Slovak People's Party
Encyclopedia
The Slovak People's Party (Slovak
: Slovenská ľudová strana, SĽS, after 1925 Hlinka's Slovak People's Party / Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana / HSĽS, after 1938 Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity/Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana – Strana slovenskej národnej jednoty / HSĽS-SSNJ) was a Slovak right-wing party and was described as a fascist and clerical nationalist group.
The party arose at a time when Slovakia was still part of Austria-Hungary
, then it was one of the parties of Czechoslovakia
. Together with the Slovak National Party
, it was one of only two purely Slovak parties in Austria-Hungary and then in Czechoslovakia.
After a voluntary merger with other parties in November 1938 the resulting party became the dominant party of World War II Slovakia
, where it was associated with the regime of Jozef Tiso
.
Party chairmen were the Slovak priests Andrej Hlinka
(1913-1938) and then Jozef Tiso
(1938-1945).
The main newspapers of the party were Slovenské ľudové noviny (Slovak People's Newspaper, 1910-1930) and Slovák (The Slovak, 1919-1945).
— the Slovak National Party (SNS). On December 14, 1905, various Slovak personalities that did not agree with the politics of the Slovak National Party, but nevertheless wanted to promote Slovak interests, declared the creation of a Slovak People's Party in Žilina, but the party was not formally created yet. Further personalities, among them the Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, joined the "party" in early 1906. The party was formally created on March 18, 1906 by F. Skyčák, Milan Hodža and A. Ráth, but based on a decision of April 1906, till 1913 it officially took part in elections as a kind of "subparty" of the Slovak National Party to prevent splitting of Slovak political bodies. The SNS and the SLS had two programs, which however were almost identical. Despite the usual election manipulations in Hungary at that time, the SLS won 6 deputies (and the SNS one) out of the 415 deputies of the Hungarian Diet in 1906.
As for the membership, the party mainly included former Slovak members of the Hungarian People's Party ("Néppárt", founded in 1895) and former members of the SNS. The programme of the party included liberal reforms (freedom of speech, universal suffrage etc.), national requirements and religious (Catholic) requirements.
In 1912, the SLS refused to support the strong Czech
o-Slovak orientation of the SNS prevailing at that time and made a similar declaration as in 1905, again without formal effects. On July 29, 1913, however, the SLS was finally created in Žilina
as a separate Slovak political party in Austria-Hungary.
The Party's chairman was Andrej Hlinka, other leaders were Ferdiš Juriga and František Skyčák.
During World War I, the SLS (just like the SNS) stopped being politically active in order to prevent any possible pretext for accusations of activities against the Austrian-Hungarian state. The party, however, participated in the creation of the (2nd) Slovak National Council that existed from October 1918 to January 1919.
The party was also against Czechoslovakism
(i. e. not considering Slovaks a separate ethnicity from the Czechs) and Atheism
and Protestantism
. During this period, the party can be characterized as a very conservative, strongly Catholic and anti-Communist party. As Hlinka put it in 1920 when the Czechoslovak Social Democrats won the election: "I will work 24 hours a day till Slovakia turns from a red Slovakia into a white and Christian
Slovakia ". Its main voters were Slovak farmers, mainly because the party criticized the Czechoslovak land reform of 1920-1929.
The party received 17.5% of the vote in Slovakia in 1920 making it the 3rd largest party. Since the county elections in 1923, however, the party became the biggest party in Slovakia, receiving 34.4% in the 1925 and 30.3% in the 1935 general elections in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia. Since the party was against Prague centralism, it was mostly in opposition. Only on January 15, 1927 did it become a member of the Czechoslovak government coalition. After a controversial trial against the HSLS member Dr. Vojtech Tuka
, who was accused of high treason
, the HSLS left the government on October 8, 1929.
In 1920, the party participated in the election together with the Czech People's Party
under the name Czechoslovak People's Party. For the purpose of the general election of 1935 the HSLS joined with mainly the SNS, thus creating the "Autonomy Block", which ceased after the election.
After the death of the 74 years old Andrej Hlinka in August 1938, Jozef Tiso
- until then the vice-chairman of the party- became the new chairman.
On October 6, 1938, after the Czech part of Czechoslovakia had lost frontier regions to Germany through the Munich Agreement
, the executive committee of the HSLS together with most other Slovak parties declared the autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. Prague
accepted this and appointed Jozef Tiso the Prime Minister of Autonomous Slovakia on the same day. HSLS became the dominant party in the subsequent Slovak governments.
On November 8, 1938, after the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had lost some 1/3 of its territory to Hungary
through the Vienna Award (Vienna Arbitration), the members of all parties (except for the Communists
and Social Democrats) in Slovakia, i. e. the Slovak members of Czech political parties in Slovakia, merged with the HSLS and formed the Hlinka Slovak People's Party - Party of Slovak National Unity (HSLS-SSNJ). The Slovak National Party joined the HSLS-SSNJ on December 15.
This new party quickly developed clear authoritarian characteristics. It immediately subjected the leftist and Jewish parties to considerable harassment. In the December 1938 Slovak general election this new party won 97.3% (out of which 72% went to candidates of the original HSLS). The Social Democrats and Communists were shut out because the HSLS-SSNJ government didn't publish new election procedures until it was too late for those parties to select candidates. As from January 31, 1939 all parties except for the HSLS-SSNJ, the Deutsche Partei (party of the German minority) and the Unified Magyar Party (party of the Hungarian minority) were prohibited. For all intents and purposes, Slovakia was now a one-party state.
and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence. Hitler added that if Tiso didn't do so, he would have no interest in Slovakia's fate. During the meeting, Joachim von Ribbentrop
passed on a (false) report saying that Hungarian troops were approaching 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 which would approve Slovakia's independence.
On 14 March, the Slovak parliament convened and heard Tiso's report on his discussion with Hitler as well as a declaration of independence. Some of the deputies were sceptical of making such a move, but the debate was quickly quashed when Franz Karmasin, leader of the German 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 declared Slovak independence. Jozef Tiso was appointed the first Prime Minister of the new republic. The next day, Tiso sent a telegram (which had actually been composed the previous day in Berlin) asking the Reich to take over the protection of the newly minted state. The request was readily accepted.
The HSLS-SSNJ was the leading force in the country (the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1943 did not take place) and it was supposed to represent the interests of all Slovaks.
Since 1939 however a conflict between two wings arose within the party. The conservative wing led by the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso
, the president of Slovakia and chairman of the party, wanted to create a specific authoritarian and religious state of Estates. This wing controlled the leading posts of the country, party and the clerics. The other wing was inspired by the German model, were strong Anti-Semites, wanted to remove all Czechs and to create a radically fascist state (Slovak National Socialism). Their main organization was the Hlinka Guard
(Hlinkova garda), which was controlled by the HSLS-SSNJ. The main representatives were the Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka
and the Minister of the Interior Alexander Mach
.
The problem of the fascist wing was that the population supported Tiso's wing, because the fascist wing was visibly demagogic, the fascist ideology was not compatible with most of the Slovak largely Catholic population and that the country was doing very well economically as compared to the neighbouring countries (incl. Germany).
Germany initially supported Tuka, but since 1942 when deportations of Jews started and a Germany-inspired act identifying Tiso and the HSLS-SSJN with the country itself (the "Führer"-principle) was forcibly adopted, Tiso's moderate wing had full support of Germany, whose only concern was the Jewish question and no problems whatsoever at German borders. This even enabled Tiso's wing to stop the deportations after some time.
The party ceased together with the liberation of Slovakia by Czechoslovak troops and by the Soviet Army
in April-May 1945. Many of the party's members were persecuted during the Communist regime.
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
: Slovenská ľudová strana, SĽS, after 1925 Hlinka's Slovak People's Party / Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana / HSĽS, after 1938 Hlinka's Slovak People's Party – Party of Slovak National Unity/Hlinkova slovenská ľudová strana – Strana slovenskej národnej jednoty / HSĽS-SSNJ) was a Slovak right-wing party and was described as a fascist and clerical nationalist group.
The party arose at a time when Slovakia was still part of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, then it was one of the parties of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Together with the Slovak National Party
Slovak National Party (historical party)
The Slovak National Party was a Slovak conservative and nationalist political party in the Kingdom of Hungary and then in Czechoslovakia from 1871 to 1938...
, it was one of only two purely Slovak parties in Austria-Hungary and then in Czechoslovakia.
After a voluntary merger with other parties in November 1938 the resulting party became the dominant party of World War II Slovakia
Slovak Republic (1939-1945)
The Slovak Republic , also known as the First Slovak Republic or the Slovak State , was a fascist state which existed from 14 March 1939 to 8 May 1945 as a puppet state of Nazi Germany. It existed on roughly the same territory as present-day Slovakia...
, where it was associated with the regime of Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
.
Party chairmen were the Slovak priests Andrej Hlinka
Andrej Hlinka
Andrej Hlinka was a Slovak politician and Catholic priest, one of the most important Slovak public activists in Czechoslovakia before Second World War...
(1913-1938) and then Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
(1938-1945).
The main newspapers of the party were Slovenské ľudové noviny (Slovak People's Newspaper, 1910-1930) and Slovák (The Slovak, 1919-1945).
Austria-Hungary
The creation process of the party took several years. At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, besides the short lived Slovak Social Democratic Party (1905-1906), there was only one party in Austria-Hungary that specifically promoted the interests of the SlovaksSlovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
— the Slovak National Party (SNS). On December 14, 1905, various Slovak personalities that did not agree with the politics of the Slovak National Party, but nevertheless wanted to promote Slovak interests, declared the creation of a Slovak People's Party in Žilina, but the party was not formally created yet. Further personalities, among them the Catholic priest Andrej Hlinka, joined the "party" in early 1906. The party was formally created on March 18, 1906 by F. Skyčák, Milan Hodža and A. Ráth, but based on a decision of April 1906, till 1913 it officially took part in elections as a kind of "subparty" of the Slovak National Party to prevent splitting of Slovak political bodies. The SNS and the SLS had two programs, which however were almost identical. Despite the usual election manipulations in Hungary at that time, the SLS won 6 deputies (and the SNS one) out of the 415 deputies of the Hungarian Diet in 1906.
As for the membership, the party mainly included former Slovak members of the Hungarian People's Party ("Néppárt", founded in 1895) and former members of the SNS. The programme of the party included liberal reforms (freedom of speech, universal suffrage etc.), national requirements and religious (Catholic) requirements.
In 1912, the SLS refused to support the strong Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
o-Slovak orientation of the SNS prevailing at that time and made a similar declaration as in 1905, again without formal effects. On July 29, 1913, however, the SLS was finally created in Žilina
Žilina
Žilina is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Slovakia with a population of approximately 85,000, an important industrial center, the largest city on the Váh river, and the seat of a...
as a separate Slovak political party in Austria-Hungary.
The Party's chairman was Andrej Hlinka, other leaders were Ferdiš Juriga and František Skyčák.
During World War I, the SLS (just like the SNS) stopped being politically active in order to prevent any possible pretext for accusations of activities against the Austrian-Hungarian state. The party, however, participated in the creation of the (2nd) Slovak National Council that existed from October 1918 to January 1919.
Czechoslovakia
After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the SLS renewed its activities on December 19, 1918 in Žilina. On October 17, 1925 it was renamed the Hlinka Slovak People's Party. During the existence of pre-war Czechoslovakia (1918-1939), Slovakia received no autonomy within Czechoslovakia, although extensive autonomy had been promised to the Slovaks before the creation of Czechoslovakia in the Pittsburg Agreement. Based on this agreement, the (H)SLS an autonomous status of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia and opposed centralisation in that state.The party was also against Czechoslovakism
Czechoslovakism
Czechoslovakism is a term for the political and cultural conception of a unified Czechoslovak nation and disapproval of differentiating separate nations of Czechs and Slovaks. This nation was made ideologically for a newborn country, which needed to identify itself on national level...
(i. e. not considering Slovaks a separate ethnicity from the Czechs) and Atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
and Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. During this period, the party can be characterized as a very conservative, strongly Catholic and anti-Communist party. As Hlinka put it in 1920 when the Czechoslovak Social Democrats won the election: "I will work 24 hours a day till Slovakia turns from a red Slovakia into a white and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Slovakia ". Its main voters were Slovak farmers, mainly because the party criticized the Czechoslovak land reform of 1920-1929.
The party received 17.5% of the vote in Slovakia in 1920 making it the 3rd largest party. Since the county elections in 1923, however, the party became the biggest party in Slovakia, receiving 34.4% in the 1925 and 30.3% in the 1935 general elections in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia. Since the party was against Prague centralism, it was mostly in opposition. Only on January 15, 1927 did it become a member of the Czechoslovak government coalition. After a controversial trial against the HSLS member Dr. Vojtech Tuka
Vojtech Tuka
Vojtech "Béla" Tuka was the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic between 1940 and 1945. Tuka was one the main forces behind the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps in Poland...
, who was accused of high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, the HSLS left the government on October 8, 1929.
In 1920, the party participated in the election together with the Czech People's Party
People's Party
The People's Party, Peoples Party, or Popular Party, is any of several political parties claiming to speak for the people.People's Parties in various countries run the gamut from left to right...
under the name Czechoslovak People's Party. For the purpose of the general election of 1935 the HSLS joined with mainly the SNS, thus creating the "Autonomy Block", which ceased after the election.
After the death of the 74 years old Andrej Hlinka in August 1938, Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
- until then the vice-chairman of the party- became the new chairman.
On October 6, 1938, after the Czech part of Czechoslovakia had lost frontier regions to Germany through the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, the executive committee of the HSLS together with most other Slovak parties declared the autonomy of Slovakia within Czechoslovakia. Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
accepted this and appointed Jozef Tiso the Prime Minister of Autonomous Slovakia on the same day. HSLS became the dominant party in the subsequent Slovak governments.
On November 8, 1938, after the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia had lost some 1/3 of its territory to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
through the Vienna Award (Vienna Arbitration), the members of all parties (except for the Communists
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992....
and Social Democrats) in Slovakia, i. e. the Slovak members of Czech political parties in Slovakia, merged with the HSLS and formed the Hlinka Slovak People's Party - Party of Slovak National Unity (HSLS-SSNJ). The Slovak National Party joined the HSLS-SSNJ on December 15.
This new party quickly developed clear authoritarian characteristics. It immediately subjected the leftist and Jewish parties to considerable harassment. In the December 1938 Slovak general election this new party won 97.3% (out of which 72% went to candidates of the original HSLS). The Social Democrats and Communists were shut out because the HSLS-SSNJ government didn't publish new election procedures until it was too late for those parties to select candidates. As from January 31, 1939 all parties except for the HSLS-SSNJ, the Deutsche Partei (party of the German minority) and the Unified Magyar Party (party of the Hungarian minority) were prohibited. For all intents and purposes, Slovakia was now a one-party state.
World War II Slovakia
In a last-ditch attempt to save the country, the Prague government deposed Tiso as Slovak premier, replacing him with Karel Sidor. A few days later, amid massive German provocations, Hitler invited Tiso to BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and urged him to proclaim Slovakia's independence. Hitler added that if Tiso didn't do so, he would have no interest in Slovakia's fate. During the meeting, Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
passed on a (false) report saying that Hungarian troops were approaching 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 which would approve Slovakia's independence.
On 14 March, the Slovak parliament convened and heard Tiso's report on his discussion with Hitler as well as a declaration of independence. Some of the deputies were sceptical of making such a move, but the debate was quickly quashed when Franz Karmasin, leader of the German 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 declared Slovak independence. Jozef Tiso was appointed the first Prime Minister of the new republic. The next day, Tiso sent a telegram (which had actually been composed the previous day in Berlin) asking the Reich to take over the protection of the newly minted state. The request was readily accepted.
The HSLS-SSNJ was the leading force in the country (the parliamentary elections scheduled for 1943 did not take place) and it was supposed to represent the interests of all Slovaks.
Since 1939 however a conflict between two wings arose within the party. The conservative wing led by the Catholic priest Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
, the president of Slovakia and chairman of the party, wanted to create a specific authoritarian and religious state of Estates. This wing controlled the leading posts of the country, party and the clerics. The other wing was inspired by the German model, were strong Anti-Semites, wanted to remove all Czechs and to create a radically fascist state (Slovak National Socialism). Their main organization was the Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard
Hlinka Guard was the militia maintained by the Slovak People's Party in the period from 1938 to 1945; it was named after Andrej Hlinka.The Hlinka Guard was preceded by the Rodobrana organization, which existed from 1923 to 1927, when the Czechoslovak authorities ordered its dissolution...
(Hlinkova garda), which was controlled by the HSLS-SSNJ. The main representatives were the Prime Minister Vojtech Tuka
Vojtech Tuka
Vojtech "Béla" Tuka was the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic between 1940 and 1945. Tuka was one the main forces behind the deportation of Slovak Jews to Nazi concentration camps in Poland...
and the Minister of the Interior Alexander Mach
Alexander Mach
Alexander Mach was a Slovak nationalist politician.He belonged to the non-clerical wing of the Slovak People's Party, which has been portrayed as the more pro-Nazi of the party's two factions...
.
The problem of the fascist wing was that the population supported Tiso's wing, because the fascist wing was visibly demagogic, the fascist ideology was not compatible with most of the Slovak largely Catholic population and that the country was doing very well economically as compared to the neighbouring countries (incl. Germany).
Germany initially supported Tuka, but since 1942 when deportations of Jews started and a Germany-inspired act identifying Tiso and the HSLS-SSJN with the country itself (the "Führer"-principle) was forcibly adopted, Tiso's moderate wing had full support of Germany, whose only concern was the Jewish question and no problems whatsoever at German borders. This even enabled Tiso's wing to stop the deportations after some time.
The party ceased together with the liberation of Slovakia by Czechoslovak troops and by the Soviet Army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
in April-May 1945. Many of the party's members were persecuted during the Communist regime.
See also
- Slovaks in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)Slovaks in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)Whereas Czechs wished to create a Czechoslovak nation, Slovaks sought a federal republic in 1918. The new Czechoslovak republic , with its predominantly Czech administrative apparatus, hardly responded to Slovak aspirations for at least some form of autonomy...
- Jozef TisoJozef TisoJozef Tiso was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest, politician of the Slovak People's Party, and Nazi collaborator. Between 1939 and 1945, Tiso was the head of the Slovak State, a satellite state of Nazi Germany...
- History of CzechoslovakiaHistory of CzechoslovakiaWith the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy at the end of World War I, the independent country of Czechoslovakia was formed, encouraged by, among others, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson...
- History of SlovakiaHistory of SlovakiaThis article discusses the history of the territory of Slovakia.- Palaeolithic :Radiocarbon dating puts the oldest surviving archaeological artifacts from Slovakia - found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom - at 270,000 BCE, in the Early Paleolithic era...
- SlovakizationSlovakizationSlovakization or Slovakisation is a term used to describe a cultural change in which ethnically non-Slovak people are made to become Slovak. The process can be named as 'accelerated assimilation'....