1 50 13 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e053232aaec8337193ecdbab999efecc.pdf 8df400c730f836773bf33452cb91075d PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have �114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. �SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. �116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of �SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she �118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\ � SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have �114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. �SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. �116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of �SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she �118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 113 "Baked Blockheads" . (a fragment) \ FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) In the morning, as soon as Michael Habdzha, a pudgy and stem peasant of Zelena Misa, stepped out of his house, his son Urban took his wife Christine (nee Svata) by the hand; and like children walking to school, they went hand-in-hand to the notary, signed a contract and a note , and bought a house with two vineyards in Wolfsvale . The entire transaction was very brief: Christine removed a linen pouch from the bosom of her dress, unwrapped the protective cover of the pouch, and took out twenty hundred-crown banknotes , part of which she earned through her own sweat and tears and part of which they had received after long supplication from the elders of Podhaj. Having placed the money on the desk in front of the notary, Christine and her husband signed the contract, and Theophil Hrzhic and Dominik Palkovic, the guarantors , vouched the draft with an additional fifteen-hundred crowns . The notary winked deliberately at the young woman and said, " So-o-o! Live in the house happily and use your property in good health! You-u-u made a go-o-od bargain. " The young couple left the notary office with pale faces, empty pockets, and shoulders slumping somewhat. It was hard to say what burdened their hearts the most; whether it was the property acquired in Wolfsvale , or the draft note for fifteen-hundred crowns, or the speed with which the transaction was performed. The notary put five of Christine's hundred-crown banknotes in his pocket, while the remaining fifteen bills he placed in his desk drawer for the former owner of the Wolfsvale property, Joseph Deograts, who, to the surprise of all, had emigrated with his family to America. The notary patted his pocket as if dusting his suit after contact with a hairy animal and mumbled, " Donkeys .. . both of you !" The young Habdzhas did not return home through the village. They walked through the barnyards, and even there they turned on purpose across Cabbage Fields and Hemp Fields towards Scabby Water. In Little Willows near the river, Christine's teeth began to rattle. She wept, while Urban, the vein on his forehead swollen, was angry because she regretted spending the money. They would have 114 SLOVAKIA walked this way and cried and been angry with each other, had the woman not grabbed the man in her arms . Tears in her eyes, she said with bluish lips , " Urban!" Her voice was like the cry of a drowning person. "Dear Christine!" She had never heard her name pronounced so tenderly . ' 'I'm scared, so scared that I'm shivering!'' Indeed, cold fever shuddered through her body. ' 'Don't be afraid and don't shiver! Do you realize, godly woman, the meaning of having one's own house?" The entire world turned around her. She knew, yes, and how well she knew it! But now she was glad because her Urban knew it, too. " I'm sorry if you think that I regret spending the money." And added still with tears in her eyes: ' 'But I'm afraid of the hell that will follow when those in the upper room learn what we did. I would rather take little Marc and fly directly over to Wolfsvale. Virgin Mary, help me!" It was not the money that worried her. She was concerned about the storm which would suddenly explode in the Habdzha's proud home • when papa and mama learned that the "baked blockheads" had once again challenged their absolute rule and played a stupid trick on them. Urban now knew for sure that his Christine was more dec~nt than he had ever thought her to be. He was very happy because of that, and his heart beat like a hammer. Laughing loudly, he lifted his wife up and tried to rock his longlegged girl in his arms while walking forward . But ~ime and time again she slipped in his hands. She did not know whether to slide down to the ground or to wind her arms around her husband's neck. She let him carry her for some distance, while a sweet indecision intoxicated her. But the moment was so great that it could not culminate in an ordinary embrace. He looked into her eyes and saw that her tears had seemingly dried: Christine 's shy girlishness retreated before a relentlessly onrushing womanly ripeness. \ Urban understood. And before she could,have opened her mouth, he let her touch the ground and outran her, calling to her, " Let' s go, Christine, let' s leave today! " " Yes , yes, yes! " The marks of feminine consent - her smile, the burning coals in her eyes , and fully expanded bosom - betrayed her thoughts clearly. Both found in their agreement a starting point, simple and direct, a stunning view of freedom craved by everything young and healthy in the world. SLOVAKIA 115 Intoxicated spiritually, they sped up from Little Willows and ran across the Meadows to the bridge. The bridge, a formless stone structure thrown clumsily over the river bed of Scabby Water, connected Zelena Misa with Wolfsvale in the fields. A blackened statue of St. John Nepomucene haa stood on the bridge for long centuries, guarding the entrance to W olfsvale and looking with bulging, hateful eyes toward Zelena Misa. Both sat down on a low brick balustrade near the statue . St. John's eyes, from the Wolfsvale side, shone with goodness and won their approval. Urban and Christine looked down on troughlike W olfsvale , full of trees and grapevines, stakes and bushwood. The property which they acquired that day at the notary and which belonged to them was located beyond Goatshead, in Wolf Comers , now the wildest and deepest part of Wolfsvale. And perhaps because of the location and nature of their property, they felt twice as strongly that they aleady belonged there, among the grapevines and trees. When they walked down from the bridge toward Zelena Misa, a feeling of contempt toward the village took possession of them. The village seemed ugly, bare, and worn out. Sitting on a flat hill, the village was kneaded formlessly of brick clay and covered with fat straw. Even the church stuck upward like a fence post. Urban and Christine had acted wisely in drawing a good human being, their grandmother, into their secret plans . A less pious and more honest woman than her daughter Veronina, the devoted and servile wife of Michael Habdzha and the fierce mother of Urban, their grandmother Louise Kristova (nee Hrzhichova), proved to be very helpful to them. She advised then not to start before noon. Free as she was in all her actions , she did not need to account for her comings and goings . She ran to hire a wagoner with a long wagon and a cart, so they could take all their belongings . She also knew that her son-in-law, the farmer, would return only at sunset , for he had gone to Holy Hill from which one does not return quickly. Her daughter - as soon as she was rid of the morning cooking - grasped the opportunity provided by her husband 's absence , to " hit" the bottle, lie in the upper room , and tell the world to go to hell. Urban's brothers, Nicholas and Philip , and his sister Josephine , oppressed like Urban and Christine, were ready to assist in all the operations when they found the young couple was about to sneak out from the lower room . Joyfully anticipating their parents' anger, they danced in the yard. 116 SLOVAKIA In the Habdzha household, there had always been shouting and fighting ever since the house was built, with its four windows facing the square of Zelena Misa. The reins of the household had been held since time immemorial by the man, sharp as a razor, while the ladle had always been held in the hand of a woman as angry as a snake. If the Archangel Michael had established the man as the head of the household to beat all the others, the woman was certainly awarded by the Devil to the man to support him with anger and sly financial machinations. Only Urban, the " scoundrel," took it into his head to violate this age-old tradition. He had suddenly ceased to obey. He was, to be sure, more stubborn and sharper than his honorable ancestors. But at the same time , he had in his chest a greater heart and more mad handsomeness in his face. In the retinue of the Habdzhas , he might have been mistaken for a noble . Because of his rebellious character, he had not brought a respectible bride into the house , but a maidservant, almost with a child in her hands. He tore the Habdzhas' homespun customs to shreds. He turned the household upsidedown. And as if this were not enough , this ungrateful fellow took the side of a woman who sang non-peasant ballads about orphans and injustices above her son' s cradle. Because of these insults , the old Habdzhas bore an everlasting grudge against the beggarly lower room, and, except to give orders for work , they did not address Urban and Christine with a decent word. But Christine , like Urban before her, won the grandmother and her brothers- and sister-in-law to her side. No one could have endured the tears she shed in the corners. Even a beggar standing in the door took it upon himself to chide Veronica for mistreating her daughter-inlaw. Still nothing moved the old ones. It did not help that grandmother poured kitchen slop over Veronica, that Nicholas and Philip broke the chaff cutter in the barn , that Josephine stuck out her tongue at her father ; nor did the store room door chopped to pieces and other asininities committed by Urban affect his parents. It did not help either that the young people worked like dragons. They thought, the donkeys , that they might ~ ppease the old ones, and that peace would reign in the house . The oldsters were pleased, of course, with the output of the young. Because of that , they fed them, for the kitchen was open to all. But punishment - that was another matter! The old did not punish the young as workers , no - God forbid! - they could not find better hands. Yet the young deserved to suffer, to suffer greatly, for they were unworthy, for they had sinned against their ancestors , moldering, God knows how long, in the cemetery of SLOVAKIA 117 Zelena Misa. In the opinion of the old ones, the young must suffer even more for Marc, who was born a month after the wedding. The child , having trespassed so vilely against tradition, was simply not considered a member of the family. He was a worm-eaten fruit. He was something that screeched aimlessly and would not be missed had he broken his neck. In such a case, there would at least be an empty comer for a more Christian apple. Yet the child, even in the midst of anger and hate , grew like a mushroom and was so dear that to harm him would have wrecked the entire house. And so the old had to shun the bastard. And for exactly the same reason, it was clear that Urban and Christine had no other choice than to disappear from the sight of the old ones . And so, as grandmother advised, that day when Michael Habdzha left for Holy Hill and his wife Veronica was digesting her extra quart of red wine and snorting in the upper room, the young Habdzhas loaded their few belongings safely onto the wagon and cart. Grandmother gave them their due portion of victuals and kitchen utensils from the common kitchen . Josephine brought grandmother's spotted cow from the stable. Nicholas and Philip tied together several bundles of clover and threw a sheaf of straw down from the hay loft. Christine took Marc in her knapsack. Veronica did not awake. Everything in the house was carried out without bangs or pangs. Yet, grandmother - God knows what kind of sorrow took hold of her eighty-year-old heart - was unable to part with Christine. The wagoner with his wagon and Urban with the cart and cow moved slowly down the street. Urban' s brothers and sister accompanied the fleeing couple. Everything was bundled together and dragged down the street. Only Christine and her grandmother-in-law , standing in the wide-open gate , wiped their eyes with the comers of their aprons. Even the lazy residents of Zelena Misa, crawling out of their clay holes to see what was going on, considered this long parting to be a stupid thing. It was fatal, indeed, to spend so much time taking leave. When the young woman finally set her foot outside the gate , old Habdzha , rather untimely, was about to enter at that very moment. Both the departing woman and the entering man stiffened in their positions. He changed from blue to black with anger ; she became pale with shame and dread. " Are you leaving? " He stood half-bent, supported by a walking stick. Yet his head was raised toward her. He confronted her menacingly. He looked hateful. Her heart pounded as she considered by-passing him. But she was unable to move from the spot. She only turned round and round . She felt as if she were nailed to the ground. Unable to hide her face , she 118 SLOVAKIA tried at least to avoid the recriminating look of her father-in-law. Luckily, sorrow overcame her, and the tears beclouded her eyes. This confused Habdzha. He bent to one side, by-passing her. He walked slowly, staring directly in her eyes. Then he spat and mumbled, "You pig!" What? Grandmother saw little Marc turn in the knapsack and look at her, spreading his little hands toward her. She blessed him, making the sign of the cross with her bony hand in the air. At the same time, the ugly word fell like cow's dung from the mouth of her son-in-law and hit her ears . With a hand weighted with anger, she slapped him across the mouth. There! Michael Habdzha stiffened. Blood sped into his face. He opened his mouth, gasping for air. He choked. Through a red fog, he saw and heard the onlookers of Zelena Misa laugh as they retreated into their doorways . He took his head in his hands. His heart, the wild Habdzha heart with thin walls, started its awful gallop. He mumbled something, something incomprehensible and disastrous, something lost in the sad moment when he slid down to the earth. (1946) '\  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Baked Blockheads" (a fragment) Description An account of the resource František Hečko Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 113-118 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hečko, František, 1905-1960 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fbccf65c4a7f79fdd3ea5bfe315fa952.pdf 0ebc7ab64a23699ec918ee01fdbd6556 PDF Text Text 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included. �� 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 89 SLOVAKIA A Note for Researchers The Slavic-~merican Imprint Collection Southern lllin~is University, Edwardsville STANLEY B. KIMBALL The bulk of this 2,693 title collection consists of Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene books and periodicals published in the middle Midwest since 1918, but hundreds of other items by other peoples and outside this time-space framework have been collected. The collection is revealing of Slavic-American attitudes on all kinds of subjects , the problems of Americanization, settlement patterns, political (especially radical) developments, biculturalism, and will be helpful to students and scholf1rs interested in linguistics, literature, the social sciences, ethnic studies, and American Studies. In 1972 the card catalog of this collection was published in book form; a 1977 supplement is being prepared for publication. The following table describes the collection. Books Pamphlets Bulgaro-Macedonian Croat Czech Polish Russian Serb Slovak Slovene Ukrainian Hungarian Lithuanian Rumanian Albanian Greek Latvian Totals 46 77 822 412 34 24 102 118 18 110 32 9 Almanacs 4 12 148 7 2 7 109 40 4 7 1 18 102 25 10 4 20 9 3 5 1 26 10 12 2 1 8 91 6 7 1 1 1 4 3 1,819 Periodicals Newspapers Manuscripts 1 342 192 67 109 Our earliest date is 1873. There are publications from 26 states (and Canada) and 149 cities and towns . A few related items published by East European non-Slavs are also included.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A Note for Researchers: The Slavic-American Imprint Collection Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Description An account of the resource Stanley B. Kimball Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 p. 89 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kimball, Stanley Buchholz Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3b8af822c65ba828deef44e1353fb2b1.pdf 11dee0bf0858df101dd6d3ed494a52b9 PDF Text Text \ ' BOOK REVIEWS ��SLOVAKIA 145 \ The 'Guns of Lattimer Review by PAUL WILKES Michael Novak, THE GUNS OF LATTIMER: The true story of a massacre and trial, August 1897-March 1898 (Basic Books, New York, 1978), XX-276p., $10.95. It's so difficult for those of us Slovaks, born in this country and who never have had to escape from or face open oppression, to get an accurate picture of what members of our families had to face when they came to America in the mass migration near the tum of the century. Yes, we've heard or read that living conditions were intolerable in Europe and working conditions here deplorable. But, we have little notion of the abuse our grandparents faced from allegedly '' good Americans." We may have an inkling today that we are often considered peripheral to the political and economic centers of power, but do we really know anything about the scorn that our forebears faced? That they survived economically is a triumph; that they did not succumb to the psychological abuse is a miracle . In Michael Novak's The Guns of Lattimer we see that Slavic people, Slovaks among them, were looked upon as amoral, shiftless drunks, a lower class of people, part of a "dung heap of humanity." And so, when a group of Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners presented some simple .demands (for example, that they not be required to do business with a company store that charged exorbitant prices nor be physically abused by their bosses) the police and mine owners banded together to crush these " Hunkies" who dared petition for the redress of grievances. After all, who did they think they were? The Slavs were supposed to go into the mines, be paid only for the coal they brought out and should ask for no more. The miners, plagued by low wages, limited work, an alien tax and virtually no benefits, marched through coal towns and patches around Hazleton , gathering strength until they numbered two thousand . Armed with only spirit - now free after nine centuries of repression in Europe - and an American flag they thought would be a symbol of their patriotism and their protection, they were stopped by a heavily armed force near the tiny hamlet of Lattimer Mines on September 10, 1897 . The flag they so proudly carried infuriated the sheriff's deputies, who tore it up before their eyes. �146 SLOVAKIA The rest is history. Although unarmed, the miners were later accused of fomenting the fight and of firing the first shot. The deputies began firing into the crowd and three inch bullets, which were capable of piercing metal, and powerful buckshot tore into human flesh. Nineteen men died, the majority of them Slovak. Thirty-nine were seriously injured and some never worked again . Most were shot in the back. Michael Novak has given us an historically thorough and vivid picture of the march and the massacre and a look into the lives of Slovaks at that time. His is a balanced approach . He does not idealize the miners; he's quite willing to point out their shortcomings, to talk about their meekness as well as their latent hostility. The overwhelming sentiment that comes through in reading the book is one of sadness and the realization that peaceful demonstrators have faced the ire of threatened power structures from Lattimer to Kent State to Jackson State and were mercilessly butchered for their beliefs. In each case, they did not seek violence, but violence and death were meted out to them. Lattimer is a classic case of the haves and have nots; the handful of powerful families , with their intermarriages and interlocking directorships and ownerships , effectively telling the rest of the community how they will live . And when the have nots want more they are not looked upon as reasonable men and women but automatically and categorically as potential destroyers of the fabric of society . Instead of listening to just demands for food and safer conditions (on the average, two miners died in accidents every three days) the ruling powers struck out, with force far beyond what was required. Novak 's portions about immigrant family life (particularly of conditions in the mines and a beautiful section about the romance of Ben Sakmar and Maureen, an Irish girl) made me hunger for more . Also. a tightly reasoned introduction to the book is of inestimable value in understanding the Slovak mentality of the time . The literature about the Slovak immigrants is so scanty and often romanticized so I hope The Guns of Lattimer is just the first of many books about the immig rant experience so that we can better understand ourselves today by knowing what we were like yesterday. �SLOVAKIA 147 The Czec_hs in. America/Slovaks in America \ Review by JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER University of Minnesota THE CZECHS IN AMERICA 1633-1977 - A CHRONOLOGY AND FACT BOOK. Compiled by Vera Laska. (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1978), 152 pages, $6.50. SLOVAKS IN AMERICA - A BICENTENNIAL STUDY. Compiled by Joseph C. Krajsa et al. (Middletown, Pennsylvania: Jednota Slovak American Publishing House, 1978), xi-494 pages, $26.50 . During the last decade the surging interest in America's ethnic groups has spurred many Americans , especially those tracing their origins to Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe to seek more information about the history of their ancestors in America. Responding to this intensified interest , members of various ethnic groups have undertaken to compile bibliographies , "fact" books, and histories of their respective groups. The Czechs in America 1633-1977 by Vera Laska and Slovaks in America, published unde r the auspices of the Slovak League of America, attempt to detail information about Czech and Slovak immigrants and their descendants in the United States . Vera Laska 's Czechs in America is divided into three parts . The first section, entitled "Chronology," gives a year-by-year listing of events in Czech American history from the seventeenth century to the present . The second part, labeled ''Documents,'' contains selections describing Czech life in America and the third section is an Appendix of tables which provides statistics on population , geographical distribution, religion , and education of Czech Americans . A short bibliography is also included. The scholar looking to Laska 's chronology for facts will be quickly and sadly disappointed . This section is a listing of often unrelated items ranging from one sentence entries noting isolated events such as marriage , purchase of land , or some other activity by a person presumably of Czech origin, to longer slightly more detailed entries. In several cases Professor Laska makes claims that persons included in the chronology are Czech on the highly questionable basis of name alone. Professor Laska 's occasional use of phrases " it is said, " "the story is told, " and "some say," makes some of her entries more �148 SLOVAKIA hearsay than historical fact. The work is further marred by various types of factual errors. In some instances Laska fails to present her material accurately. For example she cites Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana as the source for the fact that Jan Amos Komensky was offered the presidency of Harvard College in 1642 (p. 2) when her source actually says this occurred in 1654. Samuel Eliot Morison (The Founding of Harvard College, 1936) explains the discrepancy in dates but clearly Mather was not the source for the 1642 date. Contrary to Laska' s claim, the Lincoln Rifle Company (p. 18) was actually "The Lincoln Riflemen of Slavonic Origin, '' and included Magyars, Slovaks , and Czechs; whether it " was framed by 50 Czech volunteers " is highly questionable. These represent only a few examples of errors in the chronology. Much of the material presented by Laska, especially for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be found in Thomas Capek's The Cechs in America (1920) in a more expanded form. Indeed, several of Professor Laska' s entries are strikingly and disturbingly similar to material contained in Capek. (E.g., compare Laska pp. 7-8 to Capek pp. 159-160 and Laska p . 8 to Capek pp. 25-26.) However, Capek although extolling the role of Czechs in American history, often exercised more caution and revealed more objectivity in presenting his material than Laska does. If Professor Laska's goal was to present a factual, chronological picture of Czech history in America, she fell short of her goal. The documents section of Czechs in America is more useful. Some may quibble with the inclusion of published articles from Charities , an early twentieth century magazine, and selections from histories published in 1928 , 1929, 1939 and 1962 as "documents. " Still, Laska chose excerpts from these works that attempt to relate the history and experiences of the common immigrants - sometimes in their own words - instead of focusing on " leaders" as so many works on immigrants are prone to do. Professor Laska offers translations of early newspaper articles and works published in Czech and thereby provides the general public unable to read Czech with an opportunity to read material otherwise unavailable. However, scholars of Czech American history will probably find this section of little benefit. The Appendix consists of tables copied mainly from Capek's Cech's in America and three annual reports on immigration. Again, the general public may find these interesting but scholars will want ,to examine the original sources. ' For a chronology and fact book, the index leaves much to be desired. It includes entries only for the ''Chronology'' section and often lists only the last name of a person if that is all that is included in the �SLOVAKIA 149 main entry. In some cases, Laska may have been unable to locate names of lesser known i:Q1migrants such as a physician in Chicago but a quick check of the Dict(onary of American Biography would have revealed the first name of Ziegler, the sponsor of a Polar expedition, as William. Since the index includes only names and excludes organizations and geographical locations one is forced to plod through the entire book for desired information. In sum, because of the factual errors, questionable claims, and lack of careful verification of material Czechs in America is not a reliable source and contributes little information to the history of Czechs in America. Slovaks in America represents an attempt to chronicle the history of Slovak immigrants and their organizations in the United States. Compiled as a Bicentennial study by an eight-member editorial board, Slovaks in America is divided into six parts arranged on a topical instead of chronological basis. The first part, under the general rubric "Historical and Cultural Studies," consists of seven essays by six different authors. The selections, culled primarily from secondary sources, are in the main readable and will be informative to the general public, even though they often lack real objectivity. The essays "The Slovak Presence in America to 1890," by Sister M. Martina Tybor and "Slovak American Fraternal, Civic and Cultural Organizations" by Stephanie 0. Husek represent the best attempts to offer interpretative analysis. The other essays in this first part concern: religion, the Slovak League, journalism, Slovakia, and the Slovak heritage in America. The authors of these essays tend to narrate rather than analyze their topics in any depth. The other major sections of Slovaks in America are divided into the following categories: fraternals, religious organizations, local organizations and lodges, local parishes, and ''representative cultural organizations." These sections give general histories of various organizations from their inception to the present and include a final part of various Bicentennial activities conducted by Slovaks. But, the editors should have more clearly and carefully alerted readers that these sections are not inclusive. The "Forward" to Slovaks in America describes this work "as a truly encyclopedic presentation of the origin, growth and development of Slovak American colonies with their local and regional organizations.'' However, in a brief explanation of methods used to compile the volume, which is located near the end of the book, the editor explains that the volume is not inclusive. If the editors did not receive material from an organization or group by a printing deadline, that group or organization, it appears, was simply ignored. Consequently, because of this editorial policy, some major Slovak organiza- �150 SLOVAKIA tions are not included in Slovaks in America. Given the title of this work and the description given in the " Forward, " as a service to their potential readers, the editors should not have buried this crucial explanation about the contents and limitations of the volume near the end of the book under the inadvertently misleading title of "In Appreciation. ' ' Due to the editorial policy adopted for compiling Slovaks in America, the various sections within this volume offer a select sampling of Slovak institutions. The section on churches does not include all the Slovak parishes in the United States. Many Catholic churches are missing but more noticeable is the lack of Protestant ones. Only two Lutheran parishes found their way into the collection and no Calvin (Presbyterian) churches are mentioned. The tendency to accentuate Roman Catholic institutions over Protestant is evident in all the other sections as well. The history of the First Catholic Slovak Union merits 68 pages with a year by year chronicle of events. The history of the National Slovak Society is included in a two page biography of Peter V. Rovnianek which does, however, offer a refreshingly objective analysis of the causes for the failure of his Pittsburgh bank. The First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union receives twenty-four pages as opposed to its nonsecular counterpart , Zivena's one . There is no history of the Slovak Evangelical Union, the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union or even the Greek Catholic Union. The only references to non-Catholic Slovak religious groups are a 3 ¼ page history of the Slovak Zion Synod and approximately two pages on Lutherans by Daniel F. Tanzone in his essay on religious developments among Slovaks which also includes one short paragraph on Calvins. In a lengthy book with the pretentious title of Slovaks in America, more attention should have been devoted to Slovak Protestants who, like Roman Catholics, recognized their nationality by forming and joining "Slovak" organizations. Overall, Slovaks in America displays a weakness that is unfortunately evident in many ethnic histories: in its desire to praise the accomplishments of prominent Slovak Americans, Slovak churches and organizations, the work lacks balanced objectivity. In addition , the book contains generalizations about Slovak immigrants that need further study and it makes subjective observations about such ambiguous topics as ' 'the Slovak character. ' ' The segm~nted format of presenting numerous histories, while gratifying to the \respective organizations , does not present a unified history of Slovaks in· America. Still, the book is useful to the general public and, to a lesser extent, to scholars of Slovak American history. It can serve as a reference to anyone desiring general knowledge about prominent Slovaks and Slovak organizations �SLOVAKIA 151 in America , especially Catholic organizations. The collection of material is well or-ganizetl but the index covers only the ' ' Historical and Cultural " section and indpdes mostly people's names, which makes it difficult to locate other information . The work would have profited by a more careful editing of the selections to delete redundancies. Many of the short organizational and church histories begin with quite similar comments about Slovak immigration to the United States in general which makes for tedious reading. Finally, it should be stressed that despite its length and title, Slovaks in America is not a history of the common Slovak immigrants : it focuses on prominent Slovaks and Slovak organizations. Slovaks in America is an informative collection of short institutional histories and biographies . But, the history of Slovak institutions and prominent people is not the history of Slovak immigrants and their experiences in the United States. �152 SLOVAKIA The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) Review by PETER BROCK University of Toronto Jarold K. Zeman, THE HUSSITE MOVEMENT AND THEREFORMATION IN BOHEMIA, MORAVIA AND SLOVAKIA (1350-1650). A Bibliographical Study Guide (with Particular Reference to Resources in North America). Published under the auspices of the Center for Reformation Research by Michigan Slavic Publications (Ann Arbor, 1977), 390 pages. This ''bibliographical study guide'' was prepared by Professor J. K . Zeman of Acadia University Divinity School in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It lists around 3,850 entries - mainly printed materials but including some unpublished items too - in as many as fourteen different languages, with titles in Czech naturally being the most numerous. As the editor explains, his book, while ''prepared, first of all, to serve the needs of students in North America ... should be helpful to scholars and students in other countries" (p. xxix) . It, therefore, makes no claim to the fullness which would be required in a work prepared by '' a professional bibliographer.'' It is in fact deliberately selective, its compiler's aim being to present as full a list as possible of items of importance available in the libraries of the North American continent and thus to provide interested persons with sufficient data to carry on their studies. For easy reference, works in English are marked with an asterisk. On the whole Professor Zeman refrains from commenting on the quality of the books and articles he lists . In a few cases, however, he issues the timely warning: "unreliable. " There are abundant cross references to assist the reader in finding his way around the guide's rather complex organization. The work opens with an eleven-page essay Here Professor Zeman first attempts a typology of the Hussite movement and the later Protestant Reformation into which Hussitism eventually merged. He �SLOVAKIA 153 then reviews briefly the main trends in the historiography of Hussitism, and concludes with a look at current resources for Hussite studies on this continent. Further space is devoted to outlining editorial policies and listing abbre:viations.used in the main part of the work. The indexes included at the end. increa~e the guide' s usefulness to the reader. The listings themselvi:ls are divided into four parts . The first part covers the history of the movement from the forerunners of Hus in the fourteenth century to the supression of Protestantism in the Czech lands by the end of the Thirty Years War. Part I, section 12, we may note, is devoted to the Reformation in Slovakia but these pages (122126) by no means exhaust the items of interest to students of Slovak intellectual history, in which the Hussite tradition for long played a conspicuous role. The remaining three parts cover, respectively, biographical studies, special topics relating to Hussitism (including Hussite contacts with Slovakia and Hungary), and study aids. Whereas the table of contents at the beginning sets out the titles of the sections into which Part I is divided, it does not do this for the parts that follow . This is especially a pity in the case of Part ill (' 'Topical Studies ' ') for, although the topics are dealt with in alphabetical order, it is not always easy to follow the editor in his choice of titles for the various section headings. Many of the topics are indeed only loosely connected with Hussitism, e .g., alchemy and magic, astronomy, history of law, medicine, witchcraft, etc. There is also a brief section on ''Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation. '' In respect to "Biographical Studies" Professor Zeman has wisely refrained from attempting an extensive bibliographical listing for Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague: their lives and writings, he observes, "constitute a research field in its own right" (p . 53). In other instances where adequate specialized bibliographies exist (e.g., for Peter Chelcicky) he refers the reader to such works and limits his own listings to the most important books and articles. In conclusion, Professor Zeman's book, despite a few shortcomings inevitable in a pioneer work of this kind, will long remain an indispensable research tool for all who wish to study Hussitism in its many and varied aspects. ��SLOVAKIA 155 Our Contributors JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER EDWARD J . BEHUNCIK, President, Slovak League of America THOMAS BELL (1903-1961) PETER BROCK , University of Toronto DAVID P. DANIEL, The Pennsylvania State University , Erie FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) LUBY HOLY YESHAYAHU JELINEK, Denison University OWEN V. JOHNSON STANLEY B. KIMBALL V. S. KOBAN I..:UDO ONDREJOV (1901-1962) GEORGE P . RESICK AL VEN A SEC KAR M . MARK STOLARIK , Director, The Balch Institute, Philadelphia PAUL WILKES ��Printed by JEDNOTA PRINTERY, Middletown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. �OFFICERS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA Honorary President: Stephen J. Tkach, K.H.S. JOHN A . HOLY Secretary EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK President Vice Presidents: Michael J . Krajsa Frances L. Mizenko Daniel F. Tanzone Regional Vice-Presidents: Rudolf Gregus, New York, New Jersey, New England States John Huk, Pennsylvania Joseph Ondis, Ohio David Zelenak, Michigan Ivan Kralik, Illinois, Indiana Bernadine Wandke, Wisconsin, Weftern States Executive Committee: Edward J . Behuncik, John A. Holy, Milan V. Blazek, Andrew F. Hudak, Jr. George N. Kantor, Michael J . Zahorsky, Louise M . Yash George J . Kostelnik, Cecilia Sarocky, Stephen J . Kavulic Slovak League of America Ladies' Auxiliary Anna M. Vizza, President Auditors: Anna Blahusiak Dr. Stanislav Duris Joseph Valencik SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) THE FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK UNION Cleveland, Ohio - Membership 105,800 THE FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES ASSOCIATION Beachwood, Ohio - Membership 104,500 THE SLOVAK CATHOLIC SOKOL Passaic, N.J . - Membership 50,000 THE LADIES PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . - Membership 16,500 PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . - Membership 10,000 SLOVAK NEWSPAPERMEN ' S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA John C. Sciranka , President SLOVAK AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) SLOVAK v AMER I KE (circulation 3,000) JEDNOTA (circu lation 40,000) ZENSKA JEDNOTA (circulation 35,000) ZORNICKA (circulation 5,000) KATOLICKY SOKOL (circulation 20,000) BRATSTVO (circulation 7,000) PRIATEL DIETOK (circulation 9,000) SLOVAKIA $5.00 per annum in the U.S.A. - $6.00 elsewhere Printed by JEDNOTA PRINTERY Middletown, Pennsylvania U.S.A . � \ ' BOOK REVIEWS ��SLOVAKIA 145 \ The 'Guns of Lattimer Review by PAUL WILKES Michael Novak, THE GUNS OF LATTIMER: The true story of a massacre and trial, August 1897-March 1898 (Basic Books, New York, 1978), XX-276p., $10.95. It's so difficult for those of us Slovaks, born in this country and who never have had to escape from or face open oppression, to get an accurate picture of what members of our families had to face when they came to America in the mass migration near the tum of the century. Yes, we've heard or read that living conditions were intolerable in Europe and working conditions here deplorable. But, we have little notion of the abuse our grandparents faced from allegedly '' good Americans." We may have an inkling today that we are often considered peripheral to the political and economic centers of power, but do we really know anything about the scorn that our forebears faced? That they survived economically is a triumph; that they did not succumb to the psychological abuse is a miracle . In Michael Novak's The Guns of Lattimer we see that Slavic people, Slovaks among them, were looked upon as amoral, shiftless drunks, a lower class of people, part of a "dung heap of humanity." And so, when a group of Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners presented some simple .demands (for example, that they not be required to do business with a company store that charged exorbitant prices nor be physically abused by their bosses) the police and mine owners banded together to crush these " Hunkies" who dared petition for the redress of grievances. After all, who did they think they were? The Slavs were supposed to go into the mines, be paid only for the coal they brought out and should ask for no more. The miners, plagued by low wages, limited work, an alien tax and virtually no benefits, marched through coal towns and patches around Hazleton , gathering strength until they numbered two thousand . Armed with only spirit - now free after nine centuries of repression in Europe - and an American flag they thought would be a symbol of their patriotism and their protection, they were stopped by a heavily armed force near the tiny hamlet of Lattimer Mines on September 10, 1897 . The flag they so proudly carried infuriated the sheriff's deputies, who tore it up before their eyes. �146 SLOVAKIA The rest is history. Although unarmed, the miners were later accused of fomenting the fight and of firing the first shot. The deputies began firing into the crowd and three inch bullets, which were capable of piercing metal, and powerful buckshot tore into human flesh. Nineteen men died, the majority of them Slovak. Thirty-nine were seriously injured and some never worked again . Most were shot in the back. Michael Novak has given us an historically thorough and vivid picture of the march and the massacre and a look into the lives of Slovaks at that time. His is a balanced approach . He does not idealize the miners; he's quite willing to point out their shortcomings, to talk about their meekness as well as their latent hostility. The overwhelming sentiment that comes through in reading the book is one of sadness and the realization that peaceful demonstrators have faced the ire of threatened power structures from Lattimer to Kent State to Jackson State and were mercilessly butchered for their beliefs. In each case, they did not seek violence, but violence and death were meted out to them. Lattimer is a classic case of the haves and have nots; the handful of powerful families , with their intermarriages and interlocking directorships and ownerships , effectively telling the rest of the community how they will live . And when the have nots want more they are not looked upon as reasonable men and women but automatically and categorically as potential destroyers of the fabric of society . Instead of listening to just demands for food and safer conditions (on the average, two miners died in accidents every three days) the ruling powers struck out, with force far beyond what was required. Novak 's portions about immigrant family life (particularly of conditions in the mines and a beautiful section about the romance of Ben Sakmar and Maureen, an Irish girl) made me hunger for more . Also. a tightly reasoned introduction to the book is of inestimable value in understanding the Slovak mentality of the time . The literature about the Slovak immigrants is so scanty and often romanticized so I hope The Guns of Lattimer is just the first of many books about the immig rant experience so that we can better understand ourselves today by knowing what we were like yesterday. �SLOVAKIA 147 The Czec_hs in. America/Slovaks in America \ Review by JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER University of Minnesota THE CZECHS IN AMERICA 1633-1977 - A CHRONOLOGY AND FACT BOOK. Compiled by Vera Laska. (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1978), 152 pages, $6.50. SLOVAKS IN AMERICA - A BICENTENNIAL STUDY. Compiled by Joseph C. Krajsa et al. (Middletown, Pennsylvania: Jednota Slovak American Publishing House, 1978), xi-494 pages, $26.50 . During the last decade the surging interest in America's ethnic groups has spurred many Americans , especially those tracing their origins to Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe to seek more information about the history of their ancestors in America. Responding to this intensified interest , members of various ethnic groups have undertaken to compile bibliographies , "fact" books, and histories of their respective groups. The Czechs in America 1633-1977 by Vera Laska and Slovaks in America, published unde r the auspices of the Slovak League of America, attempt to detail information about Czech and Slovak immigrants and their descendants in the United States . Vera Laska 's Czechs in America is divided into three parts . The first section, entitled "Chronology," gives a year-by-year listing of events in Czech American history from the seventeenth century to the present . The second part, labeled ''Documents,'' contains selections describing Czech life in America and the third section is an Appendix of tables which provides statistics on population , geographical distribution, religion , and education of Czech Americans . A short bibliography is also included. The scholar looking to Laska 's chronology for facts will be quickly and sadly disappointed . This section is a listing of often unrelated items ranging from one sentence entries noting isolated events such as marriage , purchase of land , or some other activity by a person presumably of Czech origin, to longer slightly more detailed entries. In several cases Professor Laska makes claims that persons included in the chronology are Czech on the highly questionable basis of name alone. Professor Laska 's occasional use of phrases " it is said, " "the story is told, " and "some say," makes some of her entries more �148 SLOVAKIA hearsay than historical fact. The work is further marred by various types of factual errors. In some instances Laska fails to present her material accurately. For example she cites Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana as the source for the fact that Jan Amos Komensky was offered the presidency of Harvard College in 1642 (p. 2) when her source actually says this occurred in 1654. Samuel Eliot Morison (The Founding of Harvard College, 1936) explains the discrepancy in dates but clearly Mather was not the source for the 1642 date. Contrary to Laska' s claim, the Lincoln Rifle Company (p. 18) was actually "The Lincoln Riflemen of Slavonic Origin, '' and included Magyars, Slovaks , and Czechs; whether it " was framed by 50 Czech volunteers " is highly questionable. These represent only a few examples of errors in the chronology. Much of the material presented by Laska, especially for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be found in Thomas Capek's The Cechs in America (1920) in a more expanded form. Indeed, several of Professor Laska' s entries are strikingly and disturbingly similar to material contained in Capek. (E.g., compare Laska pp. 7-8 to Capek pp. 159-160 and Laska p . 8 to Capek pp. 25-26.) However, Capek although extolling the role of Czechs in American history, often exercised more caution and revealed more objectivity in presenting his material than Laska does. If Professor Laska's goal was to present a factual, chronological picture of Czech history in America, she fell short of her goal. The documents section of Czechs in America is more useful. Some may quibble with the inclusion of published articles from Charities , an early twentieth century magazine, and selections from histories published in 1928 , 1929, 1939 and 1962 as "documents. " Still, Laska chose excerpts from these works that attempt to relate the history and experiences of the common immigrants - sometimes in their own words - instead of focusing on " leaders" as so many works on immigrants are prone to do. Professor Laska offers translations of early newspaper articles and works published in Czech and thereby provides the general public unable to read Czech with an opportunity to read material otherwise unavailable. However, scholars of Czech American history will probably find this section of little benefit. The Appendix consists of tables copied mainly from Capek's Cech's in America and three annual reports on immigration. Again, the general public may find these interesting but scholars will want ,to examine the original sources. ' For a chronology and fact book, the index leaves much to be desired. It includes entries only for the ''Chronology'' section and often lists only the last name of a person if that is all that is included in the �SLOVAKIA 149 main entry. In some cases, Laska may have been unable to locate names of lesser known i:Q1migrants such as a physician in Chicago but a quick check of the Dict(onary of American Biography would have revealed the first name of Ziegler, the sponsor of a Polar expedition, as William. Since the index includes only names and excludes organizations and geographical locations one is forced to plod through the entire book for desired information. In sum, because of the factual errors, questionable claims, and lack of careful verification of material Czechs in America is not a reliable source and contributes little information to the history of Czechs in America. Slovaks in America represents an attempt to chronicle the history of Slovak immigrants and their organizations in the United States. Compiled as a Bicentennial study by an eight-member editorial board, Slovaks in America is divided into six parts arranged on a topical instead of chronological basis. The first part, under the general rubric "Historical and Cultural Studies," consists of seven essays by six different authors. The selections, culled primarily from secondary sources, are in the main readable and will be informative to the general public, even though they often lack real objectivity. The essays "The Slovak Presence in America to 1890," by Sister M. Martina Tybor and "Slovak American Fraternal, Civic and Cultural Organizations" by Stephanie 0. Husek represent the best attempts to offer interpretative analysis. The other essays in this first part concern: religion, the Slovak League, journalism, Slovakia, and the Slovak heritage in America. The authors of these essays tend to narrate rather than analyze their topics in any depth. The other major sections of Slovaks in America are divided into the following categories: fraternals, religious organizations, local organizations and lodges, local parishes, and ''representative cultural organizations." These sections give general histories of various organizations from their inception to the present and include a final part of various Bicentennial activities conducted by Slovaks. But, the editors should have more clearly and carefully alerted readers that these sections are not inclusive. The "Forward" to Slovaks in America describes this work "as a truly encyclopedic presentation of the origin, growth and development of Slovak American colonies with their local and regional organizations.'' However, in a brief explanation of methods used to compile the volume, which is located near the end of the book, the editor explains that the volume is not inclusive. If the editors did not receive material from an organization or group by a printing deadline, that group or organization, it appears, was simply ignored. Consequently, because of this editorial policy, some major Slovak organiza- �150 SLOVAKIA tions are not included in Slovaks in America. Given the title of this work and the description given in the " Forward, " as a service to their potential readers, the editors should not have buried this crucial explanation about the contents and limitations of the volume near the end of the book under the inadvertently misleading title of "In Appreciation. ' ' Due to the editorial policy adopted for compiling Slovaks in America, the various sections within this volume offer a select sampling of Slovak institutions. The section on churches does not include all the Slovak parishes in the United States. Many Catholic churches are missing but more noticeable is the lack of Protestant ones. Only two Lutheran parishes found their way into the collection and no Calvin (Presbyterian) churches are mentioned. The tendency to accentuate Roman Catholic institutions over Protestant is evident in all the other sections as well. The history of the First Catholic Slovak Union merits 68 pages with a year by year chronicle of events. The history of the National Slovak Society is included in a two page biography of Peter V. Rovnianek which does, however, offer a refreshingly objective analysis of the causes for the failure of his Pittsburgh bank. The First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union receives twenty-four pages as opposed to its nonsecular counterpart , Zivena's one . There is no history of the Slovak Evangelical Union, the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union or even the Greek Catholic Union. The only references to non-Catholic Slovak religious groups are a 3 ¼ page history of the Slovak Zion Synod and approximately two pages on Lutherans by Daniel F. Tanzone in his essay on religious developments among Slovaks which also includes one short paragraph on Calvins. In a lengthy book with the pretentious title of Slovaks in America, more attention should have been devoted to Slovak Protestants who, like Roman Catholics, recognized their nationality by forming and joining "Slovak" organizations. Overall, Slovaks in America displays a weakness that is unfortunately evident in many ethnic histories: in its desire to praise the accomplishments of prominent Slovak Americans, Slovak churches and organizations, the work lacks balanced objectivity. In addition , the book contains generalizations about Slovak immigrants that need further study and it makes subjective observations about such ambiguous topics as ' 'the Slovak character. ' ' The segm~nted format of presenting numerous histories, while gratifying to the \respective organizations , does not present a unified history of Slovaks in· America. Still, the book is useful to the general public and, to a lesser extent, to scholars of Slovak American history. It can serve as a reference to anyone desiring general knowledge about prominent Slovaks and Slovak organizations �SLOVAKIA 151 in America , especially Catholic organizations. The collection of material is well or-ganizetl but the index covers only the ' ' Historical and Cultural " section and indpdes mostly people's names, which makes it difficult to locate other information . The work would have profited by a more careful editing of the selections to delete redundancies. Many of the short organizational and church histories begin with quite similar comments about Slovak immigration to the United States in general which makes for tedious reading. Finally, it should be stressed that despite its length and title, Slovaks in America is not a history of the common Slovak immigrants : it focuses on prominent Slovaks and Slovak organizations. Slovaks in America is an informative collection of short institutional histories and biographies . But, the history of Slovak institutions and prominent people is not the history of Slovak immigrants and their experiences in the United States. �152 SLOVAKIA The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) Review by PETER BROCK University of Toronto Jarold K. Zeman, THE HUSSITE MOVEMENT AND THEREFORMATION IN BOHEMIA, MORAVIA AND SLOVAKIA (1350-1650). A Bibliographical Study Guide (with Particular Reference to Resources in North America). Published under the auspices of the Center for Reformation Research by Michigan Slavic Publications (Ann Arbor, 1977), 390 pages. This ''bibliographical study guide'' was prepared by Professor J. K . Zeman of Acadia University Divinity School in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It lists around 3,850 entries - mainly printed materials but including some unpublished items too - in as many as fourteen different languages, with titles in Czech naturally being the most numerous. As the editor explains, his book, while ''prepared, first of all, to serve the needs of students in North America ... should be helpful to scholars and students in other countries" (p. xxix) . It, therefore, makes no claim to the fullness which would be required in a work prepared by '' a professional bibliographer.'' It is in fact deliberately selective, its compiler's aim being to present as full a list as possible of items of importance available in the libraries of the North American continent and thus to provide interested persons with sufficient data to carry on their studies. For easy reference, works in English are marked with an asterisk. On the whole Professor Zeman refrains from commenting on the quality of the books and articles he lists . In a few cases, however, he issues the timely warning: "unreliable. " There are abundant cross references to assist the reader in finding his way around the guide's rather complex organization. The work opens with an eleven-page essay Here Professor Zeman first attempts a typology of the Hussite movement and the later Protestant Reformation into which Hussitism eventually merged. He �SLOVAKIA 153 then reviews briefly the main trends in the historiography of Hussitism, and concludes with a look at current resources for Hussite studies on this continent. Further space is devoted to outlining editorial policies and listing abbre:viations.used in the main part of the work. The indexes included at the end. increa~e the guide' s usefulness to the reader. The listings themselvi:ls are divided into four parts . The first part covers the history of the movement from the forerunners of Hus in the fourteenth century to the supression of Protestantism in the Czech lands by the end of the Thirty Years War. Part I, section 12, we may note, is devoted to the Reformation in Slovakia but these pages (122126) by no means exhaust the items of interest to students of Slovak intellectual history, in which the Hussite tradition for long played a conspicuous role. The remaining three parts cover, respectively, biographical studies, special topics relating to Hussitism (including Hussite contacts with Slovakia and Hungary), and study aids. Whereas the table of contents at the beginning sets out the titles of the sections into which Part I is divided, it does not do this for the parts that follow . This is especially a pity in the case of Part ill (' 'Topical Studies ' ') for, although the topics are dealt with in alphabetical order, it is not always easy to follow the editor in his choice of titles for the various section headings. Many of the topics are indeed only loosely connected with Hussitism, e .g., alchemy and magic, astronomy, history of law, medicine, witchcraft, etc. There is also a brief section on ''Catholic Reform and Counter-Reformation. '' In respect to "Biographical Studies" Professor Zeman has wisely refrained from attempting an extensive bibliographical listing for Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague: their lives and writings, he observes, "constitute a research field in its own right" (p . 53). In other instances where adequate specialized bibliographies exist (e.g., for Peter Chelcicky) he refers the reader to such works and limits his own listings to the most important books and articles. In conclusion, Professor Zeman's book, despite a few shortcomings inevitable in a pioneer work of this kind, will long remain an indispensable research tool for all who wish to study Hussitism in its many and varied aspects. ��SLOVAKIA 155 Our Contributors JUNE GRANATIR ALEXANDER EDWARD J . BEHUNCIK, President, Slovak League of America THOMAS BELL (1903-1961) PETER BROCK , University of Toronto DAVID P. DANIEL, The Pennsylvania State University , Erie FRANTISEK HECKO (1905-1960) LUBY HOLY YESHAYAHU JELINEK, Denison University OWEN V. JOHNSON STANLEY B. KIMBALL V. S. KOBAN I..:UDO ONDREJOV (1901-1962) GEORGE P . RESICK AL VEN A SEC KAR M . MARK STOLARIK , Director, The Balch Institute, Philadelphia PAUL WILKES ��Printed by JEDNOTA PRINTERY, Middletown, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. �OFFICERS OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA Honorary President: Stephen J. Tkach, K.H.S. JOHN A . HOLY Secretary EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK President Vice Presidents: Michael J . Krajsa Frances L. Mizenko Daniel F. Tanzone Regional Vice-Presidents: Rudolf Gregus, New York, New Jersey, New England States John Huk, Pennsylvania Joseph Ondis, Ohio David Zelenak, Michigan Ivan Kralik, Illinois, Indiana Bernadine Wandke, Wisconsin, Weftern States Executive Committee: Edward J . Behuncik, John A. Holy, Milan V. Blazek, Andrew F. Hudak, Jr. George N. Kantor, Michael J . Zahorsky, Louise M . Yash George J . Kostelnik, Cecilia Sarocky, Stephen J . Kavulic Slovak League of America Ladies' Auxiliary Anna M. Vizza, President Auditors: Anna Blahusiak Dr. Stanislav Duris Joseph Valencik SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) THE FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK UNION Cleveland, Ohio - Membership 105,800 THE FIRST CATHOLIC SLOVAK LADIES ASSOCIATION Beachwood, Ohio - Membership 104,500 THE SLOVAK CATHOLIC SOKOL Passaic, N.J . - Membership 50,000 THE LADIES PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . - Membership 16,500 PENNSYLVANIA SLOVAK CATHOLIC UNION Wilkes-Barre, Pa . - Membership 10,000 SLOVAK NEWSPAPERMEN ' S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA John C. Sciranka , President SLOVAK AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) SLOVAK v AMER I KE (circulation 3,000) JEDNOTA (circu lation 40,000) ZENSKA JEDNOTA (circulation 35,000) ZORNICKA (circulation 5,000) KATOLICKY SOKOL (circulation 20,000) BRATSTVO (circulation 7,000) PRIATEL DIETOK (circulation 9,000) SLOVAKIA $5.00 per annum in the U.S.A. - $6.00 elsewhere Printed by JEDNOTA PRINTERY Middletown, Pennsylvania U.S.A . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52) Description An account of the resource includes Book Reviews; Our Contributors Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/f8f04562f35d87cec81d0b41a57be2ae.pdf fb7d43c15ae28febe25da74d42ab375f PDF Text Text 66 SLOVAKIA From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M . MARK STOLARIK Although Slovaks have lived in the United States for over a hundred years, professional American historians have only recently begun to study them. This lack of concern for the second-largest Slavic group in America cannot be attributed to a lack of sources. Pioneers among these immigrants left us not only their published reminiscences but also led the way in reconstructing the histories of their communities. While a few members of the second generation tried to carry on the work of their fathers, their efforts paled in comparison . Historians in Slovakia, meanwhile, began to write about their countrymen in the United States and, whether as political emigres or as devoted Marxists, they initiated the first professional studies of these people. Native Americans, on the other hand, originally discussed Slovaks as either a threat to the American way of life or else as potential converts to the Social Gospel movement. For generations native historians ignored these and other Eastern Europeans in the naive belief that they would disappear in the ''melting pot.'' Only with the ethnic revival of the 1960s did some Ame~ican professionals of varying backgrounds begin to study these people:,. _ The everyday life of Slovaks in the United States has been portrayed at various levels, ranging from simple memoirs to complicated mobility studies. Some of the pioneers contented themselves with describing life in the New World as they remembered it. Others analyzed the growing ethnic neighborhoods , while others still began to collect materials and describe three major institutions of AmericanSlovak communities - the parishes, lodges and newspapers. Such M. Mark Stolarik has been designated as the Director of the Balch Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . This essay is reprinted from the International Migration Review (X , 1, Spring 1976). �SLOVAKIA 67 activities eventually led to full-scale community studies and attempts at an overall history of all Slovak groups in America. Even though the first two generations failed in the latter effort, they did provide the groundwork for later historians. By the 1960s scholars in both Europe and America used new methods such as demographic analysis, studies of marriage , educatiQn anct social mobility, to try to complete the story and put it into a broader context. The earliest description~' bf Slovak life in America came either as observations or else as reminiscences by pioneers . Daniel Sustek, a journeyman carpenter and one of the first Slovaks to arrive in the United States , described his experiences over a ten-year period beginning in 1873 in the self-help monthly Obzor.(1) Besides focusing on his problems of adjusting to the new land, Sustek described the strange way of life he found here and provided his countrymen with extensive advice on how to make the trip, where to find work, what kind of wages to expect and how to behave in the presence of non-Slovaks. Sustek' s reports are reminiscent of Alexis de Tocqueville and Lord Bryce especially when, after having initially praised the "equality" of all Americans , Sustek discovers the great gulf between rich and poor and concludes that in this regard the United States is not so different from Europe after all. While Sustek focused largely on his own experiences, Father Stefan Furdek provided us with the first description of Slovak community life in America. Having come to Cleveland in 1882 to serve an already-existing Czech parish, Furdek helped the earliest Slovak arrivals to organize themselves into lodges and parishes and he also established their first Catholic newspaper. By 1893 he felt experienced enough to write an article entitled " Z Ameriky" (From America) for an Old World annual in which he eulogized the political freedom of the New Land but warned intellectuals against immigrating to this country because their chances of finding a livelihood outside of manual labor were slim.(2) Furdek thus perceived the major role his people would play in providing labor for America's industries and the marginal impact they would have upon the intellectual and cultural life of the United States. In a later article , "Vselico z Ameriky" (Tidbits from America), he continued the story by focusing on working conditions in the mines and mills, on life in ethnic neighborhoods and on the need for immigrants to rely upon family or friends in order to survive and be successful in the New World.(3) He wrote dozens of similar articles in his Jednota (Union) newspaper and almanac of the same name between 1890 and 1914 and he remains a major source for the study of early American-Slovak life. �68 SLOVAKIA Father Matus Jankola, Furdek ' s friend and colleague , joined the latter in describing the activities of his countrymen in the United States during the early years of Slovak immigration. In "Crty z katolickej slovenskej farnosti v Pittston, Pa. " (Sketches from a Catholic Slovak Parish in Pittston, Pa.), he not only described the daily life of a coal miner but also focused on the relations of Slovaks with other ethnic groups. He complained about his countrymen' s propensity to emulate other Eastern Europeans in seeking financial control over their own parishes, a phenomenon known as "lay trusteeism" and a perpetual headache to both priests and bishops at the tum of the century.(4) In another penetrating article entitled "Nase skoly" (Our Schools), J ankola severely criticized Slovak parochial schools of his day for their inadequate facilities and teaching methods and urged his countrymen to establish a teaching order of nuns to upgrade the whole system .(5) Like Furdek , Jankola wrote dozens of articles in the Jednota newspaper and almanac between 1896 and 1916 and these are excellent sources for the study of American-Slovak history. While Furdek and J ankola described Slovak life in general, another clergyman zeroed in on the business community. Pavel Jamarik, a convert to Congregationalism and an exponent of the 'Protestant ethic,' sought to determine how many of his people were engaged in business and thus ''making it. '' He distributed a questionnaire to Slovak leaders in Cleveland, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut and, much to his dismay, discovered that fewer than one percent in each city owned business enterprises. He soberly concluded in ' ' Zivot americkych Slovakov dakedy a teraz'' (The Life of American Slovaks in the Past and Today)(6) that most of his people rejected the American route to social mobility through business enterprise and implicitly hinted that they would remain in the workingclass for some time to come. Such penetrating analyses, while vety valuable, were also rare. More common were reminiscences by "olq timers ~• of days gone by. Jozef Rusek , editor of the Jednota almanac, interviewed a Slovak who had arrived in Cleveland in 1880 and published his story under the rubric "V Novej Zemi" (In the New Land).(7) In this fascinating article the anonymous informant described the poor economic conditions that had driven him out of his homeland, the miserable ocean-crossing in steerage and all the difficulties he had encountered in making his way to Cleveland and finding suitable employment. A series of similar articles entitled "Nasi pionieri" (Our Pioneers) appeared in another almanac a short while later.(8) By collecting and publishing these reminiscences ethnic editors showed their appreciation for oral history �SLOVAKIA 69 long before American historians deemed it worthy of notice. In spite of this concel'Il with oral history, only one major leader of the American-Slovak COlllil1\Unity has left us his memoirs. Perhaps the reason for this dearth of autobiographies lies in the fact that Furdek died unexpectedly in 1914 and Jankola in 1916. In any case, P. V. Rovnianek, founder of the National Slovak Society in 1890 and for many years editor of the extremely popular Amerikansko-Slovenske Noviny (American Slovak News) penned his observations and reminiscences in a book with a very revealing title : Zapisky za iiva pochovaneho (Notes of One Buried Alive). (9) Here Rovnianek revealed how he had to leave the Budapest seminary in 1888 because of his nationalist views and how he came to America and quickly decided to work for national causes. He also detailed many of the arguments that he had had with other leaders, some of which resulted in costly lawsuits. Unfortunately, he covered up the misdeeds that led to the downfall of his financial empire in 1911. This, plus his tremendous conceit, detracted from an otherwise lucid and penetrating commentary. Shortly after their arrival in America, Slovak immigrants congregated in certain neighborhoods of cities where they established organizations that served to promote and solidify a new community existence . Three such institutions ranked highest in importance: the parish, the fraternal and the newspaper. By 1920, when these neighborhoods matured, Slovaks had almost 400 parishes of all denominations, hundreds of local and dozens of national fratemals and scores of daily , weekly and monthly periodical publications . It is no surprise , therefore, that when certain Slovak leaders began to record their earliest history in America, they turned their attention to these institutions. Father Furdek began the history of one group of these institutions with a lenghty article about "Slovenske osady v Amerike" (Slovak Parishes in America.) Having relied upon church records and interviews supplied by fellow-priests and cooperative laymen, Furdek presented us with short, informative histories of every Slovak Catholic parish established in the New World until 1906.(10) No sooner had Furdek published his analysis than a controversy broke out between boosters of Slovak parishes in Streator, Illinois and Hazleton, Pennsylvania . Worshippers in both areas claimed that theirs was the oldest Slovak Catholic parish in the United States. Although the debate remains unresolved to this day , Jozef G. Skurka, in "Prva slovenska rim. katolicka osada v Amerike" (The First Slovak Roman Catholic Parish in America) presented the arguments of both sides and left the final decision to the reader. (11) �70 SLOVAKIA Furdek's article began a trend that led not only to similar efforts by leaders of other denominations but it may also have prompted the later publication of jubilee books and a few full-fledged histories of church groups . Thus, Josef Nadenicek, a Calvinist minister, had his coreligionists aid him in compiling histories of all their parishes in the United States and he published these under the general heading of "Kratke dejiny cirkvi" (Short Histories of Our Parishes) giving the contributors full credit for their efforts .(12) Other religious leaders published even more detailed stories in special anniversary booklets. Examples are Strieborne jubileum osady sv. Vendelina, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928 (Silver Jubilee of St. Wendelin's Parish, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928,(13) and Father George S. Dargay' s Historical Sketch of the Church of St. Cyril of Minneapolis, Minn., 1891-1941. (14) A committee of priests and laymen usually compiled such histories, relying upon parish records, newspaper accounts and the memories of pioneers for sources. Even though other congregations published similar jubilee books, they seldom contained the whole truth because most immigrant parishes at the turn of the century experienced some sort of conflict between laymen and pastor or bishop. The present writer described problems of this sort in "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes, 1880-1930,"(15) in the hope that even professional church historians would dig deeper into the sources and abandon their preoccupation with consensus history. Meanwhile, one might suppose that with so many parishes having recorded their own history, a larger synthesis would have appeared. Only two historians have made such an attempt in the Slovak community and their efforts leave much to be desired. Pastor George Dolak, a member of the second generation, wrote an official History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, 1920-1927(16) and, as the title suggests, he covered only a short period and ignored the two other Synods to which Slovaks belong. Indeed, one looks in vain in this book fa'( an explanation of this split among Slovak Lutherans in America. Similarly,_ while the emigre historian Frantisek Hrusovsky did a creditable job in recording the story of Slovenske rehole v Amerike (Slovak Religious Orders in America), (17) he too steered clear of all controversy. Inadequate as these works are, they remain the only attempted syntheses of various Slovak religious groups in America. No one has yet written an overall history of Slovak Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist denominations in the United States and their relation to New or Old World counterparts. Scholars have barely scratched the surface of this vast subject. �SLOVAKIA ' 71 Equal in importance to'. parishes in immigrant communities were fraternal benefit societies. In many instances these preceded the founding of churches and became their chief bulwarks. By 1890 several dozen local societies existed and many of these later merged into larger, national organizations such as the First Catholic Slovak Union or the National Slovak Society . By 1920 these and other fraternals enrolled over one-third of the 600,000 plus Slovak immigrants who had come to America. By providing much needed and inexpensive life insurance , plus taking an active role in community and national affairs , they became indispensable to the growth and survival of ethnic communities. Realizing the importance of fratemals, officers of the National Slovak Society determined to record some of their history. In 1909 they commissioned their editor Ignac Gessay to write the history of their organization. He eagerly read old newspapers, minute-books, pamphlets and other materials, some of which have since disappeared. He also interviewed as many "old timers" as he could. By 1911 he published two articles, one entitled " Spolky pred organisaciami" (Societies Before Organizations) in which he presented an excellent survey of the first forty local fraternal-benefit societies established by American Slovaks before national bodies appeared in 1890.(18) Gessay had hoped that he could continue in his work and eventually publish an overall history of his people but his friendship with P. V. Rovnianek prevented it . When the latter's financial institution bankrupted in 1911, thereby ruining a great many Slovaks and weakening the Society, Rovnianek had to flee for his life and Gessay lost his commission. Into the void stepped Jan A. Feriencik, another editor, determined to complete the story . Using Gessay's notes (without giving him credit) and engaging in his own research, he did produce, among other things, " Vyznam Nar. Slovenskeho Spolku" (The Significance of the National Slovak Society) .(19) In this brief article he surveyed the history of the Society from 1890 to 1914, concentrating on the highlights and praising its achievements. Although Feriencik did write articles dealing with other aspects of the Slovak experience in America (discussed below), he too failed to complete a monograph on either the NSS or on the history of American Slovaks . Shortly thereafter a group of Slovak Calvinists also set out to write the history of their organization. The Rev. Frantisek Uherka urged the officers of each branch of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union to compile a short history of their lodge on the basis of minute books, newspaper articles and interviews . They did as requested and Uherka then published these histories under the general heading " Kratke �72 SLOVAKIA dejiny jednotlivych sborov Slov. Kalv. Presb. Jednoty. " (Short Histories of the Lodges of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union) , giving the contributors full credit.(20) He also compiled a general history of the national organization , based on the information provided by lodges as well as his reading of the head-office 's minute-books and on his own memory and entitled it "Kratky prehfad S.K.P . Jednoty, 1901-1926 ," (Short Over-View of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union). (21) The largest of the fraternals , the First Catholic Slovak Union, meanwhile, held back from such undertakings for several generations. Its individual lodges did often publish jubilee histories such as " Memoirs of the Golden Jubilee of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Society, 1883-1938" and these often provided fascinating insights into their individual achievements .(22) The national organization, however, resolved to sponsor an overall history only when its 75th anniversary approached. It commissioned Jozef Pauco, an emigre journalist, to undertake this task and he completed it by 1965 under the heading 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union).(23) Pauco presented a strictly chronological year-by-year account, devoid of any analysis or criticism. He simply listed the society's growth and achievements. Thus, although a few Slovak societies did promote studies of their own achievements and one even commissioned a book, much of their history remains to be uncovered. Besides the need for full-length monographs of such important organizations as the National Slovak Society, the First Catholic Slovak Ladies ' Association, the Slovak Evangelical Union and so on , studies of the impact these and other societies have had on ethnic community life over the last 100 years should be made. How did these societies help the immigrant adjust to the New World? Did they supplant labor unions? Did they foster or hinder assimilation? Why did they splinter along religious and ideological lines? Why did women set up their own fratemals? Did fraternals promote Slovak culture in the .New World? What is their present status? What does the future h&d for them? How do they compare to societies founded by other grouf)s? These are just a few of the questions that need answering before we can understand the role that fraternal-benefit societies played in the life of American Slovaks. The third major component of growing Slovak communities was their newspaper press . Since most Slovaks initially came to America to make their " fortune " and return home , they became very interested in news of the home country published in their own language. The few intellectuals who accompanied these people to the United States �SLOVAKIA 73 quickly discovered this thir~t for news and satiated it with more than 200 periodicals between 1886 and the present. Among them were official organs of fraternal-benefit societies, independent dailies, weeklies and monthlies, labor newspapers, satirical journals, religious periodicals and so on. Having realized the importance of the newspaper press to the Slovak community, two journalists made a serious attempt to depict its history. Jan A. Feriencik, mentioned above, made the first attempt at a comprehensive history in "Slovenske prist'ahovalectvo a slovenska spisba v Amerike" (Slovak Immigration and Slovak Letters in America).(24) Since he tried to describe sixty titles in a few pages, his effort was very unbalanced. Moreover, he relied too much on memory and some of his assertions were false. Nevertheless, he did record some titles that have long since disappeared and th.u s he performed a vital service for later historians. Konstantin Culen, a post-World War II emigre journalist, expressed his appreciation to Feriencik and tried to complete the story in Slovenske casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America).(25) He gathered together titles of more than 230 Slovak periodicals published in this country and commented on each although he knew more about some papers and less about others, and thus his book is very uneven. In fact, since he died before the manuscript was completed, his colleague Jozef Pauco tried to finish the job. The periodicals are not organized according to subject, they simply appear in alphabetical order. Furthermore, there is no table of contents and no index. Unless one knows in advance the exact name of a publication, this book is extremely difficult to use. Feriencik and Culen did only half the job. They listed the titles and described the editorial policy of the founders . No one has done a comprehensive history of any one of the major dailies or weeklies . It would be instructive to know, from a content-analysis, how various Slovak newspapers in America viewed this country, its much-vaunted equality and democracy and their perception of the role of their readers. Robert E. Park attempted such a study in his Immigrant Press and Its Control(26) but since he covered so many different nationalities, his assessment was necessarily shallow. A good history of the Slovak press, as well as that of other ethnic groups in America, is sorely needed. Shortly after having recorded the history of their lodges, parishes and newspapers, American Slovaks began to think of the larger story. A few of them started to publish histories of communities that covered members of all denominations . These have since been supplemented �74 SLOVAKIA by works of professional scholarship, although their number remains small. The first attempt at writing local history was made by lgnac Gessay. Hoping to eventually publish a general work on American Slovaks, this newspaper editor began to gather materials about their oldest communities. One of these was Streator, Illinois, in the bituminous coal fields and Gessay presented its story from the 1870s to 1910 in "Streatorski Slovaci a ich pokrok" (Streator Slovaks and their Progress).(27) Since this was a first attempt written for a national almanac, it necessarily gave only the highlights of the story. Better and more comprehensive histories appeared a short while later. Imrich Mazar, a local lodge leader, compiled a remarkable work entitled Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat rokov, 1879-1919 (Forty Years of the History of Binghamton Slovaks, 18791919).(28) Mazar interviewed pioneers of the community, consulted church and lodge records and read of his people's exploits in the press. Using such sources he very ably covered the story of all aspects of the community - its general history, the story of its fraternals, churches and clubs and the involvement of the local community in the CzechoSlovak liberation movement of World War I. Jan Pankuch did a similarly excellent job in Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (A History of Cleveland and Lakewood Slovaks). (29) A newspaper editor by profession, Pankuch persevered in his efforts even after the Great Depression had erupted and he published the book with his own dwindling resources. The only major criticisms that one can make of these two books is that they are poorly organized and lack perspective. Since neither Mazar nor Pankuch had any historical training, they dared not judge what was important and what was not. They recorded everything they had heard or discovered in an often haphazard manner and this made the reading of their books difficult. On the other hand, by not rejecting anything, they made their works invaluable sources for a later generation of historians . .. Two scholars interested in American-Slovak history appeared in the 1960s to make good use of previous pioneering efforts. Josef Barton studied the social mobility of three ethnic groups in Cleveland and included the Slovaks among them . In his Peasants and Strangers,(30) a spin-off of his dissertation, he relied quite extensively on Pankuch for the background story. The present writer, commissioned to write a joint history with another author about the Cleveland Slovak community, used Pankuch as a source quite liberally.(31) Hopefully these will be followed by studies of Slovaks in other cities, enabling future historians �SLOVAKIA 75 to compare the fortunes of these people in a wide variety of geographical areas, thus gaining a better perspective on the whole story of immigration. Along with recording much local information, American Slovaks naturally desired an overall view of their coming and settlement in various parts of the New World. Once again the pioneers led the way but this undertaking prove~ too much for them. They had to settle for histories written by a later generation of immigrants and these stories are, as yet, incomplete. lgnac Gessay and Jan A. Feriencik first attempted to compile a general history of their people. Gessay, as we have already seen, did not finish the task.(32) Jan Feriencik inherited not only Gessay 's job but also his notes. Supplementing these with his own research, he published " Nacrtok prist'ahovalectva slovenskeho do Ameriky" (A Sketch of Slovak Immigration to America).(33) Relying upon old newspapers , minute-books, Gessay's notes and his own memory, Feriencik produced a useful, if jaundiced (he was very anti-Semitic) survey of the coming of his people to the New World. He had hoped to produce a full-length monograph on this subject but died before he could do so. With Feriencik's death, along with that of most of his firstgeneration colleagues in the 1920s, the task of recording AmericanSlovak history fell to the second generation . Having absolutely no help from Anglo-American historians, who in the first half of the twentieth century seemed completely uninterested in the history of recent immigration, as Arthur M. Schlesinger lamented,(34) the second generation failed to even match the efforts of their fathers. Andrew P . Slabey and Sister M. Martina Tybor are good examples of second-generation American-Slovak scholars . The former was one of the first Slovak university graduates in the United States and he set out to write a " Prehl'ad dejin Slovakov v Amerike " (A Survey of the History of American Slovaks) in 1926 but he did not finish the task until almost fifty years had passed! (35) Not only did he complete his work at a snail's pace but he based much of his first installment on the research of Gessay and Feriencik, whom he neglected to give credit, and his analysis was much inferior to theirs. The second article came largely from memory . In both he seemed more interested in promoting ' 'Czechoslovakism' ' (36) than in a genuine history of his people. Sister M. Martina Tybor, on the other hand, has made use of original sources but she has seldom told the full story . Thus , in " A Composite Picture of a Slovak Immigrant's Early Experiences,"(37) she presented a very good account of how a ' 'typical ' ' immigrant may �76 SLOVAKIA have fared upon arrival in America but she glossed over the many problems he may also have encountered. Similarly, in "Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916: Slovak-American Priest, Leader, Educator, "(38) she presented an interesting biography of this important early leader but again neglected to mention the many problems he had experienced in dealing with other priests and with his lay followers . Neither Slabey nor Tybor produced a full-length monograph. In the absence of any general histories of American Slovaks, two more recent immigrants set out to fill the void. The first was Konstantin Culen, a journalist by profession, who was drawn to the history of American Slovaks by his involvement in politics in the Old Country. Culen determined to examine the nature and extent of the nationalism that had motivated American Slovaks to make an agreement with the Czechs which guaranteed the Slovaks home-rule in the new Republic of Czecho-Slovakia. After having published one book dealing with such nationalism,(39) he decided to broaden his research and, after publishing numerous articles in various almanacs, he completed the very impressive Dejiny Slov<ikov v Amerike (A History of Slovaks in America).(40) In this work he detailed both the social and political history of his countrymen to 1914. He read widely in their newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, books , minute-books and so on and tried, as best he could, to follow the rules of the historical profession. Unfortunately, he fell victim to the temptations of "filiopietism" and began the story with tales of Slovaks having come in the 17th .century , of their having participated in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and, therefore, having as good a claim to this country as anyone else. Furthermore, he relied too much on Slovak sources , neglecting many English-language studies of immigration at the turn of the century. After the Second World War, with his dreams of an independent Slovakia shattered, Culen immigrated to the United States and tried to carry on his work but found the climate among his people too hostile . He initially worked on the editorial staffs of several American and Canadian Slovak newspapers and publish~d dozens of articles. These were eventually gathered and published in' three important books: J. Slovensky: iivotopis zakladatel'a prvych slovenskych novin v Amerike (J. Slovensky: Biography of the Founder of the First Slovak Newspaper in America);(41) Slovensk e casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America) ;(42) and V zajati falosn ych legiend a nen<ivistneho srdca (Imprisoned by False Legends and a Hateful Heart).(43) In the first of these he recounted how American Slovaks established their oldest newspaper. The second book , which we have already discussed, gave the story of their newspaper press. The third is virtually unknown , for �SLOVAKIA 77 he circulated only a few copies to his most trusted friends, but it is also the most important. In it he detailed the hostility which he and many other members of the post-war generation encountered from their lesseducated American countrymen. This is a fascinating phenomenon of rejection of one group oy another based on education and social standing, and since World\ War II it has been typical of many ethnic groups in the United States. Culen had so many arguments with American-Slovak leaders that he was virtually expelled from the community and died alienated from it in 1964. Shortly thereafter the present writer began to follow in Culen's footsteps. Born in Slovakia but educated in North America, he began a study of the political participation of his people in the World War I liberation movement(44) and then turned to their social history. Having used some of their parish and lodge records, supplemented by newspaper articles, he published ''The Slovak Immigrant is Not Anonymous," (45) in which he called on other scholars of immigration to make use of such sources. A little later he detailed some of the problems his countrymen had encountered with the largely IrishCatholic Church in America(46) and he also wrote a brief history of the Cleveland Slovak community.(47) At present he is preparing his dissertation, "Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918"(48) for publication as a book. Meanwhile, in the decades since the Second World War, a few people have also concerned themselves with biographies of Slovak pioneers to this country. Konstantin Culen wrote a brief treatise on Jan Slovensky, founder of the first Slovak newspaper in America. (49) While he described adequately Slovensky' s early life and his work in the United States, he did not know all the circumstances surrounding his death by suicide and the work thus remains incomplete. Vincent Holecek, a self-styled historian of Slovaks all over the world, produced a short biography of P. V. Rovnianek entitled Slava a poniienie (Glory and Shame)(50) but ended it in 1907, before Rovnianek's tragic bankruptcy and, thus, also failed to tell the whole story. Jozef Pauco glorified the lives of Stefan Furdek and Matus Jankola(51) and later compiled Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike (Slovak Pioneers in America),(52) which covered the lives of fifty-five important and unimportant countrymen (there seemed to be no rationale for their selection). Finally, Sister M. Martina Tybor eulogized Matus Jankola in two very similar articles published in different joumals.(53) With the exception of Culen, all of the above were more concerned with edifying their subjects than with reaching critical and balanced conclusions. �78 SLOVAKIA Clearly this is another area of American-Slovak history that needs elaboration. The study of Slovak immigration, however, has not been confined to residents of North America. After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948 a new school of Marxist historians appeared and some of them took an interest in their brethren overseas. Utilizing new disciplines such as demography and uncovering hitherto unprocessed county documents, they added new dimensions to the study of immigration, especially to its impact on the home country. Jim Sveton, a demographer , led the way. In his "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo v obdobi uhorskeho kapitalizmu" (Slovak Emigration in the Era of Hungarian Capitalism),(54) he studied the impact of mass migration on the remaining population. Using village birth and death records, he calculated the net loss of population due to emigration and discovered that the Slovaks were second only to the Irish in per capita emigration and population decline in the 19th century. These views were further elaborated in Obyvatel'stvo Slovenska za kapitalizmu (The Population of Slovakia Under Capitalism).(55) Jan Hanzlik followed in Sveton' s footsteps and in four articles showed the high level to which the new discipline of demography had risen. His "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo na prahu imperializmu" (Slovak Emigration on the Threshold of Imperialism)(56) dealt with the net loss of population due to emigration based on village censuses for the heaviest years of migration, 1901-1910. In "Vyst'ahovalectvo z vychodneho Slovenska" (Emigration from Eastern Slovakia)(57) he focused on that region of the country which had lost the most people and blamed the Magyars for the exodus because they had refused to industrialize Hungary. He expanded his research in "Vyvoj obyvatel'stva na Slovensku v obdobi 1869-1961 " (The Evolution of the Population of Slovakia in the Years 1861-1961). (58) Besides studying the impact emigration had had on the population for over a hundred years , he also blamed the Czechs for having prompted the industrialization of Bohemia-Moravia at th\ expense of Slovakia after 1918 and thus having contributed to the contiQued emigration of Slovaks from their native land in the twentieth century. Finally, in ' ' Zaciatky vyst'ahovalectva zo Slovenska do USA a jeho priebeh az do roku 1918, jeho priciny a nasledky" (The Beginnings of Slovak Emigration to America, Its Causes and Consequences to 1918),(59) Hanzlik summarized his research and that of other interested scholars and presented a very creditable interpretation of the impact of Slovak emigration to 1918. �SLOVAKIA 79 Once their demographer-colleagues had opened the field, Marxist historians also began to take notice of emigration. Ladislav Tajtak focused on that part of the country which had lost the most people in ''Vychodoslovenske vyst'ahovalectvo do prvej svetovej vojny'' (Eastern Slovak Emigration to the Fill.st World War)(60) and he carefully showed which of the eastern countries had lost the largest numbers and why. In a later work, "K zaciatkom Amerikansko-Slovenskych Novin" (Concerning the Beginnings of Amerik<insko-Slovenske Noviny)(6l) he traced, for the first time since Culen's Janka Slovensky, the history of the first Slovak newspaper in America. Frantisek Bielik and Elo Rakos, meanwhile, collected and published the most relevant documents pertaining to emigration in Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo: Dokumenty I, do roku 1918 (Slovak Emigration: Documents I, to 1918)(62) and a little later documents to 1939 in a book with a similar title. (63) They also provided a good introduction to both sets of documents. Finally, Milos Gosiorovsky legitimized all this concern with countrymen in capitalist America by publishing ''Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky a robotnicke hnutie" (Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky and the Workers' Movement)(64) in which he tried to link the workers' (communist) movements of the two worlds. Even though scholars in Slovakia have taken notice of their countrymen abroad, their perspective has been limited by ideological considerations. As I have pointed out in "Agrarian Problems in Slovakia, 1848-1918: An Historiographic Essay,"(65) Marxist scholars in the Old World must tow the party line. Thus, they can cite the works of Konstantin Culen and other ''bourgeois'' writers only at great peril to their own freedom and they have had to embellish their books and articles with liberal references to Marx, Lenin (and Stalin in the 1950s) and other prophets of the new order. Furthermore, these scholars can seldom, if ever, travel to the United States, and thus rich AmericanSlovak archives are beyond their reach. Therefore, they have necessarily concentrated on the impact of emigration on the home country and have only touched on the history of their countrymen abroad. Another approach to the study of immigration has been the novel. While traditional scholarly works have analyzed the nature and experience of the ethnic community in the midst of a new environment, the novel has become an important vehicle for understanding the dynamics of the situation and for expressing the feelings of the people . American Slovaks have been pleased with three outstanding novelists in this regard - Thomas Bell, Michael Novak and Sonya Jason. Bell , in Out of this Furnace ,(66) provided a moving account of �80 SLOVAKIA the sufferings of the first three generations in the steel mills of Braddock, Pennsylvania. His book was so painfully realistic that most of his countrymen avoided reading it. In a different vein Michael Novak described the difficulties that an upwardly-mobile third-generation American Slovak encountered in coping with the largely Anglo-Saxon world in Naked I Leave(67) and in the more analytical Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics .(68) Finally, Sonya Jason, also a product of a Pennsylvania steel town, portrayed the reaction of a third-generation woman to the insatiable demands of American armies for immigrant bodies in Concommitant Soldier: Woman and War.(69) One can only lament the dearth of such novels in the United States. While various aspects of Slovak immigration have been covered by members of this ethnic group, native Americans have seldom noticed these people and when they have, it has been either in the context of nativism or else as a part of the history of immigration in general. Nativism , that ideological disease which breeds hostility towards immigrants, infected the minds of some Americans at the tum of the century, causing them to write books extremely hostile to the ''new'' immigrants from Southeastern Europe, from whence the Slovaks came. Howard B. Grose, for instance, in a book aimed at Protestant Missionaries entitled Aliens or Americans?(70) deemed the newcomers to be a "heathen" threat to America and advocated their forceful conversion to Protestant Christianity in order to "Americanize" them. The theme of the immigrant "menace" also found its way into socalled scholarly works. Annie Marian Maclean, who fancied herself a "Progressive" social scientist, surveyed Southeastern Europeans in Pennsylvania and published " Life in the Pennsylvania Coal Fields with Particular Reference to Women, '' in a muckrating style that very much pleased the readers of the American Journal of Sociology .(71) Helen L. Wilson and Eunice W. Smith engaged in similar exposes for the AJS , devoting entire articles to individual ethnic groups, among them being "Chicago Housing Conditions , VIII: Among the Slovaks in the Twentieth Ward. "(72) Both of these works, in their lurid descriptions of immigrant ghettoes, warned Americans of the possible destruction of their society through unrestricted immigration. Nativist scholarship reached its pinnacle in an official government report which summarized all the prejudices then rampant in the United States towards Southeastern Europeans: \Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the Dillingham Co~ission, _on Immigration reported in 1911 that the newcomers, among them the Slovaks, were a menace to American society because they allegedly bred slums, engaged in criminal activities and retarded the labor movement.(73) �SLOVAKIA ~ 81 However, as Maldwyn Jones'8.Ild Oscar Handlin have recently shown, the commissioners twisted the statistics to suit their preconceived notions.(74) Ironically enough, if one ignores the conclusions of the commissioners and uses only the raw statistics, one can discover in this Report a great deal of valuable material pertaining to the social history of Slovaks and other Southeastern Europeans in America at the tum of the century. Not all Americans, of course, accepted the findings of the Report or agreed with its conclusions. A small group of scholars, usually members of the "Social Gospel" movement which sought to help the poor and downtrodden, viewed the ''new'' immigrants sympathetically. Their writings served as a healthy counterweight to nativist attacks on these people. One of the first American defenders of Southern and Eastern Europeans was the Rev. Peter Roberts. A member of the Presbyterian Home Mission Society, Roberts set about describing, in great detail, the everyday life of the new immigrants (and these included the Slovaks) in their new social setting. His Anthracite Coal Communities(75) and The New Immigration: A Study of the Industrial and Social Life of Southeastern Europeans in America(76) are classics in sociological analysis. Rather than seeking evidence of these peoples' "inferiority," as various nativists had done, Roberts visited them, observed their habits and concluded that they fit very well into the American capitalist system, even if they did have to start at the bottom. While Roberts dealt with Southeastern Europeans in general, Emily Greene Balch focused on the Slavic nationalities in particular and produced the as yet unsurpassed Our Slavic Fellow-Citizens.(77) By devoting an entire chapter to each Slavic group and then doing a general analysis of them all, she showed the way to later generations of historians. She not only studied American-Slavic communities and talked with their people but also visited their homelands to get a transAtlantic perspective on the whole process of migration. This professor of political economy was so far ahead of her time that to this day no American historian has written a book of comparable depth and scope about the various Slavic ethnic groups in this country. One reason why American historians have not yet superseded Emily Greene Balch is that for generations the former simply ignored the history of Southeastern Europeans. Between the 1920s when the United States passed its restrictive immigration quota laws which presumed that everyone would disappear into the " melting pot " and the 1960s when an ethnic revival swept the country, virtually no books or articles concerned with Slavic immigrants appeared in any major �82 SLOVAKIA historical journals or university presses. A small group of Czech scholars and their sympathizers produced a few interesting studies but these paled in comparison to earlier efforts by immigrants themselves. Indeed, even when a few American historians did begin to notice the Slavs in the 1960s, their studies remained very superficial. The first Czech scholar to write about American Slovaks was Tomas Capek of New York. A lawyer by profession, he accepted a commission from the National Slovak Society and wrote The Slovaks of Hungary: Slavs and Pan-Slavism,(78) which was in effect the first history of these people in the English language. Later he and his son published The Czechoslovaks, the second half of which dealt with the Slovaks under the heading The Slovaks in America . (79) The latter work, consisting chiefly of impressions gathered from various informants, was vastly inferior to the first study which was grounded on a stronger scholarly base. However, since these were virtually the only studies of American Slovaks in the English language, leaders of the community which they described did treasure them. Josef Slabey Roucek followed in the Capeks' footsteps and tried to carry on their work. One of the few sociologists in the United States who could read various Slavic languages in the 1930s and 1940s, Roucek did write several articles about these peoples including ''The Passing of American Czechoslovaks.'' (80) In this and in similar works about other Slavic groups, Roucek bowed to the current ideology and predicted the rapid disappearance of all ethnic Americans into the ''melting pot.'' Since he was virtually alone in his concern for American Slavs, Roucek by default dominated this field for many years. Virtually his only competitor was Andrew A. Marchbin. The latter wrote peripherally about the Slovaks in "Early Emigration from Hungary to Canada," (81) and in " Hungarian Activities in Western Pennsylvania.'' (82) While Roucek tended to mix the Slovaks together with the Czechs, Marchbin mixed them with the Magyars, since he dealt with an earlier period. The latter did, however, mention the problems that divided the Slovaks from the Magyars while Roucek tried to cover up the differences between Czechs and Slovaks. In any case, both sociologists were good representatives of the dearth of American ethnic studies until the 1960s. In the decade of Vietnam and the Black Revolution , certain American scholars finally came to the reaJization that ethnicity was here to stay. Nathan Glazer and Daniel P . Moynihan said as much in their Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroe's, Puerto Ricans, Jews , Italians and Irish of New York City. (83) Influenced by these and other sociological works, a few historians set out to systematically collect �SLOVAKIA 83 materials pertaining to immigrant history and to write books and articles about Southeastern Europeans who had for so long been neglected by American scholars . Timothy L. Smith helped establish the Immigrant Archives of the University of Minnesota in 1963 and he also urged fellow-historians in "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in Tw~ntieth-C~ntury America" (84) to study the longneglected peoples of Souther.n and Eastern Europe . While he seemed to be going against the tide in stressing the assimilation of these people in this and in subsequent articles ,(85) he did study the Slovaks, among others, and he did bring the attention of America's scholars to this neglected area of historical inquiry. His colleague Victor R. Greene, meanwhile , focused on the Poles and Lithuanians and peripherally on the Slovaks in Slavs on Strike: Immigrant Labor in Pennsylvania Anthracite, (86) the first major work about these peoples since the 1920s! If one were to fault either of these scholars , it would be for their preoccupation with the history of several ethnic groups at once while neglecting to study any one of them in any great detail. Smith always speaks of several ethnic groups in his articles and too often assumes that they are all alike in their reaction to such American institutions as the public schools.(87) Greene, similarly, always speaks of the "Slavs" when, in reality, he is dealing only with the Poles and a few Lithuanians , and the latter are not Slavs. This practice is apparent in most of his articles and it often leads him to make erroneous conclusions about non-Poles.(88) The present writer sees in Smith 's and Greene 's articles a bit of the bias of the American historical profession . It is all right for Kenneth Lockridge or John Demos or Philip Grev en to devote entire monographs to tiny English settlements in New England(89) but somehow it is not all right for Timothy Smith or Victor Greene to study only the Slovaks, or Poles, or Croats, or other Southeastern Europeans. The assumption exists among most members of the profession that White Anglo-Saxon peoples are more important than other ethnic groups and , therefore , deserve more attention while the Slavs or even the Southeastern Europeans must be treated as a whole because individually they are not very important . Trying to overcome such discrimination should be one of the objectives of a future generation of historians. CONCLUSION It should be apparent, the refore, that the historiography of Slovak immigration to America has undergone many changes and that much of the story remains untold . Until very recently the best works on this �84 SLOVAKIA subject were those written by the pioneers themselves . Long before professional historians even bothered to study immigration, various ethnic leaders began to gather and read manuscript and printed materials of the past, they interviewed ''old timers " before oral history became fashionable and they made predictions about their communities that were uncannily accurate. Such ground-breaking efforts disprove Edward N. Saveth ' s charges that histories written by immigrants themselves are of little value because they are filled with filiopietism . (90) While the first generation did a commendable job in recording its people 's past, the second lagged behind and had to be aided by scholars in the Old World and, ultimately, by better-trained members of the third generation. Perhaps reacting to the pressures of ''Americanization,'' few American-born Slovaks bothered to write their own history and those who did so expended less effort at it than had their fathers. Members of the second generation produced no major monographs, only short articles that dealt with some particular aspect of their experience or convictions. Into this vacuum stepped Old World historians like Konstantin Culen who gave American Slovaks their first systematic history and various Marxist scholars who began to treat emigration as a major social problem. Finally , with the ethnic revival of the 1960s there came not only a new interest in immigration by Anglo-American historians like Timothy L. Smith but also a professional treatment of the subject by a new breed of "ethnic" historians such as Josef Barton and Mark Stolarik. The latter two deeply immersed themselves into the sources and began for the first time to reproduce the history of American Slovaks for an English-speaking audience , Barton's and Stolarik 's efforts have un"covered only the tip of the iceberg. In looking at social mobility, for instance, they have studied but the first two generations , and only Roman Catholics at that. The fate of the third and fourth generations remains unknown as does the behavior of the Lutherans, Greek Catholics and Calvinists. Did Slovak Protestants react to America differently from Catholics, as Max Weber would have predicted? If so , then perhaps their history should be studied separately from the majority Catholic group and the differences and similarities should then be compared and contrasted with other American religious and ethnic groups. The role of Slovaks in the American labor movement also remains untold. While the present writer touched upon this story in his dissertation , the total picture is so vast and the evidence is so great that one could devote an entire monograph to it. Attitudes towards manual �SLOVAKIA 85 labor, the factory system, unions, strikes, socialism and so on need to be clarified and compared with other ethnic groups in order to rescue American labor history from its preoccupation with the history of unions as institutions and channel it back to the history of the workers themselves. What of those immig\ants who returned home? Slovaks had a return rate of 20 percent. Why did these people not remain in the " promised land?" How did they fare upon their return to the Old Country? Did they have any economic, social, or cultural impact upon their brethren back home? No one has yet dealt with this aspect of immigration. Slovak involvement in American politics also remains a mystery. Which political party did the earliest immigrants support and which do their descendants? Did they join the ' 'city machines' ' immediately and if so, why? Did they have "ward-heelers" of their own or did some other ethnic group perform this function for them? What influence, if any, has the "Slovak vote" had upon local, state and national politics? All of these questions remain unanswered. The whole subject of assimilation also needs more study. Using Milton Gordon's seven steps towards complete or "structural" assimilation,(91) an " index" of assimilation is needed to determine how far American Slovaks have proceeded along this path and to provide a way of comparing them with other ethnic groups. Those who have resisted assimilation should also be studied. What role did their fraternal-benefit societies play in this opposition? Did their concept of family , neighborhood and life in general also lead to rejection of assimilation? Are their values radically different from Anglo-American ones and, if so, are they healthy or dangerous to the host society? Finally , the present state of the community needs attention. Are American-Slovaks happy? Did this country fulfill their aspirations or leave them disappointed? Is there a "generation-gap" in attitudes towards the American way of life? How do Slovaks react to other ethnic groups, particularly blacks? Have they dispersed from their original communities into all parts of the city or have they congregated in certain suburbs and why? Are immigrants in certain regions or cities better off than in others and why? · These are just a few of the questions that need answering. And they need not apply only to Slovaks. The vast majority of Southern and Eastern European ethnic groups have for too long been ignored by American historians.(92) Until we know their stories as well as we do the Anglo-American one, we will not really understand this country. �86 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) Obzor (Skalica, Slovakia), July 5 , 1873 and intermittently through July 5 , 1883 . (2) Tovarysstvo (Rufomberok , Slovakia) I (1893), 233-8. (3) Ibid . , III (1900), 293-300. (4) Ibid ., 301-5. (5) Kalendar J ednota, 1899 (Cleveland) , 135-6. (6) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku (Pittsburgh), I (No. 2-3, 1915), 98-109 . (7) Kalendar Jednota, 1911 , 75-89. (8) Narodny Kalendar (Pittsburgh), 1927-30. (9) Pittsburgh, 1924. (10) Kalendar Jednota, 1906, 33-114 . (11) Kalendar Jednota, 1911, 90-5. (12) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927 (Pittsburgh), 97-147 . (13) Cleveland , 1928. (14) Minneapolis, 1941. (15) Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 83 (Sept.-Dec. 1972), 151-8. (16) St . Louis, 1955. (17) Cleveland , 1955 . (18) Narodny Kalendar, 1911, 66-77 . (19) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku, I (No. 2-3, 1915), 90-7. (20) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927, 57-80 . (21) Ibid ., 37-56. (22) Minneapolis, 1938. (23) Cleveland, 1965. (24) Sbornik Narodneho Slovensk eho Spolku, I (No . 2-3, 1915) , 20-39 . (25) Published posthumously in Cleveland, 1970. (26) New York, 1922 . (27) Narodny Kalendar, 1911 , 117-28. (28) Binghamton , New York, 1919. (29) Cleveland, 1930. (30) Cambridge, Mass., 1975 . (31) The Slovak Community of Cleveland (Cleveland, 1978), co-authored with Sister M. Martina Tybor. (32) See above. ' , (33) Sbornik Narodneho Slove nskeho Spolku, I (No . 2-:t. 1915), 9~19 . (34) " The Significance of Immigration in American History, " Th e American Journal of Sociology, 27 (1921), 71-85. It is revealing that this article appeared in a sociology journal and not in an historical one . (35) Narodny Kale ndar, 1926, 41-59 and 1972 , 60-7. �SLOVAKIA 87 (36) A "Czechoslovak" is a Czech or Slovak who believes that these two peoples are really one nation and he downplays their cultural differences. (37) Jednota Annual Furdek (Cleveland), 8, (1969) , 3-23. (38) Slovakia (Middletown, Pa.), XXIll (1972) , 161-92. (39) Pittsburghsk<i dohoda (The Pittsburgh Agreement) , Bratislava , 1937. (40) 2 Volumes, Bratislava, 1942. (41) Winnipeg, 1954. (42) Cleveland , 1970. (43) Mimeographed author 's publication , New York, 1961. (44) " The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-Slovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies VIII _(Rome , 1?68). 7-84 . (45) Jednota Annual Furdek, X (~971), 99-105 . (46) See above. (47) See above. (48) Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1974 . (49) See above . (50) New York, 1957. (51) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectuo (Stefan Furdek and Slovak Immigration). Cleveland, 1955; and Matus Jankola, knaz a n<irodouec (Matus Jankola, Priest and Patiot), Danville, Pa . , 1959. (52) Cleveland, 1973. (53) See above and "Father Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916," Slovak Studies, IX (1969) . 75-94. (54) Ekonomicky casopis, 4 (1956), 171-91. (55) Bratislava, 1958. (56) Geograficky casopis, XIII (1961), 195-210. (57) In I.:udovit Holotik (Ed.), Prispeuky k dejin<im uychodneho Slouenska (Contributions to the History of Eastern Slovakia). Bratislava, 1964, 220-32 . (58) Geograficky casopis, 19 (1967). 3-28 . (59) In Josef Polisensky (Ed.), Zaciatky ceskej a slouenskej emigr<icie do USA (The Beginnings of Czech and Slovak Immigration to the U.S.A.) (Bratislava, 1970), 49-96 . (60) Noue obzory (Kosice, Slovakia), Ill (1961), 221-47. (61) In Polisensky , op. cit. , 186-96. (62) Bratislava, 1969. (63) Martin, Slovakia, 1975. (64) In Polisensky, op. cit., 197-207. (65) Histoire sociale/Social History, VII (May , 1974) , 111-20. (66) Boston, 1941. (67) New York, 1970. (68) New York , 1971 . (69) Santa Monica, Calif., 1973. �88 SLOVAKIA (70) New York , 1906. (71) 14 (1908-9). 329-51. (72) 20 (1914), 145-69. (73) Reports of the Immigration Commission, 42 Volumes (Washington, 61st Congress, Senate, 1911). (74) See Maldwyn Jones , American Immigration (Chicago, 1960), 177-82 and Oscar Handlin 's Introduction to the R eports of the Immigration Commission, Volume I (Arno Press Reprint, New York , 1970) , 1-XLVI. (75) 2 volumes, New York, 1904. (76) New York, 1912 . (77) New York, 1910. (78) New York, 1906. (79) New York, 1921. (80) American Journal of Sociology, (1933-4), 611-25 . (81) Slavic Review, Xfil (1934), 127-38. (82) The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 23 (1940) , 163-74. (83) New York , 1963. (84) American Historical Review, 71 (July, 1966), 1265-79. (85) See for example " Immigrant Social Aspirations and American Education, 18801930," American Quarterly, XXI (Fall , 1969). 523-43; and "Lay Initiative in the Religious Life of American Immigrants, " in Tamara Hareven (Ed .), Anonymous Americans: Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Social History (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. , 1971) , 214-49. (86) Notre Dame, 1968. (87) "Immigrant Social Aspirations, " op cit. (88) See for example his ''For God and Country: The Origins of Slavic SelfConsciousness in America," Church History, 35 (December, 1966), 1-15 and " Slavic American Nationalism, 1870-1918," in Anna Cienciala (Ed.) , American Contributions to the Seventh International Congress of Slavists, Warsaw , August 21-7, 1973, Vol. ill: H istory (The Hague , 1973) , 197-215 . (89) Ke nneth Lockridge, A New England To wn: The First Hundred Years (New York, 1970); John Demos , A L(ttle Commonweafth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony (New York , 1970) ; and Philip Greven, Four Generations: Population, Land and Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts (Ithaca, 1970). (90) American Historian s and European Immigration, 1875-1925 (New York, 1948) . (91) Assimilation in American Life : The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York, 1964) . \ (92) For an excellent analysis of the present state of immigration historiography see Rudolph J . Vecoli, " European Americans : From Immigrants to Ethnics, " in William H . Cartwright and Richard L. Watson (Eds.), The R einterpretation of American History and Culture (Washington , 1973) , 81-112 . � 66 SLOVAKIA From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M . MARK STOLARIK Although Slovaks have lived in the United States for over a hundred years, professional American historians have only recently begun to study them. This lack of concern for the second-largest Slavic group in America cannot be attributed to a lack of sources. Pioneers among these immigrants left us not only their published reminiscences but also led the way in reconstructing the histories of their communities. While a few members of the second generation tried to carry on the work of their fathers, their efforts paled in comparison . Historians in Slovakia, meanwhile, began to write about their countrymen in the United States and, whether as political emigres or as devoted Marxists, they initiated the first professional studies of these people. Native Americans, on the other hand, originally discussed Slovaks as either a threat to the American way of life or else as potential converts to the Social Gospel movement. For generations native historians ignored these and other Eastern Europeans in the naive belief that they would disappear in the ''melting pot.'' Only with the ethnic revival of the 1960s did some Ame~ican professionals of varying backgrounds begin to study these people:,. _ The everyday life of Slovaks in the United States has been portrayed at various levels, ranging from simple memoirs to complicated mobility studies. Some of the pioneers contented themselves with describing life in the New World as they remembered it. Others analyzed the growing ethnic neighborhoods , while others still began to collect materials and describe three major institutions of AmericanSlovak communities - the parishes, lodges and newspapers. Such M. Mark Stolarik has been designated as the Director of the Balch Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . This essay is reprinted from the International Migration Review (X , 1, Spring 1976). �SLOVAKIA 67 activities eventually led to full-scale community studies and attempts at an overall history of all Slovak groups in America. Even though the first two generations failed in the latter effort, they did provide the groundwork for later historians. By the 1960s scholars in both Europe and America used new methods such as demographic analysis, studies of marriage , educatiQn anct social mobility, to try to complete the story and put it into a broader context. The earliest description~' bf Slovak life in America came either as observations or else as reminiscences by pioneers . Daniel Sustek, a journeyman carpenter and one of the first Slovaks to arrive in the United States , described his experiences over a ten-year period beginning in 1873 in the self-help monthly Obzor.(1) Besides focusing on his problems of adjusting to the new land, Sustek described the strange way of life he found here and provided his countrymen with extensive advice on how to make the trip, where to find work, what kind of wages to expect and how to behave in the presence of non-Slovaks. Sustek' s reports are reminiscent of Alexis de Tocqueville and Lord Bryce especially when, after having initially praised the "equality" of all Americans , Sustek discovers the great gulf between rich and poor and concludes that in this regard the United States is not so different from Europe after all. While Sustek focused largely on his own experiences, Father Stefan Furdek provided us with the first description of Slovak community life in America. Having come to Cleveland in 1882 to serve an already-existing Czech parish, Furdek helped the earliest Slovak arrivals to organize themselves into lodges and parishes and he also established their first Catholic newspaper. By 1893 he felt experienced enough to write an article entitled " Z Ameriky" (From America) for an Old World annual in which he eulogized the political freedom of the New Land but warned intellectuals against immigrating to this country because their chances of finding a livelihood outside of manual labor were slim.(2) Furdek thus perceived the major role his people would play in providing labor for America's industries and the marginal impact they would have upon the intellectual and cultural life of the United States. In a later article , "Vselico z Ameriky" (Tidbits from America), he continued the story by focusing on working conditions in the mines and mills, on life in ethnic neighborhoods and on the need for immigrants to rely upon family or friends in order to survive and be successful in the New World.(3) He wrote dozens of similar articles in his Jednota (Union) newspaper and almanac of the same name between 1890 and 1914 and he remains a major source for the study of early American-Slovak life. �68 SLOVAKIA Father Matus Jankola, Furdek ' s friend and colleague , joined the latter in describing the activities of his countrymen in the United States during the early years of Slovak immigration. In "Crty z katolickej slovenskej farnosti v Pittston, Pa. " (Sketches from a Catholic Slovak Parish in Pittston, Pa.), he not only described the daily life of a coal miner but also focused on the relations of Slovaks with other ethnic groups. He complained about his countrymen' s propensity to emulate other Eastern Europeans in seeking financial control over their own parishes, a phenomenon known as "lay trusteeism" and a perpetual headache to both priests and bishops at the tum of the century.(4) In another penetrating article entitled "Nase skoly" (Our Schools), J ankola severely criticized Slovak parochial schools of his day for their inadequate facilities and teaching methods and urged his countrymen to establish a teaching order of nuns to upgrade the whole system .(5) Like Furdek , Jankola wrote dozens of articles in the Jednota newspaper and almanac between 1896 and 1916 and these are excellent sources for the study of American-Slovak history. While Furdek and J ankola described Slovak life in general, another clergyman zeroed in on the business community. Pavel Jamarik, a convert to Congregationalism and an exponent of the 'Protestant ethic,' sought to determine how many of his people were engaged in business and thus ''making it. '' He distributed a questionnaire to Slovak leaders in Cleveland, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut and, much to his dismay, discovered that fewer than one percent in each city owned business enterprises. He soberly concluded in ' ' Zivot americkych Slovakov dakedy a teraz'' (The Life of American Slovaks in the Past and Today)(6) that most of his people rejected the American route to social mobility through business enterprise and implicitly hinted that they would remain in the workingclass for some time to come. Such penetrating analyses, while vety valuable, were also rare. More common were reminiscences by "olq timers ~• of days gone by. Jozef Rusek , editor of the Jednota almanac, interviewed a Slovak who had arrived in Cleveland in 1880 and published his story under the rubric "V Novej Zemi" (In the New Land).(7) In this fascinating article the anonymous informant described the poor economic conditions that had driven him out of his homeland, the miserable ocean-crossing in steerage and all the difficulties he had encountered in making his way to Cleveland and finding suitable employment. A series of similar articles entitled "Nasi pionieri" (Our Pioneers) appeared in another almanac a short while later.(8) By collecting and publishing these reminiscences ethnic editors showed their appreciation for oral history �SLOVAKIA 69 long before American historians deemed it worthy of notice. In spite of this concel'Il with oral history, only one major leader of the American-Slovak COlllil1\Unity has left us his memoirs. Perhaps the reason for this dearth of autobiographies lies in the fact that Furdek died unexpectedly in 1914 and Jankola in 1916. In any case, P. V. Rovnianek, founder of the National Slovak Society in 1890 and for many years editor of the extremely popular Amerikansko-Slovenske Noviny (American Slovak News) penned his observations and reminiscences in a book with a very revealing title : Zapisky za iiva pochovaneho (Notes of One Buried Alive). (9) Here Rovnianek revealed how he had to leave the Budapest seminary in 1888 because of his nationalist views and how he came to America and quickly decided to work for national causes. He also detailed many of the arguments that he had had with other leaders, some of which resulted in costly lawsuits. Unfortunately, he covered up the misdeeds that led to the downfall of his financial empire in 1911. This, plus his tremendous conceit, detracted from an otherwise lucid and penetrating commentary. Shortly after their arrival in America, Slovak immigrants congregated in certain neighborhoods of cities where they established organizations that served to promote and solidify a new community existence . Three such institutions ranked highest in importance: the parish, the fraternal and the newspaper. By 1920, when these neighborhoods matured, Slovaks had almost 400 parishes of all denominations, hundreds of local and dozens of national fratemals and scores of daily , weekly and monthly periodical publications . It is no surprise , therefore, that when certain Slovak leaders began to record their earliest history in America, they turned their attention to these institutions. Father Furdek began the history of one group of these institutions with a lenghty article about "Slovenske osady v Amerike" (Slovak Parishes in America.) Having relied upon church records and interviews supplied by fellow-priests and cooperative laymen, Furdek presented us with short, informative histories of every Slovak Catholic parish established in the New World until 1906.(10) No sooner had Furdek published his analysis than a controversy broke out between boosters of Slovak parishes in Streator, Illinois and Hazleton, Pennsylvania . Worshippers in both areas claimed that theirs was the oldest Slovak Catholic parish in the United States. Although the debate remains unresolved to this day , Jozef G. Skurka, in "Prva slovenska rim. katolicka osada v Amerike" (The First Slovak Roman Catholic Parish in America) presented the arguments of both sides and left the final decision to the reader. (11) �70 SLOVAKIA Furdek's article began a trend that led not only to similar efforts by leaders of other denominations but it may also have prompted the later publication of jubilee books and a few full-fledged histories of church groups . Thus, Josef Nadenicek, a Calvinist minister, had his coreligionists aid him in compiling histories of all their parishes in the United States and he published these under the general heading of "Kratke dejiny cirkvi" (Short Histories of Our Parishes) giving the contributors full credit for their efforts .(12) Other religious leaders published even more detailed stories in special anniversary booklets. Examples are Strieborne jubileum osady sv. Vendelina, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928 (Silver Jubilee of St. Wendelin's Parish, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928,(13) and Father George S. Dargay' s Historical Sketch of the Church of St. Cyril of Minneapolis, Minn., 1891-1941. (14) A committee of priests and laymen usually compiled such histories, relying upon parish records, newspaper accounts and the memories of pioneers for sources. Even though other congregations published similar jubilee books, they seldom contained the whole truth because most immigrant parishes at the turn of the century experienced some sort of conflict between laymen and pastor or bishop. The present writer described problems of this sort in "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes, 1880-1930,"(15) in the hope that even professional church historians would dig deeper into the sources and abandon their preoccupation with consensus history. Meanwhile, one might suppose that with so many parishes having recorded their own history, a larger synthesis would have appeared. Only two historians have made such an attempt in the Slovak community and their efforts leave much to be desired. Pastor George Dolak, a member of the second generation, wrote an official History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, 1920-1927(16) and, as the title suggests, he covered only a short period and ignored the two other Synods to which Slovaks belong. Indeed, one looks in vain in this book fa'( an explanation of this split among Slovak Lutherans in America. Similarly,_ while the emigre historian Frantisek Hrusovsky did a creditable job in recording the story of Slovenske rehole v Amerike (Slovak Religious Orders in America), (17) he too steered clear of all controversy. Inadequate as these works are, they remain the only attempted syntheses of various Slovak religious groups in America. No one has yet written an overall history of Slovak Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist denominations in the United States and their relation to New or Old World counterparts. Scholars have barely scratched the surface of this vast subject. �SLOVAKIA ' 71 Equal in importance to'. parishes in immigrant communities were fraternal benefit societies. In many instances these preceded the founding of churches and became their chief bulwarks. By 1890 several dozen local societies existed and many of these later merged into larger, national organizations such as the First Catholic Slovak Union or the National Slovak Society . By 1920 these and other fraternals enrolled over one-third of the 600,000 plus Slovak immigrants who had come to America. By providing much needed and inexpensive life insurance , plus taking an active role in community and national affairs , they became indispensable to the growth and survival of ethnic communities. Realizing the importance of fratemals, officers of the National Slovak Society determined to record some of their history. In 1909 they commissioned their editor Ignac Gessay to write the history of their organization. He eagerly read old newspapers, minute-books, pamphlets and other materials, some of which have since disappeared. He also interviewed as many "old timers" as he could. By 1911 he published two articles, one entitled " Spolky pred organisaciami" (Societies Before Organizations) in which he presented an excellent survey of the first forty local fraternal-benefit societies established by American Slovaks before national bodies appeared in 1890.(18) Gessay had hoped that he could continue in his work and eventually publish an overall history of his people but his friendship with P. V. Rovnianek prevented it . When the latter's financial institution bankrupted in 1911, thereby ruining a great many Slovaks and weakening the Society, Rovnianek had to flee for his life and Gessay lost his commission. Into the void stepped Jan A. Feriencik, another editor, determined to complete the story . Using Gessay's notes (without giving him credit) and engaging in his own research, he did produce, among other things, " Vyznam Nar. Slovenskeho Spolku" (The Significance of the National Slovak Society) .(19) In this brief article he surveyed the history of the Society from 1890 to 1914, concentrating on the highlights and praising its achievements. Although Feriencik did write articles dealing with other aspects of the Slovak experience in America (discussed below), he too failed to complete a monograph on either the NSS or on the history of American Slovaks . Shortly thereafter a group of Slovak Calvinists also set out to write the history of their organization. The Rev. Frantisek Uherka urged the officers of each branch of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union to compile a short history of their lodge on the basis of minute books, newspaper articles and interviews . They did as requested and Uherka then published these histories under the general heading " Kratke �72 SLOVAKIA dejiny jednotlivych sborov Slov. Kalv. Presb. Jednoty. " (Short Histories of the Lodges of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union) , giving the contributors full credit.(20) He also compiled a general history of the national organization , based on the information provided by lodges as well as his reading of the head-office 's minute-books and on his own memory and entitled it "Kratky prehfad S.K.P . Jednoty, 1901-1926 ," (Short Over-View of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union). (21) The largest of the fraternals , the First Catholic Slovak Union, meanwhile, held back from such undertakings for several generations. Its individual lodges did often publish jubilee histories such as " Memoirs of the Golden Jubilee of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Society, 1883-1938" and these often provided fascinating insights into their individual achievements .(22) The national organization, however, resolved to sponsor an overall history only when its 75th anniversary approached. It commissioned Jozef Pauco, an emigre journalist, to undertake this task and he completed it by 1965 under the heading 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union).(23) Pauco presented a strictly chronological year-by-year account, devoid of any analysis or criticism. He simply listed the society's growth and achievements. Thus, although a few Slovak societies did promote studies of their own achievements and one even commissioned a book, much of their history remains to be uncovered. Besides the need for full-length monographs of such important organizations as the National Slovak Society, the First Catholic Slovak Ladies ' Association, the Slovak Evangelical Union and so on , studies of the impact these and other societies have had on ethnic community life over the last 100 years should be made. How did these societies help the immigrant adjust to the New World? Did they supplant labor unions? Did they foster or hinder assimilation? Why did they splinter along religious and ideological lines? Why did women set up their own fratemals? Did fraternals promote Slovak culture in the .New World? What is their present status? What does the future h&d for them? How do they compare to societies founded by other grouf)s? These are just a few of the questions that need answering before we can understand the role that fraternal-benefit societies played in the life of American Slovaks. The third major component of growing Slovak communities was their newspaper press . Since most Slovaks initially came to America to make their " fortune " and return home , they became very interested in news of the home country published in their own language. The few intellectuals who accompanied these people to the United States �SLOVAKIA 73 quickly discovered this thir~t for news and satiated it with more than 200 periodicals between 1886 and the present. Among them were official organs of fraternal-benefit societies, independent dailies, weeklies and monthlies, labor newspapers, satirical journals, religious periodicals and so on. Having realized the importance of the newspaper press to the Slovak community, two journalists made a serious attempt to depict its history. Jan A. Feriencik, mentioned above, made the first attempt at a comprehensive history in "Slovenske prist'ahovalectvo a slovenska spisba v Amerike" (Slovak Immigration and Slovak Letters in America).(24) Since he tried to describe sixty titles in a few pages, his effort was very unbalanced. Moreover, he relied too much on memory and some of his assertions were false. Nevertheless, he did record some titles that have long since disappeared and th.u s he performed a vital service for later historians. Konstantin Culen, a post-World War II emigre journalist, expressed his appreciation to Feriencik and tried to complete the story in Slovenske casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America).(25) He gathered together titles of more than 230 Slovak periodicals published in this country and commented on each although he knew more about some papers and less about others, and thus his book is very uneven. In fact, since he died before the manuscript was completed, his colleague Jozef Pauco tried to finish the job. The periodicals are not organized according to subject, they simply appear in alphabetical order. Furthermore, there is no table of contents and no index. Unless one knows in advance the exact name of a publication, this book is extremely difficult to use. Feriencik and Culen did only half the job. They listed the titles and described the editorial policy of the founders . No one has done a comprehensive history of any one of the major dailies or weeklies . It would be instructive to know, from a content-analysis, how various Slovak newspapers in America viewed this country, its much-vaunted equality and democracy and their perception of the role of their readers. Robert E. Park attempted such a study in his Immigrant Press and Its Control(26) but since he covered so many different nationalities, his assessment was necessarily shallow. A good history of the Slovak press, as well as that of other ethnic groups in America, is sorely needed. Shortly after having recorded the history of their lodges, parishes and newspapers, American Slovaks began to think of the larger story. A few of them started to publish histories of communities that covered members of all denominations . These have since been supplemented �74 SLOVAKIA by works of professional scholarship, although their number remains small. The first attempt at writing local history was made by lgnac Gessay. Hoping to eventually publish a general work on American Slovaks, this newspaper editor began to gather materials about their oldest communities. One of these was Streator, Illinois, in the bituminous coal fields and Gessay presented its story from the 1870s to 1910 in "Streatorski Slovaci a ich pokrok" (Streator Slovaks and their Progress).(27) Since this was a first attempt written for a national almanac, it necessarily gave only the highlights of the story. Better and more comprehensive histories appeared a short while later. Imrich Mazar, a local lodge leader, compiled a remarkable work entitled Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat rokov, 1879-1919 (Forty Years of the History of Binghamton Slovaks, 18791919).(28) Mazar interviewed pioneers of the community, consulted church and lodge records and read of his people's exploits in the press. Using such sources he very ably covered the story of all aspects of the community - its general history, the story of its fraternals, churches and clubs and the involvement of the local community in the CzechoSlovak liberation movement of World War I. Jan Pankuch did a similarly excellent job in Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (A History of Cleveland and Lakewood Slovaks). (29) A newspaper editor by profession, Pankuch persevered in his efforts even after the Great Depression had erupted and he published the book with his own dwindling resources. The only major criticisms that one can make of these two books is that they are poorly organized and lack perspective. Since neither Mazar nor Pankuch had any historical training, they dared not judge what was important and what was not. They recorded everything they had heard or discovered in an often haphazard manner and this made the reading of their books difficult. On the other hand, by not rejecting anything, they made their works invaluable sources for a later generation of historians . .. Two scholars interested in American-Slovak history appeared in the 1960s to make good use of previous pioneering efforts. Josef Barton studied the social mobility of three ethnic groups in Cleveland and included the Slovaks among them . In his Peasants and Strangers,(30) a spin-off of his dissertation, he relied quite extensively on Pankuch for the background story. The present writer, commissioned to write a joint history with another author about the Cleveland Slovak community, used Pankuch as a source quite liberally.(31) Hopefully these will be followed by studies of Slovaks in other cities, enabling future historians �SLOVAKIA 75 to compare the fortunes of these people in a wide variety of geographical areas, thus gaining a better perspective on the whole story of immigration. Along with recording much local information, American Slovaks naturally desired an overall view of their coming and settlement in various parts of the New World. Once again the pioneers led the way but this undertaking prove~ too much for them. They had to settle for histories written by a later generation of immigrants and these stories are, as yet, incomplete. lgnac Gessay and Jan A. Feriencik first attempted to compile a general history of their people. Gessay, as we have already seen, did not finish the task.(32) Jan Feriencik inherited not only Gessay 's job but also his notes. Supplementing these with his own research, he published " Nacrtok prist'ahovalectva slovenskeho do Ameriky" (A Sketch of Slovak Immigration to America).(33) Relying upon old newspapers , minute-books, Gessay's notes and his own memory, Feriencik produced a useful, if jaundiced (he was very anti-Semitic) survey of the coming of his people to the New World. He had hoped to produce a full-length monograph on this subject but died before he could do so. With Feriencik's death, along with that of most of his firstgeneration colleagues in the 1920s, the task of recording AmericanSlovak history fell to the second generation . Having absolutely no help from Anglo-American historians, who in the first half of the twentieth century seemed completely uninterested in the history of recent immigration, as Arthur M. Schlesinger lamented,(34) the second generation failed to even match the efforts of their fathers. Andrew P . Slabey and Sister M. Martina Tybor are good examples of second-generation American-Slovak scholars . The former was one of the first Slovak university graduates in the United States and he set out to write a " Prehl'ad dejin Slovakov v Amerike " (A Survey of the History of American Slovaks) in 1926 but he did not finish the task until almost fifty years had passed! (35) Not only did he complete his work at a snail's pace but he based much of his first installment on the research of Gessay and Feriencik, whom he neglected to give credit, and his analysis was much inferior to theirs. The second article came largely from memory . In both he seemed more interested in promoting ' 'Czechoslovakism' ' (36) than in a genuine history of his people. Sister M. Martina Tybor, on the other hand, has made use of original sources but she has seldom told the full story . Thus , in " A Composite Picture of a Slovak Immigrant's Early Experiences,"(37) she presented a very good account of how a ' 'typical ' ' immigrant may �76 SLOVAKIA have fared upon arrival in America but she glossed over the many problems he may also have encountered. Similarly, in "Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916: Slovak-American Priest, Leader, Educator, "(38) she presented an interesting biography of this important early leader but again neglected to mention the many problems he had experienced in dealing with other priests and with his lay followers . Neither Slabey nor Tybor produced a full-length monograph. In the absence of any general histories of American Slovaks, two more recent immigrants set out to fill the void. The first was Konstantin Culen, a journalist by profession, who was drawn to the history of American Slovaks by his involvement in politics in the Old Country. Culen determined to examine the nature and extent of the nationalism that had motivated American Slovaks to make an agreement with the Czechs which guaranteed the Slovaks home-rule in the new Republic of Czecho-Slovakia. After having published one book dealing with such nationalism,(39) he decided to broaden his research and, after publishing numerous articles in various almanacs, he completed the very impressive Dejiny Slov<ikov v Amerike (A History of Slovaks in America).(40) In this work he detailed both the social and political history of his countrymen to 1914. He read widely in their newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, books , minute-books and so on and tried, as best he could, to follow the rules of the historical profession. Unfortunately, he fell victim to the temptations of "filiopietism" and began the story with tales of Slovaks having come in the 17th .century , of their having participated in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and, therefore, having as good a claim to this country as anyone else. Furthermore, he relied too much on Slovak sources , neglecting many English-language studies of immigration at the turn of the century. After the Second World War, with his dreams of an independent Slovakia shattered, Culen immigrated to the United States and tried to carry on his work but found the climate among his people too hostile . He initially worked on the editorial staffs of several American and Canadian Slovak newspapers and publish~d dozens of articles. These were eventually gathered and published in' three important books: J. Slovensky: iivotopis zakladatel'a prvych slovenskych novin v Amerike (J. Slovensky: Biography of the Founder of the First Slovak Newspaper in America);(41) Slovensk e casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America) ;(42) and V zajati falosn ych legiend a nen<ivistneho srdca (Imprisoned by False Legends and a Hateful Heart).(43) In the first of these he recounted how American Slovaks established their oldest newspaper. The second book , which we have already discussed, gave the story of their newspaper press. The third is virtually unknown , for �SLOVAKIA 77 he circulated only a few copies to his most trusted friends, but it is also the most important. In it he detailed the hostility which he and many other members of the post-war generation encountered from their lesseducated American countrymen. This is a fascinating phenomenon of rejection of one group oy another based on education and social standing, and since World\ War II it has been typical of many ethnic groups in the United States. Culen had so many arguments with American-Slovak leaders that he was virtually expelled from the community and died alienated from it in 1964. Shortly thereafter the present writer began to follow in Culen's footsteps. Born in Slovakia but educated in North America, he began a study of the political participation of his people in the World War I liberation movement(44) and then turned to their social history. Having used some of their parish and lodge records, supplemented by newspaper articles, he published ''The Slovak Immigrant is Not Anonymous," (45) in which he called on other scholars of immigration to make use of such sources. A little later he detailed some of the problems his countrymen had encountered with the largely IrishCatholic Church in America(46) and he also wrote a brief history of the Cleveland Slovak community.(47) At present he is preparing his dissertation, "Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918"(48) for publication as a book. Meanwhile, in the decades since the Second World War, a few people have also concerned themselves with biographies of Slovak pioneers to this country. Konstantin Culen wrote a brief treatise on Jan Slovensky, founder of the first Slovak newspaper in America. (49) While he described adequately Slovensky' s early life and his work in the United States, he did not know all the circumstances surrounding his death by suicide and the work thus remains incomplete. Vincent Holecek, a self-styled historian of Slovaks all over the world, produced a short biography of P. V. Rovnianek entitled Slava a poniienie (Glory and Shame)(50) but ended it in 1907, before Rovnianek's tragic bankruptcy and, thus, also failed to tell the whole story. Jozef Pauco glorified the lives of Stefan Furdek and Matus Jankola(51) and later compiled Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike (Slovak Pioneers in America),(52) which covered the lives of fifty-five important and unimportant countrymen (there seemed to be no rationale for their selection). Finally, Sister M. Martina Tybor eulogized Matus Jankola in two very similar articles published in different joumals.(53) With the exception of Culen, all of the above were more concerned with edifying their subjects than with reaching critical and balanced conclusions. �78 SLOVAKIA Clearly this is another area of American-Slovak history that needs elaboration. The study of Slovak immigration, however, has not been confined to residents of North America. After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948 a new school of Marxist historians appeared and some of them took an interest in their brethren overseas. Utilizing new disciplines such as demography and uncovering hitherto unprocessed county documents, they added new dimensions to the study of immigration, especially to its impact on the home country. Jim Sveton, a demographer , led the way. In his "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo v obdobi uhorskeho kapitalizmu" (Slovak Emigration in the Era of Hungarian Capitalism),(54) he studied the impact of mass migration on the remaining population. Using village birth and death records, he calculated the net loss of population due to emigration and discovered that the Slovaks were second only to the Irish in per capita emigration and population decline in the 19th century. These views were further elaborated in Obyvatel'stvo Slovenska za kapitalizmu (The Population of Slovakia Under Capitalism).(55) Jan Hanzlik followed in Sveton' s footsteps and in four articles showed the high level to which the new discipline of demography had risen. His "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo na prahu imperializmu" (Slovak Emigration on the Threshold of Imperialism)(56) dealt with the net loss of population due to emigration based on village censuses for the heaviest years of migration, 1901-1910. In "Vyst'ahovalectvo z vychodneho Slovenska" (Emigration from Eastern Slovakia)(57) he focused on that region of the country which had lost the most people and blamed the Magyars for the exodus because they had refused to industrialize Hungary. He expanded his research in "Vyvoj obyvatel'stva na Slovensku v obdobi 1869-1961 " (The Evolution of the Population of Slovakia in the Years 1861-1961). (58) Besides studying the impact emigration had had on the population for over a hundred years , he also blamed the Czechs for having prompted the industrialization of Bohemia-Moravia at th\ expense of Slovakia after 1918 and thus having contributed to the contiQued emigration of Slovaks from their native land in the twentieth century. Finally, in ' ' Zaciatky vyst'ahovalectva zo Slovenska do USA a jeho priebeh az do roku 1918, jeho priciny a nasledky" (The Beginnings of Slovak Emigration to America, Its Causes and Consequences to 1918),(59) Hanzlik summarized his research and that of other interested scholars and presented a very creditable interpretation of the impact of Slovak emigration to 1918. �SLOVAKIA 79 Once their demographer-colleagues had opened the field, Marxist historians also began to take notice of emigration. Ladislav Tajtak focused on that part of the country which had lost the most people in ''Vychodoslovenske vyst'ahovalectvo do prvej svetovej vojny'' (Eastern Slovak Emigration to the Fill.st World War)(60) and he carefully showed which of the eastern countries had lost the largest numbers and why. In a later work, "K zaciatkom Amerikansko-Slovenskych Novin" (Concerning the Beginnings of Amerik<insko-Slovenske Noviny)(6l) he traced, for the first time since Culen's Janka Slovensky, the history of the first Slovak newspaper in America. Frantisek Bielik and Elo Rakos, meanwhile, collected and published the most relevant documents pertaining to emigration in Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo: Dokumenty I, do roku 1918 (Slovak Emigration: Documents I, to 1918)(62) and a little later documents to 1939 in a book with a similar title. (63) They also provided a good introduction to both sets of documents. Finally, Milos Gosiorovsky legitimized all this concern with countrymen in capitalist America by publishing ''Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky a robotnicke hnutie" (Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky and the Workers' Movement)(64) in which he tried to link the workers' (communist) movements of the two worlds. Even though scholars in Slovakia have taken notice of their countrymen abroad, their perspective has been limited by ideological considerations. As I have pointed out in "Agrarian Problems in Slovakia, 1848-1918: An Historiographic Essay,"(65) Marxist scholars in the Old World must tow the party line. Thus, they can cite the works of Konstantin Culen and other ''bourgeois'' writers only at great peril to their own freedom and they have had to embellish their books and articles with liberal references to Marx, Lenin (and Stalin in the 1950s) and other prophets of the new order. Furthermore, these scholars can seldom, if ever, travel to the United States, and thus rich AmericanSlovak archives are beyond their reach. Therefore, they have necessarily concentrated on the impact of emigration on the home country and have only touched on the history of their countrymen abroad. Another approach to the study of immigration has been the novel. While traditional scholarly works have analyzed the nature and experience of the ethnic community in the midst of a new environment, the novel has become an important vehicle for understanding the dynamics of the situation and for expressing the feelings of the people . American Slovaks have been pleased with three outstanding novelists in this regard - Thomas Bell, Michael Novak and Sonya Jason. Bell , in Out of this Furnace ,(66) provided a moving account of �80 SLOVAKIA the sufferings of the first three generations in the steel mills of Braddock, Pennsylvania. His book was so painfully realistic that most of his countrymen avoided reading it. In a different vein Michael Novak described the difficulties that an upwardly-mobile third-generation American Slovak encountered in coping with the largely Anglo-Saxon world in Naked I Leave(67) and in the more analytical Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics .(68) Finally, Sonya Jason, also a product of a Pennsylvania steel town, portrayed the reaction of a third-generation woman to the insatiable demands of American armies for immigrant bodies in Concommitant Soldier: Woman and War.(69) One can only lament the dearth of such novels in the United States. While various aspects of Slovak immigration have been covered by members of this ethnic group, native Americans have seldom noticed these people and when they have, it has been either in the context of nativism or else as a part of the history of immigration in general. Nativism , that ideological disease which breeds hostility towards immigrants, infected the minds of some Americans at the tum of the century, causing them to write books extremely hostile to the ''new'' immigrants from Southeastern Europe, from whence the Slovaks came. Howard B. Grose, for instance, in a book aimed at Protestant Missionaries entitled Aliens or Americans?(70) deemed the newcomers to be a "heathen" threat to America and advocated their forceful conversion to Protestant Christianity in order to "Americanize" them. The theme of the immigrant "menace" also found its way into socalled scholarly works. Annie Marian Maclean, who fancied herself a "Progressive" social scientist, surveyed Southeastern Europeans in Pennsylvania and published " Life in the Pennsylvania Coal Fields with Particular Reference to Women, '' in a muckrating style that very much pleased the readers of the American Journal of Sociology .(71) Helen L. Wilson and Eunice W. Smith engaged in similar exposes for the AJS , devoting entire articles to individual ethnic groups, among them being "Chicago Housing Conditions , VIII: Among the Slovaks in the Twentieth Ward. "(72) Both of these works, in their lurid descriptions of immigrant ghettoes, warned Americans of the possible destruction of their society through unrestricted immigration. Nativist scholarship reached its pinnacle in an official government report which summarized all the prejudices then rampant in the United States towards Southeastern Europeans: \Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the Dillingham Co~ission, _on Immigration reported in 1911 that the newcomers, among them the Slovaks, were a menace to American society because they allegedly bred slums, engaged in criminal activities and retarded the labor movement.(73) �SLOVAKIA ~ 81 However, as Maldwyn Jones'8.Ild Oscar Handlin have recently shown, the commissioners twisted the statistics to suit their preconceived notions.(74) Ironically enough, if one ignores the conclusions of the commissioners and uses only the raw statistics, one can discover in this Report a great deal of valuable material pertaining to the social history of Slovaks and other Southeastern Europeans in America at the tum of the century. Not all Americans, of course, accepted the findings of the Report or agreed with its conclusions. A small group of scholars, usually members of the "Social Gospel" movement which sought to help the poor and downtrodden, viewed the ''new'' immigrants sympathetically. Their writings served as a healthy counterweight to nativist attacks on these people. One of the first American defenders of Southern and Eastern Europeans was the Rev. Peter Roberts. A member of the Presbyterian Home Mission Society, Roberts set about describing, in great detail, the everyday life of the new immigrants (and these included the Slovaks) in their new social setting. His Anthracite Coal Communities(75) and The New Immigration: A Study of the Industrial and Social Life of Southeastern Europeans in America(76) are classics in sociological analysis. Rather than seeking evidence of these peoples' "inferiority," as various nativists had done, Roberts visited them, observed their habits and concluded that they fit very well into the American capitalist system, even if they did have to start at the bottom. While Roberts dealt with Southeastern Europeans in general, Emily Greene Balch focused on the Slavic nationalities in particular and produced the as yet unsurpassed Our Slavic Fellow-Citizens.(77) By devoting an entire chapter to each Slavic group and then doing a general analysis of them all, she showed the way to later generations of historians. She not only studied American-Slavic communities and talked with their people but also visited their homelands to get a transAtlantic perspective on the whole process of migration. This professor of political economy was so far ahead of her time that to this day no American historian has written a book of comparable depth and scope about the various Slavic ethnic groups in this country. One reason why American historians have not yet superseded Emily Greene Balch is that for generations the former simply ignored the history of Southeastern Europeans. Between the 1920s when the United States passed its restrictive immigration quota laws which presumed that everyone would disappear into the " melting pot " and the 1960s when an ethnic revival swept the country, virtually no books or articles concerned with Slavic immigrants appeared in any major �82 SLOVAKIA historical journals or university presses. A small group of Czech scholars and their sympathizers produced a few interesting studies but these paled in comparison to earlier efforts by immigrants themselves. Indeed, even when a few American historians did begin to notice the Slavs in the 1960s, their studies remained very superficial. The first Czech scholar to write about American Slovaks was Tomas Capek of New York. A lawyer by profession, he accepted a commission from the National Slovak Society and wrote The Slovaks of Hungary: Slavs and Pan-Slavism,(78) which was in effect the first history of these people in the English language. Later he and his son published The Czechoslovaks, the second half of which dealt with the Slovaks under the heading The Slovaks in America . (79) The latter work, consisting chiefly of impressions gathered from various informants, was vastly inferior to the first study which was grounded on a stronger scholarly base. However, since these were virtually the only studies of American Slovaks in the English language, leaders of the community which they described did treasure them. Josef Slabey Roucek followed in the Capeks' footsteps and tried to carry on their work. One of the few sociologists in the United States who could read various Slavic languages in the 1930s and 1940s, Roucek did write several articles about these peoples including ''The Passing of American Czechoslovaks.'' (80) In this and in similar works about other Slavic groups, Roucek bowed to the current ideology and predicted the rapid disappearance of all ethnic Americans into the ''melting pot.'' Since he was virtually alone in his concern for American Slavs, Roucek by default dominated this field for many years. Virtually his only competitor was Andrew A. Marchbin. The latter wrote peripherally about the Slovaks in "Early Emigration from Hungary to Canada," (81) and in " Hungarian Activities in Western Pennsylvania.'' (82) While Roucek tended to mix the Slovaks together with the Czechs, Marchbin mixed them with the Magyars, since he dealt with an earlier period. The latter did, however, mention the problems that divided the Slovaks from the Magyars while Roucek tried to cover up the differences between Czechs and Slovaks. In any case, both sociologists were good representatives of the dearth of American ethnic studies until the 1960s. In the decade of Vietnam and the Black Revolution , certain American scholars finally came to the reaJization that ethnicity was here to stay. Nathan Glazer and Daniel P . Moynihan said as much in their Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroe's, Puerto Ricans, Jews , Italians and Irish of New York City. (83) Influenced by these and other sociological works, a few historians set out to systematically collect �SLOVAKIA 83 materials pertaining to immigrant history and to write books and articles about Southeastern Europeans who had for so long been neglected by American scholars . Timothy L. Smith helped establish the Immigrant Archives of the University of Minnesota in 1963 and he also urged fellow-historians in "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in Tw~ntieth-C~ntury America" (84) to study the longneglected peoples of Souther.n and Eastern Europe . While he seemed to be going against the tide in stressing the assimilation of these people in this and in subsequent articles ,(85) he did study the Slovaks, among others, and he did bring the attention of America's scholars to this neglected area of historical inquiry. His colleague Victor R. Greene, meanwhile , focused on the Poles and Lithuanians and peripherally on the Slovaks in Slavs on Strike: Immigrant Labor in Pennsylvania Anthracite, (86) the first major work about these peoples since the 1920s! If one were to fault either of these scholars , it would be for their preoccupation with the history of several ethnic groups at once while neglecting to study any one of them in any great detail. Smith always speaks of several ethnic groups in his articles and too often assumes that they are all alike in their reaction to such American institutions as the public schools.(87) Greene, similarly, always speaks of the "Slavs" when, in reality, he is dealing only with the Poles and a few Lithuanians , and the latter are not Slavs. This practice is apparent in most of his articles and it often leads him to make erroneous conclusions about non-Poles.(88) The present writer sees in Smith 's and Greene 's articles a bit of the bias of the American historical profession . It is all right for Kenneth Lockridge or John Demos or Philip Grev en to devote entire monographs to tiny English settlements in New England(89) but somehow it is not all right for Timothy Smith or Victor Greene to study only the Slovaks, or Poles, or Croats, or other Southeastern Europeans. The assumption exists among most members of the profession that White Anglo-Saxon peoples are more important than other ethnic groups and , therefore , deserve more attention while the Slavs or even the Southeastern Europeans must be treated as a whole because individually they are not very important . Trying to overcome such discrimination should be one of the objectives of a future generation of historians. CONCLUSION It should be apparent, the refore, that the historiography of Slovak immigration to America has undergone many changes and that much of the story remains untold . Until very recently the best works on this �84 SLOVAKIA subject were those written by the pioneers themselves . Long before professional historians even bothered to study immigration, various ethnic leaders began to gather and read manuscript and printed materials of the past, they interviewed ''old timers " before oral history became fashionable and they made predictions about their communities that were uncannily accurate. Such ground-breaking efforts disprove Edward N. Saveth ' s charges that histories written by immigrants themselves are of little value because they are filled with filiopietism . (90) While the first generation did a commendable job in recording its people 's past, the second lagged behind and had to be aided by scholars in the Old World and, ultimately, by better-trained members of the third generation. Perhaps reacting to the pressures of ''Americanization,'' few American-born Slovaks bothered to write their own history and those who did so expended less effort at it than had their fathers. Members of the second generation produced no major monographs, only short articles that dealt with some particular aspect of their experience or convictions. Into this vacuum stepped Old World historians like Konstantin Culen who gave American Slovaks their first systematic history and various Marxist scholars who began to treat emigration as a major social problem. Finally , with the ethnic revival of the 1960s there came not only a new interest in immigration by Anglo-American historians like Timothy L. Smith but also a professional treatment of the subject by a new breed of "ethnic" historians such as Josef Barton and Mark Stolarik. The latter two deeply immersed themselves into the sources and began for the first time to reproduce the history of American Slovaks for an English-speaking audience , Barton's and Stolarik 's efforts have un"covered only the tip of the iceberg. In looking at social mobility, for instance, they have studied but the first two generations , and only Roman Catholics at that. The fate of the third and fourth generations remains unknown as does the behavior of the Lutherans, Greek Catholics and Calvinists. Did Slovak Protestants react to America differently from Catholics, as Max Weber would have predicted? If so , then perhaps their history should be studied separately from the majority Catholic group and the differences and similarities should then be compared and contrasted with other American religious and ethnic groups. The role of Slovaks in the American labor movement also remains untold. While the present writer touched upon this story in his dissertation , the total picture is so vast and the evidence is so great that one could devote an entire monograph to it. Attitudes towards manual �SLOVAKIA 85 labor, the factory system, unions, strikes, socialism and so on need to be clarified and compared with other ethnic groups in order to rescue American labor history from its preoccupation with the history of unions as institutions and channel it back to the history of the workers themselves. What of those immig\ants who returned home? Slovaks had a return rate of 20 percent. Why did these people not remain in the " promised land?" How did they fare upon their return to the Old Country? Did they have any economic, social, or cultural impact upon their brethren back home? No one has yet dealt with this aspect of immigration. Slovak involvement in American politics also remains a mystery. Which political party did the earliest immigrants support and which do their descendants? Did they join the ' 'city machines' ' immediately and if so, why? Did they have "ward-heelers" of their own or did some other ethnic group perform this function for them? What influence, if any, has the "Slovak vote" had upon local, state and national politics? All of these questions remain unanswered. The whole subject of assimilation also needs more study. Using Milton Gordon's seven steps towards complete or "structural" assimilation,(91) an " index" of assimilation is needed to determine how far American Slovaks have proceeded along this path and to provide a way of comparing them with other ethnic groups. Those who have resisted assimilation should also be studied. What role did their fraternal-benefit societies play in this opposition? Did their concept of family , neighborhood and life in general also lead to rejection of assimilation? Are their values radically different from Anglo-American ones and, if so, are they healthy or dangerous to the host society? Finally , the present state of the community needs attention. Are American-Slovaks happy? Did this country fulfill their aspirations or leave them disappointed? Is there a "generation-gap" in attitudes towards the American way of life? How do Slovaks react to other ethnic groups, particularly blacks? Have they dispersed from their original communities into all parts of the city or have they congregated in certain suburbs and why? Are immigrants in certain regions or cities better off than in others and why? · These are just a few of the questions that need answering. And they need not apply only to Slovaks. The vast majority of Southern and Eastern European ethnic groups have for too long been ignored by American historians.(92) Until we know their stories as well as we do the Anglo-American one, we will not really understand this country. �86 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) Obzor (Skalica, Slovakia), July 5 , 1873 and intermittently through July 5 , 1883 . (2) Tovarysstvo (Rufomberok , Slovakia) I (1893), 233-8. (3) Ibid . , III (1900), 293-300. (4) Ibid ., 301-5. (5) Kalendar J ednota, 1899 (Cleveland) , 135-6. (6) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku (Pittsburgh), I (No. 2-3, 1915), 98-109 . (7) Kalendar Jednota, 1911 , 75-89. (8) Narodny Kalendar (Pittsburgh), 1927-30. (9) Pittsburgh, 1924. (10) Kalendar Jednota, 1906, 33-114 . (11) Kalendar Jednota, 1911, 90-5. (12) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927 (Pittsburgh), 97-147 . (13) Cleveland , 1928. (14) Minneapolis, 1941. (15) Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 83 (Sept.-Dec. 1972), 151-8. (16) St . Louis, 1955. (17) Cleveland , 1955 . (18) Narodny Kalendar, 1911, 66-77 . (19) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku, I (No. 2-3, 1915), 90-7. (20) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927, 57-80 . (21) Ibid ., 37-56. (22) Minneapolis, 1938. (23) Cleveland, 1965. (24) Sbornik Narodneho Slovensk eho Spolku, I (No . 2-3, 1915) , 20-39 . (25) Published posthumously in Cleveland, 1970. (26) New York, 1922 . (27) Narodny Kalendar, 1911 , 117-28. (28) Binghamton , New York, 1919. (29) Cleveland, 1930. (30) Cambridge, Mass., 1975 . (31) The Slovak Community of Cleveland (Cleveland, 1978), co-authored with Sister M. Martina Tybor. (32) See above. ' , (33) Sbornik Narodneho Slove nskeho Spolku, I (No . 2-:t. 1915), 9~19 . (34) " The Significance of Immigration in American History, " Th e American Journal of Sociology, 27 (1921), 71-85. It is revealing that this article appeared in a sociology journal and not in an historical one . (35) Narodny Kale ndar, 1926, 41-59 and 1972 , 60-7. �SLOVAKIA 87 (36) A "Czechoslovak" is a Czech or Slovak who believes that these two peoples are really one nation and he downplays their cultural differences. (37) Jednota Annual Furdek (Cleveland), 8, (1969) , 3-23. (38) Slovakia (Middletown, Pa.), XXIll (1972) , 161-92. (39) Pittsburghsk<i dohoda (The Pittsburgh Agreement) , Bratislava , 1937. (40) 2 Volumes, Bratislava, 1942. (41) Winnipeg, 1954. (42) Cleveland , 1970. (43) Mimeographed author 's publication , New York, 1961. (44) " The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-Slovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies VIII _(Rome , 1?68). 7-84 . (45) Jednota Annual Furdek, X (~971), 99-105 . (46) See above. (47) See above. (48) Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1974 . (49) See above . (50) New York, 1957. (51) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectuo (Stefan Furdek and Slovak Immigration). Cleveland, 1955; and Matus Jankola, knaz a n<irodouec (Matus Jankola, Priest and Patiot), Danville, Pa . , 1959. (52) Cleveland, 1973. (53) See above and "Father Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916," Slovak Studies, IX (1969) . 75-94. (54) Ekonomicky casopis, 4 (1956), 171-91. (55) Bratislava, 1958. (56) Geograficky casopis, XIII (1961), 195-210. (57) In I.:udovit Holotik (Ed.), Prispeuky k dejin<im uychodneho Slouenska (Contributions to the History of Eastern Slovakia). Bratislava, 1964, 220-32 . (58) Geograficky casopis, 19 (1967). 3-28 . (59) In Josef Polisensky (Ed.), Zaciatky ceskej a slouenskej emigr<icie do USA (The Beginnings of Czech and Slovak Immigration to the U.S.A.) (Bratislava, 1970), 49-96 . (60) Noue obzory (Kosice, Slovakia), Ill (1961), 221-47. (61) In Polisensky , op. cit. , 186-96. (62) Bratislava, 1969. (63) Martin, Slovakia, 1975. (64) In Polisensky, op. cit., 197-207. (65) Histoire sociale/Social History, VII (May , 1974) , 111-20. (66) Boston, 1941. (67) New York, 1970. (68) New York , 1971 . (69) Santa Monica, Calif., 1973. �88 SLOVAKIA (70) New York , 1906. (71) 14 (1908-9). 329-51. (72) 20 (1914), 145-69. (73) Reports of the Immigration Commission, 42 Volumes (Washington, 61st Congress, Senate, 1911). (74) See Maldwyn Jones , American Immigration (Chicago, 1960), 177-82 and Oscar Handlin 's Introduction to the R eports of the Immigration Commission, Volume I (Arno Press Reprint, New York , 1970) , 1-XLVI. (75) 2 volumes, New York, 1904. (76) New York, 1912 . (77) New York, 1910. (78) New York, 1906. (79) New York, 1921. (80) American Journal of Sociology, (1933-4), 611-25 . (81) Slavic Review, Xfil (1934), 127-38. (82) The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 23 (1940) , 163-74. (83) New York , 1963. (84) American Historical Review, 71 (July, 1966), 1265-79. (85) See for example " Immigrant Social Aspirations and American Education, 18801930," American Quarterly, XXI (Fall , 1969). 523-43; and "Lay Initiative in the Religious Life of American Immigrants, " in Tamara Hareven (Ed .), Anonymous Americans: Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Social History (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. , 1971) , 214-49. (86) Notre Dame, 1968. (87) "Immigrant Social Aspirations, " op cit. (88) See for example his ''For God and Country: The Origins of Slavic SelfConsciousness in America," Church History, 35 (December, 1966), 1-15 and " Slavic American Nationalism, 1870-1918," in Anna Cienciala (Ed.) , American Contributions to the Seventh International Congress of Slavists, Warsaw , August 21-7, 1973, Vol. ill: H istory (The Hague , 1973) , 197-215 . (89) Ke nneth Lockridge, A New England To wn: The First Hundred Years (New York, 1970); John Demos , A L(ttle Commonweafth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony (New York , 1970) ; and Philip Greven, Four Generations: Population, Land and Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts (Ithaca, 1970). (90) American Historian s and European Immigration, 1875-1925 (New York, 1948) . (91) Assimilation in American Life : The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York, 1964) . \ (92) For an excellent analysis of the present state of immigration historiography see Rudolph J . Vecoli, " European Americans : From Immigrants to Ethnics, " in William H . Cartwright and Richard L. Watson (Eds.), The R einterpretation of American History and Culture (Washington , 1973) , 81-112 . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 66 SLOVAKIA From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M . MARK STOLARIK Although Slovaks have lived in the United States for over a hundred years, professional American historians have only recently begun to study them. This lack of concern for the second-largest Slavic group in America cannot be attributed to a lack of sources. Pioneers among these immigrants left us not only their published reminiscences but also led the way in reconstructing the histories of their communities. While a few members of the second generation tried to carry on the work of their fathers, their efforts paled in comparison . Historians in Slovakia, meanwhile, began to write about their countrymen in the United States and, whether as political emigres or as devoted Marxists, they initiated the first professional studies of these people. Native Americans, on the other hand, originally discussed Slovaks as either a threat to the American way of life or else as potential converts to the Social Gospel movement. For generations native historians ignored these and other Eastern Europeans in the naive belief that they would disappear in the ''melting pot.'' Only with the ethnic revival of the 1960s did some Ame~ican professionals of varying backgrounds begin to study these people:,. _ The everyday life of Slovaks in the United States has been portrayed at various levels, ranging from simple memoirs to complicated mobility studies. Some of the pioneers contented themselves with describing life in the New World as they remembered it. Others analyzed the growing ethnic neighborhoods , while others still began to collect materials and describe three major institutions of AmericanSlovak communities - the parishes, lodges and newspapers. Such M. Mark Stolarik has been designated as the Director of the Balch Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . This essay is reprinted from the International Migration Review (X , 1, Spring 1976). SLOVAKIA 67 activities eventually led to full-scale community studies and attempts at an overall history of all Slovak groups in America. Even though the first two generations failed in the latter effort, they did provide the groundwork for later historians. By the 1960s scholars in both Europe and America used new methods such as demographic analysis, studies of marriage , educatiQn anct social mobility, to try to complete the story and put it into a broader context. The earliest description~' bf Slovak life in America came either as observations or else as reminiscences by pioneers . Daniel Sustek, a journeyman carpenter and one of the first Slovaks to arrive in the United States , described his experiences over a ten-year period beginning in 1873 in the self-help monthly Obzor.(1) Besides focusing on his problems of adjusting to the new land, Sustek described the strange way of life he found here and provided his countrymen with extensive advice on how to make the trip, where to find work, what kind of wages to expect and how to behave in the presence of non-Slovaks. Sustek' s reports are reminiscent of Alexis de Tocqueville and Lord Bryce especially when, after having initially praised the "equality" of all Americans , Sustek discovers the great gulf between rich and poor and concludes that in this regard the United States is not so different from Europe after all. While Sustek focused largely on his own experiences, Father Stefan Furdek provided us with the first description of Slovak community life in America. Having come to Cleveland in 1882 to serve an already-existing Czech parish, Furdek helped the earliest Slovak arrivals to organize themselves into lodges and parishes and he also established their first Catholic newspaper. By 1893 he felt experienced enough to write an article entitled " Z Ameriky" (From America) for an Old World annual in which he eulogized the political freedom of the New Land but warned intellectuals against immigrating to this country because their chances of finding a livelihood outside of manual labor were slim.(2) Furdek thus perceived the major role his people would play in providing labor for America's industries and the marginal impact they would have upon the intellectual and cultural life of the United States. In a later article , "Vselico z Ameriky" (Tidbits from America), he continued the story by focusing on working conditions in the mines and mills, on life in ethnic neighborhoods and on the need for immigrants to rely upon family or friends in order to survive and be successful in the New World.(3) He wrote dozens of similar articles in his Jednota (Union) newspaper and almanac of the same name between 1890 and 1914 and he remains a major source for the study of early American-Slovak life. 68 SLOVAKIA Father Matus Jankola, Furdek ' s friend and colleague , joined the latter in describing the activities of his countrymen in the United States during the early years of Slovak immigration. In "Crty z katolickej slovenskej farnosti v Pittston, Pa. " (Sketches from a Catholic Slovak Parish in Pittston, Pa.), he not only described the daily life of a coal miner but also focused on the relations of Slovaks with other ethnic groups. He complained about his countrymen' s propensity to emulate other Eastern Europeans in seeking financial control over their own parishes, a phenomenon known as "lay trusteeism" and a perpetual headache to both priests and bishops at the tum of the century.(4) In another penetrating article entitled "Nase skoly" (Our Schools), J ankola severely criticized Slovak parochial schools of his day for their inadequate facilities and teaching methods and urged his countrymen to establish a teaching order of nuns to upgrade the whole system .(5) Like Furdek , Jankola wrote dozens of articles in the Jednota newspaper and almanac between 1896 and 1916 and these are excellent sources for the study of American-Slovak history. While Furdek and J ankola described Slovak life in general, another clergyman zeroed in on the business community. Pavel Jamarik, a convert to Congregationalism and an exponent of the 'Protestant ethic,' sought to determine how many of his people were engaged in business and thus ''making it. '' He distributed a questionnaire to Slovak leaders in Cleveland, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut and, much to his dismay, discovered that fewer than one percent in each city owned business enterprises. He soberly concluded in ' ' Zivot americkych Slovakov dakedy a teraz'' (The Life of American Slovaks in the Past and Today)(6) that most of his people rejected the American route to social mobility through business enterprise and implicitly hinted that they would remain in the workingclass for some time to come. Such penetrating analyses, while vety valuable, were also rare. More common were reminiscences by "olq timers ~• of days gone by. Jozef Rusek , editor of the Jednota almanac, interviewed a Slovak who had arrived in Cleveland in 1880 and published his story under the rubric "V Novej Zemi" (In the New Land).(7) In this fascinating article the anonymous informant described the poor economic conditions that had driven him out of his homeland, the miserable ocean-crossing in steerage and all the difficulties he had encountered in making his way to Cleveland and finding suitable employment. A series of similar articles entitled "Nasi pionieri" (Our Pioneers) appeared in another almanac a short while later.(8) By collecting and publishing these reminiscences ethnic editors showed their appreciation for oral history SLOVAKIA 69 long before American historians deemed it worthy of notice. In spite of this concel'Il with oral history, only one major leader of the American-Slovak COlllil1\Unity has left us his memoirs. Perhaps the reason for this dearth of autobiographies lies in the fact that Furdek died unexpectedly in 1914 and Jankola in 1916. In any case, P. V. Rovnianek, founder of the National Slovak Society in 1890 and for many years editor of the extremely popular Amerikansko-Slovenske Noviny (American Slovak News) penned his observations and reminiscences in a book with a very revealing title : Zapisky za iiva pochovaneho (Notes of One Buried Alive). (9) Here Rovnianek revealed how he had to leave the Budapest seminary in 1888 because of his nationalist views and how he came to America and quickly decided to work for national causes. He also detailed many of the arguments that he had had with other leaders, some of which resulted in costly lawsuits. Unfortunately, he covered up the misdeeds that led to the downfall of his financial empire in 1911. This, plus his tremendous conceit, detracted from an otherwise lucid and penetrating commentary. Shortly after their arrival in America, Slovak immigrants congregated in certain neighborhoods of cities where they established organizations that served to promote and solidify a new community existence . Three such institutions ranked highest in importance: the parish, the fraternal and the newspaper. By 1920, when these neighborhoods matured, Slovaks had almost 400 parishes of all denominations, hundreds of local and dozens of national fratemals and scores of daily , weekly and monthly periodical publications . It is no surprise , therefore, that when certain Slovak leaders began to record their earliest history in America, they turned their attention to these institutions. Father Furdek began the history of one group of these institutions with a lenghty article about "Slovenske osady v Amerike" (Slovak Parishes in America.) Having relied upon church records and interviews supplied by fellow-priests and cooperative laymen, Furdek presented us with short, informative histories of every Slovak Catholic parish established in the New World until 1906.(10) No sooner had Furdek published his analysis than a controversy broke out between boosters of Slovak parishes in Streator, Illinois and Hazleton, Pennsylvania . Worshippers in both areas claimed that theirs was the oldest Slovak Catholic parish in the United States. Although the debate remains unresolved to this day , Jozef G. Skurka, in "Prva slovenska rim. katolicka osada v Amerike" (The First Slovak Roman Catholic Parish in America) presented the arguments of both sides and left the final decision to the reader. (11) 70 SLOVAKIA Furdek's article began a trend that led not only to similar efforts by leaders of other denominations but it may also have prompted the later publication of jubilee books and a few full-fledged histories of church groups . Thus, Josef Nadenicek, a Calvinist minister, had his coreligionists aid him in compiling histories of all their parishes in the United States and he published these under the general heading of "Kratke dejiny cirkvi" (Short Histories of Our Parishes) giving the contributors full credit for their efforts .(12) Other religious leaders published even more detailed stories in special anniversary booklets. Examples are Strieborne jubileum osady sv. Vendelina, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928 (Silver Jubilee of St. Wendelin's Parish, Cleveland, Ohio, 1903-1928,(13) and Father George S. Dargay' s Historical Sketch of the Church of St. Cyril of Minneapolis, Minn., 1891-1941. (14) A committee of priests and laymen usually compiled such histories, relying upon parish records, newspaper accounts and the memories of pioneers for sources. Even though other congregations published similar jubilee books, they seldom contained the whole truth because most immigrant parishes at the turn of the century experienced some sort of conflict between laymen and pastor or bishop. The present writer described problems of this sort in "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes, 1880-1930,"(15) in the hope that even professional church historians would dig deeper into the sources and abandon their preoccupation with consensus history. Meanwhile, one might suppose that with so many parishes having recorded their own history, a larger synthesis would have appeared. Only two historians have made such an attempt in the Slovak community and their efforts leave much to be desired. Pastor George Dolak, a member of the second generation, wrote an official History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, 1920-1927(16) and, as the title suggests, he covered only a short period and ignored the two other Synods to which Slovaks belong. Indeed, one looks in vain in this book fa'( an explanation of this split among Slovak Lutherans in America. Similarly,_ while the emigre historian Frantisek Hrusovsky did a creditable job in recording the story of Slovenske rehole v Amerike (Slovak Religious Orders in America), (17) he too steered clear of all controversy. Inadequate as these works are, they remain the only attempted syntheses of various Slovak religious groups in America. No one has yet written an overall history of Slovak Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Lutheran or Calvinist denominations in the United States and their relation to New or Old World counterparts. Scholars have barely scratched the surface of this vast subject. SLOVAKIA ' 71 Equal in importance to'. parishes in immigrant communities were fraternal benefit societies. In many instances these preceded the founding of churches and became their chief bulwarks. By 1890 several dozen local societies existed and many of these later merged into larger, national organizations such as the First Catholic Slovak Union or the National Slovak Society . By 1920 these and other fraternals enrolled over one-third of the 600,000 plus Slovak immigrants who had come to America. By providing much needed and inexpensive life insurance , plus taking an active role in community and national affairs , they became indispensable to the growth and survival of ethnic communities. Realizing the importance of fratemals, officers of the National Slovak Society determined to record some of their history. In 1909 they commissioned their editor Ignac Gessay to write the history of their organization. He eagerly read old newspapers, minute-books, pamphlets and other materials, some of which have since disappeared. He also interviewed as many "old timers" as he could. By 1911 he published two articles, one entitled " Spolky pred organisaciami" (Societies Before Organizations) in which he presented an excellent survey of the first forty local fraternal-benefit societies established by American Slovaks before national bodies appeared in 1890.(18) Gessay had hoped that he could continue in his work and eventually publish an overall history of his people but his friendship with P. V. Rovnianek prevented it . When the latter's financial institution bankrupted in 1911, thereby ruining a great many Slovaks and weakening the Society, Rovnianek had to flee for his life and Gessay lost his commission. Into the void stepped Jan A. Feriencik, another editor, determined to complete the story . Using Gessay's notes (without giving him credit) and engaging in his own research, he did produce, among other things, " Vyznam Nar. Slovenskeho Spolku" (The Significance of the National Slovak Society) .(19) In this brief article he surveyed the history of the Society from 1890 to 1914, concentrating on the highlights and praising its achievements. Although Feriencik did write articles dealing with other aspects of the Slovak experience in America (discussed below), he too failed to complete a monograph on either the NSS or on the history of American Slovaks . Shortly thereafter a group of Slovak Calvinists also set out to write the history of their organization. The Rev. Frantisek Uherka urged the officers of each branch of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union to compile a short history of their lodge on the basis of minute books, newspaper articles and interviews . They did as requested and Uherka then published these histories under the general heading " Kratke 72 SLOVAKIA dejiny jednotlivych sborov Slov. Kalv. Presb. Jednoty. " (Short Histories of the Lodges of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union) , giving the contributors full credit.(20) He also compiled a general history of the national organization , based on the information provided by lodges as well as his reading of the head-office 's minute-books and on his own memory and entitled it "Kratky prehfad S.K.P . Jednoty, 1901-1926 ," (Short Over-View of the Slovak Calvin Presbyterian Union). (21) The largest of the fraternals , the First Catholic Slovak Union, meanwhile, held back from such undertakings for several generations. Its individual lodges did often publish jubilee histories such as " Memoirs of the Golden Jubilee of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Society, 1883-1938" and these often provided fascinating insights into their individual achievements .(22) The national organization, however, resolved to sponsor an overall history only when its 75th anniversary approached. It commissioned Jozef Pauco, an emigre journalist, to undertake this task and he completed it by 1965 under the heading 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Years of the First Catholic Slovak Union).(23) Pauco presented a strictly chronological year-by-year account, devoid of any analysis or criticism. He simply listed the society's growth and achievements. Thus, although a few Slovak societies did promote studies of their own achievements and one even commissioned a book, much of their history remains to be uncovered. Besides the need for full-length monographs of such important organizations as the National Slovak Society, the First Catholic Slovak Ladies ' Association, the Slovak Evangelical Union and so on , studies of the impact these and other societies have had on ethnic community life over the last 100 years should be made. How did these societies help the immigrant adjust to the New World? Did they supplant labor unions? Did they foster or hinder assimilation? Why did they splinter along religious and ideological lines? Why did women set up their own fratemals? Did fraternals promote Slovak culture in the .New World? What is their present status? What does the future h&d for them? How do they compare to societies founded by other grouf)s? These are just a few of the questions that need answering before we can understand the role that fraternal-benefit societies played in the life of American Slovaks. The third major component of growing Slovak communities was their newspaper press . Since most Slovaks initially came to America to make their " fortune " and return home , they became very interested in news of the home country published in their own language. The few intellectuals who accompanied these people to the United States SLOVAKIA 73 quickly discovered this thir~t for news and satiated it with more than 200 periodicals between 1886 and the present. Among them were official organs of fraternal-benefit societies, independent dailies, weeklies and monthlies, labor newspapers, satirical journals, religious periodicals and so on. Having realized the importance of the newspaper press to the Slovak community, two journalists made a serious attempt to depict its history. Jan A. Feriencik, mentioned above, made the first attempt at a comprehensive history in "Slovenske prist'ahovalectvo a slovenska spisba v Amerike" (Slovak Immigration and Slovak Letters in America).(24) Since he tried to describe sixty titles in a few pages, his effort was very unbalanced. Moreover, he relied too much on memory and some of his assertions were false. Nevertheless, he did record some titles that have long since disappeared and th.u s he performed a vital service for later historians. Konstantin Culen, a post-World War II emigre journalist, expressed his appreciation to Feriencik and tried to complete the story in Slovenske casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America).(25) He gathered together titles of more than 230 Slovak periodicals published in this country and commented on each although he knew more about some papers and less about others, and thus his book is very uneven. In fact, since he died before the manuscript was completed, his colleague Jozef Pauco tried to finish the job. The periodicals are not organized according to subject, they simply appear in alphabetical order. Furthermore, there is no table of contents and no index. Unless one knows in advance the exact name of a publication, this book is extremely difficult to use. Feriencik and Culen did only half the job. They listed the titles and described the editorial policy of the founders . No one has done a comprehensive history of any one of the major dailies or weeklies . It would be instructive to know, from a content-analysis, how various Slovak newspapers in America viewed this country, its much-vaunted equality and democracy and their perception of the role of their readers. Robert E. Park attempted such a study in his Immigrant Press and Its Control(26) but since he covered so many different nationalities, his assessment was necessarily shallow. A good history of the Slovak press, as well as that of other ethnic groups in America, is sorely needed. Shortly after having recorded the history of their lodges, parishes and newspapers, American Slovaks began to think of the larger story. A few of them started to publish histories of communities that covered members of all denominations . These have since been supplemented 74 SLOVAKIA by works of professional scholarship, although their number remains small. The first attempt at writing local history was made by lgnac Gessay. Hoping to eventually publish a general work on American Slovaks, this newspaper editor began to gather materials about their oldest communities. One of these was Streator, Illinois, in the bituminous coal fields and Gessay presented its story from the 1870s to 1910 in "Streatorski Slovaci a ich pokrok" (Streator Slovaks and their Progress).(27) Since this was a first attempt written for a national almanac, it necessarily gave only the highlights of the story. Better and more comprehensive histories appeared a short while later. Imrich Mazar, a local lodge leader, compiled a remarkable work entitled Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat rokov, 1879-1919 (Forty Years of the History of Binghamton Slovaks, 18791919).(28) Mazar interviewed pioneers of the community, consulted church and lodge records and read of his people's exploits in the press. Using such sources he very ably covered the story of all aspects of the community - its general history, the story of its fraternals, churches and clubs and the involvement of the local community in the CzechoSlovak liberation movement of World War I. Jan Pankuch did a similarly excellent job in Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (A History of Cleveland and Lakewood Slovaks). (29) A newspaper editor by profession, Pankuch persevered in his efforts even after the Great Depression had erupted and he published the book with his own dwindling resources. The only major criticisms that one can make of these two books is that they are poorly organized and lack perspective. Since neither Mazar nor Pankuch had any historical training, they dared not judge what was important and what was not. They recorded everything they had heard or discovered in an often haphazard manner and this made the reading of their books difficult. On the other hand, by not rejecting anything, they made their works invaluable sources for a later generation of historians . .. Two scholars interested in American-Slovak history appeared in the 1960s to make good use of previous pioneering efforts. Josef Barton studied the social mobility of three ethnic groups in Cleveland and included the Slovaks among them . In his Peasants and Strangers,(30) a spin-off of his dissertation, he relied quite extensively on Pankuch for the background story. The present writer, commissioned to write a joint history with another author about the Cleveland Slovak community, used Pankuch as a source quite liberally.(31) Hopefully these will be followed by studies of Slovaks in other cities, enabling future historians SLOVAKIA 75 to compare the fortunes of these people in a wide variety of geographical areas, thus gaining a better perspective on the whole story of immigration. Along with recording much local information, American Slovaks naturally desired an overall view of their coming and settlement in various parts of the New World. Once again the pioneers led the way but this undertaking prove~ too much for them. They had to settle for histories written by a later generation of immigrants and these stories are, as yet, incomplete. lgnac Gessay and Jan A. Feriencik first attempted to compile a general history of their people. Gessay, as we have already seen, did not finish the task.(32) Jan Feriencik inherited not only Gessay 's job but also his notes. Supplementing these with his own research, he published " Nacrtok prist'ahovalectva slovenskeho do Ameriky" (A Sketch of Slovak Immigration to America).(33) Relying upon old newspapers , minute-books, Gessay's notes and his own memory, Feriencik produced a useful, if jaundiced (he was very anti-Semitic) survey of the coming of his people to the New World. He had hoped to produce a full-length monograph on this subject but died before he could do so. With Feriencik's death, along with that of most of his firstgeneration colleagues in the 1920s, the task of recording AmericanSlovak history fell to the second generation . Having absolutely no help from Anglo-American historians, who in the first half of the twentieth century seemed completely uninterested in the history of recent immigration, as Arthur M. Schlesinger lamented,(34) the second generation failed to even match the efforts of their fathers. Andrew P . Slabey and Sister M. Martina Tybor are good examples of second-generation American-Slovak scholars . The former was one of the first Slovak university graduates in the United States and he set out to write a " Prehl'ad dejin Slovakov v Amerike " (A Survey of the History of American Slovaks) in 1926 but he did not finish the task until almost fifty years had passed! (35) Not only did he complete his work at a snail's pace but he based much of his first installment on the research of Gessay and Feriencik, whom he neglected to give credit, and his analysis was much inferior to theirs. The second article came largely from memory . In both he seemed more interested in promoting ' 'Czechoslovakism' ' (36) than in a genuine history of his people. Sister M. Martina Tybor, on the other hand, has made use of original sources but she has seldom told the full story . Thus , in " A Composite Picture of a Slovak Immigrant's Early Experiences,"(37) she presented a very good account of how a ' 'typical ' ' immigrant may 76 SLOVAKIA have fared upon arrival in America but she glossed over the many problems he may also have encountered. Similarly, in "Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916: Slovak-American Priest, Leader, Educator, "(38) she presented an interesting biography of this important early leader but again neglected to mention the many problems he had experienced in dealing with other priests and with his lay followers . Neither Slabey nor Tybor produced a full-length monograph. In the absence of any general histories of American Slovaks, two more recent immigrants set out to fill the void. The first was Konstantin Culen, a journalist by profession, who was drawn to the history of American Slovaks by his involvement in politics in the Old Country. Culen determined to examine the nature and extent of the nationalism that had motivated American Slovaks to make an agreement with the Czechs which guaranteed the Slovaks home-rule in the new Republic of Czecho-Slovakia. After having published one book dealing with such nationalism,(39) he decided to broaden his research and, after publishing numerous articles in various almanacs, he completed the very impressive Dejiny Slov<ikov v Amerike (A History of Slovaks in America).(40) In this work he detailed both the social and political history of his countrymen to 1914. He read widely in their newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, books , minute-books and so on and tried, as best he could, to follow the rules of the historical profession. Unfortunately, he fell victim to the temptations of "filiopietism" and began the story with tales of Slovaks having come in the 17th .century , of their having participated in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and, therefore, having as good a claim to this country as anyone else. Furthermore, he relied too much on Slovak sources , neglecting many English-language studies of immigration at the turn of the century. After the Second World War, with his dreams of an independent Slovakia shattered, Culen immigrated to the United States and tried to carry on his work but found the climate among his people too hostile . He initially worked on the editorial staffs of several American and Canadian Slovak newspapers and publish~d dozens of articles. These were eventually gathered and published in' three important books: J. Slovensky: iivotopis zakladatel'a prvych slovenskych novin v Amerike (J. Slovensky: Biography of the Founder of the First Slovak Newspaper in America);(41) Slovensk e casopisy v Amerike (Slovak Newspapers in America) ;(42) and V zajati falosn ych legiend a nen<ivistneho srdca (Imprisoned by False Legends and a Hateful Heart).(43) In the first of these he recounted how American Slovaks established their oldest newspaper. The second book , which we have already discussed, gave the story of their newspaper press. The third is virtually unknown , for SLOVAKIA 77 he circulated only a few copies to his most trusted friends, but it is also the most important. In it he detailed the hostility which he and many other members of the post-war generation encountered from their lesseducated American countrymen. This is a fascinating phenomenon of rejection of one group oy another based on education and social standing, and since World\ War II it has been typical of many ethnic groups in the United States. Culen had so many arguments with American-Slovak leaders that he was virtually expelled from the community and died alienated from it in 1964. Shortly thereafter the present writer began to follow in Culen's footsteps. Born in Slovakia but educated in North America, he began a study of the political participation of his people in the World War I liberation movement(44) and then turned to their social history. Having used some of their parish and lodge records, supplemented by newspaper articles, he published ''The Slovak Immigrant is Not Anonymous," (45) in which he called on other scholars of immigration to make use of such sources. A little later he detailed some of the problems his countrymen had encountered with the largely IrishCatholic Church in America(46) and he also wrote a brief history of the Cleveland Slovak community.(47) At present he is preparing his dissertation, "Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918"(48) for publication as a book. Meanwhile, in the decades since the Second World War, a few people have also concerned themselves with biographies of Slovak pioneers to this country. Konstantin Culen wrote a brief treatise on Jan Slovensky, founder of the first Slovak newspaper in America. (49) While he described adequately Slovensky' s early life and his work in the United States, he did not know all the circumstances surrounding his death by suicide and the work thus remains incomplete. Vincent Holecek, a self-styled historian of Slovaks all over the world, produced a short biography of P. V. Rovnianek entitled Slava a poniienie (Glory and Shame)(50) but ended it in 1907, before Rovnianek's tragic bankruptcy and, thus, also failed to tell the whole story. Jozef Pauco glorified the lives of Stefan Furdek and Matus Jankola(51) and later compiled Slovenski priekopnici v Amerike (Slovak Pioneers in America),(52) which covered the lives of fifty-five important and unimportant countrymen (there seemed to be no rationale for their selection). Finally, Sister M. Martina Tybor eulogized Matus Jankola in two very similar articles published in different joumals.(53) With the exception of Culen, all of the above were more concerned with edifying their subjects than with reaching critical and balanced conclusions. 78 SLOVAKIA Clearly this is another area of American-Slovak history that needs elaboration. The study of Slovak immigration, however, has not been confined to residents of North America. After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948 a new school of Marxist historians appeared and some of them took an interest in their brethren overseas. Utilizing new disciplines such as demography and uncovering hitherto unprocessed county documents, they added new dimensions to the study of immigration, especially to its impact on the home country. Jim Sveton, a demographer , led the way. In his "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo v obdobi uhorskeho kapitalizmu" (Slovak Emigration in the Era of Hungarian Capitalism),(54) he studied the impact of mass migration on the remaining population. Using village birth and death records, he calculated the net loss of population due to emigration and discovered that the Slovaks were second only to the Irish in per capita emigration and population decline in the 19th century. These views were further elaborated in Obyvatel'stvo Slovenska za kapitalizmu (The Population of Slovakia Under Capitalism).(55) Jan Hanzlik followed in Sveton' s footsteps and in four articles showed the high level to which the new discipline of demography had risen. His "Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo na prahu imperializmu" (Slovak Emigration on the Threshold of Imperialism)(56) dealt with the net loss of population due to emigration based on village censuses for the heaviest years of migration, 1901-1910. In "Vyst'ahovalectvo z vychodneho Slovenska" (Emigration from Eastern Slovakia)(57) he focused on that region of the country which had lost the most people and blamed the Magyars for the exodus because they had refused to industrialize Hungary. He expanded his research in "Vyvoj obyvatel'stva na Slovensku v obdobi 1869-1961 " (The Evolution of the Population of Slovakia in the Years 1861-1961). (58) Besides studying the impact emigration had had on the population for over a hundred years , he also blamed the Czechs for having prompted the industrialization of Bohemia-Moravia at th\ expense of Slovakia after 1918 and thus having contributed to the contiQued emigration of Slovaks from their native land in the twentieth century. Finally, in ' ' Zaciatky vyst'ahovalectva zo Slovenska do USA a jeho priebeh az do roku 1918, jeho priciny a nasledky" (The Beginnings of Slovak Emigration to America, Its Causes and Consequences to 1918),(59) Hanzlik summarized his research and that of other interested scholars and presented a very creditable interpretation of the impact of Slovak emigration to 1918. SLOVAKIA 79 Once their demographer-colleagues had opened the field, Marxist historians also began to take notice of emigration. Ladislav Tajtak focused on that part of the country which had lost the most people in ''Vychodoslovenske vyst'ahovalectvo do prvej svetovej vojny'' (Eastern Slovak Emigration to the Fill.st World War)(60) and he carefully showed which of the eastern countries had lost the largest numbers and why. In a later work, "K zaciatkom Amerikansko-Slovenskych Novin" (Concerning the Beginnings of Amerik<insko-Slovenske Noviny)(6l) he traced, for the first time since Culen's Janka Slovensky, the history of the first Slovak newspaper in America. Frantisek Bielik and Elo Rakos, meanwhile, collected and published the most relevant documents pertaining to emigration in Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo: Dokumenty I, do roku 1918 (Slovak Emigration: Documents I, to 1918)(62) and a little later documents to 1939 in a book with a similar title. (63) They also provided a good introduction to both sets of documents. Finally, Milos Gosiorovsky legitimized all this concern with countrymen in capitalist America by publishing ''Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky a robotnicke hnutie" (Frantisek Pucher-Ciernovodsky and the Workers' Movement)(64) in which he tried to link the workers' (communist) movements of the two worlds. Even though scholars in Slovakia have taken notice of their countrymen abroad, their perspective has been limited by ideological considerations. As I have pointed out in "Agrarian Problems in Slovakia, 1848-1918: An Historiographic Essay,"(65) Marxist scholars in the Old World must tow the party line. Thus, they can cite the works of Konstantin Culen and other ''bourgeois'' writers only at great peril to their own freedom and they have had to embellish their books and articles with liberal references to Marx, Lenin (and Stalin in the 1950s) and other prophets of the new order. Furthermore, these scholars can seldom, if ever, travel to the United States, and thus rich AmericanSlovak archives are beyond their reach. Therefore, they have necessarily concentrated on the impact of emigration on the home country and have only touched on the history of their countrymen abroad. Another approach to the study of immigration has been the novel. While traditional scholarly works have analyzed the nature and experience of the ethnic community in the midst of a new environment, the novel has become an important vehicle for understanding the dynamics of the situation and for expressing the feelings of the people . American Slovaks have been pleased with three outstanding novelists in this regard - Thomas Bell, Michael Novak and Sonya Jason. Bell , in Out of this Furnace ,(66) provided a moving account of 80 SLOVAKIA the sufferings of the first three generations in the steel mills of Braddock, Pennsylvania. His book was so painfully realistic that most of his countrymen avoided reading it. In a different vein Michael Novak described the difficulties that an upwardly-mobile third-generation American Slovak encountered in coping with the largely Anglo-Saxon world in Naked I Leave(67) and in the more analytical Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics .(68) Finally, Sonya Jason, also a product of a Pennsylvania steel town, portrayed the reaction of a third-generation woman to the insatiable demands of American armies for immigrant bodies in Concommitant Soldier: Woman and War.(69) One can only lament the dearth of such novels in the United States. While various aspects of Slovak immigration have been covered by members of this ethnic group, native Americans have seldom noticed these people and when they have, it has been either in the context of nativism or else as a part of the history of immigration in general. Nativism , that ideological disease which breeds hostility towards immigrants, infected the minds of some Americans at the tum of the century, causing them to write books extremely hostile to the ''new'' immigrants from Southeastern Europe, from whence the Slovaks came. Howard B. Grose, for instance, in a book aimed at Protestant Missionaries entitled Aliens or Americans?(70) deemed the newcomers to be a "heathen" threat to America and advocated their forceful conversion to Protestant Christianity in order to "Americanize" them. The theme of the immigrant "menace" also found its way into socalled scholarly works. Annie Marian Maclean, who fancied herself a "Progressive" social scientist, surveyed Southeastern Europeans in Pennsylvania and published " Life in the Pennsylvania Coal Fields with Particular Reference to Women, '' in a muckrating style that very much pleased the readers of the American Journal of Sociology .(71) Helen L. Wilson and Eunice W. Smith engaged in similar exposes for the AJS , devoting entire articles to individual ethnic groups, among them being "Chicago Housing Conditions , VIII: Among the Slovaks in the Twentieth Ward. "(72) Both of these works, in their lurid descriptions of immigrant ghettoes, warned Americans of the possible destruction of their society through unrestricted immigration. Nativist scholarship reached its pinnacle in an official government report which summarized all the prejudices then rampant in the United States towards Southeastern Europeans: \Established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, the Dillingham Co~ission, _on Immigration reported in 1911 that the newcomers, among them the Slovaks, were a menace to American society because they allegedly bred slums, engaged in criminal activities and retarded the labor movement.(73) SLOVAKIA ~ 81 However, as Maldwyn Jones'8.Ild Oscar Handlin have recently shown, the commissioners twisted the statistics to suit their preconceived notions.(74) Ironically enough, if one ignores the conclusions of the commissioners and uses only the raw statistics, one can discover in this Report a great deal of valuable material pertaining to the social history of Slovaks and other Southeastern Europeans in America at the tum of the century. Not all Americans, of course, accepted the findings of the Report or agreed with its conclusions. A small group of scholars, usually members of the "Social Gospel" movement which sought to help the poor and downtrodden, viewed the ''new'' immigrants sympathetically. Their writings served as a healthy counterweight to nativist attacks on these people. One of the first American defenders of Southern and Eastern Europeans was the Rev. Peter Roberts. A member of the Presbyterian Home Mission Society, Roberts set about describing, in great detail, the everyday life of the new immigrants (and these included the Slovaks) in their new social setting. His Anthracite Coal Communities(75) and The New Immigration: A Study of the Industrial and Social Life of Southeastern Europeans in America(76) are classics in sociological analysis. Rather than seeking evidence of these peoples' "inferiority," as various nativists had done, Roberts visited them, observed their habits and concluded that they fit very well into the American capitalist system, even if they did have to start at the bottom. While Roberts dealt with Southeastern Europeans in general, Emily Greene Balch focused on the Slavic nationalities in particular and produced the as yet unsurpassed Our Slavic Fellow-Citizens.(77) By devoting an entire chapter to each Slavic group and then doing a general analysis of them all, she showed the way to later generations of historians. She not only studied American-Slavic communities and talked with their people but also visited their homelands to get a transAtlantic perspective on the whole process of migration. This professor of political economy was so far ahead of her time that to this day no American historian has written a book of comparable depth and scope about the various Slavic ethnic groups in this country. One reason why American historians have not yet superseded Emily Greene Balch is that for generations the former simply ignored the history of Southeastern Europeans. Between the 1920s when the United States passed its restrictive immigration quota laws which presumed that everyone would disappear into the " melting pot " and the 1960s when an ethnic revival swept the country, virtually no books or articles concerned with Slavic immigrants appeared in any major 82 SLOVAKIA historical journals or university presses. A small group of Czech scholars and their sympathizers produced a few interesting studies but these paled in comparison to earlier efforts by immigrants themselves. Indeed, even when a few American historians did begin to notice the Slavs in the 1960s, their studies remained very superficial. The first Czech scholar to write about American Slovaks was Tomas Capek of New York. A lawyer by profession, he accepted a commission from the National Slovak Society and wrote The Slovaks of Hungary: Slavs and Pan-Slavism,(78) which was in effect the first history of these people in the English language. Later he and his son published The Czechoslovaks, the second half of which dealt with the Slovaks under the heading The Slovaks in America . (79) The latter work, consisting chiefly of impressions gathered from various informants, was vastly inferior to the first study which was grounded on a stronger scholarly base. However, since these were virtually the only studies of American Slovaks in the English language, leaders of the community which they described did treasure them. Josef Slabey Roucek followed in the Capeks' footsteps and tried to carry on their work. One of the few sociologists in the United States who could read various Slavic languages in the 1930s and 1940s, Roucek did write several articles about these peoples including ''The Passing of American Czechoslovaks.'' (80) In this and in similar works about other Slavic groups, Roucek bowed to the current ideology and predicted the rapid disappearance of all ethnic Americans into the ''melting pot.'' Since he was virtually alone in his concern for American Slavs, Roucek by default dominated this field for many years. Virtually his only competitor was Andrew A. Marchbin. The latter wrote peripherally about the Slovaks in "Early Emigration from Hungary to Canada," (81) and in " Hungarian Activities in Western Pennsylvania.'' (82) While Roucek tended to mix the Slovaks together with the Czechs, Marchbin mixed them with the Magyars, since he dealt with an earlier period. The latter did, however, mention the problems that divided the Slovaks from the Magyars while Roucek tried to cover up the differences between Czechs and Slovaks. In any case, both sociologists were good representatives of the dearth of American ethnic studies until the 1960s. In the decade of Vietnam and the Black Revolution , certain American scholars finally came to the reaJization that ethnicity was here to stay. Nathan Glazer and Daniel P . Moynihan said as much in their Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroe's, Puerto Ricans, Jews , Italians and Irish of New York City. (83) Influenced by these and other sociological works, a few historians set out to systematically collect SLOVAKIA 83 materials pertaining to immigrant history and to write books and articles about Southeastern Europeans who had for so long been neglected by American scholars . Timothy L. Smith helped establish the Immigrant Archives of the University of Minnesota in 1963 and he also urged fellow-historians in "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in Tw~ntieth-C~ntury America" (84) to study the longneglected peoples of Souther.n and Eastern Europe . While he seemed to be going against the tide in stressing the assimilation of these people in this and in subsequent articles ,(85) he did study the Slovaks, among others, and he did bring the attention of America's scholars to this neglected area of historical inquiry. His colleague Victor R. Greene, meanwhile , focused on the Poles and Lithuanians and peripherally on the Slovaks in Slavs on Strike: Immigrant Labor in Pennsylvania Anthracite, (86) the first major work about these peoples since the 1920s! If one were to fault either of these scholars , it would be for their preoccupation with the history of several ethnic groups at once while neglecting to study any one of them in any great detail. Smith always speaks of several ethnic groups in his articles and too often assumes that they are all alike in their reaction to such American institutions as the public schools.(87) Greene, similarly, always speaks of the "Slavs" when, in reality, he is dealing only with the Poles and a few Lithuanians , and the latter are not Slavs. This practice is apparent in most of his articles and it often leads him to make erroneous conclusions about non-Poles.(88) The present writer sees in Smith 's and Greene 's articles a bit of the bias of the American historical profession . It is all right for Kenneth Lockridge or John Demos or Philip Grev en to devote entire monographs to tiny English settlements in New England(89) but somehow it is not all right for Timothy Smith or Victor Greene to study only the Slovaks, or Poles, or Croats, or other Southeastern Europeans. The assumption exists among most members of the profession that White Anglo-Saxon peoples are more important than other ethnic groups and , therefore , deserve more attention while the Slavs or even the Southeastern Europeans must be treated as a whole because individually they are not very important . Trying to overcome such discrimination should be one of the objectives of a future generation of historians. CONCLUSION It should be apparent, the refore, that the historiography of Slovak immigration to America has undergone many changes and that much of the story remains untold . Until very recently the best works on this 84 SLOVAKIA subject were those written by the pioneers themselves . Long before professional historians even bothered to study immigration, various ethnic leaders began to gather and read manuscript and printed materials of the past, they interviewed ''old timers " before oral history became fashionable and they made predictions about their communities that were uncannily accurate. Such ground-breaking efforts disprove Edward N. Saveth ' s charges that histories written by immigrants themselves are of little value because they are filled with filiopietism . (90) While the first generation did a commendable job in recording its people 's past, the second lagged behind and had to be aided by scholars in the Old World and, ultimately, by better-trained members of the third generation. Perhaps reacting to the pressures of ''Americanization,'' few American-born Slovaks bothered to write their own history and those who did so expended less effort at it than had their fathers. Members of the second generation produced no major monographs, only short articles that dealt with some particular aspect of their experience or convictions. Into this vacuum stepped Old World historians like Konstantin Culen who gave American Slovaks their first systematic history and various Marxist scholars who began to treat emigration as a major social problem. Finally , with the ethnic revival of the 1960s there came not only a new interest in immigration by Anglo-American historians like Timothy L. Smith but also a professional treatment of the subject by a new breed of "ethnic" historians such as Josef Barton and Mark Stolarik. The latter two deeply immersed themselves into the sources and began for the first time to reproduce the history of American Slovaks for an English-speaking audience , Barton's and Stolarik 's efforts have un"covered only the tip of the iceberg. In looking at social mobility, for instance, they have studied but the first two generations , and only Roman Catholics at that. The fate of the third and fourth generations remains unknown as does the behavior of the Lutherans, Greek Catholics and Calvinists. Did Slovak Protestants react to America differently from Catholics, as Max Weber would have predicted? If so , then perhaps their history should be studied separately from the majority Catholic group and the differences and similarities should then be compared and contrasted with other American religious and ethnic groups. The role of Slovaks in the American labor movement also remains untold. While the present writer touched upon this story in his dissertation , the total picture is so vast and the evidence is so great that one could devote an entire monograph to it. Attitudes towards manual SLOVAKIA 85 labor, the factory system, unions, strikes, socialism and so on need to be clarified and compared with other ethnic groups in order to rescue American labor history from its preoccupation with the history of unions as institutions and channel it back to the history of the workers themselves. What of those immig\ants who returned home? Slovaks had a return rate of 20 percent. Why did these people not remain in the " promised land?" How did they fare upon their return to the Old Country? Did they have any economic, social, or cultural impact upon their brethren back home? No one has yet dealt with this aspect of immigration. Slovak involvement in American politics also remains a mystery. Which political party did the earliest immigrants support and which do their descendants? Did they join the ' 'city machines' ' immediately and if so, why? Did they have "ward-heelers" of their own or did some other ethnic group perform this function for them? What influence, if any, has the "Slovak vote" had upon local, state and national politics? All of these questions remain unanswered. The whole subject of assimilation also needs more study. Using Milton Gordon's seven steps towards complete or "structural" assimilation,(91) an " index" of assimilation is needed to determine how far American Slovaks have proceeded along this path and to provide a way of comparing them with other ethnic groups. Those who have resisted assimilation should also be studied. What role did their fraternal-benefit societies play in this opposition? Did their concept of family , neighborhood and life in general also lead to rejection of assimilation? Are their values radically different from Anglo-American ones and, if so, are they healthy or dangerous to the host society? Finally , the present state of the community needs attention. Are American-Slovaks happy? Did this country fulfill their aspirations or leave them disappointed? Is there a "generation-gap" in attitudes towards the American way of life? How do Slovaks react to other ethnic groups, particularly blacks? Have they dispersed from their original communities into all parts of the city or have they congregated in certain suburbs and why? Are immigrants in certain regions or cities better off than in others and why? · These are just a few of the questions that need answering. And they need not apply only to Slovaks. The vast majority of Southern and Eastern European ethnic groups have for too long been ignored by American historians.(92) Until we know their stories as well as we do the Anglo-American one, we will not really understand this country. 86 SLOVAKIA FOOTNOTES (1) Obzor (Skalica, Slovakia), July 5 , 1873 and intermittently through July 5 , 1883 . (2) Tovarysstvo (Rufomberok , Slovakia) I (1893), 233-8. (3) Ibid . , III (1900), 293-300. (4) Ibid ., 301-5. (5) Kalendar J ednota, 1899 (Cleveland) , 135-6. (6) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku (Pittsburgh), I (No. 2-3, 1915), 98-109 . (7) Kalendar Jednota, 1911 , 75-89. (8) Narodny Kalendar (Pittsburgh), 1927-30. (9) Pittsburgh, 1924. (10) Kalendar Jednota, 1906, 33-114 . (11) Kalendar Jednota, 1911, 90-5. (12) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927 (Pittsburgh), 97-147 . (13) Cleveland , 1928. (14) Minneapolis, 1941. (15) Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, 83 (Sept.-Dec. 1972), 151-8. (16) St . Louis, 1955. (17) Cleveland , 1955 . (18) Narodny Kalendar, 1911, 66-77 . (19) Sbornik Narodneho Slovenskeho Spolku, I (No. 2-3, 1915), 90-7. (20) Kalendar pre Slovenskych Kalvinov, 1927, 57-80 . (21) Ibid ., 37-56. (22) Minneapolis, 1938. (23) Cleveland, 1965. (24) Sbornik Narodneho Slovensk eho Spolku, I (No . 2-3, 1915) , 20-39 . (25) Published posthumously in Cleveland, 1970. (26) New York, 1922 . (27) Narodny Kalendar, 1911 , 117-28. (28) Binghamton , New York, 1919. (29) Cleveland, 1930. (30) Cambridge, Mass., 1975 . (31) The Slovak Community of Cleveland (Cleveland, 1978), co-authored with Sister M. Martina Tybor. (32) See above. ' , (33) Sbornik Narodneho Slove nskeho Spolku, I (No . 2-:t. 1915), 9~19 . (34) " The Significance of Immigration in American History, " Th e American Journal of Sociology, 27 (1921), 71-85. It is revealing that this article appeared in a sociology journal and not in an historical one . (35) Narodny Kale ndar, 1926, 41-59 and 1972 , 60-7. SLOVAKIA 87 (36) A "Czechoslovak" is a Czech or Slovak who believes that these two peoples are really one nation and he downplays their cultural differences. (37) Jednota Annual Furdek (Cleveland), 8, (1969) , 3-23. (38) Slovakia (Middletown, Pa.), XXIll (1972) , 161-92. (39) Pittsburghsk<i dohoda (The Pittsburgh Agreement) , Bratislava , 1937. (40) 2 Volumes, Bratislava, 1942. (41) Winnipeg, 1954. (42) Cleveland , 1970. (43) Mimeographed author 's publication , New York, 1961. (44) " The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-Slovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies VIII _(Rome , 1?68). 7-84 . (45) Jednota Annual Furdek, X (~971), 99-105 . (46) See above. (47) See above. (48) Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1974 . (49) See above . (50) New York, 1957. (51) Stefan Furdek a slovenske prist'ahovalectuo (Stefan Furdek and Slovak Immigration). Cleveland, 1955; and Matus Jankola, knaz a n<irodouec (Matus Jankola, Priest and Patiot), Danville, Pa . , 1959. (52) Cleveland, 1973. (53) See above and "Father Matthew Jankola, 1872-1916," Slovak Studies, IX (1969) . 75-94. (54) Ekonomicky casopis, 4 (1956), 171-91. (55) Bratislava, 1958. (56) Geograficky casopis, XIII (1961), 195-210. (57) In I.:udovit Holotik (Ed.), Prispeuky k dejin<im uychodneho Slouenska (Contributions to the History of Eastern Slovakia). Bratislava, 1964, 220-32 . (58) Geograficky casopis, 19 (1967). 3-28 . (59) In Josef Polisensky (Ed.), Zaciatky ceskej a slouenskej emigr<icie do USA (The Beginnings of Czech and Slovak Immigration to the U.S.A.) (Bratislava, 1970), 49-96 . (60) Noue obzory (Kosice, Slovakia), Ill (1961), 221-47. (61) In Polisensky , op. cit. , 186-96. (62) Bratislava, 1969. (63) Martin, Slovakia, 1975. (64) In Polisensky, op. cit., 197-207. (65) Histoire sociale/Social History, VII (May , 1974) , 111-20. (66) Boston, 1941. (67) New York, 1970. (68) New York , 1971 . (69) Santa Monica, Calif., 1973. 88 SLOVAKIA (70) New York , 1906. (71) 14 (1908-9). 329-51. (72) 20 (1914), 145-69. (73) Reports of the Immigration Commission, 42 Volumes (Washington, 61st Congress, Senate, 1911). (74) See Maldwyn Jones , American Immigration (Chicago, 1960), 177-82 and Oscar Handlin 's Introduction to the R eports of the Immigration Commission, Volume I (Arno Press Reprint, New York , 1970) , 1-XLVI. (75) 2 volumes, New York, 1904. (76) New York, 1912 . (77) New York, 1910. (78) New York, 1906. (79) New York, 1921. (80) American Journal of Sociology, (1933-4), 611-25 . (81) Slavic Review, Xfil (1934), 127-38. (82) The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, 23 (1940) , 163-74. (83) New York , 1963. (84) American Historical Review, 71 (July, 1966), 1265-79. (85) See for example " Immigrant Social Aspirations and American Education, 18801930," American Quarterly, XXI (Fall , 1969). 523-43; and "Lay Initiative in the Religious Life of American Immigrants, " in Tamara Hareven (Ed .), Anonymous Americans: Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Social History (Englewood Cliffs, N.J. , 1971) , 214-49. (86) Notre Dame, 1968. (87) "Immigrant Social Aspirations, " op cit. (88) See for example his ''For God and Country: The Origins of Slavic SelfConsciousness in America," Church History, 35 (December, 1966), 1-15 and " Slavic American Nationalism, 1870-1918," in Anna Cienciala (Ed.) , American Contributions to the Seventh International Congress of Slavists, Warsaw , August 21-7, 1973, Vol. ill: H istory (The Hague , 1973) , 197-215 . (89) Ke nneth Lockridge, A New England To wn: The First Hundred Years (New York, 1970); John Demos , A L(ttle Commonweafth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony (New York , 1970) ; and Philip Greven, Four Generations: Population, Land and Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts (Ithaca, 1970). (90) American Historian s and European Immigration, 1875-1925 (New York, 1948) . (91) Assimilation in American Life : The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York, 1964) . \ (92) For an excellent analysis of the present state of immigration historiography see Rudolph J . Vecoli, " European Americans : From Immigrants to Ethnics, " in William H . Cartwright and Richard L. Watson (Eds.), The R einterpretation of American History and Culture (Washington , 1973) , 81-112 .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States Description An account of the resource M. Mark Stolarik Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 66-88 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stolarik, M. Mark, 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/373dcb5dcadbb689ab0d20fc92179869.pdf 21166dcc775a59692ccd3b141054bf7b PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 1978-79 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE ( OF AMERICA ����SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXVIII 1978-1979 DOUBLE ISSUE NOS. 61-62 \ A Political, Science and Historical Annual Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE Of AMERICA MICHAEL NOVAK Executive Editor M. MARK STOLARIK Managing Editor, Book Review Editor EDITORIAL BOARD: Draga Divinska Joseph M. Kirschbaum Joseph C. Krajsa Susan Mikula Joseph A. Mikus Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. Daniel F. Tanzone Sr. M. Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. BOARD OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS: David P. Daniel Thomas D. Marzik Owen V. Johnson Stanley Z. Pech M. Mark Mazurik, Chairman Mailing Address: SLOVAKIA 870 Rifle Camp Road West Paterson, N.J. 07424 ��SLOVAKIA Table of Contents An Important Notice from the Editor MichaelNovak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A Message from the President Edward J. Behunc) k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A Challenge for Slovak Americans Luby Holy .. . . . ............ ...... .. .. .............. . ... 11 ARTICLES The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography YeshayahuJelinek . . ..... . ............. . ....... .. .. . .... 17 The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938 Owen V. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness David P. Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M. Mark Stolarik ............... . .... . . ... ............ .. 66 A Note for Researchers Stanley B. Kimball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 FICTION Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner George P. Resick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The Man Who Made Good in America Thomas Bell ...... . ... ... ..... .... .. . . ................. 107 �SLOVAKIA '' Baked Blockheads' ' Frantisek Hetko .... . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . . ... . . . . ... . ... . 113 The Sorrows of Marienka V. S. Koban .. ........ ............... . .. . ........ . . . .... 119 Success Story Alvena Seckar ...... . . . ... . . . ......... ... .. .. ... ........ 133 The New Spring Eudo Ondrejov . .. . ... . . .......... . .... . ..... . .......... 140 BOOK REVIEWS The Guns of Lattimer Paul Wilkes .. . . .. . . . . .. ...... . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . ..... 145 The Czechs in America; Slovaks in America June Granatir Alexander . .. . . ... . .......... . .. .. .. . . . . . . . 147 The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) Peter Brock ..... . . ......... . . . .. . . . .. ....... . ... .. ..... 152 \ Our Contributors ... . .. .. . .. . . ... .... . ... ·. . . . . . . . . . .. ....... 155 �An Important Notice From The Editor With this double issue, representing both 1978 and 1979, SLOVAKIA hopes to establish a new schedule for annual publication. In order to have each issue out by midyear, our deadline for new manuscripts and book reviews will be set at December 31 of the preceding year. For the 1980 issue, we are particularly anxious to publish manuscripts assessing the illfated Slovak Republic, just past forty years after its birth. Manuscripts on this or other appropriate subjects must reach the editors by December 31 , 1979. Mark Stolarik, Executive Director of The Balch Institute, (18 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106) has agreed to assist me as managing editor of SLOVAKIA. All manuscripts should be mailed to him in triplicate, with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. This procedure will facilitate consultation with our distinguished board of advisors . I once again express my gratitude to all whose labors made this double issue possible , without whose generous collaboration my task would be insuperable . MICHAEL NOV AK Editor ��A Messag·~ from the President Again, the Slovak League of America is honored to have this issue of SLOVAKIA edited by Dr. Michael Novak, our fellow Slovak American, nationally syndicated columnist, leader and professor of religion. With each issue, under his editorship, our renowned publication makes greater strides toward higher literary achievement as it outgrows its parochial outlook. We are all grateful to Michael Novak for his valuable help in this respect. This issue is the first to contain mention of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. I particularly recommend study of the excellent article on the Foundation appearing herein by Miss Luby Holy. I am certain that it will serve as an inspiration and incentive to all of you. I hope it will also result in your own active participation in our efforts to raise substantial funds for the preservation, promotion and perpetuation of our centuries-old, rich heritage of Slovak culture, arts, language and traditions. It is my earnest desire that when we close out our Slovak Heritage Drive in 1982, on the occasion of the League's 75th or diamond jubilee, we will have a well financed Foundation firmly established. This will permit our undertaking the many worthy projects yet to be fulfilled by the young generation of educated, dedicated and productive Slovak Americans, all proud of their ethnic origins. So long as the Slovak League of America, with its diverse affiliates (that is, the Slovak League of America Scholarship Fund, Inc., the American Fund for Slovak Refugees, Inc. and the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd.) continues, with your support, as the central cultural and civic body of the organized Slovak Americans, we can and will be able to say, as the songwriter expresses it in "Hej Slovaci": "Zije, zije duch Slovensky bude zit' na veky." ("The Slovak spirit lives, it lives, it will live forever.") EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK President ��SLOVAKIA 11 A Challenge for Slovak Americans \ ' LUBYHOLY On November 13, 1977, the Slovak League of America Executive Board met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for no ordinary conclave. Matters discussed and implemented during this session would, in- the future, have far reaching effects for those of Slovak heritage living in the free world. For the second time in the twentieth century, a major comprehensive fund drive to benefit the causes of Slovaks was inaugurated by the Slovak League of America. This drive, a broadly based campaign being conducted to create a financial base for the preservation, promotion and advancement of the rich Slovak culture, language, and heritage, became known as the Slovak Heritage Drive of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. The idea of conducting a wide scale fund-raising campaign to amass a financial reservoir for the purpose of preserving and advancing the Slovak heritage had been circulating among Slovaks for some time prior to the actual implementation of the Slovak Heritage Drive. Impetus was given to initiating this campaign during the 70th anniversary convention of the Slovak League of America in May, 1977, when Slovak World Congress President Stephen B. Roman in his keynote address suggested that the SLA start a new million dollar drive whose monies would be used to promote the Slovak heritage and aid the collective causes of all peoples of Slovak ancestry. As added incentive to institute such a reservoir, Mr. Roman offered to himself donate a quarter of a million dollars to the fund , if all other Slovaks of the free world would collectively contribute $750,000. Following this public pledge, Slovak League officials set about laying the necessary framework to make the Slovak Heritage Drive an active entity. After 6 months of preliminary legwork and consultations, the campaign was ready to be launched, and an Executive Board meeting was called to Pittsburgh to effectuate the Drive. During this November, 1977, conclave , the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. (SLAHF, Ltd.) was established as a fund-managing and distributing unit of the Slovak League , which would specifically handle monies associated with the Slovak Heritage Drive. It was decided that the Foundation would initially be managed by the Board of Directors who comprised the Executive Board of the �12 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America. This Board consisted of Edward J. Behuncik, President; John A. Holy, Secretary; and Board Members: Michael J . Zahorsky, President of the First Catholic Slovak Union; Louise M. Yash, President of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association; George J. Kostelnik, President of the Slovak Catholic Sokol; Irma A. Vrbancic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Ladies Union; Stephen J. Kavulic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Union; and Slovak League Executive Board members, Andrew F . Hudak and Dr. Joseph Mikula. Gregor Chren of Stratford, Connecticut, was added to the SLAHF , Ltd. Board as its Treasurer. The Foundation was later incorporated in the state of Connecticut as a non-profit, non-stock, charitable and cultural corporation, and achieved tax exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. All contributions to the Fund would therefore be tax-deductible. The establishment of the Slovak Heritage Drive under the auspices of the SLAHF, Ltd. was meant to reinforce the credibility of national programs identified with the Drive , and to associate the Drive with the internationally respected Slovak League. Monies collected by the Slovak Heritage Drive would be allocated to: 1) Preserve and expand existing Slovak Cultural Institutions such as libraries, institutes, publications, etc.; 2) Initiate new projects and programs for the advancement of the Slovak culture and ethnicity in the United States and other countries ; 3) Publish books and informative pamphlets about the Slovak Nation and American Slovaks, including history, culture and national goals ; 4) Establish youth-oriented programs to encourage greater involvement of younger generations of Slovak Americans in our cultural activities, fraternal organizations, and Slovak 'Americ~ life in general; 5) Support projects and activities in other countries on behalf of the Slovak cause; and 6) Provide funds for situations which necessitate speedy actions and decisions in the interests of Slovaks in America and elsewhere. Thus organized, the SLAHF , Ltd . immediately set forth to accomplish its task. The first three donations, $100 from Andrew F. Hudak, $100 from John A. Holy and $250 from Edward J. Behuncik, were duly accepted and recorded by the Foundation on November 13, 1977. The Slovak Heritage Drive was officially underway. By January 6, 1978, the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. deposited its first $1 ,000 of contributions into a new account at the People 's Savings Bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut. �SLOVAKIA 13 Governing Board members launched publicity campaigns for the Drive with the cooperation of the various Slovak American societies and organizations and members -of the Slovak American press such as the Jednota , Katolicky Sokol}. Slovak v Amerike , and Zenska Jednota publications, and momentum was gained. At the time of this writing (February, 1979) , approximately $19,000 has already been collected. Slovak Americans are becoming aware of the Slovak Heritage Drive 's importance and are contributing generously. Slovak League President Edward J. Behuncik and his wife Catherine , for instance , have set a fine example for others. Mr. and Mrs. Behuncik donated $5 ,000 to the Drive at the 1978 SLA Congress in Chicago in addition to their original $250 donation, and are at present the largest contributors to the Slovak Heritage Drive. To further the Drive ' s progress and to make more individuals and Slovak societies aware of the Fund and its goals, flyers and pamphlets are currently being printed. Mass mailings and an intensive publicity campaign is being planned for the coming months and years . The Slovak Heritage Drive is slated to continue until May, 1982, when the Slovak League of America celebrates its 75th anniversary. It is hoped that by this time , Slovaks in the free world will have amassed one million dollars for the fund , of which $750,000 will have come from contributions during the Drive's duration, and $250 ,000 from Mr. Roman. It has been said that the measure of dedication is that which one is willing to sacrifice. Fifty or sixty years ago, another generation of Slovak Americans was able to raise one million dollars in an heroic effort to save the Slovak nation. Surely in this age of affluence, today's Slovaks should be able to raise one million dollars for their cultural needs and self-preservation as a viable ethnic entity in the cultural mosiac that is America. The present generation of Slovak Americans has a task - indeed, an historical duty - to guarantee that its institutions of culture and its national life will not perish for want of material needs. In this duty, we must not fail. �� SLOVAKIA 1978-79 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE ( OF AMERICA ����SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXVIII 1978-1979 DOUBLE ISSUE NOS. 61-62 \ A Political, Science and Historical Annual Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE Of AMERICA MICHAEL NOVAK Executive Editor M. MARK STOLARIK Managing Editor, Book Review Editor EDITORIAL BOARD: Draga Divinska Joseph M. Kirschbaum Joseph C. Krajsa Susan Mikula Joseph A. Mikus Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. Daniel F. Tanzone Sr. M. Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. BOARD OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS: David P. Daniel Thomas D. Marzik Owen V. Johnson Stanley Z. Pech M. Mark Mazurik, Chairman Mailing Address: SLOVAKIA 870 Rifle Camp Road West Paterson, N.J. 07424 ��SLOVAKIA Table of Contents An Important Notice from the Editor MichaelNovak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A Message from the President Edward J. Behunc) k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A Challenge for Slovak Americans Luby Holy .. . . . ............ ...... .. .. .............. . ... 11 ARTICLES The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography YeshayahuJelinek . . ..... . ............. . ....... .. .. . .... 17 The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938 Owen V. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness David P. Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M. Mark Stolarik ............... . .... . . ... ............ .. 66 A Note for Researchers Stanley B. Kimball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 FICTION Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner George P. Resick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The Man Who Made Good in America Thomas Bell ...... . ... ... ..... .... .. . . ................. 107 �SLOVAKIA '' Baked Blockheads' ' Frantisek Hetko .... . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . . ... . . . . ... . ... . 113 The Sorrows of Marienka V. S. Koban .. ........ ............... . .. . ........ . . . .... 119 Success Story Alvena Seckar ...... . . . ... . . . ......... ... .. .. ... ........ 133 The New Spring Eudo Ondrejov . .. . ... . . .......... . .... . ..... . .......... 140 BOOK REVIEWS The Guns of Lattimer Paul Wilkes .. . . .. . . . . .. ...... . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . ..... 145 The Czechs in America; Slovaks in America June Granatir Alexander . .. . . ... . .......... . .. .. .. . . . . . . . 147 The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) Peter Brock ..... . . ......... . . . .. . . . .. ....... . ... .. ..... 152 \ Our Contributors ... . .. .. . .. . . ... .... . ... ·. . . . . . . . . . .. ....... 155 �An Important Notice From The Editor With this double issue, representing both 1978 and 1979, SLOVAKIA hopes to establish a new schedule for annual publication. In order to have each issue out by midyear, our deadline for new manuscripts and book reviews will be set at December 31 of the preceding year. For the 1980 issue, we are particularly anxious to publish manuscripts assessing the illfated Slovak Republic, just past forty years after its birth. Manuscripts on this or other appropriate subjects must reach the editors by December 31 , 1979. Mark Stolarik, Executive Director of The Balch Institute, (18 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106) has agreed to assist me as managing editor of SLOVAKIA. All manuscripts should be mailed to him in triplicate, with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. This procedure will facilitate consultation with our distinguished board of advisors . I once again express my gratitude to all whose labors made this double issue possible , without whose generous collaboration my task would be insuperable . MICHAEL NOV AK Editor ��A Messag·~ from the President Again, the Slovak League of America is honored to have this issue of SLOVAKIA edited by Dr. Michael Novak, our fellow Slovak American, nationally syndicated columnist, leader and professor of religion. With each issue, under his editorship, our renowned publication makes greater strides toward higher literary achievement as it outgrows its parochial outlook. We are all grateful to Michael Novak for his valuable help in this respect. This issue is the first to contain mention of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. I particularly recommend study of the excellent article on the Foundation appearing herein by Miss Luby Holy. I am certain that it will serve as an inspiration and incentive to all of you. I hope it will also result in your own active participation in our efforts to raise substantial funds for the preservation, promotion and perpetuation of our centuries-old, rich heritage of Slovak culture, arts, language and traditions. It is my earnest desire that when we close out our Slovak Heritage Drive in 1982, on the occasion of the League's 75th or diamond jubilee, we will have a well financed Foundation firmly established. This will permit our undertaking the many worthy projects yet to be fulfilled by the young generation of educated, dedicated and productive Slovak Americans, all proud of their ethnic origins. So long as the Slovak League of America, with its diverse affiliates (that is, the Slovak League of America Scholarship Fund, Inc., the American Fund for Slovak Refugees, Inc. and the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd.) continues, with your support, as the central cultural and civic body of the organized Slovak Americans, we can and will be able to say, as the songwriter expresses it in "Hej Slovaci": "Zije, zije duch Slovensky bude zit' na veky." ("The Slovak spirit lives, it lives, it will live forever.") EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK President ��SLOVAKIA 11 A Challenge for Slovak Americans \ ' LUBYHOLY On November 13, 1977, the Slovak League of America Executive Board met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for no ordinary conclave. Matters discussed and implemented during this session would, in- the future, have far reaching effects for those of Slovak heritage living in the free world. For the second time in the twentieth century, a major comprehensive fund drive to benefit the causes of Slovaks was inaugurated by the Slovak League of America. This drive, a broadly based campaign being conducted to create a financial base for the preservation, promotion and advancement of the rich Slovak culture, language, and heritage, became known as the Slovak Heritage Drive of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. The idea of conducting a wide scale fund-raising campaign to amass a financial reservoir for the purpose of preserving and advancing the Slovak heritage had been circulating among Slovaks for some time prior to the actual implementation of the Slovak Heritage Drive. Impetus was given to initiating this campaign during the 70th anniversary convention of the Slovak League of America in May, 1977, when Slovak World Congress President Stephen B. Roman in his keynote address suggested that the SLA start a new million dollar drive whose monies would be used to promote the Slovak heritage and aid the collective causes of all peoples of Slovak ancestry. As added incentive to institute such a reservoir, Mr. Roman offered to himself donate a quarter of a million dollars to the fund , if all other Slovaks of the free world would collectively contribute $750,000. Following this public pledge, Slovak League officials set about laying the necessary framework to make the Slovak Heritage Drive an active entity. After 6 months of preliminary legwork and consultations, the campaign was ready to be launched, and an Executive Board meeting was called to Pittsburgh to effectuate the Drive. During this November, 1977, conclave , the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. (SLAHF, Ltd.) was established as a fund-managing and distributing unit of the Slovak League , which would specifically handle monies associated with the Slovak Heritage Drive. It was decided that the Foundation would initially be managed by the Board of Directors who comprised the Executive Board of the �12 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America. This Board consisted of Edward J. Behuncik, President; John A. Holy, Secretary; and Board Members: Michael J . Zahorsky, President of the First Catholic Slovak Union; Louise M. Yash, President of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association; George J. Kostelnik, President of the Slovak Catholic Sokol; Irma A. Vrbancic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Ladies Union; Stephen J. Kavulic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Union; and Slovak League Executive Board members, Andrew F . Hudak and Dr. Joseph Mikula. Gregor Chren of Stratford, Connecticut, was added to the SLAHF , Ltd. Board as its Treasurer. The Foundation was later incorporated in the state of Connecticut as a non-profit, non-stock, charitable and cultural corporation, and achieved tax exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. All contributions to the Fund would therefore be tax-deductible. The establishment of the Slovak Heritage Drive under the auspices of the SLAHF, Ltd. was meant to reinforce the credibility of national programs identified with the Drive , and to associate the Drive with the internationally respected Slovak League. Monies collected by the Slovak Heritage Drive would be allocated to: 1) Preserve and expand existing Slovak Cultural Institutions such as libraries, institutes, publications, etc.; 2) Initiate new projects and programs for the advancement of the Slovak culture and ethnicity in the United States and other countries ; 3) Publish books and informative pamphlets about the Slovak Nation and American Slovaks, including history, culture and national goals ; 4) Establish youth-oriented programs to encourage greater involvement of younger generations of Slovak Americans in our cultural activities, fraternal organizations, and Slovak 'Americ~ life in general; 5) Support projects and activities in other countries on behalf of the Slovak cause; and 6) Provide funds for situations which necessitate speedy actions and decisions in the interests of Slovaks in America and elsewhere. Thus organized, the SLAHF , Ltd . immediately set forth to accomplish its task. The first three donations, $100 from Andrew F. Hudak, $100 from John A. Holy and $250 from Edward J. Behuncik, were duly accepted and recorded by the Foundation on November 13, 1977. The Slovak Heritage Drive was officially underway. By January 6, 1978, the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. deposited its first $1 ,000 of contributions into a new account at the People 's Savings Bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut. �SLOVAKIA 13 Governing Board members launched publicity campaigns for the Drive with the cooperation of the various Slovak American societies and organizations and members -of the Slovak American press such as the Jednota , Katolicky Sokol}. Slovak v Amerike , and Zenska Jednota publications, and momentum was gained. At the time of this writing (February, 1979) , approximately $19,000 has already been collected. Slovak Americans are becoming aware of the Slovak Heritage Drive 's importance and are contributing generously. Slovak League President Edward J. Behuncik and his wife Catherine , for instance , have set a fine example for others. Mr. and Mrs. Behuncik donated $5 ,000 to the Drive at the 1978 SLA Congress in Chicago in addition to their original $250 donation, and are at present the largest contributors to the Slovak Heritage Drive. To further the Drive ' s progress and to make more individuals and Slovak societies aware of the Fund and its goals, flyers and pamphlets are currently being printed. Mass mailings and an intensive publicity campaign is being planned for the coming months and years . The Slovak Heritage Drive is slated to continue until May, 1982, when the Slovak League of America celebrates its 75th anniversary. It is hoped that by this time , Slovaks in the free world will have amassed one million dollars for the fund , of which $750,000 will have come from contributions during the Drive's duration, and $250 ,000 from Mr. Roman. It has been said that the measure of dedication is that which one is willing to sacrifice. Fifty or sixty years ago, another generation of Slovak Americans was able to raise one million dollars in an heroic effort to save the Slovak nation. Surely in this age of affluence, today's Slovaks should be able to raise one million dollars for their cultural needs and self-preservation as a viable ethnic entity in the cultural mosiac that is America. The present generation of Slovak Americans has a task - indeed, an historical duty - to guarantee that its institutions of culture and its national life will not perish for want of material needs. In this duty, we must not fail. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 1978-79 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE ( OF AMERICA SLOVAKIA VOLUME XXVIII 1978-1979 DOUBLE ISSUE NOS. 61-62 \ A Political, Science and Historical Annual Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE Of AMERICA MICHAEL NOVAK Executive Editor M. MARK STOLARIK Managing Editor, Book Review Editor EDITORIAL BOARD: Draga Divinska Joseph M. Kirschbaum Joseph C. Krajsa Susan Mikula Joseph A. Mikus Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. Daniel F. Tanzone Sr. M. Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. BOARD OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS: David P. Daniel Thomas D. Marzik Owen V. Johnson Stanley Z. Pech M. Mark Mazurik, Chairman Mailing Address: SLOVAKIA 870 Rifle Camp Road West Paterson, N.J. 07424 SLOVAKIA Table of Contents An Important Notice from the Editor MichaelNovak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 A Message from the President Edward J. Behunc) k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A Challenge for Slovak Americans Luby Holy .. . . . ............ ...... .. .. .............. . ... 11 ARTICLES The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography YeshayahuJelinek . . ..... . ............. . ....... .. .. . .... 17 The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938 Owen V. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness David P. Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 From Field to Factory: The Historiography of Slovak Immigration to the United States M. Mark Stolarik ............... . .... . . ... ............ .. 66 A Note for Researchers Stanley B. Kimball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 FICTION Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner George P. Resick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 The Man Who Made Good in America Thomas Bell ...... . ... ... ..... .... .. . . ................. 107 SLOVAKIA '' Baked Blockheads' ' Frantisek Hetko .... . . . ... . . . . . . . ... . . . . . ... . . . . ... . ... . 113 The Sorrows of Marienka V. S. Koban .. ........ ............... . .. . ........ . . . .... 119 Success Story Alvena Seckar ...... . . . ... . . . ......... ... .. .. ... ........ 133 The New Spring Eudo Ondrejov . .. . ... . . .......... . .... . ..... . .......... 140 BOOK REVIEWS The Guns of Lattimer Paul Wilkes .. . . .. . . . . .. ...... . . . . . . . ... . . . . ... . . . . ..... 145 The Czechs in America; Slovaks in America June Granatir Alexander . .. . . ... . .......... . .. .. .. . . . . . . . 147 The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) Peter Brock ..... . . ......... . . . .. . . . .. ....... . ... .. ..... 152 \ Our Contributors ... . .. .. . .. . . ... .... . ... ·. . . . . . . . . . .. ....... 155 An Important Notice From The Editor With this double issue, representing both 1978 and 1979, SLOVAKIA hopes to establish a new schedule for annual publication. In order to have each issue out by midyear, our deadline for new manuscripts and book reviews will be set at December 31 of the preceding year. For the 1980 issue, we are particularly anxious to publish manuscripts assessing the illfated Slovak Republic, just past forty years after its birth. Manuscripts on this or other appropriate subjects must reach the editors by December 31 , 1979. Mark Stolarik, Executive Director of The Balch Institute, (18 South 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106) has agreed to assist me as managing editor of SLOVAKIA. All manuscripts should be mailed to him in triplicate, with a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. This procedure will facilitate consultation with our distinguished board of advisors . I once again express my gratitude to all whose labors made this double issue possible , without whose generous collaboration my task would be insuperable . MICHAEL NOV AK Editor A Messag·~ from the President Again, the Slovak League of America is honored to have this issue of SLOVAKIA edited by Dr. Michael Novak, our fellow Slovak American, nationally syndicated columnist, leader and professor of religion. With each issue, under his editorship, our renowned publication makes greater strides toward higher literary achievement as it outgrows its parochial outlook. We are all grateful to Michael Novak for his valuable help in this respect. This issue is the first to contain mention of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. I particularly recommend study of the excellent article on the Foundation appearing herein by Miss Luby Holy. I am certain that it will serve as an inspiration and incentive to all of you. I hope it will also result in your own active participation in our efforts to raise substantial funds for the preservation, promotion and perpetuation of our centuries-old, rich heritage of Slovak culture, arts, language and traditions. It is my earnest desire that when we close out our Slovak Heritage Drive in 1982, on the occasion of the League's 75th or diamond jubilee, we will have a well financed Foundation firmly established. This will permit our undertaking the many worthy projects yet to be fulfilled by the young generation of educated, dedicated and productive Slovak Americans, all proud of their ethnic origins. So long as the Slovak League of America, with its diverse affiliates (that is, the Slovak League of America Scholarship Fund, Inc., the American Fund for Slovak Refugees, Inc. and the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd.) continues, with your support, as the central cultural and civic body of the organized Slovak Americans, we can and will be able to say, as the songwriter expresses it in "Hej Slovaci": "Zije, zije duch Slovensky bude zit' na veky." ("The Slovak spirit lives, it lives, it will live forever.") EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK President SLOVAKIA 11 A Challenge for Slovak Americans \ ' LUBYHOLY On November 13, 1977, the Slovak League of America Executive Board met in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for no ordinary conclave. Matters discussed and implemented during this session would, in- the future, have far reaching effects for those of Slovak heritage living in the free world. For the second time in the twentieth century, a major comprehensive fund drive to benefit the causes of Slovaks was inaugurated by the Slovak League of America. This drive, a broadly based campaign being conducted to create a financial base for the preservation, promotion and advancement of the rich Slovak culture, language, and heritage, became known as the Slovak Heritage Drive of the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. The idea of conducting a wide scale fund-raising campaign to amass a financial reservoir for the purpose of preserving and advancing the Slovak heritage had been circulating among Slovaks for some time prior to the actual implementation of the Slovak Heritage Drive. Impetus was given to initiating this campaign during the 70th anniversary convention of the Slovak League of America in May, 1977, when Slovak World Congress President Stephen B. Roman in his keynote address suggested that the SLA start a new million dollar drive whose monies would be used to promote the Slovak heritage and aid the collective causes of all peoples of Slovak ancestry. As added incentive to institute such a reservoir, Mr. Roman offered to himself donate a quarter of a million dollars to the fund , if all other Slovaks of the free world would collectively contribute $750,000. Following this public pledge, Slovak League officials set about laying the necessary framework to make the Slovak Heritage Drive an active entity. After 6 months of preliminary legwork and consultations, the campaign was ready to be launched, and an Executive Board meeting was called to Pittsburgh to effectuate the Drive. During this November, 1977, conclave , the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. (SLAHF, Ltd.) was established as a fund-managing and distributing unit of the Slovak League , which would specifically handle monies associated with the Slovak Heritage Drive. It was decided that the Foundation would initially be managed by the Board of Directors who comprised the Executive Board of the 12 SLOVAKIA Slovak League of America. This Board consisted of Edward J. Behuncik, President; John A. Holy, Secretary; and Board Members: Michael J . Zahorsky, President of the First Catholic Slovak Union; Louise M. Yash, President of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association; George J. Kostelnik, President of the Slovak Catholic Sokol; Irma A. Vrbancic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Ladies Union; Stephen J. Kavulic, President of the Pennsylvania Catholic Slovak Union; and Slovak League Executive Board members, Andrew F . Hudak and Dr. Joseph Mikula. Gregor Chren of Stratford, Connecticut, was added to the SLAHF , Ltd. Board as its Treasurer. The Foundation was later incorporated in the state of Connecticut as a non-profit, non-stock, charitable and cultural corporation, and achieved tax exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service. All contributions to the Fund would therefore be tax-deductible. The establishment of the Slovak Heritage Drive under the auspices of the SLAHF, Ltd. was meant to reinforce the credibility of national programs identified with the Drive , and to associate the Drive with the internationally respected Slovak League. Monies collected by the Slovak Heritage Drive would be allocated to: 1) Preserve and expand existing Slovak Cultural Institutions such as libraries, institutes, publications, etc.; 2) Initiate new projects and programs for the advancement of the Slovak culture and ethnicity in the United States and other countries ; 3) Publish books and informative pamphlets about the Slovak Nation and American Slovaks, including history, culture and national goals ; 4) Establish youth-oriented programs to encourage greater involvement of younger generations of Slovak Americans in our cultural activities, fraternal organizations, and Slovak 'Americ~ life in general; 5) Support projects and activities in other countries on behalf of the Slovak cause; and 6) Provide funds for situations which necessitate speedy actions and decisions in the interests of Slovaks in America and elsewhere. Thus organized, the SLAHF , Ltd . immediately set forth to accomplish its task. The first three donations, $100 from Andrew F. Hudak, $100 from John A. Holy and $250 from Edward J. Behuncik, were duly accepted and recorded by the Foundation on November 13, 1977. The Slovak Heritage Drive was officially underway. By January 6, 1978, the Slovak League of America Heritage Foundation, Ltd. deposited its first $1 ,000 of contributions into a new account at the People 's Savings Bank in Bridgeport, Connecticut. SLOVAKIA 13 Governing Board members launched publicity campaigns for the Drive with the cooperation of the various Slovak American societies and organizations and members -of the Slovak American press such as the Jednota , Katolicky Sokol}. Slovak v Amerike , and Zenska Jednota publications, and momentum was gained. At the time of this writing (February, 1979) , approximately $19,000 has already been collected. Slovak Americans are becoming aware of the Slovak Heritage Drive 's importance and are contributing generously. Slovak League President Edward J. Behuncik and his wife Catherine , for instance , have set a fine example for others. Mr. and Mrs. Behuncik donated $5 ,000 to the Drive at the 1978 SLA Congress in Chicago in addition to their original $250 donation, and are at present the largest contributors to the Slovak Heritage Drive. To further the Drive ' s progress and to make more individuals and Slovak societies aware of the Fund and its goals, flyers and pamphlets are currently being printed. Mass mailings and an intensive publicity campaign is being planned for the coming months and years . The Slovak Heritage Drive is slated to continue until May, 1982, when the Slovak League of America celebrates its 75th anniversary. It is hoped that by this time , Slovaks in the free world will have amassed one million dollars for the fund , of which $750,000 will have come from contributions during the Drive's duration, and $250 ,000 from Mr. Roman. It has been said that the measure of dedication is that which one is willing to sacrifice. Fifty or sixty years ago, another generation of Slovak Americans was able to raise one million dollars in an heroic effort to save the Slovak nation. Surely in this age of affluence, today's Slovaks should be able to raise one million dollars for their cultural needs and self-preservation as a viable ethnic entity in the cultural mosiac that is America. The present generation of Slovak Americans has a task - indeed, an historical duty - to guarantee that its institutions of culture and its national life will not perish for want of material needs. In this duty, we must not fail.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52) Description An account of the resource includes An Important Notice from the Editor (Michael Novak); A Message from the President (Edward J. Behuncik); A Challenge for Slovak Americans (Luby Holy) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Novak, Michael, 1933-2017 Behuncik, Edward J. Holy, Luby Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF+dates name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8551ab5435f9dd199dfbb961c9ab1d10.pdf 6d13c72011732b268a7d45c0a7db8ecc PDF Text Text FICTION ��SLOVAKIA 93 Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner GEORGE P. RESICK What has been and what is now the environment of the rough , tough , and hard-working ' 'man of the earth' '? How did he live in the 1800s and early 1900s, lifting himself by his very bootstraps by means of his miner's union in his earnest desire to make his life better and to become accepted at least as a middle-class American? He came from nearly every ethnic group possible - the Welsh, Irish , Slovaks , Scots , Poles , Hungarians , Italians, Blacks and others. He was often referred to as a dumb "Hunky," Dago , Griener, Johnny Bull and other names which caused many verbal and physical battles . Although the modern Black man rightly feels the injustice of discrimination , a member of these other ethnic groups , too, had to come through many a heartbreak as to " what side of town " he could live in, what games he could participate in, and in what section of the school room he could be seated. Even when he came to the mines his ethnic background determined the section of the mine he was to be assigned to and the classification of the work within this area. This period of discrimination was shortened by inter-marriages between ethnic groups and the desire by individuals in all ethnic groups to achieve success in their work. Athletics served as a social elevator for many , since work and athletics were the center of community activities. Before too long, it was discovered that the word " dumb, " as related to the miner and his family , was in essence a lack of education rather than intelligence . The processes of increased educational opportunities and greater social acceptance were extremely slow. Few sons or daughters of miners finished high school prior to 1930. Education ended for them the day they obtained their ' 'working papers. ' ' The sons went to the mines and the daughters to factories, stores or to domestic service. In the entire community of three thousand in which the author was born and reared there were probably less than six miners ' children who went to college prior to 1932. Only one teacher in this same community was college-educated. In retrospect, it is heart-rending to recall how few of the ethnicgroup parents could either read or write in any language, let alone English. Many could not even sign for their pay checks but simply marked an X for their signatures . Because of this, they were open game �94 SLOVAKIA for the "con" artist who took advantage of the uneducated. Letters were written for them and read to them until their own children obtained the minimal education to perform this function. These brave, strong people migrated to this country for the expressed purpose of ''the right to work as a free individual'' and to have the right to worship God in the way they choose. Although history records great people and movements, it must be pointed out that a vital part of the growth of this nation was due to groups such as miners , farmers, etc. who became the backbone of the industrial complex. The brave miner has played his part in bringing this nation to its leadership position in the world today. The road to recognition was not a rosy one for the miner and his family when one recalls his early environment: the rows of company houses or the so-called "patch," some of which still exist; the traditional little outhouse (two-seater) in the backyard; the two chimneys for the cooking and heating stoves; the place behind one of these stoves for the Saturday night bath in a galvanized tub; the two or three beds where a family of five to ten was "accommodated" - three to a bed; the backyard garden of nearly every family which became a necessity for summer existence and for preserving some food stuff for winter or when ''work was slow''; the coal shed and chicken coop or pig sty in the backyard; the many ingenious ideas for survival, such as picking berries, wild-roots, chestnuts and other free foods. The " company house " was part of the vicious circle by which the coal company completely controlled the life of the miner. These houses were unpainted clapboard of the cheapest construction, all identical. It wasn 't unusual for a drunken miner to enter the wrong house since the only difference was his house's position in the row . The more fortunate had water in the kitchen but practically none of them had sanitary facilities. The company rarely repaired the houses and, since the miner didn 't own them, maintenance was always minimal. These homes were often inhabited by rats, mice, roaches, ants and flies , which destroyed some of the food badly needed by the family. These facts were brought out clearly in recent years when the coal companies sold these houses to the miners. A dramatic change took ~lace and the houses immediately improved immeasurably . _ A picture of the miner's environment wouldn 't be complete without comment on the special row of company houses for the mine administrators , which included the superintendent (super), the pit boss and the fire boss. These men were the "elite" of the mining camps , and their houses the envy of . the miners since they included indoor toilets, indoor baths and a central furnace (they usually were furnished �SLOVAKIA 95 free coal). The residents of these homes dressed well and didn't have to resort to placing cardboard in the soles of their shoes to protect their feet. Even a more integral part of the vicious circle was the company store. Its only parallel in modem society is the loan shark business. If ever a story were written by a company store manager it would be as startling as any in the country's history. The coal company store surely must be given recognition as one of the initiators of the credit card system. To this day many ~odem coal miners absolutely forbid their wives to have credit cards or establish credit at legitimate stores because of their memories of the company store. There were numerous families who lived in virtual slavery due to the fact that they lived in the company house, shopped at the company store and worked in the company mine. If the coal company had a store, the miner was forced to shop at the store or seek employment elsewhere . The coal company used "scrip," a written order for the amount of the miner's earnings for the day. The man's wife could then go to the store to purchase the bare necessities to keep the family alive. The prices at the company store were always much higher than the independent stores in the area. The company store stocked every item possible to keep the miner from finding an excuse to visit any other local merchant, except the town saloon. This latter precaution was unnecessary since the miner rarely got any of his salary in cash, except for a required monetary remuneration which usually amounted to one dollar. The company store never needed to advertise or have "sales." It had a ' 'captive'' clientele which allowed the store manager to raise prices beyond normal to show management an increased profit. As the miner's union became stronger in the early 1930s, it slowly brought the demise of one of the most vicious of the '' free enterprise ' ' systems in the history of this nation. Even then it was a slow death, as mine officials would remind the miner that he must buy something at the company store. The miner usually agreed to purchase some furniture or appliance from the company store and to have a minimum of $10 taken from his earnings each payday. Slowly, however, the company store died out since it could not compete with the open market. What a vicious circle had been the lot of the entrapped miner: no job unless he bought at the store; usually no cash left on payday which meant he couldn't move; the mine operator making the profits on his productive work, his store purchases and the rental of his home. The miner was virtually a captive in a free society. If the "Union " never accomplished another thing, it certainly lifted the "yoke of indebtedness" from the shoulders of the miner by �96 SLOVAKIA combatting the effects of the company store on his life. These disgraceful conditions still exist in some small mining communities where the coal company owns all the property, including the stores and gas stations. They literally "own the town." However, in most mining communities now, many stores are operated by individuals in open competition with company stores. Try to imagine, if you can, the plight of a coal miner's family of four to fourteen children, all of them dependent upon the wages of the father-miner. Imagine the impossibility of providing a proper diet on the father's wages of from $1.50 to $3.50 per day. To do this he even went into the mines on days that the mine was not in operation. He would stock (store) coal and take up the bottom or top rock to permit him to lay his new track. He performed all this so that he might be ready to load coal on work days and keep up with the alloted number of mine cars assigned to him. He would walk into the mines several hours before starting time (7 a.m.) on workdays to hand pump (or remove with a bucket) the water that had accumulated in his place of work. He did this without pay. How did the miner and his family manage? Without a doubt, it wasn 't easy, and in some cases he didn 't manage. Many of the miners' families died before they reached the age of ·50, although life expectancy was much higher in this country. The only way they survived even to that age was that the typical mother would make certain, by one means or another, that a bag of flour, a bag of potatoes, some cabbage, beans, cornmeal and a few other staples were on hand. These mothers were masters of ingenuity on how to make cabbage, beans and flour into mouth-watering delicacies for their children . But they had to serve the same foods so often that, in later years, the children detested the very sight of these foods. In these present times one reads of poverty, relief, food stamps, etc. but in all the years since the author 's boyhood there has been no poverty that could in any way compare to that of the early days in the mining community. How did these people survive? Those that did had outside food sources such as a few chickens , a pig or cow. On the days the mines were idle, the miner became a gardener ~d raised fresh vegetables. He spent many hours planting, weeding, reII].oving ii?-sects (insecticides were not in use then). Some of those garde_n s would have compared favorably with the experimental gardens run by the Department of Agriculture . The miner also became a hunter and a fisherman, not for the sport itself, but for the food it provided for his family. This did not reduce in way the pleasures of the activity. In some critical periods the father-miner and his sons became thieves, visiting local farms at night �SLOVAKIA 97 and stealing chickens, com and fruit in order to survive. Some of them were caught, beaten or jailed, and then their families were in deep difficulty since they (those caught) could not earn the pittance available to them. What type of man is this who lived through the conditions described above, and still today goes deep into the bowels of the earth to earn his living? The aver~ge coal miner was and is hardworking, tough talking, sometimes hard drinking, and many times a deliberate braggard . He can load a tremendous tonnage of coal and later stand at his favorite bar with his mining buddies. In fact, sometimes it seemed as though the coal dust was ankle-deep near the bar. In the '' cross-cut dinner hole ' ' of the mines, he brags about his tremendous conquests of women. This is depicted in his graffiti drawn with white chalk upon the black coal or rock walls or roof. He is direct rather than devious and obscure. This point is well illustrated by the comment of a young miner, who, when discussing his relationship with women, said that upon meeting a woman in whom he was interested he immediately asked her if she " screwed." When asked if he didn't get his face slapped, he replied "often, but on the other hand you'd be surprised how often I got a positive answer ." He may better be described by the poem entitled ' 'Lust.' ' He grabbed me round my slender neck I could not call or scream. He dragged me to this dingy room Where we would not be seen. He tore away my flimsy wrap and looked upon my form. I was so cold and damp and scared, While he was hot and warm. He drained me of my very self, I could not make him stop . His feverish lips he pressed to mine; I gave him every drop . He made me what I am today, That's why you find me here , A broken bottle thrown away That was once full of beer. Anon. This author has been employed as a coal miner, mine official, mine inspector and coal operator for more than 44 years and cannot help but �98 SLOVAKIA feel that the American public has had a mistaken image of the coal miner. This may be due to reports and articles written by writers who lack insight and experience in the mining industry. A true story may illustrate this point. A coal miner's son met and became interested in a New York banker's daughter while attending the same college. Eventually the banker invited the family to visit them in New York. Upon seeing the coal miner, one of the banker's first remarks was ''You aren't at all what I expected!" What had he expected? Did he expect a dirty, uncouth and stupid individual often portrayed in the media? In reality the average miner is a hard worker; he is honest with a sharp and inventive mind; he is cooperative and, in most instances, religious. He is probably cleaner than many white or blue collar workers since he is forced to bathe everyday. Unfortunately his lack of opportunity for education has been confused with the lack of motivation for an education. This is now changed and the educational level among the miners has risen drastically in the last score of years. His higher salary scale now enables him to live at the middle-class level of society . In the early days of mining, in order to eke out a living, many a miner did not hesitate to get up as early as 3 a.m., walk into the mine with only water in his dinner pail, and begin his preliminary work. He, at times, shifted as many as ten loaded coal cars in order to get the one empty car left from the previous day's work. If there were no empty cars available for loading, he performed many time-consuming tasks known as "dead work" since it was done without pay. These tasks included taking up the bottom rock for additional height, laying the track, setting the safety timbers, removing water from the work area, cleaning slate and impurities from the coal to be loaded, and even piling coal in areas to permit more rapid loading, since the only thing that counted, and for which he was paid, was the actual coal he loaded into the cars . All this preliminary work w~s done so that he would "have the jump on his fellow miners" when the day's work actually started . When one considers all this so-called "dead work ," isn't it natural that the miner demanded more, or at least some pay , for his "dead work"? This is one of the underlying reasons that the miner formed and supported his union . Many of these early miners did more free (dead work) before the starting time of 7 a.m. than do many of the modern miners at their hourly rate of six and seven dollars per hour. At times an unexpected rockfall would consume most of his working day and this had an immediate effect on his family since it was directly connected with the food purchases for that day. �SLOVAKIA 99 The wife and mother, .too, got up at this time (or earlier) to see that her husband had his break{ast if food was available , and to pack the lunch pail when food was plentiful. After her husband left for work, she began a back-breaking day of kneading and baking bread, washing clothes and wringing them out by hand to be hung out to dry. After an hour or two she would awaken the children and supervise their preparation for school which included the everlasting job of mending to hold the threads of their garments together. Her work continued until she was ready for her trip to the weigh-scales to obtain a slip for the coal her husband loaded that day. This slip would determine how much food would be available for the family that night and the next day. On the days the rock fell to interfere with the loading of coal, the soup was thinner and the dish of beans and meat was mostly beans. The best time of her day was when the children came from school and the closing whistle sounded from the mines. The worst times in her life were when the mine whistle blew before the regular quitting time. This meant that there was trouble in the mines , and a shiver went down the collective spines of all the wives in the community. It usually meant an injury, with a loss of earning power, or that at least one or more of the women would be widows with a family to rear. One of the saddest sights in the world is a gatheimg of the babushka-headed wives in their vigil during the period that their husbands are entombed by an explosion or cavein. An ode of songs was written about Floyd Collins, a cave explorer, who was caught in a cave fall-in, but no such ode or song was ever written about the Joe Slowboski's who, while pinned under a rock fall, have their still live flesh eaten by the rats which inhabit the mines. A description of the early coal miner's apparel seems to be in order here . His wearing apparel has and will continue to change almost as frequently as the equipment and machinery with which he labors. The well-dressed miner wore the very conventional bib-overalls (now in style with the teenagers) , a cloth or canvas cap with a leather frontal attachment for his carbide lamp, soft-toed miner's boots, a pair of gauntlet gloves , and a denim jacket with at least four pockets so he could carry his carbide-cader (container), blasting caps, blasting powder, squibs (a predecessor of the blasting cap), lamp cleaning tools, and his ever-present " railroad type" watch attached to a chain and placed carefully in the left breast pocket. However, the poor miner was not dressed in this fashion . He wore a pair of his old suit pants , patched or re-patched many times. His shirt was probably one of his discarded hunting shirts, and his shoes were discarded dress shoes repaired by tacking pieces of leather or rubber on the soles and heels . He didn 't wear gloves , but had, instead, a pair of well-calloused hands complete �100 SLOVAKIA with bruised knuckles and fingers . He couldn't afford a watch and he carried all the equipment described above in a 25 pound sugar sack. A new miner (a "greenie" ) was rapidly spotted by his unmarked apparel and the appearance of his hands . The dress of the modern miner is quite different. If the weather is cold he will be wearing insulated underwear, a matched shirt and trouser outfit , hard-toed shoes or boots (with steel plates for safety) a pair of denim cover-alls, wrist-cuff gloves , special leg bands to keep the trouser legs from contacting moving chains or ropes, a special strong plastic hard-hat with an attachment clip for his battery-powered headlamp, a wide leather belt with attachments for his lamp batter, self rescue kit and a few tools. For a time-piece he wears a shock-proof wrist watch. He is provided with a dust respirator that aids in keeping him from getting his lungs loaded with fine dust particles. In certain periods he must wear a dust counter to show the fine <lush count surrounding his work area. When fully dressed with all this special equipment, he is carrying an additional weight of about fifteen pounds. The mine official or mine inspector will be carrying, in addition , a flame safety , a methane detector, an anenometer, a roof testing stick. This additional equipment weighs about twenty-five pounds above that of the clothing. An eight-hour shift with that equipment is fatiguing without any actual work . The early miner was a pick and shovel miner and the "low coal" miner will be depicted here since the author's early experiences were in the low coal field. The mine can best be described as an underground city with the main mine entries as the city's boulevards. The mine's butt, or cross entries, are compared with a city's side streets and the mine ' s crosscuts as the city's narrow streets or alley ways. Along the main entries , side entries and cross cuts are located the pump stations, sub-stations , supply houses , dispatcher 's room and foreman's office. These stimulate the stores and business houses on the surface. As in the city , transportation is an important part of life in the mines . The mine tracks, locomotives , strings of coal cars, powered trolley feeder lines , telephone lines, walkie-talkie equi}iment all play a vital role in this function. Even the rush of the currents 'Of air passing continuously along the entries reminds one of standing on a comer in Pittsburgh , Columbus or Chicago on a breezy March morning. When one adds the waterlines, airlines, rock-dust boreholes and other accommodations , one has the complete " Bowel City, U.S.A. " However, in order to understand fully the miner 's environment one must concentrate on the underground streets , side streets and alleys. These were usually 12 to 18 feet wide and ranged from 28 inches to 10 feet in height. It is within �SLOVAKIA 101 this locale that the miner must perform his assigned duties. In the low coal seruns (under 50 inches) the miner spent most of his workshift of eight hours on his knees or in a crouched position. He could only stretch out by lying down or going out to the main heading (entry) where additional height permitted standing room for at least the shorter miners. Miners in the high-seruned coal mines could work in the standing position. In all coal mines, the miner worked under an immediate cover of various types of slate, shale, sand rock or other rock formations such as one might observe in a "rock cut" along a modern highway. The lowcoal miner, working within a height of less than 50 inches, did most of his work with a dual-pointed pick and a broad, flat shovel. He had the srune feel for his own pick and shovel as does the concert violinist for his own bow. He made his work area safer by placing props (sawed-off trees) between the floor and roof. These were made tight by a wooden wedge driven along the roof which served as a cap on the prop. These roof supports were placed at distances determined by safety laws and the wishes of the mine officials. Although the purpose of these props was to keep the roof from caving in and falling upon him, many miners did not put up these supports if they interfered with their loading operation. The pick-miner would dig down all the loose coal from the front and side walls of the coal seam. He would then lie on the mine floor, many times in small pools of water, to undermine the "face of the coal seam'' to a depth of three, four or five feet. This undercut near the face was about twelve to fifteen inches in height to permit the head, arms and shoulders to intrude underneath the undercut coal. This undercut extended the entire width of the entry, room or corridor which, as explained earlier, was from ten to eighteen feet. The miner then drilled holes to the depth of the undercut with a long drill called an auger. It resembles a cork screw and crune in lengths from five to eight feet. These holes were packed with black powder or dynamite and ignited with either a lighted squab (a fireworks type of lighter) or a blasting cap ignited by an electric charge. When the coal was blasted loose, the miner would break up the larger lumps (if any remained) and then shovel the coal into a mine car that he had pushed into his place (room) by hand . On occasion the car was pulled into his area by mules or horses. The above method of work continued every day. The miner spent most of his time in the crouched position or on his knees. He was the recipient of many bruises, cuts, scars, swellings and soreness. If the average citizen went through one such week , he would appreciate the �102 SLOVAKIA position of the miner when he fought for a union, and then utilized the union by means of strikes and walk-outs to achieve his goal of a decent wage for his efforts . Even into the 1930s coal miners went into the mines before daybreak and returned after dark. In a six-day week the only time the miner saw daylight was on Sunday. He had to work these long hours to provide food and clothing for his family. For these efforts he received 25 cents per hour and less than 25 cents per ton of loaded coal. Few miners made the sum of $5.00 per day. In those days, a father, uncle or brother took on the task of "breaking in " a new miner. If a boy entered the mine for training under a stranger, he got his identification check number on a "boycar '' basis which was generally every third mine car loaded. There also was an established custom whereby a companydesignated "weigh boss" (who was generally a " master " at "shortweighing" or "losing" car checks for the convenience of mine management) was employed as an official. He had the added crude duty of giving a miner a " dirty coal" slip. This indicated a loaded minecar of coal would be deducted, lost, or the workman would be given a day off for "loading dirty coal," or possibly discharged from his employment. One can readily see how easily it could become convenient to lay off or discharge a miner who was pro-union or an "agitator" at any given time. In a number of cases, the mine worker made a side agreement with the officials whereby he would be given some preferences as to the number of mine cars allotted to him or the ''privilege'' to work on days the mine was not scheduled for work. The mine foreman or his assistant thus became involved in many situations not of their own choosing. Is it any wonder that in a mine foreman examination, as recently as 1971, the question was asked as to what qualifications, other than those required by mining laws, a mine foreman should possess? One applicant, apparently of the old school, actually wrote, "He has to be a liar and a thief." (This was not the proper answer for the examination.) The physical conditions under which .t he pre-1920 coal miner had to perform his assigned duties were nothing short of atrocious. There was a poor, or the absolute minimum, supply of available timber to support the mine roof, and mine ventilation ·and direction of air to the working places of the miner was far below the minimum legally required standards of even that time . There were days on which a mine ventilating fan was in operation only part of the day when miners were �SLOVAKIA 103 actually in the mine. There were stoppings (walls) in crosscuts built to force air to work areas made of bone coal (impure) . These stoppages leaked like sieves which defeated the purpose of the stopping. There were areas where wprkmen had to fan the explosive smoke with their coats or coal shovels so tha\ they could see well enough to load their mine cars. There were situations where men used open-type carbide lamps that could ignite explosive gas . There were other situations where unsafe and open-type mining machinery was used, and where requirements for clearances along locomotives, mine cars and mine entries were abused or ignored. In other situations workmen were permitted to use black blasting powder for blasting coal and rock. The blasting shots fired in the work area resembled a " Fourth of July" celebration . There were cases where mine officials visited the mine workmen only once a week , once a year or when the mine inspector was in the area. Other times they visited the work areas only after an emergency or accident . The miners thought of as dumb "Hunkies," " Dagos ," or "Polacks " we re treated as an expendable commodity. When expended , it was only necessary to send to the old country for another boat-load of greenhorns. In those early days of mining when one walked down the main entry and heard the voices of the workers, one could envision the Tower of Babel or a gathering at the United Nations. From room to room the language shifted from Polish to Slovak, from German to Welsh , from Serbian to German, from Croatian to Italian, and sometimes to English, but usually a broken variety. One could spend a month in the mines without hearing one proper English sentence. Mining terminology took on ethnic overtones such as " hunky wedge," "scotch block ," "dago dolly," and "hunky pump ." In addition to this, coal mining terms, or language , varied (still does) from one mining area to another. For instance , the low-coal men in Pennsylvania call a temporary roof support a "prop" while the high-coal miners in the same state call it a ' 'post,' ' though their meaning and purpose are synonymous. This type of terminology was accepted by members of all ethnic groups in that locale . These expressions in the mines sound like another language , and any man from the street or from the news media would be fortunate to recognize ten percent of them . There are several terms which denote the quality of the atmosphere in the mines. Few people outside the mines could interpret the expression, " we need air," for the request to improve the ventilation of the work area by extending the line brattice (temporary wall) or canvas check curtain to force air into a required area . Similarly the �104 SLOVAKIA term "I found gas" in a miner's language means that he noted some evidence of methane on his flame safety lamp or on the methane detector. A third term, ' ' black damp,'' denotes a high content of carbon dioxide or a deficiency of oxygen (usually less than 15 percent). The term "hunky wedge" was derived from a patient workman who tapered a short piece of wood to fit over a mine post (prop) to make it secure and aid in controlling the mine roof. At a later date these wooden wedges were known as cap pieces, and were prepared by the sawmill and brought to the worker ready for use. The pressure of the earth and rock above the coal seam squeezes this coal seam until it breaks up and crumbles, especially when there are large spaces of unsupported roof. As the different rooms ran their ultimate distance as determined by good mining practices or limits of (mineral) rights, the "ribs" of coal left between the rooms were finally removed. The removal of these ribs or stumps was an art with the early pick-coal men. They brought the roof pressure to bear upon a block of coal which eliminated the hard pick work. The expressions for this operation were "easy coal" or "push coal." The miners who performed this operation were called "stump men." Althouh the work was easier in this area and the pay better, it was also more dangerous since there was the constant danger of being trapped or crushed by the falling rocks from the roof. A good "stump man" controlled the caving for his own safety. The term "dago-dolly" was used to describe a device which was invented to move the heavy steel rails into their positions in the mine track. Initially, the miner pulled the rail with his hands or his pick. Some miner developed a two-wheeled conveyance with attached handle and grip on the rail. This reduced the back-breaking work of pulling rails into place. The "hunky pump " was a horizontal-stoked pump that had to be operated manually to remove the water from the working place so that the miner could lay on the mine floor to dig the undercut in his coal. In many cases, the miner would go into the mines by 5 a.m. and begin pumping the water out of his place so that he could begin mining coal at 7 a.m. with the other miners . Again, this work of pumping was done without pay. \ There are many " holes " in mining terniinology_and they caused confusion to those outside the mining community. " Dog hole " was a mine operated into the hillside. It had poor ventilation ; was poorly maintained and usually employed those workers nobody else would hire . They were run on a shoe-string and usually produced coal for home use . " Man hole " is synonymous with a shelter hole or a hole in �105 SLOVAKIA the rib of coal. Aftimes, tbe miner, walking along the entry way, was faced with on-coming (or koing) traffic or locomotive and coal cars , either empty or loaded. Since these entry ways were narrow and the cars rolled, a hole was cut into the entry wall or rib to accommodate from one to three miners . Since these were spaced at specified distances, at the sound of the trip (string) of cars , the miner would seek out the nearest man hole. Incidently, the word locomotive was rarely used . The machine used to pull cars was simply referred to as •'the motor." The "dinner-hole" was generally a main side track off the main entry or so-called cross-cut. At this area men gathered to eat their lunches and there they hung their favorite pin-ups (obtained from calendars) or drew their own nudes with white chalk on the coal surface. This art resembles that found in public toilets today. The name •'tickle-back'' was given to those low-seamed coal mines that were less than 36 inches in height. Some were. as low as 28 to 29 inches . It wasn 't any wonder than the miner had numerous sores covering his back where he hit the uneven places on the mine roof. The unusual expression "to set a crib" has nothing to do with preparing a bed for the baby. It was one of most effective means of supporting the roof by erecting a framework of 5" x5"x30" wooden blocks at strategic places in a grill-work fashion. The term was also used when the individual miner filled in one side of his emptied work place with rock, slate and dirty coal and cribbed the ends to build up a wall like appearance. This was also called the • gob '' pile . The miner's light in the evaluation of mining has had a number of terms . The pit lamp, bug lamp , carbide lamp and cap lamp are examples of these. The pit and carbide lamps are practically extinct and will shortly be found only in the museums of mining. The battery powered light has completely taken over. The term "shooting off the solid" was an illegal and unsafe practice employed by some miners who wished to avoid the timeconsuming and back-breaking work of under-cutting the coal in preparation for blasting. The process was simply that of drilling holes in the solid coal near the roof or floor and blasting it loose with explosives. The danger in this process was that since the coal had no place to move, at times the pressure of the concussion broke the slate or rock of the roof and made it unsafe for the miner. The term hand me the persuader'' was not referring to a whip for animals or humans but a sledge hammer used by the so-called mechanics who were in a hurry. They used them to drive shafts , gears , etc. into their proper alignment. Such a sight would have caused the 1 11 �106 SLOVAKIA inventor of that machine to tum over in his grave. The sledge was the answer to all difficult problems. The term "yellow boy" was and is used in conjunction with iron pyrites found in the mine water. It clogs the pipe lines and sump areas and is a nemesis to the present environmentalist. The '' go devil'' is the apparatus which is used to ream this material out of the pipes. It may be a simple rod, wire or spring or it may be attached to a motor which turns it in a boring fashion . The term "black damp" was explained earlier. The term was taken from the ancient term " damp of darkness " and means a condition where there is less than 15 percent oxygen or where carbon dioxide exists in heavy concentrations in the mine atmosphere. It probably got its name by ''putting someone's lights out.'' In contrast to this, the term "white damp" was a name for carbon monoxide and "stink damp " was the presence of hydrogen sulphide. As any high school chemistry student knows, this latter material had the odor of rotten eggs. " Bug dust" has nothing to do with insecticides. This dust is the result of machine mining and the breaking up of the coal seam into fine particles. After machine mining this fine dust must be removed from the undercut of coal. This permits the explosive to work more effectively by blasting the coal away from the mine roof. Some of the terms heard about the mine had meanings related to mining but not to the actual work of the mines. One such term was the " hoot-owl" shift from 11 p .m. to 7 a.m., or midnight to 8 a.m. Miners usually rotated shifts and this was the one disliked by most since it was impossible to become acclimated to a change in sleeping hours every three weeks. The expression, " today the eagle shifts, " was a wellknown expression for payday in the mines. Also , on his way home he might "stop at the grab, " which meant to stop at the company store. The name was derived from the fact that the company store grabbed all they earned. While at the store they bought "dog meat" for the lunch pails . This was the cheapest form of ground meat, a form of bologna. In addition to the terms above the miners had some descriptive nicknames for each other. It was not unusu~l to meet "Cadillac Joe ," " Quick-Steps, " "Moose, " or " Shorty, " as ope walked along a " mantrip" which was ready to enter the mines. Only the cowboys of the old West had such descriptive names for each other. Thus, it is evident that the coal miners actually do have a language which only other miners understand. I believe it would be appropriate for the media to become conversant with the language of the mines , especially when describing a mine disaster. � FICTION ��SLOVAKIA 93 Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner GEORGE P. RESICK What has been and what is now the environment of the rough , tough , and hard-working ' 'man of the earth' '? How did he live in the 1800s and early 1900s, lifting himself by his very bootstraps by means of his miner's union in his earnest desire to make his life better and to become accepted at least as a middle-class American? He came from nearly every ethnic group possible - the Welsh, Irish , Slovaks , Scots , Poles , Hungarians , Italians, Blacks and others. He was often referred to as a dumb "Hunky," Dago , Griener, Johnny Bull and other names which caused many verbal and physical battles . Although the modern Black man rightly feels the injustice of discrimination , a member of these other ethnic groups , too, had to come through many a heartbreak as to " what side of town " he could live in, what games he could participate in, and in what section of the school room he could be seated. Even when he came to the mines his ethnic background determined the section of the mine he was to be assigned to and the classification of the work within this area. This period of discrimination was shortened by inter-marriages between ethnic groups and the desire by individuals in all ethnic groups to achieve success in their work. Athletics served as a social elevator for many , since work and athletics were the center of community activities. Before too long, it was discovered that the word " dumb, " as related to the miner and his family , was in essence a lack of education rather than intelligence . The processes of increased educational opportunities and greater social acceptance were extremely slow. Few sons or daughters of miners finished high school prior to 1930. Education ended for them the day they obtained their ' 'working papers. ' ' The sons went to the mines and the daughters to factories, stores or to domestic service. In the entire community of three thousand in which the author was born and reared there were probably less than six miners ' children who went to college prior to 1932. Only one teacher in this same community was college-educated. In retrospect, it is heart-rending to recall how few of the ethnicgroup parents could either read or write in any language, let alone English. Many could not even sign for their pay checks but simply marked an X for their signatures . Because of this, they were open game �94 SLOVAKIA for the "con" artist who took advantage of the uneducated. Letters were written for them and read to them until their own children obtained the minimal education to perform this function. These brave, strong people migrated to this country for the expressed purpose of ''the right to work as a free individual'' and to have the right to worship God in the way they choose. Although history records great people and movements, it must be pointed out that a vital part of the growth of this nation was due to groups such as miners , farmers, etc. who became the backbone of the industrial complex. The brave miner has played his part in bringing this nation to its leadership position in the world today. The road to recognition was not a rosy one for the miner and his family when one recalls his early environment: the rows of company houses or the so-called "patch," some of which still exist; the traditional little outhouse (two-seater) in the backyard; the two chimneys for the cooking and heating stoves; the place behind one of these stoves for the Saturday night bath in a galvanized tub; the two or three beds where a family of five to ten was "accommodated" - three to a bed; the backyard garden of nearly every family which became a necessity for summer existence and for preserving some food stuff for winter or when ''work was slow''; the coal shed and chicken coop or pig sty in the backyard; the many ingenious ideas for survival, such as picking berries, wild-roots, chestnuts and other free foods. The " company house " was part of the vicious circle by which the coal company completely controlled the life of the miner. These houses were unpainted clapboard of the cheapest construction, all identical. It wasn 't unusual for a drunken miner to enter the wrong house since the only difference was his house's position in the row . The more fortunate had water in the kitchen but practically none of them had sanitary facilities. The company rarely repaired the houses and, since the miner didn 't own them, maintenance was always minimal. These homes were often inhabited by rats, mice, roaches, ants and flies , which destroyed some of the food badly needed by the family. These facts were brought out clearly in recent years when the coal companies sold these houses to the miners. A dramatic change took ~lace and the houses immediately improved immeasurably . _ A picture of the miner's environment wouldn 't be complete without comment on the special row of company houses for the mine administrators , which included the superintendent (super), the pit boss and the fire boss. These men were the "elite" of the mining camps , and their houses the envy of . the miners since they included indoor toilets, indoor baths and a central furnace (they usually were furnished �SLOVAKIA 95 free coal). The residents of these homes dressed well and didn't have to resort to placing cardboard in the soles of their shoes to protect their feet. Even a more integral part of the vicious circle was the company store. Its only parallel in modem society is the loan shark business. If ever a story were written by a company store manager it would be as startling as any in the country's history. The coal company store surely must be given recognition as one of the initiators of the credit card system. To this day many ~odem coal miners absolutely forbid their wives to have credit cards or establish credit at legitimate stores because of their memories of the company store. There were numerous families who lived in virtual slavery due to the fact that they lived in the company house, shopped at the company store and worked in the company mine. If the coal company had a store, the miner was forced to shop at the store or seek employment elsewhere . The coal company used "scrip," a written order for the amount of the miner's earnings for the day. The man's wife could then go to the store to purchase the bare necessities to keep the family alive. The prices at the company store were always much higher than the independent stores in the area. The company store stocked every item possible to keep the miner from finding an excuse to visit any other local merchant, except the town saloon. This latter precaution was unnecessary since the miner rarely got any of his salary in cash, except for a required monetary remuneration which usually amounted to one dollar. The company store never needed to advertise or have "sales." It had a ' 'captive'' clientele which allowed the store manager to raise prices beyond normal to show management an increased profit. As the miner's union became stronger in the early 1930s, it slowly brought the demise of one of the most vicious of the '' free enterprise ' ' systems in the history of this nation. Even then it was a slow death, as mine officials would remind the miner that he must buy something at the company store. The miner usually agreed to purchase some furniture or appliance from the company store and to have a minimum of $10 taken from his earnings each payday. Slowly, however, the company store died out since it could not compete with the open market. What a vicious circle had been the lot of the entrapped miner: no job unless he bought at the store; usually no cash left on payday which meant he couldn't move; the mine operator making the profits on his productive work, his store purchases and the rental of his home. The miner was virtually a captive in a free society. If the "Union " never accomplished another thing, it certainly lifted the "yoke of indebtedness" from the shoulders of the miner by �96 SLOVAKIA combatting the effects of the company store on his life. These disgraceful conditions still exist in some small mining communities where the coal company owns all the property, including the stores and gas stations. They literally "own the town." However, in most mining communities now, many stores are operated by individuals in open competition with company stores. Try to imagine, if you can, the plight of a coal miner's family of four to fourteen children, all of them dependent upon the wages of the father-miner. Imagine the impossibility of providing a proper diet on the father's wages of from $1.50 to $3.50 per day. To do this he even went into the mines on days that the mine was not in operation. He would stock (store) coal and take up the bottom or top rock to permit him to lay his new track. He performed all this so that he might be ready to load coal on work days and keep up with the alloted number of mine cars assigned to him. He would walk into the mines several hours before starting time (7 a.m.) on workdays to hand pump (or remove with a bucket) the water that had accumulated in his place of work. He did this without pay. How did the miner and his family manage? Without a doubt, it wasn 't easy, and in some cases he didn 't manage. Many of the miners' families died before they reached the age of ·50, although life expectancy was much higher in this country. The only way they survived even to that age was that the typical mother would make certain, by one means or another, that a bag of flour, a bag of potatoes, some cabbage, beans, cornmeal and a few other staples were on hand. These mothers were masters of ingenuity on how to make cabbage, beans and flour into mouth-watering delicacies for their children . But they had to serve the same foods so often that, in later years, the children detested the very sight of these foods. In these present times one reads of poverty, relief, food stamps, etc. but in all the years since the author 's boyhood there has been no poverty that could in any way compare to that of the early days in the mining community. How did these people survive? Those that did had outside food sources such as a few chickens , a pig or cow. On the days the mines were idle, the miner became a gardener ~d raised fresh vegetables. He spent many hours planting, weeding, reII].oving ii?-sects (insecticides were not in use then). Some of those garde_n s would have compared favorably with the experimental gardens run by the Department of Agriculture . The miner also became a hunter and a fisherman, not for the sport itself, but for the food it provided for his family. This did not reduce in way the pleasures of the activity. In some critical periods the father-miner and his sons became thieves, visiting local farms at night �SLOVAKIA 97 and stealing chickens, com and fruit in order to survive. Some of them were caught, beaten or jailed, and then their families were in deep difficulty since they (those caught) could not earn the pittance available to them. What type of man is this who lived through the conditions described above, and still today goes deep into the bowels of the earth to earn his living? The aver~ge coal miner was and is hardworking, tough talking, sometimes hard drinking, and many times a deliberate braggard . He can load a tremendous tonnage of coal and later stand at his favorite bar with his mining buddies. In fact, sometimes it seemed as though the coal dust was ankle-deep near the bar. In the '' cross-cut dinner hole ' ' of the mines, he brags about his tremendous conquests of women. This is depicted in his graffiti drawn with white chalk upon the black coal or rock walls or roof. He is direct rather than devious and obscure. This point is well illustrated by the comment of a young miner, who, when discussing his relationship with women, said that upon meeting a woman in whom he was interested he immediately asked her if she " screwed." When asked if he didn't get his face slapped, he replied "often, but on the other hand you'd be surprised how often I got a positive answer ." He may better be described by the poem entitled ' 'Lust.' ' He grabbed me round my slender neck I could not call or scream. He dragged me to this dingy room Where we would not be seen. He tore away my flimsy wrap and looked upon my form. I was so cold and damp and scared, While he was hot and warm. He drained me of my very self, I could not make him stop . His feverish lips he pressed to mine; I gave him every drop . He made me what I am today, That's why you find me here , A broken bottle thrown away That was once full of beer. Anon. This author has been employed as a coal miner, mine official, mine inspector and coal operator for more than 44 years and cannot help but �98 SLOVAKIA feel that the American public has had a mistaken image of the coal miner. This may be due to reports and articles written by writers who lack insight and experience in the mining industry. A true story may illustrate this point. A coal miner's son met and became interested in a New York banker's daughter while attending the same college. Eventually the banker invited the family to visit them in New York. Upon seeing the coal miner, one of the banker's first remarks was ''You aren't at all what I expected!" What had he expected? Did he expect a dirty, uncouth and stupid individual often portrayed in the media? In reality the average miner is a hard worker; he is honest with a sharp and inventive mind; he is cooperative and, in most instances, religious. He is probably cleaner than many white or blue collar workers since he is forced to bathe everyday. Unfortunately his lack of opportunity for education has been confused with the lack of motivation for an education. This is now changed and the educational level among the miners has risen drastically in the last score of years. His higher salary scale now enables him to live at the middle-class level of society . In the early days of mining, in order to eke out a living, many a miner did not hesitate to get up as early as 3 a.m., walk into the mine with only water in his dinner pail, and begin his preliminary work. He, at times, shifted as many as ten loaded coal cars in order to get the one empty car left from the previous day's work. If there were no empty cars available for loading, he performed many time-consuming tasks known as "dead work" since it was done without pay. These tasks included taking up the bottom rock for additional height, laying the track, setting the safety timbers, removing water from the work area, cleaning slate and impurities from the coal to be loaded, and even piling coal in areas to permit more rapid loading, since the only thing that counted, and for which he was paid, was the actual coal he loaded into the cars . All this preliminary work w~s done so that he would "have the jump on his fellow miners" when the day's work actually started . When one considers all this so-called "dead work ," isn't it natural that the miner demanded more, or at least some pay , for his "dead work"? This is one of the underlying reasons that the miner formed and supported his union . Many of these early miners did more free (dead work) before the starting time of 7 a.m. than do many of the modern miners at their hourly rate of six and seven dollars per hour. At times an unexpected rockfall would consume most of his working day and this had an immediate effect on his family since it was directly connected with the food purchases for that day. �SLOVAKIA 99 The wife and mother, .too, got up at this time (or earlier) to see that her husband had his break{ast if food was available , and to pack the lunch pail when food was plentiful. After her husband left for work, she began a back-breaking day of kneading and baking bread, washing clothes and wringing them out by hand to be hung out to dry. After an hour or two she would awaken the children and supervise their preparation for school which included the everlasting job of mending to hold the threads of their garments together. Her work continued until she was ready for her trip to the weigh-scales to obtain a slip for the coal her husband loaded that day. This slip would determine how much food would be available for the family that night and the next day. On the days the rock fell to interfere with the loading of coal, the soup was thinner and the dish of beans and meat was mostly beans. The best time of her day was when the children came from school and the closing whistle sounded from the mines. The worst times in her life were when the mine whistle blew before the regular quitting time. This meant that there was trouble in the mines , and a shiver went down the collective spines of all the wives in the community. It usually meant an injury, with a loss of earning power, or that at least one or more of the women would be widows with a family to rear. One of the saddest sights in the world is a gatheimg of the babushka-headed wives in their vigil during the period that their husbands are entombed by an explosion or cavein. An ode of songs was written about Floyd Collins, a cave explorer, who was caught in a cave fall-in, but no such ode or song was ever written about the Joe Slowboski's who, while pinned under a rock fall, have their still live flesh eaten by the rats which inhabit the mines. A description of the early coal miner's apparel seems to be in order here . His wearing apparel has and will continue to change almost as frequently as the equipment and machinery with which he labors. The well-dressed miner wore the very conventional bib-overalls (now in style with the teenagers) , a cloth or canvas cap with a leather frontal attachment for his carbide lamp, soft-toed miner's boots, a pair of gauntlet gloves , and a denim jacket with at least four pockets so he could carry his carbide-cader (container), blasting caps, blasting powder, squibs (a predecessor of the blasting cap), lamp cleaning tools, and his ever-present " railroad type" watch attached to a chain and placed carefully in the left breast pocket. However, the poor miner was not dressed in this fashion . He wore a pair of his old suit pants , patched or re-patched many times. His shirt was probably one of his discarded hunting shirts, and his shoes were discarded dress shoes repaired by tacking pieces of leather or rubber on the soles and heels . He didn 't wear gloves , but had, instead, a pair of well-calloused hands complete �100 SLOVAKIA with bruised knuckles and fingers . He couldn't afford a watch and he carried all the equipment described above in a 25 pound sugar sack. A new miner (a "greenie" ) was rapidly spotted by his unmarked apparel and the appearance of his hands . The dress of the modern miner is quite different. If the weather is cold he will be wearing insulated underwear, a matched shirt and trouser outfit , hard-toed shoes or boots (with steel plates for safety) a pair of denim cover-alls, wrist-cuff gloves , special leg bands to keep the trouser legs from contacting moving chains or ropes, a special strong plastic hard-hat with an attachment clip for his battery-powered headlamp, a wide leather belt with attachments for his lamp batter, self rescue kit and a few tools. For a time-piece he wears a shock-proof wrist watch. He is provided with a dust respirator that aids in keeping him from getting his lungs loaded with fine dust particles. In certain periods he must wear a dust counter to show the fine <lush count surrounding his work area. When fully dressed with all this special equipment, he is carrying an additional weight of about fifteen pounds. The mine official or mine inspector will be carrying, in addition , a flame safety , a methane detector, an anenometer, a roof testing stick. This additional equipment weighs about twenty-five pounds above that of the clothing. An eight-hour shift with that equipment is fatiguing without any actual work . The early miner was a pick and shovel miner and the "low coal" miner will be depicted here since the author's early experiences were in the low coal field. The mine can best be described as an underground city with the main mine entries as the city's boulevards. The mine's butt, or cross entries, are compared with a city's side streets and the mine ' s crosscuts as the city's narrow streets or alley ways. Along the main entries , side entries and cross cuts are located the pump stations, sub-stations , supply houses , dispatcher 's room and foreman's office. These stimulate the stores and business houses on the surface. As in the city , transportation is an important part of life in the mines . The mine tracks, locomotives , strings of coal cars, powered trolley feeder lines , telephone lines, walkie-talkie equi}iment all play a vital role in this function. Even the rush of the currents 'Of air passing continuously along the entries reminds one of standing on a comer in Pittsburgh , Columbus or Chicago on a breezy March morning. When one adds the waterlines, airlines, rock-dust boreholes and other accommodations , one has the complete " Bowel City, U.S.A. " However, in order to understand fully the miner 's environment one must concentrate on the underground streets , side streets and alleys. These were usually 12 to 18 feet wide and ranged from 28 inches to 10 feet in height. It is within �SLOVAKIA 101 this locale that the miner must perform his assigned duties. In the low coal seruns (under 50 inches) the miner spent most of his workshift of eight hours on his knees or in a crouched position. He could only stretch out by lying down or going out to the main heading (entry) where additional height permitted standing room for at least the shorter miners. Miners in the high-seruned coal mines could work in the standing position. In all coal mines, the miner worked under an immediate cover of various types of slate, shale, sand rock or other rock formations such as one might observe in a "rock cut" along a modern highway. The lowcoal miner, working within a height of less than 50 inches, did most of his work with a dual-pointed pick and a broad, flat shovel. He had the srune feel for his own pick and shovel as does the concert violinist for his own bow. He made his work area safer by placing props (sawed-off trees) between the floor and roof. These were made tight by a wooden wedge driven along the roof which served as a cap on the prop. These roof supports were placed at distances determined by safety laws and the wishes of the mine officials. Although the purpose of these props was to keep the roof from caving in and falling upon him, many miners did not put up these supports if they interfered with their loading operation. The pick-miner would dig down all the loose coal from the front and side walls of the coal seam. He would then lie on the mine floor, many times in small pools of water, to undermine the "face of the coal seam'' to a depth of three, four or five feet. This undercut near the face was about twelve to fifteen inches in height to permit the head, arms and shoulders to intrude underneath the undercut coal. This undercut extended the entire width of the entry, room or corridor which, as explained earlier, was from ten to eighteen feet. The miner then drilled holes to the depth of the undercut with a long drill called an auger. It resembles a cork screw and crune in lengths from five to eight feet. These holes were packed with black powder or dynamite and ignited with either a lighted squab (a fireworks type of lighter) or a blasting cap ignited by an electric charge. When the coal was blasted loose, the miner would break up the larger lumps (if any remained) and then shovel the coal into a mine car that he had pushed into his place (room) by hand . On occasion the car was pulled into his area by mules or horses. The above method of work continued every day. The miner spent most of his time in the crouched position or on his knees. He was the recipient of many bruises, cuts, scars, swellings and soreness. If the average citizen went through one such week , he would appreciate the �102 SLOVAKIA position of the miner when he fought for a union, and then utilized the union by means of strikes and walk-outs to achieve his goal of a decent wage for his efforts . Even into the 1930s coal miners went into the mines before daybreak and returned after dark. In a six-day week the only time the miner saw daylight was on Sunday. He had to work these long hours to provide food and clothing for his family. For these efforts he received 25 cents per hour and less than 25 cents per ton of loaded coal. Few miners made the sum of $5.00 per day. In those days, a father, uncle or brother took on the task of "breaking in " a new miner. If a boy entered the mine for training under a stranger, he got his identification check number on a "boycar '' basis which was generally every third mine car loaded. There also was an established custom whereby a companydesignated "weigh boss" (who was generally a " master " at "shortweighing" or "losing" car checks for the convenience of mine management) was employed as an official. He had the added crude duty of giving a miner a " dirty coal" slip. This indicated a loaded minecar of coal would be deducted, lost, or the workman would be given a day off for "loading dirty coal," or possibly discharged from his employment. One can readily see how easily it could become convenient to lay off or discharge a miner who was pro-union or an "agitator" at any given time. In a number of cases, the mine worker made a side agreement with the officials whereby he would be given some preferences as to the number of mine cars allotted to him or the ''privilege'' to work on days the mine was not scheduled for work. The mine foreman or his assistant thus became involved in many situations not of their own choosing. Is it any wonder that in a mine foreman examination, as recently as 1971, the question was asked as to what qualifications, other than those required by mining laws, a mine foreman should possess? One applicant, apparently of the old school, actually wrote, "He has to be a liar and a thief." (This was not the proper answer for the examination.) The physical conditions under which .t he pre-1920 coal miner had to perform his assigned duties were nothing short of atrocious. There was a poor, or the absolute minimum, supply of available timber to support the mine roof, and mine ventilation ·and direction of air to the working places of the miner was far below the minimum legally required standards of even that time . There were days on which a mine ventilating fan was in operation only part of the day when miners were �SLOVAKIA 103 actually in the mine. There were stoppings (walls) in crosscuts built to force air to work areas made of bone coal (impure) . These stoppages leaked like sieves which defeated the purpose of the stopping. There were areas where wprkmen had to fan the explosive smoke with their coats or coal shovels so tha\ they could see well enough to load their mine cars. There were situations where men used open-type carbide lamps that could ignite explosive gas . There were other situations where unsafe and open-type mining machinery was used, and where requirements for clearances along locomotives, mine cars and mine entries were abused or ignored. In other situations workmen were permitted to use black blasting powder for blasting coal and rock. The blasting shots fired in the work area resembled a " Fourth of July" celebration . There were cases where mine officials visited the mine workmen only once a week , once a year or when the mine inspector was in the area. Other times they visited the work areas only after an emergency or accident . The miners thought of as dumb "Hunkies," " Dagos ," or "Polacks " we re treated as an expendable commodity. When expended , it was only necessary to send to the old country for another boat-load of greenhorns. In those early days of mining when one walked down the main entry and heard the voices of the workers, one could envision the Tower of Babel or a gathering at the United Nations. From room to room the language shifted from Polish to Slovak, from German to Welsh , from Serbian to German, from Croatian to Italian, and sometimes to English, but usually a broken variety. One could spend a month in the mines without hearing one proper English sentence. Mining terminology took on ethnic overtones such as " hunky wedge," "scotch block ," "dago dolly," and "hunky pump ." In addition to this, coal mining terms, or language , varied (still does) from one mining area to another. For instance , the low-coal men in Pennsylvania call a temporary roof support a "prop" while the high-coal miners in the same state call it a ' 'post,' ' though their meaning and purpose are synonymous. This type of terminology was accepted by members of all ethnic groups in that locale . These expressions in the mines sound like another language , and any man from the street or from the news media would be fortunate to recognize ten percent of them . There are several terms which denote the quality of the atmosphere in the mines. Few people outside the mines could interpret the expression, " we need air," for the request to improve the ventilation of the work area by extending the line brattice (temporary wall) or canvas check curtain to force air into a required area . Similarly the �104 SLOVAKIA term "I found gas" in a miner's language means that he noted some evidence of methane on his flame safety lamp or on the methane detector. A third term, ' ' black damp,'' denotes a high content of carbon dioxide or a deficiency of oxygen (usually less than 15 percent). The term "hunky wedge" was derived from a patient workman who tapered a short piece of wood to fit over a mine post (prop) to make it secure and aid in controlling the mine roof. At a later date these wooden wedges were known as cap pieces, and were prepared by the sawmill and brought to the worker ready for use. The pressure of the earth and rock above the coal seam squeezes this coal seam until it breaks up and crumbles, especially when there are large spaces of unsupported roof. As the different rooms ran their ultimate distance as determined by good mining practices or limits of (mineral) rights, the "ribs" of coal left between the rooms were finally removed. The removal of these ribs or stumps was an art with the early pick-coal men. They brought the roof pressure to bear upon a block of coal which eliminated the hard pick work. The expressions for this operation were "easy coal" or "push coal." The miners who performed this operation were called "stump men." Althouh the work was easier in this area and the pay better, it was also more dangerous since there was the constant danger of being trapped or crushed by the falling rocks from the roof. A good "stump man" controlled the caving for his own safety. The term "dago-dolly" was used to describe a device which was invented to move the heavy steel rails into their positions in the mine track. Initially, the miner pulled the rail with his hands or his pick. Some miner developed a two-wheeled conveyance with attached handle and grip on the rail. This reduced the back-breaking work of pulling rails into place. The "hunky pump " was a horizontal-stoked pump that had to be operated manually to remove the water from the working place so that the miner could lay on the mine floor to dig the undercut in his coal. In many cases, the miner would go into the mines by 5 a.m. and begin pumping the water out of his place so that he could begin mining coal at 7 a.m. with the other miners . Again, this work of pumping was done without pay. \ There are many " holes " in mining terniinology_and they caused confusion to those outside the mining community. " Dog hole " was a mine operated into the hillside. It had poor ventilation ; was poorly maintained and usually employed those workers nobody else would hire . They were run on a shoe-string and usually produced coal for home use . " Man hole " is synonymous with a shelter hole or a hole in �105 SLOVAKIA the rib of coal. Aftimes, tbe miner, walking along the entry way, was faced with on-coming (or koing) traffic or locomotive and coal cars , either empty or loaded. Since these entry ways were narrow and the cars rolled, a hole was cut into the entry wall or rib to accommodate from one to three miners . Since these were spaced at specified distances, at the sound of the trip (string) of cars , the miner would seek out the nearest man hole. Incidently, the word locomotive was rarely used . The machine used to pull cars was simply referred to as •'the motor." The "dinner-hole" was generally a main side track off the main entry or so-called cross-cut. At this area men gathered to eat their lunches and there they hung their favorite pin-ups (obtained from calendars) or drew their own nudes with white chalk on the coal surface. This art resembles that found in public toilets today. The name •'tickle-back'' was given to those low-seamed coal mines that were less than 36 inches in height. Some were. as low as 28 to 29 inches . It wasn 't any wonder than the miner had numerous sores covering his back where he hit the uneven places on the mine roof. The unusual expression "to set a crib" has nothing to do with preparing a bed for the baby. It was one of most effective means of supporting the roof by erecting a framework of 5" x5"x30" wooden blocks at strategic places in a grill-work fashion. The term was also used when the individual miner filled in one side of his emptied work place with rock, slate and dirty coal and cribbed the ends to build up a wall like appearance. This was also called the • gob '' pile . The miner's light in the evaluation of mining has had a number of terms . The pit lamp, bug lamp , carbide lamp and cap lamp are examples of these. The pit and carbide lamps are practically extinct and will shortly be found only in the museums of mining. The battery powered light has completely taken over. The term "shooting off the solid" was an illegal and unsafe practice employed by some miners who wished to avoid the timeconsuming and back-breaking work of under-cutting the coal in preparation for blasting. The process was simply that of drilling holes in the solid coal near the roof or floor and blasting it loose with explosives. The danger in this process was that since the coal had no place to move, at times the pressure of the concussion broke the slate or rock of the roof and made it unsafe for the miner. The term hand me the persuader'' was not referring to a whip for animals or humans but a sledge hammer used by the so-called mechanics who were in a hurry. They used them to drive shafts , gears , etc. into their proper alignment. Such a sight would have caused the 1 11 �106 SLOVAKIA inventor of that machine to tum over in his grave. The sledge was the answer to all difficult problems. The term "yellow boy" was and is used in conjunction with iron pyrites found in the mine water. It clogs the pipe lines and sump areas and is a nemesis to the present environmentalist. The '' go devil'' is the apparatus which is used to ream this material out of the pipes. It may be a simple rod, wire or spring or it may be attached to a motor which turns it in a boring fashion . The term "black damp" was explained earlier. The term was taken from the ancient term " damp of darkness " and means a condition where there is less than 15 percent oxygen or where carbon dioxide exists in heavy concentrations in the mine atmosphere. It probably got its name by ''putting someone's lights out.'' In contrast to this, the term "white damp" was a name for carbon monoxide and "stink damp " was the presence of hydrogen sulphide. As any high school chemistry student knows, this latter material had the odor of rotten eggs. " Bug dust" has nothing to do with insecticides. This dust is the result of machine mining and the breaking up of the coal seam into fine particles. After machine mining this fine dust must be removed from the undercut of coal. This permits the explosive to work more effectively by blasting the coal away from the mine roof. Some of the terms heard about the mine had meanings related to mining but not to the actual work of the mines. One such term was the " hoot-owl" shift from 11 p .m. to 7 a.m., or midnight to 8 a.m. Miners usually rotated shifts and this was the one disliked by most since it was impossible to become acclimated to a change in sleeping hours every three weeks. The expression, " today the eagle shifts, " was a wellknown expression for payday in the mines. Also , on his way home he might "stop at the grab, " which meant to stop at the company store. The name was derived from the fact that the company store grabbed all they earned. While at the store they bought "dog meat" for the lunch pails . This was the cheapest form of ground meat, a form of bologna. In addition to the terms above the miners had some descriptive nicknames for each other. It was not unusu~l to meet "Cadillac Joe ," " Quick-Steps, " "Moose, " or " Shorty, " as ope walked along a " mantrip" which was ready to enter the mines. Only the cowboys of the old West had such descriptive names for each other. Thus, it is evident that the coal miners actually do have a language which only other miners understand. I believe it would be appropriate for the media to become conversant with the language of the mines , especially when describing a mine disaster. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document FICTION SLOVAKIA 93 Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner GEORGE P. RESICK What has been and what is now the environment of the rough , tough , and hard-working ' 'man of the earth' '? How did he live in the 1800s and early 1900s, lifting himself by his very bootstraps by means of his miner's union in his earnest desire to make his life better and to become accepted at least as a middle-class American? He came from nearly every ethnic group possible - the Welsh, Irish , Slovaks , Scots , Poles , Hungarians , Italians, Blacks and others. He was often referred to as a dumb "Hunky," Dago , Griener, Johnny Bull and other names which caused many verbal and physical battles . Although the modern Black man rightly feels the injustice of discrimination , a member of these other ethnic groups , too, had to come through many a heartbreak as to " what side of town " he could live in, what games he could participate in, and in what section of the school room he could be seated. Even when he came to the mines his ethnic background determined the section of the mine he was to be assigned to and the classification of the work within this area. This period of discrimination was shortened by inter-marriages between ethnic groups and the desire by individuals in all ethnic groups to achieve success in their work. Athletics served as a social elevator for many , since work and athletics were the center of community activities. Before too long, it was discovered that the word " dumb, " as related to the miner and his family , was in essence a lack of education rather than intelligence . The processes of increased educational opportunities and greater social acceptance were extremely slow. Few sons or daughters of miners finished high school prior to 1930. Education ended for them the day they obtained their ' 'working papers. ' ' The sons went to the mines and the daughters to factories, stores or to domestic service. In the entire community of three thousand in which the author was born and reared there were probably less than six miners ' children who went to college prior to 1932. Only one teacher in this same community was college-educated. In retrospect, it is heart-rending to recall how few of the ethnicgroup parents could either read or write in any language, let alone English. Many could not even sign for their pay checks but simply marked an X for their signatures . Because of this, they were open game 94 SLOVAKIA for the "con" artist who took advantage of the uneducated. Letters were written for them and read to them until their own children obtained the minimal education to perform this function. These brave, strong people migrated to this country for the expressed purpose of ''the right to work as a free individual'' and to have the right to worship God in the way they choose. Although history records great people and movements, it must be pointed out that a vital part of the growth of this nation was due to groups such as miners , farmers, etc. who became the backbone of the industrial complex. The brave miner has played his part in bringing this nation to its leadership position in the world today. The road to recognition was not a rosy one for the miner and his family when one recalls his early environment: the rows of company houses or the so-called "patch," some of which still exist; the traditional little outhouse (two-seater) in the backyard; the two chimneys for the cooking and heating stoves; the place behind one of these stoves for the Saturday night bath in a galvanized tub; the two or three beds where a family of five to ten was "accommodated" - three to a bed; the backyard garden of nearly every family which became a necessity for summer existence and for preserving some food stuff for winter or when ''work was slow''; the coal shed and chicken coop or pig sty in the backyard; the many ingenious ideas for survival, such as picking berries, wild-roots, chestnuts and other free foods. The " company house " was part of the vicious circle by which the coal company completely controlled the life of the miner. These houses were unpainted clapboard of the cheapest construction, all identical. It wasn 't unusual for a drunken miner to enter the wrong house since the only difference was his house's position in the row . The more fortunate had water in the kitchen but practically none of them had sanitary facilities. The company rarely repaired the houses and, since the miner didn 't own them, maintenance was always minimal. These homes were often inhabited by rats, mice, roaches, ants and flies , which destroyed some of the food badly needed by the family. These facts were brought out clearly in recent years when the coal companies sold these houses to the miners. A dramatic change took ~lace and the houses immediately improved immeasurably . _ A picture of the miner's environment wouldn 't be complete without comment on the special row of company houses for the mine administrators , which included the superintendent (super), the pit boss and the fire boss. These men were the "elite" of the mining camps , and their houses the envy of . the miners since they included indoor toilets, indoor baths and a central furnace (they usually were furnished SLOVAKIA 95 free coal). The residents of these homes dressed well and didn't have to resort to placing cardboard in the soles of their shoes to protect their feet. Even a more integral part of the vicious circle was the company store. Its only parallel in modem society is the loan shark business. If ever a story were written by a company store manager it would be as startling as any in the country's history. The coal company store surely must be given recognition as one of the initiators of the credit card system. To this day many ~odem coal miners absolutely forbid their wives to have credit cards or establish credit at legitimate stores because of their memories of the company store. There were numerous families who lived in virtual slavery due to the fact that they lived in the company house, shopped at the company store and worked in the company mine. If the coal company had a store, the miner was forced to shop at the store or seek employment elsewhere . The coal company used "scrip," a written order for the amount of the miner's earnings for the day. The man's wife could then go to the store to purchase the bare necessities to keep the family alive. The prices at the company store were always much higher than the independent stores in the area. The company store stocked every item possible to keep the miner from finding an excuse to visit any other local merchant, except the town saloon. This latter precaution was unnecessary since the miner rarely got any of his salary in cash, except for a required monetary remuneration which usually amounted to one dollar. The company store never needed to advertise or have "sales." It had a ' 'captive'' clientele which allowed the store manager to raise prices beyond normal to show management an increased profit. As the miner's union became stronger in the early 1930s, it slowly brought the demise of one of the most vicious of the '' free enterprise ' ' systems in the history of this nation. Even then it was a slow death, as mine officials would remind the miner that he must buy something at the company store. The miner usually agreed to purchase some furniture or appliance from the company store and to have a minimum of $10 taken from his earnings each payday. Slowly, however, the company store died out since it could not compete with the open market. What a vicious circle had been the lot of the entrapped miner: no job unless he bought at the store; usually no cash left on payday which meant he couldn't move; the mine operator making the profits on his productive work, his store purchases and the rental of his home. The miner was virtually a captive in a free society. If the "Union " never accomplished another thing, it certainly lifted the "yoke of indebtedness" from the shoulders of the miner by 96 SLOVAKIA combatting the effects of the company store on his life. These disgraceful conditions still exist in some small mining communities where the coal company owns all the property, including the stores and gas stations. They literally "own the town." However, in most mining communities now, many stores are operated by individuals in open competition with company stores. Try to imagine, if you can, the plight of a coal miner's family of four to fourteen children, all of them dependent upon the wages of the father-miner. Imagine the impossibility of providing a proper diet on the father's wages of from $1.50 to $3.50 per day. To do this he even went into the mines on days that the mine was not in operation. He would stock (store) coal and take up the bottom or top rock to permit him to lay his new track. He performed all this so that he might be ready to load coal on work days and keep up with the alloted number of mine cars assigned to him. He would walk into the mines several hours before starting time (7 a.m.) on workdays to hand pump (or remove with a bucket) the water that had accumulated in his place of work. He did this without pay. How did the miner and his family manage? Without a doubt, it wasn 't easy, and in some cases he didn 't manage. Many of the miners' families died before they reached the age of ·50, although life expectancy was much higher in this country. The only way they survived even to that age was that the typical mother would make certain, by one means or another, that a bag of flour, a bag of potatoes, some cabbage, beans, cornmeal and a few other staples were on hand. These mothers were masters of ingenuity on how to make cabbage, beans and flour into mouth-watering delicacies for their children . But they had to serve the same foods so often that, in later years, the children detested the very sight of these foods. In these present times one reads of poverty, relief, food stamps, etc. but in all the years since the author 's boyhood there has been no poverty that could in any way compare to that of the early days in the mining community. How did these people survive? Those that did had outside food sources such as a few chickens , a pig or cow. On the days the mines were idle, the miner became a gardener ~d raised fresh vegetables. He spent many hours planting, weeding, reII].oving ii?-sects (insecticides were not in use then). Some of those garde_n s would have compared favorably with the experimental gardens run by the Department of Agriculture . The miner also became a hunter and a fisherman, not for the sport itself, but for the food it provided for his family. This did not reduce in way the pleasures of the activity. In some critical periods the father-miner and his sons became thieves, visiting local farms at night SLOVAKIA 97 and stealing chickens, com and fruit in order to survive. Some of them were caught, beaten or jailed, and then their families were in deep difficulty since they (those caught) could not earn the pittance available to them. What type of man is this who lived through the conditions described above, and still today goes deep into the bowels of the earth to earn his living? The aver~ge coal miner was and is hardworking, tough talking, sometimes hard drinking, and many times a deliberate braggard . He can load a tremendous tonnage of coal and later stand at his favorite bar with his mining buddies. In fact, sometimes it seemed as though the coal dust was ankle-deep near the bar. In the '' cross-cut dinner hole ' ' of the mines, he brags about his tremendous conquests of women. This is depicted in his graffiti drawn with white chalk upon the black coal or rock walls or roof. He is direct rather than devious and obscure. This point is well illustrated by the comment of a young miner, who, when discussing his relationship with women, said that upon meeting a woman in whom he was interested he immediately asked her if she " screwed." When asked if he didn't get his face slapped, he replied "often, but on the other hand you'd be surprised how often I got a positive answer ." He may better be described by the poem entitled ' 'Lust.' ' He grabbed me round my slender neck I could not call or scream. He dragged me to this dingy room Where we would not be seen. He tore away my flimsy wrap and looked upon my form. I was so cold and damp and scared, While he was hot and warm. He drained me of my very self, I could not make him stop . His feverish lips he pressed to mine; I gave him every drop . He made me what I am today, That's why you find me here , A broken bottle thrown away That was once full of beer. Anon. This author has been employed as a coal miner, mine official, mine inspector and coal operator for more than 44 years and cannot help but 98 SLOVAKIA feel that the American public has had a mistaken image of the coal miner. This may be due to reports and articles written by writers who lack insight and experience in the mining industry. A true story may illustrate this point. A coal miner's son met and became interested in a New York banker's daughter while attending the same college. Eventually the banker invited the family to visit them in New York. Upon seeing the coal miner, one of the banker's first remarks was ''You aren't at all what I expected!" What had he expected? Did he expect a dirty, uncouth and stupid individual often portrayed in the media? In reality the average miner is a hard worker; he is honest with a sharp and inventive mind; he is cooperative and, in most instances, religious. He is probably cleaner than many white or blue collar workers since he is forced to bathe everyday. Unfortunately his lack of opportunity for education has been confused with the lack of motivation for an education. This is now changed and the educational level among the miners has risen drastically in the last score of years. His higher salary scale now enables him to live at the middle-class level of society . In the early days of mining, in order to eke out a living, many a miner did not hesitate to get up as early as 3 a.m., walk into the mine with only water in his dinner pail, and begin his preliminary work. He, at times, shifted as many as ten loaded coal cars in order to get the one empty car left from the previous day's work. If there were no empty cars available for loading, he performed many time-consuming tasks known as "dead work" since it was done without pay. These tasks included taking up the bottom rock for additional height, laying the track, setting the safety timbers, removing water from the work area, cleaning slate and impurities from the coal to be loaded, and even piling coal in areas to permit more rapid loading, since the only thing that counted, and for which he was paid, was the actual coal he loaded into the cars . All this preliminary work w~s done so that he would "have the jump on his fellow miners" when the day's work actually started . When one considers all this so-called "dead work ," isn't it natural that the miner demanded more, or at least some pay , for his "dead work"? This is one of the underlying reasons that the miner formed and supported his union . Many of these early miners did more free (dead work) before the starting time of 7 a.m. than do many of the modern miners at their hourly rate of six and seven dollars per hour. At times an unexpected rockfall would consume most of his working day and this had an immediate effect on his family since it was directly connected with the food purchases for that day. SLOVAKIA 99 The wife and mother, .too, got up at this time (or earlier) to see that her husband had his break{ast if food was available , and to pack the lunch pail when food was plentiful. After her husband left for work, she began a back-breaking day of kneading and baking bread, washing clothes and wringing them out by hand to be hung out to dry. After an hour or two she would awaken the children and supervise their preparation for school which included the everlasting job of mending to hold the threads of their garments together. Her work continued until she was ready for her trip to the weigh-scales to obtain a slip for the coal her husband loaded that day. This slip would determine how much food would be available for the family that night and the next day. On the days the rock fell to interfere with the loading of coal, the soup was thinner and the dish of beans and meat was mostly beans. The best time of her day was when the children came from school and the closing whistle sounded from the mines. The worst times in her life were when the mine whistle blew before the regular quitting time. This meant that there was trouble in the mines , and a shiver went down the collective spines of all the wives in the community. It usually meant an injury, with a loss of earning power, or that at least one or more of the women would be widows with a family to rear. One of the saddest sights in the world is a gatheimg of the babushka-headed wives in their vigil during the period that their husbands are entombed by an explosion or cavein. An ode of songs was written about Floyd Collins, a cave explorer, who was caught in a cave fall-in, but no such ode or song was ever written about the Joe Slowboski's who, while pinned under a rock fall, have their still live flesh eaten by the rats which inhabit the mines. A description of the early coal miner's apparel seems to be in order here . His wearing apparel has and will continue to change almost as frequently as the equipment and machinery with which he labors. The well-dressed miner wore the very conventional bib-overalls (now in style with the teenagers) , a cloth or canvas cap with a leather frontal attachment for his carbide lamp, soft-toed miner's boots, a pair of gauntlet gloves , and a denim jacket with at least four pockets so he could carry his carbide-cader (container), blasting caps, blasting powder, squibs (a predecessor of the blasting cap), lamp cleaning tools, and his ever-present " railroad type" watch attached to a chain and placed carefully in the left breast pocket. However, the poor miner was not dressed in this fashion . He wore a pair of his old suit pants , patched or re-patched many times. His shirt was probably one of his discarded hunting shirts, and his shoes were discarded dress shoes repaired by tacking pieces of leather or rubber on the soles and heels . He didn 't wear gloves , but had, instead, a pair of well-calloused hands complete 100 SLOVAKIA with bruised knuckles and fingers . He couldn't afford a watch and he carried all the equipment described above in a 25 pound sugar sack. A new miner (a "greenie" ) was rapidly spotted by his unmarked apparel and the appearance of his hands . The dress of the modern miner is quite different. If the weather is cold he will be wearing insulated underwear, a matched shirt and trouser outfit , hard-toed shoes or boots (with steel plates for safety) a pair of denim cover-alls, wrist-cuff gloves , special leg bands to keep the trouser legs from contacting moving chains or ropes, a special strong plastic hard-hat with an attachment clip for his battery-powered headlamp, a wide leather belt with attachments for his lamp batter, self rescue kit and a few tools. For a time-piece he wears a shock-proof wrist watch. He is provided with a dust respirator that aids in keeping him from getting his lungs loaded with fine dust particles. In certain periods he must wear a dust counter to show the fine <lush count surrounding his work area. When fully dressed with all this special equipment, he is carrying an additional weight of about fifteen pounds. The mine official or mine inspector will be carrying, in addition , a flame safety , a methane detector, an anenometer, a roof testing stick. This additional equipment weighs about twenty-five pounds above that of the clothing. An eight-hour shift with that equipment is fatiguing without any actual work . The early miner was a pick and shovel miner and the "low coal" miner will be depicted here since the author's early experiences were in the low coal field. The mine can best be described as an underground city with the main mine entries as the city's boulevards. The mine's butt, or cross entries, are compared with a city's side streets and the mine ' s crosscuts as the city's narrow streets or alley ways. Along the main entries , side entries and cross cuts are located the pump stations, sub-stations , supply houses , dispatcher 's room and foreman's office. These stimulate the stores and business houses on the surface. As in the city , transportation is an important part of life in the mines . The mine tracks, locomotives , strings of coal cars, powered trolley feeder lines , telephone lines, walkie-talkie equi}iment all play a vital role in this function. Even the rush of the currents 'Of air passing continuously along the entries reminds one of standing on a comer in Pittsburgh , Columbus or Chicago on a breezy March morning. When one adds the waterlines, airlines, rock-dust boreholes and other accommodations , one has the complete " Bowel City, U.S.A. " However, in order to understand fully the miner 's environment one must concentrate on the underground streets , side streets and alleys. These were usually 12 to 18 feet wide and ranged from 28 inches to 10 feet in height. It is within SLOVAKIA 101 this locale that the miner must perform his assigned duties. In the low coal seruns (under 50 inches) the miner spent most of his workshift of eight hours on his knees or in a crouched position. He could only stretch out by lying down or going out to the main heading (entry) where additional height permitted standing room for at least the shorter miners. Miners in the high-seruned coal mines could work in the standing position. In all coal mines, the miner worked under an immediate cover of various types of slate, shale, sand rock or other rock formations such as one might observe in a "rock cut" along a modern highway. The lowcoal miner, working within a height of less than 50 inches, did most of his work with a dual-pointed pick and a broad, flat shovel. He had the srune feel for his own pick and shovel as does the concert violinist for his own bow. He made his work area safer by placing props (sawed-off trees) between the floor and roof. These were made tight by a wooden wedge driven along the roof which served as a cap on the prop. These roof supports were placed at distances determined by safety laws and the wishes of the mine officials. Although the purpose of these props was to keep the roof from caving in and falling upon him, many miners did not put up these supports if they interfered with their loading operation. The pick-miner would dig down all the loose coal from the front and side walls of the coal seam. He would then lie on the mine floor, many times in small pools of water, to undermine the "face of the coal seam'' to a depth of three, four or five feet. This undercut near the face was about twelve to fifteen inches in height to permit the head, arms and shoulders to intrude underneath the undercut coal. This undercut extended the entire width of the entry, room or corridor which, as explained earlier, was from ten to eighteen feet. The miner then drilled holes to the depth of the undercut with a long drill called an auger. It resembles a cork screw and crune in lengths from five to eight feet. These holes were packed with black powder or dynamite and ignited with either a lighted squab (a fireworks type of lighter) or a blasting cap ignited by an electric charge. When the coal was blasted loose, the miner would break up the larger lumps (if any remained) and then shovel the coal into a mine car that he had pushed into his place (room) by hand . On occasion the car was pulled into his area by mules or horses. The above method of work continued every day. The miner spent most of his time in the crouched position or on his knees. He was the recipient of many bruises, cuts, scars, swellings and soreness. If the average citizen went through one such week , he would appreciate the 102 SLOVAKIA position of the miner when he fought for a union, and then utilized the union by means of strikes and walk-outs to achieve his goal of a decent wage for his efforts . Even into the 1930s coal miners went into the mines before daybreak and returned after dark. In a six-day week the only time the miner saw daylight was on Sunday. He had to work these long hours to provide food and clothing for his family. For these efforts he received 25 cents per hour and less than 25 cents per ton of loaded coal. Few miners made the sum of $5.00 per day. In those days, a father, uncle or brother took on the task of "breaking in " a new miner. If a boy entered the mine for training under a stranger, he got his identification check number on a "boycar '' basis which was generally every third mine car loaded. There also was an established custom whereby a companydesignated "weigh boss" (who was generally a " master " at "shortweighing" or "losing" car checks for the convenience of mine management) was employed as an official. He had the added crude duty of giving a miner a " dirty coal" slip. This indicated a loaded minecar of coal would be deducted, lost, or the workman would be given a day off for "loading dirty coal," or possibly discharged from his employment. One can readily see how easily it could become convenient to lay off or discharge a miner who was pro-union or an "agitator" at any given time. In a number of cases, the mine worker made a side agreement with the officials whereby he would be given some preferences as to the number of mine cars allotted to him or the ''privilege'' to work on days the mine was not scheduled for work. The mine foreman or his assistant thus became involved in many situations not of their own choosing. Is it any wonder that in a mine foreman examination, as recently as 1971, the question was asked as to what qualifications, other than those required by mining laws, a mine foreman should possess? One applicant, apparently of the old school, actually wrote, "He has to be a liar and a thief." (This was not the proper answer for the examination.) The physical conditions under which .t he pre-1920 coal miner had to perform his assigned duties were nothing short of atrocious. There was a poor, or the absolute minimum, supply of available timber to support the mine roof, and mine ventilation ·and direction of air to the working places of the miner was far below the minimum legally required standards of even that time . There were days on which a mine ventilating fan was in operation only part of the day when miners were SLOVAKIA 103 actually in the mine. There were stoppings (walls) in crosscuts built to force air to work areas made of bone coal (impure) . These stoppages leaked like sieves which defeated the purpose of the stopping. There were areas where wprkmen had to fan the explosive smoke with their coats or coal shovels so tha\ they could see well enough to load their mine cars. There were situations where men used open-type carbide lamps that could ignite explosive gas . There were other situations where unsafe and open-type mining machinery was used, and where requirements for clearances along locomotives, mine cars and mine entries were abused or ignored. In other situations workmen were permitted to use black blasting powder for blasting coal and rock. The blasting shots fired in the work area resembled a " Fourth of July" celebration . There were cases where mine officials visited the mine workmen only once a week , once a year or when the mine inspector was in the area. Other times they visited the work areas only after an emergency or accident . The miners thought of as dumb "Hunkies," " Dagos ," or "Polacks " we re treated as an expendable commodity. When expended , it was only necessary to send to the old country for another boat-load of greenhorns. In those early days of mining when one walked down the main entry and heard the voices of the workers, one could envision the Tower of Babel or a gathering at the United Nations. From room to room the language shifted from Polish to Slovak, from German to Welsh , from Serbian to German, from Croatian to Italian, and sometimes to English, but usually a broken variety. One could spend a month in the mines without hearing one proper English sentence. Mining terminology took on ethnic overtones such as " hunky wedge," "scotch block ," "dago dolly," and "hunky pump ." In addition to this, coal mining terms, or language , varied (still does) from one mining area to another. For instance , the low-coal men in Pennsylvania call a temporary roof support a "prop" while the high-coal miners in the same state call it a ' 'post,' ' though their meaning and purpose are synonymous. This type of terminology was accepted by members of all ethnic groups in that locale . These expressions in the mines sound like another language , and any man from the street or from the news media would be fortunate to recognize ten percent of them . There are several terms which denote the quality of the atmosphere in the mines. Few people outside the mines could interpret the expression, " we need air," for the request to improve the ventilation of the work area by extending the line brattice (temporary wall) or canvas check curtain to force air into a required area . Similarly the 104 SLOVAKIA term "I found gas" in a miner's language means that he noted some evidence of methane on his flame safety lamp or on the methane detector. A third term, ' ' black damp,'' denotes a high content of carbon dioxide or a deficiency of oxygen (usually less than 15 percent). The term "hunky wedge" was derived from a patient workman who tapered a short piece of wood to fit over a mine post (prop) to make it secure and aid in controlling the mine roof. At a later date these wooden wedges were known as cap pieces, and were prepared by the sawmill and brought to the worker ready for use. The pressure of the earth and rock above the coal seam squeezes this coal seam until it breaks up and crumbles, especially when there are large spaces of unsupported roof. As the different rooms ran their ultimate distance as determined by good mining practices or limits of (mineral) rights, the "ribs" of coal left between the rooms were finally removed. The removal of these ribs or stumps was an art with the early pick-coal men. They brought the roof pressure to bear upon a block of coal which eliminated the hard pick work. The expressions for this operation were "easy coal" or "push coal." The miners who performed this operation were called "stump men." Althouh the work was easier in this area and the pay better, it was also more dangerous since there was the constant danger of being trapped or crushed by the falling rocks from the roof. A good "stump man" controlled the caving for his own safety. The term "dago-dolly" was used to describe a device which was invented to move the heavy steel rails into their positions in the mine track. Initially, the miner pulled the rail with his hands or his pick. Some miner developed a two-wheeled conveyance with attached handle and grip on the rail. This reduced the back-breaking work of pulling rails into place. The "hunky pump " was a horizontal-stoked pump that had to be operated manually to remove the water from the working place so that the miner could lay on the mine floor to dig the undercut in his coal. In many cases, the miner would go into the mines by 5 a.m. and begin pumping the water out of his place so that he could begin mining coal at 7 a.m. with the other miners . Again, this work of pumping was done without pay. \ There are many " holes " in mining terniinology_and they caused confusion to those outside the mining community. " Dog hole " was a mine operated into the hillside. It had poor ventilation ; was poorly maintained and usually employed those workers nobody else would hire . They were run on a shoe-string and usually produced coal for home use . " Man hole " is synonymous with a shelter hole or a hole in 105 SLOVAKIA the rib of coal. Aftimes, tbe miner, walking along the entry way, was faced with on-coming (or koing) traffic or locomotive and coal cars , either empty or loaded. Since these entry ways were narrow and the cars rolled, a hole was cut into the entry wall or rib to accommodate from one to three miners . Since these were spaced at specified distances, at the sound of the trip (string) of cars , the miner would seek out the nearest man hole. Incidently, the word locomotive was rarely used . The machine used to pull cars was simply referred to as •'the motor." The "dinner-hole" was generally a main side track off the main entry or so-called cross-cut. At this area men gathered to eat their lunches and there they hung their favorite pin-ups (obtained from calendars) or drew their own nudes with white chalk on the coal surface. This art resembles that found in public toilets today. The name •'tickle-back'' was given to those low-seamed coal mines that were less than 36 inches in height. Some were. as low as 28 to 29 inches . It wasn 't any wonder than the miner had numerous sores covering his back where he hit the uneven places on the mine roof. The unusual expression "to set a crib" has nothing to do with preparing a bed for the baby. It was one of most effective means of supporting the roof by erecting a framework of 5" x5"x30" wooden blocks at strategic places in a grill-work fashion. The term was also used when the individual miner filled in one side of his emptied work place with rock, slate and dirty coal and cribbed the ends to build up a wall like appearance. This was also called the • gob '' pile . The miner's light in the evaluation of mining has had a number of terms . The pit lamp, bug lamp , carbide lamp and cap lamp are examples of these. The pit and carbide lamps are practically extinct and will shortly be found only in the museums of mining. The battery powered light has completely taken over. The term "shooting off the solid" was an illegal and unsafe practice employed by some miners who wished to avoid the timeconsuming and back-breaking work of under-cutting the coal in preparation for blasting. The process was simply that of drilling holes in the solid coal near the roof or floor and blasting it loose with explosives. The danger in this process was that since the coal had no place to move, at times the pressure of the concussion broke the slate or rock of the roof and made it unsafe for the miner. The term hand me the persuader'' was not referring to a whip for animals or humans but a sledge hammer used by the so-called mechanics who were in a hurry. They used them to drive shafts , gears , etc. into their proper alignment. Such a sight would have caused the 1 11 106 SLOVAKIA inventor of that machine to tum over in his grave. The sledge was the answer to all difficult problems. The term "yellow boy" was and is used in conjunction with iron pyrites found in the mine water. It clogs the pipe lines and sump areas and is a nemesis to the present environmentalist. The '' go devil'' is the apparatus which is used to ream this material out of the pipes. It may be a simple rod, wire or spring or it may be attached to a motor which turns it in a boring fashion . The term "black damp" was explained earlier. The term was taken from the ancient term " damp of darkness " and means a condition where there is less than 15 percent oxygen or where carbon dioxide exists in heavy concentrations in the mine atmosphere. It probably got its name by ''putting someone's lights out.'' In contrast to this, the term "white damp" was a name for carbon monoxide and "stink damp " was the presence of hydrogen sulphide. As any high school chemistry student knows, this latter material had the odor of rotten eggs. " Bug dust" has nothing to do with insecticides. This dust is the result of machine mining and the breaking up of the coal seam into fine particles. After machine mining this fine dust must be removed from the undercut of coal. This permits the explosive to work more effectively by blasting the coal away from the mine roof. Some of the terms heard about the mine had meanings related to mining but not to the actual work of the mines. One such term was the " hoot-owl" shift from 11 p .m. to 7 a.m., or midnight to 8 a.m. Miners usually rotated shifts and this was the one disliked by most since it was impossible to become acclimated to a change in sleeping hours every three weeks. The expression, " today the eagle shifts, " was a wellknown expression for payday in the mines. Also , on his way home he might "stop at the grab, " which meant to stop at the company store. The name was derived from the fact that the company store grabbed all they earned. While at the store they bought "dog meat" for the lunch pails . This was the cheapest form of ground meat, a form of bologna. In addition to the terms above the miners had some descriptive nicknames for each other. It was not unusu~l to meet "Cadillac Joe ," " Quick-Steps, " "Moose, " or " Shorty, " as ope walked along a " mantrip" which was ready to enter the mines. Only the cowboys of the old West had such descriptive names for each other. Thus, it is evident that the coal miners actually do have a language which only other miners understand. I believe it would be appropriate for the media to become conversant with the language of the mines , especially when describing a mine disaster.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reminiscences of a Slovak Miner Description An account of the resource George P. Resick Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 93-106 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Resick, George P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8cd7764b11c24fe842f572e803779957.pdf b04c3ecb3b5d6c21bccaf9b002f2b9c8 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 133 Success Story ALVENA SECKAR ''Take Lybushka back with you to America,'' urged my uncle. "She' 11 become rich like your mother." "Like my mother!" I repeated to myself. Yes, from the way they looked at it, my mother had done quite well. She had come to America, had married, bore two children, educated them and now owned two houses. They did not know what kind of houses, but that did not alter the basic fact. True, my mother had committed a few sins on the way, like getting divorced and remarrying. She had fallen into a few pitfalls, now and then, but they were past now. Such things are forgiven. The end justifies the means. Lybushka would be a success, too, and her children would be like me. I stared at my uncle. This man was my mother's brother. The resemblance to my mother was startling. He had the same slight build, the same line worn broad face with high cheekbones, and the identical worried looking deep sunken blue gray eyes. He was a little boy when my mother last saw him forty years ago. This was back in the early 1900s when my mother was sixteen, the same age as Lybushka now was. She took off for the mythical land of America to pick the gold off its streets. Her two older sisters who had preceded her were either too ashamed to write back to dispel the fable or else felt that misery should have company and did nothing to prevent my mother from joining them. I looked around. My mother had left this self-same high peaked log house nestled in these unchanging mountains in northern Slovakia. My mind went back to those rare instances when my mother permitted herself to be sentimental, usually after some adverse fortune, and recalled this home with tears in her eyes. My uncle had never left it. He was the only son of a family of four surviving girls. The other children, all seven of them, had died in infancy. His father, my grandfather, had died of pneumonia when my uncle was a little boy and his was the responsibility of continuing the Alvena Seckar is a highly prized writer of children' s stories . This story appears here for the first time. �134 SLOVAKIA family. At first , it had not been too difficult with the additional inheritance of the three sisters who had gone away. True , there had been some squabbles over land ownership with the remaining sister, but they were nothing serious . But now, his family of seven daughters and only one son (Alas!) made it too crowded . " Lybushka was smart in school," continued my uncle. "She learned the Catechism from cover to cover before anyone else! ' ' So had my mother, I mused , in Hungarian, in a school of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. She had learned it by heart, but she had never learned to read or to write. Fortified with such knowledge, my mother had sailed for America . When she talks of that trip, she relates how the first class passengers amused themselves by throwing oranges down to steerage, where she was , to watch the wretched mob scramble , and perhaps fight , for the precious fruit. My remembrance of the trip is identified with that cluster of deep gouged out scars of her upper arm. They are the result of the vaccination against small pox some well meaning but callous civil servant inflicted upon her when she reached these shores. At the dock, her sisters greeted her by stripping her of her hand woven dresses and linens, which they later secretly sold, already wise to their market value. After "Americanizing" her with a cheap cotton dress , they dropped her off as a domestic in a home where there was no verbal communication possible with her new mistress . ''Take the cover off the baby's face!' ' her mistress yelled from the fifth floor down to my mother airing the baby in her carriage down on the sidewalk. My mother wrapped her closer. '' She ' 11 smother! '' the woman screamed . My mother bundled the baby tighter. " You 're fired! " screeched the exasperated woman as she puffed from the exertion of running down the four flights of the sidewalk. The last order with explicit motions was plainly understood . " I didn 't mind," said my mother to me many years later. " She never gave me enough to eat. ' ' Somehow, someway, she found another job, and later, many other jobs for the seven years she remained single. Small pay, starvation and extraordinary hard work characterized this period , first in New York , then in Pittsburgh, where she went with a rlewly found girlfriend on the information that many rich men from the coal mines· and the steel mills were there. This was the boom period when World War I had already started in Europe. �SLOVAKIA 135 Such trials only intensi.fied my mother's efforts to get the gold for which her trip had been made. By this time, if nothing better came her way, she had decided to go back home and directed all her energies toward that goal. She kept her savings for the trip in a roll in her stocking under her long skirt which was then the fashion. A bank as a place to deposit money was not thought of. Just as she almost had enough, she discovered one day that it was gone! With it, her final chance to go back home . World War I was spreading and the miners, now working every day, came into Pittsburgh on their occasional day off. They put on a big front with their lavish spending and my mother must have been swept off her feet by the show of one of them, who became my father . It would be proper to give my mother the benefit of the doubt and say that she fell in love with my father and was not overcome by his display of money. Her married life, as much as I know of it those first few years, will not permit me to state this unequivocally. I know it was a stormy time. Her frugal habits were in continual conflict with my father ' s easy going nature. It deprived him of much pleasure. The excuse of the long hours he worked was of no avail with my mother. By the time the work at the mines slowed down after the war, my mother had saved enough money from his salary, from her taking in other people's wash, and from the two boarders who occupied one of the two bedrooms in the house (My brother and I slept with our parents.), to put a down payment on a farm in distant Connecticut. When she found that my father took to carousing instead of farm work, she gave up the whole idea and moved back to the mines . The next time she accumulated enough money, she was talked into investing it into the founding of a coal mine which turned out to be a grand swindle. The water in the mine could not be pumped out. By this time my father must have been rather weary of such unending and unremunerative effort and took to drinking with even greater gusto. One of the boarders who put up a good show of having money and property found my mother willing to transfer her affections. This happened when I was eight and my brother six. Again, for years, I gave my mother the benefit of the doubt for leaving this man by telling myself and the world that she did so when she found out he was a coal company spy . Actually, he did not have the money or the houses with which he seduced her. In all fairness , though the evidence so far warrants it, I cannot accuse my mother of using wealth as the prime criteria of her attitude toward men. She met the man who was to become my stepfather, legally, when he was working in the hard coal mines . She remained �136 SLOVAKIA loyal to him during a long coal strike, even loaned him some of her hard earned money she made in the shirt factory in which she worked. However, the same painstaking accumulation of money ensued with my stepfather. First, however, his one foible for gambling had to be crushed. This my mother did by unerringly locating where the game was in progress and promptly making a scene on the premises. It was not long before my stepfather was unable to find a place to do his gambling and he resigned himself to go along with my mother. After awhile it was no longer difficult. Their first monetary venture proved no more successful than any of the others my mother had engaged in. Real estate swindlers from a distant industrial city induced them to purchase some house lots on the installment plan. " We have a job for you in a factory there, " they promised. That sounded good to my stepfather who was blacklisted from working in the hard coal mine where he had been on strike. When we all got to the city, the factory job lasted one month before the establishment collapsed in the first throes of the post-war depression. It took longer for my parents to find out the lots were equally spurious . After the last payment was made , several years later, my parents discovered that they and hundreds of others from the coal regions had been defrauded. Since none of the people involved knew each other or what to do , nothing was done and the real estate thieves went on with their merciless racket. Times were hard in the city and my stepfather was part of the large army of unemployed during the depression. My mother came to the rescue and got a job in a tobacco factory. The smell of the tobacco was overpowering and I remember that for weeks she came home vomiting, unable to eat until the tobacco odor was out of her system . " You' 11 get used to it , " said the forelady . My mother did. Another job was hard to get. Not to be outdone, my stepfather set up a small shoe repair shop where he did all the work by hand. His meager earnings together with my mother's were enough to continue payments on the nonexistent lots and even to put some aside. This was done by the utmost economy. Only the smallest electric bulbs were used in our house and the electricity w¥ on only when absolutely necessary. Reading was not a necessity at any time guring my entire childhood and it was left to me to read in my adult life many of the books I should have read as a child. We had no central heating and coal was used very sparingly in our one and only kitchen stove . Even the ashes were carefully picked over for reuse of the partially burned coal. �SLOVAKIA 137 It was bad enough for me at school to be so different from the other children - most of them ~ith American-born parents, for we lived on the fringe of a well-to-do ' area. Added to this self-consciousness in attitude was the discomfiture I felt in my old fashioned home made clothes. The one art which my mother never mastered was sewing. To this day, I feel pained when I look at photographs of myself in some of those homely and shapeless concoctions from reused cloth. In recent years I found out it was due to her poor eyesight, but she would not spare the money for glasses! Only the possession of my own money offered a solution to me. Though I was only twelve, the neighborhood we lived in did provide some opportunities if I could but take them. A Greek restaurant was next door. The bachelor owner often tried to invite me into his back room kitchen. ''I'll give you a nickel,' ' he urged. I shook my head. " I'll give you a quarter!" He was insistent. My mother's call or a customer invariably saved me. Behind us lived a tinsmith. He was from Vienna where his wife and three children lived. He, too, was accumulating money feverishly and unstintingly. He did his own cooking, cleaning and sewing. America was a corrupt land of materialism to him but he was here to make himself a fortune with which he would live the rest of his life in luxury in his beloved Vienna. He tried to be friends with me. "On pay day, I'll give you a dime, " he coaxed. "No," I answered. "I'll take you to the movies," he continued. My mother would find out so I ran away . On the corner was a barber shop. The man who owned it often stood outside as I passed on my way home from school. He smiled, and as he did so showed his ugly shiny front gold tooth. He jingled the coins in his pocket. " Come on in," he invited. Someone would see me. I walked on. Not all our neighbors were set to ensnare me. Near-by was an Italian grocery. From the street it smelled of stale, pungent cheeses and decaying vegetable matter. Mr. and Mrs. Natalo and all seven of their children always filled the store with noise and laughter. I am sure they were their best customers , but they were generous with me, too, asking nothing of me in return. They had no money to give me, but they did give me the taste for the bitter crinkled ripe olives in large open barrels in front of the counter and for the numerous hard Italian �138 SLOVAKIA cheeses which hung in disarray all around the shop . I did not feel out of place in their home. When some money was again gotten together, we moved to another neighborhood, hardly an improvement over the other, but I was more at home in the new school where a polyglot of nationalities mingled. My mother opened up a small lunch room on the basis of her brief experience in the Greek restaurant next door when she lost her job at the tobacco factory . Her first customers were the men who worked with my stepfather on a WP A badly needed sewer project in front of the house. My mother is a good cook and financially things went well, but I was in my early teens and was desperately conscious of my status and appearance. I needed and wanted money more than ever . If I did not succumb to the spurious invitations of the men in the neighborhood, of whom there were many, it was only because stealing money from my unmathematical mother was easier . This I did with a clear conscience for the money was used for what I considered absolute necessities. I was able to take piano lessons because I told my mother they were half the price of what they actually were. I also paid for my dental care and thus saved my teeth. My brother, unfortunately, had to lose several of his molars because my mother with her false teeth never understood the necessity for dental care. I also used the money to purchase better quality clothing than the money my mother gave me permitted. In spite of this minor leak in my mother's resources, enough money was soon saved to purchase a small house on another street. It was not much of a house. It had no bathroom or central heating but the cellar was almost street level and my stepfather converted it into a small lunch room - which also served as our entrance to the upstairs part of the house . Life went on as before with perhaps less privacy. My mother was in the store from dawn to late at night seven days a week. She even indulged in a little back room bootlegging during prohibition. (For which she had to pay off the local police every month.) This time the money was put into a local bank. She also grudgingly spared some to pay for violin lessons for my brother. ·\ This time the money grew a little faster. •Unforlunately, the bank crash of the thirties took most of it. Undaunted , life went on in the same way. Nothing drastic occurred to alter the further course of monetary gain, except perhaps a rather heavy drain when the problem of schooling came up . �SLOVAKIA 139 My desire for an education was not taken too seriously because of the conflict between my mother and myself over my going out with boys. Her solution of my awareness of the opposite sex was one of violent objection. •\ '' All men only want to use you ,'' she counselled. ' 'They ' 11 only get you into trouble!" she insisted . I believed her for a long time. It was then that I learned that the two children that one of her older sisters had (one died in early adulthood of tuberculosis) were each born illigitimately during her relations with two different men , neither of whom married her. Her other sister, in my mother's opinion , did not fare any better. She had five very small children in as many years , and if her husband had not been killed in a mining accident, she would have had many more . Her conclusion was that a man did not care . A woman had to be independent, smart and take care of herself. Nevertheless, I managed to get through college with help from her and many others. Mostly I worked. My brother , on the other hand , received other advice. " Don 't let any woman make a fool of you, " admonished my mother. " I won 't ," answered my brother. He was immersed in secretly reading a pornographic novel. He was already following her advice in an affair he was having with one of his schoolmates. His schooling was more pleasant than mine for he did not have to work his way , nor did he have to depend on anyone else's charity. When he finally got married, he apologetically explained to my mother , '' I'm sorry for her!' ' Today , he is surprised to see the antagonisms between her and his wife . With both her children out of the way , my mother and my stepfather have no drain on their income except themselves. They live as sparingly as they ever did even in the days when there was very little money. Though their home now has central heating, they keep it so low that a sweater or a jacket is their permanent home attire during the cold weather. They permit themselves no luxuries . The money accumulates. I flatly refused to assist my uncle in bringing Lybushka to America . � SLOVAKIA 133 Success Story ALVENA SECKAR ''Take Lybushka back with you to America,'' urged my uncle. "She' 11 become rich like your mother." "Like my mother!" I repeated to myself. Yes, from the way they looked at it, my mother had done quite well. She had come to America, had married, bore two children, educated them and now owned two houses. They did not know what kind of houses, but that did not alter the basic fact. True, my mother had committed a few sins on the way, like getting divorced and remarrying. She had fallen into a few pitfalls, now and then, but they were past now. Such things are forgiven. The end justifies the means. Lybushka would be a success, too, and her children would be like me. I stared at my uncle. This man was my mother's brother. The resemblance to my mother was startling. He had the same slight build, the same line worn broad face with high cheekbones, and the identical worried looking deep sunken blue gray eyes. He was a little boy when my mother last saw him forty years ago. This was back in the early 1900s when my mother was sixteen, the same age as Lybushka now was. She took off for the mythical land of America to pick the gold off its streets. Her two older sisters who had preceded her were either too ashamed to write back to dispel the fable or else felt that misery should have company and did nothing to prevent my mother from joining them. I looked around. My mother had left this self-same high peaked log house nestled in these unchanging mountains in northern Slovakia. My mind went back to those rare instances when my mother permitted herself to be sentimental, usually after some adverse fortune, and recalled this home with tears in her eyes. My uncle had never left it. He was the only son of a family of four surviving girls. The other children, all seven of them, had died in infancy. His father, my grandfather, had died of pneumonia when my uncle was a little boy and his was the responsibility of continuing the Alvena Seckar is a highly prized writer of children' s stories . This story appears here for the first time. �134 SLOVAKIA family. At first , it had not been too difficult with the additional inheritance of the three sisters who had gone away. True , there had been some squabbles over land ownership with the remaining sister, but they were nothing serious . But now, his family of seven daughters and only one son (Alas!) made it too crowded . " Lybushka was smart in school," continued my uncle. "She learned the Catechism from cover to cover before anyone else! ' ' So had my mother, I mused , in Hungarian, in a school of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. She had learned it by heart, but she had never learned to read or to write. Fortified with such knowledge, my mother had sailed for America . When she talks of that trip, she relates how the first class passengers amused themselves by throwing oranges down to steerage, where she was , to watch the wretched mob scramble , and perhaps fight , for the precious fruit. My remembrance of the trip is identified with that cluster of deep gouged out scars of her upper arm. They are the result of the vaccination against small pox some well meaning but callous civil servant inflicted upon her when she reached these shores. At the dock, her sisters greeted her by stripping her of her hand woven dresses and linens, which they later secretly sold, already wise to their market value. After "Americanizing" her with a cheap cotton dress , they dropped her off as a domestic in a home where there was no verbal communication possible with her new mistress . ''Take the cover off the baby's face!' ' her mistress yelled from the fifth floor down to my mother airing the baby in her carriage down on the sidewalk. My mother wrapped her closer. '' She ' 11 smother! '' the woman screamed . My mother bundled the baby tighter. " You 're fired! " screeched the exasperated woman as she puffed from the exertion of running down the four flights of the sidewalk. The last order with explicit motions was plainly understood . " I didn 't mind," said my mother to me many years later. " She never gave me enough to eat. ' ' Somehow, someway, she found another job, and later, many other jobs for the seven years she remained single. Small pay, starvation and extraordinary hard work characterized this period , first in New York , then in Pittsburgh, where she went with a rlewly found girlfriend on the information that many rich men from the coal mines· and the steel mills were there. This was the boom period when World War I had already started in Europe. �SLOVAKIA 135 Such trials only intensi.fied my mother's efforts to get the gold for which her trip had been made. By this time, if nothing better came her way, she had decided to go back home and directed all her energies toward that goal. She kept her savings for the trip in a roll in her stocking under her long skirt which was then the fashion. A bank as a place to deposit money was not thought of. Just as she almost had enough, she discovered one day that it was gone! With it, her final chance to go back home . World War I was spreading and the miners, now working every day, came into Pittsburgh on their occasional day off. They put on a big front with their lavish spending and my mother must have been swept off her feet by the show of one of them, who became my father . It would be proper to give my mother the benefit of the doubt and say that she fell in love with my father and was not overcome by his display of money. Her married life, as much as I know of it those first few years, will not permit me to state this unequivocally. I know it was a stormy time. Her frugal habits were in continual conflict with my father ' s easy going nature. It deprived him of much pleasure. The excuse of the long hours he worked was of no avail with my mother. By the time the work at the mines slowed down after the war, my mother had saved enough money from his salary, from her taking in other people's wash, and from the two boarders who occupied one of the two bedrooms in the house (My brother and I slept with our parents.), to put a down payment on a farm in distant Connecticut. When she found that my father took to carousing instead of farm work, she gave up the whole idea and moved back to the mines . The next time she accumulated enough money, she was talked into investing it into the founding of a coal mine which turned out to be a grand swindle. The water in the mine could not be pumped out. By this time my father must have been rather weary of such unending and unremunerative effort and took to drinking with even greater gusto. One of the boarders who put up a good show of having money and property found my mother willing to transfer her affections. This happened when I was eight and my brother six. Again, for years, I gave my mother the benefit of the doubt for leaving this man by telling myself and the world that she did so when she found out he was a coal company spy . Actually, he did not have the money or the houses with which he seduced her. In all fairness , though the evidence so far warrants it, I cannot accuse my mother of using wealth as the prime criteria of her attitude toward men. She met the man who was to become my stepfather, legally, when he was working in the hard coal mines . She remained �136 SLOVAKIA loyal to him during a long coal strike, even loaned him some of her hard earned money she made in the shirt factory in which she worked. However, the same painstaking accumulation of money ensued with my stepfather. First, however, his one foible for gambling had to be crushed. This my mother did by unerringly locating where the game was in progress and promptly making a scene on the premises. It was not long before my stepfather was unable to find a place to do his gambling and he resigned himself to go along with my mother. After awhile it was no longer difficult. Their first monetary venture proved no more successful than any of the others my mother had engaged in. Real estate swindlers from a distant industrial city induced them to purchase some house lots on the installment plan. " We have a job for you in a factory there, " they promised. That sounded good to my stepfather who was blacklisted from working in the hard coal mine where he had been on strike. When we all got to the city, the factory job lasted one month before the establishment collapsed in the first throes of the post-war depression. It took longer for my parents to find out the lots were equally spurious . After the last payment was made , several years later, my parents discovered that they and hundreds of others from the coal regions had been defrauded. Since none of the people involved knew each other or what to do , nothing was done and the real estate thieves went on with their merciless racket. Times were hard in the city and my stepfather was part of the large army of unemployed during the depression. My mother came to the rescue and got a job in a tobacco factory. The smell of the tobacco was overpowering and I remember that for weeks she came home vomiting, unable to eat until the tobacco odor was out of her system . " You' 11 get used to it , " said the forelady . My mother did. Another job was hard to get. Not to be outdone, my stepfather set up a small shoe repair shop where he did all the work by hand. His meager earnings together with my mother's were enough to continue payments on the nonexistent lots and even to put some aside. This was done by the utmost economy. Only the smallest electric bulbs were used in our house and the electricity w¥ on only when absolutely necessary. Reading was not a necessity at any time guring my entire childhood and it was left to me to read in my adult life many of the books I should have read as a child. We had no central heating and coal was used very sparingly in our one and only kitchen stove . Even the ashes were carefully picked over for reuse of the partially burned coal. �SLOVAKIA 137 It was bad enough for me at school to be so different from the other children - most of them ~ith American-born parents, for we lived on the fringe of a well-to-do ' area. Added to this self-consciousness in attitude was the discomfiture I felt in my old fashioned home made clothes. The one art which my mother never mastered was sewing. To this day, I feel pained when I look at photographs of myself in some of those homely and shapeless concoctions from reused cloth. In recent years I found out it was due to her poor eyesight, but she would not spare the money for glasses! Only the possession of my own money offered a solution to me. Though I was only twelve, the neighborhood we lived in did provide some opportunities if I could but take them. A Greek restaurant was next door. The bachelor owner often tried to invite me into his back room kitchen. ''I'll give you a nickel,' ' he urged. I shook my head. " I'll give you a quarter!" He was insistent. My mother's call or a customer invariably saved me. Behind us lived a tinsmith. He was from Vienna where his wife and three children lived. He, too, was accumulating money feverishly and unstintingly. He did his own cooking, cleaning and sewing. America was a corrupt land of materialism to him but he was here to make himself a fortune with which he would live the rest of his life in luxury in his beloved Vienna. He tried to be friends with me. "On pay day, I'll give you a dime, " he coaxed. "No," I answered. "I'll take you to the movies," he continued. My mother would find out so I ran away . On the corner was a barber shop. The man who owned it often stood outside as I passed on my way home from school. He smiled, and as he did so showed his ugly shiny front gold tooth. He jingled the coins in his pocket. " Come on in," he invited. Someone would see me. I walked on. Not all our neighbors were set to ensnare me. Near-by was an Italian grocery. From the street it smelled of stale, pungent cheeses and decaying vegetable matter. Mr. and Mrs. Natalo and all seven of their children always filled the store with noise and laughter. I am sure they were their best customers , but they were generous with me, too, asking nothing of me in return. They had no money to give me, but they did give me the taste for the bitter crinkled ripe olives in large open barrels in front of the counter and for the numerous hard Italian �138 SLOVAKIA cheeses which hung in disarray all around the shop . I did not feel out of place in their home. When some money was again gotten together, we moved to another neighborhood, hardly an improvement over the other, but I was more at home in the new school where a polyglot of nationalities mingled. My mother opened up a small lunch room on the basis of her brief experience in the Greek restaurant next door when she lost her job at the tobacco factory . Her first customers were the men who worked with my stepfather on a WP A badly needed sewer project in front of the house. My mother is a good cook and financially things went well, but I was in my early teens and was desperately conscious of my status and appearance. I needed and wanted money more than ever . If I did not succumb to the spurious invitations of the men in the neighborhood, of whom there were many, it was only because stealing money from my unmathematical mother was easier . This I did with a clear conscience for the money was used for what I considered absolute necessities. I was able to take piano lessons because I told my mother they were half the price of what they actually were. I also paid for my dental care and thus saved my teeth. My brother, unfortunately, had to lose several of his molars because my mother with her false teeth never understood the necessity for dental care. I also used the money to purchase better quality clothing than the money my mother gave me permitted. In spite of this minor leak in my mother's resources, enough money was soon saved to purchase a small house on another street. It was not much of a house. It had no bathroom or central heating but the cellar was almost street level and my stepfather converted it into a small lunch room - which also served as our entrance to the upstairs part of the house . Life went on as before with perhaps less privacy. My mother was in the store from dawn to late at night seven days a week. She even indulged in a little back room bootlegging during prohibition. (For which she had to pay off the local police every month.) This time the money was put into a local bank. She also grudgingly spared some to pay for violin lessons for my brother. ·\ This time the money grew a little faster. •Unforlunately, the bank crash of the thirties took most of it. Undaunted , life went on in the same way. Nothing drastic occurred to alter the further course of monetary gain, except perhaps a rather heavy drain when the problem of schooling came up . �SLOVAKIA 139 My desire for an education was not taken too seriously because of the conflict between my mother and myself over my going out with boys. Her solution of my awareness of the opposite sex was one of violent objection. •\ '' All men only want to use you ,'' she counselled. ' 'They ' 11 only get you into trouble!" she insisted . I believed her for a long time. It was then that I learned that the two children that one of her older sisters had (one died in early adulthood of tuberculosis) were each born illigitimately during her relations with two different men , neither of whom married her. Her other sister, in my mother's opinion , did not fare any better. She had five very small children in as many years , and if her husband had not been killed in a mining accident, she would have had many more . Her conclusion was that a man did not care . A woman had to be independent, smart and take care of herself. Nevertheless, I managed to get through college with help from her and many others. Mostly I worked. My brother , on the other hand , received other advice. " Don 't let any woman make a fool of you, " admonished my mother. " I won 't ," answered my brother. He was immersed in secretly reading a pornographic novel. He was already following her advice in an affair he was having with one of his schoolmates. His schooling was more pleasant than mine for he did not have to work his way , nor did he have to depend on anyone else's charity. When he finally got married, he apologetically explained to my mother , '' I'm sorry for her!' ' Today , he is surprised to see the antagonisms between her and his wife . With both her children out of the way , my mother and my stepfather have no drain on their income except themselves. They live as sparingly as they ever did even in the days when there was very little money. Though their home now has central heating, they keep it so low that a sweater or a jacket is their permanent home attire during the cold weather. They permit themselves no luxuries . The money accumulates. I flatly refused to assist my uncle in bringing Lybushka to America . � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 133 Success Story ALVENA SECKAR ''Take Lybushka back with you to America,'' urged my uncle. "She' 11 become rich like your mother." "Like my mother!" I repeated to myself. Yes, from the way they looked at it, my mother had done quite well. She had come to America, had married, bore two children, educated them and now owned two houses. They did not know what kind of houses, but that did not alter the basic fact. True, my mother had committed a few sins on the way, like getting divorced and remarrying. She had fallen into a few pitfalls, now and then, but they were past now. Such things are forgiven. The end justifies the means. Lybushka would be a success, too, and her children would be like me. I stared at my uncle. This man was my mother's brother. The resemblance to my mother was startling. He had the same slight build, the same line worn broad face with high cheekbones, and the identical worried looking deep sunken blue gray eyes. He was a little boy when my mother last saw him forty years ago. This was back in the early 1900s when my mother was sixteen, the same age as Lybushka now was. She took off for the mythical land of America to pick the gold off its streets. Her two older sisters who had preceded her were either too ashamed to write back to dispel the fable or else felt that misery should have company and did nothing to prevent my mother from joining them. I looked around. My mother had left this self-same high peaked log house nestled in these unchanging mountains in northern Slovakia. My mind went back to those rare instances when my mother permitted herself to be sentimental, usually after some adverse fortune, and recalled this home with tears in her eyes. My uncle had never left it. He was the only son of a family of four surviving girls. The other children, all seven of them, had died in infancy. His father, my grandfather, had died of pneumonia when my uncle was a little boy and his was the responsibility of continuing the Alvena Seckar is a highly prized writer of children' s stories . This story appears here for the first time. 134 SLOVAKIA family. At first , it had not been too difficult with the additional inheritance of the three sisters who had gone away. True , there had been some squabbles over land ownership with the remaining sister, but they were nothing serious . But now, his family of seven daughters and only one son (Alas!) made it too crowded . " Lybushka was smart in school," continued my uncle. "She learned the Catechism from cover to cover before anyone else! ' ' So had my mother, I mused , in Hungarian, in a school of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. She had learned it by heart, but she had never learned to read or to write. Fortified with such knowledge, my mother had sailed for America . When she talks of that trip, she relates how the first class passengers amused themselves by throwing oranges down to steerage, where she was , to watch the wretched mob scramble , and perhaps fight , for the precious fruit. My remembrance of the trip is identified with that cluster of deep gouged out scars of her upper arm. They are the result of the vaccination against small pox some well meaning but callous civil servant inflicted upon her when she reached these shores. At the dock, her sisters greeted her by stripping her of her hand woven dresses and linens, which they later secretly sold, already wise to their market value. After "Americanizing" her with a cheap cotton dress , they dropped her off as a domestic in a home where there was no verbal communication possible with her new mistress . ''Take the cover off the baby's face!' ' her mistress yelled from the fifth floor down to my mother airing the baby in her carriage down on the sidewalk. My mother wrapped her closer. '' She ' 11 smother! '' the woman screamed . My mother bundled the baby tighter. " You 're fired! " screeched the exasperated woman as she puffed from the exertion of running down the four flights of the sidewalk. The last order with explicit motions was plainly understood . " I didn 't mind," said my mother to me many years later. " She never gave me enough to eat. ' ' Somehow, someway, she found another job, and later, many other jobs for the seven years she remained single. Small pay, starvation and extraordinary hard work characterized this period , first in New York , then in Pittsburgh, where she went with a rlewly found girlfriend on the information that many rich men from the coal mines· and the steel mills were there. This was the boom period when World War I had already started in Europe. SLOVAKIA 135 Such trials only intensi.fied my mother's efforts to get the gold for which her trip had been made. By this time, if nothing better came her way, she had decided to go back home and directed all her energies toward that goal. She kept her savings for the trip in a roll in her stocking under her long skirt which was then the fashion. A bank as a place to deposit money was not thought of. Just as she almost had enough, she discovered one day that it was gone! With it, her final chance to go back home . World War I was spreading and the miners, now working every day, came into Pittsburgh on their occasional day off. They put on a big front with their lavish spending and my mother must have been swept off her feet by the show of one of them, who became my father . It would be proper to give my mother the benefit of the doubt and say that she fell in love with my father and was not overcome by his display of money. Her married life, as much as I know of it those first few years, will not permit me to state this unequivocally. I know it was a stormy time. Her frugal habits were in continual conflict with my father ' s easy going nature. It deprived him of much pleasure. The excuse of the long hours he worked was of no avail with my mother. By the time the work at the mines slowed down after the war, my mother had saved enough money from his salary, from her taking in other people's wash, and from the two boarders who occupied one of the two bedrooms in the house (My brother and I slept with our parents.), to put a down payment on a farm in distant Connecticut. When she found that my father took to carousing instead of farm work, she gave up the whole idea and moved back to the mines . The next time she accumulated enough money, she was talked into investing it into the founding of a coal mine which turned out to be a grand swindle. The water in the mine could not be pumped out. By this time my father must have been rather weary of such unending and unremunerative effort and took to drinking with even greater gusto. One of the boarders who put up a good show of having money and property found my mother willing to transfer her affections. This happened when I was eight and my brother six. Again, for years, I gave my mother the benefit of the doubt for leaving this man by telling myself and the world that she did so when she found out he was a coal company spy . Actually, he did not have the money or the houses with which he seduced her. In all fairness , though the evidence so far warrants it, I cannot accuse my mother of using wealth as the prime criteria of her attitude toward men. She met the man who was to become my stepfather, legally, when he was working in the hard coal mines . She remained 136 SLOVAKIA loyal to him during a long coal strike, even loaned him some of her hard earned money she made in the shirt factory in which she worked. However, the same painstaking accumulation of money ensued with my stepfather. First, however, his one foible for gambling had to be crushed. This my mother did by unerringly locating where the game was in progress and promptly making a scene on the premises. It was not long before my stepfather was unable to find a place to do his gambling and he resigned himself to go along with my mother. After awhile it was no longer difficult. Their first monetary venture proved no more successful than any of the others my mother had engaged in. Real estate swindlers from a distant industrial city induced them to purchase some house lots on the installment plan. " We have a job for you in a factory there, " they promised. That sounded good to my stepfather who was blacklisted from working in the hard coal mine where he had been on strike. When we all got to the city, the factory job lasted one month before the establishment collapsed in the first throes of the post-war depression. It took longer for my parents to find out the lots were equally spurious . After the last payment was made , several years later, my parents discovered that they and hundreds of others from the coal regions had been defrauded. Since none of the people involved knew each other or what to do , nothing was done and the real estate thieves went on with their merciless racket. Times were hard in the city and my stepfather was part of the large army of unemployed during the depression. My mother came to the rescue and got a job in a tobacco factory. The smell of the tobacco was overpowering and I remember that for weeks she came home vomiting, unable to eat until the tobacco odor was out of her system . " You' 11 get used to it , " said the forelady . My mother did. Another job was hard to get. Not to be outdone, my stepfather set up a small shoe repair shop where he did all the work by hand. His meager earnings together with my mother's were enough to continue payments on the nonexistent lots and even to put some aside. This was done by the utmost economy. Only the smallest electric bulbs were used in our house and the electricity w¥ on only when absolutely necessary. Reading was not a necessity at any time guring my entire childhood and it was left to me to read in my adult life many of the books I should have read as a child. We had no central heating and coal was used very sparingly in our one and only kitchen stove . Even the ashes were carefully picked over for reuse of the partially burned coal. SLOVAKIA 137 It was bad enough for me at school to be so different from the other children - most of them ~ith American-born parents, for we lived on the fringe of a well-to-do ' area. Added to this self-consciousness in attitude was the discomfiture I felt in my old fashioned home made clothes. The one art which my mother never mastered was sewing. To this day, I feel pained when I look at photographs of myself in some of those homely and shapeless concoctions from reused cloth. In recent years I found out it was due to her poor eyesight, but she would not spare the money for glasses! Only the possession of my own money offered a solution to me. Though I was only twelve, the neighborhood we lived in did provide some opportunities if I could but take them. A Greek restaurant was next door. The bachelor owner often tried to invite me into his back room kitchen. ''I'll give you a nickel,' ' he urged. I shook my head. " I'll give you a quarter!" He was insistent. My mother's call or a customer invariably saved me. Behind us lived a tinsmith. He was from Vienna where his wife and three children lived. He, too, was accumulating money feverishly and unstintingly. He did his own cooking, cleaning and sewing. America was a corrupt land of materialism to him but he was here to make himself a fortune with which he would live the rest of his life in luxury in his beloved Vienna. He tried to be friends with me. "On pay day, I'll give you a dime, " he coaxed. "No," I answered. "I'll take you to the movies," he continued. My mother would find out so I ran away . On the corner was a barber shop. The man who owned it often stood outside as I passed on my way home from school. He smiled, and as he did so showed his ugly shiny front gold tooth. He jingled the coins in his pocket. " Come on in," he invited. Someone would see me. I walked on. Not all our neighbors were set to ensnare me. Near-by was an Italian grocery. From the street it smelled of stale, pungent cheeses and decaying vegetable matter. Mr. and Mrs. Natalo and all seven of their children always filled the store with noise and laughter. I am sure they were their best customers , but they were generous with me, too, asking nothing of me in return. They had no money to give me, but they did give me the taste for the bitter crinkled ripe olives in large open barrels in front of the counter and for the numerous hard Italian 138 SLOVAKIA cheeses which hung in disarray all around the shop . I did not feel out of place in their home. When some money was again gotten together, we moved to another neighborhood, hardly an improvement over the other, but I was more at home in the new school where a polyglot of nationalities mingled. My mother opened up a small lunch room on the basis of her brief experience in the Greek restaurant next door when she lost her job at the tobacco factory . Her first customers were the men who worked with my stepfather on a WP A badly needed sewer project in front of the house. My mother is a good cook and financially things went well, but I was in my early teens and was desperately conscious of my status and appearance. I needed and wanted money more than ever . If I did not succumb to the spurious invitations of the men in the neighborhood, of whom there were many, it was only because stealing money from my unmathematical mother was easier . This I did with a clear conscience for the money was used for what I considered absolute necessities. I was able to take piano lessons because I told my mother they were half the price of what they actually were. I also paid for my dental care and thus saved my teeth. My brother, unfortunately, had to lose several of his molars because my mother with her false teeth never understood the necessity for dental care. I also used the money to purchase better quality clothing than the money my mother gave me permitted. In spite of this minor leak in my mother's resources, enough money was soon saved to purchase a small house on another street. It was not much of a house. It had no bathroom or central heating but the cellar was almost street level and my stepfather converted it into a small lunch room - which also served as our entrance to the upstairs part of the house . Life went on as before with perhaps less privacy. My mother was in the store from dawn to late at night seven days a week. She even indulged in a little back room bootlegging during prohibition. (For which she had to pay off the local police every month.) This time the money was put into a local bank. She also grudgingly spared some to pay for violin lessons for my brother. ·\ This time the money grew a little faster. •Unforlunately, the bank crash of the thirties took most of it. Undaunted , life went on in the same way. Nothing drastic occurred to alter the further course of monetary gain, except perhaps a rather heavy drain when the problem of schooling came up . SLOVAKIA 139 My desire for an education was not taken too seriously because of the conflict between my mother and myself over my going out with boys. Her solution of my awareness of the opposite sex was one of violent objection. •\ '' All men only want to use you ,'' she counselled. ' 'They ' 11 only get you into trouble!" she insisted . I believed her for a long time. It was then that I learned that the two children that one of her older sisters had (one died in early adulthood of tuberculosis) were each born illigitimately during her relations with two different men , neither of whom married her. Her other sister, in my mother's opinion , did not fare any better. She had five very small children in as many years , and if her husband had not been killed in a mining accident, she would have had many more . Her conclusion was that a man did not care . A woman had to be independent, smart and take care of herself. Nevertheless, I managed to get through college with help from her and many others. Mostly I worked. My brother , on the other hand , received other advice. " Don 't let any woman make a fool of you, " admonished my mother. " I won 't ," answered my brother. He was immersed in secretly reading a pornographic novel. He was already following her advice in an affair he was having with one of his schoolmates. His schooling was more pleasant than mine for he did not have to work his way , nor did he have to depend on anyone else's charity. When he finally got married, he apologetically explained to my mother , '' I'm sorry for her!' ' Today , he is surprised to see the antagonisms between her and his wife . With both her children out of the way , my mother and my stepfather have no drain on their income except themselves. They live as sparingly as they ever did even in the days when there was very little money. Though their home now has central heating, they keep it so low that a sweater or a jacket is their permanent home attire during the cold weather. They permit themselves no luxuries . The money accumulates. I flatly refused to assist my uncle in bringing Lybushka to America .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Success Story Description An account of the resource Alvena Seckar Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 133-139 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Seckar, Alvena, 1916-2012 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/059d24587795e9ea830314094d3a750e.pdf 443b160de78b9ea4fd8cd32ba2f3cf8c PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 107 The Man 'Who Made Good in America THOMAS BELL In the spring of 1910, three men were sitting in a grimy courtyard, talking. All were Slovak steelworkers, fair, solidly-built men in their late thirties. The oldest, Mike Dobrejcak, was wearing slippers and a long-sleeved undershirt; he had got out of bed only an hour or so before, and would soon be going off to a night ' s work in the blast furnaces . The others , his brother Joe and his best friend Steve Bodnar, were cleanfaced and clean-shirted, notice to all the small world of a steel town that they weren't working. Times were bad; not as bad as they had been during the panic three years before, but bad enough. The courtyard, its paving gritty with mill dust, was closed in by the brick row in which Mike lived, by the fire-escaped back of a Washington Street saloon , and by the board fence against which Bodnar had titled his chair. Two doors down the row several men were playing cards, their table an old box, and at the far end of the yard, in the comer formed by the communal outhouse and another fence, a loom had been set up and some women were weaving carpets from old rags . It was a fine May afternoon; the three men could feel the warmth of the smoke-hazed sun penetrating their clothes. The saloon-keeper' s hired girl, who had entertained them briefly by coming out on the fire escape above them to wash a window, had clambered back inside , taking her ankles with her, and now the men were talking, like a good many other people in Braddock, about Andy Toth. * * * On a bleak New Year's Eve many years before, about midway in time between the Braddock lockout with which Carnegie began his war on the steelworkers ' union , and the Homestead lockout with which he finished it in 1892, there had been serious trouble at the mill gate in Braddock . The workers had asked for New Year ' s Day off and the This short story was first printed in Mainstream (1947) and is reprinted by permission of Marie Be ll. �108 SLOVAKIA company had refused, whereupon the day men gathered before the gate and tried to keep the incoming night men from going to work. Foremen and mill cops intervened, and very shortly a small riot was raging up and down Thirteenth Street. When it was over there were a number of broken heads on both sides and one man, an Irish foreman, was dead. Andy Toth, a laborer in the blast furnaces who 'd just recently come to America, married and the father of two boys, was arrested and tried for murder. He admitted participating in the fighting but denied that he 'd struck the foreman. He was nevertheless convicted and sentenced to hang, a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment. Still protesting his innocence , he disappeared into the state penitentiary, and after a while people stopped talking about him; and after another while everybody except his family - and perhaps the family of the dead foreman - had forgotten him. Now people were talking about him again, for after all these years it turned out that he was just as innocent as he'd always claimed to be. It seemed that a man in the old country, convinced he was dying, had confessed to the crime for which another man had already spent nearly twenty years in prison. His name was Steve Toth but he was no relation. The name was a common one; toth was the Hungarian word for Slovak. Contrary to his expectations, the repentant Steve Toth didn 't die. Meanwhile, however, the village notar, perhaps wondering if Steve Toth had been in his right mind when he told his fantastic story, had written to Braddock; and after a suitable interval Andy Toth's sons, now grown men, journeyed to Europe. Assured that he was safe as long as he didn 't return to America, Steve Toth talked freely . He hadn 't meant to kill anyone , he said. Everyone was fighting, and that he rather than someone else had struck the fatal blow , that it had proved fatal at all, was pure chance. He'd left Braddock at once and returned to the old country . When he heard that the police, to whom one immigrant laborer named Toth was apparently as good as another, had arrested Andy Toth, he had been afraid to reveal the truth. But he was glad \ he said, to get it off his conscience at last. . _ What Andy Toth ' s sons felt or thought as they listened to him was not known. They returned to Braddock laden with affidavits and documents and set about getting their father out of jail. There was a picture of him in the newspapers on his release , a stout, white-haired, dazed looking man. He carried a rosary and he was quoted as saying that he 'd always known he would be freed some day �' SLOVAKIA 109 because he had prayed every night and his faith in God' s goodness had never wavered. Several priests took his words, his history, for a text the following Sunday . Andy Toth did not breathe the free air of America long; almost as soon as it could be arranged, he went back to the old country. He wife, who had taken in boarders to support herself and her family, had died while he was in prison. His sons were American citizens with wives and American-born children. Andy Toth went back to the old country - to die , he said ; a sentiment everyone understood and no one took literally. What made the First Ward gasp, however, was the report that the steel company , in an unprecedented manifestation of generosity and remorse, had given him a check equal to all the wages he would have earned if he'd been working in the mill during his long years in prison . * * * People never get tired to talking about money. '' How much do you think he got?'' Joe asked. " It should be easy to figure out," Mike replied . "Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day, seven days a week. ' ' " For twenty years. " "Ah." ''That sounds like a lot of money. '' A breeze rustled the drying leaves of the Pentecostal linden branches nailed over Mike's doorway, as over most of the doorways in the row . In Twelfth Street, on the other side of the board fence, a huckster was crying his chant of potatoes, cabbages and onions , and small boys with nothing better to do were echoing him mockingly . " You know how to figure , Mike. See what it comes to. " Mike smiled tolerantly, not unwilling to show off his learning. "If you like." He leaned around the comer of the doorway and called into the kitchen where Mary was getting his supper and packing his lunch bucket. "Marchal See if you can find me a pencil and paper." She came to the door, a small, tired women in a soiled dress , a year-old baby in her arms. The baby was gnawing gummily on a piece of bacon rind hung from a string around its neck. '' What do you want with a pencil and paper?'' she asked . Like the men, she spoke in Slovak. "We want to find out how much money the company gave Andy Toth .'' " Ach, you men! You'd do better to start getting ready for work. " But she brought him what he wanted, a brown paper bag and a stubby pencil. �110 SLOVAKIA Mike flattened the bag on his knee and wet the pencil with his tongue. " Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day." He put the figures down and multiplied carefully. " One dollar and sixty-eight cents. " ''I could have told you that, '' Bodnar said. "Seven days a week - " Another pause. " It comes to eleven dollars and seventy-six cents." " What about the long tum?" Joe asked. " That's twelve hours more every other week." " Yes, but how do we know the company figured in the long turns? " "If he ' d been working he would have had to put them in, like everybody else. And they say the company paid him just as though he'd been working. What do you think, Stefan?" Bodnar said it sounded reasonable to him. But that , he went on drily , made it also certain the company would think differently. " If you start figuring it so exactly you ' ll need a better man with figures than I, " Mike said. " What about the times they cut wages? " " And don't forget they weren 't paying any fourteen cents an hour in those days ," Bodnar said . " I went into the mill for seventy-five cents a day. " "And shutdowns and layoffs ," Joe agreed, nodding. " God knows we 've had more than enough of those in the last twenty years. ' ' Mike protested, ''The more you talk the harder you make it.'' They thought it over. One of the card players rose and crossed the yard to the outhouse , making some remark to the women at the loom as he passed and laughing as he shut himself inside . '' Let's keep it simple, '' Mike said. '' A straight twelve hours a day , seven days a week, with no wage cuts or layoffs .'' Bodnar grunted . " I'd like a job in a mill like that. Where is it? " " In heaven , maybe ," Joe suggested. Bodnar turned his face and spat. ' 'Or in hell .' ' " Be quiet, " Mike said, " or I'll be here all day. " He was putting down figures again. ''Fifty-two times eleven-seventy-six - '' He multiplied and added. ''It comes to six hund\ed eleven dollars and fiftytwo cents a year, " he announced . " That much? " · " In twenty years it should make a nice piece of money," Joe observed reflectively . "Now I know why bankers enjoy their work . " Mike was staring at the paper. " You put down some figures , add them up and there you are rich. '' �\ ' SLOVAKIA 111 " How much in twenty years?" Bodnar asked. " One minute. It comes to - " Again Mike 's pencil moved, while the others watched it, absorbed. '' Boie moj! '' " Well? Well? Don 't just sit there. Tell us. " " As God is my judge, it comes to twelve thousand , two hundred thirty dollars and forty cents exactly. ' ' They stared at him blankly. " How much did you say? " Mike repeated the figure. ''Twelve thousand!'' Mike nodded. " In one piece, cash money. " " Jeiis! Twelve thousand dollars! " "I don 't believe it. " " There are the figures. " The immensity of the sum overwhelmed them. Speechless they stared at the paper on Mike 's knee. ' 'Good God! ' ' Bodnar exclaimed. ' 'When I heard they were giving him some money I wished him joy of it. I didn 't think much about it. I supposed it would come to a few hundred dollars more or less , little enough for what he suffered. But twelve thousand dollars!'' " It's a lot of money, " Mike admitted. " It's a fortune! And for what?" Mike glanced at his friend. ' 'Do you begrudge him the money? ' ' Bodnar stared at the paper on Mike 's knee and then struck a match and re-lit his pipe, emotion making him suck on it with loud, smacking noises . ' 'If I do, then may God forgive me. But what I'm thinking is that I was working in the mill when they took him off to jail, and so were you for that matter , and we 're working still. And do we have any twelve thousand dollars to show for it? Twelve thousand dollars? Twelve thousand turds! '' " We didn 't sit in jail for twenty years ." '' Devil take me if I wouldn't be glad to sit in the strongest jail they have for that kind of money! " ''Twenty years in jail is a long time , Stefan. '' ' 'Twenty years in that God-damned mill is a long time too , my friend! ' ' "Yes. Yes , it is. " " And what have we to show for it? Who 's the better off today? Look at us !" He gestured abruptly, taking in themselves, the mean yard , the card player reappearing in the door of the outhouse , sliding his thumbs up and down under his suspenders. " I ask you , who 's the �SLOVAKIA 112 better off? Toth, gone back to the old country with a fortune in his pocket and the rest of his life to do as he likes, - or we, breaking our backs in the blast furnaces to keep body and soul together?'' Mike didn't reply. Joe shrugged slightly, one hand holding his pipe near his mouth, the other cupping an elbow. "Itell you, Mike, it starts a man thinking." "Yes." Mary called, "Mihal, it's getting late!" In some upstairs bedroom a melancholy boarder, far from home, was hunched over an accordian and singing about a girl whose lover from over the wooded mountains never came to see her anymore, though once they had made love every hour, every minute, every day of the week including Saturday: '' Za hory, lesy, mti milti, kde si .. . '' The mills and blast furnaces were a low rumble on the other side of the housetops , and of his song. ''Mihal!'' After a while he got slowly to his feet. ''Toth could make a pretty good speech when he gets back to his village," he said. Bodnar grunted, still seething. Joe looked up at his brother. "A speech?'' Mike nodded, and a far-away look came into his eyes and his voice took on the formal tone appropriate to oratory . ''I was thinking he could stand up before the people who had gathered to welcome him home and he could say to them, ' My friends, in my youth I went to America to make my fortune, as the saying is . I dreamt of some day returning here rich and famous. Money in my pocket, maybe even my picture in the papers. You all know what thoughts will come into a young man's head when he is going to America. So off I went and now I've come back, and here I am. Rich and famous.' ' ' Mike stood above them for a moment, a faint, twisted smile on his lips . " Rich and famous," he repeated quietly. Then he shook his head, as a man will when he finds something too much for him, and went inside to get ready for work. � SLOVAKIA 107 The Man 'Who Made Good in America THOMAS BELL In the spring of 1910, three men were sitting in a grimy courtyard, talking. All were Slovak steelworkers, fair, solidly-built men in their late thirties. The oldest, Mike Dobrejcak, was wearing slippers and a long-sleeved undershirt; he had got out of bed only an hour or so before, and would soon be going off to a night ' s work in the blast furnaces . The others , his brother Joe and his best friend Steve Bodnar, were cleanfaced and clean-shirted, notice to all the small world of a steel town that they weren't working. Times were bad; not as bad as they had been during the panic three years before, but bad enough. The courtyard, its paving gritty with mill dust, was closed in by the brick row in which Mike lived, by the fire-escaped back of a Washington Street saloon , and by the board fence against which Bodnar had titled his chair. Two doors down the row several men were playing cards, their table an old box, and at the far end of the yard, in the comer formed by the communal outhouse and another fence, a loom had been set up and some women were weaving carpets from old rags . It was a fine May afternoon; the three men could feel the warmth of the smoke-hazed sun penetrating their clothes. The saloon-keeper' s hired girl, who had entertained them briefly by coming out on the fire escape above them to wash a window, had clambered back inside , taking her ankles with her, and now the men were talking, like a good many other people in Braddock, about Andy Toth. * * * On a bleak New Year's Eve many years before, about midway in time between the Braddock lockout with which Carnegie began his war on the steelworkers ' union , and the Homestead lockout with which he finished it in 1892, there had been serious trouble at the mill gate in Braddock . The workers had asked for New Year ' s Day off and the This short story was first printed in Mainstream (1947) and is reprinted by permission of Marie Be ll. �108 SLOVAKIA company had refused, whereupon the day men gathered before the gate and tried to keep the incoming night men from going to work. Foremen and mill cops intervened, and very shortly a small riot was raging up and down Thirteenth Street. When it was over there were a number of broken heads on both sides and one man, an Irish foreman, was dead. Andy Toth, a laborer in the blast furnaces who 'd just recently come to America, married and the father of two boys, was arrested and tried for murder. He admitted participating in the fighting but denied that he 'd struck the foreman. He was nevertheless convicted and sentenced to hang, a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment. Still protesting his innocence , he disappeared into the state penitentiary, and after a while people stopped talking about him; and after another while everybody except his family - and perhaps the family of the dead foreman - had forgotten him. Now people were talking about him again, for after all these years it turned out that he was just as innocent as he'd always claimed to be. It seemed that a man in the old country, convinced he was dying, had confessed to the crime for which another man had already spent nearly twenty years in prison. His name was Steve Toth but he was no relation. The name was a common one; toth was the Hungarian word for Slovak. Contrary to his expectations, the repentant Steve Toth didn 't die. Meanwhile, however, the village notar, perhaps wondering if Steve Toth had been in his right mind when he told his fantastic story, had written to Braddock; and after a suitable interval Andy Toth's sons, now grown men, journeyed to Europe. Assured that he was safe as long as he didn 't return to America, Steve Toth talked freely . He hadn 't meant to kill anyone , he said. Everyone was fighting, and that he rather than someone else had struck the fatal blow , that it had proved fatal at all, was pure chance. He'd left Braddock at once and returned to the old country . When he heard that the police, to whom one immigrant laborer named Toth was apparently as good as another, had arrested Andy Toth, he had been afraid to reveal the truth. But he was glad \ he said, to get it off his conscience at last. . _ What Andy Toth ' s sons felt or thought as they listened to him was not known. They returned to Braddock laden with affidavits and documents and set about getting their father out of jail. There was a picture of him in the newspapers on his release , a stout, white-haired, dazed looking man. He carried a rosary and he was quoted as saying that he 'd always known he would be freed some day �' SLOVAKIA 109 because he had prayed every night and his faith in God' s goodness had never wavered. Several priests took his words, his history, for a text the following Sunday . Andy Toth did not breathe the free air of America long; almost as soon as it could be arranged, he went back to the old country. He wife, who had taken in boarders to support herself and her family, had died while he was in prison. His sons were American citizens with wives and American-born children. Andy Toth went back to the old country - to die , he said ; a sentiment everyone understood and no one took literally. What made the First Ward gasp, however, was the report that the steel company , in an unprecedented manifestation of generosity and remorse, had given him a check equal to all the wages he would have earned if he'd been working in the mill during his long years in prison . * * * People never get tired to talking about money. '' How much do you think he got?'' Joe asked. " It should be easy to figure out," Mike replied . "Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day, seven days a week. ' ' " For twenty years. " "Ah." ''That sounds like a lot of money. '' A breeze rustled the drying leaves of the Pentecostal linden branches nailed over Mike's doorway, as over most of the doorways in the row . In Twelfth Street, on the other side of the board fence, a huckster was crying his chant of potatoes, cabbages and onions , and small boys with nothing better to do were echoing him mockingly . " You know how to figure , Mike. See what it comes to. " Mike smiled tolerantly, not unwilling to show off his learning. "If you like." He leaned around the comer of the doorway and called into the kitchen where Mary was getting his supper and packing his lunch bucket. "Marchal See if you can find me a pencil and paper." She came to the door, a small, tired women in a soiled dress , a year-old baby in her arms. The baby was gnawing gummily on a piece of bacon rind hung from a string around its neck. '' What do you want with a pencil and paper?'' she asked . Like the men, she spoke in Slovak. "We want to find out how much money the company gave Andy Toth .'' " Ach, you men! You'd do better to start getting ready for work. " But she brought him what he wanted, a brown paper bag and a stubby pencil. �110 SLOVAKIA Mike flattened the bag on his knee and wet the pencil with his tongue. " Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day." He put the figures down and multiplied carefully. " One dollar and sixty-eight cents. " ''I could have told you that, '' Bodnar said. "Seven days a week - " Another pause. " It comes to eleven dollars and seventy-six cents." " What about the long tum?" Joe asked. " That's twelve hours more every other week." " Yes, but how do we know the company figured in the long turns? " "If he ' d been working he would have had to put them in, like everybody else. And they say the company paid him just as though he'd been working. What do you think, Stefan?" Bodnar said it sounded reasonable to him. But that , he went on drily , made it also certain the company would think differently. " If you start figuring it so exactly you ' ll need a better man with figures than I, " Mike said. " What about the times they cut wages? " " And don't forget they weren 't paying any fourteen cents an hour in those days ," Bodnar said . " I went into the mill for seventy-five cents a day. " "And shutdowns and layoffs ," Joe agreed, nodding. " God knows we 've had more than enough of those in the last twenty years. ' ' Mike protested, ''The more you talk the harder you make it.'' They thought it over. One of the card players rose and crossed the yard to the outhouse , making some remark to the women at the loom as he passed and laughing as he shut himself inside . '' Let's keep it simple, '' Mike said. '' A straight twelve hours a day , seven days a week, with no wage cuts or layoffs .'' Bodnar grunted . " I'd like a job in a mill like that. Where is it? " " In heaven , maybe ," Joe suggested. Bodnar turned his face and spat. ' 'Or in hell .' ' " Be quiet, " Mike said, " or I'll be here all day. " He was putting down figures again. ''Fifty-two times eleven-seventy-six - '' He multiplied and added. ''It comes to six hund\ed eleven dollars and fiftytwo cents a year, " he announced . " That much? " · " In twenty years it should make a nice piece of money," Joe observed reflectively . "Now I know why bankers enjoy their work . " Mike was staring at the paper. " You put down some figures , add them up and there you are rich. '' �\ ' SLOVAKIA 111 " How much in twenty years?" Bodnar asked. " One minute. It comes to - " Again Mike 's pencil moved, while the others watched it, absorbed. '' Boie moj! '' " Well? Well? Don 't just sit there. Tell us. " " As God is my judge, it comes to twelve thousand , two hundred thirty dollars and forty cents exactly. ' ' They stared at him blankly. " How much did you say? " Mike repeated the figure. ''Twelve thousand!'' Mike nodded. " In one piece, cash money. " " Jeiis! Twelve thousand dollars! " "I don 't believe it. " " There are the figures. " The immensity of the sum overwhelmed them. Speechless they stared at the paper on Mike 's knee. ' 'Good God! ' ' Bodnar exclaimed. ' 'When I heard they were giving him some money I wished him joy of it. I didn 't think much about it. I supposed it would come to a few hundred dollars more or less , little enough for what he suffered. But twelve thousand dollars!'' " It's a lot of money, " Mike admitted. " It's a fortune! And for what?" Mike glanced at his friend. ' 'Do you begrudge him the money? ' ' Bodnar stared at the paper on Mike 's knee and then struck a match and re-lit his pipe, emotion making him suck on it with loud, smacking noises . ' 'If I do, then may God forgive me. But what I'm thinking is that I was working in the mill when they took him off to jail, and so were you for that matter , and we 're working still. And do we have any twelve thousand dollars to show for it? Twelve thousand dollars? Twelve thousand turds! '' " We didn 't sit in jail for twenty years ." '' Devil take me if I wouldn't be glad to sit in the strongest jail they have for that kind of money! " ''Twenty years in jail is a long time , Stefan. '' ' 'Twenty years in that God-damned mill is a long time too , my friend! ' ' "Yes. Yes , it is. " " And what have we to show for it? Who 's the better off today? Look at us !" He gestured abruptly, taking in themselves, the mean yard , the card player reappearing in the door of the outhouse , sliding his thumbs up and down under his suspenders. " I ask you , who 's the �SLOVAKIA 112 better off? Toth, gone back to the old country with a fortune in his pocket and the rest of his life to do as he likes, - or we, breaking our backs in the blast furnaces to keep body and soul together?'' Mike didn't reply. Joe shrugged slightly, one hand holding his pipe near his mouth, the other cupping an elbow. "Itell you, Mike, it starts a man thinking." "Yes." Mary called, "Mihal, it's getting late!" In some upstairs bedroom a melancholy boarder, far from home, was hunched over an accordian and singing about a girl whose lover from over the wooded mountains never came to see her anymore, though once they had made love every hour, every minute, every day of the week including Saturday: '' Za hory, lesy, mti milti, kde si .. . '' The mills and blast furnaces were a low rumble on the other side of the housetops , and of his song. ''Mihal!'' After a while he got slowly to his feet. ''Toth could make a pretty good speech when he gets back to his village," he said. Bodnar grunted, still seething. Joe looked up at his brother. "A speech?'' Mike nodded, and a far-away look came into his eyes and his voice took on the formal tone appropriate to oratory . ''I was thinking he could stand up before the people who had gathered to welcome him home and he could say to them, ' My friends, in my youth I went to America to make my fortune, as the saying is . I dreamt of some day returning here rich and famous. Money in my pocket, maybe even my picture in the papers. You all know what thoughts will come into a young man's head when he is going to America. So off I went and now I've come back, and here I am. Rich and famous.' ' ' Mike stood above them for a moment, a faint, twisted smile on his lips . " Rich and famous," he repeated quietly. Then he shook his head, as a man will when he finds something too much for him, and went inside to get ready for work. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 107 The Man 'Who Made Good in America THOMAS BELL In the spring of 1910, three men were sitting in a grimy courtyard, talking. All were Slovak steelworkers, fair, solidly-built men in their late thirties. The oldest, Mike Dobrejcak, was wearing slippers and a long-sleeved undershirt; he had got out of bed only an hour or so before, and would soon be going off to a night ' s work in the blast furnaces . The others , his brother Joe and his best friend Steve Bodnar, were cleanfaced and clean-shirted, notice to all the small world of a steel town that they weren't working. Times were bad; not as bad as they had been during the panic three years before, but bad enough. The courtyard, its paving gritty with mill dust, was closed in by the brick row in which Mike lived, by the fire-escaped back of a Washington Street saloon , and by the board fence against which Bodnar had titled his chair. Two doors down the row several men were playing cards, their table an old box, and at the far end of the yard, in the comer formed by the communal outhouse and another fence, a loom had been set up and some women were weaving carpets from old rags . It was a fine May afternoon; the three men could feel the warmth of the smoke-hazed sun penetrating their clothes. The saloon-keeper' s hired girl, who had entertained them briefly by coming out on the fire escape above them to wash a window, had clambered back inside , taking her ankles with her, and now the men were talking, like a good many other people in Braddock, about Andy Toth. * * * On a bleak New Year's Eve many years before, about midway in time between the Braddock lockout with which Carnegie began his war on the steelworkers ' union , and the Homestead lockout with which he finished it in 1892, there had been serious trouble at the mill gate in Braddock . The workers had asked for New Year ' s Day off and the This short story was first printed in Mainstream (1947) and is reprinted by permission of Marie Be ll. 108 SLOVAKIA company had refused, whereupon the day men gathered before the gate and tried to keep the incoming night men from going to work. Foremen and mill cops intervened, and very shortly a small riot was raging up and down Thirteenth Street. When it was over there were a number of broken heads on both sides and one man, an Irish foreman, was dead. Andy Toth, a laborer in the blast furnaces who 'd just recently come to America, married and the father of two boys, was arrested and tried for murder. He admitted participating in the fighting but denied that he 'd struck the foreman. He was nevertheless convicted and sentenced to hang, a sentence that was later commuted to life imprisonment. Still protesting his innocence , he disappeared into the state penitentiary, and after a while people stopped talking about him; and after another while everybody except his family - and perhaps the family of the dead foreman - had forgotten him. Now people were talking about him again, for after all these years it turned out that he was just as innocent as he'd always claimed to be. It seemed that a man in the old country, convinced he was dying, had confessed to the crime for which another man had already spent nearly twenty years in prison. His name was Steve Toth but he was no relation. The name was a common one; toth was the Hungarian word for Slovak. Contrary to his expectations, the repentant Steve Toth didn 't die. Meanwhile, however, the village notar, perhaps wondering if Steve Toth had been in his right mind when he told his fantastic story, had written to Braddock; and after a suitable interval Andy Toth's sons, now grown men, journeyed to Europe. Assured that he was safe as long as he didn 't return to America, Steve Toth talked freely . He hadn 't meant to kill anyone , he said. Everyone was fighting, and that he rather than someone else had struck the fatal blow , that it had proved fatal at all, was pure chance. He'd left Braddock at once and returned to the old country . When he heard that the police, to whom one immigrant laborer named Toth was apparently as good as another, had arrested Andy Toth, he had been afraid to reveal the truth. But he was glad \ he said, to get it off his conscience at last. . _ What Andy Toth ' s sons felt or thought as they listened to him was not known. They returned to Braddock laden with affidavits and documents and set about getting their father out of jail. There was a picture of him in the newspapers on his release , a stout, white-haired, dazed looking man. He carried a rosary and he was quoted as saying that he 'd always known he would be freed some day ' SLOVAKIA 109 because he had prayed every night and his faith in God' s goodness had never wavered. Several priests took his words, his history, for a text the following Sunday . Andy Toth did not breathe the free air of America long; almost as soon as it could be arranged, he went back to the old country. He wife, who had taken in boarders to support herself and her family, had died while he was in prison. His sons were American citizens with wives and American-born children. Andy Toth went back to the old country - to die , he said ; a sentiment everyone understood and no one took literally. What made the First Ward gasp, however, was the report that the steel company , in an unprecedented manifestation of generosity and remorse, had given him a check equal to all the wages he would have earned if he'd been working in the mill during his long years in prison . * * * People never get tired to talking about money. '' How much do you think he got?'' Joe asked. " It should be easy to figure out," Mike replied . "Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day, seven days a week. ' ' " For twenty years. " "Ah." ''That sounds like a lot of money. '' A breeze rustled the drying leaves of the Pentecostal linden branches nailed over Mike's doorway, as over most of the doorways in the row . In Twelfth Street, on the other side of the board fence, a huckster was crying his chant of potatoes, cabbages and onions , and small boys with nothing better to do were echoing him mockingly . " You know how to figure , Mike. See what it comes to. " Mike smiled tolerantly, not unwilling to show off his learning. "If you like." He leaned around the comer of the doorway and called into the kitchen where Mary was getting his supper and packing his lunch bucket. "Marchal See if you can find me a pencil and paper." She came to the door, a small, tired women in a soiled dress , a year-old baby in her arms. The baby was gnawing gummily on a piece of bacon rind hung from a string around its neck. '' What do you want with a pencil and paper?'' she asked . Like the men, she spoke in Slovak. "We want to find out how much money the company gave Andy Toth .'' " Ach, you men! You'd do better to start getting ready for work. " But she brought him what he wanted, a brown paper bag and a stubby pencil. 110 SLOVAKIA Mike flattened the bag on his knee and wet the pencil with his tongue. " Fourteen cents an hour, twelve hours a day." He put the figures down and multiplied carefully. " One dollar and sixty-eight cents. " ''I could have told you that, '' Bodnar said. "Seven days a week - " Another pause. " It comes to eleven dollars and seventy-six cents." " What about the long tum?" Joe asked. " That's twelve hours more every other week." " Yes, but how do we know the company figured in the long turns? " "If he ' d been working he would have had to put them in, like everybody else. And they say the company paid him just as though he'd been working. What do you think, Stefan?" Bodnar said it sounded reasonable to him. But that , he went on drily , made it also certain the company would think differently. " If you start figuring it so exactly you ' ll need a better man with figures than I, " Mike said. " What about the times they cut wages? " " And don't forget they weren 't paying any fourteen cents an hour in those days ," Bodnar said . " I went into the mill for seventy-five cents a day. " "And shutdowns and layoffs ," Joe agreed, nodding. " God knows we 've had more than enough of those in the last twenty years. ' ' Mike protested, ''The more you talk the harder you make it.'' They thought it over. One of the card players rose and crossed the yard to the outhouse , making some remark to the women at the loom as he passed and laughing as he shut himself inside . '' Let's keep it simple, '' Mike said. '' A straight twelve hours a day , seven days a week, with no wage cuts or layoffs .'' Bodnar grunted . " I'd like a job in a mill like that. Where is it? " " In heaven , maybe ," Joe suggested. Bodnar turned his face and spat. ' 'Or in hell .' ' " Be quiet, " Mike said, " or I'll be here all day. " He was putting down figures again. ''Fifty-two times eleven-seventy-six - '' He multiplied and added. ''It comes to six hund\ed eleven dollars and fiftytwo cents a year, " he announced . " That much? " · " In twenty years it should make a nice piece of money," Joe observed reflectively . "Now I know why bankers enjoy their work . " Mike was staring at the paper. " You put down some figures , add them up and there you are rich. '' \ ' SLOVAKIA 111 " How much in twenty years?" Bodnar asked. " One minute. It comes to - " Again Mike 's pencil moved, while the others watched it, absorbed. '' Boie moj! '' " Well? Well? Don 't just sit there. Tell us. " " As God is my judge, it comes to twelve thousand , two hundred thirty dollars and forty cents exactly. ' ' They stared at him blankly. " How much did you say? " Mike repeated the figure. ''Twelve thousand!'' Mike nodded. " In one piece, cash money. " " Jeiis! Twelve thousand dollars! " "I don 't believe it. " " There are the figures. " The immensity of the sum overwhelmed them. Speechless they stared at the paper on Mike 's knee. ' 'Good God! ' ' Bodnar exclaimed. ' 'When I heard they were giving him some money I wished him joy of it. I didn 't think much about it. I supposed it would come to a few hundred dollars more or less , little enough for what he suffered. But twelve thousand dollars!'' " It's a lot of money, " Mike admitted. " It's a fortune! And for what?" Mike glanced at his friend. ' 'Do you begrudge him the money? ' ' Bodnar stared at the paper on Mike 's knee and then struck a match and re-lit his pipe, emotion making him suck on it with loud, smacking noises . ' 'If I do, then may God forgive me. But what I'm thinking is that I was working in the mill when they took him off to jail, and so were you for that matter , and we 're working still. And do we have any twelve thousand dollars to show for it? Twelve thousand dollars? Twelve thousand turds! '' " We didn 't sit in jail for twenty years ." '' Devil take me if I wouldn't be glad to sit in the strongest jail they have for that kind of money! " ''Twenty years in jail is a long time , Stefan. '' ' 'Twenty years in that God-damned mill is a long time too , my friend! ' ' "Yes. Yes , it is. " " And what have we to show for it? Who 's the better off today? Look at us !" He gestured abruptly, taking in themselves, the mean yard , the card player reappearing in the door of the outhouse , sliding his thumbs up and down under his suspenders. " I ask you , who 's the SLOVAKIA 112 better off? Toth, gone back to the old country with a fortune in his pocket and the rest of his life to do as he likes, - or we, breaking our backs in the blast furnaces to keep body and soul together?'' Mike didn't reply. Joe shrugged slightly, one hand holding his pipe near his mouth, the other cupping an elbow. "Itell you, Mike, it starts a man thinking." "Yes." Mary called, "Mihal, it's getting late!" In some upstairs bedroom a melancholy boarder, far from home, was hunched over an accordian and singing about a girl whose lover from over the wooded mountains never came to see her anymore, though once they had made love every hour, every minute, every day of the week including Saturday: '' Za hory, lesy, mti milti, kde si .. . '' The mills and blast furnaces were a low rumble on the other side of the housetops , and of his song. ''Mihal!'' After a while he got slowly to his feet. ''Toth could make a pretty good speech when he gets back to his village," he said. Bodnar grunted, still seething. Joe looked up at his brother. "A speech?'' Mike nodded, and a far-away look came into his eyes and his voice took on the formal tone appropriate to oratory . ''I was thinking he could stand up before the people who had gathered to welcome him home and he could say to them, ' My friends, in my youth I went to America to make my fortune, as the saying is . I dreamt of some day returning here rich and famous. Money in my pocket, maybe even my picture in the papers. You all know what thoughts will come into a young man's head when he is going to America. So off I went and now I've come back, and here I am. Rich and famous.' ' ' Mike stood above them for a moment, a faint, twisted smile on his lips . " Rich and famous," he repeated quietly. Then he shook his head, as a man will when he finds something too much for him, and went inside to get ready for work.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Man Who Made Good in America Description An account of the resource Thomas Bell Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 107-112 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bell, Thomas, 1903-1961 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/66f12b876d0eb9f889e2e97a879c1f96.pdf e6d873eebdce88e265fc0dbd28f25e23 PDF Text Text 140 SLOVAKIA The New Spring (a fragment) r:uoo ONDREJOV (1901-1962) Jergus's comrades, Joe Kosalkula and Steve Fasanga Cengac, invited him to play with them in the huge sooty building at the end of the yard.* In the semidarkness of the large hall multicolored flames burned - blue and green, violet and white. On the hearth there was a sledge hammer. Half the size of a man, it lay on a huge anvil. The hammer's handle was made of a regular girder which extended to a colossal cogwheel. The boys told Jergus: ''They put a large chunk of copper into the fire and heat it until it is white-hot and bursting with sparks. Then the men grasp the copper with long pliers and bring it to the anvil. Then they let water flow on the large wheel. The wheel turns and the cogs grasp the girder handle, pushing down its end. The sledge rises. And when the wheel continues turning, the handle slips down from the cog and the sledge strikes the anvil. As the wheel turns, the sledge repeatedly hits the anvil, while the men turn and set the copper for the hammer's blows. They make a thick and heavy caldron with the copper. After it cools, the men put the caldron into a machine which tosses the caldron about until the caldron breaks into many thin kettles. That's what they do here . . . '' To the right of the hearth, there were many vats filled with a lightblue liquid. Jergus 's comrades said that the liquid was a solution of saltpeter. The solution was supposed to contain a large percentage of copper. The workers put copper plates in it and the copper from the saltpeter solution settled onto the plates. The boys decided to play a game of hide-and-seek among the vats . The large hall - with its numerous half-dark spaces, narrow corridors , and dark corners - was excellent for such an enterprise. The boys could not use the adjacent rooms for their play. The workers were sleeping there during their noon-break - and they were not to be disturbed. So one boy finding the other one would just cry, " Pamparitsa-poor, no one more!" and touch him w}th his hand. The one who . - • The first sentence has been expanded to provide background material. �SLOVAKIA 141 was found was then supposed to seek the others. The game was really excellent . The boys could play until one o'clock when the men were to wake up and begin their afternoon shift. The boys played an(\ cried and hid. Conducted with a silence like that which pervades an underground realm, their game was mysterious and exciting. The boy who was " it" sneaked about on his tiptoes only his face shining fearfully in the unusual light - looking, peeking, finding, and crying, " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " His voice echoed throughout the large , dark hall, flying into the comers, leaping from floor to ceiling, and dying slowly as if choked by the darkness. One of the hidden boys tried to run away, but the seeker caught him and grabbed him by his shoulder. The boy was forced to surrender and become " it ." Jergus hid behind the vats , crawling from one little comer to another. Joe Kosalkula was " it. " No one knew where Steve Fasanga was. Suddenly Jergus chanced to come face to face with Joe Kosalkula. " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " Joe called out, running after Jergus . And there! - Jergus suddenly heard unusual stamping, blows , and cries amid the vats . Steve Fasanga cried and moaned painfully. The pounding of feet drew toward Jergus. The factory owner rolled out from behind a vat. With a rubber hose in his hand and a fiendish smirk on his face , he swung his hand and struck Joe Kosalkula. Joe fell to the floor , emitting a bleat like a lamb whose leg has been broken by an angry shepherd. Jergus started running away. But where to? There was only one exit from the narrow corridor and that was now guarded by the owner with the rubber hose in his hand! Jergus leaped into a comer and turned around. The owner rushed toward him, striking him violently on the left arm. The slash of the hose reached from Jergus's arm around the entire width of his back. " Here 's your 'pa.mparitsa-poor!' " the owner said , sneering and baring his rotten teeth. " I'll teach you good manners! " he added as he wheeled around and left. Jergus 's face contracted in pain. He took hold of his arm . Its aching almost made him faint. Hearing the cries of Steve Fasanga and Joe Kosalkula, he called, " Let' s go ! Let's not let him whip us any more !'' But neither Steve nor Joe ca.me. They just wept where they were hiding, softer and softer, and finally stopped crying. Squeezing his left arm and clenching his teeth from pain, Jergus staggered through the corridor between the vats , through the huge , sooty building, and out into the open air. He crossed the yard and slid around the cottage gate and past the watchman, " Uncle " ~osalkula, �142 SLOVAKIA who sat smoking his pipe. Turning the corner into the little street, Jergus - still recalling vividly the owner with the devil's tail in his hand - reached a hillock covered with Scotch pines and dwarf shrubbery. At the foot of the hillock, the birds announced the arrival of the new spring. Crested larks whistled and sang, hopping on their thin little legs. Linnets, siskins, and goldfinches warbled as if competing with each other. All the birds cocked their heads, looking upward to the endless sky which no one could approach or touch, not even from the peaks of the distant tall mountains. "The new spring has arrived! A new spring, a happy spring, with flowers and creeks, with breezes combing grass and climbing trees, is here! '' The birds sang gaily. ''Spring, new spring, and full of joy .. . '' Jergus sighed deeply and walked up the hillock's slope. He followed the rocky path, upward, upward. He went up to the Cold Pit and around it to the sheep farm. And walking slowly he drew further away from the city , clenching his teeth and squeezing his dislocated arm more tightly . All the marks of a happy childhood faded from his face. His childhood was dying, suddenly and forever. Instead of a boy, an embittered young man bearing the mark of a whip came to the shepherd's hut . The head shepherd was cleaning the hut. The shepherds and the herd boys were assembling the sheepfold enclosures and making lastminute repairs . His teeth still clenched, squeezing his arm, Jergus stopped at the hut 's doorstep . '' What is it, my son?'' the chief shepherd asked. Jergus told him everything. " Well , why did you go down there among the rich? " the shepherd asked crossly, examining Jergus's arm . The arm cracked and hurt, but J ergus let no word slip through his clenched teeth. "I told you, stay away from the rich! You don 't belong with them . You'd better remain with us as a herd boy , '' the shepherd added, setting the dislocated joint into its place. Jergus sat on the bench. He bowed his head for a while, then lay down on the bench and fell asleep. The shepherd covered him with a warm sheepskin coat. '\ (1937) � 140 SLOVAKIA The New Spring (a fragment) r:uoo ONDREJOV (1901-1962) Jergus's comrades, Joe Kosalkula and Steve Fasanga Cengac, invited him to play with them in the huge sooty building at the end of the yard.* In the semidarkness of the large hall multicolored flames burned - blue and green, violet and white. On the hearth there was a sledge hammer. Half the size of a man, it lay on a huge anvil. The hammer's handle was made of a regular girder which extended to a colossal cogwheel. The boys told Jergus: ''They put a large chunk of copper into the fire and heat it until it is white-hot and bursting with sparks. Then the men grasp the copper with long pliers and bring it to the anvil. Then they let water flow on the large wheel. The wheel turns and the cogs grasp the girder handle, pushing down its end. The sledge rises. And when the wheel continues turning, the handle slips down from the cog and the sledge strikes the anvil. As the wheel turns, the sledge repeatedly hits the anvil, while the men turn and set the copper for the hammer's blows. They make a thick and heavy caldron with the copper. After it cools, the men put the caldron into a machine which tosses the caldron about until the caldron breaks into many thin kettles. That's what they do here . . . '' To the right of the hearth, there were many vats filled with a lightblue liquid. Jergus 's comrades said that the liquid was a solution of saltpeter. The solution was supposed to contain a large percentage of copper. The workers put copper plates in it and the copper from the saltpeter solution settled onto the plates. The boys decided to play a game of hide-and-seek among the vats . The large hall - with its numerous half-dark spaces, narrow corridors , and dark corners - was excellent for such an enterprise. The boys could not use the adjacent rooms for their play. The workers were sleeping there during their noon-break - and they were not to be disturbed. So one boy finding the other one would just cry, " Pamparitsa-poor, no one more!" and touch him w}th his hand. The one who . - • The first sentence has been expanded to provide background material. �SLOVAKIA 141 was found was then supposed to seek the others. The game was really excellent . The boys could play until one o'clock when the men were to wake up and begin their afternoon shift. The boys played an(\ cried and hid. Conducted with a silence like that which pervades an underground realm, their game was mysterious and exciting. The boy who was " it" sneaked about on his tiptoes only his face shining fearfully in the unusual light - looking, peeking, finding, and crying, " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " His voice echoed throughout the large , dark hall, flying into the comers, leaping from floor to ceiling, and dying slowly as if choked by the darkness. One of the hidden boys tried to run away, but the seeker caught him and grabbed him by his shoulder. The boy was forced to surrender and become " it ." Jergus hid behind the vats , crawling from one little comer to another. Joe Kosalkula was " it. " No one knew where Steve Fasanga was. Suddenly Jergus chanced to come face to face with Joe Kosalkula. " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " Joe called out, running after Jergus . And there! - Jergus suddenly heard unusual stamping, blows , and cries amid the vats . Steve Fasanga cried and moaned painfully. The pounding of feet drew toward Jergus. The factory owner rolled out from behind a vat. With a rubber hose in his hand and a fiendish smirk on his face , he swung his hand and struck Joe Kosalkula. Joe fell to the floor , emitting a bleat like a lamb whose leg has been broken by an angry shepherd. Jergus started running away. But where to? There was only one exit from the narrow corridor and that was now guarded by the owner with the rubber hose in his hand! Jergus leaped into a comer and turned around. The owner rushed toward him, striking him violently on the left arm. The slash of the hose reached from Jergus's arm around the entire width of his back. " Here 's your 'pa.mparitsa-poor!' " the owner said , sneering and baring his rotten teeth. " I'll teach you good manners! " he added as he wheeled around and left. Jergus 's face contracted in pain. He took hold of his arm . Its aching almost made him faint. Hearing the cries of Steve Fasanga and Joe Kosalkula, he called, " Let' s go ! Let's not let him whip us any more !'' But neither Steve nor Joe ca.me. They just wept where they were hiding, softer and softer, and finally stopped crying. Squeezing his left arm and clenching his teeth from pain, Jergus staggered through the corridor between the vats , through the huge , sooty building, and out into the open air. He crossed the yard and slid around the cottage gate and past the watchman, " Uncle " ~osalkula, �142 SLOVAKIA who sat smoking his pipe. Turning the corner into the little street, Jergus - still recalling vividly the owner with the devil's tail in his hand - reached a hillock covered with Scotch pines and dwarf shrubbery. At the foot of the hillock, the birds announced the arrival of the new spring. Crested larks whistled and sang, hopping on their thin little legs. Linnets, siskins, and goldfinches warbled as if competing with each other. All the birds cocked their heads, looking upward to the endless sky which no one could approach or touch, not even from the peaks of the distant tall mountains. "The new spring has arrived! A new spring, a happy spring, with flowers and creeks, with breezes combing grass and climbing trees, is here! '' The birds sang gaily. ''Spring, new spring, and full of joy .. . '' Jergus sighed deeply and walked up the hillock's slope. He followed the rocky path, upward, upward. He went up to the Cold Pit and around it to the sheep farm. And walking slowly he drew further away from the city , clenching his teeth and squeezing his dislocated arm more tightly . All the marks of a happy childhood faded from his face. His childhood was dying, suddenly and forever. Instead of a boy, an embittered young man bearing the mark of a whip came to the shepherd's hut . The head shepherd was cleaning the hut. The shepherds and the herd boys were assembling the sheepfold enclosures and making lastminute repairs . His teeth still clenched, squeezing his arm, Jergus stopped at the hut 's doorstep . '' What is it, my son?'' the chief shepherd asked. Jergus told him everything. " Well , why did you go down there among the rich? " the shepherd asked crossly, examining Jergus's arm . The arm cracked and hurt, but J ergus let no word slip through his clenched teeth. "I told you, stay away from the rich! You don 't belong with them . You'd better remain with us as a herd boy , '' the shepherd added, setting the dislocated joint into its place. Jergus sat on the bench. He bowed his head for a while, then lay down on the bench and fell asleep. The shepherd covered him with a warm sheepskin coat. '\ (1937) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 140 SLOVAKIA The New Spring (a fragment) r:uoo ONDREJOV (1901-1962) Jergus's comrades, Joe Kosalkula and Steve Fasanga Cengac, invited him to play with them in the huge sooty building at the end of the yard.* In the semidarkness of the large hall multicolored flames burned - blue and green, violet and white. On the hearth there was a sledge hammer. Half the size of a man, it lay on a huge anvil. The hammer's handle was made of a regular girder which extended to a colossal cogwheel. The boys told Jergus: ''They put a large chunk of copper into the fire and heat it until it is white-hot and bursting with sparks. Then the men grasp the copper with long pliers and bring it to the anvil. Then they let water flow on the large wheel. The wheel turns and the cogs grasp the girder handle, pushing down its end. The sledge rises. And when the wheel continues turning, the handle slips down from the cog and the sledge strikes the anvil. As the wheel turns, the sledge repeatedly hits the anvil, while the men turn and set the copper for the hammer's blows. They make a thick and heavy caldron with the copper. After it cools, the men put the caldron into a machine which tosses the caldron about until the caldron breaks into many thin kettles. That's what they do here . . . '' To the right of the hearth, there were many vats filled with a lightblue liquid. Jergus 's comrades said that the liquid was a solution of saltpeter. The solution was supposed to contain a large percentage of copper. The workers put copper plates in it and the copper from the saltpeter solution settled onto the plates. The boys decided to play a game of hide-and-seek among the vats . The large hall - with its numerous half-dark spaces, narrow corridors , and dark corners - was excellent for such an enterprise. The boys could not use the adjacent rooms for their play. The workers were sleeping there during their noon-break - and they were not to be disturbed. So one boy finding the other one would just cry, " Pamparitsa-poor, no one more!" and touch him w}th his hand. The one who . - • The first sentence has been expanded to provide background material. SLOVAKIA 141 was found was then supposed to seek the others. The game was really excellent . The boys could play until one o'clock when the men were to wake up and begin their afternoon shift. The boys played an(\ cried and hid. Conducted with a silence like that which pervades an underground realm, their game was mysterious and exciting. The boy who was " it" sneaked about on his tiptoes only his face shining fearfully in the unusual light - looking, peeking, finding, and crying, " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " His voice echoed throughout the large , dark hall, flying into the comers, leaping from floor to ceiling, and dying slowly as if choked by the darkness. One of the hidden boys tried to run away, but the seeker caught him and grabbed him by his shoulder. The boy was forced to surrender and become " it ." Jergus hid behind the vats , crawling from one little comer to another. Joe Kosalkula was " it. " No one knew where Steve Fasanga was. Suddenly Jergus chanced to come face to face with Joe Kosalkula. " Pa.mparitsa-poor! " Joe called out, running after Jergus . And there! - Jergus suddenly heard unusual stamping, blows , and cries amid the vats . Steve Fasanga cried and moaned painfully. The pounding of feet drew toward Jergus. The factory owner rolled out from behind a vat. With a rubber hose in his hand and a fiendish smirk on his face , he swung his hand and struck Joe Kosalkula. Joe fell to the floor , emitting a bleat like a lamb whose leg has been broken by an angry shepherd. Jergus started running away. But where to? There was only one exit from the narrow corridor and that was now guarded by the owner with the rubber hose in his hand! Jergus leaped into a comer and turned around. The owner rushed toward him, striking him violently on the left arm. The slash of the hose reached from Jergus's arm around the entire width of his back. " Here 's your 'pa.mparitsa-poor!' " the owner said , sneering and baring his rotten teeth. " I'll teach you good manners! " he added as he wheeled around and left. Jergus 's face contracted in pain. He took hold of his arm . Its aching almost made him faint. Hearing the cries of Steve Fasanga and Joe Kosalkula, he called, " Let' s go ! Let's not let him whip us any more !'' But neither Steve nor Joe ca.me. They just wept where they were hiding, softer and softer, and finally stopped crying. Squeezing his left arm and clenching his teeth from pain, Jergus staggered through the corridor between the vats , through the huge , sooty building, and out into the open air. He crossed the yard and slid around the cottage gate and past the watchman, " Uncle " ~osalkula, 142 SLOVAKIA who sat smoking his pipe. Turning the corner into the little street, Jergus - still recalling vividly the owner with the devil's tail in his hand - reached a hillock covered with Scotch pines and dwarf shrubbery. At the foot of the hillock, the birds announced the arrival of the new spring. Crested larks whistled and sang, hopping on their thin little legs. Linnets, siskins, and goldfinches warbled as if competing with each other. All the birds cocked their heads, looking upward to the endless sky which no one could approach or touch, not even from the peaks of the distant tall mountains. "The new spring has arrived! A new spring, a happy spring, with flowers and creeks, with breezes combing grass and climbing trees, is here! '' The birds sang gaily. ''Spring, new spring, and full of joy .. . '' Jergus sighed deeply and walked up the hillock's slope. He followed the rocky path, upward, upward. He went up to the Cold Pit and around it to the sheep farm. And walking slowly he drew further away from the city , clenching his teeth and squeezing his dislocated arm more tightly . All the marks of a happy childhood faded from his face. His childhood was dying, suddenly and forever. Instead of a boy, an embittered young man bearing the mark of a whip came to the shepherd's hut . The head shepherd was cleaning the hut. The shepherds and the herd boys were assembling the sheepfold enclosures and making lastminute repairs . His teeth still clenched, squeezing his arm, Jergus stopped at the hut 's doorstep . '' What is it, my son?'' the chief shepherd asked. Jergus told him everything. " Well , why did you go down there among the rich? " the shepherd asked crossly, examining Jergus's arm . The arm cracked and hurt, but J ergus let no word slip through his clenched teeth. "I told you, stay away from the rich! You don 't belong with them . You'd better remain with us as a herd boy , '' the shepherd added, setting the dislocated joint into its place. Jergus sat on the bench. He bowed his head for a while, then lay down on the bench and fell asleep. The shepherd covered him with a warm sheepskin coat. '\ (1937)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The New Spring (a fragment) Description An account of the resource Ľudo Ondrejov Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 140-142 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ondrejov, Ľudo, 1901-1962 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/276651af8e54a7db0a911f26f960cb00.pdf 9c03d1d299698b8baccc6bb0fb35cc54 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in �50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were �SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a �52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted �SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the �54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical �SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak �56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and �SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological �58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout �SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His �60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated �SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. �62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of �SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und �64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis �SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65. � SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in �50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were �SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a �52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted �SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the �54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical �SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak �56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and �SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological �58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout �SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His �60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated �SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. �62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of �SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und �64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis �SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in 50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a 52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the 54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak 56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological 58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His 60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. 62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und 64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness Description An account of the resource David P. Daniel Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 49-65 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Daniel, David P., 1940-2020 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e9a545c6701bae7a962bd2db2a3834d8.pdf 0dd3fe301e1b099f10663374997e72a5 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. �26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a �SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) �28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms �SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year �30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late �SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. �32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the �33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 �34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the �SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. �36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight �SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem �38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. �SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- �40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- �SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. �42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. �SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. �44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) �SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. �46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community �SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . �48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312. � SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. �26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a �SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) �28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms �SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year �30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late �SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. �32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the �33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 �34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the �SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. �36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight �SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem �38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. �SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- �40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- �SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. �42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. �SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. �44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) �SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. �46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community �SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . �48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. 26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) 28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year 30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. 32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the 33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. 36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem 38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- 40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. 42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. 44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. 46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . 48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938 Description An account of the resource Owen V. Johnson Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 25-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson, Owen V. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/db9406de1877bf3caee16bbde1228629.pdf 68f331c788157997074284046248c701 PDF Text Text \ ARTICLES ��SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other �18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- �SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, �20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. �SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. �22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. �SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. �24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967. � \ ARTICLES ��SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other �18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- �SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, �20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. �SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. �22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. �SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. �24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document \ ARTICLES SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other 18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, 20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. 22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. 24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography Description An account of the resource Yeshayahu Jelinek Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 17-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jelínek, Yešhayahu A., 1933-2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2ecc22003e340494d16672f75b3e886e.pdf f0656e0dfac0a8c287850f471ea88f7c PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 119 The· Sorrows of Marienka ' V. S. KOBAN It was lonely in the house after the wedding. Marienka never thought she would miss Jacka the way she did. She missed Jacka's soft, smiling way - walking around the rooms, not saying much. She'd thought having Jacka around was almost like having nobody at all. But now she found she even missed the work that Jacka had done. It was hard to pack all the lunches in the morning. She had to get up earlier than ever. She missed Michal, too. She'd catch herself starting to say something as she came down the stairs, suddenly to realize that Michal wasn't sitting in front of the stove with his wooden leg propped on a bench. Then her unfinished sentence would hang on the air like an echo . The baby Jurko fretted and whined. He was used to being petted and played with. A year passed, and it was December. Two years since Michal's accident. Jozef had been just a baby then, and now he was nearly three years old, walking around the house and getting in the way. Time went on and on . Marienka was twenty-eight, but a thousand years different from that day in Kamienka when she married Ivan. They were all different. She remembered how the sun had shone on Michal's fair hair as she laid him between the rows of wheat in Jarabina . Michal's hair had turned dark through the years, and now it was almost black, like Ivan's. He would be thirteen in the spring. He was a tall, serious boy , and although he looked like his father, he didn 't have Ivan's reckless good humor. He tried hard to please, and a rebuke from Marienka would bring tears to his eyes. Mikulas and Janik both went to school now . It was Janik ' s first year. Marienka thought with tenderness of the baby chubbiness his face still had as she buttoned his coat in the mornings. A coat that had been Michal's, and had been three times patched and made over to fit the younger boys . She had trouble buttoning the jacket, because she V. S. Kohan was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania , and based his novel, recently published by Jednota Press, on the life of his mother, who came to America in 1890, married twice, bore 11 sons and 2 daughters, and experienced the violent deaths of both her husbands and six sons. The present selection represents the novel 's concluding pages. �120 SLOVAKIA never was good at making button holes. No matter how she tried to fix them, the holes were too large for the buttons. She worried about Janik walking to school in the cold with his coat open. Ivan was the same. Only last night he 'd told that joke again about the priest - that was the joke she'd warned him never to tell - he told it right at the table in front of the children and the boarders and everybody. Then he'd tipped back his head and laughed till even she had to laugh with him. Then one of the boarders brought out a bottle. It was American whiskey, and she never liked the taste of it. But Ivan liked it well enough, and he told again how he'd been an officer in the army and for the first time in years, showed the scar where he had been bitten by a wolf. Of course, he was grouchy when he had to wake up that morning. Marienka didn't mind much any more. Marienka paused in her work, thinking about Ivan. He hadn't changed, except that he was a steady worker and came home evenings. She didn't usually think much about herself, but now she wondered if she had changed too. Her hands were hard from heavy work. She was sharp with the children and sharp with Ivan. Her clothes were indifferent. Had she gotten ugly? She dropped the broom in the middle of the floor and went to the small , wavy mirror tacked on the wall near the sink. This was where the boarders combed their hair in the morning. She blinked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same - but such a frown on her face. She realized the frown was a habit. She didn't often look at herself in the mirror . She tried a smile , then looked around guiltily, feeling silly. There was no one to watch her except the two babies, and Jozef was playing with the broom she 'd dropped on the floor, trying to pull out a screw. She turned and looked again. There was no gray in her hair. Her eyes were still clear in her fair face. The heat from the stove had flushed her cheeks , and there were no creases in her neck. Deliberately she went upstairs and took a comb from the bedroom, and a blue satin ribbon that was left over from a baby dress she'd made for Jurko. Then she went back to the mirror ~She let down her long hair and combed it slowly, noticing that it hungbelow her apron strings in long, auburn ripples. She braided it carefully 'and tiecl the ribbon in her hair. �SLOVAKIA 121 She wasn 't quite clear in her mind why she 'd done this, but it made her feel different. She heard the boys ' shoes clattering on the steps as they came home f~om school, and she turned around with a little laugh, feeling suddenly light and young. The boys burst into the room like a sudden explosion, tracking mud as they came. Mikulas slung his books at the table. They hit with a bump, and one of them slid off to the floor . Mikulas didn 't pick it up. Instead he grabbed Janik by the collar. " You stepped on my foot!" he yelled. Janik poked his elbow in Mikulas ' s ribs and wrenched himself loose. Michal marched up to Marienka, his face very stem. "Mother, you got to whip Mikulas. " "Tattle-tale!" yelled Mikulas. He began jumping up and down in the middle of the room so that Marienka couldn't hear what Michal was saying. She grabbed Mikulas by the shoulders. " What did you do?" she said. Mikulas looked sullen. He stood still without answering. " I'll tell you what he did, " said Michal. "He talked in class, and the teacher sent him to the cloakroom - ' ' Mikulas began wiggling in Marienka's grip . He looked up at his mother out of the comers of his eyes, a cock-eyed grin coming over his face . " The teacher said he had to stay in the cloakroom an hour, and you know what he did?" Michal stared at Marienka, outraged. "Do you know what he did?'' Mikulas began jumping again. " I'll tell you what I did," he burst out . ' 'I ate all the kids' lunch_e s while I was in there, that ' s what I did." He was out of Marienka's hands now, jumping around the room . " All of them? " cried Marienka. " He ate all of them," said Michal. " It took me a whole hour," said Mikulas. " He ate mine ," said Janik . " And I'm hungry." " But Mikulas, you 'll be sick! " ' 'That's what the teacher said, but I just ate the parts I wanted and threw the rest out the window. '' He stopped suddenly in the middle of the floor . " Don 't whip me, Mother," he said. " The teacher whipped me already, so don 't whip me again. " Michal tugged at Marienka's sleeve . " Mother, the teacher whipped him because he said he wasn't sorry . And look at him grinning over there . He 's still not sorry. " �122 SLOVAKIA Marienka looked at Mikulas. Mikulas struggled with himself, and with considerable effort, erased the smile from his face. "I am too sorry," he said. Marienka's right hand itched to get the switch . Janik looked from one side to the other with round eyes . "You whip a lot harder than the teacher,'' he said . " All right!" snapped Marienka. " He's had one whipping, and that 's enough. Now get busy, all of you! Michal, build up the fire . Then you can clean the coal scuttle and fill it again. You Janik and Mikulas , get a bucket and go down by the tracks and fill it with coal. Get going, now!'' Marienka watched them go. Then she smoothed the ribbon in her hair. The baby Jurko was fussing . She carried him over to the rocking chair and held him close. Still , he complained, thumping his head against her breast. He kicked his feet against her legs . It hurt, and she realized how big he was getting . " Shhh," she whispered, rocking back and forth. " Shhhhh." He still struggled in her arms. "You 're a spoiled baby," she said in a crooning voice . " Hush, now, papa's coming soon." She began to chant it, like a little song in time to the motion of the rocker. " Papa 's coming soon - papa's coming soon . " The chair squeaked as she rocked back and forth. It was the only sound in the room, except for some spools that Jozef was rolling on the floor. The windows were filling with the early winter twilight, and she knew she ought to put Jurko down , even if he cried. Jurko 's body relaxed, his head falling heavily against her shoulder as he slept . Still she sat and rocked, growing more and more drowsy. She was startled suddenly by the sound of feet on the steps. The door opened before she could get up , and ,Ivan come in. He looked around the room, and then saw her sitting in €he dark " Marienka, are you sick? " " Of course not. Here it is dark already, and the children not home. '' She got up and went to the table to light the lamp . When she looked up , he was still standing there, looking at her. " Supper will be ready in a minute. Go wash your hands , don 't just stand there ." She hesitated. ' ' I was rocking Jurko .'' Ivan still stood there, frowning . " What you got the baby 's ribbon in your hair for? " he said in a puzzled voice . �SLOVAKIA 123 "Oh, shut up!" She banged the dishes onto the table. Then hurrying to lift a pot of pirohy from the stove , she scalded her arm. She began to swear under her breath. Ivan smothered a grin and went out in the back to wash his hands. The other boarders began to come in now , stamping their feet and blowing on their hands . "Dinner's going to be late ," said Marienka, yanking the bread from the oven. The pan rasped against the iron stove. One of the boarders threw his arms over his face , as if to ward off a blow . " Don't get mad," he said. " Sure is cold, '. ' said ai:i,other, edging close to the stove. " Looks like snow .'' Marienka glanced out ihe window with an uneasy feeling . What could be keeping the boys · so long? Ivan came up to her side , rubbing his face with a towel. His eyes laughed at her over the towel. " I gave my girl a ribbon ," he sang in a sweet falsetto. " And she gave me a rose - " " Get out of my way! " said Marienka, flushing. "You keep throwing those dishes at the table, you 're going to break one ,'' said I van, rub bing his neck with the towel. ''When I need your advice on how to set the table, you can light a candle at my head. " Ivan chuckled. "Now , that would look real pretty. " Marienka glared at him struggling for an answer. Just then the door swung open , blowing the lamp flame and bringing in a gust of cold air. " Look what I found, Mama," cried Mikulas in a shrill voice. He labored with a large, broken cart wheel, and Michal carried two more. ''I found some wheels, Mama, and nobody wants them . '' " Shut that door!" said Marienka. " Where ' s the coal I sent you for?' ' '' You know what I'm going to do, Mama? I'm going to make one of these automobiles, that ' s what. " " You 're crazy ," said Michal. "You can 't make a horseless carriage. ' ' " I said shut that door!" Mikulas turned on Michal , outraged. ''I can too make one if I want to.'' One of the boarders shut the door. "Where's my coal?" said Marienka. "And where ' s Janik? " Michal shook his head at Mikulas . " You're just a little boy, and boys can't make horseless carriages. I'm going to make a cart that we can pull. " �124 SLOVAKIA ''They're my wheels,' ' said Mikulas . ' 'I found them, and I can make anything I want to." Michal threw the two wheels on the floor in disgust. " You're crazy!'' Just then Marienka heard a small, slight bumping on the door. She ran to open it. On the steps stood Janik, his eyes and nose watering with the cold. He struggled to lift the heavy coal scuttle over the top step. Seeing Marienka, he looked up with round eyes . ' 'They said I had to carry it, ' ' he said, sniffing. Marienka took the coal scuttle out of his hands and pushed him into the house, slamming the door after him. " For shame! " she cried, turning to the boys. "Making your little brother carry that heavy bucket all by himself. Just look at his hands they 're all blue and raw. " She flung the coal scuttle down by the stove with a crash. Everybody in the room got quiet. Michal's face took on a stricken look. " I never thought I'd raise boys to be so lazy and cruel and thoughtless and - ' ' "But Mama," said Mikulas. "We couldn't carry the coal because we had to carry the wheels." " Damn the wheels!" said Marienka. "I don 't want them in the house. Bringing in trash - ' ' "Now, wait a minute, Marienka," said Ivan. " They're just kids. " He drew Mikulas to his side . "Son, you can't make a horseless carriage with three wheels . You got to have four , at least. " " I know it," said Mikulas scornfully. " You think I'm dumb? " Ivan grinned and shrugged, avoiding Marienka's eyes . " Well, let's eat," said Marienka. The men came to the table in silence , trying not to scrape the benches as they sat down, and picked up their silver self-consciously. Marienka never sat down to eat until the men were through. She was busy serving from the stove , and she also·needed to help Jurko eat. Her anger and the heat of the stove had brought wisps of hair from her braids that curled in damp ringlets against her face. Her face was flushed. As she turned from the stove , she caught Ivan 's eyes on her face. Just looking at her, not eating. As soon as their eyes met, he looked down at his plate . Marienka paused on her way to the table . Ivan didn't often look at her that way any more . Then she pushed the ringlets away from her cheeks with the back of her hand. �SLOVAKIA 125 " Say , Marienka, " said one of the boarders, "we got to get up earlier tomorrow . It's two miles farther to the new mine.'' "What new mine? " " The one they!re starting over on East Hill. The old one's played out.' ' \ " Don 't wake me up any' earlier," said Ivan. "I'm still working in the old mine. '' Marienka stared at him. " Why? " " We're taking out the pillars tomorrow, " he said, breaking off a hunk of bread. His big knuckles were grimed with the dust from coal that never quite came off, no matter how he washed. Marienka didn't notice it ordinarily, but against the white bread she could see the gray dust in the creases of his skin. Marienka snorted. ''I guess they pick out the men with the biggest families , and get them to take out the pillars. '' Ivan tipped back his head and laughed. Then he winked at the men around the table . "Trust a woman to worry , that's what's she's for." " Well, if I don 't , who will? " Ivan shook his head, still laughing. "Marienka, I've told you before, there ' s no danger. We take all the coal out of the rooms we can get, but when we hear those props 'ping,' man, we run! " One of the boarders grunted non-committally. " Gimme some of that bread, " said another. ' 'Boys, into bed! '' said Marienka. Even with her back turned, even as she shooed her children up the stairs, she was conscious of Ivan's eyes . She guessed it was the ribbon . But they were noticing eyes, different from the usual - different from the occasional hunger at night, or the fumbling from habit in bed . She was just starting down the stairs for the last time when he caught her arm . He had been waiting for her at the top of the stairs. She tried to pull loose. ''I have to get the clock.'' " Forget the clock ," he said. " Now , isn't that just like a man, " she started to say , but his mouth stopped her. For all that her voice was hard, when his lips moved to her collar bone and to her breast, her body was soft and shimery as smoke. It didn 't snow that night. Instead, it turned warmer. The clouds that had threatened snow produced a thin drizzle . The men hunched their shoulders as they left and bent their heads down . In the dull light Marienka watched them walk down the street, the rain making beads �126 SLOVAKIA on the shoulders of their wool jackets,. little drops without brilliance that began forming dark streaks down the cloth . By the time the boys left for school the rain had dwindled to a fine mist that melted downward from the close-hanging, yellowish clouds . The curious light made everything look hollow , the same way it did sometimes at dusk when the sun shone from behind the mountains. Marienka watched the boys saunter down the street , swinging their lunches. She wondered if she ought to chance it, going to church with the babies. It was the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple . She had planned to go to church and light a candle. She put her hand to her hair, pushing it back from her forehead , and her fingers brushed against the ribbon she'd bound in her braids yesterday. It brought to mind Ivan 's eyes as he had watched her last night. No matter what else changed they were the same as they had been twelve years ago in Kamienka - dark , curious, and full of lustre. All at once the memory of that day was close around her. She could almost smell the hot wax from the candles and the sweet, stifling odor of incense. She remembered the hot darkness of the church, and the smell of the priest's robes - a little musty, smelling of old things . Marienka made a sudden decision. She began putting Jozef's winter clothes on him. If she wrapped Jurko in her heaviest shawl, it would be all right. She picked the baby up and tucked Jozef's hand firmly in her own. Outside it was a damp , windless chill. The cold mud wet their shoes and made Marienka 's toes ache. On the distant hill, the lifeless trees made a tangle of gray branches that looked like smoke. Still, it was good to be out. Other women were going to the church, too . They called out greetings , smiling broadly to show their good will, but not stopping to talk. It was too cold. It was cold in the church . Marienka shivered as she entered , looking around the great dark room which was bare except for the altar, and for a few benches against the walls . Several women were already kneeling, their shawl-wrapped heads tuckec:l down-- and their hands folded tight under their chins. The candles they had lighted cast a feeble glow over their heads, and threw their shadows against the dusk of the corners. Marienka took Jurko to one of the benches and gave him a toy horse Ivan had carved, and a piece of 'kolac.' " Stay here and be quiet," she whispered. Then she bought a candle, and leading Jozef with one hand, went to the altar. �SLOVAKIA 127 She heard feet scurrying across the floor. '' Mama, Mama, what doing'?" . . " Be still, JurRo!" sai~ Marienka in a fierce whisper. With Jurko tugging at her skirts, she , had a hard time lighting the candle and putting it in place. Then she turned to him . He had finished the 'kolac,' and his face was smeared with crumbs. He stood watching the candles with solemn pleasure. Marienka pushed him down gently. "Now, be quiet," she said as she knelt beside him . He nodded. Then, turning to stare at some people coming in , he dropped his horse. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Marienka could see everybody staring at her. Some of the women smiled a little, and others looked reprovingly. She began to wish she hadn 't come . It was hard to think of the prayer she wanted to say. Jurko started babbling out loud, and drooled on her shoulder. Except that the wood of the church was new, she might have been · back in Kamienka. There was the same darkness , the same hush. Without realizing it, she began to pray. Not a prayer with words. It was just a feeling . She prayed with love , as a woman who had borne sons, to the Virgin Mary. The loved filled her. She gazed up at the image of the virgin, and tears spilled over from her eyes and wet her cheeks. She heard feet pounding on the wooden steps of the church. A gust of cold air burst in from the door. " Mama! Mama!" a voice cried. She started suddenly. It was Michal's voice. The boy reached her before she could tum around. He flung his arms around her, his face buried in her shawl as she knelt there , sobs tearing his body . The other women jumped to their feet and gathered around Marienka. "Michal!" Marienka tried to get up, but she couldn't with Jurko clinging to her. She tried to pull up Michal's face so that she could look at him, but he pushed it deeper into her clothes. "Michal, what is it? Michal, answer me! " One of the other woman knelt beside Michal, her face white. ''Boy, speak up! Is it the mines - '' She mentioned the one thing the women dreaded. They gathered even closer. Marienka wrenched herself loose from Michal, and turned around. His face was smeared and swollen. "Michal, stop crying! Is it your papa - '' �128 SLOVAKIA " The mine caved in!" Michal's voice was almost a scream. "It caved in on Papa!" Several of the women began running for the door. They had husbands or sons who worked with Ivan. Others began pounding him with questions, their hands clutched tight, their faces drawing closer with every word. ''Did they say who else was in the mine? '' "Did you see my husband?" ''Boy, who else - ' ' Marienka stood up, trembling. ''Now, all of you - hush! ' ' she said. The women hushed, looking at her in surprise. " Now, Michal, " she said as gently as she could. "You have to be brave. I need you to help me . Stop crying now. You've got to help me , so stop crying. ' ' Michal looked up at her, his eyes imploring, as if she could tell him that it was all right, that the whole thing would go away. "Michal, I want you to take your brothers home and look after them for me. " She took J urko by the hand and placed it in Michal's . "Go on, now. Take them home." Tears came to Michal's eyes again. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to the mine," said Marienka. Marienka walked past Michal, past his eyes that clung to her, even though he didn't try to follow. She reached the steps and started down the street. She didn 't run . Once she looked back. Michal was walking away from the church, holding Jozef by the hand. One of the women from the church was walking with them, carrying Jurko, her arm about Michal's shoulders. Marienka turned back to the steep hill that led to the mines . It was a hard climb. Her breath came short. Stones slipped from beneath her feet . She turned her ankle and nearly fell, but she didn't feel the pain. When she was almost to the mine, she could see the men gathered about the opening. Outside the mine were piles of slag, stacks of wooden mine supports, and a small section of mining cars stopped on the rails that led inside. The mules stood listlessly, their heads hanging down. ., "Where 's Ivan? " she called out as soon'as she reached the tracks . " Where ' s my husband? " Some of the men turned around , recognizing her. They nodded toward the mine. " He's in there." " Is he dead? " �SLOVAKIA 129 ' 'Mrs. Kinda, they' re trying to get to him now.'' ''But is he dead?'' ' "Now, try to be calm, Mrs . Kinda. They're doing all they can." She shoved past the men and walked toward the mine opening. She was shaking all over. "Mrs. Kinda, where're you going?" She didn't answer. She felt a miner's hand on her arm, pulling her back from the mine. "You can't go in there. You know that, Mrs . Kinda. Come back from there .'' She shook her head, trying to walk past. The miner's voice grew exasperated. She couldn't see his face clearly because of tears that blinded her. " You can't help him, Mrs. Kinda," he said. "They're trying to dig him out. You'd just be in the way." "Besides," said another man, "you don't know the mine. You'd kill yourself.'' They were all talking at once. She didn't hear what they said any more. She let herself be led to one of the stacks of wooden supports. "Sit down here," someone said. "Sit down. It won't be long, now. All you can do is wait.'' She sank down, her legs suddenly helpless and weak. The crowd outside the mines was growing larger every minute. Several mine officials arrived, and also a large number of idlers from the town, dogs, curious children, and women anxious about their husbands . Some of the women tried to comfort her, but she shook her head. She couldn't speak, for tears that clogged her throat. She began to understand from their talk that Ivan wasn't the only man caught in the cave-in. There was also another man, the husband of a young girl named Katarina who was pregnant with her first baby. She was hardly more than a bride . Marienka caught a glimpse of her toiling up the hill. She was a slight girl, her waist only a little thickened. Then the crowd closed her from view , but Marienka could hear her crying. Waiting was terrible . She put her hands over her eyes and tried not to think. It was well past noon. The sun began to slope toward afternoon , making a pale spot in the thin, dull clouds that covered the sky. A hush fell over the crowd. Marienka heard the grinding of a coal car from inside the mine and the plodding of a mule 's hooves. Mine officials walked out first, their faces grim. A couple of miners were with them , coal blackening their faces , smeared outward from their deepened eye-sockets . Another miner led the mule . The girl �130 SLOVAKIA Katarina screamed and rushed forward, but was held back by some of the women. Then the coal car groaned out of the mine. There was no holding Katarina now. She tore away from the women and ran to the car. Marienka jumped to her feet. A sudden pain in her right ankle jolted her and sent her sprawling over the tracks . Hands helped her to her feet . She could see her ankle, swollen and ugly from the twist she'd had coming up the mountain . She tried to walk, but her foot wouldn't hold her weight. She almost fell again. Two miners held her, grabbing her by the elbows . One of the women came up to Marienka. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she put her arms around Marienka 's shoulders. " Never mind, Marienka," she said. "Don 't look at him, my dear.'' "She 's right," said the men, trying to urge her away . "Don't look. It won 't do any good." That' s how Marienka knew he was dead . She pushed on anyway, hobbling along, with the men supporting her. When she saw him, he looked pitiful and limp. Except for the blood that spilled in a sticky mess over his chest and ran in two dried , blackened rivulets from his nostrils , he looked exactly as he did when he was drunk . Except that he lay in the black, casket-shaped coal car, blood and coal smeared on his hands , which lay by his sides , loose, cupped upward . The other man lay beside him , but he was not dead . There was a pushed-in place just below his hairline . His eyes were open, but they showed no recognition of his weeping wife who leaned above him. Even as they lifted him out of the car to take him to the hospital, he vomited a great gush of blood . Marienka, who had seen everything till this moment in a sort of confusion , saw with great clarity now . It was the same vividness of a nightmare. The cords of Katerina 's neck tightened as she screamed and screamed . Her young face looked strangely contorted under her smooth black braids that were still in perfect order. Marienka allowed herself to be lifted in\o the wagon that was to carry Ivan home. Marienka sat by the window, looking out at the gray twilight that the clouds made of the winter sun. It was about ten in the morning . �SLOVAKIA . 131 . Downstairs she could hear~ shuffling of feet and scraping of furniture. They were carrying Ivan t() · the church. It would probably snow, she thought. It was better when it snowed, when you couldn't see the raw, newturned earth the next day. New graves were like wounds in the skin that had not healed. It had snowed on Janik's grave. Janik and Matka were gone. And old otec dead in his shriveled, strange world. And now Ivan was leaving in his one good pair of socks and the not-too-new coat he'd worn to church on Sundays. Her glance fell on the dresser top, and she started suddenly. Rolled in a neat ball beside her tray of pins was Ivan's wool scarf. She started to get up, and then forced herself back into the chair. He wouldn't need the scarf. She began to cry, the tears falling on her hard, brown fingers cupped upward in her lap. It hadn't been an easy life, hers and Ivan's. They'd been thrown together, like it OF-»ot ; before they even met. But now, remembering those far away, hot days in the wheat fields and the lonely nights when she waited for him to come home from the tavern, it seemed slight, almost sweet, like a lover's quarrel that was soon over. She heard someone calling her from downstairs. "Marienka! It's time to go. Come on, the children are ready." She wiped her face with the back of her hand, and pulled herself to her feet. Her ankle had healed enough so that she could walk on it, hobbling a little . She leaned on Michal on the way to church. The children were silent in a forced solemnity. They were cold, too. She could hear Janik's teeth chattering. " Corne here, Janik, " she said. "Let me button your coat. " Jozef's nose was running, and she gave him her handkerchief. "Mikulas, if you walk in that puddle , I'll spank you," she said. One of her neighbors was keeping Jurko while she went to the funeral. People had been kind, helping her through the days of the wake , and feeding the boarders and the children. "Look, Marna! Red birds!" Janik shrilled, pointing. " Shhh," said Marienka. "Be quiet, Janik . " "See what you did, " said Mikulas disgustedly , " you scared them away!' ' "We've got to go in, now," said Marienka. "Now , be quiet , all of you .' ' The church was full. Marienka knelt on the hard floor in front of I �132 SLOVAKIA the altar, glad to be on her knees instead of her feet. She felt weak and sick . Katarina clutched the rail with agonized fingers . She sniffed softly as she entered, and gradually grew more racked as the funeral progressed. Her cries grew more penetrating till Marienka's stomach muscles tightened to a wad of nausea. There was a quality in age, she realized. You could stand things better. Katarina was only seventeen. When the terrible service was over at last, the families of the two men filed by the caskets to take a last look at the bodies. Marienka touched the wood of Ivan's casket for a moment, but she didn't really look at him. She closed her eyes and tried to blot the moment out. But she couldn't. The image swam, not oflvan's face, but of little Michal's . A face so white and drawn with huge , dark eyes staring behind tears. She fumbled for him with her hand, and hugged his shoulders. Then Katarina 's cries jogged her out of her own thoughts. She looked over at the girl with horrified pity. Katarina was leaning into the casket, her arms around her husband, kissing him on the lips again and again. The priest stared at her in dismay. It was hard to tell whether she was trying to drag her husband out of the casket or to climb in with him. People pulled her away. She collapsed on the floor. But Marienka followed after the casket with her sons, limping still from her twisted ankle, and holding on to Michal. She was glad she wasn't seventeen, like Katarina. She wouldn't like to have to live through all those years again. She remembered the funeral they'd had for the baby Janik. His grave was the first to be dug in this churchyard. No, she wouldn't like to go through that again. It had grown colder. The shovel rang, and the frozen earth fell on Ivan ' s casket like stones. She began to tremble violently. She wept for his sweet foolishness, for the guilty look he had when he'd done something wrong, and for the warmth of him. Like Katarina, she would like to drag him out of the casket. Of the two, she had always been the strong one . It wouldn't be easy to raise five sons without his help . But already her mind turned to plans of how she would manage by keeping boarders. And the older boys would help . So she did what she had to do. She waited while the men shoveled in the dirt, and the first flakes of snow crisped the mound that covered what was left of Ivan. Then she turned home. � SLOVAKIA 119 The· Sorrows of Marienka ' V. S. KOBAN It was lonely in the house after the wedding. Marienka never thought she would miss Jacka the way she did. She missed Jacka's soft, smiling way - walking around the rooms, not saying much. She'd thought having Jacka around was almost like having nobody at all. But now she found she even missed the work that Jacka had done. It was hard to pack all the lunches in the morning. She had to get up earlier than ever. She missed Michal, too. She'd catch herself starting to say something as she came down the stairs, suddenly to realize that Michal wasn't sitting in front of the stove with his wooden leg propped on a bench. Then her unfinished sentence would hang on the air like an echo . The baby Jurko fretted and whined. He was used to being petted and played with. A year passed, and it was December. Two years since Michal's accident. Jozef had been just a baby then, and now he was nearly three years old, walking around the house and getting in the way. Time went on and on . Marienka was twenty-eight, but a thousand years different from that day in Kamienka when she married Ivan. They were all different. She remembered how the sun had shone on Michal's fair hair as she laid him between the rows of wheat in Jarabina . Michal's hair had turned dark through the years, and now it was almost black, like Ivan's. He would be thirteen in the spring. He was a tall, serious boy , and although he looked like his father, he didn 't have Ivan's reckless good humor. He tried hard to please, and a rebuke from Marienka would bring tears to his eyes. Mikulas and Janik both went to school now . It was Janik ' s first year. Marienka thought with tenderness of the baby chubbiness his face still had as she buttoned his coat in the mornings. A coat that had been Michal's, and had been three times patched and made over to fit the younger boys . She had trouble buttoning the jacket, because she V. S. Kohan was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania , and based his novel, recently published by Jednota Press, on the life of his mother, who came to America in 1890, married twice, bore 11 sons and 2 daughters, and experienced the violent deaths of both her husbands and six sons. The present selection represents the novel 's concluding pages. �120 SLOVAKIA never was good at making button holes. No matter how she tried to fix them, the holes were too large for the buttons. She worried about Janik walking to school in the cold with his coat open. Ivan was the same. Only last night he 'd told that joke again about the priest - that was the joke she'd warned him never to tell - he told it right at the table in front of the children and the boarders and everybody. Then he'd tipped back his head and laughed till even she had to laugh with him. Then one of the boarders brought out a bottle. It was American whiskey, and she never liked the taste of it. But Ivan liked it well enough, and he told again how he'd been an officer in the army and for the first time in years, showed the scar where he had been bitten by a wolf. Of course, he was grouchy when he had to wake up that morning. Marienka didn't mind much any more. Marienka paused in her work, thinking about Ivan. He hadn't changed, except that he was a steady worker and came home evenings. She didn't usually think much about herself, but now she wondered if she had changed too. Her hands were hard from heavy work. She was sharp with the children and sharp with Ivan. Her clothes were indifferent. Had she gotten ugly? She dropped the broom in the middle of the floor and went to the small , wavy mirror tacked on the wall near the sink. This was where the boarders combed their hair in the morning. She blinked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same - but such a frown on her face. She realized the frown was a habit. She didn't often look at herself in the mirror . She tried a smile , then looked around guiltily, feeling silly. There was no one to watch her except the two babies, and Jozef was playing with the broom she 'd dropped on the floor, trying to pull out a screw. She turned and looked again. There was no gray in her hair. Her eyes were still clear in her fair face. The heat from the stove had flushed her cheeks , and there were no creases in her neck. Deliberately she went upstairs and took a comb from the bedroom, and a blue satin ribbon that was left over from a baby dress she'd made for Jurko. Then she went back to the mirror ~She let down her long hair and combed it slowly, noticing that it hungbelow her apron strings in long, auburn ripples. She braided it carefully 'and tiecl the ribbon in her hair. �SLOVAKIA 121 She wasn 't quite clear in her mind why she 'd done this, but it made her feel different. She heard the boys ' shoes clattering on the steps as they came home f~om school, and she turned around with a little laugh, feeling suddenly light and young. The boys burst into the room like a sudden explosion, tracking mud as they came. Mikulas slung his books at the table. They hit with a bump, and one of them slid off to the floor . Mikulas didn 't pick it up. Instead he grabbed Janik by the collar. " You stepped on my foot!" he yelled. Janik poked his elbow in Mikulas ' s ribs and wrenched himself loose. Michal marched up to Marienka, his face very stem. "Mother, you got to whip Mikulas. " "Tattle-tale!" yelled Mikulas. He began jumping up and down in the middle of the room so that Marienka couldn't hear what Michal was saying. She grabbed Mikulas by the shoulders. " What did you do?" she said. Mikulas looked sullen. He stood still without answering. " I'll tell you what he did, " said Michal. "He talked in class, and the teacher sent him to the cloakroom - ' ' Mikulas began wiggling in Marienka's grip . He looked up at his mother out of the comers of his eyes, a cock-eyed grin coming over his face . " The teacher said he had to stay in the cloakroom an hour, and you know what he did?" Michal stared at Marienka, outraged. "Do you know what he did?'' Mikulas began jumping again. " I'll tell you what I did," he burst out . ' 'I ate all the kids' lunch_e s while I was in there, that ' s what I did." He was out of Marienka's hands now, jumping around the room . " All of them? " cried Marienka. " He ate all of them," said Michal. " It took me a whole hour," said Mikulas. " He ate mine ," said Janik . " And I'm hungry." " But Mikulas, you 'll be sick! " ' 'That's what the teacher said, but I just ate the parts I wanted and threw the rest out the window. '' He stopped suddenly in the middle of the floor . " Don 't whip me, Mother," he said. " The teacher whipped me already, so don 't whip me again. " Michal tugged at Marienka's sleeve . " Mother, the teacher whipped him because he said he wasn't sorry . And look at him grinning over there . He 's still not sorry. " �122 SLOVAKIA Marienka looked at Mikulas. Mikulas struggled with himself, and with considerable effort, erased the smile from his face. "I am too sorry," he said. Marienka's right hand itched to get the switch . Janik looked from one side to the other with round eyes . "You whip a lot harder than the teacher,'' he said . " All right!" snapped Marienka. " He's had one whipping, and that 's enough. Now get busy, all of you! Michal, build up the fire . Then you can clean the coal scuttle and fill it again. You Janik and Mikulas , get a bucket and go down by the tracks and fill it with coal. Get going, now!'' Marienka watched them go. Then she smoothed the ribbon in her hair. The baby Jurko was fussing . She carried him over to the rocking chair and held him close. Still , he complained, thumping his head against her breast. He kicked his feet against her legs . It hurt, and she realized how big he was getting . " Shhh," she whispered, rocking back and forth. " Shhhhh." He still struggled in her arms. "You 're a spoiled baby," she said in a crooning voice . " Hush, now, papa's coming soon." She began to chant it, like a little song in time to the motion of the rocker. " Papa 's coming soon - papa's coming soon . " The chair squeaked as she rocked back and forth. It was the only sound in the room, except for some spools that Jozef was rolling on the floor. The windows were filling with the early winter twilight, and she knew she ought to put Jurko down , even if he cried. Jurko 's body relaxed, his head falling heavily against her shoulder as he slept . Still she sat and rocked, growing more and more drowsy. She was startled suddenly by the sound of feet on the steps. The door opened before she could get up , and ,Ivan come in. He looked around the room, and then saw her sitting in €he dark " Marienka, are you sick? " " Of course not. Here it is dark already, and the children not home. '' She got up and went to the table to light the lamp . When she looked up , he was still standing there, looking at her. " Supper will be ready in a minute. Go wash your hands , don 't just stand there ." She hesitated. ' ' I was rocking Jurko .'' Ivan still stood there, frowning . " What you got the baby 's ribbon in your hair for? " he said in a puzzled voice . �SLOVAKIA 123 "Oh, shut up!" She banged the dishes onto the table. Then hurrying to lift a pot of pirohy from the stove , she scalded her arm. She began to swear under her breath. Ivan smothered a grin and went out in the back to wash his hands. The other boarders began to come in now , stamping their feet and blowing on their hands . "Dinner's going to be late ," said Marienka, yanking the bread from the oven. The pan rasped against the iron stove. One of the boarders threw his arms over his face , as if to ward off a blow . " Don't get mad," he said. " Sure is cold, '. ' said ai:i,other, edging close to the stove. " Looks like snow .'' Marienka glanced out ihe window with an uneasy feeling . What could be keeping the boys · so long? Ivan came up to her side , rubbing his face with a towel. His eyes laughed at her over the towel. " I gave my girl a ribbon ," he sang in a sweet falsetto. " And she gave me a rose - " " Get out of my way! " said Marienka, flushing. "You keep throwing those dishes at the table, you 're going to break one ,'' said I van, rub bing his neck with the towel. ''When I need your advice on how to set the table, you can light a candle at my head. " Ivan chuckled. "Now , that would look real pretty. " Marienka glared at him struggling for an answer. Just then the door swung open , blowing the lamp flame and bringing in a gust of cold air. " Look what I found, Mama," cried Mikulas in a shrill voice. He labored with a large, broken cart wheel, and Michal carried two more. ''I found some wheels, Mama, and nobody wants them . '' " Shut that door!" said Marienka. " Where ' s the coal I sent you for?' ' '' You know what I'm going to do, Mama? I'm going to make one of these automobiles, that ' s what. " " You 're crazy ," said Michal. "You can 't make a horseless carriage. ' ' " I said shut that door!" Mikulas turned on Michal , outraged. ''I can too make one if I want to.'' One of the boarders shut the door. "Where's my coal?" said Marienka. "And where ' s Janik? " Michal shook his head at Mikulas . " You're just a little boy, and boys can't make horseless carriages. I'm going to make a cart that we can pull. " �124 SLOVAKIA ''They're my wheels,' ' said Mikulas . ' 'I found them, and I can make anything I want to." Michal threw the two wheels on the floor in disgust. " You're crazy!'' Just then Marienka heard a small, slight bumping on the door. She ran to open it. On the steps stood Janik, his eyes and nose watering with the cold. He struggled to lift the heavy coal scuttle over the top step. Seeing Marienka, he looked up with round eyes . ' 'They said I had to carry it, ' ' he said, sniffing. Marienka took the coal scuttle out of his hands and pushed him into the house, slamming the door after him. " For shame! " she cried, turning to the boys. "Making your little brother carry that heavy bucket all by himself. Just look at his hands they 're all blue and raw. " She flung the coal scuttle down by the stove with a crash. Everybody in the room got quiet. Michal's face took on a stricken look. " I never thought I'd raise boys to be so lazy and cruel and thoughtless and - ' ' "But Mama," said Mikulas. "We couldn't carry the coal because we had to carry the wheels." " Damn the wheels!" said Marienka. "I don 't want them in the house. Bringing in trash - ' ' "Now, wait a minute, Marienka," said Ivan. " They're just kids. " He drew Mikulas to his side . "Son, you can't make a horseless carriage with three wheels . You got to have four , at least. " " I know it," said Mikulas scornfully. " You think I'm dumb? " Ivan grinned and shrugged, avoiding Marienka's eyes . " Well, let's eat," said Marienka. The men came to the table in silence , trying not to scrape the benches as they sat down, and picked up their silver self-consciously. Marienka never sat down to eat until the men were through. She was busy serving from the stove , and she also·needed to help Jurko eat. Her anger and the heat of the stove had brought wisps of hair from her braids that curled in damp ringlets against her face. Her face was flushed. As she turned from the stove , she caught Ivan 's eyes on her face. Just looking at her, not eating. As soon as their eyes met, he looked down at his plate . Marienka paused on her way to the table . Ivan didn't often look at her that way any more . Then she pushed the ringlets away from her cheeks with the back of her hand. �SLOVAKIA 125 " Say , Marienka, " said one of the boarders, "we got to get up earlier tomorrow . It's two miles farther to the new mine.'' "What new mine? " " The one they!re starting over on East Hill. The old one's played out.' ' \ " Don 't wake me up any' earlier," said Ivan. "I'm still working in the old mine. '' Marienka stared at him. " Why? " " We're taking out the pillars tomorrow, " he said, breaking off a hunk of bread. His big knuckles were grimed with the dust from coal that never quite came off, no matter how he washed. Marienka didn't notice it ordinarily, but against the white bread she could see the gray dust in the creases of his skin. Marienka snorted. ''I guess they pick out the men with the biggest families , and get them to take out the pillars. '' Ivan tipped back his head and laughed. Then he winked at the men around the table . "Trust a woman to worry , that's what's she's for." " Well, if I don 't , who will? " Ivan shook his head, still laughing. "Marienka, I've told you before, there ' s no danger. We take all the coal out of the rooms we can get, but when we hear those props 'ping,' man, we run! " One of the boarders grunted non-committally. " Gimme some of that bread, " said another. ' 'Boys, into bed! '' said Marienka. Even with her back turned, even as she shooed her children up the stairs, she was conscious of Ivan's eyes . She guessed it was the ribbon . But they were noticing eyes, different from the usual - different from the occasional hunger at night, or the fumbling from habit in bed . She was just starting down the stairs for the last time when he caught her arm . He had been waiting for her at the top of the stairs. She tried to pull loose. ''I have to get the clock.'' " Forget the clock ," he said. " Now , isn't that just like a man, " she started to say , but his mouth stopped her. For all that her voice was hard, when his lips moved to her collar bone and to her breast, her body was soft and shimery as smoke. It didn 't snow that night. Instead, it turned warmer. The clouds that had threatened snow produced a thin drizzle . The men hunched their shoulders as they left and bent their heads down . In the dull light Marienka watched them walk down the street, the rain making beads �126 SLOVAKIA on the shoulders of their wool jackets,. little drops without brilliance that began forming dark streaks down the cloth . By the time the boys left for school the rain had dwindled to a fine mist that melted downward from the close-hanging, yellowish clouds . The curious light made everything look hollow , the same way it did sometimes at dusk when the sun shone from behind the mountains. Marienka watched the boys saunter down the street , swinging their lunches. She wondered if she ought to chance it, going to church with the babies. It was the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple . She had planned to go to church and light a candle. She put her hand to her hair, pushing it back from her forehead , and her fingers brushed against the ribbon she'd bound in her braids yesterday. It brought to mind Ivan 's eyes as he had watched her last night. No matter what else changed they were the same as they had been twelve years ago in Kamienka - dark , curious, and full of lustre. All at once the memory of that day was close around her. She could almost smell the hot wax from the candles and the sweet, stifling odor of incense. She remembered the hot darkness of the church, and the smell of the priest's robes - a little musty, smelling of old things . Marienka made a sudden decision. She began putting Jozef's winter clothes on him. If she wrapped Jurko in her heaviest shawl, it would be all right. She picked the baby up and tucked Jozef's hand firmly in her own. Outside it was a damp , windless chill. The cold mud wet their shoes and made Marienka 's toes ache. On the distant hill, the lifeless trees made a tangle of gray branches that looked like smoke. Still, it was good to be out. Other women were going to the church, too . They called out greetings , smiling broadly to show their good will, but not stopping to talk. It was too cold. It was cold in the church . Marienka shivered as she entered , looking around the great dark room which was bare except for the altar, and for a few benches against the walls . Several women were already kneeling, their shawl-wrapped heads tuckec:l down-- and their hands folded tight under their chins. The candles they had lighted cast a feeble glow over their heads, and threw their shadows against the dusk of the corners. Marienka took Jurko to one of the benches and gave him a toy horse Ivan had carved, and a piece of 'kolac.' " Stay here and be quiet," she whispered. Then she bought a candle, and leading Jozef with one hand, went to the altar. �SLOVAKIA 127 She heard feet scurrying across the floor. '' Mama, Mama, what doing'?" . . " Be still, JurRo!" sai~ Marienka in a fierce whisper. With Jurko tugging at her skirts, she , had a hard time lighting the candle and putting it in place. Then she turned to him . He had finished the 'kolac,' and his face was smeared with crumbs. He stood watching the candles with solemn pleasure. Marienka pushed him down gently. "Now, be quiet," she said as she knelt beside him . He nodded. Then, turning to stare at some people coming in , he dropped his horse. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Marienka could see everybody staring at her. Some of the women smiled a little, and others looked reprovingly. She began to wish she hadn 't come . It was hard to think of the prayer she wanted to say. Jurko started babbling out loud, and drooled on her shoulder. Except that the wood of the church was new, she might have been · back in Kamienka. There was the same darkness , the same hush. Without realizing it, she began to pray. Not a prayer with words. It was just a feeling . She prayed with love , as a woman who had borne sons, to the Virgin Mary. The loved filled her. She gazed up at the image of the virgin, and tears spilled over from her eyes and wet her cheeks. She heard feet pounding on the wooden steps of the church. A gust of cold air burst in from the door. " Mama! Mama!" a voice cried. She started suddenly. It was Michal's voice. The boy reached her before she could tum around. He flung his arms around her, his face buried in her shawl as she knelt there , sobs tearing his body . The other women jumped to their feet and gathered around Marienka. "Michal!" Marienka tried to get up, but she couldn't with Jurko clinging to her. She tried to pull up Michal's face so that she could look at him, but he pushed it deeper into her clothes. "Michal, what is it? Michal, answer me! " One of the other woman knelt beside Michal, her face white. ''Boy, speak up! Is it the mines - '' She mentioned the one thing the women dreaded. They gathered even closer. Marienka wrenched herself loose from Michal, and turned around. His face was smeared and swollen. "Michal, stop crying! Is it your papa - '' �128 SLOVAKIA " The mine caved in!" Michal's voice was almost a scream. "It caved in on Papa!" Several of the women began running for the door. They had husbands or sons who worked with Ivan. Others began pounding him with questions, their hands clutched tight, their faces drawing closer with every word. ''Did they say who else was in the mine? '' "Did you see my husband?" ''Boy, who else - ' ' Marienka stood up, trembling. ''Now, all of you - hush! ' ' she said. The women hushed, looking at her in surprise. " Now, Michal, " she said as gently as she could. "You have to be brave. I need you to help me . Stop crying now. You've got to help me , so stop crying. ' ' Michal looked up at her, his eyes imploring, as if she could tell him that it was all right, that the whole thing would go away. "Michal, I want you to take your brothers home and look after them for me. " She took J urko by the hand and placed it in Michal's . "Go on, now. Take them home." Tears came to Michal's eyes again. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to the mine," said Marienka. Marienka walked past Michal, past his eyes that clung to her, even though he didn't try to follow. She reached the steps and started down the street. She didn 't run . Once she looked back. Michal was walking away from the church, holding Jozef by the hand. One of the women from the church was walking with them, carrying Jurko, her arm about Michal's shoulders. Marienka turned back to the steep hill that led to the mines . It was a hard climb. Her breath came short. Stones slipped from beneath her feet . She turned her ankle and nearly fell, but she didn't feel the pain. When she was almost to the mine, she could see the men gathered about the opening. Outside the mine were piles of slag, stacks of wooden mine supports, and a small section of mining cars stopped on the rails that led inside. The mules stood listlessly, their heads hanging down. ., "Where 's Ivan? " she called out as soon'as she reached the tracks . " Where ' s my husband? " Some of the men turned around , recognizing her. They nodded toward the mine. " He's in there." " Is he dead? " �SLOVAKIA 129 ' 'Mrs. Kinda, they' re trying to get to him now.'' ''But is he dead?'' ' "Now, try to be calm, Mrs . Kinda. They're doing all they can." She shoved past the men and walked toward the mine opening. She was shaking all over. "Mrs. Kinda, where're you going?" She didn't answer. She felt a miner's hand on her arm, pulling her back from the mine. "You can't go in there. You know that, Mrs . Kinda. Come back from there .'' She shook her head, trying to walk past. The miner's voice grew exasperated. She couldn't see his face clearly because of tears that blinded her. " You can't help him, Mrs. Kinda," he said. "They're trying to dig him out. You'd just be in the way." "Besides," said another man, "you don't know the mine. You'd kill yourself.'' They were all talking at once. She didn't hear what they said any more. She let herself be led to one of the stacks of wooden supports. "Sit down here," someone said. "Sit down. It won't be long, now. All you can do is wait.'' She sank down, her legs suddenly helpless and weak. The crowd outside the mines was growing larger every minute. Several mine officials arrived, and also a large number of idlers from the town, dogs, curious children, and women anxious about their husbands . Some of the women tried to comfort her, but she shook her head. She couldn't speak, for tears that clogged her throat. She began to understand from their talk that Ivan wasn't the only man caught in the cave-in. There was also another man, the husband of a young girl named Katarina who was pregnant with her first baby. She was hardly more than a bride . Marienka caught a glimpse of her toiling up the hill. She was a slight girl, her waist only a little thickened. Then the crowd closed her from view , but Marienka could hear her crying. Waiting was terrible . She put her hands over her eyes and tried not to think. It was well past noon. The sun began to slope toward afternoon , making a pale spot in the thin, dull clouds that covered the sky. A hush fell over the crowd. Marienka heard the grinding of a coal car from inside the mine and the plodding of a mule 's hooves. Mine officials walked out first, their faces grim. A couple of miners were with them , coal blackening their faces , smeared outward from their deepened eye-sockets . Another miner led the mule . The girl �130 SLOVAKIA Katarina screamed and rushed forward, but was held back by some of the women. Then the coal car groaned out of the mine. There was no holding Katarina now. She tore away from the women and ran to the car. Marienka jumped to her feet. A sudden pain in her right ankle jolted her and sent her sprawling over the tracks . Hands helped her to her feet . She could see her ankle, swollen and ugly from the twist she'd had coming up the mountain . She tried to walk, but her foot wouldn't hold her weight. She almost fell again. Two miners held her, grabbing her by the elbows . One of the women came up to Marienka. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she put her arms around Marienka 's shoulders. " Never mind, Marienka," she said. "Don 't look at him, my dear.'' "She 's right," said the men, trying to urge her away . "Don't look. It won 't do any good." That' s how Marienka knew he was dead . She pushed on anyway, hobbling along, with the men supporting her. When she saw him, he looked pitiful and limp. Except for the blood that spilled in a sticky mess over his chest and ran in two dried , blackened rivulets from his nostrils , he looked exactly as he did when he was drunk . Except that he lay in the black, casket-shaped coal car, blood and coal smeared on his hands , which lay by his sides , loose, cupped upward . The other man lay beside him , but he was not dead . There was a pushed-in place just below his hairline . His eyes were open, but they showed no recognition of his weeping wife who leaned above him. Even as they lifted him out of the car to take him to the hospital, he vomited a great gush of blood . Marienka, who had seen everything till this moment in a sort of confusion , saw with great clarity now . It was the same vividness of a nightmare. The cords of Katerina 's neck tightened as she screamed and screamed . Her young face looked strangely contorted under her smooth black braids that were still in perfect order. Marienka allowed herself to be lifted in\o the wagon that was to carry Ivan home. Marienka sat by the window, looking out at the gray twilight that the clouds made of the winter sun. It was about ten in the morning . �SLOVAKIA . 131 . Downstairs she could hear~ shuffling of feet and scraping of furniture. They were carrying Ivan t() · the church. It would probably snow, she thought. It was better when it snowed, when you couldn't see the raw, newturned earth the next day. New graves were like wounds in the skin that had not healed. It had snowed on Janik's grave. Janik and Matka were gone. And old otec dead in his shriveled, strange world. And now Ivan was leaving in his one good pair of socks and the not-too-new coat he'd worn to church on Sundays. Her glance fell on the dresser top, and she started suddenly. Rolled in a neat ball beside her tray of pins was Ivan's wool scarf. She started to get up, and then forced herself back into the chair. He wouldn't need the scarf. She began to cry, the tears falling on her hard, brown fingers cupped upward in her lap. It hadn't been an easy life, hers and Ivan's. They'd been thrown together, like it OF-»ot ; before they even met. But now, remembering those far away, hot days in the wheat fields and the lonely nights when she waited for him to come home from the tavern, it seemed slight, almost sweet, like a lover's quarrel that was soon over. She heard someone calling her from downstairs. "Marienka! It's time to go. Come on, the children are ready." She wiped her face with the back of her hand, and pulled herself to her feet. Her ankle had healed enough so that she could walk on it, hobbling a little . She leaned on Michal on the way to church. The children were silent in a forced solemnity. They were cold, too. She could hear Janik's teeth chattering. " Corne here, Janik, " she said. "Let me button your coat. " Jozef's nose was running, and she gave him her handkerchief. "Mikulas, if you walk in that puddle , I'll spank you," she said. One of her neighbors was keeping Jurko while she went to the funeral. People had been kind, helping her through the days of the wake , and feeding the boarders and the children. "Look, Marna! Red birds!" Janik shrilled, pointing. " Shhh," said Marienka. "Be quiet, Janik . " "See what you did, " said Mikulas disgustedly , " you scared them away!' ' "We've got to go in, now," said Marienka. "Now , be quiet , all of you .' ' The church was full. Marienka knelt on the hard floor in front of I �132 SLOVAKIA the altar, glad to be on her knees instead of her feet. She felt weak and sick . Katarina clutched the rail with agonized fingers . She sniffed softly as she entered, and gradually grew more racked as the funeral progressed. Her cries grew more penetrating till Marienka's stomach muscles tightened to a wad of nausea. There was a quality in age, she realized. You could stand things better. Katarina was only seventeen. When the terrible service was over at last, the families of the two men filed by the caskets to take a last look at the bodies. Marienka touched the wood of Ivan's casket for a moment, but she didn't really look at him. She closed her eyes and tried to blot the moment out. But she couldn't. The image swam, not oflvan's face, but of little Michal's . A face so white and drawn with huge , dark eyes staring behind tears. She fumbled for him with her hand, and hugged his shoulders. Then Katarina 's cries jogged her out of her own thoughts. She looked over at the girl with horrified pity. Katarina was leaning into the casket, her arms around her husband, kissing him on the lips again and again. The priest stared at her in dismay. It was hard to tell whether she was trying to drag her husband out of the casket or to climb in with him. People pulled her away. She collapsed on the floor. But Marienka followed after the casket with her sons, limping still from her twisted ankle, and holding on to Michal. She was glad she wasn't seventeen, like Katarina. She wouldn't like to have to live through all those years again. She remembered the funeral they'd had for the baby Janik. His grave was the first to be dug in this churchyard. No, she wouldn't like to go through that again. It had grown colder. The shovel rang, and the frozen earth fell on Ivan ' s casket like stones. She began to tremble violently. She wept for his sweet foolishness, for the guilty look he had when he'd done something wrong, and for the warmth of him. Like Katarina, she would like to drag him out of the casket. Of the two, she had always been the strong one . It wouldn't be easy to raise five sons without his help . But already her mind turned to plans of how she would manage by keeping boarders. And the older boys would help . So she did what she had to do. She waited while the men shoveled in the dirt, and the first flakes of snow crisped the mound that covered what was left of Ivan. Then she turned home. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 119 The· Sorrows of Marienka ' V. S. KOBAN It was lonely in the house after the wedding. Marienka never thought she would miss Jacka the way she did. She missed Jacka's soft, smiling way - walking around the rooms, not saying much. She'd thought having Jacka around was almost like having nobody at all. But now she found she even missed the work that Jacka had done. It was hard to pack all the lunches in the morning. She had to get up earlier than ever. She missed Michal, too. She'd catch herself starting to say something as she came down the stairs, suddenly to realize that Michal wasn't sitting in front of the stove with his wooden leg propped on a bench. Then her unfinished sentence would hang on the air like an echo . The baby Jurko fretted and whined. He was used to being petted and played with. A year passed, and it was December. Two years since Michal's accident. Jozef had been just a baby then, and now he was nearly three years old, walking around the house and getting in the way. Time went on and on . Marienka was twenty-eight, but a thousand years different from that day in Kamienka when she married Ivan. They were all different. She remembered how the sun had shone on Michal's fair hair as she laid him between the rows of wheat in Jarabina . Michal's hair had turned dark through the years, and now it was almost black, like Ivan's. He would be thirteen in the spring. He was a tall, serious boy , and although he looked like his father, he didn 't have Ivan's reckless good humor. He tried hard to please, and a rebuke from Marienka would bring tears to his eyes. Mikulas and Janik both went to school now . It was Janik ' s first year. Marienka thought with tenderness of the baby chubbiness his face still had as she buttoned his coat in the mornings. A coat that had been Michal's, and had been three times patched and made over to fit the younger boys . She had trouble buttoning the jacket, because she V. S. Kohan was born near Johnstown, Pennsylvania , and based his novel, recently published by Jednota Press, on the life of his mother, who came to America in 1890, married twice, bore 11 sons and 2 daughters, and experienced the violent deaths of both her husbands and six sons. The present selection represents the novel 's concluding pages. 120 SLOVAKIA never was good at making button holes. No matter how she tried to fix them, the holes were too large for the buttons. She worried about Janik walking to school in the cold with his coat open. Ivan was the same. Only last night he 'd told that joke again about the priest - that was the joke she'd warned him never to tell - he told it right at the table in front of the children and the boarders and everybody. Then he'd tipped back his head and laughed till even she had to laugh with him. Then one of the boarders brought out a bottle. It was American whiskey, and she never liked the taste of it. But Ivan liked it well enough, and he told again how he'd been an officer in the army and for the first time in years, showed the scar where he had been bitten by a wolf. Of course, he was grouchy when he had to wake up that morning. Marienka didn't mind much any more. Marienka paused in her work, thinking about Ivan. He hadn't changed, except that he was a steady worker and came home evenings. She didn't usually think much about herself, but now she wondered if she had changed too. Her hands were hard from heavy work. She was sharp with the children and sharp with Ivan. Her clothes were indifferent. Had she gotten ugly? She dropped the broom in the middle of the floor and went to the small , wavy mirror tacked on the wall near the sink. This was where the boarders combed their hair in the morning. She blinked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same - but such a frown on her face. She realized the frown was a habit. She didn't often look at herself in the mirror . She tried a smile , then looked around guiltily, feeling silly. There was no one to watch her except the two babies, and Jozef was playing with the broom she 'd dropped on the floor, trying to pull out a screw. She turned and looked again. There was no gray in her hair. Her eyes were still clear in her fair face. The heat from the stove had flushed her cheeks , and there were no creases in her neck. Deliberately she went upstairs and took a comb from the bedroom, and a blue satin ribbon that was left over from a baby dress she'd made for Jurko. Then she went back to the mirror ~She let down her long hair and combed it slowly, noticing that it hungbelow her apron strings in long, auburn ripples. She braided it carefully 'and tiecl the ribbon in her hair. SLOVAKIA 121 She wasn 't quite clear in her mind why she 'd done this, but it made her feel different. She heard the boys ' shoes clattering on the steps as they came home f~om school, and she turned around with a little laugh, feeling suddenly light and young. The boys burst into the room like a sudden explosion, tracking mud as they came. Mikulas slung his books at the table. They hit with a bump, and one of them slid off to the floor . Mikulas didn 't pick it up. Instead he grabbed Janik by the collar. " You stepped on my foot!" he yelled. Janik poked his elbow in Mikulas ' s ribs and wrenched himself loose. Michal marched up to Marienka, his face very stem. "Mother, you got to whip Mikulas. " "Tattle-tale!" yelled Mikulas. He began jumping up and down in the middle of the room so that Marienka couldn't hear what Michal was saying. She grabbed Mikulas by the shoulders. " What did you do?" she said. Mikulas looked sullen. He stood still without answering. " I'll tell you what he did, " said Michal. "He talked in class, and the teacher sent him to the cloakroom - ' ' Mikulas began wiggling in Marienka's grip . He looked up at his mother out of the comers of his eyes, a cock-eyed grin coming over his face . " The teacher said he had to stay in the cloakroom an hour, and you know what he did?" Michal stared at Marienka, outraged. "Do you know what he did?'' Mikulas began jumping again. " I'll tell you what I did," he burst out . ' 'I ate all the kids' lunch_e s while I was in there, that ' s what I did." He was out of Marienka's hands now, jumping around the room . " All of them? " cried Marienka. " He ate all of them," said Michal. " It took me a whole hour," said Mikulas. " He ate mine ," said Janik . " And I'm hungry." " But Mikulas, you 'll be sick! " ' 'That's what the teacher said, but I just ate the parts I wanted and threw the rest out the window. '' He stopped suddenly in the middle of the floor . " Don 't whip me, Mother," he said. " The teacher whipped me already, so don 't whip me again. " Michal tugged at Marienka's sleeve . " Mother, the teacher whipped him because he said he wasn't sorry . And look at him grinning over there . He 's still not sorry. " 122 SLOVAKIA Marienka looked at Mikulas. Mikulas struggled with himself, and with considerable effort, erased the smile from his face. "I am too sorry," he said. Marienka's right hand itched to get the switch . Janik looked from one side to the other with round eyes . "You whip a lot harder than the teacher,'' he said . " All right!" snapped Marienka. " He's had one whipping, and that 's enough. Now get busy, all of you! Michal, build up the fire . Then you can clean the coal scuttle and fill it again. You Janik and Mikulas , get a bucket and go down by the tracks and fill it with coal. Get going, now!'' Marienka watched them go. Then she smoothed the ribbon in her hair. The baby Jurko was fussing . She carried him over to the rocking chair and held him close. Still , he complained, thumping his head against her breast. He kicked his feet against her legs . It hurt, and she realized how big he was getting . " Shhh," she whispered, rocking back and forth. " Shhhhh." He still struggled in her arms. "You 're a spoiled baby," she said in a crooning voice . " Hush, now, papa's coming soon." She began to chant it, like a little song in time to the motion of the rocker. " Papa 's coming soon - papa's coming soon . " The chair squeaked as she rocked back and forth. It was the only sound in the room, except for some spools that Jozef was rolling on the floor. The windows were filling with the early winter twilight, and she knew she ought to put Jurko down , even if he cried. Jurko 's body relaxed, his head falling heavily against her shoulder as he slept . Still she sat and rocked, growing more and more drowsy. She was startled suddenly by the sound of feet on the steps. The door opened before she could get up , and ,Ivan come in. He looked around the room, and then saw her sitting in €he dark " Marienka, are you sick? " " Of course not. Here it is dark already, and the children not home. '' She got up and went to the table to light the lamp . When she looked up , he was still standing there, looking at her. " Supper will be ready in a minute. Go wash your hands , don 't just stand there ." She hesitated. ' ' I was rocking Jurko .'' Ivan still stood there, frowning . " What you got the baby 's ribbon in your hair for? " he said in a puzzled voice . SLOVAKIA 123 "Oh, shut up!" She banged the dishes onto the table. Then hurrying to lift a pot of pirohy from the stove , she scalded her arm. She began to swear under her breath. Ivan smothered a grin and went out in the back to wash his hands. The other boarders began to come in now , stamping their feet and blowing on their hands . "Dinner's going to be late ," said Marienka, yanking the bread from the oven. The pan rasped against the iron stove. One of the boarders threw his arms over his face , as if to ward off a blow . " Don't get mad," he said. " Sure is cold, '. ' said ai:i,other, edging close to the stove. " Looks like snow .'' Marienka glanced out ihe window with an uneasy feeling . What could be keeping the boys · so long? Ivan came up to her side , rubbing his face with a towel. His eyes laughed at her over the towel. " I gave my girl a ribbon ," he sang in a sweet falsetto. " And she gave me a rose - " " Get out of my way! " said Marienka, flushing. "You keep throwing those dishes at the table, you 're going to break one ,'' said I van, rub bing his neck with the towel. ''When I need your advice on how to set the table, you can light a candle at my head. " Ivan chuckled. "Now , that would look real pretty. " Marienka glared at him struggling for an answer. Just then the door swung open , blowing the lamp flame and bringing in a gust of cold air. " Look what I found, Mama," cried Mikulas in a shrill voice. He labored with a large, broken cart wheel, and Michal carried two more. ''I found some wheels, Mama, and nobody wants them . '' " Shut that door!" said Marienka. " Where ' s the coal I sent you for?' ' '' You know what I'm going to do, Mama? I'm going to make one of these automobiles, that ' s what. " " You 're crazy ," said Michal. "You can 't make a horseless carriage. ' ' " I said shut that door!" Mikulas turned on Michal , outraged. ''I can too make one if I want to.'' One of the boarders shut the door. "Where's my coal?" said Marienka. "And where ' s Janik? " Michal shook his head at Mikulas . " You're just a little boy, and boys can't make horseless carriages. I'm going to make a cart that we can pull. " 124 SLOVAKIA ''They're my wheels,' ' said Mikulas . ' 'I found them, and I can make anything I want to." Michal threw the two wheels on the floor in disgust. " You're crazy!'' Just then Marienka heard a small, slight bumping on the door. She ran to open it. On the steps stood Janik, his eyes and nose watering with the cold. He struggled to lift the heavy coal scuttle over the top step. Seeing Marienka, he looked up with round eyes . ' 'They said I had to carry it, ' ' he said, sniffing. Marienka took the coal scuttle out of his hands and pushed him into the house, slamming the door after him. " For shame! " she cried, turning to the boys. "Making your little brother carry that heavy bucket all by himself. Just look at his hands they 're all blue and raw. " She flung the coal scuttle down by the stove with a crash. Everybody in the room got quiet. Michal's face took on a stricken look. " I never thought I'd raise boys to be so lazy and cruel and thoughtless and - ' ' "But Mama," said Mikulas. "We couldn't carry the coal because we had to carry the wheels." " Damn the wheels!" said Marienka. "I don 't want them in the house. Bringing in trash - ' ' "Now, wait a minute, Marienka," said Ivan. " They're just kids. " He drew Mikulas to his side . "Son, you can't make a horseless carriage with three wheels . You got to have four , at least. " " I know it," said Mikulas scornfully. " You think I'm dumb? " Ivan grinned and shrugged, avoiding Marienka's eyes . " Well, let's eat," said Marienka. The men came to the table in silence , trying not to scrape the benches as they sat down, and picked up their silver self-consciously. Marienka never sat down to eat until the men were through. She was busy serving from the stove , and she also·needed to help Jurko eat. Her anger and the heat of the stove had brought wisps of hair from her braids that curled in damp ringlets against her face. Her face was flushed. As she turned from the stove , she caught Ivan 's eyes on her face. Just looking at her, not eating. As soon as their eyes met, he looked down at his plate . Marienka paused on her way to the table . Ivan didn't often look at her that way any more . Then she pushed the ringlets away from her cheeks with the back of her hand. SLOVAKIA 125 " Say , Marienka, " said one of the boarders, "we got to get up earlier tomorrow . It's two miles farther to the new mine.'' "What new mine? " " The one they!re starting over on East Hill. The old one's played out.' ' \ " Don 't wake me up any' earlier," said Ivan. "I'm still working in the old mine. '' Marienka stared at him. " Why? " " We're taking out the pillars tomorrow, " he said, breaking off a hunk of bread. His big knuckles were grimed with the dust from coal that never quite came off, no matter how he washed. Marienka didn't notice it ordinarily, but against the white bread she could see the gray dust in the creases of his skin. Marienka snorted. ''I guess they pick out the men with the biggest families , and get them to take out the pillars. '' Ivan tipped back his head and laughed. Then he winked at the men around the table . "Trust a woman to worry , that's what's she's for." " Well, if I don 't , who will? " Ivan shook his head, still laughing. "Marienka, I've told you before, there ' s no danger. We take all the coal out of the rooms we can get, but when we hear those props 'ping,' man, we run! " One of the boarders grunted non-committally. " Gimme some of that bread, " said another. ' 'Boys, into bed! '' said Marienka. Even with her back turned, even as she shooed her children up the stairs, she was conscious of Ivan's eyes . She guessed it was the ribbon . But they were noticing eyes, different from the usual - different from the occasional hunger at night, or the fumbling from habit in bed . She was just starting down the stairs for the last time when he caught her arm . He had been waiting for her at the top of the stairs. She tried to pull loose. ''I have to get the clock.'' " Forget the clock ," he said. " Now , isn't that just like a man, " she started to say , but his mouth stopped her. For all that her voice was hard, when his lips moved to her collar bone and to her breast, her body was soft and shimery as smoke. It didn 't snow that night. Instead, it turned warmer. The clouds that had threatened snow produced a thin drizzle . The men hunched their shoulders as they left and bent their heads down . In the dull light Marienka watched them walk down the street, the rain making beads 126 SLOVAKIA on the shoulders of their wool jackets,. little drops without brilliance that began forming dark streaks down the cloth . By the time the boys left for school the rain had dwindled to a fine mist that melted downward from the close-hanging, yellowish clouds . The curious light made everything look hollow , the same way it did sometimes at dusk when the sun shone from behind the mountains. Marienka watched the boys saunter down the street , swinging their lunches. She wondered if she ought to chance it, going to church with the babies. It was the day of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple . She had planned to go to church and light a candle. She put her hand to her hair, pushing it back from her forehead , and her fingers brushed against the ribbon she'd bound in her braids yesterday. It brought to mind Ivan 's eyes as he had watched her last night. No matter what else changed they were the same as they had been twelve years ago in Kamienka - dark , curious, and full of lustre. All at once the memory of that day was close around her. She could almost smell the hot wax from the candles and the sweet, stifling odor of incense. She remembered the hot darkness of the church, and the smell of the priest's robes - a little musty, smelling of old things . Marienka made a sudden decision. She began putting Jozef's winter clothes on him. If she wrapped Jurko in her heaviest shawl, it would be all right. She picked the baby up and tucked Jozef's hand firmly in her own. Outside it was a damp , windless chill. The cold mud wet their shoes and made Marienka 's toes ache. On the distant hill, the lifeless trees made a tangle of gray branches that looked like smoke. Still, it was good to be out. Other women were going to the church, too . They called out greetings , smiling broadly to show their good will, but not stopping to talk. It was too cold. It was cold in the church . Marienka shivered as she entered , looking around the great dark room which was bare except for the altar, and for a few benches against the walls . Several women were already kneeling, their shawl-wrapped heads tuckec:l down-- and their hands folded tight under their chins. The candles they had lighted cast a feeble glow over their heads, and threw their shadows against the dusk of the corners. Marienka took Jurko to one of the benches and gave him a toy horse Ivan had carved, and a piece of 'kolac.' " Stay here and be quiet," she whispered. Then she bought a candle, and leading Jozef with one hand, went to the altar. SLOVAKIA 127 She heard feet scurrying across the floor. '' Mama, Mama, what doing'?" . . " Be still, JurRo!" sai~ Marienka in a fierce whisper. With Jurko tugging at her skirts, she , had a hard time lighting the candle and putting it in place. Then she turned to him . He had finished the 'kolac,' and his face was smeared with crumbs. He stood watching the candles with solemn pleasure. Marienka pushed him down gently. "Now, be quiet," she said as she knelt beside him . He nodded. Then, turning to stare at some people coming in , he dropped his horse. It fell to the floor with a clatter. Marienka could see everybody staring at her. Some of the women smiled a little, and others looked reprovingly. She began to wish she hadn 't come . It was hard to think of the prayer she wanted to say. Jurko started babbling out loud, and drooled on her shoulder. Except that the wood of the church was new, she might have been · back in Kamienka. There was the same darkness , the same hush. Without realizing it, she began to pray. Not a prayer with words. It was just a feeling . She prayed with love , as a woman who had borne sons, to the Virgin Mary. The loved filled her. She gazed up at the image of the virgin, and tears spilled over from her eyes and wet her cheeks. She heard feet pounding on the wooden steps of the church. A gust of cold air burst in from the door. " Mama! Mama!" a voice cried. She started suddenly. It was Michal's voice. The boy reached her before she could tum around. He flung his arms around her, his face buried in her shawl as she knelt there , sobs tearing his body . The other women jumped to their feet and gathered around Marienka. "Michal!" Marienka tried to get up, but she couldn't with Jurko clinging to her. She tried to pull up Michal's face so that she could look at him, but he pushed it deeper into her clothes. "Michal, what is it? Michal, answer me! " One of the other woman knelt beside Michal, her face white. ''Boy, speak up! Is it the mines - '' She mentioned the one thing the women dreaded. They gathered even closer. Marienka wrenched herself loose from Michal, and turned around. His face was smeared and swollen. "Michal, stop crying! Is it your papa - '' 128 SLOVAKIA " The mine caved in!" Michal's voice was almost a scream. "It caved in on Papa!" Several of the women began running for the door. They had husbands or sons who worked with Ivan. Others began pounding him with questions, their hands clutched tight, their faces drawing closer with every word. ''Did they say who else was in the mine? '' "Did you see my husband?" ''Boy, who else - ' ' Marienka stood up, trembling. ''Now, all of you - hush! ' ' she said. The women hushed, looking at her in surprise. " Now, Michal, " she said as gently as she could. "You have to be brave. I need you to help me . Stop crying now. You've got to help me , so stop crying. ' ' Michal looked up at her, his eyes imploring, as if she could tell him that it was all right, that the whole thing would go away. "Michal, I want you to take your brothers home and look after them for me. " She took J urko by the hand and placed it in Michal's . "Go on, now. Take them home." Tears came to Michal's eyes again. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to the mine," said Marienka. Marienka walked past Michal, past his eyes that clung to her, even though he didn't try to follow. She reached the steps and started down the street. She didn 't run . Once she looked back. Michal was walking away from the church, holding Jozef by the hand. One of the women from the church was walking with them, carrying Jurko, her arm about Michal's shoulders. Marienka turned back to the steep hill that led to the mines . It was a hard climb. Her breath came short. Stones slipped from beneath her feet . She turned her ankle and nearly fell, but she didn't feel the pain. When she was almost to the mine, she could see the men gathered about the opening. Outside the mine were piles of slag, stacks of wooden mine supports, and a small section of mining cars stopped on the rails that led inside. The mules stood listlessly, their heads hanging down. ., "Where 's Ivan? " she called out as soon'as she reached the tracks . " Where ' s my husband? " Some of the men turned around , recognizing her. They nodded toward the mine. " He's in there." " Is he dead? " SLOVAKIA 129 ' 'Mrs. Kinda, they' re trying to get to him now.'' ''But is he dead?'' ' "Now, try to be calm, Mrs . Kinda. They're doing all they can." She shoved past the men and walked toward the mine opening. She was shaking all over. "Mrs. Kinda, where're you going?" She didn't answer. She felt a miner's hand on her arm, pulling her back from the mine. "You can't go in there. You know that, Mrs . Kinda. Come back from there .'' She shook her head, trying to walk past. The miner's voice grew exasperated. She couldn't see his face clearly because of tears that blinded her. " You can't help him, Mrs. Kinda," he said. "They're trying to dig him out. You'd just be in the way." "Besides," said another man, "you don't know the mine. You'd kill yourself.'' They were all talking at once. She didn't hear what they said any more. She let herself be led to one of the stacks of wooden supports. "Sit down here," someone said. "Sit down. It won't be long, now. All you can do is wait.'' She sank down, her legs suddenly helpless and weak. The crowd outside the mines was growing larger every minute. Several mine officials arrived, and also a large number of idlers from the town, dogs, curious children, and women anxious about their husbands . Some of the women tried to comfort her, but she shook her head. She couldn't speak, for tears that clogged her throat. She began to understand from their talk that Ivan wasn't the only man caught in the cave-in. There was also another man, the husband of a young girl named Katarina who was pregnant with her first baby. She was hardly more than a bride . Marienka caught a glimpse of her toiling up the hill. She was a slight girl, her waist only a little thickened. Then the crowd closed her from view , but Marienka could hear her crying. Waiting was terrible . She put her hands over her eyes and tried not to think. It was well past noon. The sun began to slope toward afternoon , making a pale spot in the thin, dull clouds that covered the sky. A hush fell over the crowd. Marienka heard the grinding of a coal car from inside the mine and the plodding of a mule 's hooves. Mine officials walked out first, their faces grim. A couple of miners were with them , coal blackening their faces , smeared outward from their deepened eye-sockets . Another miner led the mule . The girl 130 SLOVAKIA Katarina screamed and rushed forward, but was held back by some of the women. Then the coal car groaned out of the mine. There was no holding Katarina now. She tore away from the women and ran to the car. Marienka jumped to her feet. A sudden pain in her right ankle jolted her and sent her sprawling over the tracks . Hands helped her to her feet . She could see her ankle, swollen and ugly from the twist she'd had coming up the mountain . She tried to walk, but her foot wouldn't hold her weight. She almost fell again. Two miners held her, grabbing her by the elbows . One of the women came up to Marienka. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she put her arms around Marienka 's shoulders. " Never mind, Marienka," she said. "Don 't look at him, my dear.'' "She 's right," said the men, trying to urge her away . "Don't look. It won 't do any good." That' s how Marienka knew he was dead . She pushed on anyway, hobbling along, with the men supporting her. When she saw him, he looked pitiful and limp. Except for the blood that spilled in a sticky mess over his chest and ran in two dried , blackened rivulets from his nostrils , he looked exactly as he did when he was drunk . Except that he lay in the black, casket-shaped coal car, blood and coal smeared on his hands , which lay by his sides , loose, cupped upward . The other man lay beside him , but he was not dead . There was a pushed-in place just below his hairline . His eyes were open, but they showed no recognition of his weeping wife who leaned above him. Even as they lifted him out of the car to take him to the hospital, he vomited a great gush of blood . Marienka, who had seen everything till this moment in a sort of confusion , saw with great clarity now . It was the same vividness of a nightmare. The cords of Katerina 's neck tightened as she screamed and screamed . Her young face looked strangely contorted under her smooth black braids that were still in perfect order. Marienka allowed herself to be lifted in\o the wagon that was to carry Ivan home. Marienka sat by the window, looking out at the gray twilight that the clouds made of the winter sun. It was about ten in the morning . SLOVAKIA . 131 . Downstairs she could hear~ shuffling of feet and scraping of furniture. They were carrying Ivan t() · the church. It would probably snow, she thought. It was better when it snowed, when you couldn't see the raw, newturned earth the next day. New graves were like wounds in the skin that had not healed. It had snowed on Janik's grave. Janik and Matka were gone. And old otec dead in his shriveled, strange world. And now Ivan was leaving in his one good pair of socks and the not-too-new coat he'd worn to church on Sundays. Her glance fell on the dresser top, and she started suddenly. Rolled in a neat ball beside her tray of pins was Ivan's wool scarf. She started to get up, and then forced herself back into the chair. He wouldn't need the scarf. She began to cry, the tears falling on her hard, brown fingers cupped upward in her lap. It hadn't been an easy life, hers and Ivan's. They'd been thrown together, like it OF-»ot ; before they even met. But now, remembering those far away, hot days in the wheat fields and the lonely nights when she waited for him to come home from the tavern, it seemed slight, almost sweet, like a lover's quarrel that was soon over. She heard someone calling her from downstairs. "Marienka! It's time to go. Come on, the children are ready." She wiped her face with the back of her hand, and pulled herself to her feet. Her ankle had healed enough so that she could walk on it, hobbling a little . She leaned on Michal on the way to church. The children were silent in a forced solemnity. They were cold, too. She could hear Janik's teeth chattering. " Corne here, Janik, " she said. "Let me button your coat. " Jozef's nose was running, and she gave him her handkerchief. "Mikulas, if you walk in that puddle , I'll spank you," she said. One of her neighbors was keeping Jurko while she went to the funeral. People had been kind, helping her through the days of the wake , and feeding the boarders and the children. "Look, Marna! Red birds!" Janik shrilled, pointing. " Shhh," said Marienka. "Be quiet, Janik . " "See what you did, " said Mikulas disgustedly , " you scared them away!' ' "We've got to go in, now," said Marienka. "Now , be quiet , all of you .' ' The church was full. Marienka knelt on the hard floor in front of I 132 SLOVAKIA the altar, glad to be on her knees instead of her feet. She felt weak and sick . Katarina clutched the rail with agonized fingers . She sniffed softly as she entered, and gradually grew more racked as the funeral progressed. Her cries grew more penetrating till Marienka's stomach muscles tightened to a wad of nausea. There was a quality in age, she realized. You could stand things better. Katarina was only seventeen. When the terrible service was over at last, the families of the two men filed by the caskets to take a last look at the bodies. Marienka touched the wood of Ivan's casket for a moment, but she didn't really look at him. She closed her eyes and tried to blot the moment out. But she couldn't. The image swam, not oflvan's face, but of little Michal's . A face so white and drawn with huge , dark eyes staring behind tears. She fumbled for him with her hand, and hugged his shoulders. Then Katarina 's cries jogged her out of her own thoughts. She looked over at the girl with horrified pity. Katarina was leaning into the casket, her arms around her husband, kissing him on the lips again and again. The priest stared at her in dismay. It was hard to tell whether she was trying to drag her husband out of the casket or to climb in with him. People pulled her away. She collapsed on the floor. But Marienka followed after the casket with her sons, limping still from her twisted ankle, and holding on to Michal. She was glad she wasn't seventeen, like Katarina. She wouldn't like to have to live through all those years again. She remembered the funeral they'd had for the baby Janik. His grave was the first to be dug in this churchyard. No, she wouldn't like to go through that again. It had grown colder. The shovel rang, and the frozen earth fell on Ivan ' s casket like stones. She began to tremble violently. She wept for his sweet foolishness, for the guilty look he had when he'd done something wrong, and for the warmth of him. Like Katarina, she would like to drag him out of the casket. Of the two, she had always been the strong one . It wouldn't be easy to raise five sons without his help . But already her mind turned to plans of how she would manage by keeping boarders. And the older boys would help . So she did what she had to do. She waited while the men shoveled in the dirt, and the first flakes of snow crisped the mound that covered what was left of Ivan. Then she turned home.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Sorrows of Marienka Description An account of the resource V. S. Koban Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 119-132 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Koban, Vasil S. (Vasil Stefan), 1918-2007 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF+dates