Slovak Republic (1939-1945) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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

Puppet state

A puppet state is a nominal sovereign of a state who is de facto controlled by a foreign power. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette...

of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. It existed on roughly the same territory as present-day Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

(without the southern and eastern parts). The Republic bordered Germany, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...

, General Government

General Government

The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...

(German-occupied remnant of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

), and Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)

The Kingdom of Hungary also known as the Regency, existed from 1920 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...

.

The Slovak State was recognized by Germany and several other states including the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, NDH

Independent State of Croatia

The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...

, El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

, Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)

, Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...

, Mengjiang

Mengjiang

Mengjiang , also known in English as Mongol Border Land, was an autonomous area in Inner Mongolia, operating under nominal Chinese sovereignty and Japanese control. It consisted of the then-Chinese provinces of Chahar and Suiyuan, corresponding to the central part of modern Inner Mongolia...

, Romania

Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...

, the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, Spain, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

. The first Slovak Republic's legal existence was retroactively nullified by the World War II victorious allies through the nullification of 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...

and all its consequences.

Name

The country was called the First Slovak Republic (Slovak: prvá Slovenská republika) or Slovak State (Slovak: slovenský štát or Slovenský štát) to distinguish it from the contemporary (Second) Slovak Republic, Slovakia, which is not considered its legal successor state

Succession of states

Succession of states is a theory and practice in international relations regarding the recognition and acceptance of a newly created sovereign state by other states, based on a perceived historical relationship the new state has with a prior state...

. The name "Slovak state" was the official name until the adoption of the Constitution on the July 21, 1939. The name "Slovak state" was used colloquially, but the official name "first Slovak republic" was used even in encyclopedias written during the communist rule.

Creation

After the Munich Agreement

Munich Agreement

, Slovakia gained autonomy

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...

inside Czecho-Slovakia (as the former Czechoslovakia had been renamed) and lost its southern territories to Hungary under the Vienna Award. As Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

was preparing an invasion of the Czech lands and creation of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

, he had various plans for Slovakia (German officials were initially misinformed by the Hungarians that the Slovaks wanted to join Hungary). Finally it was decided to make of it a separate state under the strong influence of Germany, and a potential strategic base for German attacks on Poland and other regions.

On 13 March 1939, Hitler invited Monsignor

Monsignor

Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...

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 Slovak ex-prime minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

who had been deposed by Czech troops several days earlier) to Berlin

Berlin

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 ("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 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.

War with Hungary

On 23 March 1939, Hungary, having already occupied Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...

, attacked from there, and the newly established Slovak Republic was forced to cede 1697 km² of territory with about 70,000 people to Hungary. See Slovak-Hungarian War

Slovak-Hungarian War

The Slovak–Hungarian War or Little War , was a war fought from March 23 to March 31/April 4, 1939 between the First Slovak Republic and Hungary in eastern Slovakia.-Prelude:...

for more information.

Slovak Forces during the campaign against Poland (1939)

Slovakia was the only Axis nation other than Germany to take part in the Polish Campaign

Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...

. With the impending German invasion of Poland planned for September 1939, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

Oberkommando der Wehrmacht

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...

(OKW) requested the assistance of Slovakia. Although the Slovak military was only six months old, it formed a small mobile combat group

Field Army Bernolák

The Field Army Bernolák was an infantry unit during World War II. In Jozef Tiso's Axis WWII Slovak Republic, it took part in the German invasion of Poland in 1939 and the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941....

consisting of a number of infantry and artillery battalions. Two combat groups were created for the Campaign in Poland for use alongside the Germans. The first group was a brigade sized formation that consisted of six infantry battalions, two artillery battalions, and a company of combat 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 were organized around the HQ of the 1st and 3rd Slovak Infantry Divisions. The two combat groups saw fighting while pushing through the Nowy Sącz

Nowy Sacz

Nowy Sącz is a town in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County, but is not included within the powiat.-Names:...

and Dukla Mountain Passes

Dukla Pass

The Dukla Pass is a strategically significant mountain pass in the Laborec Highlands of the Outer Eastern Carpathians, on the border between Poland and Slovakia, and close to the western border of Ukraine....

, advancing towards Dębica

Debica

Dębica is a town in southeastern Poland with 46,693 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. It is the capital of Dębica County. Since 1999 it has been situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it had previously been in the Tarnów Voivodeship .-Area:...

and Tarnów

Tarnów

Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...

in the region of southern Poland.

International relations

From the beginning, the Slovak Republic was under the influence of Germany. The so-called "protection treaty" (Treaty on the protective relationship between the German Empire and the Slovak State), signed on 23 March 1939, partially subordinated its foreign, military and economic policy to that of Germany (formally at least). The German Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

established the so-called "protection zone

German Zone of Protection in Slovakia

The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, or the Protective Zone was an area established in the in the western parts of the First Slovak Republic after the dissolution and division of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany during 1939...

" in Western Slovakia in August 1939. The Slovak-Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was signed at Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

on 6 December 1940.

The most difficult foreign policy problem of the state were the relations with Hungary, which, after all, had annexed one third of Slovakia's territory by the First Vienna Award

First Vienna Award

The First Vienna Award was the result of the First Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace on November 2, 1938. The Arbitration and Award were direct consequences of the Munich Agreement...

and had tried to occupy the remaining territory. Slovakia tried to achieve a revision of the Vienna Award, but Germany did not allow that. There were also constant quarrels concerning Hungary's treatment of Slovaks living in Hungary.

Characteristics

85% of the inhabitants of the Slovak Republic were Slovaks, the remaining 15% were made up of Germans

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

, Hungarians, Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

and Roma. 50% of the population were employed in agriculture. The state was divided in 6 counties ("župy

Župa

A Župa is a Slavic term, used historically among the Southern and Western branches of the Slavs, originally denoting various territorial and other sub-units, usually a small administrative division, especially a gathering of several villages...

"), 58 districts ("okres

Okres

Okres refers to administrative entities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia...

y") 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 5 years was the highest legislative body (no general elections took place, however), and the "State Council" performed the duties of a senate. The government with 8 ministries was the executive body.

The Slovak Republic was an authoritarian state marked by elements of fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

. It is characterized by some as a clerical fascist

Clerical fascism

Clerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...

state - this is the definition officially coined by the Communists. The leading political party was the "Hlinka's Slovak People's Party- Party of Slovak National Unity. All other political parties, with the exception of parties representing national minorities (Germans and Hungarians

Hungarian National Party (Czechoslovakia)

Hungarian National Party was one of political parties of ethnic Hungarians in the First Republic of Czechoslovakia.The party was founded in February 1920 in Komárno as party of smallholders, under name Országos Magyar Kisgazda és Földműves Párt...

) had been forbidden (this had happened before the creation of the state, however). The government issued a number of anti-semitic laws, prohibiting the Jews

Jews

from participating in public life, and later supported their deportation to German concentration camps. See also Jozef Tiso

Jozef Tiso

for some details.

The existence of the republic had positive effects on Slovak economy, science, education and culture. The Slovak Academy of Sciences

Slovak Academy of Sciences

The Slovak Academy of Sciences SAV is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research...

was founded in 1942, a number of new universities and high schools were established and Slovak literature and culture flourished.

Administrative divisions

The Slovak Republic was divided into 6 counties and 58 districts since 1 January 1940. (statistics as of 1 January 1940):

Bratislavská župa (Bratislava county, 3667 km², 455 728 inhabitants)
- 6 districts: Bratislava
  Bratislava
  Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
  
  , Malacky
  Malacky
  Malacky is a town and municipality in western Slovakia around 35 km north from capital Bratislava. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary...
  
  , Modra
  Modra
  Modra is a city and municipality in the Bratislava Region in Slovakia. It has a population of 8,704 as of 2005. It nestles in the foothills of the Malé Karpaty and is an excellent centre of hiking.Modra is famous for its pottery industry...
  
  , Senica
  Senica
  Senica is a city in Trnava Region, western Slovakia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the Záhorie lowland, close to the Little Carpathians.-History:...
  
  , Skalica
  Skalica
  Skalica is the largest city in Skalica District in western Slovakia in the Záhorie region. Located near the Czech border, Skalica has a population of 14,963 .-History:...
  
  , Trnava
  Trnava
  Trnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj and of an okres . It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric . The city has a historic center...

Nitrianska župa (Nitra county 3546 km², 335 343 inhabitants)
- 5 districts: Hlohovec, Nitra
  Nitra
  Nitra is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. With a population of about 83,572, it is the fifth largest city in Slovakia. Nitra is also one of the oldest cities in Slovakia and the country's earliest political and cultural center...
  
  , Prievidza
  Prievidza
  Prievidza is a city in the central-western Slovakia. With 51,200 inhabitants it is one of the biggest municipalities in the Trenčín Region.-Features:...
  
  , Topoľčany
  Topolcany
  Topoľčany .The name Topoľčany was assumed to be derived from topoľ, Slovak for poplar tree. Groves of these trees were once abundant on the banks of the Nitra River...
  
  , Zlaté Moravce
  Zlaté Moravce
  Zlaté Moravce is a town in south-western Slovakia.-Basic data:It is the capital and the biggest town of Zlaté Moravce District. It is approximately 120 km from the Slovak capital Bratislava and 32 km from Nitra.-History:...

Trenčianska župa (Trenčín county 5592 km², 516 698 inhabitants)
- 12 districts: Bánovce nad Bebravou
  Bánovce nad Bebravou
  Bánovce nad Bebravou is a town in Slovakia, in the Trenčín Region.-Geography:It is located at the northernmost edge of the Danubian Hills, at the foothills of the Strážovské vrchy mountains at the confluence of the Radiša and Bebrava rivers...
  
  , Čadca
  Cadca
  Čadca is a district town in northern Slovakia, near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic.-Geography:It is located south of the Jablunkov Pass, surrounded by the Javorníky, Kysucké Beskydy and Turzovská vrchovina mountain ranges. It lies in the valley of the Kysuca river, around 30 km...
  
  , Ilava
  Ilava
  Ilava is a town in the Trenčín Region, northwestern Slovakia.-Geography:It is located in the Ilava Basin near the Váh river at the foothills of Strážovské vrchy mountains, near the cities of Považská Bystrica and Trenčín...
  
  , Kysucké Nové Mesto
  Kysucké Nové Mesto
  Kysucké Nové Mesto is a town in Žilina Region, Slovakia, near the city of Žilina.-History:The first written record to the Kysuce region, which was relatively uninhabited at that time, was in 1244, and to the town in 1325 under name Congsberg...
  
  , Myjava
  Myjava
  Myjava is a town in Trenčín Region, Slovakia.-Geography:It is located in the Myjava Hills at the foothills of the White Carpathians and not far from the Little Carpathians. The river Myjava flows through the town...
  
  , Nové Mesto nad Váhom
  Nové Mesto nad Váhom
  Nové Mesto nad Váhom is a town in the Trenčín Region of Slovakia.- Geography :District town located at the northern edge of the Danubian Hills at the foothills of the northern end of the White Carpathians, on the Váh river. Other mountains nearby are the White Carpathians and the Považský Inovec...
  
  , Piešťany
  Pieštany
  Piešťany is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its own district. It is the biggest and best known spa town in Slovakia and has around 30,000 inhabitants.-History:...
  
  , Považská Bystrica
  Považská Bystrica
  Považská Bystrica is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh river, around 30 km from the city of Žilina. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.- Profile :...
  
  , Púchov
  Púchov
  Púchov is an industrial town in the centre of Púchov District in Slovakia, with a population close to 20,000.-Geography:It is located on the main train line between Bratislava and Košice...
  
  , Trenčín
  Trencín
  Trenčín is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 56,000, which makes it the ninth largest municipality of the country and is the seat of the Trenčín Region and the Trenčín District...
  
  , Veľká Bytča
  Bytca
  Bytča is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located at the Váh river near the cities of Žilina and Považská Bystrica. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism.-History:...
  
  , 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...

Tatranská župa (Tatra county, 9222 km², 463 286 inhabitants)
- 13 districts: Dolný Kubín
  Dolný Kubín
  Dolný Kubín is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital of the Orava region.-Geography:Dolný Kubín lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of ....
  
  , Gelnica
  Gelnica
  Gelnica is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. It has a population of 6,171.-Geography:It is located in the northern part of the Slovak Ore Mountains, in the Hnilec river valley, which flows few kilometres downstream into Hornád...
  
  , Kežmarok
  Kežmarok
  Kežmarok is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia , on the Poprad River.-History:...
  
  , Levoča
  Levoca
  Levoča is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,600. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Renaissance church with the highest wooden altar in Europe, carved by Master Paul of Levoča, and many other Renaissance buildings.On 28 June 2009,...
  
  , Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš
  Liptovský Mikuláš
  Liptovský Mikuláš is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Basin near the Low Tatra and Tatra mountains...
  
  , Námestovo
  Námestovo
  Námestovo is a town in northern Slovakia. It is the capital and largest town of Námestovo District in the Žilina Region. its population was 8,094.-Geography:...
  
  , Poprad
  Poprad
  Poprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia with a population of approximately 55,000.The Poprad-Tatry Airport is...
  
  , Ružomberok
  Ružomberok
  Ružomberok is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 30,000-Geography:...
  
  , Spišská Nová Ves, Spišská Stará Ves, Stará Ľubovňa
  Stará Lubovna
  Stará Ľubovňa is a town with approximately 16,000 inhabitants in northeastern Slovakia. The town consists of the districts Podsadek and Stará Ľubovňa.-Geography:...
  
  , Trstená
  Trstená
  Trstená is a city in Tvrdošín District, Žilina Region, central Slovakia....
  
  , Turčiansky Svätý Martin
  Martin, Slovakia
  Martin is a city in northern Slovakia, situated on the Turiec river, between the Malá Fatra and Veľká Fatra mountains, near the city of Žilina. The population numbers approximately 58,000, which makes it the eighth largest city in Slovakia...

Šarišsko-zemplínska župa (Šariš-Zemplín county, 7390 km², 440 372 inhabitants)
- 10 districts: Bardejov
  Bardejov
  Bardejov is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region and has about 33,000 inhabitants. The spa town, mentioned for the first time in 1241, exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely intact medieval town center...
  
  , Giraltovce
  Giraltovce
  Giraltovce is a town lying the in Prešov Region, eastern Slovakia.-Twin towns — Sister cities:Giraltovce is twinned with:-External links:*...
  
  , Humenné
  Humenné
  Humenné is a town in the Prešov Region in eastern Slovakia and the second largest town of the historic Zemplín region. It lies at the volcanic Vihorlat mountains and at the confluence of the Laborec and Cirocha Rivers.-Characteristics:...
  
  , Medzilaborce
  Medzilaborce
  Medzilaborce is a town in northeastern Slovakia close to the border with Poland, located near the towns of Sanok and Bukowsko . Its population is approximately 6,600.-Characteristics:...
  
  , Michalovce
  Michalovce
  Michalovce is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia, with a population around 40,000. It is the biggest town of the Michalovce District in the Košice Region.-Geography:...
  
  , Prešov
  Prešov
  Prešov Historically, the city has been known in German as Eperies , Eperjes in Hungarian, Fragopolis in Latin, Preszów in Polish, Peryeshis in Romany, Пряшев in Russian and Пряшів in Rusyn and Ukrainian.-Characteristics:The city is a showcase of Baroque, Rococo and Gothic...
  
  , Sabinov
  Sabinov
  Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
  
  , Stropkov
  Stropkov
  Stropkov is a town in Stropkov District, Prešov Region, Slovakia.-History:Stropkov is an economical, social and cultural centre of north Zemplín...
  
  , Trebišov
  Trebišov
  Trebišov is a small industrial town in the easternmost part of Slovakia, with a population of around 23,000. The town is an administrative, economic and cultural center with machine and building materials industries.-History:...
  
  , Vranov nad Topľou
  Vranov nad Toplou
  Vranov nad Topľou is a city of approximately 23,000 inhabitants in eastern Slovakia, situated near Košice and Prešov, and between the Topľa River and the Ondava River....

Pohronská župa (Hron county, 8587 km², 443 626 inhabitants)
- 12 districts: Banská Bystrica
  Banská Bystrica
  Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...
  
  , Banská Štiavnica
  Banská Štiavnica
  Banská Štiavnica is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as Štiavnica Mountains. Banská Štiavnica has a population of more than 10,000. It is a completely preserved medieval town...
  
  , Brezno nad Hronom, Dobšiná
  Dobšiná
  Dobšiná is a town in the Slovenské rudohorie mountains in Slovakia, on the Slaná River, north-west of Košice.-Geography:...
  
  , Hnúšťa
  Hnúšta
  Hnúšťa is a town and municipality in the Rimavská Sobota District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.It is a birthplace of a well known Slovak writer of 19th century, member of the Štúr generation, Janko Francisci Rimavský...
  
  , Kremnica
  Kremnica
  Kremnica is a town in central Slovakia. It has some 5,700 inhabitants. The well-preserved medieval town built above important gold mines is the site of the oldest still-working mint in the world.-History:...
  
  , Krupina
  Krupina
  Krupina is a town in southern central Slovakia. It is part of the Banská Bystrica Region and has 7,812 inhabitants as of 2005.-History:The territory of modern day Krupina was inhabited since the Neolithic, based on archaeological findings from the Bronze Age. The first written reference to the...
  
  , Lovinobaňa
  Lovinobana
  Lovinobaňa is a village and municipality in the Lučenec District in the Banská Bystrica Region of Slovakia.-Geography:The municipality lies at an altitude of 255 metres and covers and area of 21.130km². It has a population of about 2100 people....
  
  , Modrý Kameň
  Modrý Kamen
  Modrý Kameň is a town and municipality in the Veľký Krtíš District of the Banská Bystrica Region of southern Slovakia.- Geography :It is located in the Krupina Plain on the Krtíš and Riečka rivers...
  
  , Nová Baňa
  Nová Bana
  Nová Baňa is a small town in the west of central Slovakia and the largest town of the Žarnovica District, located in the Banská Bystrica Region.- Geography :...
  
  , Revúca
  Revúca
  Revúca is a town in Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia. Revúca is the seat of Revúca District.-History:...
  
  , Zvolen
  Zvolen
  Zvolen |Slatina]] rivers, close to Banská Bystrica. With its ancient castle, the town has a historical center, which represents the seat of an okres .-History:...

The Slovak Republic and the Holocaust

Soon after independence and along with 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 the Nuremberg Laws

Nuremberg Laws

The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...

, the Code required that Jews wear a yellow armband

Yellow badge

The yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...

, and were banned from intermarriage and many jobs. By October 1941, 15,000 Jews were expelled from Bratislava; many were sent to labour camps.

The Slovak Republic was one of the countries to agree to deport its Jews as part of the Nazi Final Solution

Final Solution

The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...

. Originally, 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 the Wannsee Conference

Wannsee Conference

The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...

, 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". The only member of the Slovak Parliament who voted against expelling the Jews was János Esterházy

János Esterházy

Count János Esterházy a member of the House of Esterházy was the most prominent ethnic Hungarian politician in former Czechoslovakia...

.

The deportations of Jews from Slovakia started on 25 March 1942, but halted on 20 October 1942 after a group of Jewish citizens, led by Gisi Fleischmann

Gisi Fleischmann

Gisi Fleischmann was a leader of the best known Holocaust era Jewish rescue group: the Bratislava Working Group. Mrs. Fleischmann was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Working Group's co-leader was Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl...

and Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl, built a coalition of concerned officials from the Vatican

Roman Curia

The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...

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, mostly to Auschwitz

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

. Slovak government officials filed complaints against Germany, when it became clear that many of the previously deported Slovak Jews had been gassed in mass executions.

Jewish deportations resumed on 30 September 1944, when the Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

army reached the Slovak border, and the Slovak National Uprising

Slovak National Uprising

The Slovak National Uprising or 1944 Uprising was an armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. It was launched on August 29 1944 from Banská Bystrica in an attempt to overthrow the collaborationist Slovak State of Jozef Tiso...

took place. As a result of these events, Germany decided to occupy all of Slovakia and the country lost its independence. 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, but one 2006 estimate is that approximately 105,000 Slovak Jews, or 77% of their pre-war population, died during the war.

Two Wings of the Ruling Party

From 1939, a conflict between two wings arose within the party. The conservative and moderate wing led by the Roman Catholic priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

Msgr.

Monsignor

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 were more radical people, who were inspired by the German National Socialist model, were strong Anti-Semites, wanted to remove all Czechs and to create a radically fascist state (Slovak National Socialism) based on blood and soil

Blood and soil

Blood and Soil refers to an ideology that focuses on ethnicity based on two factors, descent and homeland/Heimat...

principles and collectivization. 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 extremist-fascist wing was that the general population supported Tiso's moderate wing, because the fascist wing was visibly demagogic

Demagogy

Demagogy or demagoguery is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes...

, the fascist ideology was not compatible with most of the Slovak largely Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

population of peasants and small businessmen and that the country was still doing very well economically compared to the neighbouring countries (even compared with Germany itself). The Nazi and the moderately Catholic wings were mutually kept together, however, by their common aversion from and fear of Bolshevism.

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 temperate 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 of Jews after some time of compromising with the German Nazis.

SS plans for Slovakia

Although the official policy of the Nazi regime was in favour of an independent Slovakian state dependent on Germany and was opposed to any annexations of Slovak territory, Himmler

Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

's SS considered ambitious population policy options concerning the German minority of Slovakia

Carpathian Germans

Carpathian Germans , sometimes simply called Slovak Germans , are a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia...

, which numbered circa 130 000 people. In 1940, Günther Pancke

Günther Pancke

Günther Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Pancke was an SS-Obergruppenführer and the Higher SS and Police Leader of Denmark....

, head of the SS RuSHA

RuSHA

The Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS , , was the organization responsible for "safeguarding the racial 'purity' of the SS" within Nazi Germany....

("Race and Settlement Office") undertook a study trip in Slovakian lands where ethnic Germans were present, and reported to Himmler that the Slovakian Germans were in danger of disappearing. Pancke recommended that action should be taken to fuse the racially valuable part of the Slovaks into the German minority and remove the Gypsy and Jewish populations. He stated that this would be possibly by "excluding" the Hungarian minority

Hungarians in Slovakia

Hungarians in Slovakia are the largest ethnic minority of the country, numbering 520,528 people or 9.7% of population . They are concentrated mostly in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary...

of the country, and by settling some 100 000 ethnic German families to Slovakia. The racial core of this Germanization policy was to be gained from the Hlinka Guard

Hlinka Guard

, which was to be further integrated into the SS in the near future.

President

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...

14 March 1939 – 3 April 1945

Prime Ministers

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...

14 March 1939 – 29 October 1939
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...

29 October 1939 – 5 September 1944
Štefan Tiso
Štefan Tiso
Štefan Tiso was a lawyer and president of the Supreme Court of the Slovak republic . He was also Prime Minister , Foreign Minister and Minister of Justice of the Slovak Republic 1944–1945...

5 September 1944 – 3 April 1945

Commanders of German Occupation Forces

29 August 1944 – 20 September 1944 Gottlob Berger
Gottlob Berger
Gottlob Berger was a German Nazi who held the rank of Obergruppenführer during World War II and was later convicted of war crimes.In 1939, he was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's main recruiting officer...
20 September 1944 – 3 April 1945 Hermann Höfle (not to be confused with Hermann Höfle
Hermann Höfle
Hermann Julius "Hans" Höfle was an Austrian-born SS-Sturmbannführer . He was deputy to Odilo Globocnik in the Aktion Reinhard program, serving as his main deportation and extermination expert...

)

Commanders of Soviet Occupation Forces

6 August 1944 – 24 March 1945 Ivan Yefimovich Petrov
25 April 1945 – July 1945 Andrey Anreyevich Yeremenko

End of the Slovak Republic

After the anti-Nazi Slovak National Uprising

Slovak National Uprising

in August 1944, the Germans occupied the country (from September 1944), which thereby lost much of its independence. The German troops were gradually pushed out by the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

, by Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n and by Czechoslovak

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...

troops coming from the east. The liberated territories became de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

part of Czechoslovakia again.

The First Slovak Republic definitely ceased to exist de facto on 4 April 1945 when the Red Army captured Bratislava and occupied all of Slovakia. De jure

De jure

De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....

it ceased to exist when the exiled Slovak government capitulated to General Walton Walker

Walton Walker

Walton Harris Walker was an American army officer and the first commander of the U.S. Eighth Army during the Korean War.-Biography:...

leading the XX Corps

XX Corps (United States)

The XX Corps of the United States Army fought from northern France to Austria in World War II. Constituted by redesignating the IV Armored Corps, which had been activated at Camp Young, California on 5 September 1942, XX Corps became operational in France as part of Lieutenant General George S....

of the 3rd US Army on 8 May 1945 in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n town of Kremsmünster

Kremsmünster

Kremsmünster is a town in Kirchdorf an der Krems , in Upper Austria, Austria. Its population is 6,450, as of 2001. Settled in 777, it is home to the Kremsmünster Abbey....

External links

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