1 50 9 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b532f2a1e78204582b3aab2458820e9e.pdf d29ab35a9185a585aee78369094a60db PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 133 SIBERIA: A SLOVAK TALE (A story based upon the life of the author's grandfather, Jan Janosko) R. Vladimir Baumgarten Jozef Zeleny, most recently an employee of United States Steel, headquartered in Homestead, Pennsylvania, decided that he no longer wished to live . This puzzled people, after it was all over. By Slovak-American standards, Jozef Zeleny was by no means a failure. Granted his wife had died, but six out of ten of his children had survived and landed on their feet. They were all responsible and functional adults. Yet, Jozef Zeleny wanted to die. He contacted a relative in the town of Monongahela, located on a river of that name and the border of Virginia. He intended to march from there, up and across the ridge line, and disappear into a snowstorm. Hypothermia is a benevolent death. After a while, you no longer feel the cold. You begin to feel warm and sensuous . You want to lie down and sleep. You go to sleep. Then you die. Why did Jozef Zeleny want to die? To answer this question, we must look into his background . It involved a drama which originated a full generation earlier. *** Jozef Zeleny was born near Svidnik, in northeastern Slovakia. Seven generations of his ancestors had served in the military as Hungarian Hussars. Zeleny began his adult life in this hereditary occupation. He was admitted to the Ludovika Military Academy in Budapest and graduated with the rank of sub-lieutenant on the eve of the Great War. In August of 1914 he was dispatched to the Eastern Front. Here he became infected with the spirit of Slovak nationalism , which resented Hungarian domination. Many Czechs and Slovaks in the Austro-Hungarian Army either deserted or were captured by the Russian army. In this way Zeleny became a member of the Czechoslovak Legion. �134 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia was a curious organization. Colonies of Czechs and Slovaks had existed in Russia since the 19 th century. After the outbreak of the war, Czechs and Slovaks in Russia were allowed to organize themselves into a military unit called the Druiina, which served as an auxiliary to the Russian Army. Originally, the Drui ina engaged in reconnaissance and infiltration of Slavic units in the Austro-Hungarian army. As it demonstrated its competence, the Druiina, grew, with more captured Slavic prisoners. In March of 1917 revolution erupted in Petrograd and on March 15 th Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a Provisional Government replaced him. Most Czech and Slovak Legionnaires disliked Tsarist rule and initially welcomed the Russian Revolution. They had chafed under the restrictions imposed upon them by the Tsarist government and looked forward to more freedom of action. Zeleny participated in the Czechoslovak Legion's baptism of fire at the battle of Zborov on July 2, 1917. Zborov (Zboriv in Ukrainian), is a village in the Carpathian foothills of western Ukraine, then part of the Austrian province of Galicia. In its vicinity, two fortified Austrian positions, Galish and Kalish, guarded the approaches to the city of Lviv (Lemberg, Lvov). Two Finnish Regiments of the Russian Army were ordered to effect a pincers movement around Galish. The Legionnaires were supposed to move in after the Finns. However, the Czechs and Slovaks were impatient for action and moved ahead of the Finns. Their opponents were largely Czechs or Bosnian Serbs, who were poorly-motivated. While the Russian command hesitated in the southern sector, the Legionnaires, led by Captain Radola Gajda, stormed the hills overlooking the battlefield. This breakthrough resulted in the capture of 62 Austro-Hungarian officers, 3,150 soldiers, 20 pieces of arti llery and 40 machine guns. Russian General Selichev then declared, "Czech eagles led Russian chickens ." After this victory, the Russian Provisional Government recognized the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia as an independent army, answerable to the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris, led by T.G. Masaryk, Milan R. Stefanik and Edvard Benes. However, the Provisional Government was toppled by a military coup in Petrograd, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on November 7, 1917. Since the incoming Bolshevik government wanted peace with Germany in order to create a communist state in Russia, it inherited a large number �SLOVAKIA-2017 135 of Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, many of whom were armed and roaming the countryside. The Czechoslovak Legionnaires were among them, and continued to support the Western Allies. On the other hand, many German and Hungarian prisoners of war had joined the newly-established Red Guards. They now controlled large areas of Siberia. On May 15, 1918, an incident occurred in Russia which had international ramifications. At the railway station in Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains, a train carrying Czechoslovak Legionnaires drew alongside a train bearing repatriated Hungarian p.o.w. ' s headed in the opposite direction. The Bolsheviks had made peace with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in December of 1917 and had agreed to repatriate each other's p.o.w.'s. As the trains passed each other, a shouting match ensued and one of the Hungarians hurled a lead pipe and fractured a Czech soldier's skull. The well-armed Legionnaires pulled the culprit off the train and hanged him on the spot. The local Soviet government demanded an inquiry and arrested three Czechoslovak officers who attended the inquiry. As soon as their comrades heard of this incident, they stormed the jail, freed their officers, and seized control of the town. In Moscow, Commissar of War Leon Trotsky, ordered that any armed Czechoslovak soldiers found along the Trans-Siberian Railway were to be shot on the spot. This was probably Trotsky ' s biggest mistake. Relieved of the necessity of negotiating with the Bolsheviks, the Legionnaires seized control of the Trans-Siberian railroad and blasted their way east all the way to Vladivostok on the Pacific. For eighteen months this army without a country controlled the world ' s largest land mass. *** And so, Lieutenant Zeleny found himself in Siberia. It was a huge land of contrasts and contradictions. Covered in snow and frost during the long winter, it became a field of flowers in the summer. The land was rich in natural resources. Much of the timber was cut and the minerals were mined by convict labor. Tens of thousands of Russian men and women , convicted of crimes ranging from murder to petty theft or even simple vagrancy, had been deported there. Siberia boasted a penal system operated at a profit. On the other hand, Siberia also contained many Russians who had moved there in �136 SLOVAKIA-2017 search of land and greater liberty. It was a land of unlimited opportunity for those who were able to withstand its rigors. Peasants in Siberia became accustomed to thinking and acting more independently than their kinsmen in European Russia. This would have fateful consequences for the White side during the Russian Civil War. Although there were theaters and other forms of amusement in Omsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, the chief form of recreation in Siberia was the consumption of vodka. Harbing, a city the Russians built in Manchuria, on a stretch of land they obtained as a concession from China, boasted a distillery that produced thirty million gallons of vodka per year. Other distilleries in Siberia soon equaled this production . As in many frontier cultures, Siberia was more inclined to dispense alcohol than education. In the late 1880's the American journalist George Kennan observe that in each settlement, there were thirty saloons for every school. Jozef Zeleny liked to drink. He acclimatized to the local culture. He managed to digest kumis (fermented mare ' s milk), and cultivated a genuine fondness for another fermented beverage made of juice derived from reindeer antlers. But, serious drinking involved vodka. For this reason he visited a certain tavern in Omsk in the summer of 1918. There he was attracted to a very striking, brown-eyed blonde. As a rule, women did not frequent taverns unless they were prostitutes. Something in her bearing suggested that she was not. Jozef left her alone. Three days later he encountered her in the local park. She was walking a dog on a leash. It was said to be a Jack Russel , although it had the face of a Pit Bull. Suddenly, two larger unleashed dogs appeared . They bore down upon the little guy. Jozef seized a fallen tree branch and rushed into the fray. The little guy was way ahead of him. Roaring like a lion, he plunged forward and hit one of the bigger dogs with his head, causing it to bowl over. Meanwhile, Jozef hit to other dog with his switch. Both bigger dogs ran off. Man and small dog stood triumphantly on the field of battle. The blonde woman laughed delightedly. "Bravo! " she exclaimmed. "You were both magnificent." Jozef looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I saw you in the tavern a few days ago. I see that you are some kind of lady. You have no business in a place like that. Why did you go there?" �SLOVAKIA-2017 137 "Because I was waiting for someone to tell me that, instead of trying to pick me up. I need a friend ... and some help." Jozef was stunned by her answer. This is how he met Ludmilla Suslova. She was a schoolteacher. Her father worked for the Directorate, which claimed to be the government of Siberia. The Directorate consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries and was opposed to the Bolsheviks in Moscow. The Directorate enjoyed the patronage of the Czechoslovak Legion. Ludmilla's husband had recently abandoned her. Their small house was in need of repair. She needed a good man around the house and Jozef qualified. She told him that he could move in rent-free if he maintained the house. He was amenable to such an arrangement because he currently occupied a tepluska, one of the railway boxcars attached to an armored train, along with other Legionnaires. A comer was set aside for games of cards or chess, but there was no privacy. Jozef and Ludmilla did not bond immediately. He was intimidated by her beauty. He initially bonded with her dog Yasha. He was useless as a watchdog since he barked only at other animals. This sad-eyed canine brought great joy to Jozef s life. Ultimately, nature took its course between Jozef and Ludmilla. One day, when working together in the house, their bodies pressed against each other. Mutually-suppressed desire spontaneously exploded. They did not even make it into the bedroom. Thereafter, they lived as man and wife. *** Both the Western Allies and Japan had long been seeking an excuse to intervene in Russia against the Bolsheviks. Now they had one. In the summer of 1918 they recognized the Czechoslovak Legionnaires as co-belligerents against Germany and Austria-Hungary and could justify landing troops in Siberia under the pretext of rendering aid to their allies. However, the paradigm shifted in the autumn months. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary disintegrated in October and on the 28 th the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic emerged. Now the Legionnaires lost interest in fighting the Bolsheviks and just wanted to go home. Furthermore, on November 15 1\ just after the armistice which ended the Great War, the Directory in Omsk was toppled by a �138 SLOVAKIA-2017 military coup. A certain Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, who just two weeks earlier had been living in a cheap Tokyo hotel, claimed the title of Supreme Commander of all Russia. He was unequal to the task. Although personally honest and well-intentioned, Kolchak had little control over his subordinates, most of whom were thieves and bandits in the pay of the Japanese, and who committed various war crimes against the civilian population. About six months after Kolchak assumed power, just as the black flies and mosquitos in Siberia began to reassert themselves, Captain (yes, he had been promoted) Zeleny had a revealing experience. He passed through a barnyard in which wounded Russian soldiers lay in the hay. The insects attacked the pus oozing from their wounds. Distressed by what he saw, Zeleny approached an elegantlydressed White Russian officer, who was speaking in French to a lady on his arm. "These men are in bad shape!" Jozef exclaimed. "You should help them out!" "Please don ' t talk about things like that," the officer replied . "You' II upset the lady." When Jozef related the incident to Ludmilla, he declared "A regime built upon this kind of shit cannot survive." Ludmilla agreed. Yet, for a time, given the backing of the Western Allies and Japan, it looked as if Kolchak might win. On March 6, 1919, he launched a 700-mile offensive in the Urals that stretched from the forests of fir in the north to the steppes below Oren berg in the south. His armies reached Ufa, halfway between the Urals and the Volga. Here the Whites were met by the Army of Turkestan, as well as the I 51, 4 th and 8 th Red Armies, led by General Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze. Frunze was incapacitated by an artillery concussion while advancing on Ufa, but his subordinate, Vasily lvanovich Chapayev, in command of the 25 th Rifle Regiment, pressed ahead. Chapayev was already a legend among the Reds. As a partisan commander the previous year, he had tangled with the Czechoslovak Legionnaires in the Urals. He had since gone to Moscow for advanced military training. He then returned to the Urals front as a regular field commander. Chapayed was himself wounded in the storming of the city, but the Reds prevailed and captured Ufa on June 81\ Now the way was open for the Reds to cross the Urals. Kolchak's government, to say nothing of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires, prepared to evacuate Omsk. "Marry me," Jozef urged �SLOVAKIA-2017 139 Ludmilla. "As an officer's wife, you can return with me to our new country of Czechoslovakia. It will be a good place to live." Ludmilla shook her head sadly. "You Western Slavs can carry your country with you. It is different with us Russians. I can never be at home in another place, regardless of who rules it or how." And so, Jozef and Ludmilla parted ways. Omsk fell to the Red Army on November 14 th . Ludmilla was killed when a stray artillery shell hit her house. A Russian who fled the country later informed Jozef of her death. He never ceased to grieve for her. Happily, Yasha survived and found another home. While evacuating Siberia in 1919, the Czechs and Slovaks kept the best trains for themselves. An exasperated Kolchak cabled his erstwhile subordinate in eastern Siberia, the Kozak atman Grigorii Semyonov, urging him to halt the Czechoslovak trains at all cost. The Legionnaires intercepted the cable and then blocked Kolchak ' s trains at Irkutsk. The desperate Kolchak then abdicated as Supreme Commander of Russia and threw himself on the mercy of the Allies, who now included Czechoslovakia. The previous year the Legionnaires had captured Kazan on the Volga, where they found the tsarist gold reserves . They now negotiated with the Bolsheviks for free rite of passage in return for the gold reserves and the Bolsheviks eagerly accepted. As Kolchak's train, containing cocaine but not much else, reached Irkutsk on January 15, 1920, the Legionnaire guards abandoned him. The city council of Irkutsk then arrested Kolchak. The council consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. However, Bolsheviks were also in town. Lenin wanted Kolchak brought to Moscow to stand trial. However, one of Kolchak's commanders tried to rescue him and, when the city council heard of this, it executed Kolchak by firing squad on February 7, 1920 and dumped his body into a hole in the ice on the river Angara. By the end of 1920 the last of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires withdrew by sea from Vladivostok. British and American ships transported them to either Vancouver in Canada or San Francisco in the USA . They then crossed both countries by rail and were shipped to Europe across the Atlantic. Most of them returned to the newlycreated Czechoslovakia. A few decided to remain in the USA. One of them was Jozef Zeleny. *** �140 SLOVAKIA-2017 Jozef had relatives in the Pittsburgh area. The found him employment in the local steel mill. Due to his education and service in the military, Jozko (his pet name) soon became a foreman . He also took an interest in the Slovak community and joined one of their fraternal-benefit societies . Slovak organizations in the Pittsburgh region had played a role in the creation of Czechoslovakia. In 1918 T.G. Masaryk, head of the Czecho-Slovak liberation movement, visited the Mecca of American Slovaks to seek a mandate for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks in a future Czecho-Slovakia because the Slovaks back home were not free to speak their minds. His visit attracted large crowds, including South Slavs. His negotiations with the Slovaks on May 29-31 were quite tempestuous, but led to the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement, which promised the Slovaks their own Diet, administration, courts, schools and the use of their own language. In other words, home-rule. Unfortunately, when Masaryk returned to the new Czechoslovakia, he first forgot and later repudiated the Pittsburgh Agreement, which led to a breakdown of relations between the Czechs and the Slovaks in the first Czechoslovak Republic. The steel towns of the greater Pittsburgh area were also populated by Carpatho-Rusyns from Hungary. In eastern Slovakia the distinction between Slovak and Rusyn remains somewhat nebulous. Indeed, Jozko qualified as a "Rusnak" (the popular term for Rusyn). Following the lead of the Slovaks, many joined fraternal organizations, which not only provided benefits to workers but published newspapers as well. Through these institutions the Rusyns acquired political awareness . One of their organizations was the Greek Catholic Union headquartered in the Homestead-Munhall district. Another was the United Societies of America, based in McKeesport, which contained both Greek Catholi c and Orthodox members. On July 23 , 1918, they merged to form the American National Council of UhroRusyns. They resolved to join Czechoslovakia in exchange for territorial autonomy. As in the case of the Slovaks, the Prague government decided that they were not ready for autonomy. During the course of his participation in the politics of the fraternals, Jozko bonded with the president of his lodge. Th is individual, Ivan Kosko, some twenty years Zeleny's senior, was personally affable but was hopelessly corrupt. He had been dipping into the treas- �SLOVAKIA-2017 141 ury for some time. He knew he would get caught sooner or later if he did not put the money back. Yet Kosko had a certain bargaining collateral. It consisted of a fifteen year-old daughter who was living back in the Old Country in Kosice with an aunt. This dark haired, wind-swept lass was comely to behold. Kosko showed Jozef Zeleny a picture of her as enticement. He indicated that he wanted to have a responsible husband for her in America, but this required money. Kosko pulled it off. In this manner Jozef Zeleny acquired a mailorder bride. Although he would not admit it , he was marrying her to drown the memory of Ludmilla. And, even though he and Marija produced a considerable number of youngsters between them, things did not work. Jozef Zeleny never ceased to mourn for Ludmilla. There were significant differences between man and wife . As a native of the Svidnik area, Jozef was considered a Rusnak, and definitely Pan-Slav. Marija, a native of Kosice, was culturally if not politically Magyarone. She was deeply religious. Jozef was more spiritual than religious. He loved the Old Church Slavonic liturgy of the Greek Catholic Church. But he never went to confession. Marija asked him why. He explained it to her: "When I was back there in Ludovika, I had to work in the summers, to pay for my arrears and the upkeep of my horse during the school year. I was employed on the property of an affluent priest. One day, when I went to pitch hay in the barn, I heard giggling coming from the haystack. His Reverence was having a romp in the hay with one of the local girls. Alright, this man might represent God when he stands before the altar. But when he steps back from the altar, he is as capable of sin and error as anyone else. I' ll be damned if I answer before him or anyone else." Jozef followed political developments in the New Czechoslovak Republic with great interest. Although he had seen the White side for what it was worth during the course of the Russian Civil War, he had a certain admiration for General Milan Rastislav Stefanik, who was definitely anti-Bolshevik. Stefanik hailed from a village called Kosariska, in the Brezova district of western Slovakia. During the 1848 revolution against Hungarian rule, a famous battle was fought at Brezova. Slovak mountaineers, fighting on their own terms and on their own terrain, defeated the Hungarian military in the otherwise disastrous September campaign. �142 SLOVAKIA-2017 Such was Stefanik ' s heritage. As the son of a Lutheran minister, he was raised in a particularly patriotic regional environment. To assure his son's advancement without the latter succumbing to the pressures of magyarization, his father helped Milan obtain a scholarship in Prague. The old man was utterly appalled with the results. Milan became an agnostic among a circle of Slovak intellectuals in Prague who rallied under Czech philosophy professor T.G. Masaryk. He became the president of the Slovak student organization in Prague known as Detvan. The students in Detvan tended to major in the mundane sciences. Although Stefanik attended Masaryk' s philosophy classes, he majored in astronomy. Upon graduation, he borrowed some money, emigrated to France, and found employment in the Medoun observatory near Paris. In this capacity he engaged in roughly a dozen learned expeditions to other countries. He acquired French citizenship in 1912. He also learned how to fly. Stefanik thus became an officer in the air corps of the French Army when the Great War began. Given his membership on the Czechoslovak National Council, the French eventually accorded Stefanik the rank of brigadiergeneral. He became the driving force in the creation of the Czechoslovak Legion . In this capacity he clashed with Edvard Benes, who soon became foreign minister in the new Czechoslovak Republic. On the other hand, Stefanik advocated pressing an offensive against the Bolsheviks in Siberia, whereas Benes followed Masaryk' s lead in avoiding intervention in Russia's internal affairs. Then there was the issue of Slovak autonomy. Stefanik came from a school of Slovaks who were considered more pro-Czech than the Czechs themselves . Yet, during the Great War, he had occasion to visit the United States, where he solicited American Slovak support. After his interactions with the fraternal leaders, Stefanik considered that, with their advice and financial support, Slovakia could be worthy of autonomy. He resented his name being inscribed to a declaration of independence for Czechoslovakia which made no provision for Slovakia's status . Stefanik and Benes hated each other. Stefanik regarded Benes as "this first grade socialist, this paper revolutionary, this distorted diplomat." Benes responded by labeling Stefanik as "this astronomer who thinks he is a soldier, this peasant who thinks he is an aristocrat, this politician who thinks he is a genius. " �SLOVAKIA-2017 143 Insofar as Benes was entrenched in Prague while Stefanik was with the Legion in Siberia, the Czech foreign minister had the upper hand. Benes had the ministry of defense bifurcated. Stefanik, as Minister of War, retained command of Czechoslovakia's armed forces abroad (the Legion in Siberia), while a clone of Benes, Vaclav Klofac, became the Minister of National Defense .. Stefanik nonetheless prepared to return home. He made official visits to France and Italy. On the morning of May 5, 1919, he boarded a Caproni aircraft in the north Italian city of Udine. It was a three hour flight to Bratislava, Stefanik's intended destination. As he circled the runway of Vajnory, his plane suddenly fell to the ground from a height of 500 meters. Some witnesses charged that Stefanik' s plane had been shot down by a Czech artillery battery. The incident was officially described as an accident. Indeed, this might well have been the case. No evidence has ever been found that Benes had Stefanik murdered. This unfortunate incident came at a time when the Czechoslovak Republic was experiencing border clashes with Hungary, at this time under a Bolshevik government. The markings on the Caproni aircraft (red, white and green) were identical to the Hungarian national colors, albeit in horizontal order. Yet, years afterward, members of the artillery battery maintained that they were given their orders and that there was no mistake. They were expecting that plane. It stood to reason that there would be an appropriate state funeral. Its proceedings were recorded by Robert W. Seton-Watson, a distinguished British historian, who attended. Being Scottish, SetonWatson had a certain romantic attraction for a people who were highlanders with a heroic attitude towards life. He had championed the Slovak cause when they were under Hungarian rule. During the Great War, R. W. Seton-Watson served as adviser to the British government on Eastern European affairs. He became a personal friend of T. G. Masaryk. If Masaryk is said to be the founding father of Czechoslovakia, then Seton-Watson qualifies as the godfather. Seton-Watson description of Stefanik's funeral remains poignant to this day. Bratislava had only recently been occupied by the Czechs. Seton-Watson noted that Skols - Czech gymnastic society members recently assuming para-military roles - kept perfect order during the funeral procession, which extended a mile and a half: "Considering that the Czechs have been here exactly three months in �144 SLOVAKIA-2017 occupation of the town ... it was a ceremony which must have duly impressed the naturally lukewarm Magyar and German citizens, as suggesting that the newcomers had come to stay and are perfectly capable of taking charge." In regard to the aftermath of the ceremonies, Seton-Watson noted: "the coffin left for Brezova ... where the Slovak peasants - this seems to me so typical of their good taste and feeling - have on their accord hewn a rock grave for him on the highest point of the Little Carpathians, overlooking the whole western district." *** A former Legionnaire sent an account of Stefanik' s funeral to Jozef. Jozef mourned for Stefanik. He also subscribed to the theory that Stefanik had been murdered at the instigation of the foreign ministry . He began brooding deeply on the relationship between his life and the recent historical events. He began having nightmares. Throughout the odyssey across Siberia, Jozef had observed atrocities. These not only consisted of the usual burned villages and the numerous hanging of peasants. The Legionnaires became desensitized to the likes of that. But Jozef also had occasion to witness the grisly mutilation of innocent peasants by Kozaks and Mongols. These haunted his dreams. In any case, he could no longer sleep without vodka. And he still grieved for Ludmilla. There are people who, following the death of a spouse or loved one, marry, produce children, yet still grieve for the deceased a full decade later. Jozef Zeleny was such an individual. Eventually, he began taking out his angst on family members. Three specific incidents merit scrutiny. The first of these concerned his eldest daughter, Margarite, when she was twelve years old. He was drinking heavily that day when he could no longer hold his alcohol as he had previously. Margarite was playing hop scotch with other girls. Her father summoned her home with a single whistle. "Ah, gee whiz, I always gotta go," she complained to her friends. Jozef overheard the remark and did not like it. He belabored his daughter with his razor strap repeatedly and with vigor. The next day (when he was sober), he saw Margarite disrobe to step into the wash tub . Her noted the black and blue marks on her back and her rump. �SLOVAKIA-2017 145 "Who did this to you?" he gasped. "You did!" Marija threw it back m his face. "When she was playing hop scotch." Jozko paled and lowered his head. "I'll never beat her again," he vowed. Indeed, on this he kept his word. But he was still capable of emotional excess. On one occasion, when Marija was out of the house, he was minding the youngsters. One infant daughter, Leona, messed her diapers. Her father flew into a rage. His eldest son, Janko, was now a big, strapping young man. Aware of his father's capacity for violence, he intervened decisively. He picked up a railroad tie and cracked his father across the ribs, breaking two of them. Father and son never got close to each other again. Yet the most egregious emotional excess of Jozef Zeleny was yet to come. It concerned one of his daughters, named Helena, the beauty of the litter. Endowed with long dark hair and green eyes, Helena looked more Magyar than Slovak. One could tell she would do well one day. One day, at age seventeen, Helena came home from school, at a time when her mother was not home. There had been a layoff in the steel mill, which extended to the level of foreman . Consequently Jozef Zeleny simply lay around the house, drinking and whittling wood. And now, his daughter was home. "Where is your mother?" he demanded. "I don ' t know," she responded. "You are lying! " her father bellowed. And he threw his knife at her. Here it should be noted that Jozef Zeleny, having been trained by Gypsies, was an excellent knife thrower, whether he was drunk or sober. If he wanted to impale his daughter, he definitely would have done so. The knife whizzed past her head and pinned a lock of her hair against the wall behind her. In a state of shock, Helena's head hit the wall, and she fell to the floor unconscious. When she woke, she could not walk for the next two months. The attending doctor legally petitioned for her to be taken out of the house. She was moved into the house of her elder sister Margarite, now married. As Helena recovered, Margarite made her scrub floors and generally worked her like a dog. �146 SLOVAKIA-2017 Helena Zelenova nonetheless became the most successful of Jozko ' s offspring. She became a cocktail waitress. In this capacity she encountered a piano player in a night club. Reinhard Wolfmeister, of Germanic origin, was not your ordinary piano player. He qualified as a genuine pianist. He began playing piano at age four, had an affection for Chopin, and progressed to Paderewski. He attained such a mastery of Paderewski that he qualified for a scholarship in music at the Sorbonne, in Paris. His mother wanted him to be a doctor. After three years of pre-med at the University of Pittsburgh, Reinhard decided he did not want to be a doctor. This being the era of the Great Depression, he could look down the bluff from Mount Washington and see the tin shantytowns. He decided people didn ' t have enough money to afford doctors. So, instead, he took two courses at the Robert Morris Business College, gained employment in a freight shipping company, and was eventually dragged, kicking and screaming, upstairs to the vice- presidency. Yet insofar as he still loved music, he played piano in nightclubs in the evenings. He worked two jobs. He made money and invested it wisely. Eventually, the Wolfmeister family moved to Florida. Here Helena integrated herself into the local society so well that her Slovak sisters came to describe her as the "Queen of the Jews." *** Jozef Zeleny had enough intelligence left to realize he was losing it. Marija passed away after a brief illness, and he mourned for her. But he still grieved for Ludmilla to an even greater extent. Then there was Helena's forthcoming marriage. Having a heroic attitude towards life, Jozef Zeleny could not appreciate that which was unheroic. His upcoming son-in-law could have been a concert pianist in Paris, yet opted to become the manager of a trucking company in Pittsburgh instead. It made no sense. Jozko once again began to brood deeply. He had worked long enough in the steel industry to benefit from the gains that labor unions made for steelworkers under the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had a nice pension and began looking for an exit. �SLOVAKIA-2017 147 Jozef had a cousin who lived in Monongahela. He asked if he could visit there for several weeks "for reasons of mental health." His cousin replied in the affirmative. Jozef had yet to reach his dreadful decision when he first went to Monongahela. Yet it is worth nothing that he had one previous experience with hypothermia. Several years back, he had been three miles from home on the coldest night of the winter. The temperature was fifteen degrees below zero and accompanied by thirty mile-an-hour winds. It was snowing horizontally throughout the Monongahela valley. The public transportation system was paralyzed. Jozko was jumping up and down in a futile attempt to warm himself. Since it was too cold to walk, he ran and ran and ran. At the end of the second mile, he wasn't cold anymore. He began feeling like Ulysses hearing the calling of the Sirens. He experienced an erection. And he wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Then he realized what was happening. He was beginning to freeze. Jozef Zeleny resisted the temptation to succumb. He pushed on the last mile to the tavern, where he rented a room upstairs. Ice hung from his normally upturned moustaches. After four shots of vodka, he thawed out... except for his feet. Even though he had worn two pairs of socks, frostbite had gotten into his feet. It felt like he was walking on concrete blocks for the next sixteen hours. Aside from that, it had been a euphoric experience. And so, in Monongahela, Jozko frowned thoughtfully as the wind hit hard and it was obvious that a snowstorm was on the way. "I'm going for a walk," he announced. "JEE-zus Ker-RIST! " his cousin exclaimed. "It's colder than a well digger's ass out there! Have you lost your f'ck"n mind?" I have my reasons," Jozef replied cryptically. He commenced walking across the ridge in a westerly direction. The snowstorm blew into his face. In spite of the severity of the weather, he perceived the terrain as being beautiful. It reminded him of Siberia. As the delirium which accompanies hypothermia took hold, Jozef saw an image before him. It was Ludmilla. He staggered forward. *** �148 SLOVAKIA-2017 Most people who knew her agreed that Celeste Romanczykowa was a rough piece of work. Her house - little more than a cottage stood atop the ridge to which Jozef was ascending. Celeste was the product of a union between a Polish coal miner and a West Virginia hillbilly. So it stood to reason that she could be fractious at times. Auburn, brown eyed, and generously endowed in the breasts and the rump, she was comely to behold to men who are not obsessed with skinny women. Celeste was a widow. Her coal miner husband had died of black lung three years earlier. She was noted for a good heart, and loved dogs. But she did not suffer tyranny gracefully, and consequently ignored the overtures of her husband 's cronies among the coal miners. She lived alone and was lonely. As the snowstorm moved in, she went out on the hillside to gather wood. She saw the strange figure staggering up the hill. "Who are you?" she asked, pulling him by the sleeve. He muttered a few words in Slovak. Being half-Polish, she more or less understood. If she did not know who he was, she understood what he was. She dragged him into the house. Once he reached the couch, he collapsed unconscious. Through a neighbor, Celeste summoned the local doctor. After administering Jozef some medicine, he declared: "If you had discovered him an hour later, it would have been too late. But now I think he'll make it. Just keep him warm. Celeste gazed down at the man on the coach. She noticed the upturned moustaches. Her paternal side of the family had come from the Dukla Pass, between Poland and Slovakia. She perceived that he had at some point in his life been a cavalryman. Later, when his eyes opened, she became hypnotized by their ice blue, steel glaze. Jozko stirred. "Ludmilla, ... " he murmured. "You hush now," she said softly. "I' m going to take care of you." He opened his eyes. And smiled. � SLOVAKIA-2017 133 SIBERIA: A SLOVAK TALE (A story based upon the life of the author's grandfather, Jan Janosko) R. Vladimir Baumgarten Jozef Zeleny, most recently an employee of United States Steel, headquartered in Homestead, Pennsylvania, decided that he no longer wished to live . This puzzled people, after it was all over. By Slovak-American standards, Jozef Zeleny was by no means a failure. Granted his wife had died, but six out of ten of his children had survived and landed on their feet. They were all responsible and functional adults. Yet, Jozef Zeleny wanted to die. He contacted a relative in the town of Monongahela, located on a river of that name and the border of Virginia. He intended to march from there, up and across the ridge line, and disappear into a snowstorm. Hypothermia is a benevolent death. After a while, you no longer feel the cold. You begin to feel warm and sensuous . You want to lie down and sleep. You go to sleep. Then you die. Why did Jozef Zeleny want to die? To answer this question, we must look into his background . It involved a drama which originated a full generation earlier. *** Jozef Zeleny was born near Svidnik, in northeastern Slovakia. Seven generations of his ancestors had served in the military as Hungarian Hussars. Zeleny began his adult life in this hereditary occupation. He was admitted to the Ludovika Military Academy in Budapest and graduated with the rank of sub-lieutenant on the eve of the Great War. In August of 1914 he was dispatched to the Eastern Front. Here he became infected with the spirit of Slovak nationalism , which resented Hungarian domination. Many Czechs and Slovaks in the Austro-Hungarian Army either deserted or were captured by the Russian army. In this way Zeleny became a member of the Czechoslovak Legion. �134 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia was a curious organization. Colonies of Czechs and Slovaks had existed in Russia since the 19 th century. After the outbreak of the war, Czechs and Slovaks in Russia were allowed to organize themselves into a military unit called the Druiina, which served as an auxiliary to the Russian Army. Originally, the Drui ina engaged in reconnaissance and infiltration of Slavic units in the Austro-Hungarian army. As it demonstrated its competence, the Druiina, grew, with more captured Slavic prisoners. In March of 1917 revolution erupted in Petrograd and on March 15 th Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a Provisional Government replaced him. Most Czech and Slovak Legionnaires disliked Tsarist rule and initially welcomed the Russian Revolution. They had chafed under the restrictions imposed upon them by the Tsarist government and looked forward to more freedom of action. Zeleny participated in the Czechoslovak Legion's baptism of fire at the battle of Zborov on July 2, 1917. Zborov (Zboriv in Ukrainian), is a village in the Carpathian foothills of western Ukraine, then part of the Austrian province of Galicia. In its vicinity, two fortified Austrian positions, Galish and Kalish, guarded the approaches to the city of Lviv (Lemberg, Lvov). Two Finnish Regiments of the Russian Army were ordered to effect a pincers movement around Galish. The Legionnaires were supposed to move in after the Finns. However, the Czechs and Slovaks were impatient for action and moved ahead of the Finns. Their opponents were largely Czechs or Bosnian Serbs, who were poorly-motivated. While the Russian command hesitated in the southern sector, the Legionnaires, led by Captain Radola Gajda, stormed the hills overlooking the battlefield. This breakthrough resulted in the capture of 62 Austro-Hungarian officers, 3,150 soldiers, 20 pieces of arti llery and 40 machine guns. Russian General Selichev then declared, "Czech eagles led Russian chickens ." After this victory, the Russian Provisional Government recognized the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia as an independent army, answerable to the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris, led by T.G. Masaryk, Milan R. Stefanik and Edvard Benes. However, the Provisional Government was toppled by a military coup in Petrograd, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on November 7, 1917. Since the incoming Bolshevik government wanted peace with Germany in order to create a communist state in Russia, it inherited a large number �SLOVAKIA-2017 135 of Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, many of whom were armed and roaming the countryside. The Czechoslovak Legionnaires were among them, and continued to support the Western Allies. On the other hand, many German and Hungarian prisoners of war had joined the newly-established Red Guards. They now controlled large areas of Siberia. On May 15, 1918, an incident occurred in Russia which had international ramifications. At the railway station in Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains, a train carrying Czechoslovak Legionnaires drew alongside a train bearing repatriated Hungarian p.o.w. ' s headed in the opposite direction. The Bolsheviks had made peace with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in December of 1917 and had agreed to repatriate each other's p.o.w.'s. As the trains passed each other, a shouting match ensued and one of the Hungarians hurled a lead pipe and fractured a Czech soldier's skull. The well-armed Legionnaires pulled the culprit off the train and hanged him on the spot. The local Soviet government demanded an inquiry and arrested three Czechoslovak officers who attended the inquiry. As soon as their comrades heard of this incident, they stormed the jail, freed their officers, and seized control of the town. In Moscow, Commissar of War Leon Trotsky, ordered that any armed Czechoslovak soldiers found along the Trans-Siberian Railway were to be shot on the spot. This was probably Trotsky ' s biggest mistake. Relieved of the necessity of negotiating with the Bolsheviks, the Legionnaires seized control of the Trans-Siberian railroad and blasted their way east all the way to Vladivostok on the Pacific. For eighteen months this army without a country controlled the world ' s largest land mass. *** And so, Lieutenant Zeleny found himself in Siberia. It was a huge land of contrasts and contradictions. Covered in snow and frost during the long winter, it became a field of flowers in the summer. The land was rich in natural resources. Much of the timber was cut and the minerals were mined by convict labor. Tens of thousands of Russian men and women , convicted of crimes ranging from murder to petty theft or even simple vagrancy, had been deported there. Siberia boasted a penal system operated at a profit. On the other hand, Siberia also contained many Russians who had moved there in �136 SLOVAKIA-2017 search of land and greater liberty. It was a land of unlimited opportunity for those who were able to withstand its rigors. Peasants in Siberia became accustomed to thinking and acting more independently than their kinsmen in European Russia. This would have fateful consequences for the White side during the Russian Civil War. Although there were theaters and other forms of amusement in Omsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, the chief form of recreation in Siberia was the consumption of vodka. Harbing, a city the Russians built in Manchuria, on a stretch of land they obtained as a concession from China, boasted a distillery that produced thirty million gallons of vodka per year. Other distilleries in Siberia soon equaled this production . As in many frontier cultures, Siberia was more inclined to dispense alcohol than education. In the late 1880's the American journalist George Kennan observe that in each settlement, there were thirty saloons for every school. Jozef Zeleny liked to drink. He acclimatized to the local culture. He managed to digest kumis (fermented mare ' s milk), and cultivated a genuine fondness for another fermented beverage made of juice derived from reindeer antlers. But, serious drinking involved vodka. For this reason he visited a certain tavern in Omsk in the summer of 1918. There he was attracted to a very striking, brown-eyed blonde. As a rule, women did not frequent taverns unless they were prostitutes. Something in her bearing suggested that she was not. Jozef left her alone. Three days later he encountered her in the local park. She was walking a dog on a leash. It was said to be a Jack Russel , although it had the face of a Pit Bull. Suddenly, two larger unleashed dogs appeared . They bore down upon the little guy. Jozef seized a fallen tree branch and rushed into the fray. The little guy was way ahead of him. Roaring like a lion, he plunged forward and hit one of the bigger dogs with his head, causing it to bowl over. Meanwhile, Jozef hit to other dog with his switch. Both bigger dogs ran off. Man and small dog stood triumphantly on the field of battle. The blonde woman laughed delightedly. "Bravo! " she exclaimmed. "You were both magnificent." Jozef looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I saw you in the tavern a few days ago. I see that you are some kind of lady. You have no business in a place like that. Why did you go there?" �SLOVAKIA-2017 137 "Because I was waiting for someone to tell me that, instead of trying to pick me up. I need a friend ... and some help." Jozef was stunned by her answer. This is how he met Ludmilla Suslova. She was a schoolteacher. Her father worked for the Directorate, which claimed to be the government of Siberia. The Directorate consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries and was opposed to the Bolsheviks in Moscow. The Directorate enjoyed the patronage of the Czechoslovak Legion. Ludmilla's husband had recently abandoned her. Their small house was in need of repair. She needed a good man around the house and Jozef qualified. She told him that he could move in rent-free if he maintained the house. He was amenable to such an arrangement because he currently occupied a tepluska, one of the railway boxcars attached to an armored train, along with other Legionnaires. A comer was set aside for games of cards or chess, but there was no privacy. Jozef and Ludmilla did not bond immediately. He was intimidated by her beauty. He initially bonded with her dog Yasha. He was useless as a watchdog since he barked only at other animals. This sad-eyed canine brought great joy to Jozef s life. Ultimately, nature took its course between Jozef and Ludmilla. One day, when working together in the house, their bodies pressed against each other. Mutually-suppressed desire spontaneously exploded. They did not even make it into the bedroom. Thereafter, they lived as man and wife. *** Both the Western Allies and Japan had long been seeking an excuse to intervene in Russia against the Bolsheviks. Now they had one. In the summer of 1918 they recognized the Czechoslovak Legionnaires as co-belligerents against Germany and Austria-Hungary and could justify landing troops in Siberia under the pretext of rendering aid to their allies. However, the paradigm shifted in the autumn months. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary disintegrated in October and on the 28 th the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic emerged. Now the Legionnaires lost interest in fighting the Bolsheviks and just wanted to go home. Furthermore, on November 15 1\ just after the armistice which ended the Great War, the Directory in Omsk was toppled by a �138 SLOVAKIA-2017 military coup. A certain Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, who just two weeks earlier had been living in a cheap Tokyo hotel, claimed the title of Supreme Commander of all Russia. He was unequal to the task. Although personally honest and well-intentioned, Kolchak had little control over his subordinates, most of whom were thieves and bandits in the pay of the Japanese, and who committed various war crimes against the civilian population. About six months after Kolchak assumed power, just as the black flies and mosquitos in Siberia began to reassert themselves, Captain (yes, he had been promoted) Zeleny had a revealing experience. He passed through a barnyard in which wounded Russian soldiers lay in the hay. The insects attacked the pus oozing from their wounds. Distressed by what he saw, Zeleny approached an elegantlydressed White Russian officer, who was speaking in French to a lady on his arm. "These men are in bad shape!" Jozef exclaimed. "You should help them out!" "Please don ' t talk about things like that," the officer replied . "You' II upset the lady." When Jozef related the incident to Ludmilla, he declared "A regime built upon this kind of shit cannot survive." Ludmilla agreed. Yet, for a time, given the backing of the Western Allies and Japan, it looked as if Kolchak might win. On March 6, 1919, he launched a 700-mile offensive in the Urals that stretched from the forests of fir in the north to the steppes below Oren berg in the south. His armies reached Ufa, halfway between the Urals and the Volga. Here the Whites were met by the Army of Turkestan, as well as the I 51, 4 th and 8 th Red Armies, led by General Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze. Frunze was incapacitated by an artillery concussion while advancing on Ufa, but his subordinate, Vasily lvanovich Chapayev, in command of the 25 th Rifle Regiment, pressed ahead. Chapayev was already a legend among the Reds. As a partisan commander the previous year, he had tangled with the Czechoslovak Legionnaires in the Urals. He had since gone to Moscow for advanced military training. He then returned to the Urals front as a regular field commander. Chapayed was himself wounded in the storming of the city, but the Reds prevailed and captured Ufa on June 81\ Now the way was open for the Reds to cross the Urals. Kolchak's government, to say nothing of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires, prepared to evacuate Omsk. "Marry me," Jozef urged �SLOVAKIA-2017 139 Ludmilla. "As an officer's wife, you can return with me to our new country of Czechoslovakia. It will be a good place to live." Ludmilla shook her head sadly. "You Western Slavs can carry your country with you. It is different with us Russians. I can never be at home in another place, regardless of who rules it or how." And so, Jozef and Ludmilla parted ways. Omsk fell to the Red Army on November 14 th . Ludmilla was killed when a stray artillery shell hit her house. A Russian who fled the country later informed Jozef of her death. He never ceased to grieve for her. Happily, Yasha survived and found another home. While evacuating Siberia in 1919, the Czechs and Slovaks kept the best trains for themselves. An exasperated Kolchak cabled his erstwhile subordinate in eastern Siberia, the Kozak atman Grigorii Semyonov, urging him to halt the Czechoslovak trains at all cost. The Legionnaires intercepted the cable and then blocked Kolchak ' s trains at Irkutsk. The desperate Kolchak then abdicated as Supreme Commander of Russia and threw himself on the mercy of the Allies, who now included Czechoslovakia. The previous year the Legionnaires had captured Kazan on the Volga, where they found the tsarist gold reserves . They now negotiated with the Bolsheviks for free rite of passage in return for the gold reserves and the Bolsheviks eagerly accepted. As Kolchak's train, containing cocaine but not much else, reached Irkutsk on January 15, 1920, the Legionnaire guards abandoned him. The city council of Irkutsk then arrested Kolchak. The council consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. However, Bolsheviks were also in town. Lenin wanted Kolchak brought to Moscow to stand trial. However, one of Kolchak's commanders tried to rescue him and, when the city council heard of this, it executed Kolchak by firing squad on February 7, 1920 and dumped his body into a hole in the ice on the river Angara. By the end of 1920 the last of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires withdrew by sea from Vladivostok. British and American ships transported them to either Vancouver in Canada or San Francisco in the USA . They then crossed both countries by rail and were shipped to Europe across the Atlantic. Most of them returned to the newlycreated Czechoslovakia. A few decided to remain in the USA. One of them was Jozef Zeleny. *** �140 SLOVAKIA-2017 Jozef had relatives in the Pittsburgh area. The found him employment in the local steel mill. Due to his education and service in the military, Jozko (his pet name) soon became a foreman . He also took an interest in the Slovak community and joined one of their fraternal-benefit societies . Slovak organizations in the Pittsburgh region had played a role in the creation of Czechoslovakia. In 1918 T.G. Masaryk, head of the Czecho-Slovak liberation movement, visited the Mecca of American Slovaks to seek a mandate for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks in a future Czecho-Slovakia because the Slovaks back home were not free to speak their minds. His visit attracted large crowds, including South Slavs. His negotiations with the Slovaks on May 29-31 were quite tempestuous, but led to the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement, which promised the Slovaks their own Diet, administration, courts, schools and the use of their own language. In other words, home-rule. Unfortunately, when Masaryk returned to the new Czechoslovakia, he first forgot and later repudiated the Pittsburgh Agreement, which led to a breakdown of relations between the Czechs and the Slovaks in the first Czechoslovak Republic. The steel towns of the greater Pittsburgh area were also populated by Carpatho-Rusyns from Hungary. In eastern Slovakia the distinction between Slovak and Rusyn remains somewhat nebulous. Indeed, Jozko qualified as a "Rusnak" (the popular term for Rusyn). Following the lead of the Slovaks, many joined fraternal organizations, which not only provided benefits to workers but published newspapers as well. Through these institutions the Rusyns acquired political awareness . One of their organizations was the Greek Catholic Union headquartered in the Homestead-Munhall district. Another was the United Societies of America, based in McKeesport, which contained both Greek Catholi c and Orthodox members. On July 23 , 1918, they merged to form the American National Council of UhroRusyns. They resolved to join Czechoslovakia in exchange for territorial autonomy. As in the case of the Slovaks, the Prague government decided that they were not ready for autonomy. During the course of his participation in the politics of the fraternals, Jozko bonded with the president of his lodge. Th is individual, Ivan Kosko, some twenty years Zeleny's senior, was personally affable but was hopelessly corrupt. He had been dipping into the treas- �SLOVAKIA-2017 141 ury for some time. He knew he would get caught sooner or later if he did not put the money back. Yet Kosko had a certain bargaining collateral. It consisted of a fifteen year-old daughter who was living back in the Old Country in Kosice with an aunt. This dark haired, wind-swept lass was comely to behold. Kosko showed Jozef Zeleny a picture of her as enticement. He indicated that he wanted to have a responsible husband for her in America, but this required money. Kosko pulled it off. In this manner Jozef Zeleny acquired a mailorder bride. Although he would not admit it , he was marrying her to drown the memory of Ludmilla. And, even though he and Marija produced a considerable number of youngsters between them, things did not work. Jozef Zeleny never ceased to mourn for Ludmilla. There were significant differences between man and wife . As a native of the Svidnik area, Jozef was considered a Rusnak, and definitely Pan-Slav. Marija, a native of Kosice, was culturally if not politically Magyarone. She was deeply religious. Jozef was more spiritual than religious. He loved the Old Church Slavonic liturgy of the Greek Catholic Church. But he never went to confession. Marija asked him why. He explained it to her: "When I was back there in Ludovika, I had to work in the summers, to pay for my arrears and the upkeep of my horse during the school year. I was employed on the property of an affluent priest. One day, when I went to pitch hay in the barn, I heard giggling coming from the haystack. His Reverence was having a romp in the hay with one of the local girls. Alright, this man might represent God when he stands before the altar. But when he steps back from the altar, he is as capable of sin and error as anyone else. I' ll be damned if I answer before him or anyone else." Jozef followed political developments in the New Czechoslovak Republic with great interest. Although he had seen the White side for what it was worth during the course of the Russian Civil War, he had a certain admiration for General Milan Rastislav Stefanik, who was definitely anti-Bolshevik. Stefanik hailed from a village called Kosariska, in the Brezova district of western Slovakia. During the 1848 revolution against Hungarian rule, a famous battle was fought at Brezova. Slovak mountaineers, fighting on their own terms and on their own terrain, defeated the Hungarian military in the otherwise disastrous September campaign. �142 SLOVAKIA-2017 Such was Stefanik ' s heritage. As the son of a Lutheran minister, he was raised in a particularly patriotic regional environment. To assure his son's advancement without the latter succumbing to the pressures of magyarization, his father helped Milan obtain a scholarship in Prague. The old man was utterly appalled with the results. Milan became an agnostic among a circle of Slovak intellectuals in Prague who rallied under Czech philosophy professor T.G. Masaryk. He became the president of the Slovak student organization in Prague known as Detvan. The students in Detvan tended to major in the mundane sciences. Although Stefanik attended Masaryk' s philosophy classes, he majored in astronomy. Upon graduation, he borrowed some money, emigrated to France, and found employment in the Medoun observatory near Paris. In this capacity he engaged in roughly a dozen learned expeditions to other countries. He acquired French citizenship in 1912. He also learned how to fly. Stefanik thus became an officer in the air corps of the French Army when the Great War began. Given his membership on the Czechoslovak National Council, the French eventually accorded Stefanik the rank of brigadiergeneral. He became the driving force in the creation of the Czechoslovak Legion . In this capacity he clashed with Edvard Benes, who soon became foreign minister in the new Czechoslovak Republic. On the other hand, Stefanik advocated pressing an offensive against the Bolsheviks in Siberia, whereas Benes followed Masaryk' s lead in avoiding intervention in Russia's internal affairs. Then there was the issue of Slovak autonomy. Stefanik came from a school of Slovaks who were considered more pro-Czech than the Czechs themselves . Yet, during the Great War, he had occasion to visit the United States, where he solicited American Slovak support. After his interactions with the fraternal leaders, Stefanik considered that, with their advice and financial support, Slovakia could be worthy of autonomy. He resented his name being inscribed to a declaration of independence for Czechoslovakia which made no provision for Slovakia's status . Stefanik and Benes hated each other. Stefanik regarded Benes as "this first grade socialist, this paper revolutionary, this distorted diplomat." Benes responded by labeling Stefanik as "this astronomer who thinks he is a soldier, this peasant who thinks he is an aristocrat, this politician who thinks he is a genius. " �SLOVAKIA-2017 143 Insofar as Benes was entrenched in Prague while Stefanik was with the Legion in Siberia, the Czech foreign minister had the upper hand. Benes had the ministry of defense bifurcated. Stefanik, as Minister of War, retained command of Czechoslovakia's armed forces abroad (the Legion in Siberia), while a clone of Benes, Vaclav Klofac, became the Minister of National Defense .. Stefanik nonetheless prepared to return home. He made official visits to France and Italy. On the morning of May 5, 1919, he boarded a Caproni aircraft in the north Italian city of Udine. It was a three hour flight to Bratislava, Stefanik's intended destination. As he circled the runway of Vajnory, his plane suddenly fell to the ground from a height of 500 meters. Some witnesses charged that Stefanik' s plane had been shot down by a Czech artillery battery. The incident was officially described as an accident. Indeed, this might well have been the case. No evidence has ever been found that Benes had Stefanik murdered. This unfortunate incident came at a time when the Czechoslovak Republic was experiencing border clashes with Hungary, at this time under a Bolshevik government. The markings on the Caproni aircraft (red, white and green) were identical to the Hungarian national colors, albeit in horizontal order. Yet, years afterward, members of the artillery battery maintained that they were given their orders and that there was no mistake. They were expecting that plane. It stood to reason that there would be an appropriate state funeral. Its proceedings were recorded by Robert W. Seton-Watson, a distinguished British historian, who attended. Being Scottish, SetonWatson had a certain romantic attraction for a people who were highlanders with a heroic attitude towards life. He had championed the Slovak cause when they were under Hungarian rule. During the Great War, R. W. Seton-Watson served as adviser to the British government on Eastern European affairs. He became a personal friend of T. G. Masaryk. If Masaryk is said to be the founding father of Czechoslovakia, then Seton-Watson qualifies as the godfather. Seton-Watson description of Stefanik's funeral remains poignant to this day. Bratislava had only recently been occupied by the Czechs. Seton-Watson noted that Skols - Czech gymnastic society members recently assuming para-military roles - kept perfect order during the funeral procession, which extended a mile and a half: "Considering that the Czechs have been here exactly three months in �144 SLOVAKIA-2017 occupation of the town ... it was a ceremony which must have duly impressed the naturally lukewarm Magyar and German citizens, as suggesting that the newcomers had come to stay and are perfectly capable of taking charge." In regard to the aftermath of the ceremonies, Seton-Watson noted: "the coffin left for Brezova ... where the Slovak peasants - this seems to me so typical of their good taste and feeling - have on their accord hewn a rock grave for him on the highest point of the Little Carpathians, overlooking the whole western district." *** A former Legionnaire sent an account of Stefanik' s funeral to Jozef. Jozef mourned for Stefanik. He also subscribed to the theory that Stefanik had been murdered at the instigation of the foreign ministry . He began brooding deeply on the relationship between his life and the recent historical events. He began having nightmares. Throughout the odyssey across Siberia, Jozef had observed atrocities. These not only consisted of the usual burned villages and the numerous hanging of peasants. The Legionnaires became desensitized to the likes of that. But Jozef also had occasion to witness the grisly mutilation of innocent peasants by Kozaks and Mongols. These haunted his dreams. In any case, he could no longer sleep without vodka. And he still grieved for Ludmilla. There are people who, following the death of a spouse or loved one, marry, produce children, yet still grieve for the deceased a full decade later. Jozef Zeleny was such an individual. Eventually, he began taking out his angst on family members. Three specific incidents merit scrutiny. The first of these concerned his eldest daughter, Margarite, when she was twelve years old. He was drinking heavily that day when he could no longer hold his alcohol as he had previously. Margarite was playing hop scotch with other girls. Her father summoned her home with a single whistle. "Ah, gee whiz, I always gotta go," she complained to her friends. Jozef overheard the remark and did not like it. He belabored his daughter with his razor strap repeatedly and with vigor. The next day (when he was sober), he saw Margarite disrobe to step into the wash tub . Her noted the black and blue marks on her back and her rump. �SLOVAKIA-2017 145 "Who did this to you?" he gasped. "You did!" Marija threw it back m his face. "When she was playing hop scotch." Jozko paled and lowered his head. "I'll never beat her again," he vowed. Indeed, on this he kept his word. But he was still capable of emotional excess. On one occasion, when Marija was out of the house, he was minding the youngsters. One infant daughter, Leona, messed her diapers. Her father flew into a rage. His eldest son, Janko, was now a big, strapping young man. Aware of his father's capacity for violence, he intervened decisively. He picked up a railroad tie and cracked his father across the ribs, breaking two of them. Father and son never got close to each other again. Yet the most egregious emotional excess of Jozef Zeleny was yet to come. It concerned one of his daughters, named Helena, the beauty of the litter. Endowed with long dark hair and green eyes, Helena looked more Magyar than Slovak. One could tell she would do well one day. One day, at age seventeen, Helena came home from school, at a time when her mother was not home. There had been a layoff in the steel mill, which extended to the level of foreman . Consequently Jozef Zeleny simply lay around the house, drinking and whittling wood. And now, his daughter was home. "Where is your mother?" he demanded. "I don ' t know," she responded. "You are lying! " her father bellowed. And he threw his knife at her. Here it should be noted that Jozef Zeleny, having been trained by Gypsies, was an excellent knife thrower, whether he was drunk or sober. If he wanted to impale his daughter, he definitely would have done so. The knife whizzed past her head and pinned a lock of her hair against the wall behind her. In a state of shock, Helena's head hit the wall, and she fell to the floor unconscious. When she woke, she could not walk for the next two months. The attending doctor legally petitioned for her to be taken out of the house. She was moved into the house of her elder sister Margarite, now married. As Helena recovered, Margarite made her scrub floors and generally worked her like a dog. �146 SLOVAKIA-2017 Helena Zelenova nonetheless became the most successful of Jozko ' s offspring. She became a cocktail waitress. In this capacity she encountered a piano player in a night club. Reinhard Wolfmeister, of Germanic origin, was not your ordinary piano player. He qualified as a genuine pianist. He began playing piano at age four, had an affection for Chopin, and progressed to Paderewski. He attained such a mastery of Paderewski that he qualified for a scholarship in music at the Sorbonne, in Paris. His mother wanted him to be a doctor. After three years of pre-med at the University of Pittsburgh, Reinhard decided he did not want to be a doctor. This being the era of the Great Depression, he could look down the bluff from Mount Washington and see the tin shantytowns. He decided people didn ' t have enough money to afford doctors. So, instead, he took two courses at the Robert Morris Business College, gained employment in a freight shipping company, and was eventually dragged, kicking and screaming, upstairs to the vice- presidency. Yet insofar as he still loved music, he played piano in nightclubs in the evenings. He worked two jobs. He made money and invested it wisely. Eventually, the Wolfmeister family moved to Florida. Here Helena integrated herself into the local society so well that her Slovak sisters came to describe her as the "Queen of the Jews." *** Jozef Zeleny had enough intelligence left to realize he was losing it. Marija passed away after a brief illness, and he mourned for her. But he still grieved for Ludmilla to an even greater extent. Then there was Helena's forthcoming marriage. Having a heroic attitude towards life, Jozef Zeleny could not appreciate that which was unheroic. His upcoming son-in-law could have been a concert pianist in Paris, yet opted to become the manager of a trucking company in Pittsburgh instead. It made no sense. Jozko once again began to brood deeply. He had worked long enough in the steel industry to benefit from the gains that labor unions made for steelworkers under the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had a nice pension and began looking for an exit. �SLOVAKIA-2017 147 Jozef had a cousin who lived in Monongahela. He asked if he could visit there for several weeks "for reasons of mental health." His cousin replied in the affirmative. Jozef had yet to reach his dreadful decision when he first went to Monongahela. Yet it is worth nothing that he had one previous experience with hypothermia. Several years back, he had been three miles from home on the coldest night of the winter. The temperature was fifteen degrees below zero and accompanied by thirty mile-an-hour winds. It was snowing horizontally throughout the Monongahela valley. The public transportation system was paralyzed. Jozko was jumping up and down in a futile attempt to warm himself. Since it was too cold to walk, he ran and ran and ran. At the end of the second mile, he wasn't cold anymore. He began feeling like Ulysses hearing the calling of the Sirens. He experienced an erection. And he wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Then he realized what was happening. He was beginning to freeze. Jozef Zeleny resisted the temptation to succumb. He pushed on the last mile to the tavern, where he rented a room upstairs. Ice hung from his normally upturned moustaches. After four shots of vodka, he thawed out... except for his feet. Even though he had worn two pairs of socks, frostbite had gotten into his feet. It felt like he was walking on concrete blocks for the next sixteen hours. Aside from that, it had been a euphoric experience. And so, in Monongahela, Jozko frowned thoughtfully as the wind hit hard and it was obvious that a snowstorm was on the way. "I'm going for a walk," he announced. "JEE-zus Ker-RIST! " his cousin exclaimed. "It's colder than a well digger's ass out there! Have you lost your f'ck"n mind?" I have my reasons," Jozef replied cryptically. He commenced walking across the ridge in a westerly direction. The snowstorm blew into his face. In spite of the severity of the weather, he perceived the terrain as being beautiful. It reminded him of Siberia. As the delirium which accompanies hypothermia took hold, Jozef saw an image before him. It was Ludmilla. He staggered forward. *** �148 SLOVAKIA-2017 Most people who knew her agreed that Celeste Romanczykowa was a rough piece of work. Her house - little more than a cottage stood atop the ridge to which Jozef was ascending. Celeste was the product of a union between a Polish coal miner and a West Virginia hillbilly. So it stood to reason that she could be fractious at times. Auburn, brown eyed, and generously endowed in the breasts and the rump, she was comely to behold to men who are not obsessed with skinny women. Celeste was a widow. Her coal miner husband had died of black lung three years earlier. She was noted for a good heart, and loved dogs. But she did not suffer tyranny gracefully, and consequently ignored the overtures of her husband 's cronies among the coal miners. She lived alone and was lonely. As the snowstorm moved in, she went out on the hillside to gather wood. She saw the strange figure staggering up the hill. "Who are you?" she asked, pulling him by the sleeve. He muttered a few words in Slovak. Being half-Polish, she more or less understood. If she did not know who he was, she understood what he was. She dragged him into the house. Once he reached the couch, he collapsed unconscious. Through a neighbor, Celeste summoned the local doctor. After administering Jozef some medicine, he declared: "If you had discovered him an hour later, it would have been too late. But now I think he'll make it. Just keep him warm. Celeste gazed down at the man on the coach. She noticed the upturned moustaches. Her paternal side of the family had come from the Dukla Pass, between Poland and Slovakia. She perceived that he had at some point in his life been a cavalryman. Later, when his eyes opened, she became hypnotized by their ice blue, steel glaze. Jozko stirred. "Ludmilla, ... " he murmured. "You hush now," she said softly. "I' m going to take care of you." He opened his eyes. And smiled. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-2017 133 SIBERIA: A SLOVAK TALE (A story based upon the life of the author's grandfather, Jan Janosko) R. Vladimir Baumgarten Jozef Zeleny, most recently an employee of United States Steel, headquartered in Homestead, Pennsylvania, decided that he no longer wished to live . This puzzled people, after it was all over. By Slovak-American standards, Jozef Zeleny was by no means a failure. Granted his wife had died, but six out of ten of his children had survived and landed on their feet. They were all responsible and functional adults. Yet, Jozef Zeleny wanted to die. He contacted a relative in the town of Monongahela, located on a river of that name and the border of Virginia. He intended to march from there, up and across the ridge line, and disappear into a snowstorm. Hypothermia is a benevolent death. After a while, you no longer feel the cold. You begin to feel warm and sensuous . You want to lie down and sleep. You go to sleep. Then you die. Why did Jozef Zeleny want to die? To answer this question, we must look into his background . It involved a drama which originated a full generation earlier. *** Jozef Zeleny was born near Svidnik, in northeastern Slovakia. Seven generations of his ancestors had served in the military as Hungarian Hussars. Zeleny began his adult life in this hereditary occupation. He was admitted to the Ludovika Military Academy in Budapest and graduated with the rank of sub-lieutenant on the eve of the Great War. In August of 1914 he was dispatched to the Eastern Front. Here he became infected with the spirit of Slovak nationalism , which resented Hungarian domination. Many Czechs and Slovaks in the Austro-Hungarian Army either deserted or were captured by the Russian army. In this way Zeleny became a member of the Czechoslovak Legion. 134 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Czechoslovak Legion in Russia was a curious organization. Colonies of Czechs and Slovaks had existed in Russia since the 19 th century. After the outbreak of the war, Czechs and Slovaks in Russia were allowed to organize themselves into a military unit called the Druiina, which served as an auxiliary to the Russian Army. Originally, the Drui ina engaged in reconnaissance and infiltration of Slavic units in the Austro-Hungarian army. As it demonstrated its competence, the Druiina, grew, with more captured Slavic prisoners. In March of 1917 revolution erupted in Petrograd and on March 15 th Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a Provisional Government replaced him. Most Czech and Slovak Legionnaires disliked Tsarist rule and initially welcomed the Russian Revolution. They had chafed under the restrictions imposed upon them by the Tsarist government and looked forward to more freedom of action. Zeleny participated in the Czechoslovak Legion's baptism of fire at the battle of Zborov on July 2, 1917. Zborov (Zboriv in Ukrainian), is a village in the Carpathian foothills of western Ukraine, then part of the Austrian province of Galicia. In its vicinity, two fortified Austrian positions, Galish and Kalish, guarded the approaches to the city of Lviv (Lemberg, Lvov). Two Finnish Regiments of the Russian Army were ordered to effect a pincers movement around Galish. The Legionnaires were supposed to move in after the Finns. However, the Czechs and Slovaks were impatient for action and moved ahead of the Finns. Their opponents were largely Czechs or Bosnian Serbs, who were poorly-motivated. While the Russian command hesitated in the southern sector, the Legionnaires, led by Captain Radola Gajda, stormed the hills overlooking the battlefield. This breakthrough resulted in the capture of 62 Austro-Hungarian officers, 3,150 soldiers, 20 pieces of arti llery and 40 machine guns. Russian General Selichev then declared, "Czech eagles led Russian chickens ." After this victory, the Russian Provisional Government recognized the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia as an independent army, answerable to the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris, led by T.G. Masaryk, Milan R. Stefanik and Edvard Benes. However, the Provisional Government was toppled by a military coup in Petrograd, led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on November 7, 1917. Since the incoming Bolshevik government wanted peace with Germany in order to create a communist state in Russia, it inherited a large number SLOVAKIA-2017 135 of Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war, many of whom were armed and roaming the countryside. The Czechoslovak Legionnaires were among them, and continued to support the Western Allies. On the other hand, many German and Hungarian prisoners of war had joined the newly-established Red Guards. They now controlled large areas of Siberia. On May 15, 1918, an incident occurred in Russia which had international ramifications. At the railway station in Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains, a train carrying Czechoslovak Legionnaires drew alongside a train bearing repatriated Hungarian p.o.w. ' s headed in the opposite direction. The Bolsheviks had made peace with the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in December of 1917 and had agreed to repatriate each other's p.o.w.'s. As the trains passed each other, a shouting match ensued and one of the Hungarians hurled a lead pipe and fractured a Czech soldier's skull. The well-armed Legionnaires pulled the culprit off the train and hanged him on the spot. The local Soviet government demanded an inquiry and arrested three Czechoslovak officers who attended the inquiry. As soon as their comrades heard of this incident, they stormed the jail, freed their officers, and seized control of the town. In Moscow, Commissar of War Leon Trotsky, ordered that any armed Czechoslovak soldiers found along the Trans-Siberian Railway were to be shot on the spot. This was probably Trotsky ' s biggest mistake. Relieved of the necessity of negotiating with the Bolsheviks, the Legionnaires seized control of the Trans-Siberian railroad and blasted their way east all the way to Vladivostok on the Pacific. For eighteen months this army without a country controlled the world ' s largest land mass. *** And so, Lieutenant Zeleny found himself in Siberia. It was a huge land of contrasts and contradictions. Covered in snow and frost during the long winter, it became a field of flowers in the summer. The land was rich in natural resources. Much of the timber was cut and the minerals were mined by convict labor. Tens of thousands of Russian men and women , convicted of crimes ranging from murder to petty theft or even simple vagrancy, had been deported there. Siberia boasted a penal system operated at a profit. On the other hand, Siberia also contained many Russians who had moved there in 136 SLOVAKIA-2017 search of land and greater liberty. It was a land of unlimited opportunity for those who were able to withstand its rigors. Peasants in Siberia became accustomed to thinking and acting more independently than their kinsmen in European Russia. This would have fateful consequences for the White side during the Russian Civil War. Although there were theaters and other forms of amusement in Omsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, the chief form of recreation in Siberia was the consumption of vodka. Harbing, a city the Russians built in Manchuria, on a stretch of land they obtained as a concession from China, boasted a distillery that produced thirty million gallons of vodka per year. Other distilleries in Siberia soon equaled this production . As in many frontier cultures, Siberia was more inclined to dispense alcohol than education. In the late 1880's the American journalist George Kennan observe that in each settlement, there were thirty saloons for every school. Jozef Zeleny liked to drink. He acclimatized to the local culture. He managed to digest kumis (fermented mare ' s milk), and cultivated a genuine fondness for another fermented beverage made of juice derived from reindeer antlers. But, serious drinking involved vodka. For this reason he visited a certain tavern in Omsk in the summer of 1918. There he was attracted to a very striking, brown-eyed blonde. As a rule, women did not frequent taverns unless they were prostitutes. Something in her bearing suggested that she was not. Jozef left her alone. Three days later he encountered her in the local park. She was walking a dog on a leash. It was said to be a Jack Russel , although it had the face of a Pit Bull. Suddenly, two larger unleashed dogs appeared . They bore down upon the little guy. Jozef seized a fallen tree branch and rushed into the fray. The little guy was way ahead of him. Roaring like a lion, he plunged forward and hit one of the bigger dogs with his head, causing it to bowl over. Meanwhile, Jozef hit to other dog with his switch. Both bigger dogs ran off. Man and small dog stood triumphantly on the field of battle. The blonde woman laughed delightedly. "Bravo! " she exclaimmed. "You were both magnificent." Jozef looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I saw you in the tavern a few days ago. I see that you are some kind of lady. You have no business in a place like that. Why did you go there?" SLOVAKIA-2017 137 "Because I was waiting for someone to tell me that, instead of trying to pick me up. I need a friend ... and some help." Jozef was stunned by her answer. This is how he met Ludmilla Suslova. She was a schoolteacher. Her father worked for the Directorate, which claimed to be the government of Siberia. The Directorate consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries and was opposed to the Bolsheviks in Moscow. The Directorate enjoyed the patronage of the Czechoslovak Legion. Ludmilla's husband had recently abandoned her. Their small house was in need of repair. She needed a good man around the house and Jozef qualified. She told him that he could move in rent-free if he maintained the house. He was amenable to such an arrangement because he currently occupied a tepluska, one of the railway boxcars attached to an armored train, along with other Legionnaires. A comer was set aside for games of cards or chess, but there was no privacy. Jozef and Ludmilla did not bond immediately. He was intimidated by her beauty. He initially bonded with her dog Yasha. He was useless as a watchdog since he barked only at other animals. This sad-eyed canine brought great joy to Jozef s life. Ultimately, nature took its course between Jozef and Ludmilla. One day, when working together in the house, their bodies pressed against each other. Mutually-suppressed desire spontaneously exploded. They did not even make it into the bedroom. Thereafter, they lived as man and wife. *** Both the Western Allies and Japan had long been seeking an excuse to intervene in Russia against the Bolsheviks. Now they had one. In the summer of 1918 they recognized the Czechoslovak Legionnaires as co-belligerents against Germany and Austria-Hungary and could justify landing troops in Siberia under the pretext of rendering aid to their allies. However, the paradigm shifted in the autumn months. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary disintegrated in October and on the 28 th the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic emerged. Now the Legionnaires lost interest in fighting the Bolsheviks and just wanted to go home. Furthermore, on November 15 1\ just after the armistice which ended the Great War, the Directory in Omsk was toppled by a 138 SLOVAKIA-2017 military coup. A certain Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak, who just two weeks earlier had been living in a cheap Tokyo hotel, claimed the title of Supreme Commander of all Russia. He was unequal to the task. Although personally honest and well-intentioned, Kolchak had little control over his subordinates, most of whom were thieves and bandits in the pay of the Japanese, and who committed various war crimes against the civilian population. About six months after Kolchak assumed power, just as the black flies and mosquitos in Siberia began to reassert themselves, Captain (yes, he had been promoted) Zeleny had a revealing experience. He passed through a barnyard in which wounded Russian soldiers lay in the hay. The insects attacked the pus oozing from their wounds. Distressed by what he saw, Zeleny approached an elegantlydressed White Russian officer, who was speaking in French to a lady on his arm. "These men are in bad shape!" Jozef exclaimed. "You should help them out!" "Please don ' t talk about things like that," the officer replied . "You' II upset the lady." When Jozef related the incident to Ludmilla, he declared "A regime built upon this kind of shit cannot survive." Ludmilla agreed. Yet, for a time, given the backing of the Western Allies and Japan, it looked as if Kolchak might win. On March 6, 1919, he launched a 700-mile offensive in the Urals that stretched from the forests of fir in the north to the steppes below Oren berg in the south. His armies reached Ufa, halfway between the Urals and the Volga. Here the Whites were met by the Army of Turkestan, as well as the I 51, 4 th and 8 th Red Armies, led by General Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze. Frunze was incapacitated by an artillery concussion while advancing on Ufa, but his subordinate, Vasily lvanovich Chapayev, in command of the 25 th Rifle Regiment, pressed ahead. Chapayev was already a legend among the Reds. As a partisan commander the previous year, he had tangled with the Czechoslovak Legionnaires in the Urals. He had since gone to Moscow for advanced military training. He then returned to the Urals front as a regular field commander. Chapayed was himself wounded in the storming of the city, but the Reds prevailed and captured Ufa on June 81\ Now the way was open for the Reds to cross the Urals. Kolchak's government, to say nothing of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires, prepared to evacuate Omsk. "Marry me," Jozef urged SLOVAKIA-2017 139 Ludmilla. "As an officer's wife, you can return with me to our new country of Czechoslovakia. It will be a good place to live." Ludmilla shook her head sadly. "You Western Slavs can carry your country with you. It is different with us Russians. I can never be at home in another place, regardless of who rules it or how." And so, Jozef and Ludmilla parted ways. Omsk fell to the Red Army on November 14 th . Ludmilla was killed when a stray artillery shell hit her house. A Russian who fled the country later informed Jozef of her death. He never ceased to grieve for her. Happily, Yasha survived and found another home. While evacuating Siberia in 1919, the Czechs and Slovaks kept the best trains for themselves. An exasperated Kolchak cabled his erstwhile subordinate in eastern Siberia, the Kozak atman Grigorii Semyonov, urging him to halt the Czechoslovak trains at all cost. The Legionnaires intercepted the cable and then blocked Kolchak ' s trains at Irkutsk. The desperate Kolchak then abdicated as Supreme Commander of Russia and threw himself on the mercy of the Allies, who now included Czechoslovakia. The previous year the Legionnaires had captured Kazan on the Volga, where they found the tsarist gold reserves . They now negotiated with the Bolsheviks for free rite of passage in return for the gold reserves and the Bolsheviks eagerly accepted. As Kolchak's train, containing cocaine but not much else, reached Irkutsk on January 15, 1920, the Legionnaire guards abandoned him. The city council of Irkutsk then arrested Kolchak. The council consisted of Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries. However, Bolsheviks were also in town. Lenin wanted Kolchak brought to Moscow to stand trial. However, one of Kolchak's commanders tried to rescue him and, when the city council heard of this, it executed Kolchak by firing squad on February 7, 1920 and dumped his body into a hole in the ice on the river Angara. By the end of 1920 the last of the Czechoslovak Legionnaires withdrew by sea from Vladivostok. British and American ships transported them to either Vancouver in Canada or San Francisco in the USA . They then crossed both countries by rail and were shipped to Europe across the Atlantic. Most of them returned to the newlycreated Czechoslovakia. A few decided to remain in the USA. One of them was Jozef Zeleny. *** 140 SLOVAKIA-2017 Jozef had relatives in the Pittsburgh area. The found him employment in the local steel mill. Due to his education and service in the military, Jozko (his pet name) soon became a foreman . He also took an interest in the Slovak community and joined one of their fraternal-benefit societies . Slovak organizations in the Pittsburgh region had played a role in the creation of Czechoslovakia. In 1918 T.G. Masaryk, head of the Czecho-Slovak liberation movement, visited the Mecca of American Slovaks to seek a mandate for the union of the Czechs and Slovaks in a future Czecho-Slovakia because the Slovaks back home were not free to speak their minds. His visit attracted large crowds, including South Slavs. His negotiations with the Slovaks on May 29-31 were quite tempestuous, but led to the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement, which promised the Slovaks their own Diet, administration, courts, schools and the use of their own language. In other words, home-rule. Unfortunately, when Masaryk returned to the new Czechoslovakia, he first forgot and later repudiated the Pittsburgh Agreement, which led to a breakdown of relations between the Czechs and the Slovaks in the first Czechoslovak Republic. The steel towns of the greater Pittsburgh area were also populated by Carpatho-Rusyns from Hungary. In eastern Slovakia the distinction between Slovak and Rusyn remains somewhat nebulous. Indeed, Jozko qualified as a "Rusnak" (the popular term for Rusyn). Following the lead of the Slovaks, many joined fraternal organizations, which not only provided benefits to workers but published newspapers as well. Through these institutions the Rusyns acquired political awareness . One of their organizations was the Greek Catholic Union headquartered in the Homestead-Munhall district. Another was the United Societies of America, based in McKeesport, which contained both Greek Catholi c and Orthodox members. On July 23 , 1918, they merged to form the American National Council of UhroRusyns. They resolved to join Czechoslovakia in exchange for territorial autonomy. As in the case of the Slovaks, the Prague government decided that they were not ready for autonomy. During the course of his participation in the politics of the fraternals, Jozko bonded with the president of his lodge. Th is individual, Ivan Kosko, some twenty years Zeleny's senior, was personally affable but was hopelessly corrupt. He had been dipping into the treas- SLOVAKIA-2017 141 ury for some time. He knew he would get caught sooner or later if he did not put the money back. Yet Kosko had a certain bargaining collateral. It consisted of a fifteen year-old daughter who was living back in the Old Country in Kosice with an aunt. This dark haired, wind-swept lass was comely to behold. Kosko showed Jozef Zeleny a picture of her as enticement. He indicated that he wanted to have a responsible husband for her in America, but this required money. Kosko pulled it off. In this manner Jozef Zeleny acquired a mailorder bride. Although he would not admit it , he was marrying her to drown the memory of Ludmilla. And, even though he and Marija produced a considerable number of youngsters between them, things did not work. Jozef Zeleny never ceased to mourn for Ludmilla. There were significant differences between man and wife . As a native of the Svidnik area, Jozef was considered a Rusnak, and definitely Pan-Slav. Marija, a native of Kosice, was culturally if not politically Magyarone. She was deeply religious. Jozef was more spiritual than religious. He loved the Old Church Slavonic liturgy of the Greek Catholic Church. But he never went to confession. Marija asked him why. He explained it to her: "When I was back there in Ludovika, I had to work in the summers, to pay for my arrears and the upkeep of my horse during the school year. I was employed on the property of an affluent priest. One day, when I went to pitch hay in the barn, I heard giggling coming from the haystack. His Reverence was having a romp in the hay with one of the local girls. Alright, this man might represent God when he stands before the altar. But when he steps back from the altar, he is as capable of sin and error as anyone else. I' ll be damned if I answer before him or anyone else." Jozef followed political developments in the New Czechoslovak Republic with great interest. Although he had seen the White side for what it was worth during the course of the Russian Civil War, he had a certain admiration for General Milan Rastislav Stefanik, who was definitely anti-Bolshevik. Stefanik hailed from a village called Kosariska, in the Brezova district of western Slovakia. During the 1848 revolution against Hungarian rule, a famous battle was fought at Brezova. Slovak mountaineers, fighting on their own terms and on their own terrain, defeated the Hungarian military in the otherwise disastrous September campaign. 142 SLOVAKIA-2017 Such was Stefanik ' s heritage. As the son of a Lutheran minister, he was raised in a particularly patriotic regional environment. To assure his son's advancement without the latter succumbing to the pressures of magyarization, his father helped Milan obtain a scholarship in Prague. The old man was utterly appalled with the results. Milan became an agnostic among a circle of Slovak intellectuals in Prague who rallied under Czech philosophy professor T.G. Masaryk. He became the president of the Slovak student organization in Prague known as Detvan. The students in Detvan tended to major in the mundane sciences. Although Stefanik attended Masaryk' s philosophy classes, he majored in astronomy. Upon graduation, he borrowed some money, emigrated to France, and found employment in the Medoun observatory near Paris. In this capacity he engaged in roughly a dozen learned expeditions to other countries. He acquired French citizenship in 1912. He also learned how to fly. Stefanik thus became an officer in the air corps of the French Army when the Great War began. Given his membership on the Czechoslovak National Council, the French eventually accorded Stefanik the rank of brigadiergeneral. He became the driving force in the creation of the Czechoslovak Legion . In this capacity he clashed with Edvard Benes, who soon became foreign minister in the new Czechoslovak Republic. On the other hand, Stefanik advocated pressing an offensive against the Bolsheviks in Siberia, whereas Benes followed Masaryk' s lead in avoiding intervention in Russia's internal affairs. Then there was the issue of Slovak autonomy. Stefanik came from a school of Slovaks who were considered more pro-Czech than the Czechs themselves . Yet, during the Great War, he had occasion to visit the United States, where he solicited American Slovak support. After his interactions with the fraternal leaders, Stefanik considered that, with their advice and financial support, Slovakia could be worthy of autonomy. He resented his name being inscribed to a declaration of independence for Czechoslovakia which made no provision for Slovakia's status . Stefanik and Benes hated each other. Stefanik regarded Benes as "this first grade socialist, this paper revolutionary, this distorted diplomat." Benes responded by labeling Stefanik as "this astronomer who thinks he is a soldier, this peasant who thinks he is an aristocrat, this politician who thinks he is a genius. " SLOVAKIA-2017 143 Insofar as Benes was entrenched in Prague while Stefanik was with the Legion in Siberia, the Czech foreign minister had the upper hand. Benes had the ministry of defense bifurcated. Stefanik, as Minister of War, retained command of Czechoslovakia's armed forces abroad (the Legion in Siberia), while a clone of Benes, Vaclav Klofac, became the Minister of National Defense .. Stefanik nonetheless prepared to return home. He made official visits to France and Italy. On the morning of May 5, 1919, he boarded a Caproni aircraft in the north Italian city of Udine. It was a three hour flight to Bratislava, Stefanik's intended destination. As he circled the runway of Vajnory, his plane suddenly fell to the ground from a height of 500 meters. Some witnesses charged that Stefanik' s plane had been shot down by a Czech artillery battery. The incident was officially described as an accident. Indeed, this might well have been the case. No evidence has ever been found that Benes had Stefanik murdered. This unfortunate incident came at a time when the Czechoslovak Republic was experiencing border clashes with Hungary, at this time under a Bolshevik government. The markings on the Caproni aircraft (red, white and green) were identical to the Hungarian national colors, albeit in horizontal order. Yet, years afterward, members of the artillery battery maintained that they were given their orders and that there was no mistake. They were expecting that plane. It stood to reason that there would be an appropriate state funeral. Its proceedings were recorded by Robert W. Seton-Watson, a distinguished British historian, who attended. Being Scottish, SetonWatson had a certain romantic attraction for a people who were highlanders with a heroic attitude towards life. He had championed the Slovak cause when they were under Hungarian rule. During the Great War, R. W. Seton-Watson served as adviser to the British government on Eastern European affairs. He became a personal friend of T. G. Masaryk. If Masaryk is said to be the founding father of Czechoslovakia, then Seton-Watson qualifies as the godfather. Seton-Watson description of Stefanik's funeral remains poignant to this day. Bratislava had only recently been occupied by the Czechs. Seton-Watson noted that Skols - Czech gymnastic society members recently assuming para-military roles - kept perfect order during the funeral procession, which extended a mile and a half: "Considering that the Czechs have been here exactly three months in 144 SLOVAKIA-2017 occupation of the town ... it was a ceremony which must have duly impressed the naturally lukewarm Magyar and German citizens, as suggesting that the newcomers had come to stay and are perfectly capable of taking charge." In regard to the aftermath of the ceremonies, Seton-Watson noted: "the coffin left for Brezova ... where the Slovak peasants - this seems to me so typical of their good taste and feeling - have on their accord hewn a rock grave for him on the highest point of the Little Carpathians, overlooking the whole western district." *** A former Legionnaire sent an account of Stefanik' s funeral to Jozef. Jozef mourned for Stefanik. He also subscribed to the theory that Stefanik had been murdered at the instigation of the foreign ministry . He began brooding deeply on the relationship between his life and the recent historical events. He began having nightmares. Throughout the odyssey across Siberia, Jozef had observed atrocities. These not only consisted of the usual burned villages and the numerous hanging of peasants. The Legionnaires became desensitized to the likes of that. But Jozef also had occasion to witness the grisly mutilation of innocent peasants by Kozaks and Mongols. These haunted his dreams. In any case, he could no longer sleep without vodka. And he still grieved for Ludmilla. There are people who, following the death of a spouse or loved one, marry, produce children, yet still grieve for the deceased a full decade later. Jozef Zeleny was such an individual. Eventually, he began taking out his angst on family members. Three specific incidents merit scrutiny. The first of these concerned his eldest daughter, Margarite, when she was twelve years old. He was drinking heavily that day when he could no longer hold his alcohol as he had previously. Margarite was playing hop scotch with other girls. Her father summoned her home with a single whistle. "Ah, gee whiz, I always gotta go," she complained to her friends. Jozef overheard the remark and did not like it. He belabored his daughter with his razor strap repeatedly and with vigor. The next day (when he was sober), he saw Margarite disrobe to step into the wash tub . Her noted the black and blue marks on her back and her rump. SLOVAKIA-2017 145 "Who did this to you?" he gasped. "You did!" Marija threw it back m his face. "When she was playing hop scotch." Jozko paled and lowered his head. "I'll never beat her again," he vowed. Indeed, on this he kept his word. But he was still capable of emotional excess. On one occasion, when Marija was out of the house, he was minding the youngsters. One infant daughter, Leona, messed her diapers. Her father flew into a rage. His eldest son, Janko, was now a big, strapping young man. Aware of his father's capacity for violence, he intervened decisively. He picked up a railroad tie and cracked his father across the ribs, breaking two of them. Father and son never got close to each other again. Yet the most egregious emotional excess of Jozef Zeleny was yet to come. It concerned one of his daughters, named Helena, the beauty of the litter. Endowed with long dark hair and green eyes, Helena looked more Magyar than Slovak. One could tell she would do well one day. One day, at age seventeen, Helena came home from school, at a time when her mother was not home. There had been a layoff in the steel mill, which extended to the level of foreman . Consequently Jozef Zeleny simply lay around the house, drinking and whittling wood. And now, his daughter was home. "Where is your mother?" he demanded. "I don ' t know," she responded. "You are lying! " her father bellowed. And he threw his knife at her. Here it should be noted that Jozef Zeleny, having been trained by Gypsies, was an excellent knife thrower, whether he was drunk or sober. If he wanted to impale his daughter, he definitely would have done so. The knife whizzed past her head and pinned a lock of her hair against the wall behind her. In a state of shock, Helena's head hit the wall, and she fell to the floor unconscious. When she woke, she could not walk for the next two months. The attending doctor legally petitioned for her to be taken out of the house. She was moved into the house of her elder sister Margarite, now married. As Helena recovered, Margarite made her scrub floors and generally worked her like a dog. 146 SLOVAKIA-2017 Helena Zelenova nonetheless became the most successful of Jozko ' s offspring. She became a cocktail waitress. In this capacity she encountered a piano player in a night club. Reinhard Wolfmeister, of Germanic origin, was not your ordinary piano player. He qualified as a genuine pianist. He began playing piano at age four, had an affection for Chopin, and progressed to Paderewski. He attained such a mastery of Paderewski that he qualified for a scholarship in music at the Sorbonne, in Paris. His mother wanted him to be a doctor. After three years of pre-med at the University of Pittsburgh, Reinhard decided he did not want to be a doctor. This being the era of the Great Depression, he could look down the bluff from Mount Washington and see the tin shantytowns. He decided people didn ' t have enough money to afford doctors. So, instead, he took two courses at the Robert Morris Business College, gained employment in a freight shipping company, and was eventually dragged, kicking and screaming, upstairs to the vice- presidency. Yet insofar as he still loved music, he played piano in nightclubs in the evenings. He worked two jobs. He made money and invested it wisely. Eventually, the Wolfmeister family moved to Florida. Here Helena integrated herself into the local society so well that her Slovak sisters came to describe her as the "Queen of the Jews." *** Jozef Zeleny had enough intelligence left to realize he was losing it. Marija passed away after a brief illness, and he mourned for her. But he still grieved for Ludmilla to an even greater extent. Then there was Helena's forthcoming marriage. Having a heroic attitude towards life, Jozef Zeleny could not appreciate that which was unheroic. His upcoming son-in-law could have been a concert pianist in Paris, yet opted to become the manager of a trucking company in Pittsburgh instead. It made no sense. Jozko once again began to brood deeply. He had worked long enough in the steel industry to benefit from the gains that labor unions made for steelworkers under the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had a nice pension and began looking for an exit. SLOVAKIA-2017 147 Jozef had a cousin who lived in Monongahela. He asked if he could visit there for several weeks "for reasons of mental health." His cousin replied in the affirmative. Jozef had yet to reach his dreadful decision when he first went to Monongahela. Yet it is worth nothing that he had one previous experience with hypothermia. Several years back, he had been three miles from home on the coldest night of the winter. The temperature was fifteen degrees below zero and accompanied by thirty mile-an-hour winds. It was snowing horizontally throughout the Monongahela valley. The public transportation system was paralyzed. Jozko was jumping up and down in a futile attempt to warm himself. Since it was too cold to walk, he ran and ran and ran. At the end of the second mile, he wasn't cold anymore. He began feeling like Ulysses hearing the calling of the Sirens. He experienced an erection. And he wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Then he realized what was happening. He was beginning to freeze. Jozef Zeleny resisted the temptation to succumb. He pushed on the last mile to the tavern, where he rented a room upstairs. Ice hung from his normally upturned moustaches. After four shots of vodka, he thawed out... except for his feet. Even though he had worn two pairs of socks, frostbite had gotten into his feet. It felt like he was walking on concrete blocks for the next sixteen hours. Aside from that, it had been a euphoric experience. And so, in Monongahela, Jozko frowned thoughtfully as the wind hit hard and it was obvious that a snowstorm was on the way. "I'm going for a walk," he announced. "JEE-zus Ker-RIST! " his cousin exclaimed. "It's colder than a well digger's ass out there! Have you lost your f'ck"n mind?" I have my reasons," Jozef replied cryptically. He commenced walking across the ridge in a westerly direction. The snowstorm blew into his face. In spite of the severity of the weather, he perceived the terrain as being beautiful. It reminded him of Siberia. As the delirium which accompanies hypothermia took hold, Jozef saw an image before him. It was Ludmilla. He staggered forward. *** 148 SLOVAKIA-2017 Most people who knew her agreed that Celeste Romanczykowa was a rough piece of work. Her house - little more than a cottage stood atop the ridge to which Jozef was ascending. Celeste was the product of a union between a Polish coal miner and a West Virginia hillbilly. So it stood to reason that she could be fractious at times. Auburn, brown eyed, and generously endowed in the breasts and the rump, she was comely to behold to men who are not obsessed with skinny women. Celeste was a widow. Her coal miner husband had died of black lung three years earlier. She was noted for a good heart, and loved dogs. But she did not suffer tyranny gracefully, and consequently ignored the overtures of her husband 's cronies among the coal miners. She lived alone and was lonely. As the snowstorm moved in, she went out on the hillside to gather wood. She saw the strange figure staggering up the hill. "Who are you?" she asked, pulling him by the sleeve. He muttered a few words in Slovak. Being half-Polish, she more or less understood. If she did not know who he was, she understood what he was. She dragged him into the house. Once he reached the couch, he collapsed unconscious. Through a neighbor, Celeste summoned the local doctor. After administering Jozef some medicine, he declared: "If you had discovered him an hour later, it would have been too late. But now I think he'll make it. Just keep him warm. Celeste gazed down at the man on the coach. She noticed the upturned moustaches. Her paternal side of the family had come from the Dukla Pass, between Poland and Slovakia. She perceived that he had at some point in his life been a cavalryman. Later, when his eyes opened, she became hypnotized by their ice blue, steel glaze. Jozko stirred. "Ludmilla, ... " he murmured. "You hush now," she said softly. "I' m going to take care of you." He opened his eyes. And smiled.  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 Siberia: A Slovak Folk Tale Description An account of the resource R. Vladimir Baumgarten Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 133-148 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Baumgarten, R. Vladimir Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6fbf43c30ea1a69b8bf5ca4a38f7eaae.pdf e0bca1903ec8f6402c47e71ec1ec36a3 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 105 INVOKING THE NATION, STRENGTHENING DEVOTION: NATIONAL DISCOURSE AT THE SLOVAK NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE 1 Alexander Bielicki "At first glimpse it seems as if Catholicism and nationalism represent two opposite poles that can never level out or meet. And yet, nationalism finds its culmination point in Catholicism." - Jozef Tiso 2 The September 15 th Slovak National Pilgrimage to the National Basilica on the national holiday dedicated to the national patron offers Catholic leaders in Slovakia the rare opportunity to talk about the nation more or less freely in the public sphere. Since Slovakia's independence, several Slovak Catholic leaders have stirred up controversy regarding their stances on the activities of the Catholic Church and its clergy during the World War II semi-independent authoritarian Slovak state, as well as regarding some contemporary clergymen's tacit support for fascist organizations that commemorate the leaders of the WWII state, like the above-quoted President Jozef Tiso. 3 These instances have spurred perceptions of the Catholic Church in Slovakia as nationalist, a perception that reduces the public opportunities during which the Church may legitimately talk about the nation and reflect upon the connections between nation and Church. The annual Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a unique case study of how Catholic leaders discursively construct and use the concept of the nation in evangelization. Apart from the instances when Church leaders use nationalism in an attempt to reclaim or repaint the history of the Catholic Church during World 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the ASN World Convention, Columbia University, 18-20 April 2013. 2 Miroslav Kocur, "For God and Nation: Christian National Populism" in National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 - 2009 (Forum Minority Research Institute: Samorin - Samorja, 2009), 223 . 3 Ibid. , 221 - 45 . �106 SLOVAKIA-2017 4 War II , the nation is sometimes "talked and performed," not for what might be ca lled nati ona list goals, but instead, for what might be call ed reli gious goa ls. "Talking the nation" is not necessarily done in order to make the nat ion more sa li ent and make people more national. The inclusion of national discourse can be done in order to accomplish a wide variety of goa ls. In instances such as the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin , the nation may be used fo r evangelization. My intention here is not to offer a typology of national discourse in the re ligious field , but rather to point to some of the ways that the concept of the nation can be (and has been) used by Catho lic leaders in Slovakia. The examp les presented herein demonstrate not only the taken-for-granted nature of national frames for viewing and understanding the world, even in the g loba l Catholic Church; they a lso illustrate some of the ways the " nation" can be used . By analyzing materia l from the homili es presented each year at the Slovak National Pilgrim age, I wi ll illustrate these connections between religious devoti on and nationa l fidelity. In foc us are the homilies delivered from the independence of S lovakia in 1993 to 2011. 5 In the se speeches from the pulpit in Sasti n, bishops, archbishops, and occasionally cardina ls address the meaning of the holiday, the perce ived successes and fai lures of society, and the importance of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows for Slovak ia. Because of the nature of these homilies and the ritual focus of thi s holiday, I wi ll here look at the ways in w hi ch the Virgin Mary is connected to th e Slovak nation on these occas ions. Pilgrimage Context In Slovakia, pil grim ages and holidays are two of the most common events through which Marian theology is experienced by devotees and advanced by the c lergy. One can find about a dozen Marian holidays on the Slovak liturgica l ca lendar, but only one of them is connected w ith a state ho liday. The Slovak National Pilgrimage takes place every year on September 15, the Sviatok Sedembolestnej Panny Marie (O ur Lady of the Seven Sorrows Holid ay). It has been 4 The fo rmulati on of "talking, performing, consuming and choosing the nat ion" comes from Fox, Jon and Cynthi a Mil ler- Idriss, " Eve ryday Nati onh ood," Etlinicities, 8 (2008): 536 - 63. 5 This study is based on research an d fieldwork co mpl eted between 2008 and 20 12. �SLOVAKIA-2017 10 7 a national holiday since 1993 (first celebrated as such in 1994). The pilgrimage to the small western Slovak town of Sastin (Sastin-Straze since 1971) traces its roots to a founding miracle in 1564 and the subsequent carving of the Sastin pieta sculpture in thanks to the Virgin Mary, which would eventually become the ritual focus of later pilgrimages. The influence of this site grew rapidly under Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis of Lorraine, who partially funded the construction of a cathedral to house the Sastin pieta. In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as Patron saint of the region of Slovakia. 6 In 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated the Sastin cathedral to the status of Basilica Minor, the first in Slovakia. 7 In the years following, the Sastin cathedral would come to be known as the National Basilica, and more recently, the September 15 event would come to be known as the Slovak National Pilgrimage. Recent pilgrimages at Sastin have drawn approximately 20,000 worshippers per year, the overwhelming majority of whom are Slovaks from Slovakia. In addition, several television and radio stations broadcast the day 's events so that individuals may participate without making the trek to this small town. The event even brings a number of influential clergy, politicians and cultural figures as guests of honor. In fact, one of my respondents stated that the attendance of politicians at Sastin was what set it apart from other pilgrimages: "state representatives even go to this pilgrimage - they do not go to other pilgrimage sites." 8 For all of the differences among the participants in the Sastin pilgrimage, they share a religiously-oriented habitus. 9 By this, I do not mean that they are all Catholic, but that the vast majority of them are socialized into a specifically conservative, Slovak version of Catholicism. It can be understood as an environment where social, moral and linguistic issues expressed in a certain idiom 6 She is referred to as patronka Slovenska (the patroness of Slovakia), though she is more common ly understood as the patron of the Slovak nation as opposed to the Slovak state, an important distinction given the multi-national character of Slovakia. 7 Peter Zubko, "Baziliky mensie na Slovensku: ich prava a povinnosti" (Basilica Minors in Slovakia: Their Rights and Obligations), Nave Horizonty, I (2009): 40 45 . 8 Alexander Bielicki, A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph .D. dissertat ion, University of Oslo, 2012. 9 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, I 99 I). �108 SLOVAKIA-2017 are easily understood to be a part of the regular (acceptable) di scourse, and are shaped by the conditions and conventions within this particular societal framework. Bourdieu, in his essays on language and power, 10 calls these types of factors "structured dispositions." One of these structured dispositions would be towards Marian devotion. While levels of devotion to Mary differ among Slovak Catholics, the vocabulary of Marianism is ubiquitous throughout the country, and Marian symbols can be easily understood by most Catholics. Throughout Slovakia, there are hundreds of churches and chapels dedicated to the Virgin, and the number of Marian shrines is countless. Controversia l historian Milan Durica places the number of Marian churches and chapels in Slovakia at over 1200, with more than 200 dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. 11 Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko, among others, places the number of churches and chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows at around 250 12 Paintings, statues, prayers and songs heavily feature Mary, especially as the Sorrowful Mother, and she is a frequent subject of Slovak folk art of various media. The pieta is one of the more commonl y found Catholic images in the country. The Virgin Mary has become a powerful national symbol in many Catholic countries. While in Slovakia, the Virgin Mary does not receive any national titles as lofty as "Queen of Poland," "Queen of the Croats" or "Queen of Mexico," her status as national patron has been deeply woven into the fabric of the national canon. As Cardinal Tomko, the long-tenured Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (the office responsible for all missionary activities of the Catholic Church), acknowledged in hi s 1997 homil y, For us Slovaks, Seven Sorrows Day goes ri ght to the heart . For us, the picture of the Sorrowful Mother is engraved on our soul since childhood . We saw it in churches as well as in homes, on the Calvaries and in the chape ls, on the Ways of the Cross, and finall y also on the pl ates and popular embroidery. We rece ived respect fo r Mary of the Seven 10 Ibid. Milan S. Durica, S/owici a Sedembolestna: Kulturno-historicky nacrt (Brati slava: Luc, ustav dej in krest'an stva, 2008). 12 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at th e Nati onal Bas ili ca in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (2010). 11 �SLOVAKIA-2017 109 Sorrows almost with our mother's milk. 13 The connection between Mary and the Slovak nation fostered in these words is very self-aware. Statues, paintings, plates, needlework and other material goods associated with Mary can be found in every comer of Slovakia. Cardinal Tomko notes that the connection between individuals and the Virgin Mary is fostered from childhood and the material reminders found throughout the country are no doubt partly responsible for this transmission between generations. Slovak church leaders use the Virgin Mary (specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows) in a variety of ways to reify, and even to symbolize, the nation. They use the history of Marian devotion in Slovakia to homogenize Slovak religiosity and to provide justification for the claims of Marianism as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity. However, the Marian aspects of the national pilgrimage do not only relate to the ways in which national identity is portrayed. Many different levels of identity, beyond the national, are referenced in the event and many differrent social groupings find relevance. Gender, family, denomination, moral and social communities all play roles in this event, and they are all tied in one way or another to Marianism. 14 For the purposes of this article, though, I will focus primarily on the discursive connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. The inclusion of all these different roles-these different ways of identifying- demonstrates the clergy's reaction to late modernity. The homilies of the event highlight the challenges to various roles an individual may play in society: those connected with nation, with gender, with family, sometimes even with political affiliation. The Catholic Church, which in many ways appears to cling to out-offashion social models (although this has been somewhat challenged since the election of Pope Francis), utilizes the problems and language of late modernity to reinforce its claims, and one of the ways that this is accomplished is through the manner in which the politics 13 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, "Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna." Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 14 Alexander Bielicki , A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oslo, 20 12. �110 SLOVAKIA-2017 of identity are framed. If one of the markers of the "modem era" is the insistence on unitary identity, then the corresponding marker of the "late modem era" is the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that the successful person displays competence in navigating through all of their different identity roles. The inclusion of this multiplicity of identity roles in the pilgrimage homilies demonstrates the clergy ' s reaction to the so-called pathologies of the late-modem period, and demonstrates how the symbol of the Virgin Mary can be used as a modem tool to advance traditional goals: by providing a unitary self, guided by Marian devotion, that can be deployed in roles and situations. Suffering as Nexus What sets the Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows homilies apart from the homilies delivered for other Marian celebrations is that the biblical information presented in connection with the holiday and pilgrimage focuses on her sorrows and suffering and not on other aspects of her life and story. Suffering, whether revealed as a tragedy or a gift, is the lynchpin that binds the otherwise diverse elements, both catechismal and historical , of the event's homilies. The importance of this distinction is that it highlights a different side of Mary, a different face . Not that this particular interpretation of the Virgin Mary differs from the overall canon of Marian references, but that it selects certain aspects of it to be given primacy. The presentation of these aspects heightens specific types of responses to Mary: they promote a view of Mary as protector, specifically protecttor of the nation, and as picture of grace under suffering. Other roles such as mother, teacher, etc. are given relatively minor attention, expect for when they are related to suffering. The ubiquitous nature of the Virgin Mary not on ly serves as a constant reminder of the strong tradition of Marian devotion, it encourages her multivocality as a symbol. Religious historian Brian Porter notes that in the Polish Marian cult, one of Mary's most important roles is that of the Hetmanka, or military protector of the nation. 15 In the Netherlands, the Lady of All Nations devotional cult is 15 Brian Porter, " Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland," Contemporary European History, 14, No . 2 (2005) : 154 �SLOVAKJA-2017 111 centered on the idea of Mary as redeemer. 16 In the Slovak case, however, the suffering of the Virgin Mary is highlighted above all else when linking her to the nation. This type of discourse is used by the clergy not only for moral and religious lessons, but also to reify the nation by creating what I call a shared vocabulary of suffering, especially in reference to national history and the life of the Virgin Mary. From Bishop Gabris' 1984 homily, Our Slovak nation has suffered terribly. When things were bad for our nation, it could only beseech supernatural aid. Our believers also felt that no one in the world suffered such as Our Lady when she held in her arrn s the dead body of her own son. Therefore, no one in the world 17 18 could understand the suffering of our nation as she does. The theme of suffering creeps into the discourse and symbols of the Sastin pilgrimage, and this is one of the things that sets the event apart from others. In marked contrast to most other Marian events in Slovakia, the national pilgrimage to Sastin is thematically concentrated on suffering. While other pilgrimages may contain references to the suffering of Mary, only events specifically dedicated to the Mater Dolorosa, Our Lady of Sorrows, are discursively framed around suffering to this extent. Her pain peaked when she meets Jesus in the street, on the last day of his life, as a criminal amid a furious crowd, carrying the cross to the gallows-flogged, spat-upon, and crowned with thorns. How can she feel when she hears the sound of the murderous nails being hammered into his hands and feet , when she sees Him in immense pain stretched between heaven and earth? How can her heart endure the endless three hours of His agony? And yet, she, frail woman, standing beneath her son's cross, on whi ch she is also crucified. She stands unbroken in soul, not beaten down by the weight of the relentless pain . She stands under the cross, even when the terrible sword stabs a living wound in the 16 Peter Jan Margry, " Paradoxes of Marian Appariti onal Contestation: Networks, Ideology, Gender, and the Lady of All Nations," in Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen, and Catrien otermans, eds. ( Farnham: Ash gate, 2009), I 87 17 Bold typeface, mine. 18 Bishop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the Natio nal Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 16, 1984. <htt ://blo 0 .chri st-net.sk/? =node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. �112 SLOVAKIA-2017 heart. 19 The theme of suffering allows for discourse and symbols not only concerning Mary's suffering, but suffering in society as well: the crisis of the family, legalized abortion, moral relativism, the suffering of the nation, etc. This is one of the particularities of the Sastin pilgrimage: the focus on Marian suffering in connection with the suffering of everyday life opens up the door to a discussion of the many different forms of societal identity. The ways in which these forms of suffering are presented and the ways in which they are linked together offer some suggestions as to what the employment of Mary as a symbol of suffering might be meant to accomplish. Today we celebrate the holiday of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and here is an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence and to ask how is it that we Slovaks, through the long centuries, knew to resist so that the ferocious waves of history would not devour and bury us? We are of a nation who didn't have a kingly dynasty to rule in our castles, and we can ' t boast of famous victories. However, our nation reached one victory that, after a thousand years of silence and living without freedom we were able to overcome, so that today we find ourselves among the nations of Europe. We know from national history how difficult our ancestors fought for their existence, for their living space, for their language, for their faith , for their culture. They fought ; they won, because in this struggle they freely took refuge in the Mother of God. 20 In his 2007 homily (above), Bishop Secka offers the holiday as "an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence." This suggests that a salience of nation should exist for Slovak Catholics, and that a salience of Catholic identity should be present in Slovakia. His framing of "we" around an ethnic identity assumes an all ethnically Slovak audience, which is in fact not the case at Sastin. His words presume a long, uninterrupted history, but reduce that his19 Tomko, Cardinal Jozef. " Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna," Homily presented at the National Basilica in SaWn-Straze, Slovakia, Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 20 Bishop Stefan Secka, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 15, 2007. <http://www.magnificat.sk/htm02/homsas. htn_:i. >, accessed February 8, 2009 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 113 tory to a simple story of hard-working, oppressed, Catholic Slovaks who were victims of constant external pressure. This homily assigns an independent will and desire to the nation, not just individuals. The homily also speaks of a victory for the Slovak nation, a victory that can only be assumed to be the realization of the Slovak state, the ultimate reward for any national project. This type of rhetoric ignores the fact that the creation of the Slovak nation-state resulted from the intractable arguments of a small group of political elites and not from any plebiscite.21 This notion projects backwards in time the seemingly self-evident nature of the Slovak nation requiring a Slovak state, that this process was the unfaltering will and destiny of the nation. Furthermore, it portrays the realization of a Slovak state as an event that can be at least indirectly attributed to the intercession of Mary. Bishop Secka's 2007 homily is not unique among the Sedembolestna homilies. In many ways it echoes the 1984 homily given by Bishop Julius Gabris where he stated: Our nation, dear brothers and sisters, survived the hard times and was saved only because it relied upon Marian devotion. I mentioned only the three incidents: the extinction of the Great Moravian Empire, the invasion of the Tatars and the 150-year plundering of our territory by the Turks. In these times, all preconditions were met by which our Slovak nation should be completely devastated, torn from the earth. And yet still, it was not extinguished! Why not extinguished? Only because it relied on God's help and on the help of the Mother ofGod. 22 These words link the contemporary Catholic Church and the history of the Slovak nation in a chain of suffering. Furthermore, while the history detailed in the homily seeks to present the Slovak nation's suffering and its unwavering devotion to Mary, this version of history also reinforces the continuity and homogeneity of the Slovak nation. Anthropologist Richard Handler notes that a "negative vision of the struggle for survival presupposes the positive vision of collective unity and maturity - for how can an entity that does not in the first 21 Stefan Auer, Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004). 22 Bi shop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September I 6, I 984. <http: //blog.christ-net.sk/?q=node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. �114 SLOVAKIA-2017 place exist run the risk of disintegration?"23 However, this is not merely a simple reification of the nation through building a collection of past sufferings. This formulation not only reifies the nation, but it also reifies a contemporary vision of the Slovak nation, imagining it as an unchanged group occupying the same territory since before the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. While discursive use of the Virgin Mary might function to construct difference along national lines when these national boundaries also reflect religious boundaries, it is not so effective when constructing difference between Slovaks and non-Slovak coreligionists. Furthermore, discursively constructing the Slovak nation as devotees to Mary ignores the heterodox religious history of Slovakia. Most interestingly, though, the others who are constructed in these homilies are not the most salient ethnic others in the Slovak context. The nationalization of political life in Slovakia is often defined in reference to Slovak-Hungarian national divisions within the country; however, this doe s not appear to be the driving factor behind national differentiation for the Church, at least in regards to how difference is organized in the proceedings of the national pilgrimage to Sastin. In fact, it is not uncommon for homilists to invite ethnic Magyars [Hungarians] into the fold .24 That being said, the use of the national frame by church leaders at the national pilgrimage seems to be constructed in reference to Western Europe, conceived as a group of secular nations, as opposed to being constructed in reference to their Hungarian Catholi c neighbors. In this sense, devotion and devotional practices become a way for the Church to organize not on ly religious difference, but national difference as well. This orientation creates formulations whereby secularized Slovaks are ignored or considered agents of the secular " West. " In other words, these practices of national differentiation more resemble the politics of Slovaks differentiating themselves from Czechs at the beginning of the 1990s than they resemble the patterns of national differentiation from Magyar speakers throughout the 1990s and beyond. 23 Richard Handler, Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec (Madi son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988), 5. 24 Ca rdinal Jan Chrzyostom Korec, "Tvorivou lasko u," Kato/icke noviny. I 15, No. 39 (September 24, 2000). �SLOVAKIA-2017 115 Let us entrust to our heavenly patron also the future of Slovakia in the community of European nations with the hope that Europe will be built with the recognition of its Christian roots, as the Holy Father relentlessly reminds us, and that in that our nation maintains its own identity based on Christian culture and its values. We do not want to lose ourselves and to be diluted in such a European community that would be governed by secularized humani sm and liberal individualism, without respect for the principle of Christian so lidarity.25 The further highlighting of issues presented within a national context attests to the way the Church in Slovakia has reacted and continues to react to various factors at the state, supranational and international level. Presenting the national, projecting the national, within the narrative of the Slovak nation as a Catholic nation acting as a minority, a righteous minority (especially against the backdrop of oppression throughout history at the hands of foreign powers), allows for the Church to talk about social issues of Catholic concern - abortion, chief among them - as an extension of the historical battle waged by the Catholic Slovak nation in the name of righteousness. The mill has been started, where they intend to grind the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, the guide for the past and present life of our nation for more than one thousand years. For what is life if a man can kill the terminally ill and the unborn?26 National elements woven into the fabric of the devotional movement to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows recapture the idea of the Slovaks as a small nation , fundamentally Christian if not Catholic, being pushed around by larger powers: those that advocate a program that lessens the emphasis on a Judeo-Christian morality system as the defining characteristic of Europe. Using examples from proposed hi storical sufferings of the Slovak nation, whether at the hands of 25 Bishop Jozef Zlati\ansky, "Zverme sa Sedembolestnej." Homily presented at the National Bas ilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny,. 11 8, No. 40 (October 5, 2003). <htt ://www.katnovin .sk/Kn 2003/40 2003/obnova. htm >, accessed on February 8, 2009. 26 Bishop Stefan Secka, "Matka viery, Matka nadeje," Homily presented at the Nati onal Basi lica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, September I 5, 2004. <http://www. blu me nta l. sk/caso is/rok 2004/10-2004/cl04.htm>, accessed on September 21 , 2009. �116 SLOVAKIA-2017 Turks, Tatars, Magyars, Czechs or others, homilists propose a continuity of oppression aimed at Slovaks, despite the realization of the ostensibly Slovak nation-state. Indeed, the role of religion and the politics of national identity in any society are heavily contingent upon the form of the state, and in this case, supranational governance. Without the split of Czechoslovakia or the entrance of Slovakia into the European Union, undoubtedly a different structure of whom the Slovak nation is defined against would emerge, thereby influencing how the boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn. Even though some references to past injustices faced at the hands of European neighbors appear in the homilies, they are rare. Besides those few examples, the nationalizing language of the event is not overly exclusionary in nature. It is of course highly focused on positive portrayals of the in-group, but for the most part, the out-groups (i.e. Western Europe) appear as abstractions. In other words, even though much of the nationalizing language stemming from the homilists promotes something that I wou ld not call an inclusive vision of the nation, it is certainly more inclusive than the militant and chauvinistic national orientations found in some corners of Slovak society. For the homilists, ideology (i.e. religious orientation) seems to have been the primary division; however, religious differrentiation has been communicated through national differentiation - in essence, nationalizing religious life. National History or Catholic History? In many of the examples from the homilies, the historical Slovak nation is presented as in constant battle, or in a constant state of suffering. In 1928, Slovak Catholic priest and politician Ferdis Juriga posited seven sorrows of the Slovak nation to correspond with the seven sorrows of Mary27, and several Sastin homilies reference these periods of suffering, especially the Tatar and Turkish invasions. According to Juriga, the seven sorrows of the Slovak nation were (1) the migration of the Magyars to the Danubian Basin and their defeat of the Slavic peoples who lived there; (2) the repression of Catholics in the Kingdom of Hungary, 1044 - 1046; (3) the Tatar invasion, 27 Jana Moricova, "Sastinska Sedembolestna patr6nka Slovenska," Marianske Putnicke Miesta na Slovensku: Zbornik z vedeckej konferencie konanej (Rufomberok: Katolicka univerzita v Ru fo mberku, 2007), 20 - 26 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 117 1241 - 1242; (4) the Hussite incursions across Upper Hungary, 1431 - 1458; (5) the Turkish wars, 1526 - 1683; (6) the spread of Protestantism and the split of the nation between Catholic and Protestant faiths; (7) and the rampant poverty that led to mass emigration. 28 Mentioning any of these seven moments in the homilies for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Day discursively connects national suffering and the Virgin Mary, specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. They also link historical struggles and the overcoming of those struggles with present day struggles and the possibility of overcoming them. According to tradition, during the Tatar invasion in I 241 our families fled into the forests, to where the hordes would not dare to go; our ancestors carried with them Marian pictures and statues, especially of the Sorrowful Mother. In the 15 th century, families in our lands possessed reliefs of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary, which at that time had been produced from baked clay at the command of King Matthias Corvin us. In 1470, when the Turkish invasion was already threatening, Jan Vitez, the archbishop of Esztergom, specifically recalled as an ancient, historical custom, that in difficult times our ancestors turned to the Sorrowful Virgin Mary for help and appealed to her so that they might devote themselves to her in the time of danger. His successor, Archbishop Juraj Selepceni, before the decisive battle with the Turks near Vienna in 1683, gave his soldiers medallions with a picture of the Sorrowful Mother in order to invoke her assistance. Even the old folk song from the Turkish wars " By Trencin's Gate" is a plea to the Virgin Mary from the Slovak heroes before leaving for battle: "God and Mary help us, to be a happy Slovak land." The tradition of devotion to the Sorrowful Mother stretches across our whole history ... 29 As can be seen in the above excerpt, the homilists construct history around a core of Marian devotion . Historical struggles, whether framed as national, Catholic or Christian, are layered around this central theme of Marian devotion. In Cardinal Tomko 's 2010 homily, the history of the region is portrayed as a series of invasions and invocations of Mary's assistance in prevailing despite the harsh conditions. While these invaders fell upon the Kingdom of Hungary, 28 Ibid. Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (20 10). 29 �118 SLOVAKIA-2017 Cardinal Tomko refers repeatedly to the victims of the invasion as "our ancestors," framing the history of the Slovak lands as the history of the Slovaks. The tradition of Marian devotion is "recalled as an ancient, historical custom" of the Slovaks. Cardinal Tomko takes the negative histories of war and struggle and the positive histories of Marian devotion out of their historical context in the Kingdom of Hungary, and makes them exclusive property of the Slovak nation . In other words, the Slovak nation is written into history as a protagonist, even into historical periods during which the nation was not a salient category of identification. The Church, then, uses this opportunity to present a very specific Slovak Catholic version of national history, a version that portrays Marian devotion as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity that is both consistent through time and ubiquitous through the territory of Slovakia. In other words, the national history presented in the Sedembolestna homilies is both essentializing and homogenizing, (so that a more coherent set of narratives can be easily presented). By-and-large, during the event, Slovak national identity and the Slovak nation is not portrayed as under siege, the way that nationalist politicians often paint the picture. Yet it is portrayed as a minority nation, and a suffering nation. Within the framework of Slovakia, those who consider themselves to be ethnically Slovak have a clear majority; however, during the pilgrimage the Slovak nation is often presented in the context of the world stage, or at least the European stage. In other words, the ethno-national situation of Slovaks in Slovakia is omitted from the discourse of the event, and the situation of Slovaks in a broader context is presented instead, so as to highlight Slovaks ' minority status in Europe. Therefore, the episodes of historical suffering mentioned earlier find a new context in which to be expressed in the present structure of governance. This extension of history, for the most part, is not malicious in intent towards its European neighbors (or against the faceless "society" mentioned often in the homilies). However, there are some Slovak nationalists, who use the rhetoric stemming from Church sources as a validation of their claims. Therefore, that is where the de facto national Church and some Slovak nationalists intersect. There is a crossover between their ranks, but these individuals and sub-groups do not usuall y act as the driving forces behind the Church in Slo- �SLOVAKIA-2017 119 vakia or Slovak nationalist organizations. Portraying the Church in Slovakia as nationalist, as often happens, is misleading, or rather, an oversimplification. They produce discourse that may aid some nationalists ( especially those nationalists who find importance in the Catholic nature of the nation), but this is not the primary goal of their discourse. Their primary goal seems to be evangelization and connecting various levels of social identity to the Church. In this process, the nation is just one of many leve ls of identity fostered and connected with the Church. By stepping away from simply labeling certain actions stemming from the Slovak Church as nationalist, and looking to the purpose and function of using the nation, a clearer picture emerges regarding the processes actually occurring. Shared System of Discourse In the celebration of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, the dominant themes of the event are that of suffering and sorrow. In a sense, we can envision this as a shared vocabulary of suffering within the larger shared system of discourse. Whether a detailed telling of the Seven Sorrows endured by Mary, the perceived one-thousand years of suffering of the Slovak nation since the end of the Great Moravian Empire or the evils of abortion, the dominant tropes are 'tragic' in nature. This accentuates "an economy that capitalizes on human suffering, valuing it not as the absence or disfavor of God, but as a grace or favor that viscerally connects the devout with the sufferings of Jesus, Mary, and the saints." 30 Essentially, suffering functions as the hub that links all of the spokes of the wheel; it is a gift given and a gift received; but most of all, suffering frames the introduction of social identities to the event. In the homilies of the event, the homilists demonstrate ways of talking about national identity, Catholic identity, Christian identity and even European identity. The ways in which the event is nationnally framed by church leaders- and the ways in which pilgrims talk, choose, perform and consume the nation-provide space for the nationalization of objects, spaces, bodies and symbols. This space 30 David Morgan, "Aura and the Inversion of Marian Pilgrimage: Fatima and Her Statues," Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen and Catrien Notermans, eds. (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), 63 . �120 SLOVAKJA-2017 allocated for nationalization does not exist at many other large-scale Catholic events in the country apart from Sastin, at least during the years surveyed in this study. Furthermore, the homilists build a history that intertwines Catholic and national pasts. They provide pilgrims with the discursive tools to deal with numerous societal issues in a Catholic way. They tum national life, political life and even family life into Catholic life. In other words, they demonstrate a Catholic way of talking about social life that is meant to be transferred outside of the religious field , or at least to broaden the religious field . Pilgrims and church leaders together contribute to the definition of social identities, not necessarily making agreements on how to live these identities, but how to articulate these identities. One elite project found in the discourse of the pilgrimage is the attempt to create a shared system of discourse in order to talk about devotional life and to discuss social issues within a Catholic framework. The pilgrimage at Sastin, then, is one of the large-scale events in which the Church does maintenance work to this shared system of discourse. I would suggest that a shared discourse could buttress the role of the Church and the role of Catholic identity in the country, even if membership in the Church is sometimes considered " lukewarm. " This type of maintenance work is done on every Sunday in the churches and at church-officiated events throughout the lives of people. The Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a stage on which to address the proposed importance of devotional identity to a large audience at the same time, and to construct a way for Catholics to talk about the social issues that affect them . This type of maintenance is accomplished through countless different pilgrimages; however, it is the peculiarities of the Sastin pilgrimage that allow for a greater opportunity to engage issues of identity outside of devotional identity. Creating a shared discursive system can be seen as one of the byproducts of evangelization, and this system is a prerequisite for most of the pastoral work in which the Church engages. In other words, the Church needs to have this shared discourse in place in order to navigate the challenges of its pastoral care effectively. The pilgrims need to be a part of constructing this discourse, because in order for the Church to be an important identity marker in their lives, they need to be able to find a way to articulate their place in the body of the Church, and likewise their position in society in relationship to �SLOVAKIA-2017 121 the Church. Such a system is created through evangelization and a general socialization into religion; in other words, through creating a religiously literate society. Cultural historian Callum Brown uses the idea of a collapse in shared discourse to explain the fate of Christianity in Britain. 3 1 In Britain, as well as across western and northern Europe, the socialization of young people into Christianity has largely stopped. The Christian cultural forces in society that socialize new generations into recognizing a Christian identity in themselves have lost their voices, with the result that many young people in those countries no longer acquire a basic literacy in Christian symbols and Christian history. In Slovakia, the opposite is the case. Basic cultural competencies in Christianity maintain a shared discourse between Church and society; and in Slovakia, there appears to be a relative strengthening of a shared discourse, which often frames issues, whether political or religious, as national. It is this shared discourse, especially about suffering, that allows for some of these connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. During the pilgrimage, Church leaders present suffering as a gateway to understanding Marian devotion; they extend Marian suffering as a metaphor onto their flock. Coupled with this presentation, the nationally framed aspects of the pilgrimage allow this suffering to be extended via relevant social groupings, like the nation, family and gender. It is presumeptuous to assume that homilists should reference social groupings based on gender, or kinship, or nation, and so on; that they are somehow more natural or salient than other social groupings. We do not see roles connected with class, or the idea of class at all enter into the homilies. However, in religious fields influenced by liberation theology in Central and South American, nothing would be more natural or salient than the reification of class identity. The ability to load Mary with meaning does not assume the successful transmission of those meanings; however, the ways in which Mary is discursively packed with meaning gives us a window into the uses of Marian symbols and the possible lived-in worlds where the symbols and words might have the ability to make an impact. Examining the way that the homilists use the concept of suffering in 31 Grace Davie, Europe: The Exceptional Case (London : Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002), 20. �122 SLOVAKIA-2017 their reaction to the outcomes of modernity, presented in a context where the topic of identity is central to holiday and pilgrimage, shows how a vast number of different identities are related to Mary. The suffering of the nation, the crisis of the family , the widespread legal nature of abortion, the crisis of governance, the intrusion of consumerism, and the relativism of (Western) Europe are all connected to Mary's suffering. Any of these connections between perceived suffering of the individual and the perceived suffering of Mary can serve to reinforce the importance of Marian devotion in the life of the pilgrim. Modernization seems to accentuate the divides regarding gender, class, ethnicity, religion, etc ., and the homilists' discourse does not seek to attenuate them; instead, they are discursively reframed so that each of these identities are reified and simultaneously connected with Mary. The encouragement of communitarianism- be it in family , kin , social community, moral community, nation or other groups- is also consistent with the Church ' s stance against individualism. In that sense, one of the primary functions of this type of pastoralization and evangelization is to combat the so-called cult of the individual and to reinforce membership in social groups that are considered meaningful. By reinforcing membership in social groups consistent with the messages of the Church, so too may they encourage the ro le of Marian devotion in these groups, claiming Marian devotion not just as something which should be a fundamental characteristic of Catholics, but of Europeans, the Slovak nation, the family and even the body politic. Constructing a Theology of the Nation One of the things occurring during this pilgrimage event is that Church leaders are seeking to reinvigorate the societal influence of Catholic teaching and the Catholic Church. Their efforts at evangelization seek to make Catholic doctrine influential in society, and to make Catholicism matter for individuals and institutions beyond the religious field ; in other words, to move beyond the sphere of personal salvation. They are doing so by making Marianism important to social identities outside of religious identity, national identity being one of them . They are weaving national identity into the religious sphere, and in doing so, constructing what I call a theology of the �SLOVAKIA-2017 123 nation. "Grace does not destroy secular realities, or demand abandoning them for religious ones. Rather, grace includes, builds upon and potentially transfigures the sphere of the natural. The implication of this is that nationality can be one of the loci where responsible intelligence can ground theological consideration." 32 Dorian Llywelyn's, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality, 33 is one of the first of its kind to explore the connection between nationality and Catholicism in terms of theology. Llywelyn's treatment approaches nationnal identity not simply as subordinate to devotional identity, as has usually been the case in the Catholic Church, but as a locus of devotion. An academic exercise such as this would not have been possible in the past. Several factors account for the feasibi lity of Llywelyn's project in the present, one of which is the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that brought national practices, national languages and national discourse further into the Catholic Church. Perhaps another reason, although I do not have hard evidence to support the claim, is the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978. I would suggest that his election brought nationality into the Church by introducing a Central European, and specifically Polish, understanding of nationality to the papacy, one built on a long tradition of connecting the Church to the nation, which considered the Catholic Church as the repository of the nation in response to the Polish partitions between Orthodox neighbors to the east and Protestant neighbors to the west. In addition, the simple fact that John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in hundreds of years, and was even commonly referred to as "the Polish pope," made nationality matter in the Church in a way it previously had not. For these reasons and others, positing a theology of nationality, or a theology of the nation as I would prefer to call it, becomes more plausible in the present day. In addition, I believe that Llywelyn ' s choice to academically engage the relationship between nation and religion supports the fact that the Catholic Church, specifically the Slovak Catholic Church, is increasingly engaging social identities outside of purely devotional ones; and that they first connect devotional identities to other social identities, and then must develop theology to substantiate these connections (in this case, the 32 Dori an Ll ywe lyn, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality (New York : Lexington Books, 20 I 0), 4. 33 Ibid . �124 SLOVAKIA-2017 nation and national identity). Church leaders foster a communitarian spirit based around many different types of identity, national among them, in order to fight against the crisis of the postmodern (and the relativism and secularism of Europe). In creating a theology of the nation, the Slovak church uses the nation as one of its primary loci for evangelization. This creates a situation where the nation is purported to be a natural place to locate and build devotion; however Church leaders connect the nation and Church in many other instances as we ll. In the media, in cross-border ecumenical counci ls and in other situations, church leaders may talk or act nationally, but that does not mean that they are creating a theology of the nation. A theology of the nation goes a step further, by writing national history, national characteristics and national practices into the teachings of the Church, indeed constructing national history, characteristics and practices in the process. Creating a theology of the nation involves producing the nation, not just using it in discourse. In the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, these national elements are sacralized in order to support forms of Marian devotion found in the event. As Llywe lyn notes, "revealed Christian truth" not only corresponds to national experience; national experience becomes part of "revealed Christian truth. "34 But this is more than simply sacralizing the nation : it collapses national and devotional values into one another, it creates a shared discourse and it writes the nation into the unofficial theology of the Church: "unofficial," because it cannot be realized in dogma or scriptural accounts, and "theology" because it becomes part of Church doctrine and teaching. "The task of a theology of nationality is to investigate the relationship between the mystery of Christ and the human experience of being a member of the nation."35 In the case of the Slovak national pilgrimage, a theology of the nation explores the connection between the nation and Mary, more so than between the nation and Jesus. The nation protects Mary, and vice-versa. The nation suffers with and for Mary. The nation embodies Mary . The nation becomes part of the Marian narrative, just as Mary has become part of the national narrative. This may seem unusual at first, but as Llywe lyn notes, human 34 35 Ibid. Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 125 experience can indeed be a source for theology.36 When church leaders construct a theology of the nation, something different is happening from when church leaders speak about the nation in other instances, as in the media. In the context of the holiday event, Church leaders can more freely speak about these things because they are addressing these issues in the religious field, not venturing outside their field of competence. But it is not only that. Church leaders act as authorized delegates of the Church, especially in their role during the Pontifical Mass, the ritual focus of the pilgrimage celebration. As such, the delegated authority of the Church is behind them when they connect Church and nation in the ritual event ( outside of Church matters, their authority may be questioned). Church leaders build complex connections between Church doctrine and the nation. Using Mary as a symbol, they connect her suffering with the suffering of the nation. In this sense, just as the Polish nation is often spoken of as the Christ among nations, the Slovak nation could easily be referred to as the Virgin Mary of nations because of the shared vocabulary of suffering. Church leaders intertwine Catholic history of the region with Slovak national history. They use the practices of ancestors to justify the national connection to the Catholic Church. They further justify the connection by citing the Slovak experience under communism, and show the present significance of the connection in relation to new European structures and programs. Homilists construct the national past in a way that it becomes part of a greater narrative of eventual salvation. In other words, national history is the middle part of the salvation story, after biblical accounts and before eventual salvation. In fact, the nation can be envisioned as a vehicle for salvation. The nation is framed as important for the survival of the Church and its values. Catholicism and Marian devotion are defining characteristics of the Slovak nation. Therefore, the event (and especially its discourse) creates a role for the nation in the life of the Church and a role for the Church in the life of the nation. The Church targets national units, as well as other social configurations, because it needs state, national and other established units to activate connections with the Church and connections with Catho36 Ibid. �126 SLOVAKIA-2017 lie identity in ways that are not just personal and refl ective. The Church needs groups to survive, not just individuals;37 therefore, it not only practices communitarianism, it attempts to ground its activation of comm unitarianism in theology. It deploys thi s communitarian discourse over many societal levels (national community, family/kin, gender, local community, the Catholic Church, the Christian world). It posits a relationship between these communities, a relationship that gives added importance to the Church. Therefore, the Church's activation of nationhood in an event such as this is not instigated by some inherent nationalism in the Slovak Church (or nationalist program), but it is mostly pragmatic. It is part of a comprehensive system that uses the discourse and practices of communitarianism across many (crosscutting) societal levels to achieve certain goals. In fact, such a comprehensive system that allows for identification across many levels is from where Mary, as a symbol , derives much of her power. Her multi-vocality is the key to her success as a symbol. But why organize on a national level given the multi-national nature of the country and the international nature of the Catholic Church? Partly, it is because the Church is already divided into territorial units such as dioceses and archdioceses that are frequently bounded within states, and sometimes within formal or informal national territories. In that sense, the Church is merely activating the already instituted divisions within its structure. Also, the language of living nationally has been used for various social projects in the Slovak lands since the mid- I 800s, and it was especially used by Church leaders for social projects in the 1930s and 1940s, and in reaction to Communism. But this construction does not just reflect the convention of using the nation as an organizing principle. The institution of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, and the institution of a state holiday celebrating her, give the Church a greater inroad to nationalize the sacred, and sacralize the nation (at least the aspects of the nation institutionally connected with Catholicism and the Church) . Yet another reason for Catholic leaders to organize nationally stems from the way power is distributed in the European environ37 Massimo Rosati , Ritual and the Sacred: A Neo -Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self (Farnham : As hgate, 2009), 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 127 ment and the way the nation is constituted in the pilgrimage event. Church leaders can see that successful social action in Europe need not be created through majority will; it can also be organized around minority nations, minority viewpoints, etc. The organization of projects, labeled as minority projects, can sometimes provide access to governmental power that is often otherwise lacking. The narrative of the Slovak nation as a minority (in Europe) despite its own (albeit contested) nation-state discursively creates a situation in which nationhood matters. Nationhood is not frequently salient for most of the population of Slovakia in everyday life, but it can be easily activated (partly because of the multinational nature of the state, which almost constantly reinforces the nation as an organizing principle in politics). Also, the nation is just one facet of this communitarian landscape employed by the church. Apparently, the Catholic Church in Slovakia finds it useful, because the Sastin pilgrimage is growing in numbers, and nationalizing language has become more frequent during the 2000s (not necessarily in connection with rising nationalism). Of course, Church leaders do not construct a theology of the nation in a vacuum. So what is the role of the celebrants of this holiday in the creation of a theology of the nation? I would suggest that they are involved in this process in the ways they talk the nation, perform the nation, choose the nation and consume the nation in relation to this religious event. One of the biggest ways they choose the nation is simply by choosing to take part in the Slovak national pilgrimage, but living nationally for the pilgrims is certainly not limited to that one choice. The nation is reflected and constituted in the symbols that the pilgrims use, in the objects and spaces with which they interact and in the ways that they talk about the event. In addition, they are crucial partners in the exchanges and negotiations between church leaders and pilgrims. Without them, the event has little to no importance. Without them, the voice from the pulpit has no real power, only delegated authority. Constructing a theology of the nation is about creating a future for the connection between nationhood and devotion . Even when church leaders cannot negotiate about the future of the nation or Catholic Church, as visions for both of these vary even among Slovak Catholics, they can manipulate the conditions so that nationhood and devotion will at least be a part of future public conversations and negotiations. Mainly, this is accomplished through the creation of a �128 SLOVAKIA-2017 shared discourse. Constructing a theology of the nation structures the conditions of future exchanges because it institutes national factors into devotional practices, thereby ensuring that these factors and practices will form and inform future discussions that involve national and devotional identity. In other words, constructing a theology of the nation is about organizing the past, legitimizing the present and framing the future. Conclusion I believe that developing concepts such as theology of the nation are important for a few interrelated reasons: one, they point towards the different uses and intentions behind national discourse stemming from the pulpit; two, they highlight that "talking the nation" is used not only for the purpose of making people more national ; and three, they provide conceptual tools with which we can compare the different ways of making the nation relevant across religions. Using national discourse is done for a variety of purposes, be it either to advance a political program, influence people to purchase a product, claim territory, contest space or resources, encourage tourism , justify actions, make historical occurrences relevant to contemporary choices, and countless others. In the case outlined in this article, the nation is invoked in order to strengthen religious devotion. Nationhood is not established and the nation is not constructed solely for its own end . Nationhood and attachment to national identity is always part of a greater project. Establishing nationhood and constructing the nation is not always done with the nation as its endgame. The purpose can usually be found elsewhere. If we look at the when of nationalism, in other words, when do nations matter for people, we find that the nation is only important in specific contexts and situations. The nation may be relevant in our framing of issues that involve family values, economy, immigration, environment, international politics or other issues . Outside of those issues, the nation is not usually our dominant framework for categorizing culture, life, relationships. When we emphasize the discursively constructed nature of the nation and the fact that it functions as a framework for categorizing difference, we view the nation as a project, a series of processes or a practical achievement. This makes it easy to believe that a reified nation is the goal of the national pro- �SLOVAKIA-2017 129 ject. However, I would argue that making the nation (and making people more national) is almost never the sole goal of a national project. The project at Sastin can be understood as a theology of the Slovak nation, created through use of the biblical narratives of Mary ' s suffering. In one sense, the theme of suffering keeps people talking about a connection between Church and nation. In another sense, it creates and recreates a system that structures choice so that the nation and Marian devotion are both valued. The visceral connection through suffering has the capacity of becoming especially strong, because it functions not only on the individual level but on the group level as well, whether one envisions the group as the body of the Church or the nation. For some of the pilgrims who attend the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, national identity is important, while others would rather emphasize the international nature of the Catholic Church. For some, the fight against abortion takes precedence, while for others the fight against secularization of Europe is the rallying cry that brings them to the event. For countless others, the pilgrimage is simply a celebration of Mary. It may be about sharing individual or group suffering with Mary. It may be about asking Mary for assistance or healing. However, any path chosen that leads the participant to the Slovak national pilgrimage, in the end, provides support for the Catholic Church, Marian devotion and the Slovak nation. Even if pilgrims contest specific aspects of Church power or the validity of certain Marian practices, their participation in the performance of the event makes the Church and Mary prominent focal points. In this specific instance where Catholic leaders claim authority over social life outside of the Church, the ideas of making Catholic teaching and values important in the lives of pilgrims and making the Church a focal point go hand in hand with using the nation as a locus for evangelization. ��LITERATURE �� SLOVAKIA-2017 105 INVOKING THE NATION, STRENGTHENING DEVOTION: NATIONAL DISCOURSE AT THE SLOVAK NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE 1 Alexander Bielicki "At first glimpse it seems as if Catholicism and nationalism represent two opposite poles that can never level out or meet. And yet, nationalism finds its culmination point in Catholicism." - Jozef Tiso 2 The September 15 th Slovak National Pilgrimage to the National Basilica on the national holiday dedicated to the national patron offers Catholic leaders in Slovakia the rare opportunity to talk about the nation more or less freely in the public sphere. Since Slovakia's independence, several Slovak Catholic leaders have stirred up controversy regarding their stances on the activities of the Catholic Church and its clergy during the World War II semi-independent authoritarian Slovak state, as well as regarding some contemporary clergymen's tacit support for fascist organizations that commemorate the leaders of the WWII state, like the above-quoted President Jozef Tiso. 3 These instances have spurred perceptions of the Catholic Church in Slovakia as nationalist, a perception that reduces the public opportunities during which the Church may legitimately talk about the nation and reflect upon the connections between nation and Church. The annual Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a unique case study of how Catholic leaders discursively construct and use the concept of the nation in evangelization. Apart from the instances when Church leaders use nationalism in an attempt to reclaim or repaint the history of the Catholic Church during World 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the ASN World Convention, Columbia University, 18-20 April 2013. 2 Miroslav Kocur, "For God and Nation: Christian National Populism" in National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 - 2009 (Forum Minority Research Institute: Samorin - Samorja, 2009), 223 . 3 Ibid. , 221 - 45 . �106 SLOVAKIA-2017 4 War II , the nation is sometimes "talked and performed," not for what might be ca lled nati ona list goals, but instead, for what might be call ed reli gious goa ls. "Talking the nation" is not necessarily done in order to make the nat ion more sa li ent and make people more national. The inclusion of national discourse can be done in order to accomplish a wide variety of goa ls. In instances such as the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin , the nation may be used fo r evangelization. My intention here is not to offer a typology of national discourse in the re ligious field , but rather to point to some of the ways that the concept of the nation can be (and has been) used by Catho lic leaders in Slovakia. The examp les presented herein demonstrate not only the taken-for-granted nature of national frames for viewing and understanding the world, even in the g loba l Catholic Church; they a lso illustrate some of the ways the " nation" can be used . By analyzing materia l from the homili es presented each year at the Slovak National Pilgrim age, I wi ll illustrate these connections between religious devoti on and nationa l fidelity. In foc us are the homilies delivered from the independence of S lovakia in 1993 to 2011. 5 In the se speeches from the pulpit in Sasti n, bishops, archbishops, and occasionally cardina ls address the meaning of the holiday, the perce ived successes and fai lures of society, and the importance of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows for Slovak ia. Because of the nature of these homilies and the ritual focus of thi s holiday, I wi ll here look at the ways in w hi ch the Virgin Mary is connected to th e Slovak nation on these occas ions. Pilgrimage Context In Slovakia, pil grim ages and holidays are two of the most common events through which Marian theology is experienced by devotees and advanced by the c lergy. One can find about a dozen Marian holidays on the Slovak liturgica l ca lendar, but only one of them is connected w ith a state ho liday. The Slovak National Pilgrimage takes place every year on September 15, the Sviatok Sedembolestnej Panny Marie (O ur Lady of the Seven Sorrows Holid ay). It has been 4 The fo rmulati on of "talking, performing, consuming and choosing the nat ion" comes from Fox, Jon and Cynthi a Mil ler- Idriss, " Eve ryday Nati onh ood," Etlinicities, 8 (2008): 536 - 63. 5 This study is based on research an d fieldwork co mpl eted between 2008 and 20 12. �SLOVAKIA-2017 10 7 a national holiday since 1993 (first celebrated as such in 1994). The pilgrimage to the small western Slovak town of Sastin (Sastin-Straze since 1971) traces its roots to a founding miracle in 1564 and the subsequent carving of the Sastin pieta sculpture in thanks to the Virgin Mary, which would eventually become the ritual focus of later pilgrimages. The influence of this site grew rapidly under Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis of Lorraine, who partially funded the construction of a cathedral to house the Sastin pieta. In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as Patron saint of the region of Slovakia. 6 In 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated the Sastin cathedral to the status of Basilica Minor, the first in Slovakia. 7 In the years following, the Sastin cathedral would come to be known as the National Basilica, and more recently, the September 15 event would come to be known as the Slovak National Pilgrimage. Recent pilgrimages at Sastin have drawn approximately 20,000 worshippers per year, the overwhelming majority of whom are Slovaks from Slovakia. In addition, several television and radio stations broadcast the day 's events so that individuals may participate without making the trek to this small town. The event even brings a number of influential clergy, politicians and cultural figures as guests of honor. In fact, one of my respondents stated that the attendance of politicians at Sastin was what set it apart from other pilgrimages: "state representatives even go to this pilgrimage - they do not go to other pilgrimage sites." 8 For all of the differences among the participants in the Sastin pilgrimage, they share a religiously-oriented habitus. 9 By this, I do not mean that they are all Catholic, but that the vast majority of them are socialized into a specifically conservative, Slovak version of Catholicism. It can be understood as an environment where social, moral and linguistic issues expressed in a certain idiom 6 She is referred to as patronka Slovenska (the patroness of Slovakia), though she is more common ly understood as the patron of the Slovak nation as opposed to the Slovak state, an important distinction given the multi-national character of Slovakia. 7 Peter Zubko, "Baziliky mensie na Slovensku: ich prava a povinnosti" (Basilica Minors in Slovakia: Their Rights and Obligations), Nave Horizonty, I (2009): 40 45 . 8 Alexander Bielicki, A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph .D. dissertat ion, University of Oslo, 2012. 9 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, I 99 I). �108 SLOVAKIA-2017 are easily understood to be a part of the regular (acceptable) di scourse, and are shaped by the conditions and conventions within this particular societal framework. Bourdieu, in his essays on language and power, 10 calls these types of factors "structured dispositions." One of these structured dispositions would be towards Marian devotion. While levels of devotion to Mary differ among Slovak Catholics, the vocabulary of Marianism is ubiquitous throughout the country, and Marian symbols can be easily understood by most Catholics. Throughout Slovakia, there are hundreds of churches and chapels dedicated to the Virgin, and the number of Marian shrines is countless. Controversia l historian Milan Durica places the number of Marian churches and chapels in Slovakia at over 1200, with more than 200 dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. 11 Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko, among others, places the number of churches and chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows at around 250 12 Paintings, statues, prayers and songs heavily feature Mary, especially as the Sorrowful Mother, and she is a frequent subject of Slovak folk art of various media. The pieta is one of the more commonl y found Catholic images in the country. The Virgin Mary has become a powerful national symbol in many Catholic countries. While in Slovakia, the Virgin Mary does not receive any national titles as lofty as "Queen of Poland," "Queen of the Croats" or "Queen of Mexico," her status as national patron has been deeply woven into the fabric of the national canon. As Cardinal Tomko, the long-tenured Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (the office responsible for all missionary activities of the Catholic Church), acknowledged in hi s 1997 homil y, For us Slovaks, Seven Sorrows Day goes ri ght to the heart . For us, the picture of the Sorrowful Mother is engraved on our soul since childhood . We saw it in churches as well as in homes, on the Calvaries and in the chape ls, on the Ways of the Cross, and finall y also on the pl ates and popular embroidery. We rece ived respect fo r Mary of the Seven 10 Ibid. Milan S. Durica, S/owici a Sedembolestna: Kulturno-historicky nacrt (Brati slava: Luc, ustav dej in krest'an stva, 2008). 12 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at th e Nati onal Bas ili ca in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (2010). 11 �SLOVAKIA-2017 109 Sorrows almost with our mother's milk. 13 The connection between Mary and the Slovak nation fostered in these words is very self-aware. Statues, paintings, plates, needlework and other material goods associated with Mary can be found in every comer of Slovakia. Cardinal Tomko notes that the connection between individuals and the Virgin Mary is fostered from childhood and the material reminders found throughout the country are no doubt partly responsible for this transmission between generations. Slovak church leaders use the Virgin Mary (specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows) in a variety of ways to reify, and even to symbolize, the nation. They use the history of Marian devotion in Slovakia to homogenize Slovak religiosity and to provide justification for the claims of Marianism as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity. However, the Marian aspects of the national pilgrimage do not only relate to the ways in which national identity is portrayed. Many different levels of identity, beyond the national, are referenced in the event and many differrent social groupings find relevance. Gender, family, denomination, moral and social communities all play roles in this event, and they are all tied in one way or another to Marianism. 14 For the purposes of this article, though, I will focus primarily on the discursive connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. The inclusion of all these different roles-these different ways of identifying- demonstrates the clergy's reaction to late modernity. The homilies of the event highlight the challenges to various roles an individual may play in society: those connected with nation, with gender, with family, sometimes even with political affiliation. The Catholic Church, which in many ways appears to cling to out-offashion social models (although this has been somewhat challenged since the election of Pope Francis), utilizes the problems and language of late modernity to reinforce its claims, and one of the ways that this is accomplished is through the manner in which the politics 13 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, "Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna." Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 14 Alexander Bielicki , A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oslo, 20 12. �110 SLOVAKIA-2017 of identity are framed. If one of the markers of the "modem era" is the insistence on unitary identity, then the corresponding marker of the "late modem era" is the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that the successful person displays competence in navigating through all of their different identity roles. The inclusion of this multiplicity of identity roles in the pilgrimage homilies demonstrates the clergy ' s reaction to the so-called pathologies of the late-modem period, and demonstrates how the symbol of the Virgin Mary can be used as a modem tool to advance traditional goals: by providing a unitary self, guided by Marian devotion, that can be deployed in roles and situations. Suffering as Nexus What sets the Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows homilies apart from the homilies delivered for other Marian celebrations is that the biblical information presented in connection with the holiday and pilgrimage focuses on her sorrows and suffering and not on other aspects of her life and story. Suffering, whether revealed as a tragedy or a gift, is the lynchpin that binds the otherwise diverse elements, both catechismal and historical , of the event's homilies. The importance of this distinction is that it highlights a different side of Mary, a different face . Not that this particular interpretation of the Virgin Mary differs from the overall canon of Marian references, but that it selects certain aspects of it to be given primacy. The presentation of these aspects heightens specific types of responses to Mary: they promote a view of Mary as protector, specifically protecttor of the nation, and as picture of grace under suffering. Other roles such as mother, teacher, etc. are given relatively minor attention, expect for when they are related to suffering. The ubiquitous nature of the Virgin Mary not on ly serves as a constant reminder of the strong tradition of Marian devotion, it encourages her multivocality as a symbol. Religious historian Brian Porter notes that in the Polish Marian cult, one of Mary's most important roles is that of the Hetmanka, or military protector of the nation. 15 In the Netherlands, the Lady of All Nations devotional cult is 15 Brian Porter, " Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland," Contemporary European History, 14, No . 2 (2005) : 154 �SLOVAKJA-2017 111 centered on the idea of Mary as redeemer. 16 In the Slovak case, however, the suffering of the Virgin Mary is highlighted above all else when linking her to the nation. This type of discourse is used by the clergy not only for moral and religious lessons, but also to reify the nation by creating what I call a shared vocabulary of suffering, especially in reference to national history and the life of the Virgin Mary. From Bishop Gabris' 1984 homily, Our Slovak nation has suffered terribly. When things were bad for our nation, it could only beseech supernatural aid. Our believers also felt that no one in the world suffered such as Our Lady when she held in her arrn s the dead body of her own son. Therefore, no one in the world 17 18 could understand the suffering of our nation as she does. The theme of suffering creeps into the discourse and symbols of the Sastin pilgrimage, and this is one of the things that sets the event apart from others. In marked contrast to most other Marian events in Slovakia, the national pilgrimage to Sastin is thematically concentrated on suffering. While other pilgrimages may contain references to the suffering of Mary, only events specifically dedicated to the Mater Dolorosa, Our Lady of Sorrows, are discursively framed around suffering to this extent. Her pain peaked when she meets Jesus in the street, on the last day of his life, as a criminal amid a furious crowd, carrying the cross to the gallows-flogged, spat-upon, and crowned with thorns. How can she feel when she hears the sound of the murderous nails being hammered into his hands and feet , when she sees Him in immense pain stretched between heaven and earth? How can her heart endure the endless three hours of His agony? And yet, she, frail woman, standing beneath her son's cross, on whi ch she is also crucified. She stands unbroken in soul, not beaten down by the weight of the relentless pain . She stands under the cross, even when the terrible sword stabs a living wound in the 16 Peter Jan Margry, " Paradoxes of Marian Appariti onal Contestation: Networks, Ideology, Gender, and the Lady of All Nations," in Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen, and Catrien otermans, eds. ( Farnham: Ash gate, 2009), I 87 17 Bold typeface, mine. 18 Bishop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the Natio nal Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 16, 1984. <htt ://blo 0 .chri st-net.sk/? =node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. �112 SLOVAKIA-2017 heart. 19 The theme of suffering allows for discourse and symbols not only concerning Mary's suffering, but suffering in society as well: the crisis of the family, legalized abortion, moral relativism, the suffering of the nation, etc. This is one of the particularities of the Sastin pilgrimage: the focus on Marian suffering in connection with the suffering of everyday life opens up the door to a discussion of the many different forms of societal identity. The ways in which these forms of suffering are presented and the ways in which they are linked together offer some suggestions as to what the employment of Mary as a symbol of suffering might be meant to accomplish. Today we celebrate the holiday of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and here is an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence and to ask how is it that we Slovaks, through the long centuries, knew to resist so that the ferocious waves of history would not devour and bury us? We are of a nation who didn't have a kingly dynasty to rule in our castles, and we can ' t boast of famous victories. However, our nation reached one victory that, after a thousand years of silence and living without freedom we were able to overcome, so that today we find ourselves among the nations of Europe. We know from national history how difficult our ancestors fought for their existence, for their living space, for their language, for their faith , for their culture. They fought ; they won, because in this struggle they freely took refuge in the Mother of God. 20 In his 2007 homily (above), Bishop Secka offers the holiday as "an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence." This suggests that a salience of nation should exist for Slovak Catholics, and that a salience of Catholic identity should be present in Slovakia. His framing of "we" around an ethnic identity assumes an all ethnically Slovak audience, which is in fact not the case at Sastin. His words presume a long, uninterrupted history, but reduce that his19 Tomko, Cardinal Jozef. " Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna," Homily presented at the National Basilica in SaWn-Straze, Slovakia, Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 20 Bishop Stefan Secka, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 15, 2007. <http://www.magnificat.sk/htm02/homsas. htn_:i. >, accessed February 8, 2009 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 113 tory to a simple story of hard-working, oppressed, Catholic Slovaks who were victims of constant external pressure. This homily assigns an independent will and desire to the nation, not just individuals. The homily also speaks of a victory for the Slovak nation, a victory that can only be assumed to be the realization of the Slovak state, the ultimate reward for any national project. This type of rhetoric ignores the fact that the creation of the Slovak nation-state resulted from the intractable arguments of a small group of political elites and not from any plebiscite.21 This notion projects backwards in time the seemingly self-evident nature of the Slovak nation requiring a Slovak state, that this process was the unfaltering will and destiny of the nation. Furthermore, it portrays the realization of a Slovak state as an event that can be at least indirectly attributed to the intercession of Mary. Bishop Secka's 2007 homily is not unique among the Sedembolestna homilies. In many ways it echoes the 1984 homily given by Bishop Julius Gabris where he stated: Our nation, dear brothers and sisters, survived the hard times and was saved only because it relied upon Marian devotion. I mentioned only the three incidents: the extinction of the Great Moravian Empire, the invasion of the Tatars and the 150-year plundering of our territory by the Turks. In these times, all preconditions were met by which our Slovak nation should be completely devastated, torn from the earth. And yet still, it was not extinguished! Why not extinguished? Only because it relied on God's help and on the help of the Mother ofGod. 22 These words link the contemporary Catholic Church and the history of the Slovak nation in a chain of suffering. Furthermore, while the history detailed in the homily seeks to present the Slovak nation's suffering and its unwavering devotion to Mary, this version of history also reinforces the continuity and homogeneity of the Slovak nation. Anthropologist Richard Handler notes that a "negative vision of the struggle for survival presupposes the positive vision of collective unity and maturity - for how can an entity that does not in the first 21 Stefan Auer, Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004). 22 Bi shop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September I 6, I 984. <http: //blog.christ-net.sk/?q=node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. �114 SLOVAKIA-2017 place exist run the risk of disintegration?"23 However, this is not merely a simple reification of the nation through building a collection of past sufferings. This formulation not only reifies the nation, but it also reifies a contemporary vision of the Slovak nation, imagining it as an unchanged group occupying the same territory since before the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. While discursive use of the Virgin Mary might function to construct difference along national lines when these national boundaries also reflect religious boundaries, it is not so effective when constructing difference between Slovaks and non-Slovak coreligionists. Furthermore, discursively constructing the Slovak nation as devotees to Mary ignores the heterodox religious history of Slovakia. Most interestingly, though, the others who are constructed in these homilies are not the most salient ethnic others in the Slovak context. The nationalization of political life in Slovakia is often defined in reference to Slovak-Hungarian national divisions within the country; however, this doe s not appear to be the driving factor behind national differentiation for the Church, at least in regards to how difference is organized in the proceedings of the national pilgrimage to Sastin. In fact, it is not uncommon for homilists to invite ethnic Magyars [Hungarians] into the fold .24 That being said, the use of the national frame by church leaders at the national pilgrimage seems to be constructed in reference to Western Europe, conceived as a group of secular nations, as opposed to being constructed in reference to their Hungarian Catholi c neighbors. In this sense, devotion and devotional practices become a way for the Church to organize not on ly religious difference, but national difference as well. This orientation creates formulations whereby secularized Slovaks are ignored or considered agents of the secular " West. " In other words, these practices of national differentiation more resemble the politics of Slovaks differentiating themselves from Czechs at the beginning of the 1990s than they resemble the patterns of national differentiation from Magyar speakers throughout the 1990s and beyond. 23 Richard Handler, Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec (Madi son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988), 5. 24 Ca rdinal Jan Chrzyostom Korec, "Tvorivou lasko u," Kato/icke noviny. I 15, No. 39 (September 24, 2000). �SLOVAKIA-2017 115 Let us entrust to our heavenly patron also the future of Slovakia in the community of European nations with the hope that Europe will be built with the recognition of its Christian roots, as the Holy Father relentlessly reminds us, and that in that our nation maintains its own identity based on Christian culture and its values. We do not want to lose ourselves and to be diluted in such a European community that would be governed by secularized humani sm and liberal individualism, without respect for the principle of Christian so lidarity.25 The further highlighting of issues presented within a national context attests to the way the Church in Slovakia has reacted and continues to react to various factors at the state, supranational and international level. Presenting the national, projecting the national, within the narrative of the Slovak nation as a Catholic nation acting as a minority, a righteous minority (especially against the backdrop of oppression throughout history at the hands of foreign powers), allows for the Church to talk about social issues of Catholic concern - abortion, chief among them - as an extension of the historical battle waged by the Catholic Slovak nation in the name of righteousness. The mill has been started, where they intend to grind the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, the guide for the past and present life of our nation for more than one thousand years. For what is life if a man can kill the terminally ill and the unborn?26 National elements woven into the fabric of the devotional movement to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows recapture the idea of the Slovaks as a small nation , fundamentally Christian if not Catholic, being pushed around by larger powers: those that advocate a program that lessens the emphasis on a Judeo-Christian morality system as the defining characteristic of Europe. Using examples from proposed hi storical sufferings of the Slovak nation, whether at the hands of 25 Bishop Jozef Zlati\ansky, "Zverme sa Sedembolestnej." Homily presented at the National Bas ilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny,. 11 8, No. 40 (October 5, 2003). <htt ://www.katnovin .sk/Kn 2003/40 2003/obnova. htm >, accessed on February 8, 2009. 26 Bishop Stefan Secka, "Matka viery, Matka nadeje," Homily presented at the Nati onal Basi lica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, September I 5, 2004. <http://www. blu me nta l. sk/caso is/rok 2004/10-2004/cl04.htm>, accessed on September 21 , 2009. �116 SLOVAKIA-2017 Turks, Tatars, Magyars, Czechs or others, homilists propose a continuity of oppression aimed at Slovaks, despite the realization of the ostensibly Slovak nation-state. Indeed, the role of religion and the politics of national identity in any society are heavily contingent upon the form of the state, and in this case, supranational governance. Without the split of Czechoslovakia or the entrance of Slovakia into the European Union, undoubtedly a different structure of whom the Slovak nation is defined against would emerge, thereby influencing how the boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn. Even though some references to past injustices faced at the hands of European neighbors appear in the homilies, they are rare. Besides those few examples, the nationalizing language of the event is not overly exclusionary in nature. It is of course highly focused on positive portrayals of the in-group, but for the most part, the out-groups (i.e. Western Europe) appear as abstractions. In other words, even though much of the nationalizing language stemming from the homilists promotes something that I wou ld not call an inclusive vision of the nation, it is certainly more inclusive than the militant and chauvinistic national orientations found in some corners of Slovak society. For the homilists, ideology (i.e. religious orientation) seems to have been the primary division; however, religious differrentiation has been communicated through national differentiation - in essence, nationalizing religious life. National History or Catholic History? In many of the examples from the homilies, the historical Slovak nation is presented as in constant battle, or in a constant state of suffering. In 1928, Slovak Catholic priest and politician Ferdis Juriga posited seven sorrows of the Slovak nation to correspond with the seven sorrows of Mary27, and several Sastin homilies reference these periods of suffering, especially the Tatar and Turkish invasions. According to Juriga, the seven sorrows of the Slovak nation were (1) the migration of the Magyars to the Danubian Basin and their defeat of the Slavic peoples who lived there; (2) the repression of Catholics in the Kingdom of Hungary, 1044 - 1046; (3) the Tatar invasion, 27 Jana Moricova, "Sastinska Sedembolestna patr6nka Slovenska," Marianske Putnicke Miesta na Slovensku: Zbornik z vedeckej konferencie konanej (Rufomberok: Katolicka univerzita v Ru fo mberku, 2007), 20 - 26 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 117 1241 - 1242; (4) the Hussite incursions across Upper Hungary, 1431 - 1458; (5) the Turkish wars, 1526 - 1683; (6) the spread of Protestantism and the split of the nation between Catholic and Protestant faiths; (7) and the rampant poverty that led to mass emigration. 28 Mentioning any of these seven moments in the homilies for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Day discursively connects national suffering and the Virgin Mary, specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. They also link historical struggles and the overcoming of those struggles with present day struggles and the possibility of overcoming them. According to tradition, during the Tatar invasion in I 241 our families fled into the forests, to where the hordes would not dare to go; our ancestors carried with them Marian pictures and statues, especially of the Sorrowful Mother. In the 15 th century, families in our lands possessed reliefs of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary, which at that time had been produced from baked clay at the command of King Matthias Corvin us. In 1470, when the Turkish invasion was already threatening, Jan Vitez, the archbishop of Esztergom, specifically recalled as an ancient, historical custom, that in difficult times our ancestors turned to the Sorrowful Virgin Mary for help and appealed to her so that they might devote themselves to her in the time of danger. His successor, Archbishop Juraj Selepceni, before the decisive battle with the Turks near Vienna in 1683, gave his soldiers medallions with a picture of the Sorrowful Mother in order to invoke her assistance. Even the old folk song from the Turkish wars " By Trencin's Gate" is a plea to the Virgin Mary from the Slovak heroes before leaving for battle: "God and Mary help us, to be a happy Slovak land." The tradition of devotion to the Sorrowful Mother stretches across our whole history ... 29 As can be seen in the above excerpt, the homilists construct history around a core of Marian devotion . Historical struggles, whether framed as national, Catholic or Christian, are layered around this central theme of Marian devotion. In Cardinal Tomko 's 2010 homily, the history of the region is portrayed as a series of invasions and invocations of Mary's assistance in prevailing despite the harsh conditions. While these invaders fell upon the Kingdom of Hungary, 28 Ibid. Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (20 10). 29 �118 SLOVAKIA-2017 Cardinal Tomko refers repeatedly to the victims of the invasion as "our ancestors," framing the history of the Slovak lands as the history of the Slovaks. The tradition of Marian devotion is "recalled as an ancient, historical custom" of the Slovaks. Cardinal Tomko takes the negative histories of war and struggle and the positive histories of Marian devotion out of their historical context in the Kingdom of Hungary, and makes them exclusive property of the Slovak nation . In other words, the Slovak nation is written into history as a protagonist, even into historical periods during which the nation was not a salient category of identification. The Church, then, uses this opportunity to present a very specific Slovak Catholic version of national history, a version that portrays Marian devotion as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity that is both consistent through time and ubiquitous through the territory of Slovakia. In other words, the national history presented in the Sedembolestna homilies is both essentializing and homogenizing, (so that a more coherent set of narratives can be easily presented). By-and-large, during the event, Slovak national identity and the Slovak nation is not portrayed as under siege, the way that nationalist politicians often paint the picture. Yet it is portrayed as a minority nation, and a suffering nation. Within the framework of Slovakia, those who consider themselves to be ethnically Slovak have a clear majority; however, during the pilgrimage the Slovak nation is often presented in the context of the world stage, or at least the European stage. In other words, the ethno-national situation of Slovaks in Slovakia is omitted from the discourse of the event, and the situation of Slovaks in a broader context is presented instead, so as to highlight Slovaks ' minority status in Europe. Therefore, the episodes of historical suffering mentioned earlier find a new context in which to be expressed in the present structure of governance. This extension of history, for the most part, is not malicious in intent towards its European neighbors (or against the faceless "society" mentioned often in the homilies). However, there are some Slovak nationalists, who use the rhetoric stemming from Church sources as a validation of their claims. Therefore, that is where the de facto national Church and some Slovak nationalists intersect. There is a crossover between their ranks, but these individuals and sub-groups do not usuall y act as the driving forces behind the Church in Slo- �SLOVAKIA-2017 119 vakia or Slovak nationalist organizations. Portraying the Church in Slovakia as nationalist, as often happens, is misleading, or rather, an oversimplification. They produce discourse that may aid some nationalists ( especially those nationalists who find importance in the Catholic nature of the nation), but this is not the primary goal of their discourse. Their primary goal seems to be evangelization and connecting various levels of social identity to the Church. In this process, the nation is just one of many leve ls of identity fostered and connected with the Church. By stepping away from simply labeling certain actions stemming from the Slovak Church as nationalist, and looking to the purpose and function of using the nation, a clearer picture emerges regarding the processes actually occurring. Shared System of Discourse In the celebration of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, the dominant themes of the event are that of suffering and sorrow. In a sense, we can envision this as a shared vocabulary of suffering within the larger shared system of discourse. Whether a detailed telling of the Seven Sorrows endured by Mary, the perceived one-thousand years of suffering of the Slovak nation since the end of the Great Moravian Empire or the evils of abortion, the dominant tropes are 'tragic' in nature. This accentuates "an economy that capitalizes on human suffering, valuing it not as the absence or disfavor of God, but as a grace or favor that viscerally connects the devout with the sufferings of Jesus, Mary, and the saints." 30 Essentially, suffering functions as the hub that links all of the spokes of the wheel; it is a gift given and a gift received; but most of all, suffering frames the introduction of social identities to the event. In the homilies of the event, the homilists demonstrate ways of talking about national identity, Catholic identity, Christian identity and even European identity. The ways in which the event is nationnally framed by church leaders- and the ways in which pilgrims talk, choose, perform and consume the nation-provide space for the nationalization of objects, spaces, bodies and symbols. This space 30 David Morgan, "Aura and the Inversion of Marian Pilgrimage: Fatima and Her Statues," Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen and Catrien Notermans, eds. (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), 63 . �120 SLOVAKJA-2017 allocated for nationalization does not exist at many other large-scale Catholic events in the country apart from Sastin, at least during the years surveyed in this study. Furthermore, the homilists build a history that intertwines Catholic and national pasts. They provide pilgrims with the discursive tools to deal with numerous societal issues in a Catholic way. They tum national life, political life and even family life into Catholic life. In other words, they demonstrate a Catholic way of talking about social life that is meant to be transferred outside of the religious field , or at least to broaden the religious field . Pilgrims and church leaders together contribute to the definition of social identities, not necessarily making agreements on how to live these identities, but how to articulate these identities. One elite project found in the discourse of the pilgrimage is the attempt to create a shared system of discourse in order to talk about devotional life and to discuss social issues within a Catholic framework. The pilgrimage at Sastin, then, is one of the large-scale events in which the Church does maintenance work to this shared system of discourse. I would suggest that a shared discourse could buttress the role of the Church and the role of Catholic identity in the country, even if membership in the Church is sometimes considered " lukewarm. " This type of maintenance work is done on every Sunday in the churches and at church-officiated events throughout the lives of people. The Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a stage on which to address the proposed importance of devotional identity to a large audience at the same time, and to construct a way for Catholics to talk about the social issues that affect them . This type of maintenance is accomplished through countless different pilgrimages; however, it is the peculiarities of the Sastin pilgrimage that allow for a greater opportunity to engage issues of identity outside of devotional identity. Creating a shared discursive system can be seen as one of the byproducts of evangelization, and this system is a prerequisite for most of the pastoral work in which the Church engages. In other words, the Church needs to have this shared discourse in place in order to navigate the challenges of its pastoral care effectively. The pilgrims need to be a part of constructing this discourse, because in order for the Church to be an important identity marker in their lives, they need to be able to find a way to articulate their place in the body of the Church, and likewise their position in society in relationship to �SLOVAKIA-2017 121 the Church. Such a system is created through evangelization and a general socialization into religion; in other words, through creating a religiously literate society. Cultural historian Callum Brown uses the idea of a collapse in shared discourse to explain the fate of Christianity in Britain. 3 1 In Britain, as well as across western and northern Europe, the socialization of young people into Christianity has largely stopped. The Christian cultural forces in society that socialize new generations into recognizing a Christian identity in themselves have lost their voices, with the result that many young people in those countries no longer acquire a basic literacy in Christian symbols and Christian history. In Slovakia, the opposite is the case. Basic cultural competencies in Christianity maintain a shared discourse between Church and society; and in Slovakia, there appears to be a relative strengthening of a shared discourse, which often frames issues, whether political or religious, as national. It is this shared discourse, especially about suffering, that allows for some of these connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. During the pilgrimage, Church leaders present suffering as a gateway to understanding Marian devotion; they extend Marian suffering as a metaphor onto their flock. Coupled with this presentation, the nationally framed aspects of the pilgrimage allow this suffering to be extended via relevant social groupings, like the nation, family and gender. It is presumeptuous to assume that homilists should reference social groupings based on gender, or kinship, or nation, and so on; that they are somehow more natural or salient than other social groupings. We do not see roles connected with class, or the idea of class at all enter into the homilies. However, in religious fields influenced by liberation theology in Central and South American, nothing would be more natural or salient than the reification of class identity. The ability to load Mary with meaning does not assume the successful transmission of those meanings; however, the ways in which Mary is discursively packed with meaning gives us a window into the uses of Marian symbols and the possible lived-in worlds where the symbols and words might have the ability to make an impact. Examining the way that the homilists use the concept of suffering in 31 Grace Davie, Europe: The Exceptional Case (London : Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002), 20. �122 SLOVAKIA-2017 their reaction to the outcomes of modernity, presented in a context where the topic of identity is central to holiday and pilgrimage, shows how a vast number of different identities are related to Mary. The suffering of the nation, the crisis of the family , the widespread legal nature of abortion, the crisis of governance, the intrusion of consumerism, and the relativism of (Western) Europe are all connected to Mary's suffering. Any of these connections between perceived suffering of the individual and the perceived suffering of Mary can serve to reinforce the importance of Marian devotion in the life of the pilgrim. Modernization seems to accentuate the divides regarding gender, class, ethnicity, religion, etc ., and the homilists' discourse does not seek to attenuate them; instead, they are discursively reframed so that each of these identities are reified and simultaneously connected with Mary. The encouragement of communitarianism- be it in family , kin , social community, moral community, nation or other groups- is also consistent with the Church ' s stance against individualism. In that sense, one of the primary functions of this type of pastoralization and evangelization is to combat the so-called cult of the individual and to reinforce membership in social groups that are considered meaningful. By reinforcing membership in social groups consistent with the messages of the Church, so too may they encourage the ro le of Marian devotion in these groups, claiming Marian devotion not just as something which should be a fundamental characteristic of Catholics, but of Europeans, the Slovak nation, the family and even the body politic. Constructing a Theology of the Nation One of the things occurring during this pilgrimage event is that Church leaders are seeking to reinvigorate the societal influence of Catholic teaching and the Catholic Church. Their efforts at evangelization seek to make Catholic doctrine influential in society, and to make Catholicism matter for individuals and institutions beyond the religious field ; in other words, to move beyond the sphere of personal salvation. They are doing so by making Marianism important to social identities outside of religious identity, national identity being one of them . They are weaving national identity into the religious sphere, and in doing so, constructing what I call a theology of the �SLOVAKIA-2017 123 nation. "Grace does not destroy secular realities, or demand abandoning them for religious ones. Rather, grace includes, builds upon and potentially transfigures the sphere of the natural. The implication of this is that nationality can be one of the loci where responsible intelligence can ground theological consideration." 32 Dorian Llywelyn's, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality, 33 is one of the first of its kind to explore the connection between nationality and Catholicism in terms of theology. Llywelyn's treatment approaches nationnal identity not simply as subordinate to devotional identity, as has usually been the case in the Catholic Church, but as a locus of devotion. An academic exercise such as this would not have been possible in the past. Several factors account for the feasibi lity of Llywelyn's project in the present, one of which is the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that brought national practices, national languages and national discourse further into the Catholic Church. Perhaps another reason, although I do not have hard evidence to support the claim, is the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978. I would suggest that his election brought nationality into the Church by introducing a Central European, and specifically Polish, understanding of nationality to the papacy, one built on a long tradition of connecting the Church to the nation, which considered the Catholic Church as the repository of the nation in response to the Polish partitions between Orthodox neighbors to the east and Protestant neighbors to the west. In addition, the simple fact that John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in hundreds of years, and was even commonly referred to as "the Polish pope," made nationality matter in the Church in a way it previously had not. For these reasons and others, positing a theology of nationality, or a theology of the nation as I would prefer to call it, becomes more plausible in the present day. In addition, I believe that Llywelyn ' s choice to academically engage the relationship between nation and religion supports the fact that the Catholic Church, specifically the Slovak Catholic Church, is increasingly engaging social identities outside of purely devotional ones; and that they first connect devotional identities to other social identities, and then must develop theology to substantiate these connections (in this case, the 32 Dori an Ll ywe lyn, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality (New York : Lexington Books, 20 I 0), 4. 33 Ibid . �124 SLOVAKIA-2017 nation and national identity). Church leaders foster a communitarian spirit based around many different types of identity, national among them, in order to fight against the crisis of the postmodern (and the relativism and secularism of Europe). In creating a theology of the nation, the Slovak church uses the nation as one of its primary loci for evangelization. This creates a situation where the nation is purported to be a natural place to locate and build devotion; however Church leaders connect the nation and Church in many other instances as we ll. In the media, in cross-border ecumenical counci ls and in other situations, church leaders may talk or act nationally, but that does not mean that they are creating a theology of the nation. A theology of the nation goes a step further, by writing national history, national characteristics and national practices into the teachings of the Church, indeed constructing national history, characteristics and practices in the process. Creating a theology of the nation involves producing the nation, not just using it in discourse. In the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, these national elements are sacralized in order to support forms of Marian devotion found in the event. As Llywe lyn notes, "revealed Christian truth" not only corresponds to national experience; national experience becomes part of "revealed Christian truth. "34 But this is more than simply sacralizing the nation : it collapses national and devotional values into one another, it creates a shared discourse and it writes the nation into the unofficial theology of the Church: "unofficial," because it cannot be realized in dogma or scriptural accounts, and "theology" because it becomes part of Church doctrine and teaching. "The task of a theology of nationality is to investigate the relationship between the mystery of Christ and the human experience of being a member of the nation."35 In the case of the Slovak national pilgrimage, a theology of the nation explores the connection between the nation and Mary, more so than between the nation and Jesus. The nation protects Mary, and vice-versa. The nation suffers with and for Mary. The nation embodies Mary . The nation becomes part of the Marian narrative, just as Mary has become part of the national narrative. This may seem unusual at first, but as Llywe lyn notes, human 34 35 Ibid. Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 125 experience can indeed be a source for theology.36 When church leaders construct a theology of the nation, something different is happening from when church leaders speak about the nation in other instances, as in the media. In the context of the holiday event, Church leaders can more freely speak about these things because they are addressing these issues in the religious field, not venturing outside their field of competence. But it is not only that. Church leaders act as authorized delegates of the Church, especially in their role during the Pontifical Mass, the ritual focus of the pilgrimage celebration. As such, the delegated authority of the Church is behind them when they connect Church and nation in the ritual event ( outside of Church matters, their authority may be questioned). Church leaders build complex connections between Church doctrine and the nation. Using Mary as a symbol, they connect her suffering with the suffering of the nation. In this sense, just as the Polish nation is often spoken of as the Christ among nations, the Slovak nation could easily be referred to as the Virgin Mary of nations because of the shared vocabulary of suffering. Church leaders intertwine Catholic history of the region with Slovak national history. They use the practices of ancestors to justify the national connection to the Catholic Church. They further justify the connection by citing the Slovak experience under communism, and show the present significance of the connection in relation to new European structures and programs. Homilists construct the national past in a way that it becomes part of a greater narrative of eventual salvation. In other words, national history is the middle part of the salvation story, after biblical accounts and before eventual salvation. In fact, the nation can be envisioned as a vehicle for salvation. The nation is framed as important for the survival of the Church and its values. Catholicism and Marian devotion are defining characteristics of the Slovak nation. Therefore, the event (and especially its discourse) creates a role for the nation in the life of the Church and a role for the Church in the life of the nation. The Church targets national units, as well as other social configurations, because it needs state, national and other established units to activate connections with the Church and connections with Catho36 Ibid. �126 SLOVAKIA-2017 lie identity in ways that are not just personal and refl ective. The Church needs groups to survive, not just individuals;37 therefore, it not only practices communitarianism, it attempts to ground its activation of comm unitarianism in theology. It deploys thi s communitarian discourse over many societal levels (national community, family/kin, gender, local community, the Catholic Church, the Christian world). It posits a relationship between these communities, a relationship that gives added importance to the Church. Therefore, the Church's activation of nationhood in an event such as this is not instigated by some inherent nationalism in the Slovak Church (or nationalist program), but it is mostly pragmatic. It is part of a comprehensive system that uses the discourse and practices of communitarianism across many (crosscutting) societal levels to achieve certain goals. In fact, such a comprehensive system that allows for identification across many levels is from where Mary, as a symbol , derives much of her power. Her multi-vocality is the key to her success as a symbol. But why organize on a national level given the multi-national nature of the country and the international nature of the Catholic Church? Partly, it is because the Church is already divided into territorial units such as dioceses and archdioceses that are frequently bounded within states, and sometimes within formal or informal national territories. In that sense, the Church is merely activating the already instituted divisions within its structure. Also, the language of living nationally has been used for various social projects in the Slovak lands since the mid- I 800s, and it was especially used by Church leaders for social projects in the 1930s and 1940s, and in reaction to Communism. But this construction does not just reflect the convention of using the nation as an organizing principle. The institution of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, and the institution of a state holiday celebrating her, give the Church a greater inroad to nationalize the sacred, and sacralize the nation (at least the aspects of the nation institutionally connected with Catholicism and the Church) . Yet another reason for Catholic leaders to organize nationally stems from the way power is distributed in the European environ37 Massimo Rosati , Ritual and the Sacred: A Neo -Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self (Farnham : As hgate, 2009), 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 127 ment and the way the nation is constituted in the pilgrimage event. Church leaders can see that successful social action in Europe need not be created through majority will; it can also be organized around minority nations, minority viewpoints, etc. The organization of projects, labeled as minority projects, can sometimes provide access to governmental power that is often otherwise lacking. The narrative of the Slovak nation as a minority (in Europe) despite its own (albeit contested) nation-state discursively creates a situation in which nationhood matters. Nationhood is not frequently salient for most of the population of Slovakia in everyday life, but it can be easily activated (partly because of the multinational nature of the state, which almost constantly reinforces the nation as an organizing principle in politics). Also, the nation is just one facet of this communitarian landscape employed by the church. Apparently, the Catholic Church in Slovakia finds it useful, because the Sastin pilgrimage is growing in numbers, and nationalizing language has become more frequent during the 2000s (not necessarily in connection with rising nationalism). Of course, Church leaders do not construct a theology of the nation in a vacuum. So what is the role of the celebrants of this holiday in the creation of a theology of the nation? I would suggest that they are involved in this process in the ways they talk the nation, perform the nation, choose the nation and consume the nation in relation to this religious event. One of the biggest ways they choose the nation is simply by choosing to take part in the Slovak national pilgrimage, but living nationally for the pilgrims is certainly not limited to that one choice. The nation is reflected and constituted in the symbols that the pilgrims use, in the objects and spaces with which they interact and in the ways that they talk about the event. In addition, they are crucial partners in the exchanges and negotiations between church leaders and pilgrims. Without them, the event has little to no importance. Without them, the voice from the pulpit has no real power, only delegated authority. Constructing a theology of the nation is about creating a future for the connection between nationhood and devotion . Even when church leaders cannot negotiate about the future of the nation or Catholic Church, as visions for both of these vary even among Slovak Catholics, they can manipulate the conditions so that nationhood and devotion will at least be a part of future public conversations and negotiations. Mainly, this is accomplished through the creation of a �128 SLOVAKIA-2017 shared discourse. Constructing a theology of the nation structures the conditions of future exchanges because it institutes national factors into devotional practices, thereby ensuring that these factors and practices will form and inform future discussions that involve national and devotional identity. In other words, constructing a theology of the nation is about organizing the past, legitimizing the present and framing the future. Conclusion I believe that developing concepts such as theology of the nation are important for a few interrelated reasons: one, they point towards the different uses and intentions behind national discourse stemming from the pulpit; two, they highlight that "talking the nation" is used not only for the purpose of making people more national ; and three, they provide conceptual tools with which we can compare the different ways of making the nation relevant across religions. Using national discourse is done for a variety of purposes, be it either to advance a political program, influence people to purchase a product, claim territory, contest space or resources, encourage tourism , justify actions, make historical occurrences relevant to contemporary choices, and countless others. In the case outlined in this article, the nation is invoked in order to strengthen religious devotion. Nationhood is not established and the nation is not constructed solely for its own end . Nationhood and attachment to national identity is always part of a greater project. Establishing nationhood and constructing the nation is not always done with the nation as its endgame. The purpose can usually be found elsewhere. If we look at the when of nationalism, in other words, when do nations matter for people, we find that the nation is only important in specific contexts and situations. The nation may be relevant in our framing of issues that involve family values, economy, immigration, environment, international politics or other issues . Outside of those issues, the nation is not usually our dominant framework for categorizing culture, life, relationships. When we emphasize the discursively constructed nature of the nation and the fact that it functions as a framework for categorizing difference, we view the nation as a project, a series of processes or a practical achievement. This makes it easy to believe that a reified nation is the goal of the national pro- �SLOVAKIA-2017 129 ject. However, I would argue that making the nation (and making people more national) is almost never the sole goal of a national project. The project at Sastin can be understood as a theology of the Slovak nation, created through use of the biblical narratives of Mary ' s suffering. In one sense, the theme of suffering keeps people talking about a connection between Church and nation. In another sense, it creates and recreates a system that structures choice so that the nation and Marian devotion are both valued. The visceral connection through suffering has the capacity of becoming especially strong, because it functions not only on the individual level but on the group level as well, whether one envisions the group as the body of the Church or the nation. For some of the pilgrims who attend the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, national identity is important, while others would rather emphasize the international nature of the Catholic Church. For some, the fight against abortion takes precedence, while for others the fight against secularization of Europe is the rallying cry that brings them to the event. For countless others, the pilgrimage is simply a celebration of Mary. It may be about sharing individual or group suffering with Mary. It may be about asking Mary for assistance or healing. However, any path chosen that leads the participant to the Slovak national pilgrimage, in the end, provides support for the Catholic Church, Marian devotion and the Slovak nation. Even if pilgrims contest specific aspects of Church power or the validity of certain Marian practices, their participation in the performance of the event makes the Church and Mary prominent focal points. In this specific instance where Catholic leaders claim authority over social life outside of the Church, the ideas of making Catholic teaching and values important in the lives of pilgrims and making the Church a focal point go hand in hand with using the nation as a locus for evangelization. ��LITERATURE �� 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-2017 105 INVOKING THE NATION, STRENGTHENING DEVOTION: NATIONAL DISCOURSE AT THE SLOVAK NATIONAL PILGRIMAGE 1 Alexander Bielicki "At first glimpse it seems as if Catholicism and nationalism represent two opposite poles that can never level out or meet. And yet, nationalism finds its culmination point in Catholicism." - Jozef Tiso 2 The September 15 th Slovak National Pilgrimage to the National Basilica on the national holiday dedicated to the national patron offers Catholic leaders in Slovakia the rare opportunity to talk about the nation more or less freely in the public sphere. Since Slovakia's independence, several Slovak Catholic leaders have stirred up controversy regarding their stances on the activities of the Catholic Church and its clergy during the World War II semi-independent authoritarian Slovak state, as well as regarding some contemporary clergymen's tacit support for fascist organizations that commemorate the leaders of the WWII state, like the above-quoted President Jozef Tiso. 3 These instances have spurred perceptions of the Catholic Church in Slovakia as nationalist, a perception that reduces the public opportunities during which the Church may legitimately talk about the nation and reflect upon the connections between nation and Church. The annual Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a unique case study of how Catholic leaders discursively construct and use the concept of the nation in evangelization. Apart from the instances when Church leaders use nationalism in an attempt to reclaim or repaint the history of the Catholic Church during World 1 An earlier version of this article was presented at the ASN World Convention, Columbia University, 18-20 April 2013. 2 Miroslav Kocur, "For God and Nation: Christian National Populism" in National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 - 2009 (Forum Minority Research Institute: Samorin - Samorja, 2009), 223 . 3 Ibid. , 221 - 45 . 106 SLOVAKIA-2017 4 War II , the nation is sometimes "talked and performed," not for what might be ca lled nati ona list goals, but instead, for what might be call ed reli gious goa ls. "Talking the nation" is not necessarily done in order to make the nat ion more sa li ent and make people more national. The inclusion of national discourse can be done in order to accomplish a wide variety of goa ls. In instances such as the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin , the nation may be used fo r evangelization. My intention here is not to offer a typology of national discourse in the re ligious field , but rather to point to some of the ways that the concept of the nation can be (and has been) used by Catho lic leaders in Slovakia. The examp les presented herein demonstrate not only the taken-for-granted nature of national frames for viewing and understanding the world, even in the g loba l Catholic Church; they a lso illustrate some of the ways the " nation" can be used . By analyzing materia l from the homili es presented each year at the Slovak National Pilgrim age, I wi ll illustrate these connections between religious devoti on and nationa l fidelity. In foc us are the homilies delivered from the independence of S lovakia in 1993 to 2011. 5 In the se speeches from the pulpit in Sasti n, bishops, archbishops, and occasionally cardina ls address the meaning of the holiday, the perce ived successes and fai lures of society, and the importance of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows for Slovak ia. Because of the nature of these homilies and the ritual focus of thi s holiday, I wi ll here look at the ways in w hi ch the Virgin Mary is connected to th e Slovak nation on these occas ions. Pilgrimage Context In Slovakia, pil grim ages and holidays are two of the most common events through which Marian theology is experienced by devotees and advanced by the c lergy. One can find about a dozen Marian holidays on the Slovak liturgica l ca lendar, but only one of them is connected w ith a state ho liday. The Slovak National Pilgrimage takes place every year on September 15, the Sviatok Sedembolestnej Panny Marie (O ur Lady of the Seven Sorrows Holid ay). It has been 4 The fo rmulati on of "talking, performing, consuming and choosing the nat ion" comes from Fox, Jon and Cynthi a Mil ler- Idriss, " Eve ryday Nati onh ood," Etlinicities, 8 (2008): 536 - 63. 5 This study is based on research an d fieldwork co mpl eted between 2008 and 20 12. SLOVAKIA-2017 10 7 a national holiday since 1993 (first celebrated as such in 1994). The pilgrimage to the small western Slovak town of Sastin (Sastin-Straze since 1971) traces its roots to a founding miracle in 1564 and the subsequent carving of the Sastin pieta sculpture in thanks to the Virgin Mary, which would eventually become the ritual focus of later pilgrimages. The influence of this site grew rapidly under Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis of Lorraine, who partially funded the construction of a cathedral to house the Sastin pieta. In 1927, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as Patron saint of the region of Slovakia. 6 In 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated the Sastin cathedral to the status of Basilica Minor, the first in Slovakia. 7 In the years following, the Sastin cathedral would come to be known as the National Basilica, and more recently, the September 15 event would come to be known as the Slovak National Pilgrimage. Recent pilgrimages at Sastin have drawn approximately 20,000 worshippers per year, the overwhelming majority of whom are Slovaks from Slovakia. In addition, several television and radio stations broadcast the day 's events so that individuals may participate without making the trek to this small town. The event even brings a number of influential clergy, politicians and cultural figures as guests of honor. In fact, one of my respondents stated that the attendance of politicians at Sastin was what set it apart from other pilgrimages: "state representatives even go to this pilgrimage - they do not go to other pilgrimage sites." 8 For all of the differences among the participants in the Sastin pilgrimage, they share a religiously-oriented habitus. 9 By this, I do not mean that they are all Catholic, but that the vast majority of them are socialized into a specifically conservative, Slovak version of Catholicism. It can be understood as an environment where social, moral and linguistic issues expressed in a certain idiom 6 She is referred to as patronka Slovenska (the patroness of Slovakia), though she is more common ly understood as the patron of the Slovak nation as opposed to the Slovak state, an important distinction given the multi-national character of Slovakia. 7 Peter Zubko, "Baziliky mensie na Slovensku: ich prava a povinnosti" (Basilica Minors in Slovakia: Their Rights and Obligations), Nave Horizonty, I (2009): 40 45 . 8 Alexander Bielicki, A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph .D. dissertat ion, University of Oslo, 2012. 9 Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, I 99 I). 108 SLOVAKIA-2017 are easily understood to be a part of the regular (acceptable) di scourse, and are shaped by the conditions and conventions within this particular societal framework. Bourdieu, in his essays on language and power, 10 calls these types of factors "structured dispositions." One of these structured dispositions would be towards Marian devotion. While levels of devotion to Mary differ among Slovak Catholics, the vocabulary of Marianism is ubiquitous throughout the country, and Marian symbols can be easily understood by most Catholics. Throughout Slovakia, there are hundreds of churches and chapels dedicated to the Virgin, and the number of Marian shrines is countless. Controversia l historian Milan Durica places the number of Marian churches and chapels in Slovakia at over 1200, with more than 200 dedicated to Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. 11 Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko, among others, places the number of churches and chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows at around 250 12 Paintings, statues, prayers and songs heavily feature Mary, especially as the Sorrowful Mother, and she is a frequent subject of Slovak folk art of various media. The pieta is one of the more commonl y found Catholic images in the country. The Virgin Mary has become a powerful national symbol in many Catholic countries. While in Slovakia, the Virgin Mary does not receive any national titles as lofty as "Queen of Poland," "Queen of the Croats" or "Queen of Mexico," her status as national patron has been deeply woven into the fabric of the national canon. As Cardinal Tomko, the long-tenured Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (the office responsible for all missionary activities of the Catholic Church), acknowledged in hi s 1997 homil y, For us Slovaks, Seven Sorrows Day goes ri ght to the heart . For us, the picture of the Sorrowful Mother is engraved on our soul since childhood . We saw it in churches as well as in homes, on the Calvaries and in the chape ls, on the Ways of the Cross, and finall y also on the pl ates and popular embroidery. We rece ived respect fo r Mary of the Seven 10 Ibid. Milan S. Durica, S/owici a Sedembolestna: Kulturno-historicky nacrt (Brati slava: Luc, ustav dej in krest'an stva, 2008). 12 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at th e Nati onal Bas ili ca in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (2010). 11 SLOVAKIA-2017 109 Sorrows almost with our mother's milk. 13 The connection between Mary and the Slovak nation fostered in these words is very self-aware. Statues, paintings, plates, needlework and other material goods associated with Mary can be found in every comer of Slovakia. Cardinal Tomko notes that the connection between individuals and the Virgin Mary is fostered from childhood and the material reminders found throughout the country are no doubt partly responsible for this transmission between generations. Slovak church leaders use the Virgin Mary (specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows) in a variety of ways to reify, and even to symbolize, the nation. They use the history of Marian devotion in Slovakia to homogenize Slovak religiosity and to provide justification for the claims of Marianism as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity. However, the Marian aspects of the national pilgrimage do not only relate to the ways in which national identity is portrayed. Many different levels of identity, beyond the national, are referenced in the event and many differrent social groupings find relevance. Gender, family, denomination, moral and social communities all play roles in this event, and they are all tied in one way or another to Marianism. 14 For the purposes of this article, though, I will focus primarily on the discursive connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. The inclusion of all these different roles-these different ways of identifying- demonstrates the clergy's reaction to late modernity. The homilies of the event highlight the challenges to various roles an individual may play in society: those connected with nation, with gender, with family, sometimes even with political affiliation. The Catholic Church, which in many ways appears to cling to out-offashion social models (although this has been somewhat challenged since the election of Pope Francis), utilizes the problems and language of late modernity to reinforce its claims, and one of the ways that this is accomplished is through the manner in which the politics 13 Cardinal Jozef Tomko, "Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna." Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 14 Alexander Bielicki , A Nation in Worship ? Constructing Nationhood and Devotion at the Slovak National Pilgrimage to Sastin, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oslo, 20 12. 110 SLOVAKIA-2017 of identity are framed. If one of the markers of the "modem era" is the insistence on unitary identity, then the corresponding marker of the "late modem era" is the multiplicity of identity, and the fact that the successful person displays competence in navigating through all of their different identity roles. The inclusion of this multiplicity of identity roles in the pilgrimage homilies demonstrates the clergy ' s reaction to the so-called pathologies of the late-modem period, and demonstrates how the symbol of the Virgin Mary can be used as a modem tool to advance traditional goals: by providing a unitary self, guided by Marian devotion, that can be deployed in roles and situations. Suffering as Nexus What sets the Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows homilies apart from the homilies delivered for other Marian celebrations is that the biblical information presented in connection with the holiday and pilgrimage focuses on her sorrows and suffering and not on other aspects of her life and story. Suffering, whether revealed as a tragedy or a gift, is the lynchpin that binds the otherwise diverse elements, both catechismal and historical , of the event's homilies. The importance of this distinction is that it highlights a different side of Mary, a different face . Not that this particular interpretation of the Virgin Mary differs from the overall canon of Marian references, but that it selects certain aspects of it to be given primacy. The presentation of these aspects heightens specific types of responses to Mary: they promote a view of Mary as protector, specifically protecttor of the nation, and as picture of grace under suffering. Other roles such as mother, teacher, etc. are given relatively minor attention, expect for when they are related to suffering. The ubiquitous nature of the Virgin Mary not on ly serves as a constant reminder of the strong tradition of Marian devotion, it encourages her multivocality as a symbol. Religious historian Brian Porter notes that in the Polish Marian cult, one of Mary's most important roles is that of the Hetmanka, or military protector of the nation. 15 In the Netherlands, the Lady of All Nations devotional cult is 15 Brian Porter, " Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland," Contemporary European History, 14, No . 2 (2005) : 154 SLOVAKJA-2017 111 centered on the idea of Mary as redeemer. 16 In the Slovak case, however, the suffering of the Virgin Mary is highlighted above all else when linking her to the nation. This type of discourse is used by the clergy not only for moral and religious lessons, but also to reify the nation by creating what I call a shared vocabulary of suffering, especially in reference to national history and the life of the Virgin Mary. From Bishop Gabris' 1984 homily, Our Slovak nation has suffered terribly. When things were bad for our nation, it could only beseech supernatural aid. Our believers also felt that no one in the world suffered such as Our Lady when she held in her arrn s the dead body of her own son. Therefore, no one in the world 17 18 could understand the suffering of our nation as she does. The theme of suffering creeps into the discourse and symbols of the Sastin pilgrimage, and this is one of the things that sets the event apart from others. In marked contrast to most other Marian events in Slovakia, the national pilgrimage to Sastin is thematically concentrated on suffering. While other pilgrimages may contain references to the suffering of Mary, only events specifically dedicated to the Mater Dolorosa, Our Lady of Sorrows, are discursively framed around suffering to this extent. Her pain peaked when she meets Jesus in the street, on the last day of his life, as a criminal amid a furious crowd, carrying the cross to the gallows-flogged, spat-upon, and crowned with thorns. How can she feel when she hears the sound of the murderous nails being hammered into his hands and feet , when she sees Him in immense pain stretched between heaven and earth? How can her heart endure the endless three hours of His agony? And yet, she, frail woman, standing beneath her son's cross, on whi ch she is also crucified. She stands unbroken in soul, not beaten down by the weight of the relentless pain . She stands under the cross, even when the terrible sword stabs a living wound in the 16 Peter Jan Margry, " Paradoxes of Marian Appariti onal Contestation: Networks, Ideology, Gender, and the Lady of All Nations," in Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen, and Catrien otermans, eds. ( Farnham: Ash gate, 2009), I 87 17 Bold typeface, mine. 18 Bishop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the Natio nal Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 16, 1984. <htt ://blo 0 .chri st-net.sk/? =node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. 112 SLOVAKIA-2017 heart. 19 The theme of suffering allows for discourse and symbols not only concerning Mary's suffering, but suffering in society as well: the crisis of the family, legalized abortion, moral relativism, the suffering of the nation, etc. This is one of the particularities of the Sastin pilgrimage: the focus on Marian suffering in connection with the suffering of everyday life opens up the door to a discussion of the many different forms of societal identity. The ways in which these forms of suffering are presented and the ways in which they are linked together offer some suggestions as to what the employment of Mary as a symbol of suffering might be meant to accomplish. Today we celebrate the holiday of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and here is an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence and to ask how is it that we Slovaks, through the long centuries, knew to resist so that the ferocious waves of history would not devour and bury us? We are of a nation who didn't have a kingly dynasty to rule in our castles, and we can ' t boast of famous victories. However, our nation reached one victory that, after a thousand years of silence and living without freedom we were able to overcome, so that today we find ourselves among the nations of Europe. We know from national history how difficult our ancestors fought for their existence, for their living space, for their language, for their faith , for their culture. They fought ; they won, because in this struggle they freely took refuge in the Mother of God. 20 In his 2007 homily (above), Bishop Secka offers the holiday as "an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of our national existence." This suggests that a salience of nation should exist for Slovak Catholics, and that a salience of Catholic identity should be present in Slovakia. His framing of "we" around an ethnic identity assumes an all ethnically Slovak audience, which is in fact not the case at Sastin. His words presume a long, uninterrupted history, but reduce that his19 Tomko, Cardinal Jozef. " Misijne poslanie a Sedembolestna," Homily presented at the National Basilica in SaWn-Straze, Slovakia, Katolicke noviny, 112, No. 40 (October 5, 1997). 20 Bishop Stefan Secka, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September 15, 2007. <http://www.magnificat.sk/htm02/homsas. htn_:i. >, accessed February 8, 2009 . SLOVAKIA-2017 113 tory to a simple story of hard-working, oppressed, Catholic Slovaks who were victims of constant external pressure. This homily assigns an independent will and desire to the nation, not just individuals. The homily also speaks of a victory for the Slovak nation, a victory that can only be assumed to be the realization of the Slovak state, the ultimate reward for any national project. This type of rhetoric ignores the fact that the creation of the Slovak nation-state resulted from the intractable arguments of a small group of political elites and not from any plebiscite.21 This notion projects backwards in time the seemingly self-evident nature of the Slovak nation requiring a Slovak state, that this process was the unfaltering will and destiny of the nation. Furthermore, it portrays the realization of a Slovak state as an event that can be at least indirectly attributed to the intercession of Mary. Bishop Secka's 2007 homily is not unique among the Sedembolestna homilies. In many ways it echoes the 1984 homily given by Bishop Julius Gabris where he stated: Our nation, dear brothers and sisters, survived the hard times and was saved only because it relied upon Marian devotion. I mentioned only the three incidents: the extinction of the Great Moravian Empire, the invasion of the Tatars and the 150-year plundering of our territory by the Turks. In these times, all preconditions were met by which our Slovak nation should be completely devastated, torn from the earth. And yet still, it was not extinguished! Why not extinguished? Only because it relied on God's help and on the help of the Mother ofGod. 22 These words link the contemporary Catholic Church and the history of the Slovak nation in a chain of suffering. Furthermore, while the history detailed in the homily seeks to present the Slovak nation's suffering and its unwavering devotion to Mary, this version of history also reinforces the continuity and homogeneity of the Slovak nation. Anthropologist Richard Handler notes that a "negative vision of the struggle for survival presupposes the positive vision of collective unity and maturity - for how can an entity that does not in the first 21 Stefan Auer, Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe (New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004). 22 Bi shop Julius Gabris, Homily presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia; September I 6, I 984. <http: //blog.christ-net.sk/?q=node/340 >, accessed February 8, 2009. 114 SLOVAKIA-2017 place exist run the risk of disintegration?"23 However, this is not merely a simple reification of the nation through building a collection of past sufferings. This formulation not only reifies the nation, but it also reifies a contemporary vision of the Slovak nation, imagining it as an unchanged group occupying the same territory since before the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. While discursive use of the Virgin Mary might function to construct difference along national lines when these national boundaries also reflect religious boundaries, it is not so effective when constructing difference between Slovaks and non-Slovak coreligionists. Furthermore, discursively constructing the Slovak nation as devotees to Mary ignores the heterodox religious history of Slovakia. Most interestingly, though, the others who are constructed in these homilies are not the most salient ethnic others in the Slovak context. The nationalization of political life in Slovakia is often defined in reference to Slovak-Hungarian national divisions within the country; however, this doe s not appear to be the driving factor behind national differentiation for the Church, at least in regards to how difference is organized in the proceedings of the national pilgrimage to Sastin. In fact, it is not uncommon for homilists to invite ethnic Magyars [Hungarians] into the fold .24 That being said, the use of the national frame by church leaders at the national pilgrimage seems to be constructed in reference to Western Europe, conceived as a group of secular nations, as opposed to being constructed in reference to their Hungarian Catholi c neighbors. In this sense, devotion and devotional practices become a way for the Church to organize not on ly religious difference, but national difference as well. This orientation creates formulations whereby secularized Slovaks are ignored or considered agents of the secular " West. " In other words, these practices of national differentiation more resemble the politics of Slovaks differentiating themselves from Czechs at the beginning of the 1990s than they resemble the patterns of national differentiation from Magyar speakers throughout the 1990s and beyond. 23 Richard Handler, Nationalism and the Politics of Culture in Quebec (Madi son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988), 5. 24 Ca rdinal Jan Chrzyostom Korec, "Tvorivou lasko u," Kato/icke noviny. I 15, No. 39 (September 24, 2000). SLOVAKIA-2017 115 Let us entrust to our heavenly patron also the future of Slovakia in the community of European nations with the hope that Europe will be built with the recognition of its Christian roots, as the Holy Father relentlessly reminds us, and that in that our nation maintains its own identity based on Christian culture and its values. We do not want to lose ourselves and to be diluted in such a European community that would be governed by secularized humani sm and liberal individualism, without respect for the principle of Christian so lidarity.25 The further highlighting of issues presented within a national context attests to the way the Church in Slovakia has reacted and continues to react to various factors at the state, supranational and international level. Presenting the national, projecting the national, within the narrative of the Slovak nation as a Catholic nation acting as a minority, a righteous minority (especially against the backdrop of oppression throughout history at the hands of foreign powers), allows for the Church to talk about social issues of Catholic concern - abortion, chief among them - as an extension of the historical battle waged by the Catholic Slovak nation in the name of righteousness. The mill has been started, where they intend to grind the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, the guide for the past and present life of our nation for more than one thousand years. For what is life if a man can kill the terminally ill and the unborn?26 National elements woven into the fabric of the devotional movement to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows recapture the idea of the Slovaks as a small nation , fundamentally Christian if not Catholic, being pushed around by larger powers: those that advocate a program that lessens the emphasis on a Judeo-Christian morality system as the defining characteristic of Europe. Using examples from proposed hi storical sufferings of the Slovak nation, whether at the hands of 25 Bishop Jozef Zlati\ansky, "Zverme sa Sedembolestnej." Homily presented at the National Bas ilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia. Katolicke noviny,. 11 8, No. 40 (October 5, 2003). <htt ://www.katnovin .sk/Kn 2003/40 2003/obnova. htm >, accessed on February 8, 2009. 26 Bishop Stefan Secka, "Matka viery, Matka nadeje," Homily presented at the Nati onal Basi lica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, September I 5, 2004. <http://www. blu me nta l. sk/caso is/rok 2004/10-2004/cl04.htm>, accessed on September 21 , 2009. 116 SLOVAKIA-2017 Turks, Tatars, Magyars, Czechs or others, homilists propose a continuity of oppression aimed at Slovaks, despite the realization of the ostensibly Slovak nation-state. Indeed, the role of religion and the politics of national identity in any society are heavily contingent upon the form of the state, and in this case, supranational governance. Without the split of Czechoslovakia or the entrance of Slovakia into the European Union, undoubtedly a different structure of whom the Slovak nation is defined against would emerge, thereby influencing how the boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn. Even though some references to past injustices faced at the hands of European neighbors appear in the homilies, they are rare. Besides those few examples, the nationalizing language of the event is not overly exclusionary in nature. It is of course highly focused on positive portrayals of the in-group, but for the most part, the out-groups (i.e. Western Europe) appear as abstractions. In other words, even though much of the nationalizing language stemming from the homilists promotes something that I wou ld not call an inclusive vision of the nation, it is certainly more inclusive than the militant and chauvinistic national orientations found in some corners of Slovak society. For the homilists, ideology (i.e. religious orientation) seems to have been the primary division; however, religious differrentiation has been communicated through national differentiation - in essence, nationalizing religious life. National History or Catholic History? In many of the examples from the homilies, the historical Slovak nation is presented as in constant battle, or in a constant state of suffering. In 1928, Slovak Catholic priest and politician Ferdis Juriga posited seven sorrows of the Slovak nation to correspond with the seven sorrows of Mary27, and several Sastin homilies reference these periods of suffering, especially the Tatar and Turkish invasions. According to Juriga, the seven sorrows of the Slovak nation were (1) the migration of the Magyars to the Danubian Basin and their defeat of the Slavic peoples who lived there; (2) the repression of Catholics in the Kingdom of Hungary, 1044 - 1046; (3) the Tatar invasion, 27 Jana Moricova, "Sastinska Sedembolestna patr6nka Slovenska," Marianske Putnicke Miesta na Slovensku: Zbornik z vedeckej konferencie konanej (Rufomberok: Katolicka univerzita v Ru fo mberku, 2007), 20 - 26 . SLOVAKIA-2017 117 1241 - 1242; (4) the Hussite incursions across Upper Hungary, 1431 - 1458; (5) the Turkish wars, 1526 - 1683; (6) the spread of Protestantism and the split of the nation between Catholic and Protestant faiths; (7) and the rampant poverty that led to mass emigration. 28 Mentioning any of these seven moments in the homilies for Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Day discursively connects national suffering and the Virgin Mary, specifically in her incarnation as Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. They also link historical struggles and the overcoming of those struggles with present day struggles and the possibility of overcoming them. According to tradition, during the Tatar invasion in I 241 our families fled into the forests, to where the hordes would not dare to go; our ancestors carried with them Marian pictures and statues, especially of the Sorrowful Mother. In the 15 th century, families in our lands possessed reliefs of the Sorrowful Virgin Mary, which at that time had been produced from baked clay at the command of King Matthias Corvin us. In 1470, when the Turkish invasion was already threatening, Jan Vitez, the archbishop of Esztergom, specifically recalled as an ancient, historical custom, that in difficult times our ancestors turned to the Sorrowful Virgin Mary for help and appealed to her so that they might devote themselves to her in the time of danger. His successor, Archbishop Juraj Selepceni, before the decisive battle with the Turks near Vienna in 1683, gave his soldiers medallions with a picture of the Sorrowful Mother in order to invoke her assistance. Even the old folk song from the Turkish wars " By Trencin's Gate" is a plea to the Virgin Mary from the Slovak heroes before leaving for battle: "God and Mary help us, to be a happy Slovak land." The tradition of devotion to the Sorrowful Mother stretches across our whole history ... 29 As can be seen in the above excerpt, the homilists construct history around a core of Marian devotion . Historical struggles, whether framed as national, Catholic or Christian, are layered around this central theme of Marian devotion. In Cardinal Tomko 's 2010 homily, the history of the region is portrayed as a series of invasions and invocations of Mary's assistance in prevailing despite the harsh conditions. While these invaders fell upon the Kingdom of Hungary, 28 Ibid. Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Homil y presented at the National Basilica in Sastin-Straze, Slovakia, Zivot Crkvi, 17, No. 37 (20 10). 29 118 SLOVAKIA-2017 Cardinal Tomko refers repeatedly to the victims of the invasion as "our ancestors," framing the history of the Slovak lands as the history of the Slovaks. The tradition of Marian devotion is "recalled as an ancient, historical custom" of the Slovaks. Cardinal Tomko takes the negative histories of war and struggle and the positive histories of Marian devotion out of their historical context in the Kingdom of Hungary, and makes them exclusive property of the Slovak nation . In other words, the Slovak nation is written into history as a protagonist, even into historical periods during which the nation was not a salient category of identification. The Church, then, uses this opportunity to present a very specific Slovak Catholic version of national history, a version that portrays Marian devotion as a fundamental characteristic of Slovak national identity that is both consistent through time and ubiquitous through the territory of Slovakia. In other words, the national history presented in the Sedembolestna homilies is both essentializing and homogenizing, (so that a more coherent set of narratives can be easily presented). By-and-large, during the event, Slovak national identity and the Slovak nation is not portrayed as under siege, the way that nationalist politicians often paint the picture. Yet it is portrayed as a minority nation, and a suffering nation. Within the framework of Slovakia, those who consider themselves to be ethnically Slovak have a clear majority; however, during the pilgrimage the Slovak nation is often presented in the context of the world stage, or at least the European stage. In other words, the ethno-national situation of Slovaks in Slovakia is omitted from the discourse of the event, and the situation of Slovaks in a broader context is presented instead, so as to highlight Slovaks ' minority status in Europe. Therefore, the episodes of historical suffering mentioned earlier find a new context in which to be expressed in the present structure of governance. This extension of history, for the most part, is not malicious in intent towards its European neighbors (or against the faceless "society" mentioned often in the homilies). However, there are some Slovak nationalists, who use the rhetoric stemming from Church sources as a validation of their claims. Therefore, that is where the de facto national Church and some Slovak nationalists intersect. There is a crossover between their ranks, but these individuals and sub-groups do not usuall y act as the driving forces behind the Church in Slo- SLOVAKIA-2017 119 vakia or Slovak nationalist organizations. Portraying the Church in Slovakia as nationalist, as often happens, is misleading, or rather, an oversimplification. They produce discourse that may aid some nationalists ( especially those nationalists who find importance in the Catholic nature of the nation), but this is not the primary goal of their discourse. Their primary goal seems to be evangelization and connecting various levels of social identity to the Church. In this process, the nation is just one of many leve ls of identity fostered and connected with the Church. By stepping away from simply labeling certain actions stemming from the Slovak Church as nationalist, and looking to the purpose and function of using the nation, a clearer picture emerges regarding the processes actually occurring. Shared System of Discourse In the celebration of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, the dominant themes of the event are that of suffering and sorrow. In a sense, we can envision this as a shared vocabulary of suffering within the larger shared system of discourse. Whether a detailed telling of the Seven Sorrows endured by Mary, the perceived one-thousand years of suffering of the Slovak nation since the end of the Great Moravian Empire or the evils of abortion, the dominant tropes are 'tragic' in nature. This accentuates "an economy that capitalizes on human suffering, valuing it not as the absence or disfavor of God, but as a grace or favor that viscerally connects the devout with the sufferings of Jesus, Mary, and the saints." 30 Essentially, suffering functions as the hub that links all of the spokes of the wheel; it is a gift given and a gift received; but most of all, suffering frames the introduction of social identities to the event. In the homilies of the event, the homilists demonstrate ways of talking about national identity, Catholic identity, Christian identity and even European identity. The ways in which the event is nationnally framed by church leaders- and the ways in which pilgrims talk, choose, perform and consume the nation-provide space for the nationalization of objects, spaces, bodies and symbols. This space 30 David Morgan, "Aura and the Inversion of Marian Pilgrimage: Fatima and Her Statues," Moved by Mary: The Power of Pilgrimage in the Modern World, Hermkens, Anna-Karina and Willy Jansen and Catrien Notermans, eds. (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), 63 . 120 SLOVAKJA-2017 allocated for nationalization does not exist at many other large-scale Catholic events in the country apart from Sastin, at least during the years surveyed in this study. Furthermore, the homilists build a history that intertwines Catholic and national pasts. They provide pilgrims with the discursive tools to deal with numerous societal issues in a Catholic way. They tum national life, political life and even family life into Catholic life. In other words, they demonstrate a Catholic way of talking about social life that is meant to be transferred outside of the religious field , or at least to broaden the religious field . Pilgrims and church leaders together contribute to the definition of social identities, not necessarily making agreements on how to live these identities, but how to articulate these identities. One elite project found in the discourse of the pilgrimage is the attempt to create a shared system of discourse in order to talk about devotional life and to discuss social issues within a Catholic framework. The pilgrimage at Sastin, then, is one of the large-scale events in which the Church does maintenance work to this shared system of discourse. I would suggest that a shared discourse could buttress the role of the Church and the role of Catholic identity in the country, even if membership in the Church is sometimes considered " lukewarm. " This type of maintenance work is done on every Sunday in the churches and at church-officiated events throughout the lives of people. The Slovak national pilgrimage to Sastin provides a stage on which to address the proposed importance of devotional identity to a large audience at the same time, and to construct a way for Catholics to talk about the social issues that affect them . This type of maintenance is accomplished through countless different pilgrimages; however, it is the peculiarities of the Sastin pilgrimage that allow for a greater opportunity to engage issues of identity outside of devotional identity. Creating a shared discursive system can be seen as one of the byproducts of evangelization, and this system is a prerequisite for most of the pastoral work in which the Church engages. In other words, the Church needs to have this shared discourse in place in order to navigate the challenges of its pastoral care effectively. The pilgrims need to be a part of constructing this discourse, because in order for the Church to be an important identity marker in their lives, they need to be able to find a way to articulate their place in the body of the Church, and likewise their position in society in relationship to SLOVAKIA-2017 121 the Church. Such a system is created through evangelization and a general socialization into religion; in other words, through creating a religiously literate society. Cultural historian Callum Brown uses the idea of a collapse in shared discourse to explain the fate of Christianity in Britain. 3 1 In Britain, as well as across western and northern Europe, the socialization of young people into Christianity has largely stopped. The Christian cultural forces in society that socialize new generations into recognizing a Christian identity in themselves have lost their voices, with the result that many young people in those countries no longer acquire a basic literacy in Christian symbols and Christian history. In Slovakia, the opposite is the case. Basic cultural competencies in Christianity maintain a shared discourse between Church and society; and in Slovakia, there appears to be a relative strengthening of a shared discourse, which often frames issues, whether political or religious, as national. It is this shared discourse, especially about suffering, that allows for some of these connections between Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and the Slovak nation. During the pilgrimage, Church leaders present suffering as a gateway to understanding Marian devotion; they extend Marian suffering as a metaphor onto their flock. Coupled with this presentation, the nationally framed aspects of the pilgrimage allow this suffering to be extended via relevant social groupings, like the nation, family and gender. It is presumeptuous to assume that homilists should reference social groupings based on gender, or kinship, or nation, and so on; that they are somehow more natural or salient than other social groupings. We do not see roles connected with class, or the idea of class at all enter into the homilies. However, in religious fields influenced by liberation theology in Central and South American, nothing would be more natural or salient than the reification of class identity. The ability to load Mary with meaning does not assume the successful transmission of those meanings; however, the ways in which Mary is discursively packed with meaning gives us a window into the uses of Marian symbols and the possible lived-in worlds where the symbols and words might have the ability to make an impact. Examining the way that the homilists use the concept of suffering in 31 Grace Davie, Europe: The Exceptional Case (London : Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002), 20. 122 SLOVAKIA-2017 their reaction to the outcomes of modernity, presented in a context where the topic of identity is central to holiday and pilgrimage, shows how a vast number of different identities are related to Mary. The suffering of the nation, the crisis of the family , the widespread legal nature of abortion, the crisis of governance, the intrusion of consumerism, and the relativism of (Western) Europe are all connected to Mary's suffering. Any of these connections between perceived suffering of the individual and the perceived suffering of Mary can serve to reinforce the importance of Marian devotion in the life of the pilgrim. Modernization seems to accentuate the divides regarding gender, class, ethnicity, religion, etc ., and the homilists' discourse does not seek to attenuate them; instead, they are discursively reframed so that each of these identities are reified and simultaneously connected with Mary. The encouragement of communitarianism- be it in family , kin , social community, moral community, nation or other groups- is also consistent with the Church ' s stance against individualism. In that sense, one of the primary functions of this type of pastoralization and evangelization is to combat the so-called cult of the individual and to reinforce membership in social groups that are considered meaningful. By reinforcing membership in social groups consistent with the messages of the Church, so too may they encourage the ro le of Marian devotion in these groups, claiming Marian devotion not just as something which should be a fundamental characteristic of Catholics, but of Europeans, the Slovak nation, the family and even the body politic. Constructing a Theology of the Nation One of the things occurring during this pilgrimage event is that Church leaders are seeking to reinvigorate the societal influence of Catholic teaching and the Catholic Church. Their efforts at evangelization seek to make Catholic doctrine influential in society, and to make Catholicism matter for individuals and institutions beyond the religious field ; in other words, to move beyond the sphere of personal salvation. They are doing so by making Marianism important to social identities outside of religious identity, national identity being one of them . They are weaving national identity into the religious sphere, and in doing so, constructing what I call a theology of the SLOVAKIA-2017 123 nation. "Grace does not destroy secular realities, or demand abandoning them for religious ones. Rather, grace includes, builds upon and potentially transfigures the sphere of the natural. The implication of this is that nationality can be one of the loci where responsible intelligence can ground theological consideration." 32 Dorian Llywelyn's, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality, 33 is one of the first of its kind to explore the connection between nationality and Catholicism in terms of theology. Llywelyn's treatment approaches nationnal identity not simply as subordinate to devotional identity, as has usually been the case in the Catholic Church, but as a locus of devotion. An academic exercise such as this would not have been possible in the past. Several factors account for the feasibi lity of Llywelyn's project in the present, one of which is the reforms of the Second Vatican Council that brought national practices, national languages and national discourse further into the Catholic Church. Perhaps another reason, although I do not have hard evidence to support the claim, is the election of Pope John Paul II in 1978. I would suggest that his election brought nationality into the Church by introducing a Central European, and specifically Polish, understanding of nationality to the papacy, one built on a long tradition of connecting the Church to the nation, which considered the Catholic Church as the repository of the nation in response to the Polish partitions between Orthodox neighbors to the east and Protestant neighbors to the west. In addition, the simple fact that John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in hundreds of years, and was even commonly referred to as "the Polish pope," made nationality matter in the Church in a way it previously had not. For these reasons and others, positing a theology of nationality, or a theology of the nation as I would prefer to call it, becomes more plausible in the present day. In addition, I believe that Llywelyn ' s choice to academically engage the relationship between nation and religion supports the fact that the Catholic Church, specifically the Slovak Catholic Church, is increasingly engaging social identities outside of purely devotional ones; and that they first connect devotional identities to other social identities, and then must develop theology to substantiate these connections (in this case, the 32 Dori an Ll ywe lyn, Toward a Catholic Theology of Nationality (New York : Lexington Books, 20 I 0), 4. 33 Ibid . 124 SLOVAKIA-2017 nation and national identity). Church leaders foster a communitarian spirit based around many different types of identity, national among them, in order to fight against the crisis of the postmodern (and the relativism and secularism of Europe). In creating a theology of the nation, the Slovak church uses the nation as one of its primary loci for evangelization. This creates a situation where the nation is purported to be a natural place to locate and build devotion; however Church leaders connect the nation and Church in many other instances as we ll. In the media, in cross-border ecumenical counci ls and in other situations, church leaders may talk or act nationally, but that does not mean that they are creating a theology of the nation. A theology of the nation goes a step further, by writing national history, national characteristics and national practices into the teachings of the Church, indeed constructing national history, characteristics and practices in the process. Creating a theology of the nation involves producing the nation, not just using it in discourse. In the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, these national elements are sacralized in order to support forms of Marian devotion found in the event. As Llywe lyn notes, "revealed Christian truth" not only corresponds to national experience; national experience becomes part of "revealed Christian truth. "34 But this is more than simply sacralizing the nation : it collapses national and devotional values into one another, it creates a shared discourse and it writes the nation into the unofficial theology of the Church: "unofficial," because it cannot be realized in dogma or scriptural accounts, and "theology" because it becomes part of Church doctrine and teaching. "The task of a theology of nationality is to investigate the relationship between the mystery of Christ and the human experience of being a member of the nation."35 In the case of the Slovak national pilgrimage, a theology of the nation explores the connection between the nation and Mary, more so than between the nation and Jesus. The nation protects Mary, and vice-versa. The nation suffers with and for Mary. The nation embodies Mary . The nation becomes part of the Marian narrative, just as Mary has become part of the national narrative. This may seem unusual at first, but as Llywe lyn notes, human 34 35 Ibid. Ibid. SLOVAKIA-2017 125 experience can indeed be a source for theology.36 When church leaders construct a theology of the nation, something different is happening from when church leaders speak about the nation in other instances, as in the media. In the context of the holiday event, Church leaders can more freely speak about these things because they are addressing these issues in the religious field, not venturing outside their field of competence. But it is not only that. Church leaders act as authorized delegates of the Church, especially in their role during the Pontifical Mass, the ritual focus of the pilgrimage celebration. As such, the delegated authority of the Church is behind them when they connect Church and nation in the ritual event ( outside of Church matters, their authority may be questioned). Church leaders build complex connections between Church doctrine and the nation. Using Mary as a symbol, they connect her suffering with the suffering of the nation. In this sense, just as the Polish nation is often spoken of as the Christ among nations, the Slovak nation could easily be referred to as the Virgin Mary of nations because of the shared vocabulary of suffering. Church leaders intertwine Catholic history of the region with Slovak national history. They use the practices of ancestors to justify the national connection to the Catholic Church. They further justify the connection by citing the Slovak experience under communism, and show the present significance of the connection in relation to new European structures and programs. Homilists construct the national past in a way that it becomes part of a greater narrative of eventual salvation. In other words, national history is the middle part of the salvation story, after biblical accounts and before eventual salvation. In fact, the nation can be envisioned as a vehicle for salvation. The nation is framed as important for the survival of the Church and its values. Catholicism and Marian devotion are defining characteristics of the Slovak nation. Therefore, the event (and especially its discourse) creates a role for the nation in the life of the Church and a role for the Church in the life of the nation. The Church targets national units, as well as other social configurations, because it needs state, national and other established units to activate connections with the Church and connections with Catho36 Ibid. 126 SLOVAKIA-2017 lie identity in ways that are not just personal and refl ective. The Church needs groups to survive, not just individuals;37 therefore, it not only practices communitarianism, it attempts to ground its activation of comm unitarianism in theology. It deploys thi s communitarian discourse over many societal levels (national community, family/kin, gender, local community, the Catholic Church, the Christian world). It posits a relationship between these communities, a relationship that gives added importance to the Church. Therefore, the Church's activation of nationhood in an event such as this is not instigated by some inherent nationalism in the Slovak Church (or nationalist program), but it is mostly pragmatic. It is part of a comprehensive system that uses the discourse and practices of communitarianism across many (crosscutting) societal levels to achieve certain goals. In fact, such a comprehensive system that allows for identification across many levels is from where Mary, as a symbol , derives much of her power. Her multi-vocality is the key to her success as a symbol. But why organize on a national level given the multi-national nature of the country and the international nature of the Catholic Church? Partly, it is because the Church is already divided into territorial units such as dioceses and archdioceses that are frequently bounded within states, and sometimes within formal or informal national territories. In that sense, the Church is merely activating the already instituted divisions within its structure. Also, the language of living nationally has been used for various social projects in the Slovak lands since the mid- I 800s, and it was especially used by Church leaders for social projects in the 1930s and 1940s, and in reaction to Communism. But this construction does not just reflect the convention of using the nation as an organizing principle. The institution of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows as national patron, and the institution of a state holiday celebrating her, give the Church a greater inroad to nationalize the sacred, and sacralize the nation (at least the aspects of the nation institutionally connected with Catholicism and the Church) . Yet another reason for Catholic leaders to organize nationally stems from the way power is distributed in the European environ37 Massimo Rosati , Ritual and the Sacred: A Neo -Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self (Farnham : As hgate, 2009), 17. SLOVAKIA-2017 127 ment and the way the nation is constituted in the pilgrimage event. Church leaders can see that successful social action in Europe need not be created through majority will; it can also be organized around minority nations, minority viewpoints, etc. The organization of projects, labeled as minority projects, can sometimes provide access to governmental power that is often otherwise lacking. The narrative of the Slovak nation as a minority (in Europe) despite its own (albeit contested) nation-state discursively creates a situation in which nationhood matters. Nationhood is not frequently salient for most of the population of Slovakia in everyday life, but it can be easily activated (partly because of the multinational nature of the state, which almost constantly reinforces the nation as an organizing principle in politics). Also, the nation is just one facet of this communitarian landscape employed by the church. Apparently, the Catholic Church in Slovakia finds it useful, because the Sastin pilgrimage is growing in numbers, and nationalizing language has become more frequent during the 2000s (not necessarily in connection with rising nationalism). Of course, Church leaders do not construct a theology of the nation in a vacuum. So what is the role of the celebrants of this holiday in the creation of a theology of the nation? I would suggest that they are involved in this process in the ways they talk the nation, perform the nation, choose the nation and consume the nation in relation to this religious event. One of the biggest ways they choose the nation is simply by choosing to take part in the Slovak national pilgrimage, but living nationally for the pilgrims is certainly not limited to that one choice. The nation is reflected and constituted in the symbols that the pilgrims use, in the objects and spaces with which they interact and in the ways that they talk about the event. In addition, they are crucial partners in the exchanges and negotiations between church leaders and pilgrims. Without them, the event has little to no importance. Without them, the voice from the pulpit has no real power, only delegated authority. Constructing a theology of the nation is about creating a future for the connection between nationhood and devotion . Even when church leaders cannot negotiate about the future of the nation or Catholic Church, as visions for both of these vary even among Slovak Catholics, they can manipulate the conditions so that nationhood and devotion will at least be a part of future public conversations and negotiations. Mainly, this is accomplished through the creation of a 128 SLOVAKIA-2017 shared discourse. Constructing a theology of the nation structures the conditions of future exchanges because it institutes national factors into devotional practices, thereby ensuring that these factors and practices will form and inform future discussions that involve national and devotional identity. In other words, constructing a theology of the nation is about organizing the past, legitimizing the present and framing the future. Conclusion I believe that developing concepts such as theology of the nation are important for a few interrelated reasons: one, they point towards the different uses and intentions behind national discourse stemming from the pulpit; two, they highlight that "talking the nation" is used not only for the purpose of making people more national ; and three, they provide conceptual tools with which we can compare the different ways of making the nation relevant across religions. Using national discourse is done for a variety of purposes, be it either to advance a political program, influence people to purchase a product, claim territory, contest space or resources, encourage tourism , justify actions, make historical occurrences relevant to contemporary choices, and countless others. In the case outlined in this article, the nation is invoked in order to strengthen religious devotion. Nationhood is not established and the nation is not constructed solely for its own end . Nationhood and attachment to national identity is always part of a greater project. Establishing nationhood and constructing the nation is not always done with the nation as its endgame. The purpose can usually be found elsewhere. If we look at the when of nationalism, in other words, when do nations matter for people, we find that the nation is only important in specific contexts and situations. The nation may be relevant in our framing of issues that involve family values, economy, immigration, environment, international politics or other issues . Outside of those issues, the nation is not usually our dominant framework for categorizing culture, life, relationships. When we emphasize the discursively constructed nature of the nation and the fact that it functions as a framework for categorizing difference, we view the nation as a project, a series of processes or a practical achievement. This makes it easy to believe that a reified nation is the goal of the national pro- SLOVAKIA-2017 129 ject. However, I would argue that making the nation (and making people more national) is almost never the sole goal of a national project. The project at Sastin can be understood as a theology of the Slovak nation, created through use of the biblical narratives of Mary ' s suffering. In one sense, the theme of suffering keeps people talking about a connection between Church and nation. In another sense, it creates and recreates a system that structures choice so that the nation and Marian devotion are both valued. The visceral connection through suffering has the capacity of becoming especially strong, because it functions not only on the individual level but on the group level as well, whether one envisions the group as the body of the Church or the nation. For some of the pilgrims who attend the Slovak national pilgrimmage to Sastin, national identity is important, while others would rather emphasize the international nature of the Catholic Church. For some, the fight against abortion takes precedence, while for others the fight against secularization of Europe is the rallying cry that brings them to the event. For countless others, the pilgrimage is simply a celebration of Mary. It may be about sharing individual or group suffering with Mary. It may be about asking Mary for assistance or healing. However, any path chosen that leads the participant to the Slovak national pilgrimage, in the end, provides support for the Catholic Church, Marian devotion and the Slovak nation. Even if pilgrims contest specific aspects of Church power or the validity of certain Marian practices, their participation in the performance of the event makes the Church and Mary prominent focal points. In this specific instance where Catholic leaders claim authority over social life outside of the Church, the ideas of making Catholic teaching and values important in the lives of pilgrims and making the Church a focal point go hand in hand with using the nation as a locus for evangelization. LITERATURE  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 Invoking the Nation, Strengthening Devotion: National Discourse at the Slovak National Pilgrimage Description An account of the resource Alexander Bielicki Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 105-129 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bielicki, Alexander Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0a4186c45f469a6e25c3397d9b2e72f1.pdf 8565f71f4a21fc7514fbf5cb042e30d2 PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. �30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. �SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 �32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. �33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° �34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. �36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 �SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° �38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 �40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 �SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 �42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 �SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° �44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° �46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. �47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° �48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 �50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 �SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. �52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 �54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 �SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). �56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 �58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States �60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5. � 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. �30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. �SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 �32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. �33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° �34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. �36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 �SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° �38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 �40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 �SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 �42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 �SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° �44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° �46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. �47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° �48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 �50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 �SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. �52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. �SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 �54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 �SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). �56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 �58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° �SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States �60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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 28 SLOVAKIA-2017 A SURVEY OF SLOVAK COMMUNITIES OF THE BYZANTINE RITE IN CANADA BEFORE THEY RECEIVED THEIR OWN BISHOPRIC Daniel Cerny When we look at Catholic immigration to the USA and Canada, only one bishopric in those coutries is called by the name of the nations of the so-called Visegrad Group- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Surprisingly, this ecclesiastical structure is not of the Latin rite. It is the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodious for Slovaks of the Byzantine Rite in Canada. When created in 1980, a postcard with a map of Slovak Greek Catholic settlements in Canada was published. The aim of this paper is to present a historical overview of these communities until the Eparchy was created. The late professor Michael Lacko, SJ wrote the first history of these par1 ishes. However, this paper adds some new information, making this survey more accurate and updated. Some of the reasons why these people immigrated to Canada were the changes to the immigration laws in the USA enacted by Congress in June of 1921 and also in July of 1924. 2 Our research on Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada shows that the majority were descendenats of immigrants who came to Canada between 1926 and 1939 (when the borders were open), to be joined by the immigration waves of 1945 - 1950 and of 1968. For the first immigrants the church was in many cases the most important part of their life. Here they were not forced to speak a foreign language, it was like being at home - the same rite, dialects, family, friends, sometimes even neighbors, the same customs. However this also could be harmful in the sense that it created an ethnic 1 Cf. Lacko, Michal, "A Brief Survey of the History of the Slovak Catholics of the Byzantine-Slavonic Rite," Slovak Studies, III (1963), 199 - 224. 2 Based on these regulations, after June of 1921 only 14,269 Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to immigrate annually to the USA, and after July 1924, only 3,073. Cf. Bielik, Frantisek- Rakos, Elo: Slovenske vyst'ahovalectvo (Dokumenty II. - 19191939) (Martin: Matica slovenska, 1975), 51, footnote 2. SLOVAKIA-2017 29 ghetto - which was probably fine for the first generation, but no longer so for the following ones. Only those places which experienced large numbers of new immigrants in later years, or were open to new people from outside entering "their" church, were able to continue to flourish . The history of these communities includes the creation of their own Slovak deanery (1957) and the consecration of their own Slovak 3 bishop ( 1964) in the person of Michael Rusnak, CSsR, who was for many years an Apostolic Visitator of these communities. Only two Slovak Greek Catholics participated on the Vatican II Council. One layman and one clergyman. The layman was the Canadian-Slovak multimilllionaire Stephen B. Roman, who participated from the third session on and bishop Michal Rusnak, who participated in the fourth and final session. The use of the vernacular, which was encouraged by Vatican II, resulted in more and more celebrations in English among the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada (the translations were done by the Greek Catholics in the Ruthenian Church in the USA), but not so in modem Slovak. Thus the Church lost many people from 4 the immigration wave of 1968. 3 Michael Rusnak was born on August 21, 1921 in Beaverdale, Pennsylvania. His mother and siblings returned with him to Slovakia during the Great Depression. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest by Bishop Pau l Gojdic, OSBM in Jul y of 1949. After the forced liquidation of the Greek Catholic church in Czechoslovakia, Rusnak was arrested and placed in the Podolinec monastery, which was turned into a prison camp for the clergy . After fifteen months in vari ous prisons, he escaped and, thanks to his American citizenship, he was allowed to emigrate to America. Ru snak went to Canada in 1951 and started to establish Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishop of Toronto, the Most Reverend Isidore Borecky, named Father Rusnak dean for Slovak Greek-Catholic parishes belonging to his jurisdiction.in 1957. On October 5, 1964, Pope Paul VI elevated Father Rusnak to Auxiliary Bishop to Isidore Borecky and Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. The process of creating the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada was completed when Pope John Paul II , in his bull Apostolicae Sedis of October 13, 1980, created the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada. At the same time, the pope appointed aux iliary bishop Michael Rusnak as the eparchi al bishop of this Eparchy . Rusnak retired in 1996 and died on January 16, 2003 and is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill , Ontario. More about Bishop Michael Rusnak can be found in Cerny, Daniel, Biskup Michael Rusnak, CSsR (Diploma thesis), Presov: Greek Catho lic Theological Faculty of the University of Presov, 2008 . 4 Documents on this topic are in the personal archives of the author (hereafter PAA), and are based on letters from Father Fuga, Father Dubiak and Father Lacko. 30 SLOVAKIA-2017 The author of this article located important documents in various archives, and tiny pieces of the mosaic were found everywhere. Especially valuable were the articles in Maria magazine, which was published from 1955 to 1969 and then from 1976 to I 989; in the second period under the direction of a gifted editor - the late Jozef Suchy. In some cases, we can speak only about individuals, in other cases about a group of dedicated parishioners with only irregular services. The most advanced was the group of individual parishes, which we are about to describe. In 1980 these parishes were incorporated into the newly-created Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada,5 the only Slovak Greek Catholic eparchy in the world, which served as a beacon to the persecuted and oppressed brothers and sisters in Slovakia under the . yo ke. 6 communist PARISHES 1: Lethbridge, Alberta (1921) The oldest Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Canada was in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 1885 the first Slovaks came to Lethbridge from 7 Shelby, Montana. Among them was the Veselenak family, Greek 8 Catholics from Nizne Slovinky in Spis county. Local Slovaks formed branch 53 of the Canadian Slovak League (CSL) in 1946. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul was founded in 1921 by coal miners, who came mostly from the Spis villages of Ponic, Zavadka and Slovinky. Before the parish was erected, the faithful organized a branch of the American-based Greek Catholic 5 Cf. L ·o sservatore Romano, December 14, 1980, Articles entitled "Erezione di nuova Eparchia; Provvista di Chiesa; Eretta in Canada Eparchi a di rito bizantino per slovacch i", 1-2. 6 For more on the general history of the Slovak Greek Catholi cs in Canada see Cerny, Daniel , "From Unknown People to a Separate Diocese: Slovak Greek Catholics in Canad a," in Mazurkiewicz, Adam, ed ., East Central Europe in Exile Volum e 1: Transatlantic Migrations (Newcastle upon Tyne : Cam bridge Scholars Publishing, 20 13), 253-72. 7 Cf. "75 rokov lethbridzs kej slov. kol6nie," Kanadsk), Slovak, February 18, 1961 , p. 2. 8 Cf. The Bend: A History of West Lethbridge (Lethbridge: West Lethbridge History Book Soc iety, 1982), 218. SLOVAKIA-2017 31 9 Union. One important document, a photocopy of the parish minutes from the years 1921-193 7 exists, deposited in the library of the Pon10 tifical Oriental Institute in Rome. These minutes were written by 11 Andrew Mihalik. They start with the explanation that the term "fonitika," mentioned in the minutes as a petition to the Ukrainian bishop of Edmonton Nikita Budka, is to be the language used in the church, and that meant the Slovak language. According to these minutes, the first meeting took place on May 30, 1921 in the presence of bishop Budka. The faithful asked to have the celebration of a lit12 urgy every Sunday. During Wold War II the parish counted some 13 200 adults and 300 children. It was founded and owned by lay people (trustees). This was quite common in the ecclesiastical history of the USA and Canada. According to historian Mark Stolarik, this system consisted of elected members of the parish (kuratori), who collected tithes once a year from all the parishioners. A priest was paid from this treasury and the faithful had the right to terminate their 14 contract with him. Before the blessing of the church, the trustees 15 negotiated with the bishop for a resident priest. The parish had 16 a choir, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Choir in Canada. During the first years of its existence, the pastors were predominately Ukrainian, with the exception of Father Nicholas Szilagy, who came from Subcarpathia. In 1948 Ukrainians established their own parish in Lethbridge, but Ukrainian priests continued to serve Sts. Peter and Paul. However a great joy for the Slovak parish was the 1953 or- 9 PAA, e-mail fro m Father David Petras, November 5, 2010. Parafialna zapisnica Sv. toho Petra i Pavla Greko Katolickoho Viznania.(further on only PIO). 11 In 2011 the author of thi s article contacted the son of the late Andrew Mihalik. The original of the minutes are now neither in the parish archive, nor among the f:osses ions of the Mihalik family. 2 Cf. PIO, 2. 13 PAA, Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 1973-1978 (November 151, 1978), 2. 14 Cf. Stolarik, M. Mark, " Slovak Immigrants Co me to Terms with Religious Diversity in North America," The Catholic Historical Review, XCVI , No . I (January, 20 I 0), 69. 15 Cf. PIO, 36. 16 Cf. PIO, 25 ; 62. 10 32 SLOVAKJA-2017 17 daination of one of their own, Father Richard Zuback, who later 18 served also as their pastor. Some of the parishioners appeared 19 among the benefactors of Maria magazine. The first pastoral visit of Bishop Rusnak took place on June 27, 1965 , the parish 's feast day. Many people came to the celebration from as far away as British Columbia. In his homily, Bishop Rusnak said the following: "Do not correct the work of God. If God created you as Greek Catholics, stay firm , remain and work in this province. Do not run away from this rite. Do not leave behind your church and 20 rite. " In the 1960's Father John Zeman, OSB informed Bishop Rusnak about the local Slovak Greek Catholics, asking for a Slovak priest, as the young people were without a priest of their own and 1 ashamed of being Slovaks.2 Father Zeman volunteered to go to the 22 parish . This never happened . In 1967 Bishop Michael expressed his desire to send Father Zorvan, from Europe, to be the pastor of the 23 parish. In I 970's the parish was noted in his calendar several times. 24 Father Lacko, SJ visited the parish in August 1973. When the enthronement of Bishop Rusnak was organized in 1981, the Leth bridge pastor refused to participate, claiming to have only nineteen Slovak 25 families. On the contrary, in 1982, Bishop Rusnak informed the Papal Pro-Nuncio that there were forty-five Slovak families in Leth26 bridge. The parish was owned by the trustees almost for a record time. The official incorporation into the Ukrainian church happened 27 on ly after a plebiscite within the parish in the early 2000's. The 17 "Prve slov. gr. katol primicie v Lethbridge, Alta," Kanadsky Slovak, June 20, 1953, p. 2. The author is grateful for this information to Mark Stolarik. 18 Cf. " Zpravy," Maria, 5/1955 Gui), I 0. 19 Cf. Maria, 6-7/ 1964, third page of the cover; I 2/ 1966, third page of the cover. 20 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria , 9-10/ 1965, 8. 21 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, C hri stmas 1964. Father John , who was born in Kenaston , Saskatchewan, joined th e Slovak Benedictine Order in Cleveland, Ohio, but always wished to return to Canada. 22 Cf. PAA, Letter of Father John Zeman, sen t on July 22 , 1966 . 23 Cf. PAA , Letter of Bi shop Michael of May 15, 1967. 24 Cf. PAA , Postcard "Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu," Sent from San Francisco, July 20, 1973 . 25 Cf. PAA , Motiuk, D. Report on the Canonical status of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church. l ethbridge. Alberta. 26 27 Cf. PA A, Letter of Bishop Michael to the Pro- uncio, sent October 28, 1982. Archive of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyri l and Methodius, folder Lethbridge. 33 SLOVAKIA-2017 parish is thus nowadays Ukrainian, but its contribution to the history and culture of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada, especially in the first half of the 20 th century, is significant. 2: Montreal, Quebec (1930) 28 Many Slovaks settled in Montreal in the l 920's, forming branch 2 of the CSL in 1932. After Western Canada, Montreal became the second center of Slovak settlement in Canada. Slovaks in Montreal first established a Roman Catholic parish in 1928 and a 29 Lutheran one in 1929. The Slovak Greek Catholics joined several fraternal groups, such as the Greek Catholic Union. At one of the meetings of branch 959 of the Union, on October 18, 1930, discussions started and eventually led to the founding of the Slovak Greek 30 Catholic parish. The volunteers created a list of fifty families and 31 many individuals who would join the parish. Ukrainian Bishop Ladyka, visiting Montreal on November 21, 1930, welcomed the delegates and promised to do everything possible "in order to fulfill the request of this God-fearing people, who are organizing themselves in this foreign world, not forgetting God, and are willing to do such a 32 beautiful, but difficult task." The first liturgy was celebrated by Father Michal Gregorejchuk, OSBM on Sunday, December 7, 33 1930. Three days later a meeting was held and a parish council was elected. December I 0, 1930 is considered the date of the creation of 34 the parish. From the very beginning the parish was organized by Slovaks not only from Slovakia, but from Hungary, Romania or 35 elsewhere. A photo from 1931 testifies to the presence of a Slovak 36 school. In 1931 a "Membership Book" was published. This book, 28 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia - Nanebevstupenia Pana v Montreale - 50'h anniversary Slovak Catholic (E. R.) parish of Ascension Montreal (Montreal: Parish of the Ascension, 1980), 34. 29 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady, 34. 3 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, I. 31 PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 3-4. 32 PAA Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 33 Cf. PAA , Zapisn ica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 2. 34 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 30; 34. 35 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr kat. osady Voznesenia, 24. 36 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 23. ° 34 SLOVAKIA-2017 together with the first financial records, are an authoritative example 37 of the language of the first immigrants. The Basilian fathers took care of the parish until the arrival of 38 Father John Hawryluk in 1949. When the parish was created it was named the GR. KFT. RUSSKA CERKOV (Greek Catholic Russian Church). The change of name was moti vated by a schismatic movement and the rise of national awareness among the faithful. The name Slovak Gr. Cath. Church was used for the first time on October 39 15, 1935 . A youth orchestra nicely represented the parish. In 193 7 the parishioners started to use the chapel in the Notre Dame de Lourdes church as their place of worship until November, 1959. In 1938 the parish mission was granted permission to keep their own 40 parish records and thus gained greater internal autonomy. In these years the pari sh was still only a mission. The years following WW II brought a radical change into the lives of the Slovak Greek Catholics . With the arrival of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Canada, the Ukrainian Exarchate, later the Eparchy of Toronto and all Eastern Canada, was founded. Its first bishop was Isidore Borecky. On October 10, 1949, Bishop Borecky named Father John Hawryluk as the pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Montreal. On December 20, 1949 the former mis41 sion was established as an independent parish. The presence of young people at the services was really appreciated as the youth was 42 "the real core of the new choir of our church." The choir even broadcast by radio to Slovakia. The people dreamt about getting a Slovak priest: 37 Original scans were published in 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 44. 38 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 37. And also : Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Catholic E. R. Church of Ascension, Montreal, Jun e JO, 1962 - Pamiitnci kniha archijerejskeho blahoslovenia slovenskej katolickej V 0. cerkvi Voznesenia, Montreal, JO. juna 1962 (Montreal: Pari sh of the Ascension, 1962), 17-18 . 39 Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Gr. Kat. Osadi Voznesenie, 32. 4 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 35; 37-39. 41 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 3 1; 40. 42 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 40. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 35 We firmly believe that, in a short time a priest of Slovak ethnicity wi ll be assigned to our parish and thus we will fulfill our long-time dream .... The faithfu l understands the announced Word of God more easily . .. There are obstacles in foreign objections and intentions that prevent us from achieving this goal of ours . .. "We do not long for something foreign, we just want to live our own life, but on the other hand we do not accept anyone trying to make fools of us, that we are Rusnaks or something similar, because those days are gone ... 43 In 1956 the trustees purchased properties at the comer of Legen45 44 dre and Clark streets, and erected a wooden cross . The construction of the new church started in Apri l and the basement was finished 46 in November of I 959 . Parishioners came in the evenings, and on their days off, to work on the construction of the church. The first liturgy in the hall in the basement was celebrated on November 29, 47 1959. The cornerstone was blessed by Bishop Borecky on October 48 2, 1960, and the construction was completed on December 17, 49 1961. An icon of Our Lady of Klokofov was displayed in the 50 church . The solemn blessing of the new church by Bishop Borecky 51 had to wait until June I 0, 1962. The main contractor was the parishioner, Mr. Andrej Midlick, originally from Ponic in Spis county. He even donated to the new church the main altar with a baldachino. The newly-ordained Bishop Rusnak came to visit his flock in 52 Montreal for the first time in May of 1965. Bishop Rusnak blessed 43 "Sv. misie pre gr.-kat. Slovakov v Montreali ," Kanadsky Slowik, Apri l 3, 1954, ff· 5, 8. Cf. PAA , Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Voznesefza Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 4-5. 45 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 32. The wooden cross still stands in 201 6. 46 Cf. Souvenir book, 34. 47 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 36. 48 Cf. "Z nasich fa rnosti," Maria , 9-10/1960, 226. 49 Souvenir book, 28 . so Cf. "Z nas ich farnosti," Maria, 3/ 1962, 67. 51 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia, 42. 52 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. 36 SLOVAKIA-2017 the altar on March 6, 1966. From Rome he brought some relics of Saint Cyril to be placed into the altar. The parish in Montreal thus became the first one in the North America to celebrate the liturgy on 53 the relics of this great saint. Bishop Rusnak expressed his desire that the Ascension Church would become "a site of pilgrimages in honor of Saint Cyril, the apostle of the Slovaks and Slavs in general. ,,54 • On October 15, 1966, Father Andrew Sinai' was named pastor. 55 For the first time in its history, the parish had its own Slovak priest. Father Sinai' served until 2006. The beginnings were very hard for Father Sinai', since the parish had a huge mortgage. The trustees gave their approval for reading of the Gospel in English and in Slovak to meet the needs of the younger generation, in order to bring them back to the church. From June 1, 1971 Slovak liturgies were cele56 brated in the parish. The golden jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, 57 September 28, 1980, with Bishop Rusnak present. More than twenty of the original founders of the parish survived for this celebration. Around 500 people attended the banquet. However, due to the death of Father Sinai in 2007 and to dwindling numbers, the Montreal parish was closed in 2010. 3: Windsor, Ontario (1950) The automobile industry attracted many Slovaks to the city of Windsor. So did some farms on the outskirts of town. In 1951 the 58 third largest group of Slovaks in Canada lived here. Slovak Lutherans in Windsor organized a parish in 1928, while the Slovak Greek Catholics had to wait until after WW II. Andrew Balint, acting as the secretary of a newly-formed parish committee, wrote to Bishop 59 Borecky on July 29, 1950. He asked for the bishop's permission to 53 Cf. 50 vyrocie Slovenskej Gr. kat. osady Voznesenia , 42. Tomko, Vladimir, " Posviacka noveho hi. oltara v Montreale," Maria, 4-5/ 1966, 56. 55 PAA, Letter sent on October 4, 1966. 56 Cf. PAA, Zapisnica Slovenskej Greko Katol'ickej Osadi Vozneseiia Vo Montreale Jan Ihnat zapisnik Na rok 1956, 48. 57 Cf. "Oslava 50 rocneho jubilea nasej farnosti v Montreale," Maria , 12/1980, 7-8. 58 Cf. Kirschbaum, 137. 59 PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 54 SLOVAKIA-2017 37 establish a new parish. The name chosen was "St. Michael the Archangel Slovak and Subcarpathian Greek Catholic Parish in Windsor, 60 ON." The letter ended with the desire of the congregation to "soon 61 invite (the bishop) to the Slovak parish." Borecky agreed with the 62 organization of a Slovak parish. Father Andrew Krafcik also played a role in its establishment. Until his arrival in Windsor, the 63 parish was administered by Father Mina. The blessing of the cor64 nerstone took place on June 13 , 1954. The rectory, hall and the 65 church were blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 7, 1954. 66 Work with the youth led to establishing the parish choir. In 1956 67 Father George Perejda, CSsR, was ordained from the parish. From November of 1957 to February of 1958 the parish was served by Fa68 ther Fetsco. In 1958 a newly-ordained Slovak Greek Catholic priest, Anthony Zouzal, was appointed as the pastor of Windsor. His tenure could be 69 characterized as the "golden age" of the parish. Collaboration with the Byzantine Catholics on the American side of the border was intensified. 7° Thanks to many cantors, the parish was famous for its singing of Vespers and Liturgies. The popularity of Father Zouzal was so great that on his birthday the parishioners gave him a gift - a 71 car. In his letter to the chancery, dated August 1966, Father Zouzal suggested building a parish school, and even a new name for the parish: the Greek Catholic Parish of St. John - Michael, in order to 60 Sv. Micha/a Archandela Slov. a Podkrp.Gr.kt.paraphija vo Windsor Ont. PAA , Letter from July 29, 1950. 61 "Scoby mi Vas poklikali skoro na nasu Slovensku paraphiju. " PAA , Letter from Jul y 29, 1950. 62 27. Lipna /950. PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore from July 27, 1950. 63 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slowik, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 64 Cf. "Cirkevna slavnost' vo Windsore, Ont.", Kanadsky Slowik, June 12, 1954, p. 8. 65 See the photo in Maria, I /1955 (March), 15. 66 Cf. "Zo zivota nasich farnosti ," Maria , 3/ 195 5 (June), I 6. 67 Cf. "Zpravy," Maria, 6/ 1956, 14. 68 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965, 15 . 69 Cf. "Zpravy z domova a z katolickeho sveta," Maria, 12/ 1958, 15-16. 7 Cf. " Den modlitieb vo Windsore," Kanadsky Slovak, September 19, 1959, p. 2; "Z nasich farnosti," Maria , I 2/ 1960, 282. 71 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 7-8/ 1960, 189. ° 38 SLOVAKIA-2017 72 avoid confusion within the city. The school project was never im73 plemented . In 1976 Father Zouzal was named an archpriest. However, his tenure was cut short with his premature death on July 14, 74 1976. An eyewitness remembers Bishop Borecky coming to the funeral and placing his own pectoral cross on the body in the coffin. Some 150 priests, as well as more than 1,500 laypeople, participated 75 in the funeral procession. In the following years the parish was served by Father Gregory Novak, CSsR, by Father James Lynch in 76 1978, and by Father Andrew Sipek in 1979. In 1980 some 400 77 people attended an anniversary banquet. The parish continues to exist to this day. 4: Toronto, Ontario (1951) Slovak settlement in Toronto is already mentioned towards the 78 end of the 19 th century, but large numbers came only after 1923. Many Slovak Greek Catholics in Toronto belonged to branch 7 of the CSL (1937). During their meetings the opportunity to establish an independent Slovak Greek Catholic parish was discussed. Until that time, Slovak Greek Catholics mostly attended the Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (1934), where they comprised a third, or maybe even half of the members . As a result, many people regarded very negatively attempts to establish another parish.79 The beginnings of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Toronto 80 are connected with a Rusyn priest, Father Louis Mina. In the archives of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto is a list of seventy-seven names of those who volunteered to join a "S lovak Greek Catholic 72 PA A, Letter of Father Zouzal to Bishop Isidore from August 12, 1966. Cf. "Vy znamenani e o. Antona Zouzala," Maria, 5/ 1976, I 0. 74 "Zomrel o. Anton Zouzal ," Maria, 9/ 1976, 11. 75 PAA , Comm uni cation with Mr. W. Zouzal , recorded on June 5, 20 11. 76 Cf. "Novy paroch vo Windsore," Maria, 12/ 1979, 7. 77 Cf. "Odpust" in Windsor, Maria, 12/ 1980, 9. 78 Cf. Kirschbaum , 132-5. 79 Mikula, Jan, " Hrst' rozpomienok na t'azke zaciatky," Kanadsky Slovak, March 28, 1981, p. 8. 8 Cf. "S lovenski greckokatolici v Ontariu," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1954, p. 5. 73 ° SLOVAKIA-2017 39 81 parish, if such were created." The parish was founded on October 82 29, 1951 as the Slovak Greek - Catholic Church of the Nativity of the B. V. Mary. A different date is indicated by a document dated November 29, 1951 based on a request for the founding of the parish, written and submitted in the name of the faithful from the Eparchies of Presov and Mukacevo, as well as the Apostolic Administra83 tion in Miskolc, Hungary by Father Mina. The term Slovak was of much wider sense than nowadays and it included almost all the Greek Catholic faithful coming from the Union of Uzhorod. The lit84 urgy was celebrated in the Ukrainian Church on Bathurst Street. On April I , 1952, Father Rusnak was named the new pastor of the church. The congregation gathered first on Bathurst Street, then moved to the Holy Eucharist church on King Street, where they worshiped until 1959, when their own church on Shaw Street was 85 blessed. The plans for the new Slovak Greek Catholic church in Toronto were approved on June 9, 1953 . The church was supposed to 86 be built at the comer of Roblock Avenue and Leeds, however this 87 attempt failed. The success of parish picnics led to the purchase of 89 St. Mary's Park. 88 The parish also acquired one part of a cemetery. However, none of these investments lasted. Towards the end of 1956 90 a choir was organized in the parish. A long-time cantor was Mr. 91 Joseph Kampu. At the end of 1959 the parish acquired a B' nai Is92 rael congregation synagogue, located at 257 Shaw Street. On De93 cember 27, 1959 Bishop Borecky blessed it as a church. Some 600 81 PAA, Copy of the signature li st. Cf. "25. vyroc ie nasej famost i," Maria, 9/ 1976, I 0. Jozef Suchy gives the date of October 2 1. 83 PAA, Letter from 28. XI. 1951. 84 Cf. Vasko, Andrej , "S lovenskf Grecko-katolfci," Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1952, p. 2. 85 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11. 86 Cf. Daily commercial news and building records, June 9 1953, I. 87 Cf. Ru snak, Michal , "Stvrt'storocie nasho rastu," Maria , 1/ 1980, 11 . 88 Cf. Maria, 5/ 1963 , third page of the cover. 89 Maria , 2/1963 , 16. 90 Cf. "Z nasich farnosti," Maria, 9-10/1956, 22. 91 Cf. Maria, 4/1963, 16. 92 Cf. "Time for rejoicing - Celebrate Opening of New Slovak Church," Toronto Daily Star, October 11 , 1959, p. 57 . 93 Cf. " Pozvanka na posviacku," Kanadsky Slovak, Christmas 1959, p. 4. 82 40 SLOVAKIA-2017 94 people from near and far attended. The first English liturgy in the 95 parish was celebrated on March 22, 1964. The nomination of Father Rusnak as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Toronto Eparchy and the Apostolic Visitator for the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada surely filled his parishioners with joy, for the church with its rectory became the official seat of the new bishop. Father John Fetsco became its new pastor. In 1972 Father John Pazak, CSsR, later the second bishop of the Slovak Eparchy, was 96 ordained a deacon in the parish. In 1974 Father Joseph Krafcik, SJ 97 helped out. The "odpust" celebration of 197 5 was highlighted by the priestly ordinations of three married deacons, at that time a rare 98 ordination in the Catholic world. On May 31, 1976, a Divine Litur99 gy was celebrated for the first time in Slovak. The arrival of Father Richard Boyle, ordained in the parish in 1978, brought new life to 100 the parish. This consisted not only of pilgrimages he organized, but all the parish activities, where he, together with a group of volun0 teers, cared for children as well as adults. ' ' He even installed a provisional iconostasis. On July 17, 1980, the first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Bratislava Park near Hamilton took place, in an attempt to unite all the Slovak Greek Catholic parishes at a picnic. The "odpust" in 1980 was prepared jointly by all the parishes, and some 500 102 people attended. When the Slovak Eparchy was created, the 94 Cf. "Z nasich osad," Maria, 1-2/ 1960, 39. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 3-411964, 16. 96 "Najdostojnej si o. Biskup Jan Pazak, C.Ss.R." in "Banquet in honour of His Excellency Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss.R." in The episcopal ordination and enthronement of the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, C.Ss. R., second Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Byzantine Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: E;archy of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 2000). 9 Cf. PAA , Letter Vel'adostojny a mily Vlady ko! Sent from Rome, Jul y 3, 1974. 98 The whole story is described in the following: Pospishil , Victor, "The Toronto Tempest," in Compulsory celibacy fo r the Eastern Catholics in the Americas (Toronto: Ukrainian Catholic Women's League, 1977). 99 Cf. " Slovenska liturgia v Toronte," Maria, 7-8/ 1976, 13-14. 100 To Quebec and its sanctuaries, to the Holy Land or pilgrimages to Uniontown, PA. 101 Cf. Boy le, Richard, "First solemn reception of Holy Communion in Toronto," Maria , 9/ 1979, 11. 102 Cf. Boyle, Richard, "Alive and well on Shaw Street in Toronto," Maria , 11 / 1980, 8-9. 95 SLOVAKIA-2017 41 church on Shaw Street became its cathedral. A bishop's throne was 103 installed in the cathedral on the orders of Bishop Rusnak. As time passed many parishioners from downtown Toronto (and from the vicinity of the church) moved to other areas of town. It would have been fitting to reach out to these people, especially in the western areas of the Greater Toronto Area. 5: Oshawa, Ontario (1952) Slovak settlement in Oshawa started in the l 920's and is closely related to the development of the automobile industry in the area. After their arrival, the Greek Catholic Slovaks started to attend ser104 vices in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church of Saint George. In 1951 an announcement was placed in Kanadsky Slovak asking people in the Oshawa region who were interested in establishing a Slo105 vak Greek Catholic church to gather for a meeting. Thanks to Mr. 106 Andrew Vasko, the first meeting took place in January of 1952. The chairman asked all those present to sign a document confirming their desire to establish a Slovak Greek Catholic Society. Some fifty signatures were collected. At this meeting a parish committee was elected and the possibility of celebrating the Greek Catholic services 107 in the Slovak Hall was discussed. The first pastor of the community was the Reverend Michael Rusnak. On July 13 , 1952 the very first Slovak Greek Catholic Day in Oshawa was organized with a field 108 liturgy. On January 11 , 1953, the potential parishioners sent a request to Bishop Borecky for a "Slovak Greek Catholic priest, who would be able to have divine services in Oshawa every other Sunday 103 PAA , Folder: Boyle, Letter of Bishop Michael , February 12, 1981. Cf. "Z peknej slovenskej svadby v Oshawe," Kanadsky Slovak, August I 0, 1950, p. 7; "SI. M. Korcinska a p. M. Karas v putach manzelstva," Kanadsky Slovak, October 19, 1950, p. 6. 105 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin famosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, AJril 26, 1958, p. 3. 1 Cf. PAA , Lescisin, E. & C.: Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost Ochrany Presvdtej Bohorodicky Oshawa, Ontario, Canada - Slovak Greek Catholic Church of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. November 2001, not for sale description of the parish history, 5. 107 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farnosti) ," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 108 Cf. Ibid. 104 42 SLOVAKJA-2017 • a mont h ." 109 Some th.irty SI ova k s s1gne • d th e petition. • • 11 0 A or twice mission was established in February of 1953 . The Divine Liturgy was celebrated every other Sunday of the month in the Slovak Hall 111 and the solemn opening ofthe mission occurred on May 10, 1953. The liturgies were celebrated in the morning in Church Slavonic, but 11 2 always with a Slovak sermon. A property was purchased in 1953 11 3 right next to the Slovak Hall on Ritson Road. Really encouraging was the fact that the building process was started by only thirty-eight 114 families. Of great help was a six month-long strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union in the local General Motors Com11 5 pany, thus providing a ready labor force . The blessing of the cor11 6 nerstone occurred on July 31 , 1955 . The fini shed church was 117 blessed by Bishop Borecky on November 2, I 955 . Attendance was astounding, as according to one chronicler: "From some 800 mouths resounded the hierarchical hymn: " Vose) jesi Archijere11 8 1I 9 ju ..." The parish also offered religious education for the youth. 12 In the late 1950' s a Slovak choir also existed in Oshawa. From October of 1960 until September of 1963 , the parish was adminis12 1 tered by Father John Fetsco, CSsR. He was succeeded by Father 122 Andrew Krafcik. The first official visit of Bishop Rusnak to the 123 parish in Oshawa was on Sunday, May 2, I 965 . Father Michael ° 109 PAA , Without any signature. PAA , Without any signature. 11 1 Cf. " Slovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dej in fa rnosti )," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 2 C f. " Prvy slovensky grec ko-katolicky odpust," Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, 1953 , p. 2. 11 3 Cf. "S lovaci grecko-katolici v Oshawe (z dejin farn osti)," Kanadsky Slovak, April 26, 1958, p. 3. 11 " Vzor jedn oty a spoluprace," Maria, 5/ 1957, 14. 115 Cf. Lescisin, 6. 11 6 Cf. "Oznamuj eme .. .," Mar ia, 5/ 1955 (Jul y), 15. 11 7 Cf. Oznamuj eme .. .," Maria , 7/ 1955 (September), 14-1 5. 118 Cf. " Posvateni e novej slovenskej gr.-kat cerkvi v Os hawe," Maria , 8/ 1955 (October), 15 119 Cf. Maria , 3/ 1957, photo on th e first page of th e cover. 120 "Vas kovci v Os hawe vydava li dceru," Kanadsky Slovak, January 9, 1960, p. 2. 121 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 15. 122 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963 , 16. 123 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bi skupa M. Ru snaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 11 0 SLOVAKIA-2017 43 Durisin from Slovakia served the parish in 1966. After him came 124 Father Stephen Adamiak. The need for a resident priest became urgent among the parishioners towards the end of 1960 's: " If we do not have a resident priest, ... then we and even more our children will 125 be in danger regarding our faith and keeping our pari sh." After dedicated efforts of the parishioners, a new rectory was blessed in 126 May of 1969. In 1970 Father Adamiak was replaced by Father Joseph Dubiak. Thanks to Father Dubiak the modem Slovak lan127 guage was introduced into the liturgy. Father Dubiak left the parish in 197 1, and his successor became Father Adolph Vateha, 128 CSsR. In 1972 a railroad overpass was built nearby, which changed the church surroundings. Later the parish was given some 129 compensation by the City of Oshawa. In later years, mostly Toronto priests served in the Oshawa parish. The parish in Oshawa was never large, but had a strong sense of community. According to the 200 I booklet about the pari sh, a majority of the parisioners were 130 from the former historic counties of Zemplin and Ugoca. The parish is still alive, being served by the Reverend Stephen Williams, an English-speaking convert to th e Byzantine-Slovak rite. 6: Hamilton, Ontario (1952) The first Slovaks arrived in the steel city of Hamilton, Ontario, 131 in the 1920's. They founded their own Roman Catholic Church in January of 1945 . Half of the fo unding families were Greek Catholics, and due to this fact the parish was named Sts. Cyril and Methodi132 us. Several Slovak Greek Catholic families also attended the local 133 Ukrainian church and some even the Polish church. The key mo124 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Oshawa," Maria , 9- I 0/ 1967, 17- I 8. PAA , Letter fro m Jul y 28, 1967. 126 Cf. "V izi tac ie preosv. o. biskupa Michala Rusnaka, CSsR," Maria , 5-6/ 1969, 5. 127 PAA , Letter of Father Joseph to Father Lacko, September 17, I 971. 128 PAA , Confirmation of the appointment as a pastor in the letter of Bi shop Isidore fro m September 20, 1973. 129 Cf. Lesc isin, 11 . 13 Cf. Lescisin, 13 . 13 1 Cf. Kirschbaum , 135-7. 132 Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish - History . htt ://www.s lovakchurch .com/historyh tm ( 11.5 .20 12 15 :00). b J Cf. "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/1 979, 9. 125 ° 44 SLOVAKIA-2017 ment for the founding of the Greek Catholic parish was a meeting on October 26, 1952 in the house of Mr. Michael Mati. During this meeting a deci sion was made to establish the parish of Sts . Peter and 134 Paul. The first liturgy was celebrated on December 14, 1952 in the 135 local Ukrainian church. Fathers Michael Rusnak and Louis Mina 136 took turns serving the community. The first anniversary of the mission was celebrated in the Hungarian church on December 13, 1953 , with Bishop Borecky attending, and everyone "was delighted 137 to hear him deliver a short sermon in Slovak. " 138 In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga came to Hamilton from Rome. The parish changed its name due to a request by the Roman Catholic bishop of Hamilton, who already had in his diocese a parish dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Ukrainian Bishop Isidore Borecky, who was in charge of Slovak Greek Catholics in Ontario, changed the name of the parish to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 139 October 20, 1954. In a letter from the Oriental Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Coussa stated: "The veneration of the Mother of God of Klokocov will assure its success among Slovak Greek Catho40 lics." 1 A copy of the Klokocov icon was painted in the church thanks to the efforts of Father Lacko in 1955, and it was blessed by 14 1 the Pope himself. Also, some Slovenians came annualy in pil. h' . gnmages to t 1s icon. 142 The cornerstone of the sanctuary was blessed on October 20, 143 144 1957 . Inside was al so a bit of soil from Klokocov in Slovakia. The facade with three mountain peaks and a double cross (the Slovak 134 Cf. Yinansky, J. (F . Fuga), "Gr. K. Osada, Hamilton," Kalendar KSL 1977 (Toronto), 84. 135 Cf. " 25 . vyrocie nas ich farn osti," Maria, I 0/ 1977, 11. 136 Cf. Eli as, Jan, "Otec Fuga IO rokov v Hamiltone," Maria , 5/ 1964, 9. 137 Cf. " Po Gr.-kato lickej oslave v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, Fe bruary 20, 1954, p. 2. 138 "Zo zivota nas ich fa rnosti," Maria, 3/ 195 5 (May), 15. 139 Cf. " Hist6ri a odpustov Panny Marie Klokocovskej v Hamiltonskej svatyni ," Maria, 7-8/ 1965, 3. 14 Fuga, Franti sek, " Rozpomienka na prvy odpu st," Maria , 7-8/ 1965 , I 0. 14 1 Cf. " lkona kl okocovskej Matky Bozej v Hamiltone," Maria, 8/ 1958, 5-7. 142 Cf. " Hor' sa na putnicky odpust Panny Marie Klokococskej do Hamiltonu," Maria , 7-8/ 1969, 3. 143 Cf. Maria, 10/ 1957 , last page of the cover. 144 Cf. " Dej inn y den," Ma ria , 11 / 1957 , 11. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 45 national emblem) was painted by the noted Slovak artist Jozef 145 Cincik. Father Fuga was a skilled organizer, and the Hamilton 146 sanctuary was nicely decorated during his tenure. Fuga also supported the struggle for Slovak independence and created the modem Slovak flag (horizontal white, blue and red stripes with the Slovak emblem superimposed upon it!" In 197 4 he became the director of 47 the Matica Slovenska Abroad. Hamilton was also one of the first Greek Catholic parishes to have the Sunday readings done in modem Slovak. The church was dedicated on June 9, 1963, as part of the local Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations (the 1100 th anniversary of the 148 arrival of the Apostles of the Slavs on Slovak territory). In those days, the number of the faithful in Hamilton increased to almost 149 500. The first visit of Bishop Rusnak to Hamilton after his episco150 pal ordination took place on May 23 , 1965. At the beginning of 1975 Father Fuga became seriously ill. This was the price he paid for his printing apostolate, using lead ink. Some parishioners said to him: "Monsignor, please do not die! It would be better for us if the sanctuary burned to the ground, because you could build another one, but if you die, we will lose it in a few 151 years! " Father Fuga lived for another ten years. On October 3, 152 1975 a Slovak school opened in the parish. The "odpust" of 1976 included a blessing of the interior iconography, created by Igor 153 Suchacev, and the ceremony of presenting the miter to Monsignor Fuga. Suchacev painted Slovak saints in the apse, with their scrolls 145 PAA, Letter from Father Fuga to Father Lacko, January 31, 1975. Cf. "Z nasich osad - Hamilton," Maria, 3-4, 1968, 18-20; fourth page of the cover; "Odpust a cirkevne slavnosti v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, August 9, 1975, p. 5; "Vyrocity odpust a strieborne jubileum pastoracie Mons. Fr. Fugu v Hamiltone," Kanadsky Slovak, September 8, 1979, p. 3. 147 Cf. Elias, Jan, "Zahranicna MS ma protektora," Kanadsky Slovak, July 6, 1974, P,·48 5. Cf. "Kronika," Maria , 4/ 1963, 16. 149 Cf. Lacko, Michal, " Posviacka dvoch novych s lovenskyc h kostolov v Kanade," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963 , p. 5. 15 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/ 1965, 16. 151 "Nas rozhovor," Maria , 4/ 1979, 9. 152 Cf. "Skola slovenciny osady P. M. Klokocovskej , Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975 , p. 5. 153 Born in Yugoslavia to Russian refugees . One of his works was the decoration of the throne in Ethiopia. 146 ° 46 SLOVAKIA-2017 written in Slovak. The church also has depictions of the blessed Sister Miriam T. Demjanovic and President Joseph Tiso. The beauty of the church was also enhanced by the iconostasis, being the only Slo154 vak church in Canada to have a permanent one. The parish exists to this day, although the glory days of Father Fuga are gone. 7: Welland, Ontario (1953) The first Slovaks settled in the Niagara peninsula around 1920; eventually there were some 3,000. Local branches of the CSL had these numbers : 23 in Welland (1940), 31 in St. Catharines (1942), 3 7 155 in Niagara Falls (1943) and 64 in Port Colborne ( 1952). A majority of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Welland and nearby places came to Canada in the last years prior to WW II, mostly from Zemplin County. Only after WW II, when new priests arrived, did the organization of spiritual life develop here. On November 22, 1953 a meeting was held in Welland for all those interested in establishing a Slovak Greek Catholic parish under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. The meeting was organized by Father Vincent Danco, SJ. Some twenty-eight members of the future parish appeared. The faithful wished to have the liturgy celebrated twice a month and to temporarily use the Gregorian calendar. They also produced a list of fifty-five people who wished to belong to the 156 parish. Bishop Borecky promised in his letter of December I 9, 157 1953 to send a Decree for the creation of this parish. The first pastor of the parish was Father Danco, whose name was inscribed with gold letters into the history of the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. On August 1, 1954, the Reverend Nicholas Chanat became the pastor of the Hol y Ghost parish in Welland and the "mission stations 158 of the Niagara Peninsula districts." The solemn groundbreaking 154 Cf. " Yysoka cirkevna hodnost' Mons. F. Fugovi," Kanadsky Slovak, September 4, 1976, pp . 1-2. 155 Cf. "S lovaci a ich organi zacia v dejinach oblasti N iagara," Kanadsky Slovak, January 31 , 198 1, p.5. 156 PAA , without a signature. 157 PAA , without a signature. 158 PAA, Letter from Bishop Borecky, without a signature. 47 SLOVAKIA-2017 159 took place on July 3, 1955 , and on May 20, 1956 the new church160 hall was blessed. However, the Reverend Chanat died in the morn161 ing of March 17, 1957 at the age of30. This was so devastating that the hall became a permanent church, as there was never any fur162 ther building activity. Father Mina succeeded him ; after him the 164 163 parish was served by Fathers Fetsco, Kra:fcik, Shogan, Chamey and Russin. Bishop Rusnak visited the parish for the first time as a • 165 bishop on June 6, 1965 . From November 1965, Father Smal' was 166 the pastor. After Father Russin resigned as pastor at the end of 167 I 971, Father Robert Keleher was named the new administrator. 168 He installed a temporary iconostasis. Father Keleher was replaced with a Slovak priest, Father Stephen Kundra, who served from Au169 gust of 1972 until February of 1973 . The parish was administered for a while by Father Fuga until the arrival of Father John Leso, SJ _110 Vo The parish financial report for the year 1980 showed that, were it not for bingo, the rental of the hall and kitchen, the parish would not 171 collect enough money to pay the priest's salary. This was due to the aging of the parish, the death of its founders , while their offspring either moved away or lost interest in this church. Thus, the parish slowly declined and did not survive the year 20 I 0. 159 In other sources the date for the groundbreaking by Father Chanat is listed as Jul y 4, 1954 . 16 Cf. "Zaznamenavame," Maria , 411956, 16. 161 Cf. "Za milovanym o. Nikolajom," Maria , 4/ 1957, 3-6. 162 PAA, Letter of April 3, 1957. 163 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/1965 , 15 . 164 PAA, Letter from Michael Kostik to Bi shop Isidore, November 9, 196 1. 165 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Biskupa M. Ru snaka," Maria , 3-4/ 1965 , 16. 166 PAA , Letter of th e Vicar General, the Right Reverend Basil Filevich, December 6, 1965 . 167 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore to the Toronto-Dominion Bank, December 24, 197 1. 168 PAA, Letter of Father Keleher to Bishop Isidore, August 27, 1973. 169 PAA , Letter of Bishop Isidore, February 23, 1973, addressed to the TorontoDomi nion Bank . 170 PAA , Lette r of February 17, 1976. 171 PAA, Annual statement - 1980. ° 48 SLOVAKIA-2017 8: Sudbury, Ontario (1954) This mining town in northern Ontario also attracted Slovak im172 migrants. In 1923 the first Slovaks arrived in Sudbury. Several of 173 them were Greek Catholics. The founding meeting of branch 16 of the CSL was held June 19, 1938 at the hall of the local Ukrainian Greek Catholic church, showing thus their religious affi liation. The local Greek Catholic Slovaks had quite a community life even before 174 their parish was founded , as testified by newspaper articles. On many of these occasions the Master of Ceremonies, or simply the Elder, presided over the event with both formal as well as religious 175 elements. A real start for the Slovak Greek Catholics was the Divine Liturgy celebrated on August 15, 1954 at the hall of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. It was celebrated by fathers Louis Mina and Nicholas Chanat and Father Dzurman, the local Ukrainian 176 priest. The parish received the title of Our Lady of Perpetual 178 177 Help. The entire ceremony was broadcast on local television. 179 Thereafter liturgies were celebrated on a monthly basis. The Sudbury parishioners were also subscribers and ~enerous benefactors of 1 the Slovak Greek Catholic magazine Maria. Father Fetsco became 18 1 the pastor for the first time in 1957. With several breaks and sev- ° 172 Cf. Urban, J., "Slovaks in Sudbury," Polyphony: Th e Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario - Sudbury 's People, Vol. 5 (No. I, 1983), p. 123 . 173 Cf. "Smutna sprava 23. zboru KSL," Kanadsk:y Slovak, August 9, 1980, p. 7; " Spravy z Toronta," Kanadsk:y Slovak, April 7, 1979, p. 2. 174 Cf. " Man zelia Strokovi jubilovali," Kanadsk:y Slovak, March 30, 1950, p. 6; "Manzelia Rani covi jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slowik, August 17, 1950, p. 6; "Rani covi zenili syna Stefana," Kanadsk:y Slovak, September 9, 1950, p. 6; "S I. Johanka Simkova v putach manzelstva," Kanadsk:y Slovak November 9, 1950, p. 7; " Manzelia Koritko jubilovali, Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 8, 1952, p. 2. 175 Cf. " Mad'arovci 25 rokov v manzelstve, Kanadsk:y Slovak, December 2 1, 1950, p. 3. 176 Cf. Maria , 2/1955 , 15; "S lavnostne otvorenie slovenskej gr. kat. parafii v Sudbury, Ont. di\ a 15. augusta, Kanadsky Slovak, August 7, 1954, p. 8. 177 Cf Urban 124 178 Cf. Mari;, 2/ 1955 , 15. No such video recording cou ld be found. CTV does not have it in its archi ves, TYO did not exist and CBC did not answer my e-mails. 179 Cf. " Prvy slovensky krst v Sudburach," Kanadsk:y Slovak, November 6, 1954, p. 3. 18 Cf. Maria , 6/l 955 , 17; 5/ 1958, 22. 18 1 Cf. "Novosti ," Maria, 3-4/ 1965 , 15. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 49 182 era! priests substituting, he continued coming to the parish until 1972. On July I, 1964, a new pastor was named--Father Theoktist 183 Vidov, a Studite monk originally from Croatia. Bishop Rusnak 184 came to Sudbury on June 13, 1965 . Sadly, someone noted that the youth had little interest in its roots: "The whole ceremony was really nice. And it could be even nicer if our young Slovaks from Sudbury 185 would show up in bigger numbers for such a great ceremony." In 1965 Father Jules Riotte, a Greek Catholic priest of German origin is • d as t he pastor, commg • twice • a mont h . 186 B 1s . hop R usna' k menhone 187 also returned to Sudbury in the following years. We have a list 188 from the 1960's of 31 fam ilies who had their homes blessed following the blessing of the Jordan water. Another list of families who 189 appeared for All Souls Day celebrations is also preserved. One of the problems of the Slovak Greek Catholic community in Sudbury was the lack of a resident priest. Another important factor for the downfall of the parish were economic conditions. Around 1964, when their economic situation changed for the better, many people moved to southern Ontario, and since no new waves of immigrants appeared, a decline in the number of Slovaks (and Greek Catholics) began. At a parish meeting held on July 13, 1975, it was decided "to dismiss the parish ; the reason is that there is no one to keep it because there are no more parishioners, it is sad, but it could 191 190 not be changed." Bishop Rusnak responded on July 25, 1975, but another reply from the parishioners was dated August 1, 1977. Because of this correspondence, Maria magazine listed the parish in 182 Cf. Urban, 124. Cf. "Kronika," Maria, 6-7/ 1964, 16. 184 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp . Biskupa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 3-4/1965, 16. 185 "Cestujeme s p. biskupom ," Maria, 9-10/ 1965, 6. 186 Beskyd, J., Yearbook of the Eparchy of Toronto (In the vineyard of Christ) (Toro nto: Eparc hy of Toronto, 1964), 520. 187 Cf. "Z nas ich osad - Sudbury - Preosv. p. biskup Michal Rusnak CSsR medzi svojimi ," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 18- 19; Stripay, J., "Preosv. o. bisk up Michal Rusnak CSsR v Sudburach," Maria, 9-10/1968, 6. 188 PAA, File: Sudbury. 189 PAA , File: Sudbury. 190 PAA , Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated July 17, 1975. 191 PAA, Letter from the ushers to Bishop Michael, dated August I, 1977. 183 50 SLOVAKIA-2017 192 197 6 as still open, but that is no longer the case. Only sixty people 193 of Slovak origin remain in Sudbury. 9: Delhi (Simcoe - Delhi), Ontario (1955) Many Slovaks, especially from Eastern Slovakia, started to move into the area of Simcoe and Delhi, in southern Ontario, around 1930. 194 Most of them worked as tobacco farmers . The same people who founded branch 46 of the Canadian Slovak League in 1944 also founded St. Andrew's parish. In 1954 Father Frantisek Fuga of Hamilton heard about the Greek Catholic Slovaks at this location and contacted them. After a few weeks he celebrated a liturgy for 195 them. Since this took place around the feast of St. Andrew, the parish was named for this saint. It was officially created in Novem196 ber of 1955 . Father Fuga answered the spiritual needs of the parishioners working on farms and served them once a month in the 197 local Ukrainian church in Delhi. In 1965 only about thirty families 198 attended these services. The first pastoral visit of St. Andrew's parish by Bishop Michael Rusnak was conducted on December 18, 199 1966. The silver jubilee of the parish could also be called its swan 200 song. It was celebrated on October 19, 1980. The story of Simcoe - Delhi is the story of a small flock of the faithful, who wanted to 192 Cf. "Nase kostoly," Maria, 1/1976, third page of the cover. Census profile: http://wwwI2.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/20 I I/dpp_gfprQf1/<!eJ<1.ih/p_agt!,Sfo1'.?: Lang= E&Geo l =CSD&Cocle 1=3553005&Geo2=CD&Cocle2=3553&Data=Count&S t!archText=suclbur &SearchT e=Contains&SearchPR=0 l&B l =A ll &C ustom=&TA Bl D '."'J (27.8.2013 23:30) 194 Cf. Kirschbaum , J. M.: Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Ethnic Press Association of Ontario, 1967), 128. 195 Cf. "Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria , 1-3/1966, 3-4. 196 See: Kirschbaum , 262 and Fuga, Frantisek, J., "Slovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 197 Cf. Kirschbaum, 262. 198 Cf." Osada v Simcoe - Delhi jubiluje," Maria, 1-311966, 3-4. 199 Cf. "Prva vizitacia pana biskupa Michala Rusnaka v Simcoe-Delhi, Ont. ," Maria, 1-2/1967, 10-11. 200 Cf. Fuga, Frantisek J., "S lovenska greckokatolicka farnost' sv. Andreja v Simcoe - Delhi , Ont. jubilovala," Kanadsky Slovak, November 29, 1980, p. 4. 193 SLOVAKIA-2017 51 praise God in Church Slavonic, as they did back home. However their small size prevented the parish from growing. The community literally died with the death of the last parishioner from among the original flock. This community was always listed as a parish, even though from the ecclesiastical point of view it would probably be called a mission, as in all juridical matters the parishioners belonged to the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton. 10: Kenaston, Saskatchewan (1967) The first Slovaks arrived in Kenaston in July of 1903 and were 20 1 followed by others who came to farm. Besides the Ukrainians, many Slovak Greek Catholics also settled in and around nearby Sas202 katoon, Saskatchewan. Bishop Rusnak came to Saskatoon on June 203 26, 1966, hoping to include these people within his jurisdiction, and to make of this place a permanent center of the Slovak religious presence in Canada. Before this visit, an invitation appeared in the press: Come all of you, who are able to come, because this will be the very first time, since our arrival here 50 years ago, that we will be able to welcome amongst us our first Slovak bishop in Canada and the first bishop who is a Greek Catholic, since the times of Sts. Cyril and Methodius .... This joyful news is written for you ... by Joseph Zeman, an 80 year-old Slovak, who after 65 years in Canada, lived long enough to 204 experience this great joy ... The Ukrainian Greek Catholics gave Rusnak permission to use their cathedral of St. George for the meeting. The organizational committee prepared 600 memorial ribbons - but they were not 205 206 . enough! Father John Kobelak, M.S.F. was entrusted with or- 20 1 Cf. "Na vyrocie slovenskych pociatkov v Saskatchewan a slovenskeho ~riekopnictva v Kanade, Kanadsky Slowik, June 25 , 1966, p. 2. 02 Cf. "S lovak so Slovakom sa zide," Kanadsky Slowik, March 10, 1962, p. 2; "Janko Purda graduoval ," Kanadsky Slovak, January 5, 1963, p. 2. 203 Cf." Pl anovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/1966, 16. 204 Cf. " Do pozornosti Slovakom v Saskatchewan," Kanadsky Slovak, May 28, 1966, ~- 2. os Cf. "Aj 600 bolo malo," Kanadsky Slovak, July 16, I 966, p. 3. 52 SLOVAKIA-2017 20 7 gamzmg this parish. The Slovak Greek Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was officially created during the Canadian centennial in 1967, after the trip of Bishop Rusnak to Saskatoon. The parish was part of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Saskatoon, having its own property, a gift of the recently-deceased Joseph Zeman. Bishop Rusnak planned to send the parish a Slovak priest - the Reverend Stephen Adamiak.208 In the archives are notes testifying that the Ukrainian Eparchy indeed received the property and also $1000 to be used to build a Slovak Greek Catholic church in Kenaston. However, the following year the heirs of the late Mr. Zeman changed their minds and requested that the $1,000 be re209 turned to them. In the fall of 1970 the parish ceased to exist. 2 10 The question remains: Would a Slovak parish have lasted in Saskatchewan, if it had been built in Saskatoon rather than in the small village of Kenaston? MISSIONS WITH IRREGULAR SERVICES Among the missions we list those places where we are sure that the Slovak Greek Catholic services were held: 11: Edmonton, Alberta The capital of the Province of Alberta attracted many Slovak immigrants in the 1930's, including Greek Catholics.2 11 Slovak 212 Greek Catholics present here never formed a separate parish or other type of organized community, but they still could be considered a part of the life of Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada. After his 206 Born in Poland in 1921 . He came to Canada in 1964, and worked in the Eastern rite. He died in 200 I. 207 Cf. "Z nasich osad - Kenaston - Nova slovenska greckokatolfcka osada sv. Cyrila a Metoda," Maria, 11-12/ 1967, 17. 208 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michael dated May 15, 1967. 209 PAA , E-mail from the Eparchy of Saskatoon, sent to the author on November 21, 2011 , 17:00. 210 PAA , Letter NM najdostojnejci Otce Vladyka! sent from Rome, 12. X. 1970. 211 Cf. Kirschbaum , 151. 212 Cf. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17. SLOVAKIA-2017 53 Episcopal ordination, Bishop Michael Rusnak visited Edmonton on 213 June 27, I 965 . 12: Fernie, British Columbia Femie is one of the oldest settlements of Slovaks in Canada. The 214 first Slovak miners came here in 1898 from Pennsylvania. Many of them were Greek Catholics. Shortly after the start of the 20th cen215 tury, a branch of the Greek Catholic Union was founded here. Slovaks in Femie were also organized in branch 51 of the CSL. Fa2 16 ther Michal Lacko did a visitation here in 1973. Femie is mentioned as a mission in the report of the Apostolic Visitator in 217 1978. 13: New Westminster, British Columbia The first Slovaks came to the Canadian Pacific coast at the end 218 219 of the 19 th century. Larger numbers appeared only after WW 11. Branch 4 7 of the CSL was established here in 1944. The Slovak Roman Catholic parish of Sts. Cyril and Methodius has existed in New 220 Westminster since 1960. Many of its parishioners were Greek 221 Catholics. From time to time, Greek Catholic services were also celebrated here. In 1959 there was a Slovak Greek Catholic wedding in the Ukrainian church, performed by a "good friend of Slovaks, 222 Father Bylik, who was ass isted in the ceremonies by Mr. Bodnar.'' 213 Cf. "Navstevy Ndp. Bisk upa M. Rusnaka," Maria, 5-611965, I 3. Cf. Kirschbaum , 70. 215 Cf. Palmer, Howard, Land of the Second Chance (A History of Ethnic Groups in Southern Alberta), (Lethbridge : Lethbridge Herald, 1972), 195. 216 Personal Archive of the Author (PAA) Letter of Bishop Michael to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 217 PAA , Quinquennial report for Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada, 19731978 (November 1st , 1978),2-3 . 218 Kanadsky Slovak, November 14, I 970. 219 Cf. Kirschbau m, 146-8. 220 Officiall y establ ished by Father Wi lliam Lacko, SJ in 1960. The first acti vities with local Slovaks date back to 1952. 22 1 Cf. " Klub za ujemcov o hist6riu Slovakov v Britskej Kolumbii v Kanade," http://www.sk-bc .ca/book/export/ html/I 98 (October 18, 20 11 , 20:00); Maria, 78/ 1965, 5; 12; 12/1965, 15. 222 " Pekna slovenska svadba v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 27, 1959, p. 2. 214 54 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius was the home of Ukrainian Greek Catholics until they built their own church. In those days a certain Byzantine-rite priest - Father Kmec-- celebrated the services. Many times the Slovak Greek Catholics celebrated with the Ukrainians. ln 1970, the Reverend William Lacko wrote about the Greek Catholics: "the late Michael Bodnar with a beautiful voice, was an outstanding cantor." Already during the Cyrillo-Methodian jubilee in 1963 we learn that "many Slovak Greek Catholics are living in this area and because of this Father Michael Lacko went to the far west of Canada ... and celebrated services in the Church Slavonic 223 language .... " And during the Jubilee year, according to the words of the pastor, once a month instead of the sermon "we all sang "Moleben." The Impressive "Hospodi pomiluj" resounded in the church as a joint response to the petition of all the Catholics of both 224 rites." On the day of the Cyrillo-Methodian celebrations, July 7, 1963 , the Latin Mass was fo ll owed with the singing of sacred songs in Slovak and Church Slavonic by both Roman and Greek Catho225 lics. They sang lie Cheruvimi (Let us, who mystically represent 226 the Cherubim) and Otce nas (Our Father), led by Mr. Bodnar. Bishop Rusnak was quite frequentl y a welcome guest of the parish. On those occasions, the church was always filled to the very last seat or even overcrowded. His visit was a real "unique experience with lasting value .. .. Greek Catholics are coming from near and far to the services held in the Slovak church and it is a joy to see them, 227 when Bishop Michael is among them .. .'' In 1966 Bishop Rusnak 228 appeared on July 3. He officiated at the funeral of Mrs. Potoma on 229 July 6, 1970. For the local parishioners it became a tradition throughout the years to have Bishop Rusnak among them , always around the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of their 223 224 Cf. Maria , 7/ 1963 , 11. "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 225 Cf. "Cyril ometodske slav nosti v B.C.," Kanadsky Slovak, June 29, 1963, p. 8. Cf. "Cyrilometodske oslavy na Pacifickom pobrezi," Kanadsky Slovak, August 17, 1963, p. 2. 227 "Slovenski greckokatolici na Pacifiku," Kanadsky Slovak, September 14, 1970, p. 5. 228 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria , 4-5/ 1966, 16. 229 PAA , Folder: Vancouver. 226 SLOVAKIA-2017 55 church. The bishop made such a good impression on the people that they left with the words: "Goodbye Most Reverend Bishop M. 230 Rusnak until next year." In 1973 the Byzantine liturgy was scheduled for August 5, with Father Michael Lacko, SJ as the main cele. . was a Iso the act o f a canomca . I v1s1tahon. . . . 232 brant. 23 1 H.1s v1s1t Among the benefactors of the Maria magazine were several people 233 from New Westminster. The visits of the Greek Catholic bishop to New Westminster stopped a long time ago, but the Greek Catholics there attend the Slovak Roman Catholic parish to thi s day. 14: Unionville (Markham), Ontario From the canonical point of view, Unionville Ontario, and the fa mily mansion of the billionaire Stephen B. Roman could not be considered either a parish, or a mission. However, to be fair to history, we have to note that services were held here more often than in some of th e other missions. Fron the 1950's until the 1980 's Bishop Rusnak celebrated a liturgy in the residence of Mr. Roman every 234 Sunday aftemoon. The bishop had become a good friend of the Greek Catholic Stephen Roman in the early 1950 's. Together they planned to build a huge Cathedral of the Transfiguration on Mr. Roman's property in Unionville and Pope John Paul II even blessed the 235 cornerstone in I 984. However, after Mr. Roman suddenly died in 1988, Bishop Rusnak and his successor Bishop Pazak, could not come to an agreement with Mr. Roman 's heirs as to the actual ownership of the cathedral. Therefore, Bishop Pazak deconsecrated the 23 °Korem, Albin, " Dve spravy z B. C.," Kanadsky Slowik, July 18, 1970, p. 5. 23 1 PAA , Postcard Srdecny pozdrav od Ticheho oceanu. Sent from San Francisco, Jul y 20, 1973. 232 PAA, Letter of Bishop Michae l to Father Lacko, May 28, 1973. 233 Cf. Maria, 2/ 1963, 17; 1/1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 9-10/ 1964, third page of the cover; 1-2/ 1965, third page of the cover; 12/1965 , 16; 1-3/ 1966, third page of the cover; 1/ 1977, third page of the cover; 5/ 1978, 16;4/ 1979, 16; 7-8/ 1980, 24. 234 Litva, Felix, "Stefan B. Roman - clovek v rozdvojenom svete" (Cambridge, ON : Dobra kniha, 198 I). 235 See Our Heritage of Faith : Consecration of the Slovak Cathedral of the Transfiguration by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, September 15, 1984, ed. by Helen Roman-Barber and Anne C. R. Roman (Toronto: Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Methodius for Slovaks of the Byzantine Ri te in Canada, 1984). 56 SLOVAKIA-2017 church in 2006 and since then it has sat empty as the cornerstone of a 236 massive housing development called "Cathedraltown." 15: Winnipeg, Manitoba Slovak immigrants started coming to to Winnipeg before the First World War, but the largest group arrived in the interwar peri237 od. A Slovak Roman Catholic parish existed here since 1951. Father Alexander Baran, an historian and native of the Subcarpathian region, worked at the local univers ity. Because his dad had been a secretary to the first Slovak Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia- Dr. Milan Hodza--he knew Slovak and was a great friend to Slovak Greek Catholics, with whom he shared the same liturgical tradition.2 38 Before the end of the 19 th century, several families from Zemplin County arrived via Pennsylvania to the town of Neepawa, in the 239 Province of Manitoba. When the Canadian Slovak League (CS L) was established here in 1932, one of the founding members, Juraj Rond'os, was not ashamed of being not only Slovak, but also a Greek Catholic. The local branch of the CSL received the number 1. The Slovak Greek Catholics in town attended mostly the local Ukrainian church for their worship services. The priests even learned some 240 Slovak for special celebrations for these parishioners. The most vital period for Slovak Greek Catholics in Winnipeg 24 1 started after the episcopal ordination of Bishop Rusnak. He came to Winnipeg for the first time on Sunday, August 22, 1965, and assisted by the local Slovak Roman Catholic pastor, Msgr. John Re236 For more details see "The Cathedral that Toronto Forgot," Toronto Star, June 26, 201 1 and "Losing Faith in Cathedraltown," Toronto Star, January I 0, 2015. 237 Cf. Kirschbaum , 75 -76. 238 For more info on Baran see: htt ://um anitoba.ca/libraries/units/archi ves/collections/rad/baran.html 239 Cf. R~ ndos, Juraj, "V lete sli spat' na breh rieky," in Spomienky pionierov, ed. by lmrich Stolarik (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, I 978), 2 19. Maria, 1/ 1963, 17; 10/ 1963, third page of the cover; 12/ 1965 , 16; 12/ 1966, third page of the cover. 24 Cf. " Mary Rondosova vydala sa za Janka Stretavskeho," Kanadsky Slovak, March I, 195 1, p. 4. " Pekna slovenska svadba vo Winnipegu," Kanadsky Slovak, Apri l 5, 1958, p. 2; "Opusti li nas dvaja Slovaci z nasej okolice v Dufresne, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, March 21, 198 1, p. I 0. 241 Cf. Kutka, J., " Historicky den manitobskych Slovakov," Kanadsky Slovak, Nove mber 13, 1965, p. 2. ° SLOVAKIA-2017 57 kem, as well as by Father Baran, he celebrated a Byzantine liturgy in 242 the local Slovak Roman Catholic church. His visit was prepared by Msgr. Rekem and Mr. J. Kutka. Beautiful liturgical Church Slavonic singing had a delicate impact on the people present, many of them hearing it probably for the very first time in their lives. The choir, directed by organist Cudovit (Louis) Besei\ovsky, sang both Slovak Greek and Latin liturgies. Even though the Greek and Latin Catholics sang together for the first time, they 243 were praised for their perforrnance. Bishop Rusnak also visited the Greek Catholic Slovaks in Win244 nipeg in the following years. Several Slovak Greek Catholics from Winnipeg and nearby settlements appeared among the supporters of ~"' • • 245 1V1arza magazme. OTHER SLOVAK GREEK CATHOLIC LOCATIONS 16: Flin Flon, Manitoba Many Slovaks found jobs in the mining industry here, among them quite a few Greek Catholics . Several Slovak farmers settled around the town as well. When the Canadian Slovak League was founded in 1932, its local branch was given the number 4. However, the best years for the community were the 1940's and 1950's. Several Greek Catholic Slovaks here attended the local Ukrainian 246 church. In 1966 Bishop Michael Rusnak intended to send the Revernd John Zeman, OSB as a Greek Catholic priest to Flin 247 Flon . However, this did not materialize. 242 Cf. "Cestujeme s p. biskupom," Maria , 9-10/1965, 9- I 0. 1bid., 9. 244 Cf. " Planovane vizitacne cesty p. biskupa," Maria, 4-5/1966, 16. PAA, diaries. 245 Cf. Maria , 1/ 1964, third page of the cover; 2/ 1964, third page of the cover; 67/ 1964, third page of the cover; 12/1965, 16; 1-2/ 1967, fourth page of the cover; 78/ 1977, third page ofthe cover; 5/ 1978, 16; 3/1979, 16; 2/ 1980, 16; 12/1980, 16. 246 Cf. "Smutok sboru vo Flin Flon, Man. ," Kanadsky Slovak, February 4, 1956, p. 2; Kadas, V.: Brat Jozef Dubos na vecnosti," Kanadsky Slovak, July 23, 1966, p. 2; "Zlata svadba u Rujakov vo Flin Flon, Man.," Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1976, p. 6; "Zlata svadba manzelov Stefanik v B. C.," Kanadsky Slovak, October 18, 1975, p. 4. 247 PAA , Letter from Father John Zeman, August 2, 1966. 243 58 SLOVAKIA-2017 17: Thunder Bay, Ontario The city of Thunder Bay came into existence on January 1, 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William, were amalgamated. The majority of the Slovaks in this area were from the county of Orava. They started coming in the 1890's and built St. Peter's Slovak Roman 248 Catholic church in 1907. Slovak Lutherans built a church in 1927. 249 Newspapers confirm several Slovak Greek Catholics living here. The first journey after his ordination led Bishop Rusnak to the Cana250 dian West through Fort William. He almost certainly stopped here on his ways to the West, when traveling by car. Conclusion Besides the above mentioned cities, which were depicted on the map of the Eparchy, the Slovak Greek Catholic presence was also documented elsewhere in Canada. Benefactors of the magazine Maria appeared in a larger number of locations. One can observe from the life of the Canadian Slovak Greek Catholics that, to some degree, they were copying the ways of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, who first settled in the West of Canada, then moved to Quebec, with a hiatus in the interwar period and then focused on Southern Ontario. The settlements in Southern Ontario 25 1 shared similar fates , not only with Ukrainian Catholics, but to a 252 certain degree even more with the Hungarian Greek Catholics. 248 Cf. Kirschbaum , 77-79. Cf. " Smutime za nas imi bratmi," Kanadsky Slowi k, August 27, 1966, p. 3; "Jub ileum Bakovych v Niagara Falls," Kanadsky Slowik, August 15, 1959, p. 2. 25 Cf. Kutka, J., "Historicky dei\ Manitobskych Slovakov, Kanadsky Slowik, November 13, 1965 , p. 2. 251 Cf. Canada 's Ukrainians: Negotiating an Identity, ed. by Lubomyr Luciuk and Stella Hryniuk (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 199 1). On the Ukrainian exr,erience around Winnipeg see pages 53 -80. 52 Slovak - Hungarian Greek Cath olic re lati ons in Canada are a topic fo r furth er research . The Slovak Greek Catholics were fo r a time guests of the Hungari an Greek Catholic Church in Hamilton. In Windsor, Father Krafcik served for a time both Greek Catholi c communities - Slovak as we ll as Hungari an. Similar plans were made fo r Welland, whi ch also had both Churches, using the same liturgical rite, the same melodi es (and when it came to English, exactl y the same melodies and texts)! Especially in Ontario, the Hungarian settlements were almost identical to the Slovak ones. Also from the letters of Father Michal Lacko, SJ, we learn that, before the Slovak eparchy was created, he hoped that a bishopric would be created whi ch 249 ° SLOVAKIA-2017 59 Many people had relatives in other parishes, leading to frequent mutual visits of Slovak Greek Catholics, other than in their their own parishes, especially for parish feast days, or some great historic milestones. Many new friendships were thus started, and also some marriages arranged within the community. Places which really continued to blossom with the Slovak Greek Catholic population were the industrial towns of Eastern Canada. If the industry closed, or shrank, or farming was no longer attractive, the people moved out and then their parishes were closed (Sudbury 253 and Flin Flon). The same thing happened in the mining and steel 254 industry towns of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. If a parish were to last, it had to have several zealous parishioners. Where there were only a few, such a parish had only a minimum chance of survival (Kenaston, Winnipeg, New Westminster). In such a case the Slovak Greek Catholics joined (or remained) either with local Slovak Roman Catholics or with Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The age of the parishioners when starting their parishes was also quite crucial, as when they were relatively old, and few in number, their parishes lasted for only a short while (Simcoe - Delhi). What is interesting is how the Slovak Greek Catholics in Canada made picnics an important part of parish culture. These gatherings became so popular, that at some time the parishes of Toronto and Hamilton owned their own picnic grounds, while the other parishes used facilities of other groups. In almost all the parishes we note that the most active parishioners were born in Slovakia. The subsequent generations, born in Canada, began to lose interest in maintaining their parishes. This would include, not only Slovak, but Hungarian Greek Catholic parishes as well (PAA). The last pastor of the Slovak church in Welland (before it was closed in 20 I 0) was Father John Girhinyi, himself a Hungarian. For more information on Hungarian life in Canada (and how it resembled the Slovak experience), see Nandor Dreisziger, Church and Society in Hungary and in the Hungarian Diaspora (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016), especially pages 261-4. 253 Cf. https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List of Canadian muni c ipalities having experienced popula-tion decreases 254 Other existing parishes, which face serious challenges with changing industry in the USA include Braddock, Charleroi, Clarence and Clymer, Pennsylvania. See Byzantine-Ruthenian Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh Directory (Pittsburgh: Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, I 999). See also. https://en.wikipecl ia.org/wiki/Shrinking- cities in the United States 60 SLOVAKIA-2017 might be attributed to the relatively high percentage of the Slovak immigrants assimilating to English-Canadian culture. Indeed, many times the parents themselves wanted to have their children completely forget about their ancestral homeland . In some cases the parents were not even willing to speak with them in Slovak - so that they would not have an accent, and thus be more successful in the labor market. By 1980, only two Slovak Greek Catholic parishes in Canada were over 50 years old: Lethbridge - which was Ukrainianized, and Montreal, which also had its best years behind it. Sadly, even some of the younger parishes (Kenaston, Simcoe - Delhi, Sudbury) were already closed, or just about to be closed. At the creation of the Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy in 1980, only parishes in southern Ontario, which were close to each other, and able to benefit from mutual visits, or even exchanges of the clergy, were flourishing. Even this was to change in the following years, as the parish of Montreal was closed shortly after 2010, and the Welland parish was also not able to live through 2010. Recently the Most Reverend John S. Pazak, Bishop of the Slovaks of the Byzantine rite in Canada was transferred by 255 the Vatican to Phoenix, Arizona in the USA. Thus, the future of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada remains uncertain. 255 Transfer announced on May 7 th 20 I 6. HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE - Other Pontifical Acts: htt s:// ress.vatican.va/co nten t/sa lastam a/en/bo ll ettino/ ubblico/20 I 6/05/07 /16050 7h.html. See also "Bishop John S. Pazak named new Byzantine Eparch in Phoenix, Ariz. ," Slovak Catholic Falcon, June 15, 20 16, p.5.  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 Survey of Slovak Communities of the Byzantine Rite in Canada before they Received their Own Bishopric Description An account of the resource Daniel Černý Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 28-60 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Černý. Daniel Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7d59c0e980cfd192af1ffe71e144d812.pdf 78a07daefd810834c32c8dd959cd86aa PDF Text Text REVIEWS ��SLOVAKIA-2017 151 Jozef Klempa. Moje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. Dennik ceskoslovenskeho legionara z rokov 1914-1920. Bratislava: Slovart, 2014. l 83pp. Afterword by Viera Meliskova. Maps. M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa This is a unique and fascinating diary of a Czechoslovak (Slovak) Legionnaire from the First World War. Jozef Klempa (18941980) was trained as a shoemaker who was drafted into the AustroHungarian Armed Forces when the Great War broke out in 1914. That same year he was captured by the Russians on the eastern front and, along with many other POW's shuttled from one Russian village to another, far from the front. Amazingly, the Russian authorities treated him and other POW's quite leniently, letting them wander into nearby villages to find odd jobs, earn some kopeks or rubles, and buy food and drink to supplement their meager rations. Klempa's training as a shoemaker stood him in good stead, as he repaired the boots of his fellow-soldiers as well as that of many villagers. Indeed, he found Russian civilians very friendly and hospitable and he quickly mastered the Russian language and Russian customs. In 1918, after Germany had defeated Russia on the battlefield and the Bolsheviks had seized power, the Czechoslovak Legions, established during the war by T.G. Masaryk and Milan R. Stefanik, rebelled against the Bolsheviks, who tried to disarm them. Jozef Klempa, and thousands of other Czech and Slovak PO W' s joined the Czechoslovak Legions, and while fighting off various attacks by the Red Army, they decided to flee Russia by seizing control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the Ural Mountains all the way to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Klempa recorded, almost on a daily basis, his experiences in crossing Siberia twice, once to flee the Bolsheviks and the second time to fight and try to defeat them, at the urging of the Allied and Associated powers. Indeed, Klempa and some of his fellow-Legionnaires were captured by the Bolsheviks on one occasion, but managed to escape. Klempa described in great detail the good relations the Czechoslovak Legionnaires had with various Kozak armies in Siberia, but denounced Admiral Kolchak and his officers. Klempa concluded that the "Whites" lost the war against the Bolsheviks because of the arrogance and cruelty of Admiral Kol- �152 SLOVAKIA-2017 chak and his officers towards Russian peasants. Indeed, it took a visit by General Stefanik in the fall of 1918 to prevent many of the Czechs and Slovaks from joining the Bolsheviks, who treated this foreign army on Russian soil better than did Admiral Kolchak. And, while Klempa had good things to say about Chinese merchants in Siberia, he had nothing but contempt for the Japanese soldiers in Vladivostok, who treated the Czechoslovak Legionnaires very badly. Finally, in May of 1920, Klempa and 3,000 other Legionnaires boarded a British ship that took them to Vancouver in Canada. They then crossed Canada by rail to the eastern port of Halifax, where they boarded another ship that took them to the German port of Zugshaven from whence they were shipped by rail to the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic at the end of July. As many other Legionnaires, Klempa was then released from the military, given a medal for his service, and eventually found a job on the Czechoslovak railroad. Over the years he regaled his family with memories of his exploits in Siberia. His granddaughter Vierka Meliskova managed to gather together his recollections, based on a detailed diary that he kept while in Russia and on the way home, and published this memoir of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire. Historians will mine it for information on this glorious chapter in the history of Czechoslovakia for many years to come. Rebekah Klein-Pejsova .. Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015, 194 pp., index, maps, tables. JAN LANiCEK University of New South Wales, Australia In September of 1943 , members of the civic resistance in Slovakia, led by Vavro Srobar, a founding father of the united Czechoslovak state in 1918, prepared a report that provided insights into the political loyalties of individual groups in Slovakia. Although they believed that in the case of a plebiscite, a majority of the population would decide for Czechoslovakia, the Jews, the authors suggested, would likely support the re-annexation of the Slovak territory to �SLOVAKIA-2017 153 1 Hungary. This report confirmed a problematic perception of the Jews' political loyalties twenty-five years after the creation of the independent state. It was a prelude to the Jewish predicament in post1945 Slovakia, where the accusation of the Jews ' affiliation with the Hungarian (Magyar) culture figured prominently in the public discourse and complicated the Jews ' reintegration into Slovak society. 2 The question of Jewish loyalties in Slovakia is the main theme of thi s monograph . The author focuses on the interwar period and analyzes the transformation of the Jews' loyalties from those associated with the Hungarian political and cultural-linguistic stream before 1918, to a closer alignment with the liberal Czechoslovak political regime, in what she calls the formation of the 'Slovak Jewry'. KleinPejsova defines the 'S lovak Jewry ' as "a communal category binding loyalty to Czechoslovakia with Slovak territoriality rather than an expression of emotional attachment to or identification with the Slovak nation" (p. 92) . This was a complicated process, influenced by the legacies of Hungarian rule and revisionist policies, the rise and collapse of the centralized Czechoslovak state, the emergence of the Slovak national movement closely aligned with the Catholic Church, and internal disputes in the fragmented Jewish communities. Over 135,000 Jews lived in interwar Slovakia. During the 19 th Century, the Hungarian regime emancipated the Jews and allowed them rapid social and economic progress, which led to an overwhelmming acculturation, even assimilation into the Hungarian culture. This trend was deeply resented by the nascent Slovak national movement. Already in the first months after the emergence of the Czechoslovak state - and in an atmosphere filled with anti-Jewish riots 3 - Vavro Srobar, the first Czechoslovak minister responsible for Slovakia, called on the "one hundred percent Magyarized" Jewish communities in Slovakia to seek ""the right path" and abandon their affiliation with the Hungarians (very similar words were repeated by the liberal President Tomas Garrigue Masaryk) (pp.2 and 22). Klein1 Vilem Precan, ed. , Slovenske narodne povstanie: Dokum enty (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury 1965), 89. 2 Anna Cichopek-Gajraj , Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia (Cambridge : Cambridge Un iversity Press, 2014). 3 This subj ect has been recently comprehen sively addressed by Michal Frankl and Miloslav Szabo, Budovani statu bez antisemitismu. Nasili, diskurz loajality a vznik Ceskoslovenska (Praha : NLN, 20 I 6) . �154 SLOVAKIA-2017 Pejsova 's excellent book debates how the Jews responded to these new challenges . Jewish loyalties were constantly under investigation in the interwar period . Although Czechoslovakia accepted the protection of minorities imposed by the Paris Peace Conference (though the government rejected the inclusion of the articles that specifically reiterated the rights of the Jews), the state attempted to prove the dominance of the 'Czechoslovak nation' in the country. The census became the main instrument by which to officially declare loyalties to the new state. The government used the declared "mother tongue" as the main determinant of nationality, and only the Jews were allowed to declare their belonging to the Jewish nationality, regardless of their mother tongue. Klein-Pejsova identifies two possible explanations for this concession: either a liberal vision which re-conceptualized nationality "as an internal conviction", or a less liberal vision, which granted this right to the Jews with the intention of weakening the territorial minorities in the state, namely the Germans and Hungarians. Regardless of the motivations, the number of 'Hungarians' among the Jews sharply decreased in the interwar era (also because of anti-Semitism in Hungary), which contributed to the Hungarians losing some minority rights in certain districts, including Bratislava. Henceforth Hungarians blamed the Jews for this lack of corporate cultural rights, in the same way that the Czechs blamed the Jews in other districts, where the German or Hungarian minority reached the 20% threshold and could use their language in public affairs. Both sides blamed the Jews. A large number of Jews in the country - Klein-Pejsova suggests - decided to follow their own path and declared Jewish nationality, demonstrating neutrality in the national conflict, but at the same time declaring their support for the Czechoslovak state. In 1930, 57% of the Jews across the republic chose this option, and their numbers were exceptionally high especially in the eastern territories, including Slovakia. This acceptance of Jewish nationality should not be confused with support for Jewish nationalism, in the modem sense, a point, which could have been stressed a bit more throughout the monograph. Large parts of the Orthodox and Hassidic communities declared themselves as belonging to the Jewish nationality in the census, but they overtly and consistently rejected modem Jewish nationalist politics. �SLOVAKIA-2017 155 Klein-Pejsova frequently compares the situation of the Jews in Slovakia to the Bohemian Lands, where the Jews largely acculturated into the Czech national stream. This comparative element could have developed differently if the author had focused on Moravia, where, especially in the major cities (Brno and Moravska Ostrava), the progress of cultural affiliation with the Czech nation was much slower and the German language dominated among the Jews until the end of the interwar period (though there was an increased effort to change the affiliation after 1933). Even here, the declaration of Jewish nationality offered a way out of the loyalty quandary for the Jews, who were affiliated with non-Slavic cultures. The Jews thus clearly aligned with the Czechoslovak political regime, at least in their public proclamations, though it is much more difficult to prove how the situation was perceived in daily contacts at the local level. Also, what did it mean for ordinary people - Jews and non-Jews alike - to declare a particular nationality in a decennial census? As Klein-Pejsova aptly concludes, '"'the tragic weakness of Jewish nationality lay in its illegibility", which opened it to interpretations (p.114). One can argue that ordinary people, but also state bureaucrats, were much more interested in the language that the Jews used in their daily contacts. Although the Jews believed that a declaration of Jewish nationality was sufficient proof of their loyalties, and continued to use the Hungarian language, this was an inadequate reorientation in the minds of Slovaks. The second problem was that the Jews tied their loyalties to the centralized Czechoslovak state and not the Slovak nation. The growing Slovak autonomous movement criticized the lack of Jewish support for their national ambitions, and the late 1930s witnessed new cases of anti-Jewish violence in Slovakia, with prominent Slovak politicians (Karol Sidor) even calling for the relocation of the Jews to the Soviet-Jewish Autonomous territory in Birobidzhan in the Far East. In November of 1938, shortly after gaining autonomy, but also after losing extensive territory to Hungary, the Slovak government organized one of the first mass deportations of the Jews in the pre-World War II period, when 7,500 'S lovak Jews ', blamed for the territorial losses, were chased across the new border to Hungary. This book makes a crucial contribution to the question of minority loyalties in Central Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. It points to a dramatic divergence of the constructions of loyalties �156 SLOVAKIA-2017 between the majority and minority populations. The question which remains is what was the ' right path' for the Jews in the interwar period which was filled with contradictory expectations from the Czechoslovak state, Slovak nation, Jewish nationalists, Jewish Orthodox, and Hungarian revisionists? It is possible to conclude that each path irreversibly led to a dead end. Paul Robert Magocsi. With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus '. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2015 , 509 pp. including 34 maps, notes, bibliography and index plus a picture section. KEITH P. DYRUD Retired Professor Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnesota With Their Backs to the Mountains introduces the CarpathoRusyns and their homeland which the author calls Carpathian Rus ', the north and south slopes of the mountainous area between Poland, Slovakia and the region of Transcarpathia in Ukraine. Magocsi begins with a brief historical and geographical account of the land and people but provides more detail in the nineteenth century when a Ukrainian national movement started to develop with advocates who argued that Rus ' was the historical name for the Ukrainian people and their land. This argument would undercut Magocsi ' s thesis that Carpatho-Rusyns are a separate nationality. The other challenge to his thesis was posed by Hungarian (Magyar) nationalism . After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Hungarians (Magyars) adopted a policy of Magyarization, that is, the forcible assimilation of non-Magyar nationalities, including the Slovaks and Rusyns. Magocsi defines the Carpatho-Rusyn national identity as the culture expressed by the people originating in Carpathian Rus ' who followed Eastern Rite Christianity and spoke a unique language different from Ukrainian. Some emphasis is placed on "originating" in Carpathian Rus ' because as early as the mid-eighteenth century several thousand Carpatho-Rusyns were resettled in areas of Hungary, now parts of Romania, Croatia, and Serbia, which were lightly settled because of �SLOVAKIA-2017 157 the Ottoman retreat. To this day, these ex-Carpathians identify as Rusyns and, as part of Magocsi 's narrative, continue to maintain their unique culture and language. The emphasis on originating in Carpathian Rus ' justifies his inclusion of Rusyns also living in the United States and several South American countries. The Hungarian revolt in 1849 brought Russian armies through the Carpatho-Rusyns ' land and suggested to the the Rusyn intelligentsia that they could be Russians. Magocsi identifies the three decades that followed as the first national awakening. The options explored were uniting the Carpatho-Rusyns with the Galicians to the North, uniting only the Carpatho-Rusyns, or perhaps identifying themselves as a part of the Great Russian people. The Ukrainian option had a strong influence in Galicia and perhaps thwarted the Carpatho-Rusyn Galician option. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, an autonomous Hungary focused on Magyarizing its minorities. This movement had a major impact on the Carpatho-Rusyns as well as the Slovaks living within the Carpathian Rus ' area. The Lemkos on the North slope of the Carpathians were administratively in the Austrian province of Galicia and not subject to Magyarization. Here the Carpatho-Rusyn leaders lobbied to maintain their language in the schools where they were a majority of the village population. In Hungary the Rusyn effort was thwarted by the Greek Catholic Bishops who were often Magyarone Carpatho-Rusyns. Since World Wars I and II altered the map of Central Europe, Magocsi deals with each Carpathian Rus ' area separately. The second national awakening occurred during the interwar period and is covered in depth. Magocsi provides the names of Carpatho-Rusyn organizations, their publications and cultural activities and statistics on the school systems. Data is provided on how many schools used the local dialect and the percentage of the local populations that identified as Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian, Magyar, or Slovak. The Lemkos are treated separately from the Carpatho-Rusyns to their south in the Presov region of Slovakia. The eastern portion of Carpathian Rus ' had several names in the twentieth century and is now called the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. The CarpathoRusyns in Transcarpathia mostly identify as Ukrainians . In Table 1.1 Magocsi identifies 853 ,000 people who should be identified as Carpatho-Rusyns which includes 80,000 Lemkos forcibly resettled �158 SLOVAKIA-2017 there after WWII. Now only 10,100 of them self-identify as Carpatho-Rusyns. During World War II the Lemko region was made part of the Generalgouvernrnent of Nazi Germany and received better treatment than the other Carpatho-Rusyns. Shortly after the war ended, Poland disbursed over 80,000 Lemkos to Soviet Ukraine, leaving only 25 ,000 to 35,000 in their ancestral homeland. In the summer of 1947, the Polish army forcibly resettled about 35,000 Lemkos to the western areas of Poland recently cleared of Germans. Only about 7,300 Lemkos managed to avoid deportation. The final chapters of the book follow the Carpatho-Rusyns, wherever they settled, and describe their social, economic and political situations, and their third national awakening. In the final chapters, Magocsi is no longer describing the "shaping of a national identity" but rather documenting the shaping of a cultural identity. Magocsi himself has actively promoted establishing a literary language for each of the various Carpatho-Rusyn dialects. His effort has not gone unnoticed by Ukrainian nationalists who insist that there is no Rusyn nationality, only various Ukrainian dialects and subcultures. Magocsi himself quotes one of many such detractors who call the movement "political Rusynism." "This nefarious phenomenon, so they said, was the work of a few ' intellectually misguided' or 'politically opportunistic' individuals 'paid' and, in some cases led by Carpatho-Rusyn 'protectors' in North America (especially the University of Toronto Professor Paul Robert Magocsi)." Valerian Bystricky. Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu 14. marca 1939. Bratislava: Veda, 2014, bibliography, name index, 464 pp. GREGORY C. FERENCE Salisbury University The Slovak historian Bystricky (born 1936), a member and former Director of the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has a prodigious scholarly record with more than 120 works published at home and abroad. His latest book is very wellresearched, drawing upon contemporary newspaper articles, mem- �SLOVAKIA-2017 159 oirs, and archival materials from various countries. The author divided his seven-chapter monograph into numerous sub-chapters, making for easier navigation. Numerous footnotes also add information to help clarify the text. However, this is a dense volume that is not for everyday reading. Besides the myriad actors presented, a major flaw is that the author seems to want to include as much information as possible, resulting in many instances of repetition. Perhaps a more succinct volume would have been more appropriate. Nonetheless, this is an interesting book. It concentrates on how the Hlinka Slovak People's Party (HSCS) went from the struggle for autonomy, as outlined in the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the building of Slovak autonomy and a state within the framework of a federated Czecho-Slovakia after Munich. It also made preparations for the possibility of an independent country in the future, resulting in the unexpected proclamation of independence on March 14, 1939. When the HSCS did not get what it wanted from the Czechoslovak government in the late 1920's, it went into opposition . Slovak political parties prior to Slovak independence had little influence upon the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia, although the democracy of the country gave Slovaks a desire to have a say in world affairs. With the exception of the Communists, no Slovak political parties had a clear-cut view of foreign policy. Foreign powers and enemies of Czechoslovakia would use Slovak rights and grievances to weaken the state. The members of the HSCS, or Cudaks, could not convince the Western Powers about the need to the transform the state into a federation , thereby causing the Cudaks to look for support elsewhere. The HSCS became the only Slovak political party to accept funds from abroad for its political program. The main threat to Czechoslovakia prior to 1936 remained irredentist Hungary. The rise of Hitler would prove to be a greater danger to the integrity of the state. At first the HSCS viewed the Nazis as non-threatening, then became reserved, while the younger generation of Cudaks began to admire Germany, causing democracy to weaken, both on the right and on the left. Slovakia was largely forgotten during the Munich Crisis, but it led to Slovakia receiving autonomy within a weakened CzechoSlovakia. With this autonomy, the HSCS quickly consolidated power by either banning or forcing the other national or Slovak political parties to merge with it, ending democracy and leading to an authori- �160 SLOVAKIA-2017 tarian regime with the Cudaks claiming to speak for all Slovaks, with independence becoming an eventual goal. Although the Cudaks initially looked to Poland as a possible ally and counterweight to Germany, they were disappointed by Poland ' s desire for Slovak territory and subsequent Czecho-Slovak territorial concessions to Poland. After the First Vienna Award in November of 1938, when Hungary annexed southern Slovakia, the HSCS realized its only friend and protector could be Germany. Radical Cudaks held numerous secret talks with various Nazis in the fall of I 938 and early 1939 without the knowledge of the moderates, including Slovak Premier Fr. Jozef Tiso. Except for Hitler, who felt he could not fight the Western Powers without first destroying CzechoSlovakia, no one knew what the future held for the country. The Nazis began to collaborate with the radical Cudaks to destabilize Czecho-Slovakia so that they could occupy Bohemia and Moravia without being labeled as aggressors. The key became Slovak independence, with the Nazis using the HSCS as their entry for the destruction of Czecho-S lovakia, but it had to be provoked by the Czechs. The so-called Homola putsch, when the Czecho-S lovak military occupied Slovakia on March 9, 1939 as a means to keep Slovakia in the republic, became a comedy of errors not only for Prague, but also for the Nazis . The dismissal of the autonomous Tiso government by Prague, and the ineffectual occupation led to the imprisonment of many Cudak radicals, upon whom the Germans had placed hopes for proclaiming independence during March 11-12. Although the Nazis had no advance knowledge of these Czech actions, they expected Karol Sidor, as the new Slovak premier and leader of the para-military Hlinka Guard, to do their bidding. The Polonophile Sidor refused. When bullying by a Nazi official produced no results, the Germans rebuffed "the soldier of Prague" Sidor as premier and turned to the only alternative, save military intervention, which would have shown Berlin to be the aggressor: Tiso, who no longer had any governmental authority. Like Sidor, Tiso refused to unilaterally proclaim independence, instead wanting to do so legally. Warned by Hitler that Hungary would swallow Slovakia unless independence was declared immediately, Tiso asked for and received the Slovak parliament' s approval on March 14, a few days later than the Nazis had wanted . This act gave the green light for �SLOVAKIA-2017 161 Germany to occupy Bohemia and Moravia the next day, claiming that Slovak independence came from the disintegration of CzechoSlovakia and that Germany had not destroyed it. Very few public manifestations greeted the new Slovak state while life went on as usual. Except for a handful of mostly radical l'.udaks, few Slovaks wanted an independent country in March, rather hoping for a gradual and evolutionary process than the unlawful revolutionary solution enacted. The bottom line and reoccurring theme of this work revolves around the fact that without Nazi support, Slovakia would not have gained independence in March of 1939. As such, Slovakia's fate was tied to German victory in the Second World War. Yet, as Bystricky notes, the Slovak government and its supporters largely underplayed and tried to ignore the Nazi connection to Slovak independence. Instead, the government presented Slovak independence as an act of the self-determination of nations, historic and natural rights, and the renewal of a long- ago medieval kingdom. This view persists among supporters of wartime Slovakia to this day. Pal'o Carnogursky. Suboj s komunizmom. Bratislava: Kalligram, 2013 , 368 pp. Suboj s komunizmom 2. Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Spolku slovenskych spisovatel'ov, 2015 , 367 pp. Jan Rychlik Charles University, Prague The well-known Latin expression habent sua fata libeli (books have their destinies) is true about the memoirs of the Catholic activist, politician, journalist and amateur historian Pavo) Carnogursky ( 1908-1992), which were posthumously published by his oldest son Ivan in two volumes in 2013 a 2015 under the title "Suboj s komunizmom" (The Duel with Communism). In the early 1970's Carnogursky wrote his memoirs on important events in modern Slovak history - the proclamation of Slovak autonomy on 6 October 1938 and the declaration of Slovakia' s independence on 14 March 1939. These materials were confiscated by State Security (Statna bezpecnost' - StB) in 1976 and returned only after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989. They were published by the Institute of History of the Slo- �162 SLOVAKIA-2017 vak Academy of Sciences in 1992 and 1993 .- In 1985-1986 Carnogursky, deprived of his personal notes, also tape-recorded his memoirs which, however, remained incomplete but were published posthumously by his younger son Jan in 1997 under the title Svedok cias (A Witness to the Times).- Now we have new, hitherto unknown, memoirs of Pavo) Carnogursky, which are an important testimony, not only about historical events and important personalities of Slovak political life, but also about the "soft" methods of persecution of political opponents during the regime of the so-called "normalization" ( 1969-1989). The texts presented in both volumes of Souboj s komunizmom were written between 1976 and1979, after Carnogursky's release from six weeks of custody (from November 8 to December 15, 1976). Carnogursky was imprisoned because he sent for publication to the West documents concerning the persecution of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. He was accused of "harming the interests of the Republic abroad" according to article 112 of the Penal Code of 1961 (this article was frequently used against opponents of the regime if they published their materials abroad). Carnogursky faced up to three years in prison. Fortunately, this did not happen. He was released from custody, interrogated from time-to-time for two more years about his activities and contacts abroad, and finally - at the end of 1979 - the criminal proceedings were suspended. After each interrogation, Carnogursky described what had happened. He also made a detailed list of the documents which were confiscated from his personal archive and tried to restore them from memory. In describing the " lost" materials, he always added his personal testimony to the event or person. Because he was afraid that the notes and materials might be confiscated again, he decided to hide them. He did so with his relative Michal Skokan in Poprad. It is not clear why Pavo) Carnogursky did not claim his materials after the fall of Communism in November of 1989. Skokan's family probably forgot about them . The documents were returned to Carnogursky' s oldest son Ivan only in 2011, nine years after his father's death. In addition, in 2013 Pal'o Carogursky's comments on Gustav Husak's book Svedectvo o Slovenskom narodnom povstani (1964) and his correspondence with Slovak Communist poet Laco Novomesky, were found in the Archive of the Office of the President in the Prague Castle among Gustav Husak's papers by the young Czech historian, Michal Machacek, a �SLOVAKIA-2017 163 postgraduate student of the author of this review. Machacek informed Carnogursky 's family about this through Slovak historian Pavo! Minarik (see Vol. 2, p. 364). Carnogursky 's comments were later added as an appendix to the second volume of memoirs. Unfortunately, the correspondence between Pavo! Carnogursky and Laco Novomesky was not published in extenso. To understand the memoires, it is necessary not only to know Slovak history of the 20 th Century, but also to know who was Pavo! Carnogursky. Originally a schoolteacher, young Carnogursky also studied law at the Charles University in Prague. From his youth he was an active member of the Slovak autonomist movement, closely associated with the Hlinka Slovak People 's Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS), although officially (at least according to his memoirs) he never formally joined the party. He was the secretary of the Association of Catholic Youth and also a close collaborator of Karol Sidor (1901-1953), a leading figure of the HSCS and originally the designated successor to Andrej Hlinka. In autonomous Slovakia (1938-1939) Camogursky was a high official of the Ministry of Education. In December of 1938 he was elected to the Slovak autonomous Diet and, as a deputy of this law-making body, he voted on 14 March 1939 for Slovakia' s independence. Carnogursky, like his mentor Sidor, was a Polonophile and opposed the official proGerman orientation of Slovakia. Unlike Sidor, who, under German pressure was forced out of the Slovak government and sent as the Slovak minister to the Vatican, Carnogursky remained in Slovakia and took an active part in the political life of the wartime Slovak Republic. Unlike many other politicians of the Slovak Republic, Carnogursky did not flee the country in 1945 . He remained an adherent of independence for Slovakia but viewed it as unrealistic at the time. He accepted the restoration of Czechoslovakia as a matter of fact. As an editor of the weekly Katolicke noviny (1945-194 7) he again participated in Slovak political life. He collected money and hired lawyers to defend Dr. Jozef Tiso, former President of Slovakia, who was put on trial after the war. In 1946, Carnogursky helped negotiate the so-called April Agreement, a political pact between representatives of political Catholicism and the Protestant leaders of the Democratic Party. Due to this Agreement, the Democratic Party won the votes of the majority of Slovak Catholics and also the parliamentary �164 SLOVAKIA-2017 elections in Slovakia, which were held on May 26, 1946 . These elections were a political defeat for the Communist Party of Slovakia. However, the Democratic Party was not able - despite its electoral victory -- to stop the Communist takeover of power. For his anti-communist and pro-independence stance, Carnogursky was arrested several times: shortly in the summer of 1945 and 1946, and definitively in October of 194 7. After the communist takeover of February 25, I 948, he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for "anti-state conspiracy". More serious was his next arrest in January of 1951. After his release in I 953 , he lived in Bratislava and worked as a laborer. In the 1960s, during the period of liberalization, he started to cooperate with the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History of the Slovak Communist Party. He collected many materials dealing with modern Slovak history and published several articles. The period of the socalled "normalization," however, interrupted Carnogursky's cooperation with academic circles. After that he concentrated on the defence of religious freedom. His criticism of the anti-religious policy of the communist regime led to his last imprisonment and interrogation on November 8, 1976. Despite the fact that he was soon released and the proceedings were halted in 1979, he did not get back his personal archive, which was confiscated after his arrest. The confiscated documents were later handed over by the police to the Slovak State Central Archive (now the Slovak National Archives) and Carnogursky got them back in 1991 . It is very difficult to describe the contents of Pavo) Carnogursky's notes . He was a witness and often also a participant in many historical events. He also met many historical personalities and tried to describe them . The text is interesting and quite readable, despite the fact that the author often repeats himself. As always in memoirs, many of Carnogursky's standpoints are subjective and some explanations problematic and doubtful. Some of Carnogursky's conclusions contradict known facts . The main problem with the whole text is, however, the large number of factual errors. For example, in Volume 1, on page 4 7, in the summer of 1965 Gustav Husak was working as a researcher in the Institute of State and Law at the Slovak academy of Sciences (Ustav statu a prava SA V), not in Stavoindustria, as Carnogursky claims; on page 70, Vlado Clementis was executed on December 3, 1952, not on December 8; on page �SLOVAKIA-2017 165 231 - Milos Gosiorovsky sent his memorandum advocating the federalization of Czechoslovakia to the Central Committee of the Communist Party on July 29, 1963 , not in the year 1955; on page 238 when the Slovak government stopped the deportations of Jews (on October 20, 1942), between 23 ,000 and 24,000 Jews remained in Slovakia, not 45 ,000 or even 50,000 (p.318); on page 242 - Andrej Hlinka died on August 16, 1938, not on August 15 ; on page 249 Stalin died on March 5, 1953, not on March 3rd; The Constitutional Law "On the Czechoslovak Federation" (No. 143/ 1968) was signed at Bratislava Castle on October 30, 1968 (on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Turciansky Sv. Martin), not on October 23rd. In Vol. 2, on page 245 - the correct name of the provisional parliament in 1945-1946 was "Provisional National Assembly", not Revolutionary National Assembly (this was the name of the provisional parliament in 1918-1920). Camogursky also forgot many minor details, events or mixed them up. For example, in Volume 1, on page 33 the first name of Dr. Horakova, the hero of Czech anti-Nazi and antiCommunist resistance (and first woman sentenced to death and executed in modem Czech and Slovak history), was Milada, not Maria; In Vol. 2., page 124 - Camogursky mixed up "Slovenska obnova" with the daily "Narodna obroda", which was published by the Slovak National Council. Also in Vol. 2, page 194 - Frantisek Nemec, the delegate of the Czechoslovak government in exile and his staff settled in Carpathian Ruthenia in Chust, not in Sevl'us; Also in Vo. 2, on page 253 - Stefan Bast'ovansky did not commit suicide in prison in 1952. He committed suicide at home on 27 November, 1952, on the same day that the State Court in Prague sentenced to death eleven members of the "Rudolf Slansky anti-state group". These errors are perfectly understandable. Camogursky was describing events which happened several decades earlier and he did not have the opportunity to check the facts , either in published sources or in the archives. The editor or the publishing house should have hired a professional historian, who in the form of footnotes , would have corrected these obvious mistakes. In spite of these shortcomings, however, both volumes are a valuable contribution to modem Slovak history. �166 SLOVAKIA-2017 James Krapfl. Revolution with a Human Face: Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2011, xxi-260 pp., figures, maps, tables, abbreviations, notes, chronology, bibliography, index. JURAJ HOCMAN Bratislava This book examines the events that marked the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia and its transition to democracy from the fall of 1989 to the summer of 1992. As the classic expression goes, habent sua fata libelli - each book has a story behind it. In this particular case it is worth mentioning that the English edition of the book was preceded by its Slovak version, published in 2009, which usually happens the other way around. Krapfl provides an insightful, well-documented and convincing picture of the struggle of Czechoslovakia's citizens to find a new way for themselves and their future state. He suggests that what happened in Czechoslovakia between 1989 and 1992 was a true revolution from every angle. The book is based on very comprehensive research in Czechoslovakia and its sucessor states in the 1990s and 2000s. He searched primary sources , not only in the urban centers and major archives, but also in the regions. His sources included leaflets, pamphlets, internal reports and instructions issued by the newly-emerging political entities that had served as major agents of political transition in post-Communist Czechoslovakia -the Civic Forum in Prague (OF) and Public Against Violence in Bratislava (VPN)--along with their regional and local branches . Such sources are of crucial importance when examining the substance of any modem revolution, for they serve as the most authentic indicators of an atmosphere full of civic passion and enthusiasm that the replaced previous passivity and obedience to communist political authorities. The overall picture is broad, in some respects too broad. However, keeping in mind that the major protagonists of the story are not individuals, but communities and their little-known representatives, this does not constitute a problem. Krapfl' s deep faith in the humanness and civic spirit of ordinary Czechs and Slovaks, who were determined to overcome all the dificulties that stemmed from a �SLOVAKIA-2017 167 political power-vacuum on the one hand, and uncertainty, as far as new institutional and constitutional designs were concerned, on the other hand, can be felt from beginning to end. Krapfl is perfectly aware of the sad fact that, two decades after the Velvet Revolution, skepticism by ordinary Slovaks and Czechs, and their displeasure with current political elites, is ubiquitous. More importantly, he has no doubt that the sudden rise of a civic movement in the fall of 1989 was authentic, spontaneous and true. Meanwhile, he avoids commenting on national conflict, which would otherwise lead to blaming either side or both for their mistakes on the thorny path to democracy. The first two chapters provide a theoretical framework of the civic movement in Czechoslovakia after the communist regime fell in November of 1989. As any other good book, this one culminates near its end. The central theme that shapes the book is a hearkening back to the reform movement of the 1960's in communist Czechoslovakia.. Krapfl is disciplined enough not to repeat variations of political and legal evolution of a joint state that was destined to fail since this subject had already been covered by prolific scholars such as Carol Skalnik Leff, Eric Stein, Shari J. Cohen, Abby Innes and Gil Eyal, to name just a few. Krapfl ' s analysis of the altercation between the Civic Forum and the Public Against Violence as the almost exclusive representatives of their communities before the 1990 parliamentary elections belongs to the best discourses on the topic yet written by a western scholar on postCommunist Czechoslovakia. Two short observations are in order. In a future edition of the book the bibliography should be expanded to include new titles that emerged between its first Slovak and English editions. Also, to balance the period before the community of citizens began to fall apart, and their subsequent and inevitable transformation into political parties following the parliamentary elections of June 1990 and June 1992, more should have been written about the the period between the two elections. Due to Krapfl s masterly knowledge of the subject, thoughtful narrative, empathy for and respect toward the country and its peoples, his book represents a very informative and valuable contribution to the most recent scholarship on East Central Europe, not only from the perspective of cultural history, as the author �168 SLOVAKIA-2017 modestly claims, but also to sociology and political science. Today, when it seems that the glorious days of the Velvet Revolution and its legacy are numbered, as were the days of the French revolution (to which Krapfl in some aspects compares the former) , the importance of the book is significantly higher in the Czech and Slovak Republics, where the faith of the citizenry and civic movements have been substantially reduced, neglected or almost forgotten. � REVIEWS ��SLOVAKIA-2017 151 Jozef Klempa. Moje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. Dennik ceskoslovenskeho legionara z rokov 1914-1920. Bratislava: Slovart, 2014. l 83pp. Afterword by Viera Meliskova. Maps. M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa This is a unique and fascinating diary of a Czechoslovak (Slovak) Legionnaire from the First World War. Jozef Klempa (18941980) was trained as a shoemaker who was drafted into the AustroHungarian Armed Forces when the Great War broke out in 1914. That same year he was captured by the Russians on the eastern front and, along with many other POW's shuttled from one Russian village to another, far from the front. Amazingly, the Russian authorities treated him and other POW's quite leniently, letting them wander into nearby villages to find odd jobs, earn some kopeks or rubles, and buy food and drink to supplement their meager rations. Klempa's training as a shoemaker stood him in good stead, as he repaired the boots of his fellow-soldiers as well as that of many villagers. Indeed, he found Russian civilians very friendly and hospitable and he quickly mastered the Russian language and Russian customs. In 1918, after Germany had defeated Russia on the battlefield and the Bolsheviks had seized power, the Czechoslovak Legions, established during the war by T.G. Masaryk and Milan R. Stefanik, rebelled against the Bolsheviks, who tried to disarm them. Jozef Klempa, and thousands of other Czech and Slovak PO W' s joined the Czechoslovak Legions, and while fighting off various attacks by the Red Army, they decided to flee Russia by seizing control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the Ural Mountains all the way to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Klempa recorded, almost on a daily basis, his experiences in crossing Siberia twice, once to flee the Bolsheviks and the second time to fight and try to defeat them, at the urging of the Allied and Associated powers. Indeed, Klempa and some of his fellow-Legionnaires were captured by the Bolsheviks on one occasion, but managed to escape. Klempa described in great detail the good relations the Czechoslovak Legionnaires had with various Kozak armies in Siberia, but denounced Admiral Kolchak and his officers. Klempa concluded that the "Whites" lost the war against the Bolsheviks because of the arrogance and cruelty of Admiral Kol- �152 SLOVAKIA-2017 chak and his officers towards Russian peasants. Indeed, it took a visit by General Stefanik in the fall of 1918 to prevent many of the Czechs and Slovaks from joining the Bolsheviks, who treated this foreign army on Russian soil better than did Admiral Kolchak. And, while Klempa had good things to say about Chinese merchants in Siberia, he had nothing but contempt for the Japanese soldiers in Vladivostok, who treated the Czechoslovak Legionnaires very badly. Finally, in May of 1920, Klempa and 3,000 other Legionnaires boarded a British ship that took them to Vancouver in Canada. They then crossed Canada by rail to the eastern port of Halifax, where they boarded another ship that took them to the German port of Zugshaven from whence they were shipped by rail to the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic at the end of July. As many other Legionnaires, Klempa was then released from the military, given a medal for his service, and eventually found a job on the Czechoslovak railroad. Over the years he regaled his family with memories of his exploits in Siberia. His granddaughter Vierka Meliskova managed to gather together his recollections, based on a detailed diary that he kept while in Russia and on the way home, and published this memoir of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire. Historians will mine it for information on this glorious chapter in the history of Czechoslovakia for many years to come. Rebekah Klein-Pejsova .. Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015, 194 pp., index, maps, tables. JAN LANiCEK University of New South Wales, Australia In September of 1943 , members of the civic resistance in Slovakia, led by Vavro Srobar, a founding father of the united Czechoslovak state in 1918, prepared a report that provided insights into the political loyalties of individual groups in Slovakia. Although they believed that in the case of a plebiscite, a majority of the population would decide for Czechoslovakia, the Jews, the authors suggested, would likely support the re-annexation of the Slovak territory to �SLOVAKIA-2017 153 1 Hungary. This report confirmed a problematic perception of the Jews' political loyalties twenty-five years after the creation of the independent state. It was a prelude to the Jewish predicament in post1945 Slovakia, where the accusation of the Jews ' affiliation with the Hungarian (Magyar) culture figured prominently in the public discourse and complicated the Jews ' reintegration into Slovak society. 2 The question of Jewish loyalties in Slovakia is the main theme of thi s monograph . The author focuses on the interwar period and analyzes the transformation of the Jews' loyalties from those associated with the Hungarian political and cultural-linguistic stream before 1918, to a closer alignment with the liberal Czechoslovak political regime, in what she calls the formation of the 'Slovak Jewry'. KleinPejsova defines the 'S lovak Jewry ' as "a communal category binding loyalty to Czechoslovakia with Slovak territoriality rather than an expression of emotional attachment to or identification with the Slovak nation" (p. 92) . This was a complicated process, influenced by the legacies of Hungarian rule and revisionist policies, the rise and collapse of the centralized Czechoslovak state, the emergence of the Slovak national movement closely aligned with the Catholic Church, and internal disputes in the fragmented Jewish communities. Over 135,000 Jews lived in interwar Slovakia. During the 19 th Century, the Hungarian regime emancipated the Jews and allowed them rapid social and economic progress, which led to an overwhelmming acculturation, even assimilation into the Hungarian culture. This trend was deeply resented by the nascent Slovak national movement. Already in the first months after the emergence of the Czechoslovak state - and in an atmosphere filled with anti-Jewish riots 3 - Vavro Srobar, the first Czechoslovak minister responsible for Slovakia, called on the "one hundred percent Magyarized" Jewish communities in Slovakia to seek ""the right path" and abandon their affiliation with the Hungarians (very similar words were repeated by the liberal President Tomas Garrigue Masaryk) (pp.2 and 22). Klein1 Vilem Precan, ed. , Slovenske narodne povstanie: Dokum enty (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury 1965), 89. 2 Anna Cichopek-Gajraj , Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia (Cambridge : Cambridge Un iversity Press, 2014). 3 This subj ect has been recently comprehen sively addressed by Michal Frankl and Miloslav Szabo, Budovani statu bez antisemitismu. Nasili, diskurz loajality a vznik Ceskoslovenska (Praha : NLN, 20 I 6) . �154 SLOVAKIA-2017 Pejsova 's excellent book debates how the Jews responded to these new challenges . Jewish loyalties were constantly under investigation in the interwar period . Although Czechoslovakia accepted the protection of minorities imposed by the Paris Peace Conference (though the government rejected the inclusion of the articles that specifically reiterated the rights of the Jews), the state attempted to prove the dominance of the 'Czechoslovak nation' in the country. The census became the main instrument by which to officially declare loyalties to the new state. The government used the declared "mother tongue" as the main determinant of nationality, and only the Jews were allowed to declare their belonging to the Jewish nationality, regardless of their mother tongue. Klein-Pejsova identifies two possible explanations for this concession: either a liberal vision which re-conceptualized nationality "as an internal conviction", or a less liberal vision, which granted this right to the Jews with the intention of weakening the territorial minorities in the state, namely the Germans and Hungarians. Regardless of the motivations, the number of 'Hungarians' among the Jews sharply decreased in the interwar era (also because of anti-Semitism in Hungary), which contributed to the Hungarians losing some minority rights in certain districts, including Bratislava. Henceforth Hungarians blamed the Jews for this lack of corporate cultural rights, in the same way that the Czechs blamed the Jews in other districts, where the German or Hungarian minority reached the 20% threshold and could use their language in public affairs. Both sides blamed the Jews. A large number of Jews in the country - Klein-Pejsova suggests - decided to follow their own path and declared Jewish nationality, demonstrating neutrality in the national conflict, but at the same time declaring their support for the Czechoslovak state. In 1930, 57% of the Jews across the republic chose this option, and their numbers were exceptionally high especially in the eastern territories, including Slovakia. This acceptance of Jewish nationality should not be confused with support for Jewish nationalism, in the modem sense, a point, which could have been stressed a bit more throughout the monograph. Large parts of the Orthodox and Hassidic communities declared themselves as belonging to the Jewish nationality in the census, but they overtly and consistently rejected modem Jewish nationalist politics. �SLOVAKIA-2017 155 Klein-Pejsova frequently compares the situation of the Jews in Slovakia to the Bohemian Lands, where the Jews largely acculturated into the Czech national stream. This comparative element could have developed differently if the author had focused on Moravia, where, especially in the major cities (Brno and Moravska Ostrava), the progress of cultural affiliation with the Czech nation was much slower and the German language dominated among the Jews until the end of the interwar period (though there was an increased effort to change the affiliation after 1933). Even here, the declaration of Jewish nationality offered a way out of the loyalty quandary for the Jews, who were affiliated with non-Slavic cultures. The Jews thus clearly aligned with the Czechoslovak political regime, at least in their public proclamations, though it is much more difficult to prove how the situation was perceived in daily contacts at the local level. Also, what did it mean for ordinary people - Jews and non-Jews alike - to declare a particular nationality in a decennial census? As Klein-Pejsova aptly concludes, '"'the tragic weakness of Jewish nationality lay in its illegibility", which opened it to interpretations (p.114). One can argue that ordinary people, but also state bureaucrats, were much more interested in the language that the Jews used in their daily contacts. Although the Jews believed that a declaration of Jewish nationality was sufficient proof of their loyalties, and continued to use the Hungarian language, this was an inadequate reorientation in the minds of Slovaks. The second problem was that the Jews tied their loyalties to the centralized Czechoslovak state and not the Slovak nation. The growing Slovak autonomous movement criticized the lack of Jewish support for their national ambitions, and the late 1930s witnessed new cases of anti-Jewish violence in Slovakia, with prominent Slovak politicians (Karol Sidor) even calling for the relocation of the Jews to the Soviet-Jewish Autonomous territory in Birobidzhan in the Far East. In November of 1938, shortly after gaining autonomy, but also after losing extensive territory to Hungary, the Slovak government organized one of the first mass deportations of the Jews in the pre-World War II period, when 7,500 'S lovak Jews ', blamed for the territorial losses, were chased across the new border to Hungary. This book makes a crucial contribution to the question of minority loyalties in Central Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. It points to a dramatic divergence of the constructions of loyalties �156 SLOVAKIA-2017 between the majority and minority populations. The question which remains is what was the ' right path' for the Jews in the interwar period which was filled with contradictory expectations from the Czechoslovak state, Slovak nation, Jewish nationalists, Jewish Orthodox, and Hungarian revisionists? It is possible to conclude that each path irreversibly led to a dead end. Paul Robert Magocsi. With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus '. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2015 , 509 pp. including 34 maps, notes, bibliography and index plus a picture section. KEITH P. DYRUD Retired Professor Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnesota With Their Backs to the Mountains introduces the CarpathoRusyns and their homeland which the author calls Carpathian Rus ', the north and south slopes of the mountainous area between Poland, Slovakia and the region of Transcarpathia in Ukraine. Magocsi begins with a brief historical and geographical account of the land and people but provides more detail in the nineteenth century when a Ukrainian national movement started to develop with advocates who argued that Rus ' was the historical name for the Ukrainian people and their land. This argument would undercut Magocsi ' s thesis that Carpatho-Rusyns are a separate nationality. The other challenge to his thesis was posed by Hungarian (Magyar) nationalism . After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Hungarians (Magyars) adopted a policy of Magyarization, that is, the forcible assimilation of non-Magyar nationalities, including the Slovaks and Rusyns. Magocsi defines the Carpatho-Rusyn national identity as the culture expressed by the people originating in Carpathian Rus ' who followed Eastern Rite Christianity and spoke a unique language different from Ukrainian. Some emphasis is placed on "originating" in Carpathian Rus ' because as early as the mid-eighteenth century several thousand Carpatho-Rusyns were resettled in areas of Hungary, now parts of Romania, Croatia, and Serbia, which were lightly settled because of �SLOVAKIA-2017 157 the Ottoman retreat. To this day, these ex-Carpathians identify as Rusyns and, as part of Magocsi 's narrative, continue to maintain their unique culture and language. The emphasis on originating in Carpathian Rus ' justifies his inclusion of Rusyns also living in the United States and several South American countries. The Hungarian revolt in 1849 brought Russian armies through the Carpatho-Rusyns ' land and suggested to the the Rusyn intelligentsia that they could be Russians. Magocsi identifies the three decades that followed as the first national awakening. The options explored were uniting the Carpatho-Rusyns with the Galicians to the North, uniting only the Carpatho-Rusyns, or perhaps identifying themselves as a part of the Great Russian people. The Ukrainian option had a strong influence in Galicia and perhaps thwarted the Carpatho-Rusyn Galician option. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, an autonomous Hungary focused on Magyarizing its minorities. This movement had a major impact on the Carpatho-Rusyns as well as the Slovaks living within the Carpathian Rus ' area. The Lemkos on the North slope of the Carpathians were administratively in the Austrian province of Galicia and not subject to Magyarization. Here the Carpatho-Rusyn leaders lobbied to maintain their language in the schools where they were a majority of the village population. In Hungary the Rusyn effort was thwarted by the Greek Catholic Bishops who were often Magyarone Carpatho-Rusyns. Since World Wars I and II altered the map of Central Europe, Magocsi deals with each Carpathian Rus ' area separately. The second national awakening occurred during the interwar period and is covered in depth. Magocsi provides the names of Carpatho-Rusyn organizations, their publications and cultural activities and statistics on the school systems. Data is provided on how many schools used the local dialect and the percentage of the local populations that identified as Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian, Magyar, or Slovak. The Lemkos are treated separately from the Carpatho-Rusyns to their south in the Presov region of Slovakia. The eastern portion of Carpathian Rus ' had several names in the twentieth century and is now called the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. The CarpathoRusyns in Transcarpathia mostly identify as Ukrainians . In Table 1.1 Magocsi identifies 853 ,000 people who should be identified as Carpatho-Rusyns which includes 80,000 Lemkos forcibly resettled �158 SLOVAKIA-2017 there after WWII. Now only 10,100 of them self-identify as Carpatho-Rusyns. During World War II the Lemko region was made part of the Generalgouvernrnent of Nazi Germany and received better treatment than the other Carpatho-Rusyns. Shortly after the war ended, Poland disbursed over 80,000 Lemkos to Soviet Ukraine, leaving only 25 ,000 to 35,000 in their ancestral homeland. In the summer of 1947, the Polish army forcibly resettled about 35,000 Lemkos to the western areas of Poland recently cleared of Germans. Only about 7,300 Lemkos managed to avoid deportation. The final chapters of the book follow the Carpatho-Rusyns, wherever they settled, and describe their social, economic and political situations, and their third national awakening. In the final chapters, Magocsi is no longer describing the "shaping of a national identity" but rather documenting the shaping of a cultural identity. Magocsi himself has actively promoted establishing a literary language for each of the various Carpatho-Rusyn dialects. His effort has not gone unnoticed by Ukrainian nationalists who insist that there is no Rusyn nationality, only various Ukrainian dialects and subcultures. Magocsi himself quotes one of many such detractors who call the movement "political Rusynism." "This nefarious phenomenon, so they said, was the work of a few ' intellectually misguided' or 'politically opportunistic' individuals 'paid' and, in some cases led by Carpatho-Rusyn 'protectors' in North America (especially the University of Toronto Professor Paul Robert Magocsi)." Valerian Bystricky. Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu 14. marca 1939. Bratislava: Veda, 2014, bibliography, name index, 464 pp. GREGORY C. FERENCE Salisbury University The Slovak historian Bystricky (born 1936), a member and former Director of the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has a prodigious scholarly record with more than 120 works published at home and abroad. His latest book is very wellresearched, drawing upon contemporary newspaper articles, mem- �SLOVAKIA-2017 159 oirs, and archival materials from various countries. The author divided his seven-chapter monograph into numerous sub-chapters, making for easier navigation. Numerous footnotes also add information to help clarify the text. However, this is a dense volume that is not for everyday reading. Besides the myriad actors presented, a major flaw is that the author seems to want to include as much information as possible, resulting in many instances of repetition. Perhaps a more succinct volume would have been more appropriate. Nonetheless, this is an interesting book. It concentrates on how the Hlinka Slovak People's Party (HSCS) went from the struggle for autonomy, as outlined in the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the building of Slovak autonomy and a state within the framework of a federated Czecho-Slovakia after Munich. It also made preparations for the possibility of an independent country in the future, resulting in the unexpected proclamation of independence on March 14, 1939. When the HSCS did not get what it wanted from the Czechoslovak government in the late 1920's, it went into opposition . Slovak political parties prior to Slovak independence had little influence upon the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia, although the democracy of the country gave Slovaks a desire to have a say in world affairs. With the exception of the Communists, no Slovak political parties had a clear-cut view of foreign policy. Foreign powers and enemies of Czechoslovakia would use Slovak rights and grievances to weaken the state. The members of the HSCS, or Cudaks, could not convince the Western Powers about the need to the transform the state into a federation , thereby causing the Cudaks to look for support elsewhere. The HSCS became the only Slovak political party to accept funds from abroad for its political program. The main threat to Czechoslovakia prior to 1936 remained irredentist Hungary. The rise of Hitler would prove to be a greater danger to the integrity of the state. At first the HSCS viewed the Nazis as non-threatening, then became reserved, while the younger generation of Cudaks began to admire Germany, causing democracy to weaken, both on the right and on the left. Slovakia was largely forgotten during the Munich Crisis, but it led to Slovakia receiving autonomy within a weakened CzechoSlovakia. With this autonomy, the HSCS quickly consolidated power by either banning or forcing the other national or Slovak political parties to merge with it, ending democracy and leading to an authori- �160 SLOVAKIA-2017 tarian regime with the Cudaks claiming to speak for all Slovaks, with independence becoming an eventual goal. Although the Cudaks initially looked to Poland as a possible ally and counterweight to Germany, they were disappointed by Poland ' s desire for Slovak territory and subsequent Czecho-Slovak territorial concessions to Poland. After the First Vienna Award in November of 1938, when Hungary annexed southern Slovakia, the HSCS realized its only friend and protector could be Germany. Radical Cudaks held numerous secret talks with various Nazis in the fall of I 938 and early 1939 without the knowledge of the moderates, including Slovak Premier Fr. Jozef Tiso. Except for Hitler, who felt he could not fight the Western Powers without first destroying CzechoSlovakia, no one knew what the future held for the country. The Nazis began to collaborate with the radical Cudaks to destabilize Czecho-Slovakia so that they could occupy Bohemia and Moravia without being labeled as aggressors. The key became Slovak independence, with the Nazis using the HSCS as their entry for the destruction of Czecho-S lovakia, but it had to be provoked by the Czechs. The so-called Homola putsch, when the Czecho-S lovak military occupied Slovakia on March 9, 1939 as a means to keep Slovakia in the republic, became a comedy of errors not only for Prague, but also for the Nazis . The dismissal of the autonomous Tiso government by Prague, and the ineffectual occupation led to the imprisonment of many Cudak radicals, upon whom the Germans had placed hopes for proclaiming independence during March 11-12. Although the Nazis had no advance knowledge of these Czech actions, they expected Karol Sidor, as the new Slovak premier and leader of the para-military Hlinka Guard, to do their bidding. The Polonophile Sidor refused. When bullying by a Nazi official produced no results, the Germans rebuffed "the soldier of Prague" Sidor as premier and turned to the only alternative, save military intervention, which would have shown Berlin to be the aggressor: Tiso, who no longer had any governmental authority. Like Sidor, Tiso refused to unilaterally proclaim independence, instead wanting to do so legally. Warned by Hitler that Hungary would swallow Slovakia unless independence was declared immediately, Tiso asked for and received the Slovak parliament' s approval on March 14, a few days later than the Nazis had wanted . This act gave the green light for �SLOVAKIA-2017 161 Germany to occupy Bohemia and Moravia the next day, claiming that Slovak independence came from the disintegration of CzechoSlovakia and that Germany had not destroyed it. Very few public manifestations greeted the new Slovak state while life went on as usual. Except for a handful of mostly radical l'.udaks, few Slovaks wanted an independent country in March, rather hoping for a gradual and evolutionary process than the unlawful revolutionary solution enacted. The bottom line and reoccurring theme of this work revolves around the fact that without Nazi support, Slovakia would not have gained independence in March of 1939. As such, Slovakia's fate was tied to German victory in the Second World War. Yet, as Bystricky notes, the Slovak government and its supporters largely underplayed and tried to ignore the Nazi connection to Slovak independence. Instead, the government presented Slovak independence as an act of the self-determination of nations, historic and natural rights, and the renewal of a long- ago medieval kingdom. This view persists among supporters of wartime Slovakia to this day. Pal'o Carnogursky. Suboj s komunizmom. Bratislava: Kalligram, 2013 , 368 pp. Suboj s komunizmom 2. Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Spolku slovenskych spisovatel'ov, 2015 , 367 pp. Jan Rychlik Charles University, Prague The well-known Latin expression habent sua fata libeli (books have their destinies) is true about the memoirs of the Catholic activist, politician, journalist and amateur historian Pavo) Carnogursky ( 1908-1992), which were posthumously published by his oldest son Ivan in two volumes in 2013 a 2015 under the title "Suboj s komunizmom" (The Duel with Communism). In the early 1970's Carnogursky wrote his memoirs on important events in modern Slovak history - the proclamation of Slovak autonomy on 6 October 1938 and the declaration of Slovakia' s independence on 14 March 1939. These materials were confiscated by State Security (Statna bezpecnost' - StB) in 1976 and returned only after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989. They were published by the Institute of History of the Slo- �162 SLOVAKIA-2017 vak Academy of Sciences in 1992 and 1993 .- In 1985-1986 Carnogursky, deprived of his personal notes, also tape-recorded his memoirs which, however, remained incomplete but were published posthumously by his younger son Jan in 1997 under the title Svedok cias (A Witness to the Times).- Now we have new, hitherto unknown, memoirs of Pavo) Carnogursky, which are an important testimony, not only about historical events and important personalities of Slovak political life, but also about the "soft" methods of persecution of political opponents during the regime of the so-called "normalization" ( 1969-1989). The texts presented in both volumes of Souboj s komunizmom were written between 1976 and1979, after Carnogursky's release from six weeks of custody (from November 8 to December 15, 1976). Carnogursky was imprisoned because he sent for publication to the West documents concerning the persecution of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. He was accused of "harming the interests of the Republic abroad" according to article 112 of the Penal Code of 1961 (this article was frequently used against opponents of the regime if they published their materials abroad). Carnogursky faced up to three years in prison. Fortunately, this did not happen. He was released from custody, interrogated from time-to-time for two more years about his activities and contacts abroad, and finally - at the end of 1979 - the criminal proceedings were suspended. After each interrogation, Carnogursky described what had happened. He also made a detailed list of the documents which were confiscated from his personal archive and tried to restore them from memory. In describing the " lost" materials, he always added his personal testimony to the event or person. Because he was afraid that the notes and materials might be confiscated again, he decided to hide them. He did so with his relative Michal Skokan in Poprad. It is not clear why Pavo) Carnogursky did not claim his materials after the fall of Communism in November of 1989. Skokan's family probably forgot about them . The documents were returned to Carnogursky' s oldest son Ivan only in 2011, nine years after his father's death. In addition, in 2013 Pal'o Carogursky's comments on Gustav Husak's book Svedectvo o Slovenskom narodnom povstani (1964) and his correspondence with Slovak Communist poet Laco Novomesky, were found in the Archive of the Office of the President in the Prague Castle among Gustav Husak's papers by the young Czech historian, Michal Machacek, a �SLOVAKIA-2017 163 postgraduate student of the author of this review. Machacek informed Carnogursky 's family about this through Slovak historian Pavo! Minarik (see Vol. 2, p. 364). Carnogursky 's comments were later added as an appendix to the second volume of memoirs. Unfortunately, the correspondence between Pavo! Carnogursky and Laco Novomesky was not published in extenso. To understand the memoires, it is necessary not only to know Slovak history of the 20 th Century, but also to know who was Pavo! Carnogursky. Originally a schoolteacher, young Carnogursky also studied law at the Charles University in Prague. From his youth he was an active member of the Slovak autonomist movement, closely associated with the Hlinka Slovak People 's Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS), although officially (at least according to his memoirs) he never formally joined the party. He was the secretary of the Association of Catholic Youth and also a close collaborator of Karol Sidor (1901-1953), a leading figure of the HSCS and originally the designated successor to Andrej Hlinka. In autonomous Slovakia (1938-1939) Camogursky was a high official of the Ministry of Education. In December of 1938 he was elected to the Slovak autonomous Diet and, as a deputy of this law-making body, he voted on 14 March 1939 for Slovakia' s independence. Carnogursky, like his mentor Sidor, was a Polonophile and opposed the official proGerman orientation of Slovakia. Unlike Sidor, who, under German pressure was forced out of the Slovak government and sent as the Slovak minister to the Vatican, Carnogursky remained in Slovakia and took an active part in the political life of the wartime Slovak Republic. Unlike many other politicians of the Slovak Republic, Carnogursky did not flee the country in 1945 . He remained an adherent of independence for Slovakia but viewed it as unrealistic at the time. He accepted the restoration of Czechoslovakia as a matter of fact. As an editor of the weekly Katolicke noviny (1945-194 7) he again participated in Slovak political life. He collected money and hired lawyers to defend Dr. Jozef Tiso, former President of Slovakia, who was put on trial after the war. In 1946, Carnogursky helped negotiate the so-called April Agreement, a political pact between representatives of political Catholicism and the Protestant leaders of the Democratic Party. Due to this Agreement, the Democratic Party won the votes of the majority of Slovak Catholics and also the parliamentary �164 SLOVAKIA-2017 elections in Slovakia, which were held on May 26, 1946 . These elections were a political defeat for the Communist Party of Slovakia. However, the Democratic Party was not able - despite its electoral victory -- to stop the Communist takeover of power. For his anti-communist and pro-independence stance, Carnogursky was arrested several times: shortly in the summer of 1945 and 1946, and definitively in October of 194 7. After the communist takeover of February 25, I 948, he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for "anti-state conspiracy". More serious was his next arrest in January of 1951. After his release in I 953 , he lived in Bratislava and worked as a laborer. In the 1960s, during the period of liberalization, he started to cooperate with the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History of the Slovak Communist Party. He collected many materials dealing with modern Slovak history and published several articles. The period of the socalled "normalization," however, interrupted Carnogursky's cooperation with academic circles. After that he concentrated on the defence of religious freedom. His criticism of the anti-religious policy of the communist regime led to his last imprisonment and interrogation on November 8, 1976. Despite the fact that he was soon released and the proceedings were halted in 1979, he did not get back his personal archive, which was confiscated after his arrest. The confiscated documents were later handed over by the police to the Slovak State Central Archive (now the Slovak National Archives) and Carnogursky got them back in 1991 . It is very difficult to describe the contents of Pavo) Carnogursky's notes . He was a witness and often also a participant in many historical events. He also met many historical personalities and tried to describe them . The text is interesting and quite readable, despite the fact that the author often repeats himself. As always in memoirs, many of Carnogursky's standpoints are subjective and some explanations problematic and doubtful. Some of Carnogursky's conclusions contradict known facts . The main problem with the whole text is, however, the large number of factual errors. For example, in Volume 1, on page 4 7, in the summer of 1965 Gustav Husak was working as a researcher in the Institute of State and Law at the Slovak academy of Sciences (Ustav statu a prava SA V), not in Stavoindustria, as Carnogursky claims; on page 70, Vlado Clementis was executed on December 3, 1952, not on December 8; on page �SLOVAKIA-2017 165 231 - Milos Gosiorovsky sent his memorandum advocating the federalization of Czechoslovakia to the Central Committee of the Communist Party on July 29, 1963 , not in the year 1955; on page 238 when the Slovak government stopped the deportations of Jews (on October 20, 1942), between 23 ,000 and 24,000 Jews remained in Slovakia, not 45 ,000 or even 50,000 (p.318); on page 242 - Andrej Hlinka died on August 16, 1938, not on August 15 ; on page 249 Stalin died on March 5, 1953, not on March 3rd; The Constitutional Law "On the Czechoslovak Federation" (No. 143/ 1968) was signed at Bratislava Castle on October 30, 1968 (on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Turciansky Sv. Martin), not on October 23rd. In Vol. 2, on page 245 - the correct name of the provisional parliament in 1945-1946 was "Provisional National Assembly", not Revolutionary National Assembly (this was the name of the provisional parliament in 1918-1920). Camogursky also forgot many minor details, events or mixed them up. For example, in Volume 1, on page 33 the first name of Dr. Horakova, the hero of Czech anti-Nazi and antiCommunist resistance (and first woman sentenced to death and executed in modem Czech and Slovak history), was Milada, not Maria; In Vol. 2., page 124 - Camogursky mixed up "Slovenska obnova" with the daily "Narodna obroda", which was published by the Slovak National Council. Also in Vol. 2, page 194 - Frantisek Nemec, the delegate of the Czechoslovak government in exile and his staff settled in Carpathian Ruthenia in Chust, not in Sevl'us; Also in Vo. 2, on page 253 - Stefan Bast'ovansky did not commit suicide in prison in 1952. He committed suicide at home on 27 November, 1952, on the same day that the State Court in Prague sentenced to death eleven members of the "Rudolf Slansky anti-state group". These errors are perfectly understandable. Camogursky was describing events which happened several decades earlier and he did not have the opportunity to check the facts , either in published sources or in the archives. The editor or the publishing house should have hired a professional historian, who in the form of footnotes , would have corrected these obvious mistakes. In spite of these shortcomings, however, both volumes are a valuable contribution to modem Slovak history. �166 SLOVAKIA-2017 James Krapfl. Revolution with a Human Face: Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2011, xxi-260 pp., figures, maps, tables, abbreviations, notes, chronology, bibliography, index. JURAJ HOCMAN Bratislava This book examines the events that marked the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia and its transition to democracy from the fall of 1989 to the summer of 1992. As the classic expression goes, habent sua fata libelli - each book has a story behind it. In this particular case it is worth mentioning that the English edition of the book was preceded by its Slovak version, published in 2009, which usually happens the other way around. Krapfl provides an insightful, well-documented and convincing picture of the struggle of Czechoslovakia's citizens to find a new way for themselves and their future state. He suggests that what happened in Czechoslovakia between 1989 and 1992 was a true revolution from every angle. The book is based on very comprehensive research in Czechoslovakia and its sucessor states in the 1990s and 2000s. He searched primary sources , not only in the urban centers and major archives, but also in the regions. His sources included leaflets, pamphlets, internal reports and instructions issued by the newly-emerging political entities that had served as major agents of political transition in post-Communist Czechoslovakia -the Civic Forum in Prague (OF) and Public Against Violence in Bratislava (VPN)--along with their regional and local branches . Such sources are of crucial importance when examining the substance of any modem revolution, for they serve as the most authentic indicators of an atmosphere full of civic passion and enthusiasm that the replaced previous passivity and obedience to communist political authorities. The overall picture is broad, in some respects too broad. However, keeping in mind that the major protagonists of the story are not individuals, but communities and their little-known representatives, this does not constitute a problem. Krapfl' s deep faith in the humanness and civic spirit of ordinary Czechs and Slovaks, who were determined to overcome all the dificulties that stemmed from a �SLOVAKIA-2017 167 political power-vacuum on the one hand, and uncertainty, as far as new institutional and constitutional designs were concerned, on the other hand, can be felt from beginning to end. Krapfl is perfectly aware of the sad fact that, two decades after the Velvet Revolution, skepticism by ordinary Slovaks and Czechs, and their displeasure with current political elites, is ubiquitous. More importantly, he has no doubt that the sudden rise of a civic movement in the fall of 1989 was authentic, spontaneous and true. Meanwhile, he avoids commenting on national conflict, which would otherwise lead to blaming either side or both for their mistakes on the thorny path to democracy. The first two chapters provide a theoretical framework of the civic movement in Czechoslovakia after the communist regime fell in November of 1989. As any other good book, this one culminates near its end. The central theme that shapes the book is a hearkening back to the reform movement of the 1960's in communist Czechoslovakia.. Krapfl is disciplined enough not to repeat variations of political and legal evolution of a joint state that was destined to fail since this subject had already been covered by prolific scholars such as Carol Skalnik Leff, Eric Stein, Shari J. Cohen, Abby Innes and Gil Eyal, to name just a few. Krapfl ' s analysis of the altercation between the Civic Forum and the Public Against Violence as the almost exclusive representatives of their communities before the 1990 parliamentary elections belongs to the best discourses on the topic yet written by a western scholar on postCommunist Czechoslovakia. Two short observations are in order. In a future edition of the book the bibliography should be expanded to include new titles that emerged between its first Slovak and English editions. Also, to balance the period before the community of citizens began to fall apart, and their subsequent and inevitable transformation into political parties following the parliamentary elections of June 1990 and June 1992, more should have been written about the the period between the two elections. Due to Krapfl s masterly knowledge of the subject, thoughtful narrative, empathy for and respect toward the country and its peoples, his book represents a very informative and valuable contribution to the most recent scholarship on East Central Europe, not only from the perspective of cultural history, as the author �168 SLOVAKIA-2017 modestly claims, but also to sociology and political science. Today, when it seems that the glorious days of the Velvet Revolution and its legacy are numbered, as were the days of the French revolution (to which Krapfl in some aspects compares the former) , the importance of the book is significantly higher in the Czech and Slovak Republics, where the faith of the citizenry and civic movements have been substantially reduced, neglected or almost forgotten. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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 REVIEWS SLOVAKIA-2017 151 Jozef Klempa. Moje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. Dennik ceskoslovenskeho legionara z rokov 1914-1920. Bratislava: Slovart, 2014. l 83pp. Afterword by Viera Meliskova. Maps. M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa This is a unique and fascinating diary of a Czechoslovak (Slovak) Legionnaire from the First World War. Jozef Klempa (18941980) was trained as a shoemaker who was drafted into the AustroHungarian Armed Forces when the Great War broke out in 1914. That same year he was captured by the Russians on the eastern front and, along with many other POW's shuttled from one Russian village to another, far from the front. Amazingly, the Russian authorities treated him and other POW's quite leniently, letting them wander into nearby villages to find odd jobs, earn some kopeks or rubles, and buy food and drink to supplement their meager rations. Klempa's training as a shoemaker stood him in good stead, as he repaired the boots of his fellow-soldiers as well as that of many villagers. Indeed, he found Russian civilians very friendly and hospitable and he quickly mastered the Russian language and Russian customs. In 1918, after Germany had defeated Russia on the battlefield and the Bolsheviks had seized power, the Czechoslovak Legions, established during the war by T.G. Masaryk and Milan R. Stefanik, rebelled against the Bolsheviks, who tried to disarm them. Jozef Klempa, and thousands of other Czech and Slovak PO W' s joined the Czechoslovak Legions, and while fighting off various attacks by the Red Army, they decided to flee Russia by seizing control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the Ural Mountains all the way to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. Klempa recorded, almost on a daily basis, his experiences in crossing Siberia twice, once to flee the Bolsheviks and the second time to fight and try to defeat them, at the urging of the Allied and Associated powers. Indeed, Klempa and some of his fellow-Legionnaires were captured by the Bolsheviks on one occasion, but managed to escape. Klempa described in great detail the good relations the Czechoslovak Legionnaires had with various Kozak armies in Siberia, but denounced Admiral Kolchak and his officers. Klempa concluded that the "Whites" lost the war against the Bolsheviks because of the arrogance and cruelty of Admiral Kol- 152 SLOVAKIA-2017 chak and his officers towards Russian peasants. Indeed, it took a visit by General Stefanik in the fall of 1918 to prevent many of the Czechs and Slovaks from joining the Bolsheviks, who treated this foreign army on Russian soil better than did Admiral Kolchak. And, while Klempa had good things to say about Chinese merchants in Siberia, he had nothing but contempt for the Japanese soldiers in Vladivostok, who treated the Czechoslovak Legionnaires very badly. Finally, in May of 1920, Klempa and 3,000 other Legionnaires boarded a British ship that took them to Vancouver in Canada. They then crossed Canada by rail to the eastern port of Halifax, where they boarded another ship that took them to the German port of Zugshaven from whence they were shipped by rail to the newly-created Czechoslovak Republic at the end of July. As many other Legionnaires, Klempa was then released from the military, given a medal for his service, and eventually found a job on the Czechoslovak railroad. Over the years he regaled his family with memories of his exploits in Siberia. His granddaughter Vierka Meliskova managed to gather together his recollections, based on a detailed diary that he kept while in Russia and on the way home, and published this memoir of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire. Historians will mine it for information on this glorious chapter in the history of Czechoslovakia for many years to come. Rebekah Klein-Pejsova .. Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015, 194 pp., index, maps, tables. JAN LANiCEK University of New South Wales, Australia In September of 1943 , members of the civic resistance in Slovakia, led by Vavro Srobar, a founding father of the united Czechoslovak state in 1918, prepared a report that provided insights into the political loyalties of individual groups in Slovakia. Although they believed that in the case of a plebiscite, a majority of the population would decide for Czechoslovakia, the Jews, the authors suggested, would likely support the re-annexation of the Slovak territory to SLOVAKIA-2017 153 1 Hungary. This report confirmed a problematic perception of the Jews' political loyalties twenty-five years after the creation of the independent state. It was a prelude to the Jewish predicament in post1945 Slovakia, where the accusation of the Jews ' affiliation with the Hungarian (Magyar) culture figured prominently in the public discourse and complicated the Jews ' reintegration into Slovak society. 2 The question of Jewish loyalties in Slovakia is the main theme of thi s monograph . The author focuses on the interwar period and analyzes the transformation of the Jews' loyalties from those associated with the Hungarian political and cultural-linguistic stream before 1918, to a closer alignment with the liberal Czechoslovak political regime, in what she calls the formation of the 'Slovak Jewry'. KleinPejsova defines the 'S lovak Jewry ' as "a communal category binding loyalty to Czechoslovakia with Slovak territoriality rather than an expression of emotional attachment to or identification with the Slovak nation" (p. 92) . This was a complicated process, influenced by the legacies of Hungarian rule and revisionist policies, the rise and collapse of the centralized Czechoslovak state, the emergence of the Slovak national movement closely aligned with the Catholic Church, and internal disputes in the fragmented Jewish communities. Over 135,000 Jews lived in interwar Slovakia. During the 19 th Century, the Hungarian regime emancipated the Jews and allowed them rapid social and economic progress, which led to an overwhelmming acculturation, even assimilation into the Hungarian culture. This trend was deeply resented by the nascent Slovak national movement. Already in the first months after the emergence of the Czechoslovak state - and in an atmosphere filled with anti-Jewish riots 3 - Vavro Srobar, the first Czechoslovak minister responsible for Slovakia, called on the "one hundred percent Magyarized" Jewish communities in Slovakia to seek ""the right path" and abandon their affiliation with the Hungarians (very similar words were repeated by the liberal President Tomas Garrigue Masaryk) (pp.2 and 22). Klein1 Vilem Precan, ed. , Slovenske narodne povstanie: Dokum enty (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury 1965), 89. 2 Anna Cichopek-Gajraj , Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia (Cambridge : Cambridge Un iversity Press, 2014). 3 This subj ect has been recently comprehen sively addressed by Michal Frankl and Miloslav Szabo, Budovani statu bez antisemitismu. Nasili, diskurz loajality a vznik Ceskoslovenska (Praha : NLN, 20 I 6) . 154 SLOVAKIA-2017 Pejsova 's excellent book debates how the Jews responded to these new challenges . Jewish loyalties were constantly under investigation in the interwar period . Although Czechoslovakia accepted the protection of minorities imposed by the Paris Peace Conference (though the government rejected the inclusion of the articles that specifically reiterated the rights of the Jews), the state attempted to prove the dominance of the 'Czechoslovak nation' in the country. The census became the main instrument by which to officially declare loyalties to the new state. The government used the declared "mother tongue" as the main determinant of nationality, and only the Jews were allowed to declare their belonging to the Jewish nationality, regardless of their mother tongue. Klein-Pejsova identifies two possible explanations for this concession: either a liberal vision which re-conceptualized nationality "as an internal conviction", or a less liberal vision, which granted this right to the Jews with the intention of weakening the territorial minorities in the state, namely the Germans and Hungarians. Regardless of the motivations, the number of 'Hungarians' among the Jews sharply decreased in the interwar era (also because of anti-Semitism in Hungary), which contributed to the Hungarians losing some minority rights in certain districts, including Bratislava. Henceforth Hungarians blamed the Jews for this lack of corporate cultural rights, in the same way that the Czechs blamed the Jews in other districts, where the German or Hungarian minority reached the 20% threshold and could use their language in public affairs. Both sides blamed the Jews. A large number of Jews in the country - Klein-Pejsova suggests - decided to follow their own path and declared Jewish nationality, demonstrating neutrality in the national conflict, but at the same time declaring their support for the Czechoslovak state. In 1930, 57% of the Jews across the republic chose this option, and their numbers were exceptionally high especially in the eastern territories, including Slovakia. This acceptance of Jewish nationality should not be confused with support for Jewish nationalism, in the modem sense, a point, which could have been stressed a bit more throughout the monograph. Large parts of the Orthodox and Hassidic communities declared themselves as belonging to the Jewish nationality in the census, but they overtly and consistently rejected modem Jewish nationalist politics. SLOVAKIA-2017 155 Klein-Pejsova frequently compares the situation of the Jews in Slovakia to the Bohemian Lands, where the Jews largely acculturated into the Czech national stream. This comparative element could have developed differently if the author had focused on Moravia, where, especially in the major cities (Brno and Moravska Ostrava), the progress of cultural affiliation with the Czech nation was much slower and the German language dominated among the Jews until the end of the interwar period (though there was an increased effort to change the affiliation after 1933). Even here, the declaration of Jewish nationality offered a way out of the loyalty quandary for the Jews, who were affiliated with non-Slavic cultures. The Jews thus clearly aligned with the Czechoslovak political regime, at least in their public proclamations, though it is much more difficult to prove how the situation was perceived in daily contacts at the local level. Also, what did it mean for ordinary people - Jews and non-Jews alike - to declare a particular nationality in a decennial census? As Klein-Pejsova aptly concludes, '"'the tragic weakness of Jewish nationality lay in its illegibility", which opened it to interpretations (p.114). One can argue that ordinary people, but also state bureaucrats, were much more interested in the language that the Jews used in their daily contacts. Although the Jews believed that a declaration of Jewish nationality was sufficient proof of their loyalties, and continued to use the Hungarian language, this was an inadequate reorientation in the minds of Slovaks. The second problem was that the Jews tied their loyalties to the centralized Czechoslovak state and not the Slovak nation. The growing Slovak autonomous movement criticized the lack of Jewish support for their national ambitions, and the late 1930s witnessed new cases of anti-Jewish violence in Slovakia, with prominent Slovak politicians (Karol Sidor) even calling for the relocation of the Jews to the Soviet-Jewish Autonomous territory in Birobidzhan in the Far East. In November of 1938, shortly after gaining autonomy, but also after losing extensive territory to Hungary, the Slovak government organized one of the first mass deportations of the Jews in the pre-World War II period, when 7,500 'S lovak Jews ', blamed for the territorial losses, were chased across the new border to Hungary. This book makes a crucial contribution to the question of minority loyalties in Central Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. It points to a dramatic divergence of the constructions of loyalties 156 SLOVAKIA-2017 between the majority and minority populations. The question which remains is what was the ' right path' for the Jews in the interwar period which was filled with contradictory expectations from the Czechoslovak state, Slovak nation, Jewish nationalists, Jewish Orthodox, and Hungarian revisionists? It is possible to conclude that each path irreversibly led to a dead end. Paul Robert Magocsi. With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus '. Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2015 , 509 pp. including 34 maps, notes, bibliography and index plus a picture section. KEITH P. DYRUD Retired Professor Concordia College, St. Paul, Minnesota With Their Backs to the Mountains introduces the CarpathoRusyns and their homeland which the author calls Carpathian Rus ', the north and south slopes of the mountainous area between Poland, Slovakia and the region of Transcarpathia in Ukraine. Magocsi begins with a brief historical and geographical account of the land and people but provides more detail in the nineteenth century when a Ukrainian national movement started to develop with advocates who argued that Rus ' was the historical name for the Ukrainian people and their land. This argument would undercut Magocsi ' s thesis that Carpatho-Rusyns are a separate nationality. The other challenge to his thesis was posed by Hungarian (Magyar) nationalism . After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Hungarians (Magyars) adopted a policy of Magyarization, that is, the forcible assimilation of non-Magyar nationalities, including the Slovaks and Rusyns. Magocsi defines the Carpatho-Rusyn national identity as the culture expressed by the people originating in Carpathian Rus ' who followed Eastern Rite Christianity and spoke a unique language different from Ukrainian. Some emphasis is placed on "originating" in Carpathian Rus ' because as early as the mid-eighteenth century several thousand Carpatho-Rusyns were resettled in areas of Hungary, now parts of Romania, Croatia, and Serbia, which were lightly settled because of SLOVAKIA-2017 157 the Ottoman retreat. To this day, these ex-Carpathians identify as Rusyns and, as part of Magocsi 's narrative, continue to maintain their unique culture and language. The emphasis on originating in Carpathian Rus ' justifies his inclusion of Rusyns also living in the United States and several South American countries. The Hungarian revolt in 1849 brought Russian armies through the Carpatho-Rusyns ' land and suggested to the the Rusyn intelligentsia that they could be Russians. Magocsi identifies the three decades that followed as the first national awakening. The options explored were uniting the Carpatho-Rusyns with the Galicians to the North, uniting only the Carpatho-Rusyns, or perhaps identifying themselves as a part of the Great Russian people. The Ukrainian option had a strong influence in Galicia and perhaps thwarted the Carpatho-Rusyn Galician option. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, an autonomous Hungary focused on Magyarizing its minorities. This movement had a major impact on the Carpatho-Rusyns as well as the Slovaks living within the Carpathian Rus ' area. The Lemkos on the North slope of the Carpathians were administratively in the Austrian province of Galicia and not subject to Magyarization. Here the Carpatho-Rusyn leaders lobbied to maintain their language in the schools where they were a majority of the village population. In Hungary the Rusyn effort was thwarted by the Greek Catholic Bishops who were often Magyarone Carpatho-Rusyns. Since World Wars I and II altered the map of Central Europe, Magocsi deals with each Carpathian Rus ' area separately. The second national awakening occurred during the interwar period and is covered in depth. Magocsi provides the names of Carpatho-Rusyn organizations, their publications and cultural activities and statistics on the school systems. Data is provided on how many schools used the local dialect and the percentage of the local populations that identified as Rusyn, Ukrainian, Russian, Magyar, or Slovak. The Lemkos are treated separately from the Carpatho-Rusyns to their south in the Presov region of Slovakia. The eastern portion of Carpathian Rus ' had several names in the twentieth century and is now called the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. The CarpathoRusyns in Transcarpathia mostly identify as Ukrainians . In Table 1.1 Magocsi identifies 853 ,000 people who should be identified as Carpatho-Rusyns which includes 80,000 Lemkos forcibly resettled 158 SLOVAKIA-2017 there after WWII. Now only 10,100 of them self-identify as Carpatho-Rusyns. During World War II the Lemko region was made part of the Generalgouvernrnent of Nazi Germany and received better treatment than the other Carpatho-Rusyns. Shortly after the war ended, Poland disbursed over 80,000 Lemkos to Soviet Ukraine, leaving only 25 ,000 to 35,000 in their ancestral homeland. In the summer of 1947, the Polish army forcibly resettled about 35,000 Lemkos to the western areas of Poland recently cleared of Germans. Only about 7,300 Lemkos managed to avoid deportation. The final chapters of the book follow the Carpatho-Rusyns, wherever they settled, and describe their social, economic and political situations, and their third national awakening. In the final chapters, Magocsi is no longer describing the "shaping of a national identity" but rather documenting the shaping of a cultural identity. Magocsi himself has actively promoted establishing a literary language for each of the various Carpatho-Rusyn dialects. His effort has not gone unnoticed by Ukrainian nationalists who insist that there is no Rusyn nationality, only various Ukrainian dialects and subcultures. Magocsi himself quotes one of many such detractors who call the movement "political Rusynism." "This nefarious phenomenon, so they said, was the work of a few ' intellectually misguided' or 'politically opportunistic' individuals 'paid' and, in some cases led by Carpatho-Rusyn 'protectors' in North America (especially the University of Toronto Professor Paul Robert Magocsi)." Valerian Bystricky. Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu 14. marca 1939. Bratislava: Veda, 2014, bibliography, name index, 464 pp. GREGORY C. FERENCE Salisbury University The Slovak historian Bystricky (born 1936), a member and former Director of the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, has a prodigious scholarly record with more than 120 works published at home and abroad. His latest book is very wellresearched, drawing upon contemporary newspaper articles, mem- SLOVAKIA-2017 159 oirs, and archival materials from various countries. The author divided his seven-chapter monograph into numerous sub-chapters, making for easier navigation. Numerous footnotes also add information to help clarify the text. However, this is a dense volume that is not for everyday reading. Besides the myriad actors presented, a major flaw is that the author seems to want to include as much information as possible, resulting in many instances of repetition. Perhaps a more succinct volume would have been more appropriate. Nonetheless, this is an interesting book. It concentrates on how the Hlinka Slovak People's Party (HSCS) went from the struggle for autonomy, as outlined in the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the building of Slovak autonomy and a state within the framework of a federated Czecho-Slovakia after Munich. It also made preparations for the possibility of an independent country in the future, resulting in the unexpected proclamation of independence on March 14, 1939. When the HSCS did not get what it wanted from the Czechoslovak government in the late 1920's, it went into opposition . Slovak political parties prior to Slovak independence had little influence upon the foreign policy of Czechoslovakia, although the democracy of the country gave Slovaks a desire to have a say in world affairs. With the exception of the Communists, no Slovak political parties had a clear-cut view of foreign policy. Foreign powers and enemies of Czechoslovakia would use Slovak rights and grievances to weaken the state. The members of the HSCS, or Cudaks, could not convince the Western Powers about the need to the transform the state into a federation , thereby causing the Cudaks to look for support elsewhere. The HSCS became the only Slovak political party to accept funds from abroad for its political program. The main threat to Czechoslovakia prior to 1936 remained irredentist Hungary. The rise of Hitler would prove to be a greater danger to the integrity of the state. At first the HSCS viewed the Nazis as non-threatening, then became reserved, while the younger generation of Cudaks began to admire Germany, causing democracy to weaken, both on the right and on the left. Slovakia was largely forgotten during the Munich Crisis, but it led to Slovakia receiving autonomy within a weakened CzechoSlovakia. With this autonomy, the HSCS quickly consolidated power by either banning or forcing the other national or Slovak political parties to merge with it, ending democracy and leading to an authori- 160 SLOVAKIA-2017 tarian regime with the Cudaks claiming to speak for all Slovaks, with independence becoming an eventual goal. Although the Cudaks initially looked to Poland as a possible ally and counterweight to Germany, they were disappointed by Poland ' s desire for Slovak territory and subsequent Czecho-Slovak territorial concessions to Poland. After the First Vienna Award in November of 1938, when Hungary annexed southern Slovakia, the HSCS realized its only friend and protector could be Germany. Radical Cudaks held numerous secret talks with various Nazis in the fall of I 938 and early 1939 without the knowledge of the moderates, including Slovak Premier Fr. Jozef Tiso. Except for Hitler, who felt he could not fight the Western Powers without first destroying CzechoSlovakia, no one knew what the future held for the country. The Nazis began to collaborate with the radical Cudaks to destabilize Czecho-Slovakia so that they could occupy Bohemia and Moravia without being labeled as aggressors. The key became Slovak independence, with the Nazis using the HSCS as their entry for the destruction of Czecho-S lovakia, but it had to be provoked by the Czechs. The so-called Homola putsch, when the Czecho-S lovak military occupied Slovakia on March 9, 1939 as a means to keep Slovakia in the republic, became a comedy of errors not only for Prague, but also for the Nazis . The dismissal of the autonomous Tiso government by Prague, and the ineffectual occupation led to the imprisonment of many Cudak radicals, upon whom the Germans had placed hopes for proclaiming independence during March 11-12. Although the Nazis had no advance knowledge of these Czech actions, they expected Karol Sidor, as the new Slovak premier and leader of the para-military Hlinka Guard, to do their bidding. The Polonophile Sidor refused. When bullying by a Nazi official produced no results, the Germans rebuffed "the soldier of Prague" Sidor as premier and turned to the only alternative, save military intervention, which would have shown Berlin to be the aggressor: Tiso, who no longer had any governmental authority. Like Sidor, Tiso refused to unilaterally proclaim independence, instead wanting to do so legally. Warned by Hitler that Hungary would swallow Slovakia unless independence was declared immediately, Tiso asked for and received the Slovak parliament' s approval on March 14, a few days later than the Nazis had wanted . This act gave the green light for SLOVAKIA-2017 161 Germany to occupy Bohemia and Moravia the next day, claiming that Slovak independence came from the disintegration of CzechoSlovakia and that Germany had not destroyed it. Very few public manifestations greeted the new Slovak state while life went on as usual. Except for a handful of mostly radical l'.udaks, few Slovaks wanted an independent country in March, rather hoping for a gradual and evolutionary process than the unlawful revolutionary solution enacted. The bottom line and reoccurring theme of this work revolves around the fact that without Nazi support, Slovakia would not have gained independence in March of 1939. As such, Slovakia's fate was tied to German victory in the Second World War. Yet, as Bystricky notes, the Slovak government and its supporters largely underplayed and tried to ignore the Nazi connection to Slovak independence. Instead, the government presented Slovak independence as an act of the self-determination of nations, historic and natural rights, and the renewal of a long- ago medieval kingdom. This view persists among supporters of wartime Slovakia to this day. Pal'o Carnogursky. Suboj s komunizmom. Bratislava: Kalligram, 2013 , 368 pp. Suboj s komunizmom 2. Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Spolku slovenskych spisovatel'ov, 2015 , 367 pp. Jan Rychlik Charles University, Prague The well-known Latin expression habent sua fata libeli (books have their destinies) is true about the memoirs of the Catholic activist, politician, journalist and amateur historian Pavo) Carnogursky ( 1908-1992), which were posthumously published by his oldest son Ivan in two volumes in 2013 a 2015 under the title "Suboj s komunizmom" (The Duel with Communism). In the early 1970's Carnogursky wrote his memoirs on important events in modern Slovak history - the proclamation of Slovak autonomy on 6 October 1938 and the declaration of Slovakia' s independence on 14 March 1939. These materials were confiscated by State Security (Statna bezpecnost' - StB) in 1976 and returned only after the "Velvet Revolution" of 1989. They were published by the Institute of History of the Slo- 162 SLOVAKIA-2017 vak Academy of Sciences in 1992 and 1993 .- In 1985-1986 Carnogursky, deprived of his personal notes, also tape-recorded his memoirs which, however, remained incomplete but were published posthumously by his younger son Jan in 1997 under the title Svedok cias (A Witness to the Times).- Now we have new, hitherto unknown, memoirs of Pavo) Carnogursky, which are an important testimony, not only about historical events and important personalities of Slovak political life, but also about the "soft" methods of persecution of political opponents during the regime of the so-called "normalization" ( 1969-1989). The texts presented in both volumes of Souboj s komunizmom were written between 1976 and1979, after Carnogursky's release from six weeks of custody (from November 8 to December 15, 1976). Carnogursky was imprisoned because he sent for publication to the West documents concerning the persecution of the Catholic Church in Slovakia. He was accused of "harming the interests of the Republic abroad" according to article 112 of the Penal Code of 1961 (this article was frequently used against opponents of the regime if they published their materials abroad). Carnogursky faced up to three years in prison. Fortunately, this did not happen. He was released from custody, interrogated from time-to-time for two more years about his activities and contacts abroad, and finally - at the end of 1979 - the criminal proceedings were suspended. After each interrogation, Carnogursky described what had happened. He also made a detailed list of the documents which were confiscated from his personal archive and tried to restore them from memory. In describing the " lost" materials, he always added his personal testimony to the event or person. Because he was afraid that the notes and materials might be confiscated again, he decided to hide them. He did so with his relative Michal Skokan in Poprad. It is not clear why Pavo) Carnogursky did not claim his materials after the fall of Communism in November of 1989. Skokan's family probably forgot about them . The documents were returned to Carnogursky' s oldest son Ivan only in 2011, nine years after his father's death. In addition, in 2013 Pal'o Carogursky's comments on Gustav Husak's book Svedectvo o Slovenskom narodnom povstani (1964) and his correspondence with Slovak Communist poet Laco Novomesky, were found in the Archive of the Office of the President in the Prague Castle among Gustav Husak's papers by the young Czech historian, Michal Machacek, a SLOVAKIA-2017 163 postgraduate student of the author of this review. Machacek informed Carnogursky 's family about this through Slovak historian Pavo! Minarik (see Vol. 2, p. 364). Carnogursky 's comments were later added as an appendix to the second volume of memoirs. Unfortunately, the correspondence between Pavo! Carnogursky and Laco Novomesky was not published in extenso. To understand the memoires, it is necessary not only to know Slovak history of the 20 th Century, but also to know who was Pavo! Carnogursky. Originally a schoolteacher, young Carnogursky also studied law at the Charles University in Prague. From his youth he was an active member of the Slovak autonomist movement, closely associated with the Hlinka Slovak People 's Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS), although officially (at least according to his memoirs) he never formally joined the party. He was the secretary of the Association of Catholic Youth and also a close collaborator of Karol Sidor (1901-1953), a leading figure of the HSCS and originally the designated successor to Andrej Hlinka. In autonomous Slovakia (1938-1939) Camogursky was a high official of the Ministry of Education. In December of 1938 he was elected to the Slovak autonomous Diet and, as a deputy of this law-making body, he voted on 14 March 1939 for Slovakia' s independence. Carnogursky, like his mentor Sidor, was a Polonophile and opposed the official proGerman orientation of Slovakia. Unlike Sidor, who, under German pressure was forced out of the Slovak government and sent as the Slovak minister to the Vatican, Carnogursky remained in Slovakia and took an active part in the political life of the wartime Slovak Republic. Unlike many other politicians of the Slovak Republic, Carnogursky did not flee the country in 1945 . He remained an adherent of independence for Slovakia but viewed it as unrealistic at the time. He accepted the restoration of Czechoslovakia as a matter of fact. As an editor of the weekly Katolicke noviny (1945-194 7) he again participated in Slovak political life. He collected money and hired lawyers to defend Dr. Jozef Tiso, former President of Slovakia, who was put on trial after the war. In 1946, Carnogursky helped negotiate the so-called April Agreement, a political pact between representatives of political Catholicism and the Protestant leaders of the Democratic Party. Due to this Agreement, the Democratic Party won the votes of the majority of Slovak Catholics and also the parliamentary 164 SLOVAKIA-2017 elections in Slovakia, which were held on May 26, 1946 . These elections were a political defeat for the Communist Party of Slovakia. However, the Democratic Party was not able - despite its electoral victory -- to stop the Communist takeover of power. For his anti-communist and pro-independence stance, Carnogursky was arrested several times: shortly in the summer of 1945 and 1946, and definitively in October of 194 7. After the communist takeover of February 25, I 948, he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for "anti-state conspiracy". More serious was his next arrest in January of 1951. After his release in I 953 , he lived in Bratislava and worked as a laborer. In the 1960s, during the period of liberalization, he started to cooperate with the Historical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History of the Slovak Communist Party. He collected many materials dealing with modern Slovak history and published several articles. The period of the socalled "normalization," however, interrupted Carnogursky's cooperation with academic circles. After that he concentrated on the defence of religious freedom. His criticism of the anti-religious policy of the communist regime led to his last imprisonment and interrogation on November 8, 1976. Despite the fact that he was soon released and the proceedings were halted in 1979, he did not get back his personal archive, which was confiscated after his arrest. The confiscated documents were later handed over by the police to the Slovak State Central Archive (now the Slovak National Archives) and Carnogursky got them back in 1991 . It is very difficult to describe the contents of Pavo) Carnogursky's notes . He was a witness and often also a participant in many historical events. He also met many historical personalities and tried to describe them . The text is interesting and quite readable, despite the fact that the author often repeats himself. As always in memoirs, many of Carnogursky's standpoints are subjective and some explanations problematic and doubtful. Some of Carnogursky's conclusions contradict known facts . The main problem with the whole text is, however, the large number of factual errors. For example, in Volume 1, on page 4 7, in the summer of 1965 Gustav Husak was working as a researcher in the Institute of State and Law at the Slovak academy of Sciences (Ustav statu a prava SA V), not in Stavoindustria, as Carnogursky claims; on page 70, Vlado Clementis was executed on December 3, 1952, not on December 8; on page SLOVAKIA-2017 165 231 - Milos Gosiorovsky sent his memorandum advocating the federalization of Czechoslovakia to the Central Committee of the Communist Party on July 29, 1963 , not in the year 1955; on page 238 when the Slovak government stopped the deportations of Jews (on October 20, 1942), between 23 ,000 and 24,000 Jews remained in Slovakia, not 45 ,000 or even 50,000 (p.318); on page 242 - Andrej Hlinka died on August 16, 1938, not on August 15 ; on page 249 Stalin died on March 5, 1953, not on March 3rd; The Constitutional Law "On the Czechoslovak Federation" (No. 143/ 1968) was signed at Bratislava Castle on October 30, 1968 (on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Turciansky Sv. Martin), not on October 23rd. In Vol. 2, on page 245 - the correct name of the provisional parliament in 1945-1946 was "Provisional National Assembly", not Revolutionary National Assembly (this was the name of the provisional parliament in 1918-1920). Camogursky also forgot many minor details, events or mixed them up. For example, in Volume 1, on page 33 the first name of Dr. Horakova, the hero of Czech anti-Nazi and antiCommunist resistance (and first woman sentenced to death and executed in modem Czech and Slovak history), was Milada, not Maria; In Vol. 2., page 124 - Camogursky mixed up "Slovenska obnova" with the daily "Narodna obroda", which was published by the Slovak National Council. Also in Vol. 2, page 194 - Frantisek Nemec, the delegate of the Czechoslovak government in exile and his staff settled in Carpathian Ruthenia in Chust, not in Sevl'us; Also in Vo. 2, on page 253 - Stefan Bast'ovansky did not commit suicide in prison in 1952. He committed suicide at home on 27 November, 1952, on the same day that the State Court in Prague sentenced to death eleven members of the "Rudolf Slansky anti-state group". These errors are perfectly understandable. Camogursky was describing events which happened several decades earlier and he did not have the opportunity to check the facts , either in published sources or in the archives. The editor or the publishing house should have hired a professional historian, who in the form of footnotes , would have corrected these obvious mistakes. In spite of these shortcomings, however, both volumes are a valuable contribution to modem Slovak history. 166 SLOVAKIA-2017 James Krapfl. Revolution with a Human Face: Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2011, xxi-260 pp., figures, maps, tables, abbreviations, notes, chronology, bibliography, index. JURAJ HOCMAN Bratislava This book examines the events that marked the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia and its transition to democracy from the fall of 1989 to the summer of 1992. As the classic expression goes, habent sua fata libelli - each book has a story behind it. In this particular case it is worth mentioning that the English edition of the book was preceded by its Slovak version, published in 2009, which usually happens the other way around. Krapfl provides an insightful, well-documented and convincing picture of the struggle of Czechoslovakia's citizens to find a new way for themselves and their future state. He suggests that what happened in Czechoslovakia between 1989 and 1992 was a true revolution from every angle. The book is based on very comprehensive research in Czechoslovakia and its sucessor states in the 1990s and 2000s. He searched primary sources , not only in the urban centers and major archives, but also in the regions. His sources included leaflets, pamphlets, internal reports and instructions issued by the newly-emerging political entities that had served as major agents of political transition in post-Communist Czechoslovakia -the Civic Forum in Prague (OF) and Public Against Violence in Bratislava (VPN)--along with their regional and local branches . Such sources are of crucial importance when examining the substance of any modem revolution, for they serve as the most authentic indicators of an atmosphere full of civic passion and enthusiasm that the replaced previous passivity and obedience to communist political authorities. The overall picture is broad, in some respects too broad. However, keeping in mind that the major protagonists of the story are not individuals, but communities and their little-known representatives, this does not constitute a problem. Krapfl' s deep faith in the humanness and civic spirit of ordinary Czechs and Slovaks, who were determined to overcome all the dificulties that stemmed from a SLOVAKIA-2017 167 political power-vacuum on the one hand, and uncertainty, as far as new institutional and constitutional designs were concerned, on the other hand, can be felt from beginning to end. Krapfl is perfectly aware of the sad fact that, two decades after the Velvet Revolution, skepticism by ordinary Slovaks and Czechs, and their displeasure with current political elites, is ubiquitous. More importantly, he has no doubt that the sudden rise of a civic movement in the fall of 1989 was authentic, spontaneous and true. Meanwhile, he avoids commenting on national conflict, which would otherwise lead to blaming either side or both for their mistakes on the thorny path to democracy. The first two chapters provide a theoretical framework of the civic movement in Czechoslovakia after the communist regime fell in November of 1989. As any other good book, this one culminates near its end. The central theme that shapes the book is a hearkening back to the reform movement of the 1960's in communist Czechoslovakia.. Krapfl is disciplined enough not to repeat variations of political and legal evolution of a joint state that was destined to fail since this subject had already been covered by prolific scholars such as Carol Skalnik Leff, Eric Stein, Shari J. Cohen, Abby Innes and Gil Eyal, to name just a few. Krapfl ' s analysis of the altercation between the Civic Forum and the Public Against Violence as the almost exclusive representatives of their communities before the 1990 parliamentary elections belongs to the best discourses on the topic yet written by a western scholar on postCommunist Czechoslovakia. Two short observations are in order. In a future edition of the book the bibliography should be expanded to include new titles that emerged between its first Slovak and English editions. Also, to balance the period before the community of citizens began to fall apart, and their subsequent and inevitable transformation into political parties following the parliamentary elections of June 1990 and June 1992, more should have been written about the the period between the two elections. Due to Krapfl s masterly knowledge of the subject, thoughtful narrative, empathy for and respect toward the country and its peoples, his book represents a very informative and valuable contribution to the most recent scholarship on East Central Europe, not only from the perspective of cultural history, as the author 168 SLOVAKIA-2017 modestly claims, but also to sociology and political science. Today, when it seems that the glorious days of the Velvet Revolution and its legacy are numbered, as were the days of the French revolution (to which Krapfl in some aspects compares the former) , the importance of the book is significantly higher in the Czech and Slovak Republics, where the faith of the citizenry and civic movements have been substantially reduced, neglected or almost forgotten.  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 Book Reviews, Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81) Description An account of the resource includes:<br /><ul><li>Jozef Klempa, Moje skúsenosti za svetovej voyny (M. Mark Stolarik), p. 151</li> <li>Rebekah Klein-Pejšová, Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia (Jan Lániček), p. 152</li> <li>Paul Robert Magosci, With Their Backs to the Mountains: A History of Carpathian Rus' (Keith P. Dyrud), p. 156</li> <li>Valerián Bystrický, Zahraničnopolitické súvislosti vzniku Slovenského štátu 14. marca 1939 (Gregory C. Ference), p. 158</li> <li>Paľo Čarnogurský, Súboj s komunizmom (Jan Rychlík), p. 161</li> <li>James Krapfl, Revolution with a Human Face: Politics, Culture, and Community in Czechoslovakia, 1989-1992 (Juraj Hocman), p. 166</li> </ul> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ference, Gregory Curtis, 1957- Hocman, Juraj Láníček, Jan, 1986- Rychlík, Jan Stolarik, M. Mark, 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d3aa6fe4c51573bc23c71490b485e7e8.pdf b5bb0c6a3fd49ab79860c5e6af26aeff PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 7 MORE SLOVAKS IN THE U.S. THAN CZECHS? WHO SAYS? WHEN AND WHERE? 1 Kenneth Janda Born in Chicago, Illinois, I am a third-generation Czech-American married to a second-generation Slovak-American, born Anna Mozolak in New York City. Ann's grandfather, Samuel Mozolak, is the peasant in my forthcoming book, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire. 2 The emperor is, of course, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. The peasant, Samuel Mozolak, lived in Krajne, a Slovak village in Hungary, the eastern half of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Although they never met, Franz Joseph's life profoundly affected Samuel's. It is inconceivable that the peasant ever did anything to harm the emperor, but the emperor, did much to harm him. By declaring war against Serbia, Franz Joseph personally made the decision that led to Samuel's death. So began World War I, innocently known then as the Great War-the war to end all wars. Franz Joseph resided in his Austrian palaces and visited Hungary as little as possible. Living in different places and with no common acquaintances, the two men traveled together on non-intersecting paths toward World War I. The story about Franz Joseph is based entirely on historical records. Samuel Mozolak's story is based on family documents, histories of Slovaks in Hungary, reports of Slovaks emigrating to the United States, immigrants' personal accounts, and novels of the era. His story threads together the description of Slovaks' lives as subjects in Hungary and as immigrants in America. Chapter 1 begins the emperor's story, which continues over the odd-numbered chapters. Chapter 2 and subsequent even-numbered 1 Revision of a paper prepared for delivery at the 28th World Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU),Vysoka skola zdravotnictva a socialnej prace, sv. Alzbety, Bratislava, Slovakia, September 1-4, 2016 ,_M. Mark Stolarik improved this paper with several useful suggestions . 2 Forthcoming in 2017 by McFarland Books, Box 611 , Jefferson, NC 28640, http: //www.mcfarlandbooks.com �8 SLOVAKIA-2017 chapters tell about the Slovak peasant who crossed the ocean at twenty years of age to work in New York City and who returned to Slovakia in time to serve the emperor. Those chapters also tell why hundreds of thousands of Slovaks fled the empire, how they traveled to the United States, and where they settled. In writing my manuscript, I learned far more about Ann's Slovak heritage than I did about my own Czech family background. My mother and father were first-generation bilingual Bohemians who impressed on me-who foolishly resisted learning Czech- that I was Bohemian too. I attended many events in Chicago's numerous Sokol halls, but I do not recall my parents ever saying that they had Slovak friends or even talking about Slovaks. When I met Ann Mozo lak in graduate school at Indiana University, she was the first genuine Slovak-American that I ever recall meeting. So imagine my surprise when I learned that the 1990 Census found 1.9 million United States residents professing Slovak ancestry compared with about 1.3 claiming Czech roots, whi le approximately 315,000 considering themselves "Czechoslovaks." How could that be? Did more Slovaks than Czechs really immigrate to the United States? What's the evidence? When did the immigration waves occur? Where did the Czechs and Slovaks settle in America? How could it be that I do not remember m~eting any Slovaks in Chicago? These are questions that I grappled with while writing The Emperor and the Peasant, and ones addressed more comprehensively in this paper. Anyone researching Czech and Slovak emigration from Austria-Hungary to the United States during the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20 th century encounters several facts: 1. Statistics on emigration from Austria-Hungary and immigra3 tion to the United States are seriously incomplete. Emigration statistics from Austria-Hungary had to be compiled from fragmentary government data on exit permits and from 4 more complete data on ships sailing from European ports. Immigration data in the United States came almost completely from 3 See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volume I: Statistics (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), 55. 4 Wilcox, 89-90. �SLOVAKIA-2017 9 5 passenger lists of ship companies. 2. Over the years, the United States defined "immigrant" diff erently . From 1820 to 1867, data were reported for alien passengers ; from 1868 to 1900 for alien immigrants-those who intended to reside in the U.S. (including only third class passengers, not first or second class, until 1903); after 1906 for immigrant aliens admitted, excluding "all aliens admitted who avowed an intention not to settle in the United States, and all returning to resume domiciles formerly acquired in this country. 11 6 3. The U.S. Census Bureau did not separately classify residents fro m Austria-Hungary as Czechs or Slovaks until 1910, when it began asking p eople of ''foreign stock" about their "mother tongue." That year, Slovak leaders persuaded President Taft and Congress to add "mother tongue" to the 1910 Census a month before 7 it took the field on April 15. The Bureau hastily trained censustakers in asking people of foreign stock for their mother tongue-"that is, the language of customary speech in the home prior to immigration." "Foreign stock" included "the foreign-born white, the native white of foreign parentage (both parents foreign born), and the native white of mixed parentage (one parent native and the other foreign born).118 4. In 1924, the U. S. Congress imposed quotas on immigrants fro m central and southern Europe, which drastically reduced the number from the former Austria-Hungary. Whereas from 1904 to 1911 , Austria-Hungary accounted for 28 percent of millions of immigrants who poured into the United Sta9 tes, Congress set the 1925 immigration quota at only 785 for Austria 5 Wilcox, 374. Ibid. 7 Konstant in Cul en, Dejiny Slowikov v Amerike (Bratislava: Slovak League Publishing House, 1942) was translated by Daniel C. Necas and published as History of Slovaks in America (St. Paul : Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), 329-33. 8 Fifteenth Census of the United States - 1930 - Population, Vo lume JI: General Report, Statistics by Subject (Washington: U.S . Bureau of the Census, 1933), Chapter 6, p. 263 . 9 Willcox, Walter F. (ed.), International Migrations, Vo lum e JI: Interpretations (Washington: Nati onal Bureau of Economic Research, I 93 1), 400. 6 �10 SLOVAKIA-2017 10 and 473 for Hungary. 5. In 1930, the U.S. Census Bureau switched from asking residents of ''foreign stock" about their mother tongue to asking it only of residents who were ''foreign born." The 1930 Census reported 38,727,693 of foreign stock but only 13 ,366,407 foreign born-about one-third as many. These facts complicated estimating the numbers of Czech and Slovak immigrants to the United States. Historical Trend oflmmigration from Austria-Hungary, 1869-1924 What do we know generally about immigration from AustriaHungary? Imre Ferenczi in 1925 supervised an international effort in Europe at collecting migration data that was published in 1929 in the 11 United States under the general editorship of Walter F. Willcox. Thanks to that source, we have detailed estimates for Austro-Hungarian immigration to the United States by year from 1869 to 1924and often by country within the empire. These data are presented in Figure 1, which reports the place of origin for years when available. Certain years are marked by pronounced surges in immigration. The researchers contended that these surges coincided more with views of good economic ref otts in America than with poor conditions in Austria-Hungary. 1 Felix Klez! wrote, "There was a striking parallelism between Austrian emigration and the economic conditions in the United States," while Gustav Thirring said, "In Hungary, American business conditions also were of decisive influence." The data extend beyond the end of the empire to 1924, after which U.S. national quotas throttled the flow of immigrants. According to the data in Figure 1, immigration from Austria and Bohemia long preceded any substantial immigration from Hungary. 10 Ibid. , 410 and 433 . See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics and International Migrations (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929). 12 Felix Klez!, "Austria," in Willcox, Volum e !I, p. 403 ; and Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e 11, p. 411 . 11 �11 SLOVAKIA-2017 Figure 1: Austro-Hungarian Immigration by Place of Origin, 1869-1924 350,000 300,000 Czechoslovakia 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 1874 1879 1884 1889 1894 1899 1904 1909 1914 191 9 1924 SOURCE: Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics (Washington : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), Tables II and III, pp. 384-393. Anecdotal evidence tells of Czechs immigrating earlier. Czech historian Stephanie Saxon-Ford said, "Bohemian intellectuals who had participated in the nationalist revival of the 1840s and 1850s . .. left their homeland by the score to escape the repression of Hapsburg �12 SLOVAKIA-2017 13 rule." By 1850 about 500 members of the Czech intelligentsiadoctors, professors, composers, and journalists-immigrated to the United States, and Czechs formed the Cesko-Slovanska Podporujici Spolecnost, or C.S.P.S., (the Czech-Slavic Protective Society) in St. 14 Louis in 1854. Furthermore, in volume II of International Migration, Felix Klez! referred to substantial immigration of Bohemians to California sparked by news of the 1849 gold strike. He wrote, "The movement was confined almost entirely to Bohemia. Of the 58,000 emigrants who registered in the years 1850-68, not less than 15 44,000, or 76 per cent, were from Bohemia. The evidence is less clear about emigration from Hungary after its 1848-49 revolution. Gustav Thirring said that any Hungarian arrivals in the United States before 1861 were "not treated in American statistics as immigration," saying "the first two immigrants from 16 Hungary being reported in 1861." Although Gregory Ference noted that a Slovak named Andrej Jelik arrived in the mid-1 s1h century and that Slovaks immigrated more frequently by the 1850s, "these immigrants usually were isolated cases ... . The beginnings of the mass 17 migration started around 1880." John Kosa agreed that Hungarian emigration was small prior to 1880, but then: "In the period from 1886 to 1890 an average of 22,000 persons left the country annually 18 for overseas, and the trend was increasing." Kosa continued: The total number of emigrants who left Hungary in the period from 1850 to 1920 is variously estimated as being between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000; the overseas emigration alone can be put between 2,200,000 13 Stephanie Saxon-Ford, The Czech Americans (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989), p. 47. 14 Gregory C. Ference, Sixteen months of indecision: Slovak American Viewpoints toward Compatriots and the Homeland from I 9 I 4 to I 915 as Viewed by the Slovak Language Press in Pennsylvania. (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, 1995), 36. 15 Felix Klez! , "Austria," in Willcox, Volume 11, 399. 16 Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e II, 411. 17 Gregory C. Ference, "Slovak Immigration to the United States in Light of American, Czech, and Slovak History," Nebraska. History, 74 (Fall/Winter 1993): 13035 at p. 131. 18 John Kosa, "A Century of Hungarian Emigration, I 850-1950," The American Slavic and East European Review, 16 (December, I 957) : 501-514 at 504. �13 SLOVAKIA-2017 and 2,600,000 persons. For several reasons it seems to be almost impossible to reach an exact figure or to tie in the Hungarian data with the statistical figures supplied by the different countries of immigration. Thirring found that 98.5 percent of the overseas Hungarian emigrants went to the United States. 19 He estimated total Hungarian emigration from 1898 to 1913 at 1,391,000, of which 31 percent (432,000) were Slovaks. Thirring also stated, "[E]migration from Hungary was almost entirely Slovak during the early years, 1120 and from 1905 to 1913, Slovaks still had the highest emigration rate of all Hungarians- 98 .2 per 1,000. That was more than three times the Magyar rate and amounted to almost 10 percent of the Slovak popu. m . Hungary. 21 1atlon U.S. Census Data on Czechs and Slovaks in America What do U.S. Census data tell about Czech and Slovak presence in America? The evidence above in Figure 1 implies three conclusions: (1) Substantial Czech immigration from Austria-Hungary began in the 1850s; (2) Substantial Slovak immigration from AustriaHungary began later, in the 1880s; therefore (3) many thousands of Czech immigrants settled in the United States at least a full generation before comparable numbers of Slovaks. Moreover, those Czechs immigrants gave birth to many more thousands of Czech-Americans. It is not surprising that the 1910 Census reported far more residents of Czech "foreign stock" than Slovak. Those data are reported in Figure 2. Figure 2: 1910 U.S. Census of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks 1910 ~ - ~ 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 531 ,193 I I I 600,000 700,000 However, the very next census of foreign stock in 1920 revealed 19 Thirring, 419. Thirring, 424. 21 Thirring, 426. 20 �14 SLOVAKIA-2017 the surprising-even astounding- fact that the number of Slovaks in America was virtually tied with the number of Czechs! In just ten short years between the two Census counts, the number of Slovak residents in the United States jumped more than 338,000- an increase greater than all Slovaks counted in the 1910 Census. Moreover, this enormous increase occurred despite the nearly complete shutdown of immigration during the four-and-a-half years of World War I, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3: 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks What accounted for the huge increase in Slovaks between the 1910 and 1920 Censuses? Recall that Slovak leaders succeeded in adding the "mother tongue" question to the 1910 Census just one month before the count began. A U.S. Census website states: "Because the questionnaires had already been printed, enumerators were instructed to add this information to column 12 (birthplace) of the 22 form." The census-takers- many of whom were unfamiliar with Slavic groups in central Europe- had trouble recording responses to the question. That was admitted in the explanatory text of the I 920 Census, which stated that "contrary to the instructions given the enumerators" some persons who said they were 'Slavs,' 'Slavic,' 'Slavish," or 'Slavonian,' ... should doubtless have been reported as Slovak or Slovenian." 23 Apparently, the census-takers had less trouble accurately recording responses from Czechs or Bohemians, who had started settling in the United States sixty years earlier, had quickly affected American life, and were widely recognized. The Czech-Slavic Protective Society was founded in 1854; Budweiser Beer was imported in 1871 (Bohemian Crystal even earlier); and Antonin Dvorak wrote his New 22 U. S. Census, "History," at https: //www.census.gov/history/www/through the decades/overview/ 19 I O.htm I. 23 U.S. Census Bureau, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Volum e II: General Report and Analytical Tables (Washington, DC : 1921), Chapter 12, p. 968. �15 SLOVAKIA-2017 World Symphony in 1893 . The Slovak newcomers were not known to Americarls for their beer, their crystal, or their symphonies. Slovaks were not generally familiar to Europeans either. In 1916, according to MacMillan, Britain's Prime Minister Lloyd George (not known to be up on his geography) asked, "Who are the Slovaks? I can't seem 24 to place them. " So the leap in Slovak speakers in 1920 appears to have come from better field procedures returning a more accurate count. Additional evidence that the 1910 Census erred in counting Slovaks comes from the 1930 Census, which switched to ask the "mother tongue" question of those only who were "foreign born." Retaining the original data from the two earlier Censuses, the Bureau of the Census in 1930 recalculated its 1910 and 1920 data to report as well on "foreign born." Later Censuses to 1970 continued asking those foreign born for their mother tongue. The full set of relevant data are portrayed in Figure 4. Figure 4: Slovak and Czech as "Mother Tongue" in Censuses, 1910-1970 700 ,000 Mother Tongues of Foreign Stock 619,866 600,000 S lovak S tock 500,000 Czech S tock S lovak Born 400 ,000 - Czech Born 274,948 300 ,000 200 ,000 166,474 100 ,000 Mother Tongue• of Foreign Born 70,564 O + - - - - ~ - - ~ - - - ~ - - - , - - - - - - - , - - - - - r -- - - - , 1910 1920 1930 1 940 1950 1960 1970 U.S . Census Bureau, "Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970," (March 9, 1999), at https://www.census.go~opulation/www/documentation/twps0029/tab06.html. Figure 4 shows a much smaller difference between foreign born 24 Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2002), 42 . �16 SLOVAKIA-2017 Czech or Slovak speakers and those of foreign stock. Czech immigration, which occurred earlier, certainly accounted for the preponderance of Czech foreign stock. Given the flawed nature of the 1910 count of Slovak speakers, one wonders whether the Bureau of the Census in 1930 corrected the counts of Slovak speakers when recalculating the 1910 data. In any event, Figure 4 clearly shows that in every Census from I 920 through 1970 there were more Slovak than Czech speakers among the foreign born. Because the 1920s immigration quotas virtually ended mass immigration of both Czechs and Slovaks, the downward slope of the mother tongue lines for both languages reflects the mortality rates of the foreign born. Other Data on Czech and Slovak Immigration to America As noted, the U.S. Census has severe shortcomings concerning Czech and Slovak ethnicity prior to World War I. Fortunately, there were other sources of information on immigration to the United States prior to the 1930s, and these were consulted in preparing the two-volumes of International Migrations. Imre Ferenczi, chief of the Migration Section of the International Labour Office in Geneva, wrote, The statistics for the United States have been compiled in European libraries supplemented by all the important American publications, including Bromwell, Young, the Monthly Summary of Comm erce and Finance for the United States and the Annual Reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration. With the assistance of the numerous documents which have been collected, the present series of American migration statistics is probably more nearly complete than any heretofore published in the United States . 25 Thanks to these additional sources, Volume I of International Migrations printed a twelve-page table on the "Distribution of Immi26 grant Aliens Admitted, by Sex and Race or People, 1899-1924." This remarkable table counted immigrants in forty different categories, including separate lines for "Bohemian and Moravian" and 25 Imre Ferenczi , "International Migration Statistics" in Willcox, International Mi- f[ ations, Volume I, 59. 6 - International Migrations, Volume !: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. �SLOVAKIA-2017 17 "Slovak." These data, rarely reported in accounts of Czech and Slovak immigration, were extracted for presentation in Figure 5. Figure 5: Czech and Slovak Immigrants to the U.S., 1899-1924 60 ,000 Slovak lmmlgranta: 524,348 total 52,368 50,000 40 ,000 36,934 38,221 32,41 6 Source: International Migrations, Vo lume I: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. Summing the annual data in Figure 5 over 26 years results in 524,348 Slovak versus 150,294 Czech immigrants arriving from 1899 through 1924. These annual counts are reassuringly consistent with Figure 1's data on annual immigration from Austria-Hungary, as Figure S's spikes in immigration for 1905-07, 1910, and 1913-14 match the spikes in Figure 1. While Czech immigrants to the United States certainly outnumbered Slovak immigrants throughout most of the 19 th century, the annual immigration data in Figure 5 establish that over three times as many Slovaks as Czechs immigrated to the U.S. in the first quarter of the 20 th . However, the data in Figure 5 are not comparable to U.S. Census data in Figure 4, even for the same years, 1910 and 1920. Figure 5 counted only annual immigrant arrivals. Both Censuses counted all residents of foreign stock and of foreign birth, classifying them as Czech or Slovak according to their mother tongues. By simple logic, �18 SLOVAKIA-2017 the number of Czech/Slovak of foreign stock counted in any Census year should exceed the number of Czech/Slovak who were foreign born. So too, the number of foreign born in 1910 should exceed the sum total of immigrants for the available years 1899 to 1910, and the number of foreign born in 1920 should exceed the total of immigrants from 1899 to 1920. Figure 6, which reprises the relevant foreign stock and foreign born data along with summed immigration data for 1899 to 1910 and for 1899 to 1920, shows those relationships hold for the Czech data, but not for the Slovak data. Figure 6: Comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 18991924 Immigration Data 700,000 619,866 600,000 Czech stock 531, 193 500,000 Slovak Immigrants 1899-1920 400,000 1899-1910 300,000 Slovak stock C,ech bom 281 70 274,948 22 ,', 73 , r -34,564 200,000 Slovak born 166,474 100,000 Czech Immigrants 1899-1910 .-123,836 91 , 164 _______...-.---- Czech Immigrants 1899-1920 0---+-----------------~ 1910 1920 When comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 1899-1924 immigration data, one should understand two facts and their implycations: �SLOVAKIA-2017 19 I . The data come from very different sources collected by very different methods. Do not expect exact matches; look instead for consistencies and impossibilities. 2. Caveat: summing annual immigrants overstates their counts in the Censuses. After arriving, many immigrants returned home. Concerning fact #1: All data for Czech foreign stock, foreign born, and immigrants are indeed logically consistent for 1910 and 1920. In both years, there were more residents of Czech foreign stock than those foreign born and those who immigrated since 1899. The Slovak figures for foreign stock and foreign born are also logically consistent. However, the data for Slovak foreign born are inconsistent with the number who immigrated in years preceding both Censuses. It is not possible for 358,056 Slovaks to arrive between 1899 and 1910 and yet have only 166,474 foreign born Slovaks in the 1910 Census. It is not possible for 460,530 Slovaks to immigrate between 1899 and 1920 and yet have only 274,948 Slovaks of foreign birth in 1920. Concerning fact #2: That immigrants often returned home requires some adjustment to the data summed from 1899 to 1910 and from 1899 to 1920. One source for 1908 to 1913 estimated that, respectively, 40 percent and 38 percent of Austrian and Hungarian 27 immigrants to the United States returned home. Other sources give 28 much lower repatriation percentages, almost half. Let us assume the highest figure, that 40 percent of the Slovak immigrants who came in the 12 years prior to 1910, returned home. That would still leave almost 215,000 immigrants, far more than the 166,000 Slovaks the 1910 Census counted as foreign born. Of course, many thousands who came before 1899 were also foreign born and still alive. Applying the same repatriation assumption to Slovak immigrants from 1899 to 1920 lowers the number to around 276,000-which is 27 Willcox, Volume I, 90 and 92. Culen estimated that about 25 percent of all Slovaks who left eventually returned (p. 42); Seton-Watson reported that Slovaks who returned in 1905 were 10 percent of those who left, and that returnees were 20 percent of emigrants in 1906, in R. W. Seton-Watson, Racial Problems in Hungary (New York: Howard Fertig, 1972 edition, original ly published 1908) Appendix XIII, 470. 28 �20 SLOVAKIA-2017 close to the 1920 Census count of about 275,000 born abroad. Although the 1899-1920 count still does not include those who immigrated earlier, the much closer fit to the I 920 Census count supports the contention that the 1910 Census woefully undercounted Slovaks. More Slovaks than Czechs in America, Then and Now? To recap, the 1920 Census of foreign stock counted almost identical numbers of Czechs and Slovaks in the United States: 622,796 and 619,866 respectively. Without doubt, the Bureau of the Census had improved its counting of Slovaks substantially since the 1910 Census, but annual counts of Czech and Slovak immigration from 1899 to 1920 suggest that even the 1920 Census underestimated the number of Slovaks, given that large scale Slovak immigration oc29 curred two decades earlier. " By the 1930 Census, which asked mother tongue only for the foreign born, there were more Slovak than Czech speakers, 240,196 to 201,138. As census-takers recorded more familiar with Slovaks as an ethnic group, perhaps they found more Slovaks to count. In any event, it is reasonable to assume that by 1930 there were actually more United States residents of Slovak than Czech ancestry. Despite the fact that Slovak speakers equaled or exceeded Czech speakers by 1920, Slovaks remained largely invisible to the American public. In Francis Clark's 1913 book, Old Homes of New Americans, he reported on a conversation with "an intelligent American lady, who had traveled widely and was not unacquainted with the history and nationality of Austria-Hungary." He asked her to guess how many Slovaks were in the United States; she guessed twenty thousand. He wrote, "She was only five hundred and eighty thousand out of the way, but I have no doubt her guess was quite as near the truth as would be that of most of her countrywomen, or countrymen 30 either, for that matter. " Although the U.S. Census Bureau apparently stopped asking for the mother tongue of foreign born in 1970, the 1980 and 1990 Cen- 29 Ference, p. 131. ° Francis E. C lark, Old Homes of New Americans: The Country and the People of 3 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Their Contribution to the New World (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 212-13 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 21 31 suses did attempt to measure ancestry. In 1990, the census-taker filled in a box for Question 13: "What is this person's ancestry or 32 ethnic origin?" Appendix B explained: The question was based on self-identification; the data on ancestry represent self-classification by people according to the ancestry group(s) with which they most closely identify. Ancestry refers to a person's ethnic origin or descent, "roots," or heritage or the place of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States .. .. The ancestry question allowed respondents to report one or more ancestry groups. While a large number of respondents listed a single ancestry, the majority of answers included more than one ethnic entry. Generally, only the first two responses reported were coded in 1990. Based on both responses to the ancestry question, the 1990 Cen33 sus produced these estimates: Slovak 1,882,897 Czech 1,296,411 Czechoslovakian 315,285 Of course, feelings of ancestry fade across generations as marriages occur across ethnic groups. Given that Czechs immigrated a generation earlier than Slovaks, their self-identification in 1990 as Czech-American or Bohemian-American should have faded somewhat more than Slovak-American. The exact numbers for ancestry in 1990 are less significant than their relative magnitudes. These data, even with their imperfections, support the case that Slovak immigrants outnumbered Czechs in the first quarter of the 20 th century, 31 Bureau of the Census, Census '90.- The Foreign-Born Population in the United States (Washington, DC: I 990 CP-3- I), 8-4. 32 Ibid. , E- 14. 33 Based on only people's first response for ancestry, the counts were lower: 1,2 10,652 Slovaks, 772,087 Czechs, and 240,489 Czechoslovakians. Only 3,781 people cited Moravian ancestry. See Bureau of the Census, Census '90: Ancestry of the Population in the United States (Washington, DC: 1990 CP-3-2), Table I: "General Characteristics of Selected Ancestry Groups by Nativity, Citizenship, and Year of Entry." �22 SLOVAKIA-2017 even including Moravians. That seems to be true as well today. In 2013, the Department of Homeland Security reported the persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status by region and country of birth from fiscal years 2004 to 2013. The trend continued: 7,165 people from Slovakia soufht resident status in the U.S. versus 3,783 from the Czech Republic.3 Where Did Czechs and Slovak Settle in the United States? We do not inquire why immigrants chose where they settled in the United States. We look only at where they settled in the first decades of the 20 th century. To determine that, we rely on the 1920 Census, which asked for mother tongue of foreign white stockaccepting its likely undercount of Slovaks. Recall that the 1920 Census counted 622,796 Czechs and 619,866 Slovaks for a combined total of 1,242,662. Given that the amounts are essentially the same, readers can compare the counts directly, without converting them to percentages. Figure 7 displays where they chose to settle in nine Census regions of the United States, ranked by total number of Czechs and Slovaks. Figure 7: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers in Census Regions, 1920• Total Czech• & Slovaka In each region Middle Atlantic 1 ~ 7 3,574 East North Central 425,623 These three regions had 1 , 140,043 of all Czechs & Slovaks (87% ) 180,483 West North Central 13,006 Texas a lone had 84% of all Czechs & Slovaks in this region West South Central 8,306 New England Only 8% of Czechs & Slovaks settled in the rest of the country; except for Texas , very few settled in southern states, 13 ,6 11 South Atlantic 14,996 Pacific Czechs= 622,786 • Slovaks'"' 619,866 Total Czechs & Slovaks = 1 ,242 ,662 934 East South Central 1 ,252 0 34 • 2,186 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 Department of Homeland Security," Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Lawful Permanent Residents," https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2013-lawful-permanent-residents. �SLOVAKIA-2017 23 Fourteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report and Analytical Tables, Table 7. The comments to the right of Figure 7 draw attention to three major conclusions: (1) almost 90% of all Czechs and Slovaks lived in relatively few states running westward from the Atlantic seaboard into the North Central region; (2) nearly all those in the West South Central region lived in Texas; and (3) relatively few Czechs and Slovaks ventured north to New England, west toward the Mountain and Pacific regions, or south-except for Texas, entering at Galveston. (One source estimated that some 200,000 immigrants entered there 5 between 1865 and 1924.)3 One last comment on Texas: according to the 1920 Census, Czechs outnumbered Slovaks 49,929 to 83 3 ! Figure 8 provides information on the states within three regions in which they settled. Figure 8: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers by States within Regions (See next page) Figure 8 lists all fifteen states in 1920 having the most Czechs and Slovaks within the three regions . Only four of the fifteenPennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana-had more Slovaks than Czechs. Pennsylvania stands out as the most extraordinary: Slovaks outnumbered Czechs 296,219 to 19,839, and Pennsylvania-by itself- had 48 percent of all Slovaks counted in the 1920 Census! Pennsylvania drew so many Slovaks that some explanation is needed. In his History of Slovaks in America, Culen wrote: Most of the early Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial and mining areas of Pennsylvania. Here, two main centers developed. One was in the hard coal (anthracite) mining region (or in the Slovak slang "v tvardouholtnej okolici"- '"the hard coal circle"), the other in the soft coal mining region . The first settlements formed around the mines. Later, they formed around large industrial complexes, particularly around iron and steel mills. 36 35 See htt ://wv1w.chron.com/li fe/artic le/Waves-of-mi rants-made-Galveston-intoT~2(i!§_-L73)_~}?Jl'1p_. 36 Konstantin Culen, History of Slovaks in America [Translated from the 1942 Slovak edition by Daniel C. Necas] (St. Paul , MN: Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), p. 67. �24 SLOVAKIA-2017 M. Mark Stolarik's more recent research found that Slovaks 316,058 Pennsylvania New York MIDDLE An.ANTIC New Jersey 184,021 Illinois 138,188 Ohio EAST NORTH CENTRAL 58,217 Wisconsin Michigan Indiana Nebraska 41 ,872 Minnesota 34,739 Iowa WEST NORTH CENTRAL 16,277 Missouri 13 ,263 Kansas 11 ,203 South Dakota ■ Czechs ■ Slovaks North Dakota 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 accounted for 13.1 percent of all steel workers in America and 12.8 37 percent of bituminous coal miners. New Jersey also had a preponderance of Slovaks over Czechs, as did Ohio, but neither rivaled Pennsylvania. Indiana also had more Slovaks than Czechs, but few of each. 37 Marian Mark Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918 (New York: AMS Press, 1989), pp. 111-112, �SLOVAKIA-2017 25 The other eleven states had Czech majorities- often overwhelming majorities. Nebraska was home to 54,024 Czechs but only 281 Slovaks! That ratio even exceeded Texas' Czech majority. My home state of Illinois had-after Pennsylvania-the second largest number of Czech and Slovak immigrants. Where in Illinois did those Czechs and Slovaks live? Did they live in urban or rural areas? The 1920 Census did not classify the foreign stock by urban rural residence, but the 1930 Census did report urban-rural location for the foreign born, which means the more recent immigrants. At that time, "urban" meant incorporated areas of 2,500 or more inhabitants-places that we would not call urban today. Nevertheless, only 56 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas in 1930. 38 Although they had emigrated from rural lands, both Czechs (66 percent) and Slovaks (72 percent) gravitated to urban areas. 39 Only in certain states did Czechs and Slovaks congregate in large cities. The United States had only 73 cities with 100,000 or more population in 1920. Ten were in the three states with the largest number of Czechs and Slovaks combined-Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio. Because most mines and mills were located outside of Pennsylvania's large cities- Philadelphia, Scranton, and Pittsburgh. -merely 8 percent of its Czechs and Slovaks lived in its big cities. Ohio, with six cities over 100,000, presented a different case. Only Cleveland- a major steel and manufacturing center-attracted Czechs and Slovaks in droves, accounting for 52 percent of them, more Czechs than Slovaks. My home state of Illinois had only one city over 100,000 population-Chicago-and 72 percent of all Czechs and Slovaks in Illinois in 1920 lived in Chicago. The breakdown was 106,428 Czechs and 25 ,720 Slovaks. Given that Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by nearly 4 to 1 in Chicago, perhaps that explains why I never met any. Conclusion: Slovaks as the Silent Majority Certainly the preponderance of Czechs in Chicago partly explains why I was unaware of them. Probably more important was 38 Fifteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report, Statistics b{ Subject, Chapter 1, Table 1. 3 Ibid. , Chapter 7, Table I. �26 SLOVAKIA-2017 that Slovaks were more silent than Czechs, so got little press compared to Czechs who- like the Irish in Boston and Italians in New York- soon became a force in city politics. Anton Cermak (originally Cermak) became a Chicago alderman, then president of the county board (1922), head of the county Democratic Party (1928), and mayor of the city (1931 ). His prominence allowed him to stand next to president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, where Cermak was killed by a bullet presumably aimed at the president. Slovaks also made less news than Czechs nationwide. Figure 9 shows how often articles in the Tim es, the leading newspaper in the nation's biggest city, mentioned either "Czechs" or "Slovaks.1140 From 1901 to 1910, the New York Times paid little attention to either group . Of only 88 articles during that decade that mentioned either, 75 percent were about Czechs. In the next decade, encompassing World War I and the creation of Czechoslovakia, the number of stories in the Times increased tenfold to 890, and the percentage mentioning Czechs increased to 81. By 1920, when Slovak equaled Czech as a mother tongue in census statistics, the Czech advantage in 689 Tim es' stories climbed to 84 percent. The Czech penumbra extended far over the Slovaks especially in the metropolitan media. Figure 9: "Czechs" and "Slovaks" in the News, 1900-1930 300 Number of articles in New York Tiines 250 Number mentioning Czechs 200 150 100 50 1905 40 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 "CHRONICLE. Visualizing language usage in New York Times news coverage throughout its history," at http ://chronicle.nvtlabs.com/. �SLOVAKIA-2017 27 Cermak's visible political career in Chicago, Tomas Masaryk's tireless campaigning across the country for the existence of Czechoslovakia as an independent nation, the nation's creation after World War I, and Edvard Benes' presidency, all, no doubt contributed to the many articles mentioning Czechs in the New York Times during this period. Slovaks lacked comparable political celebrities or events to gamer publicity. Finally, the fact that almost one-half of all Slovak immigrants to the United States settled in one state, Pennsylvania and outside its large cities no doubt contributed to Slovaks' neglect by the national press and to their invisibility to people living in other states. Despite the fact that Slovaks were often unrecognized and undercounted by census-takers, the 1990 Census confirmed that more Americans claimed Slovak than Czech ancestry. Even today, that fact surprises many people. � SLOVAKIA-2017 7 MORE SLOVAKS IN THE U.S. THAN CZECHS? WHO SAYS? WHEN AND WHERE? 1 Kenneth Janda Born in Chicago, Illinois, I am a third-generation Czech-American married to a second-generation Slovak-American, born Anna Mozolak in New York City. Ann's grandfather, Samuel Mozolak, is the peasant in my forthcoming book, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire. 2 The emperor is, of course, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. The peasant, Samuel Mozolak, lived in Krajne, a Slovak village in Hungary, the eastern half of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Although they never met, Franz Joseph's life profoundly affected Samuel's. It is inconceivable that the peasant ever did anything to harm the emperor, but the emperor, did much to harm him. By declaring war against Serbia, Franz Joseph personally made the decision that led to Samuel's death. So began World War I, innocently known then as the Great War-the war to end all wars. Franz Joseph resided in his Austrian palaces and visited Hungary as little as possible. Living in different places and with no common acquaintances, the two men traveled together on non-intersecting paths toward World War I. The story about Franz Joseph is based entirely on historical records. Samuel Mozolak's story is based on family documents, histories of Slovaks in Hungary, reports of Slovaks emigrating to the United States, immigrants' personal accounts, and novels of the era. His story threads together the description of Slovaks' lives as subjects in Hungary and as immigrants in America. Chapter 1 begins the emperor's story, which continues over the odd-numbered chapters. Chapter 2 and subsequent even-numbered 1 Revision of a paper prepared for delivery at the 28th World Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU),Vysoka skola zdravotnictva a socialnej prace, sv. Alzbety, Bratislava, Slovakia, September 1-4, 2016 ,_M. Mark Stolarik improved this paper with several useful suggestions . 2 Forthcoming in 2017 by McFarland Books, Box 611 , Jefferson, NC 28640, http: //www.mcfarlandbooks.com �8 SLOVAKIA-2017 chapters tell about the Slovak peasant who crossed the ocean at twenty years of age to work in New York City and who returned to Slovakia in time to serve the emperor. Those chapters also tell why hundreds of thousands of Slovaks fled the empire, how they traveled to the United States, and where they settled. In writing my manuscript, I learned far more about Ann's Slovak heritage than I did about my own Czech family background. My mother and father were first-generation bilingual Bohemians who impressed on me-who foolishly resisted learning Czech- that I was Bohemian too. I attended many events in Chicago's numerous Sokol halls, but I do not recall my parents ever saying that they had Slovak friends or even talking about Slovaks. When I met Ann Mozo lak in graduate school at Indiana University, she was the first genuine Slovak-American that I ever recall meeting. So imagine my surprise when I learned that the 1990 Census found 1.9 million United States residents professing Slovak ancestry compared with about 1.3 claiming Czech roots, whi le approximately 315,000 considering themselves "Czechoslovaks." How could that be? Did more Slovaks than Czechs really immigrate to the United States? What's the evidence? When did the immigration waves occur? Where did the Czechs and Slovaks settle in America? How could it be that I do not remember m~eting any Slovaks in Chicago? These are questions that I grappled with while writing The Emperor and the Peasant, and ones addressed more comprehensively in this paper. Anyone researching Czech and Slovak emigration from Austria-Hungary to the United States during the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20 th century encounters several facts: 1. Statistics on emigration from Austria-Hungary and immigra3 tion to the United States are seriously incomplete. Emigration statistics from Austria-Hungary had to be compiled from fragmentary government data on exit permits and from 4 more complete data on ships sailing from European ports. Immigration data in the United States came almost completely from 3 See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volume I: Statistics (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), 55. 4 Wilcox, 89-90. �SLOVAKIA-2017 9 5 passenger lists of ship companies. 2. Over the years, the United States defined "immigrant" diff erently . From 1820 to 1867, data were reported for alien passengers ; from 1868 to 1900 for alien immigrants-those who intended to reside in the U.S. (including only third class passengers, not first or second class, until 1903); after 1906 for immigrant aliens admitted, excluding "all aliens admitted who avowed an intention not to settle in the United States, and all returning to resume domiciles formerly acquired in this country. 11 6 3. The U.S. Census Bureau did not separately classify residents fro m Austria-Hungary as Czechs or Slovaks until 1910, when it began asking p eople of ''foreign stock" about their "mother tongue." That year, Slovak leaders persuaded President Taft and Congress to add "mother tongue" to the 1910 Census a month before 7 it took the field on April 15. The Bureau hastily trained censustakers in asking people of foreign stock for their mother tongue-"that is, the language of customary speech in the home prior to immigration." "Foreign stock" included "the foreign-born white, the native white of foreign parentage (both parents foreign born), and the native white of mixed parentage (one parent native and the other foreign born).118 4. In 1924, the U. S. Congress imposed quotas on immigrants fro m central and southern Europe, which drastically reduced the number from the former Austria-Hungary. Whereas from 1904 to 1911 , Austria-Hungary accounted for 28 percent of millions of immigrants who poured into the United Sta9 tes, Congress set the 1925 immigration quota at only 785 for Austria 5 Wilcox, 374. Ibid. 7 Konstant in Cul en, Dejiny Slowikov v Amerike (Bratislava: Slovak League Publishing House, 1942) was translated by Daniel C. Necas and published as History of Slovaks in America (St. Paul : Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), 329-33. 8 Fifteenth Census of the United States - 1930 - Population, Vo lume JI: General Report, Statistics by Subject (Washington: U.S . Bureau of the Census, 1933), Chapter 6, p. 263 . 9 Willcox, Walter F. (ed.), International Migrations, Vo lum e JI: Interpretations (Washington: Nati onal Bureau of Economic Research, I 93 1), 400. 6 �10 SLOVAKIA-2017 10 and 473 for Hungary. 5. In 1930, the U.S. Census Bureau switched from asking residents of ''foreign stock" about their mother tongue to asking it only of residents who were ''foreign born." The 1930 Census reported 38,727,693 of foreign stock but only 13 ,366,407 foreign born-about one-third as many. These facts complicated estimating the numbers of Czech and Slovak immigrants to the United States. Historical Trend oflmmigration from Austria-Hungary, 1869-1924 What do we know generally about immigration from AustriaHungary? Imre Ferenczi in 1925 supervised an international effort in Europe at collecting migration data that was published in 1929 in the 11 United States under the general editorship of Walter F. Willcox. Thanks to that source, we have detailed estimates for Austro-Hungarian immigration to the United States by year from 1869 to 1924and often by country within the empire. These data are presented in Figure 1, which reports the place of origin for years when available. Certain years are marked by pronounced surges in immigration. The researchers contended that these surges coincided more with views of good economic ref otts in America than with poor conditions in Austria-Hungary. 1 Felix Klez! wrote, "There was a striking parallelism between Austrian emigration and the economic conditions in the United States," while Gustav Thirring said, "In Hungary, American business conditions also were of decisive influence." The data extend beyond the end of the empire to 1924, after which U.S. national quotas throttled the flow of immigrants. According to the data in Figure 1, immigration from Austria and Bohemia long preceded any substantial immigration from Hungary. 10 Ibid. , 410 and 433 . See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics and International Migrations (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929). 12 Felix Klez!, "Austria," in Willcox, Volum e !I, p. 403 ; and Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e 11, p. 411 . 11 �11 SLOVAKIA-2017 Figure 1: Austro-Hungarian Immigration by Place of Origin, 1869-1924 350,000 300,000 Czechoslovakia 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 1874 1879 1884 1889 1894 1899 1904 1909 1914 191 9 1924 SOURCE: Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics (Washington : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), Tables II and III, pp. 384-393. Anecdotal evidence tells of Czechs immigrating earlier. Czech historian Stephanie Saxon-Ford said, "Bohemian intellectuals who had participated in the nationalist revival of the 1840s and 1850s . .. left their homeland by the score to escape the repression of Hapsburg �12 SLOVAKIA-2017 13 rule." By 1850 about 500 members of the Czech intelligentsiadoctors, professors, composers, and journalists-immigrated to the United States, and Czechs formed the Cesko-Slovanska Podporujici Spolecnost, or C.S.P.S., (the Czech-Slavic Protective Society) in St. 14 Louis in 1854. Furthermore, in volume II of International Migration, Felix Klez! referred to substantial immigration of Bohemians to California sparked by news of the 1849 gold strike. He wrote, "The movement was confined almost entirely to Bohemia. Of the 58,000 emigrants who registered in the years 1850-68, not less than 15 44,000, or 76 per cent, were from Bohemia. The evidence is less clear about emigration from Hungary after its 1848-49 revolution. Gustav Thirring said that any Hungarian arrivals in the United States before 1861 were "not treated in American statistics as immigration," saying "the first two immigrants from 16 Hungary being reported in 1861." Although Gregory Ference noted that a Slovak named Andrej Jelik arrived in the mid-1 s1h century and that Slovaks immigrated more frequently by the 1850s, "these immigrants usually were isolated cases ... . The beginnings of the mass 17 migration started around 1880." John Kosa agreed that Hungarian emigration was small prior to 1880, but then: "In the period from 1886 to 1890 an average of 22,000 persons left the country annually 18 for overseas, and the trend was increasing." Kosa continued: The total number of emigrants who left Hungary in the period from 1850 to 1920 is variously estimated as being between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000; the overseas emigration alone can be put between 2,200,000 13 Stephanie Saxon-Ford, The Czech Americans (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989), p. 47. 14 Gregory C. Ference, Sixteen months of indecision: Slovak American Viewpoints toward Compatriots and the Homeland from I 9 I 4 to I 915 as Viewed by the Slovak Language Press in Pennsylvania. (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, 1995), 36. 15 Felix Klez! , "Austria," in Willcox, Volume 11, 399. 16 Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e II, 411. 17 Gregory C. Ference, "Slovak Immigration to the United States in Light of American, Czech, and Slovak History," Nebraska. History, 74 (Fall/Winter 1993): 13035 at p. 131. 18 John Kosa, "A Century of Hungarian Emigration, I 850-1950," The American Slavic and East European Review, 16 (December, I 957) : 501-514 at 504. �13 SLOVAKIA-2017 and 2,600,000 persons. For several reasons it seems to be almost impossible to reach an exact figure or to tie in the Hungarian data with the statistical figures supplied by the different countries of immigration. Thirring found that 98.5 percent of the overseas Hungarian emigrants went to the United States. 19 He estimated total Hungarian emigration from 1898 to 1913 at 1,391,000, of which 31 percent (432,000) were Slovaks. Thirring also stated, "[E]migration from Hungary was almost entirely Slovak during the early years, 1120 and from 1905 to 1913, Slovaks still had the highest emigration rate of all Hungarians- 98 .2 per 1,000. That was more than three times the Magyar rate and amounted to almost 10 percent of the Slovak popu. m . Hungary. 21 1atlon U.S. Census Data on Czechs and Slovaks in America What do U.S. Census data tell about Czech and Slovak presence in America? The evidence above in Figure 1 implies three conclusions: (1) Substantial Czech immigration from Austria-Hungary began in the 1850s; (2) Substantial Slovak immigration from AustriaHungary began later, in the 1880s; therefore (3) many thousands of Czech immigrants settled in the United States at least a full generation before comparable numbers of Slovaks. Moreover, those Czechs immigrants gave birth to many more thousands of Czech-Americans. It is not surprising that the 1910 Census reported far more residents of Czech "foreign stock" than Slovak. Those data are reported in Figure 2. Figure 2: 1910 U.S. Census of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks 1910 ~ - ~ 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 531 ,193 I I I 600,000 700,000 However, the very next census of foreign stock in 1920 revealed 19 Thirring, 419. Thirring, 424. 21 Thirring, 426. 20 �14 SLOVAKIA-2017 the surprising-even astounding- fact that the number of Slovaks in America was virtually tied with the number of Czechs! In just ten short years between the two Census counts, the number of Slovak residents in the United States jumped more than 338,000- an increase greater than all Slovaks counted in the 1910 Census. Moreover, this enormous increase occurred despite the nearly complete shutdown of immigration during the four-and-a-half years of World War I, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3: 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks What accounted for the huge increase in Slovaks between the 1910 and 1920 Censuses? Recall that Slovak leaders succeeded in adding the "mother tongue" question to the 1910 Census just one month before the count began. A U.S. Census website states: "Because the questionnaires had already been printed, enumerators were instructed to add this information to column 12 (birthplace) of the 22 form." The census-takers- many of whom were unfamiliar with Slavic groups in central Europe- had trouble recording responses to the question. That was admitted in the explanatory text of the I 920 Census, which stated that "contrary to the instructions given the enumerators" some persons who said they were 'Slavs,' 'Slavic,' 'Slavish," or 'Slavonian,' ... should doubtless have been reported as Slovak or Slovenian." 23 Apparently, the census-takers had less trouble accurately recording responses from Czechs or Bohemians, who had started settling in the United States sixty years earlier, had quickly affected American life, and were widely recognized. The Czech-Slavic Protective Society was founded in 1854; Budweiser Beer was imported in 1871 (Bohemian Crystal even earlier); and Antonin Dvorak wrote his New 22 U. S. Census, "History," at https: //www.census.gov/history/www/through the decades/overview/ 19 I O.htm I. 23 U.S. Census Bureau, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Volum e II: General Report and Analytical Tables (Washington, DC : 1921), Chapter 12, p. 968. �15 SLOVAKIA-2017 World Symphony in 1893 . The Slovak newcomers were not known to Americarls for their beer, their crystal, or their symphonies. Slovaks were not generally familiar to Europeans either. In 1916, according to MacMillan, Britain's Prime Minister Lloyd George (not known to be up on his geography) asked, "Who are the Slovaks? I can't seem 24 to place them. " So the leap in Slovak speakers in 1920 appears to have come from better field procedures returning a more accurate count. Additional evidence that the 1910 Census erred in counting Slovaks comes from the 1930 Census, which switched to ask the "mother tongue" question of those only who were "foreign born." Retaining the original data from the two earlier Censuses, the Bureau of the Census in 1930 recalculated its 1910 and 1920 data to report as well on "foreign born." Later Censuses to 1970 continued asking those foreign born for their mother tongue. The full set of relevant data are portrayed in Figure 4. Figure 4: Slovak and Czech as "Mother Tongue" in Censuses, 1910-1970 700 ,000 Mother Tongues of Foreign Stock 619,866 600,000 S lovak S tock 500,000 Czech S tock S lovak Born 400 ,000 - Czech Born 274,948 300 ,000 200 ,000 166,474 100 ,000 Mother Tongue• of Foreign Born 70,564 O + - - - - ~ - - ~ - - - ~ - - - , - - - - - - - , - - - - - r -- - - - , 1910 1920 1930 1 940 1950 1960 1970 U.S . Census Bureau, "Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970," (March 9, 1999), at https://www.census.go~opulation/www/documentation/twps0029/tab06.html. Figure 4 shows a much smaller difference between foreign born 24 Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2002), 42 . �16 SLOVAKIA-2017 Czech or Slovak speakers and those of foreign stock. Czech immigration, which occurred earlier, certainly accounted for the preponderance of Czech foreign stock. Given the flawed nature of the 1910 count of Slovak speakers, one wonders whether the Bureau of the Census in 1930 corrected the counts of Slovak speakers when recalculating the 1910 data. In any event, Figure 4 clearly shows that in every Census from I 920 through 1970 there were more Slovak than Czech speakers among the foreign born. Because the 1920s immigration quotas virtually ended mass immigration of both Czechs and Slovaks, the downward slope of the mother tongue lines for both languages reflects the mortality rates of the foreign born. Other Data on Czech and Slovak Immigration to America As noted, the U.S. Census has severe shortcomings concerning Czech and Slovak ethnicity prior to World War I. Fortunately, there were other sources of information on immigration to the United States prior to the 1930s, and these were consulted in preparing the two-volumes of International Migrations. Imre Ferenczi, chief of the Migration Section of the International Labour Office in Geneva, wrote, The statistics for the United States have been compiled in European libraries supplemented by all the important American publications, including Bromwell, Young, the Monthly Summary of Comm erce and Finance for the United States and the Annual Reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration. With the assistance of the numerous documents which have been collected, the present series of American migration statistics is probably more nearly complete than any heretofore published in the United States . 25 Thanks to these additional sources, Volume I of International Migrations printed a twelve-page table on the "Distribution of Immi26 grant Aliens Admitted, by Sex and Race or People, 1899-1924." This remarkable table counted immigrants in forty different categories, including separate lines for "Bohemian and Moravian" and 25 Imre Ferenczi , "International Migration Statistics" in Willcox, International Mi- f[ ations, Volume I, 59. 6 - International Migrations, Volume !: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. �SLOVAKIA-2017 17 "Slovak." These data, rarely reported in accounts of Czech and Slovak immigration, were extracted for presentation in Figure 5. Figure 5: Czech and Slovak Immigrants to the U.S., 1899-1924 60 ,000 Slovak lmmlgranta: 524,348 total 52,368 50,000 40 ,000 36,934 38,221 32,41 6 Source: International Migrations, Vo lume I: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. Summing the annual data in Figure 5 over 26 years results in 524,348 Slovak versus 150,294 Czech immigrants arriving from 1899 through 1924. These annual counts are reassuringly consistent with Figure 1's data on annual immigration from Austria-Hungary, as Figure S's spikes in immigration for 1905-07, 1910, and 1913-14 match the spikes in Figure 1. While Czech immigrants to the United States certainly outnumbered Slovak immigrants throughout most of the 19 th century, the annual immigration data in Figure 5 establish that over three times as many Slovaks as Czechs immigrated to the U.S. in the first quarter of the 20 th . However, the data in Figure 5 are not comparable to U.S. Census data in Figure 4, even for the same years, 1910 and 1920. Figure 5 counted only annual immigrant arrivals. Both Censuses counted all residents of foreign stock and of foreign birth, classifying them as Czech or Slovak according to their mother tongues. By simple logic, �18 SLOVAKIA-2017 the number of Czech/Slovak of foreign stock counted in any Census year should exceed the number of Czech/Slovak who were foreign born. So too, the number of foreign born in 1910 should exceed the sum total of immigrants for the available years 1899 to 1910, and the number of foreign born in 1920 should exceed the total of immigrants from 1899 to 1920. Figure 6, which reprises the relevant foreign stock and foreign born data along with summed immigration data for 1899 to 1910 and for 1899 to 1920, shows those relationships hold for the Czech data, but not for the Slovak data. Figure 6: Comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 18991924 Immigration Data 700,000 619,866 600,000 Czech stock 531, 193 500,000 Slovak Immigrants 1899-1920 400,000 1899-1910 300,000 Slovak stock C,ech bom 281 70 274,948 22 ,', 73 , r -34,564 200,000 Slovak born 166,474 100,000 Czech Immigrants 1899-1910 .-123,836 91 , 164 _______...-.---- Czech Immigrants 1899-1920 0---+-----------------~ 1910 1920 When comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 1899-1924 immigration data, one should understand two facts and their implycations: �SLOVAKIA-2017 19 I . The data come from very different sources collected by very different methods. Do not expect exact matches; look instead for consistencies and impossibilities. 2. Caveat: summing annual immigrants overstates their counts in the Censuses. After arriving, many immigrants returned home. Concerning fact #1: All data for Czech foreign stock, foreign born, and immigrants are indeed logically consistent for 1910 and 1920. In both years, there were more residents of Czech foreign stock than those foreign born and those who immigrated since 1899. The Slovak figures for foreign stock and foreign born are also logically consistent. However, the data for Slovak foreign born are inconsistent with the number who immigrated in years preceding both Censuses. It is not possible for 358,056 Slovaks to arrive between 1899 and 1910 and yet have only 166,474 foreign born Slovaks in the 1910 Census. It is not possible for 460,530 Slovaks to immigrate between 1899 and 1920 and yet have only 274,948 Slovaks of foreign birth in 1920. Concerning fact #2: That immigrants often returned home requires some adjustment to the data summed from 1899 to 1910 and from 1899 to 1920. One source for 1908 to 1913 estimated that, respectively, 40 percent and 38 percent of Austrian and Hungarian 27 immigrants to the United States returned home. Other sources give 28 much lower repatriation percentages, almost half. Let us assume the highest figure, that 40 percent of the Slovak immigrants who came in the 12 years prior to 1910, returned home. That would still leave almost 215,000 immigrants, far more than the 166,000 Slovaks the 1910 Census counted as foreign born. Of course, many thousands who came before 1899 were also foreign born and still alive. Applying the same repatriation assumption to Slovak immigrants from 1899 to 1920 lowers the number to around 276,000-which is 27 Willcox, Volume I, 90 and 92. Culen estimated that about 25 percent of all Slovaks who left eventually returned (p. 42); Seton-Watson reported that Slovaks who returned in 1905 were 10 percent of those who left, and that returnees were 20 percent of emigrants in 1906, in R. W. Seton-Watson, Racial Problems in Hungary (New York: Howard Fertig, 1972 edition, original ly published 1908) Appendix XIII, 470. 28 �20 SLOVAKIA-2017 close to the 1920 Census count of about 275,000 born abroad. Although the 1899-1920 count still does not include those who immigrated earlier, the much closer fit to the I 920 Census count supports the contention that the 1910 Census woefully undercounted Slovaks. More Slovaks than Czechs in America, Then and Now? To recap, the 1920 Census of foreign stock counted almost identical numbers of Czechs and Slovaks in the United States: 622,796 and 619,866 respectively. Without doubt, the Bureau of the Census had improved its counting of Slovaks substantially since the 1910 Census, but annual counts of Czech and Slovak immigration from 1899 to 1920 suggest that even the 1920 Census underestimated the number of Slovaks, given that large scale Slovak immigration oc29 curred two decades earlier. " By the 1930 Census, which asked mother tongue only for the foreign born, there were more Slovak than Czech speakers, 240,196 to 201,138. As census-takers recorded more familiar with Slovaks as an ethnic group, perhaps they found more Slovaks to count. In any event, it is reasonable to assume that by 1930 there were actually more United States residents of Slovak than Czech ancestry. Despite the fact that Slovak speakers equaled or exceeded Czech speakers by 1920, Slovaks remained largely invisible to the American public. In Francis Clark's 1913 book, Old Homes of New Americans, he reported on a conversation with "an intelligent American lady, who had traveled widely and was not unacquainted with the history and nationality of Austria-Hungary." He asked her to guess how many Slovaks were in the United States; she guessed twenty thousand. He wrote, "She was only five hundred and eighty thousand out of the way, but I have no doubt her guess was quite as near the truth as would be that of most of her countrywomen, or countrymen 30 either, for that matter. " Although the U.S. Census Bureau apparently stopped asking for the mother tongue of foreign born in 1970, the 1980 and 1990 Cen- 29 Ference, p. 131. ° Francis E. C lark, Old Homes of New Americans: The Country and the People of 3 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Their Contribution to the New World (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 212-13 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 21 31 suses did attempt to measure ancestry. In 1990, the census-taker filled in a box for Question 13: "What is this person's ancestry or 32 ethnic origin?" Appendix B explained: The question was based on self-identification; the data on ancestry represent self-classification by people according to the ancestry group(s) with which they most closely identify. Ancestry refers to a person's ethnic origin or descent, "roots," or heritage or the place of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States .. .. The ancestry question allowed respondents to report one or more ancestry groups. While a large number of respondents listed a single ancestry, the majority of answers included more than one ethnic entry. Generally, only the first two responses reported were coded in 1990. Based on both responses to the ancestry question, the 1990 Cen33 sus produced these estimates: Slovak 1,882,897 Czech 1,296,411 Czechoslovakian 315,285 Of course, feelings of ancestry fade across generations as marriages occur across ethnic groups. Given that Czechs immigrated a generation earlier than Slovaks, their self-identification in 1990 as Czech-American or Bohemian-American should have faded somewhat more than Slovak-American. The exact numbers for ancestry in 1990 are less significant than their relative magnitudes. These data, even with their imperfections, support the case that Slovak immigrants outnumbered Czechs in the first quarter of the 20 th century, 31 Bureau of the Census, Census '90.- The Foreign-Born Population in the United States (Washington, DC: I 990 CP-3- I), 8-4. 32 Ibid. , E- 14. 33 Based on only people's first response for ancestry, the counts were lower: 1,2 10,652 Slovaks, 772,087 Czechs, and 240,489 Czechoslovakians. Only 3,781 people cited Moravian ancestry. See Bureau of the Census, Census '90: Ancestry of the Population in the United States (Washington, DC: 1990 CP-3-2), Table I: "General Characteristics of Selected Ancestry Groups by Nativity, Citizenship, and Year of Entry." �22 SLOVAKIA-2017 even including Moravians. That seems to be true as well today. In 2013, the Department of Homeland Security reported the persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status by region and country of birth from fiscal years 2004 to 2013. The trend continued: 7,165 people from Slovakia soufht resident status in the U.S. versus 3,783 from the Czech Republic.3 Where Did Czechs and Slovak Settle in the United States? We do not inquire why immigrants chose where they settled in the United States. We look only at where they settled in the first decades of the 20 th century. To determine that, we rely on the 1920 Census, which asked for mother tongue of foreign white stockaccepting its likely undercount of Slovaks. Recall that the 1920 Census counted 622,796 Czechs and 619,866 Slovaks for a combined total of 1,242,662. Given that the amounts are essentially the same, readers can compare the counts directly, without converting them to percentages. Figure 7 displays where they chose to settle in nine Census regions of the United States, ranked by total number of Czechs and Slovaks. Figure 7: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers in Census Regions, 1920• Total Czech• & Slovaka In each region Middle Atlantic 1 ~ 7 3,574 East North Central 425,623 These three regions had 1 , 140,043 of all Czechs & Slovaks (87% ) 180,483 West North Central 13,006 Texas a lone had 84% of all Czechs & Slovaks in this region West South Central 8,306 New England Only 8% of Czechs & Slovaks settled in the rest of the country; except for Texas , very few settled in southern states, 13 ,6 11 South Atlantic 14,996 Pacific Czechs= 622,786 • Slovaks'"' 619,866 Total Czechs & Slovaks = 1 ,242 ,662 934 East South Central 1 ,252 0 34 • 2,186 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 Department of Homeland Security," Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Lawful Permanent Residents," https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2013-lawful-permanent-residents. �SLOVAKIA-2017 23 Fourteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report and Analytical Tables, Table 7. The comments to the right of Figure 7 draw attention to three major conclusions: (1) almost 90% of all Czechs and Slovaks lived in relatively few states running westward from the Atlantic seaboard into the North Central region; (2) nearly all those in the West South Central region lived in Texas; and (3) relatively few Czechs and Slovaks ventured north to New England, west toward the Mountain and Pacific regions, or south-except for Texas, entering at Galveston. (One source estimated that some 200,000 immigrants entered there 5 between 1865 and 1924.)3 One last comment on Texas: according to the 1920 Census, Czechs outnumbered Slovaks 49,929 to 83 3 ! Figure 8 provides information on the states within three regions in which they settled. Figure 8: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers by States within Regions (See next page) Figure 8 lists all fifteen states in 1920 having the most Czechs and Slovaks within the three regions . Only four of the fifteenPennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana-had more Slovaks than Czechs. Pennsylvania stands out as the most extraordinary: Slovaks outnumbered Czechs 296,219 to 19,839, and Pennsylvania-by itself- had 48 percent of all Slovaks counted in the 1920 Census! Pennsylvania drew so many Slovaks that some explanation is needed. In his History of Slovaks in America, Culen wrote: Most of the early Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial and mining areas of Pennsylvania. Here, two main centers developed. One was in the hard coal (anthracite) mining region (or in the Slovak slang "v tvardouholtnej okolici"- '"the hard coal circle"), the other in the soft coal mining region . The first settlements formed around the mines. Later, they formed around large industrial complexes, particularly around iron and steel mills. 36 35 See htt ://wv1w.chron.com/li fe/artic le/Waves-of-mi rants-made-Galveston-intoT~2(i!§_-L73)_~}?Jl'1p_. 36 Konstantin Culen, History of Slovaks in America [Translated from the 1942 Slovak edition by Daniel C. Necas] (St. Paul , MN: Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), p. 67. �24 SLOVAKIA-2017 M. Mark Stolarik's more recent research found that Slovaks 316,058 Pennsylvania New York MIDDLE An.ANTIC New Jersey 184,021 Illinois 138,188 Ohio EAST NORTH CENTRAL 58,217 Wisconsin Michigan Indiana Nebraska 41 ,872 Minnesota 34,739 Iowa WEST NORTH CENTRAL 16,277 Missouri 13 ,263 Kansas 11 ,203 South Dakota ■ Czechs ■ Slovaks North Dakota 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 accounted for 13.1 percent of all steel workers in America and 12.8 37 percent of bituminous coal miners. New Jersey also had a preponderance of Slovaks over Czechs, as did Ohio, but neither rivaled Pennsylvania. Indiana also had more Slovaks than Czechs, but few of each. 37 Marian Mark Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918 (New York: AMS Press, 1989), pp. 111-112, �SLOVAKIA-2017 25 The other eleven states had Czech majorities- often overwhelming majorities. Nebraska was home to 54,024 Czechs but only 281 Slovaks! That ratio even exceeded Texas' Czech majority. My home state of Illinois had-after Pennsylvania-the second largest number of Czech and Slovak immigrants. Where in Illinois did those Czechs and Slovaks live? Did they live in urban or rural areas? The 1920 Census did not classify the foreign stock by urban rural residence, but the 1930 Census did report urban-rural location for the foreign born, which means the more recent immigrants. At that time, "urban" meant incorporated areas of 2,500 or more inhabitants-places that we would not call urban today. Nevertheless, only 56 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas in 1930. 38 Although they had emigrated from rural lands, both Czechs (66 percent) and Slovaks (72 percent) gravitated to urban areas. 39 Only in certain states did Czechs and Slovaks congregate in large cities. The United States had only 73 cities with 100,000 or more population in 1920. Ten were in the three states with the largest number of Czechs and Slovaks combined-Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio. Because most mines and mills were located outside of Pennsylvania's large cities- Philadelphia, Scranton, and Pittsburgh. -merely 8 percent of its Czechs and Slovaks lived in its big cities. Ohio, with six cities over 100,000, presented a different case. Only Cleveland- a major steel and manufacturing center-attracted Czechs and Slovaks in droves, accounting for 52 percent of them, more Czechs than Slovaks. My home state of Illinois had only one city over 100,000 population-Chicago-and 72 percent of all Czechs and Slovaks in Illinois in 1920 lived in Chicago. The breakdown was 106,428 Czechs and 25 ,720 Slovaks. Given that Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by nearly 4 to 1 in Chicago, perhaps that explains why I never met any. Conclusion: Slovaks as the Silent Majority Certainly the preponderance of Czechs in Chicago partly explains why I was unaware of them. Probably more important was 38 Fifteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report, Statistics b{ Subject, Chapter 1, Table 1. 3 Ibid. , Chapter 7, Table I. �26 SLOVAKIA-2017 that Slovaks were more silent than Czechs, so got little press compared to Czechs who- like the Irish in Boston and Italians in New York- soon became a force in city politics. Anton Cermak (originally Cermak) became a Chicago alderman, then president of the county board (1922), head of the county Democratic Party (1928), and mayor of the city (1931 ). His prominence allowed him to stand next to president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, where Cermak was killed by a bullet presumably aimed at the president. Slovaks also made less news than Czechs nationwide. Figure 9 shows how often articles in the Tim es, the leading newspaper in the nation's biggest city, mentioned either "Czechs" or "Slovaks.1140 From 1901 to 1910, the New York Times paid little attention to either group . Of only 88 articles during that decade that mentioned either, 75 percent were about Czechs. In the next decade, encompassing World War I and the creation of Czechoslovakia, the number of stories in the Times increased tenfold to 890, and the percentage mentioning Czechs increased to 81. By 1920, when Slovak equaled Czech as a mother tongue in census statistics, the Czech advantage in 689 Tim es' stories climbed to 84 percent. The Czech penumbra extended far over the Slovaks especially in the metropolitan media. Figure 9: "Czechs" and "Slovaks" in the News, 1900-1930 300 Number of articles in New York Tiines 250 Number mentioning Czechs 200 150 100 50 1905 40 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 "CHRONICLE. Visualizing language usage in New York Times news coverage throughout its history," at http ://chronicle.nvtlabs.com/. �SLOVAKIA-2017 27 Cermak's visible political career in Chicago, Tomas Masaryk's tireless campaigning across the country for the existence of Czechoslovakia as an independent nation, the nation's creation after World War I, and Edvard Benes' presidency, all, no doubt contributed to the many articles mentioning Czechs in the New York Times during this period. Slovaks lacked comparable political celebrities or events to gamer publicity. Finally, the fact that almost one-half of all Slovak immigrants to the United States settled in one state, Pennsylvania and outside its large cities no doubt contributed to Slovaks' neglect by the national press and to their invisibility to people living in other states. Despite the fact that Slovaks were often unrecognized and undercounted by census-takers, the 1990 Census confirmed that more Americans claimed Slovak than Czech ancestry. Even today, that fact surprises many people. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-2017 7 MORE SLOVAKS IN THE U.S. THAN CZECHS? WHO SAYS? WHEN AND WHERE? 1 Kenneth Janda Born in Chicago, Illinois, I am a third-generation Czech-American married to a second-generation Slovak-American, born Anna Mozolak in New York City. Ann's grandfather, Samuel Mozolak, is the peasant in my forthcoming book, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire. 2 The emperor is, of course, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. The peasant, Samuel Mozolak, lived in Krajne, a Slovak village in Hungary, the eastern half of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Although they never met, Franz Joseph's life profoundly affected Samuel's. It is inconceivable that the peasant ever did anything to harm the emperor, but the emperor, did much to harm him. By declaring war against Serbia, Franz Joseph personally made the decision that led to Samuel's death. So began World War I, innocently known then as the Great War-the war to end all wars. Franz Joseph resided in his Austrian palaces and visited Hungary as little as possible. Living in different places and with no common acquaintances, the two men traveled together on non-intersecting paths toward World War I. The story about Franz Joseph is based entirely on historical records. Samuel Mozolak's story is based on family documents, histories of Slovaks in Hungary, reports of Slovaks emigrating to the United States, immigrants' personal accounts, and novels of the era. His story threads together the description of Slovaks' lives as subjects in Hungary and as immigrants in America. Chapter 1 begins the emperor's story, which continues over the odd-numbered chapters. Chapter 2 and subsequent even-numbered 1 Revision of a paper prepared for delivery at the 28th World Congress of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts & Sciences (SVU),Vysoka skola zdravotnictva a socialnej prace, sv. Alzbety, Bratislava, Slovakia, September 1-4, 2016 ,_M. Mark Stolarik improved this paper with several useful suggestions . 2 Forthcoming in 2017 by McFarland Books, Box 611 , Jefferson, NC 28640, http: //www.mcfarlandbooks.com 8 SLOVAKIA-2017 chapters tell about the Slovak peasant who crossed the ocean at twenty years of age to work in New York City and who returned to Slovakia in time to serve the emperor. Those chapters also tell why hundreds of thousands of Slovaks fled the empire, how they traveled to the United States, and where they settled. In writing my manuscript, I learned far more about Ann's Slovak heritage than I did about my own Czech family background. My mother and father were first-generation bilingual Bohemians who impressed on me-who foolishly resisted learning Czech- that I was Bohemian too. I attended many events in Chicago's numerous Sokol halls, but I do not recall my parents ever saying that they had Slovak friends or even talking about Slovaks. When I met Ann Mozo lak in graduate school at Indiana University, she was the first genuine Slovak-American that I ever recall meeting. So imagine my surprise when I learned that the 1990 Census found 1.9 million United States residents professing Slovak ancestry compared with about 1.3 claiming Czech roots, whi le approximately 315,000 considering themselves "Czechoslovaks." How could that be? Did more Slovaks than Czechs really immigrate to the United States? What's the evidence? When did the immigration waves occur? Where did the Czechs and Slovaks settle in America? How could it be that I do not remember m~eting any Slovaks in Chicago? These are questions that I grappled with while writing The Emperor and the Peasant, and ones addressed more comprehensively in this paper. Anyone researching Czech and Slovak emigration from Austria-Hungary to the United States during the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20 th century encounters several facts: 1. Statistics on emigration from Austria-Hungary and immigra3 tion to the United States are seriously incomplete. Emigration statistics from Austria-Hungary had to be compiled from fragmentary government data on exit permits and from 4 more complete data on ships sailing from European ports. Immigration data in the United States came almost completely from 3 See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volume I: Statistics (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), 55. 4 Wilcox, 89-90. SLOVAKIA-2017 9 5 passenger lists of ship companies. 2. Over the years, the United States defined "immigrant" diff erently . From 1820 to 1867, data were reported for alien passengers ; from 1868 to 1900 for alien immigrants-those who intended to reside in the U.S. (including only third class passengers, not first or second class, until 1903); after 1906 for immigrant aliens admitted, excluding "all aliens admitted who avowed an intention not to settle in the United States, and all returning to resume domiciles formerly acquired in this country. 11 6 3. The U.S. Census Bureau did not separately classify residents fro m Austria-Hungary as Czechs or Slovaks until 1910, when it began asking p eople of ''foreign stock" about their "mother tongue." That year, Slovak leaders persuaded President Taft and Congress to add "mother tongue" to the 1910 Census a month before 7 it took the field on April 15. The Bureau hastily trained censustakers in asking people of foreign stock for their mother tongue-"that is, the language of customary speech in the home prior to immigration." "Foreign stock" included "the foreign-born white, the native white of foreign parentage (both parents foreign born), and the native white of mixed parentage (one parent native and the other foreign born).118 4. In 1924, the U. S. Congress imposed quotas on immigrants fro m central and southern Europe, which drastically reduced the number from the former Austria-Hungary. Whereas from 1904 to 1911 , Austria-Hungary accounted for 28 percent of millions of immigrants who poured into the United Sta9 tes, Congress set the 1925 immigration quota at only 785 for Austria 5 Wilcox, 374. Ibid. 7 Konstant in Cul en, Dejiny Slowikov v Amerike (Bratislava: Slovak League Publishing House, 1942) was translated by Daniel C. Necas and published as History of Slovaks in America (St. Paul : Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), 329-33. 8 Fifteenth Census of the United States - 1930 - Population, Vo lume JI: General Report, Statistics by Subject (Washington: U.S . Bureau of the Census, 1933), Chapter 6, p. 263 . 9 Willcox, Walter F. (ed.), International Migrations, Vo lum e JI: Interpretations (Washington: Nati onal Bureau of Economic Research, I 93 1), 400. 6 10 SLOVAKIA-2017 10 and 473 for Hungary. 5. In 1930, the U.S. Census Bureau switched from asking residents of ''foreign stock" about their mother tongue to asking it only of residents who were ''foreign born." The 1930 Census reported 38,727,693 of foreign stock but only 13 ,366,407 foreign born-about one-third as many. These facts complicated estimating the numbers of Czech and Slovak immigrants to the United States. Historical Trend oflmmigration from Austria-Hungary, 1869-1924 What do we know generally about immigration from AustriaHungary? Imre Ferenczi in 1925 supervised an international effort in Europe at collecting migration data that was published in 1929 in the 11 United States under the general editorship of Walter F. Willcox. Thanks to that source, we have detailed estimates for Austro-Hungarian immigration to the United States by year from 1869 to 1924and often by country within the empire. These data are presented in Figure 1, which reports the place of origin for years when available. Certain years are marked by pronounced surges in immigration. The researchers contended that these surges coincided more with views of good economic ref otts in America than with poor conditions in Austria-Hungary. 1 Felix Klez! wrote, "There was a striking parallelism between Austrian emigration and the economic conditions in the United States," while Gustav Thirring said, "In Hungary, American business conditions also were of decisive influence." The data extend beyond the end of the empire to 1924, after which U.S. national quotas throttled the flow of immigrants. According to the data in Figure 1, immigration from Austria and Bohemia long preceded any substantial immigration from Hungary. 10 Ibid. , 410 and 433 . See Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics and International Migrations (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929). 12 Felix Klez!, "Austria," in Willcox, Volum e !I, p. 403 ; and Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e 11, p. 411 . 11 11 SLOVAKIA-2017 Figure 1: Austro-Hungarian Immigration by Place of Origin, 1869-1924 350,000 300,000 Czechoslovakia 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 1874 1879 1884 1889 1894 1899 1904 1909 1914 191 9 1924 SOURCE: Walter F. Willcox, (ed.), International Migrations, Volum e I: Statistics (Washington : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1929), Tables II and III, pp. 384-393. Anecdotal evidence tells of Czechs immigrating earlier. Czech historian Stephanie Saxon-Ford said, "Bohemian intellectuals who had participated in the nationalist revival of the 1840s and 1850s . .. left their homeland by the score to escape the repression of Hapsburg 12 SLOVAKIA-2017 13 rule." By 1850 about 500 members of the Czech intelligentsiadoctors, professors, composers, and journalists-immigrated to the United States, and Czechs formed the Cesko-Slovanska Podporujici Spolecnost, or C.S.P.S., (the Czech-Slavic Protective Society) in St. 14 Louis in 1854. Furthermore, in volume II of International Migration, Felix Klez! referred to substantial immigration of Bohemians to California sparked by news of the 1849 gold strike. He wrote, "The movement was confined almost entirely to Bohemia. Of the 58,000 emigrants who registered in the years 1850-68, not less than 15 44,000, or 76 per cent, were from Bohemia. The evidence is less clear about emigration from Hungary after its 1848-49 revolution. Gustav Thirring said that any Hungarian arrivals in the United States before 1861 were "not treated in American statistics as immigration," saying "the first two immigrants from 16 Hungary being reported in 1861." Although Gregory Ference noted that a Slovak named Andrej Jelik arrived in the mid-1 s1h century and that Slovaks immigrated more frequently by the 1850s, "these immigrants usually were isolated cases ... . The beginnings of the mass 17 migration started around 1880." John Kosa agreed that Hungarian emigration was small prior to 1880, but then: "In the period from 1886 to 1890 an average of 22,000 persons left the country annually 18 for overseas, and the trend was increasing." Kosa continued: The total number of emigrants who left Hungary in the period from 1850 to 1920 is variously estimated as being between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000; the overseas emigration alone can be put between 2,200,000 13 Stephanie Saxon-Ford, The Czech Americans (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989), p. 47. 14 Gregory C. Ference, Sixteen months of indecision: Slovak American Viewpoints toward Compatriots and the Homeland from I 9 I 4 to I 915 as Viewed by the Slovak Language Press in Pennsylvania. (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, 1995), 36. 15 Felix Klez! , "Austria," in Willcox, Volume 11, 399. 16 Gustave Thirring, "Hungarian Migration of Modern Times," in Willcox, Volum e II, 411. 17 Gregory C. Ference, "Slovak Immigration to the United States in Light of American, Czech, and Slovak History," Nebraska. History, 74 (Fall/Winter 1993): 13035 at p. 131. 18 John Kosa, "A Century of Hungarian Emigration, I 850-1950," The American Slavic and East European Review, 16 (December, I 957) : 501-514 at 504. 13 SLOVAKIA-2017 and 2,600,000 persons. For several reasons it seems to be almost impossible to reach an exact figure or to tie in the Hungarian data with the statistical figures supplied by the different countries of immigration. Thirring found that 98.5 percent of the overseas Hungarian emigrants went to the United States. 19 He estimated total Hungarian emigration from 1898 to 1913 at 1,391,000, of which 31 percent (432,000) were Slovaks. Thirring also stated, "[E]migration from Hungary was almost entirely Slovak during the early years, 1120 and from 1905 to 1913, Slovaks still had the highest emigration rate of all Hungarians- 98 .2 per 1,000. That was more than three times the Magyar rate and amounted to almost 10 percent of the Slovak popu. m . Hungary. 21 1atlon U.S. Census Data on Czechs and Slovaks in America What do U.S. Census data tell about Czech and Slovak presence in America? The evidence above in Figure 1 implies three conclusions: (1) Substantial Czech immigration from Austria-Hungary began in the 1850s; (2) Substantial Slovak immigration from AustriaHungary began later, in the 1880s; therefore (3) many thousands of Czech immigrants settled in the United States at least a full generation before comparable numbers of Slovaks. Moreover, those Czechs immigrants gave birth to many more thousands of Czech-Americans. It is not surprising that the 1910 Census reported far more residents of Czech "foreign stock" than Slovak. Those data are reported in Figure 2. Figure 2: 1910 U.S. Census of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks 1910 ~ - ~ 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 531 ,193 I I I 600,000 700,000 However, the very next census of foreign stock in 1920 revealed 19 Thirring, 419. Thirring, 424. 21 Thirring, 426. 20 14 SLOVAKIA-2017 the surprising-even astounding- fact that the number of Slovaks in America was virtually tied with the number of Czechs! In just ten short years between the two Census counts, the number of Slovak residents in the United States jumped more than 338,000- an increase greater than all Slovaks counted in the 1910 Census. Moreover, this enormous increase occurred despite the nearly complete shutdown of immigration during the four-and-a-half years of World War I, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 3: 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses of Foreign Stock: Czechs and Slovaks What accounted for the huge increase in Slovaks between the 1910 and 1920 Censuses? Recall that Slovak leaders succeeded in adding the "mother tongue" question to the 1910 Census just one month before the count began. A U.S. Census website states: "Because the questionnaires had already been printed, enumerators were instructed to add this information to column 12 (birthplace) of the 22 form." The census-takers- many of whom were unfamiliar with Slavic groups in central Europe- had trouble recording responses to the question. That was admitted in the explanatory text of the I 920 Census, which stated that "contrary to the instructions given the enumerators" some persons who said they were 'Slavs,' 'Slavic,' 'Slavish," or 'Slavonian,' ... should doubtless have been reported as Slovak or Slovenian." 23 Apparently, the census-takers had less trouble accurately recording responses from Czechs or Bohemians, who had started settling in the United States sixty years earlier, had quickly affected American life, and were widely recognized. The Czech-Slavic Protective Society was founded in 1854; Budweiser Beer was imported in 1871 (Bohemian Crystal even earlier); and Antonin Dvorak wrote his New 22 U. S. Census, "History," at https: //www.census.gov/history/www/through the decades/overview/ 19 I O.htm I. 23 U.S. Census Bureau, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Volum e II: General Report and Analytical Tables (Washington, DC : 1921), Chapter 12, p. 968. 15 SLOVAKIA-2017 World Symphony in 1893 . The Slovak newcomers were not known to Americarls for their beer, their crystal, or their symphonies. Slovaks were not generally familiar to Europeans either. In 1916, according to MacMillan, Britain's Prime Minister Lloyd George (not known to be up on his geography) asked, "Who are the Slovaks? I can't seem 24 to place them. " So the leap in Slovak speakers in 1920 appears to have come from better field procedures returning a more accurate count. Additional evidence that the 1910 Census erred in counting Slovaks comes from the 1930 Census, which switched to ask the "mother tongue" question of those only who were "foreign born." Retaining the original data from the two earlier Censuses, the Bureau of the Census in 1930 recalculated its 1910 and 1920 data to report as well on "foreign born." Later Censuses to 1970 continued asking those foreign born for their mother tongue. The full set of relevant data are portrayed in Figure 4. Figure 4: Slovak and Czech as "Mother Tongue" in Censuses, 1910-1970 700 ,000 Mother Tongues of Foreign Stock 619,866 600,000 S lovak S tock 500,000 Czech S tock S lovak Born 400 ,000 - Czech Born 274,948 300 ,000 200 ,000 166,474 100 ,000 Mother Tongue• of Foreign Born 70,564 O + - - - - ~ - - ~ - - - ~ - - - , - - - - - - - , - - - - - r -- - - - , 1910 1920 1930 1 940 1950 1960 1970 U.S . Census Bureau, "Mother Tongue of the Foreign-Born Population: 1910 to 1940, 1960, and 1970," (March 9, 1999), at https://www.census.go~opulation/www/documentation/twps0029/tab06.html. Figure 4 shows a much smaller difference between foreign born 24 Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2002), 42 . 16 SLOVAKIA-2017 Czech or Slovak speakers and those of foreign stock. Czech immigration, which occurred earlier, certainly accounted for the preponderance of Czech foreign stock. Given the flawed nature of the 1910 count of Slovak speakers, one wonders whether the Bureau of the Census in 1930 corrected the counts of Slovak speakers when recalculating the 1910 data. In any event, Figure 4 clearly shows that in every Census from I 920 through 1970 there were more Slovak than Czech speakers among the foreign born. Because the 1920s immigration quotas virtually ended mass immigration of both Czechs and Slovaks, the downward slope of the mother tongue lines for both languages reflects the mortality rates of the foreign born. Other Data on Czech and Slovak Immigration to America As noted, the U.S. Census has severe shortcomings concerning Czech and Slovak ethnicity prior to World War I. Fortunately, there were other sources of information on immigration to the United States prior to the 1930s, and these were consulted in preparing the two-volumes of International Migrations. Imre Ferenczi, chief of the Migration Section of the International Labour Office in Geneva, wrote, The statistics for the United States have been compiled in European libraries supplemented by all the important American publications, including Bromwell, Young, the Monthly Summary of Comm erce and Finance for the United States and the Annual Reports of the Commissioner General of Immigration. With the assistance of the numerous documents which have been collected, the present series of American migration statistics is probably more nearly complete than any heretofore published in the United States . 25 Thanks to these additional sources, Volume I of International Migrations printed a twelve-page table on the "Distribution of Immi26 grant Aliens Admitted, by Sex and Race or People, 1899-1924." This remarkable table counted immigrants in forty different categories, including separate lines for "Bohemian and Moravian" and 25 Imre Ferenczi , "International Migration Statistics" in Willcox, International Mi- f[ ations, Volume I, 59. 6 - International Migrations, Volume !: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. SLOVAKIA-2017 17 "Slovak." These data, rarely reported in accounts of Czech and Slovak immigration, were extracted for presentation in Figure 5. Figure 5: Czech and Slovak Immigrants to the U.S., 1899-1924 60 ,000 Slovak lmmlgranta: 524,348 total 52,368 50,000 40 ,000 36,934 38,221 32,41 6 Source: International Migrations, Vo lume I: Statistics, Table X, 432-43. Summing the annual data in Figure 5 over 26 years results in 524,348 Slovak versus 150,294 Czech immigrants arriving from 1899 through 1924. These annual counts are reassuringly consistent with Figure 1's data on annual immigration from Austria-Hungary, as Figure S's spikes in immigration for 1905-07, 1910, and 1913-14 match the spikes in Figure 1. While Czech immigrants to the United States certainly outnumbered Slovak immigrants throughout most of the 19 th century, the annual immigration data in Figure 5 establish that over three times as many Slovaks as Czechs immigrated to the U.S. in the first quarter of the 20 th . However, the data in Figure 5 are not comparable to U.S. Census data in Figure 4, even for the same years, 1910 and 1920. Figure 5 counted only annual immigrant arrivals. Both Censuses counted all residents of foreign stock and of foreign birth, classifying them as Czech or Slovak according to their mother tongues. By simple logic, 18 SLOVAKIA-2017 the number of Czech/Slovak of foreign stock counted in any Census year should exceed the number of Czech/Slovak who were foreign born. So too, the number of foreign born in 1910 should exceed the sum total of immigrants for the available years 1899 to 1910, and the number of foreign born in 1920 should exceed the total of immigrants from 1899 to 1920. Figure 6, which reprises the relevant foreign stock and foreign born data along with summed immigration data for 1899 to 1910 and for 1899 to 1920, shows those relationships hold for the Czech data, but not for the Slovak data. Figure 6: Comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 18991924 Immigration Data 700,000 619,866 600,000 Czech stock 531, 193 500,000 Slovak Immigrants 1899-1920 400,000 1899-1910 300,000 Slovak stock C,ech bom 281 70 274,948 22 ,', 73 , r -34,564 200,000 Slovak born 166,474 100,000 Czech Immigrants 1899-1910 .-123,836 91 , 164 _______...-.---- Czech Immigrants 1899-1920 0---+-----------------~ 1910 1920 When comparing 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses with 1899-1924 immigration data, one should understand two facts and their implycations: SLOVAKIA-2017 19 I . The data come from very different sources collected by very different methods. Do not expect exact matches; look instead for consistencies and impossibilities. 2. Caveat: summing annual immigrants overstates their counts in the Censuses. After arriving, many immigrants returned home. Concerning fact #1: All data for Czech foreign stock, foreign born, and immigrants are indeed logically consistent for 1910 and 1920. In both years, there were more residents of Czech foreign stock than those foreign born and those who immigrated since 1899. The Slovak figures for foreign stock and foreign born are also logically consistent. However, the data for Slovak foreign born are inconsistent with the number who immigrated in years preceding both Censuses. It is not possible for 358,056 Slovaks to arrive between 1899 and 1910 and yet have only 166,474 foreign born Slovaks in the 1910 Census. It is not possible for 460,530 Slovaks to immigrate between 1899 and 1920 and yet have only 274,948 Slovaks of foreign birth in 1920. Concerning fact #2: That immigrants often returned home requires some adjustment to the data summed from 1899 to 1910 and from 1899 to 1920. One source for 1908 to 1913 estimated that, respectively, 40 percent and 38 percent of Austrian and Hungarian 27 immigrants to the United States returned home. Other sources give 28 much lower repatriation percentages, almost half. Let us assume the highest figure, that 40 percent of the Slovak immigrants who came in the 12 years prior to 1910, returned home. That would still leave almost 215,000 immigrants, far more than the 166,000 Slovaks the 1910 Census counted as foreign born. Of course, many thousands who came before 1899 were also foreign born and still alive. Applying the same repatriation assumption to Slovak immigrants from 1899 to 1920 lowers the number to around 276,000-which is 27 Willcox, Volume I, 90 and 92. Culen estimated that about 25 percent of all Slovaks who left eventually returned (p. 42); Seton-Watson reported that Slovaks who returned in 1905 were 10 percent of those who left, and that returnees were 20 percent of emigrants in 1906, in R. W. Seton-Watson, Racial Problems in Hungary (New York: Howard Fertig, 1972 edition, original ly published 1908) Appendix XIII, 470. 28 20 SLOVAKIA-2017 close to the 1920 Census count of about 275,000 born abroad. Although the 1899-1920 count still does not include those who immigrated earlier, the much closer fit to the I 920 Census count supports the contention that the 1910 Census woefully undercounted Slovaks. More Slovaks than Czechs in America, Then and Now? To recap, the 1920 Census of foreign stock counted almost identical numbers of Czechs and Slovaks in the United States: 622,796 and 619,866 respectively. Without doubt, the Bureau of the Census had improved its counting of Slovaks substantially since the 1910 Census, but annual counts of Czech and Slovak immigration from 1899 to 1920 suggest that even the 1920 Census underestimated the number of Slovaks, given that large scale Slovak immigration oc29 curred two decades earlier. " By the 1930 Census, which asked mother tongue only for the foreign born, there were more Slovak than Czech speakers, 240,196 to 201,138. As census-takers recorded more familiar with Slovaks as an ethnic group, perhaps they found more Slovaks to count. In any event, it is reasonable to assume that by 1930 there were actually more United States residents of Slovak than Czech ancestry. Despite the fact that Slovak speakers equaled or exceeded Czech speakers by 1920, Slovaks remained largely invisible to the American public. In Francis Clark's 1913 book, Old Homes of New Americans, he reported on a conversation with "an intelligent American lady, who had traveled widely and was not unacquainted with the history and nationality of Austria-Hungary." He asked her to guess how many Slovaks were in the United States; she guessed twenty thousand. He wrote, "She was only five hundred and eighty thousand out of the way, but I have no doubt her guess was quite as near the truth as would be that of most of her countrywomen, or countrymen 30 either, for that matter. " Although the U.S. Census Bureau apparently stopped asking for the mother tongue of foreign born in 1970, the 1980 and 1990 Cen- 29 Ference, p. 131. ° Francis E. C lark, Old Homes of New Americans: The Country and the People of 3 the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Their Contribution to the New World (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 212-13 . SLOVAKIA-2017 21 31 suses did attempt to measure ancestry. In 1990, the census-taker filled in a box for Question 13: "What is this person's ancestry or 32 ethnic origin?" Appendix B explained: The question was based on self-identification; the data on ancestry represent self-classification by people according to the ancestry group(s) with which they most closely identify. Ancestry refers to a person's ethnic origin or descent, "roots," or heritage or the place of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States .. .. The ancestry question allowed respondents to report one or more ancestry groups. While a large number of respondents listed a single ancestry, the majority of answers included more than one ethnic entry. Generally, only the first two responses reported were coded in 1990. Based on both responses to the ancestry question, the 1990 Cen33 sus produced these estimates: Slovak 1,882,897 Czech 1,296,411 Czechoslovakian 315,285 Of course, feelings of ancestry fade across generations as marriages occur across ethnic groups. Given that Czechs immigrated a generation earlier than Slovaks, their self-identification in 1990 as Czech-American or Bohemian-American should have faded somewhat more than Slovak-American. The exact numbers for ancestry in 1990 are less significant than their relative magnitudes. These data, even with their imperfections, support the case that Slovak immigrants outnumbered Czechs in the first quarter of the 20 th century, 31 Bureau of the Census, Census '90.- The Foreign-Born Population in the United States (Washington, DC: I 990 CP-3- I), 8-4. 32 Ibid. , E- 14. 33 Based on only people's first response for ancestry, the counts were lower: 1,2 10,652 Slovaks, 772,087 Czechs, and 240,489 Czechoslovakians. Only 3,781 people cited Moravian ancestry. See Bureau of the Census, Census '90: Ancestry of the Population in the United States (Washington, DC: 1990 CP-3-2), Table I: "General Characteristics of Selected Ancestry Groups by Nativity, Citizenship, and Year of Entry." 22 SLOVAKIA-2017 even including Moravians. That seems to be true as well today. In 2013, the Department of Homeland Security reported the persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status by region and country of birth from fiscal years 2004 to 2013. The trend continued: 7,165 people from Slovakia soufht resident status in the U.S. versus 3,783 from the Czech Republic.3 Where Did Czechs and Slovak Settle in the United States? We do not inquire why immigrants chose where they settled in the United States. We look only at where they settled in the first decades of the 20 th century. To determine that, we rely on the 1920 Census, which asked for mother tongue of foreign white stockaccepting its likely undercount of Slovaks. Recall that the 1920 Census counted 622,796 Czechs and 619,866 Slovaks for a combined total of 1,242,662. Given that the amounts are essentially the same, readers can compare the counts directly, without converting them to percentages. Figure 7 displays where they chose to settle in nine Census regions of the United States, ranked by total number of Czechs and Slovaks. Figure 7: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers in Census Regions, 1920• Total Czech• & Slovaka In each region Middle Atlantic 1 ~ 7 3,574 East North Central 425,623 These three regions had 1 , 140,043 of all Czechs & Slovaks (87% ) 180,483 West North Central 13,006 Texas a lone had 84% of all Czechs & Slovaks in this region West South Central 8,306 New England Only 8% of Czechs & Slovaks settled in the rest of the country; except for Texas , very few settled in southern states, 13 ,6 11 South Atlantic 14,996 Pacific Czechs= 622,786 • Slovaks'"' 619,866 Total Czechs & Slovaks = 1 ,242 ,662 934 East South Central 1 ,252 0 34 • 2,186 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 Department of Homeland Security," Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2013 Lawful Permanent Residents," https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2013-lawful-permanent-residents. SLOVAKIA-2017 23 Fourteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report and Analytical Tables, Table 7. The comments to the right of Figure 7 draw attention to three major conclusions: (1) almost 90% of all Czechs and Slovaks lived in relatively few states running westward from the Atlantic seaboard into the North Central region; (2) nearly all those in the West South Central region lived in Texas; and (3) relatively few Czechs and Slovaks ventured north to New England, west toward the Mountain and Pacific regions, or south-except for Texas, entering at Galveston. (One source estimated that some 200,000 immigrants entered there 5 between 1865 and 1924.)3 One last comment on Texas: according to the 1920 Census, Czechs outnumbered Slovaks 49,929 to 83 3 ! Figure 8 provides information on the states within three regions in which they settled. Figure 8: Distribution of Czech and Slovak Speakers by States within Regions (See next page) Figure 8 lists all fifteen states in 1920 having the most Czechs and Slovaks within the three regions . Only four of the fifteenPennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Indiana-had more Slovaks than Czechs. Pennsylvania stands out as the most extraordinary: Slovaks outnumbered Czechs 296,219 to 19,839, and Pennsylvania-by itself- had 48 percent of all Slovaks counted in the 1920 Census! Pennsylvania drew so many Slovaks that some explanation is needed. In his History of Slovaks in America, Culen wrote: Most of the early Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial and mining areas of Pennsylvania. Here, two main centers developed. One was in the hard coal (anthracite) mining region (or in the Slovak slang "v tvardouholtnej okolici"- '"the hard coal circle"), the other in the soft coal mining region . The first settlements formed around the mines. Later, they formed around large industrial complexes, particularly around iron and steel mills. 36 35 See htt ://wv1w.chron.com/li fe/artic le/Waves-of-mi rants-made-Galveston-intoT~2(i!§_-L73)_~}?Jl'1p_. 36 Konstantin Culen, History of Slovaks in America [Translated from the 1942 Slovak edition by Daniel C. Necas] (St. Paul , MN: Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, 2007), p. 67. 24 SLOVAKIA-2017 M. Mark Stolarik's more recent research found that Slovaks 316,058 Pennsylvania New York MIDDLE An.ANTIC New Jersey 184,021 Illinois 138,188 Ohio EAST NORTH CENTRAL 58,217 Wisconsin Michigan Indiana Nebraska 41 ,872 Minnesota 34,739 Iowa WEST NORTH CENTRAL 16,277 Missouri 13 ,263 Kansas 11 ,203 South Dakota ■ Czechs ■ Slovaks North Dakota 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 accounted for 13.1 percent of all steel workers in America and 12.8 37 percent of bituminous coal miners. New Jersey also had a preponderance of Slovaks over Czechs, as did Ohio, but neither rivaled Pennsylvania. Indiana also had more Slovaks than Czechs, but few of each. 37 Marian Mark Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization: The Slovak Experience, 1870-1918 (New York: AMS Press, 1989), pp. 111-112, SLOVAKIA-2017 25 The other eleven states had Czech majorities- often overwhelming majorities. Nebraska was home to 54,024 Czechs but only 281 Slovaks! That ratio even exceeded Texas' Czech majority. My home state of Illinois had-after Pennsylvania-the second largest number of Czech and Slovak immigrants. Where in Illinois did those Czechs and Slovaks live? Did they live in urban or rural areas? The 1920 Census did not classify the foreign stock by urban rural residence, but the 1930 Census did report urban-rural location for the foreign born, which means the more recent immigrants. At that time, "urban" meant incorporated areas of 2,500 or more inhabitants-places that we would not call urban today. Nevertheless, only 56 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas in 1930. 38 Although they had emigrated from rural lands, both Czechs (66 percent) and Slovaks (72 percent) gravitated to urban areas. 39 Only in certain states did Czechs and Slovaks congregate in large cities. The United States had only 73 cities with 100,000 or more population in 1920. Ten were in the three states with the largest number of Czechs and Slovaks combined-Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio. Because most mines and mills were located outside of Pennsylvania's large cities- Philadelphia, Scranton, and Pittsburgh. -merely 8 percent of its Czechs and Slovaks lived in its big cities. Ohio, with six cities over 100,000, presented a different case. Only Cleveland- a major steel and manufacturing center-attracted Czechs and Slovaks in droves, accounting for 52 percent of them, more Czechs than Slovaks. My home state of Illinois had only one city over 100,000 population-Chicago-and 72 percent of all Czechs and Slovaks in Illinois in 1920 lived in Chicago. The breakdown was 106,428 Czechs and 25 ,720 Slovaks. Given that Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by nearly 4 to 1 in Chicago, perhaps that explains why I never met any. Conclusion: Slovaks as the Silent Majority Certainly the preponderance of Czechs in Chicago partly explains why I was unaware of them. Probably more important was 38 Fifteenth Census of the United State, 1920: Volume II, General Report, Statistics b{ Subject, Chapter 1, Table 1. 3 Ibid. , Chapter 7, Table I. 26 SLOVAKIA-2017 that Slovaks were more silent than Czechs, so got little press compared to Czechs who- like the Irish in Boston and Italians in New York- soon became a force in city politics. Anton Cermak (originally Cermak) became a Chicago alderman, then president of the county board (1922), head of the county Democratic Party (1928), and mayor of the city (1931 ). His prominence allowed him to stand next to president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, where Cermak was killed by a bullet presumably aimed at the president. Slovaks also made less news than Czechs nationwide. Figure 9 shows how often articles in the Tim es, the leading newspaper in the nation's biggest city, mentioned either "Czechs" or "Slovaks.1140 From 1901 to 1910, the New York Times paid little attention to either group . Of only 88 articles during that decade that mentioned either, 75 percent were about Czechs. In the next decade, encompassing World War I and the creation of Czechoslovakia, the number of stories in the Times increased tenfold to 890, and the percentage mentioning Czechs increased to 81. By 1920, when Slovak equaled Czech as a mother tongue in census statistics, the Czech advantage in 689 Tim es' stories climbed to 84 percent. The Czech penumbra extended far over the Slovaks especially in the metropolitan media. Figure 9: "Czechs" and "Slovaks" in the News, 1900-1930 300 Number of articles in New York Tiines 250 Number mentioning Czechs 200 150 100 50 1905 40 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 "CHRONICLE. Visualizing language usage in New York Times news coverage throughout its history," at http ://chronicle.nvtlabs.com/. SLOVAKIA-2017 27 Cermak's visible political career in Chicago, Tomas Masaryk's tireless campaigning across the country for the existence of Czechoslovakia as an independent nation, the nation's creation after World War I, and Edvard Benes' presidency, all, no doubt contributed to the many articles mentioning Czechs in the New York Times during this period. Slovaks lacked comparable political celebrities or events to gamer publicity. Finally, the fact that almost one-half of all Slovak immigrants to the United States settled in one state, Pennsylvania and outside its large cities no doubt contributed to Slovaks' neglect by the national press and to their invisibility to people living in other states. Despite the fact that Slovaks were often unrecognized and undercounted by census-takers, the 1990 Census confirmed that more Americans claimed Slovak than Czech ancestry. Even today, that fact surprises many people.  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 More Slovaks in the U.S. than Czechs? Who Says? When and Where? Description An account of the resource Kenneth Janda Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 7-27 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Janda, Kenneth Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d2db4d8655e8abef31a0e9895c34dfeb.pdf 8b471986ab2a4ecc3a4e8f29ecd9f7c3 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-201 7 81 KICKED OUT: CZECHOSLOVAKIA'S POSTWAR POLICY TOW ARD ETHNIC MINORITIES AND ITS UNINTENDED OUTCOMES 1 Marty Manor Mullins Postwar Czechoslovakia was not a warm, friend ly place to be if you were a Hungarian or German in late 1945 to 1946. In fact, during his inaugural speech commemorating the reunifycation of the Czechoslovak Republic in April of 1945, President Edvard Benes proclaimed, "Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" 2 In postwar Slovakia one could walk down the street and be confronted with slogans such as : "Kosice must be cleansed of Magyar lice!"3 or indications (such as the bullet holes riddling a local street sign named after Adolf Hitler) of widespread resentment toward the Nazi regime with which local German and Hungarian minorities were associated. Furthermore, caustic warnings appeared in the local newspaper such as the following, printed in the Demokrat daily of June 17, 1945: " ... whether the Hungarians of [the city ofJ Kosice like it or not, the Slovaks are now the masters .. . the mouths of those who do not want to speak Slovak must be shut." 4 Although many are familiar with the fate of Czechoslovakia's three million Sudeten Germans, what exactly was the situation that the country's Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities found themselves in as of late 1945? What was the cause of such vitriolic language used against them? Furthermore, how was this kind of abuse justified by their accusers? This article explores the back1 This article is based on a paper presented at the 2016 meeting of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies on a panel entitled " Kicked Out of Czechoslovakia: The Fate of Postwar German and Hungarian Refugees, Then and Now." 2 Quoted in "t\no, zaci name ozaj novy zivot," Demokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . 3 Szabo Lajos, Utols6 szalmaszal (Budapest: Magyar Egy haztorteneti Enciklopedia Munkakiiziisseg, 2000). 4 Demokrat, June 7, 1945 ; Stefan Sutaj, "Ethnic Deve lopment in Kosice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4 (20 13), 4 72. �82 SLOVAKIA-2017 ground and implementation of postwar Czechoslovak policy towards its Hungarian and German populations while also elucidating several unintended yet significant outcomes of this policy 's execution, particularly within southern and central Slovakia. Pho to 1: Bullet holes riddle this street sign, formerly posted in Slovakia's Spis region and now on display in a Kezmarok museum. Back round Recall that a united Czechoslovakia did not exist during the Second World War. At the Munich Conference in 1938, Hitler capita lized on complaints from Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority to convince the Allies to cede the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. As of March 1939, the Czech Lands of Bohemia and Moravia became a Protectorate governed and occupied by Nazi Germany, while wartime Slovakia operated as a semi-independent authoritarian state led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso. However, over I 0,000 square kilometers (c. 3,800 square miles) including cities such as Kosice in southern Slovakia were not even under Slovak control during the war. Rather, southern Slovakia had been ceded to Hungary as part of the First Vienna Award of November 1938. Thus, the Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist for the duration of the war and southern Slovak territory came under Hungarian governance for six years. At the end of the war, when the Red Army marched across Ukraine and fought its way into eastern Slovakia, Kosice was the �SLOVAKIA-2017 83 first major city of the former Czechoslovak Republic to be liberated. Freed on January 19, 1945 , Kosice served as the temporary capital of reunited Czechoslovakia and the seat of President Benes. His time in the city is most associated with the "Kosice Program" which, among other objectives, outlined postwar policy toward the Hungarian and German minorities, who were declared collectively guilty for the breakup of the First Czechoslovak Republic. In the Kosice Program the postwar government reversed the generous policies of the interwar republic regarding minority populations. During the interwar period, Czechoslovakia's ethnic and religious groups were granted constitutional rights unparalleled at that time in the region, including the right to speak and educate children in their native languages as well as to form cultural associations and political parties. More importantly, they were granted equal status with Czechs and Slovaks before the law and protected from forced assimilation. 5 However, after the Second World War, these rights were rescinded. Germans and Hungarians were stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship, their property was nationalized and/or confiscated, minority schools were closed and they were ineligible to receive entitlements. 6 Of course, Czechoslovakia was not alone in its postwar forced relocation of Germans and Hungarians. In the years immediately following World War II, Europe witnessed the largest forced migration the world had ever seen .7 Resentment Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on this land for centuries) were pronounced collectively guilty by association with Nazi Germany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary . At this time many Czechs and Slovaks sought revenge for wartime injustices and even atrocities still fresh in their memories . For instance, Slovaks in the eastern Slovak village of Nemecka Poruba (10 km north of Sobrance) endured what the Demokrat newspaper called the "eastern Slovak Lidice," referring to 5 Martin Pekar, et al., Ethnic Minorities in Slovakia in the Years 1918-1945: A Survey (Prefov : Un iversum-EU , 2011 ), 50-51 . 6 Kosicky Vladni Program Chs. VIII, X, XV . 7 For details see Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak, eds. Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948 (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. �84 SLOVAKIA-2017 the German massacre of Czech men in the Bohemian town of Lid ice in retaliation for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich). 8 Towards the end of the war, the over 700 inhabitants of Nemecka Poruba had assisted partisan fighters living in the nearby forest by providing food and lodging during bad weather. Although the Germans stepped up patrols in the area, no one gave away the location of the partisans. After a surprise German raid on the village, resulting in the death of four German soldiers, most of the inhabitants fled, fearing Nazi retribution. It came swiftly when they burned the village to the ground the next day (November 2-3, 1944) and shot the eight men who remained behind. Villagers faced not only the loss of the victims but also their homes as they spent the 9 oncoming winter in underground dugouts. Photo 2: President Benes signed the Kosice Program here on April 5, 1945. Today the building houses the Eastern Slovak Art Gallery. As for their relationships with the Hungarians, Slovaks deeply 10 resented the years of forced assimilation to the Hungarian language 8 9 "Nemci vypalili obec a osem mu fov zastrelili ," Demokrat, 19 July, 1946. Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 85 and culture in the nineteenth century known as "magyarization," as well as the wartime massacres committed by the Hungarian Arrow Cross troops in southern Slovakia. What is more, Slovaks considered the Vienna Arbitration, which gave Hungary wartime control over southern Slovakia, to be an unjust occupation of land that had rightfully belonged to Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1938. Retribution With his April 1945 declaration that only Czechs and Slovaks deserved to remain in the republic, President Benes echoed and even gave credence to citizens' bitter sentiments toward minorities, as historian Eagle Glassheim notes. He states, "Though Benes abjured violence, his repeated public speeches on the collective guilt of the Germans must have carried great moral weight." 11 Benes' inaugural speech left little question regarding the country's forthcoming posture regarding remaining Hungarians and Germans: ... Our new home will not be new only in its relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. It must be rebuilt also in other respects.. .. This applies also towards its relationship with other nations and especially toward those Germans and Hungarians who before the war enjoyed full political rights as partners. After this war something similar is not possible. Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else! 12 As is evident from the last lines of his speech, a sense of retribution for wartime injustice fueled his plan to recreate the republic as "a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" However, another key factor in Benes' goal of ridding Czechoslovakia of its German and Hungarian minorities was the belief that allowing sizeable numbers of either minority to remain could once more jeopardize the 10 Unlike Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, etc., which are all members of the Slavic linguistic tree, Hungarian is a Uralic language, similar only to Finnish and Estonian. It is extremely difficult for Slovaks to learn Hungarian and vice versa, and the difficulty is compounded for the older language learner. 11 Eagle Glassheim , "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, 1945-1947" in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), 215 . 12 Quoted in "Ano, zaciname ozaj novy zivot," Dernokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . �86 SLOVAKIA-2017 state. Benes employed this logic as early as 1941 to appeal to the Allied Powers that, unless the Germans were expelled from postwar Czechoslovakia en masse, they might again rally to return the Sudetenland to Germany. 13 After Nazi Germany surrendered in May of 1945, local retaliation against Germans and Hungarians, which had already begun during the war, intensified. Newly-legalized procedures enabled Czechs and Slovaks to enjoy personal gain at the expense of German and Hungarian minorities. For example, the nascent Benes administration established "national committees" (narodne vybory), popularly-elected regional boards charged with bringing local order to the chaos that was pervasive in the months following the end of the wa 14 One of the national committees' most cherished responsibilities was the distribution of vacated minority properties that had been confiscated by the state. An illustration of this played out in the eastern Slovak Spis region (at the base of the Carpathian Mountains), where Slovaks had no problem reallocating their German neighbors' former properties. An article in the post-1945 Slovak newspaper Narodna Obroda (National Revival) reports that by February 4, 1945 the entire German population had already vacated the Spis region. 15 It further discussed the way abandoned German properties were handled by the newly established "national committees:" The Spis districts remain practically without Germans, whom the retreating German army took with them . The national committees in Poprad, in Spisska Nova Ves, in Levoca, Kezmarok and Gelnica procured their properties and placed fugitives from villages in them[fugitives] who [were] victims of the events of war or of barbaric German destruction. 16 Slovak national committees willingly exercised their right to confiscate and redistribute German property to those they deemed to 13 Glassheim, "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing," 200. Ibid., "Ethnic Cleansing, Communism, and Environmental Devastation in Czechoslovakia's Borderlands, 1945- 1989," Journal of Modern History 78 (March 2006), 72. Ibid ., "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Czechoslovak Germans in 1945," Central European History 33 , no. 4 (2008), 473 . 15 "Spis bez emcov," Narodna Obroda, Feb. 4, 1945 . 14 16 Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 87 be deserving. Slovak historians Sona Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan Olejnik characterize this era as a time of "postwar euphoria" and note the following: Accompanying this atmosphere of elation was a ri se in radicalization . Germans and Hungarians had become synonymous with evil. A majority of Slovak inhabitants did not deny themselves such measures as, ... confiscation, [acti vating] national administrative boards (ncirodne sprcivy), 17 and stripping Germans and Hungarians of their Czechoslovak citizenship. 18 At times the "postwar euphoria" turned violent, as Glassheim details in his article on the atrocities committed by locals against their former German neighbors in Bohemia and Moravia. He describes the summer of 1945 as a time when "a Wild West atmosphere reigned" before the central governmental authority was capable of averting and arraigning pogrom perpetrators. 19 The multiple mass graves of German victims discovered in Slovakia alone (187 men in Sklene, 146 individuals in Rufomberok, 83 in Banska Stiavnica, etc.), indicate the extent of animosity expressed by Slovaks that summer. 20 One of the worst acts of violence occurred on June 18, 1945 in the Moravian town of Pferov where Czechoslovak soldiers massacred 247 Carpathian German men, women and children who were travelling home to central and eastern Slovakia. 21 17 Glass heim explains that, in borderland regions where there was not a sufficient number of Czechs to run for electi on in regional "nati ona l co mmittees," reliable candidates were sent from the Ministry of the Interior to staff " nat iona l administrative boards" (narodne spravy). When enough Czechs (and, perceivably, Slovaks) populated these regions, nati onal comm ittee elections were held and the administrative boards were abolished . See Glassheim , "Ethnic Cleansing, Communi sm, and Environmental Devastation," 72. 18 Soi\a Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan O lej nik, Karpatski Nemci na Slovensku od druhej svetovej vojny do roku 1953 (Bratislava: Spolecenskovedny ustav SA V, 2004), 59 . 19 Glassheim , "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing," 473. 20 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultiira karpatskych Nemcov (Bratislava: Slovak Nati onal Museum/Muse um of Carpathian German Culture, 2005), 14. 21 Ibid., 16. �88 SLOVAKIA-2017 Photo 3: Kosice's Reformed (Calvinist) Church was established in 1644, indicating Calvinism's influence in the Hungarian lands after the Protestant Reformation. Its current location, adjacent to the ancient city wall, dates back to the early 19 th century. It is a nationally-registered cultural monument. Another instance of postwar retribution took place between Christian believers who held their reformed (Calvinist) faith in common yet stood on opposing ethnic sides. Since the sixteenth century, the Reformed Church in Slovakia had been largely composed of Hungarians. However, a small Slovak contingent also co-existed, and, after the Second World War, some Slovaks were zealous in asserting their language above that of their Hungarian brethren during church services. Thus, one of the biggest areas of contention between �SLOVAKIA-2017 89 Slovak and Hungarian believers was the issue of which language would be the language of worship after the war. Officially, the Hungarian language was forbidden in public in postwar Slovakia except in liturgical services where the pre-193 8 language had been Hungarian (although this law was often ignored by anti-Hungarian Slovak believers or by local authorities). 22 In practice the language of worship was determined on a church-bychurch basis. 23 The church linguistic dispute was especially intense because many Reformed pastors claimed that preaching in the language that the people could understand was one of the primary benefits of the Protestant Reformation itself. 24 The Reformed Church presbytery in the eastern Slovak village of Zarnov (just southwest of Kosice) provides an example. It employed the following reasoning in its debate regarding conducting services in Slovak or Hungarian : The liturgical language of the Reformed Church should be performed in the language of the people. It is the biggest achievement of the Reformation. One should also take into account that [although] a large part of the population registered for re-Slovakization, they do not actually forget their Hungarian mother tongue and are not able to adapt to the Slovak language. 25 Other Slovak Calvinists, however, seized the opportunity to only sanction the Slovak language during worship. Intriguingly, a 1948 issue of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices) describes a ceremony, presumably held at the Reformed Church in Bidovce, 12 miles (19 km) east of Kosice . At thi s service the following poem lauding the Slovak language was recited: Oh, that Slovak languageSacred language, That language of faith, 22 James R. Felak, After Hitler, Before Stalin: Catholics, Communists, and Democrats in Slovakia, 1945-1948 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009), 20. 23 See Felak, 18-21. 24 Sutaj, Reslovakizacia: zmena narodnosti casti obyvatelstva Slovenska po fl. svetovej vojne (Kos ice: Spolocenskovedny ustav SA V, 199 1), 14. 25 Quoted in Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 32. �90 SLOVAKIA-2017 I know there is none in the world [like it]. If however an angel in heaven Sings to God gratefully, He must not sing to Him other than in Slovak. 26 Hungarian Calvinists faced more than the prospect of being forced to worship in a foreign language. Further hardships affected them when believers' property was confiscated, when the state refused to pay Hungarian clergy's salaries, and when these clergy were not allowed to teach or correspond with each other in Hungarian. 27 The "Purging" At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, the Allies officially sanctioned the wholesale expulsion of Czechoslovakia's over three million Germans, as long as the expulsion was conducted in a "humane and orderly" manner. 28 They did not, however, agree to the complete removal of southern Slovakia's Hungarians, of whom historian Katalin Vadkerty estimates there were approximately 600,000 by the end of the war. 29 Instead, the Allied Powers believed the " Hungarian Question" should be worked out between the neighboring countries themselves. Therefore, Czechoslovakia had to find other means of cleansing itself from its Hungarian minority. The Benes administration thus proceeded with the expulsion of the German minority and crafted three measures by which to eliminate the Hungarians. This article addresses the methods by which the Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities were purged from Slovakia and concludes with an explanation of the unintended consequences of these policies . 26 "Odovzdanie resl ovakizacnych dekretov v Bidovciach," Kalvinske hlasy, Apr. 27, 1948. 27 Felak, I 8. 28 Philipp Ther, "A Century of Forced Migration," in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Ther and Ana Si lj ak (Lanh am, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 200 I), 55. 29 Katalin Vadkerty, " Hungari ans in Postwar Slovaki a," Hungarian Quarterly , vo l. 35 (Winter 1994): 11 5. �91 SLOVAKIA-2017 ' \t KAlViNSKE HLASY (lqlkava.nia, &ts l'Zru.~neho napatia, - da. si ootubl po slave ,·lastne~ Ones fa ubi) aj Pr~hadz:l na svet Pan neba i zeme. Aty sa te. tvoj slaromam. Al\'<>je dell sa ti ui tall 111/te. Ali I hho Dl'lcho<lu. Spomlnai nl lui.sne Jm· sia, aliO v ca..~h, ked' kai.dit .va[nu dlv!'lu ii viancene doby, prriite od det.stva. Vywoovaly venoval im, aby sl do ich &tycli srde IOlllml • ~ zvlutnyin kuzlom. A pripominaly tl, semienka pllvdy. dobra 3 krisy V ducliu Vet. my ii bol pl'lp-awny privi~t Pina. n& evanjella. l ~ treto cbvlle. Tlili po tom, Pre tvoj chlad a ducho111Y upadok, • a Photo 4: ln Kosice after the war, two-thirds of the city's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian. This estimate appeared in the May 15, 1946 edition of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices). �92 SLOVAKIA-2017 The first system of ridding southern Slovakia of unwanted Hungarians was by population exchange.Jo The plan proposed that Hungarians leave southern Slovakia for Hungary while Slovaks living in Hungary would return to Slovakia and free themselves of any "magyarizing tendencies" they had acquired while living in Hungary. The aim was to restore a Slavic majority to Czechoslovakia's southern borderland, which would also provide a buffer against any future Hungarian revanchist designs. JI What is interesting about the population exchange is that, while Slovaks were allowed to voluntarily apply to move back to Slovakia, Hungarians were designated by the Czechoslovak state to return to Hungary.J 2 In total, 89,660 Hungarians relocated from Czechoslovakia to Hungary between 1945 and 1948, whereas 73,273 people voluntarily moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.JJ The Czechoslovak government so badly wanted to reverse the ethnic ratio in southern Slovakia that it circulated propaganda advertisements such as the following: 30 The popul ati on exchange was accompani ed by numerous hardships, experi enced by both Slovaks and Hungarians- See Rast islav Karaba, " Postoj katolickej cirkvi k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom a k umi esti\ovaniu presidlencov do Ciech a na Moravu v rokoc h 1946-1 948," in Zlat ica Saposova and Sutaj , Povojnove migracie a vymena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom (Presov : Uni versum , 20 I 0). 31 Sutaj, Mad'arska mensina na Slovensku v rokoch 1945-1948.· vychodiska a prax {olitiky k mad'arskej men.sine na Slovensku, (Brati slava: Veda, 1993), 59. 2 Ibid ., "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War" in Slovakia in History , eds. Mikulas Teich, Dusan Kovac, and Martin D. Brown (Cambridge: Cambridge Un iversity Press, 20 I I), 276; Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority between 1945 and 1948," in Key Issues of Slovak and Hungarian History (a View of Slovak Historians), eds. Stefan Sutaj, Stefan Franko, and Igor Baka (Presov: Uni versu m, 201 1), 233 . 33 lbid .,"S lovakia and the Hungari an Minori ty," 23 3-34; Ther, 57. Of the 89,660 Hungarians exchanged fro m Czechoslovakia to Hungary per the 1958 report by the Czechos lovak Ministry of Foreign Affa irs, this fi gure includes 34,000 who were re located outside the Popul ati on Exchange Agreemen t. For example, 3 I,780 Anyas Hungarians [those who moved to southern Slovakia after the First Vienna Award] were deported en masse in the summ er of 1945. Of the 73,273 individuals who moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia, approx imate ly 12,000 did so outside the Population Exchange in order to partake of th e benefits the Czechoslovak state offered to those who would identify as Slovak. See Sutaj, "Ethni c Development in Kos ice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4(20 13), 4 74. �SLOVAKIA-2017 93 Do you want to become a citi zen of the victori ous Czechos lovak state? Do yo u want well-paid work in factories? Hungarian Slovaks, the Czechos lovak Republi c will not only relocate you but assure you at least as quality if not an even better economic, cultural and social environm ent than you have li ved in until now. Slovak farm ers from Hungary will cultivate fertil e Slovak land , craftsmen and entrepreneurs w ill work in Slovak firm s, and workers in Sl ovak factori es and the intelligentsia in Slovak agencies .... 34 As will be explained below, the population exchange did not materi ali ze the way authoriti es had hoped. A second means of reducing the Hungarian contingent in southern Slovakia was to deport them to work in Bohemia, many times on Czech farm s in the interior or in borderland areas . One of the primary factors for determining which Hungarians would be sent to the Czech Lands was whether or not they were able-bodied workers.35 Although deportations were carried out in three waves, the main organized deportation began on November 19, 1946.36 In total, 44, 129 Hungarians were deported to Bohemia between 1946-194 7 .37 What was troublesome about the deportations is that they occurred mainly during the winter, with deportees transported in cold wagons, under military supervision. Furthermore, many times the Hungarians who were forced to relocate had to sell their property and possessions below value. 38 Re-Slovakization (reslovakizacia in Slovak) was the final measure taken against the Hungarians to reduce their number while at the same time increasing the Slovak presence in southern Slovakia. ReSlovakization meant that those of contested ethnicity or originally of 34 Zlati ca Saposova, "St'aznosti Slovakov k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom v dokum entoch MZV C R," in Povojnove migrcicie a vy mena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom . eds. Saposova and Sutaj (Presov: Uni vers um , 20 I 0), 192-93. 35 Sutaj, Mad'arskci mensina, 63. Sutaj notes that all able-bodi ed Hungari ans fro m Kosice and nearby towns ages 14-60 were ordered to work camps. 36 However, already as of November I, 1945, Demokrat reported that 12,000 Hungarians had been sent to the Czech lands as part of the first transport of Hungari ans to Bohemi a and Moravia. Demokrat, Nov. I, 1945. 37 Sutaj, " Magyar minority in Slovaki a before and after the Second World War," 279. 38 Ibid., "Slovaki a and th e Hungari an Minority," 238. �94 SLOVAKIA-2017 Slovak nationality but who had declared themselves as Hungarian, could apply for Czechoslovak citizenship. 39 The intent of re-Slovakization was to "make Slovak again" those who had magyarized (assimilated to the Hungarian nationality), perhaps in order to survive the war years under Hungarian rule. Furthermore, minorities who could prove active resistance to the Slovak or Hungarian wartime regimes were also permitted to gain citizenship. 40 Re-Slovakization also allowed magyarized Slovaks to avoid population exchange to Hungary. 41 .... h " " " .,.,,.,, - ,.,.,, Jll9Shf papsl Jt~ee prlv ttall Slov4kov z Mad'araka V• ._.,_._ • ~ had.. r•ll'(lo prl~ a..t. . . ata Slovdkov 11: Mwd'.ar-&9'• v .......,lQ&a .-d4cetJo 01'id.rovacet koml•fo v Novon. M.~te p,l)d Statrt)<(D. a $prl•vod& Barlr:tf'.fr9 .orrila 4,.~ ..._ •Wlloo t!ut N .. • p.-ckro(!:fla bl.br•nke.. Po, ..-.v•wr ~ Y prfvttaJ• aw b"abltJo~k.>' o ~ d•Je.-•ctu po.aL z.,..mbo.-•. lltor4 ,... ~ ....-...u. ~ chvtl'u. kli:"dy •• Sloviict • M•~•rska •~•a.J4 • - • • .oa ..,.,, p6d9 • cJtcO • . ..,.. .t:1t • esr,t. l l r f f o • ~ 1 ' 1 okr. . prtvtbll d•,..•cru komJNr Lapf.611'.. z. ko&i,e.lk:f o11.r«t t»"lvO,al 4-,qcac:lu oblaat.. OIIIW•t. Jnls,ektor T . 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'ktor$'-h h<e,d:no1• l♦ •stH'WUH't'tidgll.,_ T•k twt1>r, ,.., -.:~..-,,nk tla.,. 150 ttYU. pat;tJC6~ -.. vark• n . . . .t•tNf •• )la.V"f n.JmA v vaDftarl a v •~« •kl4!~ ttodf'l4ta ,.,._bfl •t1Je ti:t._.._ • dn,_ u• • M..ad'an.kw obleb-taJO 10 mllt6nov♦ tt-.nkovllrr, Photo 5: "Kosice Welcomes Slovaks from Hungary," Demokrat newspaper April 5, 1946. 39 Sutaj , "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War " 277 40 Ibid. • 41 Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 232 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 95 Historian Stefan Sutaj calculates that a total of 362,679 (or just over 50 percent) of Hungarians in southern Slovakia re-Slovakized, the majority out of fear of oppression. 42 For many Slovaks, postwar re-Slovakization of Hungarians was the logical payback for being forced to assimilate to the Hungarian language and culture both during "magyarization" and from 1938-1945 . Thus, on paper, Czechoslovakia got rid of its Hungarians by means of population exchange, deportation to the Czech lands and re-Slovakization. Reality proved a different matter and is addressed later. Carpathian Germans Unlike Bohemia's Sudeten Germans, the Carpathian Germans (or Germans residing in Slovakia and Ukraine's Carpathian Mountain region) did not inhabit a single territorial block. Rather, they were primarily concentrated in three areas-Bratislava, the Spis region and the Kremnica-Pravno area. 43 Carpathian Germans had worked in this territory as miners, merchants, artisans and clerics since the 11 th century and, by the 14 th and 15 th centuries, comprised between one-quarter to one-fifth of the population in what is now 44 known as Slovakia. However, German influence in the region waned and by the Second World War only 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in Slovakia, according to Ondrej Poss, director of the Museum of Carpathian German Culture at the Slovak National Mu45 seum. The German minority living in Slovakia began to fear for their lives when the Red Army approached eastern Slovakia in 1944, and they left the country in systematic evacuations as of November 194446 Evacuation numbers vary widely, but author Ernst Hochber- 42 Ibid; Ibid , Mad'arska mensina, 142. Pekar, 4 7. 44 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 6. 45 Ibid. (Germans acco unted for approximately five percent of the Slovak population in the interwar period-Pekar, 47). Additionally, many Germans in eastern Slovakia magyarized in the second half of the nineteenth century. 46 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 14. 43 �96 SLOVAKIA-2017 ger estimates that between 57 and 85 percent of Carpathian Germans left Slovakia before 1945.47 Photo 6: Print of German blacksmith by Wilhelm Gedeon. After the war 30,000 to 40,000 returned, hoping they could continue to live and work in what had been their ancestors' homeland for 800 years. 48 Many were interned in regional camps under inhumane conditions until roughly 32,000 were sent to Germany in 1946. 49 47 Ernst Hochberger, Die Karpatendeutschen in der Slowakei (Wien: bsterr. Landsmannschaft, 20 I 0), 76. 48 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 16. 49 Ibid .; Hochberger, 77 . �97 SLOVAKIA-2017 However, not all of Slovakia's ethnic Germans were forced to leave at the end of the war. Approximately ten to fifteen percent remained, including skilled workers who were compelled to stay and work in state agricultural and industrial firms or those who could prove their wartime resistance to fascism. 50 Some of those who did not leave benefitted from exceptional circumstances, such as Wilhelm Gedeon and his family. 51 They lived in Medzev, a town just west of Kosice known as "the Mecca of Carpathian Germans in Slovakia. " 52 I Photo 7: Wilhelm Gedeon, spring 2012 50 Matej Spumy, " Political Authority and Popular Opinion: Czechos lovakia's German Population 1948-60," Social History Vol. 37, lss. 4, 2012, 458. 51 Poss, Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku 20 rokov zaloienie, rozvoj (Kosice : Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku, 2010), 12. 52 "Predseda Karpatskonemeckeho spolu Wilhelm Gedeon zaii l povojnove represie i roky normalizacie," Korzar/SME, Nov. 7, 2008 . Interestingly, former President of Slovakia Rudolf Schuster (1999-2004) hails from Medzev. �98 SLOVAKIA-2017 Born in Medzev in 1922, Gedeon was 23 years old at the end of the war. In October of 1945 an armed guard came to his family ' s home and informed them they had two hours to pack for deportation. Their belongings were to be placed in a wagon and they were to report to the school courtyard where other German families were assembled for relocation to Novaky, Slovakia, and interned until deportation to Germany. Gedeon, his uncle, grandmother and other family members dragged their wagon to the courtyard to join Medzev ' s sixth wave of deportations. However, while waiting in the courtyard, they were inspected by a doctor from the Swiss Red Cross who determined Gedeon's grandmother was too ill to go. He told the guards that Gedeon ' s whole family should be allowed to return home and stay in Medzev. The guards refused, arguing that only the grandmother and the other ill family member should stay; but the doctor persisted, asking the guards how the two elderly ones would survive by themselves. Thus the entire family was permitted to remain. Unfortunately , although they continued living in their family ' s homeland, the Germans who were not expelled faced discrimination for which they were unable to seek legal recourse. As Gedeon noted in his interview, "When we [Germans] lost our [Czechoslovak] citizenship, this was a very hard truth: if anyone beat or killed us, no penalty was levied because Germans were not citizens. " 53 Gedeon later moved to Kosice, where he worked as a civil engineer and eventually became head of the post-Communist Carpathian German Society in Kosice. 54 His story is the exception, yet it is also indicative of the unanticipated consequences of postwar Czechoslovakia' s attempt at ethnic cleansing. Unintended Outcomes What, then, were the significant unintended outcomes of the government's policies, which targeted Hungarians and Germans? First, concerning the population exchange of Slovaks and Hungarians, government officials clearly misjudged the situation when they mistakenly assumed that the number of Slovaks living in Hungary 53 Wilhelm Gedeon, interview by author, tape recording, 23-24 April 201 2, Kos ice, Slovakia. 54 Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 99 was only slightly smaller than the number of Hungarians in southern Slovakia 55 In actuality, 16,387 more Hungarians vacated Czechoslovakia than Slovaks returned to inhabit southern Slovakia. 56 This resulted in a problem for Czechoslovak officials who had intended to populate the southern borderland with Slovaks so as to create a barrier against potential Hungarian irredentist aspirations. Secondly, the re-Slovakization campaign did not go as planned. Although over 362,000 people in southern Slovakia changed their reported ethnic identity from Hungarian to Slovak after the war, many of these did so insincerely, providing whatever documentation necessary to re-Slovakize and remain in Czechoslovakia. Expedient, "situational" self-identification led many to affiliate with whatever nationality would allow them to stay in their families ' generational hometown, searching for stability at a time of immense uncertainty. Thousands took a chance amidst postwar chaos, deciding to reSlovakize and face whatever future challenges lay ahead at least from the known quantities of their hometowns. To a certain extent, their "insincere" decisions to identify as Slovak can be measured by the 1950 and 1961 Czechoslovak censuses, which revealed that many in the postwar period who had chosen the re-Slovakization option were ethnically Hungarian but had re-Slovakized out of fear of retaliation. 57 Sutaj records that, although some Hungarians who had " insincerely" re-Slovakized after the war did identify again as Hungarian in the 1950 census, the majority continued to identify as "Slovak." 58 Just ten years later, however, the percentage of individual s reporting as "Hungarian" on the 1960 Czechoslovak census increased by 46.4 percent from 354,532 reporting as Hungarian on the 1950 census to 518,782 on the 1960 census.59 Cultural historian Veronika Gayer, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, describes 55 Sutaj , "S lovakia and the Hungari an Minority," 23 1. Ther, 57 and Sutaj , "Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 233-234. However, it is quite plausible that many of these "Slovaks" had settled in Hun ga ry centuries ago. Thus it is questionable how " Slovak" they really were. 57 Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a be fore and after the Seco nd World War," 279. 58 Ibid ., Mad'arska mensina, 144. 59 Ibid. 56 �100 SLOVAKIA-2017 this phenomenon as experienced by the citizens of Kosice during the 20 th century: The city changed control five times in the course of one generation .... These successive turns of state were [the] results of superpower decisions, so they could never reflect the actual will of citizens. A part of the citizens of thi s multi-lingual city always lost during these changes, while another part tried to align themselves with the changes, and changed language and nationality during official surveys. Many of the bilingual, dual-identity citizens could tum Czechoslovak from one year to the next, and then two decades later tum back into Hungarians, if the authorities wanted them to do so. 60 Many in southern Slovakia adjusted their ethnic affiliation as necessary, a practice which makes precise data comparisons and analyses nearly impossible for contemporary historians .6 1 Furthermore, after the Czechoslovak Communist coup in February 1948, many Hungarians (originally from southern Slovakia) who had been deported to work in Bohemia after the war, returned home and appealed for their property and rights.62 Consequently, southern Slovakia did not become purely Slovak after all. Sutaj concludes, "Despite the definite reduction of the number of Hungarian nationnality inhabitants, nonetheless the postwar measures were in vain, and the Hungarian minority in Slovakia maintained its compactness and ethnic identity." 63 Third, an entire reli gious denomination declined as a result of postwar anti-Hungarian measures and resulting linguistic battles. ReSlovakization drastically reduced the number of members in Slovakia 's Reformed Church since many could not worship in the Slovak language and, due to the state's removal of Hungarian clergy from their posts (those who did not re-Slovakize), there were not 60 Veronika Gayer, " From Kassa to Kosice, Kosice to Kassa," in Remembering 1he City: a Guide lhrough !he Pas/ of Kosice (Budapest: Terra Recognita Alapitvany, 20 13), 124. 61 See Sutaj , Mad'arska mensina, 143-144. 62 Sutaj , Mad'arskci mensina , 154. 63 Ibid. , 155 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 101 enough Reformed pastors who spoke Slovak. 64 For example, in 1946, out of 195 active Reformed pastors, only 23 claimed Slovak nationality. Yet for eight of these 23, their nationality was questionnable (meaning they were considered to be Hungarian and were removed from their posts). On the other hand, 172 of these 195 claimed to be Hungarian and only 80 of these re-Slovakized. 65 Photo 8: Cemetery in Banska Stiavnica Thus there were too many parishioners becoming Slovak through re-Slovakization (despite the fact that many were not proficient in the Slovak language) and too few pastors who could capably lead them in the Slovak language . 64 Sutaj, "Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War," 275; Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 31. This same problem presented itself in the postwar Roman Catholic Church, among others. 65 Ibid. �102 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak Reformed Church's experience is significant because, as the overwhelming majority of believers were Hungarian and lived in southern Slovak towns such as Kosice, they naturally became targets of re-Slovakization efforts, which severely impacted the denomination across Slovakia. Sutaj points out that postwar Reformed Church leaders often noted that the decline of Calvinists in the Slovak population happened at the same time as re-Slovakization.66 He adds that the chaotic situation between Slovaks and Hungarians in southern Slovakia during re-Slovakization greatly affected the situation in the Reformed Church after 1945 .67 On the whole, the number of Reformed believers in what is now Slovakia decreased from 145,829 in 1930 to 111,696 by 1950, an almost 25 · 68 percent re d uction. In addition to the blows dealt to Slovakia's Hungarian attenuating minority, only approximately 17,000 of the pre-war 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in the country by 1947. 69 Moreover, as was also true of the Hungarian minority, a glaring consequence of their expulsion was the loss of skilled labor and business acumen. In the First Czechoslovak Republic, 44 percent of Slovakia's Germans 70 were involved in business, trade or industry. According to figures taken from the 1952 "Equalization of Burdens Law," the Carpathian Germans of Slovakia were forced to abandon an excess of 9,800 farms, over 8,000 residential estates, more than 2,000 commercial properties, and over 1,000 forestry operations as well as 1,000 wineries.71 The state realized its mistake when it lacked workers proficient in boosting Czechoslovakia's postwar industrialization campaign. Perhaps the most shocking unanticipated outcome of the administration ' s carefully-crafted efforts was the fact that, just three years after Czechoslovakia was liberated, local Communists seized control of the republic. They quickly enacted policies much more concerned 66 Sutaj , Reslovakizacia, 31. Ibid., 32. 68 Jan Pesek and Michal Barnovs ky, Staino Moc a Cirkvi na Slovensku. 1948- 1953 (Brati slava: Veda, 1997), 13-1 8. In Kosice after the war, two-thirds o f th e city 's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian . " Kosice," Kalvinske hlasy, May 15, 1946. 69 Hochberger, 77. 70 Isidor Lasslob, Die Karpatendeutschen im Spiegelbild der Zahlen (Kes mark: Vi vit-Verl ag / Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft Stuttgart, 2004), 8. 71 Ibid., 7. 67 �SLOVAKIA-2017 103 with Czechoslovak citizens ' class status than with their ethnic affiliation.72 The Hungarian minority remaining in the country received the right to Czechoslovak citizenship in 1948 and the German minority as early as 1949 and by 1953 at the latest. 73 The change of policy from postwar discrimination against ethnic minorities to the Communist regime's obsession with class status freed many Hungarians who had expediently re-Slovakized after the war to again identify as Hungarian on the 1951 and 1960 Czechoslovak censuses. Conclusion Although many are familiar with the postwar fate of Czechoslovakia ' s three million Sudeten Germans, it is often overlooked that roughly 600,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Carpathian Germans were forced to leave the country or assimilate at that time. As a result of the Benes administration's April 1945 Kosice Program, Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on the land for centuries) were pronounced guilty by association with Nazi Gennany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary. This verdict represented a sharp reversal from the generous rights minorities had enjoyed during the First Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 to 1938. After the Second World War, however, Czechs and Slovaks harbored resentment for wartime injustices, and many sought retribution among their German and Hungarian neighbors . Even the Benes administration petitioned the Allies for permission to expel the country' s German and Hungarian populations. When the Allies agreed to the wholesale expulsion of the German minority but not to that of the Hungarians, the government devised three methods to rid Czechoslovakia of its over half a million Hungarians. What the Benes admini stration could not see at the time was that its efforts to expel all Germans and force Hungarians to assimilate or be relocated out of Slovakia would either fail or backfire against the future welfare of the republic. Approximately ten to fifteen percent of the Carpathian Germans were permitted to stay in Slovakia for a 72 See Pekar, 53. Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a befo re and after the Second World War," 279-28 1; Some Germ ans received citizenship as earl y as 1949. See Spumy, 462464. 73 �104 SLOVAKIA-2017 variety of reasons. Moreover, southern Slovakia remained largely Hungarian when the population exchange was shown to be lopsided , when those deported to the Czech lands returned home, and when over 360,000 Hungarians expediently chose to falsely identify as Slovak. They did so in order to avoid recrimination, to maintain their livelihoods, to remain with their families, and/or to face unknown future challenges from the security of their hometowns. The German and Hungarian minorities who were in fact expelled from Czechoslovakia took with them a rich tradition of culture, skilled labor and entrepreneurial expertise. Ultimately, it can be argued that Benes' policies proved incomplete, ineffective and even injurious to postwar Czechoslovakia. � SLOVAKIA-201 7 81 KICKED OUT: CZECHOSLOVAKIA'S POSTWAR POLICY TOW ARD ETHNIC MINORITIES AND ITS UNINTENDED OUTCOMES 1 Marty Manor Mullins Postwar Czechoslovakia was not a warm, friend ly place to be if you were a Hungarian or German in late 1945 to 1946. In fact, during his inaugural speech commemorating the reunifycation of the Czechoslovak Republic in April of 1945, President Edvard Benes proclaimed, "Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" 2 In postwar Slovakia one could walk down the street and be confronted with slogans such as : "Kosice must be cleansed of Magyar lice!"3 or indications (such as the bullet holes riddling a local street sign named after Adolf Hitler) of widespread resentment toward the Nazi regime with which local German and Hungarian minorities were associated. Furthermore, caustic warnings appeared in the local newspaper such as the following, printed in the Demokrat daily of June 17, 1945: " ... whether the Hungarians of [the city ofJ Kosice like it or not, the Slovaks are now the masters .. . the mouths of those who do not want to speak Slovak must be shut." 4 Although many are familiar with the fate of Czechoslovakia's three million Sudeten Germans, what exactly was the situation that the country's Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities found themselves in as of late 1945? What was the cause of such vitriolic language used against them? Furthermore, how was this kind of abuse justified by their accusers? This article explores the back1 This article is based on a paper presented at the 2016 meeting of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies on a panel entitled " Kicked Out of Czechoslovakia: The Fate of Postwar German and Hungarian Refugees, Then and Now." 2 Quoted in "t\no, zaci name ozaj novy zivot," Demokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . 3 Szabo Lajos, Utols6 szalmaszal (Budapest: Magyar Egy haztorteneti Enciklopedia Munkakiiziisseg, 2000). 4 Demokrat, June 7, 1945 ; Stefan Sutaj, "Ethnic Deve lopment in Kosice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4 (20 13), 4 72. �82 SLOVAKIA-2017 ground and implementation of postwar Czechoslovak policy towards its Hungarian and German populations while also elucidating several unintended yet significant outcomes of this policy 's execution, particularly within southern and central Slovakia. Pho to 1: Bullet holes riddle this street sign, formerly posted in Slovakia's Spis region and now on display in a Kezmarok museum. Back round Recall that a united Czechoslovakia did not exist during the Second World War. At the Munich Conference in 1938, Hitler capita lized on complaints from Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority to convince the Allies to cede the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. As of March 1939, the Czech Lands of Bohemia and Moravia became a Protectorate governed and occupied by Nazi Germany, while wartime Slovakia operated as a semi-independent authoritarian state led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso. However, over I 0,000 square kilometers (c. 3,800 square miles) including cities such as Kosice in southern Slovakia were not even under Slovak control during the war. Rather, southern Slovakia had been ceded to Hungary as part of the First Vienna Award of November 1938. Thus, the Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist for the duration of the war and southern Slovak territory came under Hungarian governance for six years. At the end of the war, when the Red Army marched across Ukraine and fought its way into eastern Slovakia, Kosice was the �SLOVAKIA-2017 83 first major city of the former Czechoslovak Republic to be liberated. Freed on January 19, 1945 , Kosice served as the temporary capital of reunited Czechoslovakia and the seat of President Benes. His time in the city is most associated with the "Kosice Program" which, among other objectives, outlined postwar policy toward the Hungarian and German minorities, who were declared collectively guilty for the breakup of the First Czechoslovak Republic. In the Kosice Program the postwar government reversed the generous policies of the interwar republic regarding minority populations. During the interwar period, Czechoslovakia's ethnic and religious groups were granted constitutional rights unparalleled at that time in the region, including the right to speak and educate children in their native languages as well as to form cultural associations and political parties. More importantly, they were granted equal status with Czechs and Slovaks before the law and protected from forced assimilation. 5 However, after the Second World War, these rights were rescinded. Germans and Hungarians were stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship, their property was nationalized and/or confiscated, minority schools were closed and they were ineligible to receive entitlements. 6 Of course, Czechoslovakia was not alone in its postwar forced relocation of Germans and Hungarians. In the years immediately following World War II, Europe witnessed the largest forced migration the world had ever seen .7 Resentment Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on this land for centuries) were pronounced collectively guilty by association with Nazi Germany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary . At this time many Czechs and Slovaks sought revenge for wartime injustices and even atrocities still fresh in their memories . For instance, Slovaks in the eastern Slovak village of Nemecka Poruba (10 km north of Sobrance) endured what the Demokrat newspaper called the "eastern Slovak Lidice," referring to 5 Martin Pekar, et al., Ethnic Minorities in Slovakia in the Years 1918-1945: A Survey (Prefov : Un iversum-EU , 2011 ), 50-51 . 6 Kosicky Vladni Program Chs. VIII, X, XV . 7 For details see Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak, eds. Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948 (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. �84 SLOVAKIA-2017 the German massacre of Czech men in the Bohemian town of Lid ice in retaliation for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich). 8 Towards the end of the war, the over 700 inhabitants of Nemecka Poruba had assisted partisan fighters living in the nearby forest by providing food and lodging during bad weather. Although the Germans stepped up patrols in the area, no one gave away the location of the partisans. After a surprise German raid on the village, resulting in the death of four German soldiers, most of the inhabitants fled, fearing Nazi retribution. It came swiftly when they burned the village to the ground the next day (November 2-3, 1944) and shot the eight men who remained behind. Villagers faced not only the loss of the victims but also their homes as they spent the 9 oncoming winter in underground dugouts. Photo 2: President Benes signed the Kosice Program here on April 5, 1945. Today the building houses the Eastern Slovak Art Gallery. As for their relationships with the Hungarians, Slovaks deeply 10 resented the years of forced assimilation to the Hungarian language 8 9 "Nemci vypalili obec a osem mu fov zastrelili ," Demokrat, 19 July, 1946. Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 85 and culture in the nineteenth century known as "magyarization," as well as the wartime massacres committed by the Hungarian Arrow Cross troops in southern Slovakia. What is more, Slovaks considered the Vienna Arbitration, which gave Hungary wartime control over southern Slovakia, to be an unjust occupation of land that had rightfully belonged to Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1938. Retribution With his April 1945 declaration that only Czechs and Slovaks deserved to remain in the republic, President Benes echoed and even gave credence to citizens' bitter sentiments toward minorities, as historian Eagle Glassheim notes. He states, "Though Benes abjured violence, his repeated public speeches on the collective guilt of the Germans must have carried great moral weight." 11 Benes' inaugural speech left little question regarding the country's forthcoming posture regarding remaining Hungarians and Germans: ... Our new home will not be new only in its relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. It must be rebuilt also in other respects.. .. This applies also towards its relationship with other nations and especially toward those Germans and Hungarians who before the war enjoyed full political rights as partners. After this war something similar is not possible. Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else! 12 As is evident from the last lines of his speech, a sense of retribution for wartime injustice fueled his plan to recreate the republic as "a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" However, another key factor in Benes' goal of ridding Czechoslovakia of its German and Hungarian minorities was the belief that allowing sizeable numbers of either minority to remain could once more jeopardize the 10 Unlike Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, etc., which are all members of the Slavic linguistic tree, Hungarian is a Uralic language, similar only to Finnish and Estonian. It is extremely difficult for Slovaks to learn Hungarian and vice versa, and the difficulty is compounded for the older language learner. 11 Eagle Glassheim , "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, 1945-1947" in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), 215 . 12 Quoted in "Ano, zaciname ozaj novy zivot," Dernokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . �86 SLOVAKIA-2017 state. Benes employed this logic as early as 1941 to appeal to the Allied Powers that, unless the Germans were expelled from postwar Czechoslovakia en masse, they might again rally to return the Sudetenland to Germany. 13 After Nazi Germany surrendered in May of 1945, local retaliation against Germans and Hungarians, which had already begun during the war, intensified. Newly-legalized procedures enabled Czechs and Slovaks to enjoy personal gain at the expense of German and Hungarian minorities. For example, the nascent Benes administration established "national committees" (narodne vybory), popularly-elected regional boards charged with bringing local order to the chaos that was pervasive in the months following the end of the wa 14 One of the national committees' most cherished responsibilities was the distribution of vacated minority properties that had been confiscated by the state. An illustration of this played out in the eastern Slovak Spis region (at the base of the Carpathian Mountains), where Slovaks had no problem reallocating their German neighbors' former properties. An article in the post-1945 Slovak newspaper Narodna Obroda (National Revival) reports that by February 4, 1945 the entire German population had already vacated the Spis region. 15 It further discussed the way abandoned German properties were handled by the newly established "national committees:" The Spis districts remain practically without Germans, whom the retreating German army took with them . The national committees in Poprad, in Spisska Nova Ves, in Levoca, Kezmarok and Gelnica procured their properties and placed fugitives from villages in them[fugitives] who [were] victims of the events of war or of barbaric German destruction. 16 Slovak national committees willingly exercised their right to confiscate and redistribute German property to those they deemed to 13 Glassheim, "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing," 200. Ibid., "Ethnic Cleansing, Communism, and Environmental Devastation in Czechoslovakia's Borderlands, 1945- 1989," Journal of Modern History 78 (March 2006), 72. Ibid ., "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Czechoslovak Germans in 1945," Central European History 33 , no. 4 (2008), 473 . 15 "Spis bez emcov," Narodna Obroda, Feb. 4, 1945 . 14 16 Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 87 be deserving. Slovak historians Sona Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan Olejnik characterize this era as a time of "postwar euphoria" and note the following: Accompanying this atmosphere of elation was a ri se in radicalization . Germans and Hungarians had become synonymous with evil. A majority of Slovak inhabitants did not deny themselves such measures as, ... confiscation, [acti vating] national administrative boards (ncirodne sprcivy), 17 and stripping Germans and Hungarians of their Czechoslovak citizenship. 18 At times the "postwar euphoria" turned violent, as Glassheim details in his article on the atrocities committed by locals against their former German neighbors in Bohemia and Moravia. He describes the summer of 1945 as a time when "a Wild West atmosphere reigned" before the central governmental authority was capable of averting and arraigning pogrom perpetrators. 19 The multiple mass graves of German victims discovered in Slovakia alone (187 men in Sklene, 146 individuals in Rufomberok, 83 in Banska Stiavnica, etc.), indicate the extent of animosity expressed by Slovaks that summer. 20 One of the worst acts of violence occurred on June 18, 1945 in the Moravian town of Pferov where Czechoslovak soldiers massacred 247 Carpathian German men, women and children who were travelling home to central and eastern Slovakia. 21 17 Glass heim explains that, in borderland regions where there was not a sufficient number of Czechs to run for electi on in regional "nati ona l co mmittees," reliable candidates were sent from the Ministry of the Interior to staff " nat iona l administrative boards" (narodne spravy). When enough Czechs (and, perceivably, Slovaks) populated these regions, nati onal comm ittee elections were held and the administrative boards were abolished . See Glassheim , "Ethnic Cleansing, Communi sm, and Environmental Devastation," 72. 18 Soi\a Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan O lej nik, Karpatski Nemci na Slovensku od druhej svetovej vojny do roku 1953 (Bratislava: Spolecenskovedny ustav SA V, 2004), 59 . 19 Glassheim , "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing," 473. 20 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultiira karpatskych Nemcov (Bratislava: Slovak Nati onal Museum/Muse um of Carpathian German Culture, 2005), 14. 21 Ibid., 16. �88 SLOVAKIA-2017 Photo 3: Kosice's Reformed (Calvinist) Church was established in 1644, indicating Calvinism's influence in the Hungarian lands after the Protestant Reformation. Its current location, adjacent to the ancient city wall, dates back to the early 19 th century. It is a nationally-registered cultural monument. Another instance of postwar retribution took place between Christian believers who held their reformed (Calvinist) faith in common yet stood on opposing ethnic sides. Since the sixteenth century, the Reformed Church in Slovakia had been largely composed of Hungarians. However, a small Slovak contingent also co-existed, and, after the Second World War, some Slovaks were zealous in asserting their language above that of their Hungarian brethren during church services. Thus, one of the biggest areas of contention between �SLOVAKIA-2017 89 Slovak and Hungarian believers was the issue of which language would be the language of worship after the war. Officially, the Hungarian language was forbidden in public in postwar Slovakia except in liturgical services where the pre-193 8 language had been Hungarian (although this law was often ignored by anti-Hungarian Slovak believers or by local authorities). 22 In practice the language of worship was determined on a church-bychurch basis. 23 The church linguistic dispute was especially intense because many Reformed pastors claimed that preaching in the language that the people could understand was one of the primary benefits of the Protestant Reformation itself. 24 The Reformed Church presbytery in the eastern Slovak village of Zarnov (just southwest of Kosice) provides an example. It employed the following reasoning in its debate regarding conducting services in Slovak or Hungarian : The liturgical language of the Reformed Church should be performed in the language of the people. It is the biggest achievement of the Reformation. One should also take into account that [although] a large part of the population registered for re-Slovakization, they do not actually forget their Hungarian mother tongue and are not able to adapt to the Slovak language. 25 Other Slovak Calvinists, however, seized the opportunity to only sanction the Slovak language during worship. Intriguingly, a 1948 issue of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices) describes a ceremony, presumably held at the Reformed Church in Bidovce, 12 miles (19 km) east of Kosice . At thi s service the following poem lauding the Slovak language was recited: Oh, that Slovak languageSacred language, That language of faith, 22 James R. Felak, After Hitler, Before Stalin: Catholics, Communists, and Democrats in Slovakia, 1945-1948 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009), 20. 23 See Felak, 18-21. 24 Sutaj, Reslovakizacia: zmena narodnosti casti obyvatelstva Slovenska po fl. svetovej vojne (Kos ice: Spolocenskovedny ustav SA V, 199 1), 14. 25 Quoted in Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 32. �90 SLOVAKIA-2017 I know there is none in the world [like it]. If however an angel in heaven Sings to God gratefully, He must not sing to Him other than in Slovak. 26 Hungarian Calvinists faced more than the prospect of being forced to worship in a foreign language. Further hardships affected them when believers' property was confiscated, when the state refused to pay Hungarian clergy's salaries, and when these clergy were not allowed to teach or correspond with each other in Hungarian. 27 The "Purging" At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, the Allies officially sanctioned the wholesale expulsion of Czechoslovakia's over three million Germans, as long as the expulsion was conducted in a "humane and orderly" manner. 28 They did not, however, agree to the complete removal of southern Slovakia's Hungarians, of whom historian Katalin Vadkerty estimates there were approximately 600,000 by the end of the war. 29 Instead, the Allied Powers believed the " Hungarian Question" should be worked out between the neighboring countries themselves. Therefore, Czechoslovakia had to find other means of cleansing itself from its Hungarian minority. The Benes administration thus proceeded with the expulsion of the German minority and crafted three measures by which to eliminate the Hungarians. This article addresses the methods by which the Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities were purged from Slovakia and concludes with an explanation of the unintended consequences of these policies . 26 "Odovzdanie resl ovakizacnych dekretov v Bidovciach," Kalvinske hlasy, Apr. 27, 1948. 27 Felak, I 8. 28 Philipp Ther, "A Century of Forced Migration," in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Ther and Ana Si lj ak (Lanh am, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 200 I), 55. 29 Katalin Vadkerty, " Hungari ans in Postwar Slovaki a," Hungarian Quarterly , vo l. 35 (Winter 1994): 11 5. �91 SLOVAKIA-2017 ' \t KAlViNSKE HLASY (lqlkava.nia, &ts l'Zru.~neho napatia, - da. si ootubl po slave ,·lastne~ Ones fa ubi) aj Pr~hadz:l na svet Pan neba i zeme. Aty sa te. tvoj slaromam. Al\'<>je dell sa ti ui tall 111/te. Ali I hho Dl'lcho<lu. Spomlnai nl lui.sne Jm· sia, aliO v ca..~h, ked' kai.dit .va[nu dlv!'lu ii viancene doby, prriite od det.stva. Vywoovaly venoval im, aby sl do ich &tycli srde IOlllml • ~ zvlutnyin kuzlom. A pripominaly tl, semienka pllvdy. dobra 3 krisy V ducliu Vet. my ii bol pl'lp-awny privi~t Pina. n& evanjella. l ~ treto cbvlle. Tlili po tom, Pre tvoj chlad a ducho111Y upadok, • a Photo 4: ln Kosice after the war, two-thirds of the city's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian. This estimate appeared in the May 15, 1946 edition of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices). �92 SLOVAKIA-2017 The first system of ridding southern Slovakia of unwanted Hungarians was by population exchange.Jo The plan proposed that Hungarians leave southern Slovakia for Hungary while Slovaks living in Hungary would return to Slovakia and free themselves of any "magyarizing tendencies" they had acquired while living in Hungary. The aim was to restore a Slavic majority to Czechoslovakia's southern borderland, which would also provide a buffer against any future Hungarian revanchist designs. JI What is interesting about the population exchange is that, while Slovaks were allowed to voluntarily apply to move back to Slovakia, Hungarians were designated by the Czechoslovak state to return to Hungary.J 2 In total, 89,660 Hungarians relocated from Czechoslovakia to Hungary between 1945 and 1948, whereas 73,273 people voluntarily moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.JJ The Czechoslovak government so badly wanted to reverse the ethnic ratio in southern Slovakia that it circulated propaganda advertisements such as the following: 30 The popul ati on exchange was accompani ed by numerous hardships, experi enced by both Slovaks and Hungarians- See Rast islav Karaba, " Postoj katolickej cirkvi k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom a k umi esti\ovaniu presidlencov do Ciech a na Moravu v rokoc h 1946-1 948," in Zlat ica Saposova and Sutaj , Povojnove migracie a vymena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom (Presov : Uni versum , 20 I 0). 31 Sutaj, Mad'arska mensina na Slovensku v rokoch 1945-1948.· vychodiska a prax {olitiky k mad'arskej men.sine na Slovensku, (Brati slava: Veda, 1993), 59. 2 Ibid ., "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War" in Slovakia in History , eds. Mikulas Teich, Dusan Kovac, and Martin D. Brown (Cambridge: Cambridge Un iversity Press, 20 I I), 276; Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority between 1945 and 1948," in Key Issues of Slovak and Hungarian History (a View of Slovak Historians), eds. Stefan Sutaj, Stefan Franko, and Igor Baka (Presov: Uni versu m, 201 1), 233 . 33 lbid .,"S lovakia and the Hungari an Minori ty," 23 3-34; Ther, 57. Of the 89,660 Hungarians exchanged fro m Czechoslovakia to Hungary per the 1958 report by the Czechos lovak Ministry of Foreign Affa irs, this fi gure includes 34,000 who were re located outside the Popul ati on Exchange Agreemen t. For example, 3 I,780 Anyas Hungarians [those who moved to southern Slovakia after the First Vienna Award] were deported en masse in the summ er of 1945. Of the 73,273 individuals who moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia, approx imate ly 12,000 did so outside the Population Exchange in order to partake of th e benefits the Czechoslovak state offered to those who would identify as Slovak. See Sutaj, "Ethni c Development in Kos ice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4(20 13), 4 74. �SLOVAKIA-2017 93 Do you want to become a citi zen of the victori ous Czechos lovak state? Do yo u want well-paid work in factories? Hungarian Slovaks, the Czechos lovak Republi c will not only relocate you but assure you at least as quality if not an even better economic, cultural and social environm ent than you have li ved in until now. Slovak farm ers from Hungary will cultivate fertil e Slovak land , craftsmen and entrepreneurs w ill work in Slovak firm s, and workers in Sl ovak factori es and the intelligentsia in Slovak agencies .... 34 As will be explained below, the population exchange did not materi ali ze the way authoriti es had hoped. A second means of reducing the Hungarian contingent in southern Slovakia was to deport them to work in Bohemia, many times on Czech farm s in the interior or in borderland areas . One of the primary factors for determining which Hungarians would be sent to the Czech Lands was whether or not they were able-bodied workers.35 Although deportations were carried out in three waves, the main organized deportation began on November 19, 1946.36 In total, 44, 129 Hungarians were deported to Bohemia between 1946-194 7 .37 What was troublesome about the deportations is that they occurred mainly during the winter, with deportees transported in cold wagons, under military supervision. Furthermore, many times the Hungarians who were forced to relocate had to sell their property and possessions below value. 38 Re-Slovakization (reslovakizacia in Slovak) was the final measure taken against the Hungarians to reduce their number while at the same time increasing the Slovak presence in southern Slovakia. ReSlovakization meant that those of contested ethnicity or originally of 34 Zlati ca Saposova, "St'aznosti Slovakov k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom v dokum entoch MZV C R," in Povojnove migrcicie a vy mena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom . eds. Saposova and Sutaj (Presov: Uni vers um , 20 I 0), 192-93. 35 Sutaj, Mad'arskci mensina, 63. Sutaj notes that all able-bodi ed Hungari ans fro m Kosice and nearby towns ages 14-60 were ordered to work camps. 36 However, already as of November I, 1945, Demokrat reported that 12,000 Hungarians had been sent to the Czech lands as part of the first transport of Hungari ans to Bohemi a and Moravia. Demokrat, Nov. I, 1945. 37 Sutaj, " Magyar minority in Slovaki a before and after the Second World War," 279. 38 Ibid., "Slovaki a and th e Hungari an Minority," 238. �94 SLOVAKIA-2017 Slovak nationality but who had declared themselves as Hungarian, could apply for Czechoslovak citizenship. 39 The intent of re-Slovakization was to "make Slovak again" those who had magyarized (assimilated to the Hungarian nationality), perhaps in order to survive the war years under Hungarian rule. Furthermore, minorities who could prove active resistance to the Slovak or Hungarian wartime regimes were also permitted to gain citizenship. 40 Re-Slovakization also allowed magyarized Slovaks to avoid population exchange to Hungary. 41 .... h " " " .,.,,.,, - ,.,.,, Jll9Shf papsl Jt~ee prlv ttall Slov4kov z Mad'araka V• ._.,_._ • ~ had.. r•ll'(lo prl~ a..t. . . ata Slovdkov 11: Mwd'.ar-&9'• v .......,lQ&a .-d4cetJo 01'id.rovacet koml•fo v Novon. M.~te p,l)d Statrt)<(D. a $prl•vod& Barlr:tf'.fr9 .orrila 4,.~ ..._ •Wlloo t!ut N .. • p.-ckro(!:fla bl.br•nke.. Po, ..-.v•wr ~ Y prfvttaJ• aw b"abltJo~k.>' o ~ d•Je.-•ctu po.aL z.,..mbo.-•. lltor4 ,... ~ ....-...u. ~ chvtl'u. kli:"dy •• Sloviict • M•~•rska •~•a.J4 • - • • .oa ..,.,, p6d9 • cJtcO • . ..,.. .t:1t • esr,t. l l r f f o • ~ 1 ' 1 okr. . prtvtbll d•,..•cru komJNr Lapf.611'.. z. ko&i,e.lk:f o11.r«t t»"lvO,al 4-,qcac:lu oblaat.. OIIIW•t. Jnls,ektor T . 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'ktor$'-h h<e,d:no1• l♦ •stH'WUH't'tidgll.,_ T•k twt1>r, ,.., -.:~..-,,nk tla.,. 150 ttYU. pat;tJC6~ -.. vark• n . . . .t•tNf •• )la.V"f n.JmA v vaDftarl a v •~« •kl4!~ ttodf'l4ta ,.,._bfl •t1Je ti:t._.._ • dn,_ u• • M..ad'an.kw obleb-taJO 10 mllt6nov♦ tt-.nkovllrr, Photo 5: "Kosice Welcomes Slovaks from Hungary," Demokrat newspaper April 5, 1946. 39 Sutaj , "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War " 277 40 Ibid. • 41 Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 232 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 95 Historian Stefan Sutaj calculates that a total of 362,679 (or just over 50 percent) of Hungarians in southern Slovakia re-Slovakized, the majority out of fear of oppression. 42 For many Slovaks, postwar re-Slovakization of Hungarians was the logical payback for being forced to assimilate to the Hungarian language and culture both during "magyarization" and from 1938-1945 . Thus, on paper, Czechoslovakia got rid of its Hungarians by means of population exchange, deportation to the Czech lands and re-Slovakization. Reality proved a different matter and is addressed later. Carpathian Germans Unlike Bohemia's Sudeten Germans, the Carpathian Germans (or Germans residing in Slovakia and Ukraine's Carpathian Mountain region) did not inhabit a single territorial block. Rather, they were primarily concentrated in three areas-Bratislava, the Spis region and the Kremnica-Pravno area. 43 Carpathian Germans had worked in this territory as miners, merchants, artisans and clerics since the 11 th century and, by the 14 th and 15 th centuries, comprised between one-quarter to one-fifth of the population in what is now 44 known as Slovakia. However, German influence in the region waned and by the Second World War only 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in Slovakia, according to Ondrej Poss, director of the Museum of Carpathian German Culture at the Slovak National Mu45 seum. The German minority living in Slovakia began to fear for their lives when the Red Army approached eastern Slovakia in 1944, and they left the country in systematic evacuations as of November 194446 Evacuation numbers vary widely, but author Ernst Hochber- 42 Ibid; Ibid , Mad'arska mensina, 142. Pekar, 4 7. 44 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 6. 45 Ibid. (Germans acco unted for approximately five percent of the Slovak population in the interwar period-Pekar, 47). Additionally, many Germans in eastern Slovakia magyarized in the second half of the nineteenth century. 46 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 14. 43 �96 SLOVAKIA-2017 ger estimates that between 57 and 85 percent of Carpathian Germans left Slovakia before 1945.47 Photo 6: Print of German blacksmith by Wilhelm Gedeon. After the war 30,000 to 40,000 returned, hoping they could continue to live and work in what had been their ancestors' homeland for 800 years. 48 Many were interned in regional camps under inhumane conditions until roughly 32,000 were sent to Germany in 1946. 49 47 Ernst Hochberger, Die Karpatendeutschen in der Slowakei (Wien: bsterr. Landsmannschaft, 20 I 0), 76. 48 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 16. 49 Ibid .; Hochberger, 77 . �97 SLOVAKIA-2017 However, not all of Slovakia's ethnic Germans were forced to leave at the end of the war. Approximately ten to fifteen percent remained, including skilled workers who were compelled to stay and work in state agricultural and industrial firms or those who could prove their wartime resistance to fascism. 50 Some of those who did not leave benefitted from exceptional circumstances, such as Wilhelm Gedeon and his family. 51 They lived in Medzev, a town just west of Kosice known as "the Mecca of Carpathian Germans in Slovakia. " 52 I Photo 7: Wilhelm Gedeon, spring 2012 50 Matej Spumy, " Political Authority and Popular Opinion: Czechos lovakia's German Population 1948-60," Social History Vol. 37, lss. 4, 2012, 458. 51 Poss, Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku 20 rokov zaloienie, rozvoj (Kosice : Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku, 2010), 12. 52 "Predseda Karpatskonemeckeho spolu Wilhelm Gedeon zaii l povojnove represie i roky normalizacie," Korzar/SME, Nov. 7, 2008 . Interestingly, former President of Slovakia Rudolf Schuster (1999-2004) hails from Medzev. �98 SLOVAKIA-2017 Born in Medzev in 1922, Gedeon was 23 years old at the end of the war. In October of 1945 an armed guard came to his family ' s home and informed them they had two hours to pack for deportation. Their belongings were to be placed in a wagon and they were to report to the school courtyard where other German families were assembled for relocation to Novaky, Slovakia, and interned until deportation to Germany. Gedeon, his uncle, grandmother and other family members dragged their wagon to the courtyard to join Medzev ' s sixth wave of deportations. However, while waiting in the courtyard, they were inspected by a doctor from the Swiss Red Cross who determined Gedeon's grandmother was too ill to go. He told the guards that Gedeon ' s whole family should be allowed to return home and stay in Medzev. The guards refused, arguing that only the grandmother and the other ill family member should stay; but the doctor persisted, asking the guards how the two elderly ones would survive by themselves. Thus the entire family was permitted to remain. Unfortunately , although they continued living in their family ' s homeland, the Germans who were not expelled faced discrimination for which they were unable to seek legal recourse. As Gedeon noted in his interview, "When we [Germans] lost our [Czechoslovak] citizenship, this was a very hard truth: if anyone beat or killed us, no penalty was levied because Germans were not citizens. " 53 Gedeon later moved to Kosice, where he worked as a civil engineer and eventually became head of the post-Communist Carpathian German Society in Kosice. 54 His story is the exception, yet it is also indicative of the unanticipated consequences of postwar Czechoslovakia' s attempt at ethnic cleansing. Unintended Outcomes What, then, were the significant unintended outcomes of the government's policies, which targeted Hungarians and Germans? First, concerning the population exchange of Slovaks and Hungarians, government officials clearly misjudged the situation when they mistakenly assumed that the number of Slovaks living in Hungary 53 Wilhelm Gedeon, interview by author, tape recording, 23-24 April 201 2, Kos ice, Slovakia. 54 Ibid. �SLOVAKIA-2017 99 was only slightly smaller than the number of Hungarians in southern Slovakia 55 In actuality, 16,387 more Hungarians vacated Czechoslovakia than Slovaks returned to inhabit southern Slovakia. 56 This resulted in a problem for Czechoslovak officials who had intended to populate the southern borderland with Slovaks so as to create a barrier against potential Hungarian irredentist aspirations. Secondly, the re-Slovakization campaign did not go as planned. Although over 362,000 people in southern Slovakia changed their reported ethnic identity from Hungarian to Slovak after the war, many of these did so insincerely, providing whatever documentation necessary to re-Slovakize and remain in Czechoslovakia. Expedient, "situational" self-identification led many to affiliate with whatever nationality would allow them to stay in their families ' generational hometown, searching for stability at a time of immense uncertainty. Thousands took a chance amidst postwar chaos, deciding to reSlovakize and face whatever future challenges lay ahead at least from the known quantities of their hometowns. To a certain extent, their "insincere" decisions to identify as Slovak can be measured by the 1950 and 1961 Czechoslovak censuses, which revealed that many in the postwar period who had chosen the re-Slovakization option were ethnically Hungarian but had re-Slovakized out of fear of retaliation. 57 Sutaj records that, although some Hungarians who had " insincerely" re-Slovakized after the war did identify again as Hungarian in the 1950 census, the majority continued to identify as "Slovak." 58 Just ten years later, however, the percentage of individual s reporting as "Hungarian" on the 1960 Czechoslovak census increased by 46.4 percent from 354,532 reporting as Hungarian on the 1950 census to 518,782 on the 1960 census.59 Cultural historian Veronika Gayer, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, describes 55 Sutaj , "S lovakia and the Hungari an Minority," 23 1. Ther, 57 and Sutaj , "Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 233-234. However, it is quite plausible that many of these "Slovaks" had settled in Hun ga ry centuries ago. Thus it is questionable how " Slovak" they really were. 57 Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a be fore and after the Seco nd World War," 279. 58 Ibid ., Mad'arska mensina, 144. 59 Ibid. 56 �100 SLOVAKIA-2017 this phenomenon as experienced by the citizens of Kosice during the 20 th century: The city changed control five times in the course of one generation .... These successive turns of state were [the] results of superpower decisions, so they could never reflect the actual will of citizens. A part of the citizens of thi s multi-lingual city always lost during these changes, while another part tried to align themselves with the changes, and changed language and nationality during official surveys. Many of the bilingual, dual-identity citizens could tum Czechoslovak from one year to the next, and then two decades later tum back into Hungarians, if the authorities wanted them to do so. 60 Many in southern Slovakia adjusted their ethnic affiliation as necessary, a practice which makes precise data comparisons and analyses nearly impossible for contemporary historians .6 1 Furthermore, after the Czechoslovak Communist coup in February 1948, many Hungarians (originally from southern Slovakia) who had been deported to work in Bohemia after the war, returned home and appealed for their property and rights.62 Consequently, southern Slovakia did not become purely Slovak after all. Sutaj concludes, "Despite the definite reduction of the number of Hungarian nationnality inhabitants, nonetheless the postwar measures were in vain, and the Hungarian minority in Slovakia maintained its compactness and ethnic identity." 63 Third, an entire reli gious denomination declined as a result of postwar anti-Hungarian measures and resulting linguistic battles. ReSlovakization drastically reduced the number of members in Slovakia 's Reformed Church since many could not worship in the Slovak language and, due to the state's removal of Hungarian clergy from their posts (those who did not re-Slovakize), there were not 60 Veronika Gayer, " From Kassa to Kosice, Kosice to Kassa," in Remembering 1he City: a Guide lhrough !he Pas/ of Kosice (Budapest: Terra Recognita Alapitvany, 20 13), 124. 61 See Sutaj , Mad'arska mensina, 143-144. 62 Sutaj , Mad'arskci mensina , 154. 63 Ibid. , 155 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 101 enough Reformed pastors who spoke Slovak. 64 For example, in 1946, out of 195 active Reformed pastors, only 23 claimed Slovak nationality. Yet for eight of these 23, their nationality was questionnable (meaning they were considered to be Hungarian and were removed from their posts). On the other hand, 172 of these 195 claimed to be Hungarian and only 80 of these re-Slovakized. 65 Photo 8: Cemetery in Banska Stiavnica Thus there were too many parishioners becoming Slovak through re-Slovakization (despite the fact that many were not proficient in the Slovak language) and too few pastors who could capably lead them in the Slovak language . 64 Sutaj, "Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War," 275; Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 31. This same problem presented itself in the postwar Roman Catholic Church, among others. 65 Ibid. �102 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak Reformed Church's experience is significant because, as the overwhelming majority of believers were Hungarian and lived in southern Slovak towns such as Kosice, they naturally became targets of re-Slovakization efforts, which severely impacted the denomination across Slovakia. Sutaj points out that postwar Reformed Church leaders often noted that the decline of Calvinists in the Slovak population happened at the same time as re-Slovakization.66 He adds that the chaotic situation between Slovaks and Hungarians in southern Slovakia during re-Slovakization greatly affected the situation in the Reformed Church after 1945 .67 On the whole, the number of Reformed believers in what is now Slovakia decreased from 145,829 in 1930 to 111,696 by 1950, an almost 25 · 68 percent re d uction. In addition to the blows dealt to Slovakia's Hungarian attenuating minority, only approximately 17,000 of the pre-war 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in the country by 1947. 69 Moreover, as was also true of the Hungarian minority, a glaring consequence of their expulsion was the loss of skilled labor and business acumen. In the First Czechoslovak Republic, 44 percent of Slovakia's Germans 70 were involved in business, trade or industry. According to figures taken from the 1952 "Equalization of Burdens Law," the Carpathian Germans of Slovakia were forced to abandon an excess of 9,800 farms, over 8,000 residential estates, more than 2,000 commercial properties, and over 1,000 forestry operations as well as 1,000 wineries.71 The state realized its mistake when it lacked workers proficient in boosting Czechoslovakia's postwar industrialization campaign. Perhaps the most shocking unanticipated outcome of the administration ' s carefully-crafted efforts was the fact that, just three years after Czechoslovakia was liberated, local Communists seized control of the republic. They quickly enacted policies much more concerned 66 Sutaj , Reslovakizacia, 31. Ibid., 32. 68 Jan Pesek and Michal Barnovs ky, Staino Moc a Cirkvi na Slovensku. 1948- 1953 (Brati slava: Veda, 1997), 13-1 8. In Kosice after the war, two-thirds o f th e city 's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian . " Kosice," Kalvinske hlasy, May 15, 1946. 69 Hochberger, 77. 70 Isidor Lasslob, Die Karpatendeutschen im Spiegelbild der Zahlen (Kes mark: Vi vit-Verl ag / Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft Stuttgart, 2004), 8. 71 Ibid., 7. 67 �SLOVAKIA-2017 103 with Czechoslovak citizens ' class status than with their ethnic affiliation.72 The Hungarian minority remaining in the country received the right to Czechoslovak citizenship in 1948 and the German minority as early as 1949 and by 1953 at the latest. 73 The change of policy from postwar discrimination against ethnic minorities to the Communist regime's obsession with class status freed many Hungarians who had expediently re-Slovakized after the war to again identify as Hungarian on the 1951 and 1960 Czechoslovak censuses. Conclusion Although many are familiar with the postwar fate of Czechoslovakia ' s three million Sudeten Germans, it is often overlooked that roughly 600,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Carpathian Germans were forced to leave the country or assimilate at that time. As a result of the Benes administration's April 1945 Kosice Program, Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on the land for centuries) were pronounced guilty by association with Nazi Gennany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary. This verdict represented a sharp reversal from the generous rights minorities had enjoyed during the First Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 to 1938. After the Second World War, however, Czechs and Slovaks harbored resentment for wartime injustices, and many sought retribution among their German and Hungarian neighbors . Even the Benes administration petitioned the Allies for permission to expel the country' s German and Hungarian populations. When the Allies agreed to the wholesale expulsion of the German minority but not to that of the Hungarians, the government devised three methods to rid Czechoslovakia of its over half a million Hungarians. What the Benes admini stration could not see at the time was that its efforts to expel all Germans and force Hungarians to assimilate or be relocated out of Slovakia would either fail or backfire against the future welfare of the republic. Approximately ten to fifteen percent of the Carpathian Germans were permitted to stay in Slovakia for a 72 See Pekar, 53. Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a befo re and after the Second World War," 279-28 1; Some Germ ans received citizenship as earl y as 1949. See Spumy, 462464. 73 �104 SLOVAKIA-2017 variety of reasons. Moreover, southern Slovakia remained largely Hungarian when the population exchange was shown to be lopsided , when those deported to the Czech lands returned home, and when over 360,000 Hungarians expediently chose to falsely identify as Slovak. They did so in order to avoid recrimination, to maintain their livelihoods, to remain with their families, and/or to face unknown future challenges from the security of their hometowns. The German and Hungarian minorities who were in fact expelled from Czechoslovakia took with them a rich tradition of culture, skilled labor and entrepreneurial expertise. Ultimately, it can be argued that Benes' policies proved incomplete, ineffective and even injurious to postwar Czechoslovakia. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-201 7 81 KICKED OUT: CZECHOSLOVAKIA'S POSTWAR POLICY TOW ARD ETHNIC MINORITIES AND ITS UNINTENDED OUTCOMES 1 Marty Manor Mullins Postwar Czechoslovakia was not a warm, friend ly place to be if you were a Hungarian or German in late 1945 to 1946. In fact, during his inaugural speech commemorating the reunifycation of the Czechoslovak Republic in April of 1945, President Edvard Benes proclaimed, "Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" 2 In postwar Slovakia one could walk down the street and be confronted with slogans such as : "Kosice must be cleansed of Magyar lice!"3 or indications (such as the bullet holes riddling a local street sign named after Adolf Hitler) of widespread resentment toward the Nazi regime with which local German and Hungarian minorities were associated. Furthermore, caustic warnings appeared in the local newspaper such as the following, printed in the Demokrat daily of June 17, 1945: " ... whether the Hungarians of [the city ofJ Kosice like it or not, the Slovaks are now the masters .. . the mouths of those who do not want to speak Slovak must be shut." 4 Although many are familiar with the fate of Czechoslovakia's three million Sudeten Germans, what exactly was the situation that the country's Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities found themselves in as of late 1945? What was the cause of such vitriolic language used against them? Furthermore, how was this kind of abuse justified by their accusers? This article explores the back1 This article is based on a paper presented at the 2016 meeting of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies on a panel entitled " Kicked Out of Czechoslovakia: The Fate of Postwar German and Hungarian Refugees, Then and Now." 2 Quoted in "t\no, zaci name ozaj novy zivot," Demokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . 3 Szabo Lajos, Utols6 szalmaszal (Budapest: Magyar Egy haztorteneti Enciklopedia Munkakiiziisseg, 2000). 4 Demokrat, June 7, 1945 ; Stefan Sutaj, "Ethnic Deve lopment in Kosice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4 (20 13), 4 72. 82 SLOVAKIA-2017 ground and implementation of postwar Czechoslovak policy towards its Hungarian and German populations while also elucidating several unintended yet significant outcomes of this policy 's execution, particularly within southern and central Slovakia. Pho to 1: Bullet holes riddle this street sign, formerly posted in Slovakia's Spis region and now on display in a Kezmarok museum. Back round Recall that a united Czechoslovakia did not exist during the Second World War. At the Munich Conference in 1938, Hitler capita lized on complaints from Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority to convince the Allies to cede the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. As of March 1939, the Czech Lands of Bohemia and Moravia became a Protectorate governed and occupied by Nazi Germany, while wartime Slovakia operated as a semi-independent authoritarian state led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso. However, over I 0,000 square kilometers (c. 3,800 square miles) including cities such as Kosice in southern Slovakia were not even under Slovak control during the war. Rather, southern Slovakia had been ceded to Hungary as part of the First Vienna Award of November 1938. Thus, the Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist for the duration of the war and southern Slovak territory came under Hungarian governance for six years. At the end of the war, when the Red Army marched across Ukraine and fought its way into eastern Slovakia, Kosice was the SLOVAKIA-2017 83 first major city of the former Czechoslovak Republic to be liberated. Freed on January 19, 1945 , Kosice served as the temporary capital of reunited Czechoslovakia and the seat of President Benes. His time in the city is most associated with the "Kosice Program" which, among other objectives, outlined postwar policy toward the Hungarian and German minorities, who were declared collectively guilty for the breakup of the First Czechoslovak Republic. In the Kosice Program the postwar government reversed the generous policies of the interwar republic regarding minority populations. During the interwar period, Czechoslovakia's ethnic and religious groups were granted constitutional rights unparalleled at that time in the region, including the right to speak and educate children in their native languages as well as to form cultural associations and political parties. More importantly, they were granted equal status with Czechs and Slovaks before the law and protected from forced assimilation. 5 However, after the Second World War, these rights were rescinded. Germans and Hungarians were stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship, their property was nationalized and/or confiscated, minority schools were closed and they were ineligible to receive entitlements. 6 Of course, Czechoslovakia was not alone in its postwar forced relocation of Germans and Hungarians. In the years immediately following World War II, Europe witnessed the largest forced migration the world had ever seen .7 Resentment Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on this land for centuries) were pronounced collectively guilty by association with Nazi Germany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary . At this time many Czechs and Slovaks sought revenge for wartime injustices and even atrocities still fresh in their memories . For instance, Slovaks in the eastern Slovak village of Nemecka Poruba (10 km north of Sobrance) endured what the Demokrat newspaper called the "eastern Slovak Lidice," referring to 5 Martin Pekar, et al., Ethnic Minorities in Slovakia in the Years 1918-1945: A Survey (Prefov : Un iversum-EU , 2011 ), 50-51 . 6 Kosicky Vladni Program Chs. VIII, X, XV . 7 For details see Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak, eds. Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948 (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. 84 SLOVAKIA-2017 the German massacre of Czech men in the Bohemian town of Lid ice in retaliation for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich). 8 Towards the end of the war, the over 700 inhabitants of Nemecka Poruba had assisted partisan fighters living in the nearby forest by providing food and lodging during bad weather. Although the Germans stepped up patrols in the area, no one gave away the location of the partisans. After a surprise German raid on the village, resulting in the death of four German soldiers, most of the inhabitants fled, fearing Nazi retribution. It came swiftly when they burned the village to the ground the next day (November 2-3, 1944) and shot the eight men who remained behind. Villagers faced not only the loss of the victims but also their homes as they spent the 9 oncoming winter in underground dugouts. Photo 2: President Benes signed the Kosice Program here on April 5, 1945. Today the building houses the Eastern Slovak Art Gallery. As for their relationships with the Hungarians, Slovaks deeply 10 resented the years of forced assimilation to the Hungarian language 8 9 "Nemci vypalili obec a osem mu fov zastrelili ," Demokrat, 19 July, 1946. Ibid. SLOVAKIA-2017 85 and culture in the nineteenth century known as "magyarization," as well as the wartime massacres committed by the Hungarian Arrow Cross troops in southern Slovakia. What is more, Slovaks considered the Vienna Arbitration, which gave Hungary wartime control over southern Slovakia, to be an unjust occupation of land that had rightfully belonged to Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1938. Retribution With his April 1945 declaration that only Czechs and Slovaks deserved to remain in the republic, President Benes echoed and even gave credence to citizens' bitter sentiments toward minorities, as historian Eagle Glassheim notes. He states, "Though Benes abjured violence, his repeated public speeches on the collective guilt of the Germans must have carried great moral weight." 11 Benes' inaugural speech left little question regarding the country's forthcoming posture regarding remaining Hungarians and Germans: ... Our new home will not be new only in its relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. It must be rebuilt also in other respects.. .. This applies also towards its relationship with other nations and especially toward those Germans and Hungarians who before the war enjoyed full political rights as partners. After this war something similar is not possible. Our state will be a state of nations, a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else! 12 As is evident from the last lines of his speech, a sense of retribution for wartime injustice fueled his plan to recreate the republic as "a state of only Czechs and Slovaks and no one else!" However, another key factor in Benes' goal of ridding Czechoslovakia of its German and Hungarian minorities was the belief that allowing sizeable numbers of either minority to remain could once more jeopardize the 10 Unlike Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, etc., which are all members of the Slavic linguistic tree, Hungarian is a Uralic language, similar only to Finnish and Estonian. It is extremely difficult for Slovaks to learn Hungarian and vice versa, and the difficulty is compounded for the older language learner. 11 Eagle Glassheim , "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, 1945-1947" in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Philipp Ther and Ana Siljak (Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), 215 . 12 Quoted in "Ano, zaciname ozaj novy zivot," Dernokrat, Apr. 4, 1945 . 86 SLOVAKIA-2017 state. Benes employed this logic as early as 1941 to appeal to the Allied Powers that, unless the Germans were expelled from postwar Czechoslovakia en masse, they might again rally to return the Sudetenland to Germany. 13 After Nazi Germany surrendered in May of 1945, local retaliation against Germans and Hungarians, which had already begun during the war, intensified. Newly-legalized procedures enabled Czechs and Slovaks to enjoy personal gain at the expense of German and Hungarian minorities. For example, the nascent Benes administration established "national committees" (narodne vybory), popularly-elected regional boards charged with bringing local order to the chaos that was pervasive in the months following the end of the wa 14 One of the national committees' most cherished responsibilities was the distribution of vacated minority properties that had been confiscated by the state. An illustration of this played out in the eastern Slovak Spis region (at the base of the Carpathian Mountains), where Slovaks had no problem reallocating their German neighbors' former properties. An article in the post-1945 Slovak newspaper Narodna Obroda (National Revival) reports that by February 4, 1945 the entire German population had already vacated the Spis region. 15 It further discussed the way abandoned German properties were handled by the newly established "national committees:" The Spis districts remain practically without Germans, whom the retreating German army took with them . The national committees in Poprad, in Spisska Nova Ves, in Levoca, Kezmarok and Gelnica procured their properties and placed fugitives from villages in them[fugitives] who [were] victims of the events of war or of barbaric German destruction. 16 Slovak national committees willingly exercised their right to confiscate and redistribute German property to those they deemed to 13 Glassheim, "The Mechanics of Ethnic Cleansing," 200. Ibid., "Ethnic Cleansing, Communism, and Environmental Devastation in Czechoslovakia's Borderlands, 1945- 1989," Journal of Modern History 78 (March 2006), 72. Ibid ., "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing: The Expulsion of Czechoslovak Germans in 1945," Central European History 33 , no. 4 (2008), 473 . 15 "Spis bez emcov," Narodna Obroda, Feb. 4, 1945 . 14 16 Ibid. SLOVAKIA-2017 87 be deserving. Slovak historians Sona Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan Olejnik characterize this era as a time of "postwar euphoria" and note the following: Accompanying this atmosphere of elation was a ri se in radicalization . Germans and Hungarians had become synonymous with evil. A majority of Slovak inhabitants did not deny themselves such measures as, ... confiscation, [acti vating] national administrative boards (ncirodne sprcivy), 17 and stripping Germans and Hungarians of their Czechoslovak citizenship. 18 At times the "postwar euphoria" turned violent, as Glassheim details in his article on the atrocities committed by locals against their former German neighbors in Bohemia and Moravia. He describes the summer of 1945 as a time when "a Wild West atmosphere reigned" before the central governmental authority was capable of averting and arraigning pogrom perpetrators. 19 The multiple mass graves of German victims discovered in Slovakia alone (187 men in Sklene, 146 individuals in Rufomberok, 83 in Banska Stiavnica, etc.), indicate the extent of animosity expressed by Slovaks that summer. 20 One of the worst acts of violence occurred on June 18, 1945 in the Moravian town of Pferov where Czechoslovak soldiers massacred 247 Carpathian German men, women and children who were travelling home to central and eastern Slovakia. 21 17 Glass heim explains that, in borderland regions where there was not a sufficient number of Czechs to run for electi on in regional "nati ona l co mmittees," reliable candidates were sent from the Ministry of the Interior to staff " nat iona l administrative boards" (narodne spravy). When enough Czechs (and, perceivably, Slovaks) populated these regions, nati onal comm ittee elections were held and the administrative boards were abolished . See Glassheim , "Ethnic Cleansing, Communi sm, and Environmental Devastation," 72. 18 Soi\a Gabzdilova-Olejnikova and Milan O lej nik, Karpatski Nemci na Slovensku od druhej svetovej vojny do roku 1953 (Bratislava: Spolecenskovedny ustav SA V, 2004), 59 . 19 Glassheim , "National Mythologies and Ethnic Cleansing," 473. 20 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultiira karpatskych Nemcov (Bratislava: Slovak Nati onal Museum/Muse um of Carpathian German Culture, 2005), 14. 21 Ibid., 16. 88 SLOVAKIA-2017 Photo 3: Kosice's Reformed (Calvinist) Church was established in 1644, indicating Calvinism's influence in the Hungarian lands after the Protestant Reformation. Its current location, adjacent to the ancient city wall, dates back to the early 19 th century. It is a nationally-registered cultural monument. Another instance of postwar retribution took place between Christian believers who held their reformed (Calvinist) faith in common yet stood on opposing ethnic sides. Since the sixteenth century, the Reformed Church in Slovakia had been largely composed of Hungarians. However, a small Slovak contingent also co-existed, and, after the Second World War, some Slovaks were zealous in asserting their language above that of their Hungarian brethren during church services. Thus, one of the biggest areas of contention between SLOVAKIA-2017 89 Slovak and Hungarian believers was the issue of which language would be the language of worship after the war. Officially, the Hungarian language was forbidden in public in postwar Slovakia except in liturgical services where the pre-193 8 language had been Hungarian (although this law was often ignored by anti-Hungarian Slovak believers or by local authorities). 22 In practice the language of worship was determined on a church-bychurch basis. 23 The church linguistic dispute was especially intense because many Reformed pastors claimed that preaching in the language that the people could understand was one of the primary benefits of the Protestant Reformation itself. 24 The Reformed Church presbytery in the eastern Slovak village of Zarnov (just southwest of Kosice) provides an example. It employed the following reasoning in its debate regarding conducting services in Slovak or Hungarian : The liturgical language of the Reformed Church should be performed in the language of the people. It is the biggest achievement of the Reformation. One should also take into account that [although] a large part of the population registered for re-Slovakization, they do not actually forget their Hungarian mother tongue and are not able to adapt to the Slovak language. 25 Other Slovak Calvinists, however, seized the opportunity to only sanction the Slovak language during worship. Intriguingly, a 1948 issue of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices) describes a ceremony, presumably held at the Reformed Church in Bidovce, 12 miles (19 km) east of Kosice . At thi s service the following poem lauding the Slovak language was recited: Oh, that Slovak languageSacred language, That language of faith, 22 James R. Felak, After Hitler, Before Stalin: Catholics, Communists, and Democrats in Slovakia, 1945-1948 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009), 20. 23 See Felak, 18-21. 24 Sutaj, Reslovakizacia: zmena narodnosti casti obyvatelstva Slovenska po fl. svetovej vojne (Kos ice: Spolocenskovedny ustav SA V, 199 1), 14. 25 Quoted in Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 32. 90 SLOVAKIA-2017 I know there is none in the world [like it]. If however an angel in heaven Sings to God gratefully, He must not sing to Him other than in Slovak. 26 Hungarian Calvinists faced more than the prospect of being forced to worship in a foreign language. Further hardships affected them when believers' property was confiscated, when the state refused to pay Hungarian clergy's salaries, and when these clergy were not allowed to teach or correspond with each other in Hungarian. 27 The "Purging" At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, the Allies officially sanctioned the wholesale expulsion of Czechoslovakia's over three million Germans, as long as the expulsion was conducted in a "humane and orderly" manner. 28 They did not, however, agree to the complete removal of southern Slovakia's Hungarians, of whom historian Katalin Vadkerty estimates there were approximately 600,000 by the end of the war. 29 Instead, the Allied Powers believed the " Hungarian Question" should be worked out between the neighboring countries themselves. Therefore, Czechoslovakia had to find other means of cleansing itself from its Hungarian minority. The Benes administration thus proceeded with the expulsion of the German minority and crafted three measures by which to eliminate the Hungarians. This article addresses the methods by which the Hungarian and Carpathian German minorities were purged from Slovakia and concludes with an explanation of the unintended consequences of these policies . 26 "Odovzdanie resl ovakizacnych dekretov v Bidovciach," Kalvinske hlasy, Apr. 27, 1948. 27 Felak, I 8. 28 Philipp Ther, "A Century of Forced Migration," in Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948, eds. Ther and Ana Si lj ak (Lanh am, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 200 I), 55. 29 Katalin Vadkerty, " Hungari ans in Postwar Slovaki a," Hungarian Quarterly , vo l. 35 (Winter 1994): 11 5. 91 SLOVAKIA-2017 ' \t KAlViNSKE HLASY (lqlkava.nia, &ts l'Zru.~neho napatia, - da. si ootubl po slave ,·lastne~ Ones fa ubi) aj Pr~hadz:l na svet Pan neba i zeme. Aty sa te. tvoj slaromam. Al\'<>je dell sa ti ui tall 111/te. Ali I hho Dl'lcho<lu. Spomlnai nl lui.sne Jm· sia, aliO v ca..~h, ked' kai.dit .va[nu dlv!'lu ii viancene doby, prriite od det.stva. Vywoovaly venoval im, aby sl do ich &tycli srde IOlllml • ~ zvlutnyin kuzlom. A pripominaly tl, semienka pllvdy. dobra 3 krisy V ducliu Vet. my ii bol pl'lp-awny privi~t Pina. n& evanjella. l ~ treto cbvlle. Tlili po tom, Pre tvoj chlad a ducho111Y upadok, • a Photo 4: ln Kosice after the war, two-thirds of the city's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian. This estimate appeared in the May 15, 1946 edition of Kalvinske hlasy (Calvinist Voices). 92 SLOVAKIA-2017 The first system of ridding southern Slovakia of unwanted Hungarians was by population exchange.Jo The plan proposed that Hungarians leave southern Slovakia for Hungary while Slovaks living in Hungary would return to Slovakia and free themselves of any "magyarizing tendencies" they had acquired while living in Hungary. The aim was to restore a Slavic majority to Czechoslovakia's southern borderland, which would also provide a buffer against any future Hungarian revanchist designs. JI What is interesting about the population exchange is that, while Slovaks were allowed to voluntarily apply to move back to Slovakia, Hungarians were designated by the Czechoslovak state to return to Hungary.J 2 In total, 89,660 Hungarians relocated from Czechoslovakia to Hungary between 1945 and 1948, whereas 73,273 people voluntarily moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.JJ The Czechoslovak government so badly wanted to reverse the ethnic ratio in southern Slovakia that it circulated propaganda advertisements such as the following: 30 The popul ati on exchange was accompani ed by numerous hardships, experi enced by both Slovaks and Hungarians- See Rast islav Karaba, " Postoj katolickej cirkvi k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom a k umi esti\ovaniu presidlencov do Ciech a na Moravu v rokoc h 1946-1 948," in Zlat ica Saposova and Sutaj , Povojnove migracie a vymena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom (Presov : Uni versum , 20 I 0). 31 Sutaj, Mad'arska mensina na Slovensku v rokoch 1945-1948.· vychodiska a prax {olitiky k mad'arskej men.sine na Slovensku, (Brati slava: Veda, 1993), 59. 2 Ibid ., "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War" in Slovakia in History , eds. Mikulas Teich, Dusan Kovac, and Martin D. Brown (Cambridge: Cambridge Un iversity Press, 20 I I), 276; Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority between 1945 and 1948," in Key Issues of Slovak and Hungarian History (a View of Slovak Historians), eds. Stefan Sutaj, Stefan Franko, and Igor Baka (Presov: Uni versu m, 201 1), 233 . 33 lbid .,"S lovakia and the Hungari an Minori ty," 23 3-34; Ther, 57. Of the 89,660 Hungarians exchanged fro m Czechoslovakia to Hungary per the 1958 report by the Czechos lovak Ministry of Foreign Affa irs, this fi gure includes 34,000 who were re located outside the Popul ati on Exchange Agreemen t. For example, 3 I,780 Anyas Hungarians [those who moved to southern Slovakia after the First Vienna Award] were deported en masse in the summ er of 1945. Of the 73,273 individuals who moved from Hungary to Czechoslovakia, approx imate ly 12,000 did so outside the Population Exchange in order to partake of th e benefits the Czechoslovak state offered to those who would identify as Slovak. See Sutaj, "Ethni c Development in Kos ice after 1945," Studia Historyczne 4(20 13), 4 74. SLOVAKIA-2017 93 Do you want to become a citi zen of the victori ous Czechos lovak state? Do yo u want well-paid work in factories? Hungarian Slovaks, the Czechos lovak Republi c will not only relocate you but assure you at least as quality if not an even better economic, cultural and social environm ent than you have li ved in until now. Slovak farm ers from Hungary will cultivate fertil e Slovak land , craftsmen and entrepreneurs w ill work in Slovak firm s, and workers in Sl ovak factori es and the intelligentsia in Slovak agencies .... 34 As will be explained below, the population exchange did not materi ali ze the way authoriti es had hoped. A second means of reducing the Hungarian contingent in southern Slovakia was to deport them to work in Bohemia, many times on Czech farm s in the interior or in borderland areas . One of the primary factors for determining which Hungarians would be sent to the Czech Lands was whether or not they were able-bodied workers.35 Although deportations were carried out in three waves, the main organized deportation began on November 19, 1946.36 In total, 44, 129 Hungarians were deported to Bohemia between 1946-194 7 .37 What was troublesome about the deportations is that they occurred mainly during the winter, with deportees transported in cold wagons, under military supervision. Furthermore, many times the Hungarians who were forced to relocate had to sell their property and possessions below value. 38 Re-Slovakization (reslovakizacia in Slovak) was the final measure taken against the Hungarians to reduce their number while at the same time increasing the Slovak presence in southern Slovakia. ReSlovakization meant that those of contested ethnicity or originally of 34 Zlati ca Saposova, "St'aznosti Slovakov k vymene obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom v dokum entoch MZV C R," in Povojnove migrcicie a vy mena obyvatel'stva medzi Ceskoslovenskom a Mad'arskom . eds. Saposova and Sutaj (Presov: Uni vers um , 20 I 0), 192-93. 35 Sutaj, Mad'arskci mensina, 63. Sutaj notes that all able-bodi ed Hungari ans fro m Kosice and nearby towns ages 14-60 were ordered to work camps. 36 However, already as of November I, 1945, Demokrat reported that 12,000 Hungarians had been sent to the Czech lands as part of the first transport of Hungari ans to Bohemi a and Moravia. Demokrat, Nov. I, 1945. 37 Sutaj, " Magyar minority in Slovaki a before and after the Second World War," 279. 38 Ibid., "Slovaki a and th e Hungari an Minority," 238. 94 SLOVAKIA-2017 Slovak nationality but who had declared themselves as Hungarian, could apply for Czechoslovak citizenship. 39 The intent of re-Slovakization was to "make Slovak again" those who had magyarized (assimilated to the Hungarian nationality), perhaps in order to survive the war years under Hungarian rule. Furthermore, minorities who could prove active resistance to the Slovak or Hungarian wartime regimes were also permitted to gain citizenship. 40 Re-Slovakization also allowed magyarized Slovaks to avoid population exchange to Hungary. 41 .... h " " " .,.,,.,, - ,.,.,, Jll9Shf papsl Jt~ee prlv ttall Slov4kov z Mad'araka V• ._.,_._ • ~ had.. r•ll'(lo prl~ a..t. . . ata Slovdkov 11: Mwd'.ar-&9'• v .......,lQ&a .-d4cetJo 01'id.rovacet koml•fo v Novon. M.~te p,l)d Statrt)<(D. a $prl•vod& Barlr:tf'.fr9 .orrila 4,.~ ..._ •Wlloo t!ut N .. • p.-ckro(!:fla bl.br•nke.. Po, ..-.v•wr ~ Y prfvttaJ• aw b"abltJo~k.>' o ~ d•Je.-•ctu po.aL z.,..mbo.-•. lltor4 ,... ~ ....-...u. ~ chvtl'u. kli:"dy •• Sloviict • M•~•rska •~•a.J4 • - • • .oa ..,.,, p6d9 • cJtcO • . ..,.. .t:1t • esr,t. l l r f f o • ~ 1 ' 1 okr. . prtvtbll d•,..•cru komJNr Lapf.611'.. z. ko&i,e.lk:f o11.r«t t»"lvO,al 4-,qcac:lu oblaat.. OIIIW•t. Jnls,ektor T . Kand.-. z ~ ltlNV .,, ,No'¥4)-m Mute pOd $fatrom prlvftaJ deloe6cJu • poto,n. ....i.oo.-•t ~ • • ~ # ...-,,mJ f ·r ~t.Jclamt. V Kr.lf..-C b1u~cl prtvlta.f delec'\c'- mt.-t. koml94.r lv•o.. po - , 4 ~ m Obede odObnd.a ... d•f•sllcla do Tor"Qffe.. ltd• tu prlvlt ■J ~ II04Ma ~ SnO'llkO,. z M•f•f Yoronw oc:fqhral• Ml dcteg:6cfa do Tr•bllov•~ odlcla.f po ,>rf..,... a po ob.!orstil'enf Ude>b,-.Ja sa delea:Acla aut0bu$0'ffl CSD do l(ollc. O ~~ hudbu1 veoor prSfa de1elll::1cla S l .;tv4 k(>v z- .'\1ad'1u·:>ikn ..-o Ko.lfc.. Oet..-llicha prfvlW .,,,....!!'ml •Fovafflf "" m.me z•••upJteh·t-v• me:&ta K,o~rc ,,odqr(?d~eda M~V Pod~ck~. letoc'# z.dOraznlt. ff na.~fm ch:rom nfo le MovamJ proeJivi..~at. ale shurkovJ?m 5lav,u:o.. orwto a&y dobrc O(N!;:ontvalf • pO::nutvaJJ 2.lvo-t u n~s a porovo4vttll • pome,-~n:tt v M•d'a.r. . . . NA.lou ~ Je. •by v•etc1 n••f braua. ktort do(era-e trpcU v Mact•nkv. 11.11 ,.,,..tlll _... 4t, va...tl. •e4:d svaJtch.- t.m kde od vekov p•h"S. • tlbJI" •vo..-110 spo,l u a n•0:tt po~ I v bq(fo,rat•r-11:-, J>r'•C'I T• h1:pltu budi.t enost Ropu.bUky_ Potom prhrfta1 a:eUY<:tt ~ z.. Ro. • M•d'llr!5lc• prHMlda ONV ,1un:n!fu.. h!rr# fnfp,. l(undur • f:aJw 0$ KoJ,,.k . V u-.ene 6.ra.dftlk osfdro,,,ncef kttrnlsrc Svehla. V d<.t..-.cU Sfnv.l.kn:v !Iii M111cf•r~k• fo Ya$fflpe ..-#d, 18 ob4-f ~ o,bla.-U SA.toTa11»'"1Jh•ly. De1e,x'd"" A :sdi'.lt $l<Wen.ak-t.1 ••t J dut. C!efom di!'J,eatd• Je ~C.tlf, •k• pom,e.. y •d • ., ••• 1~<::J•hi• tu• ~o,dr,,.om: $c1o.ctt;aku. Urn •m•NlG fl•fl :Sl-o• vCd • ob.ad S.Uon.ll•u.1b•1y.,J• \o JtOClhoi,tt•h• .. V .. . - . b'f'aUa, • Mad'.,a.r,.:k• ~- uuHm&IG MAt.ci. t'l! ~IMdmf ea., _ ... ·•Plilbbky• l ~ "6«> le ,......., rd!ov• f -.urnlna• ••fbllttt•~ Ct~ovta 40,..,a:4~1.,. •4 _.dea • itvftanirn. •f• .-J s vomcrmt o n.i,mu.lC.d, •fro to vfdtet « fcb :ll•da.t:lch tv4.rf_ -.,. $1"'4•Wom ,.~hovore. kt,Qrl •• vlcdc,! ~•.., .M.v_.m-, v•~a,e otl dp.rlmn• ~t•lt1vaU no '-.l:M.. •kir>ro n.-.no'lfu:rna PQt1t•ry v Ma(fatsko ta& v mbt•Joatl, •kc aJ drn...,_ "la n•fdf,:nnu:Ju alt.ti• - . 41v.J6 • uac:Uentm a t.&ra ••- -fe a.a $.tl,Qn.~r k,!i, •U11CD,1• Iii. lrar.eble . . bud~ t;ql!ict V7'ttlt m~dd « v - - . .,._ ~ .. HO .., df-.td Ma\fari na o.kl_fuvta,e'lu •~,;ia ~.-hr.IL I• maffusJc:~ oby~ 'lt'H.,.,.. ..,..tidc-;r t az.•vl&U,YQ a 6n4y. b~cl Wb-ffv-. .,,.<::h._..,._,_ •llctt v OstTety, . . dnthd ____, .,. ~ - a.Ito lfll " " ' ' · '11'0 Y~t•ttm. ...._ Y ......... ~ h P: 'd.u'IO., n•fl'ft• • IUt..,._ ~.. f♦ t,1-ch, kkk-f prihl.twnt ~ "dtfo oralotiff 4a ....ivaai-,_,,.,., ...., . . . , _ ,._4•nka. Y ~ 1 . - u ~ t'_... m•dar,. . . ~ . - - st fftlbh ~V,IIQv. v-Ok•t,- '"' . . . . . . . . . ..,,.,,., 4iU wdt $fe~d t0f'(t ~u\ta ......._ ':a t#M~ . . IN-6 fm afc;ty~lc- t~ul)" 4 ► ....., ............. ..,... 1<1) w,I • • ~ • l ) tom. • ............ ,....• ..._,..._._.~•altou kr4tlcym veriovao)'-w orfv•tom. d•to1 oav.de1¥""a4d~ Slov•kov z Mndarwk• zad'akov•t l'oJ:,yU 11'.Ultf:t-,. ddta. uvfr.d lt, la hoct POdl• drll!dneJ matla.T$lu1J 11-t•H-s ~l..kv o,a! bye n.-.,,r. "' ot••h<-.i fht.Jab1Ul.~\t. 1,r,n ted«n StO"'•k. ,=el• nMC , . . . 19venak'-. N-. otllriru <, bot-p,odl..rs.kyi;.h pom•r<teh , Nlad'w.~\r-u • ;ffYOU.Om Prf•me:r• t•MoJ.lhl'bQ ~lo• "1e-1'a. h,n 1'tn1.lllf"CV•n• k#vlt ,ui.tc:ov. Ta><: !faPr d¥"ra l'-1••~, ~ f 1h••hH1( v M•d&l"llh tn.f: d • - •f-..t _ , IIJ .-ttt. 1>•~.a. l!a t:tetn ~...-~ ~..,. •*•tw. lt-(h>lf tt!'dfhl .... 'l-'.t.14, ~fn•du• n.1• <-•14! dv• k1r Jflbllol f"l•J• konm• tn• p.->1n~• yy-.01t• h-od nr:ttu • '"'• c•"• ,:tAle "rdr,11. l"'t.h, ,,,.,d nechlvno"' ,to n:ia.!tch Jv}nJn sulln Jt,cff-n " i,o-t rn;lll~• i:te,n-3 dnc-~ 1,:1 c~n• 1M N;C. t• ta fflil. Ptm•6. Robot111k v Mad1ar-.skt1, 1ii;,,..r9 l)l>df• vl~becnel u,l•-olry I• M.•dar:f.kn J,e: rnftvo. HOU) v~•'"'"' "odn.lky •lok •tona ft-t!-U';'."1V1.eobocit• O:lolno p0V4td.a(, ... V ,taller,flc- pla,en:t, dois-·h1no okofo f.-den • -poJ rn._ ,. n4l!IO-O<h,fk4 •• ttl-m«T nit!. Nlk'lq nd'lvntute. lobo kattltliht nl.ot.. D<,my-.. lnor:i, bo1y rotv61::tw6, •tl o.. t,,tl$len~. v~21.de •d rllmqvl•k• *-kO tell une:c'hata val'na. O(,r,r•vr,d PQffl~r,• Ml V'lfrnl s!..,_ Mof1110 cwvodat. L♦ fd1tl•n tv~l>Odil'.tka •ltut.c.Jw. &J♦ i:~i-kov4 PMl'.htf y v4k~.. •-0 u;f talt._ •ls:• lw)ly • • ~'"""'•n•tr.v htt•d' v pr-vJ'c.b d.lt&etl 1lo v-t"-eltffatt.f fr°"tu. V•tfflt •tt ,. to o•Jma a olac..-vwnfm a it f)bn~. 'ktor$'-h h<e,d:no1• l♦ •stH'WUH't'tidgll.,_ T•k twt1>r, ,.., -.:~..-,,nk tla.,. 150 ttYU. pat;tJC6~ -.. vark• n . . . .t•tNf •• )la.V"f n.JmA v vaDftarl a v •~« •kl4!~ ttodf'l4ta ,.,._bfl •t1Je ti:t._.._ • dn,_ u• • M..ad'an.kw obleb-taJO 10 mllt6nov♦ tt-.nkovllrr, Photo 5: "Kosice Welcomes Slovaks from Hungary," Demokrat newspaper April 5, 1946. 39 Sutaj , "The Magyar Minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War " 277 40 Ibid. • 41 Ibid ., " Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 232 . SLOVAKIA-2017 95 Historian Stefan Sutaj calculates that a total of 362,679 (or just over 50 percent) of Hungarians in southern Slovakia re-Slovakized, the majority out of fear of oppression. 42 For many Slovaks, postwar re-Slovakization of Hungarians was the logical payback for being forced to assimilate to the Hungarian language and culture both during "magyarization" and from 1938-1945 . Thus, on paper, Czechoslovakia got rid of its Hungarians by means of population exchange, deportation to the Czech lands and re-Slovakization. Reality proved a different matter and is addressed later. Carpathian Germans Unlike Bohemia's Sudeten Germans, the Carpathian Germans (or Germans residing in Slovakia and Ukraine's Carpathian Mountain region) did not inhabit a single territorial block. Rather, they were primarily concentrated in three areas-Bratislava, the Spis region and the Kremnica-Pravno area. 43 Carpathian Germans had worked in this territory as miners, merchants, artisans and clerics since the 11 th century and, by the 14 th and 15 th centuries, comprised between one-quarter to one-fifth of the population in what is now 44 known as Slovakia. However, German influence in the region waned and by the Second World War only 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in Slovakia, according to Ondrej Poss, director of the Museum of Carpathian German Culture at the Slovak National Mu45 seum. The German minority living in Slovakia began to fear for their lives when the Red Army approached eastern Slovakia in 1944, and they left the country in systematic evacuations as of November 194446 Evacuation numbers vary widely, but author Ernst Hochber- 42 Ibid; Ibid , Mad'arska mensina, 142. Pekar, 4 7. 44 Ondrej Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 6. 45 Ibid. (Germans acco unted for approximately five percent of the Slovak population in the interwar period-Pekar, 47). Additionally, many Germans in eastern Slovakia magyarized in the second half of the nineteenth century. 46 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 14. 43 96 SLOVAKIA-2017 ger estimates that between 57 and 85 percent of Carpathian Germans left Slovakia before 1945.47 Photo 6: Print of German blacksmith by Wilhelm Gedeon. After the war 30,000 to 40,000 returned, hoping they could continue to live and work in what had been their ancestors' homeland for 800 years. 48 Many were interned in regional camps under inhumane conditions until roughly 32,000 were sent to Germany in 1946. 49 47 Ernst Hochberger, Die Karpatendeutschen in der Slowakei (Wien: bsterr. Landsmannschaft, 20 I 0), 76. 48 Poss, Dejiny a kultura, 16. 49 Ibid .; Hochberger, 77 . 97 SLOVAKIA-2017 However, not all of Slovakia's ethnic Germans were forced to leave at the end of the war. Approximately ten to fifteen percent remained, including skilled workers who were compelled to stay and work in state agricultural and industrial firms or those who could prove their wartime resistance to fascism. 50 Some of those who did not leave benefitted from exceptional circumstances, such as Wilhelm Gedeon and his family. 51 They lived in Medzev, a town just west of Kosice known as "the Mecca of Carpathian Germans in Slovakia. " 52 I Photo 7: Wilhelm Gedeon, spring 2012 50 Matej Spumy, " Political Authority and Popular Opinion: Czechos lovakia's German Population 1948-60," Social History Vol. 37, lss. 4, 2012, 458. 51 Poss, Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku 20 rokov zaloienie, rozvoj (Kosice : Karpatskonemecky spolok na Slovensku, 2010), 12. 52 "Predseda Karpatskonemeckeho spolu Wilhelm Gedeon zaii l povojnove represie i roky normalizacie," Korzar/SME, Nov. 7, 2008 . Interestingly, former President of Slovakia Rudolf Schuster (1999-2004) hails from Medzev. 98 SLOVAKIA-2017 Born in Medzev in 1922, Gedeon was 23 years old at the end of the war. In October of 1945 an armed guard came to his family ' s home and informed them they had two hours to pack for deportation. Their belongings were to be placed in a wagon and they were to report to the school courtyard where other German families were assembled for relocation to Novaky, Slovakia, and interned until deportation to Germany. Gedeon, his uncle, grandmother and other family members dragged their wagon to the courtyard to join Medzev ' s sixth wave of deportations. However, while waiting in the courtyard, they were inspected by a doctor from the Swiss Red Cross who determined Gedeon's grandmother was too ill to go. He told the guards that Gedeon ' s whole family should be allowed to return home and stay in Medzev. The guards refused, arguing that only the grandmother and the other ill family member should stay; but the doctor persisted, asking the guards how the two elderly ones would survive by themselves. Thus the entire family was permitted to remain. Unfortunately , although they continued living in their family ' s homeland, the Germans who were not expelled faced discrimination for which they were unable to seek legal recourse. As Gedeon noted in his interview, "When we [Germans] lost our [Czechoslovak] citizenship, this was a very hard truth: if anyone beat or killed us, no penalty was levied because Germans were not citizens. " 53 Gedeon later moved to Kosice, where he worked as a civil engineer and eventually became head of the post-Communist Carpathian German Society in Kosice. 54 His story is the exception, yet it is also indicative of the unanticipated consequences of postwar Czechoslovakia' s attempt at ethnic cleansing. Unintended Outcomes What, then, were the significant unintended outcomes of the government's policies, which targeted Hungarians and Germans? First, concerning the population exchange of Slovaks and Hungarians, government officials clearly misjudged the situation when they mistakenly assumed that the number of Slovaks living in Hungary 53 Wilhelm Gedeon, interview by author, tape recording, 23-24 April 201 2, Kos ice, Slovakia. 54 Ibid. SLOVAKIA-2017 99 was only slightly smaller than the number of Hungarians in southern Slovakia 55 In actuality, 16,387 more Hungarians vacated Czechoslovakia than Slovaks returned to inhabit southern Slovakia. 56 This resulted in a problem for Czechoslovak officials who had intended to populate the southern borderland with Slovaks so as to create a barrier against potential Hungarian irredentist aspirations. Secondly, the re-Slovakization campaign did not go as planned. Although over 362,000 people in southern Slovakia changed their reported ethnic identity from Hungarian to Slovak after the war, many of these did so insincerely, providing whatever documentation necessary to re-Slovakize and remain in Czechoslovakia. Expedient, "situational" self-identification led many to affiliate with whatever nationality would allow them to stay in their families ' generational hometown, searching for stability at a time of immense uncertainty. Thousands took a chance amidst postwar chaos, deciding to reSlovakize and face whatever future challenges lay ahead at least from the known quantities of their hometowns. To a certain extent, their "insincere" decisions to identify as Slovak can be measured by the 1950 and 1961 Czechoslovak censuses, which revealed that many in the postwar period who had chosen the re-Slovakization option were ethnically Hungarian but had re-Slovakized out of fear of retaliation. 57 Sutaj records that, although some Hungarians who had " insincerely" re-Slovakized after the war did identify again as Hungarian in the 1950 census, the majority continued to identify as "Slovak." 58 Just ten years later, however, the percentage of individual s reporting as "Hungarian" on the 1960 Czechoslovak census increased by 46.4 percent from 354,532 reporting as Hungarian on the 1950 census to 518,782 on the 1960 census.59 Cultural historian Veronika Gayer, of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, describes 55 Sutaj , "S lovakia and the Hungari an Minority," 23 1. Ther, 57 and Sutaj , "Slovakia and the Hungarian Minority," 233-234. However, it is quite plausible that many of these "Slovaks" had settled in Hun ga ry centuries ago. Thus it is questionable how " Slovak" they really were. 57 Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a be fore and after the Seco nd World War," 279. 58 Ibid ., Mad'arska mensina, 144. 59 Ibid. 56 100 SLOVAKIA-2017 this phenomenon as experienced by the citizens of Kosice during the 20 th century: The city changed control five times in the course of one generation .... These successive turns of state were [the] results of superpower decisions, so they could never reflect the actual will of citizens. A part of the citizens of thi s multi-lingual city always lost during these changes, while another part tried to align themselves with the changes, and changed language and nationality during official surveys. Many of the bilingual, dual-identity citizens could tum Czechoslovak from one year to the next, and then two decades later tum back into Hungarians, if the authorities wanted them to do so. 60 Many in southern Slovakia adjusted their ethnic affiliation as necessary, a practice which makes precise data comparisons and analyses nearly impossible for contemporary historians .6 1 Furthermore, after the Czechoslovak Communist coup in February 1948, many Hungarians (originally from southern Slovakia) who had been deported to work in Bohemia after the war, returned home and appealed for their property and rights.62 Consequently, southern Slovakia did not become purely Slovak after all. Sutaj concludes, "Despite the definite reduction of the number of Hungarian nationnality inhabitants, nonetheless the postwar measures were in vain, and the Hungarian minority in Slovakia maintained its compactness and ethnic identity." 63 Third, an entire reli gious denomination declined as a result of postwar anti-Hungarian measures and resulting linguistic battles. ReSlovakization drastically reduced the number of members in Slovakia 's Reformed Church since many could not worship in the Slovak language and, due to the state's removal of Hungarian clergy from their posts (those who did not re-Slovakize), there were not 60 Veronika Gayer, " From Kassa to Kosice, Kosice to Kassa," in Remembering 1he City: a Guide lhrough !he Pas/ of Kosice (Budapest: Terra Recognita Alapitvany, 20 13), 124. 61 See Sutaj , Mad'arska mensina, 143-144. 62 Sutaj , Mad'arskci mensina , 154. 63 Ibid. , 155 . SLOVAKIA-2017 101 enough Reformed pastors who spoke Slovak. 64 For example, in 1946, out of 195 active Reformed pastors, only 23 claimed Slovak nationality. Yet for eight of these 23, their nationality was questionnable (meaning they were considered to be Hungarian and were removed from their posts). On the other hand, 172 of these 195 claimed to be Hungarian and only 80 of these re-Slovakized. 65 Photo 8: Cemetery in Banska Stiavnica Thus there were too many parishioners becoming Slovak through re-Slovakization (despite the fact that many were not proficient in the Slovak language) and too few pastors who could capably lead them in the Slovak language . 64 Sutaj, "Magyar minority in Slovakia before and after the Second World War," 275; Sutaj, Reslovakizacia, 31. This same problem presented itself in the postwar Roman Catholic Church, among others. 65 Ibid. 102 SLOVAKIA-2017 The Slovak Reformed Church's experience is significant because, as the overwhelming majority of believers were Hungarian and lived in southern Slovak towns such as Kosice, they naturally became targets of re-Slovakization efforts, which severely impacted the denomination across Slovakia. Sutaj points out that postwar Reformed Church leaders often noted that the decline of Calvinists in the Slovak population happened at the same time as re-Slovakization.66 He adds that the chaotic situation between Slovaks and Hungarians in southern Slovakia during re-Slovakization greatly affected the situation in the Reformed Church after 1945 .67 On the whole, the number of Reformed believers in what is now Slovakia decreased from 145,829 in 1930 to 111,696 by 1950, an almost 25 · 68 percent re d uction. In addition to the blows dealt to Slovakia's Hungarian attenuating minority, only approximately 17,000 of the pre-war 150,000 Carpathian Germans remained in the country by 1947. 69 Moreover, as was also true of the Hungarian minority, a glaring consequence of their expulsion was the loss of skilled labor and business acumen. In the First Czechoslovak Republic, 44 percent of Slovakia's Germans 70 were involved in business, trade or industry. According to figures taken from the 1952 "Equalization of Burdens Law," the Carpathian Germans of Slovakia were forced to abandon an excess of 9,800 farms, over 8,000 residential estates, more than 2,000 commercial properties, and over 1,000 forestry operations as well as 1,000 wineries.71 The state realized its mistake when it lacked workers proficient in boosting Czechoslovakia's postwar industrialization campaign. Perhaps the most shocking unanticipated outcome of the administration ' s carefully-crafted efforts was the fact that, just three years after Czechoslovakia was liberated, local Communists seized control of the republic. They quickly enacted policies much more concerned 66 Sutaj , Reslovakizacia, 31. Ibid., 32. 68 Jan Pesek and Michal Barnovs ky, Staino Moc a Cirkvi na Slovensku. 1948- 1953 (Brati slava: Veda, 1997), 13-1 8. In Kosice after the war, two-thirds o f th e city 's Reformed Church reported themselves as Slovak and one third as Hungarian . " Kosice," Kalvinske hlasy, May 15, 1946. 69 Hochberger, 77. 70 Isidor Lasslob, Die Karpatendeutschen im Spiegelbild der Zahlen (Kes mark: Vi vit-Verl ag / Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft Stuttgart, 2004), 8. 71 Ibid., 7. 67 SLOVAKIA-2017 103 with Czechoslovak citizens ' class status than with their ethnic affiliation.72 The Hungarian minority remaining in the country received the right to Czechoslovak citizenship in 1948 and the German minority as early as 1949 and by 1953 at the latest. 73 The change of policy from postwar discrimination against ethnic minorities to the Communist regime's obsession with class status freed many Hungarians who had expediently re-Slovakized after the war to again identify as Hungarian on the 1951 and 1960 Czechoslovak censuses. Conclusion Although many are familiar with the postwar fate of Czechoslovakia ' s three million Sudeten Germans, it is often overlooked that roughly 600,000 Hungarians and 32,000 Carpathian Germans were forced to leave the country or assimilate at that time. As a result of the Benes administration's April 1945 Kosice Program, Czechoslovakia's German and Hungarian populations (some of whom had lived on the land for centuries) were pronounced guilty by association with Nazi Gennany and what became Nazi-controlled Hungary. This verdict represented a sharp reversal from the generous rights minorities had enjoyed during the First Czechoslovak Republic from 1918 to 1938. After the Second World War, however, Czechs and Slovaks harbored resentment for wartime injustices, and many sought retribution among their German and Hungarian neighbors . Even the Benes administration petitioned the Allies for permission to expel the country' s German and Hungarian populations. When the Allies agreed to the wholesale expulsion of the German minority but not to that of the Hungarians, the government devised three methods to rid Czechoslovakia of its over half a million Hungarians. What the Benes admini stration could not see at the time was that its efforts to expel all Germans and force Hungarians to assimilate or be relocated out of Slovakia would either fail or backfire against the future welfare of the republic. Approximately ten to fifteen percent of the Carpathian Germans were permitted to stay in Slovakia for a 72 See Pekar, 53. Sutaj , " Magyar minority in Slovaki a befo re and after the Second World War," 279-28 1; Some Germ ans received citizenship as earl y as 1949. See Spumy, 462464. 73 104 SLOVAKIA-2017 variety of reasons. Moreover, southern Slovakia remained largely Hungarian when the population exchange was shown to be lopsided , when those deported to the Czech lands returned home, and when over 360,000 Hungarians expediently chose to falsely identify as Slovak. They did so in order to avoid recrimination, to maintain their livelihoods, to remain with their families, and/or to face unknown future challenges from the security of their hometowns. The German and Hungarian minorities who were in fact expelled from Czechoslovakia took with them a rich tradition of culture, skilled labor and entrepreneurial expertise. Ultimately, it can be argued that Benes' policies proved incomplete, ineffective and even injurious to postwar Czechoslovakia.  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 Kicked Out: Czechoslovakia's Postwar Policy Toward Ethnic Minorities and its Unintended Outcomes Description An account of the resource Marty Manor Mullins Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 81-104 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mullins, Marty Manor, 1976- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/556f66aa5a56254d37021922fbe960aa.pdf e1ced8063ac13be2ba366e5222b17c0a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in �62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. �SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. �64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. �SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. �66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 �SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. �68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. �SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. �70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 �SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. �72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. �SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. �74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. �76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. �78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. �SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. �80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331. � SLOVAKIA-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in �62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. �SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. �64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. �SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. �66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 �SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. �68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. �SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. �70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 �SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. �72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. �SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. �74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. �76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. �78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. �SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. �80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331. � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in 62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. 64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. 66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. 68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. 70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. 72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. 74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. 76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. 78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. 80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331.  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 Army on the Eastern Front During World War II Description An account of the resource Jan Rychlík Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 61-80 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rychlík, Jan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9b7b2d97fa591717a181b318eaf4b08f.pdf 4c337dc78bfb1987f164a8649be19d65 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 169 CONTRIBUTORS R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN, the grandson of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire, received his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1982. He wrote his dissertation on "S lovakia's Role in the 1848 Revolutions," which won third prize in the Stephen B. Roman Scholarship competition. His subsequent research on the Polereczky Hussars aroused the interest of the Hungarian government, which gave him a grant to do research in Budapest in 1988. In partnership with Jan Shekitka, Baumgarten so-founded a small cultural foundation known as the "Friends of the Dukla Pass." He taught courses at the Florida State University until 2011 when government cutbacks ended this part of his career. Afterwards, he became disabled and lives on a small pension in Tallahassee, Florida. ALEXANDER BIELICKI is currently the Program Director and lead instructor of Th e New Norway: Globalization, National Identity and the Politics of Belonging, a study-abroad program based at the University of Oslo. He holds degrees in Anthropology (B.A. University of Pittsburgh), Nationalism Studies (M .A. Central European University) and Cultural History/History of Religions (Ph.D. University of Oslo). Having previously focused on Central Europe, especially Slovakia, Bielicki now mainly teaches courses on national identity and belonging, Norwegian society and the Scandinavian Welfare States. DANIEL CERNY finished his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where in 2014 he defended his thesis "The History of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada until the Creation of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. " His main interest is Slovak immigration abroad. For his thesis, he gathered materials in archives in Toronto, Rome, and the Vatican, Prague, and other places . He participated in several scholarly conferences (East Central Europe in Exile Volume, proceedings published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and published a few articles, most recently in Slavica Slovaca 2/2015. He helped translate Andrej Bacinsky - Mukacevsky biskup (Kosice, 2015). While working for a private company, he continues as an independent historian. �170 SLOVAKIA-2017 MARTY MANOR MULLINS completed her Ph.D. in East Central European History at the University of Washington in 2013. With funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in conjunction with the Fulbright Program , she conducted research for her dissertation in Kosice, Slovakia, where she has lived and worked for seven years. Her published work focuses on Kosice and Eastern Slovakia's experience of Czechoslovakia's 1948 Communist takeover, the 1968 Soviet invasion, and the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Dr. Mullins currently teaches at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, Montana and serves as a Research Associate for the John Jay Institute. KENNETH JANDA is the Payson S. Wild Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northwestern University. He has published in comparative party politics, research methodology, and early use of computer technology in teaching and research, for which he received support from Apple Computer. In 2009, he won the Frank J. Goodnow Award for distinguished service to the American Political Science Association. His most recent books are American Parties in Context (with others, Routledge, 2016) and The Challenge of Democracy (with others, Cengage Learning, 2017). His historical narrative, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire, is schedule to be published by McFarland Books in 2018. It intertwines the lives of Emperor Franz Joseph and Samuel Mozolak, his wife's Slovak grandfather who died in 1918 during the Battle of the Piave River in Italy. JAN RYCHLIK is Professor of Modern Czech and Slovak History at Charles University in Prague and also an External Professor of Modern World History at the Technical University in Liberec. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. His principal publications include R. W. Seton-Watson and His Relations with Czechs and Slovaks. Documents 1906-1951 (two Vols., with Thomas D. Marzik and Miroslav Bielik, 1995-1996), The End of Czechoslovakia (with Jifi Musil and others, 1995), Th e Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century (in Czech - 3 editions, Bratislava and Prague, 19971998), and A History of Bulgaria (with Vladimir Pencev, in Czech, 2000,2002,2016) �SLOVAKIA-2017 171 GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, should be typed double-spaced, should include footnotes at the bottom of the page, and should be submitted in electronic format (stolarik@uottawa.ca), using either MicrosoftWord or WordPerfect. Text and format should adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. All articles will be sent to an outside reader for evaluation. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Unsolicited book reviews are not encouraged. �172 NOTES ��THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA A civic and cultural federation of Americans of Slovak ancestry Organized in 1907 DANIEL F. TANZONE President Dr. Mikulas A. Halko 1st Vice President W.NINAHOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents Justine Wesnak 2nd Vice President Jozef Kovac 3rd Vice President Executive Board Daniel F. Tanzone, W.Nina Holy, Dr. Mikulas A. Halko, Eileen S. Wilson , John G. Duch, Esq., Stephanie Seigel , John A. Holy Cynthia M. Maleski, Andrew M. Rajec, Michael J. Horvath, Theresa M. Kluchinski, David M. Blazek, Sue Ann M. Seich , Kenneth A. Arendt, Scott T. Pogorelec, Linda M. Strom, Mary Jo Savidge Milan Cuba, Youth Director Dr. Ladislav Korcek, Martha Catalano, Joseph Goda, Auditors SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS AFFILIATED WITH THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association Beachwood, Ohio First Catholic Slovak Union of the U.S. and Canada Independence, Ohio Slovak Catholic Sokol Passaic, New Jersey National Slovak Society of the U.S.A McMurray, Pennsylvania Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania The Slovak Newspapermen's Association of America SLOVAKIA $10.00 per issue � SLOVAKIA-2017 169 CONTRIBUTORS R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN, the grandson of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire, received his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1982. He wrote his dissertation on "S lovakia's Role in the 1848 Revolutions," which won third prize in the Stephen B. Roman Scholarship competition. His subsequent research on the Polereczky Hussars aroused the interest of the Hungarian government, which gave him a grant to do research in Budapest in 1988. In partnership with Jan Shekitka, Baumgarten so-founded a small cultural foundation known as the "Friends of the Dukla Pass." He taught courses at the Florida State University until 2011 when government cutbacks ended this part of his career. Afterwards, he became disabled and lives on a small pension in Tallahassee, Florida. ALEXANDER BIELICKI is currently the Program Director and lead instructor of Th e New Norway: Globalization, National Identity and the Politics of Belonging, a study-abroad program based at the University of Oslo. He holds degrees in Anthropology (B.A. University of Pittsburgh), Nationalism Studies (M .A. Central European University) and Cultural History/History of Religions (Ph.D. University of Oslo). Having previously focused on Central Europe, especially Slovakia, Bielicki now mainly teaches courses on national identity and belonging, Norwegian society and the Scandinavian Welfare States. DANIEL CERNY finished his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where in 2014 he defended his thesis "The History of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada until the Creation of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. " His main interest is Slovak immigration abroad. For his thesis, he gathered materials in archives in Toronto, Rome, and the Vatican, Prague, and other places . He participated in several scholarly conferences (East Central Europe in Exile Volume, proceedings published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and published a few articles, most recently in Slavica Slovaca 2/2015. He helped translate Andrej Bacinsky - Mukacevsky biskup (Kosice, 2015). While working for a private company, he continues as an independent historian. �170 SLOVAKIA-2017 MARTY MANOR MULLINS completed her Ph.D. in East Central European History at the University of Washington in 2013. With funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in conjunction with the Fulbright Program , she conducted research for her dissertation in Kosice, Slovakia, where she has lived and worked for seven years. Her published work focuses on Kosice and Eastern Slovakia's experience of Czechoslovakia's 1948 Communist takeover, the 1968 Soviet invasion, and the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Dr. Mullins currently teaches at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, Montana and serves as a Research Associate for the John Jay Institute. KENNETH JANDA is the Payson S. Wild Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northwestern University. He has published in comparative party politics, research methodology, and early use of computer technology in teaching and research, for which he received support from Apple Computer. In 2009, he won the Frank J. Goodnow Award for distinguished service to the American Political Science Association. His most recent books are American Parties in Context (with others, Routledge, 2016) and The Challenge of Democracy (with others, Cengage Learning, 2017). His historical narrative, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire, is schedule to be published by McFarland Books in 2018. It intertwines the lives of Emperor Franz Joseph and Samuel Mozolak, his wife's Slovak grandfather who died in 1918 during the Battle of the Piave River in Italy. JAN RYCHLIK is Professor of Modern Czech and Slovak History at Charles University in Prague and also an External Professor of Modern World History at the Technical University in Liberec. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. His principal publications include R. W. Seton-Watson and His Relations with Czechs and Slovaks. Documents 1906-1951 (two Vols., with Thomas D. Marzik and Miroslav Bielik, 1995-1996), The End of Czechoslovakia (with Jifi Musil and others, 1995), Th e Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century (in Czech - 3 editions, Bratislava and Prague, 19971998), and A History of Bulgaria (with Vladimir Pencev, in Czech, 2000,2002,2016) �SLOVAKIA-2017 171 GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, should be typed double-spaced, should include footnotes at the bottom of the page, and should be submitted in electronic format (stolarik@uottawa.ca), using either MicrosoftWord or WordPerfect. Text and format should adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. All articles will be sent to an outside reader for evaluation. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Unsolicited book reviews are not encouraged. �172 NOTES ��THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA A civic and cultural federation of Americans of Slovak ancestry Organized in 1907 DANIEL F. TANZONE President Dr. Mikulas A. Halko 1st Vice President W.NINAHOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents Justine Wesnak 2nd Vice President Jozef Kovac 3rd Vice President Executive Board Daniel F. Tanzone, W.Nina Holy, Dr. Mikulas A. Halko, Eileen S. Wilson , John G. Duch, Esq., Stephanie Seigel , John A. Holy Cynthia M. Maleski, Andrew M. Rajec, Michael J. Horvath, Theresa M. Kluchinski, David M. Blazek, Sue Ann M. Seich , Kenneth A. Arendt, Scott T. Pogorelec, Linda M. Strom, Mary Jo Savidge Milan Cuba, Youth Director Dr. Ladislav Korcek, Martha Catalano, Joseph Goda, Auditors SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS AFFILIATED WITH THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association Beachwood, Ohio First Catholic Slovak Union of the U.S. and Canada Independence, Ohio Slovak Catholic Sokol Passaic, New Jersey National Slovak Society of the U.S.A McMurray, Pennsylvania Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania The Slovak Newspapermen's Association of America SLOVAKIA $10.00 per issue � 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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-2017 169 CONTRIBUTORS R. VLADIMIR BAUMGARTEN, the grandson of a Czechoslovak Legionnaire, received his Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1982. He wrote his dissertation on "S lovakia's Role in the 1848 Revolutions," which won third prize in the Stephen B. Roman Scholarship competition. His subsequent research on the Polereczky Hussars aroused the interest of the Hungarian government, which gave him a grant to do research in Budapest in 1988. In partnership with Jan Shekitka, Baumgarten so-founded a small cultural foundation known as the "Friends of the Dukla Pass." He taught courses at the Florida State University until 2011 when government cutbacks ended this part of his career. Afterwards, he became disabled and lives on a small pension in Tallahassee, Florida. ALEXANDER BIELICKI is currently the Program Director and lead instructor of Th e New Norway: Globalization, National Identity and the Politics of Belonging, a study-abroad program based at the University of Oslo. He holds degrees in Anthropology (B.A. University of Pittsburgh), Nationalism Studies (M .A. Central European University) and Cultural History/History of Religions (Ph.D. University of Oslo). Having previously focused on Central Europe, especially Slovakia, Bielicki now mainly teaches courses on national identity and belonging, Norwegian society and the Scandinavian Welfare States. DANIEL CERNY finished his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where in 2014 he defended his thesis "The History of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church in Canada until the Creation of the Eparchy of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. " His main interest is Slovak immigration abroad. For his thesis, he gathered materials in archives in Toronto, Rome, and the Vatican, Prague, and other places . He participated in several scholarly conferences (East Central Europe in Exile Volume, proceedings published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and published a few articles, most recently in Slavica Slovaca 2/2015. He helped translate Andrej Bacinsky - Mukacevsky biskup (Kosice, 2015). While working for a private company, he continues as an independent historian. 170 SLOVAKIA-2017 MARTY MANOR MULLINS completed her Ph.D. in East Central European History at the University of Washington in 2013. With funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in conjunction with the Fulbright Program , she conducted research for her dissertation in Kosice, Slovakia, where she has lived and worked for seven years. Her published work focuses on Kosice and Eastern Slovakia's experience of Czechoslovakia's 1948 Communist takeover, the 1968 Soviet invasion, and the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Dr. Mullins currently teaches at Flathead Community College in Kalispell, Montana and serves as a Research Associate for the John Jay Institute. KENNETH JANDA is the Payson S. Wild Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Northwestern University. He has published in comparative party politics, research methodology, and early use of computer technology in teaching and research, for which he received support from Apple Computer. In 2009, he won the Frank J. Goodnow Award for distinguished service to the American Political Science Association. His most recent books are American Parties in Context (with others, Routledge, 2016) and The Challenge of Democracy (with others, Cengage Learning, 2017). His historical narrative, The Emperor and the Peasant: The Start of the Great War and End of a Great Empire, is schedule to be published by McFarland Books in 2018. It intertwines the lives of Emperor Franz Joseph and Samuel Mozolak, his wife's Slovak grandfather who died in 1918 during the Battle of the Piave River in Italy. JAN RYCHLIK is Professor of Modern Czech and Slovak History at Charles University in Prague and also an External Professor of Modern World History at the Technical University in Liberec. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. His principal publications include R. W. Seton-Watson and His Relations with Czechs and Slovaks. Documents 1906-1951 (two Vols., with Thomas D. Marzik and Miroslav Bielik, 1995-1996), The End of Czechoslovakia (with Jifi Musil and others, 1995), Th e Czechs and Slovaks in the 20th Century (in Czech - 3 editions, Bratislava and Prague, 19971998), and A History of Bulgaria (with Vladimir Pencev, in Czech, 2000,2002,2016) SLOVAKIA-2017 171 GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPTS Manuscripts for possible publication should be sent to the editor. Articles should normally not exceed twenty-five pages in length, should be typed double-spaced, should include footnotes at the bottom of the page, and should be submitted in electronic format (stolarik@uottawa.ca), using either MicrosoftWord or WordPerfect. Text and format should adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style. Proper orthography and diacritical marks must be supplied for all foreign words. All articles will be sent to an outside reader for evaluation. Books for review are to be sent to the editor. Unsolicited book reviews are not encouraged. 172 NOTES THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA A civic and cultural federation of Americans of Slovak ancestry Organized in 1907 DANIEL F. TANZONE President Dr. Mikulas A. Halko 1st Vice President W.NINAHOLY Secretary-Treasurer Vice Presidents Justine Wesnak 2nd Vice President Jozef Kovac 3rd Vice President Executive Board Daniel F. Tanzone, W.Nina Holy, Dr. Mikulas A. Halko, Eileen S. Wilson , John G. Duch, Esq., Stephanie Seigel , John A. Holy Cynthia M. Maleski, Andrew M. Rajec, Michael J. Horvath, Theresa M. Kluchinski, David M. Blazek, Sue Ann M. Seich , Kenneth A. Arendt, Scott T. Pogorelec, Linda M. Strom, Mary Jo Savidge Milan Cuba, Youth Director Dr. Ladislav Korcek, Martha Catalano, Joseph Goda, Auditors SLOVAK FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS AFFILIATED WITH THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association Beachwood, Ohio First Catholic Slovak Union of the U.S. and Canada Independence, Ohio Slovak Catholic Sokol Passaic, New Jersey National Slovak Society of the U.S.A McMurray, Pennsylvania Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania The Slovak Newspapermen's Association of America SLOVAKIA $10.00 per issue  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. 43 (No. 80-81) Description An account of the resource includes Contributors; Guidelines for Manuscripts Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/14e533e17dbaf61aa52c3879dc28ee80.pdf 334a3f974c44765c01acae8e2bd879da PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ��SLOVAKIA 2017 VOLUME XLIII NUMBERS 80-81 A scholarly annual devoted to the history, literature and culture of the Slovaks the world over Editor M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa Editorial Board ROBERTK . EVANSON University of Missouri I MICHAEL NOV AK I American Enterprise Institute JAMES R. FELAK University of Washington PETER PETRO University of British Columbia CAROL S. LEFF University of Illinois PATRICIA KRAFCIK The Evergreen State College Publisher Slovak League of America 205 Madison Street Passaic, NJ 07055, USA Inquiries regarding subscriptions should be sent to the above address. The cost of a single issue is U.S. $10.00 Manuscripts for possible publication and books for review should be sent to the editor at 22 Bren-Maur Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2J 3Z7 stolarik@uottawa.ca ��Table of Contents ARTICLES More Slovaks in the U.S. than Czechs? Who Says? When and Where? Kenneth Janda ..... ..... .... .... ... ..... ........ ... .. ...... ...... ... ........................ 7 A Survey of Slovak Communities of the Byzantine Rite in Canada before they Received their Own Bishopric Daniel Cerny .. ... .... ... .. .. ...... ... .... ..... .. ... ........ ..... ... ... ..... ... ..... ..... .. 28 The Slovak Army on the Eastern Front During World War II Jan Rychlik ...... ................... ...... ... ... .... .... .. ....... ...... ... ... ........ ....... 61 Kicked Out: Czechoslovakia' s Postwar Policy Toward Ethnic Minorities and its Unintended Outcomes Marty Manor Mullins ....... .......... .... ... ......... .......... ............... ....... 81 Invoking the Nation, Strengthening Devotion: National Discourse at the Slovak National Pilgrimage Alexander Bie/icky ........ ................................... .. ...... .. .......... .... 105 LITERATURE Siberia: A Slovak Folk Tale R. Vladimir Baumgarten ..... ....... ...... ... ....... .................. ............ 133 REVIEWS Jozef Klempa, Maje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. M Mark Stolarik .......... .. .. ...... ........... ..... .......................... ........ 151 Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Jan Lanicek .. .. .... ....... .. .. .. .. .. .. .......... .. ............................. .... .. .... 152 �4 SLOVAKIA-2017 Paul Robert Magosci, With Their Backs to the Mountains. Keith P. Dyrud ......... ........ ......................................................... 156 Valerian Bystricky, Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu. Gregory C. Ference ......... .... .................................... .. ........... .... 15 8 Pal'o Carnogursky, Suboj s komunizmom. Jan Rychlik ..... .. ................................... ............................. ....... . 161 James Krapfl , Revolution with a human Face. Jura) Hocman ....... .................................................................... 166 Contributors ........................................... .... ..... ..... ........... ............... .. 169 Guidelines for Manuscripts .............. ............................................ ... 171 �ARTICLES �� SLOVAKIA Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ��SLOVAKIA 2017 VOLUME XLIII NUMBERS 80-81 A scholarly annual devoted to the history, literature and culture of the Slovaks the world over Editor M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa Editorial Board ROBERTK . EVANSON University of Missouri I MICHAEL NOV AK I American Enterprise Institute JAMES R. FELAK University of Washington PETER PETRO University of British Columbia CAROL S. LEFF University of Illinois PATRICIA KRAFCIK The Evergreen State College Publisher Slovak League of America 205 Madison Street Passaic, NJ 07055, USA Inquiries regarding subscriptions should be sent to the above address. The cost of a single issue is U.S. $10.00 Manuscripts for possible publication and books for review should be sent to the editor at 22 Bren-Maur Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2J 3Z7 stolarik@uottawa.ca ��Table of Contents ARTICLES More Slovaks in the U.S. than Czechs? Who Says? When and Where? Kenneth Janda ..... ..... .... .... ... ..... ........ ... .. ...... ...... ... ........................ 7 A Survey of Slovak Communities of the Byzantine Rite in Canada before they Received their Own Bishopric Daniel Cerny .. ... .... ... .. .. ...... ... .... ..... .. ... ........ ..... ... ... ..... ... ..... ..... .. 28 The Slovak Army on the Eastern Front During World War II Jan Rychlik ...... ................... ...... ... ... .... .... .. ....... ...... ... ... ........ ....... 61 Kicked Out: Czechoslovakia' s Postwar Policy Toward Ethnic Minorities and its Unintended Outcomes Marty Manor Mullins ....... .......... .... ... ......... .......... ............... ....... 81 Invoking the Nation, Strengthening Devotion: National Discourse at the Slovak National Pilgrimage Alexander Bie/icky ........ ................................... .. ...... .. .......... .... 105 LITERATURE Siberia: A Slovak Folk Tale R. Vladimir Baumgarten ..... ....... ...... ... ....... .................. ............ 133 REVIEWS Jozef Klempa, Maje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. M Mark Stolarik .......... .. .. ...... ........... ..... .......................... ........ 151 Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Jan Lanicek .. .. .... ....... .. .. .. .. .. .. .......... .. ............................. .... .. .... 152 �4 SLOVAKIA-2017 Paul Robert Magosci, With Their Backs to the Mountains. Keith P. Dyrud ......... ........ ......................................................... 156 Valerian Bystricky, Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu. Gregory C. Ference ......... .... .................................... .. ........... .... 15 8 Pal'o Carnogursky, Suboj s komunizmom. Jan Rychlik ..... .. ................................... ............................. ....... . 161 James Krapfl , Revolution with a human Face. Jura) Hocman ....... .................................................................... 166 Contributors ........................................... .... ..... ..... ........... ............... .. 169 Guidelines for Manuscripts .............. ............................................ ... 171 �ARTICLES �� 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 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. 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 2017 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 Published By THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA SLOVAKIA 2017 VOLUME XLIII NUMBERS 80-81 A scholarly annual devoted to the history, literature and culture of the Slovaks the world over Editor M. MARK STOLARIK University of Ottawa Editorial Board ROBERTK . EVANSON University of Missouri I MICHAEL NOV AK I American Enterprise Institute JAMES R. FELAK University of Washington PETER PETRO University of British Columbia CAROL S. LEFF University of Illinois PATRICIA KRAFCIK The Evergreen State College Publisher Slovak League of America 205 Madison Street Passaic, NJ 07055, USA Inquiries regarding subscriptions should be sent to the above address. The cost of a single issue is U.S. $10.00 Manuscripts for possible publication and books for review should be sent to the editor at 22 Bren-Maur Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2J 3Z7 stolarik@uottawa.ca Table of Contents ARTICLES More Slovaks in the U.S. than Czechs? Who Says? When and Where? Kenneth Janda ..... ..... .... .... ... ..... ........ ... .. ...... ...... ... ........................ 7 A Survey of Slovak Communities of the Byzantine Rite in Canada before they Received their Own Bishopric Daniel Cerny .. ... .... ... .. .. ...... ... .... ..... .. ... ........ ..... ... ... ..... ... ..... ..... .. 28 The Slovak Army on the Eastern Front During World War II Jan Rychlik ...... ................... ...... ... ... .... .... .. ....... ...... ... ... ........ ....... 61 Kicked Out: Czechoslovakia' s Postwar Policy Toward Ethnic Minorities and its Unintended Outcomes Marty Manor Mullins ....... .......... .... ... ......... .......... ............... ....... 81 Invoking the Nation, Strengthening Devotion: National Discourse at the Slovak National Pilgrimage Alexander Bie/icky ........ ................................... .. ...... .. .......... .... 105 LITERATURE Siberia: A Slovak Folk Tale R. Vladimir Baumgarten ..... ....... ...... ... ....... .................. ............ 133 REVIEWS Jozef Klempa, Maje skusenosti za svetovej vojny. M Mark Stolarik .......... .. .. ...... ........... ..... .......................... ........ 151 Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Mapping Jewish Loyalties in Interwar Slovakia. Jan Lanicek .. .. .... ....... .. .. .. .. .. .. .......... .. ............................. .... .. .... 152 4 SLOVAKIA-2017 Paul Robert Magosci, With Their Backs to the Mountains. Keith P. Dyrud ......... ........ ......................................................... 156 Valerian Bystricky, Zahranicnopoliticke suvislosti vzniku Slovenskeho statu. Gregory C. Ference ......... .... .................................... .. ........... .... 15 8 Pal'o Carnogursky, Suboj s komunizmom. Jan Rychlik ..... .. ................................... ............................. ....... . 161 James Krapfl , Revolution with a human Face. Jura) Hocman ....... .................................................................... 166 Contributors ........................................... .... ..... ..... ........... ............... .. 169 Guidelines for Manuscripts .............. ............................................ ... 171 ARTICLES  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. 43 (No. 80-81) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017