebels made significant gains in the early fighting. In the area they liberated, a Czechoslovak republic was declared.
The Crushing of the Rebellion
The Germans hoped to suppress the uprising quickly, but the opposition proved strong. Late in September, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Gottlob Berger, the chief commander of the German forces, was replaced by the Hoeherer SS- und Polizeifuehrer (Higher SS and Police Leader) SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Hermann Hoefle. Within a few weeks, Hoefle crushed the rebellion. Banska Bystrica, the center of the uprising, fell on October 27, 1944, thus ending the organized struggle. Guerrilla fighting continued in the mountains until the spring. The rebellion was weakened not only by internal political strife, but by Allied reluctance to support it fully.
Jewish Participation in the Uprising
Armed underground Jewish cells existed in each of the three Slovak labor camps long before the SNR was established. Early in 1944, contact was established between them and the SNR, and the SNR included them in its strategy. For the Jews, an SNR victory could mean the rescue of the remaining Slovak community. More than 2,000 Jews fought in the uprising, 1,566 as partisans, and 500 fell in battle. The 200-man Novaky cell under the command of Dr. Imrich Mueller (Milen), fought as a separate unit within the regular army; later, most of the men joined the partisans.
The Parachutists from Palestine
During the uprising, four Jewish parachutists reached Slovakia from Palestine to foment armed resistance. Three of them, Haviva Reik, Zvi Ben-Yaakov, and Rafael Reiss, were killed during the uprising. Only one, Chaim Hermesh, continued fighting with the partisans until the end of the war. Another parachutist, Abba Berdiczew, was dropped in Slovakia with the mission of reaching Romania, but he was killed on Slovak soil.
The Fate of the Jews
As the Germans began to retake territory, they rounded up Jews. More than 1,500 were killed in Kremnica. By March 1945, 13,500 Jews had been deported to Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and Theresienstadt. Although Slovak Jews supported the uprising, they could do little to determine its course, and their fate in the wake of its failure was part of the backlash unleashed by the Nazi victory.
ANTI-JEWISH POLICIES
Slovak Nationalists and the Jews
Slovak nationalists harbored much animosity toward the Jews. With the advent of an autonomous Slovakia within the Czecho-Slovak republic, street attacks, looting, and the forced removal of Jews (particularly those who were Hungarian citizens) to the no man's land between Slovakia and Hungary were carried out by the storm troops of the Hlinka Guard and the Freiwillige Schutzstaffel (a paramilitary organization of ethnic Germans). Adolf Eichmann, as an expert on the Jewish problem, was sent to Slovakia to organize this forced removal of Jews. Upon the creation of the Slovak state, sporadic anti-Jewish restrictions were introduced.
Increased Anti-Jewish Legislation
At a conference in Salzburg (July 28, 1940) attended by Hitler and the Slovaks Jozef Tiso, Vojtech Tuka, Alexander Mach, and Karm(the leader of the local German minority), it was decided to set up a Nazi regime in Slovakia. This led to increased anti-Jewish legislation. That August, Dieter Wisliceny was sent to Slovakia to be an adviser on Jewish affairs. Around this time, Jewish males were first drafted into auxiliary labor units of the Slovak armed forces (see SIXTH SLOVAK BRIGADE). The Ustredny Hospodarsky Urad (Central Economic Office; UHU), which was attached to the office of the prime minister, was established to oust the Jews from the economy and oversee "Aryanization." On September 26, 1940, a decree was promulgated establishing the Ustreda Zidov (Jewish Center; UZ). The UZ was to be subordinate to the UHU, whose orders it would transmit to the Jews. In the summer of 1941, when Slovak troops entered the war, anti-Jewish legislation was escalated again. The legal status of the Jews was finalized with the Zidovsky Kodex (Jewish Code) on September 9, 1941; this law closely followed the Nuremberg Laws for the classification of Jews. A special ministerial order issued by Mach called for the removal of 15,000 Jews from Bratislava. By March 1942, 6,700 had been resettled in Trnava, Nitra, and eastern Slovakia, or sent to labor camps.
Deportations
The idea of deporting Slovak Jewry was enthusiastically supported by most of the Tiso government. On March 27, the Jews were sent to the East from Slovakia. The Slovaks paid a fee of 500 reichsmarks for each deportee, to cover the cost of "vocational training." From March to October 1942, about 58,000 Slovak Jews were deported. Most were sent to Auschwitz, Majdanek, and the Lublin area. Jewish property was sold at low prices by the Slovak authorities or distributed free to non-Jewish Slovaks as an inexpensive way to buy the goodwill of the populace.
Opposition to Deportations
As early as the autumn of 1942, "rumors" about the fate of the Jewish deportees, based in part on information gathered by the Pracovna Skupina (Working Group), led elements of the Slovak body politic to clamor for an end to the deportations. On May 23, 1942, however, the Slovak parliament passed a law that permitted the expulsion of Jews from Slovakia. In an attempt to deny these "rumors," the Germans sent the journalist Fritz Fiala to meet with some Slovak inmates in Auschwitz. But certain Slovak politicians, such as the education minister, Josef Sivak, remained unsatisfied and pressed the government to demand that a Slovak delegation be allowed to visit the deportees. The Germans did not yield to these demands, but pressure from the anti-deportation faction in the government contributed to the cessation of the transports in October 1942.
The Collapse of the Slovak National Uprising
No more Jews were deported until the collapse of the Slovak National Uprising in the autumn. Alois Brunner was sent in to run the Sered camp, which became a transit point for deportation. Some 13,500 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and Theresienstadt. Many hundreds of Jews were also killed in Slovakia itself by the German forces.
JEWS IN SLOVAKIA
The Jewish population on the eve of the war was 88,951 (not including baptized Jews). The reactions of a segment of the Slovak Jewish leadership to the deportations are singular in the history of the Holocaust. This group, known as the Pracovna Skupina (Working Group), strove to rescue Jews not only in Slovakia, but all of Europe.
The Ustreda Zidov - the Jewish Center.
The Ustreda Zidov (Jewish Center; UZ), created in September 1940 was the main Slovak Jewish organization during the war years. Its functions initially included the retraining of Jews for physical work, promoting emigration from Slovakia, and administering Jewish schools and charities. The UZ had a main office in Bratislava and branch offices in other Jewish population centers. Heinrich Schwartz, the chairman of the Orthodox Jewish community, was appointed its head. Following Schwartz's arrest for "noncooperation" in April 1941, Arpad Sebestyen was appointed the UZ chairman. He served in the post until members of the Pracovna Skupina, who were displeased with his compliant attitude toward the authorities, managed to have him ousted in 1943 in favor of Oskar Neumann.
Intervention, Labor Camps, and Protective Papers
In an attempt to forestall the impending deportations, the Committee of Six - the precursor to the Pracovna Skupina - was formed. They did not succeed in preventing the transports, but they probably contributed to their cessation in October 1942. In another attempt to protect Jews from deportation, two members of the Pracovna Skupina convinced the Slovak authorities to establish work camps to exploit Jewish labor on Slovak soil. Three camps, Novaky, Sered, and Vyhne eventually were set up, and most of the Jews in them were spared during the first wave of deportations. The five companies of Jews in the Sixth Slovak Brigade were also usually safeguarded from deportation. Others Jews sought protection by converting to Christianity or by obtaining false "Aryan" papers. A special group of Jews deemed "vital" to the Slovak economy were granted "certificates of exemption" from the deportations.
Flight to Hungary
While the deportations were going on, Slovak Jews began to flee to safety over the Hungarian border. At first the province of Slovak Zionist youth and various Orthodox Jews, the Pracovna Skupina also became involved in this form of rescue. Until the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, perhaps 10,000 Jews escaped in this way.
Negotiations with the Nazis
During the relatively quiet period in Slovakia between October 1942 and August 1944, the Pracovna Skupina conducted unsuccessful negotiations with the Nazis to save the remaining Slovak Jews, as well as other European Jews slated for extermination. This bargaining came to be known as the Europa Plan.
The Auschwitz Protocols
The Auschwitz Protocols, detailed reports by four Jewish escapees from Auschwitz who reached Slovakia in the spring of 1944, also passed through the hands of the Working Group. Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandel sent the reports to the West, together with a plea to bomb the railway lines leading to Auschwitz and the camp itself. Although his appeals did not lead to the bombing of the camp, the information contained in the protocols sparked increased internationally backed rescue activities in Hungary.
Armed Resistance
In the Slovak labor camps, armed cells began to form during the deportations of 1942. By 1944, they had been incorporated into the preparations for the Slovak National Uprising, and the Pracovna Skupina helped support them. When the revolt broke out on August 28-29, 1944, over 2,000 Jewish fighters took part, and 269 were killed in action.
In the Wake of the Failed Slovak National Uprising
With the collapse of the uprising, some 13,500 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and Theresienstadt. Many hundreds of Jews were also killed in Slovakia itself by the German forces. About 10,000 of the post-revolt deportees survived the war, and another 4,000-5,000 Jews remained in hiding in the mountains with the partisans, or in the towns and cities of Slovakia, until the end of the war. Those who hid in Bratislava were aided by the International Red Cross representative Georges Dunand, who arrived in Slovakia in October 1944 and worked with a Zionist youth leader, Juraj Revesz. Most survivors felt unwelcome in the new Czechoslovakia. Anti-Jewish violence was common. After the Soviet-backed regime was established in 1948, most of the remaining Jews left Slovakia; the majority immigrated to Israel.
