Slovak Republic (1939–1945)

The Slovak Republic^[a], was a client state of Nazi Germany which existed from 14 March 1939 until 4 April 1945.

Slovak Republic Slovenská republika
1939–1945
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Verní sebe, svorne napred! "Faithful to Ourselves, Together Ahead!"
Anthem: Hej, Slováci English: "Hey, Slovaks"
The Slovak Republic in 1942
Status	Client state of Nazi Germany
Capital	Bratislava
Common languages	Slovak, Hungarian
Religion	Christianity[1]
Government	Clerical fascist one-party republic under a totalitarian dictatorship
President
• 1939–1945	Jozef Tiso
Prime Minister
• 1939	Jozef Tiso
• 1939–1944	Vojtech Tuka
• 1944–1945	Štefan Tiso
Historical era	World War II
• Independence	14 March 1939
• War with Hungary	23 March 1939
• Constitution adopted	21 July 1939
• Invasion of Poland	1 September 1939
• Invasion of the USSR	22 June 1941
• National Uprising	29 August 1944
• Fall of Bratislava	4 April 1945
Currency	Slovak koruna
Preceded by Succeeded by Second Czechoslovak Republic Third Czechoslovak Republic
Today part of	Slovakia Poland

History

Slovak interior minister Alexander Mach (third from left) and Nazi German interior minister Wilhelm Frick (second from right).

One day before the Nazi German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, they declared independence from Czechoslovakia. ^[2] It has mostly the same borders as the modern-day Slovakia except for the regions which were ceded to Hungary in 1938. The Capital city was declared Bratislava, as it was good in terms of politics, economics and culture when it came to representing Slovakia.

Jozef Tiso

Jozef Tiso, the founder and only President of the Slovak Republic, was a Catholic priest. He was a member of the pro-Nazi Catholic fascist Hlinka Slovak People's Party (HSL’S),^[3] which seized power in Slovakia,^[3] when Czechoslovakia was dismembered by Nazi Germany, and modelled Slovakia after Nazi Germany's totalitarian state.^[3][4]

Hlinka Guard

"Our friendship is inseparable!" A Slovak Nazi propaganda poster – featuring the Slovak Hlinka Guard – made by the Catholic fascist the Slovak People's party (HSL’S) ruling Slovakia from 1939 to 1945 as a German puppet state. The slogan was written in Slovak and German respectively: Nerozlučné je naše priateľstvo! and Untrennbar ist unsere Freundschaft.

The Slovak Hlinka Guard was a militia set up by Jozef Tiso to hunt down Jews, Roma and other "undesirable" minorities.^[3]

Holocaust in Slovakia

1940–1942

A poster made by Jozef Tiso's regime: "Do not be a servant to the Jew: he who associates with a Jew will sink down to his level."

In 1940, Jews were fired from their jobs and their properties taken over by Jozef Tiso's regime.^[3] Tiso's regime enacted the strictest laws against Jews – called The Jewish Code – in Nazi-occupied European countries.^[3] Before the start Tiso's deportation of Jews in March 1942, about 88,951 Jews lived in Slovakia.^[3]

1942–44

By November 1942, 57,000 Slovak Jews were handed over to the Germans by the Hlinka Guard, Slovak police and ethnic German Slovak SS volunteers.^[3] In the final three months of 1944, over 70,000 of the pre-deportation 88,951 Jews were deported to Nazi death camps, mostly Auschwitz and Theresienstadt,^[3] with over 60,000 of them slain.^[3] Tiso's regime paid Hitler 500 reichsmarks per deported Jew.^[4]

End

In April 1945, the Slovak capital Bratislava was taken over by the Soviet Red Army, while Romanian troops took over other parts of Slovakia.^[3]

Aftermath

Jozef Tiso was handed over by American troops to the Czechoslovak regime. Tiso was tried along with former Foreign Minister Ferdinand Durčanský and Interior Minister Alexander Mach. He was convicted of treason, and executed four days after.^[3]

Related pages

• Independent State of Croatia

Notes

1. Slovak: [Prvá] Slovenská republika, also called the Slovak State (Slovak: Slovenský štát)