10 50 763 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c9ed2e91498017d25650811bd9236dcb.pdf 8dea548c4a3cbc31b7702391beb76524 PDF Text Text VOL. X SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, l lr IN THIS ISSUE : J. G. KOHL AND 111-IE SLOVAKS WAS T. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK OR:IGIN? MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVA1K,IA CHUR:CHES IN A VISE NEJW S"DRICTURiES ON BBNES CONTEJMiPORARY TENDEJNOIES EN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY LET'S PUT SLOVAK ·I N THE Ol.JiRmCULUM OASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: CACH1'ICE COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY " MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS AND EX]LES WHEJRE ALL ROADS BND ABOUT 1~fE AUTHORS BOOK RE\li]EWS WHO SAID IT - 6, 13, 24, 37, 64 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Published by T H E SLOVAK LEAGU E OF AMERI CA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAK.IA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL SLOVAK.IA EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROl\l SLOVAK IIISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA , Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM., Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J . Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, harJ struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. �SLO VAK IA Published by the Slovak League of Ame rica VOL. X NO. 7 (32 ) SE PTEMBER- DIECEM'BE'R, 1960 1 Accordi111g to tts new Oonsti'tu,. tion, the old Masarylk.JBenes Czecho-&lovak Republic (CSR) is now offieia,l,ey caliled the Czecho-&lovak Socialist Repulblic (CSSR). Weill, that haipless country was a socialistic state froon its inception. Masaeyk and Benes, and their con,t roHed proipa,gianda a,pparatus, told the world that CSR meant Czecho-Slovak Repulblic, but to the Ozechs it ailways did mean Czech Soc ial ist Republic. Adding one more S" to the aibbre'Via<ted furm reaiH,y changed nothirug, ex:cept perhaps to have CSSR read: OZE• liigion or ,go to the Saicraiments. Slovak teachers who attend Mass are blaclclisted and ultimately replaced. "'IlHEY NiEViER HAID IT SO GOOD" is continued to be used by the Czechs in reference to the Slovaks. Nothing has changed in this regard: Masa,cyk a,nd Benes used the e:,cpression before the Czech Reds took over. ]n eastern Slo,v akia, however, accordring to the communist dai1ly RRiA.VlDA, peoiple 'look in vain for chlildren's wear, ladies underthings, and furORD-SOVIET SOOiiA[.JSf!' REPUB- nitmre; chocofate candy, too, is LIC. The Slovaks have n-0 voice. ra,reLy found in, the stores. 11 AlN A'I10MIC HESEAIRCH CEINRED PRIAGll.JE blows hot and 'I1ER was recen1tlry set up by Czech cold on Israel. I1: used to f.Ull'nish a,tomic ®ecialists in Rez, a villa;ge just north of Praig,ue. 'I1he project wa's under the directi.on atomdc specialists. o,£ Russi-an Czech techniciws M"e being trained by the Soviet Russian engineer Roonanov. Thus far some eiighty lai,ge buildings hav-e been built; nearing coonpletion i s a radrio-chemical research institute which is 140 meters 1-ong. 1 Israel with weapons and m11.mitions; a[so toohnici,a ns. Then it held odif support for a while. Now the Czech Red'S have odifered Israeli authorities data on the Eichmann case to emlbarrass and discredit Gerunan,y and its people in the eyes of the world. Tlhe old Czech game of duplicity never ends. . WiHiAT H.AiPiPIIDNm to the so" " "' 'IlHlE BRI.ATISLA.1\7A RJAD[O, on catlled ''Council of Free CzechosloNovemlber 17, related about the vadcia"? Ax:cording to t,h e Czechs prdblem of gara,ges, revea'1ing that themsie1'ves, it foH apart soone there were no mor,e than 300 au- months a•go when adl but representos i,n Kosice, the second 1-ai,gest tatives of the Czech Nazis wandoned it. J. Lett.rich, Fr. Nemec,. city in Slovakia. R. Frastaoky, Fedor Hodza, Ste• • • 'IlHJE CZECH REDS in~st thait. phen Osusky, J . Cerny, J. Mrazek,. aill teachers in Slovakia break with A. Heidrich, A. Prochazlm, V. Ma-the Cathollic Ohurch and becoone I jer, aind V. Fedinec alleged[,y quit the chief propagators of atheism. 1the outfit because they were fed' Their childtren must not study re- wp wtllth Dr. Peter Zenkl's dicta<to- �2 SLOVAKIA rial condluct. After Dr. Hulbert Riiipka's death, Dr. Zenkil was regarded as No. 1 representaltive Olf the late Dr. Edward Benes' Czech National Socia,list ~Czech Nazi) Party. tics, 638,516 people owned regular radio sets in 1960, whJ1le 74,778 people had "wired" broadcasts. The population o,f Sloivakia is over the four mi1b!Jio·n m'a rk. DR. m'I1E)R ZElNlKIL s~gned the recerut memorandtliIIl Olf the OFC anent the forced eJQPU!lsion Olf the Sudeten Germans, a<Xording to which the Czechs under Zenkl declare that the "Gemna,n question" Olf Czecho.SloV'alcia is forever settled. The memo caused quite a stir in West Germany and a:lso aimong exiJe growps in the USA. Dr. Zemel happens to be the chairma,n Olf the Aissemfbliy oif Captive European Nlabions organization, so the memo Olf the OFC casts a darlk shadoiw over the latter. This is deeply resented by the represenltati<ves of the other exiQe growps oif AIOEN. The No. 1, Czech Nazi's days as chairman oif ACEN defrnitelry seem to be numlbered. "SIU'N[)!AJY NIEIE(I) NlOT BE ON SUINIDAIY," accordin,g to the Bratislav,a 'PRAOA' 'oif Novel!lllber 27. Czech Reds tel11 the Slovaks tha-t the work week wiU be shortened from 48 to 40 hours, BIUT quotas must be met. In other words : what can be done in. 48 hours, IDJUst be done in 40. When the chanige will cOIIIle, however, no one see<rns to know. "A da\Y Olf rest," says the Red mouthpiece,- "can be any day, no't necessarily Sunday, a,nd when the Party orders the people to work on Slunday, the(Y must work on Sunday." Obv<iouslry, the Reds wihl never quirt fighting religion. The vast madority oif Slovak.s are Catholic; they want to go to church on Sund!ay, but the Reds say: the Party comes first! OCTOOER 4, 1960, marked the bi..cen'tennial oif the birth oif the great Slovak ,patriot Alexander Cardinal Rudnay who wHl always be rememlbered :fior his expres,. sion: "I aim a Slovak, and I shall remaJn a Slovak even ilf I occwpy the chalir oif Peter!" Born in Svaty Kriz nad VahOIIIl, Slovakia, October 4, 1760, Cardinal Rudnaiy died Sepbemiber IB, 11831. THIE 60 BUSIES of Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia, are equirprped with radio receivers, the "Praca" paper Olf Biratisl:a,va informs its readers. It adds, however, that soonebod\Y is qutite negligent, because the radios that function can be C01U,nited on the firugers Olf one hand. I!N SLOVAlIGA the people are bei'll!g heavily lectured on the ''conlfllict between science and reliigion." The Red;s under the tutetage oif Moscow must prove to the Slov~s thait ".r,elilgion is necessacy on,1,y for the weak, the strong do not need it." 'I1hat's 1ike tehlillJg the Slovaks they do not need s.clt! • • • .BRAYIERiBOOKS are ndt avail- alble for the people Olf Slovakia. Almeri-can cousins have been anS1Wering the caMs for more, but the Ozech Red regime began to stamp· the Heims "not allowed" and returned them to the senders. Now we learn tha.t the Redis decided to pr:init a111d sell prayerbooks to Slovaks in the USA to get more Almericam, $$$. Now they tell the Slovaks that the short• AOCORDIING TO od'lficial startis- a,g e oif prayerbook!s is caused by �SLOVAKIA American .iJmiperiaHsts. The Reds and are don't miss a trielk constantly thinking up new ones to deceive and coruf.use their slaves. • • • R.AID[O FREE EUROBE has re- organized ills "Czec'ho-Sllo,v ak" unirt in Munich, firing 18 emp}oyoos: Bena,, Koditun, Kuihanek, Eriban, Meloun, Schneider, Pejslmr, Suda, Stolick,a, Schott, Sklilbova, Vanek (-a,H Czechs); and Bel"ger-Belak, Kovac, Petrovic, Kr,uxliak, Sepiilk:o, and Steifaneik (Slovaks). Jit seems thart A,merican '"l1R'UTH DOULJAlRS" have caused a lot of people to stra,y from the truth, and we don't necessard1y mean any of those fired either. Let's see how man.y fomner ~ emploiyees spied for the Red Czech's? THIE OAIUSE of the latest wholesaJe dismissail has been zeatlously kept from the notice of America,n s who paiy the biUs for the muliti-miHion-dohlar RIAIDIO FRi0E EUROOE organization. Now we have it from our Munich source that the aibove were fired because they were among the 28 Slovak and Czech employees who had dared to protest agalinst the appointment of one Osiwa:ld Kositrlb1a as head of the Czecho-Sfovak section by the boss of RIFE's opera.ti'n,g center in Munich, Eric Hazeilhoif. When the smoke deared, Hazelhof was forced to resign, a-long with M. C. MaoNei4rl, the _pers0Tu11ell ,d irrector, anld David Penn, a politilcal conrsurlitant. The protest against Kosltrba charged that Kosrtroa• was not quaHfied• for the jolb, opposed to R'FIE's goals, and comrpromi'sed by strorug pro-COIIIllmundst contacts which da;ted bacik to the war and Dr. Benes' espiona,g•e 3 outfit. Kostr;ba, the protesrtors clalirned, was assocfated with L. Freund (Frejka), a communisit agent later executed by the Czech Reds Ln, the Slansiky trial (:1952), and wiith one Mr. Frenzel', a Bavarian deputy recentI,y arrested by the Bavarian poHce fur his connection with the Kostrlba gro,uip. lit is not a secrelt that wilthin the past four or five years more than a dozen of the R'FIE's Czech staff embarrassed its sponsor by defecting to the Ea,s t and then, vi.liif~n,g them from Radfo Pralgue. In 195:8 one F. Machacek jumped the curain. Two y,e ars earlier, the Frenth poHce had repo1'1ed· him as an enemy a,gent, but the RJFIE stubbomil y insisted on retairrin,g him as irts Czech represenltatirve in Paris. The reward for exiposiirug Czech Red a•g ents in RJFlE: dismissa'1. MBlions of "Truth Dol'lars" coJilected from Americans by the Cruisad-e For 'Freedom went to the crusaders for slavecy. wm Amerkans ever learn? The least we can do: r~ ques,t Congress to investilgate Radio Free ffiuwpe and the other acrtivities of the Free Europe Coanmi ttee. OZEOH REOS seem to enjoy havin1g their country caHed "the arsena,l of the communiist wor.ld." Wearpon.s and munitions are going to Cwba, Red China, Laos, and the Africa,n counrtries. Technicians a'lso·. The Czechs seem to be the "chosen people" of Moscow. Mlasaryrk, a·n d Benes certainrly worked •~mirades" with the Czechs from 1918 to 194'8, makd•n g their natlion as Red as the bloody emipire olf Moscow. Fo·r thiSJ the United Sta•tes honored T. G. Ma&aryk with a "Champion Olf Lilberty" postage stamp. What mockery! � VOL. X SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, l lr IN THIS ISSUE : J. G. KOHL AND 111-IE SLOVAKS WAS T. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK OR:IGIN? MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVA1K,IA CHUR:CHES IN A VISE NEJW S"DRICTURiES ON BBNES CONTEJMiPORARY TENDEJNOIES EN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY LET'S PUT SLOVAK ·I N THE Ol.JiRmCULUM OASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: CACH1'ICE COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY " MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS AND EX]LES WHEJRE ALL ROADS BND ABOUT 1~fE AUTHORS BOOK RE\li]EWS WHO SAID IT - 6, 13, 24, 37, 64 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Published by T H E SLOVAK LEAGU E OF AMERI CA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAK.IA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL SLOVAK.IA EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROl\l SLOVAK IIISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA , Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM., Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J . Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, harJ struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. �SLO VAK IA Published by the Slovak League of Ame rica VOL. X NO. 7 (32 ) SE PTEMBER- DIECEM'BE'R, 1960 1 Accordi111g to tts new Oonsti'tu,. tion, the old Masarylk.JBenes Czecho-&lovak Republic (CSR) is now offieia,l,ey caliled the Czecho-&lovak Socialist Repulblic (CSSR). Weill, that haipless country was a socialistic state froon its inception. Masaeyk and Benes, and their con,t roHed proipa,gianda a,pparatus, told the world that CSR meant Czecho-Slovak Repulblic, but to the Ozechs it ailways did mean Czech Soc ial ist Republic. Adding one more S" to the aibbre'Via<ted furm reaiH,y changed nothirug, ex:cept perhaps to have CSSR read: OZE• liigion or ,go to the Saicraiments. Slovak teachers who attend Mass are blaclclisted and ultimately replaced. "'IlHEY NiEViER HAID IT SO GOOD" is continued to be used by the Czechs in reference to the Slovaks. Nothing has changed in this regard: Masa,cyk a,nd Benes used the e:,cpression before the Czech Reds took over. ]n eastern Slo,v akia, however, accordring to the communist dai1ly RRiA.VlDA, peoiple 'look in vain for chlildren's wear, ladies underthings, and furORD-SOVIET SOOiiA[.JSf!' REPUB- nitmre; chocofate candy, too, is LIC. The Slovaks have n-0 voice. ra,reLy found in, the stores. 11 AlN A'I10MIC HESEAIRCH CEINRED PRIAGll.JE blows hot and 'I1ER was recen1tlry set up by Czech cold on Israel. I1: used to f.Ull'nish a,tomic ®ecialists in Rez, a villa;ge just north of Praig,ue. 'I1he project wa's under the directi.on atomdc specialists. o,£ Russi-an Czech techniciws M"e being trained by the Soviet Russian engineer Roonanov. Thus far some eiighty lai,ge buildings hav-e been built; nearing coonpletion i s a radrio-chemical research institute which is 140 meters 1-ong. 1 Israel with weapons and m11.mitions; a[so toohnici,a ns. Then it held odif support for a while. Now the Czech Red'S have odifered Israeli authorities data on the Eichmann case to emlbarrass and discredit Gerunan,y and its people in the eyes of the world. Tlhe old Czech game of duplicity never ends. . WiHiAT H.AiPiPIIDNm to the so" " "' 'IlHlE BRI.ATISLA.1\7A RJAD[O, on catlled ''Council of Free CzechosloNovemlber 17, related about the vadcia"? Ax:cording to t,h e Czechs prdblem of gara,ges, revea'1ing that themsie1'ves, it foH apart soone there were no mor,e than 300 au- months a•go when adl but representos i,n Kosice, the second 1-ai,gest tatives of the Czech Nazis wandoned it. J. Lett.rich, Fr. Nemec,. city in Slovakia. R. Frastaoky, Fedor Hodza, Ste• • • 'IlHJE CZECH REDS in~st thait. phen Osusky, J . Cerny, J. Mrazek,. aill teachers in Slovakia break with A. Heidrich, A. Prochazlm, V. Ma-the Cathollic Ohurch and becoone I jer, aind V. Fedinec alleged[,y quit the chief propagators of atheism. 1the outfit because they were fed' Their childtren must not study re- wp wtllth Dr. Peter Zenkl's dicta<to- �2 SLOVAKIA rial condluct. After Dr. Hulbert Riiipka's death, Dr. Zenkil was regarded as No. 1 representaltive Olf the late Dr. Edward Benes' Czech National Socia,list ~Czech Nazi) Party. tics, 638,516 people owned regular radio sets in 1960, whJ1le 74,778 people had "wired" broadcasts. The population o,f Sloivakia is over the four mi1b!Jio·n m'a rk. DR. m'I1E)R ZElNlKIL s~gned the recerut memorandtliIIl Olf the OFC anent the forced eJQPU!lsion Olf the Sudeten Germans, a<Xording to which the Czechs under Zenkl declare that the "Gemna,n question" Olf Czecho.SloV'alcia is forever settled. The memo caused quite a stir in West Germany and a:lso aimong exiJe growps in the USA. Dr. Zemel happens to be the chairma,n Olf the Aissemfbliy oif Captive European Nlabions organization, so the memo Olf the OFC casts a darlk shadoiw over the latter. This is deeply resented by the represenltati<ves of the other exiQe growps oif AIOEN. The No. 1, Czech Nazi's days as chairman oif ACEN defrnitelry seem to be numlbered. "SIU'N[)!AJY NIEIE(I) NlOT BE ON SUINIDAIY," accordin,g to the Bratislav,a 'PRAOA' 'oif Novel!lllber 27. Czech Reds tel11 the Slovaks tha-t the work week wiU be shortened from 48 to 40 hours, BIUT quotas must be met. In other words : what can be done in. 48 hours, IDJUst be done in 40. When the chanige will cOIIIle, however, no one see<rns to know. "A da\Y Olf rest," says the Red mouthpiece,- "can be any day, no't necessarily Sunday, a,nd when the Party orders the people to work on Slunday, the(Y must work on Sunday." Obv<iouslry, the Reds wihl never quirt fighting religion. The vast madority oif Slovak.s are Catholic; they want to go to church on Sund!ay, but the Reds say: the Party comes first! OCTOOER 4, 1960, marked the bi..cen'tennial oif the birth oif the great Slovak ,patriot Alexander Cardinal Rudnay who wHl always be rememlbered :fior his expres,. sion: "I aim a Slovak, and I shall remaJn a Slovak even ilf I occwpy the chalir oif Peter!" Born in Svaty Kriz nad VahOIIIl, Slovakia, October 4, 1760, Cardinal Rudnaiy died Sepbemiber IB, 11831. THIE 60 BUSIES of Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia, are equirprped with radio receivers, the "Praca" paper Olf Biratisl:a,va informs its readers. It adds, however, that soonebod\Y is qutite negligent, because the radios that function can be C01U,nited on the firugers Olf one hand. I!N SLOVAlIGA the people are bei'll!g heavily lectured on the ''conlfllict between science and reliigion." The Red;s under the tutetage oif Moscow must prove to the Slov~s thait ".r,elilgion is necessacy on,1,y for the weak, the strong do not need it." 'I1hat's 1ike tehlillJg the Slovaks they do not need s.clt! • • • .BRAYIERiBOOKS are ndt avail- alble for the people Olf Slovakia. Almeri-can cousins have been anS1Wering the caMs for more, but the Ozech Red regime began to stamp· the Heims "not allowed" and returned them to the senders. Now we learn tha.t the Redis decided to pr:init a111d sell prayerbooks to Slovaks in the USA to get more Almericam, $$$. Now they tell the Slovaks that the short• AOCORDIING TO od'lficial startis- a,g e oif prayerbook!s is caused by �SLOVAKIA American .iJmiperiaHsts. The Reds and are don't miss a trielk constantly thinking up new ones to deceive and coruf.use their slaves. • • • R.AID[O FREE EUROBE has re- organized ills "Czec'ho-Sllo,v ak" unirt in Munich, firing 18 emp}oyoos: Bena,, Koditun, Kuihanek, Eriban, Meloun, Schneider, Pejslmr, Suda, Stolick,a, Schott, Sklilbova, Vanek (-a,H Czechs); and Bel"ger-Belak, Kovac, Petrovic, Kr,uxliak, Sepiilk:o, and Steifaneik (Slovaks). Jit seems thart A,merican '"l1R'UTH DOULJAlRS" have caused a lot of people to stra,y from the truth, and we don't necessard1y mean any of those fired either. Let's see how man.y fomner ~ emploiyees spied for the Red Czech's? THIE OAIUSE of the latest wholesaJe dismissail has been zeatlously kept from the notice of America,n s who paiy the biUs for the muliti-miHion-dohlar RIAIDIO FRi0E EUROOE organization. Now we have it from our Munich source that the aibove were fired because they were among the 28 Slovak and Czech employees who had dared to protest agalinst the appointment of one Osiwa:ld Kositrlb1a as head of the Czecho-Sfovak section by the boss of RIFE's opera.ti'n,g center in Munich, Eric Hazeilhoif. When the smoke deared, Hazelhof was forced to resign, a-long with M. C. MaoNei4rl, the _pers0Tu11ell ,d irrector, anld David Penn, a politilcal conrsurlitant. The protest against Kosltrba charged that Kosrtroa• was not quaHfied• for the jolb, opposed to R'FIE's goals, and comrpromi'sed by strorug pro-COIIIllmundst contacts which da;ted bacik to the war and Dr. Benes' espiona,g•e 3 outfit. Kostr;ba, the protesrtors clalirned, was assocfated with L. Freund (Frejka), a communisit agent later executed by the Czech Reds Ln, the Slansiky trial (:1952), and wiith one Mr. Frenzel', a Bavarian deputy recentI,y arrested by the Bavarian poHce fur his connection with the Kostrlba gro,uip. lit is not a secrelt that wilthin the past four or five years more than a dozen of the R'FIE's Czech staff embarrassed its sponsor by defecting to the Ea,s t and then, vi.liif~n,g them from Radfo Pralgue. In 195:8 one F. Machacek jumped the curain. Two y,e ars earlier, the Frenth poHce had repo1'1ed· him as an enemy a,gent, but the RJFIE stubbomil y insisted on retairrin,g him as irts Czech represenltatirve in Paris. The reward for exiposiirug Czech Red a•g ents in RJFlE: dismissa'1. MBlions of "Truth Dol'lars" coJilected from Americans by the Cruisad-e For 'Freedom went to the crusaders for slavecy. wm Amerkans ever learn? The least we can do: r~ ques,t Congress to investilgate Radio Free ffiuwpe and the other acrtivities of the Free Europe Coanmi ttee. OZEOH REOS seem to enjoy havin1g their country caHed "the arsena,l of the communiist wor.ld." Wearpon.s and munitions are going to Cwba, Red China, Laos, and the Africa,n counrtries. Technicians a'lso·. The Czechs seem to be the "chosen people" of Moscow. Mlasaryrk, a·n d Benes certainrly worked •~mirades" with the Czechs from 1918 to 194'8, makd•n g their natlion as Red as the bloody emipire olf Moscow. Fo·r thiSJ the United Sta•tes honored T. G. Ma&aryk with a "Champion Olf Lilberty" postage stamp. What mockery! � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 VOL. X SEPTEMBER- DECEMBER, l lr IN THIS ISSUE : J. G. KOHL AND 111-IE SLOVAKS WAS T. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK OR:IGIN? MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVA1K,IA CHUR:CHES IN A VISE NEJW S"DRICTURiES ON BBNES CONTEJMiPORARY TENDEJNOIES EN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY LET'S PUT SLOVAK ·I N THE Ol.JiRmCULUM OASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: CACH1'ICE COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY " MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE HUMAN RIGHTS AND EX]LES WHEJRE ALL ROADS BND ABOUT 1~fE AUTHORS BOOK RE\li]EWS WHO SAID IT - 6, 13, 24, 37, 64 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa . • • • Published by T H E SLOVAK LEAGU E OF AMERI CA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: SLOVAK.IA AND ITS PEOPLE, Oddo; $6.00. NATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL SLOVAK.IA EUROPE, Kirschbaum; $5.00. THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROl\l SLOVAK IIISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA , Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM., Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. "CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 I;UDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J . Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, harJ struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. SLO VAK IA Published by the Slovak League of Ame rica VOL. X NO. 7 (32 ) SE PTEMBER- DIECEM'BE'R, 1960 1 Accordi111g to tts new Oonsti'tu,. tion, the old Masarylk.JBenes Czecho-&lovak Republic (CSR) is now offieia,l,ey caliled the Czecho-&lovak Socialist Repulblic (CSSR). Weill, that haipless country was a socialistic state froon its inception. Masaeyk and Benes, and their con,t roHed proipa,gianda a,pparatus, told the world that CSR meant Czecho-Slovak Repulblic, but to the Ozechs it ailways did mean Czech Soc ial ist Republic. Adding one more S" to the aibbre'Via<ted furm reaiH,y changed nothirug, ex:cept perhaps to have CSSR read: OZE• liigion or ,go to the Saicraiments. Slovak teachers who attend Mass are blaclclisted and ultimately replaced. "'IlHEY NiEViER HAID IT SO GOOD" is continued to be used by the Czechs in reference to the Slovaks. Nothing has changed in this regard: Masa,cyk a,nd Benes used the e:,cpression before the Czech Reds took over. ]n eastern Slo,v akia, however, accordring to the communist dai1ly RRiA.VlDA, peoiple 'look in vain for chlildren's wear, ladies underthings, and furORD-SOVIET SOOiiA[.JSf!' REPUB- nitmre; chocofate candy, too, is LIC. The Slovaks have n-0 voice. ra,reLy found in, the stores. 11 AlN A'I10MIC HESEAIRCH CEINRED PRIAGll.JE blows hot and 'I1ER was recen1tlry set up by Czech cold on Israel. I1: used to f.Ull'nish a,tomic ®ecialists in Rez, a villa;ge just north of Praig,ue. 'I1he project wa's under the directi.on atomdc specialists. o,£ Russi-an Czech techniciws M"e being trained by the Soviet Russian engineer Roonanov. Thus far some eiighty lai,ge buildings hav-e been built; nearing coonpletion i s a radrio-chemical research institute which is 140 meters 1-ong. 1 Israel with weapons and m11.mitions; a[so toohnici,a ns. Then it held odif support for a while. Now the Czech Red'S have odifered Israeli authorities data on the Eichmann case to emlbarrass and discredit Gerunan,y and its people in the eyes of the world. Tlhe old Czech game of duplicity never ends. . WiHiAT H.AiPiPIIDNm to the so" " "' 'IlHlE BRI.ATISLA.1\7A RJAD[O, on catlled ''Council of Free CzechosloNovemlber 17, related about the vadcia"? Ax:cording to t,h e Czechs prdblem of gara,ges, revea'1ing that themsie1'ves, it foH apart soone there were no mor,e than 300 au- months a•go when adl but representos i,n Kosice, the second 1-ai,gest tatives of the Czech Nazis wandoned it. J. Lett.rich, Fr. Nemec,. city in Slovakia. R. Frastaoky, Fedor Hodza, Ste• • • 'IlHJE CZECH REDS in~st thait. phen Osusky, J . Cerny, J. Mrazek,. aill teachers in Slovakia break with A. Heidrich, A. Prochazlm, V. Ma-the Cathollic Ohurch and becoone I jer, aind V. Fedinec alleged[,y quit the chief propagators of atheism. 1the outfit because they were fed' Their childtren must not study re- wp wtllth Dr. Peter Zenkl's dicta<to- 2 SLOVAKIA rial condluct. After Dr. Hulbert Riiipka's death, Dr. Zenkil was regarded as No. 1 representaltive Olf the late Dr. Edward Benes' Czech National Socia,list ~Czech Nazi) Party. tics, 638,516 people owned regular radio sets in 1960, whJ1le 74,778 people had "wired" broadcasts. The population o,f Sloivakia is over the four mi1b!Jio·n m'a rk. DR. m'I1E)R ZElNlKIL s~gned the recerut memorandtliIIl Olf the OFC anent the forced eJQPU!lsion Olf the Sudeten Germans, a<Xording to which the Czechs under Zenkl declare that the "Gemna,n question" Olf Czecho.SloV'alcia is forever settled. The memo caused quite a stir in West Germany and a:lso aimong exiJe growps in the USA. Dr. Zemel happens to be the chairma,n Olf the Aissemfbliy oif Captive European Nlabions organization, so the memo Olf the OFC casts a darlk shadoiw over the latter. This is deeply resented by the represenltati<ves of the other exiQe growps oif AIOEN. The No. 1, Czech Nazi's days as chairman oif ACEN defrnitelry seem to be numlbered. "SIU'N[)!AJY NIEIE(I) NlOT BE ON SUINIDAIY," accordin,g to the Bratislav,a 'PRAOA' 'oif Novel!lllber 27. Czech Reds tel11 the Slovaks tha-t the work week wiU be shortened from 48 to 40 hours, BIUT quotas must be met. In other words : what can be done in. 48 hours, IDJUst be done in 40. When the chanige will cOIIIle, however, no one see<rns to know. "A da\Y Olf rest," says the Red mouthpiece,- "can be any day, no't necessarily Sunday, a,nd when the Party orders the people to work on Slunday, the(Y must work on Sunday." Obv<iouslry, the Reds wihl never quirt fighting religion. The vast madority oif Slovak.s are Catholic; they want to go to church on Sund!ay, but the Reds say: the Party comes first! OCTOOER 4, 1960, marked the bi..cen'tennial oif the birth oif the great Slovak ,patriot Alexander Cardinal Rudnay who wHl always be rememlbered :fior his expres,. sion: "I aim a Slovak, and I shall remaJn a Slovak even ilf I occwpy the chalir oif Peter!" Born in Svaty Kriz nad VahOIIIl, Slovakia, October 4, 1760, Cardinal Rudnaiy died Sepbemiber IB, 11831. THIE 60 BUSIES of Spisska Nova Ves, Slovakia, are equirprped with radio receivers, the "Praca" paper Olf Biratisl:a,va informs its readers. It adds, however, that soonebod\Y is qutite negligent, because the radios that function can be C01U,nited on the firugers Olf one hand. I!N SLOVAlIGA the people are bei'll!g heavily lectured on the ''conlfllict between science and reliigion." The Red;s under the tutetage oif Moscow must prove to the Slov~s thait ".r,elilgion is necessacy on,1,y for the weak, the strong do not need it." 'I1hat's 1ike tehlillJg the Slovaks they do not need s.clt! • • • .BRAYIERiBOOKS are ndt avail- alble for the people Olf Slovakia. Almeri-can cousins have been anS1Wering the caMs for more, but the Ozech Red regime began to stamp· the Heims "not allowed" and returned them to the senders. Now we learn tha.t the Redis decided to pr:init a111d sell prayerbooks to Slovaks in the USA to get more Almericam, $$$. Now they tell the Slovaks that the short• AOCORDIING TO od'lficial startis- a,g e oif prayerbook!s is caused by SLOVAKIA American .iJmiperiaHsts. The Reds and are don't miss a trielk constantly thinking up new ones to deceive and coruf.use their slaves. • • • R.AID[O FREE EUROBE has re- organized ills "Czec'ho-Sllo,v ak" unirt in Munich, firing 18 emp}oyoos: Bena,, Koditun, Kuihanek, Eriban, Meloun, Schneider, Pejslmr, Suda, Stolick,a, Schott, Sklilbova, Vanek (-a,H Czechs); and Bel"ger-Belak, Kovac, Petrovic, Kr,uxliak, Sepiilk:o, and Steifaneik (Slovaks). Jit seems thart A,merican '"l1R'UTH DOULJAlRS" have caused a lot of people to stra,y from the truth, and we don't necessard1y mean any of those fired either. Let's see how man.y fomner ~ emploiyees spied for the Red Czech's? THIE OAIUSE of the latest wholesaJe dismissail has been zeatlously kept from the notice of America,n s who paiy the biUs for the muliti-miHion-dohlar RIAIDIO FRi0E EUROOE organization. Now we have it from our Munich source that the aibove were fired because they were among the 28 Slovak and Czech employees who had dared to protest agalinst the appointment of one Osiwa:ld Kositrlb1a as head of the Czecho-Sfovak section by the boss of RIFE's opera.ti'n,g center in Munich, Eric Hazeilhoif. When the smoke deared, Hazelhof was forced to resign, a-long with M. C. MaoNei4rl, the _pers0Tu11ell ,d irrector, anld David Penn, a politilcal conrsurlitant. The protest against Kosltrba charged that Kosrtroa• was not quaHfied• for the jolb, opposed to R'FIE's goals, and comrpromi'sed by strorug pro-COIIIllmundst contacts which da;ted bacik to the war and Dr. Benes' espiona,g•e 3 outfit. Kostr;ba, the protesrtors clalirned, was assocfated with L. Freund (Frejka), a communisit agent later executed by the Czech Reds Ln, the Slansiky trial (:1952), and wiith one Mr. Frenzel', a Bavarian deputy recentI,y arrested by the Bavarian poHce fur his connection with the Kostrlba gro,uip. lit is not a secrelt that wilthin the past four or five years more than a dozen of the R'FIE's Czech staff embarrassed its sponsor by defecting to the Ea,s t and then, vi.liif~n,g them from Radfo Pralgue. In 195:8 one F. Machacek jumped the curain. Two y,e ars earlier, the Frenth poHce had repo1'1ed· him as an enemy a,gent, but the RJFIE stubbomil y insisted on retairrin,g him as irts Czech represenltatirve in Paris. The reward for exiposiirug Czech Red a•g ents in RJFlE: dismissa'1. MBlions of "Truth Dol'lars" coJilected from Americans by the Cruisad-e For 'Freedom went to the crusaders for slavecy. wm Amerkans ever learn? The least we can do: r~ ques,t Congress to investilgate Radio Free ffiuwpe and the other acrtivities of the Free Europe Coanmi ttee. OZEOH REOS seem to enjoy havin1g their country caHed "the arsena,l of the communiist wor.ld." Wearpon.s and munitions are going to Cwba, Red China, Laos, and the Africa,n counrtries. Technicians a'lso·. The Czechs seem to be the "chosen people" of Moscow. Mlasaryrk, a·n d Benes certainrly worked •~mirades" with the Czechs from 1918 to 194'8, makd•n g their natlion as Red as the bloody emipire olf Moscow. Fo·r thiSJ the United Sta•tes honored T. G. Ma&aryk with a "Champion Olf Lilberty" postage stamp. What mockery!  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. 10, No. 7 (32) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c995ac72ffd390c31fa23e950875ebd2.pdf b522f6f9888fadcc7a71fbcf1a745668 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 4 NOTES FOR HISTORIANS J. G. KOHL AND THE SLOVAKS Constantine Culen Little ell!ough has been written about the Slovaks and their country outside of Sloviakia. But even less is known generally, even by Americans of Slovak descent, than has been made available :to English readers. Back in 1842, for ex.ample, a certain J. G. Kohl of England published five volumes under the title of "A Hundred Days in Austria," compris'ing an account of a tour througth Austri'a, Bohemiia, Hungary a:nd the then so-caUed "Mi1itary F'rcmtier." Two years later, in 1844, Mr. Kohl concluded his volume on Russia, containing hris remarks on Bulroviina, Galicia, and Moravia, which, ,as not referring iin any way to Russia, were omitted in t!he two fiirst parbs of the "Foreign Lib:riary, " but which, on account of t!heir intrinsic v,alue, he deemed a fitting sequel to !the Austrian tour. For the edifica.tion of our rreaders we are happy to reproduce parts of the volume (Chiapman and HaU, London, 1844) referring to the Slovaks and their country. lit may be well to note tJha)t Mr. Kohl, llike so many others before and after him, did not always cleair,ly dd.stli.nguish between the terms "Bohemian-Czech" and "HungarianMagyar." Nevertheless he did treat the Slovak as a distinct ethnic ent~ty. In Northern Germany, we understa,nd under the name of Aills• tr.ran every one ,w ho coones froon any part of the great AIUstr:ian conglomeration of lands, (Pr<>'Vi<led: he speaks German; bU't every weH-educated Bohemian, Hiungacian, Oroatiian, or Slovak, speaiks our language quite as well as do the people of Vienna or Sty,ria. - (p. 79). It is not Esterthaz ,b ut the t0rw.n, of Eisenstadt, which is -the chieif seat of the Esterhaey government. At the latter •town is the centraloiifice of admini-straitdon for arH the vast esta•tes, extending hence to the other side of the Pl:a-bten. Lake, as weH as nor.t'hrwaro into the Slowack cournti,y. Each of the territories or lordships is admimistered by a 1presiden.t, residing in Eisenstadt, and ifOON" counse!JJ.ors. The ,great mass of the estates i,s divided into five distrlirots, to each of which a prefeot i·s appointed, and so emensiive are thes-e, tha,t a prefect :has often to tra,vel two days to ,get dlroon one end of his district to bhe other. Under the orefects aga-in .are the directors for each single estate, with their renbmasters, stewards, agenrts, etc. �SLOVAKIA 5 Some of the -e states lha,ve .from twent,y to thirty vihlages and hamlets, and sometimes a: tow,n, of la,r ~er sdize. On the a,verage they contain about etght or ten. '11he ,o ldest castle of the IEsterhazys - their hereditar:y castl,e of Galantha, lies in the Slowack country, 1b ut the greater numlber as we11 as the langest and newest a'l"e alboiult the Neu'Siediler Lake. The ca,s tle of Eiise,nstad!t is celeboo:ted for it5 park, and its numerous treasures O!f. art. It is decorated on the outside wi!tih the busts od' Attila anid the leaders O!f. the Ma,gy,ars, - a sort o;f decoration noit wncormmon in the castles O!f. Hungary. - (rp. 178) ·M y esteemed cOODJpaniion was one of those !Hu1J1Jg,a rian literati who .p refer speaking Latin to any other 1,a,ruguage. He 1uS1Uiaill!y began by srpeaiking German, buit soon fel1l impercepti'bl!y into Latin, filnding it as he saii,d so muidh more convenient and better adaipted to coniversatwn tha·n any other tongue. He said th,a t he knew many literacy men to whom Lat,i n was by d'ar the most if.amilia·r, alith-0,u,gh on the ,whrue d1t had falle-n into disuse O!f. J,ate. He hilIIlselrf, as a Hungairian ipatriot, ipreferred· as a matter of principle, the ruse of tlhe nativ,e la,ng.uage, ,b ut when he wished to pour out hi•s heart he couild not he:lip usin,g Latin. Some, ,he said, carried their persecution of it to ,a pitch od' fonati:cism.. ''Et illts n,un,c ,pud!or est :Iaqu,i Latine, et vomnt ut canes nocturnd1 v,igHantes• Hu'Illgariae canant." With the hiuiman ,g uardians of •t he night, i,n, some !Hiungaa:-fa.n towru; where they ,h,a,v e ibeen in th•e haibit of ceyinJg tJhe hoUT fo German, this has rea,l]y ·b een requi'l"eld. [ inquired whether, as I had heard,, the ilrun!g,a rian ladies sipdke Latin, /but he said he never met <but one wlho was carpaible o:f doiirug s-0, and1 that ,wa,s a lady i£rom Presburg. 'I1h1e <Hun.ga,rian ma,gna-tes a'11 srpeak it, blUt the Slowacks are considered better and more fluent La-tinists than the IMaigy.ars. (.pp. 1191,192) The Slovaks are the prindpa,l dealers in linen, rwhiJCh they mamllfach.1ire themselves in the north-wester.n. parts o:f Hiurugary, bordertl.Jllg in Si:lesia and Mora,via, and this branch of indust ry has spread thence into other countries. As the Slov.aks a,r e the greatest manwfooburers, the Hungarians aire chiefl,y oocuipie<l i,n, the lbreed'i:n,g of ,c attle and horses; anid in the energy ,wti:t:h whic,h tlhey devote themselves to the latter, it wou[d seem as if they had not quite fongotten the a,n cient mode of 1iife O!f. their oforef.athers on the Asiatic st eppes. (p. 2'12) The 'Valleys and ,mountaiJi.s in Nortlhern Hungary, ,in,haibHed by the Slov,a'ks, likewise send out numerous colonists sourthward. Accord,i,n,g to ,t he rocotllllt of a native Hungarian aiuthor, "of aU the ionha,bitants of 'Hungary, they have the ,g reatest oind1ustroia,l skill, the most enengetic spirit of eruteroprise. Wherever they take root, they accordinglly soon s,up,I)lant and di'srplaice tJhe original ,inhalbitants, whether Gerunan,s or Magyars." There are in fact, nu·merO!U>s ex•aiffi· p'les of entire ·towns a,nd villaiges, onee solely iinihalbited by GeI\l'Iliam: and M!aigyars, bu,t now entir,el,y occupied by Slovaks . . . . the 1\fuoovwaini'S are found in ,g reat numbers· in Ru,ssia, and the O'. ey:ka[-oi (oi,Imerehants), Safra,nnitschi (sa1ii£r,on1brewers), P,J,atenniei (l.inen,dealers), gia$'lll'erehants, and wa,x--deal!ers, .iif they albound nowlhere else, albound a,t least, in an .parts of Hun,ga•r,y and G-aili~ia. (p. 3119) �6 SLOVAKIA In the laltter part of the above we have a sample of Mr. Kohl's falilure to distinquish clearly between Bohemiian and Slovak. Undoubtedly his reference was to Slovaks and not Bohemiians, because the fatter dlid not "abound in all parts of Hungary and Gal1oiia," whereas rtJhe SloV'aks did. The noble -a nd !,earned Huiruga<ri-an ,priiesfs Ql()ok do,wn somewhait scornd'UJHy upon the sirrnpliicitty of their reforuned- ibrethren. It dis soonewhait duiforent wi'th the Lutherans in the Slovak count:r,y. These Jiv-e in all'Other and very dissimilla<r spiTi:tua,l elemen:t. I wa,s assiUTed by many en~ightened Catholics, that talken on the whole, the Protestants 'in Hungax,y were far more in1tolerant than t he Oa,tholics. "H never occurs to a Ca,tho1ic," sa,i d they, ",to i,n,q,uire after a stran· g,e r's re1igio,us belief, which a iPirotestant WO'I.Jlld do Jimrrnediately; the Protestants keep much .t01gether, arud are far more exc1usive than the Caitholics." A lad,y assured me thait a'lthough she had been broUJght UIP in a convent, she ·h ad never tiJl her eilghteenth ryear known any dilierence betwen .Protestaruts -a nd Oatholiics: the folimer bancDy the ,r eproach of heresy amongst each other cfar mor,e tJhan the Ca,tholics do towards them. I give these rerrnaJI"ikiS as t•hey were made to me, ha,vinig ha:d no exiperience ,on the sUJbject m:yseLf; so much, !however, [ must say th1a,t no question respecbi1rug my reli.giou:s faith, was ever .pUJt to rrne, go where [ wowd. (p. 359) The Slovacks igener,a,Hy a·r e hand:sOIIDe; I have never seen a ifiner re~ent than the Slovack infantry rreig-irrnent, with respect to carria,g,e, form and mar,tia'1 exipression od' countenance. - (p. 380). 1 Undoubtedly other visitor,s to Hungary, particularly to Northern Hunga:ry w.here lthe SloV'aks h·a d settled way back in the 7-8-t!h centuries, wrote about it.he Slovaks and their land. Their impressions ·a nd observiations for the most part are probably ,recorded in documents covered wit!h dust in the varioUJS archives and 1ilbv8i~ies of the old world and -p ossibly even of the new wo'I'1d. Until some inquisi!tive ,a nd searching scholars come upon them, we slral!l have to rest satisfied with the sour,ces open to us which clearly prove 1:Jhat the Slovaks are ,a distinct etlmic entity . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and death . . . the idea of being united with the Soviet Union for life and death is the most importMit priniei:ple of our foreign policy, whether any one likes it or not. No government can afford to pursue anti~Soviet politics. That would be a policy .o f suicide, and the government pursuing it would (Ferdinand Peroutka, a be destroyed by the people." 12-31-47). DNESEK, Czech, Benes � SLOVAKIA 4 NOTES FOR HISTORIANS J. G. KOHL AND THE SLOVAKS Constantine Culen Little ell!ough has been written about the Slovaks and their country outside of Sloviakia. But even less is known generally, even by Americans of Slovak descent, than has been made available :to English readers. Back in 1842, for ex.ample, a certain J. G. Kohl of England published five volumes under the title of "A Hundred Days in Austria," compris'ing an account of a tour througth Austri'a, Bohemiia, Hungary a:nd the then so-caUed "Mi1itary F'rcmtier." Two years later, in 1844, Mr. Kohl concluded his volume on Russia, containing hris remarks on Bulroviina, Galicia, and Moravia, which, ,as not referring iin any way to Russia, were omitted in t!he two fiirst parbs of the "Foreign Lib:riary, " but which, on account of t!heir intrinsic v,alue, he deemed a fitting sequel to !the Austrian tour. For the edifica.tion of our rreaders we are happy to reproduce parts of the volume (Chiapman and HaU, London, 1844) referring to the Slovaks and their country. lit may be well to note tJha)t Mr. Kohl, llike so many others before and after him, did not always cleair,ly dd.stli.nguish between the terms "Bohemian-Czech" and "HungarianMagyar." Nevertheless he did treat the Slovak as a distinct ethnic ent~ty. In Northern Germany, we understa,nd under the name of Aills• tr.ran every one ,w ho coones froon any part of the great AIUstr:ian conglomeration of lands, (Pr<>'Vi<led: he speaks German; bU't every weH-educated Bohemian, Hiungacian, Oroatiian, or Slovak, speaiks our language quite as well as do the people of Vienna or Sty,ria. - (p. 79). It is not Esterthaz ,b ut the t0rw.n, of Eisenstadt, which is -the chieif seat of the Esterhaey government. At the latter •town is the centraloiifice of admini-straitdon for arH the vast esta•tes, extending hence to the other side of the Pl:a-bten. Lake, as weH as nor.t'hrwaro into the Slowack cournti,y. Each of the territories or lordships is admimistered by a 1presiden.t, residing in Eisenstadt, and ifOON" counse!JJ.ors. The ,great mass of the estates i,s divided into five distrlirots, to each of which a prefeot i·s appointed, and so emensiive are thes-e, tha,t a prefect :has often to tra,vel two days to ,get dlroon one end of his district to bhe other. Under the orefects aga-in .are the directors for each single estate, with their renbmasters, stewards, agenrts, etc. �SLOVAKIA 5 Some of the -e states lha,ve .from twent,y to thirty vihlages and hamlets, and sometimes a: tow,n, of la,r ~er sdize. On the a,verage they contain about etght or ten. '11he ,o ldest castle of the IEsterhazys - their hereditar:y castl,e of Galantha, lies in the Slowack country, 1b ut the greater numlber as we11 as the langest and newest a'l"e alboiult the Neu'Siediler Lake. The ca,s tle of Eiise,nstad!t is celeboo:ted for it5 park, and its numerous treasures O!f. art. It is decorated on the outside wi!tih the busts od' Attila anid the leaders O!f. the Ma,gy,ars, - a sort o;f decoration noit wncormmon in the castles O!f. Hungary. - (rp. 178) ·M y esteemed cOODJpaniion was one of those !Hu1J1Jg,a rian literati who .p refer speaking Latin to any other 1,a,ruguage. He 1uS1Uiaill!y began by srpeaiking German, buit soon fel1l impercepti'bl!y into Latin, filnding it as he saii,d so muidh more convenient and better adaipted to coniversatwn tha·n any other tongue. He said th,a t he knew many literacy men to whom Lat,i n was by d'ar the most if.amilia·r, alith-0,u,gh on the ,whrue d1t had falle-n into disuse O!f. J,ate. He hilIIlselrf, as a Hungairian ipatriot, ipreferred· as a matter of principle, the ruse of tlhe nativ,e la,ng.uage, ,b ut when he wished to pour out hi•s heart he couild not he:lip usin,g Latin. Some, ,he said, carried their persecution of it to ,a pitch od' fonati:cism.. ''Et illts n,un,c ,pud!or est :Iaqu,i Latine, et vomnt ut canes nocturnd1 v,igHantes• Hu'Illgariae canant." With the hiuiman ,g uardians of •t he night, i,n, some !Hiungaa:-fa.n towru; where they ,h,a,v e ibeen in th•e haibit of ceyinJg tJhe hoUT fo German, this has rea,l]y ·b een requi'l"eld. [ inquired whether, as I had heard,, the ilrun!g,a rian ladies sipdke Latin, /but he said he never met <but one wlho was carpaible o:f doiirug s-0, and1 that ,wa,s a lady i£rom Presburg. 'I1h1e <Hun.ga,rian ma,gna-tes a'11 srpeak it, blUt the Slowacks are considered better and more fluent La-tinists than the IMaigy.ars. (.pp. 1191,192) The Slovaks are the prindpa,l dealers in linen, rwhiJCh they mamllfach.1ire themselves in the north-wester.n. parts o:f Hiurugary, bordertl.Jllg in Si:lesia and Mora,via, and this branch of indust ry has spread thence into other countries. As the Slov.aks a,r e the greatest manwfooburers, the Hungarians aire chiefl,y oocuipie<l i,n, the lbreed'i:n,g of ,c attle and horses; anid in the energy ,wti:t:h whic,h tlhey devote themselves to the latter, it wou[d seem as if they had not quite fongotten the a,n cient mode of 1iife O!f. their oforef.athers on the Asiatic st eppes. (p. 2'12) The 'Valleys and ,mountaiJi.s in Nortlhern Hungary, ,in,haibHed by the Slov,a'ks, likewise send out numerous colonists sourthward. Accord,i,n,g to ,t he rocotllllt of a native Hungarian aiuthor, "of aU the ionha,bitants of 'Hungary, they have the ,g reatest oind1ustroia,l skill, the most enengetic spirit of eruteroprise. Wherever they take root, they accordinglly soon s,up,I)lant and di'srplaice tJhe original ,inhalbitants, whether Gerunan,s or Magyars." There are in fact, nu·merO!U>s ex•aiffi· p'les of entire ·towns a,nd villaiges, onee solely iinihalbited by GeI\l'Iliam: and M!aigyars, bu,t now entir,el,y occupied by Slovaks . . . . the 1\fuoovwaini'S are found in ,g reat numbers· in Ru,ssia, and the O'. ey:ka[-oi (oi,Imerehants), Safra,nnitschi (sa1ii£r,on1brewers), P,J,atenniei (l.inen,dealers), gia$'lll'erehants, and wa,x--deal!ers, .iif they albound nowlhere else, albound a,t least, in an .parts of Hun,ga•r,y and G-aili~ia. (p. 3119) �6 SLOVAKIA In the laltter part of the above we have a sample of Mr. Kohl's falilure to distinquish clearly between Bohemiian and Slovak. Undoubtedly his reference was to Slovaks and not Bohemiians, because the fatter dlid not "abound in all parts of Hungary and Gal1oiia," whereas rtJhe SloV'aks did. The noble -a nd !,earned Huiruga<ri-an ,priiesfs Ql()ok do,wn somewhait scornd'UJHy upon the sirrnpliicitty of their reforuned- ibrethren. It dis soonewhait duiforent wi'th the Lutherans in the Slovak count:r,y. These Jiv-e in all'Other and very dissimilla<r spiTi:tua,l elemen:t. I wa,s assiUTed by many en~ightened Catholics, that talken on the whole, the Protestants 'in Hungax,y were far more in1tolerant than t he Oa,tholics. "H never occurs to a Ca,tho1ic," sa,i d they, ",to i,n,q,uire after a stran· g,e r's re1igio,us belief, which a iPirotestant WO'I.Jlld do Jimrrnediately; the Protestants keep much .t01gether, arud are far more exc1usive than the Caitholics." A lad,y assured me thait a'lthough she had been broUJght UIP in a convent, she ·h ad never tiJl her eilghteenth ryear known any dilierence betwen .Protestaruts -a nd Oatholiics: the folimer bancDy the ,r eproach of heresy amongst each other cfar mor,e tJhan the Ca,tholics do towards them. I give these rerrnaJI"ikiS as t•hey were made to me, ha,vinig ha:d no exiperience ,on the sUJbject m:yseLf; so much, !however, [ must say th1a,t no question respecbi1rug my reli.giou:s faith, was ever .pUJt to rrne, go where [ wowd. (p. 359) The Slovacks igener,a,Hy a·r e hand:sOIIDe; I have never seen a ifiner re~ent than the Slovack infantry rreig-irrnent, with respect to carria,g,e, form and mar,tia'1 exipression od' countenance. - (p. 380). 1 Undoubtedly other visitor,s to Hungary, particularly to Northern Hunga:ry w.here lthe SloV'aks h·a d settled way back in the 7-8-t!h centuries, wrote about it.he Slovaks and their land. Their impressions ·a nd observiations for the most part are probably ,recorded in documents covered wit!h dust in the varioUJS archives and 1ilbv8i~ies of the old world and -p ossibly even of the new wo'I'1d. Until some inquisi!tive ,a nd searching scholars come upon them, we slral!l have to rest satisfied with the sour,ces open to us which clearly prove 1:Jhat the Slovaks are ,a distinct etlmic entity . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and death . . . the idea of being united with the Soviet Union for life and death is the most importMit priniei:ple of our foreign policy, whether any one likes it or not. No government can afford to pursue anti~Soviet politics. That would be a policy .o f suicide, and the government pursuing it would (Ferdinand Peroutka, a be destroyed by the people." 12-31-47). DNESEK, Czech, Benes � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 4 NOTES FOR HISTORIANS J. G. KOHL AND THE SLOVAKS Constantine Culen Little ell!ough has been written about the Slovaks and their country outside of Sloviakia. But even less is known generally, even by Americans of Slovak descent, than has been made available :to English readers. Back in 1842, for ex.ample, a certain J. G. Kohl of England published five volumes under the title of "A Hundred Days in Austria," compris'ing an account of a tour througth Austri'a, Bohemiia, Hungary a:nd the then so-caUed "Mi1itary F'rcmtier." Two years later, in 1844, Mr. Kohl concluded his volume on Russia, containing hris remarks on Bulroviina, Galicia, and Moravia, which, ,as not referring iin any way to Russia, were omitted in t!he two fiirst parbs of the "Foreign Lib:riary, " but which, on account of t!heir intrinsic v,alue, he deemed a fitting sequel to !the Austrian tour. For the edifica.tion of our rreaders we are happy to reproduce parts of the volume (Chiapman and HaU, London, 1844) referring to the Slovaks and their country. lit may be well to note tJha)t Mr. Kohl, llike so many others before and after him, did not always cleair,ly dd.stli.nguish between the terms "Bohemian-Czech" and "HungarianMagyar." Nevertheless he did treat the Slovak as a distinct ethnic ent~ty. In Northern Germany, we understa,nd under the name of Aills• tr.ran every one ,w ho coones froon any part of the great AIUstr:ian conglomeration of lands, (Pr<>'Vi<led: he speaks German; bU't every weH-educated Bohemian, Hiungacian, Oroatiian, or Slovak, speaiks our language quite as well as do the people of Vienna or Sty,ria. - (p. 79). It is not Esterthaz ,b ut the t0rw.n, of Eisenstadt, which is -the chieif seat of the Esterhaey government. At the latter •town is the centraloiifice of admini-straitdon for arH the vast esta•tes, extending hence to the other side of the Pl:a-bten. Lake, as weH as nor.t'hrwaro into the Slowack cournti,y. Each of the territories or lordships is admimistered by a 1presiden.t, residing in Eisenstadt, and ifOON" counse!JJ.ors. The ,great mass of the estates i,s divided into five distrlirots, to each of which a prefeot i·s appointed, and so emensiive are thes-e, tha,t a prefect :has often to tra,vel two days to ,get dlroon one end of his district to bhe other. Under the orefects aga-in .are the directors for each single estate, with their renbmasters, stewards, agenrts, etc. SLOVAKIA 5 Some of the -e states lha,ve .from twent,y to thirty vihlages and hamlets, and sometimes a: tow,n, of la,r ~er sdize. On the a,verage they contain about etght or ten. '11he ,o ldest castle of the IEsterhazys - their hereditar:y castl,e of Galantha, lies in the Slowack country, 1b ut the greater numlber as we11 as the langest and newest a'l"e alboiult the Neu'Siediler Lake. The ca,s tle of Eiise,nstad!t is celeboo:ted for it5 park, and its numerous treasures O!f. art. It is decorated on the outside wi!tih the busts od' Attila anid the leaders O!f. the Ma,gy,ars, - a sort o;f decoration noit wncormmon in the castles O!f. Hungary. - (rp. 178) ·M y esteemed cOODJpaniion was one of those !Hu1J1Jg,a rian literati who .p refer speaking Latin to any other 1,a,ruguage. He 1uS1Uiaill!y began by srpeaiking German, buit soon fel1l impercepti'bl!y into Latin, filnding it as he saii,d so muidh more convenient and better adaipted to coniversatwn tha·n any other tongue. He said th,a t he knew many literacy men to whom Lat,i n was by d'ar the most if.amilia·r, alith-0,u,gh on the ,whrue d1t had falle-n into disuse O!f. J,ate. He hilIIlselrf, as a Hungairian ipatriot, ipreferred· as a matter of principle, the ruse of tlhe nativ,e la,ng.uage, ,b ut when he wished to pour out hi•s heart he couild not he:lip usin,g Latin. Some, ,he said, carried their persecution of it to ,a pitch od' fonati:cism.. ''Et illts n,un,c ,pud!or est :Iaqu,i Latine, et vomnt ut canes nocturnd1 v,igHantes• Hu'Illgariae canant." With the hiuiman ,g uardians of •t he night, i,n, some !Hiungaa:-fa.n towru; where they ,h,a,v e ibeen in th•e haibit of ceyinJg tJhe hoUT fo German, this has rea,l]y ·b een requi'l"eld. [ inquired whether, as I had heard,, the ilrun!g,a rian ladies sipdke Latin, /but he said he never met <but one wlho was carpaible o:f doiirug s-0, and1 that ,wa,s a lady i£rom Presburg. 'I1h1e <Hun.ga,rian ma,gna-tes a'11 srpeak it, blUt the Slowacks are considered better and more fluent La-tinists than the IMaigy.ars. (.pp. 1191,192) The Slovaks are the prindpa,l dealers in linen, rwhiJCh they mamllfach.1ire themselves in the north-wester.n. parts o:f Hiurugary, bordertl.Jllg in Si:lesia and Mora,via, and this branch of indust ry has spread thence into other countries. As the Slov.aks a,r e the greatest manwfooburers, the Hungarians aire chiefl,y oocuipie<l i,n, the lbreed'i:n,g of ,c attle and horses; anid in the energy ,wti:t:h whic,h tlhey devote themselves to the latter, it wou[d seem as if they had not quite fongotten the a,n cient mode of 1iife O!f. their oforef.athers on the Asiatic st eppes. (p. 2'12) The 'Valleys and ,mountaiJi.s in Nortlhern Hungary, ,in,haibHed by the Slov,a'ks, likewise send out numerous colonists sourthward. Accord,i,n,g to ,t he rocotllllt of a native Hungarian aiuthor, "of aU the ionha,bitants of 'Hungary, they have the ,g reatest oind1ustroia,l skill, the most enengetic spirit of eruteroprise. Wherever they take root, they accordinglly soon s,up,I)lant and di'srplaice tJhe original ,inhalbitants, whether Gerunan,s or Magyars." There are in fact, nu·merO!U>s ex•aiffi· p'les of entire ·towns a,nd villaiges, onee solely iinihalbited by GeI\l'Iliam: and M!aigyars, bu,t now entir,el,y occupied by Slovaks . . . . the 1\fuoovwaini'S are found in ,g reat numbers· in Ru,ssia, and the O'. ey:ka[-oi (oi,Imerehants), Safra,nnitschi (sa1ii£r,on1brewers), P,J,atenniei (l.inen,dealers), gia$'lll'erehants, and wa,x--deal!ers, .iif they albound nowlhere else, albound a,t least, in an .parts of Hun,ga•r,y and G-aili~ia. (p. 3119) 6 SLOVAKIA In the laltter part of the above we have a sample of Mr. Kohl's falilure to distinquish clearly between Bohemiian and Slovak. Undoubtedly his reference was to Slovaks and not Bohemiians, because the fatter dlid not "abound in all parts of Hungary and Gal1oiia," whereas rtJhe SloV'aks did. The noble -a nd !,earned Huiruga<ri-an ,priiesfs Ql()ok do,wn somewhait scornd'UJHy upon the sirrnpliicitty of their reforuned- ibrethren. It dis soonewhait duiforent wi'th the Lutherans in the Slovak count:r,y. These Jiv-e in all'Other and very dissimilla<r spiTi:tua,l elemen:t. I wa,s assiUTed by many en~ightened Catholics, that talken on the whole, the Protestants 'in Hungax,y were far more in1tolerant than t he Oa,tholics. "H never occurs to a Ca,tho1ic," sa,i d they, ",to i,n,q,uire after a stran· g,e r's re1igio,us belief, which a iPirotestant WO'I.Jlld do Jimrrnediately; the Protestants keep much .t01gether, arud are far more exc1usive than the Caitholics." A lad,y assured me thait a'lthough she had been broUJght UIP in a convent, she ·h ad never tiJl her eilghteenth ryear known any dilierence betwen .Protestaruts -a nd Oatholiics: the folimer bancDy the ,r eproach of heresy amongst each other cfar mor,e tJhan the Ca,tholics do towards them. I give these rerrnaJI"ikiS as t•hey were made to me, ha,vinig ha:d no exiperience ,on the sUJbject m:yseLf; so much, !however, [ must say th1a,t no question respecbi1rug my reli.giou:s faith, was ever .pUJt to rrne, go where [ wowd. (p. 359) The Slovacks igener,a,Hy a·r e hand:sOIIDe; I have never seen a ifiner re~ent than the Slovack infantry rreig-irrnent, with respect to carria,g,e, form and mar,tia'1 exipression od' countenance. - (p. 380). 1 Undoubtedly other visitor,s to Hungary, particularly to Northern Hunga:ry w.here lthe SloV'aks h·a d settled way back in the 7-8-t!h centuries, wrote about it.he Slovaks and their land. Their impressions ·a nd observiations for the most part are probably ,recorded in documents covered wit!h dust in the varioUJS archives and 1ilbv8i~ies of the old world and -p ossibly even of the new wo'I'1d. Until some inquisi!tive ,a nd searching scholars come upon them, we slral!l have to rest satisfied with the sour,ces open to us which clearly prove 1:Jhat the Slovaks are ,a distinct etlmic entity . • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are united with the Soviet Union for life and death . . . the idea of being united with the Soviet Union for life and death is the most importMit priniei:ple of our foreign policy, whether any one likes it or not. No government can afford to pursue anti~Soviet politics. That would be a policy .o f suicide, and the government pursuing it would (Ferdinand Peroutka, a be destroyed by the people." 12-31-47). DNESEK, Czech, Benes  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 J. G. Kohl and the Slovaks Description An account of the resource Constantine Čulen Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 4-6 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Čulen, Konštantín, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3517a517ce57bab4b876f2fdea21c860.pdf c08cf7a50d76a857a2102c20249c84b1 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 WAST. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK ORIGIN? P. A. Hrobak Many volumes have been written about Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, hi'S life, his concepts of r~lig,ion, history, philosophy, morals, etc. I1t is significant, however, that little has been written, even by Czechs themselves. about Masa,,ryk's ethnic origin. To be sure, tihe Czechs claim him as one of their greatest men. Accor<ling to what has been written about T. G. Masaryk, even by himself, he was, we are supposed to believe, aJt one and the same time, a Czech, a Slovak, and a "Czechoslovak." Then there is the story t!hat he wais of Jewish origin. The Slovak people did not regard Masaryk as their political or spiritual leader; he simply was not one of their kind. He did not believe in what tihe Sloviak people, as a who'le, believed in. That is why they did not !trust him. And when Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, whlch he himse•l f drafted and Sligned - an agreement that was supposed to guarantee "states' rights" to Slovakia - rtihey were through wi!th him. When the Slovaks criticized Masaryk, most severely and harshly on occasions, leading Cze~hs and the several Slovaks m their pay would rebuke them for doing so to one of their own countrymen, Masaryk, who was, they said, born a Sloviak. Nevertheless, this did not make Masaryk •a Slovak, not even a renegade Slovak, as far as the Slovaks were concerned. What then was the ethnic origin of Thomas Ga11rigue MaJSaryk? Strange as it might seem, the truth is that Masaryk himself never cleared up the question. Lecturing in Geneva, July 6, 1915, with Professor Ernest Denis, T. G. Masaryk said: "Our struggle ,i s being waged in t!he spirit of our Hussite forefathers and has not ,o nly political but also mora1 justification" (1). Toi his book "Svetova Revoluce" (the English translation of which was titled "The Making of a State"), we find 1Jhe following statements rel,a ting to Masaryk's ethnic origin: '"11he Slovaks a,nd Czechs knew that J moisel!f always had been ifor Slovakia; by origin and lby tra,d~tions a Slovak, I feel �8 SLOVAKIA S~ova!k a,n d I ai1ways not on]iy feLt a wa[lffith for SlolWl'ki:a, but woriked for it ... . I know Sloivaikia and the people dn Sl-0vadcia quite welil" (2). "Prapa,ganda, as everywtb.ere, so in America, iwas aimed to .acqua1nrt AIIIlerica with our politica,l and oul-turail tb.is't:or:y; rpeople knew a,bouit the Czechs -and the former Czech kingdoon, bwt we h,a,d· t•rouible wiith 1Jhe Slovaks; they were unilmOWU'll and Americans found iit diffiouH to understand that they forun a part of our nat,ion"(3). "From childhood I d'e~t my Czech nature concretely in the und'er•s tandinig of 'the character, the vdews and ,Hfe of my COl\lllllt,e ymen i,n S!Jovacko (Slovalk ian Moravia and hn, Slovakia)) aind wi1h 1Jhe coUTse of time in Moravia and Bohemia. . . . I feel my Czech and Slovak nature, I would saiy, l'IUsbroailly, dia•l ectically; phi'liosQll)hicailliy I feel with Hus, Chelcicky, Zifilc•a, etc., UJP to Ha·vlicek"(4). But the same Masaryk also salid: "Our policy must be above all else Czech, in truth Czech, then it wiU be in truth a world policy and therefore also Slovanic" (5). And despite his many •a ssurances to the Slovaks during World WaJr I lthat he was a Slovak by birth ('he needed them to establish the Czecho.,Slovak State), T. G. Masaryk nevertheless declared at the Baris Peace Conference: "The Slovaks are Czechs and their language is but a dialect of the Czech language!" Dr. E·dward Benes supported Masa,ryk'is statement. Accoroing to the Czec.fu newspaper "Narod" (6), Masaryk had this to say about his mother rund father: "Mly father was a native of ~opcany ... my mother was from Hostopec, a Geriman coomnunity. . . . I think that I am a1C1C-0rd ing to blood a pure Slovak, withowt admi<lctu'l'es of Maigy,ar or German, even, though j_n my youth my matJher cO'U!ld SDeark better in Ger,marn than in Czech ... we pr~ed ,in German." 0 Professor Hans Kohn, generally regarded as a reliable historian, tells us that T.he greatest statesman of latter-<fa~ Aiustria, ·t he Czech ptb.ilosopher ThOm"as G. Masany{k, h-adi a foHowin,g of onJy a, .few int~lilectual's amo'lllg his own !PeQll)le. Born at the Czecho•S'llovak _b order, he tried to lbud·l d -a ,b ridge ifroon the progressive Czechs, who made foH use of the OIPIJOrtunHrl.es of free dev,elopprrnenlt in Austri'a, to the backward Slovaks to whom, under Malgy,air d-omlina,ti-on, n-0 such opportwni1ti,es were given"(7). "Thomas G. MasaJrY'k, a Moravian Slovak" ... "the s•o n of a Slovak terumster on an ,ilmperiial estate in Eastern Slovakia, Masa,cyk was born (11850)"(8) ... "The Czechs were able to build 1Jheir existence, UJruder the leadership of Paladky's diroiipl,e, Masacy,k, the liberaitor of the Czech nation, on these principles .... �SLOVAKIA AH of Ma,sacyk's wr1tmgs atbou,t the Czech proiblean, his 9 CESKA O'I'A2KA, and his bookls on Hus and on Karel Ha!V'licek are indebted to Plal!acky's conception of Czech histoey (9). Professor S. Harrison Thomson of Colorado University, whose book "Czechoslovakia in European History" (10) won him 1Jhe Czecho-Slovak State prize for li,tJerature in 1944 - ait a ti'me when that State did not faduaHy exist also had some difficulty in esta:blishing Masaryk's ethnic idenltity: ''Thomas Garr.itgue Masaicyk was ibor:n in t850 in Moravia, the son of a Slovak .futher and a Moravian mother"(lll). . . " By b1ood and tem'Perament Masaryk was as much Slovak as Czech'~(12) ... "To Masaryk, himself perhaps more Slovak than Czech, ,s uch a united effort (of Slova'1~s and Ozechs) .had been a self-evident neeessi-ty from the begiJming of the war"{13). Otto's Encyclopedia(14), pulblished eighteen years before Czecho-Slovalda was created, finds nothing Sfovak or "Czechoslovak" a'b out T. G. Masaryk, stating simply that he was :a "Czech philosopher." Robert J. Kerner, of Czech origin and a 'Sather Professor of Hrstory ,ait the Ull!iversli.ty of California, remarked that "Masaryk, himself of Slovak parentage, inspired Slovak youth a't the (Prague) University" (15). And on one ocoasion, Masaryk told Capek bluntly: "For us Czechs, Catholicism is ,a n impossible doctrine" ( 16). Dr. Joseph S. Roucek, professor at the Univwsity of Bridgeport, however, had a bit more to say: 1 "Mlasary{k, Tho1mas Garr.rilgiue (1~19371), Czechoslovak philosopher and statesmain, born on March 7. 1850, in tHodonliln on the Miorarvian-Slovakian border, of a Slovak father and a Czech mother'' . . . ''Afread,y as a stmd!ent e~pressed Ms strong Czec•h patriotism and h1is 01PPosition to soone of the db~s of the Oatholic Church into which he ,was born" . . . "The next yea.r (i:8'19, he) •beicame Pr,ivat-d!ozerut at the University of Vrienna and professor of philo'sophy at the Czech uruiversit:y Olf Prague (1882)" ... ''Turned to the great poiritilool and sooiJa,l problems of his da,y and became the naitionail ediuciat·OT Olf the Young Czech intelli!gents~ai" ... 'IHi:s cru&ad-e for truth led him to oppose the Czech romaintic nationaliSllll".. . ''Increased hi:s unpoipulacicy when he took uip the defense of mlsner, a Jew ,aiccused, of 'ritual murder', aigain!lt the emotiona•l anti-semitism of the Czech masses (11900)"~17). After the death of Masaryk, in September 1937, the Bratislava newspaper "Slovak" noted: "Masacyk was born in Hodonin, Moravia, March 7, 1850. !Es fuJtfuer, Joseph Masaryk, was a coach-<lriver on one of the Habsburg estates. Theresa Kropacek was his mother." �10 SLOVAKIA When Dr. Alice G. Masaryk, T. G. M.'s daughter, came ito Amerfoa in 1939 - her first visit here in twenltyeight years - she declined to describe herself as an ex,He, declaring "I am a Czech and Prague is my home" (18). Dr. W. Preston Warren, professor of phi1osophy rut Furman University in South Carolina, published his book "Masaryk's Democracy" in 1941 (19). Wit!h it he established himself as one of the foremost eulogists of Masaryk and his "Czechoslovakian" concept. That is understandable to informed people, because Dr. Warren is a charter member of the Masaryk Institute of America which, we are told, was founded "to promote cultural interchange between the Czechoslovak Republic and the United States." The fact remains, however, t!h at the Masaryk Institute promoted and still promotes the fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation and the personal philosophy and pa:rt'icu1ar in!terests of Thomas Ga:ririgue Masaryk and Dr. Edwaro Benes and their socialistic political entourage. 1 T. G. Masaryk, Dr. Warren teHs us, was "Born, 1850, in Hodonin, Moravia" (p. 3) .... "His father was a coachman with the background of a serf; his mother was a former Austrian household servant" (p. 4). That is alt Emil Ludwig published his book "Spirit and Time" (Oonvemations with Masaryk) in 1935, the 270-page book being read and approved before publication by Masaryk himself. In the book Ludwig tells us that Masaryk descends from Czechs and Slovaks and was born "in southern Moravia, near the border of both tribes." To Ludwig, Masaryk's character appears to be "typically Slovak" (p.14) and Masaryk himself told 1hirm: "Already as a child I was l>Hingual. My father was Slovak, my mother spoke German, but also Czech. Her parents were from Hana. I prayed in German, because my mother used to pray in Germ1a n from her German prayerbook" (p. 105). On the oocasion of -t he twen'bie!th anniversary of the death of T. G. Masaryk (Sept. 14, 1957) the Austri1an journals "Furche" and "Oberosterreichische" had this to say about the ethnic origin of Masaryk: �SLOVAKIA 11 "A nahve of Hana, Moravia, Masaryk's mother worked for sev,e ra·l years in Vienna before she became -a cook for a wea,l thy family in Hodonin. At fiirst she knew p,r,a~tiicaili!Jy nothing LI!; Czech and spoke with her chi1dren in the beginning only in Gerunan. Masaryk was recorded as a Geruna.n, in his ourrio1.11l'lllIIl v-itae orf ,1 875, which he hiim1selif wr.ote before attaindn•g his doctorate od' philosop'h'y at the University olf Vienna. '"Ilwo foicts are usua1.Jiy omdtted in the biographies of the president, and these he hlmselif, in his conversation with Oharles Capek, fails to menition: where his mother worked! as a cook in Hodonin., and, secondly, on w.hat day she was married dn 1849. It is easy to ascertain Wh\Y these facts are not mentioned, since the Hodonin Register shows !!hat she was imar-ried on Augiust 15, 18419, and that Mas.aryftc ,wa,g born on March 7', 18'50: between t:he marriage of the pa,re'I1its and the birth of yowng 'I1hiomas there are not even seven months. The mention of the,se dates coruld ea,sitly prolil/Pt the bhowght that the ,p res,i dent w,as born out of wedilock. ' 1On the other .hand a,ga,in, it is easy to ascertain just why the faimi)Jy for whom -Masaryk's mother ,coolked is never mentioned: The fact is that Masaryik's mother worked as a cook for a certa·Ll'a wealthy meflchant of Hodonin who owned ihl,s own miU and quite a ,piece of land. This merchant was the graindfabher of the world •r enowned Austrian historian and politician Joseph :Riedl1ich, F1niance Minister in the Emperor's last government. Tihis merclhant of Hodonin was a11legedily the natura•l father of T. G. MasaJ.'IY(k, later the President of Ozeicho-Slovakia. '"l1he RedJicll fami!Jy was ,expelled duTinig the time of Maniie Theresa, as ,were a11 the J ,ewis'h families of Hodonin. Many of the ex,pelees went to Hungary, wlhile some settled in Moraivilan towns . The departure ,o f "the Jewish famiihes ca,used the little town of Hodonin serious economic daimaige and, therefore, .the •Elmiperor allow,e d thi.rteen J,ewish d'amrlies to return J•n 1783. Among the returnees was also one Lazar Redilich, to whom a son, Nathan, was born in I803, who a'lso ;became a merclh-an't. "Was the ,grandifather of Joseph Redlich also the niatura,l father of Thomas Garriigue Masaryk? T.he story is very pla,us~ble and explains why Thcxllllas G. Masaryk excelled over the rest orf the members of ihis family, ipart-iculady his brofoers. It was Redi.i,ch money that ,gave hilill the opportunity to an education; and it exip]:lllins why Masaryik fav,ored the cause o.f the Jews. If t he grandfather of Joseph Red'1ioh was a1liso the ,grandfather orf Miaisacyk',s child.ren, b'hen it is understandable why Jian Masaeyk, the president's son, pa-rtioul>ady his daiugMer, Alke Masal"yik, have definite Jewish facial characteristics." This story of Masaryk being of Jewish origin I had heard many years .ago from Czechs themselves, 1!he last time from the Czech paJtriot, the Rt. Rev. Monsignor V. F. Mikolasek, a short time before he died. It is significant that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was very favorably received and generously supported by leadling Jewish per- �12 SLOVAKIA sonalities and organizations, the Jewish press, as well as other institutions which were influenced or dominated by them, wherever ihe travelled during World War I to gain suppott for his proposed Czecho-Slovak State. In return, Masaryk and Benes placed many Jews in the vianious departmenits of tJhe Czecho-Slovak Government as a token of their appreciation for services rendered. In fact the Jews were always more fuvored than the SiJ.ovaks. As late as 1949, at a special press conference ca:lled at the CzechoSlovak Embassy by Dr. Francis Weisskopf, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy, and Ernest Polak, alternate executive director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Yugoslawa and Finland, they denied reports that Jews were subject,ed to growing pressures in Czecho-Sfovakia. They stat.ed that they themselves and many leading members of their government were Jews. Mr. Polak added th'at "today there are many, many Jews in the highest positions in Czechoslovakia, not only in politics but in economics and the professions." (20). Significant, too, is the item on Jan Masaryk, the son of President Thomas G. Masairyk, when he visarted the United States in 1939, as reported by TIME magazine: "Last week Jan Masaryk was in the U. S .... to work not for the Czechs ... but for Democracy and persecuted Jews in particular. ... He shed no t.ears for his lost land . ... The Jan Masaryks are now divorced(21). And no less significant is tJhe item whicih appeared in the CHICAGO AMERICAN (22) under the heading of "Deaths Elsewhere" and read: "Antonin Masaryk, nephew of the late first president of Czechosllovakia and export manager of a brewery in Israel, aboard the vessel Egyptian Prince, Dec. 16 enroute from Britain to Israel." Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was not a fool. He was a brilliant man. Masaryk knew what he was and what he wanted. He came among the Slovaks in America, in 1918, because he needed them for his Czecho-Slovak propaganda. After that he ignored them completley. So did his son Jan and his daughter Alice. 'I'he Slovaks wm never be- �SLOVAKIA 13 lieve that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was a Slovak. And the sooner the Czechs give up their crazy game of trying to make a "Czechoslovak" nation by the simple formula Slovak = Czechoslovak," the better for all con"Czech cerned. + REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. H. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 1'9. 20. 21. 22. T. G. Masaryk: SVETOVA REVOLUCE, Or,bis, Prague, 1925; p. 75. Jlbidlem, p . 263. ]bidem, p. 320. Jlbidem, p. 395. ]bidem, p. 51'l.3. NMtOD, Aug. 7, 1953; Chicago, Ill. CE1NT'R.6.L-E ASTERN EUROPE (Crucible of World Wars), by Joseph S. Roucek, Ph.D., and Associates; !Pren1;,roe-,Hal!l, Inc., 19416; .p p. !13-54. N>idem, p. 83. CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ed!ited by 'ROlbert J. Kerner; Unwversi-ty of California Press, Beiikcley and Los Angeles, 194!9; p. 105. Pdnceton University Press, 1944. p . .191. p. 231. p. 252. OTTUV SLOVNIK N AUCNY, Praigue, 1900; VoJ. 16, p. 934. CZECHOSLOVAKIA (vd. albove); p. 4'9. Charles Caipek: MASARYK TELLS HIS STORY, Ahlen and UI11Wiin, Ltd., London, 1934; p. 209. SLAVONIC ENCYCLOPIEDIA, edited by J'OSeph s. !Roucek, PhJD., Universi-ty of Bridigeport; BhHosopll'ica'l Libracy, New Yoiik, li9419; p. 7'45. THE NEW YORK TIME'S, June 9, 1939. The Uniiversity .o,f N,ort.h Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1941. THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 5, 1949. Jan. 25, 19'J9. Dec. 27, 1957. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are deeply convinced that this alliance (with the USSR) is to the benefit of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and that it also is a contribution to international understanding. Whosoever among us does not want to acknowledge this supra-partisan and national character of the Czechoslovak-Soviet alliance, he is undermining this alliance and working against his very own aims." - (Dr. Peter Zenk!, chairman "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," Karlove Vary, July 20, 1947, according to CAS, 7-25-47). � SLOVAKIA 7 WAST. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK ORIGIN? P. A. Hrobak Many volumes have been written about Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, hi'S life, his concepts of r~lig,ion, history, philosophy, morals, etc. I1t is significant, however, that little has been written, even by Czechs themselves. about Masa,,ryk's ethnic origin. To be sure, tihe Czechs claim him as one of their greatest men. Accor<ling to what has been written about T. G. Masaryk, even by himself, he was, we are supposed to believe, aJt one and the same time, a Czech, a Slovak, and a "Czechoslovak." Then there is the story t!hat he wais of Jewish origin. The Slovak people did not regard Masaryk as their political or spiritual leader; he simply was not one of their kind. He did not believe in what tihe Sloviak people, as a who'le, believed in. That is why they did not !trust him. And when Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, whlch he himse•l f drafted and Sligned - an agreement that was supposed to guarantee "states' rights" to Slovakia - rtihey were through wi!th him. When the Slovaks criticized Masaryk, most severely and harshly on occasions, leading Cze~hs and the several Slovaks m their pay would rebuke them for doing so to one of their own countrymen, Masaryk, who was, they said, born a Sloviak. Nevertheless, this did not make Masaryk •a Slovak, not even a renegade Slovak, as far as the Slovaks were concerned. What then was the ethnic origin of Thomas Ga11rigue MaJSaryk? Strange as it might seem, the truth is that Masaryk himself never cleared up the question. Lecturing in Geneva, July 6, 1915, with Professor Ernest Denis, T. G. Masaryk said: "Our struggle ,i s being waged in t!he spirit of our Hussite forefathers and has not ,o nly political but also mora1 justification" (1). Toi his book "Svetova Revoluce" (the English translation of which was titled "The Making of a State"), we find 1Jhe following statements rel,a ting to Masaryk's ethnic origin: '"11he Slovaks a,nd Czechs knew that J moisel!f always had been ifor Slovakia; by origin and lby tra,d~tions a Slovak, I feel �8 SLOVAKIA S~ova!k a,n d I ai1ways not on]iy feLt a wa[lffith for SlolWl'ki:a, but woriked for it ... . I know Sloivaikia and the people dn Sl-0vadcia quite welil" (2). "Prapa,ganda, as everywtb.ere, so in America, iwas aimed to .acqua1nrt AIIIlerica with our politica,l and oul-turail tb.is't:or:y; rpeople knew a,bouit the Czechs -and the former Czech kingdoon, bwt we h,a,d· t•rouible wiith 1Jhe Slovaks; they were unilmOWU'll and Americans found iit diffiouH to understand that they forun a part of our nat,ion"(3). "From childhood I d'e~t my Czech nature concretely in the und'er•s tandinig of 'the character, the vdews and ,Hfe of my COl\lllllt,e ymen i,n S!Jovacko (Slovalk ian Moravia and hn, Slovakia)) aind wi1h 1Jhe coUTse of time in Moravia and Bohemia. . . . I feel my Czech and Slovak nature, I would saiy, l'IUsbroailly, dia•l ectically; phi'liosQll)hicailliy I feel with Hus, Chelcicky, Zifilc•a, etc., UJP to Ha·vlicek"(4). But the same Masaryk also salid: "Our policy must be above all else Czech, in truth Czech, then it wiU be in truth a world policy and therefore also Slovanic" (5). And despite his many •a ssurances to the Slovaks during World WaJr I lthat he was a Slovak by birth ('he needed them to establish the Czecho.,Slovak State), T. G. Masaryk nevertheless declared at the Baris Peace Conference: "The Slovaks are Czechs and their language is but a dialect of the Czech language!" Dr. E·dward Benes supported Masa,ryk'is statement. Accoroing to the Czec.fu newspaper "Narod" (6), Masaryk had this to say about his mother rund father: "Mly father was a native of ~opcany ... my mother was from Hostopec, a Geriman coomnunity. . . . I think that I am a1C1C-0rd ing to blood a pure Slovak, withowt admi<lctu'l'es of Maigy,ar or German, even, though j_n my youth my matJher cO'U!ld SDeark better in Ger,marn than in Czech ... we pr~ed ,in German." 0 Professor Hans Kohn, generally regarded as a reliable historian, tells us that T.he greatest statesman of latter-<fa~ Aiustria, ·t he Czech ptb.ilosopher ThOm"as G. Masany{k, h-adi a foHowin,g of onJy a, .few int~lilectual's amo'lllg his own !PeQll)le. Born at the Czecho•S'llovak _b order, he tried to lbud·l d -a ,b ridge ifroon the progressive Czechs, who made foH use of the OIPIJOrtunHrl.es of free dev,elopprrnenlt in Austri'a, to the backward Slovaks to whom, under Malgy,air d-omlina,ti-on, n-0 such opportwni1ti,es were given"(7). "Thomas G. MasaJrY'k, a Moravian Slovak" ... "the s•o n of a Slovak terumster on an ,ilmperiial estate in Eastern Slovakia, Masa,cyk was born (11850)"(8) ... "The Czechs were able to build 1Jheir existence, UJruder the leadership of Paladky's diroiipl,e, Masacy,k, the liberaitor of the Czech nation, on these principles .... �SLOVAKIA AH of Ma,sacyk's wr1tmgs atbou,t the Czech proiblean, his 9 CESKA O'I'A2KA, and his bookls on Hus and on Karel Ha!V'licek are indebted to Plal!acky's conception of Czech histoey (9). Professor S. Harrison Thomson of Colorado University, whose book "Czechoslovakia in European History" (10) won him 1Jhe Czecho-Slovak State prize for li,tJerature in 1944 - ait a ti'me when that State did not faduaHy exist also had some difficulty in esta:blishing Masaryk's ethnic idenltity: ''Thomas Garr.itgue Masaicyk was ibor:n in t850 in Moravia, the son of a Slovak .futher and a Moravian mother"(lll). . . " By b1ood and tem'Perament Masaryk was as much Slovak as Czech'~(12) ... "To Masaryk, himself perhaps more Slovak than Czech, ,s uch a united effort (of Slova'1~s and Ozechs) .had been a self-evident neeessi-ty from the begiJming of the war"{13). Otto's Encyclopedia(14), pulblished eighteen years before Czecho-Slovalda was created, finds nothing Sfovak or "Czechoslovak" a'b out T. G. Masaryk, stating simply that he was :a "Czech philosopher." Robert J. Kerner, of Czech origin and a 'Sather Professor of Hrstory ,ait the Ull!iversli.ty of California, remarked that "Masaryk, himself of Slovak parentage, inspired Slovak youth a't the (Prague) University" (15). And on one ocoasion, Masaryk told Capek bluntly: "For us Czechs, Catholicism is ,a n impossible doctrine" ( 16). Dr. Joseph S. Roucek, professor at the Univwsity of Bridgeport, however, had a bit more to say: 1 "Mlasary{k, Tho1mas Garr.rilgiue (1~19371), Czechoslovak philosopher and statesmain, born on March 7. 1850, in tHodonliln on the Miorarvian-Slovakian border, of a Slovak father and a Czech mother'' . . . ''Afread,y as a stmd!ent e~pressed Ms strong Czec•h patriotism and h1is 01PPosition to soone of the db~s of the Oatholic Church into which he ,was born" . . . "The next yea.r (i:8'19, he) •beicame Pr,ivat-d!ozerut at the University of Vrienna and professor of philo'sophy at the Czech uruiversit:y Olf Prague (1882)" ... ''Turned to the great poiritilool and sooiJa,l problems of his da,y and became the naitionail ediuciat·OT Olf the Young Czech intelli!gents~ai" ... 'IHi:s cru&ad-e for truth led him to oppose the Czech romaintic nationaliSllll".. . ''Increased hi:s unpoipulacicy when he took uip the defense of mlsner, a Jew ,aiccused, of 'ritual murder', aigain!lt the emotiona•l anti-semitism of the Czech masses (11900)"~17). After the death of Masaryk, in September 1937, the Bratislava newspaper "Slovak" noted: "Masacyk was born in Hodonin, Moravia, March 7, 1850. !Es fuJtfuer, Joseph Masaryk, was a coach-<lriver on one of the Habsburg estates. Theresa Kropacek was his mother." �10 SLOVAKIA When Dr. Alice G. Masaryk, T. G. M.'s daughter, came ito Amerfoa in 1939 - her first visit here in twenltyeight years - she declined to describe herself as an ex,He, declaring "I am a Czech and Prague is my home" (18). Dr. W. Preston Warren, professor of phi1osophy rut Furman University in South Carolina, published his book "Masaryk's Democracy" in 1941 (19). Wit!h it he established himself as one of the foremost eulogists of Masaryk and his "Czechoslovakian" concept. That is understandable to informed people, because Dr. Warren is a charter member of the Masaryk Institute of America which, we are told, was founded "to promote cultural interchange between the Czechoslovak Republic and the United States." The fact remains, however, t!h at the Masaryk Institute promoted and still promotes the fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation and the personal philosophy and pa:rt'icu1ar in!terests of Thomas Ga:ririgue Masaryk and Dr. Edwaro Benes and their socialistic political entourage. 1 T. G. Masaryk, Dr. Warren teHs us, was "Born, 1850, in Hodonin, Moravia" (p. 3) .... "His father was a coachman with the background of a serf; his mother was a former Austrian household servant" (p. 4). That is alt Emil Ludwig published his book "Spirit and Time" (Oonvemations with Masaryk) in 1935, the 270-page book being read and approved before publication by Masaryk himself. In the book Ludwig tells us that Masaryk descends from Czechs and Slovaks and was born "in southern Moravia, near the border of both tribes." To Ludwig, Masaryk's character appears to be "typically Slovak" (p.14) and Masaryk himself told 1hirm: "Already as a child I was l>Hingual. My father was Slovak, my mother spoke German, but also Czech. Her parents were from Hana. I prayed in German, because my mother used to pray in Germ1a n from her German prayerbook" (p. 105). On the oocasion of -t he twen'bie!th anniversary of the death of T. G. Masaryk (Sept. 14, 1957) the Austri1an journals "Furche" and "Oberosterreichische" had this to say about the ethnic origin of Masaryk: �SLOVAKIA 11 "A nahve of Hana, Moravia, Masaryk's mother worked for sev,e ra·l years in Vienna before she became -a cook for a wea,l thy family in Hodonin. At fiirst she knew p,r,a~tiicaili!Jy nothing LI!; Czech and spoke with her chi1dren in the beginning only in Gerunan. Masaryk was recorded as a Geruna.n, in his ourrio1.11l'lllIIl v-itae orf ,1 875, which he hiim1selif wr.ote before attaindn•g his doctorate od' philosop'h'y at the University olf Vienna. '"Ilwo foicts are usua1.Jiy omdtted in the biographies of the president, and these he hlmselif, in his conversation with Oharles Capek, fails to menition: where his mother worked! as a cook in Hodonin., and, secondly, on w.hat day she was married dn 1849. It is easy to ascertain Wh\Y these facts are not mentioned, since the Hodonin Register shows !!hat she was imar-ried on Augiust 15, 18419, and that Mas.aryftc ,wa,g born on March 7', 18'50: between t:he marriage of the pa,re'I1its and the birth of yowng 'I1hiomas there are not even seven months. The mention of the,se dates coruld ea,sitly prolil/Pt the bhowght that the ,p res,i dent w,as born out of wedilock. ' 1On the other .hand a,ga,in, it is easy to ascertain just why the faimi)Jy for whom -Masaryk's mother ,coolked is never mentioned: The fact is that Masaryik's mother worked as a cook for a certa·Ll'a wealthy meflchant of Hodonin who owned ihl,s own miU and quite a ,piece of land. This merchant was the graindfabher of the world •r enowned Austrian historian and politician Joseph :Riedl1ich, F1niance Minister in the Emperor's last government. Tihis merclhant of Hodonin was a11legedily the natura•l father of T. G. MasaJ.'IY(k, later the President of Ozeicho-Slovakia. '"l1he RedJicll fami!Jy was ,expelled duTinig the time of Maniie Theresa, as ,were a11 the J ,ewis'h families of Hodonin. Many of the ex,pelees went to Hungary, wlhile some settled in Moraivilan towns . The departure ,o f "the Jewish famiihes ca,used the little town of Hodonin serious economic daimaige and, therefore, .the •Elmiperor allow,e d thi.rteen J,ewish d'amrlies to return J•n 1783. Among the returnees was also one Lazar Redilich, to whom a son, Nathan, was born in I803, who a'lso ;became a merclh-an't. "Was the ,grandifather of Joseph Redlich also the niatura,l father of Thomas Garriigue Masaryk? T.he story is very pla,us~ble and explains why Thcxllllas G. Masaryk excelled over the rest orf the members of ihis family, ipart-iculady his brofoers. It was Redi.i,ch money that ,gave hilill the opportunity to an education; and it exip]:lllins why Masaryik fav,ored the cause o.f the Jews. If t he grandfather of Joseph Red'1ioh was a1liso the ,grandfather orf Miaisacyk',s child.ren, b'hen it is understandable why Jian Masaeyk, the president's son, pa-rtioul>ady his daiugMer, Alke Masal"yik, have definite Jewish facial characteristics." This story of Masaryk being of Jewish origin I had heard many years .ago from Czechs themselves, 1!he last time from the Czech paJtriot, the Rt. Rev. Monsignor V. F. Mikolasek, a short time before he died. It is significant that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was very favorably received and generously supported by leadling Jewish per- �12 SLOVAKIA sonalities and organizations, the Jewish press, as well as other institutions which were influenced or dominated by them, wherever ihe travelled during World War I to gain suppott for his proposed Czecho-Slovak State. In return, Masaryk and Benes placed many Jews in the vianious departmenits of tJhe Czecho-Slovak Government as a token of their appreciation for services rendered. In fact the Jews were always more fuvored than the SiJ.ovaks. As late as 1949, at a special press conference ca:lled at the CzechoSlovak Embassy by Dr. Francis Weisskopf, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy, and Ernest Polak, alternate executive director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Yugoslawa and Finland, they denied reports that Jews were subject,ed to growing pressures in Czecho-Sfovakia. They stat.ed that they themselves and many leading members of their government were Jews. Mr. Polak added th'at "today there are many, many Jews in the highest positions in Czechoslovakia, not only in politics but in economics and the professions." (20). Significant, too, is the item on Jan Masaryk, the son of President Thomas G. Masairyk, when he visarted the United States in 1939, as reported by TIME magazine: "Last week Jan Masaryk was in the U. S .... to work not for the Czechs ... but for Democracy and persecuted Jews in particular. ... He shed no t.ears for his lost land . ... The Jan Masaryks are now divorced(21). And no less significant is tJhe item whicih appeared in the CHICAGO AMERICAN (22) under the heading of "Deaths Elsewhere" and read: "Antonin Masaryk, nephew of the late first president of Czechosllovakia and export manager of a brewery in Israel, aboard the vessel Egyptian Prince, Dec. 16 enroute from Britain to Israel." Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was not a fool. He was a brilliant man. Masaryk knew what he was and what he wanted. He came among the Slovaks in America, in 1918, because he needed them for his Czecho-Slovak propaganda. After that he ignored them completley. So did his son Jan and his daughter Alice. 'I'he Slovaks wm never be- �SLOVAKIA 13 lieve that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was a Slovak. And the sooner the Czechs give up their crazy game of trying to make a "Czechoslovak" nation by the simple formula Slovak = Czechoslovak," the better for all con"Czech cerned. + REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. H. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 1'9. 20. 21. 22. T. G. Masaryk: SVETOVA REVOLUCE, Or,bis, Prague, 1925; p. 75. Jlbidlem, p . 263. ]bidem, p. 320. Jlbidem, p. 395. ]bidem, p. 51'l.3. NMtOD, Aug. 7, 1953; Chicago, Ill. CE1NT'R.6.L-E ASTERN EUROPE (Crucible of World Wars), by Joseph S. Roucek, Ph.D., and Associates; !Pren1;,roe-,Hal!l, Inc., 19416; .p p. !13-54. N>idem, p. 83. CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ed!ited by 'ROlbert J. Kerner; Unwversi-ty of California Press, Beiikcley and Los Angeles, 194!9; p. 105. Pdnceton University Press, 1944. p . .191. p. 231. p. 252. OTTUV SLOVNIK N AUCNY, Praigue, 1900; VoJ. 16, p. 934. CZECHOSLOVAKIA (vd. albove); p. 4'9. Charles Caipek: MASARYK TELLS HIS STORY, Ahlen and UI11Wiin, Ltd., London, 1934; p. 209. SLAVONIC ENCYCLOPIEDIA, edited by J'OSeph s. !Roucek, PhJD., Universi-ty of Bridigeport; BhHosopll'ica'l Libracy, New Yoiik, li9419; p. 7'45. THE NEW YORK TIME'S, June 9, 1939. The Uniiversity .o,f N,ort.h Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1941. THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 5, 1949. Jan. 25, 19'J9. Dec. 27, 1957. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are deeply convinced that this alliance (with the USSR) is to the benefit of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and that it also is a contribution to international understanding. Whosoever among us does not want to acknowledge this supra-partisan and national character of the Czechoslovak-Soviet alliance, he is undermining this alliance and working against his very own aims." - (Dr. Peter Zenk!, chairman "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," Karlove Vary, July 20, 1947, according to CAS, 7-25-47). � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 7 WAST. G. MASARYK OF SLOVAK ORIGIN? P. A. Hrobak Many volumes have been written about Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, hi'S life, his concepts of r~lig,ion, history, philosophy, morals, etc. I1t is significant, however, that little has been written, even by Czechs themselves. about Masa,,ryk's ethnic origin. To be sure, tihe Czechs claim him as one of their greatest men. Accor<ling to what has been written about T. G. Masaryk, even by himself, he was, we are supposed to believe, aJt one and the same time, a Czech, a Slovak, and a "Czechoslovak." Then there is the story t!hat he wais of Jewish origin. The Slovak people did not regard Masaryk as their political or spiritual leader; he simply was not one of their kind. He did not believe in what tihe Sloviak people, as a who'le, believed in. That is why they did not !trust him. And when Masaryk repudiated the Pittsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, whlch he himse•l f drafted and Sligned - an agreement that was supposed to guarantee "states' rights" to Slovakia - rtihey were through wi!th him. When the Slovaks criticized Masaryk, most severely and harshly on occasions, leading Cze~hs and the several Slovaks m their pay would rebuke them for doing so to one of their own countrymen, Masaryk, who was, they said, born a Sloviak. Nevertheless, this did not make Masaryk •a Slovak, not even a renegade Slovak, as far as the Slovaks were concerned. What then was the ethnic origin of Thomas Ga11rigue MaJSaryk? Strange as it might seem, the truth is that Masaryk himself never cleared up the question. Lecturing in Geneva, July 6, 1915, with Professor Ernest Denis, T. G. Masaryk said: "Our struggle ,i s being waged in t!he spirit of our Hussite forefathers and has not ,o nly political but also mora1 justification" (1). Toi his book "Svetova Revoluce" (the English translation of which was titled "The Making of a State"), we find 1Jhe following statements rel,a ting to Masaryk's ethnic origin: '"11he Slovaks a,nd Czechs knew that J moisel!f always had been ifor Slovakia; by origin and lby tra,d~tions a Slovak, I feel 8 SLOVAKIA S~ova!k a,n d I ai1ways not on]iy feLt a wa[lffith for SlolWl'ki:a, but woriked for it ... . I know Sloivaikia and the people dn Sl-0vadcia quite welil" (2). "Prapa,ganda, as everywtb.ere, so in America, iwas aimed to .acqua1nrt AIIIlerica with our politica,l and oul-turail tb.is't:or:y; rpeople knew a,bouit the Czechs -and the former Czech kingdoon, bwt we h,a,d· t•rouible wiith 1Jhe Slovaks; they were unilmOWU'll and Americans found iit diffiouH to understand that they forun a part of our nat,ion"(3). "From childhood I d'e~t my Czech nature concretely in the und'er•s tandinig of 'the character, the vdews and ,Hfe of my COl\lllllt,e ymen i,n S!Jovacko (Slovalk ian Moravia and hn, Slovakia)) aind wi1h 1Jhe coUTse of time in Moravia and Bohemia. . . . I feel my Czech and Slovak nature, I would saiy, l'IUsbroailly, dia•l ectically; phi'liosQll)hicailliy I feel with Hus, Chelcicky, Zifilc•a, etc., UJP to Ha·vlicek"(4). But the same Masaryk also salid: "Our policy must be above all else Czech, in truth Czech, then it wiU be in truth a world policy and therefore also Slovanic" (5). And despite his many •a ssurances to the Slovaks during World WaJr I lthat he was a Slovak by birth ('he needed them to establish the Czecho.,Slovak State), T. G. Masaryk nevertheless declared at the Baris Peace Conference: "The Slovaks are Czechs and their language is but a dialect of the Czech language!" Dr. E·dward Benes supported Masa,ryk'is statement. Accoroing to the Czec.fu newspaper "Narod" (6), Masaryk had this to say about his mother rund father: "Mly father was a native of ~opcany ... my mother was from Hostopec, a Geriman coomnunity. . . . I think that I am a1C1C-0rd ing to blood a pure Slovak, withowt admi<lctu'l'es of Maigy,ar or German, even, though j_n my youth my matJher cO'U!ld SDeark better in Ger,marn than in Czech ... we pr~ed ,in German." 0 Professor Hans Kohn, generally regarded as a reliable historian, tells us that T.he greatest statesman of latter-<fa~ Aiustria, ·t he Czech ptb.ilosopher ThOm"as G. Masany{k, h-adi a foHowin,g of onJy a, .few int~lilectual's amo'lllg his own !PeQll)le. Born at the Czecho•S'llovak _b order, he tried to lbud·l d -a ,b ridge ifroon the progressive Czechs, who made foH use of the OIPIJOrtunHrl.es of free dev,elopprrnenlt in Austri'a, to the backward Slovaks to whom, under Malgy,air d-omlina,ti-on, n-0 such opportwni1ti,es were given"(7). "Thomas G. MasaJrY'k, a Moravian Slovak" ... "the s•o n of a Slovak terumster on an ,ilmperiial estate in Eastern Slovakia, Masa,cyk was born (11850)"(8) ... "The Czechs were able to build 1Jheir existence, UJruder the leadership of Paladky's diroiipl,e, Masacy,k, the liberaitor of the Czech nation, on these principles .... SLOVAKIA AH of Ma,sacyk's wr1tmgs atbou,t the Czech proiblean, his 9 CESKA O'I'A2KA, and his bookls on Hus and on Karel Ha!V'licek are indebted to Plal!acky's conception of Czech histoey (9). Professor S. Harrison Thomson of Colorado University, whose book "Czechoslovakia in European History" (10) won him 1Jhe Czecho-Slovak State prize for li,tJerature in 1944 - ait a ti'me when that State did not faduaHy exist also had some difficulty in esta:blishing Masaryk's ethnic idenltity: ''Thomas Garr.itgue Masaicyk was ibor:n in t850 in Moravia, the son of a Slovak .futher and a Moravian mother"(lll). . . " By b1ood and tem'Perament Masaryk was as much Slovak as Czech'~(12) ... "To Masaryk, himself perhaps more Slovak than Czech, ,s uch a united effort (of Slova'1~s and Ozechs) .had been a self-evident neeessi-ty from the begiJming of the war"{13). Otto's Encyclopedia(14), pulblished eighteen years before Czecho-Slovalda was created, finds nothing Sfovak or "Czechoslovak" a'b out T. G. Masaryk, stating simply that he was :a "Czech philosopher." Robert J. Kerner, of Czech origin and a 'Sather Professor of Hrstory ,ait the Ull!iversli.ty of California, remarked that "Masaryk, himself of Slovak parentage, inspired Slovak youth a't the (Prague) University" (15). And on one ocoasion, Masaryk told Capek bluntly: "For us Czechs, Catholicism is ,a n impossible doctrine" ( 16). Dr. Joseph S. Roucek, professor at the Univwsity of Bridgeport, however, had a bit more to say: 1 "Mlasary{k, Tho1mas Garr.rilgiue (1~19371), Czechoslovak philosopher and statesmain, born on March 7. 1850, in tHodonliln on the Miorarvian-Slovakian border, of a Slovak father and a Czech mother'' . . . ''Afread,y as a stmd!ent e~pressed Ms strong Czec•h patriotism and h1is 01PPosition to soone of the db~s of the Oatholic Church into which he ,was born" . . . "The next yea.r (i:8'19, he) •beicame Pr,ivat-d!ozerut at the University of Vrienna and professor of philo'sophy at the Czech uruiversit:y Olf Prague (1882)" ... ''Turned to the great poiritilool and sooiJa,l problems of his da,y and became the naitionail ediuciat·OT Olf the Young Czech intelli!gents~ai" ... 'IHi:s cru&ad-e for truth led him to oppose the Czech romaintic nationaliSllll".. . ''Increased hi:s unpoipulacicy when he took uip the defense of mlsner, a Jew ,aiccused, of 'ritual murder', aigain!lt the emotiona•l anti-semitism of the Czech masses (11900)"~17). After the death of Masaryk, in September 1937, the Bratislava newspaper "Slovak" noted: "Masacyk was born in Hodonin, Moravia, March 7, 1850. !Es fuJtfuer, Joseph Masaryk, was a coach-<lriver on one of the Habsburg estates. Theresa Kropacek was his mother." 10 SLOVAKIA When Dr. Alice G. Masaryk, T. G. M.'s daughter, came ito Amerfoa in 1939 - her first visit here in twenltyeight years - she declined to describe herself as an ex,He, declaring "I am a Czech and Prague is my home" (18). Dr. W. Preston Warren, professor of phi1osophy rut Furman University in South Carolina, published his book "Masaryk's Democracy" in 1941 (19). Wit!h it he established himself as one of the foremost eulogists of Masaryk and his "Czechoslovakian" concept. That is understandable to informed people, because Dr. Warren is a charter member of the Masaryk Institute of America which, we are told, was founded "to promote cultural interchange between the Czechoslovak Republic and the United States." The fact remains, however, t!h at the Masaryk Institute promoted and still promotes the fiction of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation and the personal philosophy and pa:rt'icu1ar in!terests of Thomas Ga:ririgue Masaryk and Dr. Edwaro Benes and their socialistic political entourage. 1 T. G. Masaryk, Dr. Warren teHs us, was "Born, 1850, in Hodonin, Moravia" (p. 3) .... "His father was a coachman with the background of a serf; his mother was a former Austrian household servant" (p. 4). That is alt Emil Ludwig published his book "Spirit and Time" (Oonvemations with Masaryk) in 1935, the 270-page book being read and approved before publication by Masaryk himself. In the book Ludwig tells us that Masaryk descends from Czechs and Slovaks and was born "in southern Moravia, near the border of both tribes." To Ludwig, Masaryk's character appears to be "typically Slovak" (p.14) and Masaryk himself told 1hirm: "Already as a child I was l>Hingual. My father was Slovak, my mother spoke German, but also Czech. Her parents were from Hana. I prayed in German, because my mother used to pray in Germ1a n from her German prayerbook" (p. 105). On the oocasion of -t he twen'bie!th anniversary of the death of T. G. Masaryk (Sept. 14, 1957) the Austri1an journals "Furche" and "Oberosterreichische" had this to say about the ethnic origin of Masaryk: SLOVAKIA 11 "A nahve of Hana, Moravia, Masaryk's mother worked for sev,e ra·l years in Vienna before she became -a cook for a wea,l thy family in Hodonin. At fiirst she knew p,r,a~tiicaili!Jy nothing LI!; Czech and spoke with her chi1dren in the beginning only in Gerunan. Masaryk was recorded as a Geruna.n, in his ourrio1.11l'lllIIl v-itae orf ,1 875, which he hiim1selif wr.ote before attaindn•g his doctorate od' philosop'h'y at the University olf Vienna. '"Ilwo foicts are usua1.Jiy omdtted in the biographies of the president, and these he hlmselif, in his conversation with Oharles Capek, fails to menition: where his mother worked! as a cook in Hodonin., and, secondly, on w.hat day she was married dn 1849. It is easy to ascertain Wh\Y these facts are not mentioned, since the Hodonin Register shows !!hat she was imar-ried on Augiust 15, 18419, and that Mas.aryftc ,wa,g born on March 7', 18'50: between t:he marriage of the pa,re'I1its and the birth of yowng 'I1hiomas there are not even seven months. The mention of the,se dates coruld ea,sitly prolil/Pt the bhowght that the ,p res,i dent w,as born out of wedilock. ' 1On the other .hand a,ga,in, it is easy to ascertain just why the faimi)Jy for whom -Masaryk's mother ,coolked is never mentioned: The fact is that Masaryik's mother worked as a cook for a certa·Ll'a wealthy meflchant of Hodonin who owned ihl,s own miU and quite a ,piece of land. This merchant was the graindfabher of the world •r enowned Austrian historian and politician Joseph :Riedl1ich, F1niance Minister in the Emperor's last government. Tihis merclhant of Hodonin was a11legedily the natura•l father of T. G. MasaJ.'IY(k, later the President of Ozeicho-Slovakia. '"l1he RedJicll fami!Jy was ,expelled duTinig the time of Maniie Theresa, as ,were a11 the J ,ewis'h families of Hodonin. Many of the ex,pelees went to Hungary, wlhile some settled in Moraivilan towns . The departure ,o f "the Jewish famiihes ca,used the little town of Hodonin serious economic daimaige and, therefore, .the •Elmiperor allow,e d thi.rteen J,ewish d'amrlies to return J•n 1783. Among the returnees was also one Lazar Redilich, to whom a son, Nathan, was born in I803, who a'lso ;became a merclh-an't. "Was the ,grandifather of Joseph Redlich also the niatura,l father of Thomas Garriigue Masaryk? T.he story is very pla,us~ble and explains why Thcxllllas G. Masaryk excelled over the rest orf the members of ihis family, ipart-iculady his brofoers. It was Redi.i,ch money that ,gave hilill the opportunity to an education; and it exip]:lllins why Masaryik fav,ored the cause o.f the Jews. If t he grandfather of Joseph Red'1ioh was a1liso the ,grandfather orf Miaisacyk',s child.ren, b'hen it is understandable why Jian Masaeyk, the president's son, pa-rtioul>ady his daiugMer, Alke Masal"yik, have definite Jewish facial characteristics." This story of Masaryk being of Jewish origin I had heard many years .ago from Czechs themselves, 1!he last time from the Czech paJtriot, the Rt. Rev. Monsignor V. F. Mikolasek, a short time before he died. It is significant that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was very favorably received and generously supported by leadling Jewish per- 12 SLOVAKIA sonalities and organizations, the Jewish press, as well as other institutions which were influenced or dominated by them, wherever ihe travelled during World War I to gain suppott for his proposed Czecho-Slovak State. In return, Masaryk and Benes placed many Jews in the vianious departmenits of tJhe Czecho-Slovak Government as a token of their appreciation for services rendered. In fact the Jews were always more fuvored than the SiJ.ovaks. As late as 1949, at a special press conference ca:lled at the CzechoSlovak Embassy by Dr. Francis Weisskopf, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy, and Ernest Polak, alternate executive director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development for Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Yugoslawa and Finland, they denied reports that Jews were subject,ed to growing pressures in Czecho-Sfovakia. They stat.ed that they themselves and many leading members of their government were Jews. Mr. Polak added th'at "today there are many, many Jews in the highest positions in Czechoslovakia, not only in politics but in economics and the professions." (20). Significant, too, is the item on Jan Masaryk, the son of President Thomas G. Masairyk, when he visarted the United States in 1939, as reported by TIME magazine: "Last week Jan Masaryk was in the U. S .... to work not for the Czechs ... but for Democracy and persecuted Jews in particular. ... He shed no t.ears for his lost land . ... The Jan Masaryks are now divorced(21). And no less significant is tJhe item whicih appeared in the CHICAGO AMERICAN (22) under the heading of "Deaths Elsewhere" and read: "Antonin Masaryk, nephew of the late first president of Czechosllovakia and export manager of a brewery in Israel, aboard the vessel Egyptian Prince, Dec. 16 enroute from Britain to Israel." Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was not a fool. He was a brilliant man. Masaryk knew what he was and what he wanted. He came among the Slovaks in America, in 1918, because he needed them for his Czecho-Slovak propaganda. After that he ignored them completley. So did his son Jan and his daughter Alice. 'I'he Slovaks wm never be- SLOVAKIA 13 lieve that Thomas Garrigue Masaryk was a Slovak. And the sooner the Czechs give up their crazy game of trying to make a "Czechoslovak" nation by the simple formula Slovak = Czechoslovak," the better for all con"Czech cerned. + REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. H. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 1'9. 20. 21. 22. T. G. Masaryk: SVETOVA REVOLUCE, Or,bis, Prague, 1925; p. 75. Jlbidlem, p . 263. ]bidem, p. 320. Jlbidem, p. 395. ]bidem, p. 51'l.3. NMtOD, Aug. 7, 1953; Chicago, Ill. CE1NT'R.6.L-E ASTERN EUROPE (Crucible of World Wars), by Joseph S. Roucek, Ph.D., and Associates; !Pren1;,roe-,Hal!l, Inc., 19416; .p p. !13-54. N>idem, p. 83. CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ed!ited by 'ROlbert J. Kerner; Unwversi-ty of California Press, Beiikcley and Los Angeles, 194!9; p. 105. Pdnceton University Press, 1944. p . .191. p. 231. p. 252. OTTUV SLOVNIK N AUCNY, Praigue, 1900; VoJ. 16, p. 934. CZECHOSLOVAKIA (vd. albove); p. 4'9. Charles Caipek: MASARYK TELLS HIS STORY, Ahlen and UI11Wiin, Ltd., London, 1934; p. 209. SLAVONIC ENCYCLOPIEDIA, edited by J'OSeph s. !Roucek, PhJD., Universi-ty of Bridigeport; BhHosopll'ica'l Libracy, New Yoiik, li9419; p. 7'45. THE NEW YORK TIME'S, June 9, 1939. The Uniiversity .o,f N,ort.h Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1941. THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 5, 1949. Jan. 25, 19'J9. Dec. 27, 1957. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are deeply convinced that this alliance (with the USSR) is to the benefit of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and that it also is a contribution to international understanding. Whosoever among us does not want to acknowledge this supra-partisan and national character of the Czechoslovak-Soviet alliance, he is undermining this alliance and working against his very own aims." - (Dr. Peter Zenk!, chairman "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," Karlove Vary, July 20, 1947, according to CAS, 7-25-47).  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 Was T. G. Masaryk of Slovak Origin? Description An account of the resource P. A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 7-13 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/193aa3e6bed980798598a513e471b3a3.pdf e90db9312e1a195c7ca61595a15824d3 PDF Text Text 14 SLOVAKIA MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum For the past fifteen years Slovak exiles have been concerned for the most part with Czech pol'iiticians and their adamant ·opposition to Slovak freedom and independence. As a resur.t, many people tlhink that the Slovaks have no pl'oblems with their other neighbors, particularly the Magyars, who consistently refer to themselves as "Hungarians." The fact of the matter i's, however, that even some Magyar exiles rather seem to enjoy presenting Slovakia and 1:Jhe S11ovaks in an unfavorable lig,ht, propagaJting tendencious stories and distorting :the truth in much the same way that the late Dr. Edward Benes dlid, and his followers are still doing. This policy of Czech chauvinists is readl'ly understandable : they are determined that !the Slovaks shall be dominated by the Czechs for aH time in the po1irtical monstrosity caMed Czec'ho-Slovakia. But irt is diffiicult to understand just what the Magyars hope to gain by their hostile attitude toward Slovak freedom and independence. Neither the western world nor tlhe Slovaks wiM accept any plan to return Sloviakia to Hungary to be dominated by the Magyars. Brofessor Tuka used to say that the interests of the neighbors of Slovakia wi:U help the Slovaks preserve their independence, because i1t is not in the interest of the Poles or Magyars that the Slovaks be dominated by the Czechs. Conversely, logical consideration of this mat'ter leads to the conclusion that bdth these neighbors of the Slovaks ,s hould, in their own ,i nterests, promorte the independence of Slovakia. Slovaks in exile have tried to develop friendly relations w'iith exiled representa'tives of other nationalities, including the Poles and Magyars. They were organized in the Slovak National Oouncil Abroad before February 25, 1948, when the Czech communists seized full power in Czecho-Slovakia and Czech and Czecho-Slovak officials soon after began a mass exodus from the "people's democracy" they had helped to create. ':Dhe SNCA was recognized by the Poliish government-in-exile and the Ma1 �15 SLOVAKIA gyar National Council in London. In 1:Jhe beginning of 1949, with the la'te Karol Sidor, at rthat time president of the SNCA, we had a meeting with Magyar representatives - Monsignor Bela Varga and Count G. Bakacs-Besseneyi - in Paris and we though't tha,t our efforts for f.riendly relations met with underst:anding. The situation changed, however, when certain influenlial political circles in America called into being the "National Councils" - and among t!hem also the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," whidh was created witlh the blessing of the U. S. State Department then under Dean Acheson. As a condition of moral and material support, the various nationality councils were required to work toge'ther in harmony. The Council of Free Czechoslovakia was completely dominated by the Benes Czedhs, the Czech National Socialists (Dr .Hubert Ripka, Dr. Peter Zenkl). As in the past, so even now, several Slov,ak personalities (Joseph Lettrich, Stephen Kocvara, George Slavik), completely subservient to t!he Czech group, were added fur window-dressing so thalt the appel1ation "Czechoslovak" mighrt continue to apply. It was thus that the Magyar National Council discontinued cooperating with the Slovak National Council Abroad and began to work together with t!he organ'iza!t'ion of Ripka, Zenkl, and Lettrich (the Council of F1ree Czechoslovakia) , who not only support the thesis of Czech hegemony over Slovakia, but are also held responsible for ,t he deporbwtion of hundreds of thousands of Magyars while they reigned with Benes in Prague and looked upon the leaders of the Magyar exile as Nazi collaborators and traitors. Strange ,bedfellows, indeed! The SloV1aks were not tlhe cause of this change of policy of the Magyar National Council, nor could they alter it. Of course, irt would be in the interest of the Magyars and the Slov:aks, as well as in the h'ig'hest interest of a better future of all the nations of Central Europe, if 1Jhe Magyar exile made an -e ffort to seek a more just and permanent soluili-o n of Cenrtral-European problems than that fur,c ed upon Central Europe, with the help of Czech poli'bicians, after the wars in 1918 and 1945 - the same solu1 �16 SLOVAKIA ti!on now being promoted by the Council of Firee Czechoslovakia which is dominated by the Czechs for the Czechs. It is noteworthy, thougfu, that some Magyar exiles, grouped around the periodiicail Nemzetor, have seen through the fraud of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and are now on the right track toward solving the problems of • Centval Europe. But the Magy·a r National Council was not the on)y body indirectly aiding and aibetting Czech exiles and Czech tendencies. Magyar journalists and more or less known diplomats have also helped the Czech chauvinists. ]t is not easy to answer the question why they should write about the Slovak Republic so tendenciously, utterly disregarding facts and <listorting the truth. And this is all the more difficult to understand, because some of them wrote in suoh a fashion already a,s professors at American universities and their literary efforts are supposed to be scientific works. Objectively, as :far as 'the Slovaks were concerned, wenrt down the drain. Let's get down to cases. Andrew Gyovgy, assistant professor of potiticail sciences at Yale University, authored tJhe book "Governments of Danubian Europe" (Rinehart and Co., 1949). lit appears to be the best collection of the propaganda used by the Czech exiles during World War II; disregard for objectivity and reliability of sources is in full evidence in this conneotion. No less objective and anti-Slovak is the book "The Great Powers And Eastern Europe," authored by John A. Lukacs, (American Book Co., 1953). This book of 878 pages gives the impression of a serious work. As far as Slovakia is concerned, however, the most :fantastic falsehoods, half-1truths, and inaccwaoies of Czech propaganda are here repeated under tJhe guise of a scientific volume. The vrurious literary endeavors authored or edited by Professor Stephen D. Kert.esz of Notre Dame University unnecessarily characterize ilie S'1ovak Republic as "a German puppet State" and the Slovak Government as a "Nazi government." In the book "The Fate of East Central Europe" (Notre Dame Press, 1956), whic.h was edited by Dr. Kertesz, the chapter by Professor Robert H. Ferrell de- �SLOVAKIA 17 monstrates that the author has little first-hand knowledge about the Slovaks and their country. The chapter by Ivo Duchacek is a glaring example of typical Czech propaganda, replete with inaccuracies, un-truths, and distortions of fact. The book "The Triumph of Tyranny," written by Steplien Borsody, perhaps tops all literary works in this regard. The author was brought up in Slovakia; he was a Magyar journalist of some note, then, after the war, a diplomat of the Budapest government; now he is teaching at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pa. What excuse is there for the anti-Slovak tendency of Borsody? Borsody's book is brilliantly written; it's aim is a new federative order in Central Europe. He takes an objectively negative stand toward the politics of Dr. Edward Benes, also to the deportation of the Magyars from Slovakia; on the whole he takes a sober outlook of the past and the necessity of a new solution of .the problems of Cen'tral Europe in the future. And yet, all objectivity seems to disappear when Borsody writes about the Slovak Republic. He was in Slovakia; he is acquainted with its problems, the will of the Slovak nation; and he had the facts firs't-hand. Why then did he resort to smearing the Slovaks and their country? This was not only not necessary, but also against the interests of the federative conception of Central Europe which Borsody defends so correctly and skillfully. Those who would deny the Slovaks their freedom and political independence demonstrate how little they value these very blessings for their own nations. What have the Czechs to ·g ain by joining Magyars who are opposed to the freedom and independence of the Slovaks? And vice-versa? How do Magyars and Czechs serve the ends of justice and democracy by denying to the Slovaks the very blessings of freedom which they claim for themselves? It is, the Slovaks believe, in the interests of all the nations of the Danubian Basin, nay, in the interests of all Europe, tha't the Slovaks be free of foreign and hostile rule and manage their own household. Exiles from European countries do harm to the cause of freedom and democracy when they deny the fruits of freedom to others; they are certa-inly not helping the. very cause they claim to represen't. � 14 SLOVAKIA MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum For the past fifteen years Slovak exiles have been concerned for the most part with Czech pol'iiticians and their adamant ·opposition to Slovak freedom and independence. As a resur.t, many people tlhink that the Slovaks have no pl'oblems with their other neighbors, particularly the Magyars, who consistently refer to themselves as "Hungarians." The fact of the matter i's, however, that even some Magyar exiles rather seem to enjoy presenting Slovakia and 1:Jhe S11ovaks in an unfavorable lig,ht, propagaJting tendencious stories and distorting :the truth in much the same way that the late Dr. Edward Benes dlid, and his followers are still doing. This policy of Czech chauvinists is readl'ly understandable : they are determined that !the Slovaks shall be dominated by the Czechs for aH time in the po1irtical monstrosity caMed Czec'ho-Slovakia. But irt is diffiicult to understand just what the Magyars hope to gain by their hostile attitude toward Slovak freedom and independence. Neither the western world nor tlhe Slovaks wiM accept any plan to return Sloviakia to Hungary to be dominated by the Magyars. Brofessor Tuka used to say that the interests of the neighbors of Slovakia wi:U help the Slovaks preserve their independence, because i1t is not in the interest of the Poles or Magyars that the Slovaks be dominated by the Czechs. Conversely, logical consideration of this mat'ter leads to the conclusion that bdth these neighbors of the Slovaks ,s hould, in their own ,i nterests, promorte the independence of Slovakia. Slovaks in exile have tried to develop friendly relations w'iith exiled representa'tives of other nationalities, including the Poles and Magyars. They were organized in the Slovak National Oouncil Abroad before February 25, 1948, when the Czech communists seized full power in Czecho-Slovakia and Czech and Czecho-Slovak officials soon after began a mass exodus from the "people's democracy" they had helped to create. ':Dhe SNCA was recognized by the Poliish government-in-exile and the Ma1 �15 SLOVAKIA gyar National Council in London. In 1:Jhe beginning of 1949, with the la'te Karol Sidor, at rthat time president of the SNCA, we had a meeting with Magyar representatives - Monsignor Bela Varga and Count G. Bakacs-Besseneyi - in Paris and we though't tha,t our efforts for f.riendly relations met with underst:anding. The situation changed, however, when certain influenlial political circles in America called into being the "National Councils" - and among t!hem also the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," whidh was created witlh the blessing of the U. S. State Department then under Dean Acheson. As a condition of moral and material support, the various nationality councils were required to work toge'ther in harmony. The Council of Free Czechoslovakia was completely dominated by the Benes Czedhs, the Czech National Socialists (Dr .Hubert Ripka, Dr. Peter Zenkl). As in the past, so even now, several Slov,ak personalities (Joseph Lettrich, Stephen Kocvara, George Slavik), completely subservient to t!he Czech group, were added fur window-dressing so thalt the appel1ation "Czechoslovak" mighrt continue to apply. It was thus that the Magyar National Council discontinued cooperating with the Slovak National Council Abroad and began to work together with t!he organ'iza!t'ion of Ripka, Zenkl, and Lettrich (the Council of F1ree Czechoslovakia) , who not only support the thesis of Czech hegemony over Slovakia, but are also held responsible for ,t he deporbwtion of hundreds of thousands of Magyars while they reigned with Benes in Prague and looked upon the leaders of the Magyar exile as Nazi collaborators and traitors. Strange ,bedfellows, indeed! The SloV1aks were not tlhe cause of this change of policy of the Magyar National Council, nor could they alter it. Of course, irt would be in the interest of the Magyars and the Slov:aks, as well as in the h'ig'hest interest of a better future of all the nations of Central Europe, if 1Jhe Magyar exile made an -e ffort to seek a more just and permanent soluili-o n of Cenrtral-European problems than that fur,c ed upon Central Europe, with the help of Czech poli'bicians, after the wars in 1918 and 1945 - the same solu1 �16 SLOVAKIA ti!on now being promoted by the Council of Firee Czechoslovakia which is dominated by the Czechs for the Czechs. It is noteworthy, thougfu, that some Magyar exiles, grouped around the periodiicail Nemzetor, have seen through the fraud of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and are now on the right track toward solving the problems of • Centval Europe. But the Magy·a r National Council was not the on)y body indirectly aiding and aibetting Czech exiles and Czech tendencies. Magyar journalists and more or less known diplomats have also helped the Czech chauvinists. ]t is not easy to answer the question why they should write about the Slovak Republic so tendenciously, utterly disregarding facts and <listorting the truth. And this is all the more difficult to understand, because some of them wrote in suoh a fashion already a,s professors at American universities and their literary efforts are supposed to be scientific works. Objectively, as :far as 'the Slovaks were concerned, wenrt down the drain. Let's get down to cases. Andrew Gyovgy, assistant professor of potiticail sciences at Yale University, authored tJhe book "Governments of Danubian Europe" (Rinehart and Co., 1949). lit appears to be the best collection of the propaganda used by the Czech exiles during World War II; disregard for objectivity and reliability of sources is in full evidence in this conneotion. No less objective and anti-Slovak is the book "The Great Powers And Eastern Europe," authored by John A. Lukacs, (American Book Co., 1953). This book of 878 pages gives the impression of a serious work. As far as Slovakia is concerned, however, the most :fantastic falsehoods, half-1truths, and inaccwaoies of Czech propaganda are here repeated under tJhe guise of a scientific volume. The vrurious literary endeavors authored or edited by Professor Stephen D. Kert.esz of Notre Dame University unnecessarily characterize ilie S'1ovak Republic as "a German puppet State" and the Slovak Government as a "Nazi government." In the book "The Fate of East Central Europe" (Notre Dame Press, 1956), whic.h was edited by Dr. Kertesz, the chapter by Professor Robert H. Ferrell de- �SLOVAKIA 17 monstrates that the author has little first-hand knowledge about the Slovaks and their country. The chapter by Ivo Duchacek is a glaring example of typical Czech propaganda, replete with inaccuracies, un-truths, and distortions of fact. The book "The Triumph of Tyranny," written by Steplien Borsody, perhaps tops all literary works in this regard. The author was brought up in Slovakia; he was a Magyar journalist of some note, then, after the war, a diplomat of the Budapest government; now he is teaching at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pa. What excuse is there for the anti-Slovak tendency of Borsody? Borsody's book is brilliantly written; it's aim is a new federative order in Central Europe. He takes an objectively negative stand toward the politics of Dr. Edward Benes, also to the deportation of the Magyars from Slovakia; on the whole he takes a sober outlook of the past and the necessity of a new solution of .the problems of Cen'tral Europe in the future. And yet, all objectivity seems to disappear when Borsody writes about the Slovak Republic. He was in Slovakia; he is acquainted with its problems, the will of the Slovak nation; and he had the facts firs't-hand. Why then did he resort to smearing the Slovaks and their country? This was not only not necessary, but also against the interests of the federative conception of Central Europe which Borsody defends so correctly and skillfully. Those who would deny the Slovaks their freedom and political independence demonstrate how little they value these very blessings for their own nations. What have the Czechs to ·g ain by joining Magyars who are opposed to the freedom and independence of the Slovaks? And vice-versa? How do Magyars and Czechs serve the ends of justice and democracy by denying to the Slovaks the very blessings of freedom which they claim for themselves? It is, the Slovaks believe, in the interests of all the nations of the Danubian Basin, nay, in the interests of all Europe, tha't the Slovaks be free of foreign and hostile rule and manage their own household. Exiles from European countries do harm to the cause of freedom and democracy when they deny the fruits of freedom to others; they are certa-inly not helping the. very cause they claim to represen't. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 14 SLOVAKIA MAGYAR EXILES AND SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum For the past fifteen years Slovak exiles have been concerned for the most part with Czech pol'iiticians and their adamant ·opposition to Slovak freedom and independence. As a resur.t, many people tlhink that the Slovaks have no pl'oblems with their other neighbors, particularly the Magyars, who consistently refer to themselves as "Hungarians." The fact of the matter i's, however, that even some Magyar exiles rather seem to enjoy presenting Slovakia and 1:Jhe S11ovaks in an unfavorable lig,ht, propagaJting tendencious stories and distorting :the truth in much the same way that the late Dr. Edward Benes dlid, and his followers are still doing. This policy of Czech chauvinists is readl'ly understandable : they are determined that !the Slovaks shall be dominated by the Czechs for aH time in the po1irtical monstrosity caMed Czec'ho-Slovakia. But irt is diffiicult to understand just what the Magyars hope to gain by their hostile attitude toward Slovak freedom and independence. Neither the western world nor tlhe Slovaks wiM accept any plan to return Sloviakia to Hungary to be dominated by the Magyars. Brofessor Tuka used to say that the interests of the neighbors of Slovakia wi:U help the Slovaks preserve their independence, because i1t is not in the interest of the Poles or Magyars that the Slovaks be dominated by the Czechs. Conversely, logical consideration of this mat'ter leads to the conclusion that bdth these neighbors of the Slovaks ,s hould, in their own ,i nterests, promorte the independence of Slovakia. Slovaks in exile have tried to develop friendly relations w'iith exiled representa'tives of other nationalities, including the Poles and Magyars. They were organized in the Slovak National Oouncil Abroad before February 25, 1948, when the Czech communists seized full power in Czecho-Slovakia and Czech and Czecho-Slovak officials soon after began a mass exodus from the "people's democracy" they had helped to create. ':Dhe SNCA was recognized by the Poliish government-in-exile and the Ma1 15 SLOVAKIA gyar National Council in London. In 1:Jhe beginning of 1949, with the la'te Karol Sidor, at rthat time president of the SNCA, we had a meeting with Magyar representatives - Monsignor Bela Varga and Count G. Bakacs-Besseneyi - in Paris and we though't tha,t our efforts for f.riendly relations met with underst:anding. The situation changed, however, when certain influenlial political circles in America called into being the "National Councils" - and among t!hem also the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," whidh was created witlh the blessing of the U. S. State Department then under Dean Acheson. As a condition of moral and material support, the various nationality councils were required to work toge'ther in harmony. The Council of Free Czechoslovakia was completely dominated by the Benes Czedhs, the Czech National Socialists (Dr .Hubert Ripka, Dr. Peter Zenkl). As in the past, so even now, several Slov,ak personalities (Joseph Lettrich, Stephen Kocvara, George Slavik), completely subservient to t!he Czech group, were added fur window-dressing so thalt the appel1ation "Czechoslovak" mighrt continue to apply. It was thus that the Magyar National Council discontinued cooperating with the Slovak National Council Abroad and began to work together with t!he organ'iza!t'ion of Ripka, Zenkl, and Lettrich (the Council of F1ree Czechoslovakia) , who not only support the thesis of Czech hegemony over Slovakia, but are also held responsible for ,t he deporbwtion of hundreds of thousands of Magyars while they reigned with Benes in Prague and looked upon the leaders of the Magyar exile as Nazi collaborators and traitors. Strange ,bedfellows, indeed! The SloV1aks were not tlhe cause of this change of policy of the Magyar National Council, nor could they alter it. Of course, irt would be in the interest of the Magyars and the Slov:aks, as well as in the h'ig'hest interest of a better future of all the nations of Central Europe, if 1Jhe Magyar exile made an -e ffort to seek a more just and permanent soluili-o n of Cenrtral-European problems than that fur,c ed upon Central Europe, with the help of Czech poli'bicians, after the wars in 1918 and 1945 - the same solu1 16 SLOVAKIA ti!on now being promoted by the Council of Firee Czechoslovakia which is dominated by the Czechs for the Czechs. It is noteworthy, thougfu, that some Magyar exiles, grouped around the periodiicail Nemzetor, have seen through the fraud of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and are now on the right track toward solving the problems of • Centval Europe. But the Magy·a r National Council was not the on)y body indirectly aiding and aibetting Czech exiles and Czech tendencies. Magyar journalists and more or less known diplomats have also helped the Czech chauvinists. ]t is not easy to answer the question why they should write about the Slovak Republic so tendenciously, utterly disregarding facts and <listorting the truth. And this is all the more difficult to understand, because some of them wrote in suoh a fashion already a,s professors at American universities and their literary efforts are supposed to be scientific works. Objectively, as :far as 'the Slovaks were concerned, wenrt down the drain. Let's get down to cases. Andrew Gyovgy, assistant professor of potiticail sciences at Yale University, authored tJhe book "Governments of Danubian Europe" (Rinehart and Co., 1949). lit appears to be the best collection of the propaganda used by the Czech exiles during World War II; disregard for objectivity and reliability of sources is in full evidence in this conneotion. No less objective and anti-Slovak is the book "The Great Powers And Eastern Europe," authored by John A. Lukacs, (American Book Co., 1953). This book of 878 pages gives the impression of a serious work. As far as Slovakia is concerned, however, the most :fantastic falsehoods, half-1truths, and inaccwaoies of Czech propaganda are here repeated under tJhe guise of a scientific volume. The vrurious literary endeavors authored or edited by Professor Stephen D. Kert.esz of Notre Dame University unnecessarily characterize ilie S'1ovak Republic as "a German puppet State" and the Slovak Government as a "Nazi government." In the book "The Fate of East Central Europe" (Notre Dame Press, 1956), whic.h was edited by Dr. Kertesz, the chapter by Professor Robert H. Ferrell de- SLOVAKIA 17 monstrates that the author has little first-hand knowledge about the Slovaks and their country. The chapter by Ivo Duchacek is a glaring example of typical Czech propaganda, replete with inaccuracies, un-truths, and distortions of fact. The book "The Triumph of Tyranny," written by Steplien Borsody, perhaps tops all literary works in this regard. The author was brought up in Slovakia; he was a Magyar journalist of some note, then, after the war, a diplomat of the Budapest government; now he is teaching at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pa. What excuse is there for the anti-Slovak tendency of Borsody? Borsody's book is brilliantly written; it's aim is a new federative order in Central Europe. He takes an objectively negative stand toward the politics of Dr. Edward Benes, also to the deportation of the Magyars from Slovakia; on the whole he takes a sober outlook of the past and the necessity of a new solution of .the problems of Cen'tral Europe in the future. And yet, all objectivity seems to disappear when Borsody writes about the Slovak Republic. He was in Slovakia; he is acquainted with its problems, the will of the Slovak nation; and he had the facts firs't-hand. Why then did he resort to smearing the Slovaks and their country? This was not only not necessary, but also against the interests of the federative conception of Central Europe which Borsody defends so correctly and skillfully. Those who would deny the Slovaks their freedom and political independence demonstrate how little they value these very blessings for their own nations. What have the Czechs to ·g ain by joining Magyars who are opposed to the freedom and independence of the Slovaks? And vice-versa? How do Magyars and Czechs serve the ends of justice and democracy by denying to the Slovaks the very blessings of freedom which they claim for themselves? It is, the Slovaks believe, in the interests of all the nations of the Danubian Basin, nay, in the interests of all Europe, tha't the Slovaks be free of foreign and hostile rule and manage their own household. Exiles from European countries do harm to the cause of freedom and democracy when they deny the fruits of freedom to others; they are certa-inly not helping the. very cause they claim to represen't.  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 Magyar Exiles and Slovakia Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 14-17 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c0c29f35f38e18e769727286a469d9d8.pdf 26789962c72a9d57cb89eaef06ff226a PDF Text Text 18 SLOVAKIA CHURCHES IN A VISE Frances McPoyne It hias often been said that Czecho-Slovakia is Moscow's most obedient satellite. What is there a'b out this little nation that has earned for it such an uncomplimentary name 'i Is it by plan or mere accident that a Christian Westernoriented country should become such a loyal servant of :the Kremlin? To know and understand another people one must at least have an idea as to that people's language, history, music and its religious development. A little volume entitled Kirchen in der Zange (Churches in a Vise), published by the Munich University Press and Publishing House, Dr. C. Wolf and Son, one of a series on Central European Sources and Documents, d ~ exclusively with Czecho Slovakia and describes the plight of the churches in that country today. Czecho..Slovakia is territorially about as large as the State of New York. At its birth in 1919 it did not consist of one et!hnic people, the "Czechoslovaks," for there exists no such people. It contained Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, and others. The census of 1930 gives the following breakdown: 7.2 million Czechs, 2.3 million Slovaks, 3.3 million Sudeten Germans (they were native to Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia and did ndt enter with Hitler in 1939), 550,000 Ukrainians, 700,000 Magyars, 190,000 Jews, 130,000 Poles and others. According to the same statistics the religious breakdown was 73.5 % Roman Caltholic, 7.6 % Evengelican Lutheran, 5.3 % Czech National Church (in Slovakia 0.4 % ), 2.4% Israelite, 5.4% ofiller and 5.8 % non-affil'iated. The Catholics in the present-day "People's Democratic" OSSR are estimated at 75 % of the population, the Evengeiicals at 8 % . For obvious reasons it is impossible to obtain a more exact tabulation. To rightly comprehend the situation, let it be said that feelings were generally drawn along nationality lines rather than on religious ones, even prior to the Communist putsch in Czecho-Slovakia. Such an attitude made it possible, for �SLOVAKIA 19 example, for the Slovak Catholic priest Andreas IIlinlm. . to win support not only among his co-religious fellowSlovaks but from the Sl ovak Protestants too. By the same token the Ca'tholic Slovaks never merged witJh tlhe Catholic Czechs to form a People's Party in the Prague Parliament. The 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten population, to cite a second example, repeatedly voted for Lutheran Pastor Gottfrid Wehrenfennig as the president of their Volksverein. It is important, therefore, to bear these nationaHty differences and tensions in mind when tracing the trend of politiool events in Czecho-Slovakia. • Due to the bitter feeling between Czechs and Germans at the close of World War II and due perhaps to certain pro-Slav leanings of the Czedh people, it was possi1ble for Czedh collaboration with the Communists to make a bolo public hand-shake in the form of a pastoral letter which welcomed the Czec'h two-year plan as "a road to happiness and prosperity for the fatherland" and urged the faithful to support it. A special event that shows how smoothly tJhe near Church-Communist betrothal was working out, was the consecration on December 8, 1946, of Joseph Beran, Archbishop of Prague and primate of Bohemia. No less a rrominent Communist than Premier Klement Gottwald not only attended the church ceremonies but followed the various steps in the consecration with prayerbook in hand and congratulated the archbishop in the name of the entire government. So convinced at the time was the archbishop of the chances for good Church-Communist relations that he made no attempt to counteract the decrees of Dr. EdvaTd Benes calling for the brutal expulsion from the land of all native Sudeten German inhabitants. The driving out of the 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten Germans was even acceded to by Primate Beran as "imperative." Not until tJhe draft of a new law seeking to nationalize the nation's schools did Archbishop Beran realize he had hitc'hed his wagon to the wrong star. His reaction was to try to effect a coalition of all the country's churches. When tihe government then confiscated all Church property and decided to give the clergy the sta1 �20 ::,LOVAKIA tus of any other governm ent employee, Beran issued a stateme nt - made on the heels of governm ent efforts to win the clergy for Commu nist Party member ship - in which he declared : "No Christia n and above all no priest dare align himself with an ideology that question s the existence of a soul or immorta lity." On May 10, 1948, a "uniform list" of candida tes for the revived Popular Front was drawn up, aimed to convince other countrie s that the Czech people had always been eager to embrace Commun ism. Gottwal d's cabinet did its utmost to win church support for that election campaign. 'Dhe head of the Orthodo x Church in the CSSR vehemenrtly stated that the casting of a white (inval'id) vote was tantamo unt to cowardl y flight from responsi bility for the future of the State. The Israelite Council called on its member s to vote for the Gottwa!ld Commu nist governm ent, believin g that it meant "a chance for quiet develop ment of the Jewish commun ity." The Central Council of the "Czechoslova k Church" declared : "It is the civil duty of every church member to vote so as to manifes t national unity." The election banner of the Evangel ical Bruderk irche was much more ,c onserva tive: "Let us strive for true unity in truth and justice." The Catholic Chul"ch refused to be misled by a tempora ry let-up in persecut ion of churchm en and refraine d from promisin g the regime its confidence. It simply declined to adopt any election slogan whatsoe ver. By Novemb er 1949, Archbis hop Beran had signed his last pastoral letter. On March 11, 1951, t'he Czeclh State police had taken him prisoner and silenced him perfuaps for all time. Parallel ing Beran's disappea rance came Sovietstyle "scare" tactics aimed at the clergy in general, with arrests and sentence s to prison. Not eager to create martyrs for either Luthera nism or Rome, the Communis'ts promised freedom to those it had interned provided they would march with the regime. In the meantim e properti es and building s of both Catholic and otJher denomin ations had been confisca ted, their building s turned into museum s or Commu nist headqua rters. In addition to the expropr iation of the clergy - a move thaJt not only meant materia l gains for the governm ent - an added blow had been �SLOVA KIA 21 struck design ed to make all men of the oloth mere tools of the State. Robbe d of their indepe ndence , they were to be reduce d to puppe ts by having to qualify for office on the same basis as all other public jobhol ders. Their salary, payme nt for lodgin g, and for the educat ion of their children in the case of the non-C atholic s, all were pll't on the level of State employ ees. The admin istrati on was to approve all appoin tments to office and be free to refuse a candid ate on "politi cal" ground . Such appoin ltment s are not valid accord ing to church law but it is relativ ely easy for the Red regime to fool a simple pavish ioner into bel'ieving that they are. In order to functio n as priest or preacih er, in church or other religio us society , the person in questi on must take an oath which reads : "I will suppo rt the govern ment with every means in my power ." Since the bishop s realize d that a segme nt of the priests would be accept ing govern ment pay they consen ted, approv ing the oath with the follow ing provis o: Insofa r as it would not conflic t with God's rights and Churc h rights. The bishop s themse lves decline d to accept State pay. How about religio us instruc tion in Czedh o-Slov akia? As such, it is not forbid den. It may on~y be given to those childre n, howev er, whose father s have submi tted a writte n reques t for it to the school princip al. Again the scare tactic is used, since fhe author ities know thaJt many a parent will refrain from submi tting such a petitio n lest pressu re be exert ed on him by P rty functio naries , threat ening loss of job or the like. A second type of scare tactic is tlhe fact that often the very person s selecte d to give tlhe religio us instruc tion are in reality loyal Comm unists. With the State reser~ ing the right to say who can or cannol t be priests and minist ers of the gospel , it will natura Hy choose for instruc tion in religio us doctrin e such clergy men who are willing to compr omise. Anoth er facet of the intimi dation tactic is the placin g in t'he path of those wlho remain loyal to tlheir religio us upbrin ging obstac les to their higher educat ion. The family attitud e itself is impor tant in mould ing the attitude of the child, and strong religio us familie s are natura lly consid ered a block to the spread ing of Comm unist ideas. �22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague � 18 SLOVAKIA CHURCHES IN A VISE Frances McPoyne It hias often been said that Czecho-Slovakia is Moscow's most obedient satellite. What is there a'b out this little nation that has earned for it such an uncomplimentary name 'i Is it by plan or mere accident that a Christian Westernoriented country should become such a loyal servant of :the Kremlin? To know and understand another people one must at least have an idea as to that people's language, history, music and its religious development. A little volume entitled Kirchen in der Zange (Churches in a Vise), published by the Munich University Press and Publishing House, Dr. C. Wolf and Son, one of a series on Central European Sources and Documents, d ~ exclusively with Czecho Slovakia and describes the plight of the churches in that country today. Czecho..Slovakia is territorially about as large as the State of New York. At its birth in 1919 it did not consist of one et!hnic people, the "Czechoslovaks," for there exists no such people. It contained Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, and others. The census of 1930 gives the following breakdown: 7.2 million Czechs, 2.3 million Slovaks, 3.3 million Sudeten Germans (they were native to Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia and did ndt enter with Hitler in 1939), 550,000 Ukrainians, 700,000 Magyars, 190,000 Jews, 130,000 Poles and others. According to the same statistics the religious breakdown was 73.5 % Roman Caltholic, 7.6 % Evengelican Lutheran, 5.3 % Czech National Church (in Slovakia 0.4 % ), 2.4% Israelite, 5.4% ofiller and 5.8 % non-affil'iated. The Catholics in the present-day "People's Democratic" OSSR are estimated at 75 % of the population, the Evengeiicals at 8 % . For obvious reasons it is impossible to obtain a more exact tabulation. To rightly comprehend the situation, let it be said that feelings were generally drawn along nationality lines rather than on religious ones, even prior to the Communist putsch in Czecho-Slovakia. Such an attitude made it possible, for �SLOVAKIA 19 example, for the Slovak Catholic priest Andreas IIlinlm. . to win support not only among his co-religious fellowSlovaks but from the Sl ovak Protestants too. By the same token the Ca'tholic Slovaks never merged witJh tlhe Catholic Czechs to form a People's Party in the Prague Parliament. The 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten population, to cite a second example, repeatedly voted for Lutheran Pastor Gottfrid Wehrenfennig as the president of their Volksverein. It is important, therefore, to bear these nationaHty differences and tensions in mind when tracing the trend of politiool events in Czecho-Slovakia. • Due to the bitter feeling between Czechs and Germans at the close of World War II and due perhaps to certain pro-Slav leanings of the Czedh people, it was possi1ble for Czedh collaboration with the Communists to make a bolo public hand-shake in the form of a pastoral letter which welcomed the Czec'h two-year plan as "a road to happiness and prosperity for the fatherland" and urged the faithful to support it. A special event that shows how smoothly tJhe near Church-Communist betrothal was working out, was the consecration on December 8, 1946, of Joseph Beran, Archbishop of Prague and primate of Bohemia. No less a rrominent Communist than Premier Klement Gottwald not only attended the church ceremonies but followed the various steps in the consecration with prayerbook in hand and congratulated the archbishop in the name of the entire government. So convinced at the time was the archbishop of the chances for good Church-Communist relations that he made no attempt to counteract the decrees of Dr. EdvaTd Benes calling for the brutal expulsion from the land of all native Sudeten German inhabitants. The driving out of the 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten Germans was even acceded to by Primate Beran as "imperative." Not until tJhe draft of a new law seeking to nationalize the nation's schools did Archbishop Beran realize he had hitc'hed his wagon to the wrong star. His reaction was to try to effect a coalition of all the country's churches. When tihe government then confiscated all Church property and decided to give the clergy the sta1 �20 ::,LOVAKIA tus of any other governm ent employee, Beran issued a stateme nt - made on the heels of governm ent efforts to win the clergy for Commu nist Party member ship - in which he declared : "No Christia n and above all no priest dare align himself with an ideology that question s the existence of a soul or immorta lity." On May 10, 1948, a "uniform list" of candida tes for the revived Popular Front was drawn up, aimed to convince other countrie s that the Czech people had always been eager to embrace Commun ism. Gottwal d's cabinet did its utmost to win church support for that election campaign. 'Dhe head of the Orthodo x Church in the CSSR vehemenrtly stated that the casting of a white (inval'id) vote was tantamo unt to cowardl y flight from responsi bility for the future of the State. The Israelite Council called on its member s to vote for the Gottwa!ld Commu nist governm ent, believin g that it meant "a chance for quiet develop ment of the Jewish commun ity." The Central Council of the "Czechoslova k Church" declared : "It is the civil duty of every church member to vote so as to manifes t national unity." The election banner of the Evangel ical Bruderk irche was much more ,c onserva tive: "Let us strive for true unity in truth and justice." The Catholic Chul"ch refused to be misled by a tempora ry let-up in persecut ion of churchm en and refraine d from promisin g the regime its confidence. It simply declined to adopt any election slogan whatsoe ver. By Novemb er 1949, Archbis hop Beran had signed his last pastoral letter. On March 11, 1951, t'he Czeclh State police had taken him prisoner and silenced him perfuaps for all time. Parallel ing Beran's disappea rance came Sovietstyle "scare" tactics aimed at the clergy in general, with arrests and sentence s to prison. Not eager to create martyrs for either Luthera nism or Rome, the Communis'ts promised freedom to those it had interned provided they would march with the regime. In the meantim e properti es and building s of both Catholic and otJher denomin ations had been confisca ted, their building s turned into museum s or Commu nist headqua rters. In addition to the expropr iation of the clergy - a move thaJt not only meant materia l gains for the governm ent - an added blow had been �SLOVA KIA 21 struck design ed to make all men of the oloth mere tools of the State. Robbe d of their indepe ndence , they were to be reduce d to puppe ts by having to qualify for office on the same basis as all other public jobhol ders. Their salary, payme nt for lodgin g, and for the educat ion of their children in the case of the non-C atholic s, all were pll't on the level of State employ ees. The admin istrati on was to approve all appoin tments to office and be free to refuse a candid ate on "politi cal" ground . Such appoin ltment s are not valid accord ing to church law but it is relativ ely easy for the Red regime to fool a simple pavish ioner into bel'ieving that they are. In order to functio n as priest or preacih er, in church or other religio us society , the person in questi on must take an oath which reads : "I will suppo rt the govern ment with every means in my power ." Since the bishop s realize d that a segme nt of the priests would be accept ing govern ment pay they consen ted, approv ing the oath with the follow ing provis o: Insofa r as it would not conflic t with God's rights and Churc h rights. The bishop s themse lves decline d to accept State pay. How about religio us instruc tion in Czedh o-Slov akia? As such, it is not forbid den. It may on~y be given to those childre n, howev er, whose father s have submi tted a writte n reques t for it to the school princip al. Again the scare tactic is used, since fhe author ities know thaJt many a parent will refrain from submi tting such a petitio n lest pressu re be exert ed on him by P rty functio naries , threat ening loss of job or the like. A second type of scare tactic is tlhe fact that often the very person s selecte d to give tlhe religio us instruc tion are in reality loyal Comm unists. With the State reser~ ing the right to say who can or cannol t be priests and minist ers of the gospel , it will natura Hy choose for instruc tion in religio us doctrin e such clergy men who are willing to compr omise. Anoth er facet of the intimi dation tactic is the placin g in t'he path of those wlho remain loyal to tlheir religio us upbrin ging obstac les to their higher educat ion. The family attitud e itself is impor tant in mould ing the attitude of the child, and strong religio us familie s are natura lly consid ered a block to the spread ing of Comm unist ideas. �22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 18 SLOVAKIA CHURCHES IN A VISE Frances McPoyne It hias often been said that Czecho-Slovakia is Moscow's most obedient satellite. What is there a'b out this little nation that has earned for it such an uncomplimentary name 'i Is it by plan or mere accident that a Christian Westernoriented country should become such a loyal servant of :the Kremlin? To know and understand another people one must at least have an idea as to that people's language, history, music and its religious development. A little volume entitled Kirchen in der Zange (Churches in a Vise), published by the Munich University Press and Publishing House, Dr. C. Wolf and Son, one of a series on Central European Sources and Documents, d ~ exclusively with Czecho Slovakia and describes the plight of the churches in that country today. Czecho..Slovakia is territorially about as large as the State of New York. At its birth in 1919 it did not consist of one et!hnic people, the "Czechoslovaks," for there exists no such people. It contained Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, and others. The census of 1930 gives the following breakdown: 7.2 million Czechs, 2.3 million Slovaks, 3.3 million Sudeten Germans (they were native to Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia and did ndt enter with Hitler in 1939), 550,000 Ukrainians, 700,000 Magyars, 190,000 Jews, 130,000 Poles and others. According to the same statistics the religious breakdown was 73.5 % Roman Caltholic, 7.6 % Evengelican Lutheran, 5.3 % Czech National Church (in Slovakia 0.4 % ), 2.4% Israelite, 5.4% ofiller and 5.8 % non-affil'iated. The Catholics in the present-day "People's Democratic" OSSR are estimated at 75 % of the population, the Evengeiicals at 8 % . For obvious reasons it is impossible to obtain a more exact tabulation. To rightly comprehend the situation, let it be said that feelings were generally drawn along nationality lines rather than on religious ones, even prior to the Communist putsch in Czecho-Slovakia. Such an attitude made it possible, for SLOVAKIA 19 example, for the Slovak Catholic priest Andreas IIlinlm. . to win support not only among his co-religious fellowSlovaks but from the Sl ovak Protestants too. By the same token the Ca'tholic Slovaks never merged witJh tlhe Catholic Czechs to form a People's Party in the Prague Parliament. The 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten population, to cite a second example, repeatedly voted for Lutheran Pastor Gottfrid Wehrenfennig as the president of their Volksverein. It is important, therefore, to bear these nationaHty differences and tensions in mind when tracing the trend of politiool events in Czecho-Slovakia. • Due to the bitter feeling between Czechs and Germans at the close of World War II and due perhaps to certain pro-Slav leanings of the Czedh people, it was possi1ble for Czedh collaboration with the Communists to make a bolo public hand-shake in the form of a pastoral letter which welcomed the Czec'h two-year plan as "a road to happiness and prosperity for the fatherland" and urged the faithful to support it. A special event that shows how smoothly tJhe near Church-Communist betrothal was working out, was the consecration on December 8, 1946, of Joseph Beran, Archbishop of Prague and primate of Bohemia. No less a rrominent Communist than Premier Klement Gottwald not only attended the church ceremonies but followed the various steps in the consecration with prayerbook in hand and congratulated the archbishop in the name of the entire government. So convinced at the time was the archbishop of the chances for good Church-Communist relations that he made no attempt to counteract the decrees of Dr. EdvaTd Benes calling for the brutal expulsion from the land of all native Sudeten German inhabitants. The driving out of the 92 % Roman Catholic Sudeten Germans was even acceded to by Primate Beran as "imperative." Not until tJhe draft of a new law seeking to nationalize the nation's schools did Archbishop Beran realize he had hitc'hed his wagon to the wrong star. His reaction was to try to effect a coalition of all the country's churches. When tihe government then confiscated all Church property and decided to give the clergy the sta1 20 ::,LOVAKIA tus of any other governm ent employee, Beran issued a stateme nt - made on the heels of governm ent efforts to win the clergy for Commu nist Party member ship - in which he declared : "No Christia n and above all no priest dare align himself with an ideology that question s the existence of a soul or immorta lity." On May 10, 1948, a "uniform list" of candida tes for the revived Popular Front was drawn up, aimed to convince other countrie s that the Czech people had always been eager to embrace Commun ism. Gottwal d's cabinet did its utmost to win church support for that election campaign. 'Dhe head of the Orthodo x Church in the CSSR vehemenrtly stated that the casting of a white (inval'id) vote was tantamo unt to cowardl y flight from responsi bility for the future of the State. The Israelite Council called on its member s to vote for the Gottwa!ld Commu nist governm ent, believin g that it meant "a chance for quiet develop ment of the Jewish commun ity." The Central Council of the "Czechoslova k Church" declared : "It is the civil duty of every church member to vote so as to manifes t national unity." The election banner of the Evangel ical Bruderk irche was much more ,c onserva tive: "Let us strive for true unity in truth and justice." The Catholic Chul"ch refused to be misled by a tempora ry let-up in persecut ion of churchm en and refraine d from promisin g the regime its confidence. It simply declined to adopt any election slogan whatsoe ver. By Novemb er 1949, Archbis hop Beran had signed his last pastoral letter. On March 11, 1951, t'he Czeclh State police had taken him prisoner and silenced him perfuaps for all time. Parallel ing Beran's disappea rance came Sovietstyle "scare" tactics aimed at the clergy in general, with arrests and sentence s to prison. Not eager to create martyrs for either Luthera nism or Rome, the Communis'ts promised freedom to those it had interned provided they would march with the regime. In the meantim e properti es and building s of both Catholic and otJher denomin ations had been confisca ted, their building s turned into museum s or Commu nist headqua rters. In addition to the expropr iation of the clergy - a move thaJt not only meant materia l gains for the governm ent - an added blow had been SLOVA KIA 21 struck design ed to make all men of the oloth mere tools of the State. Robbe d of their indepe ndence , they were to be reduce d to puppe ts by having to qualify for office on the same basis as all other public jobhol ders. Their salary, payme nt for lodgin g, and for the educat ion of their children in the case of the non-C atholic s, all were pll't on the level of State employ ees. The admin istrati on was to approve all appoin tments to office and be free to refuse a candid ate on "politi cal" ground . Such appoin ltment s are not valid accord ing to church law but it is relativ ely easy for the Red regime to fool a simple pavish ioner into bel'ieving that they are. In order to functio n as priest or preacih er, in church or other religio us society , the person in questi on must take an oath which reads : "I will suppo rt the govern ment with every means in my power ." Since the bishop s realize d that a segme nt of the priests would be accept ing govern ment pay they consen ted, approv ing the oath with the follow ing provis o: Insofa r as it would not conflic t with God's rights and Churc h rights. The bishop s themse lves decline d to accept State pay. How about religio us instruc tion in Czedh o-Slov akia? As such, it is not forbid den. It may on~y be given to those childre n, howev er, whose father s have submi tted a writte n reques t for it to the school princip al. Again the scare tactic is used, since fhe author ities know thaJt many a parent will refrain from submi tting such a petitio n lest pressu re be exert ed on him by P rty functio naries , threat ening loss of job or the like. A second type of scare tactic is tlhe fact that often the very person s selecte d to give tlhe religio us instruc tion are in reality loyal Comm unists. With the State reser~ ing the right to say who can or cannol t be priests and minist ers of the gospel , it will natura Hy choose for instruc tion in religio us doctrin e such clergy men who are willing to compr omise. Anoth er facet of the intimi dation tactic is the placin g in t'he path of those wlho remain loyal to tlheir religio us upbrin ging obstac les to their higher educat ion. The family attitud e itself is impor tant in mould ing the attitude of the child, and strong religio us familie s are natura lly consid ered a block to the spread ing of Comm unist ideas. 22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague  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 Churches in a Vise Description An account of the resource Frances McPoyne Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 18-22 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McPoyne, Frances Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c3f59e7ccb975d9ac93cafcf6e82b3e2.pdf 73303a198b6cff05e4d97911f95a6382 PDF Text Text 22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague �SLOVAKIA 23 in spring 1959, where he ,rubbed elbows with the popufaition, was able to draw on personal observations. In evaluating the latest phase of Czech history, however, he does not rely solely on Czech sources. Being familiar, too, with Wenzel Jaksch's "Europe's Road to Potsdam," Donner knows that in 1948 the Communists merely gave the finishing touch to the Czech tragedy. It was initiated by the utterly shortsighted policy of the "shrewd diplomat" and is rooted in the events of 1918, namely, tJhe Peace Treaty of Saint Germain. This self-evident fact has long been recognized by observers genuinely conversant with Central European history. However, when historians living on the outskirts of the continent presently penetrate to the heart of the matter, such elucidation must be considered well-nigh sensational, particularly in lig'ht of Benes' hitherto spotless reputation in Scandinavia. Benes has been regarded - and still is throug1hout Norway and Denmark - as the upright standard-'bearer of European democracy until he was tricked by the contempti:ble Sudeten Germans and then by the vicious Communists. Though his policy is not usually examined, his fate is still deplored. Anyone who wants objectively to analyze recent Czech or Slovak history must study Jaksch's book. Unfortunately, when it comes to deflating the Benes legend, many historians silently circumvent certain significant events in Czech history. Jorn Donner is no exception in that respect. Yet tJhe fact is, that Czecho..:Slovakia was beyond salvage in 1948. The middle class and social democratic parties still in existence at that time were simply not equal to the task. Even had they possessed greater capa:bility, they could not have stemmed the tide. True, the mistakes made in 1948 were of a tactical nature. But no tactics, however clever, could have undone the basic failure of Benes in the wake of his trip to Moscow in May 1943 and even earlier. It is well-known that the trip resulted in the CzechSoviet alliance and in Moscow's approval to expropriate and drive out the 3,500,000 Sudeten German citizens of CzechoSlovakia. In 1919 at the Peace Conference of Saint Germain these citizens had been "allocated" to the CSR against their �24 SLOVAKIA wish; the right of self-determination , demanded by Benes and Masaryk for their own people, had rashly been refused the Sudeten Germans. Notwithstanding superficial assertions to the contrary, the truth is that during no phase of soi-disant Czecho-Slovak history did the majority of the Sudeten Germans aspire to "return home to the Reich"; they wanted self-administration , that natural right, held inalienable today even by the most primitive tribes in Africa or Asia, ( except for the Communist-domin ated areas, where such right is definitely tabu). However, the decisive conclusion is that Benes' politics quite logically had to terminate in Moscow's claws. Quite logically, for the 1918 establishment of the first Czech republic and its subsequent collapse (lies and deception being no stable foundation) were sponsored by, and were the inevitable outcome of that same Macchiavellism which later became Benes' ultimate wisdom. His pact with the Beelzebub of Moscow was therefore only a step consistent with his design for power to square accounts with t!he Devil of Sudeten Germandom "once and for all." The expulsion of 3,500,000 people from their ancient homeland, the brutal robbery perpetrated on all these unfortunates, was the final collapse of what had been left of Czech democracy. A state based upon deceit and intrigue, above all, on a denial to :three and one-half million of its citizens of the rig,ht of self-determination and se1f-administration, could not possibly be saved by means of robbery, without undermining the foundation of Czech liberty itself. • • • WHO SAID IT? "At this fatef.ul time, when the Reel. Army and the armies O'f the United States and other United Nations are figh:ting on German soiil, we can look foT1Ward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nruzi aggressors and the atitruinment of our common go.al - a dUTa.ble a:nd just peace and a co:ntinuaruce of close coliaiboration between aJl the United Nations.'' - F. D. Roosevelt's oaJblegram, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the Soviet President on the occasion of the 27•th ainntversary of the foU1J1d!ing of the USSR. � 22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague �SLOVAKIA 23 in spring 1959, where he ,rubbed elbows with the popufaition, was able to draw on personal observations. In evaluating the latest phase of Czech history, however, he does not rely solely on Czech sources. Being familiar, too, with Wenzel Jaksch's "Europe's Road to Potsdam," Donner knows that in 1948 the Communists merely gave the finishing touch to the Czech tragedy. It was initiated by the utterly shortsighted policy of the "shrewd diplomat" and is rooted in the events of 1918, namely, tJhe Peace Treaty of Saint Germain. This self-evident fact has long been recognized by observers genuinely conversant with Central European history. However, when historians living on the outskirts of the continent presently penetrate to the heart of the matter, such elucidation must be considered well-nigh sensational, particularly in lig'ht of Benes' hitherto spotless reputation in Scandinavia. Benes has been regarded - and still is throug1hout Norway and Denmark - as the upright standard-'bearer of European democracy until he was tricked by the contempti:ble Sudeten Germans and then by the vicious Communists. Though his policy is not usually examined, his fate is still deplored. Anyone who wants objectively to analyze recent Czech or Slovak history must study Jaksch's book. Unfortunately, when it comes to deflating the Benes legend, many historians silently circumvent certain significant events in Czech history. Jorn Donner is no exception in that respect. Yet tJhe fact is, that Czecho..:Slovakia was beyond salvage in 1948. The middle class and social democratic parties still in existence at that time were simply not equal to the task. Even had they possessed greater capa:bility, they could not have stemmed the tide. True, the mistakes made in 1948 were of a tactical nature. But no tactics, however clever, could have undone the basic failure of Benes in the wake of his trip to Moscow in May 1943 and even earlier. It is well-known that the trip resulted in the CzechSoviet alliance and in Moscow's approval to expropriate and drive out the 3,500,000 Sudeten German citizens of CzechoSlovakia. In 1919 at the Peace Conference of Saint Germain these citizens had been "allocated" to the CSR against their �24 SLOVAKIA wish; the right of self-determination , demanded by Benes and Masaryk for their own people, had rashly been refused the Sudeten Germans. Notwithstanding superficial assertions to the contrary, the truth is that during no phase of soi-disant Czecho-Slovak history did the majority of the Sudeten Germans aspire to "return home to the Reich"; they wanted self-administration , that natural right, held inalienable today even by the most primitive tribes in Africa or Asia, ( except for the Communist-domin ated areas, where such right is definitely tabu). However, the decisive conclusion is that Benes' politics quite logically had to terminate in Moscow's claws. Quite logically, for the 1918 establishment of the first Czech republic and its subsequent collapse (lies and deception being no stable foundation) were sponsored by, and were the inevitable outcome of that same Macchiavellism which later became Benes' ultimate wisdom. His pact with the Beelzebub of Moscow was therefore only a step consistent with his design for power to square accounts with t!he Devil of Sudeten Germandom "once and for all." The expulsion of 3,500,000 people from their ancient homeland, the brutal robbery perpetrated on all these unfortunates, was the final collapse of what had been left of Czech democracy. A state based upon deceit and intrigue, above all, on a denial to :three and one-half million of its citizens of the rig,ht of self-determination and se1f-administration, could not possibly be saved by means of robbery, without undermining the foundation of Czech liberty itself. • • • WHO SAID IT? "At this fatef.ul time, when the Reel. Army and the armies O'f the United States and other United Nations are figh:ting on German soiil, we can look foT1Ward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nruzi aggressors and the atitruinment of our common go.al - a dUTa.ble a:nd just peace and a co:ntinuaruce of close coliaiboration between aJl the United Nations.'' - F. D. Roosevelt's oaJblegram, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the Soviet President on the occasion of the 27•th ainntversary of the foU1J1d!ing of the USSR. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 22 SLOVAKIA Once the Reds succeeded in liquidating the "unteachables," those who refused to follow the Party line, the remaining mmisters and priests had three paths to choose f.rom: (1) They could become ideological and practical collaborators with Communism, the road traveled by Jan Plojhar, a Catholic priest who, it is said, never wanted to be a priest in the first place, or Josef Hromadka, a Lutheran minister and Vice-President of the World Council of Reformed Churches (2). Like Archbishop Beran, having learned that compromise cannot work, this growp have become members of a resistance movement, (3) are those who have fallen in line with tfhe masses and when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Down through history persecutions have led to a deepening of religious life. In Czecho-Slovakia the government has had little success with its efforts to promote a substitute for religious activity in the form of youth initiation ceremonies, name-giving and the like. Perhaps an old Czech adage is again proving to be right: "When the spirit is drunk, God is forgotten. Only when trouble comes do we really learn to know Him." • • • NEW STRICTURES ON BENES Karl Kem Even outside Sudeten German circles Edward Benes' political genius is gradually being recognized for tfhe mere legend that it was. Czech hisltorians, too, are beginning to contribute to the truth. Josef Korbel's report "The Communist Subversion of Czechoslovakia 1938-1945" is additional proof to that effect. The book has received much publicity. MaJlmo's leading Swedish newspa,per Arbetet has published a lengthy review of it. 'l'lhe Neue Zurcher Zeitung takes ponderous stock of some of the mistakes made by Benes, "that shrewd diplomat," at a time when judicious people clearly foresaw "where friendship with Moscow would lead him and his country." The review in Arbetet was written by the young Fm.n Jorn Donner. The author who spent some weeks in Prague SLOVAKIA 23 in spring 1959, where he ,rubbed elbows with the popufaition, was able to draw on personal observations. In evaluating the latest phase of Czech history, however, he does not rely solely on Czech sources. Being familiar, too, with Wenzel Jaksch's "Europe's Road to Potsdam," Donner knows that in 1948 the Communists merely gave the finishing touch to the Czech tragedy. It was initiated by the utterly shortsighted policy of the "shrewd diplomat" and is rooted in the events of 1918, namely, tJhe Peace Treaty of Saint Germain. This self-evident fact has long been recognized by observers genuinely conversant with Central European history. However, when historians living on the outskirts of the continent presently penetrate to the heart of the matter, such elucidation must be considered well-nigh sensational, particularly in lig'ht of Benes' hitherto spotless reputation in Scandinavia. Benes has been regarded - and still is throug1hout Norway and Denmark - as the upright standard-'bearer of European democracy until he was tricked by the contempti:ble Sudeten Germans and then by the vicious Communists. Though his policy is not usually examined, his fate is still deplored. Anyone who wants objectively to analyze recent Czech or Slovak history must study Jaksch's book. Unfortunately, when it comes to deflating the Benes legend, many historians silently circumvent certain significant events in Czech history. Jorn Donner is no exception in that respect. Yet tJhe fact is, that Czecho..:Slovakia was beyond salvage in 1948. The middle class and social democratic parties still in existence at that time were simply not equal to the task. Even had they possessed greater capa:bility, they could not have stemmed the tide. True, the mistakes made in 1948 were of a tactical nature. But no tactics, however clever, could have undone the basic failure of Benes in the wake of his trip to Moscow in May 1943 and even earlier. It is well-known that the trip resulted in the CzechSoviet alliance and in Moscow's approval to expropriate and drive out the 3,500,000 Sudeten German citizens of CzechoSlovakia. In 1919 at the Peace Conference of Saint Germain these citizens had been "allocated" to the CSR against their 24 SLOVAKIA wish; the right of self-determination , demanded by Benes and Masaryk for their own people, had rashly been refused the Sudeten Germans. Notwithstanding superficial assertions to the contrary, the truth is that during no phase of soi-disant Czecho-Slovak history did the majority of the Sudeten Germans aspire to "return home to the Reich"; they wanted self-administration , that natural right, held inalienable today even by the most primitive tribes in Africa or Asia, ( except for the Communist-domin ated areas, where such right is definitely tabu). However, the decisive conclusion is that Benes' politics quite logically had to terminate in Moscow's claws. Quite logically, for the 1918 establishment of the first Czech republic and its subsequent collapse (lies and deception being no stable foundation) were sponsored by, and were the inevitable outcome of that same Macchiavellism which later became Benes' ultimate wisdom. His pact with the Beelzebub of Moscow was therefore only a step consistent with his design for power to square accounts with t!he Devil of Sudeten Germandom "once and for all." The expulsion of 3,500,000 people from their ancient homeland, the brutal robbery perpetrated on all these unfortunates, was the final collapse of what had been left of Czech democracy. A state based upon deceit and intrigue, above all, on a denial to :three and one-half million of its citizens of the rig,ht of self-determination and se1f-administration, could not possibly be saved by means of robbery, without undermining the foundation of Czech liberty itself. • • • WHO SAID IT? "At this fatef.ul time, when the Reel. Army and the armies O'f the United States and other United Nations are figh:ting on German soiil, we can look foT1Ward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nruzi aggressors and the atitruinment of our common go.al - a dUTa.ble a:nd just peace and a co:ntinuaruce of close coliaiboration between aJl the United Nations.'' - F. D. Roosevelt's oaJblegram, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the Soviet President on the occasion of the 27•th ainntversary of the foU1J1d!ing of the USSR.  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 New Strictures on Beneš Description An account of the resource Karl Kern Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 22-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kern, Karl Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/886167ef1a1fc77e9d8743d1aaad0299.pdf c029e6819c860e30343fced3a673dbfa PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 2."i CONTEMPORARY TENDENCIES IN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. A reprint from SLAVIC AND E1AST EUROPEAN STUDIES Vol. IV, Part 3-4, Published by the University of Montreal, Department of Slavic Studies. A bibliographic review of Slovak linguistics and philology show that, in the la-st twenty years, philology in Slovakia has experienced an all round development and progress and is developing, both quantitatively and qualitatitvely, comparatively undisturbed, even since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet cultural and political sphere of influence. A complete picture of the contemporary state of Slovak phildlogy would require, of course, thorough research not only into the development of philology in Slovakia, which is exposed to Russian and Czech cultural influences, but also into that of the countries of the free world, where a comparatively large number of cultural and scientific workers use the Slovak language. For both ringuist and philologist such a research project would be interesting not only because in scores of Slovak periodicals and books, which are published in the free world, there are traces of the inrfluence of tihe Romance and the Anglo-Saxon languages, particularly in the syntax, but a research would be of interest also because in the free world, there were published several philological studies in which two tendencies are quite evident. The first tendency rejeets orthographic changes in the Slovak language; the second, representing the majority of cultural workers, at the recommendation of the leading Slovak philologist, Professor Henry Bartek, accepted in principle the orfuographic changes which were instituted by the philologists in Slovakia from the time of the Czecho-Russian occupation. However, the framework of this study is limited to research into the Soviet orbit and, therefore, we forego at this time, a research into the development of Slovak philology in the countries of the free world, even though some works of H. Bartek, Philip Hrobak, Joseph Konus, and others, �26 SLOVAKIA warrant the attention of a wider circle of Slavists. The following outline of the contemporary state of Slovak philology concerns itself only with the development in Slovakia. Sovietophil Tendencies and Their Extent As with literature and science, in general, philology, too, has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet sphere of influence, to political pressure by the Communist Party and is, therefore, gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. This occurs particularly through the influence of some cultural workers who were elevated by the present regime to positions of importance in Slovak cultural life because of :their partisan adherence rather than their past scientific performances or professional qualifications. These "cultural commissioner s" from the very beginning tried to adapt to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives which were given Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial works Marxism and Problems of Linguistics and Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S. S. R.(1). However, a considerable number of true philologists ad!hered, in the first place, to scientific principles. The barefaced efforts to align Slovak philology with "the Marxist directives" and subjugate it to the contemvorary political regime come to light particularly in the introduction to the new Rules of Slovak Orthography (Pravidla. slovenskeho pravopisu), published in 1953. The editor-in-Chief, Dr. Stefan Peciar, and the majority of the members of the commission which prepared fue Rules, received their education and matured scientifically either in the bourgeois Czedho-Slovak Republic or between 19391945 in the Slovak Republic, but in the introduction to their work, which otherwise "in substance did not change the present orthography and its basic principle," according to their own admission, they deemed it necessary to pay homage to Stalin and to attack fue philologists who prepared the Rules of orthography in 1940. It would certainly be quite superfluous to try to prove bhat Marxism belongs to the sphere of political and social sciences, and that serious scholars know as yet neither "the �SLOVAKIA 27 Marxist philology ," nor the Marxist scientific method or principle in linguistic s and philology , but only the political and unscientif ic interferen ce by the regimes which subscribe to the Marx-Eng els' or Lenin's political and economic theories. In the same manner, philology does not recognize fascist principles in philology and linguistic s, which principles some of the contempo rary linguists in Slovakia are attemptin g to discover in the works of their predecessors or contempo raries living in the countries of the free world. Needless to say thaJt they are attemptin g to discover such "fascist" principles not on the basis of scholarly researoh, but in an effort to perform a service for the present political regime. There are, therefore , no serious suppositi ons in Slovakia that some "Marxist point of view" even if such a thing existed, could already have asserted itself in Slovak philology. The review of names of the scholarly active philologists shows that they are the ones with whom we have been familiar, particula rly during the period of the Slovak Republic. The bibliogra phy of philology in Slovakia of the years 1939-47 (2) serves as evidence that Dr. Peciar, as well as Dr. Pauliny, Jona, Horecky, Ruzicka, and others, grew intellectu ally and created mainly during the existence of the Slovak Republic; and, that while some of them could have been reproach ed during the Second World War for trying to bring into Slovak philology the Czech philological theories (see the polemic Peciar-U hlar in the pereoldical "Slovensk a rec" (Slovak Languag e), there was no ndticeabl e attempt at transferr ing the Russian philologic al theories. The generatio n educated under the present regime is sUll too young to make any serious contribut ion to scholarsh ip or science, as the attainme nt of a universit y degree does not signify scientific qualificat ion, but rather the confirma tion of the ability to undertak e scientific or scholarly work. Therefore , we find predomin ating even in the Bibliography of Slovak Philology for the Years 1948-1952 , compiled by Dr. Ladislav Dvonc, the names which became known during the previous period. Dvonc's bibliogra phy is a sequel to Elana.r's bibliogra phy, and in its 1500 entries �28 SLOVAKIA it deals with: 1. all linguistic contributions published in Slovakia; 2. contributions by Slovak philologists and linguists in non-Slovak periodicals; and 3. contributions of non-Slovak au1Jhors on Slovak language or their pholological works published in Slovakia. Results of a favorable development of Slovak philology are visible in Dvonc's bibliography not only in the number of entries (1500 within four years), but also in the number of fields covered. Slovak philology is no more restricted to reseavch into and perfection of the Slovak language alone. There is also a comparatively large number of works, studies, and articles on general linguistics, Indo-European languages, general Slavonic philology and linguistics, on artificial languages and on the organization of scholarly work in the field of philology and linguistics. Soviet pressure or impact of Soviet philology appears particularly in the group "General philology" which contains 79 entries, mostly translations from Russian or works of Slovak lesser linguists on Soviet and Marxist philology and Stalin's theories. Only three of the known Slovak philologists (Peciar, Horecky and Jona) take part in the Soviet attempt to impose "Marxist and Stalinist linguistic theories" upon Slovak philology. The most aggressive propagator of "Marxist philology," Alexander Isacenko, was broug,ht up in Slovakia as a son of White Russian emigres. He pays his debts now to Slovakia, which saved him and even gave him a university chair during the war, by serving Soviet aims as their most docile and obedient tool. (See his "Geniail contributions to t'he theory of Marx-Leninism" - For a Marxist Philology" - "An important discussion on philology in the Soviet Union," etc.). As for the Slovanic philology, it was dealt with in Slovakia, during the four years in question, in 229 entries. Slovak, and in translations foreign and other Slav scholars (Lehr-Splawinski, E. Knisza, Weingart, Dvozdec, Vinogradov, Pankevyc, Barchudarov) covered the field of Old Church Slovanic, Russian, Polish, Czech, and other Slovanic languages. Among Slovak philologists, the mos:t prolific and scholarly, according to the western standards, �SLOVAKIA 29 appears to be prof. Jan Stanislav (Polish and SouthernSlav philology) . Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles, referring to the Slovak language, its history and development, is close to 700, many of them written by highly qualified philologists and linguists either of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kuraly, Stieber, etc.). They cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar and historical dialectology, etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Attack on Purism and Advocation of Slovanic Orientation The fact that Marxist methods are not considered seriously, even by the linguists who advocate them, is shown in the review of philological works published several years ago, as well as by the predominant condemnation of only those philologists who prepared the Rules of Slovak Orthography, in 1940. The older linguists, from Anthony Bernolak to Samuel Czambel, are highly esteemed; in fact, in certain instances, they are esteemed more highly than they were by the now proscribed philologists and literary historians of the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic (3). For example, in the introduction to the new Rules, we read the following: "A significant role in the perfection of the Slovak language was played by our national awakeners. They discovered the internal criteria of tJhe Slovak language, formulated then and laid strong foundations for our literary language and our lingual culture. Anton Bernolak took the first steps towards the stabilization of the Slovak literary language, its ovthography, morphology, and vocabulary. For stabilizing the Slovak literary language in its present form, and particularly its morphology and orthography, Martin Hattala and Samo Czambel and others are mainly responsible." ( 4). Among the classicists of Slovak literature, who "enriched, developed, and strengthened" the Slovak language, the "Marxist" commission also includes Jan Holly who, �30 SLOVAKIA with Berndlak and Hatta-la, was also a Catholic priest and who (together with the above-ment ioned) is credited with what even today is often reproachfu lly called "Slovak linguistic separatism " in English and French books, particuiarly if such books were inspired by Czech politicians or scholars. The attack on the philologists who compiled the Rules of 1940 is obviously p<Yliticaily motivaJted. The servants of the present communist regime in Slovakia condemn the compiler•s of the previous Rules, first, because they were supposedly "the servants of Eudak (Populist) separatism and went out of their way to mee't the demands of the treacherou s politicians, " and only in the second place, because "they strived to remove literary Sfovak as far as possible from Czech and to isolate it also from other Slovanic languages. " In other words, they were "puristicall y oriented" and marked the Rules with "a puristical tendency." However, the changes which have been made in Slovak orthograph y, and the review of the ph!ilological studies of the past few years, do not testify to the fact that the present "Marxist" philologists have very substantial ly removed themselves from "the purists" or that they have approached closer to Czech or other Slovanic languages, with the exception of the Russian language. The entire evolutionary line of Slovak philology - the founders of which were the national awakeners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who had to defend the Slovak language against Hungarian assimilator y tendencies and the nationalistica lly oriented linguists and philologists of the last decades of this century, for whom it was necessary to defend the Slovak language against no less dangerous Czech tendencies - has not yet been too remarkably dented by contempor ary philologists in Slovakia. The thesis that the Slovak language tended to develop as a separate Slovanic language after the disappeara nce of the Old Slovanic language - and that the attempts to make it one of the dialects of the Czech language must only be considered as unscientific and political tendencies and aspirations - is practically proved by the scholarly works of the contempor ary �SLOVAKIA 31 philologists with alil the weight and consistency of methods which cannot be la:beled unscientific. In harmony with the general cultural growth of the Slovak nation, Slovak philology develops in scope and depth. During 1939-1945 alone over a thousand works, treatises, articles, and studies in the field of philology were published. The linguists and philologists did not concern themselves merely with research into and the stabilization of the Slovak language, but also with the wider problems of linguistics and ph'ilology, Slovanic and non-Slovanic IndoEuropean languages, and with tihe general philology (5) . During the war, there already was evident a promising development which was made in the formaition of Slovak scientific and technical terminology, particularly in the scientific disciplines and in the technical-economic sphere of Slovak life(6). The contemporary philologists continue diligently in this "purism," and Slovak scientific and technical terminology has, in the past few years, been considerably enriched by the newly-coined or adapted terms of other Slovanic languages, particularly Russian. Objectivity warrants the admission that the works of Slovak philologists are comparatively extensive; that the number of published books, studies and treatises in periodicals is considerable; and that the fields of scientific research are numerous. In the interest of truth, however, it is also necessary to add that this growth of scholarly works has no relation to, and is not to be credited to the contemporary political regime. Regardless of what regime might exist today in Slovakia, there would inevitably be more achievement in science, culture and arts than ever before. The explanation is to be found in the general development of Slovakia in the last forty years and particularly in the fact that, in the last years of the so-called bourgeois Czecho-Slovak Republic and especially during the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic, a large number of young S'lovaks studied in universities at home and abroad, not only the traditional disciplines - theology, law, and medicine - but the entire field of science. The inclusion of Slovakia i.nlto the Soviet orbit befell them in the years of their scientific productivity or in their years of �32 SLOVAKIA university studies. If, today, in Slovakia, more is produced and published in philology or in other scientific fields, it is because the Slovak nation reached that stage of development at which there are found entire cadres of scientific and culutral workers. These cadres are so large that, even after the departure of thousands into exile, it is possible today to publish in Slovakia more books than ever before in all fields of science. The communist regime, in certain respects, by the limitation of freedom alone, holds back scientific work, and supports development only of those fields in which the political aims of the Communist Party can be pursued. Philology is, for the communist regime, a neutral rather than a privileged field. As far as the linguistic side of the Slovak language is concerned, in :the Rules as in other works, there appears a trend towards a more consistent use of the principles of phonetic orthogr&phy and towards the simplification of writing Slovak and foreign expressions. In philological production alone there are represented dialectology, lexicology, comparative philology, morphology, phonology, orthoepy, phonetics, etc. Several works deal with questions of the Cyrilo--Methodian period, the development of philology in other Slovanic nations (Russia, Bulgaria) and the history of the Slovak language. A scholarly level has been attained, first of all, by the works of older linguists and philologists, but the possession of the qualifications and preparation for the professional philological work is evident in a large number of younger intellectuals, particularly in their criticism, polemics and commentaries on the new editions of older literary or philological works (for instance, in the introductions to the new editions of the works of Bernolak, Holly, Stur, etc.). End of the Controversy Regarding Literary Slovak and the Origin of the Slovak Language From the published works of philologists and literary historians it is also obvious t'hat the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses �SLOVAKIA were intended to support the political theses of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. In this respect, even some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scientific conclusions which have long been defended by Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy, on the Czech side is the work of Professor A. Dostal (7), and on the Slovak side, Pauliny's "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948 (8) , and Mraz's "Dejiny slovenskej literatiiry" - History of Slovak Literature, Bra'tislava, 1948(9) , as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, particularly, the paper of Professor E. Pauliny on "Bilingualism in the History of the Slovak Literary Language," de-serves special at'tention. Papliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in S'lovakfa in the 15th and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand compe'tition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness: though the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, tried to maintain it even in the 19th century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majorit y a whole century before that time. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is therefore, even according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism (p. 43). A century-long controversy, as to whether Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, or a dis'tinct Slovanic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both the Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. By a careful analysis of the fundamenital roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through a comparative study of their later developments, contemporary scholars trained in philology have revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have clas- �34 SLOVAKIA sified it properly as one of distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slovanic language. The controversy was occasioned by two facts. On the one hand, some literary historians made no distinction between the language spoken by the Slovaks as their native tongue and 'their literary medium. The latter for some time wa:s (besides Latin) the old Czech liturgical language. On the other hand, most of the philo'logists and literary historians, predominantly of Czech origin, in formulating purely scientific views as to the proper relationship between the Czech and Slovak languages, were influenced by political aspira!tions. Recent studies based on scientific principles of philology, phonology, etymology lexicography, and grammar now show that the original Slovak terminology, wJth rare exceptions, goes back to the original roots of a native Slovak language essentially distinct from every other Slovanic tongue. The confusion created by the failure to draw a proper distinction between the native language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language was, however, only partly responsible for the erroneous view that Slovak was merely a dialect of the Czech language or that there was something like a "Czechoslovak language" (10). Theories on the existence of a "Czechoslovak language" were creat ed even after one hundred years of the existence of the Slovak literary language which was accepted by both Slovak Catholics and Lutherans in 1844, and after two hundred years' use by the Catholics of their own vernacular as the literary medium around the University of Trnava, founded in 1635. Consequently, the main reason for the confusion was of a political nature, even if presented in "scientific" form. Professor F. Travnicek, for instance, used geography as his main argument for his theory of the "Czechoslovak language." The fact that the Czechs and Slovaks inhabited the present area from the sixth century was used by him as an argumen1t that they had a common ,l anguage. In his "ffistoricka mluvnice ceskoslovenska" (Historic Czechoslovak Grammar) he stated: "The ancient Czechoslovak language lasted from the time of its inde- �SLOVAKIA 35 pendent establishment as a full-fledged language, from the siJd:h to the end of the tenth century, and is similar to the prehistoric tongue. The chief condition of this independent development was that our ancestors were separated geographically from the rest of the Slavs" (11). Geographical factors can hardly take precedence over linguistic data, and even if we accept this theory, another factor, the separation of Czechs and Siovaks from the ninth century, would be in favor of an independent development of the Slovak spoken tongue. Slovak philologists and linguists Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Sttanislav, Novak, etc. (12) rejected, therefore the Czech theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic form,s of the Slovak tongue and, by linguistic methods of phonology as we11 as by a comparative study, they arrived at new conclusions as to the origin and development of the S'lovak language. These conclusions were ultimately accepted by contemporary Czech as well as other Slovanic philologists and linguists (13). As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a refation between two Slavic but distinct languages. Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak, and vice versa, as the Polish or Russian have always been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long ~ime ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and phi'lologists to recognize the irrefutable. REFERENCES (1) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, Brat islava, Slov,e nska akadeania vied, 1953, p. 7. (2) IDr. Vincent Blanar: Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1947, Bratislava, Slovensika a1~ademia vied a umeni, 195'0, p. 210. This work ,contaiins 11,17 titles, Olf which aipprox.ilmatel,y 1000 were pulblished dudrug the existen-ce Olf the Slovak R~bl!i.'c . .Altogether Blanar presents an almost complete picture of Ling,ud,stic and philological w<ll'ks, pwblished in boo!k form or in periodicals, in the fiields olf ,g eneral philiodog,y, comparative linguistiics Olf lndoEuirQPean languages, Sl'O'Vanic philology and! the stu~ Olf the Slova!k lairugua,ge. See al!so Dr. L. Dvonc:1Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948-1952, Matica Slovenska, 1957. �36 SLOVAKIA (3) See, for examI?:le, the eval,uartion o.f U. Stur as a philo1o,gist in the book "l!udovit Stur, Slovencina" nasa," which was prepared and annotated by Dr. J. Ambms and has been evaliwa1ted lirug,uirstdlcailily by Dr. V. Blanar. According to Blanar, Stur kept pa,ce with the European philologic:d schools o.f that time and its foremosrt ip·h enomena, a,n d his studies at Hal!le predestined him to beco,me, in Slovanic and Slovaik cir,cwmstances, one of the frrst representatives of the newest methods on theories in phi'lology. (4) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, p. 6. Anton Bemo'1ak 01762--1813) codified the Slovak literary lang,ua,ge as used by the Slovak Catholics from tJhe time of the co-uniter-Reformation and esipeoi,a,1ly since .16315, the year Olf the fo.u,ndatJion of the second university in Slovakia. at Trnaiva. Bernolak gaive a solid fowndati-on to the Slovak literary .l!anguag,e, based on the Western Sllovaik dialecrt, in hiis works: Disserta,t io philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum : Linguae slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae usitatae compendiosa simul at facilis o,rthographia" (Bra1tislava, 1'7'3171); "Grammatica slavica" (1790), and in his huge pentalingual dictionary, pu1blished after his deatih, in 1825. Marbin Hattala (1821-1903'), who later became a professor at the University of Praigue, codid'ied the reform in'1:rod1uced by U. Stur, which was a,o cepted in, 1844 by both Slovak Oatholiics and Protestants. His "Kratka mluvnica slovenska" CShor.t Slovak Gr•aimlillar), p,wblished in 1852, gaive a scientific bas-is and for:m to Stur's reform. Saimuel Czaimbel (1856-1 909), one o.f the greatest Slovak philologists, enniiched Sl,o vak phi,lol1ogy by seveml scholarly wo·r'ks regardiillg dialectology, monphology, and lexicol-o,gy. His main woriks are "Slovensky pravopis" (Slovak Orithogra-phy, 1890) and "Rukovat' spisovnej reci slovenskej " QManual of the Slovalk Liternry Larug-uage, 1-902). For detai:ls concernirug Bernolak, Haittaila, and Czaimbel, see Prof. E. Pauliny: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny." (5) Colillipare V. Blanar: Biblografia. (6) Pioneer and valuable worik iin, this d'i rection was done partLcularliy by Professor Dr. Jul iius Led enyi-La1d ziansky in the termino:lo.gy o.f medical science. (7) Prof. Dr. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, Prague, Statni pedagogicke naildiadatelstvi, 1:954. (8) (Prof. Dr. Eugen Pa,Ulliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bratisl-aiva, S1ovenska akadem!iia, vied a umeni, 19418. In the introduction to his book, Pa-wliny understands the history o.f the 1-angu,age as the history Olf the oriigin, disaippear ance and cha,n,ges Olf its i,ndi'Vidua1l styles. Ho:wever, in the book i ts-elf, he d'ivide:d the his-tor-y of the Slovak 1iitera['y laruguage accord!i,u,g to the languages which wer e used ,by the Slov,aiks as literary la~ua,ges in addition to the sipoken vern,a,culiar from the time of the Gr eater Moravia•. On page 5, he writes: "Al,thouglh, in this case, the p er,iod of the actual Sll,ovaik litera['y laillguaige ca,n. begin only with Bernolak, or with t he p eriod shortly befor e Bemolak, nevertheless it is not poss,iJble to begin the history of t he literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is ,n,ecessa,r,y t,o go deep into 1Jhe pa st, aH the way to the ver y begin nings o.f the histor iical p er iod o.f our na-ti-on in the Gr eater Moravian epoch, na,y, in ceritain matters, it is ,necessary to go even 1 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 37 further, into the pre-histork period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not particiiPate im, the European cul<ture whiich was introduced to us by Chrisit-iani:ty." (9) Prof. A. Mraz: Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Braitisfava, Slovenska akademia vied a UJ!l1eni, 1948. (lJl) F . Travnicek: Historicka mluvnice ceskoslovenska, Brno, 1935, p. 21-23. (10) This thesis wa,s propa•g ated by Dr. Ed'Uard Benes throurg h his pUJblication Detruisez I' Autriche, Paris, 11916, and, with the helip of Czech philologists, it penetrated also inito many western university oiTcles and was reoeated by the Slavists on this continent a·s well. (13) Besides aiuthors of Slovak origin, (Hrobak, Konus, Potocek, and others), the correct attitude towards the Slovak lang;uage, in the Englislh lan!guage works, was taken particUilarly by Professor Alfred Senn in the syunrposi,um A Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, Camlbridlge, Massachu,s etts, Harvard UnLversity Press, 1949. (12) Profiessor Bartek pub1'ished, boith in Slovakia and in exiile, a numlber of prul. 0Iogica1! wo,r ks, S'Ome Off w,h ich were piulblished i,n, French and Eng-lish. Elana.r"s "Bibliografia" cites thirteen titles of his works. 'Ilhe best known philologists, besides B'artek, are S-tanislav and Novak. StaniS'lav is known parti<cUilarliy for his research i,n,to the OyriJoJMethodian period and for his works in toponyimy. Novak was siJenced by the cOJin1Inunist regime; Sitanislav is still actiive. Bartek performed a very meritorious service, pa-r ticular,l'Y by foundilllg the peri10dical "Slovenska rec" (Slovak Langua,ge), and by his uncOJinpramising stand in the so-called "ma1ticne" (Slovak [nstitu1:e) strwggles for the purity of the S1ov,a k language and its separate development since Vhe d isaippearance of the Old Slovanic laruguaige. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his latest statemen!ts rulways stressed, tihait OUT pact of •a lliance with Soviet Russia and our friendshiJp with other Slav na,.. tions must not encroach on our friendly and cordial re1ations with other democratic states. This is the natural desire, shared by an enormous majority of our people, and nothing prevents us from keeping the confidence of the democratic states and strengthening and deepening our friendship with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wa.Illts to fol4ow this line of poliicy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to· the Soviet Union, which are still existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Czecho-Slovakia, O'WI Bulletin, June 1, 1945. � SLOVAKIA 2."i CONTEMPORARY TENDENCIES IN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. A reprint from SLAVIC AND E1AST EUROPEAN STUDIES Vol. IV, Part 3-4, Published by the University of Montreal, Department of Slavic Studies. A bibliographic review of Slovak linguistics and philology show that, in the la-st twenty years, philology in Slovakia has experienced an all round development and progress and is developing, both quantitatively and qualitatitvely, comparatively undisturbed, even since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet cultural and political sphere of influence. A complete picture of the contemporary state of Slovak phildlogy would require, of course, thorough research not only into the development of philology in Slovakia, which is exposed to Russian and Czech cultural influences, but also into that of the countries of the free world, where a comparatively large number of cultural and scientific workers use the Slovak language. For both ringuist and philologist such a research project would be interesting not only because in scores of Slovak periodicals and books, which are published in the free world, there are traces of the inrfluence of tihe Romance and the Anglo-Saxon languages, particularly in the syntax, but a research would be of interest also because in the free world, there were published several philological studies in which two tendencies are quite evident. The first tendency rejeets orthographic changes in the Slovak language; the second, representing the majority of cultural workers, at the recommendation of the leading Slovak philologist, Professor Henry Bartek, accepted in principle the orfuographic changes which were instituted by the philologists in Slovakia from the time of the Czecho-Russian occupation. However, the framework of this study is limited to research into the Soviet orbit and, therefore, we forego at this time, a research into the development of Slovak philology in the countries of the free world, even though some works of H. Bartek, Philip Hrobak, Joseph Konus, and others, �26 SLOVAKIA warrant the attention of a wider circle of Slavists. The following outline of the contemporary state of Slovak philology concerns itself only with the development in Slovakia. Sovietophil Tendencies and Their Extent As with literature and science, in general, philology, too, has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet sphere of influence, to political pressure by the Communist Party and is, therefore, gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. This occurs particularly through the influence of some cultural workers who were elevated by the present regime to positions of importance in Slovak cultural life because of :their partisan adherence rather than their past scientific performances or professional qualifications. These "cultural commissioner s" from the very beginning tried to adapt to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives which were given Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial works Marxism and Problems of Linguistics and Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S. S. R.(1). However, a considerable number of true philologists ad!hered, in the first place, to scientific principles. The barefaced efforts to align Slovak philology with "the Marxist directives" and subjugate it to the contemvorary political regime come to light particularly in the introduction to the new Rules of Slovak Orthography (Pravidla. slovenskeho pravopisu), published in 1953. The editor-in-Chief, Dr. Stefan Peciar, and the majority of the members of the commission which prepared fue Rules, received their education and matured scientifically either in the bourgeois Czedho-Slovak Republic or between 19391945 in the Slovak Republic, but in the introduction to their work, which otherwise "in substance did not change the present orthography and its basic principle," according to their own admission, they deemed it necessary to pay homage to Stalin and to attack fue philologists who prepared the Rules of orthography in 1940. It would certainly be quite superfluous to try to prove bhat Marxism belongs to the sphere of political and social sciences, and that serious scholars know as yet neither "the �SLOVAKIA 27 Marxist philology ," nor the Marxist scientific method or principle in linguistic s and philology , but only the political and unscientif ic interferen ce by the regimes which subscribe to the Marx-Eng els' or Lenin's political and economic theories. In the same manner, philology does not recognize fascist principles in philology and linguistic s, which principles some of the contempo rary linguists in Slovakia are attemptin g to discover in the works of their predecessors or contempo raries living in the countries of the free world. Needless to say thaJt they are attemptin g to discover such "fascist" principles not on the basis of scholarly researoh, but in an effort to perform a service for the present political regime. There are, therefore , no serious suppositi ons in Slovakia that some "Marxist point of view" even if such a thing existed, could already have asserted itself in Slovak philology. The review of names of the scholarly active philologists shows that they are the ones with whom we have been familiar, particula rly during the period of the Slovak Republic. The bibliogra phy of philology in Slovakia of the years 1939-47 (2) serves as evidence that Dr. Peciar, as well as Dr. Pauliny, Jona, Horecky, Ruzicka, and others, grew intellectu ally and created mainly during the existence of the Slovak Republic; and, that while some of them could have been reproach ed during the Second World War for trying to bring into Slovak philology the Czech philological theories (see the polemic Peciar-U hlar in the pereoldical "Slovensk a rec" (Slovak Languag e), there was no ndticeabl e attempt at transferr ing the Russian philologic al theories. The generatio n educated under the present regime is sUll too young to make any serious contribut ion to scholarsh ip or science, as the attainme nt of a universit y degree does not signify scientific qualificat ion, but rather the confirma tion of the ability to undertak e scientific or scholarly work. Therefore , we find predomin ating even in the Bibliography of Slovak Philology for the Years 1948-1952 , compiled by Dr. Ladislav Dvonc, the names which became known during the previous period. Dvonc's bibliogra phy is a sequel to Elana.r's bibliogra phy, and in its 1500 entries �28 SLOVAKIA it deals with: 1. all linguistic contributions published in Slovakia; 2. contributions by Slovak philologists and linguists in non-Slovak periodicals; and 3. contributions of non-Slovak au1Jhors on Slovak language or their pholological works published in Slovakia. Results of a favorable development of Slovak philology are visible in Dvonc's bibliography not only in the number of entries (1500 within four years), but also in the number of fields covered. Slovak philology is no more restricted to reseavch into and perfection of the Slovak language alone. There is also a comparatively large number of works, studies, and articles on general linguistics, Indo-European languages, general Slavonic philology and linguistics, on artificial languages and on the organization of scholarly work in the field of philology and linguistics. Soviet pressure or impact of Soviet philology appears particularly in the group "General philology" which contains 79 entries, mostly translations from Russian or works of Slovak lesser linguists on Soviet and Marxist philology and Stalin's theories. Only three of the known Slovak philologists (Peciar, Horecky and Jona) take part in the Soviet attempt to impose "Marxist and Stalinist linguistic theories" upon Slovak philology. The most aggressive propagator of "Marxist philology," Alexander Isacenko, was broug,ht up in Slovakia as a son of White Russian emigres. He pays his debts now to Slovakia, which saved him and even gave him a university chair during the war, by serving Soviet aims as their most docile and obedient tool. (See his "Geniail contributions to t'he theory of Marx-Leninism" - For a Marxist Philology" - "An important discussion on philology in the Soviet Union," etc.). As for the Slovanic philology, it was dealt with in Slovakia, during the four years in question, in 229 entries. Slovak, and in translations foreign and other Slav scholars (Lehr-Splawinski, E. Knisza, Weingart, Dvozdec, Vinogradov, Pankevyc, Barchudarov) covered the field of Old Church Slovanic, Russian, Polish, Czech, and other Slovanic languages. Among Slovak philologists, the mos:t prolific and scholarly, according to the western standards, �SLOVAKIA 29 appears to be prof. Jan Stanislav (Polish and SouthernSlav philology) . Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles, referring to the Slovak language, its history and development, is close to 700, many of them written by highly qualified philologists and linguists either of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kuraly, Stieber, etc.). They cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar and historical dialectology, etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Attack on Purism and Advocation of Slovanic Orientation The fact that Marxist methods are not considered seriously, even by the linguists who advocate them, is shown in the review of philological works published several years ago, as well as by the predominant condemnation of only those philologists who prepared the Rules of Slovak Orthography, in 1940. The older linguists, from Anthony Bernolak to Samuel Czambel, are highly esteemed; in fact, in certain instances, they are esteemed more highly than they were by the now proscribed philologists and literary historians of the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic (3). For example, in the introduction to the new Rules, we read the following: "A significant role in the perfection of the Slovak language was played by our national awakeners. They discovered the internal criteria of tJhe Slovak language, formulated then and laid strong foundations for our literary language and our lingual culture. Anton Bernolak took the first steps towards the stabilization of the Slovak literary language, its ovthography, morphology, and vocabulary. For stabilizing the Slovak literary language in its present form, and particularly its morphology and orthography, Martin Hattala and Samo Czambel and others are mainly responsible." ( 4). Among the classicists of Slovak literature, who "enriched, developed, and strengthened" the Slovak language, the "Marxist" commission also includes Jan Holly who, �30 SLOVAKIA with Berndlak and Hatta-la, was also a Catholic priest and who (together with the above-ment ioned) is credited with what even today is often reproachfu lly called "Slovak linguistic separatism " in English and French books, particuiarly if such books were inspired by Czech politicians or scholars. The attack on the philologists who compiled the Rules of 1940 is obviously p<Yliticaily motivaJted. The servants of the present communist regime in Slovakia condemn the compiler•s of the previous Rules, first, because they were supposedly "the servants of Eudak (Populist) separatism and went out of their way to mee't the demands of the treacherou s politicians, " and only in the second place, because "they strived to remove literary Sfovak as far as possible from Czech and to isolate it also from other Slovanic languages. " In other words, they were "puristicall y oriented" and marked the Rules with "a puristical tendency." However, the changes which have been made in Slovak orthograph y, and the review of the ph!ilological studies of the past few years, do not testify to the fact that the present "Marxist" philologists have very substantial ly removed themselves from "the purists" or that they have approached closer to Czech or other Slovanic languages, with the exception of the Russian language. The entire evolutionary line of Slovak philology - the founders of which were the national awakeners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who had to defend the Slovak language against Hungarian assimilator y tendencies and the nationalistica lly oriented linguists and philologists of the last decades of this century, for whom it was necessary to defend the Slovak language against no less dangerous Czech tendencies - has not yet been too remarkably dented by contempor ary philologists in Slovakia. The thesis that the Slovak language tended to develop as a separate Slovanic language after the disappeara nce of the Old Slovanic language - and that the attempts to make it one of the dialects of the Czech language must only be considered as unscientific and political tendencies and aspirations - is practically proved by the scholarly works of the contempor ary �SLOVAKIA 31 philologists with alil the weight and consistency of methods which cannot be la:beled unscientific. In harmony with the general cultural growth of the Slovak nation, Slovak philology develops in scope and depth. During 1939-1945 alone over a thousand works, treatises, articles, and studies in the field of philology were published. The linguists and philologists did not concern themselves merely with research into and the stabilization of the Slovak language, but also with the wider problems of linguistics and ph'ilology, Slovanic and non-Slovanic IndoEuropean languages, and with tihe general philology (5) . During the war, there already was evident a promising development which was made in the formaition of Slovak scientific and technical terminology, particularly in the scientific disciplines and in the technical-economic sphere of Slovak life(6). The contemporary philologists continue diligently in this "purism," and Slovak scientific and technical terminology has, in the past few years, been considerably enriched by the newly-coined or adapted terms of other Slovanic languages, particularly Russian. Objectivity warrants the admission that the works of Slovak philologists are comparatively extensive; that the number of published books, studies and treatises in periodicals is considerable; and that the fields of scientific research are numerous. In the interest of truth, however, it is also necessary to add that this growth of scholarly works has no relation to, and is not to be credited to the contemporary political regime. Regardless of what regime might exist today in Slovakia, there would inevitably be more achievement in science, culture and arts than ever before. The explanation is to be found in the general development of Slovakia in the last forty years and particularly in the fact that, in the last years of the so-called bourgeois Czecho-Slovak Republic and especially during the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic, a large number of young S'lovaks studied in universities at home and abroad, not only the traditional disciplines - theology, law, and medicine - but the entire field of science. The inclusion of Slovakia i.nlto the Soviet orbit befell them in the years of their scientific productivity or in their years of �32 SLOVAKIA university studies. If, today, in Slovakia, more is produced and published in philology or in other scientific fields, it is because the Slovak nation reached that stage of development at which there are found entire cadres of scientific and culutral workers. These cadres are so large that, even after the departure of thousands into exile, it is possible today to publish in Slovakia more books than ever before in all fields of science. The communist regime, in certain respects, by the limitation of freedom alone, holds back scientific work, and supports development only of those fields in which the political aims of the Communist Party can be pursued. Philology is, for the communist regime, a neutral rather than a privileged field. As far as the linguistic side of the Slovak language is concerned, in :the Rules as in other works, there appears a trend towards a more consistent use of the principles of phonetic orthogr&phy and towards the simplification of writing Slovak and foreign expressions. In philological production alone there are represented dialectology, lexicology, comparative philology, morphology, phonology, orthoepy, phonetics, etc. Several works deal with questions of the Cyrilo--Methodian period, the development of philology in other Slovanic nations (Russia, Bulgaria) and the history of the Slovak language. A scholarly level has been attained, first of all, by the works of older linguists and philologists, but the possession of the qualifications and preparation for the professional philological work is evident in a large number of younger intellectuals, particularly in their criticism, polemics and commentaries on the new editions of older literary or philological works (for instance, in the introductions to the new editions of the works of Bernolak, Holly, Stur, etc.). End of the Controversy Regarding Literary Slovak and the Origin of the Slovak Language From the published works of philologists and literary historians it is also obvious t'hat the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses �SLOVAKIA were intended to support the political theses of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. In this respect, even some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scientific conclusions which have long been defended by Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy, on the Czech side is the work of Professor A. Dostal (7), and on the Slovak side, Pauliny's "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948 (8) , and Mraz's "Dejiny slovenskej literatiiry" - History of Slovak Literature, Bra'tislava, 1948(9) , as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, particularly, the paper of Professor E. Pauliny on "Bilingualism in the History of the Slovak Literary Language," de-serves special at'tention. Papliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in S'lovakfa in the 15th and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand compe'tition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness: though the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, tried to maintain it even in the 19th century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majorit y a whole century before that time. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is therefore, even according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism (p. 43). A century-long controversy, as to whether Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, or a dis'tinct Slovanic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both the Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. By a careful analysis of the fundamenital roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through a comparative study of their later developments, contemporary scholars trained in philology have revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have clas- �34 SLOVAKIA sified it properly as one of distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slovanic language. The controversy was occasioned by two facts. On the one hand, some literary historians made no distinction between the language spoken by the Slovaks as their native tongue and 'their literary medium. The latter for some time wa:s (besides Latin) the old Czech liturgical language. On the other hand, most of the philo'logists and literary historians, predominantly of Czech origin, in formulating purely scientific views as to the proper relationship between the Czech and Slovak languages, were influenced by political aspira!tions. Recent studies based on scientific principles of philology, phonology, etymology lexicography, and grammar now show that the original Slovak terminology, wJth rare exceptions, goes back to the original roots of a native Slovak language essentially distinct from every other Slovanic tongue. The confusion created by the failure to draw a proper distinction between the native language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language was, however, only partly responsible for the erroneous view that Slovak was merely a dialect of the Czech language or that there was something like a "Czechoslovak language" (10). Theories on the existence of a "Czechoslovak language" were creat ed even after one hundred years of the existence of the Slovak literary language which was accepted by both Slovak Catholics and Lutherans in 1844, and after two hundred years' use by the Catholics of their own vernacular as the literary medium around the University of Trnava, founded in 1635. Consequently, the main reason for the confusion was of a political nature, even if presented in "scientific" form. Professor F. Travnicek, for instance, used geography as his main argument for his theory of the "Czechoslovak language." The fact that the Czechs and Slovaks inhabited the present area from the sixth century was used by him as an argumen1t that they had a common ,l anguage. In his "ffistoricka mluvnice ceskoslovenska" (Historic Czechoslovak Grammar) he stated: "The ancient Czechoslovak language lasted from the time of its inde- �SLOVAKIA 35 pendent establishment as a full-fledged language, from the siJd:h to the end of the tenth century, and is similar to the prehistoric tongue. The chief condition of this independent development was that our ancestors were separated geographically from the rest of the Slavs" (11). Geographical factors can hardly take precedence over linguistic data, and even if we accept this theory, another factor, the separation of Czechs and Siovaks from the ninth century, would be in favor of an independent development of the Slovak spoken tongue. Slovak philologists and linguists Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Sttanislav, Novak, etc. (12) rejected, therefore the Czech theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic form,s of the Slovak tongue and, by linguistic methods of phonology as we11 as by a comparative study, they arrived at new conclusions as to the origin and development of the S'lovak language. These conclusions were ultimately accepted by contemporary Czech as well as other Slovanic philologists and linguists (13). As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a refation between two Slavic but distinct languages. Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak, and vice versa, as the Polish or Russian have always been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long ~ime ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and phi'lologists to recognize the irrefutable. REFERENCES (1) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, Brat islava, Slov,e nska akadeania vied, 1953, p. 7. (2) IDr. Vincent Blanar: Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1947, Bratislava, Slovensika a1~ademia vied a umeni, 195'0, p. 210. This work ,contaiins 11,17 titles, Olf which aipprox.ilmatel,y 1000 were pulblished dudrug the existen-ce Olf the Slovak R~bl!i.'c . .Altogether Blanar presents an almost complete picture of Ling,ud,stic and philological w<ll'ks, pwblished in boo!k form or in periodicals, in the fiields olf ,g eneral philiodog,y, comparative linguistiics Olf lndoEuirQPean languages, Sl'O'Vanic philology and! the stu~ Olf the Slova!k lairugua,ge. See al!so Dr. L. Dvonc:1Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948-1952, Matica Slovenska, 1957. �36 SLOVAKIA (3) See, for examI?:le, the eval,uartion o.f U. Stur as a philo1o,gist in the book "l!udovit Stur, Slovencina" nasa," which was prepared and annotated by Dr. J. Ambms and has been evaliwa1ted lirug,uirstdlcailily by Dr. V. Blanar. According to Blanar, Stur kept pa,ce with the European philologic:d schools o.f that time and its foremosrt ip·h enomena, a,n d his studies at Hal!le predestined him to beco,me, in Slovanic and Slovaik cir,cwmstances, one of the frrst representatives of the newest methods on theories in phi'lology. (4) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, p. 6. Anton Bemo'1ak 01762--1813) codified the Slovak literary lang,ua,ge as used by the Slovak Catholics from tJhe time of the co-uniter-Reformation and esipeoi,a,1ly since .16315, the year Olf the fo.u,ndatJion of the second university in Slovakia. at Trnaiva. Bernolak gaive a solid fowndati-on to the Slovak literary .l!anguag,e, based on the Western Sllovaik dialecrt, in hiis works: Disserta,t io philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum : Linguae slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae usitatae compendiosa simul at facilis o,rthographia" (Bra1tislava, 1'7'3171); "Grammatica slavica" (1790), and in his huge pentalingual dictionary, pu1blished after his deatih, in 1825. Marbin Hattala (1821-1903'), who later became a professor at the University of Praigue, codid'ied the reform in'1:rod1uced by U. Stur, which was a,o cepted in, 1844 by both Slovak Oatholiics and Protestants. His "Kratka mluvnica slovenska" CShor.t Slovak Gr•aimlillar), p,wblished in 1852, gaive a scientific bas-is and for:m to Stur's reform. Saimuel Czaimbel (1856-1 909), one o.f the greatest Slovak philologists, enniiched Sl,o vak phi,lol1ogy by seveml scholarly wo·r'ks regardiillg dialectology, monphology, and lexicol-o,gy. His main woriks are "Slovensky pravopis" (Slovak Orithogra-phy, 1890) and "Rukovat' spisovnej reci slovenskej " QManual of the Slovalk Liternry Larug-uage, 1-902). For detai:ls concernirug Bernolak, Haittaila, and Czaimbel, see Prof. E. Pauliny: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny." (5) Colillipare V. Blanar: Biblografia. (6) Pioneer and valuable worik iin, this d'i rection was done partLcularliy by Professor Dr. Jul iius Led enyi-La1d ziansky in the termino:lo.gy o.f medical science. (7) Prof. Dr. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, Prague, Statni pedagogicke naildiadatelstvi, 1:954. (8) (Prof. Dr. Eugen Pa,Ulliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bratisl-aiva, S1ovenska akadem!iia, vied a umeni, 19418. In the introduction to his book, Pa-wliny understands the history o.f the 1-angu,age as the history Olf the oriigin, disaippear ance and cha,n,ges Olf its i,ndi'Vidua1l styles. Ho:wever, in the book i ts-elf, he d'ivide:d the his-tor-y of the Slovak 1iitera['y laruguage accord!i,u,g to the languages which wer e used ,by the Slov,aiks as literary la~ua,ges in addition to the sipoken vern,a,culiar from the time of the Gr eater Moravia•. On page 5, he writes: "Al,thouglh, in this case, the p er,iod of the actual Sll,ovaik litera['y laillguaige ca,n. begin only with Bernolak, or with t he p eriod shortly befor e Bemolak, nevertheless it is not poss,iJble to begin the history of t he literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is ,n,ecessa,r,y t,o go deep into 1Jhe pa st, aH the way to the ver y begin nings o.f the histor iical p er iod o.f our na-ti-on in the Gr eater Moravian epoch, na,y, in ceritain matters, it is ,necessary to go even 1 1 1 1 �SLOVAKIA 37 further, into the pre-histork period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not particiiPate im, the European cul<ture whiich was introduced to us by Chrisit-iani:ty." (9) Prof. A. Mraz: Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Braitisfava, Slovenska akademia vied a UJ!l1eni, 1948. (lJl) F . Travnicek: Historicka mluvnice ceskoslovenska, Brno, 1935, p. 21-23. (10) This thesis wa,s propa•g ated by Dr. Ed'Uard Benes throurg h his pUJblication Detruisez I' Autriche, Paris, 11916, and, with the helip of Czech philologists, it penetrated also inito many western university oiTcles and was reoeated by the Slavists on this continent a·s well. (13) Besides aiuthors of Slovak origin, (Hrobak, Konus, Potocek, and others), the correct attitude towards the Slovak lang;uage, in the Englislh lan!guage works, was taken particUilarly by Professor Alfred Senn in the syunrposi,um A Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, Camlbridlge, Massachu,s etts, Harvard UnLversity Press, 1949. (12) Profiessor Bartek pub1'ished, boith in Slovakia and in exiile, a numlber of prul. 0Iogica1! wo,r ks, S'Ome Off w,h ich were piulblished i,n, French and Eng-lish. Elana.r"s "Bibliografia" cites thirteen titles of his works. 'Ilhe best known philologists, besides B'artek, are S-tanislav and Novak. StaniS'lav is known parti<cUilarliy for his research i,n,to the OyriJoJMethodian period and for his works in toponyimy. Novak was siJenced by the cOJin1Inunist regime; Sitanislav is still actiive. Bartek performed a very meritorious service, pa-r ticular,l'Y by foundilllg the peri10dical "Slovenska rec" (Slovak Langua,ge), and by his uncOJinpramising stand in the so-called "ma1ticne" (Slovak [nstitu1:e) strwggles for the purity of the S1ov,a k language and its separate development since Vhe d isaippearance of the Old Slovanic laruguaige. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his latest statemen!ts rulways stressed, tihait OUT pact of •a lliance with Soviet Russia and our friendshiJp with other Slav na,.. tions must not encroach on our friendly and cordial re1ations with other democratic states. This is the natural desire, shared by an enormous majority of our people, and nothing prevents us from keeping the confidence of the democratic states and strengthening and deepening our friendship with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wa.Illts to fol4ow this line of poliicy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to· the Soviet Union, which are still existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Czecho-Slovakia, O'WI Bulletin, June 1, 1945. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 2."i CONTEMPORARY TENDENCIES IN SLOVAK PHILOLOGY Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. A reprint from SLAVIC AND E1AST EUROPEAN STUDIES Vol. IV, Part 3-4, Published by the University of Montreal, Department of Slavic Studies. A bibliographic review of Slovak linguistics and philology show that, in the la-st twenty years, philology in Slovakia has experienced an all round development and progress and is developing, both quantitatively and qualitatitvely, comparatively undisturbed, even since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet cultural and political sphere of influence. A complete picture of the contemporary state of Slovak phildlogy would require, of course, thorough research not only into the development of philology in Slovakia, which is exposed to Russian and Czech cultural influences, but also into that of the countries of the free world, where a comparatively large number of cultural and scientific workers use the Slovak language. For both ringuist and philologist such a research project would be interesting not only because in scores of Slovak periodicals and books, which are published in the free world, there are traces of the inrfluence of tihe Romance and the Anglo-Saxon languages, particularly in the syntax, but a research would be of interest also because in the free world, there were published several philological studies in which two tendencies are quite evident. The first tendency rejeets orthographic changes in the Slovak language; the second, representing the majority of cultural workers, at the recommendation of the leading Slovak philologist, Professor Henry Bartek, accepted in principle the orfuographic changes which were instituted by the philologists in Slovakia from the time of the Czecho-Russian occupation. However, the framework of this study is limited to research into the Soviet orbit and, therefore, we forego at this time, a research into the development of Slovak philology in the countries of the free world, even though some works of H. Bartek, Philip Hrobak, Joseph Konus, and others, 26 SLOVAKIA warrant the attention of a wider circle of Slavists. The following outline of the contemporary state of Slovak philology concerns itself only with the development in Slovakia. Sovietophil Tendencies and Their Extent As with literature and science, in general, philology, too, has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet sphere of influence, to political pressure by the Communist Party and is, therefore, gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. This occurs particularly through the influence of some cultural workers who were elevated by the present regime to positions of importance in Slovak cultural life because of :their partisan adherence rather than their past scientific performances or professional qualifications. These "cultural commissioner s" from the very beginning tried to adapt to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives which were given Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial works Marxism and Problems of Linguistics and Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S. S. R.(1). However, a considerable number of true philologists ad!hered, in the first place, to scientific principles. The barefaced efforts to align Slovak philology with "the Marxist directives" and subjugate it to the contemvorary political regime come to light particularly in the introduction to the new Rules of Slovak Orthography (Pravidla. slovenskeho pravopisu), published in 1953. The editor-in-Chief, Dr. Stefan Peciar, and the majority of the members of the commission which prepared fue Rules, received their education and matured scientifically either in the bourgeois Czedho-Slovak Republic or between 19391945 in the Slovak Republic, but in the introduction to their work, which otherwise "in substance did not change the present orthography and its basic principle," according to their own admission, they deemed it necessary to pay homage to Stalin and to attack fue philologists who prepared the Rules of orthography in 1940. It would certainly be quite superfluous to try to prove bhat Marxism belongs to the sphere of political and social sciences, and that serious scholars know as yet neither "the SLOVAKIA 27 Marxist philology ," nor the Marxist scientific method or principle in linguistic s and philology , but only the political and unscientif ic interferen ce by the regimes which subscribe to the Marx-Eng els' or Lenin's political and economic theories. In the same manner, philology does not recognize fascist principles in philology and linguistic s, which principles some of the contempo rary linguists in Slovakia are attemptin g to discover in the works of their predecessors or contempo raries living in the countries of the free world. Needless to say thaJt they are attemptin g to discover such "fascist" principles not on the basis of scholarly researoh, but in an effort to perform a service for the present political regime. There are, therefore , no serious suppositi ons in Slovakia that some "Marxist point of view" even if such a thing existed, could already have asserted itself in Slovak philology. The review of names of the scholarly active philologists shows that they are the ones with whom we have been familiar, particula rly during the period of the Slovak Republic. The bibliogra phy of philology in Slovakia of the years 1939-47 (2) serves as evidence that Dr. Peciar, as well as Dr. Pauliny, Jona, Horecky, Ruzicka, and others, grew intellectu ally and created mainly during the existence of the Slovak Republic; and, that while some of them could have been reproach ed during the Second World War for trying to bring into Slovak philology the Czech philological theories (see the polemic Peciar-U hlar in the pereoldical "Slovensk a rec" (Slovak Languag e), there was no ndticeabl e attempt at transferr ing the Russian philologic al theories. The generatio n educated under the present regime is sUll too young to make any serious contribut ion to scholarsh ip or science, as the attainme nt of a universit y degree does not signify scientific qualificat ion, but rather the confirma tion of the ability to undertak e scientific or scholarly work. Therefore , we find predomin ating even in the Bibliography of Slovak Philology for the Years 1948-1952 , compiled by Dr. Ladislav Dvonc, the names which became known during the previous period. Dvonc's bibliogra phy is a sequel to Elana.r's bibliogra phy, and in its 1500 entries 28 SLOVAKIA it deals with: 1. all linguistic contributions published in Slovakia; 2. contributions by Slovak philologists and linguists in non-Slovak periodicals; and 3. contributions of non-Slovak au1Jhors on Slovak language or their pholological works published in Slovakia. Results of a favorable development of Slovak philology are visible in Dvonc's bibliography not only in the number of entries (1500 within four years), but also in the number of fields covered. Slovak philology is no more restricted to reseavch into and perfection of the Slovak language alone. There is also a comparatively large number of works, studies, and articles on general linguistics, Indo-European languages, general Slavonic philology and linguistics, on artificial languages and on the organization of scholarly work in the field of philology and linguistics. Soviet pressure or impact of Soviet philology appears particularly in the group "General philology" which contains 79 entries, mostly translations from Russian or works of Slovak lesser linguists on Soviet and Marxist philology and Stalin's theories. Only three of the known Slovak philologists (Peciar, Horecky and Jona) take part in the Soviet attempt to impose "Marxist and Stalinist linguistic theories" upon Slovak philology. The most aggressive propagator of "Marxist philology," Alexander Isacenko, was broug,ht up in Slovakia as a son of White Russian emigres. He pays his debts now to Slovakia, which saved him and even gave him a university chair during the war, by serving Soviet aims as their most docile and obedient tool. (See his "Geniail contributions to t'he theory of Marx-Leninism" - For a Marxist Philology" - "An important discussion on philology in the Soviet Union," etc.). As for the Slovanic philology, it was dealt with in Slovakia, during the four years in question, in 229 entries. Slovak, and in translations foreign and other Slav scholars (Lehr-Splawinski, E. Knisza, Weingart, Dvozdec, Vinogradov, Pankevyc, Barchudarov) covered the field of Old Church Slovanic, Russian, Polish, Czech, and other Slovanic languages. Among Slovak philologists, the mos:t prolific and scholarly, according to the western standards, SLOVAKIA 29 appears to be prof. Jan Stanislav (Polish and SouthernSlav philology) . Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles, referring to the Slovak language, its history and development, is close to 700, many of them written by highly qualified philologists and linguists either of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kuraly, Stieber, etc.). They cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar and historical dialectology, etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Attack on Purism and Advocation of Slovanic Orientation The fact that Marxist methods are not considered seriously, even by the linguists who advocate them, is shown in the review of philological works published several years ago, as well as by the predominant condemnation of only those philologists who prepared the Rules of Slovak Orthography, in 1940. The older linguists, from Anthony Bernolak to Samuel Czambel, are highly esteemed; in fact, in certain instances, they are esteemed more highly than they were by the now proscribed philologists and literary historians of the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic (3). For example, in the introduction to the new Rules, we read the following: "A significant role in the perfection of the Slovak language was played by our national awakeners. They discovered the internal criteria of tJhe Slovak language, formulated then and laid strong foundations for our literary language and our lingual culture. Anton Bernolak took the first steps towards the stabilization of the Slovak literary language, its ovthography, morphology, and vocabulary. For stabilizing the Slovak literary language in its present form, and particularly its morphology and orthography, Martin Hattala and Samo Czambel and others are mainly responsible." ( 4). Among the classicists of Slovak literature, who "enriched, developed, and strengthened" the Slovak language, the "Marxist" commission also includes Jan Holly who, 30 SLOVAKIA with Berndlak and Hatta-la, was also a Catholic priest and who (together with the above-ment ioned) is credited with what even today is often reproachfu lly called "Slovak linguistic separatism " in English and French books, particuiarly if such books were inspired by Czech politicians or scholars. The attack on the philologists who compiled the Rules of 1940 is obviously p<Yliticaily motivaJted. The servants of the present communist regime in Slovakia condemn the compiler•s of the previous Rules, first, because they were supposedly "the servants of Eudak (Populist) separatism and went out of their way to mee't the demands of the treacherou s politicians, " and only in the second place, because "they strived to remove literary Sfovak as far as possible from Czech and to isolate it also from other Slovanic languages. " In other words, they were "puristicall y oriented" and marked the Rules with "a puristical tendency." However, the changes which have been made in Slovak orthograph y, and the review of the ph!ilological studies of the past few years, do not testify to the fact that the present "Marxist" philologists have very substantial ly removed themselves from "the purists" or that they have approached closer to Czech or other Slovanic languages, with the exception of the Russian language. The entire evolutionary line of Slovak philology - the founders of which were the national awakeners of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who had to defend the Slovak language against Hungarian assimilator y tendencies and the nationalistica lly oriented linguists and philologists of the last decades of this century, for whom it was necessary to defend the Slovak language against no less dangerous Czech tendencies - has not yet been too remarkably dented by contempor ary philologists in Slovakia. The thesis that the Slovak language tended to develop as a separate Slovanic language after the disappeara nce of the Old Slovanic language - and that the attempts to make it one of the dialects of the Czech language must only be considered as unscientific and political tendencies and aspirations - is practically proved by the scholarly works of the contempor ary SLOVAKIA 31 philologists with alil the weight and consistency of methods which cannot be la:beled unscientific. In harmony with the general cultural growth of the Slovak nation, Slovak philology develops in scope and depth. During 1939-1945 alone over a thousand works, treatises, articles, and studies in the field of philology were published. The linguists and philologists did not concern themselves merely with research into and the stabilization of the Slovak language, but also with the wider problems of linguistics and ph'ilology, Slovanic and non-Slovanic IndoEuropean languages, and with tihe general philology (5) . During the war, there already was evident a promising development which was made in the formaition of Slovak scientific and technical terminology, particularly in the scientific disciplines and in the technical-economic sphere of Slovak life(6). The contemporary philologists continue diligently in this "purism," and Slovak scientific and technical terminology has, in the past few years, been considerably enriched by the newly-coined or adapted terms of other Slovanic languages, particularly Russian. Objectivity warrants the admission that the works of Slovak philologists are comparatively extensive; that the number of published books, studies and treatises in periodicals is considerable; and that the fields of scientific research are numerous. In the interest of truth, however, it is also necessary to add that this growth of scholarly works has no relation to, and is not to be credited to the contemporary political regime. Regardless of what regime might exist today in Slovakia, there would inevitably be more achievement in science, culture and arts than ever before. The explanation is to be found in the general development of Slovakia in the last forty years and particularly in the fact that, in the last years of the so-called bourgeois Czecho-Slovak Republic and especially during the period of the existence of the Slovak Republic, a large number of young S'lovaks studied in universities at home and abroad, not only the traditional disciplines - theology, law, and medicine - but the entire field of science. The inclusion of Slovakia i.nlto the Soviet orbit befell them in the years of their scientific productivity or in their years of 32 SLOVAKIA university studies. If, today, in Slovakia, more is produced and published in philology or in other scientific fields, it is because the Slovak nation reached that stage of development at which there are found entire cadres of scientific and culutral workers. These cadres are so large that, even after the departure of thousands into exile, it is possible today to publish in Slovakia more books than ever before in all fields of science. The communist regime, in certain respects, by the limitation of freedom alone, holds back scientific work, and supports development only of those fields in which the political aims of the Communist Party can be pursued. Philology is, for the communist regime, a neutral rather than a privileged field. As far as the linguistic side of the Slovak language is concerned, in :the Rules as in other works, there appears a trend towards a more consistent use of the principles of phonetic orthogr&phy and towards the simplification of writing Slovak and foreign expressions. In philological production alone there are represented dialectology, lexicology, comparative philology, morphology, phonology, orthoepy, phonetics, etc. Several works deal with questions of the Cyrilo--Methodian period, the development of philology in other Slovanic nations (Russia, Bulgaria) and the history of the Slovak language. A scholarly level has been attained, first of all, by the works of older linguists and philologists, but the possession of the qualifications and preparation for the professional philological work is evident in a large number of younger intellectuals, particularly in their criticism, polemics and commentaries on the new editions of older literary or philological works (for instance, in the introductions to the new editions of the works of Bernolak, Holly, Stur, etc.). End of the Controversy Regarding Literary Slovak and the Origin of the Slovak Language From the published works of philologists and literary historians it is also obvious t'hat the Czech theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language, and on the function of some foreign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses SLOVAKIA were intended to support the political theses of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. In this respect, even some contemporary works of Czech philologists helped to support the scientific conclusions which have long been defended by Slovak philologists. Particularly noteworthy, on the Czech side is the work of Professor A. Dostal (7), and on the Slovak side, Pauliny's "Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny" History of Literary Slovak, Bratislava, 1948 (8) , and Mraz's "Dejiny slovenskej literatiiry" - History of Slovak Literature, Bra'tislava, 1948(9) , as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. In this respect, particularly, the paper of Professor E. Pauliny on "Bilingualism in the History of the Slovak Literary Language," de-serves special at'tention. Papliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in S'lovakfa in the 15th and following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e., that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand compe'tition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness: though the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, tried to maintain it even in the 19th century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majorit y a whole century before that time. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is therefore, even according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism (p. 43). A century-long controversy, as to whether Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, or a dis'tinct Slovanic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both the Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. By a careful analysis of the fundamenital roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through a comparative study of their later developments, contemporary scholars trained in philology have revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have clas- 34 SLOVAKIA sified it properly as one of distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slovanic language. The controversy was occasioned by two facts. On the one hand, some literary historians made no distinction between the language spoken by the Slovaks as their native tongue and 'their literary medium. The latter for some time wa:s (besides Latin) the old Czech liturgical language. On the other hand, most of the philo'logists and literary historians, predominantly of Czech origin, in formulating purely scientific views as to the proper relationship between the Czech and Slovak languages, were influenced by political aspira!tions. Recent studies based on scientific principles of philology, phonology, etymology lexicography, and grammar now show that the original Slovak terminology, wJth rare exceptions, goes back to the original roots of a native Slovak language essentially distinct from every other Slovanic tongue. The confusion created by the failure to draw a proper distinction between the native language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language was, however, only partly responsible for the erroneous view that Slovak was merely a dialect of the Czech language or that there was something like a "Czechoslovak language" (10). Theories on the existence of a "Czechoslovak language" were creat ed even after one hundred years of the existence of the Slovak literary language which was accepted by both Slovak Catholics and Lutherans in 1844, and after two hundred years' use by the Catholics of their own vernacular as the literary medium around the University of Trnava, founded in 1635. Consequently, the main reason for the confusion was of a political nature, even if presented in "scientific" form. Professor F. Travnicek, for instance, used geography as his main argument for his theory of the "Czechoslovak language." The fact that the Czechs and Slovaks inhabited the present area from the sixth century was used by him as an argumen1t that they had a common ,l anguage. In his "ffistoricka mluvnice ceskoslovenska" (Historic Czechoslovak Grammar) he stated: "The ancient Czechoslovak language lasted from the time of its inde- SLOVAKIA 35 pendent establishment as a full-fledged language, from the siJd:h to the end of the tenth century, and is similar to the prehistoric tongue. The chief condition of this independent development was that our ancestors were separated geographically from the rest of the Slavs" (11). Geographical factors can hardly take precedence over linguistic data, and even if we accept this theory, another factor, the separation of Czechs and Siovaks from the ninth century, would be in favor of an independent development of the Slovak spoken tongue. Slovak philologists and linguists Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Sttanislav, Novak, etc. (12) rejected, therefore the Czech theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic form,s of the Slovak tongue and, by linguistic methods of phonology as we11 as by a comparative study, they arrived at new conclusions as to the origin and development of the S'lovak language. These conclusions were ultimately accepted by contemporary Czech as well as other Slovanic philologists and linguists (13). As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a refation between two Slavic but distinct languages. Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak, and vice versa, as the Polish or Russian have always been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long ~ime ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and phi'lologists to recognize the irrefutable. REFERENCES (1) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, Brat islava, Slov,e nska akadeania vied, 1953, p. 7. (2) IDr. Vincent Blanar: Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1947, Bratislava, Slovensika a1~ademia vied a umeni, 195'0, p. 210. This work ,contaiins 11,17 titles, Olf which aipprox.ilmatel,y 1000 were pulblished dudrug the existen-ce Olf the Slovak R~bl!i.'c . .Altogether Blanar presents an almost complete picture of Ling,ud,stic and philological w<ll'ks, pwblished in boo!k form or in periodicals, in the fiields olf ,g eneral philiodog,y, comparative linguistiics Olf lndoEuirQPean languages, Sl'O'Vanic philology and! the stu~ Olf the Slova!k lairugua,ge. See al!so Dr. L. Dvonc:1Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948-1952, Matica Slovenska, 1957. 36 SLOVAKIA (3) See, for examI?:le, the eval,uartion o.f U. Stur as a philo1o,gist in the book "l!udovit Stur, Slovencina" nasa," which was prepared and annotated by Dr. J. Ambms and has been evaliwa1ted lirug,uirstdlcailily by Dr. V. Blanar. According to Blanar, Stur kept pa,ce with the European philologic:d schools o.f that time and its foremosrt ip·h enomena, a,n d his studies at Hal!le predestined him to beco,me, in Slovanic and Slovaik cir,cwmstances, one of the frrst representatives of the newest methods on theories in phi'lology. (4) Pravidla slovenskeho pravopisu, p. 6. Anton Bemo'1ak 01762--1813) codified the Slovak literary lang,ua,ge as used by the Slovak Catholics from tJhe time of the co-uniter-Reformation and esipeoi,a,1ly since .16315, the year Olf the fo.u,ndatJion of the second university in Slovakia. at Trnaiva. Bernolak gaive a solid fowndati-on to the Slovak literary .l!anguag,e, based on the Western Sllovaik dialecrt, in hiis works: Disserta,t io philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum : Linguae slavonicae per Regnum Hungariae usitatae compendiosa simul at facilis o,rthographia" (Bra1tislava, 1'7'3171); "Grammatica slavica" (1790), and in his huge pentalingual dictionary, pu1blished after his deatih, in 1825. Marbin Hattala (1821-1903'), who later became a professor at the University of Praigue, codid'ied the reform in'1:rod1uced by U. Stur, which was a,o cepted in, 1844 by both Slovak Oatholiics and Protestants. His "Kratka mluvnica slovenska" CShor.t Slovak Gr•aimlillar), p,wblished in 1852, gaive a scientific bas-is and for:m to Stur's reform. Saimuel Czaimbel (1856-1 909), one o.f the greatest Slovak philologists, enniiched Sl,o vak phi,lol1ogy by seveml scholarly wo·r'ks regardiillg dialectology, monphology, and lexicol-o,gy. His main woriks are "Slovensky pravopis" (Slovak Orithogra-phy, 1890) and "Rukovat' spisovnej reci slovenskej " QManual of the Slovalk Liternry Larug-uage, 1-902). For detai:ls concernirug Bernolak, Haittaila, and Czaimbel, see Prof. E. Pauliny: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny." (5) Colillipare V. Blanar: Biblografia. (6) Pioneer and valuable worik iin, this d'i rection was done partLcularliy by Professor Dr. Jul iius Led enyi-La1d ziansky in the termino:lo.gy o.f medical science. (7) Prof. Dr. A. Dostal: Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka, Prague, Statni pedagogicke naildiadatelstvi, 1:954. (8) (Prof. Dr. Eugen Pa,Ulliny: Dej iny spisovnej slovenciny, Bratisl-aiva, S1ovenska akadem!iia, vied a umeni, 19418. In the introduction to his book, Pa-wliny understands the history o.f the 1-angu,age as the history Olf the oriigin, disaippear ance and cha,n,ges Olf its i,ndi'Vidua1l styles. Ho:wever, in the book i ts-elf, he d'ivide:d the his-tor-y of the Slovak 1iitera['y laruguage accord!i,u,g to the languages which wer e used ,by the Slov,aiks as literary la~ua,ges in addition to the sipoken vern,a,culiar from the time of the Gr eater Moravia•. On page 5, he writes: "Al,thouglh, in this case, the p er,iod of the actual Sll,ovaik litera['y laillguaige ca,n. begin only with Bernolak, or with t he p eriod shortly befor e Bemolak, nevertheless it is not poss,iJble to begin the history of t he literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is ,n,ecessa,r,y t,o go deep into 1Jhe pa st, aH the way to the ver y begin nings o.f the histor iical p er iod o.f our na-ti-on in the Gr eater Moravian epoch, na,y, in ceritain matters, it is ,necessary to go even 1 1 1 1 SLOVAKIA 37 further, into the pre-histork period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not particiiPate im, the European cul<ture whiich was introduced to us by Chrisit-iani:ty." (9) Prof. A. Mraz: Dej iny slovenskej literatury, Braitisfava, Slovenska akademia vied a UJ!l1eni, 1948. (lJl) F . Travnicek: Historicka mluvnice ceskoslovenska, Brno, 1935, p. 21-23. (10) This thesis wa,s propa•g ated by Dr. Ed'Uard Benes throurg h his pUJblication Detruisez I' Autriche, Paris, 11916, and, with the helip of Czech philologists, it penetrated also inito many western university oiTcles and was reoeated by the Slavists on this continent a·s well. (13) Besides aiuthors of Slovak origin, (Hrobak, Konus, Potocek, and others), the correct attitude towards the Slovak lang;uage, in the Englislh lan!guage works, was taken particUilarly by Professor Alfred Senn in the syunrposi,um A Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, Camlbridlge, Massachu,s etts, Harvard UnLversity Press, 1949. (12) Profiessor Bartek pub1'ished, boith in Slovakia and in exiile, a numlber of prul. 0Iogica1! wo,r ks, S'Ome Off w,h ich were piulblished i,n, French and Eng-lish. Elana.r"s "Bibliografia" cites thirteen titles of his works. 'Ilhe best known philologists, besides B'artek, are S-tanislav and Novak. StaniS'lav is known parti<cUilarliy for his research i,n,to the OyriJoJMethodian period and for his works in toponyimy. Novak was siJenced by the cOJin1Inunist regime; Sitanislav is still actiive. Bartek performed a very meritorious service, pa-r ticular,l'Y by foundilllg the peri10dical "Slovenska rec" (Slovak Langua,ge), and by his uncOJinpramising stand in the so-called "ma1ticne" (Slovak [nstitu1:e) strwggles for the purity of the S1ov,a k language and its separate development since Vhe d isaippearance of the Old Slovanic laruguaige. 1 1 • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his latest statemen!ts rulways stressed, tihait OUT pact of •a lliance with Soviet Russia and our friendshiJp with other Slav na,.. tions must not encroach on our friendly and cordial re1ations with other democratic states. This is the natural desire, shared by an enormous majority of our people, and nothing prevents us from keeping the confidence of the democratic states and strengthening and deepening our friendship with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wa.Illts to fol4ow this line of poliicy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to· the Soviet Union, which are still existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Czecho-Slovakia, O'WI Bulletin, June 1, 1945.  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 Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology Description An account of the resource Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 25-37 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/82fc210695be9da9bc165925fd863e6f.pdf 24712f5e75a25281f7aa6dd3ff064a9c PDF Text Text 38 SLOVAKIA LET'S PUT SLOVAK IN THE CURRICULUM The early Slovaks in America - of sturdy peasant stock - were individualists. They wanted to have their own homes, their own churches and schools, fraternal benefit societies, newspapers, civic, social, and cultural institutions. For the most part, these were the things they could not have in the own homeland, Slovakia, which was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were then, as they are now strictly SLOVAK, not CZECHO-SLOV AK ( with or without hyphen) enterprises. And the Slovaks in America did organize and build the things they wanted. Today in America, there are some 370 Slovak churches, 240 parochial and Sunday schools, a dozen fraternals, 20 newspapers and periodicals, and many Slovak cultural, civic, and social societies. It did ndt take the Slovak pioneers in America long to learn enough English to get along and to adapt themselves to their new environment. The American way of life appealed to them. In fact, compared to life "back home," life in America - with all its initial hardships was a thou.sand times better. In America a man was free! The Slovaks built their own churches and schools to enhance their own cultural level and to preserve their Slovak heritage in the "new homeland" - their language and their religious and national traditions. There it was that the oldsters were taught English and the youngsters Slovak. Father Stephen Furdek, known as the "Apostle of American Slovaks," provided the text books. In time the Slovaks of America had - and still have - everything needed to perform the mission for which their institutions were established. They kept the faith of their fathers, but as the years rolled by the Slovaks broke away to a great extent from the past, the ideals of their forefathers, as far as preserving the Slovak language and national customs was concerned. It is unfortunate that this has come to pass. And more so that it happened within two generations removed from Father Furdek (he died in 1915) and the Slovak pioneers. Whether the trend will continue depends for the most part on the administrators �SLOVAKIA 39 of these S 1 o v a k institutions. All is not yet lost : the churches and schools built by the Slovaks in America are still with us. They can still be used to enhance and preserve the heritage of the Slovaks and to the advantage our America. Of course, we can expect the same old question to pop up in places: "But why teach Slovak?" Teach it for the same reasons that so many other seemingly "impractical" subjects are taught in our primary and secondary schools. No one can foresee with any great degree of accuracy just what any child will be able to use later on in life. And so it is with the Slovak language, too. Besides the sentimental reason for offering children Slovak in Slovak parochial schools, there are practical reasons a.Jso. These were brought to the fore recently by our Government and by eminent educators, including members of the American Catholic Hierarchy. His Excellency, Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, early in the year called upon Americans to understand the languages of other peoples of the world as a prelude to understanding the peoples themselves. He was then Bishop of the Worcester Diocese. Speaking at Assumption CoHege, Bishop Wright said that "perhaps the greatest embarrassment for Americans abroad is that we can't understand and talk with other peoples unless they are willing to learn our language." Citing a statement from St. Augustine that "a man is more at home with his dog than he is with another man whose language he cannot understand," Bishop Wright commented that "in the presence of a man whose language we cannot speak, we are almost fatally and mutually antagonistic." "Hence," Bishop Wright said, "it is tremendously important that our children be taught languages - that in language they may find the genious of people, since it is in language that people express ideas." "Thus we may come to a greater understanding of other people and a mutual sympathy with them, so that eventually man may become as at home with other men as with his dog," Bishop Wright concluded. �40 SLOVAKIA Bob Considine, syndicated columnist, also speaking at the Worcester, Mass., school, stated: "We can't go into foreign countries any longer as the arrogant conquerer. We must go as friends and equals, not as superiors, not trying to lord it over them. Yet in a way we do lord it over them by not knowing their languages and by being contemptuous of their customs." Elementary school teachers and administrators, attending the 56th annual convention of the Nationa,l Catholic IDducational Association in Atlantic City (March 30 to April 3, 1959) discussed the usefulness and feasibility of teaching foreign languages in the elementary schools. Sister Mary Helen of the department of modern languages of St. Teresa College, Winona, Minn., spoke on the "Preparation of Elementary School Teachers for the Foreign Language Program." Sister Raymond de Jesus, assistant dean of the Diocesan Teachers College, Putnam, Conn., discussed "Materials and Methods for the Foreign Language Program in the Elementary School." Father Frederick A. McGuire, C. M. , executive secretary of the Mission Secretariat, a clearing house of information for overseas missionary societies, addressed the group on "Foreign Languages in the Elementary School - Their Significance for the World Mission of the Catholic Church." In World War II, we found out just how badly we had neglected the teaching of foreign languages. Our armies were scattered throughout the world. Communication had to be carried on through interpreters who had been hurriedly and, therefore, inadequately trained in foreign languages. The situation has been remedied to a certain extent, but there still is a very great need of language experts in all departments of U. S. Government, particularly in the Foreign Service Department and the United States Information Agency. It is obvious that it is far better to have people in service with a thorough understanding of the historical background of a certain people than people only with a linguistic knowledge. Only a year and half ago, a survey disclosed that more than half of our government's diplomats did not have a speaking knowledge of the language of the countries �SLOVAKIA 41 to which they were sent (THE N.EJW YORK TIMES, Nov. 18, 1959). Dr. Harold Hoskins, director of the Foreign Service Institute, now reports that aH members of the Foreign Service have taken mandatory tests in foreign languages since the alarming survey was published. A special foreign language school was established in Arlington, Va., by the State Department. Congress made more funds available for language training in the present fiscal year than it did for all kinds of training four years ago. As a result, the training school in Arlington is perhaps one of the most efficient in the nation. Sixteen specialists make up the faculty for the teaching of foreign languages, while ninety-nine instructors teach in their native tongues, with little or no English spoken during instruction periods. "The problem now," Dr. Hoskins says, "is to develop specialists in the critical though less widely used, languages and dialects of many parts of Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa." Interesting it is to note that Dr. Hoskins' report lists 11 Foreign Service officers who are now available "with a working knowledge, or higher proficiency," in SLOVAK. Furthermore, the director of the Foreign Service Institute estimates that the State Department will have 85 to 90 per cent of its officers reach "professional proficiency" in at least one foreign language by 1962. The stress today is particularly on Russian for obvious reasons. Academic Russian is being introduced into more publis schools every year. Other Slavic languages may be neglected, because, some authorities say, they don't mean as much as the Russian language. What they really mean is that they know little about Russian and even less about the other Slovanic (Slavic) languages. Even in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the stress is on Russian, though we know, for example, that over one-third of all the Slovaks in America are settled there (there are about two million Americans of Slovak descent in the USA). And the stress is on Russian and Russian only, even though Slovak, in my considered opinion, is the key language to all Slovanic languages. I have recommended (to the Army Language School in Monterey, Calif., for �42 SLOVAKIA example) - and still recommend - at least one semester of Slovak for students of any Slavic language. It makes the study of the other Slavic languages more facile, since it contains elements common to all the Slavic languages, elements that are not found in the others. It is true that the various Slavic languages have an even greater affinity than do other related language groups, but I earnestly suggest a serious consideration of non-Russian Slavic language background as a valuable and practical basis for the study of academic Russian. Over a generation ago, Carl W. Hasek (Higher Education Circular No. 23, U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Education. 1920) urged a greater awareness of the practical need for a wider study of the Slovanic (Slavic) languages and cultures in our schools, citing various reasons, esthetic and practical, pertinent to this matter. The esthetic consideration - the direct enjoyment of, for example, the rich Russian literature - is as valid now as it was then, while the practical reasons have taken on even greater urgency. Mrs. Elizabeth Peters, writing in the PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL (October, 1958), considered the question of the most likely source of Russian language candidates in the public schools of the Commonwealth. She said: "Census statistics reveal that conservatively estimated there are fifty to one hundred thousand pupils of Slavic heritage in the schools of Pennsylvania. It is generally accepted among leaders in the groups that there is a threegeneration span in which these groups, with their rich folklore and their frequently devout religious affiliation, have tended to keep their traditions, culture, and language alive by means of family, church, and fraternal activities." Mrs. Peters is correct; census statistics, as quoted, are very conservative. The fourth generation is with us and the traditions of the Slovaks, Serbs, Croatians, Poles, Slovenians, and Russians - plus those of other nonEnglish groups - are still in evidence. And they will be for some time to come. �SLOVAKIA 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov. � 38 SLOVAKIA LET'S PUT SLOVAK IN THE CURRICULUM The early Slovaks in America - of sturdy peasant stock - were individualists. They wanted to have their own homes, their own churches and schools, fraternal benefit societies, newspapers, civic, social, and cultural institutions. For the most part, these were the things they could not have in the own homeland, Slovakia, which was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were then, as they are now strictly SLOVAK, not CZECHO-SLOV AK ( with or without hyphen) enterprises. And the Slovaks in America did organize and build the things they wanted. Today in America, there are some 370 Slovak churches, 240 parochial and Sunday schools, a dozen fraternals, 20 newspapers and periodicals, and many Slovak cultural, civic, and social societies. It did ndt take the Slovak pioneers in America long to learn enough English to get along and to adapt themselves to their new environment. The American way of life appealed to them. In fact, compared to life "back home," life in America - with all its initial hardships was a thou.sand times better. In America a man was free! The Slovaks built their own churches and schools to enhance their own cultural level and to preserve their Slovak heritage in the "new homeland" - their language and their religious and national traditions. There it was that the oldsters were taught English and the youngsters Slovak. Father Stephen Furdek, known as the "Apostle of American Slovaks," provided the text books. In time the Slovaks of America had - and still have - everything needed to perform the mission for which their institutions were established. They kept the faith of their fathers, but as the years rolled by the Slovaks broke away to a great extent from the past, the ideals of their forefathers, as far as preserving the Slovak language and national customs was concerned. It is unfortunate that this has come to pass. And more so that it happened within two generations removed from Father Furdek (he died in 1915) and the Slovak pioneers. Whether the trend will continue depends for the most part on the administrators �SLOVAKIA 39 of these S 1 o v a k institutions. All is not yet lost : the churches and schools built by the Slovaks in America are still with us. They can still be used to enhance and preserve the heritage of the Slovaks and to the advantage our America. Of course, we can expect the same old question to pop up in places: "But why teach Slovak?" Teach it for the same reasons that so many other seemingly "impractical" subjects are taught in our primary and secondary schools. No one can foresee with any great degree of accuracy just what any child will be able to use later on in life. And so it is with the Slovak language, too. Besides the sentimental reason for offering children Slovak in Slovak parochial schools, there are practical reasons a.Jso. These were brought to the fore recently by our Government and by eminent educators, including members of the American Catholic Hierarchy. His Excellency, Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, early in the year called upon Americans to understand the languages of other peoples of the world as a prelude to understanding the peoples themselves. He was then Bishop of the Worcester Diocese. Speaking at Assumption CoHege, Bishop Wright said that "perhaps the greatest embarrassment for Americans abroad is that we can't understand and talk with other peoples unless they are willing to learn our language." Citing a statement from St. Augustine that "a man is more at home with his dog than he is with another man whose language he cannot understand," Bishop Wright commented that "in the presence of a man whose language we cannot speak, we are almost fatally and mutually antagonistic." "Hence," Bishop Wright said, "it is tremendously important that our children be taught languages - that in language they may find the genious of people, since it is in language that people express ideas." "Thus we may come to a greater understanding of other people and a mutual sympathy with them, so that eventually man may become as at home with other men as with his dog," Bishop Wright concluded. �40 SLOVAKIA Bob Considine, syndicated columnist, also speaking at the Worcester, Mass., school, stated: "We can't go into foreign countries any longer as the arrogant conquerer. We must go as friends and equals, not as superiors, not trying to lord it over them. Yet in a way we do lord it over them by not knowing their languages and by being contemptuous of their customs." Elementary school teachers and administrators, attending the 56th annual convention of the Nationa,l Catholic IDducational Association in Atlantic City (March 30 to April 3, 1959) discussed the usefulness and feasibility of teaching foreign languages in the elementary schools. Sister Mary Helen of the department of modern languages of St. Teresa College, Winona, Minn., spoke on the "Preparation of Elementary School Teachers for the Foreign Language Program." Sister Raymond de Jesus, assistant dean of the Diocesan Teachers College, Putnam, Conn., discussed "Materials and Methods for the Foreign Language Program in the Elementary School." Father Frederick A. McGuire, C. M. , executive secretary of the Mission Secretariat, a clearing house of information for overseas missionary societies, addressed the group on "Foreign Languages in the Elementary School - Their Significance for the World Mission of the Catholic Church." In World War II, we found out just how badly we had neglected the teaching of foreign languages. Our armies were scattered throughout the world. Communication had to be carried on through interpreters who had been hurriedly and, therefore, inadequately trained in foreign languages. The situation has been remedied to a certain extent, but there still is a very great need of language experts in all departments of U. S. Government, particularly in the Foreign Service Department and the United States Information Agency. It is obvious that it is far better to have people in service with a thorough understanding of the historical background of a certain people than people only with a linguistic knowledge. Only a year and half ago, a survey disclosed that more than half of our government's diplomats did not have a speaking knowledge of the language of the countries �SLOVAKIA 41 to which they were sent (THE N.EJW YORK TIMES, Nov. 18, 1959). Dr. Harold Hoskins, director of the Foreign Service Institute, now reports that aH members of the Foreign Service have taken mandatory tests in foreign languages since the alarming survey was published. A special foreign language school was established in Arlington, Va., by the State Department. Congress made more funds available for language training in the present fiscal year than it did for all kinds of training four years ago. As a result, the training school in Arlington is perhaps one of the most efficient in the nation. Sixteen specialists make up the faculty for the teaching of foreign languages, while ninety-nine instructors teach in their native tongues, with little or no English spoken during instruction periods. "The problem now," Dr. Hoskins says, "is to develop specialists in the critical though less widely used, languages and dialects of many parts of Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa." Interesting it is to note that Dr. Hoskins' report lists 11 Foreign Service officers who are now available "with a working knowledge, or higher proficiency," in SLOVAK. Furthermore, the director of the Foreign Service Institute estimates that the State Department will have 85 to 90 per cent of its officers reach "professional proficiency" in at least one foreign language by 1962. The stress today is particularly on Russian for obvious reasons. Academic Russian is being introduced into more publis schools every year. Other Slavic languages may be neglected, because, some authorities say, they don't mean as much as the Russian language. What they really mean is that they know little about Russian and even less about the other Slovanic (Slavic) languages. Even in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the stress is on Russian, though we know, for example, that over one-third of all the Slovaks in America are settled there (there are about two million Americans of Slovak descent in the USA). And the stress is on Russian and Russian only, even though Slovak, in my considered opinion, is the key language to all Slovanic languages. I have recommended (to the Army Language School in Monterey, Calif., for �42 SLOVAKIA example) - and still recommend - at least one semester of Slovak for students of any Slavic language. It makes the study of the other Slavic languages more facile, since it contains elements common to all the Slavic languages, elements that are not found in the others. It is true that the various Slavic languages have an even greater affinity than do other related language groups, but I earnestly suggest a serious consideration of non-Russian Slavic language background as a valuable and practical basis for the study of academic Russian. Over a generation ago, Carl W. Hasek (Higher Education Circular No. 23, U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Education. 1920) urged a greater awareness of the practical need for a wider study of the Slovanic (Slavic) languages and cultures in our schools, citing various reasons, esthetic and practical, pertinent to this matter. The esthetic consideration - the direct enjoyment of, for example, the rich Russian literature - is as valid now as it was then, while the practical reasons have taken on even greater urgency. Mrs. Elizabeth Peters, writing in the PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL (October, 1958), considered the question of the most likely source of Russian language candidates in the public schools of the Commonwealth. She said: "Census statistics reveal that conservatively estimated there are fifty to one hundred thousand pupils of Slavic heritage in the schools of Pennsylvania. It is generally accepted among leaders in the groups that there is a threegeneration span in which these groups, with their rich folklore and their frequently devout religious affiliation, have tended to keep their traditions, culture, and language alive by means of family, church, and fraternal activities." Mrs. Peters is correct; census statistics, as quoted, are very conservative. The fourth generation is with us and the traditions of the Slovaks, Serbs, Croatians, Poles, Slovenians, and Russians - plus those of other nonEnglish groups - are still in evidence. And they will be for some time to come. �SLOVAKIA 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 38 SLOVAKIA LET'S PUT SLOVAK IN THE CURRICULUM The early Slovaks in America - of sturdy peasant stock - were individualists. They wanted to have their own homes, their own churches and schools, fraternal benefit societies, newspapers, civic, social, and cultural institutions. For the most part, these were the things they could not have in the own homeland, Slovakia, which was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They were then, as they are now strictly SLOVAK, not CZECHO-SLOV AK ( with or without hyphen) enterprises. And the Slovaks in America did organize and build the things they wanted. Today in America, there are some 370 Slovak churches, 240 parochial and Sunday schools, a dozen fraternals, 20 newspapers and periodicals, and many Slovak cultural, civic, and social societies. It did ndt take the Slovak pioneers in America long to learn enough English to get along and to adapt themselves to their new environment. The American way of life appealed to them. In fact, compared to life "back home," life in America - with all its initial hardships was a thou.sand times better. In America a man was free! The Slovaks built their own churches and schools to enhance their own cultural level and to preserve their Slovak heritage in the "new homeland" - their language and their religious and national traditions. There it was that the oldsters were taught English and the youngsters Slovak. Father Stephen Furdek, known as the "Apostle of American Slovaks," provided the text books. In time the Slovaks of America had - and still have - everything needed to perform the mission for which their institutions were established. They kept the faith of their fathers, but as the years rolled by the Slovaks broke away to a great extent from the past, the ideals of their forefathers, as far as preserving the Slovak language and national customs was concerned. It is unfortunate that this has come to pass. And more so that it happened within two generations removed from Father Furdek (he died in 1915) and the Slovak pioneers. Whether the trend will continue depends for the most part on the administrators SLOVAKIA 39 of these S 1 o v a k institutions. All is not yet lost : the churches and schools built by the Slovaks in America are still with us. They can still be used to enhance and preserve the heritage of the Slovaks and to the advantage our America. Of course, we can expect the same old question to pop up in places: "But why teach Slovak?" Teach it for the same reasons that so many other seemingly "impractical" subjects are taught in our primary and secondary schools. No one can foresee with any great degree of accuracy just what any child will be able to use later on in life. And so it is with the Slovak language, too. Besides the sentimental reason for offering children Slovak in Slovak parochial schools, there are practical reasons a.Jso. These were brought to the fore recently by our Government and by eminent educators, including members of the American Catholic Hierarchy. His Excellency, Bishop John J. Wright of Pittsburgh, early in the year called upon Americans to understand the languages of other peoples of the world as a prelude to understanding the peoples themselves. He was then Bishop of the Worcester Diocese. Speaking at Assumption CoHege, Bishop Wright said that "perhaps the greatest embarrassment for Americans abroad is that we can't understand and talk with other peoples unless they are willing to learn our language." Citing a statement from St. Augustine that "a man is more at home with his dog than he is with another man whose language he cannot understand," Bishop Wright commented that "in the presence of a man whose language we cannot speak, we are almost fatally and mutually antagonistic." "Hence," Bishop Wright said, "it is tremendously important that our children be taught languages - that in language they may find the genious of people, since it is in language that people express ideas." "Thus we may come to a greater understanding of other people and a mutual sympathy with them, so that eventually man may become as at home with other men as with his dog," Bishop Wright concluded. 40 SLOVAKIA Bob Considine, syndicated columnist, also speaking at the Worcester, Mass., school, stated: "We can't go into foreign countries any longer as the arrogant conquerer. We must go as friends and equals, not as superiors, not trying to lord it over them. Yet in a way we do lord it over them by not knowing their languages and by being contemptuous of their customs." Elementary school teachers and administrators, attending the 56th annual convention of the Nationa,l Catholic IDducational Association in Atlantic City (March 30 to April 3, 1959) discussed the usefulness and feasibility of teaching foreign languages in the elementary schools. Sister Mary Helen of the department of modern languages of St. Teresa College, Winona, Minn., spoke on the "Preparation of Elementary School Teachers for the Foreign Language Program." Sister Raymond de Jesus, assistant dean of the Diocesan Teachers College, Putnam, Conn., discussed "Materials and Methods for the Foreign Language Program in the Elementary School." Father Frederick A. McGuire, C. M. , executive secretary of the Mission Secretariat, a clearing house of information for overseas missionary societies, addressed the group on "Foreign Languages in the Elementary School - Their Significance for the World Mission of the Catholic Church." In World War II, we found out just how badly we had neglected the teaching of foreign languages. Our armies were scattered throughout the world. Communication had to be carried on through interpreters who had been hurriedly and, therefore, inadequately trained in foreign languages. The situation has been remedied to a certain extent, but there still is a very great need of language experts in all departments of U. S. Government, particularly in the Foreign Service Department and the United States Information Agency. It is obvious that it is far better to have people in service with a thorough understanding of the historical background of a certain people than people only with a linguistic knowledge. Only a year and half ago, a survey disclosed that more than half of our government's diplomats did not have a speaking knowledge of the language of the countries SLOVAKIA 41 to which they were sent (THE N.EJW YORK TIMES, Nov. 18, 1959). Dr. Harold Hoskins, director of the Foreign Service Institute, now reports that aH members of the Foreign Service have taken mandatory tests in foreign languages since the alarming survey was published. A special foreign language school was established in Arlington, Va., by the State Department. Congress made more funds available for language training in the present fiscal year than it did for all kinds of training four years ago. As a result, the training school in Arlington is perhaps one of the most efficient in the nation. Sixteen specialists make up the faculty for the teaching of foreign languages, while ninety-nine instructors teach in their native tongues, with little or no English spoken during instruction periods. "The problem now," Dr. Hoskins says, "is to develop specialists in the critical though less widely used, languages and dialects of many parts of Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa." Interesting it is to note that Dr. Hoskins' report lists 11 Foreign Service officers who are now available "with a working knowledge, or higher proficiency," in SLOVAK. Furthermore, the director of the Foreign Service Institute estimates that the State Department will have 85 to 90 per cent of its officers reach "professional proficiency" in at least one foreign language by 1962. The stress today is particularly on Russian for obvious reasons. Academic Russian is being introduced into more publis schools every year. Other Slavic languages may be neglected, because, some authorities say, they don't mean as much as the Russian language. What they really mean is that they know little about Russian and even less about the other Slovanic (Slavic) languages. Even in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the stress is on Russian, though we know, for example, that over one-third of all the Slovaks in America are settled there (there are about two million Americans of Slovak descent in the USA). And the stress is on Russian and Russian only, even though Slovak, in my considered opinion, is the key language to all Slovanic languages. I have recommended (to the Army Language School in Monterey, Calif., for 42 SLOVAKIA example) - and still recommend - at least one semester of Slovak for students of any Slavic language. It makes the study of the other Slavic languages more facile, since it contains elements common to all the Slavic languages, elements that are not found in the others. It is true that the various Slavic languages have an even greater affinity than do other related language groups, but I earnestly suggest a serious consideration of non-Russian Slavic language background as a valuable and practical basis for the study of academic Russian. Over a generation ago, Carl W. Hasek (Higher Education Circular No. 23, U. S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Education. 1920) urged a greater awareness of the practical need for a wider study of the Slovanic (Slavic) languages and cultures in our schools, citing various reasons, esthetic and practical, pertinent to this matter. The esthetic consideration - the direct enjoyment of, for example, the rich Russian literature - is as valid now as it was then, while the practical reasons have taken on even greater urgency. Mrs. Elizabeth Peters, writing in the PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL (October, 1958), considered the question of the most likely source of Russian language candidates in the public schools of the Commonwealth. She said: "Census statistics reveal that conservatively estimated there are fifty to one hundred thousand pupils of Slavic heritage in the schools of Pennsylvania. It is generally accepted among leaders in the groups that there is a threegeneration span in which these groups, with their rich folklore and their frequently devout religious affiliation, have tended to keep their traditions, culture, and language alive by means of family, church, and fraternal activities." Mrs. Peters is correct; census statistics, as quoted, are very conservative. The fourth generation is with us and the traditions of the Slovaks, Serbs, Croatians, Poles, Slovenians, and Russians - plus those of other nonEnglish groups - are still in evidence. And they will be for some time to come. SLOVAKIA 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov.  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 Let's Put Slovak in the Curriculum Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 38-43 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a18dfa949f9139b796fb787da525bfe3.pdf 8ceabc1ae9653b3a3c11c0225762703a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov. �44 SLOVAKIA In 1436, King Zigmund gave Cachtice to the provincial txeasurer, Michael Orsagh, whose family held the fortress until 1567. The last of the Orsaghs was Christopher. During this period the Hussite leader Svehla was a prisoner in the fortress; he was later put to death in Kostelany. In 1569 King Maximilian rented the fortress for 50,000 Gold crowns to Ursula Kanifa:j and her son Francis Nadasdy, with the stipulation that in case the fortress would be put 111p for sa,Ie, Francis Nadasdy would have first option to buy. In the year 1602, N adasdy did buy the fortress from king Rudolph II. Nada sdy was the unfortunate husband of the infamous Alzbeta (Elizabeth) Bathoricka. The story of Alz,beta Bathoricka, sordid in every detail, is nevertheless true. It begins on a morning of a beautiful day in May. Alzbeta had many servants, girl servants, who took care of her every whim. She was a proud and haughty woman, but no,t beautiful. A young girl servant, com'bing her mistress's hair, accidentally pulled out a small tuft. Alzbeta became infuriated and struck the girl across the mouth, drawing blood. Few drops of the young girl's blood happened to fall on the uplifted face of the cruel mistress. Looking into the mirror, she imagined that where the drops of blood fell, the skin seemed much smoother and more youthful. Suddenly an insane idea began to germinate in her mind: if the drops of blood did maJke her skin smoother and younger loolking, why not enhance her beauty, by bathing in the blood of young girls? It could be that the blood of young maidens was the long sought for fountain of youth, she thought, and the more she thought rubout it, the stronger her dete:r,mination became to use the blood bath. She needed accomplices, but it was not di'5ficult to enlist the services of some of her serivants for a consiideraJble grant of money and special pri'Vileges. 1 BLOOD OF 600 SLOVAK GffiLS The serwants went out into the neighboring villages and towns and by means fair and foul, by promises and intimidations, brought many young girls to the Castle. The girls ,w ere treated ,very nicely for a time, and then mur- �SLOVAKIA 45 dered in the most cruel manner, their blood supplying the "fountain of yO'llth" for the ghou1ish mistress. It 1s said that some 600 young girls were murdered by the mistress of Cachtice. Of course the disruppearance of these girls could not be kept secret forever. Rumors began to circulate, but Bathorio'ka was a mighty lady. She was mistress not only of many thousand acres of land, but mistress of many thousands of lives. She had the power of life or death over her underlings. And so the people under her dared not e~press in words the fears that were in their hearts. They suffered mutely, seeing their daughters disappear one by one. Bathorioka had powerful connections; she was a favorite friend of the Palatine, being invited to the marriage feast af his daughter, Judith. The feast lasted for a whole year. But there was one person who did not fear the infamous woman. He was the parish priest of Cachtice. After dbtaining all the proof he could, he set out for Bratislava, where the court was then in session. The priest had little success at that time, but in the year 1610 the Palatine George Thurzo, due to pressure of public o,pinion, decided to investigate. With two nephews of Bathori cka, Zrinsky and Drugeth respectively, he set out for the fortress, where he learned the bitter truth. Entering the fortress unheralded, he caught Bathoricka in the act olf killing two young maidens. He found other corpses on a manure pile outside the fortress. He oroered the siezure of the castle and put Alzbeta in a dungeon together with her helpers John FickoUjvary, Helen Jo, Kathryn Benicka, and Dorothy Szentes. These last were taken to the Palatine's Castle and condemned to death. On January 7, 1611, the court in Bytca handed down this decree: "We, Theodosius Strmsky of Sul'oiv, the highest magistrate of his Majesty the King, Gaspar Orodoy of Trencin, John David of St. Peter, George Lehotsky, Nicholas Hrabovsky, John Zaturecky, John Borsic'ky, Grubriel Hlinidky, Michael Tusins:ky, Raiphael Kasoivsky, Benedict Kozar, Stephen Marsfovsky, Stephen Alkay, John 1 �46 SLOVAKIA MedNedky, all members of thl,s august court, maike public to a1l whom it may concern that we were called together by the Palatine George Thurzo to the city of Bytca this day, January 7, in the year 1611, to sit in judgment over the deeds of John Fidko and the women Helen, Kathryn, and Dorothy, and found the following to be true: Whereas it is known that Palatine George Thurzo has been constituted to guard the persons and the property of those under his care as Palatine of the county of Ora,,va, to punish the guilty and reward the deserving, amd wishing to do his duty, he could not be deaf and blind to the deeds of one AliJbeta Bathoric!ka., the widow of Flrancis Nadasdy, who was an honoraJble man, deserving much from his country, but whose widow committed deeds of tyranny unheard of since the birth of mran!kind, having done away with innumeralble young girls for the pur,pose of bathing in their blood, he, therefore, caused an investigation to be made of the deeds of one Alzbeta Bathorioka, the investigation based on evidence presented against her by the townsipoople. The truth of the accusations were subsequently sulbstantiated by her own servants, accomplices in her many crimes. Hearing of the cruelties, supposedJy committed in the Cachtice Castle; His Highness, Pafatine George Th1ll"IZo, returning from celebrations in Presporok (now Bratisla,,va) in company of the two nephews of Al2Jb.e ta Bathoricka, Nicholas Zrinsky and Juraj Drugeth, and a large following of friends and ~oldiers, unexpectedly visited Cachtice, and at the very entrance to the Castle was confronted by mute evidence in the form of the mutHated bodies of two young girls, prOIVing beyond the shadow of doubt that the rumors aJbout Cachtice were true. Alhta Bathoricka was immediately sentenced to life imprisonment in her own Castle. John Fidko, Helen, Dorothy, and Kathryn we,r e ordered to be tried elsewhere, and if proven guilty, to be given sentences commensurate with the hideousness of their crimes so that others may be deterred from committing the same. The accused confessed, particularly Dorothy, who was �SLOVAKIA 47 the chief offender next to her mistre,ss, that they took part in the awful deaths of innocent young girls. The court, finding them guilty imposed the foNowing sentences: Dorothy and Helen shall have their ringers pulled off their hands with burning pincers, then be burned at the staJke. John Ficko, who tOOlk a minor part in the bloody orgies and on account of his ad!vanced age, shall not be tortured, but shall be beheaded and his body burned at the stalke. And since Dorothy and Helen pleaded for Kathryn, and only John F'i.cko witnessed against her, she ~hall be put into prison until such time as her innocence or guilt shall be proven ,b eyond a possible doUJbt. These sentences to be carried out immediately." A~ta BMhorioka was not tried publicly. She was sentenced by George Thurzo to life imprisonment in the dungeons of the Cachtice castle where she died in the year 1614. After her death, the fortress was inherited by her two children, Paul Nadasdy and Kathryn, who was married to Jan Drugeth. A third child, Anna, wife of Nicholas Zrinsky inherited nothing. Paul Nadasdy received the title of Count in the year 1625. After the death of Paul and Anna Nadasdy, the fortress became the property of the many heirs. In the yerur 1703, the fortress was the property of Count Paul Forgaic. In 1707, for reasons not girven, the fortress was besieged by the army of the king and truken. The following year it was wrested from the king by the followers of Francis Rak6czi II. The fortress commanded a beautiful view of the Povazie and Zahorie area. Hrad Cachtice is classed among the larger fortresses of SloJVakia; it had two large towers and three courts. It has been uninhabita:ble since the beginning of the 18th ceI11tury. The people of the vicinity give the old ruins a wide berth. They are superstitious and will bless themselves when passing the ruins. They will tell you that if you listen on a summer's evening, ju.s-t before a sto:rm, you will hear the wailings of the young maidens who were sacrificed to a woman's vrunity. They whisper a ;prayer for them and utter a curse for Ambeta Bathorioka. � SLOVAKIA 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov. �44 SLOVAKIA In 1436, King Zigmund gave Cachtice to the provincial txeasurer, Michael Orsagh, whose family held the fortress until 1567. The last of the Orsaghs was Christopher. During this period the Hussite leader Svehla was a prisoner in the fortress; he was later put to death in Kostelany. In 1569 King Maximilian rented the fortress for 50,000 Gold crowns to Ursula Kanifa:j and her son Francis Nadasdy, with the stipulation that in case the fortress would be put 111p for sa,Ie, Francis Nadasdy would have first option to buy. In the year 1602, N adasdy did buy the fortress from king Rudolph II. Nada sdy was the unfortunate husband of the infamous Alzbeta (Elizabeth) Bathoricka. The story of Alz,beta Bathoricka, sordid in every detail, is nevertheless true. It begins on a morning of a beautiful day in May. Alzbeta had many servants, girl servants, who took care of her every whim. She was a proud and haughty woman, but no,t beautiful. A young girl servant, com'bing her mistress's hair, accidentally pulled out a small tuft. Alzbeta became infuriated and struck the girl across the mouth, drawing blood. Few drops of the young girl's blood happened to fall on the uplifted face of the cruel mistress. Looking into the mirror, she imagined that where the drops of blood fell, the skin seemed much smoother and more youthful. Suddenly an insane idea began to germinate in her mind: if the drops of blood did maJke her skin smoother and younger loolking, why not enhance her beauty, by bathing in the blood of young girls? It could be that the blood of young maidens was the long sought for fountain of youth, she thought, and the more she thought rubout it, the stronger her dete:r,mination became to use the blood bath. She needed accomplices, but it was not di'5ficult to enlist the services of some of her serivants for a consiideraJble grant of money and special pri'Vileges. 1 BLOOD OF 600 SLOVAK GffiLS The serwants went out into the neighboring villages and towns and by means fair and foul, by promises and intimidations, brought many young girls to the Castle. The girls ,w ere treated ,very nicely for a time, and then mur- �SLOVAKIA 45 dered in the most cruel manner, their blood supplying the "fountain of yO'llth" for the ghou1ish mistress. It 1s said that some 600 young girls were murdered by the mistress of Cachtice. Of course the disruppearance of these girls could not be kept secret forever. Rumors began to circulate, but Bathorio'ka was a mighty lady. She was mistress not only of many thousand acres of land, but mistress of many thousands of lives. She had the power of life or death over her underlings. And so the people under her dared not e~press in words the fears that were in their hearts. They suffered mutely, seeing their daughters disappear one by one. Bathorioka had powerful connections; she was a favorite friend of the Palatine, being invited to the marriage feast af his daughter, Judith. The feast lasted for a whole year. But there was one person who did not fear the infamous woman. He was the parish priest of Cachtice. After dbtaining all the proof he could, he set out for Bratislava, where the court was then in session. The priest had little success at that time, but in the year 1610 the Palatine George Thurzo, due to pressure of public o,pinion, decided to investigate. With two nephews of Bathori cka, Zrinsky and Drugeth respectively, he set out for the fortress, where he learned the bitter truth. Entering the fortress unheralded, he caught Bathoricka in the act olf killing two young maidens. He found other corpses on a manure pile outside the fortress. He oroered the siezure of the castle and put Alzbeta in a dungeon together with her helpers John FickoUjvary, Helen Jo, Kathryn Benicka, and Dorothy Szentes. These last were taken to the Palatine's Castle and condemned to death. On January 7, 1611, the court in Bytca handed down this decree: "We, Theodosius Strmsky of Sul'oiv, the highest magistrate of his Majesty the King, Gaspar Orodoy of Trencin, John David of St. Peter, George Lehotsky, Nicholas Hrabovsky, John Zaturecky, John Borsic'ky, Grubriel Hlinidky, Michael Tusins:ky, Raiphael Kasoivsky, Benedict Kozar, Stephen Marsfovsky, Stephen Alkay, John 1 �46 SLOVAKIA MedNedky, all members of thl,s august court, maike public to a1l whom it may concern that we were called together by the Palatine George Thurzo to the city of Bytca this day, January 7, in the year 1611, to sit in judgment over the deeds of John Fidko and the women Helen, Kathryn, and Dorothy, and found the following to be true: Whereas it is known that Palatine George Thurzo has been constituted to guard the persons and the property of those under his care as Palatine of the county of Ora,,va, to punish the guilty and reward the deserving, amd wishing to do his duty, he could not be deaf and blind to the deeds of one AliJbeta Bathoric!ka., the widow of Flrancis Nadasdy, who was an honoraJble man, deserving much from his country, but whose widow committed deeds of tyranny unheard of since the birth of mran!kind, having done away with innumeralble young girls for the pur,pose of bathing in their blood, he, therefore, caused an investigation to be made of the deeds of one Alzbeta Bathorioka, the investigation based on evidence presented against her by the townsipoople. The truth of the accusations were subsequently sulbstantiated by her own servants, accomplices in her many crimes. Hearing of the cruelties, supposedJy committed in the Cachtice Castle; His Highness, Pafatine George Th1ll"IZo, returning from celebrations in Presporok (now Bratisla,,va) in company of the two nephews of Al2Jb.e ta Bathoricka, Nicholas Zrinsky and Juraj Drugeth, and a large following of friends and ~oldiers, unexpectedly visited Cachtice, and at the very entrance to the Castle was confronted by mute evidence in the form of the mutHated bodies of two young girls, prOIVing beyond the shadow of doubt that the rumors aJbout Cachtice were true. Alhta Bathoricka was immediately sentenced to life imprisonment in her own Castle. John Fidko, Helen, Dorothy, and Kathryn we,r e ordered to be tried elsewhere, and if proven guilty, to be given sentences commensurate with the hideousness of their crimes so that others may be deterred from committing the same. The accused confessed, particularly Dorothy, who was �SLOVAKIA 47 the chief offender next to her mistre,ss, that they took part in the awful deaths of innocent young girls. The court, finding them guilty imposed the foNowing sentences: Dorothy and Helen shall have their ringers pulled off their hands with burning pincers, then be burned at the staJke. John Ficko, who tOOlk a minor part in the bloody orgies and on account of his ad!vanced age, shall not be tortured, but shall be beheaded and his body burned at the stalke. And since Dorothy and Helen pleaded for Kathryn, and only John F'i.cko witnessed against her, she ~hall be put into prison until such time as her innocence or guilt shall be proven ,b eyond a possible doUJbt. These sentences to be carried out immediately." A~ta BMhorioka was not tried publicly. She was sentenced by George Thurzo to life imprisonment in the dungeons of the Cachtice castle where she died in the year 1614. After her death, the fortress was inherited by her two children, Paul Nadasdy and Kathryn, who was married to Jan Drugeth. A third child, Anna, wife of Nicholas Zrinsky inherited nothing. Paul Nadasdy received the title of Count in the year 1625. After the death of Paul and Anna Nadasdy, the fortress became the property of the many heirs. In the yerur 1703, the fortress was the property of Count Paul Forgaic. In 1707, for reasons not girven, the fortress was besieged by the army of the king and truken. The following year it was wrested from the king by the followers of Francis Rak6czi II. The fortress commanded a beautiful view of the Povazie and Zahorie area. Hrad Cachtice is classed among the larger fortresses of SloJVakia; it had two large towers and three courts. It has been uninhabita:ble since the beginning of the 18th ceI11tury. The people of the vicinity give the old ruins a wide berth. They are superstitious and will bless themselves when passing the ruins. They will tell you that if you listen on a summer's evening, ju.s-t before a sto:rm, you will hear the wailings of the young maidens who were sacrificed to a woman's vrunity. They whisper a ;prayer for them and utter a curse for Ambeta Bathorioka. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 43 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York have a goodly number of Slqvak residents, that is, citizens whose ethnic background is Slovak. The study of Slovak - for itself and as a preparation for the study of other Slovanic languages - should be given serious consideration by our educators. And Slovak parochial schools should place the study of Slovak on their curriculums. We suggest that the children be taught at least four years (5-8 grades), though the study can be offered earlier. Books are available. And teachers would have little difficulty in learning and presenting the subject. Interested? Write to: Philip A. Hrobak, Jednota Printery, Middletown, Pa . • • • Castles of Slovakia: CACHTICE By Hubert Maciko, 0.1S.B. We know that the history of Castle Cachtice begins with the 14th century because in a dooument, dated in 1319, there is mention of a certain Thomas Rufus as the administrator of Cachtice. In the year 13·92, King Zigmund gruve the fortress to Ctilbor "for faithful and generous services rendered.." What these services were we do not know, but we suppose they were of a military nature. The same document states that if Ct.i/b.or should die without children, the fortress automatically is to be inherited by hi.s two brothers, Nicholas and Andrew. In the same document it was stated that the fortress must be sold only to a fellow countryman, never to a stranger. Ctiibor died in 1414, and the fortress was inherited by his ,son, Ctibor n, who was at that time high- commissioner otf Nitra. In 1430 Ctibor II was a captain in the ami:y of King Zigmund which fought against the Czech Hussites. He died rather suddenly shortly after, and, not leaving a male descendant, the fortress was claimed by King Zigmund. OObor's daughter, Kathryn, inherited the fortress Beo'kov. 44 SLOVAKIA In 1436, King Zigmund gave Cachtice to the provincial txeasurer, Michael Orsagh, whose family held the fortress until 1567. The last of the Orsaghs was Christopher. During this period the Hussite leader Svehla was a prisoner in the fortress; he was later put to death in Kostelany. In 1569 King Maximilian rented the fortress for 50,000 Gold crowns to Ursula Kanifa:j and her son Francis Nadasdy, with the stipulation that in case the fortress would be put 111p for sa,Ie, Francis Nadasdy would have first option to buy. In the year 1602, N adasdy did buy the fortress from king Rudolph II. Nada sdy was the unfortunate husband of the infamous Alzbeta (Elizabeth) Bathoricka. The story of Alz,beta Bathoricka, sordid in every detail, is nevertheless true. It begins on a morning of a beautiful day in May. Alzbeta had many servants, girl servants, who took care of her every whim. She was a proud and haughty woman, but no,t beautiful. A young girl servant, com'bing her mistress's hair, accidentally pulled out a small tuft. Alzbeta became infuriated and struck the girl across the mouth, drawing blood. Few drops of the young girl's blood happened to fall on the uplifted face of the cruel mistress. Looking into the mirror, she imagined that where the drops of blood fell, the skin seemed much smoother and more youthful. Suddenly an insane idea began to germinate in her mind: if the drops of blood did maJke her skin smoother and younger loolking, why not enhance her beauty, by bathing in the blood of young girls? It could be that the blood of young maidens was the long sought for fountain of youth, she thought, and the more she thought rubout it, the stronger her dete:r,mination became to use the blood bath. She needed accomplices, but it was not di'5ficult to enlist the services of some of her serivants for a consiideraJble grant of money and special pri'Vileges. 1 BLOOD OF 600 SLOVAK GffiLS The serwants went out into the neighboring villages and towns and by means fair and foul, by promises and intimidations, brought many young girls to the Castle. The girls ,w ere treated ,very nicely for a time, and then mur- SLOVAKIA 45 dered in the most cruel manner, their blood supplying the "fountain of yO'llth" for the ghou1ish mistress. It 1s said that some 600 young girls were murdered by the mistress of Cachtice. Of course the disruppearance of these girls could not be kept secret forever. Rumors began to circulate, but Bathorio'ka was a mighty lady. She was mistress not only of many thousand acres of land, but mistress of many thousands of lives. She had the power of life or death over her underlings. And so the people under her dared not e~press in words the fears that were in their hearts. They suffered mutely, seeing their daughters disappear one by one. Bathorioka had powerful connections; she was a favorite friend of the Palatine, being invited to the marriage feast af his daughter, Judith. The feast lasted for a whole year. But there was one person who did not fear the infamous woman. He was the parish priest of Cachtice. After dbtaining all the proof he could, he set out for Bratislava, where the court was then in session. The priest had little success at that time, but in the year 1610 the Palatine George Thurzo, due to pressure of public o,pinion, decided to investigate. With two nephews of Bathori cka, Zrinsky and Drugeth respectively, he set out for the fortress, where he learned the bitter truth. Entering the fortress unheralded, he caught Bathoricka in the act olf killing two young maidens. He found other corpses on a manure pile outside the fortress. He oroered the siezure of the castle and put Alzbeta in a dungeon together with her helpers John FickoUjvary, Helen Jo, Kathryn Benicka, and Dorothy Szentes. These last were taken to the Palatine's Castle and condemned to death. On January 7, 1611, the court in Bytca handed down this decree: "We, Theodosius Strmsky of Sul'oiv, the highest magistrate of his Majesty the King, Gaspar Orodoy of Trencin, John David of St. Peter, George Lehotsky, Nicholas Hrabovsky, John Zaturecky, John Borsic'ky, Grubriel Hlinidky, Michael Tusins:ky, Raiphael Kasoivsky, Benedict Kozar, Stephen Marsfovsky, Stephen Alkay, John 1 46 SLOVAKIA MedNedky, all members of thl,s august court, maike public to a1l whom it may concern that we were called together by the Palatine George Thurzo to the city of Bytca this day, January 7, in the year 1611, to sit in judgment over the deeds of John Fidko and the women Helen, Kathryn, and Dorothy, and found the following to be true: Whereas it is known that Palatine George Thurzo has been constituted to guard the persons and the property of those under his care as Palatine of the county of Ora,,va, to punish the guilty and reward the deserving, amd wishing to do his duty, he could not be deaf and blind to the deeds of one AliJbeta Bathoric!ka., the widow of Flrancis Nadasdy, who was an honoraJble man, deserving much from his country, but whose widow committed deeds of tyranny unheard of since the birth of mran!kind, having done away with innumeralble young girls for the pur,pose of bathing in their blood, he, therefore, caused an investigation to be made of the deeds of one Alzbeta Bathorioka, the investigation based on evidence presented against her by the townsipoople. The truth of the accusations were subsequently sulbstantiated by her own servants, accomplices in her many crimes. Hearing of the cruelties, supposedJy committed in the Cachtice Castle; His Highness, Pafatine George Th1ll"IZo, returning from celebrations in Presporok (now Bratisla,,va) in company of the two nephews of Al2Jb.e ta Bathoricka, Nicholas Zrinsky and Juraj Drugeth, and a large following of friends and ~oldiers, unexpectedly visited Cachtice, and at the very entrance to the Castle was confronted by mute evidence in the form of the mutHated bodies of two young girls, prOIVing beyond the shadow of doubt that the rumors aJbout Cachtice were true. Alhta Bathoricka was immediately sentenced to life imprisonment in her own Castle. John Fidko, Helen, Dorothy, and Kathryn we,r e ordered to be tried elsewhere, and if proven guilty, to be given sentences commensurate with the hideousness of their crimes so that others may be deterred from committing the same. The accused confessed, particularly Dorothy, who was SLOVAKIA 47 the chief offender next to her mistre,ss, that they took part in the awful deaths of innocent young girls. The court, finding them guilty imposed the foNowing sentences: Dorothy and Helen shall have their ringers pulled off their hands with burning pincers, then be burned at the staJke. John Ficko, who tOOlk a minor part in the bloody orgies and on account of his ad!vanced age, shall not be tortured, but shall be beheaded and his body burned at the stalke. And since Dorothy and Helen pleaded for Kathryn, and only John F'i.cko witnessed against her, she ~hall be put into prison until such time as her innocence or guilt shall be proven ,b eyond a possible doUJbt. These sentences to be carried out immediately." A~ta BMhorioka was not tried publicly. She was sentenced by George Thurzo to life imprisonment in the dungeons of the Cachtice castle where she died in the year 1614. After her death, the fortress was inherited by her two children, Paul Nadasdy and Kathryn, who was married to Jan Drugeth. A third child, Anna, wife of Nicholas Zrinsky inherited nothing. Paul Nadasdy received the title of Count in the year 1625. After the death of Paul and Anna Nadasdy, the fortress became the property of the many heirs. In the yerur 1703, the fortress was the property of Count Paul Forgaic. In 1707, for reasons not girven, the fortress was besieged by the army of the king and truken. The following year it was wrested from the king by the followers of Francis Rak6czi II. The fortress commanded a beautiful view of the Povazie and Zahorie area. Hrad Cachtice is classed among the larger fortresses of SloJVakia; it had two large towers and three courts. It has been uninhabita:ble since the beginning of the 18th ceI11tury. The people of the vicinity give the old ruins a wide berth. They are superstitious and will bless themselves when passing the ruins. They will tell you that if you listen on a summer's evening, ju.s-t before a sto:rm, you will hear the wailings of the young maidens who were sacrificed to a woman's vrunity. They whisper a ;prayer for them and utter a curse for Ambeta Bathorioka.  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 Castles of Slovakia: Čachtice Description An account of the resource Hubert Macko, O.S.B. Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 43-47 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Macko, Hubert Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 castles name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ce5fa98de66319d31fd8aaa1f6549131.pdf 26df22af09220c5330e97a6ac9b22f8d PDF Text Text 48 SLOVAKIA COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY" Dr. Fraiio Tiso Die-hard coexistentialists in the western world repeatedly call for "Flexibility" in political negotiations with Moscow. Among their number are those who in their naivete sincerely believe it possible, by applying a flexible method of negotiation, to bring about a relaxation of tension between East and West. Among them are also masked Communists who, by the aid of "flexibility," seek to effeot a more rapid capitulation of the West. Oddly enough not one of the two .types of coexistentialists has so far given a concrete example as to just how the West should practice this flexibility wilth respect to the East. Hence it may be interesting to demonstrate "flexibility" as the Communists practice it. Communist tactics operate primarily 1by "mental reservation." I experienced the first typical case of such :tactics in Moscow. During the early summer of 1940, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Comrade Molotov, presented Rumanian Consul Davidescu an ultimatum in which Rumania was asked to evacuate and immediately turn over Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. After delivering the ultimatum Comrade Molotov consoled the painfully perplexed consul with the following words: "And wihen you have ca,,rried out our demand, the Soviet Union will no longeT interfere in Rumania's domestic affairs." This generous promise was an easy one for Molotov to make. It was not even necessary for the Soviet Union to interfere directly in Rumanian domestic affairs since the Rumanian Oommunist Party - on order of Moscow - could do so anyway whenever it liked. Stalin, for example, was frequently asked in writing, mostly by American journalists, such questions as: "Do you believe that the two divergent political, economic and social systems can satisfactorily live side by side?" Stalin's answer was always: "I believe it." At no time, however, has the question been asked: "How long will you continue to believe it?" During the Magyar popular revolt in 1956, an agree- �SLOVAKIA 49 ment was made between Premier Nagy and the Commander-in-Chief of Soviet troops, according to which Soviet forces would move out of Hungary at a certain border point. Premier Nagy, himself a Communist and Communist-educated, failed to have it included in the agreement that other Sovii.et troops would not enter Hungary via a different border point. Wihen, then, the units of the Soviet Army left Budapest only to call a halt some kilometers away, and when in consternation, Nagy inquired as to the cause for this halt, he was told the troops were merely being regrouped. The unhappy premier had forgotten to ask fur what purpose this regrouping was being made. Comrade Khrushchev declared in Peking, immediately after his visit to the United States, that it was wrong to want to force a people. into the Communist camp against its will. That it was wrong "to test ilie stability of the capitalist system by force, since the peoples would never understand and back ilie person who mentally pursues such a tactic." Did Comrade Khrushchev, however, worry about being understood when he was brutally forcing peoples into the Communist sphere? Did he worry about the understanding of the Magyar people? Did he ever solicit the support of the enslaved peoples, among these ihis own Russian people? "Flexibility''. of tactics; tactic of "flexibility" ! The Czech Communists behaved nobly indeed toward the autonomous movement of the Slovaks during the years from 1918 to 1938: they repeatedly emphasized in their news organs that the Slovaks, too, have a right to self-determination and they allowed for this to the day when the Slovaks were separated from Czecho-Slovakia. In April, 1945, they forced Benes to relinquish the national identilty of Slovaks and Czechs, which he had so tenaciously insisted on up to that time, to proclaim the popular independence of the Slovaks and to guarantee to Slovakia the rights of a federal state (the Kosice agreement" of April 1945). As part of :bhe election propaganda of 1946, they presented to the Slovak voters a program which favored the restoration of Slovak independence. When, however, the elections were won not by the Com- �50 SLOVAKIA munists but by the middle class, the Communists began to steer an opposite course. In the new constitution of Czecho-4Slovakia, presented to and accepted by the parliament upon the complete Communist seizure of power in February 1948, they permitted the Slovak provincial government to remain, but with severely curtailed authority. Czedh Communists took over its important administrative dep-artments and the leadership of the Slovak Communist Party. Slovak party leaders were either executed or sentenced to lengthy terms in the penitentiary. Others took !their lives. Key positions in the party press were given to Czechs. Czechs also took over leading jobs in Slovak industry. Inasmuch as these and sim'ilar dispositions on the part of Prague merely served to humble old Slovak Communists and reinforce their opposition to Prague, Comrade Antonin Novotny, first secretary of the Czech Communist Party and the country's president, caused a widespread centralization of the over-all state economic life and the drafting of a new "socialist" constitution. Centraliza!tiion of the economy meant additional sU'bo:ridination of Slovak industry to Czech management. The new basic law, however, was to do away with the provincial or territorial government of Slovakia, which had become almost insignificant. This was .truly a "flexibility" tihat led to the exact opposite of what was demanded so impressively thirty years ago. Flexibility in the tactics of the West? Moscow was able to apply the flexibility, cited above in several examples, not only by dint of Communist morality which says .that that is moral which serves the Party, but also for the reason that Communism has so far been on the offensive. The West, however, is still on the defensive. But a defensive stand, does not offer much of a chance or method of application, for to be "flexible" the West must also convert to a counter-offensive. To advise the vanguard country on the East-West front, the West German Federal Repu·blic, to be fle~ible, while those who do the advising sit and play caros in bunkers that are not even expertly and reliably built, such is not the great art of war, and certainly it is not a form of protection. � 48 SLOVAKIA COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY" Dr. Fraiio Tiso Die-hard coexistentialists in the western world repeatedly call for "Flexibility" in political negotiations with Moscow. Among their number are those who in their naivete sincerely believe it possible, by applying a flexible method of negotiation, to bring about a relaxation of tension between East and West. Among them are also masked Communists who, by the aid of "flexibility," seek to effeot a more rapid capitulation of the West. Oddly enough not one of the two .types of coexistentialists has so far given a concrete example as to just how the West should practice this flexibility wilth respect to the East. Hence it may be interesting to demonstrate "flexibility" as the Communists practice it. Communist tactics operate primarily 1by "mental reservation." I experienced the first typical case of such :tactics in Moscow. During the early summer of 1940, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Comrade Molotov, presented Rumanian Consul Davidescu an ultimatum in which Rumania was asked to evacuate and immediately turn over Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. After delivering the ultimatum Comrade Molotov consoled the painfully perplexed consul with the following words: "And wihen you have ca,,rried out our demand, the Soviet Union will no longeT interfere in Rumania's domestic affairs." This generous promise was an easy one for Molotov to make. It was not even necessary for the Soviet Union to interfere directly in Rumanian domestic affairs since the Rumanian Oommunist Party - on order of Moscow - could do so anyway whenever it liked. Stalin, for example, was frequently asked in writing, mostly by American journalists, such questions as: "Do you believe that the two divergent political, economic and social systems can satisfactorily live side by side?" Stalin's answer was always: "I believe it." At no time, however, has the question been asked: "How long will you continue to believe it?" During the Magyar popular revolt in 1956, an agree- �SLOVAKIA 49 ment was made between Premier Nagy and the Commander-in-Chief of Soviet troops, according to which Soviet forces would move out of Hungary at a certain border point. Premier Nagy, himself a Communist and Communist-educated, failed to have it included in the agreement that other Sovii.et troops would not enter Hungary via a different border point. Wihen, then, the units of the Soviet Army left Budapest only to call a halt some kilometers away, and when in consternation, Nagy inquired as to the cause for this halt, he was told the troops were merely being regrouped. The unhappy premier had forgotten to ask fur what purpose this regrouping was being made. Comrade Khrushchev declared in Peking, immediately after his visit to the United States, that it was wrong to want to force a people. into the Communist camp against its will. That it was wrong "to test ilie stability of the capitalist system by force, since the peoples would never understand and back ilie person who mentally pursues such a tactic." Did Comrade Khrushchev, however, worry about being understood when he was brutally forcing peoples into the Communist sphere? Did he worry about the understanding of the Magyar people? Did he ever solicit the support of the enslaved peoples, among these ihis own Russian people? "Flexibility''. of tactics; tactic of "flexibility" ! The Czech Communists behaved nobly indeed toward the autonomous movement of the Slovaks during the years from 1918 to 1938: they repeatedly emphasized in their news organs that the Slovaks, too, have a right to self-determination and they allowed for this to the day when the Slovaks were separated from Czecho-Slovakia. In April, 1945, they forced Benes to relinquish the national identilty of Slovaks and Czechs, which he had so tenaciously insisted on up to that time, to proclaim the popular independence of the Slovaks and to guarantee to Slovakia the rights of a federal state (the Kosice agreement" of April 1945). As part of :bhe election propaganda of 1946, they presented to the Slovak voters a program which favored the restoration of Slovak independence. When, however, the elections were won not by the Com- �50 SLOVAKIA munists but by the middle class, the Communists began to steer an opposite course. In the new constitution of Czecho-4Slovakia, presented to and accepted by the parliament upon the complete Communist seizure of power in February 1948, they permitted the Slovak provincial government to remain, but with severely curtailed authority. Czedh Communists took over its important administrative dep-artments and the leadership of the Slovak Communist Party. Slovak party leaders were either executed or sentenced to lengthy terms in the penitentiary. Others took !their lives. Key positions in the party press were given to Czechs. Czechs also took over leading jobs in Slovak industry. Inasmuch as these and sim'ilar dispositions on the part of Prague merely served to humble old Slovak Communists and reinforce their opposition to Prague, Comrade Antonin Novotny, first secretary of the Czech Communist Party and the country's president, caused a widespread centralization of the over-all state economic life and the drafting of a new "socialist" constitution. Centraliza!tiion of the economy meant additional sU'bo:ridination of Slovak industry to Czech management. The new basic law, however, was to do away with the provincial or territorial government of Slovakia, which had become almost insignificant. This was .truly a "flexibility" tihat led to the exact opposite of what was demanded so impressively thirty years ago. Flexibility in the tactics of the West? Moscow was able to apply the flexibility, cited above in several examples, not only by dint of Communist morality which says .that that is moral which serves the Party, but also for the reason that Communism has so far been on the offensive. The West, however, is still on the defensive. But a defensive stand, does not offer much of a chance or method of application, for to be "flexible" the West must also convert to a counter-offensive. To advise the vanguard country on the East-West front, the West German Federal Repu·blic, to be fle~ible, while those who do the advising sit and play caros in bunkers that are not even expertly and reliably built, such is not the great art of war, and certainly it is not a form of protection. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 48 SLOVAKIA COMMUNIST TACTICAL "FLEXIBILITY" Dr. Fraiio Tiso Die-hard coexistentialists in the western world repeatedly call for "Flexibility" in political negotiations with Moscow. Among their number are those who in their naivete sincerely believe it possible, by applying a flexible method of negotiation, to bring about a relaxation of tension between East and West. Among them are also masked Communists who, by the aid of "flexibility," seek to effeot a more rapid capitulation of the West. Oddly enough not one of the two .types of coexistentialists has so far given a concrete example as to just how the West should practice this flexibility wilth respect to the East. Hence it may be interesting to demonstrate "flexibility" as the Communists practice it. Communist tactics operate primarily 1by "mental reservation." I experienced the first typical case of such :tactics in Moscow. During the early summer of 1940, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Comrade Molotov, presented Rumanian Consul Davidescu an ultimatum in which Rumania was asked to evacuate and immediately turn over Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. After delivering the ultimatum Comrade Molotov consoled the painfully perplexed consul with the following words: "And wihen you have ca,,rried out our demand, the Soviet Union will no longeT interfere in Rumania's domestic affairs." This generous promise was an easy one for Molotov to make. It was not even necessary for the Soviet Union to interfere directly in Rumanian domestic affairs since the Rumanian Oommunist Party - on order of Moscow - could do so anyway whenever it liked. Stalin, for example, was frequently asked in writing, mostly by American journalists, such questions as: "Do you believe that the two divergent political, economic and social systems can satisfactorily live side by side?" Stalin's answer was always: "I believe it." At no time, however, has the question been asked: "How long will you continue to believe it?" During the Magyar popular revolt in 1956, an agree- SLOVAKIA 49 ment was made between Premier Nagy and the Commander-in-Chief of Soviet troops, according to which Soviet forces would move out of Hungary at a certain border point. Premier Nagy, himself a Communist and Communist-educated, failed to have it included in the agreement that other Sovii.et troops would not enter Hungary via a different border point. Wihen, then, the units of the Soviet Army left Budapest only to call a halt some kilometers away, and when in consternation, Nagy inquired as to the cause for this halt, he was told the troops were merely being regrouped. The unhappy premier had forgotten to ask fur what purpose this regrouping was being made. Comrade Khrushchev declared in Peking, immediately after his visit to the United States, that it was wrong to want to force a people. into the Communist camp against its will. That it was wrong "to test ilie stability of the capitalist system by force, since the peoples would never understand and back ilie person who mentally pursues such a tactic." Did Comrade Khrushchev, however, worry about being understood when he was brutally forcing peoples into the Communist sphere? Did he worry about the understanding of the Magyar people? Did he ever solicit the support of the enslaved peoples, among these ihis own Russian people? "Flexibility''. of tactics; tactic of "flexibility" ! The Czech Communists behaved nobly indeed toward the autonomous movement of the Slovaks during the years from 1918 to 1938: they repeatedly emphasized in their news organs that the Slovaks, too, have a right to self-determination and they allowed for this to the day when the Slovaks were separated from Czecho-Slovakia. In April, 1945, they forced Benes to relinquish the national identilty of Slovaks and Czechs, which he had so tenaciously insisted on up to that time, to proclaim the popular independence of the Slovaks and to guarantee to Slovakia the rights of a federal state (the Kosice agreement" of April 1945). As part of :bhe election propaganda of 1946, they presented to the Slovak voters a program which favored the restoration of Slovak independence. When, however, the elections were won not by the Com- 50 SLOVAKIA munists but by the middle class, the Communists began to steer an opposite course. In the new constitution of Czecho-4Slovakia, presented to and accepted by the parliament upon the complete Communist seizure of power in February 1948, they permitted the Slovak provincial government to remain, but with severely curtailed authority. Czedh Communists took over its important administrative dep-artments and the leadership of the Slovak Communist Party. Slovak party leaders were either executed or sentenced to lengthy terms in the penitentiary. Others took !their lives. Key positions in the party press were given to Czechs. Czechs also took over leading jobs in Slovak industry. Inasmuch as these and sim'ilar dispositions on the part of Prague merely served to humble old Slovak Communists and reinforce their opposition to Prague, Comrade Antonin Novotny, first secretary of the Czech Communist Party and the country's president, caused a widespread centralization of the over-all state economic life and the drafting of a new "socialist" constitution. Centraliza!tiion of the economy meant additional sU'bo:ridination of Slovak industry to Czech management. The new basic law, however, was to do away with the provincial or territorial government of Slovakia, which had become almost insignificant. This was .truly a "flexibility" tihat led to the exact opposite of what was demanded so impressively thirty years ago. Flexibility in the tactics of the West? Moscow was able to apply the flexibility, cited above in several examples, not only by dint of Communist morality which says .that that is moral which serves the Party, but also for the reason that Communism has so far been on the offensive. The West, however, is still on the defensive. But a defensive stand, does not offer much of a chance or method of application, for to be "flexible" the West must also convert to a counter-offensive. To advise the vanguard country on the East-West front, the West German Federal Repu·blic, to be fle~ible, while those who do the advising sit and play caros in bunkers that are not even expertly and reliably built, such is not the great art of war, and certainly it is not a form of protection.  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 Communist Tactical "Flexibility" Description An account of the resource Dr. Fraňo Tiso Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 48-50 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tiso, Fraňo Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/44918f3a03f71078ef3b2e89438c90c4.pdf 418822d7fc944d38d9f1423da81e3e62 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 51 MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE F. O. Miksche Before World War I, the interests of the Czech people were represented in the Vienna parliament by powerful political parties with a total of 107 mandates. The Agrarians had 29 seats! the Socialists 23; the so-called Youl'!g Czechs 20; the Catholics 17; the Radicals 10; the Conservatives 7; .the so-cal'led Progressives 1, which was held by T. G. Masaryk, spokesman for the entire Czecih nation in England and other Allied countries during the First World War. His battle-cry "Destroy Austria" was by no means echoed by the other legally eleoted representatives, for in 1917 the Czech parties in the Vienna Assembly all proclaimed their loyalty to the Habsburg Dynasty. What Masaryk had to say about this subject is recorded in his memoirs: "Again and again we were told (in the Allied countries) that the Czech leaders at home were not in opposition to Austria, and the disavowals were soon forgotten. The Russian revolution and the entry of the United States into the war filled mens' minds. The refrain of my propaganda was 'Break up Austria'." Thus Masaryk's lonely voice, strengthened by Allied propaganda, became louder than the united voices of his 106 former colleagues in the Vienna Assem1bly. The Czech politicians demanded the restoration of the Czech State, in federal association witlh the other countries of the Habsburg Crown. Their motives in doing so can certainly not be ascribed to any special love for the Dynasty, but to the necessity for ensuring the national existence and development of the Czech people. It was thought !:'hat if the Habsburg Monarchy were to fall, Bohemia would inevitably become a victim of German or Russian imperialism and lose its Home Rule. Palacky, famous Czech historian, who is always looked upon as the Father of the Czech nation, declared in 1848 that if Austria did not exist, it would have to be invented. All the radical slogans used for agitation could no't hide the fact that the existence of all the small people of the Danubian Empire depended on it, and until the end of the First �52 SLOVAKIA World War Palacky's declaration remained a guide for Czech politicians. Some years earlier even Masaryk expressed the same view, as the following quotation from the program of his party, dated April 14, 1900, shows: "We be1ieve thai the former swer,eiign independence od: our Bohemian Lands is ilffipossiible today. Our smaH numlbers, our geograrphi;cal siltua:tion, and the fac,t th<1t the Czech counrtries are a,lso inhabited by Germans, have compelled us to umte with the other oolt.i:ons and la·nds. " And what did youn,g Benes say iin, his French thesis for a d·octooa.t e, written at Dijon in 1·908? The following is· a quOlbation fr:oon ·has text: "People have od3ten spoken cxf a dismemberunent of Austria. I do not 'believe in it at all. The Mstorical and po1ivi'cal bonds ·bevween the dfflerewt nations of the Emnir.e are too powel'lful to make sueh dhm1emlbermenrt possiib le. . . . ·one cannot seriously think ~ the estaiblishment olf a Czech State iif one-tlhird cxf the inha;b itants of the country (the Sudeten Genma-ns) are d'ertermined to resist and wrn illever accept it lega,Hy. " Break With Tradition Masaryk was the first Czech politician to break with the Palacky tradition, and is consequently often regarded as the betrayer of his testament. Did he perhB!ps imagine that afiter the end of the First World War the danger of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism would disappear forever? If so, his mistake was catastrophic, for not he but Palacky was in the right. It is dificult to im:agine on what grounds Masaryk switched over after 1914 to an attitude so different from his own past ideas. His views in 1915 were clearly e~ressed in his first note addressed to the British Foreign Office on April 15th of that year: "Now Bohemia wishes and hopes that her Russian brethren will soon succeed in occupying the Bohemian and Slovak districts. . . . They must, however, on no account enter Bohemia except to stay." Prophetic words, expressing a wish which has since been fulfilled. Whatever his reasons, the fact remains thait Masaryk's activities in the Allied countries during the First World War have become a model for many of the exiled politicians of today. With considerable skill and the help of only a few friends he succeeded in enlisting the support of a large part of the Western press for his plans. Several hundreds of thousands of Czechs who had been settled for years in America and other Allied countries �SLOVAKIA 53 took the place of the Czech people at home, on whom he had no influence, and organized demonstrations and passed resolutions by acclamation which were presented to the Allied governments as proof of the will of the people. In Russia, and later also in France and Italy, Czech military formations were organized. Associations were formed and congresses were held to further the program for the "liberation of the oppressed nations," and prominent Allied personalities, invited to play leading parts in them, were so flattered that they did not realize their names were being misused for propaganda purposes by a group of ambitious adve111turers. Closer and closer the nets of intrigue were drawn round the Western statesmen, who were also influenced by the idea that the breeding of national revolutions in the Danubian Empire would shorten the war, and when it ended, in 1918, were unruble to rid themselves of the promises they had so lighft..heartedly given :to exiled politicians, although many of them had foreseen the results of the destruction of the Habsburg Monarchy. No doubt Masaryk's name is graven deeply in the history of all Danubian peoples, for his conspiracies shattered the nucleus of the Danubian Empire - the Union of Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria. It will always remain one of the great questions of history whether the Empire would have fallen asunder spontaneously, or under the influence of foreign propaganda, and there are enough arguments for and against both theories to support neverending discussion. The territorial claims of Italy, Serbia, and Rumania would certainly have deprived it of important provinces, but would not have destroyed its nucleus. The fact is that the Allies officially recognized the CzechoSlovak government while the war was still in progress; and Masaryk took advantage of this circumstance to present his own people with a fait accompli. Instead of having to negotiate with the elected representatives of the peoples the exifod politicians were themselves declared to be legal representatives. The Treaty ·b y means of which the Peace Conference establ1i'shed the new State was entitled: "Traite entre les Puissances Alliees et la Tcheco-Slovaquie," and was signed �54 SLOVAKIA at Saint Germain on September 9, 1919. As soon as Dr. Benes got hold of this document the proper name of the new State as it appeared in the original text - CzechoSlovakia - vanished, and the name Czechoslovakia appeared for the first time. This may appear to be only a small change in nomenclature, but behind it is h1dden one of the gr.e atest bluffs in history. The peoples of the world believe in a nation which has never existed, but was conjured up by trickery and treaohery and maintained by propaganda, for there are no Czechoslovaks, only Czechs and Slovaks. The change in t'he name of the new Republic was inserted into the Constitution by the first Czecho . .Slovak Parliament, whdch was approved on February 20, 1920, but at that time S,loV'akia was occupied by the Czech army, and the leader of the Slovaks, Father Hlinka, was still in a Czech prison at Mirov in Moravia. No Lawful Representatives The "lawful representatives" who voted for the Constitution were anything but lawful, for the members of the first Parliament were not elected but appointed by the political cHque headed by Masaryk, which came to power with the help of the Allies. Over 4.5 million Germans, Hungarians, and people of other nationalities, were without a single representative in this "National Assembly," all claims on their behalf having been ignored by the Czechs. All the fundamental provisions of the Constitution, concerning social reform, the expropriation of land, etc., and the langua:ge to be used officially, were determined by this arbitrarily formed body without a single GermanBohemian or Hungarian voice being heard. To remove all possibility of amendments to the Constitution being approved against the will of the Czechs, it was decreed that a .t wo-thirds majority would be required. After the Constitution had been ratified, the nominated Assembly was dissolved and four weeks later elections were held for a new Parliament. Father Hlinka, elected whlle still in prison, was thereupon released. At the first sitting the Slovak members demanded the implementation of the �SLOVAKIA 55 Pittsburgh Treaty, but were told that it was contrary to the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and the Treaty was invalid because it was signed by people who were already American citizens. Thus was Czecho-Slovakia created, the "island of democracy in Danubian Europe," and Masaryk, who only a few years before had sharply criticized the smallest injustice in the Vienna Parliament, did not utter a word of protest. From the inception o:f the new Republic a religious antagonism developed between Czechs and Slovaks whicih was of muoh more importance than the national one. The Slovak character has been decisively influenced by Catholicism, while the religious beliefs of the Czechs owe too much to Jan Hus to allow them to become willing subjects to Rome. The founders of Czecho-Slovak,i a, Masaryk and Benes, were free-thinkers, and the numerous quanels in which they soon became involved with the nciglrboring Catholic countries, mainly Hungary, soon brought them up against the Vatican, while no more promising foundation could be found for the national tradition they wished to establish than a return to Hussitism. So a new "National Czechoslovak Church" was founded. Between the two wars, Dr. Benes was one of the leading lights of European diplomacy. He hated Austria and Hungary, feared any sort of federation of the Danubian States, and obst inately upheld the fiction of "Czechoslovak" unity. He conspired with anyone and everyone - Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Russians, and Frenchmen but he never tried to reach an understanding with his immediate neighbors, the Austrians and Hungarians, the most natural thing for him to have done. Czecho-Slovakia's internal situation also became more difficult. The collapse of Masaryk's State in 1939 was inevitable, because the German, Slovak, and Hungarian minorities could not be expected to defend a regime which they regarded as an oppressor. The widespread belief that Czecho-S1ovakia could have survived but for the Munich capitulation i's unfounded, and is only one of the many propaganda legends which have become accepted as fact. It remains to be seen whether the West will continue �56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow. � SLOVAKIA 51 MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE F. O. Miksche Before World War I, the interests of the Czech people were represented in the Vienna parliament by powerful political parties with a total of 107 mandates. The Agrarians had 29 seats! the Socialists 23; the so-called Youl'!g Czechs 20; the Catholics 17; the Radicals 10; the Conservatives 7; .the so-cal'led Progressives 1, which was held by T. G. Masaryk, spokesman for the entire Czecih nation in England and other Allied countries during the First World War. His battle-cry "Destroy Austria" was by no means echoed by the other legally eleoted representatives, for in 1917 the Czech parties in the Vienna Assembly all proclaimed their loyalty to the Habsburg Dynasty. What Masaryk had to say about this subject is recorded in his memoirs: "Again and again we were told (in the Allied countries) that the Czech leaders at home were not in opposition to Austria, and the disavowals were soon forgotten. The Russian revolution and the entry of the United States into the war filled mens' minds. The refrain of my propaganda was 'Break up Austria'." Thus Masaryk's lonely voice, strengthened by Allied propaganda, became louder than the united voices of his 106 former colleagues in the Vienna Assem1bly. The Czech politicians demanded the restoration of the Czech State, in federal association witlh the other countries of the Habsburg Crown. Their motives in doing so can certainly not be ascribed to any special love for the Dynasty, but to the necessity for ensuring the national existence and development of the Czech people. It was thought !:'hat if the Habsburg Monarchy were to fall, Bohemia would inevitably become a victim of German or Russian imperialism and lose its Home Rule. Palacky, famous Czech historian, who is always looked upon as the Father of the Czech nation, declared in 1848 that if Austria did not exist, it would have to be invented. All the radical slogans used for agitation could no't hide the fact that the existence of all the small people of the Danubian Empire depended on it, and until the end of the First �52 SLOVAKIA World War Palacky's declaration remained a guide for Czech politicians. Some years earlier even Masaryk expressed the same view, as the following quotation from the program of his party, dated April 14, 1900, shows: "We be1ieve thai the former swer,eiign independence od: our Bohemian Lands is ilffipossiible today. Our smaH numlbers, our geograrphi;cal siltua:tion, and the fac,t th<1t the Czech counrtries are a,lso inhabited by Germans, have compelled us to umte with the other oolt.i:ons and la·nds. " And what did youn,g Benes say iin, his French thesis for a d·octooa.t e, written at Dijon in 1·908? The following is· a quOlbation fr:oon ·has text: "People have od3ten spoken cxf a dismemberunent of Austria. I do not 'believe in it at all. The Mstorical and po1ivi'cal bonds ·bevween the dfflerewt nations of the Emnir.e are too powel'lful to make sueh dhm1emlbermenrt possiib le. . . . ·one cannot seriously think ~ the estaiblishment olf a Czech State iif one-tlhird cxf the inha;b itants of the country (the Sudeten Genma-ns) are d'ertermined to resist and wrn illever accept it lega,Hy. " Break With Tradition Masaryk was the first Czech politician to break with the Palacky tradition, and is consequently often regarded as the betrayer of his testament. Did he perhB!ps imagine that afiter the end of the First World War the danger of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism would disappear forever? If so, his mistake was catastrophic, for not he but Palacky was in the right. It is dificult to im:agine on what grounds Masaryk switched over after 1914 to an attitude so different from his own past ideas. His views in 1915 were clearly e~ressed in his first note addressed to the British Foreign Office on April 15th of that year: "Now Bohemia wishes and hopes that her Russian brethren will soon succeed in occupying the Bohemian and Slovak districts. . . . They must, however, on no account enter Bohemia except to stay." Prophetic words, expressing a wish which has since been fulfilled. Whatever his reasons, the fact remains thait Masaryk's activities in the Allied countries during the First World War have become a model for many of the exiled politicians of today. With considerable skill and the help of only a few friends he succeeded in enlisting the support of a large part of the Western press for his plans. Several hundreds of thousands of Czechs who had been settled for years in America and other Allied countries �SLOVAKIA 53 took the place of the Czech people at home, on whom he had no influence, and organized demonstrations and passed resolutions by acclamation which were presented to the Allied governments as proof of the will of the people. In Russia, and later also in France and Italy, Czech military formations were organized. Associations were formed and congresses were held to further the program for the "liberation of the oppressed nations," and prominent Allied personalities, invited to play leading parts in them, were so flattered that they did not realize their names were being misused for propaganda purposes by a group of ambitious adve111turers. Closer and closer the nets of intrigue were drawn round the Western statesmen, who were also influenced by the idea that the breeding of national revolutions in the Danubian Empire would shorten the war, and when it ended, in 1918, were unruble to rid themselves of the promises they had so lighft..heartedly given :to exiled politicians, although many of them had foreseen the results of the destruction of the Habsburg Monarchy. No doubt Masaryk's name is graven deeply in the history of all Danubian peoples, for his conspiracies shattered the nucleus of the Danubian Empire - the Union of Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria. It will always remain one of the great questions of history whether the Empire would have fallen asunder spontaneously, or under the influence of foreign propaganda, and there are enough arguments for and against both theories to support neverending discussion. The territorial claims of Italy, Serbia, and Rumania would certainly have deprived it of important provinces, but would not have destroyed its nucleus. The fact is that the Allies officially recognized the CzechoSlovak government while the war was still in progress; and Masaryk took advantage of this circumstance to present his own people with a fait accompli. Instead of having to negotiate with the elected representatives of the peoples the exifod politicians were themselves declared to be legal representatives. The Treaty ·b y means of which the Peace Conference establ1i'shed the new State was entitled: "Traite entre les Puissances Alliees et la Tcheco-Slovaquie," and was signed �54 SLOVAKIA at Saint Germain on September 9, 1919. As soon as Dr. Benes got hold of this document the proper name of the new State as it appeared in the original text - CzechoSlovakia - vanished, and the name Czechoslovakia appeared for the first time. This may appear to be only a small change in nomenclature, but behind it is h1dden one of the gr.e atest bluffs in history. The peoples of the world believe in a nation which has never existed, but was conjured up by trickery and treaohery and maintained by propaganda, for there are no Czechoslovaks, only Czechs and Slovaks. The change in t'he name of the new Republic was inserted into the Constitution by the first Czecho . .Slovak Parliament, whdch was approved on February 20, 1920, but at that time S,loV'akia was occupied by the Czech army, and the leader of the Slovaks, Father Hlinka, was still in a Czech prison at Mirov in Moravia. No Lawful Representatives The "lawful representatives" who voted for the Constitution were anything but lawful, for the members of the first Parliament were not elected but appointed by the political cHque headed by Masaryk, which came to power with the help of the Allies. Over 4.5 million Germans, Hungarians, and people of other nationalities, were without a single representative in this "National Assembly," all claims on their behalf having been ignored by the Czechs. All the fundamental provisions of the Constitution, concerning social reform, the expropriation of land, etc., and the langua:ge to be used officially, were determined by this arbitrarily formed body without a single GermanBohemian or Hungarian voice being heard. To remove all possibility of amendments to the Constitution being approved against the will of the Czechs, it was decreed that a .t wo-thirds majority would be required. After the Constitution had been ratified, the nominated Assembly was dissolved and four weeks later elections were held for a new Parliament. Father Hlinka, elected whlle still in prison, was thereupon released. At the first sitting the Slovak members demanded the implementation of the �SLOVAKIA 55 Pittsburgh Treaty, but were told that it was contrary to the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and the Treaty was invalid because it was signed by people who were already American citizens. Thus was Czecho-Slovakia created, the "island of democracy in Danubian Europe," and Masaryk, who only a few years before had sharply criticized the smallest injustice in the Vienna Parliament, did not utter a word of protest. From the inception o:f the new Republic a religious antagonism developed between Czechs and Slovaks whicih was of muoh more importance than the national one. The Slovak character has been decisively influenced by Catholicism, while the religious beliefs of the Czechs owe too much to Jan Hus to allow them to become willing subjects to Rome. The founders of Czecho-Slovak,i a, Masaryk and Benes, were free-thinkers, and the numerous quanels in which they soon became involved with the nciglrboring Catholic countries, mainly Hungary, soon brought them up against the Vatican, while no more promising foundation could be found for the national tradition they wished to establish than a return to Hussitism. So a new "National Czechoslovak Church" was founded. Between the two wars, Dr. Benes was one of the leading lights of European diplomacy. He hated Austria and Hungary, feared any sort of federation of the Danubian States, and obst inately upheld the fiction of "Czechoslovak" unity. He conspired with anyone and everyone - Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Russians, and Frenchmen but he never tried to reach an understanding with his immediate neighbors, the Austrians and Hungarians, the most natural thing for him to have done. Czecho-Slovakia's internal situation also became more difficult. The collapse of Masaryk's State in 1939 was inevitable, because the German, Slovak, and Hungarian minorities could not be expected to defend a regime which they regarded as an oppressor. The widespread belief that Czecho-S1ovakia could have survived but for the Munich capitulation i's unfounded, and is only one of the many propaganda legends which have become accepted as fact. It remains to be seen whether the West will continue �56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow. � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 51 MASARYK'S ROLE IN CENTRAL EUROPE F. O. Miksche Before World War I, the interests of the Czech people were represented in the Vienna parliament by powerful political parties with a total of 107 mandates. The Agrarians had 29 seats! the Socialists 23; the so-called Youl'!g Czechs 20; the Catholics 17; the Radicals 10; the Conservatives 7; .the so-cal'led Progressives 1, which was held by T. G. Masaryk, spokesman for the entire Czecih nation in England and other Allied countries during the First World War. His battle-cry "Destroy Austria" was by no means echoed by the other legally eleoted representatives, for in 1917 the Czech parties in the Vienna Assembly all proclaimed their loyalty to the Habsburg Dynasty. What Masaryk had to say about this subject is recorded in his memoirs: "Again and again we were told (in the Allied countries) that the Czech leaders at home were not in opposition to Austria, and the disavowals were soon forgotten. The Russian revolution and the entry of the United States into the war filled mens' minds. The refrain of my propaganda was 'Break up Austria'." Thus Masaryk's lonely voice, strengthened by Allied propaganda, became louder than the united voices of his 106 former colleagues in the Vienna Assem1bly. The Czech politicians demanded the restoration of the Czech State, in federal association witlh the other countries of the Habsburg Crown. Their motives in doing so can certainly not be ascribed to any special love for the Dynasty, but to the necessity for ensuring the national existence and development of the Czech people. It was thought !:'hat if the Habsburg Monarchy were to fall, Bohemia would inevitably become a victim of German or Russian imperialism and lose its Home Rule. Palacky, famous Czech historian, who is always looked upon as the Father of the Czech nation, declared in 1848 that if Austria did not exist, it would have to be invented. All the radical slogans used for agitation could no't hide the fact that the existence of all the small people of the Danubian Empire depended on it, and until the end of the First 52 SLOVAKIA World War Palacky's declaration remained a guide for Czech politicians. Some years earlier even Masaryk expressed the same view, as the following quotation from the program of his party, dated April 14, 1900, shows: "We be1ieve thai the former swer,eiign independence od: our Bohemian Lands is ilffipossiible today. Our smaH numlbers, our geograrphi;cal siltua:tion, and the fac,t th<1t the Czech counrtries are a,lso inhabited by Germans, have compelled us to umte with the other oolt.i:ons and la·nds. " And what did youn,g Benes say iin, his French thesis for a d·octooa.t e, written at Dijon in 1·908? The following is· a quOlbation fr:oon ·has text: "People have od3ten spoken cxf a dismemberunent of Austria. I do not 'believe in it at all. The Mstorical and po1ivi'cal bonds ·bevween the dfflerewt nations of the Emnir.e are too powel'lful to make sueh dhm1emlbermenrt possiib le. . . . ·one cannot seriously think ~ the estaiblishment olf a Czech State iif one-tlhird cxf the inha;b itants of the country (the Sudeten Genma-ns) are d'ertermined to resist and wrn illever accept it lega,Hy. " Break With Tradition Masaryk was the first Czech politician to break with the Palacky tradition, and is consequently often regarded as the betrayer of his testament. Did he perhB!ps imagine that afiter the end of the First World War the danger of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism would disappear forever? If so, his mistake was catastrophic, for not he but Palacky was in the right. It is dificult to im:agine on what grounds Masaryk switched over after 1914 to an attitude so different from his own past ideas. His views in 1915 were clearly e~ressed in his first note addressed to the British Foreign Office on April 15th of that year: "Now Bohemia wishes and hopes that her Russian brethren will soon succeed in occupying the Bohemian and Slovak districts. . . . They must, however, on no account enter Bohemia except to stay." Prophetic words, expressing a wish which has since been fulfilled. Whatever his reasons, the fact remains thait Masaryk's activities in the Allied countries during the First World War have become a model for many of the exiled politicians of today. With considerable skill and the help of only a few friends he succeeded in enlisting the support of a large part of the Western press for his plans. Several hundreds of thousands of Czechs who had been settled for years in America and other Allied countries SLOVAKIA 53 took the place of the Czech people at home, on whom he had no influence, and organized demonstrations and passed resolutions by acclamation which were presented to the Allied governments as proof of the will of the people. In Russia, and later also in France and Italy, Czech military formations were organized. Associations were formed and congresses were held to further the program for the "liberation of the oppressed nations," and prominent Allied personalities, invited to play leading parts in them, were so flattered that they did not realize their names were being misused for propaganda purposes by a group of ambitious adve111turers. Closer and closer the nets of intrigue were drawn round the Western statesmen, who were also influenced by the idea that the breeding of national revolutions in the Danubian Empire would shorten the war, and when it ended, in 1918, were unruble to rid themselves of the promises they had so lighft..heartedly given :to exiled politicians, although many of them had foreseen the results of the destruction of the Habsburg Monarchy. No doubt Masaryk's name is graven deeply in the history of all Danubian peoples, for his conspiracies shattered the nucleus of the Danubian Empire - the Union of Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria. It will always remain one of the great questions of history whether the Empire would have fallen asunder spontaneously, or under the influence of foreign propaganda, and there are enough arguments for and against both theories to support neverending discussion. The territorial claims of Italy, Serbia, and Rumania would certainly have deprived it of important provinces, but would not have destroyed its nucleus. The fact is that the Allies officially recognized the CzechoSlovak government while the war was still in progress; and Masaryk took advantage of this circumstance to present his own people with a fait accompli. Instead of having to negotiate with the elected representatives of the peoples the exifod politicians were themselves declared to be legal representatives. The Treaty ·b y means of which the Peace Conference establ1i'shed the new State was entitled: "Traite entre les Puissances Alliees et la Tcheco-Slovaquie," and was signed 54 SLOVAKIA at Saint Germain on September 9, 1919. As soon as Dr. Benes got hold of this document the proper name of the new State as it appeared in the original text - CzechoSlovakia - vanished, and the name Czechoslovakia appeared for the first time. This may appear to be only a small change in nomenclature, but behind it is h1dden one of the gr.e atest bluffs in history. The peoples of the world believe in a nation which has never existed, but was conjured up by trickery and treaohery and maintained by propaganda, for there are no Czechoslovaks, only Czechs and Slovaks. The change in t'he name of the new Republic was inserted into the Constitution by the first Czecho . .Slovak Parliament, whdch was approved on February 20, 1920, but at that time S,loV'akia was occupied by the Czech army, and the leader of the Slovaks, Father Hlinka, was still in a Czech prison at Mirov in Moravia. No Lawful Representatives The "lawful representatives" who voted for the Constitution were anything but lawful, for the members of the first Parliament were not elected but appointed by the political cHque headed by Masaryk, which came to power with the help of the Allies. Over 4.5 million Germans, Hungarians, and people of other nationalities, were without a single representative in this "National Assembly," all claims on their behalf having been ignored by the Czechs. All the fundamental provisions of the Constitution, concerning social reform, the expropriation of land, etc., and the langua:ge to be used officially, were determined by this arbitrarily formed body without a single GermanBohemian or Hungarian voice being heard. To remove all possibility of amendments to the Constitution being approved against the will of the Czechs, it was decreed that a .t wo-thirds majority would be required. After the Constitution had been ratified, the nominated Assembly was dissolved and four weeks later elections were held for a new Parliament. Father Hlinka, elected whlle still in prison, was thereupon released. At the first sitting the Slovak members demanded the implementation of the SLOVAKIA 55 Pittsburgh Treaty, but were told that it was contrary to the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and the Treaty was invalid because it was signed by people who were already American citizens. Thus was Czecho-Slovakia created, the "island of democracy in Danubian Europe," and Masaryk, who only a few years before had sharply criticized the smallest injustice in the Vienna Parliament, did not utter a word of protest. From the inception o:f the new Republic a religious antagonism developed between Czechs and Slovaks whicih was of muoh more importance than the national one. The Slovak character has been decisively influenced by Catholicism, while the religious beliefs of the Czechs owe too much to Jan Hus to allow them to become willing subjects to Rome. The founders of Czecho-Slovak,i a, Masaryk and Benes, were free-thinkers, and the numerous quanels in which they soon became involved with the nciglrboring Catholic countries, mainly Hungary, soon brought them up against the Vatican, while no more promising foundation could be found for the national tradition they wished to establish than a return to Hussitism. So a new "National Czechoslovak Church" was founded. Between the two wars, Dr. Benes was one of the leading lights of European diplomacy. He hated Austria and Hungary, feared any sort of federation of the Danubian States, and obst inately upheld the fiction of "Czechoslovak" unity. He conspired with anyone and everyone - Rumanians, Yugoslavs, Russians, and Frenchmen but he never tried to reach an understanding with his immediate neighbors, the Austrians and Hungarians, the most natural thing for him to have done. Czecho-Slovakia's internal situation also became more difficult. The collapse of Masaryk's State in 1939 was inevitable, because the German, Slovak, and Hungarian minorities could not be expected to defend a regime which they regarded as an oppressor. The widespread belief that Czecho-S1ovakia could have survived but for the Munich capitulation i's unfounded, and is only one of the many propaganda legends which have become accepted as fact. It remains to be seen whether the West will continue 56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow.  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 Masaryk’s Role in Central Europe Description An account of the resource F. O. Miksche Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 51-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Miksche, Ferdinand Otto, 1905-1992 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3126c8bb6a75e470db2622aa9f6ceb22.pdf 630f44e9a7f41446684d380065bd7854 PDF Text Text 56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow. �SLOVAKIA 57 One Mr. Pejskar, now employed with Radio Free Europe at Munich, might well ponder that thought. He edits in his spare time a Czech emigre paper Ceske Slovo (The Czech Word). This "Czech word" was once the official organ of the Czech National Socialists, the party of Edward Benes. Ceske Slovo strives to perpetuate previous policies. On June 1, 1960 - issue No. 6 - it carried a memorandum of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia on "Czechoslovak-German Relations." The article depicts the expulsion of the Sudeten German people as final, as the best and only possible solution of the difficulties in that area. The western powers, including the West German Federal Republic, are implored to recognize at long last this irrevocable fact. Otherwise, "if the removal of the Sudeten Germans should noit be considered definitive, Germany would exclude herself from the community of free nations and become a destroyer, instead of ,a co-rebuilder, of Europe's future. The West must stick to its agreement on the deporitations and regard the Sudeten German question as settled. For tactical reasons the free world must reject the demand of the Sudeten Germans (to be allowed to return and see realized the right to t!he homeland)." These phrases comprise the core of a memorandum which for the time being seems to be the last act of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, broken up again despite its dollar-filled cheque-book. Democracy and Socialism, organ of the Czech Social Democrats in exile, reports that the following leading members have voluntarily left the Council: Dr. J. Lettrich, chairman of the plenary assembly; F. Nemec, Dr. Osusky, Dr. Bellus, Dr. Frastacky, Dr. Hodza (son of Milan Hodza), V. Jedinec, Dr. Cerny (sonin-law of Svehla and former minister of the interior), J. Macek, A. Heidrich, Dr. Prochazka, V. Majer. It has also been learned that Ferentsik, representative of the Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, has likewise quit the Council. In other words, practically all representatives of the Slovaks, Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, Czech Agrarians, People's Party, Social Democrats, and Artisans Party have withdrawn. Mr. Zenkl and his party friends are the sole remnant. We do not know whether the Council ran aground �58 SLOVAKIA on the memorandum. Naturally, the recalcitrants will not voice their disagreement aloud. Nobody these days dares to differ publicly. Yet there are a few who feel ashamed of debasing - by the printed word - the principle of human rights in a world worthy of subsistence only and as long as human rights are heeded. The memorandum has caused a crisis among Czech exiles. The German public, without being overly concerned, should lodge due protest to this pa,per. We have reason to believe that in May, 1960, Dr. Zenkl intended to visit leading German politicians. These men are engaged in a gigantic struggle on behalf of their people for the right of self-determination . Doesn't Dr. Zenkl surmise that, by refusing the right of self-determination to the Germans from Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia, he puts the German statesmen in a precarious position? One cannot negotiate in a dubious or indirect way on the sell-out of the right of self-determination with politicians who stand or fall with the principle of self-determination. Dr. Zenkl is not only a representative member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia; he presently also presides over the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). The delegation of that assembly of enslaved European nations hurriedly assured a Munich newspaper .that said delegation's Bonn office disavows the memorandum in question. And it immediately asked the New York bureau to clarify the statement as being, at most, the opinion of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia under Dr. Zenkl, but by no means the attitude of ACEN and the great majority of its members. Mr. Zenkl and his trusting entourage are travelling a fateful road indeed! Des-pite everything, we still feel that in a new Europe genuine reconciliation between Germany and her eastern neighbors is possible. About a year ago, in a London exile paper, a Czech member of ACEN likened the Sudeten Germans to withered grass on the roadside to be tread into the ground or swept away by the wind. This demark by the honorable Mr. Rehak shows poetical talent but little political insight. The two millions of Sudeten G~rmans �SLOVAKIA 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new � 56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow. �SLOVAKIA 57 One Mr. Pejskar, now employed with Radio Free Europe at Munich, might well ponder that thought. He edits in his spare time a Czech emigre paper Ceske Slovo (The Czech Word). This "Czech word" was once the official organ of the Czech National Socialists, the party of Edward Benes. Ceske Slovo strives to perpetuate previous policies. On June 1, 1960 - issue No. 6 - it carried a memorandum of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia on "Czechoslovak-German Relations." The article depicts the expulsion of the Sudeten German people as final, as the best and only possible solution of the difficulties in that area. The western powers, including the West German Federal Republic, are implored to recognize at long last this irrevocable fact. Otherwise, "if the removal of the Sudeten Germans should noit be considered definitive, Germany would exclude herself from the community of free nations and become a destroyer, instead of ,a co-rebuilder, of Europe's future. The West must stick to its agreement on the deporitations and regard the Sudeten German question as settled. For tactical reasons the free world must reject the demand of the Sudeten Germans (to be allowed to return and see realized the right to t!he homeland)." These phrases comprise the core of a memorandum which for the time being seems to be the last act of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, broken up again despite its dollar-filled cheque-book. Democracy and Socialism, organ of the Czech Social Democrats in exile, reports that the following leading members have voluntarily left the Council: Dr. J. Lettrich, chairman of the plenary assembly; F. Nemec, Dr. Osusky, Dr. Bellus, Dr. Frastacky, Dr. Hodza (son of Milan Hodza), V. Jedinec, Dr. Cerny (sonin-law of Svehla and former minister of the interior), J. Macek, A. Heidrich, Dr. Prochazka, V. Majer. It has also been learned that Ferentsik, representative of the Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, has likewise quit the Council. In other words, practically all representatives of the Slovaks, Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, Czech Agrarians, People's Party, Social Democrats, and Artisans Party have withdrawn. Mr. Zenkl and his party friends are the sole remnant. We do not know whether the Council ran aground �58 SLOVAKIA on the memorandum. Naturally, the recalcitrants will not voice their disagreement aloud. Nobody these days dares to differ publicly. Yet there are a few who feel ashamed of debasing - by the printed word - the principle of human rights in a world worthy of subsistence only and as long as human rights are heeded. The memorandum has caused a crisis among Czech exiles. The German public, without being overly concerned, should lodge due protest to this pa,per. We have reason to believe that in May, 1960, Dr. Zenkl intended to visit leading German politicians. These men are engaged in a gigantic struggle on behalf of their people for the right of self-determination . Doesn't Dr. Zenkl surmise that, by refusing the right of self-determination to the Germans from Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia, he puts the German statesmen in a precarious position? One cannot negotiate in a dubious or indirect way on the sell-out of the right of self-determination with politicians who stand or fall with the principle of self-determination. Dr. Zenkl is not only a representative member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia; he presently also presides over the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). The delegation of that assembly of enslaved European nations hurriedly assured a Munich newspaper .that said delegation's Bonn office disavows the memorandum in question. And it immediately asked the New York bureau to clarify the statement as being, at most, the opinion of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia under Dr. Zenkl, but by no means the attitude of ACEN and the great majority of its members. Mr. Zenkl and his trusting entourage are travelling a fateful road indeed! Des-pite everything, we still feel that in a new Europe genuine reconciliation between Germany and her eastern neighbors is possible. About a year ago, in a London exile paper, a Czech member of ACEN likened the Sudeten Germans to withered grass on the roadside to be tread into the ground or swept away by the wind. This demark by the honorable Mr. Rehak shows poetical talent but little political insight. The two millions of Sudeten G~rmans �SLOVAKIA 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 56 SLOVAKIA to support the ambitions of a few exiled po1iticians who may or may not represent the wishes and interests of their peoples. It is not surprising that many Czech politicians find it easier to make political capital out of the Masaryk legend than to follow an entirely new line, but would it not be advisable to eliminate this myth from Western pmpaganda and make no more use of names which bear a heavy responsibility for disrupting the unity of the Danubian region? It is difficult to see how the creation of a new Europe can be assisted by the memory of people whose narrow nationalism had such a baneful influence on the course of history. Politicians of Masaryk's type are very often public dangera, for they rouse peoples to revolt and then fail through weakness to guide the forces they have had conjured up in a suitable direction. A new spirit is needed; the entire Central European problem must be settled on a basis of what is right and not who is right. Political actions should be judged by their results and not by the nationality of those responsible for them, and usually it is at least a generaition before the true nature of these results becomes apparent. Viewed from this distance in time, it is obvious that Masaryk's "liberation" led to the balkanization of Central Europe and that the treaties of 1919 created a situation incomparably worse than the one they were supposed to remedy . • • • HUMAN IUGHTS AND EXILES Hans Schlitz Emigrants are to be pitied. Anyone forced to leave his home because of danger to life and limb deserves our sincerest sympathy. I can even feel for those emigrants who were at one time my bitter political opponents. The right to asylum is one of the human rights; so is the right to one's homeland. Exiles should, in their own interest, beware of treating human rights to·o lightly. By consigning them to the flames, we burn with them the right to asylum. He who breaks a principle should not complain if the stigma of C~in marks his brow. SLOVAKIA 57 One Mr. Pejskar, now employed with Radio Free Europe at Munich, might well ponder that thought. He edits in his spare time a Czech emigre paper Ceske Slovo (The Czech Word). This "Czech word" was once the official organ of the Czech National Socialists, the party of Edward Benes. Ceske Slovo strives to perpetuate previous policies. On June 1, 1960 - issue No. 6 - it carried a memorandum of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia on "Czechoslovak-German Relations." The article depicts the expulsion of the Sudeten German people as final, as the best and only possible solution of the difficulties in that area. The western powers, including the West German Federal Republic, are implored to recognize at long last this irrevocable fact. Otherwise, "if the removal of the Sudeten Germans should noit be considered definitive, Germany would exclude herself from the community of free nations and become a destroyer, instead of ,a co-rebuilder, of Europe's future. The West must stick to its agreement on the deporitations and regard the Sudeten German question as settled. For tactical reasons the free world must reject the demand of the Sudeten Germans (to be allowed to return and see realized the right to t!he homeland)." These phrases comprise the core of a memorandum which for the time being seems to be the last act of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia, broken up again despite its dollar-filled cheque-book. Democracy and Socialism, organ of the Czech Social Democrats in exile, reports that the following leading members have voluntarily left the Council: Dr. J. Lettrich, chairman of the plenary assembly; F. Nemec, Dr. Osusky, Dr. Bellus, Dr. Frastacky, Dr. Hodza (son of Milan Hodza), V. Jedinec, Dr. Cerny (sonin-law of Svehla and former minister of the interior), J. Macek, A. Heidrich, Dr. Prochazka, V. Majer. It has also been learned that Ferentsik, representative of the Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, has likewise quit the Council. In other words, practically all representatives of the Slovaks, Carpatho-Ukrainia ns, Czech Agrarians, People's Party, Social Democrats, and Artisans Party have withdrawn. Mr. Zenkl and his party friends are the sole remnant. We do not know whether the Council ran aground 58 SLOVAKIA on the memorandum. Naturally, the recalcitrants will not voice their disagreement aloud. Nobody these days dares to differ publicly. Yet there are a few who feel ashamed of debasing - by the printed word - the principle of human rights in a world worthy of subsistence only and as long as human rights are heeded. The memorandum has caused a crisis among Czech exiles. The German public, without being overly concerned, should lodge due protest to this pa,per. We have reason to believe that in May, 1960, Dr. Zenkl intended to visit leading German politicians. These men are engaged in a gigantic struggle on behalf of their people for the right of self-determination . Doesn't Dr. Zenkl surmise that, by refusing the right of self-determination to the Germans from Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia, he puts the German statesmen in a precarious position? One cannot negotiate in a dubious or indirect way on the sell-out of the right of self-determination with politicians who stand or fall with the principle of self-determination. Dr. Zenkl is not only a representative member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia; he presently also presides over the Assembly of Captive European Nations (ACEN). The delegation of that assembly of enslaved European nations hurriedly assured a Munich newspaper .that said delegation's Bonn office disavows the memorandum in question. And it immediately asked the New York bureau to clarify the statement as being, at most, the opinion of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia under Dr. Zenkl, but by no means the attitude of ACEN and the great majority of its members. Mr. Zenkl and his trusting entourage are travelling a fateful road indeed! Des-pite everything, we still feel that in a new Europe genuine reconciliation between Germany and her eastern neighbors is possible. About a year ago, in a London exile paper, a Czech member of ACEN likened the Sudeten Germans to withered grass on the roadside to be tread into the ground or swept away by the wind. This demark by the honorable Mr. Rehak shows poetical talent but little political insight. The two millions of Sudeten G~rmans SLOVAKIA 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new  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 Human Rights and Exiles Description An account of the resource Hans Schütz Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 56-59 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Schütz, Hans Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/75da06d3d88b003d707cc28d625565bf.pdf 0d0cc54f7ec9aa3ea7c6d19961a2cf9e PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new �SLOVAKIA 60 Czecho-Slovak Republic, which took revenge on the son and his people? Jan Masaryk, son of the "father of the Czechs," foreign minister Wl 1948, committed suicide at the onset of the country's final Bolshevization. At that time the iron curtain rang down on the western and southern borders of the Czech State. 'Dhe border to West Germany and Austria was also closed off for the Czech people. The threads were cut, the contiacts severed. The expression "people's prison" was not coined in vain. The fields in the Czech border areas have been neglected for miles around; the meadows are brown and uncut. Houses and villages have been destroyed, levelled to the ground. Here all that one sees of a former house are a heap of stones; the ruins of a waM tell of a destroyed village or borough. Nowhere does one realize as keenly the deceptiveness of the system, nowhere as here -at the fronJtier does talk of coexistence become such an empty phrase, and the babble about peace and freedom the butt of scornful laughter of an inhuman world . • • • ABOUT THE AUTHORS Frances McPoyne, M.A., Ls a so- and the Slovak v Amerike, the oldciologi-st and researcher, r,e sidin•g 'I est Slovak newspaipe,r in America; in Munich. from 1'950 to the present time, he Dr. Frano Tiso, former ambas- 1is also serving as presid'ent of the sador of the Slovak Re,pwblic to Slo,v ak Lea gue of America. Moscow, is. the chairm~n. of the / Dr. Joseph M. Kirschbaum, forSlovak Na t10naJ Oou_nci,l m Ger- Ianer Chal'lge d'Alfifa.ires of Slovaman~ and the pUlb'hsher of the Ikia in Switzerland and Secre<taryM u n i c ,h "S1obodne Slovensko" 1 GeneraI of the Sloivak People's (Free Sl:ov~kia). Party, teaches at the Universi.fy of F. 0. Miksche, former Czech Montreal, Canada. His· boolk "SloArimy Oolonel and Military a,1:Jtaohe vakia - Nation at the Crossroads i•n, •P aris and• Brussels, is n,o,w a of Centra,l Europe" was pwbli-shed lecturer and free 'Lance writer. Iin 1960 by Rolbert Slpeltler and Hans Schutz, mem1ber of the Sons, New York Gennan Federa,l Parliament, is I Constantine Culen, former memalso co-chairman oif t>he Sudeten I ber of the Slo,v ak ParJiament and Sl-ovalk journalislt, one of ithe most German Oo-uncil in Muniich. Philip A. Hrobak, ediitor of Slo- prolific Slov,a k writers, now revakia, is also editor olf the Jed- sides in Fforida. nota (The Union), the oifificiaJ orKarl Kern, j-ourna.List, is chairgan of th•e First Catholic Slovak man of the Sudeten Association in Unfon, of the UStA. -a nd Can:adia, Ma1mo, Sweden. 1 1 I � SLOVAKIA 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new �SLOVAKIA 60 Czecho-Slovak Republic, which took revenge on the son and his people? Jan Masaryk, son of the "father of the Czechs," foreign minister Wl 1948, committed suicide at the onset of the country's final Bolshevization. At that time the iron curtain rang down on the western and southern borders of the Czech State. 'Dhe border to West Germany and Austria was also closed off for the Czech people. The threads were cut, the contiacts severed. The expression "people's prison" was not coined in vain. The fields in the Czech border areas have been neglected for miles around; the meadows are brown and uncut. Houses and villages have been destroyed, levelled to the ground. Here all that one sees of a former house are a heap of stones; the ruins of a waM tell of a destroyed village or borough. Nowhere does one realize as keenly the deceptiveness of the system, nowhere as here -at the fronJtier does talk of coexistence become such an empty phrase, and the babble about peace and freedom the butt of scornful laughter of an inhuman world . • • • ABOUT THE AUTHORS Frances McPoyne, M.A., Ls a so- and the Slovak v Amerike, the oldciologi-st and researcher, r,e sidin•g 'I est Slovak newspaipe,r in America; in Munich. from 1'950 to the present time, he Dr. Frano Tiso, former ambas- 1is also serving as presid'ent of the sador of the Slovak Re,pwblic to Slo,v ak Lea gue of America. Moscow, is. the chairm~n. of the / Dr. Joseph M. Kirschbaum, forSlovak Na t10naJ Oou_nci,l m Ger- Ianer Chal'lge d'Alfifa.ires of Slovaman~ and the pUlb'hsher of the Ikia in Switzerland and Secre<taryM u n i c ,h "S1obodne Slovensko" 1 GeneraI of the Sloivak People's (Free Sl:ov~kia). Party, teaches at the Universi.fy of F. 0. Miksche, former Czech Montreal, Canada. His· boolk "SloArimy Oolonel and Military a,1:Jtaohe vakia - Nation at the Crossroads i•n, •P aris and• Brussels, is n,o,w a of Centra,l Europe" was pwbli-shed lecturer and free 'Lance writer. Iin 1960 by Rolbert Slpeltler and Hans Schutz, mem1ber of the Sons, New York Gennan Federa,l Parliament, is I Constantine Culen, former memalso co-chairman oif t>he Sudeten I ber of the Slo,v ak ParJiament and Sl-ovalk journalislt, one of ithe most German Oo-uncil in Muniich. Philip A. Hrobak, ediitor of Slo- prolific Slov,a k writers, now revakia, is also editor olf the Jed- sides in Fforida. nota (The Union), the oifificiaJ orKarl Kern, j-ourna.List, is chairgan of th•e First Catholic Slovak man of the Sudeten Association in Unfon, of the UStA. -a nd Can:adia, Ma1mo, Sweden. 1 1 I � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 59 who, impoverished and wrecked in body and soul, sought refuge in the West German Federal Republic, did not become the dynamite they were designed for by the mighty Stalin and the less mighty Benes. As a rule the expellees proved a valuable and constructive element in the economic and political revival of Germany. They likewise bore witness of their friendship for the Czech emigrants who came after them. It is a shabby business, indeed, when the Czechs now fifteen years after the war's end - try to further the cause of Bolshevism by demanding from the free nations, and even the German community, complete disregard for the just claim of the Sudeten German expellees . • • • WHERE ALL ROADS END The Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung gives its readers a glimpse across Austria's border into tlhe Bohemian Forest, OSSR: What would the former professor and representative to the Austro-Hungarian Reichstag in Vienna, Thomas Garrigue Masaryk, say today if he could see what has become of the State he founded, 1:lhe former Czecho-Slovak Republic? A kindly fate beckoned him - in the year 1937 at 1:lhe age of 87 - to another world. He may have sensed what was to come, did not have to see the day, however, when the State, of which he was the founder and long-time president, was crushed by Hitler in 1938-39 and set up again in 1945, subsequently to be placed under the yoke of world Communism by politicians subservient to 1:lhe Kremlin. His son, Jan Masaryk, lived to see t:Jhe great tragedy of his fatherland: destruction under Hitler, resurrection in 1945 in the shadow of Russian bayonets and the expulsion of more than three million Germans living near its borders in t!he Sudeten areas, at home there for centuries. At the end of tJhis series of events came tihe final Bolshevization that gave his country the kiss of death. Was it the guilt of the father, Thomas Masaryk, who gave President Wilson in 1918 a false picture of 1:lhe population structure in the German regions claimed for the new SLOVAKIA 60 Czecho-Slovak Republic, which took revenge on the son and his people? Jan Masaryk, son of the "father of the Czechs," foreign minister Wl 1948, committed suicide at the onset of the country's final Bolshevization. At that time the iron curtain rang down on the western and southern borders of the Czech State. 'Dhe border to West Germany and Austria was also closed off for the Czech people. The threads were cut, the contiacts severed. The expression "people's prison" was not coined in vain. The fields in the Czech border areas have been neglected for miles around; the meadows are brown and uncut. Houses and villages have been destroyed, levelled to the ground. Here all that one sees of a former house are a heap of stones; the ruins of a waM tell of a destroyed village or borough. Nowhere does one realize as keenly the deceptiveness of the system, nowhere as here -at the fronJtier does talk of coexistence become such an empty phrase, and the babble about peace and freedom the butt of scornful laughter of an inhuman world . • • • ABOUT THE AUTHORS Frances McPoyne, M.A., Ls a so- and the Slovak v Amerike, the oldciologi-st and researcher, r,e sidin•g 'I est Slovak newspaipe,r in America; in Munich. from 1'950 to the present time, he Dr. Frano Tiso, former ambas- 1is also serving as presid'ent of the sador of the Slovak Re,pwblic to Slo,v ak Lea gue of America. Moscow, is. the chairm~n. of the / Dr. Joseph M. Kirschbaum, forSlovak Na t10naJ Oou_nci,l m Ger- Ianer Chal'lge d'Alfifa.ires of Slovaman~ and the pUlb'hsher of the Ikia in Switzerland and Secre<taryM u n i c ,h "S1obodne Slovensko" 1 GeneraI of the Sloivak People's (Free Sl:ov~kia). Party, teaches at the Universi.fy of F. 0. Miksche, former Czech Montreal, Canada. His· boolk "SloArimy Oolonel and Military a,1:Jtaohe vakia - Nation at the Crossroads i•n, •P aris and• Brussels, is n,o,w a of Centra,l Europe" was pwbli-shed lecturer and free 'Lance writer. Iin 1960 by Rolbert Slpeltler and Hans Schutz, mem1ber of the Sons, New York Gennan Federa,l Parliament, is I Constantine Culen, former memalso co-chairman oif t>he Sudeten I ber of the Slo,v ak ParJiament and Sl-ovalk journalislt, one of ithe most German Oo-uncil in Muniich. Philip A. Hrobak, ediitor of Slo- prolific Slov,a k writers, now revakia, is also editor olf the Jed- sides in Fforida. nota (The Union), the oifificiaJ orKarl Kern, j-ourna.List, is chairgan of th•e First Catholic Slovak man of the Sudeten Association in Unfon, of the UStA. -a nd Can:adia, Ma1mo, Sweden. 1 1 I  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 Where All Roads End Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 10, No. 7 (32), September-December 1960 pp. 59-60 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/321b318dc6d9ca4970e908d29371d4cc.pdf f213781653c647dae0bad8c8173be792 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 61 BOOK REVIEWS Slovak Aspirations I order in Central Europe wars were . hb SI ova k.1a, N a- I where two world J . M . K 1rsc: aum: tion •t the Crossroads of Central touched off. Europe. Robert Speller and Sons, 1 "The campaign N. Y., 1960, pp. 371, $5.00. , · C t l Although written to enlighten and correct the warped political vision of those still convinced tha't CzechoSlovakia was a "litlte Switzerland in the heart of Europe," this book may be recommended as a compact political history of Slovakia. Sudeten Germans wili welcome its fair presentation of faots that corroborate their own version of what actually ha:ppened in the CSR. It is amazing that Czech propaganda was, and to a large extent still is, able to influence the thinking of millions of people - particularly the Anglo-Saxon world - to believe a myth that there is one "Czechoslovak" people. Kirschbaum exp'lodes this mylth and traces the origins of Slovakia from its historic beginnings, unfolding before the reader a detailed anti soundly referenced account of a proud, vital and highly cultured people from their earliest origins to the declaration of their independence in 1939, pleading for a new for democracy m en ra an d E ast ern Europe," maintains Kirschbaum "can be successful only if it will not feature people who compromised and collaborated with Communism, but will engage representatives without chauvinistic and imperialistic tendencies who are fighUng for a democraitc order of Central Europe in which every nation will enjoy equality and freedom and which will safeguard its security from outside attacks." The last third of the book is an appendage of documents, including diplomatic memoranda, speeches, reports to the Slovak Parliament, exchanges of telegrams with Hitler and other German Reich officials, 26 photographs, and agreements, resolutions and statements by the representatives of Americans of Slovak descent at conferences of the Slovak League of America, plus remarks by US Congressional leaders on the Slovak prob • lem. A dual leitmotiv throughout is the thesis that Slovakia �62 SLOVAKIA has at all eras of its history been a western-oriented people and has been sought after by other surrounding peoples who attempted, but unsuccessfully, to assimilate it. Today the Slovaks are still western-oriented interiorly and not assimilated, eiither by the Czechs or by the Soviets. Kirsch1baum's book is another reminder and a convincing one, that f.ires are still burning in the hearts of a little people in Central Europe who, like the Irish whom they so strongly resemble, are keeping the faith that independence shall one day be theirs. Though captured by Communists, they have not compromised with them. May Joseph Kirschbaum's meritorious volume win friends for Slovakia and for their cause. - F. McPoyne, in "Sudeten Bulletin," Dec. 1960. B. S. Bue, Ph.D.: Slovak Nationalism; Published by the Slovak L.ague of America, Middletown, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. Scholarly works on Slovakia in English language were, until recently, hard .to find in American and Canadian libraries. Scholars in the field of Slavic studies somehow a voided 'the oldest civilized part of the Slavic world even though Slovakia's role in the early Slavic civilization and in the nineteenth century Pan-Slavism deserved their attention. Since the Second World Wax, lack of interest in things Slovak is gradually disappearing. Whlle some basic works on literature, political and cu]tural history are still to be desired, there is a score of readable and reliable books for the general public as _w ell as for the students of political history and civilization. Professor Buc's recent study on Slovak nationalism is one of the works which will be welcome by s ~udents of Central Eastern European history not only because of its scholarly na/ture but also because it is the first thesis on this subject in the English language. From Seton-Watson to R. A. Kann and Gilbert Oddo, foreign scholars tackled the problem of Slovak nationa. ism, directly or indirectly, some of them, like Macartney for instance, were even very close to understand its origin and aims. There was, however, no serious attempt at presenting the significance of nationalist ideas methodically in Slovak history through the centuries and in various historical situations. �SLOVAKIA Although this reviewer is inclined to call the ideas which stand behind the present Slovak drive for national independence rather patriotism than nationalism, Professor Buc's an a 1 y sis makes it clear that there are many distinctions between na tionalism of some European counltries and the "nationalism" of the Slovaks. "From the beginning of its existence, Slovak nationalism," says Priofessor Bue, "was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call 'Western democracy' ... it involves a loyal devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics." One may add that Slovak nationalism lacks also any tendency to expand or dominate other peoples, aiming merely at a foll national independence of the Slovak people in its own state or in a federal union with other European nations. Professor Bue explains methodically the origins, components, motives, and objectives of Slovak nationalism in the context of a Europear 63 and especially of a Central European politlica'l setting. There were geographical and historical reasons which provoked to life Slovakia's struggle along the lines of nationalistic ideas. Being a part of European modern 'thought, Slovak nationalism was stimulated also by the chauvnism of some of Slovakia's ne<ighbors; its characteristics were, however, for a long time defensive in nature and objective. Speaking of conflicts of Slovak nationalism, the writer gives a picture of the Slovak struggle not only against Hungarian assimilative tendencies, but also of confllicts between Magyarized Slovaks and Slovak Pan-Slavists, and later between Slovak adherents of "Czechoslovakism" and Slovak autonomists, as well .as of Slovak Lutherans versus Slovak Catholics. In a relatively small territory of Slovakia, nationalism became a more complex phenomenon that it would appear to foreign casual observers, although its principal aim remains a struggle for national identity and survival and, continuously, Slovak nationalism was marked by federative tendencies. The chapter on the federative tendencies of Slovak na- �64 SLOVAKIA tionalism is one of the most ins'tructive not only for a proper understanding of the nature of Slovak nationalism, but also for future developments in Central Eastern Europe. Being federative in its tendencies and objectives, Slovak nationalism is a constructive element and not a barrier preventing co-operation of peoples of Eas'tem Europe. In view of the fact that some neighbors of Slovakiia tried to present the Slovak struggle for national independence as an attempt at "balkamization," Professor Buc's analysis gives justice to the facts and to Slovaks. Professor Buc's s t u d y, which originally was prepared • • as a thesis for his Mas!ter Degree in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh follows the developments of Slovak nationaHsm to the very recent events in Slovakia under Communist domination. The work is written in a clear, forceful style, and its conclusions aire based on a thorough knowledge of the subject, with references to a large number of works in several foreign languages. In the biblography, works by Hans Kohn and R. A. Kann are missing, as well as some symposia (Strakhovsky, Lednicki, Gross, etc.). J. M. Kirschbaum, Universite de Montreal. • WHO SAID IT? "The Slo!Wcl{ Leag,ue of America - its affiliated organizations and its indwidual memlbers1hiip - does not hl8Jte the Czech nation, as propagated by members of the Council ( of Free Czechosl.rwaJkia). 'Dhe Slova:ks do not want aniyithing that belongs to the Ozeichs. They do not want their nationaJl or relrigious tra:dibiolns, thei:r history OIi' their J:anguage, and they covet not their lands. They recogndze and respect the rig,ht of the Ozeich nation to full freedom and pdliticaJl independence. Alt the same time, however, and by the same token, they riighrtfrwlly expect the Ozech nation to recognize and respect the inhere.nit right of the Slovak nation to full freedom and imlepem.dence, to a poJiticaJly independent Slovak Retp'lllblk. Flree and 'Czechoslovalk' simply don't rhyme!" - (P. A. Hrcibak, leit:Jter to Hon. Afivin M. Bentley, Juiy 10, 1g53). � SLOVAKIA 61 BOOK REVIEWS Slovak Aspirations I order in Central Europe wars were . hb SI ova k.1a, N a- I where two world J . M . K 1rsc: aum: tion •t the Crossroads of Central touched off. Europe. Robert Speller and Sons, 1 "The campaign N. Y., 1960, pp. 371, $5.00. , · C t l Although written to enlighten and correct the warped political vision of those still convinced tha't CzechoSlovakia was a "litlte Switzerland in the heart of Europe," this book may be recommended as a compact political history of Slovakia. Sudeten Germans wili welcome its fair presentation of faots that corroborate their own version of what actually ha:ppened in the CSR. It is amazing that Czech propaganda was, and to a large extent still is, able to influence the thinking of millions of people - particularly the Anglo-Saxon world - to believe a myth that there is one "Czechoslovak" people. Kirschbaum exp'lodes this mylth and traces the origins of Slovakia from its historic beginnings, unfolding before the reader a detailed anti soundly referenced account of a proud, vital and highly cultured people from their earliest origins to the declaration of their independence in 1939, pleading for a new for democracy m en ra an d E ast ern Europe," maintains Kirschbaum "can be successful only if it will not feature people who compromised and collaborated with Communism, but will engage representatives without chauvinistic and imperialistic tendencies who are fighUng for a democraitc order of Central Europe in which every nation will enjoy equality and freedom and which will safeguard its security from outside attacks." The last third of the book is an appendage of documents, including diplomatic memoranda, speeches, reports to the Slovak Parliament, exchanges of telegrams with Hitler and other German Reich officials, 26 photographs, and agreements, resolutions and statements by the representatives of Americans of Slovak descent at conferences of the Slovak League of America, plus remarks by US Congressional leaders on the Slovak prob • lem. A dual leitmotiv throughout is the thesis that Slovakia �62 SLOVAKIA has at all eras of its history been a western-oriented people and has been sought after by other surrounding peoples who attempted, but unsuccessfully, to assimilate it. Today the Slovaks are still western-oriented interiorly and not assimilated, eiither by the Czechs or by the Soviets. Kirsch1baum's book is another reminder and a convincing one, that f.ires are still burning in the hearts of a little people in Central Europe who, like the Irish whom they so strongly resemble, are keeping the faith that independence shall one day be theirs. Though captured by Communists, they have not compromised with them. May Joseph Kirschbaum's meritorious volume win friends for Slovakia and for their cause. - F. McPoyne, in "Sudeten Bulletin," Dec. 1960. B. S. Bue, Ph.D.: Slovak Nationalism; Published by the Slovak L.ague of America, Middletown, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. Scholarly works on Slovakia in English language were, until recently, hard .to find in American and Canadian libraries. Scholars in the field of Slavic studies somehow a voided 'the oldest civilized part of the Slavic world even though Slovakia's role in the early Slavic civilization and in the nineteenth century Pan-Slavism deserved their attention. Since the Second World Wax, lack of interest in things Slovak is gradually disappearing. Whlle some basic works on literature, political and cu]tural history are still to be desired, there is a score of readable and reliable books for the general public as _w ell as for the students of political history and civilization. Professor Buc's recent study on Slovak nationalism is one of the works which will be welcome by s ~udents of Central Eastern European history not only because of its scholarly na/ture but also because it is the first thesis on this subject in the English language. From Seton-Watson to R. A. Kann and Gilbert Oddo, foreign scholars tackled the problem of Slovak nationa. ism, directly or indirectly, some of them, like Macartney for instance, were even very close to understand its origin and aims. There was, however, no serious attempt at presenting the significance of nationalist ideas methodically in Slovak history through the centuries and in various historical situations. �SLOVAKIA Although this reviewer is inclined to call the ideas which stand behind the present Slovak drive for national independence rather patriotism than nationalism, Professor Buc's an a 1 y sis makes it clear that there are many distinctions between na tionalism of some European counltries and the "nationalism" of the Slovaks. "From the beginning of its existence, Slovak nationalism," says Priofessor Bue, "was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call 'Western democracy' ... it involves a loyal devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics." One may add that Slovak nationalism lacks also any tendency to expand or dominate other peoples, aiming merely at a foll national independence of the Slovak people in its own state or in a federal union with other European nations. Professor Bue explains methodically the origins, components, motives, and objectives of Slovak nationalism in the context of a Europear 63 and especially of a Central European politlica'l setting. There were geographical and historical reasons which provoked to life Slovakia's struggle along the lines of nationalistic ideas. Being a part of European modern 'thought, Slovak nationalism was stimulated also by the chauvnism of some of Slovakia's ne<ighbors; its characteristics were, however, for a long time defensive in nature and objective. Speaking of conflicts of Slovak nationalism, the writer gives a picture of the Slovak struggle not only against Hungarian assimilative tendencies, but also of confllicts between Magyarized Slovaks and Slovak Pan-Slavists, and later between Slovak adherents of "Czechoslovakism" and Slovak autonomists, as well .as of Slovak Lutherans versus Slovak Catholics. In a relatively small territory of Slovakia, nationalism became a more complex phenomenon that it would appear to foreign casual observers, although its principal aim remains a struggle for national identity and survival and, continuously, Slovak nationalism was marked by federative tendencies. The chapter on the federative tendencies of Slovak na- �64 SLOVAKIA tionalism is one of the most ins'tructive not only for a proper understanding of the nature of Slovak nationalism, but also for future developments in Central Eastern Europe. Being federative in its tendencies and objectives, Slovak nationalism is a constructive element and not a barrier preventing co-operation of peoples of Eas'tem Europe. In view of the fact that some neighbors of Slovakiia tried to present the Slovak struggle for national independence as an attempt at "balkamization," Professor Buc's analysis gives justice to the facts and to Slovaks. Professor Buc's s t u d y, which originally was prepared • • as a thesis for his Mas!ter Degree in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh follows the developments of Slovak nationaHsm to the very recent events in Slovakia under Communist domination. The work is written in a clear, forceful style, and its conclusions aire based on a thorough knowledge of the subject, with references to a large number of works in several foreign languages. In the biblography, works by Hans Kohn and R. A. Kann are missing, as well as some symposia (Strakhovsky, Lednicki, Gross, etc.). J. M. Kirschbaum, Universite de Montreal. • WHO SAID IT? "The Slo!Wcl{ Leag,ue of America - its affiliated organizations and its indwidual memlbers1hiip - does not hl8Jte the Czech nation, as propagated by members of the Council ( of Free Czechosl.rwaJkia). 'Dhe Slova:ks do not want aniyithing that belongs to the Ozeichs. They do not want their nationaJl or relrigious tra:dibiolns, thei:r history OIi' their J:anguage, and they covet not their lands. They recogndze and respect the rig,ht of the Ozeich nation to full freedom and pdliticaJl independence. Alt the same time, however, and by the same token, they riighrtfrwlly expect the Ozech nation to recognize and respect the inhere.nit right of the Slovak nation to full freedom and imlepem.dence, to a poJiticaJly independent Slovak Retp'lllblk. Flree and 'Czechoslovalk' simply don't rhyme!" - (P. A. Hrcibak, leit:Jter to Hon. Afivin M. Bentley, Juiy 10, 1g53). � 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 1960, Vol. 10 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 6 [sic] (No. 31), March-June 1960.</li> <li>Issue 7 [sic] (No. 32), September-December 1960.</li> </ul> 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 1960 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 61 BOOK REVIEWS Slovak Aspirations I order in Central Europe wars were . hb SI ova k.1a, N a- I where two world J . M . K 1rsc: aum: tion •t the Crossroads of Central touched off. Europe. Robert Speller and Sons, 1 "The campaign N. Y., 1960, pp. 371, $5.00. , · C t l Although written to enlighten and correct the warped political vision of those still convinced tha't CzechoSlovakia was a "litlte Switzerland in the heart of Europe," this book may be recommended as a compact political history of Slovakia. Sudeten Germans wili welcome its fair presentation of faots that corroborate their own version of what actually ha:ppened in the CSR. It is amazing that Czech propaganda was, and to a large extent still is, able to influence the thinking of millions of people - particularly the Anglo-Saxon world - to believe a myth that there is one "Czechoslovak" people. Kirschbaum exp'lodes this mylth and traces the origins of Slovakia from its historic beginnings, unfolding before the reader a detailed anti soundly referenced account of a proud, vital and highly cultured people from their earliest origins to the declaration of their independence in 1939, pleading for a new for democracy m en ra an d E ast ern Europe," maintains Kirschbaum "can be successful only if it will not feature people who compromised and collaborated with Communism, but will engage representatives without chauvinistic and imperialistic tendencies who are fighUng for a democraitc order of Central Europe in which every nation will enjoy equality and freedom and which will safeguard its security from outside attacks." The last third of the book is an appendage of documents, including diplomatic memoranda, speeches, reports to the Slovak Parliament, exchanges of telegrams with Hitler and other German Reich officials, 26 photographs, and agreements, resolutions and statements by the representatives of Americans of Slovak descent at conferences of the Slovak League of America, plus remarks by US Congressional leaders on the Slovak prob • lem. A dual leitmotiv throughout is the thesis that Slovakia 62 SLOVAKIA has at all eras of its history been a western-oriented people and has been sought after by other surrounding peoples who attempted, but unsuccessfully, to assimilate it. Today the Slovaks are still western-oriented interiorly and not assimilated, eiither by the Czechs or by the Soviets. Kirsch1baum's book is another reminder and a convincing one, that f.ires are still burning in the hearts of a little people in Central Europe who, like the Irish whom they so strongly resemble, are keeping the faith that independence shall one day be theirs. Though captured by Communists, they have not compromised with them. May Joseph Kirschbaum's meritorious volume win friends for Slovakia and for their cause. - F. McPoyne, in "Sudeten Bulletin," Dec. 1960. B. S. Bue, Ph.D.: Slovak Nationalism; Published by the Slovak L.ague of America, Middletown, Pa., 1960; pp. 67. Scholarly works on Slovakia in English language were, until recently, hard .to find in American and Canadian libraries. Scholars in the field of Slavic studies somehow a voided 'the oldest civilized part of the Slavic world even though Slovakia's role in the early Slavic civilization and in the nineteenth century Pan-Slavism deserved their attention. Since the Second World Wax, lack of interest in things Slovak is gradually disappearing. Whlle some basic works on literature, political and cu]tural history are still to be desired, there is a score of readable and reliable books for the general public as _w ell as for the students of political history and civilization. Professor Buc's recent study on Slovak nationalism is one of the works which will be welcome by s ~udents of Central Eastern European history not only because of its scholarly na/ture but also because it is the first thesis on this subject in the English language. From Seton-Watson to R. A. Kann and Gilbert Oddo, foreign scholars tackled the problem of Slovak nationa. ism, directly or indirectly, some of them, like Macartney for instance, were even very close to understand its origin and aims. There was, however, no serious attempt at presenting the significance of nationalist ideas methodically in Slovak history through the centuries and in various historical situations. SLOVAKIA Although this reviewer is inclined to call the ideas which stand behind the present Slovak drive for national independence rather patriotism than nationalism, Professor Buc's an a 1 y sis makes it clear that there are many distinctions between na tionalism of some European counltries and the "nationalism" of the Slovaks. "From the beginning of its existence, Slovak nationalism," says Priofessor Bue, "was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call 'Western democracy' ... it involves a loyal devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics." One may add that Slovak nationalism lacks also any tendency to expand or dominate other peoples, aiming merely at a foll national independence of the Slovak people in its own state or in a federal union with other European nations. Professor Bue explains methodically the origins, components, motives, and objectives of Slovak nationalism in the context of a Europear 63 and especially of a Central European politlica'l setting. There were geographical and historical reasons which provoked to life Slovakia's struggle along the lines of nationalistic ideas. Being a part of European modern 'thought, Slovak nationalism was stimulated also by the chauvnism of some of Slovakia's ne<ighbors; its characteristics were, however, for a long time defensive in nature and objective. Speaking of conflicts of Slovak nationalism, the writer gives a picture of the Slovak struggle not only against Hungarian assimilative tendencies, but also of confllicts between Magyarized Slovaks and Slovak Pan-Slavists, and later between Slovak adherents of "Czechoslovakism" and Slovak autonomists, as well .as of Slovak Lutherans versus Slovak Catholics. In a relatively small territory of Slovakia, nationalism became a more complex phenomenon that it would appear to foreign casual observers, although its principal aim remains a struggle for national identity and survival and, continuously, Slovak nationalism was marked by federative tendencies. The chapter on the federative tendencies of Slovak na- 64 SLOVAKIA tionalism is one of the most ins'tructive not only for a proper understanding of the nature of Slovak nationalism, but also for future developments in Central Eastern Europe. Being federative in its tendencies and objectives, Slovak nationalism is a constructive element and not a barrier preventing co-operation of peoples of Eas'tem Europe. In view of the fact that some neighbors of Slovakiia tried to present the Slovak struggle for national independence as an attempt at "balkamization," Professor Buc's analysis gives justice to the facts and to Slovaks. Professor Buc's s t u d y, which originally was prepared • • as a thesis for his Mas!ter Degree in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh follows the developments of Slovak nationaHsm to the very recent events in Slovakia under Communist domination. The work is written in a clear, forceful style, and its conclusions aire based on a thorough knowledge of the subject, with references to a large number of works in several foreign languages. In the biblography, works by Hans Kohn and R. A. Kann are missing, as well as some symposia (Strakhovsky, Lednicki, Gross, etc.). J. M. Kirschbaum, Universite de Montreal. • WHO SAID IT? "The Slo!Wcl{ Leag,ue of America - its affiliated organizations and its indwidual memlbers1hiip - does not hl8Jte the Czech nation, as propagated by members of the Council ( of Free Czechosl.rwaJkia). 'Dhe Slova:ks do not want aniyithing that belongs to the Ozeichs. They do not want their nationaJl or relrigious tra:dibiolns, thei:r history OIi' their J:anguage, and they covet not their lands. They recogndze and respect the rig,ht of the Ozeich nation to full freedom and pdliticaJl independence. Alt the same time, however, and by the same token, they riighrtfrwlly expect the Ozech nation to recognize and respect the inhere.nit right of the Slovak nation to full freedom and imlepem.dence, to a poJiticaJly independent Slovak Retp'lllblk. Flree and 'Czechoslovalk' simply don't rhyme!" - (P. A. Hrcibak, leit:Jter to Hon. Afivin M. Bentley, Juiy 10, 1g53).  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. 10, No. 7 (32) Description An account of the resource includes book reviews, pp. 61-64 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September-December 1960 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/1896f03edffa8a57aca9d1693840f69c.pdf a48001a94f659697c97069c2d2c517dc PDF Text Text MAR CH, VOL. IX (29) IN THIS ISSUE: FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE GERMAN ZONE OF ' p MARCH 14 - SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY SLOVAK NATIONALISM : THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY TH E HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �\ I! I RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD,' Woytko; $1.50. History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "GUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD , Prof. J. Khschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.0~. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak Leag ue of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of -Slovak descent. The main purpos~ of SLOVAKIA i_s to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. · $1.00 per annum in tpe U. S. A. ,_ ~-.:. ··c: •·- . "'' $2.00 elsewhere. .,. . _:. ·,:_; SLOVAKIA P.O. Box 150 Middletown, --Pa. ' - .. '; ~'1• ---:t ., ------ Printed in the U. S. A. . J EQNOTA ; PRESS MiddletO;fi, Pa. ·, ·-!'-.l " � MAR CH, VOL. IX (29) IN THIS ISSUE: FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE GERMAN ZONE OF ' p MARCH 14 - SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY SLOVAK NATIONALISM : THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY TH E HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �\ I! I RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD,' Woytko; $1.50. History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "GUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD , Prof. J. Khschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.0~. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak Leag ue of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of -Slovak descent. The main purpos~ of SLOVAKIA i_s to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. · $1.00 per annum in tpe U. S. A. ,_ ~-.:. ··c: •·- . "'' $2.00 elsewhere. .,. . _:. ·,:_; SLOVAKIA P.O. Box 150 Middletown, --Pa. ' - .. '; ~'1• ---:t ., ------ Printed in the U. S. A. . J EQNOTA ; PRESS MiddletO;fi, Pa. ·, ·-!'-.l " � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 MAR CH, VOL. IX (29) IN THIS ISSUE: FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE GERMAN ZONE OF ' p MARCH 14 - SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY SLOVAK NATIONALISM : THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY TH E HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA \ I! I RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD,' Woytko; $1.50. History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA" - UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 "GUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD , Prof. J. Khschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.0~. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak Leag ue of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of -Slovak descent. The main purpos~ of SLOVAKIA i_s to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. · $1.00 per annum in tpe U. S. A. ,_ ~-.:. ··c: •·- . "'' $2.00 elsewhere. .,. . _:. ·,:_; SLOVAKIA P.O. Box 150 Middletown, --Pa. ' - .. '; ~'1• ---:t ., ------ Printed in the U. S. A. . J EQNOTA ; PRESS MiddletO;fi, Pa. ·, ·-!'-.l "  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. 9, No. 4 (29) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d1cc0a93dbd95bd1b1fbd778b50e6325.pdf 65f52a16a669273bb3ae5d3524330cae PDF Text Text SL OV AK IA Published by the Slovak League of America VOrL. IX MARCH, 1959 NO. 4 (29) FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DEOLAR ATION OF INDEPE NDENCE (A chapter from the book "The Case of Slovakia" to be published on the occasion of the twentieth anniversar y of Slovakia's declaration of Independen ce ) By J. M. Kirschba um The presentat ion of events which led to Slovakia' s declaration of independe nce needs some comment s and explanation in order to be properly understoo d. Some American historian s accepted, without the necessary caution, the one-sided Czech presentat ion of the political causes, as well as of the activities of individua l Slovak politician s and their intentions . Three things are to be particula rly comment ed upon: 1) the imminent menace of Hungaria n occupatio n; 2) the visit of Keppler-S eyss-Inqu art-Biirck el to Bratislav a, or the so-called Sidor episode; and, 3) attitudes and activities of the prinicpal Slovak leaders. The writer, though too young according to the American standard s to play a role in national politics, was, in many respects, involved in the ,M arch imbroglio as a former member of the editorial staff of the Slovak People's Party newspape rs, as a leader of universit y and youth organizatio ns, and since October 1938 as the Executiv e Secretary to the Minister of Justice and, finally, as a close friend of Alexande r Mach and Dr. Ferdinan d Durcansk y. Being one of those on the list of the Prague's government who was supposed to be arrested on March 10, 1939, the writer was from the first moment in continuou s contact with Dr. Joseph Tiso and Karol 1Sidor, on the one hand, and with Dr. Durcansk y over the border in Vienna, on the other, and, of course, with Alexande r Mach and the leaders of the Universit y Hlinka Guards, as well. �SLOVAKIA 2 Was there any serious Hungarian menace? Did Ribbentrop use Horthy's telegram as part of a premeditated trick in order to influence Dr. Tiso and :Durcansky, or did the Hungarians really intend to occupy Slovakia? All documents and published memoirs prove that the Hungarian government undoubtedly aimed at the annexation of Slovakia in 1938-1939; this was a twenty-year effort on the part of Magyar politicians and diplomats, in 1938 strongly supported by Mussolini and Ciano, and never denied by any Magyar. The slogan of Magyar politics between the wars was "Mindent visza" - everything returned that Hungary "lost" at the 'P eace Conference of 1919 or prior to that time. In 1938-1939 the Magyars saw, for the first time, an opportunity for their dreams and desires to be realized. According to published documents of the Nurenberg Trials, the telegram sent to Hitler by Hungary's Regent Nicholas Horthy and mentioned during the conversations between the Chancellor Hitler and the Slovak representatives, reads as follows : Your Excellency: Heartfelt thanks. I cannot express how happy I am, for this headI dislike using big words water region is, in fact, for Hungary a vital question. Notwithstanding our recruits of but five weeks, we are tackling the matter with enthusiasm. The plans are already laid. On Thursday the 16th of this month a frontier incident will take place, to be followed on Saturday by the big thrust. I shall never forget this proof of friendship and Your Excellency can at all times ever rely steadfastly on my gratitude. In friendly devotion Horthy Budapest, March 13, 1939. The term "headwater region" means Slovakia, and, since the Slovak leaders were informed by Dr. Vehsenmeyer already in February of a planned invasion of Slovakia by Hungary about March 15, they definitely could not doubt the seriousness of the situation. In fact, the Hungarian menace played quite an important role before Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were invited by Chancellor Hitler to Berlin. When President Ha.cha, on March 10, deposed the Slovak autonomous government and 1 �SLOVAKIA 3 issued orders for the arrest over 300 Slovak leaders, including the members of Dr. Tiso's government and the Slovak Diet, Dr. :Durcansky fled to Vienna in order to save Slovakia from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors. :Durcansky was one of the Slovak politicians who knew of German plans with regard to Bohemia, since he was also present at the meeting with Dr. Vehsenmeyer, on February 13, at which the latter informed Slovak leaders of Hungary's plans. After a long discussion with deposed premier Msgr. Tiso, the writer, on the afternoon of March 10, crossed the Danube in order to meet :Durcansky on Austrian territory and discuss the proper steps to be taken. There was no doubt that Germany would, within two or three days, occupy Bohemia and Slovakia's fate depended on Slovakia's decision and political adroitness. For :Durcansky and the writer it was clear that the hour of decision in regard to Slovakia's independence had arrived. In our eyes, it was one of the historical opportunities which numerically small, dominated peoples cannot bypass without paying heavy penalties. Long before March, we spoke and wrote on Slovakia's right to independence and definitely no hatred toward the Czechs or sympathy for Germany or Nazism played any role in our minds. As members of the conservative Slovak People's Party with a Christian democratic world outlook, we were opposed to the Nazi ideology or political system from all points of view. We were both former functionaries of Catholic University organizations (1), who received their political schooling in Paris and we were adherents to the philosophy of the natural right of peoples to self-government. In our opinion, and such was the case with many educated Slovaks of our generation, the March events presented to Slovaks the first international opportunity to apply the right to independence. When we saw that Slovakia could be saved at the same time from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors, we feverishly worked on preparing Slovakia's declaration of independence. A draft of a government of Independent Slovakia was prepared by :Durcansky, and we discussed what steps to take in Slova- �4 SLOVAKIA kia and what to do in Vienna and Berlin where, since Munich, there was undoubtedl y a new "Versailles " for Central Europe, with a German free hand in disposing of the future of Central European peoples. While Durcansky returned to Vienna, the writer crossed the Danube with the draft of the new governmen t and had a task to obtain Dr. Tiso's consent and to convince Karol Sidor that the hour had struck for declaring Slovakia's independen ce ; that it was the only way to save Slovakia and that we should not hesitate to seize a historical opportunity to achieve what peoples of the globe, including the Americans, tried to achieve by blood and bitter battle as the highest ideal of their national aspirations . Back in Bratislava I found the situation a little confused but no longer in the hands of the Czech gendarmer ie and army. The Hlinka Guards and university students were openly manifestat ing for independen ce. Dr. Tiso left Bratislava in the meantime, for his parish town Banovce, and I was able to reach him only through messengers and by the telephone. My long discussion with Karol Sidor, who was on the list of the future governmen t of independen t Slovakia as Prime Minister, was not successful He was reluctant to give a written statement that he was in favor of Slovakia's independen ce, though he agreed with our activities for independen ce. Sidor feared that I could be arrested and such a statement, if found by the police would cause more harm than good. He feared particularl y that the Czechs would execute the 300 Slovak political prisoners among whom he had many personal friends. ,Sidor was not against Slovakia's independen ce in principle and had previous contacts with German representat ives, the last on March 7 with Seyss-Inqu art with whom he discussed such a possibility. According to his views, expressed during our conversation, the situation was not yet ripe and, therefore, he said he would neither hinder nor help if anyone else were to try to make Slovakia independen t (2). Sidor's behavior was also caused, as I learned during my second conversatio n with him, by the fact that he knew that Prague would appoint him Prime Minister of the Slovak Autonomou s Governmen t. In the middle of our second �SLOVAKIA 5 discussion, Prague's radio actually announced that President Ha.cha nominated him head of the Slovak Autonomous Government. Sidor got off his seat after the news and sa~d to me: "For the time being, I am decided to accept this . premiership." My secretary and several officers of the A c a d e m 1 c Guard were waiting in front of Sidor's residence and one of them was sent to bring the news to Dr. :Durcansky who, in the firm hope that my mission was successful, in the meantime, informed the German representative s in Vienna that Slovakia would declare independence and handed them the draft of the proposed Slovak government headed by Dr. Tiso as President and Sidor as Prime Minister (3). The radio news of Sidor's acceptance of Hacha's nomination caused confusion in Vienna and Berlin about the Slovak situation and it was for this reason that Hitler send Keppler to Bratislava to learn from Sidor what was the intention of :Slovak leaders. W. Keppler, who was at that time Secretary of State, accompanied by Reichs Governor, Seyss-Inquart , the Gauleiter of Astria, Joseph Biirckel, Franz Karmasin, and Rudolf Vavra, an active leader of the Slovak group in Vienna, paid a midnight visit to Sidor in the government building in Bratislava. Sidor expected the visitors and to the contrary of what was unobjectively reported about impolite behavior and pressure, Keppler behaved politely, did not insist and did not threaten. He informed Sidor, apologizing for his late visit, that Chancellor Hitler received telegrams urging him to support Slovakia's claim for independence and, therefore, sent him to ascertain the real state of affairs. Sidor at first argued evasively through an interpreter and tried to convince his visitors that Slovakia was not yet prepared, according to his views, and that the Parliament and not individuals had the right to declare independence. The discussion became less diplomatic only when Biirckel, who was apparently under the influence of alcohol, began to talk loudly and showed Sidor the list of government which Dr. :Durcansky had sent to Berlin, relying on the success of my earlier discussions with Sidor. Bfirckel, undiplomatica lly and not quite in line with the truth, in- �6 SLOVAKIA sisted that Sidor had already given his consent "when Dr. Kirschbaum visited you". Sidor declared that it was not true. Biirckel, surprised and irate, retorted that "the Fuhrer must not be embarrasse d and deceived". Though Sidor tried to explain that he had neither embarrasse d nor deceived Chancellor Hitler, Keppler and his entourage seemed apparently diappointed and disillusioned, and Keppler later reported to Hitler that Sidor was a "soldier of Prague and had been bribed". It was this failure of Keppler's mission which motivated Hitler to send an invitation to Dr. Joseph Tiso. The writer was asked by :Durcansky from Vienna to find out if Tiso would accept such an invitation. I called Dr. Tiso at about midnight and mentioned that I wished to discuss matters of utmost importance with him. Dr. Tiso answered that it was too late to discuss serious matters and asked me to call the next morning. I immediatel y sent two reliable officers of the Acandemic Guards and my chauffeur with a message to Dr. Tiso's parish town and informed Dr. :Durcansky in Vienna. Another messenger was, however, also enroute with two formal invitations through Consular channels. Dr. Tiso asked the writer to inform the president of The Slovak Diet, the Slovak Governmen t and the leadership of the Hlinka Party that he would be back in Bratislava for consultatio n in the morning. At a joint meeting of all the leaders of Parliament , Governmen t, and the Party - it was decided, on the morning of March 13, to accept the invitation. Accompani ed by a member of Parliament , Dr. Tiso left for Vienna and from Vienna, joined by Dr. :Durcansky and Keppler, flew to Berlin. For truth's sake, the writer adds that Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were received in Berlin in accordance with diplomatic protocol, as representat ives of foreign nations were accustomed to being received. From many discussions which the writer had with Dr. Tiso on this subject and from Dr. Tiso's report to the Slovak Diet on March 14, 1939, it is clear that the Slovak representat ives were received politely and no pressure or arrogant behavior (such as adversaries of Slovak independen ce tried to make the Western World believe) ( 4) was resorted to on that occasion. �SLOVAKIA 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up � SL OV AK IA Published by the Slovak League of America VOrL. IX MARCH, 1959 NO. 4 (29) FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DEOLAR ATION OF INDEPE NDENCE (A chapter from the book "The Case of Slovakia" to be published on the occasion of the twentieth anniversar y of Slovakia's declaration of Independen ce ) By J. M. Kirschba um The presentat ion of events which led to Slovakia' s declaration of independe nce needs some comment s and explanation in order to be properly understoo d. Some American historian s accepted, without the necessary caution, the one-sided Czech presentat ion of the political causes, as well as of the activities of individua l Slovak politician s and their intentions . Three things are to be particula rly comment ed upon: 1) the imminent menace of Hungaria n occupatio n; 2) the visit of Keppler-S eyss-Inqu art-Biirck el to Bratislav a, or the so-called Sidor episode; and, 3) attitudes and activities of the prinicpal Slovak leaders. The writer, though too young according to the American standard s to play a role in national politics, was, in many respects, involved in the ,M arch imbroglio as a former member of the editorial staff of the Slovak People's Party newspape rs, as a leader of universit y and youth organizatio ns, and since October 1938 as the Executiv e Secretary to the Minister of Justice and, finally, as a close friend of Alexande r Mach and Dr. Ferdinan d Durcansk y. Being one of those on the list of the Prague's government who was supposed to be arrested on March 10, 1939, the writer was from the first moment in continuou s contact with Dr. Joseph Tiso and Karol 1Sidor, on the one hand, and with Dr. Durcansk y over the border in Vienna, on the other, and, of course, with Alexande r Mach and the leaders of the Universit y Hlinka Guards, as well. �SLOVAKIA 2 Was there any serious Hungarian menace? Did Ribbentrop use Horthy's telegram as part of a premeditated trick in order to influence Dr. Tiso and :Durcansky, or did the Hungarians really intend to occupy Slovakia? All documents and published memoirs prove that the Hungarian government undoubtedly aimed at the annexation of Slovakia in 1938-1939; this was a twenty-year effort on the part of Magyar politicians and diplomats, in 1938 strongly supported by Mussolini and Ciano, and never denied by any Magyar. The slogan of Magyar politics between the wars was "Mindent visza" - everything returned that Hungary "lost" at the 'P eace Conference of 1919 or prior to that time. In 1938-1939 the Magyars saw, for the first time, an opportunity for their dreams and desires to be realized. According to published documents of the Nurenberg Trials, the telegram sent to Hitler by Hungary's Regent Nicholas Horthy and mentioned during the conversations between the Chancellor Hitler and the Slovak representatives, reads as follows : Your Excellency: Heartfelt thanks. I cannot express how happy I am, for this headI dislike using big words water region is, in fact, for Hungary a vital question. Notwithstanding our recruits of but five weeks, we are tackling the matter with enthusiasm. The plans are already laid. On Thursday the 16th of this month a frontier incident will take place, to be followed on Saturday by the big thrust. I shall never forget this proof of friendship and Your Excellency can at all times ever rely steadfastly on my gratitude. In friendly devotion Horthy Budapest, March 13, 1939. The term "headwater region" means Slovakia, and, since the Slovak leaders were informed by Dr. Vehsenmeyer already in February of a planned invasion of Slovakia by Hungary about March 15, they definitely could not doubt the seriousness of the situation. In fact, the Hungarian menace played quite an important role before Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were invited by Chancellor Hitler to Berlin. When President Ha.cha, on March 10, deposed the Slovak autonomous government and 1 �SLOVAKIA 3 issued orders for the arrest over 300 Slovak leaders, including the members of Dr. Tiso's government and the Slovak Diet, Dr. :Durcansky fled to Vienna in order to save Slovakia from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors. :Durcansky was one of the Slovak politicians who knew of German plans with regard to Bohemia, since he was also present at the meeting with Dr. Vehsenmeyer, on February 13, at which the latter informed Slovak leaders of Hungary's plans. After a long discussion with deposed premier Msgr. Tiso, the writer, on the afternoon of March 10, crossed the Danube in order to meet :Durcansky on Austrian territory and discuss the proper steps to be taken. There was no doubt that Germany would, within two or three days, occupy Bohemia and Slovakia's fate depended on Slovakia's decision and political adroitness. For :Durcansky and the writer it was clear that the hour of decision in regard to Slovakia's independence had arrived. In our eyes, it was one of the historical opportunities which numerically small, dominated peoples cannot bypass without paying heavy penalties. Long before March, we spoke and wrote on Slovakia's right to independence and definitely no hatred toward the Czechs or sympathy for Germany or Nazism played any role in our minds. As members of the conservative Slovak People's Party with a Christian democratic world outlook, we were opposed to the Nazi ideology or political system from all points of view. We were both former functionaries of Catholic University organizations (1), who received their political schooling in Paris and we were adherents to the philosophy of the natural right of peoples to self-government. In our opinion, and such was the case with many educated Slovaks of our generation, the March events presented to Slovaks the first international opportunity to apply the right to independence. When we saw that Slovakia could be saved at the same time from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors, we feverishly worked on preparing Slovakia's declaration of independence. A draft of a government of Independent Slovakia was prepared by :Durcansky, and we discussed what steps to take in Slova- �4 SLOVAKIA kia and what to do in Vienna and Berlin where, since Munich, there was undoubtedl y a new "Versailles " for Central Europe, with a German free hand in disposing of the future of Central European peoples. While Durcansky returned to Vienna, the writer crossed the Danube with the draft of the new governmen t and had a task to obtain Dr. Tiso's consent and to convince Karol Sidor that the hour had struck for declaring Slovakia's independen ce ; that it was the only way to save Slovakia and that we should not hesitate to seize a historical opportunity to achieve what peoples of the globe, including the Americans, tried to achieve by blood and bitter battle as the highest ideal of their national aspirations . Back in Bratislava I found the situation a little confused but no longer in the hands of the Czech gendarmer ie and army. The Hlinka Guards and university students were openly manifestat ing for independen ce. Dr. Tiso left Bratislava in the meantime, for his parish town Banovce, and I was able to reach him only through messengers and by the telephone. My long discussion with Karol Sidor, who was on the list of the future governmen t of independen t Slovakia as Prime Minister, was not successful He was reluctant to give a written statement that he was in favor of Slovakia's independen ce, though he agreed with our activities for independen ce. Sidor feared that I could be arrested and such a statement, if found by the police would cause more harm than good. He feared particularl y that the Czechs would execute the 300 Slovak political prisoners among whom he had many personal friends. ,Sidor was not against Slovakia's independen ce in principle and had previous contacts with German representat ives, the last on March 7 with Seyss-Inqu art with whom he discussed such a possibility. According to his views, expressed during our conversation, the situation was not yet ripe and, therefore, he said he would neither hinder nor help if anyone else were to try to make Slovakia independen t (2). Sidor's behavior was also caused, as I learned during my second conversatio n with him, by the fact that he knew that Prague would appoint him Prime Minister of the Slovak Autonomou s Governmen t. In the middle of our second �SLOVAKIA 5 discussion, Prague's radio actually announced that President Ha.cha nominated him head of the Slovak Autonomous Government. Sidor got off his seat after the news and sa~d to me: "For the time being, I am decided to accept this . premiership." My secretary and several officers of the A c a d e m 1 c Guard were waiting in front of Sidor's residence and one of them was sent to bring the news to Dr. :Durcansky who, in the firm hope that my mission was successful, in the meantime, informed the German representative s in Vienna that Slovakia would declare independence and handed them the draft of the proposed Slovak government headed by Dr. Tiso as President and Sidor as Prime Minister (3). The radio news of Sidor's acceptance of Hacha's nomination caused confusion in Vienna and Berlin about the Slovak situation and it was for this reason that Hitler send Keppler to Bratislava to learn from Sidor what was the intention of :Slovak leaders. W. Keppler, who was at that time Secretary of State, accompanied by Reichs Governor, Seyss-Inquart , the Gauleiter of Astria, Joseph Biirckel, Franz Karmasin, and Rudolf Vavra, an active leader of the Slovak group in Vienna, paid a midnight visit to Sidor in the government building in Bratislava. Sidor expected the visitors and to the contrary of what was unobjectively reported about impolite behavior and pressure, Keppler behaved politely, did not insist and did not threaten. He informed Sidor, apologizing for his late visit, that Chancellor Hitler received telegrams urging him to support Slovakia's claim for independence and, therefore, sent him to ascertain the real state of affairs. Sidor at first argued evasively through an interpreter and tried to convince his visitors that Slovakia was not yet prepared, according to his views, and that the Parliament and not individuals had the right to declare independence. The discussion became less diplomatic only when Biirckel, who was apparently under the influence of alcohol, began to talk loudly and showed Sidor the list of government which Dr. :Durcansky had sent to Berlin, relying on the success of my earlier discussions with Sidor. Bfirckel, undiplomatica lly and not quite in line with the truth, in- �6 SLOVAKIA sisted that Sidor had already given his consent "when Dr. Kirschbaum visited you". Sidor declared that it was not true. Biirckel, surprised and irate, retorted that "the Fuhrer must not be embarrasse d and deceived". Though Sidor tried to explain that he had neither embarrasse d nor deceived Chancellor Hitler, Keppler and his entourage seemed apparently diappointed and disillusioned, and Keppler later reported to Hitler that Sidor was a "soldier of Prague and had been bribed". It was this failure of Keppler's mission which motivated Hitler to send an invitation to Dr. Joseph Tiso. The writer was asked by :Durcansky from Vienna to find out if Tiso would accept such an invitation. I called Dr. Tiso at about midnight and mentioned that I wished to discuss matters of utmost importance with him. Dr. Tiso answered that it was too late to discuss serious matters and asked me to call the next morning. I immediatel y sent two reliable officers of the Acandemic Guards and my chauffeur with a message to Dr. Tiso's parish town and informed Dr. :Durcansky in Vienna. Another messenger was, however, also enroute with two formal invitations through Consular channels. Dr. Tiso asked the writer to inform the president of The Slovak Diet, the Slovak Governmen t and the leadership of the Hlinka Party that he would be back in Bratislava for consultatio n in the morning. At a joint meeting of all the leaders of Parliament , Governmen t, and the Party - it was decided, on the morning of March 13, to accept the invitation. Accompani ed by a member of Parliament , Dr. Tiso left for Vienna and from Vienna, joined by Dr. :Durcansky and Keppler, flew to Berlin. For truth's sake, the writer adds that Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were received in Berlin in accordance with diplomatic protocol, as representat ives of foreign nations were accustomed to being received. From many discussions which the writer had with Dr. Tiso on this subject and from Dr. Tiso's report to the Slovak Diet on March 14, 1939, it is clear that the Slovak representat ives were received politely and no pressure or arrogant behavior (such as adversaries of Slovak independen ce tried to make the Western World believe) ( 4) was resorted to on that occasion. �SLOVAKIA 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 SL OV AK IA Published by the Slovak League of America VOrL. IX MARCH, 1959 NO. 4 (29) FACTS AND EVENTS BEHIND THE SCENES OF SLOVAKIA'S DEOLAR ATION OF INDEPE NDENCE (A chapter from the book "The Case of Slovakia" to be published on the occasion of the twentieth anniversar y of Slovakia's declaration of Independen ce ) By J. M. Kirschba um The presentat ion of events which led to Slovakia' s declaration of independe nce needs some comment s and explanation in order to be properly understoo d. Some American historian s accepted, without the necessary caution, the one-sided Czech presentat ion of the political causes, as well as of the activities of individua l Slovak politician s and their intentions . Three things are to be particula rly comment ed upon: 1) the imminent menace of Hungaria n occupatio n; 2) the visit of Keppler-S eyss-Inqu art-Biirck el to Bratislav a, or the so-called Sidor episode; and, 3) attitudes and activities of the prinicpal Slovak leaders. The writer, though too young according to the American standard s to play a role in national politics, was, in many respects, involved in the ,M arch imbroglio as a former member of the editorial staff of the Slovak People's Party newspape rs, as a leader of universit y and youth organizatio ns, and since October 1938 as the Executiv e Secretary to the Minister of Justice and, finally, as a close friend of Alexande r Mach and Dr. Ferdinan d Durcansk y. Being one of those on the list of the Prague's government who was supposed to be arrested on March 10, 1939, the writer was from the first moment in continuou s contact with Dr. Joseph Tiso and Karol 1Sidor, on the one hand, and with Dr. Durcansk y over the border in Vienna, on the other, and, of course, with Alexande r Mach and the leaders of the Universit y Hlinka Guards, as well. SLOVAKIA 2 Was there any serious Hungarian menace? Did Ribbentrop use Horthy's telegram as part of a premeditated trick in order to influence Dr. Tiso and :Durcansky, or did the Hungarians really intend to occupy Slovakia? All documents and published memoirs prove that the Hungarian government undoubtedly aimed at the annexation of Slovakia in 1938-1939; this was a twenty-year effort on the part of Magyar politicians and diplomats, in 1938 strongly supported by Mussolini and Ciano, and never denied by any Magyar. The slogan of Magyar politics between the wars was "Mindent visza" - everything returned that Hungary "lost" at the 'P eace Conference of 1919 or prior to that time. In 1938-1939 the Magyars saw, for the first time, an opportunity for their dreams and desires to be realized. According to published documents of the Nurenberg Trials, the telegram sent to Hitler by Hungary's Regent Nicholas Horthy and mentioned during the conversations between the Chancellor Hitler and the Slovak representatives, reads as follows : Your Excellency: Heartfelt thanks. I cannot express how happy I am, for this headI dislike using big words water region is, in fact, for Hungary a vital question. Notwithstanding our recruits of but five weeks, we are tackling the matter with enthusiasm. The plans are already laid. On Thursday the 16th of this month a frontier incident will take place, to be followed on Saturday by the big thrust. I shall never forget this proof of friendship and Your Excellency can at all times ever rely steadfastly on my gratitude. In friendly devotion Horthy Budapest, March 13, 1939. The term "headwater region" means Slovakia, and, since the Slovak leaders were informed by Dr. Vehsenmeyer already in February of a planned invasion of Slovakia by Hungary about March 15, they definitely could not doubt the seriousness of the situation. In fact, the Hungarian menace played quite an important role before Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were invited by Chancellor Hitler to Berlin. When President Ha.cha, on March 10, deposed the Slovak autonomous government and 1 SLOVAKIA 3 issued orders for the arrest over 300 Slovak leaders, including the members of Dr. Tiso's government and the Slovak Diet, Dr. :Durcansky fled to Vienna in order to save Slovakia from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors. :Durcansky was one of the Slovak politicians who knew of German plans with regard to Bohemia, since he was also present at the meeting with Dr. Vehsenmeyer, on February 13, at which the latter informed Slovak leaders of Hungary's plans. After a long discussion with deposed premier Msgr. Tiso, the writer, on the afternoon of March 10, crossed the Danube in order to meet :Durcansky on Austrian territory and discuss the proper steps to be taken. There was no doubt that Germany would, within two or three days, occupy Bohemia and Slovakia's fate depended on Slovakia's decision and political adroitness. For :Durcansky and the writer it was clear that the hour of decision in regard to Slovakia's independence had arrived. In our eyes, it was one of the historical opportunities which numerically small, dominated peoples cannot bypass without paying heavy penalties. Long before March, we spoke and wrote on Slovakia's right to independence and definitely no hatred toward the Czechs or sympathy for Germany or Nazism played any role in our minds. As members of the conservative Slovak People's Party with a Christian democratic world outlook, we were opposed to the Nazi ideology or political system from all points of view. We were both former functionaries of Catholic University organizations (1), who received their political schooling in Paris and we were adherents to the philosophy of the natural right of peoples to self-government. In our opinion, and such was the case with many educated Slovaks of our generation, the March events presented to Slovaks the first international opportunity to apply the right to independence. When we saw that Slovakia could be saved at the same time from Hungarian occupation or division among the neighbors, we feverishly worked on preparing Slovakia's declaration of independence. A draft of a government of Independent Slovakia was prepared by :Durcansky, and we discussed what steps to take in Slova- 4 SLOVAKIA kia and what to do in Vienna and Berlin where, since Munich, there was undoubtedl y a new "Versailles " for Central Europe, with a German free hand in disposing of the future of Central European peoples. While Durcansky returned to Vienna, the writer crossed the Danube with the draft of the new governmen t and had a task to obtain Dr. Tiso's consent and to convince Karol Sidor that the hour had struck for declaring Slovakia's independen ce ; that it was the only way to save Slovakia and that we should not hesitate to seize a historical opportunity to achieve what peoples of the globe, including the Americans, tried to achieve by blood and bitter battle as the highest ideal of their national aspirations . Back in Bratislava I found the situation a little confused but no longer in the hands of the Czech gendarmer ie and army. The Hlinka Guards and university students were openly manifestat ing for independen ce. Dr. Tiso left Bratislava in the meantime, for his parish town Banovce, and I was able to reach him only through messengers and by the telephone. My long discussion with Karol Sidor, who was on the list of the future governmen t of independen t Slovakia as Prime Minister, was not successful He was reluctant to give a written statement that he was in favor of Slovakia's independen ce, though he agreed with our activities for independen ce. Sidor feared that I could be arrested and such a statement, if found by the police would cause more harm than good. He feared particularl y that the Czechs would execute the 300 Slovak political prisoners among whom he had many personal friends. ,Sidor was not against Slovakia's independen ce in principle and had previous contacts with German representat ives, the last on March 7 with Seyss-Inqu art with whom he discussed such a possibility. According to his views, expressed during our conversation, the situation was not yet ripe and, therefore, he said he would neither hinder nor help if anyone else were to try to make Slovakia independen t (2). Sidor's behavior was also caused, as I learned during my second conversatio n with him, by the fact that he knew that Prague would appoint him Prime Minister of the Slovak Autonomou s Governmen t. In the middle of our second SLOVAKIA 5 discussion, Prague's radio actually announced that President Ha.cha nominated him head of the Slovak Autonomous Government. Sidor got off his seat after the news and sa~d to me: "For the time being, I am decided to accept this . premiership." My secretary and several officers of the A c a d e m 1 c Guard were waiting in front of Sidor's residence and one of them was sent to bring the news to Dr. :Durcansky who, in the firm hope that my mission was successful, in the meantime, informed the German representative s in Vienna that Slovakia would declare independence and handed them the draft of the proposed Slovak government headed by Dr. Tiso as President and Sidor as Prime Minister (3). The radio news of Sidor's acceptance of Hacha's nomination caused confusion in Vienna and Berlin about the Slovak situation and it was for this reason that Hitler send Keppler to Bratislava to learn from Sidor what was the intention of :Slovak leaders. W. Keppler, who was at that time Secretary of State, accompanied by Reichs Governor, Seyss-Inquart , the Gauleiter of Astria, Joseph Biirckel, Franz Karmasin, and Rudolf Vavra, an active leader of the Slovak group in Vienna, paid a midnight visit to Sidor in the government building in Bratislava. Sidor expected the visitors and to the contrary of what was unobjectively reported about impolite behavior and pressure, Keppler behaved politely, did not insist and did not threaten. He informed Sidor, apologizing for his late visit, that Chancellor Hitler received telegrams urging him to support Slovakia's claim for independence and, therefore, sent him to ascertain the real state of affairs. Sidor at first argued evasively through an interpreter and tried to convince his visitors that Slovakia was not yet prepared, according to his views, and that the Parliament and not individuals had the right to declare independence. The discussion became less diplomatic only when Biirckel, who was apparently under the influence of alcohol, began to talk loudly and showed Sidor the list of government which Dr. :Durcansky had sent to Berlin, relying on the success of my earlier discussions with Sidor. Bfirckel, undiplomatica lly and not quite in line with the truth, in- 6 SLOVAKIA sisted that Sidor had already given his consent "when Dr. Kirschbaum visited you". Sidor declared that it was not true. Biirckel, surprised and irate, retorted that "the Fuhrer must not be embarrasse d and deceived". Though Sidor tried to explain that he had neither embarrasse d nor deceived Chancellor Hitler, Keppler and his entourage seemed apparently diappointed and disillusioned, and Keppler later reported to Hitler that Sidor was a "soldier of Prague and had been bribed". It was this failure of Keppler's mission which motivated Hitler to send an invitation to Dr. Joseph Tiso. The writer was asked by :Durcansky from Vienna to find out if Tiso would accept such an invitation. I called Dr. Tiso at about midnight and mentioned that I wished to discuss matters of utmost importance with him. Dr. Tiso answered that it was too late to discuss serious matters and asked me to call the next morning. I immediatel y sent two reliable officers of the Acandemic Guards and my chauffeur with a message to Dr. Tiso's parish town and informed Dr. :Durcansky in Vienna. Another messenger was, however, also enroute with two formal invitations through Consular channels. Dr. Tiso asked the writer to inform the president of The Slovak Diet, the Slovak Governmen t and the leadership of the Hlinka Party that he would be back in Bratislava for consultatio n in the morning. At a joint meeting of all the leaders of Parliament , Governmen t, and the Party - it was decided, on the morning of March 13, to accept the invitation. Accompani ed by a member of Parliament , Dr. Tiso left for Vienna and from Vienna, joined by Dr. :Durcansky and Keppler, flew to Berlin. For truth's sake, the writer adds that Dr. Tiso and Dr. :Durcansky were received in Berlin in accordance with diplomatic protocol, as representat ives of foreign nations were accustomed to being received. From many discussions which the writer had with Dr. Tiso on this subject and from Dr. Tiso's report to the Slovak Diet on March 14, 1939, it is clear that the Slovak representat ives were received politely and no pressure or arrogant behavior (such as adversaries of Slovak independen ce tried to make the Western World believe) ( 4) was resorted to on that occasion. SLOVAKIA 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up  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 Facts and Events Behind the Scenes of Slovakia's Declaration of Independence Description An account of the resource J. M. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959 pp. 1-7 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/44dea4db73a2cba7053fc15fdcff2cab.pdf 18d19ff1faa43e1fbf52876c80522a5e PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up �8 SLOVAKIA military installations in a zone bounded on the west by the frontier of the Slovak State and on the east by the general line of the eastern edge of the Little Carpathians, the eastern edge of the White Carpathians and the eastern edge of Javorniky, and to man these installations with such forces as the German Wehrmacht consider necessary ... Military sovereign rights (Hoheitsrechts) will be exercised by the German Wehrmacht (in this zone)" (3) . The establishment of this zone ( 4) represents in many respects an interesting aspect of Slovak-German relations. It casts a favorable light on a well-conceived but less successful attempt to extricate Slovak foreign policy from the agreed upon Slovak-German coordination in this field. This praiseworthy attempt and the subsequent unyielding behavior of Slovak politicians in the face of Hitler's demands contrast sharply with the charges of vassalage and servile obedience. In fact, the Slovaks resisted and contradicted Hitler's wishes (and with some success, too ) when powerful nations yielded and were advising others to yield. The negotiations concerning the zone were initiated on the night of March 17-18, 1939, in Vienna. At this time the occupation of Western Slovakia was already an accomplished fact (5) and - since possession is nine points of the law - the position of the ISlovak negotiators was noticeably weakened and by no means enviable. Nevertheless Dr. Joseph Tiso, Durcansky, Tuka, and Mach, the principal Slovak representatives, were determined to save could be saved. Preliminary negotiations started at Biirckel's flat at 5 p. m. Afterwards the Slovaks met SeyssInquart, then Keitel, and finally, at 1 a . m., on the 18th, in the Hotel Imperial they faced Hitler. Each stop represented more humiliation and more pressing demands and brought home one thing: Hitler was going to exact a high price for his protection ; much higher than he ever hinted at in Berlin on March 13th. Tiso was so disappointed at what he rightly considered - being let down that h e wanted to return to Bratislava without even seeing Hitler. Only his companions persuaded him to stay, arguing that in front of the Germans they all ought to show a united �SLOVAKIA 9 determination not to give up even an inch of sacred Slovak soil (6). When Hitler, in the presence of Ribbentrop and Keitel, met the Slovaks, he told them - according to the testimony of Tiso - that the 'Shutzvertrag' could be realized only if Germany were given far-reaching concessions to build up a zone in Western Slovakia. The extent of these concessions - as Tiso clearly saw - left the Slovaks practically without any rights to exercise their sovereignty in that territory. It was more than he could bear. At 2 :45 A. M. he got up and was at the point of departure. Hitler, it must be said, in spite of his many shortcommings had a soft spot for the Slovaks and, apparently moved by the pathetic sight of the hardpressed protegees, stopped Tiso with a very assuring piece of oratory. He said: "I do not want even an inch of Slovak ground. In Slovakia the Slovaks alone will develop their own national, cultural, and economic life. I shall guarantee the full independence and territorial integrity of Slovakia. The historical frontiers of Slovakia are and remain forever unchanged. I shall hold my protective hand over ,S lovakia and nobody will reach with stealthy hand for the Slovak State, where the Slovaks will live their own full life" (7). This rhetorical outburst pacified the Slovaks; the rest of the discussion was carried on in a much happier mood. The Slovaks ceded the Germans the right to build and man fortifications in the zone "so as to enable the German Wehrmacht, in the event of war, to take up such positions as are most advantageous to it" (8). The Slovak delegation left Vienna with the impression that the zone remained within the legal structure of the Slovak State. No treaty was formulated or signed that night. Formal negotiations were conducted on the afternoon of March 18. Tiso did not take part in these conversations. The Slovaks were represented by Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, Tuka a Zvrskovec; the Germans by Keppler and Gaus, the legal adviser to the Foreign Minister. The Treaty of Protection ( Schutzvertrag) was signed in Vienna the same day by :Durcansky and Tuka who also pledged to obtain Tiso's signature to the Treaty by noon of March 19, in re-1 �10 SLOVAKIA turn for which Keppl er undert ook to get Ribbe ntrop's signature within 24 hours. :Durcansky, Tuka, and Veesenmayer broug ht the Treaty to Tiso for signat ure the evening March 18; he signed it and appear ed to be satisfi ed · with its formu lation (9). Ribben trop, on the other hand, did not sign the Treaty within the stipula ted time limit. All in all, the Germa ns were in no partic ular hurry with respec t to the Slovaks. The reason for their procra stinati on, which was so frustra ting and inexpl icable to the Slovak s then (10), is seen clearly now: they hoped to come to terms with the Poles and Hunga rians. The Polish White Book gives an accoun t of Ribbentrop's propos als to Lipski on March 21 (11), namely , that German-lPolish discus sions "would be possib le on this subject" (i. e., on the questi on of Slovak ia). But the Germa ns must have consid ered the Polish attitud e discou raging , and Ribbe ntrop put his signat ure on the Treaty on -March 23, in Berlin (12), but not before Article 3 of the Treaty was modifi ed and the words "in order to defend Slovak State agains t any possib le extern al attack s" were omitte d. Once the Treaty was signed, the execut ion of Article 2 proved to be more difficu lt than anticip ated. Appar ently the Germa n milita ry author ities were not very happy with what, after all, was a politic al settlem ent. Their behavi or left much to be desire d and Slovak protes ts were very soon pourin g in. At first, the surpri sed Slovak s asked for an explan ation, but later protes ted very vigorio usly. On March 25, the .Slovak Foreig n ·M inistry in a 'note verbal e" called for a more definit e determ ination of the probable durati on and charac ter in intern ationa l law of the Germa n occupa tion of Slovak territo ry. The note also protested a•g ainst the exerci se of sovere ign rights "beyon d those of milita ry necess ity" and agains t the remov al of milita ry materi al which - they claime d - by the secess ion of Slovak ia, had leg-ally become Slovak 'State proper ty (13). It was inevita ble that the occupa tion would cause considera ble frictio n betwee n the Slovak popula tion and the Germa n troops , and that this frictio n would projec t unfavora bly into Slovak -Germ an relatio ns. But the amoun t �SLOVAKIA 11 of misunderstanding surpassed every expectation. The Slovaks in their optimistic enthusiasm were determined to enjoy their newly-gained independence to the fullest extent and consequently found the German presence in the zone very annoying and did not even try to hide their displeasure. The Germans, on the other hand, especially the military, did not bother to adjust their behavior in respect to the Slovaks. An ordinary German soldier and officer, fresh from victorious entries into Austria, the Sudetenland, and Bohemia, was hardly expected to be less arrogant towards Slovaks than he was towards Czechs; superiority was after all the essential part of his make-up. There were many instances of discontent, misunderstanding, and small incidents, and their existence could be best gauged by the frequent apologies and assurances which the 'Slovak Press Bureau was issuing in the newspapers and on the air. Under pressure of Slovak protests and complaints, the German representatives of General Staff and Foreign Ministry, at a meeting on March 28, agreed on a unified attitude towards the question of the zone. Their conclusions, though still by no means modest, represent in many respects retreat in the face of the Slovak protests, and can be briefly summarized as follows: 1. Withdrawal of the German Custom Frontier Protection Force to the Slovak-Moravian frontier. 2. The Vah fixed as the line of military occupation. 3. Appointment of a staff officer to the Consul General to act as liaison between the Slovak Army and the Wehrmacht. 4. The German troops east of the Vah to be recalled. 5. German claim to the entire war material of the former Czecho~Slovak army. 6. No removal of war material east of the occupied zone. 7. Decision as to size of the Slovak army. 8. Creation of s e p a r ate military formation for the Volksdeutche (14). Negotiations on the above topics took place on April 4 and were reported by Pares. Unfortunately no details concerning conversations are available, but it is known that �12 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were represented by Dr. Tiso and the Ministers of War, Finance, and Economics, and the chief subject was the removal of war material "purchased by the German Government from the Czecho-!S lovak Government which had been stored in Slovakia" (15). As a result of these conversations, in addition to a German military adviser to be sent to Bratislava, a mixed Slovak-German commission was to be appointed to settle any controversial issue. At about the same time Tuka in his broadcast promised that the German army would leave when it was no longer needed. On April 15, the High Command of the Wehrmacht submitted a list of requirements, the fulfilment of which was expected from the Slovak Government under the Treaty of Protection. The demands, even in their "more lenient" form, were very exacting: 1. The High Command intended to maintain its military forces east of the Vah until the removal of "Czech arms and Czech war material" was completed. 2. Among the sovereign rights they claimed the right to occupy military and also public and private buildings, to use all forms and means of transport, to have at their disposal the factories concerned with war economy, duty-free import and export, postal services, telecommunications and Intelligence Service (Abwehrdienst). 3. The zone to include also Trencin, Krupa, Zilina, and Povazska Bystrica. 4. The size of Slovak army to be completed at one per cent of the population. 5. No units of the Slovak army to be garrisoned within the zone, but para-military formations (Hlinka Guards) to be allowed. 6. Export and import of war material to and from Slovakia to be refused or permitted by the Slovak Government only in agreement with the Reich Government or the High Command of the Wehrmacht (16). When these requirements were communicated by Druffel to Tiso, the latter declared that the Slovak Government did not wish to make difficulties, but asked for discussions with the German authorities on the highest level before �SLOVAKIA 13 making any definite commitments. The Germans consented and, as a result, a conference took place in Berlin on April 19. Slovak representatives included Tiso, :Durcansky, and Tuka, the Ministry of Defense was represented by Catlos and Schneider, and also present were Cernak and Szathmary from the Slovak Legation in Berlin. The German delegation consisted of top-ranking experts, both political and military, but conspicious by their absence were the policy making personalities of the Reich. Its members were: Weissacker, Keppler, Wormann, Gaus, Altenburg, Tippelskirsch, HeydenRynsch, and Becker. Slovak grievances were numerous. To start with, Tiso mentioned the occupation by German troops of the aerodrome of Malacky and the demand by a German armored formation for transit through Bratislava. Then he complained of the severity of the demands of the German Wehrmacht, stating that "extension of the zone to Trencin and Zilina was hardly bearable for the Slovak Government"; of the behaviour of the German troops who in some villages occupied schools and thus made school attendance impossible, and employed Czech workers in preference to Slovaks. Furthermore, he claimed a share in the ownership of the former Czecho-Slovak arms factories and clamored for the return of a number of aircraft. German answers were either non-commital or asked to extend negotiations to clarify the application of the Treaty. Apparently the Slovaks demanded more than the German representatives were empowered to grant. Meanwhile the joint Slovak~German Commission was negotiating the treaty on the Zone of Protection but it did not seem to make any noticeable progress. On June 12, the Slovaks submitted another "note verbale'' which contained a number of Slovak views on the interpretation of the text of the Treaty. Arguments advanced by Slovaks were discussed at the conference on June 19 (17), where Tiso expressed the wish to draw up a memorandum and to discuss it personally with Hitler in hopeful expectation that the Slovaks might get more favorable treatment at the hands of the Fuhrer, than they were getting from his representatives. Hitler, however, declined to see Tiso and refused to consider the various points of the Slovak memorandum. �14 SLOVAKIA On June 21 this memorandum, in the form of an "aide memoire", was submitted to the German Foreign Ministry (18). It represented a voluminous list of complaints and expressed an outburst of accumulated Slovak indi,gnation about the German injustices. It questioned German rights to exclude Slovak garrisons from the zonal area, the interpretation of "sovereign rights", and claimed as Slovak the former Cecho..!Slovak military installations which were taken over by the Wehnnacht (such as the artillery range at Malacky); furthermore, it also questioned the wisdom of maintaining German ,garrisons outside the zone (e. g., in .Zilina, Trencin, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn) and criticised excursions of German troops to Bratislava and other places outside the zone. With regard to military material, the Slovak memorandum complained about the removal of war material from Pezinok, Modra, Malacky, Plavecke Podhradie, Hlboke, Turecky Vrch, Senica, Nemcova, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn, Trencin, Istebnik, Skalka, and .Zilina in a manner which "transgressed the bounds of an amicable atmosphere". Furthermore, it objected to occupation of munition factories and factories producing various types of war material at Dubnica, Povazska IBystrica, Stara Tura, Myjava, and .Zilina; to taking over of the stocks and installations of the airports at Novy Dvor and .Zilina; and it sadly commented that proceedings connected with the removal of war material were often conducted "as though Slovakia were an enemy country and not a State whose political and territorial independence had been guaranted by the Flihrer and Chancellor". The memorandum concluded a few more grievances against the military authorities whose attitude caused "administrative and economic uncertainty". The matter was then brought to Hitler's attention. This is evident from a statement made by Keitel on June 20, according to which Hitler's decision on the subject at the conference held by him amounted to the following: "The Flihrer said that he wished the negotiations to be conducted energetically and resolutely which, together with our concrete offers, must lead to early success. The prerequisite for the proposed support of Slovakia is the complete accep- �SLOVAKIA 15 tance of our demeands, the more so as Slovakia is dependent on our military, economic, and financial aid." This authoritative pronouncement meant that all the subsequent attempts of the ,Slovaks for better terms encountered the adamant attitude of the German authorities. Thus, when, on June 22, the Slovak Minister in 'Berlin (Matus Cernak) saw Wormann at the German Foreign Ministry, he was brusquely told that the Germans disagreed with the Slovak Foreign Ministry's attempts to establish inconsistencies between the demands of the German Military Delegation and the assurances given by leading German statesmen regarding the conclusion of the Treaty of Protection. He was asked to make it clear in Bratislava that "the Military Delegation was among these demands in the name of the German Government". Cernak sugested that concessions be made by both parties and thought that this would make it possible to reach an agreement which would "not only maintain, but arouse sympathy for Germany" among the Slovak poulation. But Wormann had little understanding for the Slovak point of view and berated the Slovaks because several of the demands expressed in the memorandum of June 19 were in contradiction to the Treaty of Protection (19). On July 3, Cernak again called on the German Foreign Ministry, where he saw Weizsa.cker. He pleaded with him for moderation of the German demands, arguing that "Tiso's ... pro-German policy would be shaken, if it were not supported. In case of emergency, Slovakia would, of course, be completely at the disposal of German Armed Forces, but in peace-time one ought to remain within the scope of the terms of the Treaty. But again Cerna.k's arguments were of no avail and were, one by one, refuted by Weizsa.cker. Faced with such an uncooperative attitude, Cernak asked to be allowed to speak to Ribbentrop personally, but was told that the Foreign Minister was not available (20). The Slovaks, ignorant of Hitler's decision and trusting in his words with hopeful optimism, left no stone unturned in their attempts to secure more favorable terms. Their representatives were untiring in demanding interviews with Hitler and Ribbentrop who, as the chief architects of the 1 �16 SLOVAKIA Slovak-German Treaty, could be made, they thought, to stand up to their promises. In this, however, they wer e unsuccessful. But they could get only to Weizsacker; and he, after trying to persuade them that the German negotiators "were acting on the instructions issued to them by the authoritative persons in the Reich", admonished the Slovaks that they should look at them as such and "conduct themselves accordingly" (21). As time went by, the Germans were getting progressively more and more anxious to have the whole issue about the interpretation of the Treaty finally settled and were apparently annoyed by the delay caused by the stubborness of the Slovaks. In view of the approaching German~olish conflict it was paramont for them to have their stand in Slovakia precisely determined and legalized. Their activity (often on the verge of nervousness) was in sharp contrast with the patient and determined attitude of the Slovaks who were unwilling to retreat. The situation was provided with a real touch of comedy when the Slovak statesmen went on their summer holidays (Tiso left for Topofcianky, Durcansky for the High Tatras) while German couriers were flying between and Bratislava. On July 19, Druffel was shown a report from Cernak according to which Eisenlohr and Weizsacker had expressed themselves in favour of token Slovak garrisons in the protected zone. On the strength of this report, Durcansky urged Catlos to dispatch some troops into the zone. On July 2:1, Catlos ordered one batallion to move in and, at the same time, informed the German military mission of his action. From the Germans came a vehement protest, coupled with threats, and the order was recalled. This move displeased Durcansky immensely. He maintained that Catlos should have created a "fait accompli" without regard for the German military mission and their feelings. The argument went so far that Catlos threatened to resign (22). Whether Catlos's action was right or wrong is open to question. It may be recalled, however, that at that time, the German military authorities were resolutely against ·any Slovak troops in that zone, and the same view was shared by Hitler. �SLOVAKIA 17 On July 17, the German Foreign Ministry sent to their representative in Bratislava a letter of instructions with an enclosed draft of the Treaty on the Zone of Protection (23). With this draft as a basis, new negotiations ensued. Unfortunately no records were found concerning their course. From the report of tH. Bernard (new German Minister to Slovakia who replaced Druffel), we learn that they were concluded by July 31 and the Slovak representatives (again, we do not know, who they were; Tuka was probably one of them; Tiso and :Durcansky were vacationing) accepted the draft of the treaty with small amendments (24). Barckhausen then took this modified version of the Treaty to Berlin and, on August 7, brought it to Bratislava to Tuka, who then forwarded it to Tiso and :Durcansky (on their vacation) with a request for their approval (25 ). But the Treaty in its new form did not appeal either to Tiso or :Durcansky. Rejecting various points of the draft, they again upset the German applecart. On August 10, a new series of discussions was initiated, this time with :Durcansky present. These discussions finally brought concrete results. On Saturday evening, August 12, 1939, the Treaty on the Zone of Protection was signed at Bratislava by Minister Bernard and Lt. General Barckhausen on behalf of the German Reich, and by the Slovak Premier Tiso. The Treaty consisted of four Sections. Section I delimitated its extent. ,S ection II defined military sovereign rights of the German Wehrmacht and the sovereign rights of the Slovak State; German military sovereign rights included the right to requisition public and private premises, to use all means and lines of transportation, and to supervise armament factories working for the Reich; Germany was also given jurisdiction over her nationals; this Section also provided for Slovak garrisions within the zone. Section 1',III laid down rules regarding the employment of the personnel and material in, and on the payment for, the construction of fortifications. Section IV contained provisions for settlement of differences arising from the application of the Treaty. 1 �SLOVAKIA: 16 Verbatim German Text of Treaty (.From Photostat) Abschrift. Schutzzonenvert rag Zur Regelung der sich aus dem Schutzvertrage vom 18./23. Marz 1939 ergebenden Fragen ist zwischen dem Deutschen Reich und der Slowakischen Republik durch die unterzeichneten Bevollmachtigten beider Regierungen folgendes vereinbart worden. Abschnitt I): Abgrenzung der Schutzzone. Artikel 1: Die Ausdehnung der in Artikel 2 des deutsch-slowakis chen Vertrages vom 18./ 23. Marz 1939 genannten Zone in folgendem mit ''Schutzzone" bezeichnet - ergibt sich aus der diesem Vertrage als Bestandteil angehefteten Landkarte in Masstabe 1: 7·5,000. Die Schutzzone erstreckt sich von Westen her bis zu der dieser Landkarte eingezeichneten roten Linie, und sie schliesst den von dieser Linie bedecken Tei! des slowakischen Gebietes ein. Eine Bez·e ichnung der ostwartigen Schutzzonenbeg renzungslinie im Gelande durch Tafeln oder Grenzsteine erfolgt nicht. lnnerhalb dieser Schutzzone wird das Deutsche Reich die ihm im Schutzvertrage vom 18-/ 23. Marz 1939 von dem Slowakischen Staat iibertragenen Aufgaben nach Massgabe der Bestimmungen dieses Vertrages durchfiihren. Abschnitt II): Rechtsverhaltni sse in der Schutzzone. Artikel 2: Mit den militarischen IHoheitsrechten, deren Ausiibung der deutschen Wehrmacht in Arti~el 2 des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz iibertragen worden ist, hat sie das Recht erhalten, im Sinne der fiir die Verteidigung des Slowakischen Staates im allgemeinen bestehenden Gesetze Leistungen im gleichen Masse wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in lFriedenszeiten zu fordern (ohne die ,B estimmungen, die in dem slowakischen Gesetz Nr. 131/36 enthalten sind). Bei Aufwendungen, die iiber den Rahmen normaler Manciverleistung en auch zeitlich hinausgehen, sind die hierfiir zu zahlenden Entschadigungen nach den ortsiiblichen Tagespreisen zu bemessen. Die deutsche Wehrmacht haftet fiir Schaden in gleichem Ausmass wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in tlbungszeiten. Demzufolge hat die deutsche Wehrmacht insbesondere folgende Rechte: a) (Das Recht, jederzeit in der Schutzzone militarische Anlagen zu errichten und im 'Benehmen mit den slowakischen Behcirden tiffentliche Gebaude, Grundstiicke and Anlagen fiir militarische Zwecke in Anspruch zu nehmen und private Gebaude und Grundstiicke in Benutzun_ zu nehmen, ohne die Durchfiihrung des Enteignungsverfahrens oder des Verfahrens zur voriibergehende n Entziehung der Benutzung abzuwarten, jedoch unbeschadet ,e iner spateren Regelung der Entschadigung. Die Entschadigung wird unter Mitwirkun,g deutscher Beauftragter im Wege giitlicher Verhandlun,gen mit den Betroffenen festigesetzt. IKommt eine giitliche Eintgung nicht zustande, so bleibt es den Betroffenen vorbehalten, die Festsetzung der Entschadig-ung nach den slowakischen Gesetzen zu betragen. In diesem Falle bleibt im �SLOVAKIA 19 Verhaltnis zu dem Deutschen Reich die Hohe der Entschadigung einer Vereinbarung mit der Slowakischen Regierung vorbehalten. b) Das Recht zur Benutzung der in der Schutzzone vorhanden,en Transportmittel und Transportwege unter moglichster Berucksichtigung der wirtschaftlichen Jnteressen der Slowakischen Republik. Ausserdem kann bei Vorliegen besonderer militarischer Notwendigkeiten die Bahn Pressburg-Ty,r nau-Pistyan-Trencin'8 illeinJCadca und die Strassen Pressburg-Modern-Na das-Trencin and Pressburg-Tyrnau-Pis tyan-Trencin,Sillein>C adca, von Trencin aus bis Cadca auch auf dem ostwartigen Waag-und Kysucaufer benutzt werden. Ferner erhalt die deutsche Wehrmacht das Recht, alle Orte zwischen Pressburg (ausschliesslich) and Cadca an den oben genannten Strassen bei Vorliegen militarischer Griinde vorubergehend zur Einquartierung zu benutzen. Die Slowakische Regierung ist hiervon in Kenntnis zu setzen. Die Benutzung der Eisenbahnlinien wird durch Sondertarifabmachun gen geregelt. Bei der Benutzung anderer slowakischer Verkehrsmittel sind die ortsiiblichen Tarifsatze zu zahlen, wenn nicht im Wege der Vereinbarung ein anderweitiger Entgelt fur die Benutzung festgesetzt wird. c) Das Recht, Riistungsbetriebe, die Auftrage vom Deutschen Reich erhalten, zu beaufsichtigen und auszunutzen unter BeriicksichUgung der Bediirfnisse der slowakischen Wehrmacht. Hieriiber wird eine besondere Vereinbarung zwischen den zustandigen Stellen der Deutschen Regierung und der Regierung des Slowakischen iStaates abgeschlossen werden. d) iDas Recht, in der Schutzzone alle erforderlichen Massnahmen des militarischen Abwehrdienstes zu treffen und von den Behorden des Slowakischen Staates die Anordnung und Durchfiihrung aller hierfiir erforderlichen Exekutivmassnahmen zu verlangen. !Die Deutsche Wehrmacht hat das !Recht, gegeniiber deutschen Wehrmachtangehori<g en und den fiir Wehrmachtzwecke in der Schutzzone tatigen reichsdeutschen Beamten, An-gestellten und Arbeitern deutsche militarische Exekutivorgane einzusetzen. Diese diirfen ,g egentiber Personen, die nicht die Staatsangehorigkeit im Deutschen Reich besitzen, nur in dringenden •Fallen, sofern slowakische Sicherheitsorgane nicht errechbar sind, Exekutivmassnahmen treffen. Festgenommene sind den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden unverziiglich, spatestens binnen 24 Stunden, zu ubergeben. e) Das Recht zur zollfreien Versor,g ung der deutschen Truppen und zur zollfreien Belieferung der militarischen Anlrugen aus dem Reich. Hieriiber wird eine Sondervereinbarung getroffen. Die Slowakische Regierung wird in engsten Einvernehmen mit der deutschen Wehrmacht alle Massnahmen treffen, die erforderlich sind, um der deutschen Wehrmacht die Durchfiihrung der ihr zum Schutz des Slowakischen S·taates, der Schutzzone und der darin befindlichen Truppen und militarischen Anlagen ubertragenen Aufgaben im Sinne des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 zu ermoglichen und zu erleichtern. Artikel 3: Alie Hoheitsrechte in der Schutzzone ubt, soweit nicht im Vertrage vom 18. /2:3. Marz 1939 und in diesem Vertrage anders vereinbart, der Slowakische Staat aus. Hinsichtlich der Hoheitsrechte des Slowakischen Staates ist inbesondere folgendes vereinbart: a) Die Geltung aller jetzt und kiinftig gultigen rechtlichen Vor- �20 SLOVAKIA schriften der Slowakischen Republik erstreckt sich auf das Gebiet der Schutzzone, wenn dies nicht ausdriicklich ausgenommen wird, oder dem Sinne dieses Vertraiges und des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 widerspricht. b) ,Die slowakischen Behorden in der Schutzzone iiben ihren Dienst weiterhin aus und unterliegen weiterhin uneingeschrankt der Aufsich t der ihnen vorgesetzten Behorden des Slowakischen Staates. c) Die Ausnutzung und Belegung der in der Schutzzone befindlichen militarischen Anlagen durch die slowakische Wehrmacht, das Uberliegen der Schutzzone durch slowakische Militarflugzeu.ge soiwie das Betraten der Schutzzone durch einzelne Angehorige der slowakischen Wehrmacht wird durch besondere Vereinbarung geregelt. d) In der Schutzzone kann der Zutrtt zu militarisch wichtigen Gebietsteilen, Befestigungsarbeiten and -anlagen von der deutschen Wehrmacht verhindert werden. Das Betretungsverbot wird von den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden auf Veranlassung der deutschen Wehrmachtstellen und in beiderseitigem Einvernehmen erlassen und der Bevolkerung in ortsiiblichen Weise bekanntgegeben werden. e) Die Einrichtung von Uberfluigzonen in der Schutzzone zur Ermoglichen des gegenseitiigen zivilen Flugverkehrs wird einer besonderen Vereinbarung vorbehalten. f) Deutsche Wehrmachtangehorig e diirfen das slowakische Staatsgebiet ausserhalb der Schutzzone nur betreten 1) aus dienstlichem Anlass mit Bewilligung der slowakischen zustandigen Behorden (Ausnahme Art. 2c) 2) bei Urlaub nur gemass den deutschen Bestimmungen iiber Auslandsurlaub. Artikel 4: Deutsche Wehrmachtsangehorig e, die sich auf Grund des Schutzvertragen vom 18./23. Marz 1939 in der Schutzzone befinden, sind den deutschen Strafgesetzen unterworfen und unterstehen wegen aller in der Schutzzone begangenen strafbaren Handlungen der deutschen Strafgerich tsbarkeit. Sonstige deutsche Staatsangehorige, die bei den Befestigungsarbeiten beschaftigt sind, sind wegen strafbarer Handlungen, die in der Schutzzone begangen sind und sich gegen das Deutsche Reich richten, allein der deutschen Strafgerichtsbarkeit unterworfen. Deutsche Reichsangehoriige sowie reichsdeutsche Handelsgesellschaften, Erwerbs- und Wirtschaftsgenossens chaften, die auf Grund eines privaten Vertragsverhaltnisses mit der Errichtung militarischer Anlagen in der Schutzzone befasst sind, konnen aus ihrem gegen-seitigen Rechtsverhaltnis sowie aus ihrem Rechtsverhaltnis zum Deutschen Reich wegen eines Anspruchs aus ihren iRechtsverhaltnissen, namentlich aus Arbeits-, Dienst-- und Lieferungsverhaltnissen oder wegen einer unerlaubten Handlung, die mit der Tatigkeit zur Errichtung der militarischen AnlaJgen unmittelbar in Zusammenhang steht, nur vor deutschen Gerichten verklagt werden. Klagen wegen dieser Anspriiche konnen bei dem Amts- oder Landgericht Briinn erhoben werden. Es bleibt der Reichsregierung vorbehalten, auch andere Gerichte zu bestimmen. Artikel 5: In den vor die deutschen Gerichte gehorigen Strafsachen sind die Sicherheitsbehorden des Slowakischn Staates befugt, bei Gefahr im Verzuge nach den fiir sie geltenden Verfahrengesetzten �SLOVAKIA 21 die ;\-lassnahmen zu treffen, die zur Aufklii.rung des Sachverhalts, zur Festhaltung des Beschuldigten oder zur Sicherung von Gegen-stii.nden notwendig sind, die z1ir Begehung strafbarer Handlungen gebraucht oder bestimmt sind. Von dem Veranlassten haben die Sicherheitsbehiirden des Slowakischen Staates unverziiglich den nii.chsten Gerichtsherrn (Divisionskommander) in Kenntnis zu setzen und ihm einen festgenommen Beschuldigten zuzufahren. Deutsche Wehrmachtsan:gehiirige sowie die fiir Wehrmacht21wecke in der ,s chutzzone tii.ti1g en deutschen •Reichsangehorigen haben stii.ndig einen giiltigen Personenausweis bei sich zu fiihren, mit dem sie sich gegeniiber slowakischen Sicherheitsorganen auf Aufforderung ausweisen konnen. A r t ikel 6 : Die Slowakischen Behiirden werden Handlungen, die ,g egen die in diesem Vertrag festgelegten Interessen des Deutschen Reichs gerichtet sind, so verfol•g en als ob sie gegen den Slowakischen Staat gerichtet wii.ren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird dafiir Sorge tragen, dass das Deutsch e Reich die Miiglichkeit erhii.lt, den deutschen Interessen Geltung zu verschaffen, wenn es sich in Strafverfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehorden um Fragen handelt, die das gemeinsame Interesse des Deutschen Reichs und des Slowakischen Staates beriihren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird ferner im Einvernehmen mit der Reichsregierung Vorkehrungen treffen, dass den in Artikel 4 bezeichneten Personen in Verfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehiirden in sprachlicher Hinsicht weitestgehende Erleichterungen zuteil werden. Absch nitt 111 ) : Befestigung.sarbeiten. A r t ike l 7: Militii.rische Bauten and -Anlagen innerhalb der Schutzzone werden vom Reich auf eigene Kosten hergestellt. Artike l 8 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird das fiir die Arbeiten und Anlagen in der Schutzzone erforderliche Material nach Miiglichkeit aus dem slowakischen Staatsgebiet beziehen. Soweit Preise hierfiir niclrt im Wege der Ausschreibun,g und freien Vereinbarung festJgelegt werden, sind die iiblichen Ta,g espreisen zu zahlen . Artike l 9 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird bei der Ausfiihrung d er Arbeiten und Anlagen vorzugsweise Arbeits krii.fte aus der Slowakei anstellen. Eine Abweichung hiervon kommt insbesondere in Frage, wenn militii.rische Griinde die Einstellung bestimmter anderer Arbeitskrii.fte, z. B. gelernter Fach- und Spezialarbeiter erforderlich machen. Arbeitskrii.fte aus der Slowakei werden in slowakischer Wii.hrung entlohnt. Bei der Einstellung von Arbeitern wird nach einem allgemeinen, im Benehmen mit d er Slowakischen iRegierung aufgestellten Vertrage formular vorfabren. A r t ike l 10: Nach den slowakischen Gesetzen ist zu verfahren, wenn bei Arbeiten and Anlagen der deutschen Wehrmacht in der Schutzzone historisch wichtige 1Funde gemacht werden, oder wenn dabei Mineral- und Erzlager, oder andere Bodenschii.tze entdeckt werden. Art ike l 11 : Die deutsche Wehrmacht ,w ird bei den in der Schutzzone durchzufiihrenden Arbeiten und Anlagen mit besonderer Sor,g falt auf historische Denkmii.ler und auf die fiir den Slowakischen Staat und die slowakische Nation bedeutsamen Oiits Riicksicht nehmen. Abschnitt IV ) : Schlussbestimm ungen. Artike l 12 : Alie Meinungsverchiedenheiten, die sich aus der Durchfiihrung dieses Vertrages ergeben, werden, soweit sie nicht zur Zu- �22 SLOVAKIA stiindigkeit anderer O11gane gehoren, einer Kommission unterbreitet, die aus 2 deutschen und 2 slo.wakischen Mitgliedern bestehen soil, die im Bedarfsfalle zusammen tritt und das Recht hat, Sachvers·tiindige hinzuzuziehen und nach Bedarf auch ein fiinftes Mitglied zu bestellen. Kommt eine Einigung iiber das fiinfte Mitglied nicht zustande, so ist die Angelegenheit auf dem iiblichen diplomatischen Wege bei den 1Regierungen anhangig zu machen. Die Anrufunig der Kommission hat keine aufschiebende Wirkung. Dieser Vertra;g wird in doppelter Urschrift, in deutscher und in slowakischer Sprache ausgefertigt. Er tritt am Tage nach der Unterzeichnung in Kraft. Pressburg, den 12. August 1939. Fiir das Deutsche Reich: a. o. Gesandter und bevollmachtigter Minister des Deutschen Reichs in Pressburg Generalleu tnant 1. Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D, (hereafter as D. G. F. P.) Volume Vil, pp. 10-11. 2. For the Treaty and the Confidential -P rotocol on economic and financial cooperation see D. G. F. P. V[, pp. 42-4-5. 3. D. G. F. P. VJ, p. 43 - The Academic Guard played an out~ standing role since October 1938, but its participation on the struggle for independence was of great importance especially in the decisive days of March 10-14, 1939. It was a paramilitary organization of university students, led by Dr. J. Kirschbaum as supreme command er. After March 14, it supplied the Slovak Republic with many outstanding workers in the Slovak public life, namely in Party organization, press, diplomacy, cultural associations etc. Among the leaders of the Academic Guard who played an important part in March 1939, are now in exile Dr. Joseph ,P auco, Dr. Joseph Mikula, Koloman Murgas, Dr. G. Danihel, Dr. L . Jankovic, etc. In 1940 the Academic Guard was dissolved by the order of the Ministry of Jnternal Affairs because it opposed introduction of National Socialist ideology in 1Slovakia. Dr. Kirschbaum was first called to arms and then sent abroad. No Slovak newspaper was allowed to mention his nam e for two following years. See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1939-1945. 4. The origin of this zone can be traced back to Berlin where Hitler, talking to Tiso on March 13, told him among other things tha,t not only Hungarians and Poles were mobilizing, but "the Czechs also want to occcupy the western part of Slovakia up to the Vah." Tiso in his defense hinted at this ominous suggestion which is also ,supported by the 0 . K. W. Memorandum of March 24, (R 100 (see: Nazi Conspiracy and Agression, VJII, p. 83) according to which, if Slovakia is k ept independent, the military Schutzzone is to extend up to the Vah; but if Slovakia is divided between Poles and Hungarians, the whole area up to the Nitra is to be incorporated in the Protectorate ("Sollte Slowakei aufigeteilet werden, soil die Ostwest [Neutra-linie] Grenze werden und Pressburg einbezogen werden"). 5. According to the report of the British Consul in •B ratislava on iMarch 15, the German troops had reached Malacky by mid.day of that day and Trencfn by evening (D. Brit. F. P .. 3rd Series. Vol. IV, �SLOVAKIA 23 p. 287). On March 17, the Slovak Foreign Ministry lodged in a "note verbale" several complaints on the behaviour of the German troops in the occupied territory. 6. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, Joseph Pauco, Passaic, 1952, p. 232. 7. ibid. pp. ,233-4. 8. D. G. F. P., VJ, p. 756. 9. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, p. 234, footnote. 10. Tiso, Tuka and f>urcansky were invited to Berlin, where the latter two arrived on March 21. ,Ribbentrop kept them waiti.Il!g in complete uncertainty for three full days and then on March 23, at 12: 30 P. M., in their presence si,gned the Schutzvertrag. 11. The Polish White Book, pp. 62-3. 12. The offer to the Poles was, nevertheless, still open, and Hitler would have waived the .g uarantee if the ·Poles had been more cooperative (Cf. Doc. R 100 of March 24. How long the Fueh·rer considers himself bound to the 'T reaty concluded with Slovakia is open to doubt. It seems that he will use Slovakia as an asset to bargain between himself, Poland, and Hungary). On March 26, Ribbentrop a•g ain suggest-ed to Lipski "that the Slovak problem might still be discussed within the framework of a general Ausgleich" (see: Polish White Book, p. 67.), but the Poles now rejected the offer definitely. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. D. G. F. P., VI, pp. 114-115. ibid. p. 146. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. D. G. F. P., V[, pp. 7-56-762. ibid. p. 774. ibid. pp. 840-841. ibid. p. 916. ibid. pp. 9·52-953. ibid. p. 840, footnote. ibid. p. 1025. D. G F. P., Third Series, Vol. V, p. 89. D. G. F. P., Vil, pp. 254-255. At this conference, Tiso, Tuka, f>urcansky, and Mach negotiated with Barckhausen, Drufiel, Becker, and Hoffmann. The Slovaks advanced every argument imaiginable. if>urcansky thought that the presence of the German troops in the zone and outside it was generally interpreted as lack of trust on the part of the German Government in the Slovak Government. Tuka pointed out that the Slovak State should not be protected in the same manner as one would protect a flock of sheep, but that it should contribute to its own protection by having its own army, and this army must not be deprived of its equipment. Tiso and f>urcansky expressed the fea•r that, in case of the outbreak of Polish-!German hostilities, Hungary would invade Slovakia and, hence, Slovakia must be prepared for every eventuality. As for the Slovak desiderata, ihey were centered about these three points: (i) Establishment of two garrisons in the zone and the free use of the Malacky artillery range. (ii) Withdrawal of German military and other uniformed units (police, gendarmerie) from Zilina, Trencin, and Nove Mesto nad Vahom. (iii) Approval to keep nine tons of poisonous war gas ('Yperit'). D. G. F. P., VII, p. 2. � SLOVAKIA 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up �8 SLOVAKIA military installations in a zone bounded on the west by the frontier of the Slovak State and on the east by the general line of the eastern edge of the Little Carpathians, the eastern edge of the White Carpathians and the eastern edge of Javorniky, and to man these installations with such forces as the German Wehrmacht consider necessary ... Military sovereign rights (Hoheitsrechts) will be exercised by the German Wehrmacht (in this zone)" (3) . The establishment of this zone ( 4) represents in many respects an interesting aspect of Slovak-German relations. It casts a favorable light on a well-conceived but less successful attempt to extricate Slovak foreign policy from the agreed upon Slovak-German coordination in this field. This praiseworthy attempt and the subsequent unyielding behavior of Slovak politicians in the face of Hitler's demands contrast sharply with the charges of vassalage and servile obedience. In fact, the Slovaks resisted and contradicted Hitler's wishes (and with some success, too ) when powerful nations yielded and were advising others to yield. The negotiations concerning the zone were initiated on the night of March 17-18, 1939, in Vienna. At this time the occupation of Western Slovakia was already an accomplished fact (5) and - since possession is nine points of the law - the position of the ISlovak negotiators was noticeably weakened and by no means enviable. Nevertheless Dr. Joseph Tiso, Durcansky, Tuka, and Mach, the principal Slovak representatives, were determined to save could be saved. Preliminary negotiations started at Biirckel's flat at 5 p. m. Afterwards the Slovaks met SeyssInquart, then Keitel, and finally, at 1 a . m., on the 18th, in the Hotel Imperial they faced Hitler. Each stop represented more humiliation and more pressing demands and brought home one thing: Hitler was going to exact a high price for his protection ; much higher than he ever hinted at in Berlin on March 13th. Tiso was so disappointed at what he rightly considered - being let down that h e wanted to return to Bratislava without even seeing Hitler. Only his companions persuaded him to stay, arguing that in front of the Germans they all ought to show a united �SLOVAKIA 9 determination not to give up even an inch of sacred Slovak soil (6). When Hitler, in the presence of Ribbentrop and Keitel, met the Slovaks, he told them - according to the testimony of Tiso - that the 'Shutzvertrag' could be realized only if Germany were given far-reaching concessions to build up a zone in Western Slovakia. The extent of these concessions - as Tiso clearly saw - left the Slovaks practically without any rights to exercise their sovereignty in that territory. It was more than he could bear. At 2 :45 A. M. he got up and was at the point of departure. Hitler, it must be said, in spite of his many shortcommings had a soft spot for the Slovaks and, apparently moved by the pathetic sight of the hardpressed protegees, stopped Tiso with a very assuring piece of oratory. He said: "I do not want even an inch of Slovak ground. In Slovakia the Slovaks alone will develop their own national, cultural, and economic life. I shall guarantee the full independence and territorial integrity of Slovakia. The historical frontiers of Slovakia are and remain forever unchanged. I shall hold my protective hand over ,S lovakia and nobody will reach with stealthy hand for the Slovak State, where the Slovaks will live their own full life" (7). This rhetorical outburst pacified the Slovaks; the rest of the discussion was carried on in a much happier mood. The Slovaks ceded the Germans the right to build and man fortifications in the zone "so as to enable the German Wehrmacht, in the event of war, to take up such positions as are most advantageous to it" (8). The Slovak delegation left Vienna with the impression that the zone remained within the legal structure of the Slovak State. No treaty was formulated or signed that night. Formal negotiations were conducted on the afternoon of March 18. Tiso did not take part in these conversations. The Slovaks were represented by Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, Tuka a Zvrskovec; the Germans by Keppler and Gaus, the legal adviser to the Foreign Minister. The Treaty of Protection ( Schutzvertrag) was signed in Vienna the same day by :Durcansky and Tuka who also pledged to obtain Tiso's signature to the Treaty by noon of March 19, in re-1 �10 SLOVAKIA turn for which Keppl er undert ook to get Ribbe ntrop's signature within 24 hours. :Durcansky, Tuka, and Veesenmayer broug ht the Treaty to Tiso for signat ure the evening March 18; he signed it and appear ed to be satisfi ed · with its formu lation (9). Ribben trop, on the other hand, did not sign the Treaty within the stipula ted time limit. All in all, the Germa ns were in no partic ular hurry with respec t to the Slovaks. The reason for their procra stinati on, which was so frustra ting and inexpl icable to the Slovak s then (10), is seen clearly now: they hoped to come to terms with the Poles and Hunga rians. The Polish White Book gives an accoun t of Ribbentrop's propos als to Lipski on March 21 (11), namely , that German-lPolish discus sions "would be possib le on this subject" (i. e., on the questi on of Slovak ia). But the Germa ns must have consid ered the Polish attitud e discou raging , and Ribbe ntrop put his signat ure on the Treaty on -March 23, in Berlin (12), but not before Article 3 of the Treaty was modifi ed and the words "in order to defend Slovak State agains t any possib le extern al attack s" were omitte d. Once the Treaty was signed, the execut ion of Article 2 proved to be more difficu lt than anticip ated. Appar ently the Germa n milita ry author ities were not very happy with what, after all, was a politic al settlem ent. Their behavi or left much to be desire d and Slovak protes ts were very soon pourin g in. At first, the surpri sed Slovak s asked for an explan ation, but later protes ted very vigorio usly. On March 25, the .Slovak Foreig n ·M inistry in a 'note verbal e" called for a more definit e determ ination of the probable durati on and charac ter in intern ationa l law of the Germa n occupa tion of Slovak territo ry. The note also protested a•g ainst the exerci se of sovere ign rights "beyon d those of milita ry necess ity" and agains t the remov al of milita ry materi al which - they claime d - by the secess ion of Slovak ia, had leg-ally become Slovak 'State proper ty (13). It was inevita ble that the occupa tion would cause considera ble frictio n betwee n the Slovak popula tion and the Germa n troops , and that this frictio n would projec t unfavora bly into Slovak -Germ an relatio ns. But the amoun t �SLOVAKIA 11 of misunderstanding surpassed every expectation. The Slovaks in their optimistic enthusiasm were determined to enjoy their newly-gained independence to the fullest extent and consequently found the German presence in the zone very annoying and did not even try to hide their displeasure. The Germans, on the other hand, especially the military, did not bother to adjust their behavior in respect to the Slovaks. An ordinary German soldier and officer, fresh from victorious entries into Austria, the Sudetenland, and Bohemia, was hardly expected to be less arrogant towards Slovaks than he was towards Czechs; superiority was after all the essential part of his make-up. There were many instances of discontent, misunderstanding, and small incidents, and their existence could be best gauged by the frequent apologies and assurances which the 'Slovak Press Bureau was issuing in the newspapers and on the air. Under pressure of Slovak protests and complaints, the German representatives of General Staff and Foreign Ministry, at a meeting on March 28, agreed on a unified attitude towards the question of the zone. Their conclusions, though still by no means modest, represent in many respects retreat in the face of the Slovak protests, and can be briefly summarized as follows: 1. Withdrawal of the German Custom Frontier Protection Force to the Slovak-Moravian frontier. 2. The Vah fixed as the line of military occupation. 3. Appointment of a staff officer to the Consul General to act as liaison between the Slovak Army and the Wehrmacht. 4. The German troops east of the Vah to be recalled. 5. German claim to the entire war material of the former Czecho~Slovak army. 6. No removal of war material east of the occupied zone. 7. Decision as to size of the Slovak army. 8. Creation of s e p a r ate military formation for the Volksdeutche (14). Negotiations on the above topics took place on April 4 and were reported by Pares. Unfortunately no details concerning conversations are available, but it is known that �12 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were represented by Dr. Tiso and the Ministers of War, Finance, and Economics, and the chief subject was the removal of war material "purchased by the German Government from the Czecho-!S lovak Government which had been stored in Slovakia" (15). As a result of these conversations, in addition to a German military adviser to be sent to Bratislava, a mixed Slovak-German commission was to be appointed to settle any controversial issue. At about the same time Tuka in his broadcast promised that the German army would leave when it was no longer needed. On April 15, the High Command of the Wehrmacht submitted a list of requirements, the fulfilment of which was expected from the Slovak Government under the Treaty of Protection. The demands, even in their "more lenient" form, were very exacting: 1. The High Command intended to maintain its military forces east of the Vah until the removal of "Czech arms and Czech war material" was completed. 2. Among the sovereign rights they claimed the right to occupy military and also public and private buildings, to use all forms and means of transport, to have at their disposal the factories concerned with war economy, duty-free import and export, postal services, telecommunications and Intelligence Service (Abwehrdienst). 3. The zone to include also Trencin, Krupa, Zilina, and Povazska Bystrica. 4. The size of Slovak army to be completed at one per cent of the population. 5. No units of the Slovak army to be garrisoned within the zone, but para-military formations (Hlinka Guards) to be allowed. 6. Export and import of war material to and from Slovakia to be refused or permitted by the Slovak Government only in agreement with the Reich Government or the High Command of the Wehrmacht (16). When these requirements were communicated by Druffel to Tiso, the latter declared that the Slovak Government did not wish to make difficulties, but asked for discussions with the German authorities on the highest level before �SLOVAKIA 13 making any definite commitments. The Germans consented and, as a result, a conference took place in Berlin on April 19. Slovak representatives included Tiso, :Durcansky, and Tuka, the Ministry of Defense was represented by Catlos and Schneider, and also present were Cernak and Szathmary from the Slovak Legation in Berlin. The German delegation consisted of top-ranking experts, both political and military, but conspicious by their absence were the policy making personalities of the Reich. Its members were: Weissacker, Keppler, Wormann, Gaus, Altenburg, Tippelskirsch, HeydenRynsch, and Becker. Slovak grievances were numerous. To start with, Tiso mentioned the occupation by German troops of the aerodrome of Malacky and the demand by a German armored formation for transit through Bratislava. Then he complained of the severity of the demands of the German Wehrmacht, stating that "extension of the zone to Trencin and Zilina was hardly bearable for the Slovak Government"; of the behaviour of the German troops who in some villages occupied schools and thus made school attendance impossible, and employed Czech workers in preference to Slovaks. Furthermore, he claimed a share in the ownership of the former Czecho-Slovak arms factories and clamored for the return of a number of aircraft. German answers were either non-commital or asked to extend negotiations to clarify the application of the Treaty. Apparently the Slovaks demanded more than the German representatives were empowered to grant. Meanwhile the joint Slovak~German Commission was negotiating the treaty on the Zone of Protection but it did not seem to make any noticeable progress. On June 12, the Slovaks submitted another "note verbale'' which contained a number of Slovak views on the interpretation of the text of the Treaty. Arguments advanced by Slovaks were discussed at the conference on June 19 (17), where Tiso expressed the wish to draw up a memorandum and to discuss it personally with Hitler in hopeful expectation that the Slovaks might get more favorable treatment at the hands of the Fuhrer, than they were getting from his representatives. Hitler, however, declined to see Tiso and refused to consider the various points of the Slovak memorandum. �14 SLOVAKIA On June 21 this memorandum, in the form of an "aide memoire", was submitted to the German Foreign Ministry (18). It represented a voluminous list of complaints and expressed an outburst of accumulated Slovak indi,gnation about the German injustices. It questioned German rights to exclude Slovak garrisons from the zonal area, the interpretation of "sovereign rights", and claimed as Slovak the former Cecho..!Slovak military installations which were taken over by the Wehnnacht (such as the artillery range at Malacky); furthermore, it also questioned the wisdom of maintaining German ,garrisons outside the zone (e. g., in .Zilina, Trencin, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn) and criticised excursions of German troops to Bratislava and other places outside the zone. With regard to military material, the Slovak memorandum complained about the removal of war material from Pezinok, Modra, Malacky, Plavecke Podhradie, Hlboke, Turecky Vrch, Senica, Nemcova, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn, Trencin, Istebnik, Skalka, and .Zilina in a manner which "transgressed the bounds of an amicable atmosphere". Furthermore, it objected to occupation of munition factories and factories producing various types of war material at Dubnica, Povazska IBystrica, Stara Tura, Myjava, and .Zilina; to taking over of the stocks and installations of the airports at Novy Dvor and .Zilina; and it sadly commented that proceedings connected with the removal of war material were often conducted "as though Slovakia were an enemy country and not a State whose political and territorial independence had been guaranted by the Flihrer and Chancellor". The memorandum concluded a few more grievances against the military authorities whose attitude caused "administrative and economic uncertainty". The matter was then brought to Hitler's attention. This is evident from a statement made by Keitel on June 20, according to which Hitler's decision on the subject at the conference held by him amounted to the following: "The Flihrer said that he wished the negotiations to be conducted energetically and resolutely which, together with our concrete offers, must lead to early success. The prerequisite for the proposed support of Slovakia is the complete accep- �SLOVAKIA 15 tance of our demeands, the more so as Slovakia is dependent on our military, economic, and financial aid." This authoritative pronouncement meant that all the subsequent attempts of the ,Slovaks for better terms encountered the adamant attitude of the German authorities. Thus, when, on June 22, the Slovak Minister in 'Berlin (Matus Cernak) saw Wormann at the German Foreign Ministry, he was brusquely told that the Germans disagreed with the Slovak Foreign Ministry's attempts to establish inconsistencies between the demands of the German Military Delegation and the assurances given by leading German statesmen regarding the conclusion of the Treaty of Protection. He was asked to make it clear in Bratislava that "the Military Delegation was among these demands in the name of the German Government". Cernak sugested that concessions be made by both parties and thought that this would make it possible to reach an agreement which would "not only maintain, but arouse sympathy for Germany" among the Slovak poulation. But Wormann had little understanding for the Slovak point of view and berated the Slovaks because several of the demands expressed in the memorandum of June 19 were in contradiction to the Treaty of Protection (19). On July 3, Cernak again called on the German Foreign Ministry, where he saw Weizsa.cker. He pleaded with him for moderation of the German demands, arguing that "Tiso's ... pro-German policy would be shaken, if it were not supported. In case of emergency, Slovakia would, of course, be completely at the disposal of German Armed Forces, but in peace-time one ought to remain within the scope of the terms of the Treaty. But again Cerna.k's arguments were of no avail and were, one by one, refuted by Weizsa.cker. Faced with such an uncooperative attitude, Cernak asked to be allowed to speak to Ribbentrop personally, but was told that the Foreign Minister was not available (20). The Slovaks, ignorant of Hitler's decision and trusting in his words with hopeful optimism, left no stone unturned in their attempts to secure more favorable terms. Their representatives were untiring in demanding interviews with Hitler and Ribbentrop who, as the chief architects of the 1 �16 SLOVAKIA Slovak-German Treaty, could be made, they thought, to stand up to their promises. In this, however, they wer e unsuccessful. But they could get only to Weizsacker; and he, after trying to persuade them that the German negotiators "were acting on the instructions issued to them by the authoritative persons in the Reich", admonished the Slovaks that they should look at them as such and "conduct themselves accordingly" (21). As time went by, the Germans were getting progressively more and more anxious to have the whole issue about the interpretation of the Treaty finally settled and were apparently annoyed by the delay caused by the stubborness of the Slovaks. In view of the approaching German~olish conflict it was paramont for them to have their stand in Slovakia precisely determined and legalized. Their activity (often on the verge of nervousness) was in sharp contrast with the patient and determined attitude of the Slovaks who were unwilling to retreat. The situation was provided with a real touch of comedy when the Slovak statesmen went on their summer holidays (Tiso left for Topofcianky, Durcansky for the High Tatras) while German couriers were flying between and Bratislava. On July 19, Druffel was shown a report from Cernak according to which Eisenlohr and Weizsacker had expressed themselves in favour of token Slovak garrisons in the protected zone. On the strength of this report, Durcansky urged Catlos to dispatch some troops into the zone. On July 2:1, Catlos ordered one batallion to move in and, at the same time, informed the German military mission of his action. From the Germans came a vehement protest, coupled with threats, and the order was recalled. This move displeased Durcansky immensely. He maintained that Catlos should have created a "fait accompli" without regard for the German military mission and their feelings. The argument went so far that Catlos threatened to resign (22). Whether Catlos's action was right or wrong is open to question. It may be recalled, however, that at that time, the German military authorities were resolutely against ·any Slovak troops in that zone, and the same view was shared by Hitler. �SLOVAKIA 17 On July 17, the German Foreign Ministry sent to their representative in Bratislava a letter of instructions with an enclosed draft of the Treaty on the Zone of Protection (23). With this draft as a basis, new negotiations ensued. Unfortunately no records were found concerning their course. From the report of tH. Bernard (new German Minister to Slovakia who replaced Druffel), we learn that they were concluded by July 31 and the Slovak representatives (again, we do not know, who they were; Tuka was probably one of them; Tiso and :Durcansky were vacationing) accepted the draft of the treaty with small amendments (24). Barckhausen then took this modified version of the Treaty to Berlin and, on August 7, brought it to Bratislava to Tuka, who then forwarded it to Tiso and :Durcansky (on their vacation) with a request for their approval (25 ). But the Treaty in its new form did not appeal either to Tiso or :Durcansky. Rejecting various points of the draft, they again upset the German applecart. On August 10, a new series of discussions was initiated, this time with :Durcansky present. These discussions finally brought concrete results. On Saturday evening, August 12, 1939, the Treaty on the Zone of Protection was signed at Bratislava by Minister Bernard and Lt. General Barckhausen on behalf of the German Reich, and by the Slovak Premier Tiso. The Treaty consisted of four Sections. Section I delimitated its extent. ,S ection II defined military sovereign rights of the German Wehrmacht and the sovereign rights of the Slovak State; German military sovereign rights included the right to requisition public and private premises, to use all means and lines of transportation, and to supervise armament factories working for the Reich; Germany was also given jurisdiction over her nationals; this Section also provided for Slovak garrisions within the zone. Section 1',III laid down rules regarding the employment of the personnel and material in, and on the payment for, the construction of fortifications. Section IV contained provisions for settlement of differences arising from the application of the Treaty. 1 �SLOVAKIA: 16 Verbatim German Text of Treaty (.From Photostat) Abschrift. Schutzzonenvert rag Zur Regelung der sich aus dem Schutzvertrage vom 18./23. Marz 1939 ergebenden Fragen ist zwischen dem Deutschen Reich und der Slowakischen Republik durch die unterzeichneten Bevollmachtigten beider Regierungen folgendes vereinbart worden. Abschnitt I): Abgrenzung der Schutzzone. Artikel 1: Die Ausdehnung der in Artikel 2 des deutsch-slowakis chen Vertrages vom 18./ 23. Marz 1939 genannten Zone in folgendem mit ''Schutzzone" bezeichnet - ergibt sich aus der diesem Vertrage als Bestandteil angehefteten Landkarte in Masstabe 1: 7·5,000. Die Schutzzone erstreckt sich von Westen her bis zu der dieser Landkarte eingezeichneten roten Linie, und sie schliesst den von dieser Linie bedecken Tei! des slowakischen Gebietes ein. Eine Bez·e ichnung der ostwartigen Schutzzonenbeg renzungslinie im Gelande durch Tafeln oder Grenzsteine erfolgt nicht. lnnerhalb dieser Schutzzone wird das Deutsche Reich die ihm im Schutzvertrage vom 18-/ 23. Marz 1939 von dem Slowakischen Staat iibertragenen Aufgaben nach Massgabe der Bestimmungen dieses Vertrages durchfiihren. Abschnitt II): Rechtsverhaltni sse in der Schutzzone. Artikel 2: Mit den militarischen IHoheitsrechten, deren Ausiibung der deutschen Wehrmacht in Arti~el 2 des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz iibertragen worden ist, hat sie das Recht erhalten, im Sinne der fiir die Verteidigung des Slowakischen Staates im allgemeinen bestehenden Gesetze Leistungen im gleichen Masse wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in lFriedenszeiten zu fordern (ohne die ,B estimmungen, die in dem slowakischen Gesetz Nr. 131/36 enthalten sind). Bei Aufwendungen, die iiber den Rahmen normaler Manciverleistung en auch zeitlich hinausgehen, sind die hierfiir zu zahlenden Entschadigungen nach den ortsiiblichen Tagespreisen zu bemessen. Die deutsche Wehrmacht haftet fiir Schaden in gleichem Ausmass wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in tlbungszeiten. Demzufolge hat die deutsche Wehrmacht insbesondere folgende Rechte: a) (Das Recht, jederzeit in der Schutzzone militarische Anlagen zu errichten und im 'Benehmen mit den slowakischen Behcirden tiffentliche Gebaude, Grundstiicke and Anlagen fiir militarische Zwecke in Anspruch zu nehmen und private Gebaude und Grundstiicke in Benutzun_ zu nehmen, ohne die Durchfiihrung des Enteignungsverfahrens oder des Verfahrens zur voriibergehende n Entziehung der Benutzung abzuwarten, jedoch unbeschadet ,e iner spateren Regelung der Entschadigung. Die Entschadigung wird unter Mitwirkun,g deutscher Beauftragter im Wege giitlicher Verhandlun,gen mit den Betroffenen festigesetzt. IKommt eine giitliche Eintgung nicht zustande, so bleibt es den Betroffenen vorbehalten, die Festsetzung der Entschadig-ung nach den slowakischen Gesetzen zu betragen. In diesem Falle bleibt im �SLOVAKIA 19 Verhaltnis zu dem Deutschen Reich die Hohe der Entschadigung einer Vereinbarung mit der Slowakischen Regierung vorbehalten. b) Das Recht zur Benutzung der in der Schutzzone vorhanden,en Transportmittel und Transportwege unter moglichster Berucksichtigung der wirtschaftlichen Jnteressen der Slowakischen Republik. Ausserdem kann bei Vorliegen besonderer militarischer Notwendigkeiten die Bahn Pressburg-Ty,r nau-Pistyan-Trencin'8 illeinJCadca und die Strassen Pressburg-Modern-Na das-Trencin and Pressburg-Tyrnau-Pis tyan-Trencin,Sillein>C adca, von Trencin aus bis Cadca auch auf dem ostwartigen Waag-und Kysucaufer benutzt werden. Ferner erhalt die deutsche Wehrmacht das Recht, alle Orte zwischen Pressburg (ausschliesslich) and Cadca an den oben genannten Strassen bei Vorliegen militarischer Griinde vorubergehend zur Einquartierung zu benutzen. Die Slowakische Regierung ist hiervon in Kenntnis zu setzen. Die Benutzung der Eisenbahnlinien wird durch Sondertarifabmachun gen geregelt. Bei der Benutzung anderer slowakischer Verkehrsmittel sind die ortsiiblichen Tarifsatze zu zahlen, wenn nicht im Wege der Vereinbarung ein anderweitiger Entgelt fur die Benutzung festgesetzt wird. c) Das Recht, Riistungsbetriebe, die Auftrage vom Deutschen Reich erhalten, zu beaufsichtigen und auszunutzen unter BeriicksichUgung der Bediirfnisse der slowakischen Wehrmacht. Hieriiber wird eine besondere Vereinbarung zwischen den zustandigen Stellen der Deutschen Regierung und der Regierung des Slowakischen iStaates abgeschlossen werden. d) iDas Recht, in der Schutzzone alle erforderlichen Massnahmen des militarischen Abwehrdienstes zu treffen und von den Behorden des Slowakischen Staates die Anordnung und Durchfiihrung aller hierfiir erforderlichen Exekutivmassnahmen zu verlangen. !Die Deutsche Wehrmacht hat das !Recht, gegeniiber deutschen Wehrmachtangehori<g en und den fiir Wehrmachtzwecke in der Schutzzone tatigen reichsdeutschen Beamten, An-gestellten und Arbeitern deutsche militarische Exekutivorgane einzusetzen. Diese diirfen ,g egentiber Personen, die nicht die Staatsangehorigkeit im Deutschen Reich besitzen, nur in dringenden •Fallen, sofern slowakische Sicherheitsorgane nicht errechbar sind, Exekutivmassnahmen treffen. Festgenommene sind den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden unverziiglich, spatestens binnen 24 Stunden, zu ubergeben. e) Das Recht zur zollfreien Versor,g ung der deutschen Truppen und zur zollfreien Belieferung der militarischen Anlrugen aus dem Reich. Hieriiber wird eine Sondervereinbarung getroffen. Die Slowakische Regierung wird in engsten Einvernehmen mit der deutschen Wehrmacht alle Massnahmen treffen, die erforderlich sind, um der deutschen Wehrmacht die Durchfiihrung der ihr zum Schutz des Slowakischen S·taates, der Schutzzone und der darin befindlichen Truppen und militarischen Anlagen ubertragenen Aufgaben im Sinne des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 zu ermoglichen und zu erleichtern. Artikel 3: Alie Hoheitsrechte in der Schutzzone ubt, soweit nicht im Vertrage vom 18. /2:3. Marz 1939 und in diesem Vertrage anders vereinbart, der Slowakische Staat aus. Hinsichtlich der Hoheitsrechte des Slowakischen Staates ist inbesondere folgendes vereinbart: a) Die Geltung aller jetzt und kiinftig gultigen rechtlichen Vor- �20 SLOVAKIA schriften der Slowakischen Republik erstreckt sich auf das Gebiet der Schutzzone, wenn dies nicht ausdriicklich ausgenommen wird, oder dem Sinne dieses Vertraiges und des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 widerspricht. b) ,Die slowakischen Behorden in der Schutzzone iiben ihren Dienst weiterhin aus und unterliegen weiterhin uneingeschrankt der Aufsich t der ihnen vorgesetzten Behorden des Slowakischen Staates. c) Die Ausnutzung und Belegung der in der Schutzzone befindlichen militarischen Anlagen durch die slowakische Wehrmacht, das Uberliegen der Schutzzone durch slowakische Militarflugzeu.ge soiwie das Betraten der Schutzzone durch einzelne Angehorige der slowakischen Wehrmacht wird durch besondere Vereinbarung geregelt. d) In der Schutzzone kann der Zutrtt zu militarisch wichtigen Gebietsteilen, Befestigungsarbeiten and -anlagen von der deutschen Wehrmacht verhindert werden. Das Betretungsverbot wird von den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden auf Veranlassung der deutschen Wehrmachtstellen und in beiderseitigem Einvernehmen erlassen und der Bevolkerung in ortsiiblichen Weise bekanntgegeben werden. e) Die Einrichtung von Uberfluigzonen in der Schutzzone zur Ermoglichen des gegenseitiigen zivilen Flugverkehrs wird einer besonderen Vereinbarung vorbehalten. f) Deutsche Wehrmachtangehorig e diirfen das slowakische Staatsgebiet ausserhalb der Schutzzone nur betreten 1) aus dienstlichem Anlass mit Bewilligung der slowakischen zustandigen Behorden (Ausnahme Art. 2c) 2) bei Urlaub nur gemass den deutschen Bestimmungen iiber Auslandsurlaub. Artikel 4: Deutsche Wehrmachtsangehorig e, die sich auf Grund des Schutzvertragen vom 18./23. Marz 1939 in der Schutzzone befinden, sind den deutschen Strafgesetzen unterworfen und unterstehen wegen aller in der Schutzzone begangenen strafbaren Handlungen der deutschen Strafgerich tsbarkeit. Sonstige deutsche Staatsangehorige, die bei den Befestigungsarbeiten beschaftigt sind, sind wegen strafbarer Handlungen, die in der Schutzzone begangen sind und sich gegen das Deutsche Reich richten, allein der deutschen Strafgerichtsbarkeit unterworfen. Deutsche Reichsangehoriige sowie reichsdeutsche Handelsgesellschaften, Erwerbs- und Wirtschaftsgenossens chaften, die auf Grund eines privaten Vertragsverhaltnisses mit der Errichtung militarischer Anlagen in der Schutzzone befasst sind, konnen aus ihrem gegen-seitigen Rechtsverhaltnis sowie aus ihrem Rechtsverhaltnis zum Deutschen Reich wegen eines Anspruchs aus ihren iRechtsverhaltnissen, namentlich aus Arbeits-, Dienst-- und Lieferungsverhaltnissen oder wegen einer unerlaubten Handlung, die mit der Tatigkeit zur Errichtung der militarischen AnlaJgen unmittelbar in Zusammenhang steht, nur vor deutschen Gerichten verklagt werden. Klagen wegen dieser Anspriiche konnen bei dem Amts- oder Landgericht Briinn erhoben werden. Es bleibt der Reichsregierung vorbehalten, auch andere Gerichte zu bestimmen. Artikel 5: In den vor die deutschen Gerichte gehorigen Strafsachen sind die Sicherheitsbehorden des Slowakischn Staates befugt, bei Gefahr im Verzuge nach den fiir sie geltenden Verfahrengesetzten �SLOVAKIA 21 die ;\-lassnahmen zu treffen, die zur Aufklii.rung des Sachverhalts, zur Festhaltung des Beschuldigten oder zur Sicherung von Gegen-stii.nden notwendig sind, die z1ir Begehung strafbarer Handlungen gebraucht oder bestimmt sind. Von dem Veranlassten haben die Sicherheitsbehiirden des Slowakischen Staates unverziiglich den nii.chsten Gerichtsherrn (Divisionskommander) in Kenntnis zu setzen und ihm einen festgenommen Beschuldigten zuzufahren. Deutsche Wehrmachtsan:gehiirige sowie die fiir Wehrmacht21wecke in der ,s chutzzone tii.ti1g en deutschen •Reichsangehorigen haben stii.ndig einen giiltigen Personenausweis bei sich zu fiihren, mit dem sie sich gegeniiber slowakischen Sicherheitsorganen auf Aufforderung ausweisen konnen. A r t ikel 6 : Die Slowakischen Behiirden werden Handlungen, die ,g egen die in diesem Vertrag festgelegten Interessen des Deutschen Reichs gerichtet sind, so verfol•g en als ob sie gegen den Slowakischen Staat gerichtet wii.ren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird dafiir Sorge tragen, dass das Deutsch e Reich die Miiglichkeit erhii.lt, den deutschen Interessen Geltung zu verschaffen, wenn es sich in Strafverfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehorden um Fragen handelt, die das gemeinsame Interesse des Deutschen Reichs und des Slowakischen Staates beriihren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird ferner im Einvernehmen mit der Reichsregierung Vorkehrungen treffen, dass den in Artikel 4 bezeichneten Personen in Verfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehiirden in sprachlicher Hinsicht weitestgehende Erleichterungen zuteil werden. Absch nitt 111 ) : Befestigung.sarbeiten. A r t ike l 7: Militii.rische Bauten and -Anlagen innerhalb der Schutzzone werden vom Reich auf eigene Kosten hergestellt. Artike l 8 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird das fiir die Arbeiten und Anlagen in der Schutzzone erforderliche Material nach Miiglichkeit aus dem slowakischen Staatsgebiet beziehen. Soweit Preise hierfiir niclrt im Wege der Ausschreibun,g und freien Vereinbarung festJgelegt werden, sind die iiblichen Ta,g espreisen zu zahlen . Artike l 9 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird bei der Ausfiihrung d er Arbeiten und Anlagen vorzugsweise Arbeits krii.fte aus der Slowakei anstellen. Eine Abweichung hiervon kommt insbesondere in Frage, wenn militii.rische Griinde die Einstellung bestimmter anderer Arbeitskrii.fte, z. B. gelernter Fach- und Spezialarbeiter erforderlich machen. Arbeitskrii.fte aus der Slowakei werden in slowakischer Wii.hrung entlohnt. Bei der Einstellung von Arbeitern wird nach einem allgemeinen, im Benehmen mit d er Slowakischen iRegierung aufgestellten Vertrage formular vorfabren. A r t ike l 10: Nach den slowakischen Gesetzen ist zu verfahren, wenn bei Arbeiten and Anlagen der deutschen Wehrmacht in der Schutzzone historisch wichtige 1Funde gemacht werden, oder wenn dabei Mineral- und Erzlager, oder andere Bodenschii.tze entdeckt werden. Art ike l 11 : Die deutsche Wehrmacht ,w ird bei den in der Schutzzone durchzufiihrenden Arbeiten und Anlagen mit besonderer Sor,g falt auf historische Denkmii.ler und auf die fiir den Slowakischen Staat und die slowakische Nation bedeutsamen Oiits Riicksicht nehmen. Abschnitt IV ) : Schlussbestimm ungen. Artike l 12 : Alie Meinungsverchiedenheiten, die sich aus der Durchfiihrung dieses Vertrages ergeben, werden, soweit sie nicht zur Zu- �22 SLOVAKIA stiindigkeit anderer O11gane gehoren, einer Kommission unterbreitet, die aus 2 deutschen und 2 slo.wakischen Mitgliedern bestehen soil, die im Bedarfsfalle zusammen tritt und das Recht hat, Sachvers·tiindige hinzuzuziehen und nach Bedarf auch ein fiinftes Mitglied zu bestellen. Kommt eine Einigung iiber das fiinfte Mitglied nicht zustande, so ist die Angelegenheit auf dem iiblichen diplomatischen Wege bei den 1Regierungen anhangig zu machen. Die Anrufunig der Kommission hat keine aufschiebende Wirkung. Dieser Vertra;g wird in doppelter Urschrift, in deutscher und in slowakischer Sprache ausgefertigt. Er tritt am Tage nach der Unterzeichnung in Kraft. Pressburg, den 12. August 1939. Fiir das Deutsche Reich: a. o. Gesandter und bevollmachtigter Minister des Deutschen Reichs in Pressburg Generalleu tnant 1. Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D, (hereafter as D. G. F. P.) Volume Vil, pp. 10-11. 2. For the Treaty and the Confidential -P rotocol on economic and financial cooperation see D. G. F. P. V[, pp. 42-4-5. 3. D. G. F. P. VJ, p. 43 - The Academic Guard played an out~ standing role since October 1938, but its participation on the struggle for independence was of great importance especially in the decisive days of March 10-14, 1939. It was a paramilitary organization of university students, led by Dr. J. Kirschbaum as supreme command er. After March 14, it supplied the Slovak Republic with many outstanding workers in the Slovak public life, namely in Party organization, press, diplomacy, cultural associations etc. Among the leaders of the Academic Guard who played an important part in March 1939, are now in exile Dr. Joseph ,P auco, Dr. Joseph Mikula, Koloman Murgas, Dr. G. Danihel, Dr. L . Jankovic, etc. In 1940 the Academic Guard was dissolved by the order of the Ministry of Jnternal Affairs because it opposed introduction of National Socialist ideology in 1Slovakia. Dr. Kirschbaum was first called to arms and then sent abroad. No Slovak newspaper was allowed to mention his nam e for two following years. See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1939-1945. 4. The origin of this zone can be traced back to Berlin where Hitler, talking to Tiso on March 13, told him among other things tha,t not only Hungarians and Poles were mobilizing, but "the Czechs also want to occcupy the western part of Slovakia up to the Vah." Tiso in his defense hinted at this ominous suggestion which is also ,supported by the 0 . K. W. Memorandum of March 24, (R 100 (see: Nazi Conspiracy and Agression, VJII, p. 83) according to which, if Slovakia is k ept independent, the military Schutzzone is to extend up to the Vah; but if Slovakia is divided between Poles and Hungarians, the whole area up to the Nitra is to be incorporated in the Protectorate ("Sollte Slowakei aufigeteilet werden, soil die Ostwest [Neutra-linie] Grenze werden und Pressburg einbezogen werden"). 5. According to the report of the British Consul in •B ratislava on iMarch 15, the German troops had reached Malacky by mid.day of that day and Trencfn by evening (D. Brit. F. P .. 3rd Series. Vol. IV, �SLOVAKIA 23 p. 287). On March 17, the Slovak Foreign Ministry lodged in a "note verbale" several complaints on the behaviour of the German troops in the occupied territory. 6. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, Joseph Pauco, Passaic, 1952, p. 232. 7. ibid. pp. ,233-4. 8. D. G. F. P., VJ, p. 756. 9. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, p. 234, footnote. 10. Tiso, Tuka and f>urcansky were invited to Berlin, where the latter two arrived on March 21. ,Ribbentrop kept them waiti.Il!g in complete uncertainty for three full days and then on March 23, at 12: 30 P. M., in their presence si,gned the Schutzvertrag. 11. The Polish White Book, pp. 62-3. 12. The offer to the Poles was, nevertheless, still open, and Hitler would have waived the .g uarantee if the ·Poles had been more cooperative (Cf. Doc. R 100 of March 24. How long the Fueh·rer considers himself bound to the 'T reaty concluded with Slovakia is open to doubt. It seems that he will use Slovakia as an asset to bargain between himself, Poland, and Hungary). On March 26, Ribbentrop a•g ain suggest-ed to Lipski "that the Slovak problem might still be discussed within the framework of a general Ausgleich" (see: Polish White Book, p. 67.), but the Poles now rejected the offer definitely. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. D. G. F. P., VI, pp. 114-115. ibid. p. 146. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. D. G. F. P., V[, pp. 7-56-762. ibid. p. 774. ibid. pp. 840-841. ibid. p. 916. ibid. pp. 9·52-953. ibid. p. 840, footnote. ibid. p. 1025. D. G F. P., Third Series, Vol. V, p. 89. D. G. F. P., Vil, pp. 254-255. At this conference, Tiso, Tuka, f>urcansky, and Mach negotiated with Barckhausen, Drufiel, Becker, and Hoffmann. The Slovaks advanced every argument imaiginable. if>urcansky thought that the presence of the German troops in the zone and outside it was generally interpreted as lack of trust on the part of the German Government in the Slovak Government. Tuka pointed out that the Slovak State should not be protected in the same manner as one would protect a flock of sheep, but that it should contribute to its own protection by having its own army, and this army must not be deprived of its equipment. Tiso and f>urcansky expressed the fea•r that, in case of the outbreak of Polish-!German hostilities, Hungary would invade Slovakia and, hence, Slovakia must be prepared for every eventuality. As for the Slovak desiderata, ihey were centered about these three points: (i) Establishment of two garrisons in the zone and the free use of the Malacky artillery range. (ii) Withdrawal of German military and other uniformed units (police, gendarmerie) from Zilina, Trencin, and Nove Mesto nad Vahom. (iii) Approval to keep nine tons of poisonous war gas ('Yperit'). D. G. F. P., VII, p. 2. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 7 The news of Dr. Tiso's departure caused the t ension in Bratislava and in all of Slovakia to grow. There was now not only fear of Hungarian occupation, if Dr. Tiso's mission were to fail but also fear of occupation by the Germans whose troops were stationed on the banks of the Danube on the Austrian side. At the same time there was, however , also a strong hope that Slovakia finally would become an independent state and that the dreams, desires and wishes of many Slovak generations would come true. 1. T h e writer was vice-presiden t of Pax R oma na and Slavia Catholi ca a nd, for ma ny year s, pr esiden t of th e Catholic Fed e ration of Slovak Stud en ts. 2. Cfr. Sidor's: Poznamky k historickym dnom r. 1939 p u blish ed by Lettri ch's R egime, Br atislava, 1946, a nd a lso accounts in Slovenska Obrana, October , 1939. 3. T h e Governm en t was composed as follows : Presiden t - Dr . Joseph T iso ; Prime Minister K. Sid or ; For e ig n Affairs - D r . Durcansky; E du cation - M. Cerna k ; F ina n ce - A. Mederly; Economy - Dr . Pru'.ii ns ky; Communica tions - Dr. Kir schba um ; Nationa l Defense - Gen. ,C atlos; 1Propaganda - A. Mach ; Justice - D r . V. T uka. - See de ta ils in Slovenska Obrana, October 17, 1939 . 4. 'T h e minu tes of th e Slovak Diet. Als o S idor's r em a rks on the historic days (ma nuscr ip ts, no t th e excerpts p ublis h ed b y th e Comm u nists in order to cond emn Dr. Tiso) . • • • THE GERMAN ZONE OF PROTECTION IN SLOVAK.IA (A study in Slovak-German relations in March-August 1939) Frantisek Vnuk On March 14, 1939, the independence of Slovakia was proclaimed by the Slovak Assembly. Two days later Baron von Weizsiicker wired a circular to all German diplomatic missions informing them that Slovak Prime Minister Dr. Tiso had transmitted the following r equest to the Fuhrer by telegram: With full trust in you, the Flihrer and Chancellor of the Gret er German Reich, the Slovak State places itself under your protection. The 'Slovak State asks you to take over this protection (1). Hitler acknowledged the receipt of the telegram and complied with the request. For this purpose a treaty of protection between Germany and Slovakia was drawn up (2) . Article 2 of the treaty stipulated that "the German Wehrmacht shall at all times have the right to set up 8 SLOVAKIA military installations in a zone bounded on the west by the frontier of the Slovak State and on the east by the general line of the eastern edge of the Little Carpathians, the eastern edge of the White Carpathians and the eastern edge of Javorniky, and to man these installations with such forces as the German Wehrmacht consider necessary ... Military sovereign rights (Hoheitsrechts) will be exercised by the German Wehrmacht (in this zone)" (3) . The establishment of this zone ( 4) represents in many respects an interesting aspect of Slovak-German relations. It casts a favorable light on a well-conceived but less successful attempt to extricate Slovak foreign policy from the agreed upon Slovak-German coordination in this field. This praiseworthy attempt and the subsequent unyielding behavior of Slovak politicians in the face of Hitler's demands contrast sharply with the charges of vassalage and servile obedience. In fact, the Slovaks resisted and contradicted Hitler's wishes (and with some success, too ) when powerful nations yielded and were advising others to yield. The negotiations concerning the zone were initiated on the night of March 17-18, 1939, in Vienna. At this time the occupation of Western Slovakia was already an accomplished fact (5) and - since possession is nine points of the law - the position of the ISlovak negotiators was noticeably weakened and by no means enviable. Nevertheless Dr. Joseph Tiso, Durcansky, Tuka, and Mach, the principal Slovak representatives, were determined to save could be saved. Preliminary negotiations started at Biirckel's flat at 5 p. m. Afterwards the Slovaks met SeyssInquart, then Keitel, and finally, at 1 a . m., on the 18th, in the Hotel Imperial they faced Hitler. Each stop represented more humiliation and more pressing demands and brought home one thing: Hitler was going to exact a high price for his protection ; much higher than he ever hinted at in Berlin on March 13th. Tiso was so disappointed at what he rightly considered - being let down that h e wanted to return to Bratislava without even seeing Hitler. Only his companions persuaded him to stay, arguing that in front of the Germans they all ought to show a united SLOVAKIA 9 determination not to give up even an inch of sacred Slovak soil (6). When Hitler, in the presence of Ribbentrop and Keitel, met the Slovaks, he told them - according to the testimony of Tiso - that the 'Shutzvertrag' could be realized only if Germany were given far-reaching concessions to build up a zone in Western Slovakia. The extent of these concessions - as Tiso clearly saw - left the Slovaks practically without any rights to exercise their sovereignty in that territory. It was more than he could bear. At 2 :45 A. M. he got up and was at the point of departure. Hitler, it must be said, in spite of his many shortcommings had a soft spot for the Slovaks and, apparently moved by the pathetic sight of the hardpressed protegees, stopped Tiso with a very assuring piece of oratory. He said: "I do not want even an inch of Slovak ground. In Slovakia the Slovaks alone will develop their own national, cultural, and economic life. I shall guarantee the full independence and territorial integrity of Slovakia. The historical frontiers of Slovakia are and remain forever unchanged. I shall hold my protective hand over ,S lovakia and nobody will reach with stealthy hand for the Slovak State, where the Slovaks will live their own full life" (7). This rhetorical outburst pacified the Slovaks; the rest of the discussion was carried on in a much happier mood. The Slovaks ceded the Germans the right to build and man fortifications in the zone "so as to enable the German Wehrmacht, in the event of war, to take up such positions as are most advantageous to it" (8). The Slovak delegation left Vienna with the impression that the zone remained within the legal structure of the Slovak State. No treaty was formulated or signed that night. Formal negotiations were conducted on the afternoon of March 18. Tiso did not take part in these conversations. The Slovaks were represented by Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, Tuka a Zvrskovec; the Germans by Keppler and Gaus, the legal adviser to the Foreign Minister. The Treaty of Protection ( Schutzvertrag) was signed in Vienna the same day by :Durcansky and Tuka who also pledged to obtain Tiso's signature to the Treaty by noon of March 19, in re-1 10 SLOVAKIA turn for which Keppl er undert ook to get Ribbe ntrop's signature within 24 hours. :Durcansky, Tuka, and Veesenmayer broug ht the Treaty to Tiso for signat ure the evening March 18; he signed it and appear ed to be satisfi ed · with its formu lation (9). Ribben trop, on the other hand, did not sign the Treaty within the stipula ted time limit. All in all, the Germa ns were in no partic ular hurry with respec t to the Slovaks. The reason for their procra stinati on, which was so frustra ting and inexpl icable to the Slovak s then (10), is seen clearly now: they hoped to come to terms with the Poles and Hunga rians. The Polish White Book gives an accoun t of Ribbentrop's propos als to Lipski on March 21 (11), namely , that German-lPolish discus sions "would be possib le on this subject" (i. e., on the questi on of Slovak ia). But the Germa ns must have consid ered the Polish attitud e discou raging , and Ribbe ntrop put his signat ure on the Treaty on -March 23, in Berlin (12), but not before Article 3 of the Treaty was modifi ed and the words "in order to defend Slovak State agains t any possib le extern al attack s" were omitte d. Once the Treaty was signed, the execut ion of Article 2 proved to be more difficu lt than anticip ated. Appar ently the Germa n milita ry author ities were not very happy with what, after all, was a politic al settlem ent. Their behavi or left much to be desire d and Slovak protes ts were very soon pourin g in. At first, the surpri sed Slovak s asked for an explan ation, but later protes ted very vigorio usly. On March 25, the .Slovak Foreig n ·M inistry in a 'note verbal e" called for a more definit e determ ination of the probable durati on and charac ter in intern ationa l law of the Germa n occupa tion of Slovak territo ry. The note also protested a•g ainst the exerci se of sovere ign rights "beyon d those of milita ry necess ity" and agains t the remov al of milita ry materi al which - they claime d - by the secess ion of Slovak ia, had leg-ally become Slovak 'State proper ty (13). It was inevita ble that the occupa tion would cause considera ble frictio n betwee n the Slovak popula tion and the Germa n troops , and that this frictio n would projec t unfavora bly into Slovak -Germ an relatio ns. But the amoun t SLOVAKIA 11 of misunderstanding surpassed every expectation. The Slovaks in their optimistic enthusiasm were determined to enjoy their newly-gained independence to the fullest extent and consequently found the German presence in the zone very annoying and did not even try to hide their displeasure. The Germans, on the other hand, especially the military, did not bother to adjust their behavior in respect to the Slovaks. An ordinary German soldier and officer, fresh from victorious entries into Austria, the Sudetenland, and Bohemia, was hardly expected to be less arrogant towards Slovaks than he was towards Czechs; superiority was after all the essential part of his make-up. There were many instances of discontent, misunderstanding, and small incidents, and their existence could be best gauged by the frequent apologies and assurances which the 'Slovak Press Bureau was issuing in the newspapers and on the air. Under pressure of Slovak protests and complaints, the German representatives of General Staff and Foreign Ministry, at a meeting on March 28, agreed on a unified attitude towards the question of the zone. Their conclusions, though still by no means modest, represent in many respects retreat in the face of the Slovak protests, and can be briefly summarized as follows: 1. Withdrawal of the German Custom Frontier Protection Force to the Slovak-Moravian frontier. 2. The Vah fixed as the line of military occupation. 3. Appointment of a staff officer to the Consul General to act as liaison between the Slovak Army and the Wehrmacht. 4. The German troops east of the Vah to be recalled. 5. German claim to the entire war material of the former Czecho~Slovak army. 6. No removal of war material east of the occupied zone. 7. Decision as to size of the Slovak army. 8. Creation of s e p a r ate military formation for the Volksdeutche (14). Negotiations on the above topics took place on April 4 and were reported by Pares. Unfortunately no details concerning conversations are available, but it is known that 12 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were represented by Dr. Tiso and the Ministers of War, Finance, and Economics, and the chief subject was the removal of war material "purchased by the German Government from the Czecho-!S lovak Government which had been stored in Slovakia" (15). As a result of these conversations, in addition to a German military adviser to be sent to Bratislava, a mixed Slovak-German commission was to be appointed to settle any controversial issue. At about the same time Tuka in his broadcast promised that the German army would leave when it was no longer needed. On April 15, the High Command of the Wehrmacht submitted a list of requirements, the fulfilment of which was expected from the Slovak Government under the Treaty of Protection. The demands, even in their "more lenient" form, were very exacting: 1. The High Command intended to maintain its military forces east of the Vah until the removal of "Czech arms and Czech war material" was completed. 2. Among the sovereign rights they claimed the right to occupy military and also public and private buildings, to use all forms and means of transport, to have at their disposal the factories concerned with war economy, duty-free import and export, postal services, telecommunications and Intelligence Service (Abwehrdienst). 3. The zone to include also Trencin, Krupa, Zilina, and Povazska Bystrica. 4. The size of Slovak army to be completed at one per cent of the population. 5. No units of the Slovak army to be garrisoned within the zone, but para-military formations (Hlinka Guards) to be allowed. 6. Export and import of war material to and from Slovakia to be refused or permitted by the Slovak Government only in agreement with the Reich Government or the High Command of the Wehrmacht (16). When these requirements were communicated by Druffel to Tiso, the latter declared that the Slovak Government did not wish to make difficulties, but asked for discussions with the German authorities on the highest level before SLOVAKIA 13 making any definite commitments. The Germans consented and, as a result, a conference took place in Berlin on April 19. Slovak representatives included Tiso, :Durcansky, and Tuka, the Ministry of Defense was represented by Catlos and Schneider, and also present were Cernak and Szathmary from the Slovak Legation in Berlin. The German delegation consisted of top-ranking experts, both political and military, but conspicious by their absence were the policy making personalities of the Reich. Its members were: Weissacker, Keppler, Wormann, Gaus, Altenburg, Tippelskirsch, HeydenRynsch, and Becker. Slovak grievances were numerous. To start with, Tiso mentioned the occupation by German troops of the aerodrome of Malacky and the demand by a German armored formation for transit through Bratislava. Then he complained of the severity of the demands of the German Wehrmacht, stating that "extension of the zone to Trencin and Zilina was hardly bearable for the Slovak Government"; of the behaviour of the German troops who in some villages occupied schools and thus made school attendance impossible, and employed Czech workers in preference to Slovaks. Furthermore, he claimed a share in the ownership of the former Czecho-Slovak arms factories and clamored for the return of a number of aircraft. German answers were either non-commital or asked to extend negotiations to clarify the application of the Treaty. Apparently the Slovaks demanded more than the German representatives were empowered to grant. Meanwhile the joint Slovak~German Commission was negotiating the treaty on the Zone of Protection but it did not seem to make any noticeable progress. On June 12, the Slovaks submitted another "note verbale'' which contained a number of Slovak views on the interpretation of the text of the Treaty. Arguments advanced by Slovaks were discussed at the conference on June 19 (17), where Tiso expressed the wish to draw up a memorandum and to discuss it personally with Hitler in hopeful expectation that the Slovaks might get more favorable treatment at the hands of the Fuhrer, than they were getting from his representatives. Hitler, however, declined to see Tiso and refused to consider the various points of the Slovak memorandum. 14 SLOVAKIA On June 21 this memorandum, in the form of an "aide memoire", was submitted to the German Foreign Ministry (18). It represented a voluminous list of complaints and expressed an outburst of accumulated Slovak indi,gnation about the German injustices. It questioned German rights to exclude Slovak garrisons from the zonal area, the interpretation of "sovereign rights", and claimed as Slovak the former Cecho..!Slovak military installations which were taken over by the Wehnnacht (such as the artillery range at Malacky); furthermore, it also questioned the wisdom of maintaining German ,garrisons outside the zone (e. g., in .Zilina, Trencin, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn) and criticised excursions of German troops to Bratislava and other places outside the zone. With regard to military material, the Slovak memorandum complained about the removal of war material from Pezinok, Modra, Malacky, Plavecke Podhradie, Hlboke, Turecky Vrch, Senica, Nemcova, Nove Mesto nad Va.horn, Trencin, Istebnik, Skalka, and .Zilina in a manner which "transgressed the bounds of an amicable atmosphere". Furthermore, it objected to occupation of munition factories and factories producing various types of war material at Dubnica, Povazska IBystrica, Stara Tura, Myjava, and .Zilina; to taking over of the stocks and installations of the airports at Novy Dvor and .Zilina; and it sadly commented that proceedings connected with the removal of war material were often conducted "as though Slovakia were an enemy country and not a State whose political and territorial independence had been guaranted by the Flihrer and Chancellor". The memorandum concluded a few more grievances against the military authorities whose attitude caused "administrative and economic uncertainty". The matter was then brought to Hitler's attention. This is evident from a statement made by Keitel on June 20, according to which Hitler's decision on the subject at the conference held by him amounted to the following: "The Flihrer said that he wished the negotiations to be conducted energetically and resolutely which, together with our concrete offers, must lead to early success. The prerequisite for the proposed support of Slovakia is the complete accep- SLOVAKIA 15 tance of our demeands, the more so as Slovakia is dependent on our military, economic, and financial aid." This authoritative pronouncement meant that all the subsequent attempts of the ,Slovaks for better terms encountered the adamant attitude of the German authorities. Thus, when, on June 22, the Slovak Minister in 'Berlin (Matus Cernak) saw Wormann at the German Foreign Ministry, he was brusquely told that the Germans disagreed with the Slovak Foreign Ministry's attempts to establish inconsistencies between the demands of the German Military Delegation and the assurances given by leading German statesmen regarding the conclusion of the Treaty of Protection. He was asked to make it clear in Bratislava that "the Military Delegation was among these demands in the name of the German Government". Cernak sugested that concessions be made by both parties and thought that this would make it possible to reach an agreement which would "not only maintain, but arouse sympathy for Germany" among the Slovak poulation. But Wormann had little understanding for the Slovak point of view and berated the Slovaks because several of the demands expressed in the memorandum of June 19 were in contradiction to the Treaty of Protection (19). On July 3, Cernak again called on the German Foreign Ministry, where he saw Weizsa.cker. He pleaded with him for moderation of the German demands, arguing that "Tiso's ... pro-German policy would be shaken, if it were not supported. In case of emergency, Slovakia would, of course, be completely at the disposal of German Armed Forces, but in peace-time one ought to remain within the scope of the terms of the Treaty. But again Cerna.k's arguments were of no avail and were, one by one, refuted by Weizsa.cker. Faced with such an uncooperative attitude, Cernak asked to be allowed to speak to Ribbentrop personally, but was told that the Foreign Minister was not available (20). The Slovaks, ignorant of Hitler's decision and trusting in his words with hopeful optimism, left no stone unturned in their attempts to secure more favorable terms. Their representatives were untiring in demanding interviews with Hitler and Ribbentrop who, as the chief architects of the 1 16 SLOVAKIA Slovak-German Treaty, could be made, they thought, to stand up to their promises. In this, however, they wer e unsuccessful. But they could get only to Weizsacker; and he, after trying to persuade them that the German negotiators "were acting on the instructions issued to them by the authoritative persons in the Reich", admonished the Slovaks that they should look at them as such and "conduct themselves accordingly" (21). As time went by, the Germans were getting progressively more and more anxious to have the whole issue about the interpretation of the Treaty finally settled and were apparently annoyed by the delay caused by the stubborness of the Slovaks. In view of the approaching German~olish conflict it was paramont for them to have their stand in Slovakia precisely determined and legalized. Their activity (often on the verge of nervousness) was in sharp contrast with the patient and determined attitude of the Slovaks who were unwilling to retreat. The situation was provided with a real touch of comedy when the Slovak statesmen went on their summer holidays (Tiso left for Topofcianky, Durcansky for the High Tatras) while German couriers were flying between and Bratislava. On July 19, Druffel was shown a report from Cernak according to which Eisenlohr and Weizsacker had expressed themselves in favour of token Slovak garrisons in the protected zone. On the strength of this report, Durcansky urged Catlos to dispatch some troops into the zone. On July 2:1, Catlos ordered one batallion to move in and, at the same time, informed the German military mission of his action. From the Germans came a vehement protest, coupled with threats, and the order was recalled. This move displeased Durcansky immensely. He maintained that Catlos should have created a "fait accompli" without regard for the German military mission and their feelings. The argument went so far that Catlos threatened to resign (22). Whether Catlos's action was right or wrong is open to question. It may be recalled, however, that at that time, the German military authorities were resolutely against ·any Slovak troops in that zone, and the same view was shared by Hitler. SLOVAKIA 17 On July 17, the German Foreign Ministry sent to their representative in Bratislava a letter of instructions with an enclosed draft of the Treaty on the Zone of Protection (23). With this draft as a basis, new negotiations ensued. Unfortunately no records were found concerning their course. From the report of tH. Bernard (new German Minister to Slovakia who replaced Druffel), we learn that they were concluded by July 31 and the Slovak representatives (again, we do not know, who they were; Tuka was probably one of them; Tiso and :Durcansky were vacationing) accepted the draft of the treaty with small amendments (24). Barckhausen then took this modified version of the Treaty to Berlin and, on August 7, brought it to Bratislava to Tuka, who then forwarded it to Tiso and :Durcansky (on their vacation) with a request for their approval (25 ). But the Treaty in its new form did not appeal either to Tiso or :Durcansky. Rejecting various points of the draft, they again upset the German applecart. On August 10, a new series of discussions was initiated, this time with :Durcansky present. These discussions finally brought concrete results. On Saturday evening, August 12, 1939, the Treaty on the Zone of Protection was signed at Bratislava by Minister Bernard and Lt. General Barckhausen on behalf of the German Reich, and by the Slovak Premier Tiso. The Treaty consisted of four Sections. Section I delimitated its extent. ,S ection II defined military sovereign rights of the German Wehrmacht and the sovereign rights of the Slovak State; German military sovereign rights included the right to requisition public and private premises, to use all means and lines of transportation, and to supervise armament factories working for the Reich; Germany was also given jurisdiction over her nationals; this Section also provided for Slovak garrisions within the zone. Section 1',III laid down rules regarding the employment of the personnel and material in, and on the payment for, the construction of fortifications. Section IV contained provisions for settlement of differences arising from the application of the Treaty. 1 SLOVAKIA: 16 Verbatim German Text of Treaty (.From Photostat) Abschrift. Schutzzonenvert rag Zur Regelung der sich aus dem Schutzvertrage vom 18./23. Marz 1939 ergebenden Fragen ist zwischen dem Deutschen Reich und der Slowakischen Republik durch die unterzeichneten Bevollmachtigten beider Regierungen folgendes vereinbart worden. Abschnitt I): Abgrenzung der Schutzzone. Artikel 1: Die Ausdehnung der in Artikel 2 des deutsch-slowakis chen Vertrages vom 18./ 23. Marz 1939 genannten Zone in folgendem mit ''Schutzzone" bezeichnet - ergibt sich aus der diesem Vertrage als Bestandteil angehefteten Landkarte in Masstabe 1: 7·5,000. Die Schutzzone erstreckt sich von Westen her bis zu der dieser Landkarte eingezeichneten roten Linie, und sie schliesst den von dieser Linie bedecken Tei! des slowakischen Gebietes ein. Eine Bez·e ichnung der ostwartigen Schutzzonenbeg renzungslinie im Gelande durch Tafeln oder Grenzsteine erfolgt nicht. lnnerhalb dieser Schutzzone wird das Deutsche Reich die ihm im Schutzvertrage vom 18-/ 23. Marz 1939 von dem Slowakischen Staat iibertragenen Aufgaben nach Massgabe der Bestimmungen dieses Vertrages durchfiihren. Abschnitt II): Rechtsverhaltni sse in der Schutzzone. Artikel 2: Mit den militarischen IHoheitsrechten, deren Ausiibung der deutschen Wehrmacht in Arti~el 2 des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz iibertragen worden ist, hat sie das Recht erhalten, im Sinne der fiir die Verteidigung des Slowakischen Staates im allgemeinen bestehenden Gesetze Leistungen im gleichen Masse wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in lFriedenszeiten zu fordern (ohne die ,B estimmungen, die in dem slowakischen Gesetz Nr. 131/36 enthalten sind). Bei Aufwendungen, die iiber den Rahmen normaler Manciverleistung en auch zeitlich hinausgehen, sind die hierfiir zu zahlenden Entschadigungen nach den ortsiiblichen Tagespreisen zu bemessen. Die deutsche Wehrmacht haftet fiir Schaden in gleichem Ausmass wie die slowakische Wehrmacht in tlbungszeiten. Demzufolge hat die deutsche Wehrmacht insbesondere folgende Rechte: a) (Das Recht, jederzeit in der Schutzzone militarische Anlagen zu errichten und im 'Benehmen mit den slowakischen Behcirden tiffentliche Gebaude, Grundstiicke and Anlagen fiir militarische Zwecke in Anspruch zu nehmen und private Gebaude und Grundstiicke in Benutzun_ zu nehmen, ohne die Durchfiihrung des Enteignungsverfahrens oder des Verfahrens zur voriibergehende n Entziehung der Benutzung abzuwarten, jedoch unbeschadet ,e iner spateren Regelung der Entschadigung. Die Entschadigung wird unter Mitwirkun,g deutscher Beauftragter im Wege giitlicher Verhandlun,gen mit den Betroffenen festigesetzt. IKommt eine giitliche Eintgung nicht zustande, so bleibt es den Betroffenen vorbehalten, die Festsetzung der Entschadig-ung nach den slowakischen Gesetzen zu betragen. In diesem Falle bleibt im SLOVAKIA 19 Verhaltnis zu dem Deutschen Reich die Hohe der Entschadigung einer Vereinbarung mit der Slowakischen Regierung vorbehalten. b) Das Recht zur Benutzung der in der Schutzzone vorhanden,en Transportmittel und Transportwege unter moglichster Berucksichtigung der wirtschaftlichen Jnteressen der Slowakischen Republik. Ausserdem kann bei Vorliegen besonderer militarischer Notwendigkeiten die Bahn Pressburg-Ty,r nau-Pistyan-Trencin'8 illeinJCadca und die Strassen Pressburg-Modern-Na das-Trencin and Pressburg-Tyrnau-Pis tyan-Trencin,Sillein>C adca, von Trencin aus bis Cadca auch auf dem ostwartigen Waag-und Kysucaufer benutzt werden. Ferner erhalt die deutsche Wehrmacht das Recht, alle Orte zwischen Pressburg (ausschliesslich) and Cadca an den oben genannten Strassen bei Vorliegen militarischer Griinde vorubergehend zur Einquartierung zu benutzen. Die Slowakische Regierung ist hiervon in Kenntnis zu setzen. Die Benutzung der Eisenbahnlinien wird durch Sondertarifabmachun gen geregelt. Bei der Benutzung anderer slowakischer Verkehrsmittel sind die ortsiiblichen Tarifsatze zu zahlen, wenn nicht im Wege der Vereinbarung ein anderweitiger Entgelt fur die Benutzung festgesetzt wird. c) Das Recht, Riistungsbetriebe, die Auftrage vom Deutschen Reich erhalten, zu beaufsichtigen und auszunutzen unter BeriicksichUgung der Bediirfnisse der slowakischen Wehrmacht. Hieriiber wird eine besondere Vereinbarung zwischen den zustandigen Stellen der Deutschen Regierung und der Regierung des Slowakischen iStaates abgeschlossen werden. d) iDas Recht, in der Schutzzone alle erforderlichen Massnahmen des militarischen Abwehrdienstes zu treffen und von den Behorden des Slowakischen Staates die Anordnung und Durchfiihrung aller hierfiir erforderlichen Exekutivmassnahmen zu verlangen. !Die Deutsche Wehrmacht hat das !Recht, gegeniiber deutschen Wehrmachtangehori<g en und den fiir Wehrmachtzwecke in der Schutzzone tatigen reichsdeutschen Beamten, An-gestellten und Arbeitern deutsche militarische Exekutivorgane einzusetzen. Diese diirfen ,g egentiber Personen, die nicht die Staatsangehorigkeit im Deutschen Reich besitzen, nur in dringenden •Fallen, sofern slowakische Sicherheitsorgane nicht errechbar sind, Exekutivmassnahmen treffen. Festgenommene sind den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden unverziiglich, spatestens binnen 24 Stunden, zu ubergeben. e) Das Recht zur zollfreien Versor,g ung der deutschen Truppen und zur zollfreien Belieferung der militarischen Anlrugen aus dem Reich. Hieriiber wird eine Sondervereinbarung getroffen. Die Slowakische Regierung wird in engsten Einvernehmen mit der deutschen Wehrmacht alle Massnahmen treffen, die erforderlich sind, um der deutschen Wehrmacht die Durchfiihrung der ihr zum Schutz des Slowakischen S·taates, der Schutzzone und der darin befindlichen Truppen und militarischen Anlagen ubertragenen Aufgaben im Sinne des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 zu ermoglichen und zu erleichtern. Artikel 3: Alie Hoheitsrechte in der Schutzzone ubt, soweit nicht im Vertrage vom 18. /2:3. Marz 1939 und in diesem Vertrage anders vereinbart, der Slowakische Staat aus. Hinsichtlich der Hoheitsrechte des Slowakischen Staates ist inbesondere folgendes vereinbart: a) Die Geltung aller jetzt und kiinftig gultigen rechtlichen Vor- 20 SLOVAKIA schriften der Slowakischen Republik erstreckt sich auf das Gebiet der Schutzzone, wenn dies nicht ausdriicklich ausgenommen wird, oder dem Sinne dieses Vertraiges und des Vertrages vom 18./23. Marz 1939 widerspricht. b) ,Die slowakischen Behorden in der Schutzzone iiben ihren Dienst weiterhin aus und unterliegen weiterhin uneingeschrankt der Aufsich t der ihnen vorgesetzten Behorden des Slowakischen Staates. c) Die Ausnutzung und Belegung der in der Schutzzone befindlichen militarischen Anlagen durch die slowakische Wehrmacht, das Uberliegen der Schutzzone durch slowakische Militarflugzeu.ge soiwie das Betraten der Schutzzone durch einzelne Angehorige der slowakischen Wehrmacht wird durch besondere Vereinbarung geregelt. d) In der Schutzzone kann der Zutrtt zu militarisch wichtigen Gebietsteilen, Befestigungsarbeiten and -anlagen von der deutschen Wehrmacht verhindert werden. Das Betretungsverbot wird von den zustandigen slowakischen Behorden auf Veranlassung der deutschen Wehrmachtstellen und in beiderseitigem Einvernehmen erlassen und der Bevolkerung in ortsiiblichen Weise bekanntgegeben werden. e) Die Einrichtung von Uberfluigzonen in der Schutzzone zur Ermoglichen des gegenseitiigen zivilen Flugverkehrs wird einer besonderen Vereinbarung vorbehalten. f) Deutsche Wehrmachtangehorig e diirfen das slowakische Staatsgebiet ausserhalb der Schutzzone nur betreten 1) aus dienstlichem Anlass mit Bewilligung der slowakischen zustandigen Behorden (Ausnahme Art. 2c) 2) bei Urlaub nur gemass den deutschen Bestimmungen iiber Auslandsurlaub. Artikel 4: Deutsche Wehrmachtsangehorig e, die sich auf Grund des Schutzvertragen vom 18./23. Marz 1939 in der Schutzzone befinden, sind den deutschen Strafgesetzen unterworfen und unterstehen wegen aller in der Schutzzone begangenen strafbaren Handlungen der deutschen Strafgerich tsbarkeit. Sonstige deutsche Staatsangehorige, die bei den Befestigungsarbeiten beschaftigt sind, sind wegen strafbarer Handlungen, die in der Schutzzone begangen sind und sich gegen das Deutsche Reich richten, allein der deutschen Strafgerichtsbarkeit unterworfen. Deutsche Reichsangehoriige sowie reichsdeutsche Handelsgesellschaften, Erwerbs- und Wirtschaftsgenossens chaften, die auf Grund eines privaten Vertragsverhaltnisses mit der Errichtung militarischer Anlagen in der Schutzzone befasst sind, konnen aus ihrem gegen-seitigen Rechtsverhaltnis sowie aus ihrem Rechtsverhaltnis zum Deutschen Reich wegen eines Anspruchs aus ihren iRechtsverhaltnissen, namentlich aus Arbeits-, Dienst-- und Lieferungsverhaltnissen oder wegen einer unerlaubten Handlung, die mit der Tatigkeit zur Errichtung der militarischen AnlaJgen unmittelbar in Zusammenhang steht, nur vor deutschen Gerichten verklagt werden. Klagen wegen dieser Anspriiche konnen bei dem Amts- oder Landgericht Briinn erhoben werden. Es bleibt der Reichsregierung vorbehalten, auch andere Gerichte zu bestimmen. Artikel 5: In den vor die deutschen Gerichte gehorigen Strafsachen sind die Sicherheitsbehorden des Slowakischn Staates befugt, bei Gefahr im Verzuge nach den fiir sie geltenden Verfahrengesetzten SLOVAKIA 21 die ;\-lassnahmen zu treffen, die zur Aufklii.rung des Sachverhalts, zur Festhaltung des Beschuldigten oder zur Sicherung von Gegen-stii.nden notwendig sind, die z1ir Begehung strafbarer Handlungen gebraucht oder bestimmt sind. Von dem Veranlassten haben die Sicherheitsbehiirden des Slowakischen Staates unverziiglich den nii.chsten Gerichtsherrn (Divisionskommander) in Kenntnis zu setzen und ihm einen festgenommen Beschuldigten zuzufahren. Deutsche Wehrmachtsan:gehiirige sowie die fiir Wehrmacht21wecke in der ,s chutzzone tii.ti1g en deutschen •Reichsangehorigen haben stii.ndig einen giiltigen Personenausweis bei sich zu fiihren, mit dem sie sich gegeniiber slowakischen Sicherheitsorganen auf Aufforderung ausweisen konnen. A r t ikel 6 : Die Slowakischen Behiirden werden Handlungen, die ,g egen die in diesem Vertrag festgelegten Interessen des Deutschen Reichs gerichtet sind, so verfol•g en als ob sie gegen den Slowakischen Staat gerichtet wii.ren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird dafiir Sorge tragen, dass das Deutsch e Reich die Miiglichkeit erhii.lt, den deutschen Interessen Geltung zu verschaffen, wenn es sich in Strafverfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehorden um Fragen handelt, die das gemeinsame Interesse des Deutschen Reichs und des Slowakischen Staates beriihren. Die Slowakische Regierung wird ferner im Einvernehmen mit der Reichsregierung Vorkehrungen treffen, dass den in Artikel 4 bezeichneten Personen in Verfahren vor slowakischen Justizbehiirden in sprachlicher Hinsicht weitestgehende Erleichterungen zuteil werden. Absch nitt 111 ) : Befestigung.sarbeiten. A r t ike l 7: Militii.rische Bauten and -Anlagen innerhalb der Schutzzone werden vom Reich auf eigene Kosten hergestellt. Artike l 8 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird das fiir die Arbeiten und Anlagen in der Schutzzone erforderliche Material nach Miiglichkeit aus dem slowakischen Staatsgebiet beziehen. Soweit Preise hierfiir niclrt im Wege der Ausschreibun,g und freien Vereinbarung festJgelegt werden, sind die iiblichen Ta,g espreisen zu zahlen . Artike l 9 : Die Deutsche Wehrmacht wird bei der Ausfiihrung d er Arbeiten und Anlagen vorzugsweise Arbeits krii.fte aus der Slowakei anstellen. Eine Abweichung hiervon kommt insbesondere in Frage, wenn militii.rische Griinde die Einstellung bestimmter anderer Arbeitskrii.fte, z. B. gelernter Fach- und Spezialarbeiter erforderlich machen. Arbeitskrii.fte aus der Slowakei werden in slowakischer Wii.hrung entlohnt. Bei der Einstellung von Arbeitern wird nach einem allgemeinen, im Benehmen mit d er Slowakischen iRegierung aufgestellten Vertrage formular vorfabren. A r t ike l 10: Nach den slowakischen Gesetzen ist zu verfahren, wenn bei Arbeiten and Anlagen der deutschen Wehrmacht in der Schutzzone historisch wichtige 1Funde gemacht werden, oder wenn dabei Mineral- und Erzlager, oder andere Bodenschii.tze entdeckt werden. Art ike l 11 : Die deutsche Wehrmacht ,w ird bei den in der Schutzzone durchzufiihrenden Arbeiten und Anlagen mit besonderer Sor,g falt auf historische Denkmii.ler und auf die fiir den Slowakischen Staat und die slowakische Nation bedeutsamen Oiits Riicksicht nehmen. Abschnitt IV ) : Schlussbestimm ungen. Artike l 12 : Alie Meinungsverchiedenheiten, die sich aus der Durchfiihrung dieses Vertrages ergeben, werden, soweit sie nicht zur Zu- 22 SLOVAKIA stiindigkeit anderer O11gane gehoren, einer Kommission unterbreitet, die aus 2 deutschen und 2 slo.wakischen Mitgliedern bestehen soil, die im Bedarfsfalle zusammen tritt und das Recht hat, Sachvers·tiindige hinzuzuziehen und nach Bedarf auch ein fiinftes Mitglied zu bestellen. Kommt eine Einigung iiber das fiinfte Mitglied nicht zustande, so ist die Angelegenheit auf dem iiblichen diplomatischen Wege bei den 1Regierungen anhangig zu machen. Die Anrufunig der Kommission hat keine aufschiebende Wirkung. Dieser Vertra;g wird in doppelter Urschrift, in deutscher und in slowakischer Sprache ausgefertigt. Er tritt am Tage nach der Unterzeichnung in Kraft. Pressburg, den 12. August 1939. Fiir das Deutsche Reich: a. o. Gesandter und bevollmachtigter Minister des Deutschen Reichs in Pressburg Generalleu tnant 1. Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D, (hereafter as D. G. F. P.) Volume Vil, pp. 10-11. 2. For the Treaty and the Confidential -P rotocol on economic and financial cooperation see D. G. F. P. V[, pp. 42-4-5. 3. D. G. F. P. VJ, p. 43 - The Academic Guard played an out~ standing role since October 1938, but its participation on the struggle for independence was of great importance especially in the decisive days of March 10-14, 1939. It was a paramilitary organization of university students, led by Dr. J. Kirschbaum as supreme command er. After March 14, it supplied the Slovak Republic with many outstanding workers in the Slovak public life, namely in Party organization, press, diplomacy, cultural associations etc. Among the leaders of the Academic Guard who played an important part in March 1939, are now in exile Dr. Joseph ,P auco, Dr. Joseph Mikula, Koloman Murgas, Dr. G. Danihel, Dr. L . Jankovic, etc. In 1940 the Academic Guard was dissolved by the order of the Ministry of Jnternal Affairs because it opposed introduction of National Socialist ideology in 1Slovakia. Dr. Kirschbaum was first called to arms and then sent abroad. No Slovak newspaper was allowed to mention his nam e for two following years. See Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1939-1945. 4. The origin of this zone can be traced back to Berlin where Hitler, talking to Tiso on March 13, told him among other things tha,t not only Hungarians and Poles were mobilizing, but "the Czechs also want to occcupy the western part of Slovakia up to the Vah." Tiso in his defense hinted at this ominous suggestion which is also ,supported by the 0 . K. W. Memorandum of March 24, (R 100 (see: Nazi Conspiracy and Agression, VJII, p. 83) according to which, if Slovakia is k ept independent, the military Schutzzone is to extend up to the Vah; but if Slovakia is divided between Poles and Hungarians, the whole area up to the Nitra is to be incorporated in the Protectorate ("Sollte Slowakei aufigeteilet werden, soil die Ostwest [Neutra-linie] Grenze werden und Pressburg einbezogen werden"). 5. According to the report of the British Consul in •B ratislava on iMarch 15, the German troops had reached Malacky by mid.day of that day and Trencfn by evening (D. Brit. F. P .. 3rd Series. Vol. IV, SLOVAKIA 23 p. 287). On March 17, the Slovak Foreign Ministry lodged in a "note verbale" several complaints on the behaviour of the German troops in the occupied territory. 6. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, Joseph Pauco, Passaic, 1952, p. 232. 7. ibid. pp. ,233-4. 8. D. G. F. P., VJ, p. 756. 9. Dr. Jozef Tiso o sebe, p. 234, footnote. 10. Tiso, Tuka and f>urcansky were invited to Berlin, where the latter two arrived on March 21. ,Ribbentrop kept them waiti.Il!g in complete uncertainty for three full days and then on March 23, at 12: 30 P. M., in their presence si,gned the Schutzvertrag. 11. The Polish White Book, pp. 62-3. 12. The offer to the Poles was, nevertheless, still open, and Hitler would have waived the .g uarantee if the ·Poles had been more cooperative (Cf. Doc. R 100 of March 24. How long the Fueh·rer considers himself bound to the 'T reaty concluded with Slovakia is open to doubt. It seems that he will use Slovakia as an asset to bargain between himself, Poland, and Hungary). On March 26, Ribbentrop a•g ain suggest-ed to Lipski "that the Slovak problem might still be discussed within the framework of a general Ausgleich" (see: Polish White Book, p. 67.), but the Poles now rejected the offer definitely. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. D. G. F. P., VI, pp. 114-115. ibid. p. 146. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. D. G. F. P., V[, pp. 7-56-762. ibid. p. 774. ibid. pp. 840-841. ibid. p. 916. ibid. pp. 9·52-953. ibid. p. 840, footnote. ibid. p. 1025. D. G F. P., Third Series, Vol. V, p. 89. D. G. F. P., Vil, pp. 254-255. At this conference, Tiso, Tuka, f>urcansky, and Mach negotiated with Barckhausen, Drufiel, Becker, and Hoffmann. The Slovaks advanced every argument imaiginable. if>urcansky thought that the presence of the German troops in the zone and outside it was generally interpreted as lack of trust on the part of the German Government in the Slovak Government. Tuka pointed out that the Slovak State should not be protected in the same manner as one would protect a flock of sheep, but that it should contribute to its own protection by having its own army, and this army must not be deprived of its equipment. Tiso and f>urcansky expressed the fea•r that, in case of the outbreak of Polish-!German hostilities, Hungary would invade Slovakia and, hence, Slovakia must be prepared for every eventuality. As for the Slovak desiderata, ihey were centered about these three points: (i) Establishment of two garrisons in the zone and the free use of the Malacky artillery range. (ii) Withdrawal of German military and other uniformed units (police, gendarmerie) from Zilina, Trencin, and Nove Mesto nad Vahom. (iii) Approval to keep nine tons of poisonous war gas ('Yperit'). D. G. F. P., VII, p. 2.  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 German Zone of Protection in Slovakia Description An account of the resource František Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959 pp. 7-23 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vnuk, František, 1926- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/759d3af9024e26a0f4ce546ef688c640.pdf 7e0fadd488e0f42a01c99f2897f46fff PDF Text Text 24 SLOVAKIA THE STIRRING DAYS OF MARCH 1939 Dr. Joseph Pauco I lived at the Svoradov. On March 10, 1939, at about three in the morning, my friends awakened and told me that Czech soldiers had occupied the city of Trencin and that entire regiments of the Czech army were pouring through Malacky. The vanguards, they said, were already supposed to be in Bratislava. It was not easy to believe this report, because at that time a lot of rumors were in the wind. After a time, I stretched out on the bed and soon fell asleep again. My alarm-clock roused me at 5:30 A. M., when I had to get up to be on time at the editorial office of the Slovenska Pravda. I usually took a bus that stopped in front of the Svoradov. But this morning there seemed to be no bus operating from this point. That March morning was really chilly. After some time, I decided not to wait for a bus, so I started out on foot. The streets were quiet. In front of the district administra tion building I came upon a guard who was stepping lively. iHe cast his keen eye upon me searchingly for a moment and then went about his business of stepping lively again. I did not even wait for the streetcar near the church of the Holy Trinity. As I walked by the main post-office, I noticed that it was guarded by six soldiers and four policemen. All were heavily armed. "My friends at the Svoradov may have been right", flashed through my mind. Bratislava was full of espionage agents. Some may have been caught, while others were about to be taken in. From that point to the office I came across no one else that might strike my attention. I arrived at the office on schedule. At 6:115 A. M. I was on the third floor of the gigantic printing enterprise of the SLOVAK and the SLOVENS KA PR.AIVDA, the Andrej Building, on King Alexander street. Several minutes later, the entire editorial office of the daily Slovenska Pravda bristled with activity. In the office �SLOVAKIA 25 with me were Dr. Aladar Kocis, editor-in-chief, Celo Radvanyi, and Joseph 1P etro. We had no foreboding about what was to happen. Even after l told my colleagues what I had heard at the Svoradov that morning, they thought nothing of it. We applied ourselves to our tasks. That morning I was to write the leading editorial about the discussions taking place in Prague. Minister Karol Sidor was the ,Slovak representative in these discussions. My article was to be based on the reports supplied by the Slovak Press Bureau. The reports brought nothing new. I was then convinced that the discussions would be meaningless. And I meant to tell our readers just that. Well, it so happened that I wrote nothing that morning. Neither did my colleagues. Before I could strike a sentence on paper, the doors of my office flew open and a Czech major, with revolver in hand and accompanied by two bayonet-toting gendarmes, rushed at me. The major announced in a loud Czech voice : "In the name of the new Slovak Government I am stopping all work in this building and taking it over!" With that all four of us were taken to Dr. Kocis's office. We were all stunned. We did not know who the major and his companions were. The major and the gendarmes appeared to be a bit queer. But we could say nothing. The major ordered the gendarmes to cut all telephone wires. This they did speedily. In the hallway, they came upon the janitress and our secretary, Mrs. Noskay; both were detained in a separate room of the building. The major forbade us to look out the windows. A short time later he left us, ordering the gendarmes to keep an eye on us. After a time we asked the gendarmes what was going on, why they came to Bratislava, and who ordered them here. But they were not talking. They simply complained that they were tired and hungry. Several minutes later the Czech major brought in the editor-in-chief of the Slovenska Politika, Augustine Nacin. The major barked again that we were not to go near the windows : "iKeep at least six feet away!" When he left us again, however, we managed to get a few peeps in on the street below. It was full of people talking loudly and gesticulating wildly. There we spied two of our colleagues, Jo-- �26 SLOVAKIA seph Nizii.ansky and John Hrusovsky. They were looking up at our window quizzingly. Hrusovsky with his cane, switching his pipe rhythmically from one end of his mouth to the other. We waved to them from the window and one of my colleagues tapped on the window. It was precisely at this moment of tapping on the window that the Cech major burst again into the room. "Vo that again," he raved menacingly, "and I begin to shoot!" Well, we did not want to argue with him. We pulled away from the windows and- waited quietely for developments. About 9 :00 A. M. the Czech major paid us another visit, this time with a piece of paper in his hand. He read our names off the paper to identify us. Then, ordering Celo Radvanyi to remain in the room, he led the rest of us down the stairs. Armed guards in military and police uniforms were all over the place. At the main entrance to the building three soldiers manned a machine-gun aimed at the main portal. The major halted us at the main entrance, pulled out his revolver and, holding it over our heads, let us out into the street one at a time. People gaped at us, but nobody spoke to us. We looked about for familiar faces, but in vain. We still did not know exactly what was happening. On the corner of the National Bank we separated with the understanding that we would return in an hour to see whether we could get to work again. I then walked briskly to the Svoradov. When I arrived there things were pretty lively. One of my friends to-Id me that about the same time the Czech army took over the Andrej Building, detectives and policemen came to Svoradov to arrest Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. This, however, was easier said than done, because the academicians of the Svoradov were determined to have a say in the matter. They forced the unwanted guests out of the building. We were about to call a mass meeting of all the inmates of Svoradov, when one of our boys announced that a bus pulled in with a load of armed guards. Immediately we locked all entrances to the building. Moments later army tanks thundered on the premises and �SLOVAKIA 27 Svoradov was quickly surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and policemen. They banged on all entrances, ordering the academicians to let them in. But nobody was willing to listen to Czech orders. Windows were opened on the upper floors of Svoradov and the students soon began shouting and ridiculing the invaders. "If there is to be a circus," one academician shouted, "why not sell admission tickets?" Others got their cameras and took pictures of our "so closely related" brethren, the Czechs, who came to the Svoradov boarding home with tanks and guns to prove their friendship for the Slovaks. The university courtyard of old Svoradov was called Alcazar. It so happened that six gendarmes got into the courtyard one way or another and were soon surrounded by quite a number of students, who were determined to keep them out of the building. Angry words were exchanged for a time. Dr. Kirschbaum, several others, and I, working on a plan of action, could hear them on the second floor. I was sent out to learn what was happening in the courtyard. Plowing through the mass of students, I faced the gendarmes and inquired where they came from, what they wanted or were looking for here, and who permitted them to violate private property rights. All looked very sheepishly at me and a bit flustered by my audacity. Finally, one of the gendarmes said: "We are looking for one Mr. Kristbaum." "Kristbaum ?" - I queried - "why there is no Kristbaum and we never heard of any Kristbaum !" I then reminded the gendarmes that they were on academic ground and that the mana,gement and students demanded that they leave the premises willingly at once. The gendarmes hesitated momentarily, then pointed their guns at us. When the students pushed closer to them, however, they put their guns down. Greatly outnumbered, they decided to leave the premises, the students accompanying them to the steet. After locking the door, several academicians visited the wine-shop in the cellar of the building and reminded the lessee to have more regard for the Slovaks. It was through this place the gendarmes got into the courtyard of Svoradov. �28 SLOVAKIA A half-hour later the Czech army and gendarmerie pulled away from Svoradov. It was then we called our colleagues of the Lafranconi. After joining us, the entire mass of students paraded in three columns in the streets of Bratislava, loudly singing songs to the wild applause of shoppers and inhabitants. As the paraders approached the government building on the Vajansky coast or bank, they were joined by masses of the population who, too, wanted to demonstrate against the Czech occupation of Slovakia, and particularly the city of Bratislava. The Slovak academicians had fired the Slovak masses with enthusiasm and determination to stand up for right and justice, the sacred cause of freedom and independence, which had been violated by Prague. The Czechs had blundered again, and blundered terribly. The chasm between the Czechs and the Slovaks widened. After twenty years of the Masaryk and Benes brand of democracy, the 1S lovaks and the Czechs were never before so far apart. The occupation of Slovakia by the Czechs was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Slovaks will never willingly join the Czechs in any venture. Czecho-Slovakia still exists, but only on paper. The Slovaks are kept in line only by force and violence. The Czechs sowed the wind and reaped a whirlwind. They have not a single true friend in Europe today. In the meantime, Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum had gone to the residence of Premier Dr. Joseph Tiso, the home of the Jesuits, where he pledged the loyalty of all Slovak students. As soon as he returned, he told us in front of the Slovak National Theater on the Hviezdoslav Square: "Dr. Joseph Tiso was saying his breviary. To the Slovak youth he sends this message: Carry on in a manner that you may not harm yourselves and that the world might see that we are not afraid of the bayonets and machineguns of any occupation army." There were parades and demostrations in Bratislava before March 10, 1939. And there many were after that. But the demonstration of the Slovak students on March 10, 1939, was undoubtedly the most spontaneous and greatest of all of them. The demonstrations were organized by the Club of Hlinka Academicians which was headed by Dr. Jo- �SLOVAKIA 29 seph Kirschbaum. The leaders of the academicians were everywhere when Bratislava needed help. They were in government buildings, editorial offices, and did jobs that were dangerous. Several ,w ere scared off by events that followed, while hundreds were jailed. Of those who managed to escape from their homeland after it was occupied by the Czech and the Red Armies in 1945, I might mention at least Dr. Joseph Mikula and Dr. Gabriel Danihel in addition to Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. They rendered valuable services at that time, services which served Slovak politicians in good stead a few hours after the events of March 10th had been initiated. Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, was on its feet from the 10th to the 14th of March, 1939. Several tragic events occured. The Czech army and gendarmery took recourse to arms. The Hlinka Guards of the area repulsed the occupation of the Trade Building. A volley of shots rang out. Anthony Kopal, 27-year old laborer of Vel'ke Uherce, was hit fatally and died a short time later in the Bratislava State Hospital. The first victim of the Czech March 10th putsch. That evening, 58-year old Mary Psota was shot dead as she was closing her tobacco shop which was located opposite the District Court Building. Czech soldiers, firing from the building, were responsible for her death. The Czechs had occupied the broadcasting station in Bratislava. The Slovak Hlinka Guards fought for it all day on March 10 and did get possession of it at 10 :30 that night. It was then that Premier Karol Sidor spoke over the air. Up to that time the whole Slovakia was in confusion. Cities and towns were taken by the Czechs after General Homola announced over the air and with placards that he was taking over all political, military, judicial powers in Slovakia in the name of the Prague Government. Slovak army officers and police were disarmed and placed under guard; about 500 civic leaders were imprisoned and later taken to a jail in Moravia where they were held three days. Minister Matthew Cernak was among them. In the meantime, reports were pouring in from all parts of Slovakia, particularly from the cities and towns �30 SLOVAKIA which told of the brutalities committed by the Czech occupation forces. The situation was very grave. If the 'Slovaks would have had access to weapons, there undoubtedly would have been very much blood shed on March 10th in the fight against the Czech occupants. There were indications of this especially in Trencin, Nitra, Spisska Nova Ves, and Banska Stiavnica. The atrocities committed by the "brotherly" Czechs on March 10th shall never be forgotten by the Slovaks. What happened in those days was governed by the international situation. Adolph Hitler had decided to liquidate Czecho...:Slovakia. His decision and its consequences are already recorded by history. But during those three hectic March days, the 'Slovaks were convinced that, if an unexpected turn in events did not take place - which even the majority of the foremost Slovak politicians could not foresee - the Czechs would have continued to occupy Slovakia with their army. Little wonder then that the Slovaks in these days were bitter and proclaimed: Never again with the Czechs! March 14, 1939, arrived. A glorious day for the Slovaks, nowithstanding anything that anti-Slovak ~lements say about it to the contrary! The 'Slovaks knew only the simple facts of that historical event. First, Karol Sidor was called to Berlin. He did not go. Then the Germans called Tiso, not once but twice. But he, too, was reluctant to accept the invitation. When a third invitation was delivered to him by German representatives in person, Dr. Tiso deliberated with the presidium of the Slovak People's Party. The latter decided that Dr. Tiso should accept the invitation, so Tiso flew to Berlin. On Tuesday morning, March 14, before we could form ranks in Svoradov, somebody brought in a report that Hitler had requested iDr. Tiso to proclaim the independence of Slovakia directly from Berlin. But Tiso did not broadcast anything from Berlin. We were lined up to march to the Parliament Building to learn what the Slovak legislators had in mind. Furthermore, we wanted to be on hand in case the Czechs would again attempt to take over that building. It was a cold March morning. Rolling clouds overhead, �SLOVAKIA 31 snow clouds. The lively march of the academicians caught the attention of the inhabitants and warmed their hearts. They had little sleep the past three days, but there they were again on the streets waving banners and flags, shouting joyous acclaim to the Slovak Government and the academicians and demanding that the "Czechs get out of Slovakia". ; Our hearts were warm and we broke into song. Finally, we arrived at our destination and waited patiently. Then, as we broke into song again, we were joined by the academicians of Lafranconi and thousands of people. Soon the square was a mass of people. The banner of the Slovak Catholic Student Federation fluttered in the breeze over our heads. What we had gone through the past three days was like a motion picture. Then we had to make way for oncoming autos. In the first we saw temporary Premier Karol Sidor; in the second, Dr. Joseph Tiso. Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum greeted Karol Sidor and I greeted Dr. Joseph Tiso in the name of the student body. Without delay the Slovak parliament was in session. We still did not know definitely what was about to happen. Our representative, Dr. Kirschbaum, also went into the Parliament Building. After a time, he came out briefly to tell us that a very serious matter was being discussed. After he left us, he came out again shortly thereafter to inform us that the Parliament of autonomous Slovakia had decided to proclaim the independence of Slovakia. This happened at precisely seven minutes and twelve seconds after twelve o'clock noon. Bratislava streets burst out with joyous acclaim. Alexander Mach and Dr. Kirschbaum rushed to an auto and sped to the broadcasting station. First Mach made a brief broadcast and then Dr. Kirschbaum spoke in the name of Slovak youth. They told of the historical event that had taken place. As soon as the cities and towns heard the broadcast, bells began to peel in all the churches of Slovakia. The Fourth of July had arrived for the Slovaks on March 14, 1939. All offices and schools were quickly closed for the rest of the day. The Slovaks prayed and sang with joy as never before. �32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they � 24 SLOVAKIA THE STIRRING DAYS OF MARCH 1939 Dr. Joseph Pauco I lived at the Svoradov. On March 10, 1939, at about three in the morning, my friends awakened and told me that Czech soldiers had occupied the city of Trencin and that entire regiments of the Czech army were pouring through Malacky. The vanguards, they said, were already supposed to be in Bratislava. It was not easy to believe this report, because at that time a lot of rumors were in the wind. After a time, I stretched out on the bed and soon fell asleep again. My alarm-clock roused me at 5:30 A. M., when I had to get up to be on time at the editorial office of the Slovenska Pravda. I usually took a bus that stopped in front of the Svoradov. But this morning there seemed to be no bus operating from this point. That March morning was really chilly. After some time, I decided not to wait for a bus, so I started out on foot. The streets were quiet. In front of the district administra tion building I came upon a guard who was stepping lively. iHe cast his keen eye upon me searchingly for a moment and then went about his business of stepping lively again. I did not even wait for the streetcar near the church of the Holy Trinity. As I walked by the main post-office, I noticed that it was guarded by six soldiers and four policemen. All were heavily armed. "My friends at the Svoradov may have been right", flashed through my mind. Bratislava was full of espionage agents. Some may have been caught, while others were about to be taken in. From that point to the office I came across no one else that might strike my attention. I arrived at the office on schedule. At 6:115 A. M. I was on the third floor of the gigantic printing enterprise of the SLOVAK and the SLOVENS KA PR.AIVDA, the Andrej Building, on King Alexander street. Several minutes later, the entire editorial office of the daily Slovenska Pravda bristled with activity. In the office �SLOVAKIA 25 with me were Dr. Aladar Kocis, editor-in-chief, Celo Radvanyi, and Joseph 1P etro. We had no foreboding about what was to happen. Even after l told my colleagues what I had heard at the Svoradov that morning, they thought nothing of it. We applied ourselves to our tasks. That morning I was to write the leading editorial about the discussions taking place in Prague. Minister Karol Sidor was the ,Slovak representative in these discussions. My article was to be based on the reports supplied by the Slovak Press Bureau. The reports brought nothing new. I was then convinced that the discussions would be meaningless. And I meant to tell our readers just that. Well, it so happened that I wrote nothing that morning. Neither did my colleagues. Before I could strike a sentence on paper, the doors of my office flew open and a Czech major, with revolver in hand and accompanied by two bayonet-toting gendarmes, rushed at me. The major announced in a loud Czech voice : "In the name of the new Slovak Government I am stopping all work in this building and taking it over!" With that all four of us were taken to Dr. Kocis's office. We were all stunned. We did not know who the major and his companions were. The major and the gendarmes appeared to be a bit queer. But we could say nothing. The major ordered the gendarmes to cut all telephone wires. This they did speedily. In the hallway, they came upon the janitress and our secretary, Mrs. Noskay; both were detained in a separate room of the building. The major forbade us to look out the windows. A short time later he left us, ordering the gendarmes to keep an eye on us. After a time we asked the gendarmes what was going on, why they came to Bratislava, and who ordered them here. But they were not talking. They simply complained that they were tired and hungry. Several minutes later the Czech major brought in the editor-in-chief of the Slovenska Politika, Augustine Nacin. The major barked again that we were not to go near the windows : "iKeep at least six feet away!" When he left us again, however, we managed to get a few peeps in on the street below. It was full of people talking loudly and gesticulating wildly. There we spied two of our colleagues, Jo-- �26 SLOVAKIA seph Nizii.ansky and John Hrusovsky. They were looking up at our window quizzingly. Hrusovsky with his cane, switching his pipe rhythmically from one end of his mouth to the other. We waved to them from the window and one of my colleagues tapped on the window. It was precisely at this moment of tapping on the window that the Cech major burst again into the room. "Vo that again," he raved menacingly, "and I begin to shoot!" Well, we did not want to argue with him. We pulled away from the windows and- waited quietely for developments. About 9 :00 A. M. the Czech major paid us another visit, this time with a piece of paper in his hand. He read our names off the paper to identify us. Then, ordering Celo Radvanyi to remain in the room, he led the rest of us down the stairs. Armed guards in military and police uniforms were all over the place. At the main entrance to the building three soldiers manned a machine-gun aimed at the main portal. The major halted us at the main entrance, pulled out his revolver and, holding it over our heads, let us out into the street one at a time. People gaped at us, but nobody spoke to us. We looked about for familiar faces, but in vain. We still did not know exactly what was happening. On the corner of the National Bank we separated with the understanding that we would return in an hour to see whether we could get to work again. I then walked briskly to the Svoradov. When I arrived there things were pretty lively. One of my friends to-Id me that about the same time the Czech army took over the Andrej Building, detectives and policemen came to Svoradov to arrest Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. This, however, was easier said than done, because the academicians of the Svoradov were determined to have a say in the matter. They forced the unwanted guests out of the building. We were about to call a mass meeting of all the inmates of Svoradov, when one of our boys announced that a bus pulled in with a load of armed guards. Immediately we locked all entrances to the building. Moments later army tanks thundered on the premises and �SLOVAKIA 27 Svoradov was quickly surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and policemen. They banged on all entrances, ordering the academicians to let them in. But nobody was willing to listen to Czech orders. Windows were opened on the upper floors of Svoradov and the students soon began shouting and ridiculing the invaders. "If there is to be a circus," one academician shouted, "why not sell admission tickets?" Others got their cameras and took pictures of our "so closely related" brethren, the Czechs, who came to the Svoradov boarding home with tanks and guns to prove their friendship for the Slovaks. The university courtyard of old Svoradov was called Alcazar. It so happened that six gendarmes got into the courtyard one way or another and were soon surrounded by quite a number of students, who were determined to keep them out of the building. Angry words were exchanged for a time. Dr. Kirschbaum, several others, and I, working on a plan of action, could hear them on the second floor. I was sent out to learn what was happening in the courtyard. Plowing through the mass of students, I faced the gendarmes and inquired where they came from, what they wanted or were looking for here, and who permitted them to violate private property rights. All looked very sheepishly at me and a bit flustered by my audacity. Finally, one of the gendarmes said: "We are looking for one Mr. Kristbaum." "Kristbaum ?" - I queried - "why there is no Kristbaum and we never heard of any Kristbaum !" I then reminded the gendarmes that they were on academic ground and that the mana,gement and students demanded that they leave the premises willingly at once. The gendarmes hesitated momentarily, then pointed their guns at us. When the students pushed closer to them, however, they put their guns down. Greatly outnumbered, they decided to leave the premises, the students accompanying them to the steet. After locking the door, several academicians visited the wine-shop in the cellar of the building and reminded the lessee to have more regard for the Slovaks. It was through this place the gendarmes got into the courtyard of Svoradov. �28 SLOVAKIA A half-hour later the Czech army and gendarmerie pulled away from Svoradov. It was then we called our colleagues of the Lafranconi. After joining us, the entire mass of students paraded in three columns in the streets of Bratislava, loudly singing songs to the wild applause of shoppers and inhabitants. As the paraders approached the government building on the Vajansky coast or bank, they were joined by masses of the population who, too, wanted to demonstrate against the Czech occupation of Slovakia, and particularly the city of Bratislava. The Slovak academicians had fired the Slovak masses with enthusiasm and determination to stand up for right and justice, the sacred cause of freedom and independence, which had been violated by Prague. The Czechs had blundered again, and blundered terribly. The chasm between the Czechs and the Slovaks widened. After twenty years of the Masaryk and Benes brand of democracy, the 1S lovaks and the Czechs were never before so far apart. The occupation of Slovakia by the Czechs was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Slovaks will never willingly join the Czechs in any venture. Czecho-Slovakia still exists, but only on paper. The Slovaks are kept in line only by force and violence. The Czechs sowed the wind and reaped a whirlwind. They have not a single true friend in Europe today. In the meantime, Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum had gone to the residence of Premier Dr. Joseph Tiso, the home of the Jesuits, where he pledged the loyalty of all Slovak students. As soon as he returned, he told us in front of the Slovak National Theater on the Hviezdoslav Square: "Dr. Joseph Tiso was saying his breviary. To the Slovak youth he sends this message: Carry on in a manner that you may not harm yourselves and that the world might see that we are not afraid of the bayonets and machineguns of any occupation army." There were parades and demostrations in Bratislava before March 10, 1939. And there many were after that. But the demonstration of the Slovak students on March 10, 1939, was undoubtedly the most spontaneous and greatest of all of them. The demonstrations were organized by the Club of Hlinka Academicians which was headed by Dr. Jo- �SLOVAKIA 29 seph Kirschbaum. The leaders of the academicians were everywhere when Bratislava needed help. They were in government buildings, editorial offices, and did jobs that were dangerous. Several ,w ere scared off by events that followed, while hundreds were jailed. Of those who managed to escape from their homeland after it was occupied by the Czech and the Red Armies in 1945, I might mention at least Dr. Joseph Mikula and Dr. Gabriel Danihel in addition to Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. They rendered valuable services at that time, services which served Slovak politicians in good stead a few hours after the events of March 10th had been initiated. Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, was on its feet from the 10th to the 14th of March, 1939. Several tragic events occured. The Czech army and gendarmery took recourse to arms. The Hlinka Guards of the area repulsed the occupation of the Trade Building. A volley of shots rang out. Anthony Kopal, 27-year old laborer of Vel'ke Uherce, was hit fatally and died a short time later in the Bratislava State Hospital. The first victim of the Czech March 10th putsch. That evening, 58-year old Mary Psota was shot dead as she was closing her tobacco shop which was located opposite the District Court Building. Czech soldiers, firing from the building, were responsible for her death. The Czechs had occupied the broadcasting station in Bratislava. The Slovak Hlinka Guards fought for it all day on March 10 and did get possession of it at 10 :30 that night. It was then that Premier Karol Sidor spoke over the air. Up to that time the whole Slovakia was in confusion. Cities and towns were taken by the Czechs after General Homola announced over the air and with placards that he was taking over all political, military, judicial powers in Slovakia in the name of the Prague Government. Slovak army officers and police were disarmed and placed under guard; about 500 civic leaders were imprisoned and later taken to a jail in Moravia where they were held three days. Minister Matthew Cernak was among them. In the meantime, reports were pouring in from all parts of Slovakia, particularly from the cities and towns �30 SLOVAKIA which told of the brutalities committed by the Czech occupation forces. The situation was very grave. If the 'Slovaks would have had access to weapons, there undoubtedly would have been very much blood shed on March 10th in the fight against the Czech occupants. There were indications of this especially in Trencin, Nitra, Spisska Nova Ves, and Banska Stiavnica. The atrocities committed by the "brotherly" Czechs on March 10th shall never be forgotten by the Slovaks. What happened in those days was governed by the international situation. Adolph Hitler had decided to liquidate Czecho...:Slovakia. His decision and its consequences are already recorded by history. But during those three hectic March days, the 'Slovaks were convinced that, if an unexpected turn in events did not take place - which even the majority of the foremost Slovak politicians could not foresee - the Czechs would have continued to occupy Slovakia with their army. Little wonder then that the Slovaks in these days were bitter and proclaimed: Never again with the Czechs! March 14, 1939, arrived. A glorious day for the Slovaks, nowithstanding anything that anti-Slovak ~lements say about it to the contrary! The 'Slovaks knew only the simple facts of that historical event. First, Karol Sidor was called to Berlin. He did not go. Then the Germans called Tiso, not once but twice. But he, too, was reluctant to accept the invitation. When a third invitation was delivered to him by German representatives in person, Dr. Tiso deliberated with the presidium of the Slovak People's Party. The latter decided that Dr. Tiso should accept the invitation, so Tiso flew to Berlin. On Tuesday morning, March 14, before we could form ranks in Svoradov, somebody brought in a report that Hitler had requested iDr. Tiso to proclaim the independence of Slovakia directly from Berlin. But Tiso did not broadcast anything from Berlin. We were lined up to march to the Parliament Building to learn what the Slovak legislators had in mind. Furthermore, we wanted to be on hand in case the Czechs would again attempt to take over that building. It was a cold March morning. Rolling clouds overhead, �SLOVAKIA 31 snow clouds. The lively march of the academicians caught the attention of the inhabitants and warmed their hearts. They had little sleep the past three days, but there they were again on the streets waving banners and flags, shouting joyous acclaim to the Slovak Government and the academicians and demanding that the "Czechs get out of Slovakia". ; Our hearts were warm and we broke into song. Finally, we arrived at our destination and waited patiently. Then, as we broke into song again, we were joined by the academicians of Lafranconi and thousands of people. Soon the square was a mass of people. The banner of the Slovak Catholic Student Federation fluttered in the breeze over our heads. What we had gone through the past three days was like a motion picture. Then we had to make way for oncoming autos. In the first we saw temporary Premier Karol Sidor; in the second, Dr. Joseph Tiso. Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum greeted Karol Sidor and I greeted Dr. Joseph Tiso in the name of the student body. Without delay the Slovak parliament was in session. We still did not know definitely what was about to happen. Our representative, Dr. Kirschbaum, also went into the Parliament Building. After a time, he came out briefly to tell us that a very serious matter was being discussed. After he left us, he came out again shortly thereafter to inform us that the Parliament of autonomous Slovakia had decided to proclaim the independence of Slovakia. This happened at precisely seven minutes and twelve seconds after twelve o'clock noon. Bratislava streets burst out with joyous acclaim. Alexander Mach and Dr. Kirschbaum rushed to an auto and sped to the broadcasting station. First Mach made a brief broadcast and then Dr. Kirschbaum spoke in the name of Slovak youth. They told of the historical event that had taken place. As soon as the cities and towns heard the broadcast, bells began to peel in all the churches of Slovakia. The Fourth of July had arrived for the Slovaks on March 14, 1939. All offices and schools were quickly closed for the rest of the day. The Slovaks prayed and sang with joy as never before. �32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 24 SLOVAKIA THE STIRRING DAYS OF MARCH 1939 Dr. Joseph Pauco I lived at the Svoradov. On March 10, 1939, at about three in the morning, my friends awakened and told me that Czech soldiers had occupied the city of Trencin and that entire regiments of the Czech army were pouring through Malacky. The vanguards, they said, were already supposed to be in Bratislava. It was not easy to believe this report, because at that time a lot of rumors were in the wind. After a time, I stretched out on the bed and soon fell asleep again. My alarm-clock roused me at 5:30 A. M., when I had to get up to be on time at the editorial office of the Slovenska Pravda. I usually took a bus that stopped in front of the Svoradov. But this morning there seemed to be no bus operating from this point. That March morning was really chilly. After some time, I decided not to wait for a bus, so I started out on foot. The streets were quiet. In front of the district administra tion building I came upon a guard who was stepping lively. iHe cast his keen eye upon me searchingly for a moment and then went about his business of stepping lively again. I did not even wait for the streetcar near the church of the Holy Trinity. As I walked by the main post-office, I noticed that it was guarded by six soldiers and four policemen. All were heavily armed. "My friends at the Svoradov may have been right", flashed through my mind. Bratislava was full of espionage agents. Some may have been caught, while others were about to be taken in. From that point to the office I came across no one else that might strike my attention. I arrived at the office on schedule. At 6:115 A. M. I was on the third floor of the gigantic printing enterprise of the SLOVAK and the SLOVENS KA PR.AIVDA, the Andrej Building, on King Alexander street. Several minutes later, the entire editorial office of the daily Slovenska Pravda bristled with activity. In the office SLOVAKIA 25 with me were Dr. Aladar Kocis, editor-in-chief, Celo Radvanyi, and Joseph 1P etro. We had no foreboding about what was to happen. Even after l told my colleagues what I had heard at the Svoradov that morning, they thought nothing of it. We applied ourselves to our tasks. That morning I was to write the leading editorial about the discussions taking place in Prague. Minister Karol Sidor was the ,Slovak representative in these discussions. My article was to be based on the reports supplied by the Slovak Press Bureau. The reports brought nothing new. I was then convinced that the discussions would be meaningless. And I meant to tell our readers just that. Well, it so happened that I wrote nothing that morning. Neither did my colleagues. Before I could strike a sentence on paper, the doors of my office flew open and a Czech major, with revolver in hand and accompanied by two bayonet-toting gendarmes, rushed at me. The major announced in a loud Czech voice : "In the name of the new Slovak Government I am stopping all work in this building and taking it over!" With that all four of us were taken to Dr. Kocis's office. We were all stunned. We did not know who the major and his companions were. The major and the gendarmes appeared to be a bit queer. But we could say nothing. The major ordered the gendarmes to cut all telephone wires. This they did speedily. In the hallway, they came upon the janitress and our secretary, Mrs. Noskay; both were detained in a separate room of the building. The major forbade us to look out the windows. A short time later he left us, ordering the gendarmes to keep an eye on us. After a time we asked the gendarmes what was going on, why they came to Bratislava, and who ordered them here. But they were not talking. They simply complained that they were tired and hungry. Several minutes later the Czech major brought in the editor-in-chief of the Slovenska Politika, Augustine Nacin. The major barked again that we were not to go near the windows : "iKeep at least six feet away!" When he left us again, however, we managed to get a few peeps in on the street below. It was full of people talking loudly and gesticulating wildly. There we spied two of our colleagues, Jo-- 26 SLOVAKIA seph Nizii.ansky and John Hrusovsky. They were looking up at our window quizzingly. Hrusovsky with his cane, switching his pipe rhythmically from one end of his mouth to the other. We waved to them from the window and one of my colleagues tapped on the window. It was precisely at this moment of tapping on the window that the Cech major burst again into the room. "Vo that again," he raved menacingly, "and I begin to shoot!" Well, we did not want to argue with him. We pulled away from the windows and- waited quietely for developments. About 9 :00 A. M. the Czech major paid us another visit, this time with a piece of paper in his hand. He read our names off the paper to identify us. Then, ordering Celo Radvanyi to remain in the room, he led the rest of us down the stairs. Armed guards in military and police uniforms were all over the place. At the main entrance to the building three soldiers manned a machine-gun aimed at the main portal. The major halted us at the main entrance, pulled out his revolver and, holding it over our heads, let us out into the street one at a time. People gaped at us, but nobody spoke to us. We looked about for familiar faces, but in vain. We still did not know exactly what was happening. On the corner of the National Bank we separated with the understanding that we would return in an hour to see whether we could get to work again. I then walked briskly to the Svoradov. When I arrived there things were pretty lively. One of my friends to-Id me that about the same time the Czech army took over the Andrej Building, detectives and policemen came to Svoradov to arrest Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. This, however, was easier said than done, because the academicians of the Svoradov were determined to have a say in the matter. They forced the unwanted guests out of the building. We were about to call a mass meeting of all the inmates of Svoradov, when one of our boys announced that a bus pulled in with a load of armed guards. Immediately we locked all entrances to the building. Moments later army tanks thundered on the premises and SLOVAKIA 27 Svoradov was quickly surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and policemen. They banged on all entrances, ordering the academicians to let them in. But nobody was willing to listen to Czech orders. Windows were opened on the upper floors of Svoradov and the students soon began shouting and ridiculing the invaders. "If there is to be a circus," one academician shouted, "why not sell admission tickets?" Others got their cameras and took pictures of our "so closely related" brethren, the Czechs, who came to the Svoradov boarding home with tanks and guns to prove their friendship for the Slovaks. The university courtyard of old Svoradov was called Alcazar. It so happened that six gendarmes got into the courtyard one way or another and were soon surrounded by quite a number of students, who were determined to keep them out of the building. Angry words were exchanged for a time. Dr. Kirschbaum, several others, and I, working on a plan of action, could hear them on the second floor. I was sent out to learn what was happening in the courtyard. Plowing through the mass of students, I faced the gendarmes and inquired where they came from, what they wanted or were looking for here, and who permitted them to violate private property rights. All looked very sheepishly at me and a bit flustered by my audacity. Finally, one of the gendarmes said: "We are looking for one Mr. Kristbaum." "Kristbaum ?" - I queried - "why there is no Kristbaum and we never heard of any Kristbaum !" I then reminded the gendarmes that they were on academic ground and that the mana,gement and students demanded that they leave the premises willingly at once. The gendarmes hesitated momentarily, then pointed their guns at us. When the students pushed closer to them, however, they put their guns down. Greatly outnumbered, they decided to leave the premises, the students accompanying them to the steet. After locking the door, several academicians visited the wine-shop in the cellar of the building and reminded the lessee to have more regard for the Slovaks. It was through this place the gendarmes got into the courtyard of Svoradov. 28 SLOVAKIA A half-hour later the Czech army and gendarmerie pulled away from Svoradov. It was then we called our colleagues of the Lafranconi. After joining us, the entire mass of students paraded in three columns in the streets of Bratislava, loudly singing songs to the wild applause of shoppers and inhabitants. As the paraders approached the government building on the Vajansky coast or bank, they were joined by masses of the population who, too, wanted to demonstrate against the Czech occupation of Slovakia, and particularly the city of Bratislava. The Slovak academicians had fired the Slovak masses with enthusiasm and determination to stand up for right and justice, the sacred cause of freedom and independence, which had been violated by Prague. The Czechs had blundered again, and blundered terribly. The chasm between the Czechs and the Slovaks widened. After twenty years of the Masaryk and Benes brand of democracy, the 1S lovaks and the Czechs were never before so far apart. The occupation of Slovakia by the Czechs was the straw that broke the camel's back. The Slovaks will never willingly join the Czechs in any venture. Czecho-Slovakia still exists, but only on paper. The Slovaks are kept in line only by force and violence. The Czechs sowed the wind and reaped a whirlwind. They have not a single true friend in Europe today. In the meantime, Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum had gone to the residence of Premier Dr. Joseph Tiso, the home of the Jesuits, where he pledged the loyalty of all Slovak students. As soon as he returned, he told us in front of the Slovak National Theater on the Hviezdoslav Square: "Dr. Joseph Tiso was saying his breviary. To the Slovak youth he sends this message: Carry on in a manner that you may not harm yourselves and that the world might see that we are not afraid of the bayonets and machineguns of any occupation army." There were parades and demostrations in Bratislava before March 10, 1939. And there many were after that. But the demonstration of the Slovak students on March 10, 1939, was undoubtedly the most spontaneous and greatest of all of them. The demonstrations were organized by the Club of Hlinka Academicians which was headed by Dr. Jo- SLOVAKIA 29 seph Kirschbaum. The leaders of the academicians were everywhere when Bratislava needed help. They were in government buildings, editorial offices, and did jobs that were dangerous. Several ,w ere scared off by events that followed, while hundreds were jailed. Of those who managed to escape from their homeland after it was occupied by the Czech and the Red Armies in 1945, I might mention at least Dr. Joseph Mikula and Dr. Gabriel Danihel in addition to Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum. They rendered valuable services at that time, services which served Slovak politicians in good stead a few hours after the events of March 10th had been initiated. Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia, was on its feet from the 10th to the 14th of March, 1939. Several tragic events occured. The Czech army and gendarmery took recourse to arms. The Hlinka Guards of the area repulsed the occupation of the Trade Building. A volley of shots rang out. Anthony Kopal, 27-year old laborer of Vel'ke Uherce, was hit fatally and died a short time later in the Bratislava State Hospital. The first victim of the Czech March 10th putsch. That evening, 58-year old Mary Psota was shot dead as she was closing her tobacco shop which was located opposite the District Court Building. Czech soldiers, firing from the building, were responsible for her death. The Czechs had occupied the broadcasting station in Bratislava. The Slovak Hlinka Guards fought for it all day on March 10 and did get possession of it at 10 :30 that night. It was then that Premier Karol Sidor spoke over the air. Up to that time the whole Slovakia was in confusion. Cities and towns were taken by the Czechs after General Homola announced over the air and with placards that he was taking over all political, military, judicial powers in Slovakia in the name of the Prague Government. Slovak army officers and police were disarmed and placed under guard; about 500 civic leaders were imprisoned and later taken to a jail in Moravia where they were held three days. Minister Matthew Cernak was among them. In the meantime, reports were pouring in from all parts of Slovakia, particularly from the cities and towns 30 SLOVAKIA which told of the brutalities committed by the Czech occupation forces. The situation was very grave. If the 'Slovaks would have had access to weapons, there undoubtedly would have been very much blood shed on March 10th in the fight against the Czech occupants. There were indications of this especially in Trencin, Nitra, Spisska Nova Ves, and Banska Stiavnica. The atrocities committed by the "brotherly" Czechs on March 10th shall never be forgotten by the Slovaks. What happened in those days was governed by the international situation. Adolph Hitler had decided to liquidate Czecho...:Slovakia. His decision and its consequences are already recorded by history. But during those three hectic March days, the 'Slovaks were convinced that, if an unexpected turn in events did not take place - which even the majority of the foremost Slovak politicians could not foresee - the Czechs would have continued to occupy Slovakia with their army. Little wonder then that the Slovaks in these days were bitter and proclaimed: Never again with the Czechs! March 14, 1939, arrived. A glorious day for the Slovaks, nowithstanding anything that anti-Slovak ~lements say about it to the contrary! The 'Slovaks knew only the simple facts of that historical event. First, Karol Sidor was called to Berlin. He did not go. Then the Germans called Tiso, not once but twice. But he, too, was reluctant to accept the invitation. When a third invitation was delivered to him by German representatives in person, Dr. Tiso deliberated with the presidium of the Slovak People's Party. The latter decided that Dr. Tiso should accept the invitation, so Tiso flew to Berlin. On Tuesday morning, March 14, before we could form ranks in Svoradov, somebody brought in a report that Hitler had requested iDr. Tiso to proclaim the independence of Slovakia directly from Berlin. But Tiso did not broadcast anything from Berlin. We were lined up to march to the Parliament Building to learn what the Slovak legislators had in mind. Furthermore, we wanted to be on hand in case the Czechs would again attempt to take over that building. It was a cold March morning. Rolling clouds overhead, SLOVAKIA 31 snow clouds. The lively march of the academicians caught the attention of the inhabitants and warmed their hearts. They had little sleep the past three days, but there they were again on the streets waving banners and flags, shouting joyous acclaim to the Slovak Government and the academicians and demanding that the "Czechs get out of Slovakia". ; Our hearts were warm and we broke into song. Finally, we arrived at our destination and waited patiently. Then, as we broke into song again, we were joined by the academicians of Lafranconi and thousands of people. Soon the square was a mass of people. The banner of the Slovak Catholic Student Federation fluttered in the breeze over our heads. What we had gone through the past three days was like a motion picture. Then we had to make way for oncoming autos. In the first we saw temporary Premier Karol Sidor; in the second, Dr. Joseph Tiso. Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum greeted Karol Sidor and I greeted Dr. Joseph Tiso in the name of the student body. Without delay the Slovak parliament was in session. We still did not know definitely what was about to happen. Our representative, Dr. Kirschbaum, also went into the Parliament Building. After a time, he came out briefly to tell us that a very serious matter was being discussed. After he left us, he came out again shortly thereafter to inform us that the Parliament of autonomous Slovakia had decided to proclaim the independence of Slovakia. This happened at precisely seven minutes and twelve seconds after twelve o'clock noon. Bratislava streets burst out with joyous acclaim. Alexander Mach and Dr. Kirschbaum rushed to an auto and sped to the broadcasting station. First Mach made a brief broadcast and then Dr. Kirschbaum spoke in the name of Slovak youth. They told of the historical event that had taken place. As soon as the cities and towns heard the broadcast, bells began to peel in all the churches of Slovakia. The Fourth of July had arrived for the Slovaks on March 14, 1939. All offices and schools were quickly closed for the rest of the day. The Slovaks prayed and sang with joy as never before. 32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they  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 Stirring Days of March 1939 Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959 pp. 24-32 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ffdd90e93a1e0dd7bfadee4f9be62543.pdf 3d921bb0dc4b66649d2663cee5110f77 PDF Text Text 32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they �SLOVAKIA 33 reached free soil, especially the United 1S tates of America, they proved themselves to be the greatest promoters of Slovak nationalism, not only among themselves but also in their native country. They conveyed ideas of democracy and freedom to their homeland and influenced the outside world to help their compatriots at home in their struggle for survival in Hungary. In 1918, when Slovakia became a part of Czecho-Slovakia, emigration did not cease. It is true, however, that in the first years of the new Republic, Czecho-,Slovakia inaugurated a drastic agrarian reform, wherein almost all of the soil belonging to the aristocracy was apportioned among new owners. Nevertheless, these reforms failed to ameliorate the original situation, because they aimed at rewarding political careerists rather than at bettering the social position of the inhabitants. According to a French observer : "many of the good lands, instead of being apportioned among the peasants, were used to constitute a new agrarian bourgeoisie, under the name of 'surplus estates' " (1). These estates served to favor the political aims of the Czech agrarian party, who used them either to establish Czechs in Southern Slovakia, or to reward Slovaks who were inclined to apply cen• tralist politics to the government of Slovakia. This gave rise to a privileged class, the "surplussers" who resembled very much the ancient landlords of the Hungarian feudal system. While the latter received their lands as a recompense for their services in the army, the former received them for their services in politics (2). Under Czecho-Slovakia, however, Slovak industry fared even worse. The Czechs were chiefly concerned with industrial expansion within their own domains and, therefore, not only contributed nothing to the expansion of former Slovak industries, but adversely put down many existing undertakings in an evident attempt to keep Slovakia agrarian. According to William iDiamond: "During the period from 1934 to 1937, 91.5% of all factory manufacturing in the state occured in Czech lands" ( 3). According to information presented in May of 1949 to the XIX Congress of the Communist !Party in Prague by William Siroky, who at that time was Chairman of the Communist Party in Slovakia, 92,000 workers were engaged in Slovak industries and trades in 191i3. This figure �34 SLOVAKIA comprised about 17 % of the total population. After the unification of Czechs and Slovaks, the progressive tendency in industry since the First World War was completely halted. In 1'927, no more than 80,000 workers were engaged in industry in Slovakia. Within ten more years, during which industry showed great and rapid progress in Czech lands the increase in the number of workers in Slovakia was negligible, with the result that in 1937 they numbered 104,91'5 ( 4). Because of this unhealthy economic situation in Slovakia, almost one-third of the entire S 1 o v a k population sought relief through emigration. The majority emigrated to the United States between 1'873 and 1918. When the United States placed a limit on immigration in 1918, however, the Slovaks emigrated to Canada, South America, Australia, France, and Belgium. This emigration actually became the only liberty-holding portion of Slovaks and, therefore, chiefly before 1918, an almost exclusive representative of Slovak national endeavors. 2. Slovak Immigrants in the United States The leading position in these endeavors was held by Slovak immigrants in the United States. In 1910 Slovaks in this country numbered 281,707; by 1920 the number had increased to 619,866. According to a private appraisal, however, the number should be at least 200,000 more, for about that number of people of Slovak descent may have registered as Austro-iHungarians. Slovaks are represented mostly in the state of Pennsylvania, where in 1920 they numbered 296,219. The remainder are scattered mainly through nine states: Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana ( 5) . On United States soil, the Slovaks developed a very living, organized activity chiefly in the field of fraternalism. At the present time there exist eleven such ·Slovak fraternal organizations with a membership of more than 400,000 and with assets totaling 88½ million d0llars (6). They established besides an extensive Slovak press, which had a great significance for Slovak nationalism in that it was really the only national press during the time of fierce �SLOVAKIA 35 magyarization at the close of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. 3. Shaping of the National Will Every coercive measure of the Hungarian government encountered great opposition in the Slovak press of the United States. On the soil of this country Slovak and Magyars waged an obstinate battle, with the result that the Western World became acquainted with the name "Slovak" and with the nationality problem of Austria-Hungary. The first public and organized opposition of Slovaks towards !Magyars in the United ,States took place at Cleveland in 1902. The Magyar immigrants of that city were attempting to place in the Public Square a monument dedicated to their revolutionary Magyar leader of 1848, Louis Kossuth. They were hindered by the Slovaks, who publicly revealed Kossuth's totalitarian methods towards Slovaks and other nationalities of Hungary. When, in 1906, the Hungarian government brought Rev. Andrew Hlinka and several other 'Slovak patriots to trial, this action led the immigrants of all convictions in the United States to join forces and to found a united organization called Slovak League of America at the first Slovak Congress assembled in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. According to .its first tenets, the principal aim of the Slovak League was to exert every effort "that S 1 ova k nation would rank among the other nations as an equal among equals'' (7). Its first step was the creation of a national fund to carry on an active struggle for the liberation of Slovaks. Among the League's first successes in this country must be numbered the fact that, during the census of 1910, the following question was aked in the questionnaire: what is your mother tongue? Through this change, passed by the Senate at the proposal of Senator Oliver, the Slovaks as well as the other nationalities of former Hungary could not be separated from the universal concept of "Hungarian", under which they should have been originally classed for belonging to the Hungarian Kingdom (8). At the outbreak of the First World War, the Slovak �36 SLOVAKIA League published a memorandum, which was sent to all members of Congress and to other distinguished political figures in the United States as well as others in the West. This memorandum, in the spirit of American democratic ideals, stressed the desire that: The Slovaks in Hungary should obtain their natural privileges of life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness, which they have been deprived of by the dynasty; that the ,Slovaks be given opportunity to develop their national spirit, their abilities, and the natural resources of their native land; that the Slovaks be guaranteed the realization of their national ideals and efforts, which have been mercilessly trodden by the tyrannical Hungarian Government (9). The memorandum was signed by: all ofificials of the Slovak League; the representatives of twenty-three Slovak newspapers; the representatives of twenty organizations; fifty-two Slovak Catholic priests and forty Slovak Protestant ministers. 'It was published in five languages besides English. The main significance of this memorandum, however, lies in the fact that the 1S lovaks in this country immediately after the outbreak of the war assumed the leadership of the entire Slovak nation. They did it not only because they were free to express the will of the whole nation, but also because the number of their organized ranks exceeded the number of organized Slovaks ever known in their own fatherland. The number of publications represented on the memorandum also exceeded the number edited by the Slovaks in their native country. 4. In Search of a New Ally When the Slovak immigrants in the United States had sent out the afore-mentioned memorandum, they still had not made up their minds clearly concerning the future of their native land. Since they did not intend to form an independent state out of Slovakia, they had to concern themselves with the problem of deciding within what kind of future framework the Slovaks should enjoy those political rights which they sought. All were unanimously agreed that Slovakia must be definitely torn away from Hungary. Several proposed combinations developed. Some favored the Czechs as the ally to be sought. Others favored the Russians. Others favored the Poles, who already had promises from the Allies for the �SLOVAKIA 37 restoration of Poland. Gradually the Czechs came to be selected as the most logical ally to be sought (10). The thinking most prevalent in the minds of the Slovak immigrants in the United States is clearly stated in a letter of the Rev. Matthew Jankola, one of the foremost active participants in these matters. In a letter written in Bridgeport, Conn., on December 15, 1915, he wrote: We shall mean nothing in a monarchy, and absolutely nothing in a great Russia. But we would stand on a footing of equality with the Czechs, a la Austria and Hungary; or as formerly Norway and Sweden; with our own self-government, our own parliament, our own Slovak State language. Can we ever obtain this under Russia, or in In regards to the Czechs, their supremacy can Austria-Hungary? only be temporary; until the time that we rear one generation in our own spirit. I do not consider Czech liberalism so dangerous. Our naI mean common ture and character are different. The S I ova k shall retain their character (11). people - In the meantime, in Europe, profesor Thomas G. Masaryk began a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary. Under his influence the Czech immigrants in the United States also formed a joint organization under the name "Czech National Alliance" , which organization adopted the same program regarding Czechs as the Slovak League had done regarding Slovaks. T. G. Masaryk soon became the recognized head of the movement for the liberation of the Czechs and the alliance of the Slovaks with the Czechs. 5. The Cleveland Agreement Professor T. G. Masaryk from •Paris asked the Czech ational Alliance in America to gain the cooperation of the Slovak League for common Czech and Slovak liberation efforts. Following that request, the secretary of the Czech National Alliance invited the Slovak League of America to a meeting. Along with this invitation the secretary sent a proposed draft of an agreement which was accepted in Cleveland on October 25, 1915, and since that time has been known as the Cleveland Agreement. It contained the following points: 1. Independence of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2. A union of the Czech and Slovak nations in a federative alliance of states with a complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own state government, its own cultural freedom and, therefore, �38 SLOVAKIA its own complete use of the Slovak language, its own financial and political government, and with Slovak as the ,State language. 3. Voting power: general, secret, and direct. 4. Form of government: A personal union with a democratic State, the same as in ,England. 5. These points form the basis of the mutual agreement and can be enlarged or expanded only with the approval of both parties. The Czech National Alliance reserves the right of making possible changes, and the Slovak League has the same right (12) . This Cleveland Agreement opened up suppositions for the close cooperation of Czechs and Slovaks and eventually led to the formation of the common political state of the Czecho-<Slovak Republic. In spite of this agreement, however, the Czech side began to show indications of naming all common liberation undertakings as Czech. This instilled in the Slovaks the fear that the Czechs did not wish to accept the Slovaks as equal partners. Many discussions, therefore, ensued with the result that, during these sessions, one of the Slovak representatives clearly pin-pointed the Slovak position with the words: "Yes, we want to tear away from the Magyars and be with the Czechs, but not under the Czechs" ( 13). The above-mentioned Czech tactic prompted many of the Slovaks to lose faith in the Cleveland Agreement and in the Czechs, and prompted them to look for new allies. Such a decision did not take a firm foothold because, in the meantime, important events had occurred in the diplomatic world. President Wilson was re-elected on November 8, 1916. Soon after his re-election (December 21, 1916) he issued a proclamation to the warring nations in which he asked for a statement of their war aims. The Allies answered on January 12, 1917, and, in the conditions which they enumerated, the following sentence was found: "Liberation of the Italians, Slavs, Rumanians, Czecho-Slovaks from foreign government control" (14 ) . T. G. Masaryk explains that the term "Czecho-Slovaks" was written into the Allies' reply after the reply had been completed. "The word Czecho.JSlovaks", he writes, "contained in the proclamation, has its own interesting internal history. There were three suggestions: liberation of the Czechs - the Czech nation - the Czecho-Slovaks. The latter suggestion was accepted at a conference of Dr. Ed- �SLOVAKIA 39 ward Benes (Czech), Milan R. Stefanik (.Slovak), and Stephen Osusky (American Slovak)" (15). Dr. Benes, on the other hand, writes that he conferred with Mr. Osusky and Mr. Sychravy about the matter, since M. iR. Stefanik was then in Russia; and he further states that "Osusky expressed fear that the Allies' reply to President Wilson might name Czechs only, not the Slovaks". - For that reason he insisted on the term "Czecho-Slovaks" (16). 6. The Pittsburgh Pact The Allies' reply concerning the liberation of CzechoSlovakia definitely determined that, after a victoriously ended war, the Slovaks would be thrust into a common political state with the Czechs, which opened up among the Slovaks all sorts of speculations regarding the future of their fatherland. The official pronouncement concerning the Czecho-Slovaks indicated the existence of two separate groups with the formation of a new state. The Slovaks, therefore, had less reasons to fear that the Czechs would deprive them of their national individuality. T. G. Masaryk, who came to the United States near the end of the war, in April of 1'918, helped in no way to dispel this fear. He was looked upon as the person who could settle most of the small differences, suspicions, and discrepancies that had arisen. Delivering his first speech May 5, 191'8, in Chicago, Ill., he repeatedly mentioned the Czech lands, the Czech army, the Czech fight, the Czech future, etc., but not once did he mention Slovakia and completely ignored Slovak participation in the struggle. His speech was a big disappointment to the Slovaks and ,g ave rise to new doubts about Czech sincerity. On May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk came to 'Pittsburgh. Once again he spoke, but this time he changed face and stated proudly that he was of Slovak descent. He also said that Slovaks and Czechs were united and that the differences which arose were artificially produced through German and Magyar influences. He declared that there would be a free Bohemia and a free Slovakia, that political control, education, courts of justice, and all else in Slovakia would be_ Slovak, and in Bohemia, Czech. Each n a t i o n, therefore, would be master in its own home. �SLOVAKIA 40 The huge gathering received Masaryk's address with tremendous acclaim. All Slovaks were overjoyed, for these were just the things they had been wishing for (17). That same evening Masaryk held a conference with the representatives of the Slovaks in the Moose Temple and on the following day, May 31st, drafted a new agreement establishing the relations between Czechs and Slovaks in the new state. Besides him this agreement was signed by eleven Czechs and seventeen ,Slovak representatives and contained the following: The Czecho-Slovak Pact agreed upon in Pittsburgh , Pa., on May 30th, 1918. Representatives of the Slovak and Czech or anlzations the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliin the United States discussed the Czechoance, and the Alliance of Czech Catholics Slovak question in the presence of the chairman of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, 1Prof. Masaryk, and the program declaration made up to this time, and resolved the following: We approve the political program which endeavors to unite the Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state of the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have its own administration, its own parliament, and its own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in offices, and in public life in general. The Czecho-Slovak State shall be a republic, its constitution shall be democratic. The organization of the cooperation of the Czechs and Slovaks in the USA shall be intensified and arranged with mutual understanding as necessity and the changing conditions shall require. The detailed regulations for the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. ( 18). Saturated with the ideals of American democracy, Slovak immigrants in this country endeavored in the Pittsburgh 'P act to assure for their fatherland such rights as they enjoyed here. They labored thus in full knowledge of their leading position, which they held as regards their enslaved fatherland. They were the only free and organized portion of the Slovak nation, and Slovaks at home, as far as they were able under existing circumstances, not only accepted them as the framers of their political future, but also placed in them their only hope of liberation from Magyar enslavement. The greatest weakness of the Pittsburgh Pact as regards any decisions in Slovakia showed itself to be the final 1 �SLOVAKIA 41 point which stated that "the detailed arrangements and regulations in the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives". Without having any knowledge of the action of the Slovak League in the United States, the newly created Slovak Council in Slovakia - formed as a result of the war's end - met in Turciansky Svaty Martin on October 30, 1918, two days after the iPrague Proclamation of an independent Czecho.JSlovak Republic. Here a declaration was brought out in which, altough the Council requested the right of self-expression for Slovaks according to the demands of President Wilson on October 18, 1918, it nevertheless announced that "the Slovak nation is both a linguistic and culturo-historical component of the joint CzechoSlovak nation" (19). Amidst the enthusiastic atmosphere, the small group of those who stood for complete union of Czechs and Slovaks were free to draw up the declaration in such a way that it would best fit their objectives. By emphasizing that "the 1Slovak nation is both a linguistic and a culturo-historical component of the joint Czecho-Slovak nation" the Martin Declaration - as it came to be known since - was considered to be the denial of the distinct Slovak individuality about which the Slovak representatives were most concerned when they entered into the Cleveland and ·Pittsburgh agreements with the Czechs. The freedom exercised by the promoters of the union with the Czechs in drawing up the declaration in Turciansky Sv. Martin is also apparent from the fact that one of them, Dr. Milan Hodza, who was entrusted with the task of publishing the document, left out several points arbitrarily. One of the omitted points was the request that the Slovaks be represented at the peace conference. This Martin Declaration - no matter how doubtfull its worth - was, however, considered a free expression of the will of the liberated Slovaks by Prague, and, consequently, the Pittsburgh Pact was declared void. T. G. Masaryk went so far that, in his reply of October 12, 1929, to the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, leader of the Slovak People's Party, he wrote of this Pact: �42 SLOVAKIA But the main thing is that the document that verbal agreement is forged, is a falsum, because at the time when the American Slovaks wanted that verbal agreement, the League did not exist legally, it was not recognized by the State until 1919. For that reason a serious politician, a statesman, cannot and must not operate with a paper. Falsification cannot become an act of State .•• (20). From its very beginning, therefore, Czecho-Slovakia was organized as a centralistic Czech state, in which Slovakia was more in the position of a colony than as an equal partner. The Czechs, on the other hand, tactfully utilized the already-mentioned conflicts .w ithin the Slovak camp. For the majority of inhabitants, the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Slovak Republic was such an unexpected surprise that a certain development was necessary before the complete range of the new political situation actually came forth. To make matter worse, a split occurred even among the active members of the Slovak League. One part, under the impact of alarming news from their liberated native country, was convinced that the carrying out of the Pittsbwgh Pact would be a misfortune for Slovakia and, therefore, did not insist, as was expected, upon its incorporation into the constitution of the new state. The other part, even though comprising an insignificant number of opportunists, was won over to the idea of centralism by being rewarded with well-paid offices within the administration of the new state. The Pittsburgh Pact was, therefore, excluded with comparative ease from all discussions during the formation of 'Slovak and Czech relations in the new Czecho-Slovakia. Even though this pact failed to fulfill its primary function, it gave to 'Slovak autonomists an effective weapon to accuse the Czechs of insincerity and faithlessness. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, there was an obvious tendency, according to the Czech writer Vaclav Peroutka, to exclude "Catholics from public offices and the enjoyment of honor" (21). And it was under such circumstances that in May, 1919, a year after its signing, the Pittsburgh ·P act came into the hands of the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, the leader of the Slovak Catholics. He did not hesitate to make out of it the Magna Charta of the movement for autonomy. It gave his autonomist movement a clear program and offered effect- �SLOVAKIA 43 ive propaganda material to depict Czech faithlessness. It is quite obvious that the denial of the Pittsburgh Pact occasioned much greater harm to the survival of Czecho-Slovakia than it would have done at the beginning when the newly liberated, still politically immature Slovakia was consolidating its forces. Even though the Slovak immigrant failed to achieve his original goal through this pact, he nevertheless created in his native country an irresistable desire to attain it. The Pittsburgh Pact sounded the tocsin to battle, the outcome of which was to be a clearer and more accurate definition of national rights. The present situation shows that the Slovak immigrant in the United States has almost lost his distinguishing marks in the new American society. Whereas, in the history of Slovakia, he still remains one of the most distinguished actors in defining its national character and in determining its political ambitions. If the "American democratic crusading spirit" sank deep into the life of a nation by means of an immigrant, it perhaps did so mostly in the case of Slovakia in connection with the iPittsburgh Pact. 7. The Present Political Emigrants The afore-mentioned Slovak emigrants, who left Slovakia mostly from social motives, were joined in recent years by a small though in its actions a very alert group of people, who left Slovakia and came to the West from clearly political motives. They departed in two waves. The first represented the functionaries of the independent Slovak Republic who, after the downfall of Slovakia in 1945, sought asylum in the West to escape the vengeance of the so-called "people's courts" . They were joined three years later (1948) by a further wave of political exiles who fled when Communists took complete control of the Czecho-Slovak government. The latter group comprised functionaries of non-Communist parties of the Czecho-Slovakia, in other words, people who were not in accord with the Communist "People's Democracy". In both instances we actually behold the first mass, political, Slovak emigration which, from the viewpoint of Slovak nationalism, signifies that political activity is its �44 SLOVAKIA very pulsating vocation. Its aim is the return homeward of all exiles and, therefore, a change in the political situation which forced the Slovaks to leave their native land. Slovak emigrants are bearing influence in two ways: they are endeavoring to gain the favor of Western Democracies in their efforts to overthrow the Communist dictatorship; and they are displaying the ability to organize underground movements to bring about a change, perhaps through internal revolution. One could probably surmise that the group who left Slovakia immediately after Second War will seek the revival of an independent Slovakia as a continuation of the Slovak Republic, whereas the other group will simply join those forces that work for the restoration of a democratic CzechoSlovakia. But the time-interval between these two waves of emigrants is not an accurate divisor of their political affiliation. It is true, however, that the Slovaks are divided into two camps: the Slovak and Czecho ..Slovak camp. The former aims for an i n d e p e n d e n t Slovakia without the Czecho-Slovak framework; the latter aims for a Slovakia within the Czecho-Slovak framework. Numerically, however, those who desire an independent Slovakia constitute the overwhelming majority. They include not only former functionaries of the 1Slovak Republic but also at least 90% of all those who left Czecho-Slovakia after the Communist coup of 194'8. As an o r g a n i z e d force, both camps act through three organs: the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia; the Slovak National Council Abroad; and the Slovak Liberation Committee. The aim of the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia is the destruction of present Communist dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in the spirit of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. E. Benes (anti-Catholic). CzechoJSlovakia involves, however, the solution of two problems: 1. the problem of some three and one-half million displaced Sudeten Germans whose desire to return to their homeland is being actively supported by the newly-risen West Germany; 2. what position is Slovakia to have in the new demecratic CzechoSlovakia. It is a known fact that the greater majority of Slovaks 1 �SLOVAKIA 45, at home are more than ever before opposed to any idea or form of a Czecho-Slovakia. Informed people know that Slovakia can be maintained within the framework of CzechoSlovakia only by force and violence. The other two organs, the Slovak National Council Abroad and the Slovak Liberation Committee, are striving for the creation of an independent Slovakia. Their difference lies not so much in their aim as in their methods. Even though the Slovak National Council Abroad avers that the Slovak Republic which existed during the Second World War was formed in accord with the principles of international law as the free manifestation of the people, it nevertheless does not insist upon her legal continuity. lt is a great promoter of the federative solution of Central Europe in which it seeks for Slovakia the same position that other national groups will have. It is the political organ of the greater number of the 1Slovak exiles of 1945 and 1948. Furthermore, its program has been endorsed by the two largest organizations of older emigrants, namely, the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League. The Slovak Liberation Committee is the political organ of a radical portion of the Slovak exiles. It strives for an independent Slovakia on the basis of a legal continuity of the former Slovak Republic. It is distinguished by a special activity which manifests itself principally in many memorandums sent to the United Nations Organization as well as to the other r esponsible political circles in the West. Because of this across-the-border activity as well as other efforts to organize underground movements in Slovakia, which is dominated by Czech Communists, the ·Slovak Liberation Committee is looked upon in Czecho-Slovakia as the principal enemy of the government of the People's Democracy. It seems to be quite popular with the dissatisfied and change-hungry inhabitants at home. 1 It is hard to foretell whether any of these organs will succeed in achieving any of their objectives at the present time. It is highly improbable that any of them will succeed in organizing an active underground movement, which would be in a position to bring about a change in the present po- �46 SLOVAKIA litical situation with the aid of an internal revolution. The hope for a change depends only upon a new war, and then upon the measure in which respective efforts will be in accord with the interests of victorious powers. 1. ,M. Darras: "Onze ans de vie independente en Slovaque", LeMonde slave, (rnai-juin, 1930), 177. 2. Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaque dans le Drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1'955, p. 57. 3. ·W illiam ,Diamond : Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London, 1947, p. 172. 4. Pravda, Bratislava, May 29, 1949. 15. ,Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 1'6. 6. Bulletin of the Slovak National Council Abroad, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956, p. 3. 7. Sidor: loc. cit., p. 32. 8. Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 33. 9. The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh ,Pact, Chicago, Tylka Bros. Press, 1Inc., 1934, p. 10. 10. I bid., p. 13. 11. Ibid., p. 13. 12. Ibid., p. 16. 13. Ibid., p. 18. 14. Ibid., p. 19. 15. T. G. Masaryk : La resurection d' un Etat ('Souvenir et reflection 1914-1918), Paris, 1930, p . 256. 16. nr .. Eduard Benes: My War Memoirs, London, 1928, p. 157. 17. The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, Joe. cit., p . 24. 18. Ibid., p. 27. 19. Dr. Frantisek Bokes : Dejiny Sloven ska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946, p. 363. 20. To this an authority on American law on April 23, 1930, when asked a bout the legality of the Slovak League had to say: "I understand the organization in question having a C onstitution, by-laws, officers, etc., though not chartered by the State. For the purpose of taking the action which -w as taken, such an organization would have all the n ecessary power as fully as if had been chartered. The agreement entered into by the unchartered organization refered to would be just as effectiv-e as if entered into with a chartered organization and just as valid if closed on ,Memorial Day as on any other day". (The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, loc. cit., p. 36-39). 21. Vaclav Peroutka : Budovani statu, Prague, 1933-1935, I , p. 352 . • • • RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth - $2.00; paper cover - $1.00. � 32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they �SLOVAKIA 33 reached free soil, especially the United 1S tates of America, they proved themselves to be the greatest promoters of Slovak nationalism, not only among themselves but also in their native country. They conveyed ideas of democracy and freedom to their homeland and influenced the outside world to help their compatriots at home in their struggle for survival in Hungary. In 1918, when Slovakia became a part of Czecho-Slovakia, emigration did not cease. It is true, however, that in the first years of the new Republic, Czecho-,Slovakia inaugurated a drastic agrarian reform, wherein almost all of the soil belonging to the aristocracy was apportioned among new owners. Nevertheless, these reforms failed to ameliorate the original situation, because they aimed at rewarding political careerists rather than at bettering the social position of the inhabitants. According to a French observer : "many of the good lands, instead of being apportioned among the peasants, were used to constitute a new agrarian bourgeoisie, under the name of 'surplus estates' " (1). These estates served to favor the political aims of the Czech agrarian party, who used them either to establish Czechs in Southern Slovakia, or to reward Slovaks who were inclined to apply cen• tralist politics to the government of Slovakia. This gave rise to a privileged class, the "surplussers" who resembled very much the ancient landlords of the Hungarian feudal system. While the latter received their lands as a recompense for their services in the army, the former received them for their services in politics (2). Under Czecho-Slovakia, however, Slovak industry fared even worse. The Czechs were chiefly concerned with industrial expansion within their own domains and, therefore, not only contributed nothing to the expansion of former Slovak industries, but adversely put down many existing undertakings in an evident attempt to keep Slovakia agrarian. According to William iDiamond: "During the period from 1934 to 1937, 91.5% of all factory manufacturing in the state occured in Czech lands" ( 3). According to information presented in May of 1949 to the XIX Congress of the Communist !Party in Prague by William Siroky, who at that time was Chairman of the Communist Party in Slovakia, 92,000 workers were engaged in Slovak industries and trades in 191i3. This figure �34 SLOVAKIA comprised about 17 % of the total population. After the unification of Czechs and Slovaks, the progressive tendency in industry since the First World War was completely halted. In 1'927, no more than 80,000 workers were engaged in industry in Slovakia. Within ten more years, during which industry showed great and rapid progress in Czech lands the increase in the number of workers in Slovakia was negligible, with the result that in 1937 they numbered 104,91'5 ( 4). Because of this unhealthy economic situation in Slovakia, almost one-third of the entire S 1 o v a k population sought relief through emigration. The majority emigrated to the United States between 1'873 and 1918. When the United States placed a limit on immigration in 1918, however, the Slovaks emigrated to Canada, South America, Australia, France, and Belgium. This emigration actually became the only liberty-holding portion of Slovaks and, therefore, chiefly before 1918, an almost exclusive representative of Slovak national endeavors. 2. Slovak Immigrants in the United States The leading position in these endeavors was held by Slovak immigrants in the United States. In 1910 Slovaks in this country numbered 281,707; by 1920 the number had increased to 619,866. According to a private appraisal, however, the number should be at least 200,000 more, for about that number of people of Slovak descent may have registered as Austro-iHungarians. Slovaks are represented mostly in the state of Pennsylvania, where in 1920 they numbered 296,219. The remainder are scattered mainly through nine states: Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana ( 5) . On United States soil, the Slovaks developed a very living, organized activity chiefly in the field of fraternalism. At the present time there exist eleven such ·Slovak fraternal organizations with a membership of more than 400,000 and with assets totaling 88½ million d0llars (6). They established besides an extensive Slovak press, which had a great significance for Slovak nationalism in that it was really the only national press during the time of fierce �SLOVAKIA 35 magyarization at the close of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. 3. Shaping of the National Will Every coercive measure of the Hungarian government encountered great opposition in the Slovak press of the United States. On the soil of this country Slovak and Magyars waged an obstinate battle, with the result that the Western World became acquainted with the name "Slovak" and with the nationality problem of Austria-Hungary. The first public and organized opposition of Slovaks towards !Magyars in the United ,States took place at Cleveland in 1902. The Magyar immigrants of that city were attempting to place in the Public Square a monument dedicated to their revolutionary Magyar leader of 1848, Louis Kossuth. They were hindered by the Slovaks, who publicly revealed Kossuth's totalitarian methods towards Slovaks and other nationalities of Hungary. When, in 1906, the Hungarian government brought Rev. Andrew Hlinka and several other 'Slovak patriots to trial, this action led the immigrants of all convictions in the United States to join forces and to found a united organization called Slovak League of America at the first Slovak Congress assembled in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. According to .its first tenets, the principal aim of the Slovak League was to exert every effort "that S 1 ova k nation would rank among the other nations as an equal among equals'' (7). Its first step was the creation of a national fund to carry on an active struggle for the liberation of Slovaks. Among the League's first successes in this country must be numbered the fact that, during the census of 1910, the following question was aked in the questionnaire: what is your mother tongue? Through this change, passed by the Senate at the proposal of Senator Oliver, the Slovaks as well as the other nationalities of former Hungary could not be separated from the universal concept of "Hungarian", under which they should have been originally classed for belonging to the Hungarian Kingdom (8). At the outbreak of the First World War, the Slovak �36 SLOVAKIA League published a memorandum, which was sent to all members of Congress and to other distinguished political figures in the United States as well as others in the West. This memorandum, in the spirit of American democratic ideals, stressed the desire that: The Slovaks in Hungary should obtain their natural privileges of life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness, which they have been deprived of by the dynasty; that the ,Slovaks be given opportunity to develop their national spirit, their abilities, and the natural resources of their native land; that the Slovaks be guaranteed the realization of their national ideals and efforts, which have been mercilessly trodden by the tyrannical Hungarian Government (9). The memorandum was signed by: all ofificials of the Slovak League; the representatives of twenty-three Slovak newspapers; the representatives of twenty organizations; fifty-two Slovak Catholic priests and forty Slovak Protestant ministers. 'It was published in five languages besides English. The main significance of this memorandum, however, lies in the fact that the 1S lovaks in this country immediately after the outbreak of the war assumed the leadership of the entire Slovak nation. They did it not only because they were free to express the will of the whole nation, but also because the number of their organized ranks exceeded the number of organized Slovaks ever known in their own fatherland. The number of publications represented on the memorandum also exceeded the number edited by the Slovaks in their native country. 4. In Search of a New Ally When the Slovak immigrants in the United States had sent out the afore-mentioned memorandum, they still had not made up their minds clearly concerning the future of their native land. Since they did not intend to form an independent state out of Slovakia, they had to concern themselves with the problem of deciding within what kind of future framework the Slovaks should enjoy those political rights which they sought. All were unanimously agreed that Slovakia must be definitely torn away from Hungary. Several proposed combinations developed. Some favored the Czechs as the ally to be sought. Others favored the Russians. Others favored the Poles, who already had promises from the Allies for the �SLOVAKIA 37 restoration of Poland. Gradually the Czechs came to be selected as the most logical ally to be sought (10). The thinking most prevalent in the minds of the Slovak immigrants in the United States is clearly stated in a letter of the Rev. Matthew Jankola, one of the foremost active participants in these matters. In a letter written in Bridgeport, Conn., on December 15, 1915, he wrote: We shall mean nothing in a monarchy, and absolutely nothing in a great Russia. But we would stand on a footing of equality with the Czechs, a la Austria and Hungary; or as formerly Norway and Sweden; with our own self-government, our own parliament, our own Slovak State language. Can we ever obtain this under Russia, or in In regards to the Czechs, their supremacy can Austria-Hungary? only be temporary; until the time that we rear one generation in our own spirit. I do not consider Czech liberalism so dangerous. Our naI mean common ture and character are different. The S I ova k shall retain their character (11). people - In the meantime, in Europe, profesor Thomas G. Masaryk began a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary. Under his influence the Czech immigrants in the United States also formed a joint organization under the name "Czech National Alliance" , which organization adopted the same program regarding Czechs as the Slovak League had done regarding Slovaks. T. G. Masaryk soon became the recognized head of the movement for the liberation of the Czechs and the alliance of the Slovaks with the Czechs. 5. The Cleveland Agreement Professor T. G. Masaryk from •Paris asked the Czech ational Alliance in America to gain the cooperation of the Slovak League for common Czech and Slovak liberation efforts. Following that request, the secretary of the Czech National Alliance invited the Slovak League of America to a meeting. Along with this invitation the secretary sent a proposed draft of an agreement which was accepted in Cleveland on October 25, 1915, and since that time has been known as the Cleveland Agreement. It contained the following points: 1. Independence of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2. A union of the Czech and Slovak nations in a federative alliance of states with a complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own state government, its own cultural freedom and, therefore, �38 SLOVAKIA its own complete use of the Slovak language, its own financial and political government, and with Slovak as the ,State language. 3. Voting power: general, secret, and direct. 4. Form of government: A personal union with a democratic State, the same as in ,England. 5. These points form the basis of the mutual agreement and can be enlarged or expanded only with the approval of both parties. The Czech National Alliance reserves the right of making possible changes, and the Slovak League has the same right (12) . This Cleveland Agreement opened up suppositions for the close cooperation of Czechs and Slovaks and eventually led to the formation of the common political state of the Czecho-<Slovak Republic. In spite of this agreement, however, the Czech side began to show indications of naming all common liberation undertakings as Czech. This instilled in the Slovaks the fear that the Czechs did not wish to accept the Slovaks as equal partners. Many discussions, therefore, ensued with the result that, during these sessions, one of the Slovak representatives clearly pin-pointed the Slovak position with the words: "Yes, we want to tear away from the Magyars and be with the Czechs, but not under the Czechs" ( 13). The above-mentioned Czech tactic prompted many of the Slovaks to lose faith in the Cleveland Agreement and in the Czechs, and prompted them to look for new allies. Such a decision did not take a firm foothold because, in the meantime, important events had occurred in the diplomatic world. President Wilson was re-elected on November 8, 1916. Soon after his re-election (December 21, 1916) he issued a proclamation to the warring nations in which he asked for a statement of their war aims. The Allies answered on January 12, 1917, and, in the conditions which they enumerated, the following sentence was found: "Liberation of the Italians, Slavs, Rumanians, Czecho-Slovaks from foreign government control" (14 ) . T. G. Masaryk explains that the term "Czecho-Slovaks" was written into the Allies' reply after the reply had been completed. "The word Czecho.JSlovaks", he writes, "contained in the proclamation, has its own interesting internal history. There were three suggestions: liberation of the Czechs - the Czech nation - the Czecho-Slovaks. The latter suggestion was accepted at a conference of Dr. Ed- �SLOVAKIA 39 ward Benes (Czech), Milan R. Stefanik (.Slovak), and Stephen Osusky (American Slovak)" (15). Dr. Benes, on the other hand, writes that he conferred with Mr. Osusky and Mr. Sychravy about the matter, since M. iR. Stefanik was then in Russia; and he further states that "Osusky expressed fear that the Allies' reply to President Wilson might name Czechs only, not the Slovaks". - For that reason he insisted on the term "Czecho-Slovaks" (16). 6. The Pittsburgh Pact The Allies' reply concerning the liberation of CzechoSlovakia definitely determined that, after a victoriously ended war, the Slovaks would be thrust into a common political state with the Czechs, which opened up among the Slovaks all sorts of speculations regarding the future of their fatherland. The official pronouncement concerning the Czecho-Slovaks indicated the existence of two separate groups with the formation of a new state. The Slovaks, therefore, had less reasons to fear that the Czechs would deprive them of their national individuality. T. G. Masaryk, who came to the United States near the end of the war, in April of 1'918, helped in no way to dispel this fear. He was looked upon as the person who could settle most of the small differences, suspicions, and discrepancies that had arisen. Delivering his first speech May 5, 191'8, in Chicago, Ill., he repeatedly mentioned the Czech lands, the Czech army, the Czech fight, the Czech future, etc., but not once did he mention Slovakia and completely ignored Slovak participation in the struggle. His speech was a big disappointment to the Slovaks and ,g ave rise to new doubts about Czech sincerity. On May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk came to 'Pittsburgh. Once again he spoke, but this time he changed face and stated proudly that he was of Slovak descent. He also said that Slovaks and Czechs were united and that the differences which arose were artificially produced through German and Magyar influences. He declared that there would be a free Bohemia and a free Slovakia, that political control, education, courts of justice, and all else in Slovakia would be_ Slovak, and in Bohemia, Czech. Each n a t i o n, therefore, would be master in its own home. �SLOVAKIA 40 The huge gathering received Masaryk's address with tremendous acclaim. All Slovaks were overjoyed, for these were just the things they had been wishing for (17). That same evening Masaryk held a conference with the representatives of the Slovaks in the Moose Temple and on the following day, May 31st, drafted a new agreement establishing the relations between Czechs and Slovaks in the new state. Besides him this agreement was signed by eleven Czechs and seventeen ,Slovak representatives and contained the following: The Czecho-Slovak Pact agreed upon in Pittsburgh , Pa., on May 30th, 1918. Representatives of the Slovak and Czech or anlzations the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliin the United States discussed the Czechoance, and the Alliance of Czech Catholics Slovak question in the presence of the chairman of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, 1Prof. Masaryk, and the program declaration made up to this time, and resolved the following: We approve the political program which endeavors to unite the Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state of the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have its own administration, its own parliament, and its own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in offices, and in public life in general. The Czecho-Slovak State shall be a republic, its constitution shall be democratic. The organization of the cooperation of the Czechs and Slovaks in the USA shall be intensified and arranged with mutual understanding as necessity and the changing conditions shall require. The detailed regulations for the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. ( 18). Saturated with the ideals of American democracy, Slovak immigrants in this country endeavored in the Pittsburgh 'P act to assure for their fatherland such rights as they enjoyed here. They labored thus in full knowledge of their leading position, which they held as regards their enslaved fatherland. They were the only free and organized portion of the Slovak nation, and Slovaks at home, as far as they were able under existing circumstances, not only accepted them as the framers of their political future, but also placed in them their only hope of liberation from Magyar enslavement. The greatest weakness of the Pittsburgh Pact as regards any decisions in Slovakia showed itself to be the final 1 �SLOVAKIA 41 point which stated that "the detailed arrangements and regulations in the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives". Without having any knowledge of the action of the Slovak League in the United States, the newly created Slovak Council in Slovakia - formed as a result of the war's end - met in Turciansky Svaty Martin on October 30, 1918, two days after the iPrague Proclamation of an independent Czecho.JSlovak Republic. Here a declaration was brought out in which, altough the Council requested the right of self-expression for Slovaks according to the demands of President Wilson on October 18, 1918, it nevertheless announced that "the Slovak nation is both a linguistic and culturo-historical component of the joint CzechoSlovak nation" (19). Amidst the enthusiastic atmosphere, the small group of those who stood for complete union of Czechs and Slovaks were free to draw up the declaration in such a way that it would best fit their objectives. By emphasizing that "the 1Slovak nation is both a linguistic and a culturo-historical component of the joint Czecho-Slovak nation" the Martin Declaration - as it came to be known since - was considered to be the denial of the distinct Slovak individuality about which the Slovak representatives were most concerned when they entered into the Cleveland and ·Pittsburgh agreements with the Czechs. The freedom exercised by the promoters of the union with the Czechs in drawing up the declaration in Turciansky Sv. Martin is also apparent from the fact that one of them, Dr. Milan Hodza, who was entrusted with the task of publishing the document, left out several points arbitrarily. One of the omitted points was the request that the Slovaks be represented at the peace conference. This Martin Declaration - no matter how doubtfull its worth - was, however, considered a free expression of the will of the liberated Slovaks by Prague, and, consequently, the Pittsburgh Pact was declared void. T. G. Masaryk went so far that, in his reply of October 12, 1929, to the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, leader of the Slovak People's Party, he wrote of this Pact: �42 SLOVAKIA But the main thing is that the document that verbal agreement is forged, is a falsum, because at the time when the American Slovaks wanted that verbal agreement, the League did not exist legally, it was not recognized by the State until 1919. For that reason a serious politician, a statesman, cannot and must not operate with a paper. Falsification cannot become an act of State .•• (20). From its very beginning, therefore, Czecho-Slovakia was organized as a centralistic Czech state, in which Slovakia was more in the position of a colony than as an equal partner. The Czechs, on the other hand, tactfully utilized the already-mentioned conflicts .w ithin the Slovak camp. For the majority of inhabitants, the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Slovak Republic was such an unexpected surprise that a certain development was necessary before the complete range of the new political situation actually came forth. To make matter worse, a split occurred even among the active members of the Slovak League. One part, under the impact of alarming news from their liberated native country, was convinced that the carrying out of the Pittsbwgh Pact would be a misfortune for Slovakia and, therefore, did not insist, as was expected, upon its incorporation into the constitution of the new state. The other part, even though comprising an insignificant number of opportunists, was won over to the idea of centralism by being rewarded with well-paid offices within the administration of the new state. The Pittsburgh Pact was, therefore, excluded with comparative ease from all discussions during the formation of 'Slovak and Czech relations in the new Czecho-Slovakia. Even though this pact failed to fulfill its primary function, it gave to 'Slovak autonomists an effective weapon to accuse the Czechs of insincerity and faithlessness. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, there was an obvious tendency, according to the Czech writer Vaclav Peroutka, to exclude "Catholics from public offices and the enjoyment of honor" (21). And it was under such circumstances that in May, 1919, a year after its signing, the Pittsburgh ·P act came into the hands of the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, the leader of the Slovak Catholics. He did not hesitate to make out of it the Magna Charta of the movement for autonomy. It gave his autonomist movement a clear program and offered effect- �SLOVAKIA 43 ive propaganda material to depict Czech faithlessness. It is quite obvious that the denial of the Pittsburgh Pact occasioned much greater harm to the survival of Czecho-Slovakia than it would have done at the beginning when the newly liberated, still politically immature Slovakia was consolidating its forces. Even though the Slovak immigrant failed to achieve his original goal through this pact, he nevertheless created in his native country an irresistable desire to attain it. The Pittsburgh Pact sounded the tocsin to battle, the outcome of which was to be a clearer and more accurate definition of national rights. The present situation shows that the Slovak immigrant in the United States has almost lost his distinguishing marks in the new American society. Whereas, in the history of Slovakia, he still remains one of the most distinguished actors in defining its national character and in determining its political ambitions. If the "American democratic crusading spirit" sank deep into the life of a nation by means of an immigrant, it perhaps did so mostly in the case of Slovakia in connection with the iPittsburgh Pact. 7. The Present Political Emigrants The afore-mentioned Slovak emigrants, who left Slovakia mostly from social motives, were joined in recent years by a small though in its actions a very alert group of people, who left Slovakia and came to the West from clearly political motives. They departed in two waves. The first represented the functionaries of the independent Slovak Republic who, after the downfall of Slovakia in 1945, sought asylum in the West to escape the vengeance of the so-called "people's courts" . They were joined three years later (1948) by a further wave of political exiles who fled when Communists took complete control of the Czecho-Slovak government. The latter group comprised functionaries of non-Communist parties of the Czecho-Slovakia, in other words, people who were not in accord with the Communist "People's Democracy". In both instances we actually behold the first mass, political, Slovak emigration which, from the viewpoint of Slovak nationalism, signifies that political activity is its �44 SLOVAKIA very pulsating vocation. Its aim is the return homeward of all exiles and, therefore, a change in the political situation which forced the Slovaks to leave their native land. Slovak emigrants are bearing influence in two ways: they are endeavoring to gain the favor of Western Democracies in their efforts to overthrow the Communist dictatorship; and they are displaying the ability to organize underground movements to bring about a change, perhaps through internal revolution. One could probably surmise that the group who left Slovakia immediately after Second War will seek the revival of an independent Slovakia as a continuation of the Slovak Republic, whereas the other group will simply join those forces that work for the restoration of a democratic CzechoSlovakia. But the time-interval between these two waves of emigrants is not an accurate divisor of their political affiliation. It is true, however, that the Slovaks are divided into two camps: the Slovak and Czecho ..Slovak camp. The former aims for an i n d e p e n d e n t Slovakia without the Czecho-Slovak framework; the latter aims for a Slovakia within the Czecho-Slovak framework. Numerically, however, those who desire an independent Slovakia constitute the overwhelming majority. They include not only former functionaries of the 1Slovak Republic but also at least 90% of all those who left Czecho-Slovakia after the Communist coup of 194'8. As an o r g a n i z e d force, both camps act through three organs: the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia; the Slovak National Council Abroad; and the Slovak Liberation Committee. The aim of the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia is the destruction of present Communist dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in the spirit of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. E. Benes (anti-Catholic). CzechoJSlovakia involves, however, the solution of two problems: 1. the problem of some three and one-half million displaced Sudeten Germans whose desire to return to their homeland is being actively supported by the newly-risen West Germany; 2. what position is Slovakia to have in the new demecratic CzechoSlovakia. It is a known fact that the greater majority of Slovaks 1 �SLOVAKIA 45, at home are more than ever before opposed to any idea or form of a Czecho-Slovakia. Informed people know that Slovakia can be maintained within the framework of CzechoSlovakia only by force and violence. The other two organs, the Slovak National Council Abroad and the Slovak Liberation Committee, are striving for the creation of an independent Slovakia. Their difference lies not so much in their aim as in their methods. Even though the Slovak National Council Abroad avers that the Slovak Republic which existed during the Second World War was formed in accord with the principles of international law as the free manifestation of the people, it nevertheless does not insist upon her legal continuity. lt is a great promoter of the federative solution of Central Europe in which it seeks for Slovakia the same position that other national groups will have. It is the political organ of the greater number of the 1Slovak exiles of 1945 and 1948. Furthermore, its program has been endorsed by the two largest organizations of older emigrants, namely, the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League. The Slovak Liberation Committee is the political organ of a radical portion of the Slovak exiles. It strives for an independent Slovakia on the basis of a legal continuity of the former Slovak Republic. It is distinguished by a special activity which manifests itself principally in many memorandums sent to the United Nations Organization as well as to the other r esponsible political circles in the West. Because of this across-the-border activity as well as other efforts to organize underground movements in Slovakia, which is dominated by Czech Communists, the ·Slovak Liberation Committee is looked upon in Czecho-Slovakia as the principal enemy of the government of the People's Democracy. It seems to be quite popular with the dissatisfied and change-hungry inhabitants at home. 1 It is hard to foretell whether any of these organs will succeed in achieving any of their objectives at the present time. It is highly improbable that any of them will succeed in organizing an active underground movement, which would be in a position to bring about a change in the present po- �46 SLOVAKIA litical situation with the aid of an internal revolution. The hope for a change depends only upon a new war, and then upon the measure in which respective efforts will be in accord with the interests of victorious powers. 1. ,M. Darras: "Onze ans de vie independente en Slovaque", LeMonde slave, (rnai-juin, 1930), 177. 2. Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaque dans le Drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1'955, p. 57. 3. ·W illiam ,Diamond : Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London, 1947, p. 172. 4. Pravda, Bratislava, May 29, 1949. 15. ,Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 1'6. 6. Bulletin of the Slovak National Council Abroad, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956, p. 3. 7. Sidor: loc. cit., p. 32. 8. Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 33. 9. The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh ,Pact, Chicago, Tylka Bros. Press, 1Inc., 1934, p. 10. 10. I bid., p. 13. 11. Ibid., p. 13. 12. Ibid., p. 16. 13. Ibid., p. 18. 14. Ibid., p. 19. 15. T. G. Masaryk : La resurection d' un Etat ('Souvenir et reflection 1914-1918), Paris, 1930, p . 256. 16. nr .. Eduard Benes: My War Memoirs, London, 1928, p. 157. 17. The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, Joe. cit., p . 24. 18. Ibid., p. 27. 19. Dr. Frantisek Bokes : Dejiny Sloven ska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946, p. 363. 20. To this an authority on American law on April 23, 1930, when asked a bout the legality of the Slovak League had to say: "I understand the organization in question having a C onstitution, by-laws, officers, etc., though not chartered by the State. For the purpose of taking the action which -w as taken, such an organization would have all the n ecessary power as fully as if had been chartered. The agreement entered into by the unchartered organization refered to would be just as effectiv-e as if entered into with a chartered organization and just as valid if closed on ,Memorial Day as on any other day". (The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, loc. cit., p. 36-39). 21. Vaclav Peroutka : Budovani statu, Prague, 1933-1935, I , p. 352 . • • • RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth - $2.00; paper cover - $1.00. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 32 SLOVAKIA Bratislava streets rang out with song for quite a time. We embraced each other and danced. Then we marched, or rather should ,J say, danced all the way to Svoradov. The fraternity was another joyous scene. I still remember vividly how we embraced Colman Murgas in the refectory, his eyes streaming with tears. I was so excited that 1 could hardly eat. Like so many others, l had lost my appetite for food. Like them, I was satiated with joy. The Slovaks proclaimed their country an independent Republic on March 14, 1939. • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ROLE OF EMIGRANTS IN SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. BUC, Ph.D. 1. The Nation of Emigrants Slovak nationalism cannot be considered as the outgrowth of the Central European soil and the pure product of political forces of that sector. It was steadily developing under many outside influences which penetrated that sector either in the form of new ideas or in the form of outside political and economic interests. Moreover, in the period of the greatest oppression, the real shaping of the Slovak national will for survival was occuring outside Slovakia, among emigrants. About one third of the present Slovak population lives outside Slovakia as emigrants in various sectors of the world. That makes Slovaks truly a nation of emigrants. They were forced to emigrate either for economic or political reasons. Slovakia is a mountainous country with forests covering 40 % of the land. Moreover, prior to 1918, a substantial part of Slovak land was owned by the Magyar or foreign aristocracy, so that Slovaks had little opportunity to make living from agriculture. Temporary or permanent emigration became, therefore the only solution to the economic problem for many children of Slovak farmers. When they SLOVAKIA 33 reached free soil, especially the United 1S tates of America, they proved themselves to be the greatest promoters of Slovak nationalism, not only among themselves but also in their native country. They conveyed ideas of democracy and freedom to their homeland and influenced the outside world to help their compatriots at home in their struggle for survival in Hungary. In 1918, when Slovakia became a part of Czecho-Slovakia, emigration did not cease. It is true, however, that in the first years of the new Republic, Czecho-,Slovakia inaugurated a drastic agrarian reform, wherein almost all of the soil belonging to the aristocracy was apportioned among new owners. Nevertheless, these reforms failed to ameliorate the original situation, because they aimed at rewarding political careerists rather than at bettering the social position of the inhabitants. According to a French observer : "many of the good lands, instead of being apportioned among the peasants, were used to constitute a new agrarian bourgeoisie, under the name of 'surplus estates' " (1). These estates served to favor the political aims of the Czech agrarian party, who used them either to establish Czechs in Southern Slovakia, or to reward Slovaks who were inclined to apply cen• tralist politics to the government of Slovakia. This gave rise to a privileged class, the "surplussers" who resembled very much the ancient landlords of the Hungarian feudal system. While the latter received their lands as a recompense for their services in the army, the former received them for their services in politics (2). Under Czecho-Slovakia, however, Slovak industry fared even worse. The Czechs were chiefly concerned with industrial expansion within their own domains and, therefore, not only contributed nothing to the expansion of former Slovak industries, but adversely put down many existing undertakings in an evident attempt to keep Slovakia agrarian. According to William iDiamond: "During the period from 1934 to 1937, 91.5% of all factory manufacturing in the state occured in Czech lands" ( 3). According to information presented in May of 1949 to the XIX Congress of the Communist !Party in Prague by William Siroky, who at that time was Chairman of the Communist Party in Slovakia, 92,000 workers were engaged in Slovak industries and trades in 191i3. This figure 34 SLOVAKIA comprised about 17 % of the total population. After the unification of Czechs and Slovaks, the progressive tendency in industry since the First World War was completely halted. In 1'927, no more than 80,000 workers were engaged in industry in Slovakia. Within ten more years, during which industry showed great and rapid progress in Czech lands the increase in the number of workers in Slovakia was negligible, with the result that in 1937 they numbered 104,91'5 ( 4). Because of this unhealthy economic situation in Slovakia, almost one-third of the entire S 1 o v a k population sought relief through emigration. The majority emigrated to the United States between 1'873 and 1918. When the United States placed a limit on immigration in 1918, however, the Slovaks emigrated to Canada, South America, Australia, France, and Belgium. This emigration actually became the only liberty-holding portion of Slovaks and, therefore, chiefly before 1918, an almost exclusive representative of Slovak national endeavors. 2. Slovak Immigrants in the United States The leading position in these endeavors was held by Slovak immigrants in the United States. In 1910 Slovaks in this country numbered 281,707; by 1920 the number had increased to 619,866. According to a private appraisal, however, the number should be at least 200,000 more, for about that number of people of Slovak descent may have registered as Austro-iHungarians. Slovaks are represented mostly in the state of Pennsylvania, where in 1920 they numbered 296,219. The remainder are scattered mainly through nine states: Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana ( 5) . On United States soil, the Slovaks developed a very living, organized activity chiefly in the field of fraternalism. At the present time there exist eleven such ·Slovak fraternal organizations with a membership of more than 400,000 and with assets totaling 88½ million d0llars (6). They established besides an extensive Slovak press, which had a great significance for Slovak nationalism in that it was really the only national press during the time of fierce SLOVAKIA 35 magyarization at the close of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. 3. Shaping of the National Will Every coercive measure of the Hungarian government encountered great opposition in the Slovak press of the United States. On the soil of this country Slovak and Magyars waged an obstinate battle, with the result that the Western World became acquainted with the name "Slovak" and with the nationality problem of Austria-Hungary. The first public and organized opposition of Slovaks towards !Magyars in the United ,States took place at Cleveland in 1902. The Magyar immigrants of that city were attempting to place in the Public Square a monument dedicated to their revolutionary Magyar leader of 1848, Louis Kossuth. They were hindered by the Slovaks, who publicly revealed Kossuth's totalitarian methods towards Slovaks and other nationalities of Hungary. When, in 1906, the Hungarian government brought Rev. Andrew Hlinka and several other 'Slovak patriots to trial, this action led the immigrants of all convictions in the United States to join forces and to found a united organization called Slovak League of America at the first Slovak Congress assembled in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1907. According to .its first tenets, the principal aim of the Slovak League was to exert every effort "that S 1 ova k nation would rank among the other nations as an equal among equals'' (7). Its first step was the creation of a national fund to carry on an active struggle for the liberation of Slovaks. Among the League's first successes in this country must be numbered the fact that, during the census of 1910, the following question was aked in the questionnaire: what is your mother tongue? Through this change, passed by the Senate at the proposal of Senator Oliver, the Slovaks as well as the other nationalities of former Hungary could not be separated from the universal concept of "Hungarian", under which they should have been originally classed for belonging to the Hungarian Kingdom (8). At the outbreak of the First World War, the Slovak 36 SLOVAKIA League published a memorandum, which was sent to all members of Congress and to other distinguished political figures in the United States as well as others in the West. This memorandum, in the spirit of American democratic ideals, stressed the desire that: The Slovaks in Hungary should obtain their natural privileges of life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness, which they have been deprived of by the dynasty; that the ,Slovaks be given opportunity to develop their national spirit, their abilities, and the natural resources of their native land; that the Slovaks be guaranteed the realization of their national ideals and efforts, which have been mercilessly trodden by the tyrannical Hungarian Government (9). The memorandum was signed by: all ofificials of the Slovak League; the representatives of twenty-three Slovak newspapers; the representatives of twenty organizations; fifty-two Slovak Catholic priests and forty Slovak Protestant ministers. 'It was published in five languages besides English. The main significance of this memorandum, however, lies in the fact that the 1S lovaks in this country immediately after the outbreak of the war assumed the leadership of the entire Slovak nation. They did it not only because they were free to express the will of the whole nation, but also because the number of their organized ranks exceeded the number of organized Slovaks ever known in their own fatherland. The number of publications represented on the memorandum also exceeded the number edited by the Slovaks in their native country. 4. In Search of a New Ally When the Slovak immigrants in the United States had sent out the afore-mentioned memorandum, they still had not made up their minds clearly concerning the future of their native land. Since they did not intend to form an independent state out of Slovakia, they had to concern themselves with the problem of deciding within what kind of future framework the Slovaks should enjoy those political rights which they sought. All were unanimously agreed that Slovakia must be definitely torn away from Hungary. Several proposed combinations developed. Some favored the Czechs as the ally to be sought. Others favored the Russians. Others favored the Poles, who already had promises from the Allies for the SLOVAKIA 37 restoration of Poland. Gradually the Czechs came to be selected as the most logical ally to be sought (10). The thinking most prevalent in the minds of the Slovak immigrants in the United States is clearly stated in a letter of the Rev. Matthew Jankola, one of the foremost active participants in these matters. In a letter written in Bridgeport, Conn., on December 15, 1915, he wrote: We shall mean nothing in a monarchy, and absolutely nothing in a great Russia. But we would stand on a footing of equality with the Czechs, a la Austria and Hungary; or as formerly Norway and Sweden; with our own self-government, our own parliament, our own Slovak State language. Can we ever obtain this under Russia, or in In regards to the Czechs, their supremacy can Austria-Hungary? only be temporary; until the time that we rear one generation in our own spirit. I do not consider Czech liberalism so dangerous. Our naI mean common ture and character are different. The S I ova k shall retain their character (11). people - In the meantime, in Europe, profesor Thomas G. Masaryk began a revolutionary movement for the liberation of Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary. Under his influence the Czech immigrants in the United States also formed a joint organization under the name "Czech National Alliance" , which organization adopted the same program regarding Czechs as the Slovak League had done regarding Slovaks. T. G. Masaryk soon became the recognized head of the movement for the liberation of the Czechs and the alliance of the Slovaks with the Czechs. 5. The Cleveland Agreement Professor T. G. Masaryk from •Paris asked the Czech ational Alliance in America to gain the cooperation of the Slovak League for common Czech and Slovak liberation efforts. Following that request, the secretary of the Czech National Alliance invited the Slovak League of America to a meeting. Along with this invitation the secretary sent a proposed draft of an agreement which was accepted in Cleveland on October 25, 1915, and since that time has been known as the Cleveland Agreement. It contained the following points: 1. Independence of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2. A union of the Czech and Slovak nations in a federative alliance of states with a complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own state government, its own cultural freedom and, therefore, 38 SLOVAKIA its own complete use of the Slovak language, its own financial and political government, and with Slovak as the ,State language. 3. Voting power: general, secret, and direct. 4. Form of government: A personal union with a democratic State, the same as in ,England. 5. These points form the basis of the mutual agreement and can be enlarged or expanded only with the approval of both parties. The Czech National Alliance reserves the right of making possible changes, and the Slovak League has the same right (12) . This Cleveland Agreement opened up suppositions for the close cooperation of Czechs and Slovaks and eventually led to the formation of the common political state of the Czecho-<Slovak Republic. In spite of this agreement, however, the Czech side began to show indications of naming all common liberation undertakings as Czech. This instilled in the Slovaks the fear that the Czechs did not wish to accept the Slovaks as equal partners. Many discussions, therefore, ensued with the result that, during these sessions, one of the Slovak representatives clearly pin-pointed the Slovak position with the words: "Yes, we want to tear away from the Magyars and be with the Czechs, but not under the Czechs" ( 13). The above-mentioned Czech tactic prompted many of the Slovaks to lose faith in the Cleveland Agreement and in the Czechs, and prompted them to look for new allies. Such a decision did not take a firm foothold because, in the meantime, important events had occurred in the diplomatic world. President Wilson was re-elected on November 8, 1916. Soon after his re-election (December 21, 1916) he issued a proclamation to the warring nations in which he asked for a statement of their war aims. The Allies answered on January 12, 1917, and, in the conditions which they enumerated, the following sentence was found: "Liberation of the Italians, Slavs, Rumanians, Czecho-Slovaks from foreign government control" (14 ) . T. G. Masaryk explains that the term "Czecho-Slovaks" was written into the Allies' reply after the reply had been completed. "The word Czecho.JSlovaks", he writes, "contained in the proclamation, has its own interesting internal history. There were three suggestions: liberation of the Czechs - the Czech nation - the Czecho-Slovaks. The latter suggestion was accepted at a conference of Dr. Ed- SLOVAKIA 39 ward Benes (Czech), Milan R. Stefanik (.Slovak), and Stephen Osusky (American Slovak)" (15). Dr. Benes, on the other hand, writes that he conferred with Mr. Osusky and Mr. Sychravy about the matter, since M. iR. Stefanik was then in Russia; and he further states that "Osusky expressed fear that the Allies' reply to President Wilson might name Czechs only, not the Slovaks". - For that reason he insisted on the term "Czecho-Slovaks" (16). 6. The Pittsburgh Pact The Allies' reply concerning the liberation of CzechoSlovakia definitely determined that, after a victoriously ended war, the Slovaks would be thrust into a common political state with the Czechs, which opened up among the Slovaks all sorts of speculations regarding the future of their fatherland. The official pronouncement concerning the Czecho-Slovaks indicated the existence of two separate groups with the formation of a new state. The Slovaks, therefore, had less reasons to fear that the Czechs would deprive them of their national individuality. T. G. Masaryk, who came to the United States near the end of the war, in April of 1'918, helped in no way to dispel this fear. He was looked upon as the person who could settle most of the small differences, suspicions, and discrepancies that had arisen. Delivering his first speech May 5, 191'8, in Chicago, Ill., he repeatedly mentioned the Czech lands, the Czech army, the Czech fight, the Czech future, etc., but not once did he mention Slovakia and completely ignored Slovak participation in the struggle. His speech was a big disappointment to the Slovaks and ,g ave rise to new doubts about Czech sincerity. On May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk came to 'Pittsburgh. Once again he spoke, but this time he changed face and stated proudly that he was of Slovak descent. He also said that Slovaks and Czechs were united and that the differences which arose were artificially produced through German and Magyar influences. He declared that there would be a free Bohemia and a free Slovakia, that political control, education, courts of justice, and all else in Slovakia would be_ Slovak, and in Bohemia, Czech. Each n a t i o n, therefore, would be master in its own home. SLOVAKIA 40 The huge gathering received Masaryk's address with tremendous acclaim. All Slovaks were overjoyed, for these were just the things they had been wishing for (17). That same evening Masaryk held a conference with the representatives of the Slovaks in the Moose Temple and on the following day, May 31st, drafted a new agreement establishing the relations between Czechs and Slovaks in the new state. Besides him this agreement was signed by eleven Czechs and seventeen ,Slovak representatives and contained the following: The Czecho-Slovak Pact agreed upon in Pittsburgh , Pa., on May 30th, 1918. Representatives of the Slovak and Czech or anlzations the Slovak League, the Czech National Alliin the United States discussed the Czechoance, and the Alliance of Czech Catholics Slovak question in the presence of the chairman of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, 1Prof. Masaryk, and the program declaration made up to this time, and resolved the following: We approve the political program which endeavors to unite the Czechs and Slovaks in an independent state of the Czech lands and Slovakia. Slovakia shall have its own administration, its own parliament, and its own courts. The Slovak language shall be the official language in the schools, in offices, and in public life in general. The Czecho-Slovak State shall be a republic, its constitution shall be democratic. The organization of the cooperation of the Czechs and Slovaks in the USA shall be intensified and arranged with mutual understanding as necessity and the changing conditions shall require. The detailed regulations for the establishment of the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives. ( 18). Saturated with the ideals of American democracy, Slovak immigrants in this country endeavored in the Pittsburgh 'P act to assure for their fatherland such rights as they enjoyed here. They labored thus in full knowledge of their leading position, which they held as regards their enslaved fatherland. They were the only free and organized portion of the Slovak nation, and Slovaks at home, as far as they were able under existing circumstances, not only accepted them as the framers of their political future, but also placed in them their only hope of liberation from Magyar enslavement. The greatest weakness of the Pittsburgh Pact as regards any decisions in Slovakia showed itself to be the final 1 SLOVAKIA 41 point which stated that "the detailed arrangements and regulations in the Czecho-Slovak State are being left to the liberated Czechs and Slovaks and their legal representatives". Without having any knowledge of the action of the Slovak League in the United States, the newly created Slovak Council in Slovakia - formed as a result of the war's end - met in Turciansky Svaty Martin on October 30, 1918, two days after the iPrague Proclamation of an independent Czecho.JSlovak Republic. Here a declaration was brought out in which, altough the Council requested the right of self-expression for Slovaks according to the demands of President Wilson on October 18, 1918, it nevertheless announced that "the Slovak nation is both a linguistic and culturo-historical component of the joint CzechoSlovak nation" (19). Amidst the enthusiastic atmosphere, the small group of those who stood for complete union of Czechs and Slovaks were free to draw up the declaration in such a way that it would best fit their objectives. By emphasizing that "the 1Slovak nation is both a linguistic and a culturo-historical component of the joint Czecho-Slovak nation" the Martin Declaration - as it came to be known since - was considered to be the denial of the distinct Slovak individuality about which the Slovak representatives were most concerned when they entered into the Cleveland and ·Pittsburgh agreements with the Czechs. The freedom exercised by the promoters of the union with the Czechs in drawing up the declaration in Turciansky Sv. Martin is also apparent from the fact that one of them, Dr. Milan Hodza, who was entrusted with the task of publishing the document, left out several points arbitrarily. One of the omitted points was the request that the Slovaks be represented at the peace conference. This Martin Declaration - no matter how doubtfull its worth - was, however, considered a free expression of the will of the liberated Slovaks by Prague, and, consequently, the Pittsburgh Pact was declared void. T. G. Masaryk went so far that, in his reply of October 12, 1929, to the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, leader of the Slovak People's Party, he wrote of this Pact: 42 SLOVAKIA But the main thing is that the document that verbal agreement is forged, is a falsum, because at the time when the American Slovaks wanted that verbal agreement, the League did not exist legally, it was not recognized by the State until 1919. For that reason a serious politician, a statesman, cannot and must not operate with a paper. Falsification cannot become an act of State .•• (20). From its very beginning, therefore, Czecho-Slovakia was organized as a centralistic Czech state, in which Slovakia was more in the position of a colony than as an equal partner. The Czechs, on the other hand, tactfully utilized the already-mentioned conflicts .w ithin the Slovak camp. For the majority of inhabitants, the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Slovak Republic was such an unexpected surprise that a certain development was necessary before the complete range of the new political situation actually came forth. To make matter worse, a split occurred even among the active members of the Slovak League. One part, under the impact of alarming news from their liberated native country, was convinced that the carrying out of the Pittsbwgh Pact would be a misfortune for Slovakia and, therefore, did not insist, as was expected, upon its incorporation into the constitution of the new state. The other part, even though comprising an insignificant number of opportunists, was won over to the idea of centralism by being rewarded with well-paid offices within the administration of the new state. The Pittsburgh Pact was, therefore, excluded with comparative ease from all discussions during the formation of 'Slovak and Czech relations in the new Czecho-Slovakia. Even though this pact failed to fulfill its primary function, it gave to 'Slovak autonomists an effective weapon to accuse the Czechs of insincerity and faithlessness. With the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, there was an obvious tendency, according to the Czech writer Vaclav Peroutka, to exclude "Catholics from public offices and the enjoyment of honor" (21). And it was under such circumstances that in May, 1919, a year after its signing, the Pittsburgh ·P act came into the hands of the Rev. Andrew Hlinka, the leader of the Slovak Catholics. He did not hesitate to make out of it the Magna Charta of the movement for autonomy. It gave his autonomist movement a clear program and offered effect- SLOVAKIA 43 ive propaganda material to depict Czech faithlessness. It is quite obvious that the denial of the Pittsburgh Pact occasioned much greater harm to the survival of Czecho-Slovakia than it would have done at the beginning when the newly liberated, still politically immature Slovakia was consolidating its forces. Even though the Slovak immigrant failed to achieve his original goal through this pact, he nevertheless created in his native country an irresistable desire to attain it. The Pittsburgh Pact sounded the tocsin to battle, the outcome of which was to be a clearer and more accurate definition of national rights. The present situation shows that the Slovak immigrant in the United States has almost lost his distinguishing marks in the new American society. Whereas, in the history of Slovakia, he still remains one of the most distinguished actors in defining its national character and in determining its political ambitions. If the "American democratic crusading spirit" sank deep into the life of a nation by means of an immigrant, it perhaps did so mostly in the case of Slovakia in connection with the iPittsburgh Pact. 7. The Present Political Emigrants The afore-mentioned Slovak emigrants, who left Slovakia mostly from social motives, were joined in recent years by a small though in its actions a very alert group of people, who left Slovakia and came to the West from clearly political motives. They departed in two waves. The first represented the functionaries of the independent Slovak Republic who, after the downfall of Slovakia in 1945, sought asylum in the West to escape the vengeance of the so-called "people's courts" . They were joined three years later (1948) by a further wave of political exiles who fled when Communists took complete control of the Czecho-Slovak government. The latter group comprised functionaries of non-Communist parties of the Czecho-Slovakia, in other words, people who were not in accord with the Communist "People's Democracy". In both instances we actually behold the first mass, political, Slovak emigration which, from the viewpoint of Slovak nationalism, signifies that political activity is its 44 SLOVAKIA very pulsating vocation. Its aim is the return homeward of all exiles and, therefore, a change in the political situation which forced the Slovaks to leave their native land. Slovak emigrants are bearing influence in two ways: they are endeavoring to gain the favor of Western Democracies in their efforts to overthrow the Communist dictatorship; and they are displaying the ability to organize underground movements to bring about a change, perhaps through internal revolution. One could probably surmise that the group who left Slovakia immediately after Second War will seek the revival of an independent Slovakia as a continuation of the Slovak Republic, whereas the other group will simply join those forces that work for the restoration of a democratic CzechoSlovakia. But the time-interval between these two waves of emigrants is not an accurate divisor of their political affiliation. It is true, however, that the Slovaks are divided into two camps: the Slovak and Czecho ..Slovak camp. The former aims for an i n d e p e n d e n t Slovakia without the Czecho-Slovak framework; the latter aims for a Slovakia within the Czecho-Slovak framework. Numerically, however, those who desire an independent Slovakia constitute the overwhelming majority. They include not only former functionaries of the 1Slovak Republic but also at least 90% of all those who left Czecho-Slovakia after the Communist coup of 194'8. As an o r g a n i z e d force, both camps act through three organs: the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia; the Slovak National Council Abroad; and the Slovak Liberation Committee. The aim of the National Council of Free Czechoslovakia is the destruction of present Communist dictatorship and the restoration of democracy in the spirit of T. G. Masaryk and Dr. E. Benes (anti-Catholic). CzechoJSlovakia involves, however, the solution of two problems: 1. the problem of some three and one-half million displaced Sudeten Germans whose desire to return to their homeland is being actively supported by the newly-risen West Germany; 2. what position is Slovakia to have in the new demecratic CzechoSlovakia. It is a known fact that the greater majority of Slovaks 1 SLOVAKIA 45, at home are more than ever before opposed to any idea or form of a Czecho-Slovakia. Informed people know that Slovakia can be maintained within the framework of CzechoSlovakia only by force and violence. The other two organs, the Slovak National Council Abroad and the Slovak Liberation Committee, are striving for the creation of an independent Slovakia. Their difference lies not so much in their aim as in their methods. Even though the Slovak National Council Abroad avers that the Slovak Republic which existed during the Second World War was formed in accord with the principles of international law as the free manifestation of the people, it nevertheless does not insist upon her legal continuity. lt is a great promoter of the federative solution of Central Europe in which it seeks for Slovakia the same position that other national groups will have. It is the political organ of the greater number of the 1Slovak exiles of 1945 and 1948. Furthermore, its program has been endorsed by the two largest organizations of older emigrants, namely, the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League. The Slovak Liberation Committee is the political organ of a radical portion of the Slovak exiles. It strives for an independent Slovakia on the basis of a legal continuity of the former Slovak Republic. It is distinguished by a special activity which manifests itself principally in many memorandums sent to the United Nations Organization as well as to the other r esponsible political circles in the West. Because of this across-the-border activity as well as other efforts to organize underground movements in Slovakia, which is dominated by Czech Communists, the ·Slovak Liberation Committee is looked upon in Czecho-Slovakia as the principal enemy of the government of the People's Democracy. It seems to be quite popular with the dissatisfied and change-hungry inhabitants at home. 1 It is hard to foretell whether any of these organs will succeed in achieving any of their objectives at the present time. It is highly improbable that any of them will succeed in organizing an active underground movement, which would be in a position to bring about a change in the present po- 46 SLOVAKIA litical situation with the aid of an internal revolution. The hope for a change depends only upon a new war, and then upon the measure in which respective efforts will be in accord with the interests of victorious powers. 1. ,M. Darras: "Onze ans de vie independente en Slovaque", LeMonde slave, (rnai-juin, 1930), 177. 2. Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaque dans le Drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1'955, p. 57. 3. ·W illiam ,Diamond : Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London, 1947, p. 172. 4. Pravda, Bratislava, May 29, 1949. 15. ,Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 1'6. 6. Bulletin of the Slovak National Council Abroad, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956, p. 3. 7. Sidor: loc. cit., p. 32. 8. Karol Sidor: Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji, Bratislava, 1929, p. 33. 9. The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh ,Pact, Chicago, Tylka Bros. Press, 1Inc., 1934, p. 10. 10. I bid., p. 13. 11. Ibid., p. 13. 12. Ibid., p. 16. 13. Ibid., p. 18. 14. Ibid., p. 19. 15. T. G. Masaryk : La resurection d' un Etat ('Souvenir et reflection 1914-1918), Paris, 1930, p . 256. 16. nr .. Eduard Benes: My War Memoirs, London, 1928, p. 157. 17. The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, Joe. cit., p . 24. 18. Ibid., p. 27. 19. Dr. Frantisek Bokes : Dejiny Sloven ska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1946, p. 363. 20. To this an authority on American law on April 23, 1930, when asked a bout the legality of the Slovak League had to say: "I understand the organization in question having a C onstitution, by-laws, officers, etc., though not chartered by the State. For the purpose of taking the action which -w as taken, such an organization would have all the n ecessary power as fully as if had been chartered. The agreement entered into by the unchartered organization refered to would be just as effectiv-e as if entered into with a chartered organization and just as valid if closed on ,Memorial Day as on any other day". (The Slovaks and The Pittsburgh Pact, loc. cit., p. 36-39). 21. Vaclav Peroutka : Budovani statu, Prague, 1933-1935, I , p. 352 . • • • RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THE SLOVAKS - their history and traditions - by Peter P. Yurchak; 312 pages, hard cover, bound In cloth - $3.00; paper cover - $2.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY by Joseph Skultety; 229 pages, well documented; hard cover, bound in cloth - $2.00; paper cover - $1.00.  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 Slovak Nationalism: The Role of Emigrants in Slovak Nationalism Description An account of the resource B. S. Buc, Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959<br />pp. 32-46<br /><ol><li>The Nation of Emigrants</li> <li>Slovak Immigrants in the United States</li> <li>Shaping of the National Will</li> <li>In Search of a New Ally</li> <li>The Cleveland Agreement</li> <li>The Pittsburgh Pact</li> <li>The Present Political Emigrants</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Buc, B. S. (Bonaventure S.), 1910-1966 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/94c7af9930b8fd081eee8daaa38561f2.pdf ef787b1d3973786a30ecccafcb3db7c9 PDF Text Text SLOVAK.IA 47 Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL. D., PH. D. mE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC I Introductory Note "No Constitution can be considered perfect or permanent", says R. G. Gettell in his renowned work Political Science. "The final requisite for a good constitution is that the constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State" (1). Among the critics and adversaries of the Slovak Republic there were few, if any, who read the Slovak Constitution, the fundamental principles that determined the basic nature of the Slovak ,S tate and Government, the distribution of its severeign powers among the various organs of government and the relation of the government to the people over whom its authority was exercised. We, therefore, hardly find someone who based his criticism of the Slovak Republic on the constitutional or legal basis or on the constitutional form of the Slovak state. The Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the U. S., in its special report No. 8, prepared in co-operation with Georgetown University and a group of experts from various parts of the United States, expressed its opinion in the following terms: "The Constitution contained principles, which in some aspects combined features of the liberal state, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state. In the beginning all power of the Slovak Republic was vested in the Parliament but later on, in 1941, after Slovakia had entered the war against the ,soviet Union, the executive was to prevai I over the legislature. "The Slovak state was far from being a perfect democracy in the traditional sense. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation" (2). This statement, though basically true and expressing to a great extent the view of the writer, should be complemented by a political as well as juridical analysis of the text of the Constitution and of the circumstances in which �48 SLOVAKIA it was drafted and adopted by the Slovak Diet. The first question seems to be: from whence came the features of the liberal, the Christian democratic , and the authoritari an State? As for the democratic traditions in Slovakia, they antidated not only the attainment of political independen ce in 1939, but also the inclusion of Slovakia into the CzechoSlovak Republic in 1918. The Slovak nobility was assimilated by the Ma,gyars to a great extent before the Slovak national revival took place at the end of the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century, so that no aristocratic traditions could hinder the acceptance and developmen t of modern democratic ideas. In fact, Slovakia became the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts during the 17th century and later it "revealed itself as a meeting-pla ce of practically all contempor ary currents of cultural and political ideas" (3). It is true that the policy of Budapest, after the Ausgleich of 1867, aimed at suppressing Slovak nationalism and Slovak political activities. This resulted in the reduction of the IS lovak representat ion in Budapest's Parliament to only two representat ives at the end of World War I. However, this situation cannot reasonably be used as a yardstick for Slovak disposition for political maturity. This became evident shortly after the creation of the CzechoSlovak Republic, when not only genuine Slovak political parties sprang up, but also, more or less, all the Czech parties extended their activities into Slovakia. Practically all political tendencies from socialism to agrarian democracy and communism found an echo in the Slovak poulation. The genuine and most representat ive Slovak parties were: 1) the Slovak People's Party, later called Hlinka's Slovak People's Party and the Party of National l:Jnity (since October 1938), representin g the bulk of the nationally conscious Catholic population, although some non-Catholics were among its members (the party never officially labeled its program as Catholic); and, 2) the Slovak National Party which organized those Slovak Protestants who remained faithful to the traditions of Slovak national- �SLOVAKIA 49 ism and to the idea of distinct Slovak culture and selfgovernment. All political parties in Slovakia developed during the period of 191'8-1938 along the lines of the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia which is often praised as a model of modern democratic constitutions. It must, therefore, sound highly improbable and illogial when adversaries of the Slovak State assert that all this changed from one day to another, that all the democratic traditions of Czecho-Slovakia ,w ere so weak that they were transformed without any resistance into "fascist" and "nazi" tendencies by the simple act of the declaration of Slovakia's independence. It would certainly be safe to assume that democracy survived, in many respects, the Declaration of 1M arch 14, 19'39, and that the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect the principles of democratic thinking and institutions which were alive in Slovakia. Actually, they survived to such an extent that in many respects the Slovak Constitution has a strinking resemblance to the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic (4). Provisions referring to legislative powers of the Parliament, election and powers of the President of the Republic, the judiciary, and the whole legal structure of the Slovak State had much in common with the Constitution of Czecho..!Slovakia which, like the ,S lovak Constitution, adopted principles of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, or the fundamental principles of French and American Constitutions. The authors of the Slovak Constitution were jurists and parliamentarians educated predominantly at the universities and in the Parliament of Czecho-:Slovakia; with one or two exceptions, they were men who studied law abroad and were mainly responsible for the liberal elements in the draft of the Slovak Constitution. There are, of course, striking differences, too, as far as the ideological bases of these two constitutions are concerned. The religiosity of the Slovak people and their Christian world outlook gave quite a different ideological basis to the Slovak constitution in general, and to its many provisions regarding social institutions, which reflect the ideas of the Papal encyclicals in particular. While the Slovak �50 SLOVAKIA Constitution presents God as the ultimate source of Law and declares that the function of the Slovak Republic is to unite all the moral and economic forces of the people in a Christian and national community in order to become the executor of social justice and the protector of common good, the ideological roots of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution were as far from God and religion as were Prague's leading politicians. On the other hand, the Slovak Constitution could not but differ in provisions or institutions which were imposed by the international situation and which are described as "authoritarian." As we mentioned before, the final requisite for a good Constitution, according to Gettell, is that the Constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State. While the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia reflected certain ideological currents and political structures of the French Republic which was mainly responsible for the creation and existence of Czecho-Slovakia and for the new organization of Central Europe after First World War, the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect a new situation, new organization and a "new order" in Central Europe, created by Hitler's Germany in 1938-1939 with the consent of France and England. Considered objectively, one has to to recognize that it took courage and deep attachment to traditions to proclaim in Slovakia, in 1939, God as the ultimate source of Law and order and to use Papal encyclicals as the basis for social institutions, human and family rights on the one hand, and, on the other, "to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czechoslovak state" (5). When, in the summer of 1939, the committee appointed by the Slovak Parliament, labored on the draft of the Constitution, the political crisis in Europe was nearing its climax, and the ideological confusion attained irrational dimensions. The area of Central and Eastern Europe was exposed to ideological struggles and political ambitions of at least three Great Powers and, thus, Democracy, Communism, and Nazism as well as remnants of liberal tendencies were engaged in a rough competition for influence over the Central European peoples. Slovakia, in the middle of this ideological ferment and 1 �SLOVAKIA 51 international instability, found herself also threatened by aggression or territorial claims from her neighbors, so that even the very existence of the newly created state on the banks of the Danube and the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains was, from its beginning, endangered. To expect, in the midst of such political and ideological chaos, any uncompromis ing attitudes on the side of the Constitutiona l Committee would amount to expecting from it something humanly impossible. Slovakia had to take a compromising position politically and ideologically not only for reasons of good relations with her neighbors, but also, if not in the first place, in order to survive as a State, since Democracy was considered a provocation, and, in its classic form, in the summer of 1939, was already dying in all Central Eiuropean countries. An analysis of the main principles and fundamental rights will show how far the work of the Constitutiona l Committee of Slovakia - despite its compromising tenor reflects the tendencies and genuine traditions of the Slovak people. According to the expert opinion of several jurists, the Constitution adopted practically the whole sysb~m of democratic-lib eralistic constitutions of the 1'8th and 19th centuries and, though Slovakia was weighed in from the right and left between Godless bolshevism and anti-Christian neo-paganism , she brought forth a constitution "saturated with the Christian spirit and especially with the principles of the social encyclicals of the Holy See" (6). As for the features of Christian democracy, besides many institutions concerned with social life, family, attitude to work, and function of property, in which we can find the influence of modern Christian sociology, the Christian character was given to the whole Constitution by its Preamble which reads as follows: "The Slovak nation, under the protection of Almighty God, survived throughout the ages on the territory destined for its national development and there, with the help of God, Who is the Source of all Power and Law, established its independent Slovak State. "The SI ova k State unites, according to Natural Law, all the moral and economic forces of the Nation in a Christian and national community for the purpose of regulating clashing social aspirations and mutually opposed interests of all occupational and professional groups, and has for its goal the highest attainable degree of happi- �52 SLOVAKIA ness of society and the individual. This ideal can only be achieved through a moral and political process, initiated by the State, which in harmonious unity will function as an executor of social justice and a protector of common good." It would certainly be difficult to find among the constitutions of modern states any other which so clearly states that God must be recognized as the original source of Law and Order and that the function of the nation in a Christian and national community in order to become "an executor of social justice and protector of common good" (7). The accentuation of the social function of the State, which we find in the Preamble, and the emphasis placed on the happiness of both the individual and society, are an indication of the legislators' intention to build a modern welfare state on the principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how these ideas found their expressions in particular provisions and institutions of the Slovak Constitution. n General Characteristics of the Slovak Constitution It is not necessary to be an expert in constitutional law to notice that the Slovak Constitution contains all the democratic devices which political science usually requires from democratic constitutions - such as the separation of powers, the doctrine of checks and balances, and the principle of rule by law. Even the most bitter adversaries of Slovak independence - the Communists and the supporters of Czechoslovakism - did not try to deny these features to the Slovak Constitution. "The Slovak State was intended to make a full show of independence," wrote Alexander IKunosi, one of today's communist diplomats of Czecho-,Slovakia, in 11944, from his London exile: "It was to be vested with all the institutions formerly possessed by the Czechoslovak State. Steps were taken to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czecho-Slovak State" (8). Admitting this, the adversaries of the Slovak Republic could not try to say that "the parlimentary facade of Government in Slovakia had, of course, no real signifi1 �SLOVAKIA 53 cance, " or that the "Diet did not express the will of the nation or the people," which, as we shall see further , hardly correspond with the truth since the Parliament in Slovakia was not only in theory but also in fact the suprem e organ of the State and the most essential powers were vested in Parliament from the beginning to the end. The Constitution was adopted by a legally constit uted Slovak Diet which was established in accordance with the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and on the basis of the general election which took place on December 18, 19'38. According to Law No. 299, adopted on November 22, 1938, Slovakia became an autonomous part of Czecho-Slovakia, with her own Government and her own Diet composed of 63 members, vested with legislative powers goveerning not only internal affairs, but required also for ratification of Czecho-Slovak international agreements concerning Slovakia. This Diet, summoned to a session on March 14, 1939, by the President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Dr. Emil H a c h a , declared Slovakia an independent State, and a special committee of the Diet prepared the draft of the Constitution which was adopted unanimously on July 31, 1939, as Law No. 185. The draft of the Constitution was preceded by a study of several existing modern constitutions with a view to giving the country a set of principles that would correspond with contemporary constitutional thinking and the practical needs and national traditions of the Slovak people. The text was prepared by two university professors of Law, Dr. V. Tuka and Dr. F. :Durcansky, and by several jurists and parliamentarians of young and old generations, Senator Dr. K. Mederly, Dr. M. Sokol, Dr. V. Tvrdy, and Dr. Cerhelyi. In 103 short articles (paragraphs) divided into 13 chapters, the Slovak Constitution gave a radical as well as social basis to the new State in Central Europe. The first article of the Constitution declared the Slovak State a Republic with a President as an elected head, with t erms, according to Gettell, are used to indicate a representative democracy (9) . According to articles 6, 7, 8, and 9, legislative power �54 SLOVAKIA for the entire country vested in the Parliament, composed of 80 members and elected in a general, direct, equal, and secret suffrage for a period of five years. The right to vote belonged to every citizen over 2'1 years of age, man and woman, without racial or religious discrimination. This right to be elected to Parliament belonged to citizens over 30 years of age. The Parliament was based on the unicameral system,. and the President of the Republic was obliged to convene the Parliament for regular sessions twice a year, and for extraordinary sessions whenever the majority of members. demanded such a session. Laws promulgated by the Parliament required the President's signature for their validity. Paragraph 26 provided, however, that laws could be promulgated despite the President's veto, if they were adopted by a three-fifths majority in the presence of a two-thirds majority of deputies. The right to appoint governments belonged to the President, but the Government was responsible to Parliament and subject to its vote of confidence. The Parliament also had the right of prosecution of the· President for high treason. Part IN of the Constitution deals with the powers and functions of the President, who was elected for a period of seven years. Any citizen, 40 years of age or over, was eligible for the office, and the election was valid if two. thirds of the members were present and the candidate obtained a three-fifths majority. A comparision of powers and functions of the Slovak ·P resident, as defined in the Constitution, with those of other parliamentary democracies will prove that his powers were somewhere between the extensive functions and powers of the American president and the purely representative functions of the Presidents of France (before De Gaulle). He represented the State internationally, had the right, with the consent of Parliament to declare wars and conclude peace, to appoint and dismiss ministers, to appoint, but not to dismiss university professors, judges, civil servants, and military officers of the three highest categories. He also had the right to be present at the sessions of the Government and Council of State, to request their convention under his chairmanship, �SLOVAKIA 55 to convene, dissolve and prologue Parliament, to sign or veto Parliament's acts, etc. While making the president a dominant figure of the executive, the Constitution, on the other hand, contained provisions which were designed to prevent dictatorial powers (10). The Parliament was able, as we have seen, to promulgate laws even if opposed by the President and according to paragraph 40, "any executive act of the president requires counter-signature by a competent cabinet minister for its validity." No person could be re-elected more than once to the presidential office and when the president died during his term, abdicated or was permanently unable to exercise his functions, it was the duty of the Prime Minister to assume temporary functions of the president. A new president had to be elected by the iParliament within thirty days. The President represented, together with the Cabinet, the executive of the !Slovak Republic and, consequently, the Slovak Government had some features of a presidential type of government and, at the same time, it also contained elements of parliamentary government. An expert on constitutional theories can prove both, because - while the essential characteristics of parliamentary government are: 1) a politically independent head of State; and, 2) a cabinet which is politically responsible to Parliament - "parliamentary Government may also develop in the opposite direction. The Cabinet can become the dominant political organ, able to control the government of the country and direct the work of the Parliament which assists it in the execution of its program," says Andre Mathiot in his ercellent treatise "The British Political System" (11). it is not, however, our intention to discuss theoretical issues here. One can easily prove that the executive in the Slovak Republic was also predominantly of the presidential type, because "every system of 'P arliamentary government has its own distinctive features, resulting from a complex of many different factors. History, the national temperament, beliefs and ideologies, conventions of political behavior, attempts to imitate a particular model or to avoid certain dangers, etc." - states Mathiot. All these factors �56 SLOVAKIA played their distinctive roles in the Slovak Constitution and made it a constitution "sui generis." As for the powers and constitution of the Slovak Cabinet, the President of the Republic appointed and dismissed the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet and determined which member would administer individual ministries (Article 41). The Parliament was also empowered to call the Cabinet and its individual members to political responsibility and to express lack of confidence which would result in the dissolution of the cabinet (Article 48) . Practical considerations demanded, on the other hand, a certain measure of delegation of legislative powers to the Cabinet. The jurisdiction of the Cabinet was limited to governmental orders, namely, during a national emergency, or orders pertaining to the execution of certain types of laws, and within the limits specified in the laws. Validity of such orders was conditional, since the Prime Minister was obliged to submit them within three months to the Parliament, which, in turn, could disallow such measures or could make whatever changes it deemed necessary, or pass it as its own law (12). Chapter V of the Slovak Constitution defined the functions and composition of the Council of State, a pecial body composed of outstanding personalities from various walks of life whose functions pertained to a sort of control of the political life in ,Slovakia. The Council was composed of 6 members appointed by the President of the Republic, ten members were chosen by the Slovak People's Party, two members by the registered parties of ethnic groups, and one was delegated by each estate. The Prime Minister and the President of the Assembly were also memb2rs of the Council. The functions of the Council were defined by the Article 52 and consisted in initiating legislation, controlling and prosecuting the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers, and in advising the President and the government on matters of a political, cultural, and economic nature. The Council also prepared the list of candidates for parliamentary elections and made decisions concerning the loss of 0 �SLOVAKIA 57 parliamentary seats, following a request from the President of the Assembly. Politically, the reason for the existence of the Council was given by the desire to have, in the absence of a Senate, representatives in the political life of the new State from groups or professions who usually did not look for an election to Parliament, but whose advice, abilities, and moral stature were destined to help the Government in its endeavour to make the population happy and united behind the political leadership. The authors of the draft of the Constitution expressed their intention in stating that "the Council of State is the expression of political and national unity, and also joins the national and political life with the constitutional representatives, combining itself the function of legal initiation and control." Following the social doctrine of the Papal encyclicals, the authors of the Constitution also included in their draft certain institutions which characterize the so-called "corporative" systems. Chapter VII of the Slovak Constitution had foressen organization of Slovakia's inhabitants into six self-administered bodies called "stavy" (estates) according to occupation and profession: the association of workers and employers in agriculture, in industry, trade, commerce and banking; the association of the free professions and the association of State and public employees. "The associations included both employers and employees and they were assigned to take care of the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members, to solve labor and wage disputes and problems among employees and employers, and to help members of the association to achieve better results in their industries and occupations and a higher standard of living for the nation (Article 62). Acting on Law No. 297 of the Collection of Laws, the President of the Republic appointed the presidents on November 19, 1940, and the aim of the associations was again given as "to manifest the unity of the Slovak workers' community, without heed to classes and callings, and bearing in mind only the interests of the nation and the State" (13). As for the judiciary, we have already stated that the Slovak Constitution was based on the principle of separa- �58 SLOVAKIA tion of powers, as defined by modern political theories. There were three types of courts: courts of law, administrative courts, and military courts. The organization of courts and their legal competence were left to a special legislation. As in any modern constitutions, the Slovak Constitution provided that the courts of law were empowered to review any decision of administrative courts and, on the other hand, the jurisdiction of military courts could be extended over the civil population during wartime and for war crimes. "Judges are independent," states Article 67, "in their judicial functions and are bound only by law." The Constitution contained provisions that no person could be deprived of the judge designated by law to hear the case (Article 62), and Article 66 made the judiciary free of any interference either on the part of administrative or political leadership. The professional judges were appointed to their positions permanently and "they have held a highly privileged position, appropriate to their equally high office," states Judge A. Peltzner (14). The Chapter dealing with the rights and obligations of the citizens (Chapter X) can sustain comparision with any democratic and liberal constitution and a modern "Bill of Rights." The 1Slovak Constitution guaranteed full and equal rights to all citizens without distinction of sex, race, creed, occupation, or ethnic origin. The guarantees refer to personal freedoms, private ownership, religious freedom, freedom of expression of opinion, scientific research and arts (15), provided they were exercised within the limits of valid laws and did not come into conflict with public order and Christian morals [Article 85] - (16). The Constitution was based on the principle that "no person can be punished for behavior which is not in conflict with valid legal form and for which a punishment has not been previously determined," applying the old principle "nulla poena sine lege," and all inhabitants, regardless of origin, nationality, religion, or occupation, were entitled to the protection of life, liberty, and property (Article 81). There are, in the Slovak Constitution, even some particular provisions which intended to give to the Slovak State �SLOVAKIA 59 a progressive, modern, social and Christian character. Such provisions are as follows: Ownership has a social function and demands from the owner adminstration in the best interest of the common good (Article 79). Marriage, family and motherhood are under the· strict protection of the legal order (Article 86). Labor is protected. Exploitation of socially weak citizens is. prohibited. Wages should be adequate to the working effort and family status. Mental and physical work is a civil duty, etc. "All these provisions can be described," says Dr. Peltzner, "as an intensified care and protection of the family, social purpose of private ownership, protection of the working man, his wages, and social justice to all. All were aimed at achieving a new social order, where clashing social interests would be minimized and eventually abolished. This concept of social and labor legislation was greatly influenced by the encyclical letters of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno" (17). ln order to present a complete picture of the Slovak Constitution, we have to mention provisions regarding political parties. The chapter dealing with the political organization (Chapter Vil) merely legalized the existing situation which was created in Slovakia by the so-called Zilina .A:greement of October 6, 1938, long before Slovakia declared her independence and the Parliament adopted the Constitution. The provision referring to political parties consists of only two paragraphs, the first stating that "the Slovak people participate in political life through the medium of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (the Party of Slovak National Unity) ," and the second legalizing the political activities of ethnic groups, providing that "the ethnic groups participate in political life through a medium of their own political party, provided that such a party can be considered as a representative of the political will of the entire ethnic group" (Articles 58, 59). Since October, 1938, when the number of political parties was reduced due to internal and international circumstances and development, there were in Slovakia three po1 �60 SLOVAKIA litical parties, legally constituted and taking part in the political life of Slovakia. The Communist and the Social Democrat parties, representing only ten deputies, had been dissolved or suppressed following the Zilina Agreement. Six other parties merged into the Slovak National Unity Party, which remained the backbone of the political s y s t e m of autonomous Slovakia before March 1939, and of the Slovak Republic thereafter. The German and Magyar ethnic groups were represented by two minority parties, and the Ukrainian minority by a member of Parliament within Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, the Party of National Unity. The fact that the Slovak Constitution provided for only one party for the Slovak people caused certain criticism abroad and marked, according to some critics, the Slovak R e p u b 1 i c as an authoritarian state. For everybody who knows the Slovak political life between the years 1918-1939 and who is aware of the composition of the Slovak Diet in which representatives of practically all previous political parties except Communists and Social Democrats had their seats, such reproaches would seem to be more of a theoretical than practical nature. There is no doubt that without provisions restricting political life of the Slovak population to one party only, even if it was composed of fractions of many parties, the Constitution would have looked more democratic and beyond reproach, because a multiparty system is one of the main characteristics of modern representative democracies. However, war conditions and specific needs and dangers forced the Slovak political leaders to adopt many restrictions which are understandable only if we take into consideration all the problems and dangers which the Slovak Republic had to face from the first days of its existence to the end of the war from the outside and the inside. This as well as other features which marked the Slovak Constitution as "authoritarian" were or will be discussed later in this treatise. Before concluding our remarks on the general characteristics of the Slovak Constitution, it seems appropriate to analyze the formal features of the text and its contents. In this respect, we can say that from the point of view of political science and constitutional law, the Slo- �SLOVAKIA 61 vak Constitution conforms to all requirements which political science demands from modern constitutions. It can be classified as a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws covering the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power. It outlined the governmental organization, determined the relations of the governors and the governed, and provided a legal method for amendments, so that it might be changed when necessary by the prescribed majority in Parliament. m "Authoritarian" Features and Deviations The statement of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives mentions that the Slovak Constitution contained also principles of "an authoritarian state." There is, however, no indication in the report where these principles are to be found, except perhaps in the words that "the executive was to prevail over the legislature after Slovakia, in 1941, had entered the war against the Soviet Union," and that "the number of political parties was reduced - after the Communist and the Social Democrat parties. had been suppressed as subversive - in October, 1938, and the six other parties merged into the Slovak Unity Party, the backbone of the political system of the Slovak State." Actually, the Constitution did not reduce the number of Slovak political parties. It merely legalized a situation which was created in Slovakia in 1938, when Czecho-Slovakia became a federation. We have already explained in part how and why this happened and that unity was not forced on any political party as was later claimed. The representatives of all Slovak and Czecho-Slovak parties were happy that the victorious autonomist movement did not resort to reprisals, and the Slovak population, regardless of previous political affiliation or creed, also approved the new situation. Though the law and electoral system allowed participation of many parties and the autonomous government of Dr. Tiso published an announcement requiring political parties to file the list of their candidates for election, only the Slovak People's Party - the Party of National Unity filed a joint list of candidates which contained leading per- �62 SLOVAKIA sonalities of all previous parties except the Communist and Social Democrats. The new Slovak Parliament issued from this election, held on December 18, 1938, and conducted under the rules of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution and electoral system, was composed of 48 former Populists, 12 former agrarian, Artisans, Slovak Nationalists and even National Socialists (Dr. E. Benes's Party), two Germans, one Hungarian, and one Ukrainian. It was this Diet which unanimously proclaimed Slovakia on March 14, 1939, an independent State and adopted the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. There were no changes in Party system or in the composition of party representatives in 1939, and former adherents of Prague's centralism worked in the 1Slovak Parliament and Party organs quite happily together with former autonomists, Protestant ministers with the Catholic clergy, agrarians with artisans, etc. , until 1944, when the outcome of the War became clearly unfavorable to the further existence of the Slovak Republic and the restoration of Czecho.,Slovakia by the ,Soviets and Allies was in sight. There was, of course, a change in the structure of the Party of National Unity, which combined from March, 1939, nominations with election of Party functionaries on all levels, and the role of the Party altered considerably. The President of the Party, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso, and this writer as Secretary General, insisted on avoiding imitation of foreign models either in ideology or organization, as had been admitted even by Communist and Czech adversaries (18). Some features and symbols of Italian and German party systems were nevertheless adopted, and on the surface there was an adaptation to the "New Order" in Central Europe, which in some respect was far from a parliamentarian or representative democracy in the traditional sense. In practice and ideologically Slovakia, however, continued the "decrepit democratic system of Benes' Republic," as Hitler stated in his reproach to the Slovak leaders in July, 1940, during the so-called "Salzburg Summons." After the Salzburg meeting which resulted in the forced resignation of the Minister of the Interior and Foreign Af- �SLOVAKIA 63 fairs, Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, and of this writer a:s Secretary General of the Party, some measures were adopted which did not correspond either with the letter or with the spirit of the Slovak Constitution and which measures effected, in some respects, "the executive prevailed over the legislature." The Party's importance for some time considerably diminished and the Hlinka Guard, originally and according to the law a section of the ·P arty, tried to control the Party and political life, but this development did not bring about any constitutional changes, it did not last for any length of time, and was either challenged or disapproved and finally checked by the Parliament, the President and the Party leaders (19). It is a matter of fact that there were, in this period, attempts to introduce a sort of "Slovak National Socialism" in the administration of public affairs and there were arbitrary actions of irresponsible persons and groups against certain ,groups of population, but the Parliament and especally the President and the .P arty tried to stop these currents and transgressions and gained satisfactory control of the situation in this case, as in the first weeks after the declaration of independence. This, however, did not prevent the adversaries of the Slovak •S tate from an incorrect and often malicious interpretation of the intentions of the Slovak political leaders who centralized political institutions and also economic and administrative offices only because they were forced to do so by war conditions and by the desire to achieve unity of the nation which was before intentionally divided into many fractions by Prague's rulers who ruled Slovakia during twenty years according to the old dictum "divide et impera." They presented many institutions which were imposed upon Slovakia by war conditions and the international situation as a part of a "totalitarian or authoritative system," though, on the other hand, they admitted that "public offices and institutions which had not formerly existed in 1Slovakia, were introduced on a Czecho..Slovak model, among them the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Audit Department, the Post �64 SLOVAKIA Office Savings Bank, the National Bank, the Land Office, the Statistics Office, etc. " (20). The war imposed a number of new offices everywhere, in Great Britain, in the United States, and in Canada, such as: Price Control Office, Central :Eiconomic Office, Propaganda Office, etc. When similar offices were organized in Slovakia, the adversaries of Slovak independence, from their London or Washington asylums, denounced them as proofs and instruments of "authoritarian" or "nazi and fascist" systems and oppression. No doubt, the Slovak administration during the last years of the war had some offices and institutions which had names or structures similar to German or Italian institutions, but there was "a mixture of old and new elements," as admitted even by the Communists and Czech adversaries and definitely the democratic or "Czechoslovak" model prevailed and the intention of the responsible Slovak leaders behind all these institutions was not to introduce nazism or fascism, but to secure prosperity, security, and smooth functioning of the new State, or in other words, to save the Slovak people and its substance at a time when it was faced with physical and spiritual ruin. Some original "authoritarian" features of the !Slovak Constitution are due to the fact that the jurists and Parliamentarians who prepared the draft looked for inspirations in the countries which were in similar political or geographical situations and equally threatened either by the impact of nazism or communism. For this reason mainly the Constitution of Austria under Dolfuss-Schuschni gg and the Constitution of Portugal were studied by some members of the preparatory legislative committee and, while the Ausstrian Constitution showed them how to defend the country against infiltration of German National Socialist ideology, the Constitution of Portugal was studied because of the threat of Communist infiltration. Adversaries of Slovak independence who knew that this was the correct interpretation of the "authoritarian" elements in the Slovak Constitution, tried to prove, of course, the very opposite: they spoke and wrote of a deliberate introduction of "nazi" or "fascist" ideology and system, using for proof some short comings or measures imposed by the war and German pressure �SLOVAKIA 65 on Slovak Administration and Government. They also failed to realize that "the value of any form of government may be judged either by the success and efficiency with which it accomplishes its proper purposes or by the effect which it produces on its citizens and the degree of satisfaction and confidence that they feel toward it," as Gettel says. That there were problems and shortcomings, none among responsible Slovak leaders had ever denied. "Our constitutional o~gans, our legislation, executive, and judiciary are in their infancy," wrote the official newspaper Slovak. "We shall show no weakness if we admit that here and there various institutions are still very shaky." There was quite open criticism of all shortcomings and often violent attacks on institutions and leaders from many parts, even from President Tiso and the young leadership of the Party, because, while there was formally only one Slovak political party, the public heard critical voices, and public opinion was created outside Parliament by the Party press, Hlinka Guard press, German and Hungarian minority press, and clandestine Communist opposition. All of them wrote and spoke from their own angles and viewpoints. Certainly, too many voices for an "authoritarian" or "nazi" regime and State - a fact which was later recognized even by some adversaries. "The fact remains," reported Dr. M. Kvetko, one of the leaders of the "People's Democracy," installed in Slovakia in collaboration with the Communists, to American authorities in Germany in 1948, "that a significant number of the politicians of the Slovak People's Party, and especially of the populace, were not inclined to fascism and prevented its spread so effectively that, excepting the retaliations against Jews and Communists, no special actions were undertaken against the vast majority of the people. And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed the affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collaboration (with nazism) as the Communists tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." This chapter was intended, however, to deal with the �66 SLOVAKIA Constitution of the Slovak Republic which, without being changed, remained the basis of legal system and ,governmental structure from 1939 to 1945, when Russians armies overran the country, raping and looting without precedence in Slovak history, and imposed on the Slovak people the new "people's democracy" and Czech domination within the framework of a restored Czecho-Slovakia. The Slovak Constituaion reflected old Slovak Christian and democratic traditions and there can hardly be any doubt that the responsible Slovak leaders endeavoured to govern in accordance with the Constitution, and only because of limitations imposed by the international situation and other circumstances which were beyond the control of the people and their leaders, t here were deviations from the Constitution. For this reason it can be admitted that "the Slovak State reflected a compromise between the past and present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central E' u rope." And for the same reason the Slovak Constitution "contained principles which in some aspects combined features of the liberal, the Christian Democratic, and the authoritarian State." 1. R. ,G. Gettell: Political Science, University of Calif., 1933, p. 244. 2. Cfr.: "Communist Takeover and Occupation of Czecho-Slovakia," Union Calendar No. 929, House Report No. 2684, Part 14, Washington, 1954. The Select Committee was composed of Congressmen, as well as a group of experts from Georgetown University and various parts of the United States. 3. Milan Hodza : Federation in Central Europe, London, 1942, p. 208-9. 4. Cfr . .Alexander Kunosi: The Basis of Czechoslovak Unity, London, 1944, p. 86; and H. Lee MdBain: The New Constitutions of Europe, New York, 1922, p. 307-342. 5. Even communist adversaries has to admit that "the Nazi model was not shamelessly imposed" and that "the n ew Slovak state was launched with all the paraphernalia of a national ideology apparently corporative and Christian," as wrote K. Kunosi in London, in 1944. 6. Joseph .A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955, p. 12.7-131; also article by J. F. Gleiman in symposium Slovenska Republika, ed. N. Sprinc, Scranton, Pa., 1949, p. 108-112, and the English translation in Slovakia, Middletown, Pa., Vol. II, No. 3, p. 20 . .An excellent analysis of the Slovak Constitution was also prepared by former judge .Anton Peltzner, DL. D., as a thesis for the M. .A. degree at the U niversity of Montreal in 1957. �SLOVAKIA 67 7. "This presentation of God as the ultimate ,s ource of Law, and the interdependence of human and divine order as reflected in the Preamble of the Slovak !Constitution can prompt one to question." says Dr. A. Peltzner in his analysis, "why the authors of the text considered it wise and appropriate to formulate the preface in such a sense and import." The answer, in his opinion and in the opinion of all who are familiar with the history of the Slovak people, is based on two elements: l) there was a long and sincere dedication of the Slovak people to their religion, and a mutually long and faithful service of the Slovak clergy to their nation ; and, 2) the geographical position of the Slovak Republic was such that, on the Eastern frontiers stood the might of ,M arxist atheism, and from the Western side there was a potential danger of spreading and infiltrating of modern paganism, as formulated and taught by ,o erman National Socialism. The political leaders of the Slovak people considered it, therefore, as highly desirable to state that '\Slovaks stood firmly by their national traditions, of which belief in God and His Omnipotence was the substance of the whole concept." - Cfr. Dr. A. Peltzner: The Slovak Constitution and Modern Political Theory, p . 105. 8. Ibidem, p. 8·6. 9. lbidem, p. 195. 10. Ibidem, p. 48. 11. Andre Mathiot: The Bri tish Political System , London, 1958, p . 13·5. 12. The Constitution empowered the Cabinet to issue a government order with -the legal force and effect of law when economic, financial or political interests of the State required immediate attention, and only when lack of action could cause irreparable damage to these interests. 13. Cfr. Kunosi: Opus cit., p. 86. 14. ilbidem, pp. 76-82. 15. See: Chapter X, articles 75-85. That some of these freedoms were later limited or in individual cases disregarded, nobody would deny. The war imposed restrictions on personal freedoms in every country. In Slovakia, one could hardly expect that ideological influences of Germany and the political and economic pressures of war conditions would not result in a restriction of civil rights, or in transgressions by some individuals or groups of individuals. This, however, was not the fault of the Constitution, and as for the President of the Slovak !Republic and the Parliament, they tried to apply restrictions with respect to human life and natural rights. 16. 'The measures adopted against Jewish citizens were in many regards unconstitutional and mainly a result of German interference and deceit, especially as far as the transfer of a part of Slovak Jews to Poland was concerned. They were destined for labor, not extermination. The President as well as other Slovak authorities tried to avoid the tragedy but were able to save only a portion of those to be transferred. On the attitude of the Slovak Population see Raport du Co mite In- �68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the � SLOVAK.IA 47 Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL. D., PH. D. mE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC I Introductory Note "No Constitution can be considered perfect or permanent", says R. G. Gettell in his renowned work Political Science. "The final requisite for a good constitution is that the constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State" (1). Among the critics and adversaries of the Slovak Republic there were few, if any, who read the Slovak Constitution, the fundamental principles that determined the basic nature of the Slovak ,S tate and Government, the distribution of its severeign powers among the various organs of government and the relation of the government to the people over whom its authority was exercised. We, therefore, hardly find someone who based his criticism of the Slovak Republic on the constitutional or legal basis or on the constitutional form of the Slovak state. The Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the U. S., in its special report No. 8, prepared in co-operation with Georgetown University and a group of experts from various parts of the United States, expressed its opinion in the following terms: "The Constitution contained principles, which in some aspects combined features of the liberal state, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state. In the beginning all power of the Slovak Republic was vested in the Parliament but later on, in 1941, after Slovakia had entered the war against the ,soviet Union, the executive was to prevai I over the legislature. "The Slovak state was far from being a perfect democracy in the traditional sense. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation" (2). This statement, though basically true and expressing to a great extent the view of the writer, should be complemented by a political as well as juridical analysis of the text of the Constitution and of the circumstances in which �48 SLOVAKIA it was drafted and adopted by the Slovak Diet. The first question seems to be: from whence came the features of the liberal, the Christian democratic , and the authoritari an State? As for the democratic traditions in Slovakia, they antidated not only the attainment of political independen ce in 1939, but also the inclusion of Slovakia into the CzechoSlovak Republic in 1918. The Slovak nobility was assimilated by the Ma,gyars to a great extent before the Slovak national revival took place at the end of the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century, so that no aristocratic traditions could hinder the acceptance and developmen t of modern democratic ideas. In fact, Slovakia became the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts during the 17th century and later it "revealed itself as a meeting-pla ce of practically all contempor ary currents of cultural and political ideas" (3). It is true that the policy of Budapest, after the Ausgleich of 1867, aimed at suppressing Slovak nationalism and Slovak political activities. This resulted in the reduction of the IS lovak representat ion in Budapest's Parliament to only two representat ives at the end of World War I. However, this situation cannot reasonably be used as a yardstick for Slovak disposition for political maturity. This became evident shortly after the creation of the CzechoSlovak Republic, when not only genuine Slovak political parties sprang up, but also, more or less, all the Czech parties extended their activities into Slovakia. Practically all political tendencies from socialism to agrarian democracy and communism found an echo in the Slovak poulation. The genuine and most representat ive Slovak parties were: 1) the Slovak People's Party, later called Hlinka's Slovak People's Party and the Party of National l:Jnity (since October 1938), representin g the bulk of the nationally conscious Catholic population, although some non-Catholics were among its members (the party never officially labeled its program as Catholic); and, 2) the Slovak National Party which organized those Slovak Protestants who remained faithful to the traditions of Slovak national- �SLOVAKIA 49 ism and to the idea of distinct Slovak culture and selfgovernment. All political parties in Slovakia developed during the period of 191'8-1938 along the lines of the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia which is often praised as a model of modern democratic constitutions. It must, therefore, sound highly improbable and illogial when adversaries of the Slovak State assert that all this changed from one day to another, that all the democratic traditions of Czecho-Slovakia ,w ere so weak that they were transformed without any resistance into "fascist" and "nazi" tendencies by the simple act of the declaration of Slovakia's independence. It would certainly be safe to assume that democracy survived, in many respects, the Declaration of 1M arch 14, 19'39, and that the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect the principles of democratic thinking and institutions which were alive in Slovakia. Actually, they survived to such an extent that in many respects the Slovak Constitution has a strinking resemblance to the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic (4). Provisions referring to legislative powers of the Parliament, election and powers of the President of the Republic, the judiciary, and the whole legal structure of the Slovak State had much in common with the Constitution of Czecho..!Slovakia which, like the ,S lovak Constitution, adopted principles of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, or the fundamental principles of French and American Constitutions. The authors of the Slovak Constitution were jurists and parliamentarians educated predominantly at the universities and in the Parliament of Czecho-:Slovakia; with one or two exceptions, they were men who studied law abroad and were mainly responsible for the liberal elements in the draft of the Slovak Constitution. There are, of course, striking differences, too, as far as the ideological bases of these two constitutions are concerned. The religiosity of the Slovak people and their Christian world outlook gave quite a different ideological basis to the Slovak constitution in general, and to its many provisions regarding social institutions, which reflect the ideas of the Papal encyclicals in particular. While the Slovak �50 SLOVAKIA Constitution presents God as the ultimate source of Law and declares that the function of the Slovak Republic is to unite all the moral and economic forces of the people in a Christian and national community in order to become the executor of social justice and the protector of common good, the ideological roots of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution were as far from God and religion as were Prague's leading politicians. On the other hand, the Slovak Constitution could not but differ in provisions or institutions which were imposed by the international situation and which are described as "authoritarian." As we mentioned before, the final requisite for a good Constitution, according to Gettell, is that the Constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State. While the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia reflected certain ideological currents and political structures of the French Republic which was mainly responsible for the creation and existence of Czecho-Slovakia and for the new organization of Central Europe after First World War, the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect a new situation, new organization and a "new order" in Central Europe, created by Hitler's Germany in 1938-1939 with the consent of France and England. Considered objectively, one has to to recognize that it took courage and deep attachment to traditions to proclaim in Slovakia, in 1939, God as the ultimate source of Law and order and to use Papal encyclicals as the basis for social institutions, human and family rights on the one hand, and, on the other, "to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czechoslovak state" (5). When, in the summer of 1939, the committee appointed by the Slovak Parliament, labored on the draft of the Constitution, the political crisis in Europe was nearing its climax, and the ideological confusion attained irrational dimensions. The area of Central and Eastern Europe was exposed to ideological struggles and political ambitions of at least three Great Powers and, thus, Democracy, Communism, and Nazism as well as remnants of liberal tendencies were engaged in a rough competition for influence over the Central European peoples. Slovakia, in the middle of this ideological ferment and 1 �SLOVAKIA 51 international instability, found herself also threatened by aggression or territorial claims from her neighbors, so that even the very existence of the newly created state on the banks of the Danube and the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains was, from its beginning, endangered. To expect, in the midst of such political and ideological chaos, any uncompromis ing attitudes on the side of the Constitutiona l Committee would amount to expecting from it something humanly impossible. Slovakia had to take a compromising position politically and ideologically not only for reasons of good relations with her neighbors, but also, if not in the first place, in order to survive as a State, since Democracy was considered a provocation, and, in its classic form, in the summer of 1939, was already dying in all Central Eiuropean countries. An analysis of the main principles and fundamental rights will show how far the work of the Constitutiona l Committee of Slovakia - despite its compromising tenor reflects the tendencies and genuine traditions of the Slovak people. According to the expert opinion of several jurists, the Constitution adopted practically the whole sysb~m of democratic-lib eralistic constitutions of the 1'8th and 19th centuries and, though Slovakia was weighed in from the right and left between Godless bolshevism and anti-Christian neo-paganism , she brought forth a constitution "saturated with the Christian spirit and especially with the principles of the social encyclicals of the Holy See" (6). As for the features of Christian democracy, besides many institutions concerned with social life, family, attitude to work, and function of property, in which we can find the influence of modern Christian sociology, the Christian character was given to the whole Constitution by its Preamble which reads as follows: "The Slovak nation, under the protection of Almighty God, survived throughout the ages on the territory destined for its national development and there, with the help of God, Who is the Source of all Power and Law, established its independent Slovak State. "The SI ova k State unites, according to Natural Law, all the moral and economic forces of the Nation in a Christian and national community for the purpose of regulating clashing social aspirations and mutually opposed interests of all occupational and professional groups, and has for its goal the highest attainable degree of happi- �52 SLOVAKIA ness of society and the individual. This ideal can only be achieved through a moral and political process, initiated by the State, which in harmonious unity will function as an executor of social justice and a protector of common good." It would certainly be difficult to find among the constitutions of modern states any other which so clearly states that God must be recognized as the original source of Law and Order and that the function of the nation in a Christian and national community in order to become "an executor of social justice and protector of common good" (7). The accentuation of the social function of the State, which we find in the Preamble, and the emphasis placed on the happiness of both the individual and society, are an indication of the legislators' intention to build a modern welfare state on the principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how these ideas found their expressions in particular provisions and institutions of the Slovak Constitution. n General Characteristics of the Slovak Constitution It is not necessary to be an expert in constitutional law to notice that the Slovak Constitution contains all the democratic devices which political science usually requires from democratic constitutions - such as the separation of powers, the doctrine of checks and balances, and the principle of rule by law. Even the most bitter adversaries of Slovak independence - the Communists and the supporters of Czechoslovakism - did not try to deny these features to the Slovak Constitution. "The Slovak State was intended to make a full show of independence," wrote Alexander IKunosi, one of today's communist diplomats of Czecho-,Slovakia, in 11944, from his London exile: "It was to be vested with all the institutions formerly possessed by the Czechoslovak State. Steps were taken to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czecho-Slovak State" (8). Admitting this, the adversaries of the Slovak Republic could not try to say that "the parlimentary facade of Government in Slovakia had, of course, no real signifi1 �SLOVAKIA 53 cance, " or that the "Diet did not express the will of the nation or the people," which, as we shall see further , hardly correspond with the truth since the Parliament in Slovakia was not only in theory but also in fact the suprem e organ of the State and the most essential powers were vested in Parliament from the beginning to the end. The Constitution was adopted by a legally constit uted Slovak Diet which was established in accordance with the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and on the basis of the general election which took place on December 18, 19'38. According to Law No. 299, adopted on November 22, 1938, Slovakia became an autonomous part of Czecho-Slovakia, with her own Government and her own Diet composed of 63 members, vested with legislative powers goveerning not only internal affairs, but required also for ratification of Czecho-Slovak international agreements concerning Slovakia. This Diet, summoned to a session on March 14, 1939, by the President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Dr. Emil H a c h a , declared Slovakia an independent State, and a special committee of the Diet prepared the draft of the Constitution which was adopted unanimously on July 31, 1939, as Law No. 185. The draft of the Constitution was preceded by a study of several existing modern constitutions with a view to giving the country a set of principles that would correspond with contemporary constitutional thinking and the practical needs and national traditions of the Slovak people. The text was prepared by two university professors of Law, Dr. V. Tuka and Dr. F. :Durcansky, and by several jurists and parliamentarians of young and old generations, Senator Dr. K. Mederly, Dr. M. Sokol, Dr. V. Tvrdy, and Dr. Cerhelyi. In 103 short articles (paragraphs) divided into 13 chapters, the Slovak Constitution gave a radical as well as social basis to the new State in Central Europe. The first article of the Constitution declared the Slovak State a Republic with a President as an elected head, with t erms, according to Gettell, are used to indicate a representative democracy (9) . According to articles 6, 7, 8, and 9, legislative power �54 SLOVAKIA for the entire country vested in the Parliament, composed of 80 members and elected in a general, direct, equal, and secret suffrage for a period of five years. The right to vote belonged to every citizen over 2'1 years of age, man and woman, without racial or religious discrimination. This right to be elected to Parliament belonged to citizens over 30 years of age. The Parliament was based on the unicameral system,. and the President of the Republic was obliged to convene the Parliament for regular sessions twice a year, and for extraordinary sessions whenever the majority of members. demanded such a session. Laws promulgated by the Parliament required the President's signature for their validity. Paragraph 26 provided, however, that laws could be promulgated despite the President's veto, if they were adopted by a three-fifths majority in the presence of a two-thirds majority of deputies. The right to appoint governments belonged to the President, but the Government was responsible to Parliament and subject to its vote of confidence. The Parliament also had the right of prosecution of the· President for high treason. Part IN of the Constitution deals with the powers and functions of the President, who was elected for a period of seven years. Any citizen, 40 years of age or over, was eligible for the office, and the election was valid if two. thirds of the members were present and the candidate obtained a three-fifths majority. A comparision of powers and functions of the Slovak ·P resident, as defined in the Constitution, with those of other parliamentary democracies will prove that his powers were somewhere between the extensive functions and powers of the American president and the purely representative functions of the Presidents of France (before De Gaulle). He represented the State internationally, had the right, with the consent of Parliament to declare wars and conclude peace, to appoint and dismiss ministers, to appoint, but not to dismiss university professors, judges, civil servants, and military officers of the three highest categories. He also had the right to be present at the sessions of the Government and Council of State, to request their convention under his chairmanship, �SLOVAKIA 55 to convene, dissolve and prologue Parliament, to sign or veto Parliament's acts, etc. While making the president a dominant figure of the executive, the Constitution, on the other hand, contained provisions which were designed to prevent dictatorial powers (10). The Parliament was able, as we have seen, to promulgate laws even if opposed by the President and according to paragraph 40, "any executive act of the president requires counter-signature by a competent cabinet minister for its validity." No person could be re-elected more than once to the presidential office and when the president died during his term, abdicated or was permanently unable to exercise his functions, it was the duty of the Prime Minister to assume temporary functions of the president. A new president had to be elected by the iParliament within thirty days. The President represented, together with the Cabinet, the executive of the !Slovak Republic and, consequently, the Slovak Government had some features of a presidential type of government and, at the same time, it also contained elements of parliamentary government. An expert on constitutional theories can prove both, because - while the essential characteristics of parliamentary government are: 1) a politically independent head of State; and, 2) a cabinet which is politically responsible to Parliament - "parliamentary Government may also develop in the opposite direction. The Cabinet can become the dominant political organ, able to control the government of the country and direct the work of the Parliament which assists it in the execution of its program," says Andre Mathiot in his ercellent treatise "The British Political System" (11). it is not, however, our intention to discuss theoretical issues here. One can easily prove that the executive in the Slovak Republic was also predominantly of the presidential type, because "every system of 'P arliamentary government has its own distinctive features, resulting from a complex of many different factors. History, the national temperament, beliefs and ideologies, conventions of political behavior, attempts to imitate a particular model or to avoid certain dangers, etc." - states Mathiot. All these factors �56 SLOVAKIA played their distinctive roles in the Slovak Constitution and made it a constitution "sui generis." As for the powers and constitution of the Slovak Cabinet, the President of the Republic appointed and dismissed the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet and determined which member would administer individual ministries (Article 41). The Parliament was also empowered to call the Cabinet and its individual members to political responsibility and to express lack of confidence which would result in the dissolution of the cabinet (Article 48) . Practical considerations demanded, on the other hand, a certain measure of delegation of legislative powers to the Cabinet. The jurisdiction of the Cabinet was limited to governmental orders, namely, during a national emergency, or orders pertaining to the execution of certain types of laws, and within the limits specified in the laws. Validity of such orders was conditional, since the Prime Minister was obliged to submit them within three months to the Parliament, which, in turn, could disallow such measures or could make whatever changes it deemed necessary, or pass it as its own law (12). Chapter V of the Slovak Constitution defined the functions and composition of the Council of State, a pecial body composed of outstanding personalities from various walks of life whose functions pertained to a sort of control of the political life in ,Slovakia. The Council was composed of 6 members appointed by the President of the Republic, ten members were chosen by the Slovak People's Party, two members by the registered parties of ethnic groups, and one was delegated by each estate. The Prime Minister and the President of the Assembly were also memb2rs of the Council. The functions of the Council were defined by the Article 52 and consisted in initiating legislation, controlling and prosecuting the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers, and in advising the President and the government on matters of a political, cultural, and economic nature. The Council also prepared the list of candidates for parliamentary elections and made decisions concerning the loss of 0 �SLOVAKIA 57 parliamentary seats, following a request from the President of the Assembly. Politically, the reason for the existence of the Council was given by the desire to have, in the absence of a Senate, representatives in the political life of the new State from groups or professions who usually did not look for an election to Parliament, but whose advice, abilities, and moral stature were destined to help the Government in its endeavour to make the population happy and united behind the political leadership. The authors of the draft of the Constitution expressed their intention in stating that "the Council of State is the expression of political and national unity, and also joins the national and political life with the constitutional representatives, combining itself the function of legal initiation and control." Following the social doctrine of the Papal encyclicals, the authors of the Constitution also included in their draft certain institutions which characterize the so-called "corporative" systems. Chapter VII of the Slovak Constitution had foressen organization of Slovakia's inhabitants into six self-administered bodies called "stavy" (estates) according to occupation and profession: the association of workers and employers in agriculture, in industry, trade, commerce and banking; the association of the free professions and the association of State and public employees. "The associations included both employers and employees and they were assigned to take care of the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members, to solve labor and wage disputes and problems among employees and employers, and to help members of the association to achieve better results in their industries and occupations and a higher standard of living for the nation (Article 62). Acting on Law No. 297 of the Collection of Laws, the President of the Republic appointed the presidents on November 19, 1940, and the aim of the associations was again given as "to manifest the unity of the Slovak workers' community, without heed to classes and callings, and bearing in mind only the interests of the nation and the State" (13). As for the judiciary, we have already stated that the Slovak Constitution was based on the principle of separa- �58 SLOVAKIA tion of powers, as defined by modern political theories. There were three types of courts: courts of law, administrative courts, and military courts. The organization of courts and their legal competence were left to a special legislation. As in any modern constitutions, the Slovak Constitution provided that the courts of law were empowered to review any decision of administrative courts and, on the other hand, the jurisdiction of military courts could be extended over the civil population during wartime and for war crimes. "Judges are independent," states Article 67, "in their judicial functions and are bound only by law." The Constitution contained provisions that no person could be deprived of the judge designated by law to hear the case (Article 62), and Article 66 made the judiciary free of any interference either on the part of administrative or political leadership. The professional judges were appointed to their positions permanently and "they have held a highly privileged position, appropriate to their equally high office," states Judge A. Peltzner (14). The Chapter dealing with the rights and obligations of the citizens (Chapter X) can sustain comparision with any democratic and liberal constitution and a modern "Bill of Rights." The 1Slovak Constitution guaranteed full and equal rights to all citizens without distinction of sex, race, creed, occupation, or ethnic origin. The guarantees refer to personal freedoms, private ownership, religious freedom, freedom of expression of opinion, scientific research and arts (15), provided they were exercised within the limits of valid laws and did not come into conflict with public order and Christian morals [Article 85] - (16). The Constitution was based on the principle that "no person can be punished for behavior which is not in conflict with valid legal form and for which a punishment has not been previously determined," applying the old principle "nulla poena sine lege," and all inhabitants, regardless of origin, nationality, religion, or occupation, were entitled to the protection of life, liberty, and property (Article 81). There are, in the Slovak Constitution, even some particular provisions which intended to give to the Slovak State �SLOVAKIA 59 a progressive, modern, social and Christian character. Such provisions are as follows: Ownership has a social function and demands from the owner adminstration in the best interest of the common good (Article 79). Marriage, family and motherhood are under the· strict protection of the legal order (Article 86). Labor is protected. Exploitation of socially weak citizens is. prohibited. Wages should be adequate to the working effort and family status. Mental and physical work is a civil duty, etc. "All these provisions can be described," says Dr. Peltzner, "as an intensified care and protection of the family, social purpose of private ownership, protection of the working man, his wages, and social justice to all. All were aimed at achieving a new social order, where clashing social interests would be minimized and eventually abolished. This concept of social and labor legislation was greatly influenced by the encyclical letters of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno" (17). ln order to present a complete picture of the Slovak Constitution, we have to mention provisions regarding political parties. The chapter dealing with the political organization (Chapter Vil) merely legalized the existing situation which was created in Slovakia by the so-called Zilina .A:greement of October 6, 1938, long before Slovakia declared her independence and the Parliament adopted the Constitution. The provision referring to political parties consists of only two paragraphs, the first stating that "the Slovak people participate in political life through the medium of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (the Party of Slovak National Unity) ," and the second legalizing the political activities of ethnic groups, providing that "the ethnic groups participate in political life through a medium of their own political party, provided that such a party can be considered as a representative of the political will of the entire ethnic group" (Articles 58, 59). Since October, 1938, when the number of political parties was reduced due to internal and international circumstances and development, there were in Slovakia three po1 �60 SLOVAKIA litical parties, legally constituted and taking part in the political life of Slovakia. The Communist and the Social Democrat parties, representing only ten deputies, had been dissolved or suppressed following the Zilina Agreement. Six other parties merged into the Slovak National Unity Party, which remained the backbone of the political s y s t e m of autonomous Slovakia before March 1939, and of the Slovak Republic thereafter. The German and Magyar ethnic groups were represented by two minority parties, and the Ukrainian minority by a member of Parliament within Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, the Party of National Unity. The fact that the Slovak Constitution provided for only one party for the Slovak people caused certain criticism abroad and marked, according to some critics, the Slovak R e p u b 1 i c as an authoritarian state. For everybody who knows the Slovak political life between the years 1918-1939 and who is aware of the composition of the Slovak Diet in which representatives of practically all previous political parties except Communists and Social Democrats had their seats, such reproaches would seem to be more of a theoretical than practical nature. There is no doubt that without provisions restricting political life of the Slovak population to one party only, even if it was composed of fractions of many parties, the Constitution would have looked more democratic and beyond reproach, because a multiparty system is one of the main characteristics of modern representative democracies. However, war conditions and specific needs and dangers forced the Slovak political leaders to adopt many restrictions which are understandable only if we take into consideration all the problems and dangers which the Slovak Republic had to face from the first days of its existence to the end of the war from the outside and the inside. This as well as other features which marked the Slovak Constitution as "authoritarian" were or will be discussed later in this treatise. Before concluding our remarks on the general characteristics of the Slovak Constitution, it seems appropriate to analyze the formal features of the text and its contents. In this respect, we can say that from the point of view of political science and constitutional law, the Slo- �SLOVAKIA 61 vak Constitution conforms to all requirements which political science demands from modern constitutions. It can be classified as a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws covering the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power. It outlined the governmental organization, determined the relations of the governors and the governed, and provided a legal method for amendments, so that it might be changed when necessary by the prescribed majority in Parliament. m "Authoritarian" Features and Deviations The statement of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives mentions that the Slovak Constitution contained also principles of "an authoritarian state." There is, however, no indication in the report where these principles are to be found, except perhaps in the words that "the executive was to prevail over the legislature after Slovakia, in 1941, had entered the war against the Soviet Union," and that "the number of political parties was reduced - after the Communist and the Social Democrat parties. had been suppressed as subversive - in October, 1938, and the six other parties merged into the Slovak Unity Party, the backbone of the political system of the Slovak State." Actually, the Constitution did not reduce the number of Slovak political parties. It merely legalized a situation which was created in Slovakia in 1938, when Czecho-Slovakia became a federation. We have already explained in part how and why this happened and that unity was not forced on any political party as was later claimed. The representatives of all Slovak and Czecho-Slovak parties were happy that the victorious autonomist movement did not resort to reprisals, and the Slovak population, regardless of previous political affiliation or creed, also approved the new situation. Though the law and electoral system allowed participation of many parties and the autonomous government of Dr. Tiso published an announcement requiring political parties to file the list of their candidates for election, only the Slovak People's Party - the Party of National Unity filed a joint list of candidates which contained leading per- �62 SLOVAKIA sonalities of all previous parties except the Communist and Social Democrats. The new Slovak Parliament issued from this election, held on December 18, 1938, and conducted under the rules of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution and electoral system, was composed of 48 former Populists, 12 former agrarian, Artisans, Slovak Nationalists and even National Socialists (Dr. E. Benes's Party), two Germans, one Hungarian, and one Ukrainian. It was this Diet which unanimously proclaimed Slovakia on March 14, 1939, an independent State and adopted the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. There were no changes in Party system or in the composition of party representatives in 1939, and former adherents of Prague's centralism worked in the 1Slovak Parliament and Party organs quite happily together with former autonomists, Protestant ministers with the Catholic clergy, agrarians with artisans, etc. , until 1944, when the outcome of the War became clearly unfavorable to the further existence of the Slovak Republic and the restoration of Czecho.,Slovakia by the ,Soviets and Allies was in sight. There was, of course, a change in the structure of the Party of National Unity, which combined from March, 1939, nominations with election of Party functionaries on all levels, and the role of the Party altered considerably. The President of the Party, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso, and this writer as Secretary General, insisted on avoiding imitation of foreign models either in ideology or organization, as had been admitted even by Communist and Czech adversaries (18). Some features and symbols of Italian and German party systems were nevertheless adopted, and on the surface there was an adaptation to the "New Order" in Central Europe, which in some respect was far from a parliamentarian or representative democracy in the traditional sense. In practice and ideologically Slovakia, however, continued the "decrepit democratic system of Benes' Republic," as Hitler stated in his reproach to the Slovak leaders in July, 1940, during the so-called "Salzburg Summons." After the Salzburg meeting which resulted in the forced resignation of the Minister of the Interior and Foreign Af- �SLOVAKIA 63 fairs, Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, and of this writer a:s Secretary General of the Party, some measures were adopted which did not correspond either with the letter or with the spirit of the Slovak Constitution and which measures effected, in some respects, "the executive prevailed over the legislature." The Party's importance for some time considerably diminished and the Hlinka Guard, originally and according to the law a section of the ·P arty, tried to control the Party and political life, but this development did not bring about any constitutional changes, it did not last for any length of time, and was either challenged or disapproved and finally checked by the Parliament, the President and the Party leaders (19). It is a matter of fact that there were, in this period, attempts to introduce a sort of "Slovak National Socialism" in the administration of public affairs and there were arbitrary actions of irresponsible persons and groups against certain ,groups of population, but the Parliament and especally the President and the .P arty tried to stop these currents and transgressions and gained satisfactory control of the situation in this case, as in the first weeks after the declaration of independence. This, however, did not prevent the adversaries of the Slovak •S tate from an incorrect and often malicious interpretation of the intentions of the Slovak political leaders who centralized political institutions and also economic and administrative offices only because they were forced to do so by war conditions and by the desire to achieve unity of the nation which was before intentionally divided into many fractions by Prague's rulers who ruled Slovakia during twenty years according to the old dictum "divide et impera." They presented many institutions which were imposed upon Slovakia by war conditions and the international situation as a part of a "totalitarian or authoritative system," though, on the other hand, they admitted that "public offices and institutions which had not formerly existed in 1Slovakia, were introduced on a Czecho..Slovak model, among them the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Audit Department, the Post �64 SLOVAKIA Office Savings Bank, the National Bank, the Land Office, the Statistics Office, etc. " (20). The war imposed a number of new offices everywhere, in Great Britain, in the United States, and in Canada, such as: Price Control Office, Central :Eiconomic Office, Propaganda Office, etc. When similar offices were organized in Slovakia, the adversaries of Slovak independence, from their London or Washington asylums, denounced them as proofs and instruments of "authoritarian" or "nazi and fascist" systems and oppression. No doubt, the Slovak administration during the last years of the war had some offices and institutions which had names or structures similar to German or Italian institutions, but there was "a mixture of old and new elements," as admitted even by the Communists and Czech adversaries and definitely the democratic or "Czechoslovak" model prevailed and the intention of the responsible Slovak leaders behind all these institutions was not to introduce nazism or fascism, but to secure prosperity, security, and smooth functioning of the new State, or in other words, to save the Slovak people and its substance at a time when it was faced with physical and spiritual ruin. Some original "authoritarian" features of the !Slovak Constitution are due to the fact that the jurists and Parliamentarians who prepared the draft looked for inspirations in the countries which were in similar political or geographical situations and equally threatened either by the impact of nazism or communism. For this reason mainly the Constitution of Austria under Dolfuss-Schuschni gg and the Constitution of Portugal were studied by some members of the preparatory legislative committee and, while the Ausstrian Constitution showed them how to defend the country against infiltration of German National Socialist ideology, the Constitution of Portugal was studied because of the threat of Communist infiltration. Adversaries of Slovak independence who knew that this was the correct interpretation of the "authoritarian" elements in the Slovak Constitution, tried to prove, of course, the very opposite: they spoke and wrote of a deliberate introduction of "nazi" or "fascist" ideology and system, using for proof some short comings or measures imposed by the war and German pressure �SLOVAKIA 65 on Slovak Administration and Government. They also failed to realize that "the value of any form of government may be judged either by the success and efficiency with which it accomplishes its proper purposes or by the effect which it produces on its citizens and the degree of satisfaction and confidence that they feel toward it," as Gettel says. That there were problems and shortcomings, none among responsible Slovak leaders had ever denied. "Our constitutional o~gans, our legislation, executive, and judiciary are in their infancy," wrote the official newspaper Slovak. "We shall show no weakness if we admit that here and there various institutions are still very shaky." There was quite open criticism of all shortcomings and often violent attacks on institutions and leaders from many parts, even from President Tiso and the young leadership of the Party, because, while there was formally only one Slovak political party, the public heard critical voices, and public opinion was created outside Parliament by the Party press, Hlinka Guard press, German and Hungarian minority press, and clandestine Communist opposition. All of them wrote and spoke from their own angles and viewpoints. Certainly, too many voices for an "authoritarian" or "nazi" regime and State - a fact which was later recognized even by some adversaries. "The fact remains," reported Dr. M. Kvetko, one of the leaders of the "People's Democracy," installed in Slovakia in collaboration with the Communists, to American authorities in Germany in 1948, "that a significant number of the politicians of the Slovak People's Party, and especially of the populace, were not inclined to fascism and prevented its spread so effectively that, excepting the retaliations against Jews and Communists, no special actions were undertaken against the vast majority of the people. And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed the affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collaboration (with nazism) as the Communists tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." This chapter was intended, however, to deal with the �66 SLOVAKIA Constitution of the Slovak Republic which, without being changed, remained the basis of legal system and ,governmental structure from 1939 to 1945, when Russians armies overran the country, raping and looting without precedence in Slovak history, and imposed on the Slovak people the new "people's democracy" and Czech domination within the framework of a restored Czecho-Slovakia. The Slovak Constituaion reflected old Slovak Christian and democratic traditions and there can hardly be any doubt that the responsible Slovak leaders endeavoured to govern in accordance with the Constitution, and only because of limitations imposed by the international situation and other circumstances which were beyond the control of the people and their leaders, t here were deviations from the Constitution. For this reason it can be admitted that "the Slovak State reflected a compromise between the past and present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central E' u rope." And for the same reason the Slovak Constitution "contained principles which in some aspects combined features of the liberal, the Christian Democratic, and the authoritarian State." 1. R. ,G. Gettell: Political Science, University of Calif., 1933, p. 244. 2. Cfr.: "Communist Takeover and Occupation of Czecho-Slovakia," Union Calendar No. 929, House Report No. 2684, Part 14, Washington, 1954. The Select Committee was composed of Congressmen, as well as a group of experts from Georgetown University and various parts of the United States. 3. Milan Hodza : Federation in Central Europe, London, 1942, p. 208-9. 4. Cfr . .Alexander Kunosi: The Basis of Czechoslovak Unity, London, 1944, p. 86; and H. Lee MdBain: The New Constitutions of Europe, New York, 1922, p. 307-342. 5. Even communist adversaries has to admit that "the Nazi model was not shamelessly imposed" and that "the n ew Slovak state was launched with all the paraphernalia of a national ideology apparently corporative and Christian," as wrote K. Kunosi in London, in 1944. 6. Joseph .A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955, p. 12.7-131; also article by J. F. Gleiman in symposium Slovenska Republika, ed. N. Sprinc, Scranton, Pa., 1949, p. 108-112, and the English translation in Slovakia, Middletown, Pa., Vol. II, No. 3, p. 20 . .An excellent analysis of the Slovak Constitution was also prepared by former judge .Anton Peltzner, DL. D., as a thesis for the M. .A. degree at the U niversity of Montreal in 1957. �SLOVAKIA 67 7. "This presentation of God as the ultimate ,s ource of Law, and the interdependence of human and divine order as reflected in the Preamble of the Slovak !Constitution can prompt one to question." says Dr. A. Peltzner in his analysis, "why the authors of the text considered it wise and appropriate to formulate the preface in such a sense and import." The answer, in his opinion and in the opinion of all who are familiar with the history of the Slovak people, is based on two elements: l) there was a long and sincere dedication of the Slovak people to their religion, and a mutually long and faithful service of the Slovak clergy to their nation ; and, 2) the geographical position of the Slovak Republic was such that, on the Eastern frontiers stood the might of ,M arxist atheism, and from the Western side there was a potential danger of spreading and infiltrating of modern paganism, as formulated and taught by ,o erman National Socialism. The political leaders of the Slovak people considered it, therefore, as highly desirable to state that '\Slovaks stood firmly by their national traditions, of which belief in God and His Omnipotence was the substance of the whole concept." - Cfr. Dr. A. Peltzner: The Slovak Constitution and Modern Political Theory, p . 105. 8. Ibidem, p. 8·6. 9. lbidem, p. 195. 10. Ibidem, p. 48. 11. Andre Mathiot: The Bri tish Political System , London, 1958, p . 13·5. 12. The Constitution empowered the Cabinet to issue a government order with -the legal force and effect of law when economic, financial or political interests of the State required immediate attention, and only when lack of action could cause irreparable damage to these interests. 13. Cfr. Kunosi: Opus cit., p. 86. 14. ilbidem, pp. 76-82. 15. See: Chapter X, articles 75-85. That some of these freedoms were later limited or in individual cases disregarded, nobody would deny. The war imposed restrictions on personal freedoms in every country. In Slovakia, one could hardly expect that ideological influences of Germany and the political and economic pressures of war conditions would not result in a restriction of civil rights, or in transgressions by some individuals or groups of individuals. This, however, was not the fault of the Constitution, and as for the President of the Slovak !Republic and the Parliament, they tried to apply restrictions with respect to human life and natural rights. 16. 'The measures adopted against Jewish citizens were in many regards unconstitutional and mainly a result of German interference and deceit, especially as far as the transfer of a part of Slovak Jews to Poland was concerned. They were destined for labor, not extermination. The President as well as other Slovak authorities tried to avoid the tragedy but were able to save only a portion of those to be transferred. On the attitude of the Slovak Population see Raport du Co mite In- �68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 SLOVAK.IA 47 Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL. D., PH. D. mE CONSTITUTION OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC I Introductory Note "No Constitution can be considered perfect or permanent", says R. G. Gettell in his renowned work Political Science. "The final requisite for a good constitution is that the constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State" (1). Among the critics and adversaries of the Slovak Republic there were few, if any, who read the Slovak Constitution, the fundamental principles that determined the basic nature of the Slovak ,S tate and Government, the distribution of its severeign powers among the various organs of government and the relation of the government to the people over whom its authority was exercised. We, therefore, hardly find someone who based his criticism of the Slovak Republic on the constitutional or legal basis or on the constitutional form of the Slovak state. The Select Committee of the House of Representatives of the U. S., in its special report No. 8, prepared in co-operation with Georgetown University and a group of experts from various parts of the United States, expressed its opinion in the following terms: "The Constitution contained principles, which in some aspects combined features of the liberal state, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state. In the beginning all power of the Slovak Republic was vested in the Parliament but later on, in 1941, after Slovakia had entered the war against the ,soviet Union, the executive was to prevai I over the legislature. "The Slovak state was far from being a perfect democracy in the traditional sense. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation" (2). This statement, though basically true and expressing to a great extent the view of the writer, should be complemented by a political as well as juridical analysis of the text of the Constitution and of the circumstances in which 48 SLOVAKIA it was drafted and adopted by the Slovak Diet. The first question seems to be: from whence came the features of the liberal, the Christian democratic , and the authoritari an State? As for the democratic traditions in Slovakia, they antidated not only the attainment of political independen ce in 1939, but also the inclusion of Slovakia into the CzechoSlovak Republic in 1918. The Slovak nobility was assimilated by the Ma,gyars to a great extent before the Slovak national revival took place at the end of the 18th and in the first half of the 19th century, so that no aristocratic traditions could hinder the acceptance and developmen t of modern democratic ideas. In fact, Slovakia became the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts during the 17th century and later it "revealed itself as a meeting-pla ce of practically all contempor ary currents of cultural and political ideas" (3). It is true that the policy of Budapest, after the Ausgleich of 1867, aimed at suppressing Slovak nationalism and Slovak political activities. This resulted in the reduction of the IS lovak representat ion in Budapest's Parliament to only two representat ives at the end of World War I. However, this situation cannot reasonably be used as a yardstick for Slovak disposition for political maturity. This became evident shortly after the creation of the CzechoSlovak Republic, when not only genuine Slovak political parties sprang up, but also, more or less, all the Czech parties extended their activities into Slovakia. Practically all political tendencies from socialism to agrarian democracy and communism found an echo in the Slovak poulation. The genuine and most representat ive Slovak parties were: 1) the Slovak People's Party, later called Hlinka's Slovak People's Party and the Party of National l:Jnity (since October 1938), representin g the bulk of the nationally conscious Catholic population, although some non-Catholics were among its members (the party never officially labeled its program as Catholic); and, 2) the Slovak National Party which organized those Slovak Protestants who remained faithful to the traditions of Slovak national- SLOVAKIA 49 ism and to the idea of distinct Slovak culture and selfgovernment. All political parties in Slovakia developed during the period of 191'8-1938 along the lines of the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia which is often praised as a model of modern democratic constitutions. It must, therefore, sound highly improbable and illogial when adversaries of the Slovak State assert that all this changed from one day to another, that all the democratic traditions of Czecho-Slovakia ,w ere so weak that they were transformed without any resistance into "fascist" and "nazi" tendencies by the simple act of the declaration of Slovakia's independence. It would certainly be safe to assume that democracy survived, in many respects, the Declaration of 1M arch 14, 19'39, and that the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect the principles of democratic thinking and institutions which were alive in Slovakia. Actually, they survived to such an extent that in many respects the Slovak Constitution has a strinking resemblance to the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic (4). Provisions referring to legislative powers of the Parliament, election and powers of the President of the Republic, the judiciary, and the whole legal structure of the Slovak State had much in common with the Constitution of Czecho..!Slovakia which, like the ,S lovak Constitution, adopted principles of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, or the fundamental principles of French and American Constitutions. The authors of the Slovak Constitution were jurists and parliamentarians educated predominantly at the universities and in the Parliament of Czecho-:Slovakia; with one or two exceptions, they were men who studied law abroad and were mainly responsible for the liberal elements in the draft of the Slovak Constitution. There are, of course, striking differences, too, as far as the ideological bases of these two constitutions are concerned. The religiosity of the Slovak people and their Christian world outlook gave quite a different ideological basis to the Slovak constitution in general, and to its many provisions regarding social institutions, which reflect the ideas of the Papal encyclicals in particular. While the Slovak 50 SLOVAKIA Constitution presents God as the ultimate source of Law and declares that the function of the Slovak Republic is to unite all the moral and economic forces of the people in a Christian and national community in order to become the executor of social justice and the protector of common good, the ideological roots of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution were as far from God and religion as were Prague's leading politicians. On the other hand, the Slovak Constitution could not but differ in provisions or institutions which were imposed by the international situation and which are described as "authoritarian." As we mentioned before, the final requisite for a good Constitution, according to Gettell, is that the Constitution shall correspond to actual conditions within the State. While the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia reflected certain ideological currents and political structures of the French Republic which was mainly responsible for the creation and existence of Czecho-Slovakia and for the new organization of Central Europe after First World War, the Slovak Constitution could not but reflect a new situation, new organization and a "new order" in Central Europe, created by Hitler's Germany in 1938-1939 with the consent of France and England. Considered objectively, one has to to recognize that it took courage and deep attachment to traditions to proclaim in Slovakia, in 1939, God as the ultimate source of Law and order and to use Papal encyclicals as the basis for social institutions, human and family rights on the one hand, and, on the other, "to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czechoslovak state" (5). When, in the summer of 1939, the committee appointed by the Slovak Parliament, labored on the draft of the Constitution, the political crisis in Europe was nearing its climax, and the ideological confusion attained irrational dimensions. The area of Central and Eastern Europe was exposed to ideological struggles and political ambitions of at least three Great Powers and, thus, Democracy, Communism, and Nazism as well as remnants of liberal tendencies were engaged in a rough competition for influence over the Central European peoples. Slovakia, in the middle of this ideological ferment and 1 SLOVAKIA 51 international instability, found herself also threatened by aggression or territorial claims from her neighbors, so that even the very existence of the newly created state on the banks of the Danube and the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains was, from its beginning, endangered. To expect, in the midst of such political and ideological chaos, any uncompromis ing attitudes on the side of the Constitutiona l Committee would amount to expecting from it something humanly impossible. Slovakia had to take a compromising position politically and ideologically not only for reasons of good relations with her neighbors, but also, if not in the first place, in order to survive as a State, since Democracy was considered a provocation, and, in its classic form, in the summer of 1939, was already dying in all Central Eiuropean countries. An analysis of the main principles and fundamental rights will show how far the work of the Constitutiona l Committee of Slovakia - despite its compromising tenor reflects the tendencies and genuine traditions of the Slovak people. According to the expert opinion of several jurists, the Constitution adopted practically the whole sysb~m of democratic-lib eralistic constitutions of the 1'8th and 19th centuries and, though Slovakia was weighed in from the right and left between Godless bolshevism and anti-Christian neo-paganism , she brought forth a constitution "saturated with the Christian spirit and especially with the principles of the social encyclicals of the Holy See" (6). As for the features of Christian democracy, besides many institutions concerned with social life, family, attitude to work, and function of property, in which we can find the influence of modern Christian sociology, the Christian character was given to the whole Constitution by its Preamble which reads as follows: "The Slovak nation, under the protection of Almighty God, survived throughout the ages on the territory destined for its national development and there, with the help of God, Who is the Source of all Power and Law, established its independent Slovak State. "The SI ova k State unites, according to Natural Law, all the moral and economic forces of the Nation in a Christian and national community for the purpose of regulating clashing social aspirations and mutually opposed interests of all occupational and professional groups, and has for its goal the highest attainable degree of happi- 52 SLOVAKIA ness of society and the individual. This ideal can only be achieved through a moral and political process, initiated by the State, which in harmonious unity will function as an executor of social justice and a protector of common good." It would certainly be difficult to find among the constitutions of modern states any other which so clearly states that God must be recognized as the original source of Law and Order and that the function of the nation in a Christian and national community in order to become "an executor of social justice and protector of common good" (7). The accentuation of the social function of the State, which we find in the Preamble, and the emphasis placed on the happiness of both the individual and society, are an indication of the legislators' intention to build a modern welfare state on the principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how principles of Christian social doctrines. We shall see below how these ideas found their expressions in particular provisions and institutions of the Slovak Constitution. n General Characteristics of the Slovak Constitution It is not necessary to be an expert in constitutional law to notice that the Slovak Constitution contains all the democratic devices which political science usually requires from democratic constitutions - such as the separation of powers, the doctrine of checks and balances, and the principle of rule by law. Even the most bitter adversaries of Slovak independence - the Communists and the supporters of Czechoslovakism - did not try to deny these features to the Slovak Constitution. "The Slovak State was intended to make a full show of independence," wrote Alexander IKunosi, one of today's communist diplomats of Czecho-,Slovakia, in 11944, from his London exile: "It was to be vested with all the institutions formerly possessed by the Czechoslovak State. Steps were taken to produce a sort of Slovak edition of the Czecho-Slovak State" (8). Admitting this, the adversaries of the Slovak Republic could not try to say that "the parlimentary facade of Government in Slovakia had, of course, no real signifi1 SLOVAKIA 53 cance, " or that the "Diet did not express the will of the nation or the people," which, as we shall see further , hardly correspond with the truth since the Parliament in Slovakia was not only in theory but also in fact the suprem e organ of the State and the most essential powers were vested in Parliament from the beginning to the end. The Constitution was adopted by a legally constit uted Slovak Diet which was established in accordance with the Czecho-Slovak Constitution, and on the basis of the general election which took place on December 18, 19'38. According to Law No. 299, adopted on November 22, 1938, Slovakia became an autonomous part of Czecho-Slovakia, with her own Government and her own Diet composed of 63 members, vested with legislative powers goveerning not only internal affairs, but required also for ratification of Czecho-Slovak international agreements concerning Slovakia. This Diet, summoned to a session on March 14, 1939, by the President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Dr. Emil H a c h a , declared Slovakia an independent State, and a special committee of the Diet prepared the draft of the Constitution which was adopted unanimously on July 31, 1939, as Law No. 185. The draft of the Constitution was preceded by a study of several existing modern constitutions with a view to giving the country a set of principles that would correspond with contemporary constitutional thinking and the practical needs and national traditions of the Slovak people. The text was prepared by two university professors of Law, Dr. V. Tuka and Dr. F. :Durcansky, and by several jurists and parliamentarians of young and old generations, Senator Dr. K. Mederly, Dr. M. Sokol, Dr. V. Tvrdy, and Dr. Cerhelyi. In 103 short articles (paragraphs) divided into 13 chapters, the Slovak Constitution gave a radical as well as social basis to the new State in Central Europe. The first article of the Constitution declared the Slovak State a Republic with a President as an elected head, with t erms, according to Gettell, are used to indicate a representative democracy (9) . According to articles 6, 7, 8, and 9, legislative power 54 SLOVAKIA for the entire country vested in the Parliament, composed of 80 members and elected in a general, direct, equal, and secret suffrage for a period of five years. The right to vote belonged to every citizen over 2'1 years of age, man and woman, without racial or religious discrimination. This right to be elected to Parliament belonged to citizens over 30 years of age. The Parliament was based on the unicameral system,. and the President of the Republic was obliged to convene the Parliament for regular sessions twice a year, and for extraordinary sessions whenever the majority of members. demanded such a session. Laws promulgated by the Parliament required the President's signature for their validity. Paragraph 26 provided, however, that laws could be promulgated despite the President's veto, if they were adopted by a three-fifths majority in the presence of a two-thirds majority of deputies. The right to appoint governments belonged to the President, but the Government was responsible to Parliament and subject to its vote of confidence. The Parliament also had the right of prosecution of the· President for high treason. Part IN of the Constitution deals with the powers and functions of the President, who was elected for a period of seven years. Any citizen, 40 years of age or over, was eligible for the office, and the election was valid if two. thirds of the members were present and the candidate obtained a three-fifths majority. A comparision of powers and functions of the Slovak ·P resident, as defined in the Constitution, with those of other parliamentary democracies will prove that his powers were somewhere between the extensive functions and powers of the American president and the purely representative functions of the Presidents of France (before De Gaulle). He represented the State internationally, had the right, with the consent of Parliament to declare wars and conclude peace, to appoint and dismiss ministers, to appoint, but not to dismiss university professors, judges, civil servants, and military officers of the three highest categories. He also had the right to be present at the sessions of the Government and Council of State, to request their convention under his chairmanship, SLOVAKIA 55 to convene, dissolve and prologue Parliament, to sign or veto Parliament's acts, etc. While making the president a dominant figure of the executive, the Constitution, on the other hand, contained provisions which were designed to prevent dictatorial powers (10). The Parliament was able, as we have seen, to promulgate laws even if opposed by the President and according to paragraph 40, "any executive act of the president requires counter-signature by a competent cabinet minister for its validity." No person could be re-elected more than once to the presidential office and when the president died during his term, abdicated or was permanently unable to exercise his functions, it was the duty of the Prime Minister to assume temporary functions of the president. A new president had to be elected by the iParliament within thirty days. The President represented, together with the Cabinet, the executive of the !Slovak Republic and, consequently, the Slovak Government had some features of a presidential type of government and, at the same time, it also contained elements of parliamentary government. An expert on constitutional theories can prove both, because - while the essential characteristics of parliamentary government are: 1) a politically independent head of State; and, 2) a cabinet which is politically responsible to Parliament - "parliamentary Government may also develop in the opposite direction. The Cabinet can become the dominant political organ, able to control the government of the country and direct the work of the Parliament which assists it in the execution of its program," says Andre Mathiot in his ercellent treatise "The British Political System" (11). it is not, however, our intention to discuss theoretical issues here. One can easily prove that the executive in the Slovak Republic was also predominantly of the presidential type, because "every system of 'P arliamentary government has its own distinctive features, resulting from a complex of many different factors. History, the national temperament, beliefs and ideologies, conventions of political behavior, attempts to imitate a particular model or to avoid certain dangers, etc." - states Mathiot. All these factors 56 SLOVAKIA played their distinctive roles in the Slovak Constitution and made it a constitution "sui generis." As for the powers and constitution of the Slovak Cabinet, the President of the Republic appointed and dismissed the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet and determined which member would administer individual ministries (Article 41). The Parliament was also empowered to call the Cabinet and its individual members to political responsibility and to express lack of confidence which would result in the dissolution of the cabinet (Article 48) . Practical considerations demanded, on the other hand, a certain measure of delegation of legislative powers to the Cabinet. The jurisdiction of the Cabinet was limited to governmental orders, namely, during a national emergency, or orders pertaining to the execution of certain types of laws, and within the limits specified in the laws. Validity of such orders was conditional, since the Prime Minister was obliged to submit them within three months to the Parliament, which, in turn, could disallow such measures or could make whatever changes it deemed necessary, or pass it as its own law (12). Chapter V of the Slovak Constitution defined the functions and composition of the Council of State, a pecial body composed of outstanding personalities from various walks of life whose functions pertained to a sort of control of the political life in ,Slovakia. The Council was composed of 6 members appointed by the President of the Republic, ten members were chosen by the Slovak People's Party, two members by the registered parties of ethnic groups, and one was delegated by each estate. The Prime Minister and the President of the Assembly were also memb2rs of the Council. The functions of the Council were defined by the Article 52 and consisted in initiating legislation, controlling and prosecuting the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers, and in advising the President and the government on matters of a political, cultural, and economic nature. The Council also prepared the list of candidates for parliamentary elections and made decisions concerning the loss of 0 SLOVAKIA 57 parliamentary seats, following a request from the President of the Assembly. Politically, the reason for the existence of the Council was given by the desire to have, in the absence of a Senate, representatives in the political life of the new State from groups or professions who usually did not look for an election to Parliament, but whose advice, abilities, and moral stature were destined to help the Government in its endeavour to make the population happy and united behind the political leadership. The authors of the draft of the Constitution expressed their intention in stating that "the Council of State is the expression of political and national unity, and also joins the national and political life with the constitutional representatives, combining itself the function of legal initiation and control." Following the social doctrine of the Papal encyclicals, the authors of the Constitution also included in their draft certain institutions which characterize the so-called "corporative" systems. Chapter VII of the Slovak Constitution had foressen organization of Slovakia's inhabitants into six self-administered bodies called "stavy" (estates) according to occupation and profession: the association of workers and employers in agriculture, in industry, trade, commerce and banking; the association of the free professions and the association of State and public employees. "The associations included both employers and employees and they were assigned to take care of the economic, social, and cultural interests of their members, to solve labor and wage disputes and problems among employees and employers, and to help members of the association to achieve better results in their industries and occupations and a higher standard of living for the nation (Article 62). Acting on Law No. 297 of the Collection of Laws, the President of the Republic appointed the presidents on November 19, 1940, and the aim of the associations was again given as "to manifest the unity of the Slovak workers' community, without heed to classes and callings, and bearing in mind only the interests of the nation and the State" (13). As for the judiciary, we have already stated that the Slovak Constitution was based on the principle of separa- 58 SLOVAKIA tion of powers, as defined by modern political theories. There were three types of courts: courts of law, administrative courts, and military courts. The organization of courts and their legal competence were left to a special legislation. As in any modern constitutions, the Slovak Constitution provided that the courts of law were empowered to review any decision of administrative courts and, on the other hand, the jurisdiction of military courts could be extended over the civil population during wartime and for war crimes. "Judges are independent," states Article 67, "in their judicial functions and are bound only by law." The Constitution contained provisions that no person could be deprived of the judge designated by law to hear the case (Article 62), and Article 66 made the judiciary free of any interference either on the part of administrative or political leadership. The professional judges were appointed to their positions permanently and "they have held a highly privileged position, appropriate to their equally high office," states Judge A. Peltzner (14). The Chapter dealing with the rights and obligations of the citizens (Chapter X) can sustain comparision with any democratic and liberal constitution and a modern "Bill of Rights." The 1Slovak Constitution guaranteed full and equal rights to all citizens without distinction of sex, race, creed, occupation, or ethnic origin. The guarantees refer to personal freedoms, private ownership, religious freedom, freedom of expression of opinion, scientific research and arts (15), provided they were exercised within the limits of valid laws and did not come into conflict with public order and Christian morals [Article 85] - (16). The Constitution was based on the principle that "no person can be punished for behavior which is not in conflict with valid legal form and for which a punishment has not been previously determined," applying the old principle "nulla poena sine lege," and all inhabitants, regardless of origin, nationality, religion, or occupation, were entitled to the protection of life, liberty, and property (Article 81). There are, in the Slovak Constitution, even some particular provisions which intended to give to the Slovak State SLOVAKIA 59 a progressive, modern, social and Christian character. Such provisions are as follows: Ownership has a social function and demands from the owner adminstration in the best interest of the common good (Article 79). Marriage, family and motherhood are under the· strict protection of the legal order (Article 86). Labor is protected. Exploitation of socially weak citizens is. prohibited. Wages should be adequate to the working effort and family status. Mental and physical work is a civil duty, etc. "All these provisions can be described," says Dr. Peltzner, "as an intensified care and protection of the family, social purpose of private ownership, protection of the working man, his wages, and social justice to all. All were aimed at achieving a new social order, where clashing social interests would be minimized and eventually abolished. This concept of social and labor legislation was greatly influenced by the encyclical letters of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church, especially by Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno" (17). ln order to present a complete picture of the Slovak Constitution, we have to mention provisions regarding political parties. The chapter dealing with the political organization (Chapter Vil) merely legalized the existing situation which was created in Slovakia by the so-called Zilina .A:greement of October 6, 1938, long before Slovakia declared her independence and the Parliament adopted the Constitution. The provision referring to political parties consists of only two paragraphs, the first stating that "the Slovak people participate in political life through the medium of Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (the Party of Slovak National Unity) ," and the second legalizing the political activities of ethnic groups, providing that "the ethnic groups participate in political life through a medium of their own political party, provided that such a party can be considered as a representative of the political will of the entire ethnic group" (Articles 58, 59). Since October, 1938, when the number of political parties was reduced due to internal and international circumstances and development, there were in Slovakia three po1 60 SLOVAKIA litical parties, legally constituted and taking part in the political life of Slovakia. The Communist and the Social Democrat parties, representing only ten deputies, had been dissolved or suppressed following the Zilina Agreement. Six other parties merged into the Slovak National Unity Party, which remained the backbone of the political s y s t e m of autonomous Slovakia before March 1939, and of the Slovak Republic thereafter. The German and Magyar ethnic groups were represented by two minority parties, and the Ukrainian minority by a member of Parliament within Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, the Party of National Unity. The fact that the Slovak Constitution provided for only one party for the Slovak people caused certain criticism abroad and marked, according to some critics, the Slovak R e p u b 1 i c as an authoritarian state. For everybody who knows the Slovak political life between the years 1918-1939 and who is aware of the composition of the Slovak Diet in which representatives of practically all previous political parties except Communists and Social Democrats had their seats, such reproaches would seem to be more of a theoretical than practical nature. There is no doubt that without provisions restricting political life of the Slovak population to one party only, even if it was composed of fractions of many parties, the Constitution would have looked more democratic and beyond reproach, because a multiparty system is one of the main characteristics of modern representative democracies. However, war conditions and specific needs and dangers forced the Slovak political leaders to adopt many restrictions which are understandable only if we take into consideration all the problems and dangers which the Slovak Republic had to face from the first days of its existence to the end of the war from the outside and the inside. This as well as other features which marked the Slovak Constitution as "authoritarian" were or will be discussed later in this treatise. Before concluding our remarks on the general characteristics of the Slovak Constitution, it seems appropriate to analyze the formal features of the text and its contents. In this respect, we can say that from the point of view of political science and constitutional law, the Slo- SLOVAKIA 61 vak Constitution conforms to all requirements which political science demands from modern constitutions. It can be classified as a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws covering the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power. It outlined the governmental organization, determined the relations of the governors and the governed, and provided a legal method for amendments, so that it might be changed when necessary by the prescribed majority in Parliament. m "Authoritarian" Features and Deviations The statement of the Select Committee of the House of Representatives mentions that the Slovak Constitution contained also principles of "an authoritarian state." There is, however, no indication in the report where these principles are to be found, except perhaps in the words that "the executive was to prevail over the legislature after Slovakia, in 1941, had entered the war against the Soviet Union," and that "the number of political parties was reduced - after the Communist and the Social Democrat parties. had been suppressed as subversive - in October, 1938, and the six other parties merged into the Slovak Unity Party, the backbone of the political system of the Slovak State." Actually, the Constitution did not reduce the number of Slovak political parties. It merely legalized a situation which was created in Slovakia in 1938, when Czecho-Slovakia became a federation. We have already explained in part how and why this happened and that unity was not forced on any political party as was later claimed. The representatives of all Slovak and Czecho-Slovak parties were happy that the victorious autonomist movement did not resort to reprisals, and the Slovak population, regardless of previous political affiliation or creed, also approved the new situation. Though the law and electoral system allowed participation of many parties and the autonomous government of Dr. Tiso published an announcement requiring political parties to file the list of their candidates for election, only the Slovak People's Party - the Party of National Unity filed a joint list of candidates which contained leading per- 62 SLOVAKIA sonalities of all previous parties except the Communist and Social Democrats. The new Slovak Parliament issued from this election, held on December 18, 1938, and conducted under the rules of the Czecho-Slovak Constitution and electoral system, was composed of 48 former Populists, 12 former agrarian, Artisans, Slovak Nationalists and even National Socialists (Dr. E. Benes's Party), two Germans, one Hungarian, and one Ukrainian. It was this Diet which unanimously proclaimed Slovakia on March 14, 1939, an independent State and adopted the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. There were no changes in Party system or in the composition of party representatives in 1939, and former adherents of Prague's centralism worked in the 1Slovak Parliament and Party organs quite happily together with former autonomists, Protestant ministers with the Catholic clergy, agrarians with artisans, etc. , until 1944, when the outcome of the War became clearly unfavorable to the further existence of the Slovak Republic and the restoration of Czecho.,Slovakia by the ,Soviets and Allies was in sight. There was, of course, a change in the structure of the Party of National Unity, which combined from March, 1939, nominations with election of Party functionaries on all levels, and the role of the Party altered considerably. The President of the Party, Msgr. Dr. Joseph Tiso, and this writer as Secretary General, insisted on avoiding imitation of foreign models either in ideology or organization, as had been admitted even by Communist and Czech adversaries (18). Some features and symbols of Italian and German party systems were nevertheless adopted, and on the surface there was an adaptation to the "New Order" in Central Europe, which in some respect was far from a parliamentarian or representative democracy in the traditional sense. In practice and ideologically Slovakia, however, continued the "decrepit democratic system of Benes' Republic," as Hitler stated in his reproach to the Slovak leaders in July, 1940, during the so-called "Salzburg Summons." After the Salzburg meeting which resulted in the forced resignation of the Minister of the Interior and Foreign Af- SLOVAKIA 63 fairs, Dr. Ferdinand :Durcansky, and of this writer a:s Secretary General of the Party, some measures were adopted which did not correspond either with the letter or with the spirit of the Slovak Constitution and which measures effected, in some respects, "the executive prevailed over the legislature." The Party's importance for some time considerably diminished and the Hlinka Guard, originally and according to the law a section of the ·P arty, tried to control the Party and political life, but this development did not bring about any constitutional changes, it did not last for any length of time, and was either challenged or disapproved and finally checked by the Parliament, the President and the Party leaders (19). It is a matter of fact that there were, in this period, attempts to introduce a sort of "Slovak National Socialism" in the administration of public affairs and there were arbitrary actions of irresponsible persons and groups against certain ,groups of population, but the Parliament and especally the President and the .P arty tried to stop these currents and transgressions and gained satisfactory control of the situation in this case, as in the first weeks after the declaration of independence. This, however, did not prevent the adversaries of the Slovak •S tate from an incorrect and often malicious interpretation of the intentions of the Slovak political leaders who centralized political institutions and also economic and administrative offices only because they were forced to do so by war conditions and by the desire to achieve unity of the nation which was before intentionally divided into many fractions by Prague's rulers who ruled Slovakia during twenty years according to the old dictum "divide et impera." They presented many institutions which were imposed upon Slovakia by war conditions and the international situation as a part of a "totalitarian or authoritative system," though, on the other hand, they admitted that "public offices and institutions which had not formerly existed in 1Slovakia, were introduced on a Czecho..Slovak model, among them the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Supreme Audit Department, the Post 64 SLOVAKIA Office Savings Bank, the National Bank, the Land Office, the Statistics Office, etc. " (20). The war imposed a number of new offices everywhere, in Great Britain, in the United States, and in Canada, such as: Price Control Office, Central :Eiconomic Office, Propaganda Office, etc. When similar offices were organized in Slovakia, the adversaries of Slovak independence, from their London or Washington asylums, denounced them as proofs and instruments of "authoritarian" or "nazi and fascist" systems and oppression. No doubt, the Slovak administration during the last years of the war had some offices and institutions which had names or structures similar to German or Italian institutions, but there was "a mixture of old and new elements," as admitted even by the Communists and Czech adversaries and definitely the democratic or "Czechoslovak" model prevailed and the intention of the responsible Slovak leaders behind all these institutions was not to introduce nazism or fascism, but to secure prosperity, security, and smooth functioning of the new State, or in other words, to save the Slovak people and its substance at a time when it was faced with physical and spiritual ruin. Some original "authoritarian" features of the !Slovak Constitution are due to the fact that the jurists and Parliamentarians who prepared the draft looked for inspirations in the countries which were in similar political or geographical situations and equally threatened either by the impact of nazism or communism. For this reason mainly the Constitution of Austria under Dolfuss-Schuschni gg and the Constitution of Portugal were studied by some members of the preparatory legislative committee and, while the Ausstrian Constitution showed them how to defend the country against infiltration of German National Socialist ideology, the Constitution of Portugal was studied because of the threat of Communist infiltration. Adversaries of Slovak independence who knew that this was the correct interpretation of the "authoritarian" elements in the Slovak Constitution, tried to prove, of course, the very opposite: they spoke and wrote of a deliberate introduction of "nazi" or "fascist" ideology and system, using for proof some short comings or measures imposed by the war and German pressure SLOVAKIA 65 on Slovak Administration and Government. They also failed to realize that "the value of any form of government may be judged either by the success and efficiency with which it accomplishes its proper purposes or by the effect which it produces on its citizens and the degree of satisfaction and confidence that they feel toward it," as Gettel says. That there were problems and shortcomings, none among responsible Slovak leaders had ever denied. "Our constitutional o~gans, our legislation, executive, and judiciary are in their infancy," wrote the official newspaper Slovak. "We shall show no weakness if we admit that here and there various institutions are still very shaky." There was quite open criticism of all shortcomings and often violent attacks on institutions and leaders from many parts, even from President Tiso and the young leadership of the Party, because, while there was formally only one Slovak political party, the public heard critical voices, and public opinion was created outside Parliament by the Party press, Hlinka Guard press, German and Hungarian minority press, and clandestine Communist opposition. All of them wrote and spoke from their own angles and viewpoints. Certainly, too many voices for an "authoritarian" or "nazi" regime and State - a fact which was later recognized even by some adversaries. "The fact remains," reported Dr. M. Kvetko, one of the leaders of the "People's Democracy," installed in Slovakia in collaboration with the Communists, to American authorities in Germany in 1948, "that a significant number of the politicians of the Slovak People's Party, and especially of the populace, were not inclined to fascism and prevented its spread so effectively that, excepting the retaliations against Jews and Communists, no special actions were undertaken against the vast majority of the people. And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed the affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collaboration (with nazism) as the Communists tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." This chapter was intended, however, to deal with the 66 SLOVAKIA Constitution of the Slovak Republic which, without being changed, remained the basis of legal system and ,governmental structure from 1939 to 1945, when Russians armies overran the country, raping and looting without precedence in Slovak history, and imposed on the Slovak people the new "people's democracy" and Czech domination within the framework of a restored Czecho-Slovakia. The Slovak Constituaion reflected old Slovak Christian and democratic traditions and there can hardly be any doubt that the responsible Slovak leaders endeavoured to govern in accordance with the Constitution, and only because of limitations imposed by the international situation and other circumstances which were beyond the control of the people and their leaders, t here were deviations from the Constitution. For this reason it can be admitted that "the Slovak State reflected a compromise between the past and present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central E' u rope." And for the same reason the Slovak Constitution "contained principles which in some aspects combined features of the liberal, the Christian Democratic, and the authoritarian State." 1. R. ,G. Gettell: Political Science, University of Calif., 1933, p. 244. 2. Cfr.: "Communist Takeover and Occupation of Czecho-Slovakia," Union Calendar No. 929, House Report No. 2684, Part 14, Washington, 1954. The Select Committee was composed of Congressmen, as well as a group of experts from Georgetown University and various parts of the United States. 3. Milan Hodza : Federation in Central Europe, London, 1942, p. 208-9. 4. Cfr . .Alexander Kunosi: The Basis of Czechoslovak Unity, London, 1944, p. 86; and H. Lee MdBain: The New Constitutions of Europe, New York, 1922, p. 307-342. 5. Even communist adversaries has to admit that "the Nazi model was not shamelessly imposed" and that "the n ew Slovak state was launched with all the paraphernalia of a national ideology apparently corporative and Christian," as wrote K. Kunosi in London, in 1944. 6. Joseph .A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955, p. 12.7-131; also article by J. F. Gleiman in symposium Slovenska Republika, ed. N. Sprinc, Scranton, Pa., 1949, p. 108-112, and the English translation in Slovakia, Middletown, Pa., Vol. II, No. 3, p. 20 . .An excellent analysis of the Slovak Constitution was also prepared by former judge .Anton Peltzner, DL. D., as a thesis for the M. .A. degree at the U niversity of Montreal in 1957. SLOVAKIA 67 7. "This presentation of God as the ultimate ,s ource of Law, and the interdependence of human and divine order as reflected in the Preamble of the Slovak !Constitution can prompt one to question." says Dr. A. Peltzner in his analysis, "why the authors of the text considered it wise and appropriate to formulate the preface in such a sense and import." The answer, in his opinion and in the opinion of all who are familiar with the history of the Slovak people, is based on two elements: l) there was a long and sincere dedication of the Slovak people to their religion, and a mutually long and faithful service of the Slovak clergy to their nation ; and, 2) the geographical position of the Slovak Republic was such that, on the Eastern frontiers stood the might of ,M arxist atheism, and from the Western side there was a potential danger of spreading and infiltrating of modern paganism, as formulated and taught by ,o erman National Socialism. The political leaders of the Slovak people considered it, therefore, as highly desirable to state that '\Slovaks stood firmly by their national traditions, of which belief in God and His Omnipotence was the substance of the whole concept." - Cfr. Dr. A. Peltzner: The Slovak Constitution and Modern Political Theory, p . 105. 8. Ibidem, p. 8·6. 9. lbidem, p. 195. 10. Ibidem, p. 48. 11. Andre Mathiot: The Bri tish Political System , London, 1958, p . 13·5. 12. The Constitution empowered the Cabinet to issue a government order with -the legal force and effect of law when economic, financial or political interests of the State required immediate attention, and only when lack of action could cause irreparable damage to these interests. 13. Cfr. Kunosi: Opus cit., p. 86. 14. ilbidem, pp. 76-82. 15. See: Chapter X, articles 75-85. That some of these freedoms were later limited or in individual cases disregarded, nobody would deny. The war imposed restrictions on personal freedoms in every country. In Slovakia, one could hardly expect that ideological influences of Germany and the political and economic pressures of war conditions would not result in a restriction of civil rights, or in transgressions by some individuals or groups of individuals. This, however, was not the fault of the Constitution, and as for the President of the Slovak !Republic and the Parliament, they tried to apply restrictions with respect to human life and natural rights. 16. 'The measures adopted against Jewish citizens were in many regards unconstitutional and mainly a result of German interference and deceit, especially as far as the transfer of a part of Slovak Jews to Poland was concerned. They were destined for labor, not extermination. The President as well as other Slovak authorities tried to avoid the tragedy but were able to save only a portion of those to be transferred. On the attitude of the Slovak Population see Raport du Co mite In- 68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the  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 Constitution of the Slovak Republic Description An account of the resource Joseph M. Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959<br />pp. 47-68<br /><ol type="I"><li>Introductory Note</li> <li>General Characteristics of the Slovak Constitution</li> <li>"Authoritarian" Features and Deviations</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/dd5cf87b9c392cd95a93d1dde94a90ec.pdf 2cbd75ff6a93b2f8719110fa0ef6fd93 PDF Text Text 68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the �SLOVAKIA 69 Slavs, to Great Moravia. With our forefathers they laid the foundations for the church organization, the Slav liturgy, Slovak alphabet and literature in Slovakia. In the 10th century Slovakia became a battlefield in the struggle among the Slovaks, Magyars, and Germans. At the beginning of the 11th century she became a part of the Hungarian Kingdom under the Arpad dynasty. In the 15th and 16th centuries the internal problems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasion of central Europe by the Turks in the 16th and 17th centuries reduced Hungary to the area of presentday Slovakia. For quite some time sessions of the Hungarian Parliament were held in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, and the coronations of Hungarian kings were celebrated there. The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century mark the beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. In 1848 the Slovaks aided the Habsburgs in putting down the Kossuth rebellion with the hope that Slovakia would be finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated monarchy; this, however, was never r ealized. In the "Memorandum" of the Slovak nation of June 7, 1861, a Slovak national assemblage asked the parliament of Hungary to create an administrative unit for the counties inhabited by the Slovak population under the name of the "Slovak Region," with a degree of political and cultural autonomy, but the Hungarian parliament refused the petition. In 1891 the Serbs and Rumanians from Transylvania and the Slovaks convoked a congress in Budapest, claiming national rights and asking for a federative reform of the kingdom on the principle of equality, but to no avail. The end of the first World War saw the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its passing ushered in a new and hopeful era for the Slovaks who were confident that the new Czecho-Slovak partnership within the framework of the newly created Czecho-Slovak state would at last fulfill their aspirations. General Milan R. Stefanik, champion of the Slovak cause, had his misgivings. Andrew Hlinka, great Slovak patriotic leader, went clandestinely to the �70 SLOVAKIA Paris Peace Conference in September of 1919 advocating an international guarantee for the self-government of the Slovak nation within the state of Czecho-Slovakia. He was denounced by the Czecho-Slovak delegation, headed by Dr. Eduard Benes, to the French police as a Habsburg spy and was forced to return to Slovakia where by the order of Prague he was imprisoned until April 1920. In the opinion of the Slovak leaders, the Czecho-Slovak state became a Czech state, enlarged by Slovakia, and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Close to eleven hundred years elapsed before the· Slovak nation on March 14, 1939, finally declared its independence. Even though the Slovak State was largely the result of a tense international situation, it nevertheless corresponded to the aspirations of the Slovak people· for freedom and the principle of self-determination and self-government. Altogether 27 states recognized the international individuality of Slovakia, among them the Holy See, Switzerland, Sweden, France the Soviet Unon, and Great Britain. The Slovak Constitution contained principles which in some aspects combined the features of the liberal state, of Christian democracy, and of the authoritarian state. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation. As the second great war drew to a close, at the end of April, 1945, Moscow claimed exclusive rights to the occupation of the territory formerly comprising CzechoSlovakia. By September of that year, the Czech Communists were well on the road to power. In the first election of May 26, 1946, 56 percent of the voters in the Czech lands elected 130 out of 229 deputies from the Marxist bloc; in Slovakia, however, the Reds were soundly trounced. The stage was set for the transition, and the complete seizure of the government by the Czech Communists. The Select Committee on Communist Agression of the Ameri- �SLOVAKIA 71 ,can House of Representatives in 1953, on evidence before it, estimated, that there were about 100 forced labor camps in Czecho-Slovakia, confining approximately 300,000 political prisoners. In Slovakia, as elsewhere, the Church bears the full fury of Communist terror and brutality. The Slovak Pre.sident, Monsignor Joseph Tisco, was sentenced to death by a People's Court, and executed by order of the Benes government. There are priests imprisoned in the CzechoSlovak Republic at the present time. This does not include the deported monks, nuns, and priests of the Eastern (Greek) Catholic Rite. Slovak bishops Vojtassak, Buzalka, .and Gojdic are also in prison. Slovakia's resistance to Communism continues in the tradition of its resistance against all who would destroy her identity, her religion, and culture, for she carries the glorious torch of Christianity which she received 1100 years ago from the hands of two saintly brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Those of us who have had the fortune to live most of our lives in a free country take our freedom and independence for granted, but our brothers over there, less fortunate than we, are now engaged in a struggle to regain it. Together with their enslaved brother Slav nations, they are looking forward to the day when they can again rededicate themselves as free men to the universal principle set out in the preamble to the American Constitution "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government." We would be remiss in our moral duty if we did not do all in our power to hasten the advent of that day. � 68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the �SLOVAKIA 69 Slavs, to Great Moravia. With our forefathers they laid the foundations for the church organization, the Slav liturgy, Slovak alphabet and literature in Slovakia. In the 10th century Slovakia became a battlefield in the struggle among the Slovaks, Magyars, and Germans. At the beginning of the 11th century she became a part of the Hungarian Kingdom under the Arpad dynasty. In the 15th and 16th centuries the internal problems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasion of central Europe by the Turks in the 16th and 17th centuries reduced Hungary to the area of presentday Slovakia. For quite some time sessions of the Hungarian Parliament were held in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, and the coronations of Hungarian kings were celebrated there. The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century mark the beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. In 1848 the Slovaks aided the Habsburgs in putting down the Kossuth rebellion with the hope that Slovakia would be finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated monarchy; this, however, was never r ealized. In the "Memorandum" of the Slovak nation of June 7, 1861, a Slovak national assemblage asked the parliament of Hungary to create an administrative unit for the counties inhabited by the Slovak population under the name of the "Slovak Region," with a degree of political and cultural autonomy, but the Hungarian parliament refused the petition. In 1891 the Serbs and Rumanians from Transylvania and the Slovaks convoked a congress in Budapest, claiming national rights and asking for a federative reform of the kingdom on the principle of equality, but to no avail. The end of the first World War saw the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its passing ushered in a new and hopeful era for the Slovaks who were confident that the new Czecho-Slovak partnership within the framework of the newly created Czecho-Slovak state would at last fulfill their aspirations. General Milan R. Stefanik, champion of the Slovak cause, had his misgivings. Andrew Hlinka, great Slovak patriotic leader, went clandestinely to the �70 SLOVAKIA Paris Peace Conference in September of 1919 advocating an international guarantee for the self-government of the Slovak nation within the state of Czecho-Slovakia. He was denounced by the Czecho-Slovak delegation, headed by Dr. Eduard Benes, to the French police as a Habsburg spy and was forced to return to Slovakia where by the order of Prague he was imprisoned until April 1920. In the opinion of the Slovak leaders, the Czecho-Slovak state became a Czech state, enlarged by Slovakia, and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Close to eleven hundred years elapsed before the· Slovak nation on March 14, 1939, finally declared its independence. Even though the Slovak State was largely the result of a tense international situation, it nevertheless corresponded to the aspirations of the Slovak people· for freedom and the principle of self-determination and self-government. Altogether 27 states recognized the international individuality of Slovakia, among them the Holy See, Switzerland, Sweden, France the Soviet Unon, and Great Britain. The Slovak Constitution contained principles which in some aspects combined the features of the liberal state, of Christian democracy, and of the authoritarian state. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation. As the second great war drew to a close, at the end of April, 1945, Moscow claimed exclusive rights to the occupation of the territory formerly comprising CzechoSlovakia. By September of that year, the Czech Communists were well on the road to power. In the first election of May 26, 1946, 56 percent of the voters in the Czech lands elected 130 out of 229 deputies from the Marxist bloc; in Slovakia, however, the Reds were soundly trounced. The stage was set for the transition, and the complete seizure of the government by the Czech Communists. The Select Committee on Communist Agression of the Ameri- �SLOVAKIA 71 ,can House of Representatives in 1953, on evidence before it, estimated, that there were about 100 forced labor camps in Czecho-Slovakia, confining approximately 300,000 political prisoners. In Slovakia, as elsewhere, the Church bears the full fury of Communist terror and brutality. The Slovak Pre.sident, Monsignor Joseph Tisco, was sentenced to death by a People's Court, and executed by order of the Benes government. There are priests imprisoned in the CzechoSlovak Republic at the present time. This does not include the deported monks, nuns, and priests of the Eastern (Greek) Catholic Rite. Slovak bishops Vojtassak, Buzalka, .and Gojdic are also in prison. Slovakia's resistance to Communism continues in the tradition of its resistance against all who would destroy her identity, her religion, and culture, for she carries the glorious torch of Christianity which she received 1100 years ago from the hands of two saintly brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Those of us who have had the fortune to live most of our lives in a free country take our freedom and independence for granted, but our brothers over there, less fortunate than we, are now engaged in a struggle to regain it. Together with their enslaved brother Slav nations, they are looking forward to the day when they can again rededicate themselves as free men to the universal principle set out in the preamble to the American Constitution "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government." We would be remiss in our moral duty if we did not do all in our power to hasten the advent of that day. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 68 SLOVAKIA 17. 18. 19. 20. ternational de la Croix Rouge , Geneve, 1948, I-IL1, I-er vol., P. 674, and also J . A. Mikus, Opus. c it. , p. 136. Ibid em, p. 101. Cfr. A . Kuno si: Opus cit., and a lso Chap ter on Political parties. It is a m att er of controv ersy a mong experts of constitutional law if the preponderance of the executiv e over the legislature gives a n a uthorHaria n character to a State. "A domina nt exec utiv e can be defend ed on th eore ti cal grounds," says Andre Mathiot. " The Cabinet, no less than Parlia m ent, com es into being as the r esult of an elec tion which more or less d et ermines its composition. Thus, in Great Britain, the relationship between the Crown, Parliament and the Cabin et ha ve gra du a lly d eveloped to produce a uniqu e parliam entary regime in which the executiv e is now th e dominant organ. Parliamen t remains legally sovereign a nd in th eory the supreme organ in th e State, but it is 110 exagger ation to say that effective political power is nowa days concentrated in the small group of men who constitute th e Cabinet" (Opus cit. , p. 135). W e have, of course, no intention to rights, on theoretical grounds, and to compare the r egime in Great Britain with that in Slovakia. Cfr. Kunos i: opus cit., p. 89. • • • MARCH 14, 1939: SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY By Andrew Pastor The day of independence of a nation represents the culminating point in what often was a long struggle for its achievement. Independence comes easy, but the road leading to it is strewn with hardships, sufferings, miseries, and oftentimes death. Whether that day be the 4th of July, or the 14th day of March, it is a day of recollection upon which each individual looks with pride, knowing that this day years ago marked the beginning of a new and brighter era in the historic evolution of one's nation. What is the historical background of Slovakia's independence? Briefly the political history of the Slovaks dates back to the 9th century when Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (846-870), made himself known for the intensive christianization of their territory by inviting Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles of the Slovaks and the SLOVAKIA 69 Slavs, to Great Moravia. With our forefathers they laid the foundations for the church organization, the Slav liturgy, Slovak alphabet and literature in Slovakia. In the 10th century Slovakia became a battlefield in the struggle among the Slovaks, Magyars, and Germans. At the beginning of the 11th century she became a part of the Hungarian Kingdom under the Arpad dynasty. In the 15th and 16th centuries the internal problems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasion of central Europe by the Turks in the 16th and 17th centuries reduced Hungary to the area of presentday Slovakia. For quite some time sessions of the Hungarian Parliament were held in Bratislava, the Slovak capital, and the coronations of Hungarian kings were celebrated there. The end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century mark the beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. In 1848 the Slovaks aided the Habsburgs in putting down the Kossuth rebellion with the hope that Slovakia would be finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated monarchy; this, however, was never r ealized. In the "Memorandum" of the Slovak nation of June 7, 1861, a Slovak national assemblage asked the parliament of Hungary to create an administrative unit for the counties inhabited by the Slovak population under the name of the "Slovak Region," with a degree of political and cultural autonomy, but the Hungarian parliament refused the petition. In 1891 the Serbs and Rumanians from Transylvania and the Slovaks convoked a congress in Budapest, claiming national rights and asking for a federative reform of the kingdom on the principle of equality, but to no avail. The end of the first World War saw the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its passing ushered in a new and hopeful era for the Slovaks who were confident that the new Czecho-Slovak partnership within the framework of the newly created Czecho-Slovak state would at last fulfill their aspirations. General Milan R. Stefanik, champion of the Slovak cause, had his misgivings. Andrew Hlinka, great Slovak patriotic leader, went clandestinely to the 70 SLOVAKIA Paris Peace Conference in September of 1919 advocating an international guarantee for the self-government of the Slovak nation within the state of Czecho-Slovakia. He was denounced by the Czecho-Slovak delegation, headed by Dr. Eduard Benes, to the French police as a Habsburg spy and was forced to return to Slovakia where by the order of Prague he was imprisoned until April 1920. In the opinion of the Slovak leaders, the Czecho-Slovak state became a Czech state, enlarged by Slovakia, and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Close to eleven hundred years elapsed before the· Slovak nation on March 14, 1939, finally declared its independence. Even though the Slovak State was largely the result of a tense international situation, it nevertheless corresponded to the aspirations of the Slovak people· for freedom and the principle of self-determination and self-government. Altogether 27 states recognized the international individuality of Slovakia, among them the Holy See, Switzerland, Sweden, France the Soviet Unon, and Great Britain. The Slovak Constitution contained principles which in some aspects combined the features of the liberal state, of Christian democracy, and of the authoritarian state. It reflected a compromise between the past and the present, between an old tradition and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. But, in general, it was an expression of the self-preservation instinct of the Slovak nation. As the second great war drew to a close, at the end of April, 1945, Moscow claimed exclusive rights to the occupation of the territory formerly comprising CzechoSlovakia. By September of that year, the Czech Communists were well on the road to power. In the first election of May 26, 1946, 56 percent of the voters in the Czech lands elected 130 out of 229 deputies from the Marxist bloc; in Slovakia, however, the Reds were soundly trounced. The stage was set for the transition, and the complete seizure of the government by the Czech Communists. The Select Committee on Communist Agression of the Ameri- SLOVAKIA 71 ,can House of Representatives in 1953, on evidence before it, estimated, that there were about 100 forced labor camps in Czecho-Slovakia, confining approximately 300,000 political prisoners. In Slovakia, as elsewhere, the Church bears the full fury of Communist terror and brutality. The Slovak Pre.sident, Monsignor Joseph Tisco, was sentenced to death by a People's Court, and executed by order of the Benes government. There are priests imprisoned in the CzechoSlovak Republic at the present time. This does not include the deported monks, nuns, and priests of the Eastern (Greek) Catholic Rite. Slovak bishops Vojtassak, Buzalka, .and Gojdic are also in prison. Slovakia's resistance to Communism continues in the tradition of its resistance against all who would destroy her identity, her religion, and culture, for she carries the glorious torch of Christianity which she received 1100 years ago from the hands of two saintly brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Those of us who have had the fortune to live most of our lives in a free country take our freedom and independence for granted, but our brothers over there, less fortunate than we, are now engaged in a struggle to regain it. Together with their enslaved brother Slav nations, they are looking forward to the day when they can again rededicate themselves as free men to the universal principle set out in the preamble to the American Constitution "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government." We would be remiss in our moral duty if we did not do all in our power to hasten the advent of that day.  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 March 14, 1939: Slovak Independence Day Description An account of the resource Andrew Pastor Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959 pp. 68-71 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pastor, Andrew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cbb7ce60aa3a0e412b377e83ab896a76.pdf 1b1c514b3207fc0bcaa5382ba1dbba99 PDF Text Text 72 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK tContinued) With their economic development the cities and towns also became important centers of cultural life. German settlers brough higher education to the Slovaks, so that many Slovak cities became centers of western European culture. Schools originated near the parish churches and the monasteries. Hospitals were built in many cities. Into all the cities came the architects, contractors and artists, who built and decorated not on:ly churches and city halls, but also the homes of the prosperous citizens. Of course, all this had some influence on the outlying villages and hamlets which were in constant touch with the cities. CRAFTSMEN'S GUILDS IN SLOVAKIA Besides the merchants, who brought various merchandise from the neighboring countries into Slovak cities and formed the wealthiest group, there lived in these cities also the tradesmen, who established their workshops and sold their wares at the markets. Slovaks were acquainted with some trades, others they acquired from their neighbors, but the bulk of trades were introduced into Slovakia by the German colonists in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At first only those trades were fostered which served the everyday needs of the people (carpentry, cabinet-making, tanning, shoemaking, cloth-making, tailoring, etc.). Other trades originated and developed gradually with the economic and cultural conditions of the country. The higher the standard of living, the more trades were developed and applied in the cities, towns and hamlets. Just as the various types of trades came to the Slovaks by way of Germany, so came also the custom of the tradesmen organizing in associations which were called guilds. In every city there were as many guilds as there were different types of trades. As the number of trades �SLOVAKIA 73 gradually increased, so did the number of guilds. In the large cities each trade had its own independent guild, while in the smaller towns, and later in the larger villages, the closely-related trades were united in one common guild. Only some cities were granted a monopoly on certain types of trade; e.g., only Kosice had the privilege of making linen (barchet) and Bardejov had the right to bleach cloth. In the larger cities work shops were usually grouped in particular streets so that many of these streets derived their names from the type of trade that prevailed there. In Bratislava, even today there still are streets called Sedlarska, Klobucnicka; in Trnava: Pekarska, Halenarska, Ostrozna, Masiarska ; in Banska Bystrica : Kovacska ; in Hlohovec: Mydlarska ; in Zilina and in Kosice: Zvonarska, Kovacska, Masiarska. As a technical organization, the guild took care of all the interests of its member,s. Each guild had its own written by-laws which contained detailed regulations called articles. The furrier's guild in Kosice had its own articles already in 1305. The Bratislava guild of butchers, shoemakers and bakers had written articles already in 1376. The organization of the guilds took place in the fourteenth century, attained its greatest development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and lasted until modern times, when factory products began to give real competition to the products of the guilds. The by-laws of each city guild had to be approved by the city council and by the landlords; and by secular and church authorities in the smaller towns. The guilds frequently had their statutes approved even by their sovereigns. Due to the fact that many Slovak cities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had a majority of German inhabitants, the guild regulations were written at first in German or Latin. But later, when the Slovaks became the majority, the by-laws and correspondence of the guilds were more frequently in the Slovak language. The Trnava Guild of Tailors already in 1558 did its writing in Slovak; the Butchers' Guild in 1562. The guilds of Trencin and Hlohovec used the Slovak language at the end of the sixteenth �74 SLOVAKIA century. In the seventeenth century all the smaller towns (Banovce, Bojnice, Beckov, Bytca, Holic, Humenne, !lava, Jelsava, Myjava, Prievidza, Puchov, Rajec, Skalica, Sastin, Topol'cany, etc.) kept their guild records in Slovak. Only a master-craftsman could become a member of a respectable guild, after he had fulfilled all technical and moral requirements. In each guild the number of mastercraftsmen was limited to prevent overproduction in goods. In Bratislava in 1376, there could be only twenty-eight butchers and sixteen bakers. Every member of a guild was obliged to present only perfect products at prices determined by the guild. All tradesmen had to work in the same way so that their products were of like quality and price, and all competition removed. At the head of each guild was a guildmaster, whom the members elected for a period of one year. If there were a number of master craftsmen in a guild, the leader of the guild was the chief guildmaster. The guildmaster was the head of the guild, represented the guild before the authorities, especially before the city council in whose presence he took the oath of office after his election. He took care of all the guild's interests, ipresided at meetings, held several times a year in his home, and at banquets. He supervised the work of all members of his particular guild, judged th~ir products especially before they went to market, saw to it that all regulations were strictly observed, and in his care were all documents and letters and finances of his guild. The guildmaster was ,s ole arbiter of all arguments between members; he imposed punishment and collected all fines. He was a very respected personality not only among the membership of his guild, but among the general public as well. Members of the guild were divided into senior and junior master craftsmen. The elder masters, authorized by the guildmaster, supervised the work of the members of the guild and maintained order and discipline. The younger masters were obliged to perform various menial duties, such as lighting candles in the church, serving as waiters at banquets, taking care of the weak and sick masters, dig- �SLOVAKIA 75 ging graves and acting as pallbearers for deceased masters. After banquets, if the senior masters were unable to find their way home, the junior members were obliged to escort them. Great care was taken to see that all members of a guild conscientiousl y performed their religious obligations. The wealthier guilds had their own altar in the parish church which was dedicated to the patron saint of their guild. Every guild member was obliged to attend divine services on Sunday and Holy Days, and had to receive the sacraments at least once a year. At church processions the entire guild took part under its own standard, which bore the image of the patron saint and the trademark of the guild. Any member guilty of transgression s, which caused scandal and so harmed the good name of a respectable guild, was obliged to pay a prescribed sum into the guild's treasury, or give candles to his church. In the event of danger, when an enemy threatened the city, the guild members were obliged to defend the ramparts of the city. The city assigned to each guild a tower or bastion which the members had to keep in good order and supply it with weapons and ammunition. City bastions have retained individual guild names even to this day (Pekarska basta, Obuvnicka, Masiarska, etc.). If a fire broke out in the city, each guild had to take part in the rescue work and also bring a prescribed number of buckets of water to help extinguish it. So that only honorable persons could become members of a guild, people of good morals and technically well prepared, many years of apprenticeshi p and str ict education wer e prescribed for applicants. SLOVAKIA AFTER THE TURKISH INVASION When the Turks abandoned plundered Hungary, King Bela IV set out to reconstruct his country. He invited foreign settlers in large numbers, so that some might cultivate the depopulated areas. Many Germans settled in the hilly regions to found new villages and towns. But nomadic Cumans also came again to occupy the lowlands and the southern foothills of the Slovak mountains. The Ger mans �76 SLOVAKIA brought a high degree of culture into the country and contributed handsomely to its economy, while the Cumans were supposed to be the military support of the Hungarian king. But Hungary, even during the reign of Bela IV, was in a difficult situation, which was caused by internal revolutions and the growth of the Bohemian kingdom under Premysl Otokar II and his successors. Bela nr could not maintain the integrity of his kingdom. His son wanted to rule during his lifetime, and Bela was forced to let him rule over the Eastern part of Hungary. This partition of Hungary weakened it terribly and increased the dangers of invasion by outside enemies. While the members of the ruling family quarreled, the wealthy nobles strengthened thei r own positions and prestige. Slovak territory played an important role in the development of these relations, since both the Czechs and the Hungarians were interested in it. Premysl Otokar II became ruler of Austrian lands and extended his rule to the banks of the Adriatic Sea. Since the Hungarian king claimed a part of these lands, especially Styria, hostile relations between the Czechs and Hungarians resulted. But Premysl Otokar II also wanted Slovakia, and this only infuriated the Hungarian monarch more. Wars were inevitable. They were fought on Slovak soil and the Slovaks paid with their lives and property for the enmity existing between two foreign rulers. A part of western Slovakia, including Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra, became prey of the Bohemian king several times after 1271 and the victim of the ruthless devastation of the Czech armies. Finally, this area fell into the hands of Austrian dukes and barons. After Bela's death (1270), the Hungarian throne was occupied by rulers who became friendly with the pagan Cumans, spent most of their time in their camps, where they abandoned themselves to riotous, pagan living. Consequently the whole country suffered. In 1280 the Bishops and nobles persuaded King Ladislaus IV to abandon his reckless adventures and to domesticate the wild Cumans. But the Cumans rebelled and pillaged the whole country, including Slovakia, where they committed the most brutal �SLOVAKIA 77 .atrocities. Later, in 1285, the Tartars again invaded Slovakia and devastated Spis and the whole of eastern Slovakia. This invasion was used by the Cumans to pillage western Slovakia. It was thus that Slovakia had to pay for the weaknesses and defects of the kings of Hungary and their friendly relations with the Cumans. The weaker the king, the more the power of the nobility increased. They appropriated royal and ecclesiastical properties and recognized no government over themselves. When King Ladislaus IV refused to reform and continued to spend most of his time in the Cuman camps, the Hungarian magnates assassinated him. His successor, Andrew III (1290-1301), tried to be a good king and did what he could to save the kingdom from catastrophe; but it was too late. By the end of the thirteenth century Hungary disintegrated into several parts in which wealthy magnates reigned as independent little kings. Among these nobles was Matus Cak (Mahtoosh Tchak) of Trencin, "the lord of the Vah and the Tatras," who become the ruler of a large part of Slovakia at the end of the thirteenth century. Ca:k was not a Slovak by birth, but his ancestors had acquired large tracts of land in Slovakia. When he became the highest official of the royalty during the reign of Andrew III, he took advantage of his position and added new lands and castles to his family's holdings. Matus Cak seized the lands of many nobles, forced others to recognize his sovereignty, appropriated many royal citadels and in his ruthlessness did not even hesitate taking ecclesiastical properties. In 1299 he captured Trencin Castle which became the main stronghold of the mighty lord of the Vah and the Tatras. Ca.k's power extended from the Morava river to Spis and from the Danube to the Tatras, so that all of western Slovakia, except Bratislava and vicinity, and a large part of central Slovakia were under his rule. Beyond the Danube the mighty Vy s e h r a d Castle guarded the borders of Ca.k's country. In his Trencin citadel Matus Cak organized his entire court in regal splendor, and numerous courtiers did his bidding. As an independent ruler, he had his own army, coined his own money in Nitra �78 SLOVAKIA and established relations with neighboring rulers. Cak of Trencin built up his great power on the wealth which flowed to him from his extensive holdings. But the most reliable support of his power was the devotion and loyalty of his land administrators and his people. In Ca.k's army divisions of Slovak warriors also fought; they distinguished themselves by their courage, devotion and heroism. Ca.k's military glory, therefore, was in a large measure the merit of his Slovak subjects. At that time the Amadei Clan ruled over eastern Slovakia, including Kosice. It did not recognize the sovereignty of the Hungarian king. In 1301, when the death of King Andrew ill brought the Arpad dynasty to an end and several rulers sought the Hungarian throne, Slovakia was for all practical purposes an independent state under Matus Cak of Trencin. SLOVAKIA UNDER THE ANJOUS After Andrew ill's death, a part of the Hungarian nobility headed by Matus Cak called a son of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia to the throne, who already then was in possession of the Polish Crown. But the twelve-year-old Crown Prince Wenceslaus, crowned in Stolny Belehrad, was op.p osed by another group which sided with Pope Boniface VIII and chose Charles Robert of the French house of Anjou, who ruled in Naples. Relying on his power, Matus Cak of Trencin opposed Charles Robert and defended the interests of the Bohemian Wenceslaus. He resisted the An jous even after Wenceslaus renounced the Hungarian Crown and died shortly after in 1306 as the last male descendant of the Premysl dynasty. Soon after his accession to the throne, the Hungarian king attempted to break the power of the magnates and unite Hungary under his own rule. Matus Cak of Trencin continued to oppose the rule of Charles Robert. With his army he attacked the royal castle at Budin and fought the magnates and bishops who supported Charles Robert. In 1311, after he succeeded in gaining the support of the majority of the nobility, Charles Robert prepared for a showdown with Matus Cak. But the latter allied himself with �SLOVAKIA 79 the Amadei clan who opposed the king in eastern Slovakia. The combined armies of Matus Cak and the Amadei defended themselves successfully at Saris Castle and forced the king to retreat. The royal army withdrew to Spis to rally the support of the German colonists there. With these new allies Charles again set out after Matus Cak. In the decisive battle, which took place June 15, 1312, at Rozhanovce, not far from Kosice, the king was victorious. The Amadei clan was completely routed, lost all its citadels and properties and was forced to flee to Poland, where it found refuge at the court of Ladislaus Lokietek, whom it had aided a short time before against the Czechs. The Amadei never returned to Hungary, but remained in Poland, and Charles Robert became master of eastern Slovakia. Matus Ca.k's setback at Rozhanovce did not break him completely. He continued to act independently in western Slovakia. Indeed, his power and prestige were still so great that the German King Frederick the Handsome, sought his aid in 1315 against Louis, the Bavarian, and against John of Luxemburg. Even though Charles Robert captured Vysehrad and Komarno in 1317 and dangerously threatened the sovereignty of Matus Cak of Trencin, nevertheless, the lord of the Vah and the 'flatras continued to rule independently to the end of his life. It was only after Matus Cak died in the Trencin castle in 1321, that Charles Robert was able to extend his rule over the western half of Slovakia. The following year Charles Robert also seized Bratislava. which had been in the hands of the Austrian dukes since tht beginning of the fourteenth century. Slovakia, after a brief period of independence, again became a part of the kingdom of Hungary which, under the rule of the Anjou dynasty, enjoyed a period of great political, economic and cultural growth. As soon as Charles Robert reunited the Hungarian kingdom, his first care was to put the economic affairs of Hungary into order. He founded many new cities, supported the development of mining, established a sound financial system, and encouraged commerce with neighboring states. It was during this period that a large number of new cities were founded also in Slovakia ·a nd the older ones were granted new privileges. �80 SLOVAKIA Bratislava, Trnava, Levoca, and Kosice became important centers of international commerce. The king- ipaid special attention to the Slovak mining towns, because their wealth swelled the royal coffers appreciably. Mining commissions supervised all mining projects and regulated the sale of all precious metals. A Count of the Chamber headed the mining commission; he concluded the rental agreement with the ruler and guaranteed the king revenues from the mines. The territory of Slovakia, rich in metallic ores, was divided into two mining chambers: the western half of Slovakia belonged under the management of the mining chamber of Kremnica, while the eastern half was managed by the chamber of Smolnica, which later moved its headquarters to Kosice. Zupan Done, who managed a large part of central Slovakia as the administrator of Zvolen, was a loyal adherent and faithful aide of Robert. At that time the Zvolen region was an extensive area, out of which later were gradually formed the independent districts of Turiec, Orava and Liptov, besides that of Zvolen. Administrator Done founded Liptovsky Hradok, built many churches, endowed monasteries, and served at the pa!pal court in Avignon as a rei[)resentative of Charles Robert. Slovakia played a significant role even in the international relations of the Hungarian kingdom. Already in 1327, Charles Robert and the Bohemian king, met in Trnava, where they formed an alliance against the Habsburgs. Slovakia became the territory on which the interests of the Hungarian, Bohemian and Polish kingdoms were settled. In 1335 the legates of John of Bohemia, Casimir the Great of Po-land and Charles Robert assembled at Trenein to determine the conditions of a friendly alliance. At this meeting an agreement was reached which enabled the meeting of the three kings in Vysehrad Castle and thus contributed largely to safeguard peace in central Europe. Louis the Great (1342-1382), son and successor of Charles Robert, tried to extend the limits of the Hungarian kingdom. He waged frequent wars on the southern borders of Hungary and conquered the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and the territory of present-day Rumania. (To be continued) � 72 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK tContinued) With their economic development the cities and towns also became important centers of cultural life. German settlers brough higher education to the Slovaks, so that many Slovak cities became centers of western European culture. Schools originated near the parish churches and the monasteries. Hospitals were built in many cities. Into all the cities came the architects, contractors and artists, who built and decorated not on:ly churches and city halls, but also the homes of the prosperous citizens. Of course, all this had some influence on the outlying villages and hamlets which were in constant touch with the cities. CRAFTSMEN'S GUILDS IN SLOVAKIA Besides the merchants, who brought various merchandise from the neighboring countries into Slovak cities and formed the wealthiest group, there lived in these cities also the tradesmen, who established their workshops and sold their wares at the markets. Slovaks were acquainted with some trades, others they acquired from their neighbors, but the bulk of trades were introduced into Slovakia by the German colonists in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At first only those trades were fostered which served the everyday needs of the people (carpentry, cabinet-making, tanning, shoemaking, cloth-making, tailoring, etc.). Other trades originated and developed gradually with the economic and cultural conditions of the country. The higher the standard of living, the more trades were developed and applied in the cities, towns and hamlets. Just as the various types of trades came to the Slovaks by way of Germany, so came also the custom of the tradesmen organizing in associations which were called guilds. In every city there were as many guilds as there were different types of trades. As the number of trades �SLOVAKIA 73 gradually increased, so did the number of guilds. In the large cities each trade had its own independent guild, while in the smaller towns, and later in the larger villages, the closely-related trades were united in one common guild. Only some cities were granted a monopoly on certain types of trade; e.g., only Kosice had the privilege of making linen (barchet) and Bardejov had the right to bleach cloth. In the larger cities work shops were usually grouped in particular streets so that many of these streets derived their names from the type of trade that prevailed there. In Bratislava, even today there still are streets called Sedlarska, Klobucnicka; in Trnava: Pekarska, Halenarska, Ostrozna, Masiarska ; in Banska Bystrica : Kovacska ; in Hlohovec: Mydlarska ; in Zilina and in Kosice: Zvonarska, Kovacska, Masiarska. As a technical organization, the guild took care of all the interests of its member,s. Each guild had its own written by-laws which contained detailed regulations called articles. The furrier's guild in Kosice had its own articles already in 1305. The Bratislava guild of butchers, shoemakers and bakers had written articles already in 1376. The organization of the guilds took place in the fourteenth century, attained its greatest development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and lasted until modern times, when factory products began to give real competition to the products of the guilds. The by-laws of each city guild had to be approved by the city council and by the landlords; and by secular and church authorities in the smaller towns. The guilds frequently had their statutes approved even by their sovereigns. Due to the fact that many Slovak cities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had a majority of German inhabitants, the guild regulations were written at first in German or Latin. But later, when the Slovaks became the majority, the by-laws and correspondence of the guilds were more frequently in the Slovak language. The Trnava Guild of Tailors already in 1558 did its writing in Slovak; the Butchers' Guild in 1562. The guilds of Trencin and Hlohovec used the Slovak language at the end of the sixteenth �74 SLOVAKIA century. In the seventeenth century all the smaller towns (Banovce, Bojnice, Beckov, Bytca, Holic, Humenne, !lava, Jelsava, Myjava, Prievidza, Puchov, Rajec, Skalica, Sastin, Topol'cany, etc.) kept their guild records in Slovak. Only a master-craftsman could become a member of a respectable guild, after he had fulfilled all technical and moral requirements. In each guild the number of mastercraftsmen was limited to prevent overproduction in goods. In Bratislava in 1376, there could be only twenty-eight butchers and sixteen bakers. Every member of a guild was obliged to present only perfect products at prices determined by the guild. All tradesmen had to work in the same way so that their products were of like quality and price, and all competition removed. At the head of each guild was a guildmaster, whom the members elected for a period of one year. If there were a number of master craftsmen in a guild, the leader of the guild was the chief guildmaster. The guildmaster was the head of the guild, represented the guild before the authorities, especially before the city council in whose presence he took the oath of office after his election. He took care of all the guild's interests, ipresided at meetings, held several times a year in his home, and at banquets. He supervised the work of all members of his particular guild, judged th~ir products especially before they went to market, saw to it that all regulations were strictly observed, and in his care were all documents and letters and finances of his guild. The guildmaster was ,s ole arbiter of all arguments between members; he imposed punishment and collected all fines. He was a very respected personality not only among the membership of his guild, but among the general public as well. Members of the guild were divided into senior and junior master craftsmen. The elder masters, authorized by the guildmaster, supervised the work of the members of the guild and maintained order and discipline. The younger masters were obliged to perform various menial duties, such as lighting candles in the church, serving as waiters at banquets, taking care of the weak and sick masters, dig- �SLOVAKIA 75 ging graves and acting as pallbearers for deceased masters. After banquets, if the senior masters were unable to find their way home, the junior members were obliged to escort them. Great care was taken to see that all members of a guild conscientiousl y performed their religious obligations. The wealthier guilds had their own altar in the parish church which was dedicated to the patron saint of their guild. Every guild member was obliged to attend divine services on Sunday and Holy Days, and had to receive the sacraments at least once a year. At church processions the entire guild took part under its own standard, which bore the image of the patron saint and the trademark of the guild. Any member guilty of transgression s, which caused scandal and so harmed the good name of a respectable guild, was obliged to pay a prescribed sum into the guild's treasury, or give candles to his church. In the event of danger, when an enemy threatened the city, the guild members were obliged to defend the ramparts of the city. The city assigned to each guild a tower or bastion which the members had to keep in good order and supply it with weapons and ammunition. City bastions have retained individual guild names even to this day (Pekarska basta, Obuvnicka, Masiarska, etc.). If a fire broke out in the city, each guild had to take part in the rescue work and also bring a prescribed number of buckets of water to help extinguish it. So that only honorable persons could become members of a guild, people of good morals and technically well prepared, many years of apprenticeshi p and str ict education wer e prescribed for applicants. SLOVAKIA AFTER THE TURKISH INVASION When the Turks abandoned plundered Hungary, King Bela IV set out to reconstruct his country. He invited foreign settlers in large numbers, so that some might cultivate the depopulated areas. Many Germans settled in the hilly regions to found new villages and towns. But nomadic Cumans also came again to occupy the lowlands and the southern foothills of the Slovak mountains. The Ger mans �76 SLOVAKIA brought a high degree of culture into the country and contributed handsomely to its economy, while the Cumans were supposed to be the military support of the Hungarian king. But Hungary, even during the reign of Bela IV, was in a difficult situation, which was caused by internal revolutions and the growth of the Bohemian kingdom under Premysl Otokar II and his successors. Bela nr could not maintain the integrity of his kingdom. His son wanted to rule during his lifetime, and Bela was forced to let him rule over the Eastern part of Hungary. This partition of Hungary weakened it terribly and increased the dangers of invasion by outside enemies. While the members of the ruling family quarreled, the wealthy nobles strengthened thei r own positions and prestige. Slovak territory played an important role in the development of these relations, since both the Czechs and the Hungarians were interested in it. Premysl Otokar II became ruler of Austrian lands and extended his rule to the banks of the Adriatic Sea. Since the Hungarian king claimed a part of these lands, especially Styria, hostile relations between the Czechs and Hungarians resulted. But Premysl Otokar II also wanted Slovakia, and this only infuriated the Hungarian monarch more. Wars were inevitable. They were fought on Slovak soil and the Slovaks paid with their lives and property for the enmity existing between two foreign rulers. A part of western Slovakia, including Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra, became prey of the Bohemian king several times after 1271 and the victim of the ruthless devastation of the Czech armies. Finally, this area fell into the hands of Austrian dukes and barons. After Bela's death (1270), the Hungarian throne was occupied by rulers who became friendly with the pagan Cumans, spent most of their time in their camps, where they abandoned themselves to riotous, pagan living. Consequently the whole country suffered. In 1280 the Bishops and nobles persuaded King Ladislaus IV to abandon his reckless adventures and to domesticate the wild Cumans. But the Cumans rebelled and pillaged the whole country, including Slovakia, where they committed the most brutal �SLOVAKIA 77 .atrocities. Later, in 1285, the Tartars again invaded Slovakia and devastated Spis and the whole of eastern Slovakia. This invasion was used by the Cumans to pillage western Slovakia. It was thus that Slovakia had to pay for the weaknesses and defects of the kings of Hungary and their friendly relations with the Cumans. The weaker the king, the more the power of the nobility increased. They appropriated royal and ecclesiastical properties and recognized no government over themselves. When King Ladislaus IV refused to reform and continued to spend most of his time in the Cuman camps, the Hungarian magnates assassinated him. His successor, Andrew III (1290-1301), tried to be a good king and did what he could to save the kingdom from catastrophe; but it was too late. By the end of the thirteenth century Hungary disintegrated into several parts in which wealthy magnates reigned as independent little kings. Among these nobles was Matus Cak (Mahtoosh Tchak) of Trencin, "the lord of the Vah and the Tatras," who become the ruler of a large part of Slovakia at the end of the thirteenth century. Ca:k was not a Slovak by birth, but his ancestors had acquired large tracts of land in Slovakia. When he became the highest official of the royalty during the reign of Andrew III, he took advantage of his position and added new lands and castles to his family's holdings. Matus Cak seized the lands of many nobles, forced others to recognize his sovereignty, appropriated many royal citadels and in his ruthlessness did not even hesitate taking ecclesiastical properties. In 1299 he captured Trencin Castle which became the main stronghold of the mighty lord of the Vah and the Tatras. Ca.k's power extended from the Morava river to Spis and from the Danube to the Tatras, so that all of western Slovakia, except Bratislava and vicinity, and a large part of central Slovakia were under his rule. Beyond the Danube the mighty Vy s e h r a d Castle guarded the borders of Ca.k's country. In his Trencin citadel Matus Cak organized his entire court in regal splendor, and numerous courtiers did his bidding. As an independent ruler, he had his own army, coined his own money in Nitra �78 SLOVAKIA and established relations with neighboring rulers. Cak of Trencin built up his great power on the wealth which flowed to him from his extensive holdings. But the most reliable support of his power was the devotion and loyalty of his land administrators and his people. In Ca.k's army divisions of Slovak warriors also fought; they distinguished themselves by their courage, devotion and heroism. Ca.k's military glory, therefore, was in a large measure the merit of his Slovak subjects. At that time the Amadei Clan ruled over eastern Slovakia, including Kosice. It did not recognize the sovereignty of the Hungarian king. In 1301, when the death of King Andrew ill brought the Arpad dynasty to an end and several rulers sought the Hungarian throne, Slovakia was for all practical purposes an independent state under Matus Cak of Trencin. SLOVAKIA UNDER THE ANJOUS After Andrew ill's death, a part of the Hungarian nobility headed by Matus Cak called a son of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia to the throne, who already then was in possession of the Polish Crown. But the twelve-year-old Crown Prince Wenceslaus, crowned in Stolny Belehrad, was op.p osed by another group which sided with Pope Boniface VIII and chose Charles Robert of the French house of Anjou, who ruled in Naples. Relying on his power, Matus Cak of Trencin opposed Charles Robert and defended the interests of the Bohemian Wenceslaus. He resisted the An jous even after Wenceslaus renounced the Hungarian Crown and died shortly after in 1306 as the last male descendant of the Premysl dynasty. Soon after his accession to the throne, the Hungarian king attempted to break the power of the magnates and unite Hungary under his own rule. Matus Cak of Trencin continued to oppose the rule of Charles Robert. With his army he attacked the royal castle at Budin and fought the magnates and bishops who supported Charles Robert. In 1311, after he succeeded in gaining the support of the majority of the nobility, Charles Robert prepared for a showdown with Matus Cak. But the latter allied himself with �SLOVAKIA 79 the Amadei clan who opposed the king in eastern Slovakia. The combined armies of Matus Cak and the Amadei defended themselves successfully at Saris Castle and forced the king to retreat. The royal army withdrew to Spis to rally the support of the German colonists there. With these new allies Charles again set out after Matus Cak. In the decisive battle, which took place June 15, 1312, at Rozhanovce, not far from Kosice, the king was victorious. The Amadei clan was completely routed, lost all its citadels and properties and was forced to flee to Poland, where it found refuge at the court of Ladislaus Lokietek, whom it had aided a short time before against the Czechs. The Amadei never returned to Hungary, but remained in Poland, and Charles Robert became master of eastern Slovakia. Matus Ca.k's setback at Rozhanovce did not break him completely. He continued to act independently in western Slovakia. Indeed, his power and prestige were still so great that the German King Frederick the Handsome, sought his aid in 1315 against Louis, the Bavarian, and against John of Luxemburg. Even though Charles Robert captured Vysehrad and Komarno in 1317 and dangerously threatened the sovereignty of Matus Cak of Trencin, nevertheless, the lord of the Vah and the 'flatras continued to rule independently to the end of his life. It was only after Matus Cak died in the Trencin castle in 1321, that Charles Robert was able to extend his rule over the western half of Slovakia. The following year Charles Robert also seized Bratislava. which had been in the hands of the Austrian dukes since tht beginning of the fourteenth century. Slovakia, after a brief period of independence, again became a part of the kingdom of Hungary which, under the rule of the Anjou dynasty, enjoyed a period of great political, economic and cultural growth. As soon as Charles Robert reunited the Hungarian kingdom, his first care was to put the economic affairs of Hungary into order. He founded many new cities, supported the development of mining, established a sound financial system, and encouraged commerce with neighboring states. It was during this period that a large number of new cities were founded also in Slovakia ·a nd the older ones were granted new privileges. �80 SLOVAKIA Bratislava, Trnava, Levoca, and Kosice became important centers of international commerce. The king- ipaid special attention to the Slovak mining towns, because their wealth swelled the royal coffers appreciably. Mining commissions supervised all mining projects and regulated the sale of all precious metals. A Count of the Chamber headed the mining commission; he concluded the rental agreement with the ruler and guaranteed the king revenues from the mines. The territory of Slovakia, rich in metallic ores, was divided into two mining chambers: the western half of Slovakia belonged under the management of the mining chamber of Kremnica, while the eastern half was managed by the chamber of Smolnica, which later moved its headquarters to Kosice. Zupan Done, who managed a large part of central Slovakia as the administrator of Zvolen, was a loyal adherent and faithful aide of Robert. At that time the Zvolen region was an extensive area, out of which later were gradually formed the independent districts of Turiec, Orava and Liptov, besides that of Zvolen. Administrator Done founded Liptovsky Hradok, built many churches, endowed monasteries, and served at the pa!pal court in Avignon as a rei[)resentative of Charles Robert. Slovakia played a significant role even in the international relations of the Hungarian kingdom. Already in 1327, Charles Robert and the Bohemian king, met in Trnava, where they formed an alliance against the Habsburgs. Slovakia became the territory on which the interests of the Hungarian, Bohemian and Polish kingdoms were settled. In 1335 the legates of John of Bohemia, Casimir the Great of Po-land and Charles Robert assembled at Trenein to determine the conditions of a friendly alliance. At this meeting an agreement was reached which enabled the meeting of the three kings in Vysehrad Castle and thus contributed largely to safeguard peace in central Europe. Louis the Great (1342-1382), son and successor of Charles Robert, tried to extend the limits of the Hungarian kingdom. He waged frequent wars on the southern borders of Hungary and conquered the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and the territory of present-day Rumania. (To be continued) � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 72 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK tContinued) With their economic development the cities and towns also became important centers of cultural life. German settlers brough higher education to the Slovaks, so that many Slovak cities became centers of western European culture. Schools originated near the parish churches and the monasteries. Hospitals were built in many cities. Into all the cities came the architects, contractors and artists, who built and decorated not on:ly churches and city halls, but also the homes of the prosperous citizens. Of course, all this had some influence on the outlying villages and hamlets which were in constant touch with the cities. CRAFTSMEN'S GUILDS IN SLOVAKIA Besides the merchants, who brought various merchandise from the neighboring countries into Slovak cities and formed the wealthiest group, there lived in these cities also the tradesmen, who established their workshops and sold their wares at the markets. Slovaks were acquainted with some trades, others they acquired from their neighbors, but the bulk of trades were introduced into Slovakia by the German colonists in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At first only those trades were fostered which served the everyday needs of the people (carpentry, cabinet-making, tanning, shoemaking, cloth-making, tailoring, etc.). Other trades originated and developed gradually with the economic and cultural conditions of the country. The higher the standard of living, the more trades were developed and applied in the cities, towns and hamlets. Just as the various types of trades came to the Slovaks by way of Germany, so came also the custom of the tradesmen organizing in associations which were called guilds. In every city there were as many guilds as there were different types of trades. As the number of trades SLOVAKIA 73 gradually increased, so did the number of guilds. In the large cities each trade had its own independent guild, while in the smaller towns, and later in the larger villages, the closely-related trades were united in one common guild. Only some cities were granted a monopoly on certain types of trade; e.g., only Kosice had the privilege of making linen (barchet) and Bardejov had the right to bleach cloth. In the larger cities work shops were usually grouped in particular streets so that many of these streets derived their names from the type of trade that prevailed there. In Bratislava, even today there still are streets called Sedlarska, Klobucnicka; in Trnava: Pekarska, Halenarska, Ostrozna, Masiarska ; in Banska Bystrica : Kovacska ; in Hlohovec: Mydlarska ; in Zilina and in Kosice: Zvonarska, Kovacska, Masiarska. As a technical organization, the guild took care of all the interests of its member,s. Each guild had its own written by-laws which contained detailed regulations called articles. The furrier's guild in Kosice had its own articles already in 1305. The Bratislava guild of butchers, shoemakers and bakers had written articles already in 1376. The organization of the guilds took place in the fourteenth century, attained its greatest development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and lasted until modern times, when factory products began to give real competition to the products of the guilds. The by-laws of each city guild had to be approved by the city council and by the landlords; and by secular and church authorities in the smaller towns. The guilds frequently had their statutes approved even by their sovereigns. Due to the fact that many Slovak cities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had a majority of German inhabitants, the guild regulations were written at first in German or Latin. But later, when the Slovaks became the majority, the by-laws and correspondence of the guilds were more frequently in the Slovak language. The Trnava Guild of Tailors already in 1558 did its writing in Slovak; the Butchers' Guild in 1562. The guilds of Trencin and Hlohovec used the Slovak language at the end of the sixteenth 74 SLOVAKIA century. In the seventeenth century all the smaller towns (Banovce, Bojnice, Beckov, Bytca, Holic, Humenne, !lava, Jelsava, Myjava, Prievidza, Puchov, Rajec, Skalica, Sastin, Topol'cany, etc.) kept their guild records in Slovak. Only a master-craftsman could become a member of a respectable guild, after he had fulfilled all technical and moral requirements. In each guild the number of mastercraftsmen was limited to prevent overproduction in goods. In Bratislava in 1376, there could be only twenty-eight butchers and sixteen bakers. Every member of a guild was obliged to present only perfect products at prices determined by the guild. All tradesmen had to work in the same way so that their products were of like quality and price, and all competition removed. At the head of each guild was a guildmaster, whom the members elected for a period of one year. If there were a number of master craftsmen in a guild, the leader of the guild was the chief guildmaster. The guildmaster was the head of the guild, represented the guild before the authorities, especially before the city council in whose presence he took the oath of office after his election. He took care of all the guild's interests, ipresided at meetings, held several times a year in his home, and at banquets. He supervised the work of all members of his particular guild, judged th~ir products especially before they went to market, saw to it that all regulations were strictly observed, and in his care were all documents and letters and finances of his guild. The guildmaster was ,s ole arbiter of all arguments between members; he imposed punishment and collected all fines. He was a very respected personality not only among the membership of his guild, but among the general public as well. Members of the guild were divided into senior and junior master craftsmen. The elder masters, authorized by the guildmaster, supervised the work of the members of the guild and maintained order and discipline. The younger masters were obliged to perform various menial duties, such as lighting candles in the church, serving as waiters at banquets, taking care of the weak and sick masters, dig- SLOVAKIA 75 ging graves and acting as pallbearers for deceased masters. After banquets, if the senior masters were unable to find their way home, the junior members were obliged to escort them. Great care was taken to see that all members of a guild conscientiousl y performed their religious obligations. The wealthier guilds had their own altar in the parish church which was dedicated to the patron saint of their guild. Every guild member was obliged to attend divine services on Sunday and Holy Days, and had to receive the sacraments at least once a year. At church processions the entire guild took part under its own standard, which bore the image of the patron saint and the trademark of the guild. Any member guilty of transgression s, which caused scandal and so harmed the good name of a respectable guild, was obliged to pay a prescribed sum into the guild's treasury, or give candles to his church. In the event of danger, when an enemy threatened the city, the guild members were obliged to defend the ramparts of the city. The city assigned to each guild a tower or bastion which the members had to keep in good order and supply it with weapons and ammunition. City bastions have retained individual guild names even to this day (Pekarska basta, Obuvnicka, Masiarska, etc.). If a fire broke out in the city, each guild had to take part in the rescue work and also bring a prescribed number of buckets of water to help extinguish it. So that only honorable persons could become members of a guild, people of good morals and technically well prepared, many years of apprenticeshi p and str ict education wer e prescribed for applicants. SLOVAKIA AFTER THE TURKISH INVASION When the Turks abandoned plundered Hungary, King Bela IV set out to reconstruct his country. He invited foreign settlers in large numbers, so that some might cultivate the depopulated areas. Many Germans settled in the hilly regions to found new villages and towns. But nomadic Cumans also came again to occupy the lowlands and the southern foothills of the Slovak mountains. The Ger mans 76 SLOVAKIA brought a high degree of culture into the country and contributed handsomely to its economy, while the Cumans were supposed to be the military support of the Hungarian king. But Hungary, even during the reign of Bela IV, was in a difficult situation, which was caused by internal revolutions and the growth of the Bohemian kingdom under Premysl Otokar II and his successors. Bela nr could not maintain the integrity of his kingdom. His son wanted to rule during his lifetime, and Bela was forced to let him rule over the Eastern part of Hungary. This partition of Hungary weakened it terribly and increased the dangers of invasion by outside enemies. While the members of the ruling family quarreled, the wealthy nobles strengthened thei r own positions and prestige. Slovak territory played an important role in the development of these relations, since both the Czechs and the Hungarians were interested in it. Premysl Otokar II became ruler of Austrian lands and extended his rule to the banks of the Adriatic Sea. Since the Hungarian king claimed a part of these lands, especially Styria, hostile relations between the Czechs and Hungarians resulted. But Premysl Otokar II also wanted Slovakia, and this only infuriated the Hungarian monarch more. Wars were inevitable. They were fought on Slovak soil and the Slovaks paid with their lives and property for the enmity existing between two foreign rulers. A part of western Slovakia, including Bratislava, Trnava and Nitra, became prey of the Bohemian king several times after 1271 and the victim of the ruthless devastation of the Czech armies. Finally, this area fell into the hands of Austrian dukes and barons. After Bela's death (1270), the Hungarian throne was occupied by rulers who became friendly with the pagan Cumans, spent most of their time in their camps, where they abandoned themselves to riotous, pagan living. Consequently the whole country suffered. In 1280 the Bishops and nobles persuaded King Ladislaus IV to abandon his reckless adventures and to domesticate the wild Cumans. But the Cumans rebelled and pillaged the whole country, including Slovakia, where they committed the most brutal SLOVAKIA 77 .atrocities. Later, in 1285, the Tartars again invaded Slovakia and devastated Spis and the whole of eastern Slovakia. This invasion was used by the Cumans to pillage western Slovakia. It was thus that Slovakia had to pay for the weaknesses and defects of the kings of Hungary and their friendly relations with the Cumans. The weaker the king, the more the power of the nobility increased. They appropriated royal and ecclesiastical properties and recognized no government over themselves. When King Ladislaus IV refused to reform and continued to spend most of his time in the Cuman camps, the Hungarian magnates assassinated him. His successor, Andrew III (1290-1301), tried to be a good king and did what he could to save the kingdom from catastrophe; but it was too late. By the end of the thirteenth century Hungary disintegrated into several parts in which wealthy magnates reigned as independent little kings. Among these nobles was Matus Cak (Mahtoosh Tchak) of Trencin, "the lord of the Vah and the Tatras," who become the ruler of a large part of Slovakia at the end of the thirteenth century. Ca:k was not a Slovak by birth, but his ancestors had acquired large tracts of land in Slovakia. When he became the highest official of the royalty during the reign of Andrew III, he took advantage of his position and added new lands and castles to his family's holdings. Matus Cak seized the lands of many nobles, forced others to recognize his sovereignty, appropriated many royal citadels and in his ruthlessness did not even hesitate taking ecclesiastical properties. In 1299 he captured Trencin Castle which became the main stronghold of the mighty lord of the Vah and the Tatras. Ca.k's power extended from the Morava river to Spis and from the Danube to the Tatras, so that all of western Slovakia, except Bratislava and vicinity, and a large part of central Slovakia were under his rule. Beyond the Danube the mighty Vy s e h r a d Castle guarded the borders of Ca.k's country. In his Trencin citadel Matus Cak organized his entire court in regal splendor, and numerous courtiers did his bidding. As an independent ruler, he had his own army, coined his own money in Nitra 78 SLOVAKIA and established relations with neighboring rulers. Cak of Trencin built up his great power on the wealth which flowed to him from his extensive holdings. But the most reliable support of his power was the devotion and loyalty of his land administrators and his people. In Ca.k's army divisions of Slovak warriors also fought; they distinguished themselves by their courage, devotion and heroism. Ca.k's military glory, therefore, was in a large measure the merit of his Slovak subjects. At that time the Amadei Clan ruled over eastern Slovakia, including Kosice. It did not recognize the sovereignty of the Hungarian king. In 1301, when the death of King Andrew ill brought the Arpad dynasty to an end and several rulers sought the Hungarian throne, Slovakia was for all practical purposes an independent state under Matus Cak of Trencin. SLOVAKIA UNDER THE ANJOUS After Andrew ill's death, a part of the Hungarian nobility headed by Matus Cak called a son of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia to the throne, who already then was in possession of the Polish Crown. But the twelve-year-old Crown Prince Wenceslaus, crowned in Stolny Belehrad, was op.p osed by another group which sided with Pope Boniface VIII and chose Charles Robert of the French house of Anjou, who ruled in Naples. Relying on his power, Matus Cak of Trencin opposed Charles Robert and defended the interests of the Bohemian Wenceslaus. He resisted the An jous even after Wenceslaus renounced the Hungarian Crown and died shortly after in 1306 as the last male descendant of the Premysl dynasty. Soon after his accession to the throne, the Hungarian king attempted to break the power of the magnates and unite Hungary under his own rule. Matus Cak of Trencin continued to oppose the rule of Charles Robert. With his army he attacked the royal castle at Budin and fought the magnates and bishops who supported Charles Robert. In 1311, after he succeeded in gaining the support of the majority of the nobility, Charles Robert prepared for a showdown with Matus Cak. But the latter allied himself with SLOVAKIA 79 the Amadei clan who opposed the king in eastern Slovakia. The combined armies of Matus Cak and the Amadei defended themselves successfully at Saris Castle and forced the king to retreat. The royal army withdrew to Spis to rally the support of the German colonists there. With these new allies Charles again set out after Matus Cak. In the decisive battle, which took place June 15, 1312, at Rozhanovce, not far from Kosice, the king was victorious. The Amadei clan was completely routed, lost all its citadels and properties and was forced to flee to Poland, where it found refuge at the court of Ladislaus Lokietek, whom it had aided a short time before against the Czechs. The Amadei never returned to Hungary, but remained in Poland, and Charles Robert became master of eastern Slovakia. Matus Ca.k's setback at Rozhanovce did not break him completely. He continued to act independently in western Slovakia. Indeed, his power and prestige were still so great that the German King Frederick the Handsome, sought his aid in 1315 against Louis, the Bavarian, and against John of Luxemburg. Even though Charles Robert captured Vysehrad and Komarno in 1317 and dangerously threatened the sovereignty of Matus Cak of Trencin, nevertheless, the lord of the Vah and the 'flatras continued to rule independently to the end of his life. It was only after Matus Cak died in the Trencin castle in 1321, that Charles Robert was able to extend his rule over the western half of Slovakia. The following year Charles Robert also seized Bratislava. which had been in the hands of the Austrian dukes since tht beginning of the fourteenth century. Slovakia, after a brief period of independence, again became a part of the kingdom of Hungary which, under the rule of the Anjou dynasty, enjoyed a period of great political, economic and cultural growth. As soon as Charles Robert reunited the Hungarian kingdom, his first care was to put the economic affairs of Hungary into order. He founded many new cities, supported the development of mining, established a sound financial system, and encouraged commerce with neighboring states. It was during this period that a large number of new cities were founded also in Slovakia ·a nd the older ones were granted new privileges. 80 SLOVAKIA Bratislava, Trnava, Levoca, and Kosice became important centers of international commerce. The king- ipaid special attention to the Slovak mining towns, because their wealth swelled the royal coffers appreciably. Mining commissions supervised all mining projects and regulated the sale of all precious metals. A Count of the Chamber headed the mining commission; he concluded the rental agreement with the ruler and guaranteed the king revenues from the mines. The territory of Slovakia, rich in metallic ores, was divided into two mining chambers: the western half of Slovakia belonged under the management of the mining chamber of Kremnica, while the eastern half was managed by the chamber of Smolnica, which later moved its headquarters to Kosice. Zupan Done, who managed a large part of central Slovakia as the administrator of Zvolen, was a loyal adherent and faithful aide of Robert. At that time the Zvolen region was an extensive area, out of which later were gradually formed the independent districts of Turiec, Orava and Liptov, besides that of Zvolen. Administrator Done founded Liptovsky Hradok, built many churches, endowed monasteries, and served at the pa!pal court in Avignon as a rei[)resentative of Charles Robert. Slovakia played a significant role even in the international relations of the Hungarian kingdom. Already in 1327, Charles Robert and the Bohemian king, met in Trnava, where they formed an alliance against the Habsburgs. Slovakia became the territory on which the interests of the Hungarian, Bohemian and Polish kingdoms were settled. In 1335 the legates of John of Bohemia, Casimir the Great of Po-land and Charles Robert assembled at Trenein to determine the conditions of a friendly alliance. At this meeting an agreement was reached which enabled the meeting of the three kings in Vysehrad Castle and thus contributed largely to safeguard peace in central Europe. Louis the Great (1342-1382), son and successor of Charles Robert, tried to extend the limits of the Hungarian kingdom. He waged frequent wars on the southern borders of Hungary and conquered the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and the territory of present-day Rumania. (To be continued)  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 History of Slovakia (8/9) Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), March 1959 pp. 72-80 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1959 Relation A related resource continued from <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/260">Vol. 8, No. 3 (28), pp. 69-80</a><br />continues in <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/285">Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), pp. 75-80</a> LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cb1c7289d31cbcab00966343b7893e79.pdf 8346f725c8f693c2dbe47d87d5fd73de PDF Text Text JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 VOL. IX NO. 5 (30) IN THIS ISSUE : SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE SLOVAK NATIONALISM: NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY FATHER SEGINAK'S IMPRESSLON OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA WHO SAID IT: 19, 37, 64, 68 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). • THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 t:;UDOV1T STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 VOL. IX NO. 5 (30) IN THIS ISSUE : SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE SLOVAK NATIONALISM: NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY FATHER SEGINAK'S IMPRESSLON OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA WHO SAID IT: 19, 37, 64, 68 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). • THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 t:;UDOV1T STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 VOL. IX NO. 5 (30) IN THIS ISSUE : SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE SLOVAK NATIONALISM: NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY FATHER SEGINAK'S IMPRESSLON OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA WHO SAID IT: 19, 37, 64, 68 • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by TH E SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA RECOMMENDED BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). • THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILENCE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $2.00. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA'' - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 t:;UDOV1T STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD, Prof. J. Kirschbaum; 25c. ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0. Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletown, Pa.  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. 9, No. 5 (30) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5179b2412e512cdaa1ac666128e66c6f.pdf e623b1edf714b7b51719573ff1cdc264 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. IX JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 NO. 5 (30) SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM Joseph Pauco In the past two years hundreds of American Slovaks visited Slovakia. They were not molested or harmed in any way; and no one was arrested or detained by the police that we know of. It is obvious that Prague wants visitors from America, because that means American DOLLARS. \Only two Slovak clergymen were allowed to visit Slovakia, though many more applied for visas but were refused them. The Czech Reds do not want Slovak Catholic priests from America to visit Slovakia. And most wellknown Slovak personalities in America, too, are persona no grata. They want to know too much about the plight of the Church in Slovakia, the condition of the Bishops and the cler• gy and the schools. I have talked with dozens of Americans of Slovak origin who have visited Slovakia. This report is based on these conversations. After World War n, a certain Slovak came to America to his father. '!'his year he was allowed to visit Slovakia. He had let his brothers and other relatives know that he was coming. So they waited for him at the station. And they waited and waited in the crowd for some time. H e did not recognize them, and they did not recognize him. "We had not seen each other for thirteen years," he related. "My brother and brother-in-law have changed beyond recognition." "My brother," he continued, "is younger than I, but today he looks older than our father. He has aged terribly; h e is wrinkled and gray. He is not the same man I said goodbye to in Slovakia thirteen years ago." What did he go through? They confiscated his property, as well as that of the other relatives. A nephew, a priest, is languishing somewhere in a concentration camp, while his two sisters members of a religious order are forced to work in the fields. The family is large and there is no money, or any way of earning it, that is, enough of it to k eep going. The spiritual and material property of these people is indescribable. No wonder the man aged prematurely! "During my stay in Slovakia," continued my fr i e n d, "not a single smile ever lit up the faces of my relatives. We all cried when my brother r elated what terrible things had transpired since the end of the war. And they all cry even when they eat a nd s leep." He met with his friends in the village. When h e lef-t them thirteen years ago, they were well off. Today they have nothing. All �2 SLOVAKIA must work in the kholkhoses. 1 ly." When this did not work out All are aging prematurely; all : very well, the 1Reds began to use are beggars today. "They walk I pressure. First on the wealthier In rags," said my friend, "like farmers, whom they labeled parasites, ~lood-sucker, and_ politithe gypsies used to long ago." d . cal unrel!ables. After their holdd f It .. so epresse m ings were diminished "by law," I never e all my life," he continued. "These the Reds began to work on the people have virtually lost all faith small farmers. They gave them in themselves. In their great fear a "choice": either to give up and sorrow th ey care for no th ing; their own farms and work on the nothing interests them. They pray kholkhoses, or to lose everything constantly, and it is prayer that and work the same amount ot k eeps them from despairing. I acreage somewhere else. In the certainly would not want to live end the en ti re community is in Slovakia today," concluded my changed. The farmers have nofriend. thing left but a garden which Farmers in Slovakia are losing cannot sustain the family. People their land. 'I'he Czech Communist get paid for working in the kholState is confiscating it system- khoses. Not in money, but in atically. The S tat e now owns "units." A unit is worth 6 crowns most of the farmers and their (86 cents) and three kilograms farms. The farmers, sooner or (6.6 lbs.) of grain. But to earn later, are forced to join the khol- this unit, the kholkhose slave khose system or they lose every- must, for example, cultivate cuthing. In the end they do lose cumbers or tobacco six hour!!. everythtng. Here is the story as The value of the "unit" is figured told by an American with a bro- otherwise for different jobs. ther in Slovakia, who "voluntariKholkhose guards are also paid ly" joined the collective farm in units. Daily they get one and system. a half units, that is, 9 crowns My brother owned 12 hectares ($1.28) and 4.50 kilograms (9.90 of land (29.64 acres). He was ob- lbs.) of grain. But the guard not liged to give the government an- cnly watches and supervises, but nually 2,640 lbs. of beef, 1,000 also must work. lbs. of pork, 8,360 lbs. of grain, A farmer's cow is worth 110 350 eggs, and 2,500 liters of milk. units to the State, that is, he If the season was dry and crops must pay with his work 666 were poor, or the animals gob crowns ($95.14) and give 330 kisick and died, the farmer was lograms (726 lbs. of grain. This lost. He had no mo n e y with means that a farmer must buy which to buy grain, meat, eggs, his own cow annually or else or milk. And even if he had lose It. In the summer the cows money, he could not buy any- have a common pasture; in the thing, because the other farmers, winter they are fed from the too, had to surrender their pro- kholkhoses. A milker has to take ducts. What could he do but sur- care of 16 cows. He milks the render his land to the State? cows by hand three times daily. 'I'o get the farmers to join the Everything is systematized. Each kholkhose system, the Reds pro- person works in his own departmised just about everything to ment only. With a whip over his h ave the farmers join "voluntarl- head at all times. People must I �SLOVAKIA 3 work Sundays, too, so that the I are now administe red by orthoReds can show that they comple- : dox clergyme n from Russia and tely control the "reaction ary pea- : Bohemia the Slovak Greek Cathsants," who have always been olics (Byzantin e Rite) attend faithful to God and to their Roman Catholic churches even if nation. 'I'oday practicall y every- I they have to walk ~iles to get thing is owned by the State - . to one. The Catholics are bebusiness, industry, bakeries, bu- ' coming thus more united in suftcher shops, drugstore s, farms, fering and in their opposition to and even the doctors. Everythin g the Reds. When I asked recent visitors is owned by all the people. "Everything is ours, but only to look to Slovakia how fares it with the at," is what the people say in schools there, I was told that the teachers must sign a statemen t Slovakia. that they have r enounced the * * * I asked several Am erican Slo- Catholic Faith or else they lose vaks who had visited Slovakia their positions. "The future ot 1 recently, how the Church fared I Communi sm," the Reds keep on in Slovakia and how the priests j bellowing , "depends on th e trainwere treated. I was told that ing of our youth." And God and many priests still are in jail and ! religion must be eradicated from that those who are not are under the h ear ts and minds of all strict police control. The Czech youngster s no matter what the Red secret police and their a- cost, according to the Reds. 'I'he Slovaks feel that they have gents shadow every cle~gyman . 1 then ~sked about the priests who been .forsaken by all except God. had signed the governme nt proturn constantly for . A c- To Him they . . regar d t o "C a th o11c gram m th at anot~er w~r pvaymg help, refused had who tion," and those soon breaks . • . . out. Yes, m their t o sign 1•t . Th e num b er o f th ose to the o- 1great afflict10n they are beggmg led ed lo alt who bewar, another allow to . . g · God Y Y g P R d f I th t th th vernment program was negligible . s e e a ee ey About half of the latter have c~use never let up unless they are will . t . th d tt d 1 0 n. beat up. The Slovaks are now eir ~ c a 1rea Y regre e Those who refused to sign have hardened and determine d to fight. th to live a hell on ear . The They tried to help the Magyars Communi sts spread malicious ru• 1956, but mors about them to turn their when they revolted inthem with Red Prague stopped parishion ers against them. Where its armies. If America or the remain churches that happens the West had come to the aid of the empty and then the Reds chase Magyars at that time, the Slothe priests to the labor camps, vaks over there say that they, saying that they have nothing to the Poles, Ukrainian s, Rumanian s, do in the parish. Of course, Sun- and the other behind the Iron days mean nothing to the Reds. Curtain would also have ma.de a People must devote Sundays to bid for freedom - and the situaput time in the "work brigades." tion today in central and eastern This means that people cannot Europe would be different that go to church - and in turn "the it is. They still ask why America. priest has nothing to do!" This and the West did not help. And in time will have telling effects. if they did not help in 1956, what Since the Greek Catholic churches are the chances of help from I �4 SLOVAKIA America and the West the next · clothes from America? They were time some nation makes a bid getting quite a bit of help from to burst from its Red chains? American relatives at first, but Who has the heart to tell them · since "Care" was proscribed and that America and the West have the government has taken over decided on a policy of "peace- everything, little is coming in, ful coexistence"? Of course, not because of exorbitant taxes or Radio Free Europe or the Voice ' customs d!!ty. A headkerchief of America - but the Reds will, j (babuska) from America for e>..and they did tell them: "Don't ample, is taxed 50 crowns ($7.15), expect any help from the Ameri- and other articles of wear as can imperiali~ts. Comrade Nikita ! high as 200 crowns per kilogram! Khruschchev 1s the only one now that can help. Stick by him!" A Slovak lady, who had visited I Slovakia recently, told of her sur* '~ * prise when she b o ugh t some How about the cost of living meat at a butcher shop and some in Slovakia? Terribly high._ Break- buns at a bakery. The clerk fast a very small piece ot would not wrap the merchandise. butter, a little jam, two pieces When she asked for wrapping of bread and a cup of coffee - paper, she was told to bring her come to 12 crowns (7 crowns own next time or wrap her stuff one dollar). Lunch pork and in an apron. sauerkraut, bread, and a small beer - adds up to 17.50 crowns. How about buying an auto in A kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of tomatoes Slovakia? Well, they are offered - 12 crowns; 3 lbs. of bread for sale, but not for everybody 8 crowns - a liter of vodka or anybody. The prices are ex80 crowns; a liter of rum 96 orbitant, but then it's not so easy crowns; a kilogram of sugar to get one even if one has the 10.20; poor quality sausage - 25 cash. A reguest form for an auto crowns per kilogram; better qua- must first be filled out and sent lity - 80 crowns; women's dress to the proper authorities. It may mater i a 1 400 crowns (per take up to three years to get an dress) and to sew same another answer. ~ut that does not mean 300 crowns; men's suits - 1,200 1 that one 1s ready to get the auto. crowns; work shoes 200, and 'I'he reply usually tells the apdress shoes - 380 crowns. There , plicant what further steps he are cheaper shoes, but they last . must take. only about 2-3 weeks of conti- j It's the same thing, my informnuous wear'. the better shoes ant tells me, with building one's last about six months. h ome. F' · • 1rs t h e mus t ge t perm1sThus a person must work two sion to build; then he waits till weeks to buy poor clothes. Facto- I he gets an approval for the nery workers are a bit better off. ! cessary material. He may ask for But even an expert or techni- ' a certain kin~ of material and cian does not make more than get another kmd. 1,400 crowns per month. A tractor man gets 1,200 crowns per "Y~~ know ,"_ my informer told month. A commander of the Na- · me, m Slovakia they have plenty tional Security is no better off. II of everything poverty, fear, jails, drudgery except money How about getting food and and fabricated materials. Many I I I I = -1 I i I I �SLOVAKIA times I could not even buy matches in a Slovak village. .And when I walked into a store and asked what they had to sell, one 'comrade' replied sourly: 'Don't ask what we have, but what we don't have!'" 5 low shadowing me for several days. When I entered the home of my aunt, the man slipped out of sight. The next morning he reappeared again. On this occasion he approached me and said: * * * "Pardon me, but I think you Visitors to Slovakia are gene- are looking for the home of your friend 's mother, not - the friend rally surprised at the excessive that lives in the same town in drinking of the ordinary folks. America that you do? Well, his " I visited five communities," a mother lives over there." friend of mine told me after returning from Slovakia, " but the "Surprised? Of course, I was," drinking problem is the same in continued Janko. "I had told no all of them, and, I suppose, in all one that I was going to visit my of Slovakia." The Slovaks drink friend 's mother, because he had not because they are well off, asked me not to, since he was but because they are suffering a public official. But the shadow extreme hardships. It seems that evidently knew whom I would the people there are trying to probably visit in that particular drink their hapless lot away. village! When I visited some re"But the stuH they are drinking," latives and friends in another added my friend, "is t e r r i b I e town, I was shadowed again." stuff, poison that most people themselves make clandestinely. Another American visitor viPerhaps it is worse than the worst moonshine ever made in sited the pastor of the parish to America." The clergy are doing which his relatives belong. "How their best to convince the people are you, Father?" he asked. "Oh, not to drink, but to little avail. I'm getting along fine, thank you. :',,lore than on e priest told me So fine, in fact, that things could that the situation is worsening hardly be better. And briefly, let me tell you how fine: with the years. "Last Sunday I gave a sermon Shadowing visitors is common and then celebrated Holy -Mass. in Slovakia. I learned from sev- .As 1 left the church, a welleral friends who recently visited known Communist olll!icial apSlovakia that the secret police proached me and asked me to of any district know who is com- repeat the sermon I gave since ing from where into the area. he did not have time to attend My friend, let's call him Janko church, because, he said, he want(John), recently visited his re- ed to be edified. latives, and he had quite a few of them. ".As I left the home of "Yes, he did want to learn one of my relatives for the home something. He wanted to hear of another," said Janko, "I be- from my own lips what I had came a w a r e of the fact that ' said so that he could check this somebody was following me. Well, with the report that would be the first time it did not bother brought to him by his own stoome. But I noticed the same fel- \ ges 1 " concluded the priest. I � SLOVAKIA Published by the Slovak League of America VOL. IX JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 NO. 5 (30) SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM Joseph Pauco In the past two years hundreds of American Slovaks visited Slovakia. They were not molested or harmed in any way; and no one was arrested or detained by the police that we know of. It is obvious that Prague wants visitors from America, because that means American DOLLARS. \Only two Slovak clergymen were allowed to visit Slovakia, though many more applied for visas but were refused them. The Czech Reds do not want Slovak Catholic priests from America to visit Slovakia. And most wellknown Slovak personalities in America, too, are persona no grata. They want to know too much about the plight of the Church in Slovakia, the condition of the Bishops and the cler• gy and the schools. I have talked with dozens of Americans of Slovak origin who have visited Slovakia. This report is based on these conversations. After World War n, a certain Slovak came to America to his father. '!'his year he was allowed to visit Slovakia. He had let his brothers and other relatives know that he was coming. So they waited for him at the station. And they waited and waited in the crowd for some time. H e did not recognize them, and they did not recognize him. "We had not seen each other for thirteen years," he related. "My brother and brother-in-law have changed beyond recognition." "My brother," he continued, "is younger than I, but today he looks older than our father. He has aged terribly; h e is wrinkled and gray. He is not the same man I said goodbye to in Slovakia thirteen years ago." What did he go through? They confiscated his property, as well as that of the other relatives. A nephew, a priest, is languishing somewhere in a concentration camp, while his two sisters members of a religious order are forced to work in the fields. The family is large and there is no money, or any way of earning it, that is, enough of it to k eep going. The spiritual and material property of these people is indescribable. No wonder the man aged prematurely! "During my stay in Slovakia," continued my fr i e n d, "not a single smile ever lit up the faces of my relatives. We all cried when my brother r elated what terrible things had transpired since the end of the war. And they all cry even when they eat a nd s leep." He met with his friends in the village. When h e lef-t them thirteen years ago, they were well off. Today they have nothing. All �2 SLOVAKIA must work in the kholkhoses. 1 ly." When this did not work out All are aging prematurely; all : very well, the 1Reds began to use are beggars today. "They walk I pressure. First on the wealthier In rags," said my friend, "like farmers, whom they labeled parasites, ~lood-sucker, and_ politithe gypsies used to long ago." d . cal unrel!ables. After their holdd f It .. so epresse m ings were diminished "by law," I never e all my life," he continued. "These the Reds began to work on the people have virtually lost all faith small farmers. They gave them in themselves. In their great fear a "choice": either to give up and sorrow th ey care for no th ing; their own farms and work on the nothing interests them. They pray kholkhoses, or to lose everything constantly, and it is prayer that and work the same amount ot k eeps them from despairing. I acreage somewhere else. In the certainly would not want to live end the en ti re community is in Slovakia today," concluded my changed. The farmers have nofriend. thing left but a garden which Farmers in Slovakia are losing cannot sustain the family. People their land. 'I'he Czech Communist get paid for working in the kholState is confiscating it system- khoses. Not in money, but in atically. The S tat e now owns "units." A unit is worth 6 crowns most of the farmers and their (86 cents) and three kilograms farms. The farmers, sooner or (6.6 lbs.) of grain. But to earn later, are forced to join the khol- this unit, the kholkhose slave khose system or they lose every- must, for example, cultivate cuthing. In the end they do lose cumbers or tobacco six hour!!. everythtng. Here is the story as The value of the "unit" is figured told by an American with a bro- otherwise for different jobs. ther in Slovakia, who "voluntariKholkhose guards are also paid ly" joined the collective farm in units. Daily they get one and system. a half units, that is, 9 crowns My brother owned 12 hectares ($1.28) and 4.50 kilograms (9.90 of land (29.64 acres). He was ob- lbs.) of grain. But the guard not liged to give the government an- cnly watches and supervises, but nually 2,640 lbs. of beef, 1,000 also must work. lbs. of pork, 8,360 lbs. of grain, A farmer's cow is worth 110 350 eggs, and 2,500 liters of milk. units to the State, that is, he If the season was dry and crops must pay with his work 666 were poor, or the animals gob crowns ($95.14) and give 330 kisick and died, the farmer was lograms (726 lbs. of grain. This lost. He had no mo n e y with means that a farmer must buy which to buy grain, meat, eggs, his own cow annually or else or milk. And even if he had lose It. In the summer the cows money, he could not buy any- have a common pasture; in the thing, because the other farmers, winter they are fed from the too, had to surrender their pro- kholkhoses. A milker has to take ducts. What could he do but sur- care of 16 cows. He milks the render his land to the State? cows by hand three times daily. 'I'o get the farmers to join the Everything is systematized. Each kholkhose system, the Reds pro- person works in his own departmised just about everything to ment only. With a whip over his h ave the farmers join "voluntarl- head at all times. People must I �SLOVAKIA 3 work Sundays, too, so that the I are now administe red by orthoReds can show that they comple- : dox clergyme n from Russia and tely control the "reaction ary pea- : Bohemia the Slovak Greek Cathsants," who have always been olics (Byzantin e Rite) attend faithful to God and to their Roman Catholic churches even if nation. 'I'oday practicall y every- I they have to walk ~iles to get thing is owned by the State - . to one. The Catholics are bebusiness, industry, bakeries, bu- ' coming thus more united in suftcher shops, drugstore s, farms, fering and in their opposition to and even the doctors. Everythin g the Reds. When I asked recent visitors is owned by all the people. "Everything is ours, but only to look to Slovakia how fares it with the at," is what the people say in schools there, I was told that the teachers must sign a statemen t Slovakia. that they have r enounced the * * * I asked several Am erican Slo- Catholic Faith or else they lose vaks who had visited Slovakia their positions. "The future ot 1 recently, how the Church fared I Communi sm," the Reds keep on in Slovakia and how the priests j bellowing , "depends on th e trainwere treated. I was told that ing of our youth." And God and many priests still are in jail and ! religion must be eradicated from that those who are not are under the h ear ts and minds of all strict police control. The Czech youngster s no matter what the Red secret police and their a- cost, according to the Reds. 'I'he Slovaks feel that they have gents shadow every cle~gyman . 1 then ~sked about the priests who been .forsaken by all except God. had signed the governme nt proturn constantly for . A c- To Him they . . regar d t o "C a th o11c gram m th at anot~er w~r pvaymg help, refused had who tion," and those soon breaks . • . . out. Yes, m their t o sign 1•t . Th e num b er o f th ose to the o- 1great afflict10n they are beggmg led ed lo alt who bewar, another allow to . . g · God Y Y g P R d f I th t th th vernment program was negligible . s e e a ee ey About half of the latter have c~use never let up unless they are will . t . th d tt d 1 0 n. beat up. The Slovaks are now eir ~ c a 1rea Y regre e Those who refused to sign have hardened and determine d to fight. th to live a hell on ear . The They tried to help the Magyars Communi sts spread malicious ru• 1956, but mors about them to turn their when they revolted inthem with Red Prague stopped parishion ers against them. Where its armies. If America or the remain churches that happens the West had come to the aid of the empty and then the Reds chase Magyars at that time, the Slothe priests to the labor camps, vaks over there say that they, saying that they have nothing to the Poles, Ukrainian s, Rumanian s, do in the parish. Of course, Sun- and the other behind the Iron days mean nothing to the Reds. Curtain would also have ma.de a People must devote Sundays to bid for freedom - and the situaput time in the "work brigades." tion today in central and eastern This means that people cannot Europe would be different that go to church - and in turn "the it is. They still ask why America. priest has nothing to do!" This and the West did not help. And in time will have telling effects. if they did not help in 1956, what Since the Greek Catholic churches are the chances of help from I �4 SLOVAKIA America and the West the next · clothes from America? They were time some nation makes a bid getting quite a bit of help from to burst from its Red chains? American relatives at first, but Who has the heart to tell them · since "Care" was proscribed and that America and the West have the government has taken over decided on a policy of "peace- everything, little is coming in, ful coexistence"? Of course, not because of exorbitant taxes or Radio Free Europe or the Voice ' customs d!!ty. A headkerchief of America - but the Reds will, j (babuska) from America for e>..and they did tell them: "Don't ample, is taxed 50 crowns ($7.15), expect any help from the Ameri- and other articles of wear as can imperiali~ts. Comrade Nikita ! high as 200 crowns per kilogram! Khruschchev 1s the only one now that can help. Stick by him!" A Slovak lady, who had visited I Slovakia recently, told of her sur* '~ * prise when she b o ugh t some How about the cost of living meat at a butcher shop and some in Slovakia? Terribly high._ Break- buns at a bakery. The clerk fast a very small piece ot would not wrap the merchandise. butter, a little jam, two pieces When she asked for wrapping of bread and a cup of coffee - paper, she was told to bring her come to 12 crowns (7 crowns own next time or wrap her stuff one dollar). Lunch pork and in an apron. sauerkraut, bread, and a small beer - adds up to 17.50 crowns. How about buying an auto in A kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of tomatoes Slovakia? Well, they are offered - 12 crowns; 3 lbs. of bread for sale, but not for everybody 8 crowns - a liter of vodka or anybody. The prices are ex80 crowns; a liter of rum 96 orbitant, but then it's not so easy crowns; a kilogram of sugar to get one even if one has the 10.20; poor quality sausage - 25 cash. A reguest form for an auto crowns per kilogram; better qua- must first be filled out and sent lity - 80 crowns; women's dress to the proper authorities. It may mater i a 1 400 crowns (per take up to three years to get an dress) and to sew same another answer. ~ut that does not mean 300 crowns; men's suits - 1,200 1 that one 1s ready to get the auto. crowns; work shoes 200, and 'I'he reply usually tells the apdress shoes - 380 crowns. There , plicant what further steps he are cheaper shoes, but they last . must take. only about 2-3 weeks of conti- j It's the same thing, my informnuous wear'. the better shoes ant tells me, with building one's last about six months. h ome. F' · • 1rs t h e mus t ge t perm1sThus a person must work two sion to build; then he waits till weeks to buy poor clothes. Facto- I he gets an approval for the nery workers are a bit better off. ! cessary material. He may ask for But even an expert or techni- ' a certain kin~ of material and cian does not make more than get another kmd. 1,400 crowns per month. A tractor man gets 1,200 crowns per "Y~~ know ,"_ my informer told month. A commander of the Na- · me, m Slovakia they have plenty tional Security is no better off. II of everything poverty, fear, jails, drudgery except money How about getting food and and fabricated materials. Many I I I I = -1 I i I I �SLOVAKIA times I could not even buy matches in a Slovak village. .And when I walked into a store and asked what they had to sell, one 'comrade' replied sourly: 'Don't ask what we have, but what we don't have!'" 5 low shadowing me for several days. When I entered the home of my aunt, the man slipped out of sight. The next morning he reappeared again. On this occasion he approached me and said: * * * "Pardon me, but I think you Visitors to Slovakia are gene- are looking for the home of your friend 's mother, not - the friend rally surprised at the excessive that lives in the same town in drinking of the ordinary folks. America that you do? Well, his " I visited five communities," a mother lives over there." friend of mine told me after returning from Slovakia, " but the "Surprised? Of course, I was," drinking problem is the same in continued Janko. "I had told no all of them, and, I suppose, in all one that I was going to visit my of Slovakia." The Slovaks drink friend 's mother, because he had not because they are well off, asked me not to, since he was but because they are suffering a public official. But the shadow extreme hardships. It seems that evidently knew whom I would the people there are trying to probably visit in that particular drink their hapless lot away. village! When I visited some re"But the stuH they are drinking," latives and friends in another added my friend, "is t e r r i b I e town, I was shadowed again." stuff, poison that most people themselves make clandestinely. Another American visitor viPerhaps it is worse than the worst moonshine ever made in sited the pastor of the parish to America." The clergy are doing which his relatives belong. "How their best to convince the people are you, Father?" he asked. "Oh, not to drink, but to little avail. I'm getting along fine, thank you. :',,lore than on e priest told me So fine, in fact, that things could that the situation is worsening hardly be better. And briefly, let me tell you how fine: with the years. "Last Sunday I gave a sermon Shadowing visitors is common and then celebrated Holy -Mass. in Slovakia. I learned from sev- .As 1 left the church, a welleral friends who recently visited known Communist olll!icial apSlovakia that the secret police proached me and asked me to of any district know who is com- repeat the sermon I gave since ing from where into the area. he did not have time to attend My friend, let's call him Janko church, because, he said, he want(John), recently visited his re- ed to be edified. latives, and he had quite a few of them. ".As I left the home of "Yes, he did want to learn one of my relatives for the home something. He wanted to hear of another," said Janko, "I be- from my own lips what I had came a w a r e of the fact that ' said so that he could check this somebody was following me. Well, with the report that would be the first time it did not bother brought to him by his own stoome. But I noticed the same fel- \ ges 1 " concluded the priest. I � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 VOL. IX JUNE-DECEMBER, 1959 NO. 5 (30) SLOVAKIA UNDER COMMUNISM Joseph Pauco In the past two years hundreds of American Slovaks visited Slovakia. They were not molested or harmed in any way; and no one was arrested or detained by the police that we know of. It is obvious that Prague wants visitors from America, because that means American DOLLARS. \Only two Slovak clergymen were allowed to visit Slovakia, though many more applied for visas but were refused them. The Czech Reds do not want Slovak Catholic priests from America to visit Slovakia. And most wellknown Slovak personalities in America, too, are persona no grata. They want to know too much about the plight of the Church in Slovakia, the condition of the Bishops and the cler• gy and the schools. I have talked with dozens of Americans of Slovak origin who have visited Slovakia. This report is based on these conversations. After World War n, a certain Slovak came to America to his father. '!'his year he was allowed to visit Slovakia. He had let his brothers and other relatives know that he was coming. So they waited for him at the station. And they waited and waited in the crowd for some time. H e did not recognize them, and they did not recognize him. "We had not seen each other for thirteen years," he related. "My brother and brother-in-law have changed beyond recognition." "My brother," he continued, "is younger than I, but today he looks older than our father. He has aged terribly; h e is wrinkled and gray. He is not the same man I said goodbye to in Slovakia thirteen years ago." What did he go through? They confiscated his property, as well as that of the other relatives. A nephew, a priest, is languishing somewhere in a concentration camp, while his two sisters members of a religious order are forced to work in the fields. The family is large and there is no money, or any way of earning it, that is, enough of it to k eep going. The spiritual and material property of these people is indescribable. No wonder the man aged prematurely! "During my stay in Slovakia," continued my fr i e n d, "not a single smile ever lit up the faces of my relatives. We all cried when my brother r elated what terrible things had transpired since the end of the war. And they all cry even when they eat a nd s leep." He met with his friends in the village. When h e lef-t them thirteen years ago, they were well off. Today they have nothing. All 2 SLOVAKIA must work in the kholkhoses. 1 ly." When this did not work out All are aging prematurely; all : very well, the 1Reds began to use are beggars today. "They walk I pressure. First on the wealthier In rags," said my friend, "like farmers, whom they labeled parasites, ~lood-sucker, and_ politithe gypsies used to long ago." d . cal unrel!ables. After their holdd f It .. so epresse m ings were diminished "by law," I never e all my life," he continued. "These the Reds began to work on the people have virtually lost all faith small farmers. They gave them in themselves. In their great fear a "choice": either to give up and sorrow th ey care for no th ing; their own farms and work on the nothing interests them. They pray kholkhoses, or to lose everything constantly, and it is prayer that and work the same amount ot k eeps them from despairing. I acreage somewhere else. In the certainly would not want to live end the en ti re community is in Slovakia today," concluded my changed. The farmers have nofriend. thing left but a garden which Farmers in Slovakia are losing cannot sustain the family. People their land. 'I'he Czech Communist get paid for working in the kholState is confiscating it system- khoses. Not in money, but in atically. The S tat e now owns "units." A unit is worth 6 crowns most of the farmers and their (86 cents) and three kilograms farms. The farmers, sooner or (6.6 lbs.) of grain. But to earn later, are forced to join the khol- this unit, the kholkhose slave khose system or they lose every- must, for example, cultivate cuthing. In the end they do lose cumbers or tobacco six hour!!. everythtng. Here is the story as The value of the "unit" is figured told by an American with a bro- otherwise for different jobs. ther in Slovakia, who "voluntariKholkhose guards are also paid ly" joined the collective farm in units. Daily they get one and system. a half units, that is, 9 crowns My brother owned 12 hectares ($1.28) and 4.50 kilograms (9.90 of land (29.64 acres). He was ob- lbs.) of grain. But the guard not liged to give the government an- cnly watches and supervises, but nually 2,640 lbs. of beef, 1,000 also must work. lbs. of pork, 8,360 lbs. of grain, A farmer's cow is worth 110 350 eggs, and 2,500 liters of milk. units to the State, that is, he If the season was dry and crops must pay with his work 666 were poor, or the animals gob crowns ($95.14) and give 330 kisick and died, the farmer was lograms (726 lbs. of grain. This lost. He had no mo n e y with means that a farmer must buy which to buy grain, meat, eggs, his own cow annually or else or milk. And even if he had lose It. In the summer the cows money, he could not buy any- have a common pasture; in the thing, because the other farmers, winter they are fed from the too, had to surrender their pro- kholkhoses. A milker has to take ducts. What could he do but sur- care of 16 cows. He milks the render his land to the State? cows by hand three times daily. 'I'o get the farmers to join the Everything is systematized. Each kholkhose system, the Reds pro- person works in his own departmised just about everything to ment only. With a whip over his h ave the farmers join "voluntarl- head at all times. People must I SLOVAKIA 3 work Sundays, too, so that the I are now administe red by orthoReds can show that they comple- : dox clergyme n from Russia and tely control the "reaction ary pea- : Bohemia the Slovak Greek Cathsants," who have always been olics (Byzantin e Rite) attend faithful to God and to their Roman Catholic churches even if nation. 'I'oday practicall y every- I they have to walk ~iles to get thing is owned by the State - . to one. The Catholics are bebusiness, industry, bakeries, bu- ' coming thus more united in suftcher shops, drugstore s, farms, fering and in their opposition to and even the doctors. Everythin g the Reds. When I asked recent visitors is owned by all the people. "Everything is ours, but only to look to Slovakia how fares it with the at," is what the people say in schools there, I was told that the teachers must sign a statemen t Slovakia. that they have r enounced the * * * I asked several Am erican Slo- Catholic Faith or else they lose vaks who had visited Slovakia their positions. "The future ot 1 recently, how the Church fared I Communi sm," the Reds keep on in Slovakia and how the priests j bellowing , "depends on th e trainwere treated. I was told that ing of our youth." And God and many priests still are in jail and ! religion must be eradicated from that those who are not are under the h ear ts and minds of all strict police control. The Czech youngster s no matter what the Red secret police and their a- cost, according to the Reds. 'I'he Slovaks feel that they have gents shadow every cle~gyman . 1 then ~sked about the priests who been .forsaken by all except God. had signed the governme nt proturn constantly for . A c- To Him they . . regar d t o "C a th o11c gram m th at anot~er w~r pvaymg help, refused had who tion," and those soon breaks . • . . out. Yes, m their t o sign 1•t . Th e num b er o f th ose to the o- 1great afflict10n they are beggmg led ed lo alt who bewar, another allow to . . g · God Y Y g P R d f I th t th th vernment program was negligible . s e e a ee ey About half of the latter have c~use never let up unless they are will . t . th d tt d 1 0 n. beat up. The Slovaks are now eir ~ c a 1rea Y regre e Those who refused to sign have hardened and determine d to fight. th to live a hell on ear . The They tried to help the Magyars Communi sts spread malicious ru• 1956, but mors about them to turn their when they revolted inthem with Red Prague stopped parishion ers against them. Where its armies. If America or the remain churches that happens the West had come to the aid of the empty and then the Reds chase Magyars at that time, the Slothe priests to the labor camps, vaks over there say that they, saying that they have nothing to the Poles, Ukrainian s, Rumanian s, do in the parish. Of course, Sun- and the other behind the Iron days mean nothing to the Reds. Curtain would also have ma.de a People must devote Sundays to bid for freedom - and the situaput time in the "work brigades." tion today in central and eastern This means that people cannot Europe would be different that go to church - and in turn "the it is. They still ask why America. priest has nothing to do!" This and the West did not help. And in time will have telling effects. if they did not help in 1956, what Since the Greek Catholic churches are the chances of help from I 4 SLOVAKIA America and the West the next · clothes from America? They were time some nation makes a bid getting quite a bit of help from to burst from its Red chains? American relatives at first, but Who has the heart to tell them · since "Care" was proscribed and that America and the West have the government has taken over decided on a policy of "peace- everything, little is coming in, ful coexistence"? Of course, not because of exorbitant taxes or Radio Free Europe or the Voice ' customs d!!ty. A headkerchief of America - but the Reds will, j (babuska) from America for e>..and they did tell them: "Don't ample, is taxed 50 crowns ($7.15), expect any help from the Ameri- and other articles of wear as can imperiali~ts. Comrade Nikita ! high as 200 crowns per kilogram! Khruschchev 1s the only one now that can help. Stick by him!" A Slovak lady, who had visited I Slovakia recently, told of her sur* '~ * prise when she b o ugh t some How about the cost of living meat at a butcher shop and some in Slovakia? Terribly high._ Break- buns at a bakery. The clerk fast a very small piece ot would not wrap the merchandise. butter, a little jam, two pieces When she asked for wrapping of bread and a cup of coffee - paper, she was told to bring her come to 12 crowns (7 crowns own next time or wrap her stuff one dollar). Lunch pork and in an apron. sauerkraut, bread, and a small beer - adds up to 17.50 crowns. How about buying an auto in A kilogram (2.2 lbs.) of tomatoes Slovakia? Well, they are offered - 12 crowns; 3 lbs. of bread for sale, but not for everybody 8 crowns - a liter of vodka or anybody. The prices are ex80 crowns; a liter of rum 96 orbitant, but then it's not so easy crowns; a kilogram of sugar to get one even if one has the 10.20; poor quality sausage - 25 cash. A reguest form for an auto crowns per kilogram; better qua- must first be filled out and sent lity - 80 crowns; women's dress to the proper authorities. It may mater i a 1 400 crowns (per take up to three years to get an dress) and to sew same another answer. ~ut that does not mean 300 crowns; men's suits - 1,200 1 that one 1s ready to get the auto. crowns; work shoes 200, and 'I'he reply usually tells the apdress shoes - 380 crowns. There , plicant what further steps he are cheaper shoes, but they last . must take. only about 2-3 weeks of conti- j It's the same thing, my informnuous wear'. the better shoes ant tells me, with building one's last about six months. h ome. F' · • 1rs t h e mus t ge t perm1sThus a person must work two sion to build; then he waits till weeks to buy poor clothes. Facto- I he gets an approval for the nery workers are a bit better off. ! cessary material. He may ask for But even an expert or techni- ' a certain kin~ of material and cian does not make more than get another kmd. 1,400 crowns per month. A tractor man gets 1,200 crowns per "Y~~ know ,"_ my informer told month. A commander of the Na- · me, m Slovakia they have plenty tional Security is no better off. II of everything poverty, fear, jails, drudgery except money How about getting food and and fabricated materials. Many I I I I = -1 I i I I SLOVAKIA times I could not even buy matches in a Slovak village. .And when I walked into a store and asked what they had to sell, one 'comrade' replied sourly: 'Don't ask what we have, but what we don't have!'" 5 low shadowing me for several days. When I entered the home of my aunt, the man slipped out of sight. The next morning he reappeared again. On this occasion he approached me and said: * * * "Pardon me, but I think you Visitors to Slovakia are gene- are looking for the home of your friend 's mother, not - the friend rally surprised at the excessive that lives in the same town in drinking of the ordinary folks. America that you do? Well, his " I visited five communities," a mother lives over there." friend of mine told me after returning from Slovakia, " but the "Surprised? Of course, I was," drinking problem is the same in continued Janko. "I had told no all of them, and, I suppose, in all one that I was going to visit my of Slovakia." The Slovaks drink friend 's mother, because he had not because they are well off, asked me not to, since he was but because they are suffering a public official. But the shadow extreme hardships. It seems that evidently knew whom I would the people there are trying to probably visit in that particular drink their hapless lot away. village! When I visited some re"But the stuH they are drinking," latives and friends in another added my friend, "is t e r r i b I e town, I was shadowed again." stuff, poison that most people themselves make clandestinely. Another American visitor viPerhaps it is worse than the worst moonshine ever made in sited the pastor of the parish to America." The clergy are doing which his relatives belong. "How their best to convince the people are you, Father?" he asked. "Oh, not to drink, but to little avail. I'm getting along fine, thank you. :',,lore than on e priest told me So fine, in fact, that things could that the situation is worsening hardly be better. And briefly, let me tell you how fine: with the years. "Last Sunday I gave a sermon Shadowing visitors is common and then celebrated Holy -Mass. in Slovakia. I learned from sev- .As 1 left the church, a welleral friends who recently visited known Communist olll!icial apSlovakia that the secret police proached me and asked me to of any district know who is com- repeat the sermon I gave since ing from where into the area. he did not have time to attend My friend, let's call him Janko church, because, he said, he want(John), recently visited his re- ed to be edified. latives, and he had quite a few of them. ".As I left the home of "Yes, he did want to learn one of my relatives for the home something. He wanted to hear of another," said Janko, "I be- from my own lips what I had came a w a r e of the fact that ' said so that he could check this somebody was following me. Well, with the report that would be the first time it did not bother brought to him by his own stoome. But I noticed the same fel- \ ges 1 " concluded the priest. I  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 Slovakia Under Communism Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 1-5 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/181a4f66019df58bee489bbf12571e20.pdf 3b6d4dd15c1e3e7264337d94b791a387 PDF Text Text 6 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT Fnmcis Vnuk On September 27, 1940, at the New Chancellery in Berlin, the German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact was signed. "The ceremony of signing" - noted Shirer "was carried through with typical Axis talent for the theatrical." (1) The German and satellite press greeted the occasion as an event of far-reaching importance, a "Magna Charta" of the New Order, which was going to bring about exactly what had been promised in the preamble to the Pact, namely, "world peace" . . . and "prosperity and welfare of the peoples" in Europe and Greater East Asia(2). After the ceremonial signing, Hitler entered the hall to honor the occasion by his presence. Then followed the adulatory speeches of Ribbentrop, Ciano, and Kurusu. In the course of his speech Ribbentrop stated: "The purpose of the Pact is, a:bove an things, to help restore peace to the world as quickly as possible. Therefore, any otherstate, which wishes to adhere to this bloc with the intention of contributing to the restoration of peaceful conditions, will be sincerely and gratefully made welcome and will participate in the economic and political reorganization" (3) In response to this rather blunt hint, the nations of Central Europe, tied to Germany by geopolitical conditions, duly applied for admittance. Hungary was the first in the field, the others following her more or less reluctantly. It was clear to the 'Slovaks and Rumanians that they could not afford to stand aside, even if they wished. They had to rank at least as high in Hitler's esteem as Hungary which still hrad unfulfilled territorial claims against them. And thus towards the end of November, 1940, Hungarian, Rumanian, and Slovak delegations in close succession went to Vienna or Berlin ( 4) to sign the Protocol of adherence to the Tripartitie Pact. Hungary did so on the 20th, Rumania on the 22nd, and Slovakia on the 24th of November, 1940(5). Slovakia's accession to the Tripartite Pact followed the proclamation of the "spiritual adherence" a few weeks �SLOVAKIA 7 previously. Though Ciano sneered at the event as "a useless bit of ersatz diplomacy" (6) , the Germans made it into a spectacular State visit which was arranged for Tuka and his entourage. State visits had a strange fascination for Turoa. Nothing appealed to him more than to be a centre of attention, surrounded by high officials, and facing the flashlights of official photographers and reporters. He did not -conceal his disappointment when the Germans advised him against his proposed visit to Rumania, or when the Italians asked him to postpone his offered visit of Italy till "after the war." The signing of the Protocol of Accession enabled him to taste the cherished moments of ceremonial courtesies and at the same time to demonstrate his devotion to Germany. Apart from these rather personal considerations, there were also quite a few important political, economic, and cultural problems to be discussed, new poUcies outlined, and achievements and failures reported. SIGNATURES The German preparations for Tuka's State visit were very detailed and thorough. Tuka was to be received with all the honors and courtesies due to the head of a friendly government. In the captured documents of the former German Foreign Ministry, there is a special file (7) dealing exclusively with various aspects of the visit and this is the principal source of all relevant information. The Slov,ak delegation(8), which consisted of Tuka, Murgas, Mracna, Radlinsky and Farkas, left Bratislava by auto on the afternoon of November 23, 1940. They crossed the bridge to Petrfalka and proceeded to Vienna where ,a special train was awaiting them. The reception there was very austere. There were no guards of honor to inspect, no speeches of welcome; just one representative of the Protocol to accompany them on their night journey to Berlin. '.Dhe train left West Bahnhof at 7:32 P. M. and took them through Linz, Passau, Regensburg, Hof, and Leipzig to the Anhalter Bahnhof, Berlin, where they arrived on Sunday morning at 10 :40 A. M. - just 20 minutes after the Rumanian delegation, its mission accomplished, left Berlin on its return journey (9). �8 SLOVAKIA At the Anhalter Bahnhof everything was pompous, well-organized, and impressive. Welcoming personalities were grouped in four parties. The first party, headed by the Slovak charge d'affaires, consisted of foreign diploma:ts ·and the heads of missions in Berlin. Specially invited German representatives of the Party and the Army were in the second, the members of the Slovak Legation in the third, and the personnel of the German Foreign Ministry in the fourth group. Tuka, as he alighted from his salon-car, was welcomed by Ribbentrop and Matthew Cernak, and introduced by them to the other members of the welcoming parties on the platform. Then followed the inspection of the Guard of Honor. Tuka, in the uniform of the Hlinka Guards and accompanied by Ribbentrop, was trying his unsoldierly best to make his gait and mien look soldier-like. From the station the procession of cars went to Schloss Bellevue which was going to be Tuka's residence during his two-day stay in Berlin. There he was welcomed by Meissner who acted as master of the house (Hausherr). At 11 :30 Tuka paid a visit to Ribbentrop at the latter's office, 73 Wilhelmstrasse, where they spent about an hour in discussion. The great moment came at 1:00 P. M. In the Grand Reception Hall of the New Chancellery stood a huge massive signature table. The representatives of the Press had already taken their places: the foreign correspondents at the window-side, the Germans at the door. At 12:58 P. M., the great door opened and an impressive procession entered. It was led by the Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. He was followed by Tuka and Ribbentrop, the Japanese Ambassador, the Italian Ambassador and Charge d'Affaires, the Hungarian and Rumanian Ministers, State Secretary Weizsaecker, and State Under-Secretary Gaus. Ribbentrop sat at the center of the table, Tuka at his right and, next to him, the Italian Ambassador and the Rumanian Minister. At Ribbentrop's left were seated the Japanese Ambassador and the Hungarian Minister. Everything went without a hitch like a well-rehearsed drama. The Protocol of Accession (10) was signed amidst �SLOVAKIA 9 the flashes of light and rustle of reporter's notebooks, short speeches were solemnly read out and courteous applause resounded in the spacious hall. In the afternoon Ribbentrop gave a reception at the Hotel Adlon for the Slovak Delegation and the members of the Slovak Legation in Berlin. In the morning of the next day (Monday, November 25) Tuka took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Ehrenmahl (The War Memorial at the famous Unter den Linden). Another reception was given by Cernak in the afternoon at the Hotel Esplanade. At 5:30 P. M. Tuka had his great and memorable moment. He was taken to the Work Room of the New Chancellery where he was received by Hitler. That was the climax of Tuka's State visit. Shortly before 7 P. M., the Slovak Delegation was again on the Anhalter Bahnhof. With the German and foreign guests to bid them farewell, guards of honor to inspect, hands to shake or raise in Nazi salute, the parting ceremony was as imposing as the welcoming one. At 7:05 P. M., the special train with the Slovak Delegation left Berlin on its return journey to Vienna, where they arrived on November 26, at 10:54 A. M. The Slovak Parliament gave its approval to the Protocol of Accession to the Tripartite Pact on February 6, 1941(11). DISCUSSIONS The records of discussions between Ribbentrop and Tuka were not found. But it is possible to gauge their nature and content from numerous memoranda passed between Ribbentrop and his advisers shortly before Tuka's visit. Some of these memoranda are very sketchy, others go into great details. They deal with subjects which Tuka outlined to Consul-General Wuester (on November 11, 1940) as the topics he would like to discuss perisonally with Ribbentrop on the occasion of his State visit. And even if the discussions did not follow the proposed course exactly, they could not have departed far from it. These memoranda are thus of interest to every student of Slovak affairs. They certainly cast some light on the Slovak scene as it was set in November, 1940, and provide a �10 SLOVAKIA guileless cross-section of the Slovak political, economic, and cultural life. The problems were grouped under four headings and each division had further subsections. The same pattern will be followed in this study. The subject matter for discussion was to proceed along the following lines: A. Political Problems. 1. Internal Policy: Internally Slovakia was in the middle of a political crisis and Woermann and Killinger briefed Ribbentrop about its extent. They informed him that Tuka and Mach were working on the establishment of the Nazi system in Slovakia ("nazionalsozialistische Staatsfuehrung"), in the spirit of the Salzburg conversations. In this attempt they had to wage a struggle against the opposing forces centered around President Tiso. Tiso',s camp consisted of in Killinger's terminology - clericals, former :Durcansky hangers-on and four members of the government. Tuka demanded dismissal of these ministers, but Tiso ref used to comply with his request. Tuka then decided to fight it out with Tiso, and, according to Killinger, there were forces at work striving for a complete elimination of Tiso from the Slovak political life ( eine vollige Auschaltung Tisos aus dem politischen Leben"). In discussing this question with Tuka, Ribbentrop was advised to recommend that Tuka should apply his measures in such a way as not to affect the position of President Tiso. There was no objection to the eventual removal of the uncooperative ministers, but as far as Tiso was concerned, his removal would only deteriorate and not improve the internal situation in Slovakia. "Tiso" - runs Woermann's recommendation to Ribbentrop - "as Hlinka's successor and the co-founder of the Slovak State, is a very popular personality in Slovakia" ("eine durchhaus volkstuemliche Personlichkeit"), and, therefore, the elimination of the clerical influence should be carried out carefully and possibly by evolutionary means. The conversion of Slovakia into a Christian state according to Schusch- �SLOVAKIA 11 nigg's model ("Staendestatt'), as contemplated by Tiso and his friends, could be prevented even without the removal of Tiso. On the other hand Tuka should be commended for his fight for the Nazi reorientation of Slovakia. 2. Territorial demands: 'rhe second problem Tuka wanted to discuss was the territorial cession of the eastern part of the Protektorat to Slovakia (the region of Moravske Slovacko). In this respect several memoranda were passed to the German Foreign Ministry outlying the reason and justification of this demand. But the Germans were not happy about the proposition. Ribbentrop was advised to tell Tuka that the idea of the frontier rectification in favor of Slovakia could not be considered ("keine Folge gegeben werden koenne" ). 3. Slovak-Hungarian Relations: The Slovak-Hungarian relations were by far the most important point of the discussions. The Vienna Award by which Slovakia was forced to cede part of her territories to Hungary - was a source of constant Slovak grievances and was genuinely detested by all Slovaks, whether they were pro-Nazi, anti-Nazi, or just sitting on the fence. Tuka was convinced that the Salzburg conversations meant a step towards a more acceptable solution. At Salzburg (July 1940) Tiso wrenched from Ribbentrop a somewhat vague and non-committal promise that the question of the frontier rectification between Slovakia and Hungary though unsuitable for settlement at that time - cou~d be considered later ("dass in Augenblick nicht an die Regelung dieser Frage zu denken sei, dass vielleicht spaeter einmal der Augenblick kommen duerfe"). On the basis of this promise the Slovak Foreign Ministry forwarded to Berlin a number of Aide-Memoires, maps and statistical material and wanted them to be examined by the Auslandsinstitut in Stuttgart. Tuka was to ask Ribbentrop for the official German attitude towards these Slovak requests. It was proposed to tell Tuka that the moment for the settlement of the disputed boundary issue was still inap- �12 SLOVAKIA propriate ("Es waere unzeitmaessig diese slowakische Ansprueche jetzt geltent zu machen"). With regard to the examination of the Slovak documentary material by the Auslandsinstitut in Stutgart - since the Germans did not want the Hungarians to get wind that something was going on - it was suggested that this request should be declined. Tuka should be told that the German Foreign Ministry would examine the pertinent Slovak material, but it did not think it expedient to pass such things on to the Auslandsinstitut. 4. Ruthene Question: Then there was the question of the Ruthene minority. This group, about 50,000 strong, was subjected to intense communistic propaganda inciting it to demand the same privileges as those granted to the German ethnic group. The solution of this question required a precarious balance in counteracting the communist propaganda without arousing the suspicions of being hostile towards the USSR which at that time was being courted by the Germans into joining the Tripartite Pact. Tuka was to be told that the Slovak Government would have to try to win the sympathies of the Ruthenes even if it involved the offer of a guarantee of cultural autonomy. But the communist intrigues would have to be suppressed just the same ("Kommunistische Umtriebe unter ihnen waeren zu unterdruecken") . 5. Attitude towards the Croats: It was expected that Tuka, who had just learned about the German attitude towards the Croats, would make an offer to influence the Croats through Slovak propaganda. It was suggested that his declaration should be merely noted and any discussion of his proposal should be declined. B. Economic Problems: The economic topics for the discussions are of equal importance. In spite, or, perhaps because of the war, the Slovak economy was developing very favorably. The Ger- �SLOVAKIA 13 mans were taking 75 per cent of Slovak exports and, contrary to the general belief, were providing valuable expert and material assistance. Nevertheless, there were points of friction even in this sphere, especially with regard to the direction in which the development should proceed. The Germans pressed for projects like the improved facilities of the Bratislava Danube harbor, raising of the level of agricultural economy, erection of family houses for workers, etc., whereas the Slovaks were for industrial development, new factories, improved local communications, etc. At the time of Tuka's visit the Slovak grievances concerned the price increases, tourist trade, and employment of Czech skilled workers. 1. Price Question: The Slovak government was afraid that the price increases might create unwanted social reactions which, in turn, could be exploited by the communists. But the Germans maintained that, since rising prices were a general phenomenon in all Southeast Europe, and also in the Protektorat whose economy was closely bound with Slovakia's, it was desirable for them to go up in Slovakia as well. It was proposed to point out to Tuka that the price increases would, in the long run, increase Slovakia's national income through expansion in exports to Germany and through the wage transfer of the 80,000 Slovak laborers working there. The Germans would try to mitigate the effect of price increases by such measures, for example, as lowering the prices of goods imported from the Protektorat. Likewise - in spite of the recent increases in the price of coal - the export prices of German coal delivered to Slovakia were not increased, but were retained at the level fixed in April, 1940, and would stay there. 2. Tourist Trade: in the mater of the Slovak complaint concerning the rapid decrease in the tourist trade, it was to be stated that there was not much the Germans could do about it. It was, however, to be expected that after the war Slovakia would enjoy an unprecedented tourist activity. �14 SLOVAKIA 3. Employment of Czech Workers: For Tuka this represented another thorny problem. There were still many Czechs working in industrial establishments in Slovakia, mainly as skilled workers. Tuka pressed for their removal, since he saw in them a constant element of unrest ("Unruheherde"). The Germans promised to cooperate, saying that some Czechs had already been transferred. RilJbentrop, however, would have to advise Tuka that those Czechs working in the armament industry could be removed only when satisfactory replacements by skilled Slovak workers had been found. C. Resettlement Problems: 1. Czechs in Slovakia: Tuka strove to rid Slovakia of all Czechs (approximat ely 25,000 in number), as well as t o bring bac 1c to Slovakia all Slovaks living in the Protektorat. Since the negotiations ("Auseinandersetzungverhandlungen") with the Germans were ominously dragging on, Tuka wanted to ask Ribbentrop about the German view on the matter. Ribbentrop was advised to instruct Tuka that the proposal would be examined in due time, but, on the other hand, not to give any prospect for fulfillment of this wish ("Keine Aussicht auf Erfuellung des Wuensches za machen" ). 2. Slovaks in the German POW Camps: After the military collapse of France, several unfortunate Slovaks found themselves as POWs in German captivity. In most cases they were Slovak workers from Paris and from the Northern French coalfields who were mobilized into "Czecho-Slovak" army units to fight for the restoration of the defunct Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Slovak Foreign Ministry had been demanding their release since the end of the Franco-German hostilities, but the German authorities were not very quick in answering. Tuka was to be assured that their release was pending. 3. Slovaks in France: With equal commendable zeal the Slovak Government �SLOVAKIA 15 tried to obtain the release of all Slovaks in the French Army Service, in both occupied and unoccupied France, and pleaded for the repatriation of those who desired it. Tuka was to be told that the Germans looked upon the request with understanding and would give it their support. D. Cultural and Other Problems: In the cultural field there was complete satisfaction on both sides. The Slovak-German cultural relations were very friendly and prepartions for the signing of a Cultural Agreement ("Kultur-Abkomm en") were on the way. Similarly there were no complaints about the treatment of the German ethnic group in Slovakia. IV CONCLUSION Looking at the event after almost 20 years' interval, when one has the benefit of seeing what was back of the German mind, and when one knows all the answers to what were then the annoying questions of the day, it is only too easy to be critical, cynical, or even malicious. Was Tuka really the villain of the drama? Was he really responsible for all subsequent Slovak misfortunes? Was his signature on the Protocol the death-warrant of the Slovak State as some of his critics want us to believe? Or, was he just an innocent victim of circumstances from which there was no way out? Did he merely carry out the inevitable and inescapable steps to save the nation from a much worse disaster, as his admirers try to convince us? Unfortunately there is no straightforward answer to either of these views. Tuka's personality was of a far more complex nature than to be an object of a clear-cut judgment. It would be futile and out of place to argue about this. However, to make the picture as complete as possible, it seems only just to add the following notes by way of a postscript. It is undeniable now, as it was conclusive then, that. the Tripartite Pact was directed against the USA (12) ,, where, as it happened, lived almost a third of the Slovak �16 SLOVAKIA nation. And there is no doubt about Tuka's willingness to have Slovakia bound to Germany lock, stock, and barrel. But the personal ambition of a sick man was not the only why and wherefore behind Tuka's move. There were also political motives and these were by no means insignificant: to gain for Slovakia an honorable place in the New Europe - which at that time was not just a remote phantasy; to ward off the Hungarian danger - as menacing and ubiquitous as ever. It is not always realized that the fear of being swallowed by Hungary had a hand not only at the birth of the Slovak State, but was present in the background of practically every action of subsequent Slovak foreign policy. The political and military situation - at the time of Slovakia's accession to the Pact - strongly favored the German position. Germany was the undisputed master of Europe, and with the USSR she had a Treaty of NonAggression. The USA was keeping out of the war and was likely to stay out. For Hitler and his gang "the war was already won." This thought, however, was not shared by all. There were many who did concede (though they have less courage to admit it now) that the war might finish in a draw Such a situation would have curbed Hitler's ambitions for world domination, but it would leave the nations of Central Europe at his mercy. And it is better to be left at the mercy of a benign than an irate master. Then the question arises as to what would have happened if Tuka "per impossiblile" would have chosen to resist German prompting and decided not to join the bloc. The problem may be highly academic, but the answer to it is less so. In fact, an eloquent reply was provided about three months after Slovakia's accession to the Pact by the adherence of Bulgaria. To the Western way of thinking, Bulgaria was the best of the bad satellites of Hitler. She saved most of her Jewish population from extermination, she did not declare war on the USSR (though the USSR found it expedient to declare war on her). In the face of German pressure she yielded the bare minimum - and this included the accession to the Pact. It is hardly to be expected that Slovak opposition could have been more ef- �SLOVAKIA 17 fective. With no friends and no guarantees in the West, Slovakia could not behave the way Yugoslavia did. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. W. Shirer: A Berlin Diary, Hamilton, London, 1941,. For the text of the Tripartite Pact see Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. V, pp. 355-6, or Int. Affairs, 193946, Vol. III, OUP, 1954, pp. 81-82. C. A. Macartney: October Fifteenth, EdinJburgh Univ. Press, 1956, Vol. I, p. 439. The Hrungarians, went to Vienna, the Rumaniallls and Slovaks to Berlin. Other countries followed suit: Spain secretly in November 1940; Bulgaria on March 1, 1941; Yugoslavia on March 25, 194'1; Croatia, on June 115, 1941'. The USSR nearly joined the Pact, too (See Nazi-Soviet Relations, pp. 248--9, 258-9). Ciano's Diary 1939-43, Heinemann, London, 1947. Ent ry ·of November 20, 11)40: " ... I do not attach much importance to the adherence of these states (Hungary, Rumania and Slovakia) which are vassais of Germany, or almost so. In £act they weaken the Tripartite Agreement itseltf, and s,eem to be useless bits of ersatz diplomacy. " Auswartiges Amt, Buero St. Sekretaer, Besuch Tuka, 610/ 248742-818. 8. For the Delegation's "Who's Who" see Alppendix II. 9. "He (Antonescu) had bairely left Berlin . .. when Dr. Tuka, the Slovak Prime Minister, arrived to sign his counrtry's adhesion to the Pact. The document was ready and his signature was prompt" - Dipl. correspond,e nt of the London "Times". In fact, the s igning took place less than two and ·a halif hours after Tukas' arrival. 1-0. For the text of the Brotocol see Alppendix I. 11. Joseph Lettrich: History of Modern Slovakia, Atlantic Press, London, 1956, p. 167. 12. Ar.ticle 3 of the Pact runs: (The three Contracti!Ilg Parties) "further undertake to assist one another with all political, econemic and military means, if one of them is attacked by a Poweir at present not involved in the European war or in the Chiinese..Jarpanese conflict." This could have meant only the USA or the USSR. But Article 5 stated that the iterms of the Pact did not "in any way aifilieot the politica'l strutus which exists between each of the three Contraicting Parties and Soviet Russiia." APPENDIX I The Protocol of Slovakia's Accession to the Tripartite Pact The Governments of Germany, Italy and Japan, on the one hand, and the Government of Slovakia, on the other hand, represented by the signa,to:ries to the documenrt, declare as follows: 1. Slovakia joins the Tripartite Pact sig.n ed at Berlin on September 27, 1940. 2. As far as the joint technical commissions provided under Article 4 of the Tripartite Pact concern matters affecting Slovak �18 SLOVAKIA interests, Slovakia. will be represented ait the discussions of these committees. 3. The text o;f the Tr.iipartite Pact is atltached to the present Protocol, which is drawn up in the German, Italian, Japanese, and Slovak languages, each text to ha1Ve the validity of the original. The Protocol comes into effect on the da~ of signature . .AIPPENDIX II The Slovak Delegation - Who Was Who: Dr. Vojtech Tuka - Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign A1ff.airs. Born on July 4, 1880, at P.i-argy, Tuka was, before 1918, a Professor of Internationa,l Law at the then Hungarian University at Bratislava. After the first World Wa r he played a leading role in the Slovak autonomist movement of the Hlinka Party. Accused of treason by the Czech Brague, he wa•s involved in the notorious "Tuka Trial." On flimsy and rigged evid'ence he was found guiity of espiona•ge and p:l,,Oltting a,ga,inst the Repuiblic and sentenced to 15 years in ja11. After havi,ng been imprisoned at Pankrac in Prague for more than seven years, sick and nearly blind, he was pardoned by Presidental amnesty, and the remainder of his sentence he was to spend in custody at Plzen. Released in October, 1938, he pr-0mptly resumed his political activity. In the first Slovak independent goviermnent ~March 1J939) he became the deputy Prime Minister and laiter, after the retirement of Sidor. ,also the acting Minfater of Interior. On the election ·of Dr. Joseph Tiso as Presiident o:f Slovakia, Tuka became Brime Minister. Mter the Sal2Jburg Conference (July 1940) Tuka not only retained his post, but a'lso took over the Foreign Ministry. Tuka was executed by the Prague Government in Bratislava August 20, 1946. Slovak Minister in Berlin. A high school Matul Cernak teacher by profession, Cernak had a long record of continuous activity in the ranks of the Hlinka Party. In Septem,ber, 1<938, he was appointed a minister in the Czecho-Slovak Government. He immediately demanded autonomy for Slovakia. This not granted, he resigned in protest. In the first Sloviak autonomous governmenit he was given the post of the Ministry of Educaiti001 (October 11938) and in addition was entrusted with the lead,ership of the Youth Organization (Hlinka's Youth). Being openly for a complete secession, he was imprisoned by the Czechs (March 1939) and treated raither brutaUy. After the Declaration of Slovak Independence he was sent to Germany as the Slovak diplomatic representative. He was killed by a bomb sent through the mail in Munich, July 5, 1955. Karo• Murgal - Ohief of the Propaganda Bureau. A joumaHsit, Murga§ came into prominence in the hectic days of October 1938 Ma!l"Ch 1939. After the Salzburg Oond'eroo.ce· he was made the Chie!f of the Propaganda Bureau as the only suifable ohoice (h,e was the on1y person of irutelligence and aibility ready to toiw the German line). Ing. Jozef Mracna - Ohief of the Political Division of the Slovak Foreign Ministry. Mraona was born on February 21, 1900. He was a career diplomat of the Czooho..Slovak diplomatic service. At the time of the declaration of Slovak independence (March 1939) he was the Cze:cho..Slovak Consul in New York, but immediately offered his services to the Slovak State. Gifted, honest and exiperieru:ed, he was 1 �SLOVAKIA 19 the most caiplllble and authoritative personality in the Slovak Foreig111 Ministry, but later he became rather passive. He enjoyed Tuka's full confidence and in return was his loyal, but not uncritica'l, co-worker. ,or. Raduz Radlinsky - Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol at the Slovak Foreign Miinistry. Former employee of the Czecho-61ovak Foreign Ministry, where he held a minor position in the Protocol. On the basis of this activity he was entrusted with the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol in Bratislava. '11he Germans constantly objected to his position. Lieutenant-Colonel ~tefan Tata.rko Military Aittache at the Slovak Legaition in Berlin. A professional soldier of some ability, Tatarko created practically out of nothing the Sfovak Military Secret Service. Later he was apointed military -atta:che to Berlin. Ait one time he was not trusted by the Germans because of his in:cautiously expressed d'oulbts about final German vietory. But he must have corrected himself, because later he was promoted to the Chief of Cabinet at the Slovak Ministry of defense. Jan Belnay - Commercial Atta:che at the Slovak Legation in Berlin. He was born on Oct-Ober 23, 1900. Mosit of his study-years (in Chemistry) were spent in Germany, the remainder in Prague. He worked at the Czecho-Slovak Economic Academy, a111d Ia1ter at the Czecho-Slovak EX1pOrt Institute. In MaTCh, 11939, he joined the staff of the Slovak Foreign Ministry and s·oon was appointed a commercial attaohe to Berlin. His professional eicperien:ce and fluent knowledge of German served him in good stead and in 1941 he was promoted to the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. Jan Farkal - Tuka's Adjutant . .A,s a comparnion in T~a's tribulations (he figured in the "Tuka Trial") Fark'as claimed also a share in Tuka's honors. He devoutly followed Tuka's footsteps and parroted his pronoun:cements aholllt the introduction of Nazism into Slovakia, but was not particularly giiited to make a higher grade. A,t one stage Tuka insisted on his appointment as a Minister of Finance, but was rebuff.ed. • • • WHO SAID IT? "Since, in the new situation, it was impossilble to coHa-borate oifficiaHy with the Soviet Union, we . . . d~d nothing which might prejudike or ipre.vent the removal of co-operation at the earliest posstble moment; I need 0I11ly recall how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many others during the Soviet-Finnish War. Moreover, even in that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves rund important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND WEST, London. 1944. � 6 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT Fnmcis Vnuk On September 27, 1940, at the New Chancellery in Berlin, the German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact was signed. "The ceremony of signing" - noted Shirer "was carried through with typical Axis talent for the theatrical." (1) The German and satellite press greeted the occasion as an event of far-reaching importance, a "Magna Charta" of the New Order, which was going to bring about exactly what had been promised in the preamble to the Pact, namely, "world peace" . . . and "prosperity and welfare of the peoples" in Europe and Greater East Asia(2). After the ceremonial signing, Hitler entered the hall to honor the occasion by his presence. Then followed the adulatory speeches of Ribbentrop, Ciano, and Kurusu. In the course of his speech Ribbentrop stated: "The purpose of the Pact is, a:bove an things, to help restore peace to the world as quickly as possible. Therefore, any otherstate, which wishes to adhere to this bloc with the intention of contributing to the restoration of peaceful conditions, will be sincerely and gratefully made welcome and will participate in the economic and political reorganization" (3) In response to this rather blunt hint, the nations of Central Europe, tied to Germany by geopolitical conditions, duly applied for admittance. Hungary was the first in the field, the others following her more or less reluctantly. It was clear to the 'Slovaks and Rumanians that they could not afford to stand aside, even if they wished. They had to rank at least as high in Hitler's esteem as Hungary which still hrad unfulfilled territorial claims against them. And thus towards the end of November, 1940, Hungarian, Rumanian, and Slovak delegations in close succession went to Vienna or Berlin ( 4) to sign the Protocol of adherence to the Tripartitie Pact. Hungary did so on the 20th, Rumania on the 22nd, and Slovakia on the 24th of November, 1940(5). Slovakia's accession to the Tripartite Pact followed the proclamation of the "spiritual adherence" a few weeks �SLOVAKIA 7 previously. Though Ciano sneered at the event as "a useless bit of ersatz diplomacy" (6) , the Germans made it into a spectacular State visit which was arranged for Tuka and his entourage. State visits had a strange fascination for Turoa. Nothing appealed to him more than to be a centre of attention, surrounded by high officials, and facing the flashlights of official photographers and reporters. He did not -conceal his disappointment when the Germans advised him against his proposed visit to Rumania, or when the Italians asked him to postpone his offered visit of Italy till "after the war." The signing of the Protocol of Accession enabled him to taste the cherished moments of ceremonial courtesies and at the same time to demonstrate his devotion to Germany. Apart from these rather personal considerations, there were also quite a few important political, economic, and cultural problems to be discussed, new poUcies outlined, and achievements and failures reported. SIGNATURES The German preparations for Tuka's State visit were very detailed and thorough. Tuka was to be received with all the honors and courtesies due to the head of a friendly government. In the captured documents of the former German Foreign Ministry, there is a special file (7) dealing exclusively with various aspects of the visit and this is the principal source of all relevant information. The Slov,ak delegation(8), which consisted of Tuka, Murgas, Mracna, Radlinsky and Farkas, left Bratislava by auto on the afternoon of November 23, 1940. They crossed the bridge to Petrfalka and proceeded to Vienna where ,a special train was awaiting them. The reception there was very austere. There were no guards of honor to inspect, no speeches of welcome; just one representative of the Protocol to accompany them on their night journey to Berlin. '.Dhe train left West Bahnhof at 7:32 P. M. and took them through Linz, Passau, Regensburg, Hof, and Leipzig to the Anhalter Bahnhof, Berlin, where they arrived on Sunday morning at 10 :40 A. M. - just 20 minutes after the Rumanian delegation, its mission accomplished, left Berlin on its return journey (9). �8 SLOVAKIA At the Anhalter Bahnhof everything was pompous, well-organized, and impressive. Welcoming personalities were grouped in four parties. The first party, headed by the Slovak charge d'affaires, consisted of foreign diploma:ts ·and the heads of missions in Berlin. Specially invited German representatives of the Party and the Army were in the second, the members of the Slovak Legation in the third, and the personnel of the German Foreign Ministry in the fourth group. Tuka, as he alighted from his salon-car, was welcomed by Ribbentrop and Matthew Cernak, and introduced by them to the other members of the welcoming parties on the platform. Then followed the inspection of the Guard of Honor. Tuka, in the uniform of the Hlinka Guards and accompanied by Ribbentrop, was trying his unsoldierly best to make his gait and mien look soldier-like. From the station the procession of cars went to Schloss Bellevue which was going to be Tuka's residence during his two-day stay in Berlin. There he was welcomed by Meissner who acted as master of the house (Hausherr). At 11 :30 Tuka paid a visit to Ribbentrop at the latter's office, 73 Wilhelmstrasse, where they spent about an hour in discussion. The great moment came at 1:00 P. M. In the Grand Reception Hall of the New Chancellery stood a huge massive signature table. The representatives of the Press had already taken their places: the foreign correspondents at the window-side, the Germans at the door. At 12:58 P. M., the great door opened and an impressive procession entered. It was led by the Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. He was followed by Tuka and Ribbentrop, the Japanese Ambassador, the Italian Ambassador and Charge d'Affaires, the Hungarian and Rumanian Ministers, State Secretary Weizsaecker, and State Under-Secretary Gaus. Ribbentrop sat at the center of the table, Tuka at his right and, next to him, the Italian Ambassador and the Rumanian Minister. At Ribbentrop's left were seated the Japanese Ambassador and the Hungarian Minister. Everything went without a hitch like a well-rehearsed drama. The Protocol of Accession (10) was signed amidst �SLOVAKIA 9 the flashes of light and rustle of reporter's notebooks, short speeches were solemnly read out and courteous applause resounded in the spacious hall. In the afternoon Ribbentrop gave a reception at the Hotel Adlon for the Slovak Delegation and the members of the Slovak Legation in Berlin. In the morning of the next day (Monday, November 25) Tuka took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Ehrenmahl (The War Memorial at the famous Unter den Linden). Another reception was given by Cernak in the afternoon at the Hotel Esplanade. At 5:30 P. M. Tuka had his great and memorable moment. He was taken to the Work Room of the New Chancellery where he was received by Hitler. That was the climax of Tuka's State visit. Shortly before 7 P. M., the Slovak Delegation was again on the Anhalter Bahnhof. With the German and foreign guests to bid them farewell, guards of honor to inspect, hands to shake or raise in Nazi salute, the parting ceremony was as imposing as the welcoming one. At 7:05 P. M., the special train with the Slovak Delegation left Berlin on its return journey to Vienna, where they arrived on November 26, at 10:54 A. M. The Slovak Parliament gave its approval to the Protocol of Accession to the Tripartite Pact on February 6, 1941(11). DISCUSSIONS The records of discussions between Ribbentrop and Tuka were not found. But it is possible to gauge their nature and content from numerous memoranda passed between Ribbentrop and his advisers shortly before Tuka's visit. Some of these memoranda are very sketchy, others go into great details. They deal with subjects which Tuka outlined to Consul-General Wuester (on November 11, 1940) as the topics he would like to discuss perisonally with Ribbentrop on the occasion of his State visit. And even if the discussions did not follow the proposed course exactly, they could not have departed far from it. These memoranda are thus of interest to every student of Slovak affairs. They certainly cast some light on the Slovak scene as it was set in November, 1940, and provide a �10 SLOVAKIA guileless cross-section of the Slovak political, economic, and cultural life. The problems were grouped under four headings and each division had further subsections. The same pattern will be followed in this study. The subject matter for discussion was to proceed along the following lines: A. Political Problems. 1. Internal Policy: Internally Slovakia was in the middle of a political crisis and Woermann and Killinger briefed Ribbentrop about its extent. They informed him that Tuka and Mach were working on the establishment of the Nazi system in Slovakia ("nazionalsozialistische Staatsfuehrung"), in the spirit of the Salzburg conversations. In this attempt they had to wage a struggle against the opposing forces centered around President Tiso. Tiso',s camp consisted of in Killinger's terminology - clericals, former :Durcansky hangers-on and four members of the government. Tuka demanded dismissal of these ministers, but Tiso ref used to comply with his request. Tuka then decided to fight it out with Tiso, and, according to Killinger, there were forces at work striving for a complete elimination of Tiso from the Slovak political life ( eine vollige Auschaltung Tisos aus dem politischen Leben"). In discussing this question with Tuka, Ribbentrop was advised to recommend that Tuka should apply his measures in such a way as not to affect the position of President Tiso. There was no objection to the eventual removal of the uncooperative ministers, but as far as Tiso was concerned, his removal would only deteriorate and not improve the internal situation in Slovakia. "Tiso" - runs Woermann's recommendation to Ribbentrop - "as Hlinka's successor and the co-founder of the Slovak State, is a very popular personality in Slovakia" ("eine durchhaus volkstuemliche Personlichkeit"), and, therefore, the elimination of the clerical influence should be carried out carefully and possibly by evolutionary means. The conversion of Slovakia into a Christian state according to Schusch- �SLOVAKIA 11 nigg's model ("Staendestatt'), as contemplated by Tiso and his friends, could be prevented even without the removal of Tiso. On the other hand Tuka should be commended for his fight for the Nazi reorientation of Slovakia. 2. Territorial demands: 'rhe second problem Tuka wanted to discuss was the territorial cession of the eastern part of the Protektorat to Slovakia (the region of Moravske Slovacko). In this respect several memoranda were passed to the German Foreign Ministry outlying the reason and justification of this demand. But the Germans were not happy about the proposition. Ribbentrop was advised to tell Tuka that the idea of the frontier rectification in favor of Slovakia could not be considered ("keine Folge gegeben werden koenne" ). 3. Slovak-Hungarian Relations: The Slovak-Hungarian relations were by far the most important point of the discussions. The Vienna Award by which Slovakia was forced to cede part of her territories to Hungary - was a source of constant Slovak grievances and was genuinely detested by all Slovaks, whether they were pro-Nazi, anti-Nazi, or just sitting on the fence. Tuka was convinced that the Salzburg conversations meant a step towards a more acceptable solution. At Salzburg (July 1940) Tiso wrenched from Ribbentrop a somewhat vague and non-committal promise that the question of the frontier rectification between Slovakia and Hungary though unsuitable for settlement at that time - cou~d be considered later ("dass in Augenblick nicht an die Regelung dieser Frage zu denken sei, dass vielleicht spaeter einmal der Augenblick kommen duerfe"). On the basis of this promise the Slovak Foreign Ministry forwarded to Berlin a number of Aide-Memoires, maps and statistical material and wanted them to be examined by the Auslandsinstitut in Stuttgart. Tuka was to ask Ribbentrop for the official German attitude towards these Slovak requests. It was proposed to tell Tuka that the moment for the settlement of the disputed boundary issue was still inap- �12 SLOVAKIA propriate ("Es waere unzeitmaessig diese slowakische Ansprueche jetzt geltent zu machen"). With regard to the examination of the Slovak documentary material by the Auslandsinstitut in Stutgart - since the Germans did not want the Hungarians to get wind that something was going on - it was suggested that this request should be declined. Tuka should be told that the German Foreign Ministry would examine the pertinent Slovak material, but it did not think it expedient to pass such things on to the Auslandsinstitut. 4. Ruthene Question: Then there was the question of the Ruthene minority. This group, about 50,000 strong, was subjected to intense communistic propaganda inciting it to demand the same privileges as those granted to the German ethnic group. The solution of this question required a precarious balance in counteracting the communist propaganda without arousing the suspicions of being hostile towards the USSR which at that time was being courted by the Germans into joining the Tripartite Pact. Tuka was to be told that the Slovak Government would have to try to win the sympathies of the Ruthenes even if it involved the offer of a guarantee of cultural autonomy. But the communist intrigues would have to be suppressed just the same ("Kommunistische Umtriebe unter ihnen waeren zu unterdruecken") . 5. Attitude towards the Croats: It was expected that Tuka, who had just learned about the German attitude towards the Croats, would make an offer to influence the Croats through Slovak propaganda. It was suggested that his declaration should be merely noted and any discussion of his proposal should be declined. B. Economic Problems: The economic topics for the discussions are of equal importance. In spite, or, perhaps because of the war, the Slovak economy was developing very favorably. The Ger- �SLOVAKIA 13 mans were taking 75 per cent of Slovak exports and, contrary to the general belief, were providing valuable expert and material assistance. Nevertheless, there were points of friction even in this sphere, especially with regard to the direction in which the development should proceed. The Germans pressed for projects like the improved facilities of the Bratislava Danube harbor, raising of the level of agricultural economy, erection of family houses for workers, etc., whereas the Slovaks were for industrial development, new factories, improved local communications, etc. At the time of Tuka's visit the Slovak grievances concerned the price increases, tourist trade, and employment of Czech skilled workers. 1. Price Question: The Slovak government was afraid that the price increases might create unwanted social reactions which, in turn, could be exploited by the communists. But the Germans maintained that, since rising prices were a general phenomenon in all Southeast Europe, and also in the Protektorat whose economy was closely bound with Slovakia's, it was desirable for them to go up in Slovakia as well. It was proposed to point out to Tuka that the price increases would, in the long run, increase Slovakia's national income through expansion in exports to Germany and through the wage transfer of the 80,000 Slovak laborers working there. The Germans would try to mitigate the effect of price increases by such measures, for example, as lowering the prices of goods imported from the Protektorat. Likewise - in spite of the recent increases in the price of coal - the export prices of German coal delivered to Slovakia were not increased, but were retained at the level fixed in April, 1940, and would stay there. 2. Tourist Trade: in the mater of the Slovak complaint concerning the rapid decrease in the tourist trade, it was to be stated that there was not much the Germans could do about it. It was, however, to be expected that after the war Slovakia would enjoy an unprecedented tourist activity. �14 SLOVAKIA 3. Employment of Czech Workers: For Tuka this represented another thorny problem. There were still many Czechs working in industrial establishments in Slovakia, mainly as skilled workers. Tuka pressed for their removal, since he saw in them a constant element of unrest ("Unruheherde"). The Germans promised to cooperate, saying that some Czechs had already been transferred. RilJbentrop, however, would have to advise Tuka that those Czechs working in the armament industry could be removed only when satisfactory replacements by skilled Slovak workers had been found. C. Resettlement Problems: 1. Czechs in Slovakia: Tuka strove to rid Slovakia of all Czechs (approximat ely 25,000 in number), as well as t o bring bac 1c to Slovakia all Slovaks living in the Protektorat. Since the negotiations ("Auseinandersetzungverhandlungen") with the Germans were ominously dragging on, Tuka wanted to ask Ribbentrop about the German view on the matter. Ribbentrop was advised to instruct Tuka that the proposal would be examined in due time, but, on the other hand, not to give any prospect for fulfillment of this wish ("Keine Aussicht auf Erfuellung des Wuensches za machen" ). 2. Slovaks in the German POW Camps: After the military collapse of France, several unfortunate Slovaks found themselves as POWs in German captivity. In most cases they were Slovak workers from Paris and from the Northern French coalfields who were mobilized into "Czecho-Slovak" army units to fight for the restoration of the defunct Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Slovak Foreign Ministry had been demanding their release since the end of the Franco-German hostilities, but the German authorities were not very quick in answering. Tuka was to be assured that their release was pending. 3. Slovaks in France: With equal commendable zeal the Slovak Government �SLOVAKIA 15 tried to obtain the release of all Slovaks in the French Army Service, in both occupied and unoccupied France, and pleaded for the repatriation of those who desired it. Tuka was to be told that the Germans looked upon the request with understanding and would give it their support. D. Cultural and Other Problems: In the cultural field there was complete satisfaction on both sides. The Slovak-German cultural relations were very friendly and prepartions for the signing of a Cultural Agreement ("Kultur-Abkomm en") were on the way. Similarly there were no complaints about the treatment of the German ethnic group in Slovakia. IV CONCLUSION Looking at the event after almost 20 years' interval, when one has the benefit of seeing what was back of the German mind, and when one knows all the answers to what were then the annoying questions of the day, it is only too easy to be critical, cynical, or even malicious. Was Tuka really the villain of the drama? Was he really responsible for all subsequent Slovak misfortunes? Was his signature on the Protocol the death-warrant of the Slovak State as some of his critics want us to believe? Or, was he just an innocent victim of circumstances from which there was no way out? Did he merely carry out the inevitable and inescapable steps to save the nation from a much worse disaster, as his admirers try to convince us? Unfortunately there is no straightforward answer to either of these views. Tuka's personality was of a far more complex nature than to be an object of a clear-cut judgment. It would be futile and out of place to argue about this. However, to make the picture as complete as possible, it seems only just to add the following notes by way of a postscript. It is undeniable now, as it was conclusive then, that. the Tripartite Pact was directed against the USA (12) ,, where, as it happened, lived almost a third of the Slovak �16 SLOVAKIA nation. And there is no doubt about Tuka's willingness to have Slovakia bound to Germany lock, stock, and barrel. But the personal ambition of a sick man was not the only why and wherefore behind Tuka's move. There were also political motives and these were by no means insignificant: to gain for Slovakia an honorable place in the New Europe - which at that time was not just a remote phantasy; to ward off the Hungarian danger - as menacing and ubiquitous as ever. It is not always realized that the fear of being swallowed by Hungary had a hand not only at the birth of the Slovak State, but was present in the background of practically every action of subsequent Slovak foreign policy. The political and military situation - at the time of Slovakia's accession to the Pact - strongly favored the German position. Germany was the undisputed master of Europe, and with the USSR she had a Treaty of NonAggression. The USA was keeping out of the war and was likely to stay out. For Hitler and his gang "the war was already won." This thought, however, was not shared by all. There were many who did concede (though they have less courage to admit it now) that the war might finish in a draw Such a situation would have curbed Hitler's ambitions for world domination, but it would leave the nations of Central Europe at his mercy. And it is better to be left at the mercy of a benign than an irate master. Then the question arises as to what would have happened if Tuka "per impossiblile" would have chosen to resist German prompting and decided not to join the bloc. The problem may be highly academic, but the answer to it is less so. In fact, an eloquent reply was provided about three months after Slovakia's accession to the Pact by the adherence of Bulgaria. To the Western way of thinking, Bulgaria was the best of the bad satellites of Hitler. She saved most of her Jewish population from extermination, she did not declare war on the USSR (though the USSR found it expedient to declare war on her). In the face of German pressure she yielded the bare minimum - and this included the accession to the Pact. It is hardly to be expected that Slovak opposition could have been more ef- �SLOVAKIA 17 fective. With no friends and no guarantees in the West, Slovakia could not behave the way Yugoslavia did. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. W. Shirer: A Berlin Diary, Hamilton, London, 1941,. For the text of the Tripartite Pact see Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. V, pp. 355-6, or Int. Affairs, 193946, Vol. III, OUP, 1954, pp. 81-82. C. A. Macartney: October Fifteenth, EdinJburgh Univ. Press, 1956, Vol. I, p. 439. The Hrungarians, went to Vienna, the Rumaniallls and Slovaks to Berlin. Other countries followed suit: Spain secretly in November 1940; Bulgaria on March 1, 1941; Yugoslavia on March 25, 194'1; Croatia, on June 115, 1941'. The USSR nearly joined the Pact, too (See Nazi-Soviet Relations, pp. 248--9, 258-9). Ciano's Diary 1939-43, Heinemann, London, 1947. Ent ry ·of November 20, 11)40: " ... I do not attach much importance to the adherence of these states (Hungary, Rumania and Slovakia) which are vassais of Germany, or almost so. In £act they weaken the Tripartite Agreement itseltf, and s,eem to be useless bits of ersatz diplomacy. " Auswartiges Amt, Buero St. Sekretaer, Besuch Tuka, 610/ 248742-818. 8. For the Delegation's "Who's Who" see Alppendix II. 9. "He (Antonescu) had bairely left Berlin . .. when Dr. Tuka, the Slovak Prime Minister, arrived to sign his counrtry's adhesion to the Pact. The document was ready and his signature was prompt" - Dipl. correspond,e nt of the London "Times". In fact, the s igning took place less than two and ·a halif hours after Tukas' arrival. 1-0. For the text of the Brotocol see Alppendix I. 11. Joseph Lettrich: History of Modern Slovakia, Atlantic Press, London, 1956, p. 167. 12. Ar.ticle 3 of the Pact runs: (The three Contracti!Ilg Parties) "further undertake to assist one another with all political, econemic and military means, if one of them is attacked by a Poweir at present not involved in the European war or in the Chiinese..Jarpanese conflict." This could have meant only the USA or the USSR. But Article 5 stated that the iterms of the Pact did not "in any way aifilieot the politica'l strutus which exists between each of the three Contraicting Parties and Soviet Russiia." APPENDIX I The Protocol of Slovakia's Accession to the Tripartite Pact The Governments of Germany, Italy and Japan, on the one hand, and the Government of Slovakia, on the other hand, represented by the signa,to:ries to the documenrt, declare as follows: 1. Slovakia joins the Tripartite Pact sig.n ed at Berlin on September 27, 1940. 2. As far as the joint technical commissions provided under Article 4 of the Tripartite Pact concern matters affecting Slovak �18 SLOVAKIA interests, Slovakia. will be represented ait the discussions of these committees. 3. The text o;f the Tr.iipartite Pact is atltached to the present Protocol, which is drawn up in the German, Italian, Japanese, and Slovak languages, each text to ha1Ve the validity of the original. The Protocol comes into effect on the da~ of signature . .AIPPENDIX II The Slovak Delegation - Who Was Who: Dr. Vojtech Tuka - Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign A1ff.airs. Born on July 4, 1880, at P.i-argy, Tuka was, before 1918, a Professor of Internationa,l Law at the then Hungarian University at Bratislava. After the first World Wa r he played a leading role in the Slovak autonomist movement of the Hlinka Party. Accused of treason by the Czech Brague, he wa•s involved in the notorious "Tuka Trial." On flimsy and rigged evid'ence he was found guiity of espiona•ge and p:l,,Oltting a,ga,inst the Repuiblic and sentenced to 15 years in ja11. After havi,ng been imprisoned at Pankrac in Prague for more than seven years, sick and nearly blind, he was pardoned by Presidental amnesty, and the remainder of his sentence he was to spend in custody at Plzen. Released in October, 1938, he pr-0mptly resumed his political activity. In the first Slovak independent goviermnent ~March 1J939) he became the deputy Prime Minister and laiter, after the retirement of Sidor. ,also the acting Minfater of Interior. On the election ·of Dr. Joseph Tiso as Presiident o:f Slovakia, Tuka became Brime Minister. Mter the Sal2Jburg Conference (July 1940) Tuka not only retained his post, but a'lso took over the Foreign Ministry. Tuka was executed by the Prague Government in Bratislava August 20, 1946. Slovak Minister in Berlin. A high school Matul Cernak teacher by profession, Cernak had a long record of continuous activity in the ranks of the Hlinka Party. In Septem,ber, 1<938, he was appointed a minister in the Czecho-Slovak Government. He immediately demanded autonomy for Slovakia. This not granted, he resigned in protest. In the first Sloviak autonomous governmenit he was given the post of the Ministry of Educaiti001 (October 11938) and in addition was entrusted with the lead,ership of the Youth Organization (Hlinka's Youth). Being openly for a complete secession, he was imprisoned by the Czechs (March 1939) and treated raither brutaUy. After the Declaration of Slovak Independence he was sent to Germany as the Slovak diplomatic representative. He was killed by a bomb sent through the mail in Munich, July 5, 1955. Karo• Murgal - Ohief of the Propaganda Bureau. A joumaHsit, Murga§ came into prominence in the hectic days of October 1938 Ma!l"Ch 1939. After the Salzburg Oond'eroo.ce· he was made the Chie!f of the Propaganda Bureau as the only suifable ohoice (h,e was the on1y person of irutelligence and aibility ready to toiw the German line). Ing. Jozef Mracna - Ohief of the Political Division of the Slovak Foreign Ministry. Mraona was born on February 21, 1900. He was a career diplomat of the Czooho..Slovak diplomatic service. At the time of the declaration of Slovak independence (March 1939) he was the Cze:cho..Slovak Consul in New York, but immediately offered his services to the Slovak State. Gifted, honest and exiperieru:ed, he was 1 �SLOVAKIA 19 the most caiplllble and authoritative personality in the Slovak Foreig111 Ministry, but later he became rather passive. He enjoyed Tuka's full confidence and in return was his loyal, but not uncritica'l, co-worker. ,or. Raduz Radlinsky - Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol at the Slovak Foreign Miinistry. Former employee of the Czecho-61ovak Foreign Ministry, where he held a minor position in the Protocol. On the basis of this activity he was entrusted with the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol in Bratislava. '11he Germans constantly objected to his position. Lieutenant-Colonel ~tefan Tata.rko Military Aittache at the Slovak Legaition in Berlin. A professional soldier of some ability, Tatarko created practically out of nothing the Sfovak Military Secret Service. Later he was apointed military -atta:che to Berlin. Ait one time he was not trusted by the Germans because of his in:cautiously expressed d'oulbts about final German vietory. But he must have corrected himself, because later he was promoted to the Chief of Cabinet at the Slovak Ministry of defense. Jan Belnay - Commercial Atta:che at the Slovak Legation in Berlin. He was born on Oct-Ober 23, 1900. Mosit of his study-years (in Chemistry) were spent in Germany, the remainder in Prague. He worked at the Czecho-Slovak Economic Academy, a111d Ia1ter at the Czecho-Slovak EX1pOrt Institute. In MaTCh, 11939, he joined the staff of the Slovak Foreign Ministry and s·oon was appointed a commercial attaohe to Berlin. His professional eicperien:ce and fluent knowledge of German served him in good stead and in 1941 he was promoted to the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. Jan Farkal - Tuka's Adjutant . .A,s a comparnion in T~a's tribulations (he figured in the "Tuka Trial") Fark'as claimed also a share in Tuka's honors. He devoutly followed Tuka's footsteps and parroted his pronoun:cements aholllt the introduction of Nazism into Slovakia, but was not particularly giiited to make a higher grade. A,t one stage Tuka insisted on his appointment as a Minister of Finance, but was rebuff.ed. • • • WHO SAID IT? "Since, in the new situation, it was impossilble to coHa-borate oifficiaHy with the Soviet Union, we . . . d~d nothing which might prejudike or ipre.vent the removal of co-operation at the earliest posstble moment; I need 0I11ly recall how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many others during the Soviet-Finnish War. Moreover, even in that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves rund important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND WEST, London. 1944. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 6 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA'S ACCESSION TO THE TRIPARTITE PACT Fnmcis Vnuk On September 27, 1940, at the New Chancellery in Berlin, the German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact was signed. "The ceremony of signing" - noted Shirer "was carried through with typical Axis talent for the theatrical." (1) The German and satellite press greeted the occasion as an event of far-reaching importance, a "Magna Charta" of the New Order, which was going to bring about exactly what had been promised in the preamble to the Pact, namely, "world peace" . . . and "prosperity and welfare of the peoples" in Europe and Greater East Asia(2). After the ceremonial signing, Hitler entered the hall to honor the occasion by his presence. Then followed the adulatory speeches of Ribbentrop, Ciano, and Kurusu. In the course of his speech Ribbentrop stated: "The purpose of the Pact is, a:bove an things, to help restore peace to the world as quickly as possible. Therefore, any otherstate, which wishes to adhere to this bloc with the intention of contributing to the restoration of peaceful conditions, will be sincerely and gratefully made welcome and will participate in the economic and political reorganization" (3) In response to this rather blunt hint, the nations of Central Europe, tied to Germany by geopolitical conditions, duly applied for admittance. Hungary was the first in the field, the others following her more or less reluctantly. It was clear to the 'Slovaks and Rumanians that they could not afford to stand aside, even if they wished. They had to rank at least as high in Hitler's esteem as Hungary which still hrad unfulfilled territorial claims against them. And thus towards the end of November, 1940, Hungarian, Rumanian, and Slovak delegations in close succession went to Vienna or Berlin ( 4) to sign the Protocol of adherence to the Tripartitie Pact. Hungary did so on the 20th, Rumania on the 22nd, and Slovakia on the 24th of November, 1940(5). Slovakia's accession to the Tripartite Pact followed the proclamation of the "spiritual adherence" a few weeks SLOVAKIA 7 previously. Though Ciano sneered at the event as "a useless bit of ersatz diplomacy" (6) , the Germans made it into a spectacular State visit which was arranged for Tuka and his entourage. State visits had a strange fascination for Turoa. Nothing appealed to him more than to be a centre of attention, surrounded by high officials, and facing the flashlights of official photographers and reporters. He did not -conceal his disappointment when the Germans advised him against his proposed visit to Rumania, or when the Italians asked him to postpone his offered visit of Italy till "after the war." The signing of the Protocol of Accession enabled him to taste the cherished moments of ceremonial courtesies and at the same time to demonstrate his devotion to Germany. Apart from these rather personal considerations, there were also quite a few important political, economic, and cultural problems to be discussed, new poUcies outlined, and achievements and failures reported. SIGNATURES The German preparations for Tuka's State visit were very detailed and thorough. Tuka was to be received with all the honors and courtesies due to the head of a friendly government. In the captured documents of the former German Foreign Ministry, there is a special file (7) dealing exclusively with various aspects of the visit and this is the principal source of all relevant information. The Slov,ak delegation(8), which consisted of Tuka, Murgas, Mracna, Radlinsky and Farkas, left Bratislava by auto on the afternoon of November 23, 1940. They crossed the bridge to Petrfalka and proceeded to Vienna where ,a special train was awaiting them. The reception there was very austere. There were no guards of honor to inspect, no speeches of welcome; just one representative of the Protocol to accompany them on their night journey to Berlin. '.Dhe train left West Bahnhof at 7:32 P. M. and took them through Linz, Passau, Regensburg, Hof, and Leipzig to the Anhalter Bahnhof, Berlin, where they arrived on Sunday morning at 10 :40 A. M. - just 20 minutes after the Rumanian delegation, its mission accomplished, left Berlin on its return journey (9). 8 SLOVAKIA At the Anhalter Bahnhof everything was pompous, well-organized, and impressive. Welcoming personalities were grouped in four parties. The first party, headed by the Slovak charge d'affaires, consisted of foreign diploma:ts ·and the heads of missions in Berlin. Specially invited German representatives of the Party and the Army were in the second, the members of the Slovak Legation in the third, and the personnel of the German Foreign Ministry in the fourth group. Tuka, as he alighted from his salon-car, was welcomed by Ribbentrop and Matthew Cernak, and introduced by them to the other members of the welcoming parties on the platform. Then followed the inspection of the Guard of Honor. Tuka, in the uniform of the Hlinka Guards and accompanied by Ribbentrop, was trying his unsoldierly best to make his gait and mien look soldier-like. From the station the procession of cars went to Schloss Bellevue which was going to be Tuka's residence during his two-day stay in Berlin. There he was welcomed by Meissner who acted as master of the house (Hausherr). At 11 :30 Tuka paid a visit to Ribbentrop at the latter's office, 73 Wilhelmstrasse, where they spent about an hour in discussion. The great moment came at 1:00 P. M. In the Grand Reception Hall of the New Chancellery stood a huge massive signature table. The representatives of the Press had already taken their places: the foreign correspondents at the window-side, the Germans at the door. At 12:58 P. M., the great door opened and an impressive procession entered. It was led by the Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. He was followed by Tuka and Ribbentrop, the Japanese Ambassador, the Italian Ambassador and Charge d'Affaires, the Hungarian and Rumanian Ministers, State Secretary Weizsaecker, and State Under-Secretary Gaus. Ribbentrop sat at the center of the table, Tuka at his right and, next to him, the Italian Ambassador and the Rumanian Minister. At Ribbentrop's left were seated the Japanese Ambassador and the Hungarian Minister. Everything went without a hitch like a well-rehearsed drama. The Protocol of Accession (10) was signed amidst SLOVAKIA 9 the flashes of light and rustle of reporter's notebooks, short speeches were solemnly read out and courteous applause resounded in the spacious hall. In the afternoon Ribbentrop gave a reception at the Hotel Adlon for the Slovak Delegation and the members of the Slovak Legation in Berlin. In the morning of the next day (Monday, November 25) Tuka took part in the wreath-laying ceremony at the Ehrenmahl (The War Memorial at the famous Unter den Linden). Another reception was given by Cernak in the afternoon at the Hotel Esplanade. At 5:30 P. M. Tuka had his great and memorable moment. He was taken to the Work Room of the New Chancellery where he was received by Hitler. That was the climax of Tuka's State visit. Shortly before 7 P. M., the Slovak Delegation was again on the Anhalter Bahnhof. With the German and foreign guests to bid them farewell, guards of honor to inspect, hands to shake or raise in Nazi salute, the parting ceremony was as imposing as the welcoming one. At 7:05 P. M., the special train with the Slovak Delegation left Berlin on its return journey to Vienna, where they arrived on November 26, at 10:54 A. M. The Slovak Parliament gave its approval to the Protocol of Accession to the Tripartite Pact on February 6, 1941(11). DISCUSSIONS The records of discussions between Ribbentrop and Tuka were not found. But it is possible to gauge their nature and content from numerous memoranda passed between Ribbentrop and his advisers shortly before Tuka's visit. Some of these memoranda are very sketchy, others go into great details. They deal with subjects which Tuka outlined to Consul-General Wuester (on November 11, 1940) as the topics he would like to discuss perisonally with Ribbentrop on the occasion of his State visit. And even if the discussions did not follow the proposed course exactly, they could not have departed far from it. These memoranda are thus of interest to every student of Slovak affairs. They certainly cast some light on the Slovak scene as it was set in November, 1940, and provide a 10 SLOVAKIA guileless cross-section of the Slovak political, economic, and cultural life. The problems were grouped under four headings and each division had further subsections. The same pattern will be followed in this study. The subject matter for discussion was to proceed along the following lines: A. Political Problems. 1. Internal Policy: Internally Slovakia was in the middle of a political crisis and Woermann and Killinger briefed Ribbentrop about its extent. They informed him that Tuka and Mach were working on the establishment of the Nazi system in Slovakia ("nazionalsozialistische Staatsfuehrung"), in the spirit of the Salzburg conversations. In this attempt they had to wage a struggle against the opposing forces centered around President Tiso. Tiso',s camp consisted of in Killinger's terminology - clericals, former :Durcansky hangers-on and four members of the government. Tuka demanded dismissal of these ministers, but Tiso ref used to comply with his request. Tuka then decided to fight it out with Tiso, and, according to Killinger, there were forces at work striving for a complete elimination of Tiso from the Slovak political life ( eine vollige Auschaltung Tisos aus dem politischen Leben"). In discussing this question with Tuka, Ribbentrop was advised to recommend that Tuka should apply his measures in such a way as not to affect the position of President Tiso. There was no objection to the eventual removal of the uncooperative ministers, but as far as Tiso was concerned, his removal would only deteriorate and not improve the internal situation in Slovakia. "Tiso" - runs Woermann's recommendation to Ribbentrop - "as Hlinka's successor and the co-founder of the Slovak State, is a very popular personality in Slovakia" ("eine durchhaus volkstuemliche Personlichkeit"), and, therefore, the elimination of the clerical influence should be carried out carefully and possibly by evolutionary means. The conversion of Slovakia into a Christian state according to Schusch- SLOVAKIA 11 nigg's model ("Staendestatt'), as contemplated by Tiso and his friends, could be prevented even without the removal of Tiso. On the other hand Tuka should be commended for his fight for the Nazi reorientation of Slovakia. 2. Territorial demands: 'rhe second problem Tuka wanted to discuss was the territorial cession of the eastern part of the Protektorat to Slovakia (the region of Moravske Slovacko). In this respect several memoranda were passed to the German Foreign Ministry outlying the reason and justification of this demand. But the Germans were not happy about the proposition. Ribbentrop was advised to tell Tuka that the idea of the frontier rectification in favor of Slovakia could not be considered ("keine Folge gegeben werden koenne" ). 3. Slovak-Hungarian Relations: The Slovak-Hungarian relations were by far the most important point of the discussions. The Vienna Award by which Slovakia was forced to cede part of her territories to Hungary - was a source of constant Slovak grievances and was genuinely detested by all Slovaks, whether they were pro-Nazi, anti-Nazi, or just sitting on the fence. Tuka was convinced that the Salzburg conversations meant a step towards a more acceptable solution. At Salzburg (July 1940) Tiso wrenched from Ribbentrop a somewhat vague and non-committal promise that the question of the frontier rectification between Slovakia and Hungary though unsuitable for settlement at that time - cou~d be considered later ("dass in Augenblick nicht an die Regelung dieser Frage zu denken sei, dass vielleicht spaeter einmal der Augenblick kommen duerfe"). On the basis of this promise the Slovak Foreign Ministry forwarded to Berlin a number of Aide-Memoires, maps and statistical material and wanted them to be examined by the Auslandsinstitut in Stuttgart. Tuka was to ask Ribbentrop for the official German attitude towards these Slovak requests. It was proposed to tell Tuka that the moment for the settlement of the disputed boundary issue was still inap- 12 SLOVAKIA propriate ("Es waere unzeitmaessig diese slowakische Ansprueche jetzt geltent zu machen"). With regard to the examination of the Slovak documentary material by the Auslandsinstitut in Stutgart - since the Germans did not want the Hungarians to get wind that something was going on - it was suggested that this request should be declined. Tuka should be told that the German Foreign Ministry would examine the pertinent Slovak material, but it did not think it expedient to pass such things on to the Auslandsinstitut. 4. Ruthene Question: Then there was the question of the Ruthene minority. This group, about 50,000 strong, was subjected to intense communistic propaganda inciting it to demand the same privileges as those granted to the German ethnic group. The solution of this question required a precarious balance in counteracting the communist propaganda without arousing the suspicions of being hostile towards the USSR which at that time was being courted by the Germans into joining the Tripartite Pact. Tuka was to be told that the Slovak Government would have to try to win the sympathies of the Ruthenes even if it involved the offer of a guarantee of cultural autonomy. But the communist intrigues would have to be suppressed just the same ("Kommunistische Umtriebe unter ihnen waeren zu unterdruecken") . 5. Attitude towards the Croats: It was expected that Tuka, who had just learned about the German attitude towards the Croats, would make an offer to influence the Croats through Slovak propaganda. It was suggested that his declaration should be merely noted and any discussion of his proposal should be declined. B. Economic Problems: The economic topics for the discussions are of equal importance. In spite, or, perhaps because of the war, the Slovak economy was developing very favorably. The Ger- SLOVAKIA 13 mans were taking 75 per cent of Slovak exports and, contrary to the general belief, were providing valuable expert and material assistance. Nevertheless, there were points of friction even in this sphere, especially with regard to the direction in which the development should proceed. The Germans pressed for projects like the improved facilities of the Bratislava Danube harbor, raising of the level of agricultural economy, erection of family houses for workers, etc., whereas the Slovaks were for industrial development, new factories, improved local communications, etc. At the time of Tuka's visit the Slovak grievances concerned the price increases, tourist trade, and employment of Czech skilled workers. 1. Price Question: The Slovak government was afraid that the price increases might create unwanted social reactions which, in turn, could be exploited by the communists. But the Germans maintained that, since rising prices were a general phenomenon in all Southeast Europe, and also in the Protektorat whose economy was closely bound with Slovakia's, it was desirable for them to go up in Slovakia as well. It was proposed to point out to Tuka that the price increases would, in the long run, increase Slovakia's national income through expansion in exports to Germany and through the wage transfer of the 80,000 Slovak laborers working there. The Germans would try to mitigate the effect of price increases by such measures, for example, as lowering the prices of goods imported from the Protektorat. Likewise - in spite of the recent increases in the price of coal - the export prices of German coal delivered to Slovakia were not increased, but were retained at the level fixed in April, 1940, and would stay there. 2. Tourist Trade: in the mater of the Slovak complaint concerning the rapid decrease in the tourist trade, it was to be stated that there was not much the Germans could do about it. It was, however, to be expected that after the war Slovakia would enjoy an unprecedented tourist activity. 14 SLOVAKIA 3. Employment of Czech Workers: For Tuka this represented another thorny problem. There were still many Czechs working in industrial establishments in Slovakia, mainly as skilled workers. Tuka pressed for their removal, since he saw in them a constant element of unrest ("Unruheherde"). The Germans promised to cooperate, saying that some Czechs had already been transferred. RilJbentrop, however, would have to advise Tuka that those Czechs working in the armament industry could be removed only when satisfactory replacements by skilled Slovak workers had been found. C. Resettlement Problems: 1. Czechs in Slovakia: Tuka strove to rid Slovakia of all Czechs (approximat ely 25,000 in number), as well as t o bring bac 1c to Slovakia all Slovaks living in the Protektorat. Since the negotiations ("Auseinandersetzungverhandlungen") with the Germans were ominously dragging on, Tuka wanted to ask Ribbentrop about the German view on the matter. Ribbentrop was advised to instruct Tuka that the proposal would be examined in due time, but, on the other hand, not to give any prospect for fulfillment of this wish ("Keine Aussicht auf Erfuellung des Wuensches za machen" ). 2. Slovaks in the German POW Camps: After the military collapse of France, several unfortunate Slovaks found themselves as POWs in German captivity. In most cases they were Slovak workers from Paris and from the Northern French coalfields who were mobilized into "Czecho-Slovak" army units to fight for the restoration of the defunct Czecho-Slovak Republic. The Slovak Foreign Ministry had been demanding their release since the end of the Franco-German hostilities, but the German authorities were not very quick in answering. Tuka was to be assured that their release was pending. 3. Slovaks in France: With equal commendable zeal the Slovak Government SLOVAKIA 15 tried to obtain the release of all Slovaks in the French Army Service, in both occupied and unoccupied France, and pleaded for the repatriation of those who desired it. Tuka was to be told that the Germans looked upon the request with understanding and would give it their support. D. Cultural and Other Problems: In the cultural field there was complete satisfaction on both sides. The Slovak-German cultural relations were very friendly and prepartions for the signing of a Cultural Agreement ("Kultur-Abkomm en") were on the way. Similarly there were no complaints about the treatment of the German ethnic group in Slovakia. IV CONCLUSION Looking at the event after almost 20 years' interval, when one has the benefit of seeing what was back of the German mind, and when one knows all the answers to what were then the annoying questions of the day, it is only too easy to be critical, cynical, or even malicious. Was Tuka really the villain of the drama? Was he really responsible for all subsequent Slovak misfortunes? Was his signature on the Protocol the death-warrant of the Slovak State as some of his critics want us to believe? Or, was he just an innocent victim of circumstances from which there was no way out? Did he merely carry out the inevitable and inescapable steps to save the nation from a much worse disaster, as his admirers try to convince us? Unfortunately there is no straightforward answer to either of these views. Tuka's personality was of a far more complex nature than to be an object of a clear-cut judgment. It would be futile and out of place to argue about this. However, to make the picture as complete as possible, it seems only just to add the following notes by way of a postscript. It is undeniable now, as it was conclusive then, that. the Tripartite Pact was directed against the USA (12) ,, where, as it happened, lived almost a third of the Slovak 16 SLOVAKIA nation. And there is no doubt about Tuka's willingness to have Slovakia bound to Germany lock, stock, and barrel. But the personal ambition of a sick man was not the only why and wherefore behind Tuka's move. There were also political motives and these were by no means insignificant: to gain for Slovakia an honorable place in the New Europe - which at that time was not just a remote phantasy; to ward off the Hungarian danger - as menacing and ubiquitous as ever. It is not always realized that the fear of being swallowed by Hungary had a hand not only at the birth of the Slovak State, but was present in the background of practically every action of subsequent Slovak foreign policy. The political and military situation - at the time of Slovakia's accession to the Pact - strongly favored the German position. Germany was the undisputed master of Europe, and with the USSR she had a Treaty of NonAggression. The USA was keeping out of the war and was likely to stay out. For Hitler and his gang "the war was already won." This thought, however, was not shared by all. There were many who did concede (though they have less courage to admit it now) that the war might finish in a draw Such a situation would have curbed Hitler's ambitions for world domination, but it would leave the nations of Central Europe at his mercy. And it is better to be left at the mercy of a benign than an irate master. Then the question arises as to what would have happened if Tuka "per impossiblile" would have chosen to resist German prompting and decided not to join the bloc. The problem may be highly academic, but the answer to it is less so. In fact, an eloquent reply was provided about three months after Slovakia's accession to the Pact by the adherence of Bulgaria. To the Western way of thinking, Bulgaria was the best of the bad satellites of Hitler. She saved most of her Jewish population from extermination, she did not declare war on the USSR (though the USSR found it expedient to declare war on her). In the face of German pressure she yielded the bare minimum - and this included the accession to the Pact. It is hardly to be expected that Slovak opposition could have been more ef- SLOVAKIA 17 fective. With no friends and no guarantees in the West, Slovakia could not behave the way Yugoslavia did. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. W. Shirer: A Berlin Diary, Hamilton, London, 1941,. For the text of the Tripartite Pact see Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. V, pp. 355-6, or Int. Affairs, 193946, Vol. III, OUP, 1954, pp. 81-82. C. A. Macartney: October Fifteenth, EdinJburgh Univ. Press, 1956, Vol. I, p. 439. The Hrungarians, went to Vienna, the Rumaniallls and Slovaks to Berlin. Other countries followed suit: Spain secretly in November 1940; Bulgaria on March 1, 1941; Yugoslavia on March 25, 194'1; Croatia, on June 115, 1941'. The USSR nearly joined the Pact, too (See Nazi-Soviet Relations, pp. 248--9, 258-9). Ciano's Diary 1939-43, Heinemann, London, 1947. Ent ry ·of November 20, 11)40: " ... I do not attach much importance to the adherence of these states (Hungary, Rumania and Slovakia) which are vassais of Germany, or almost so. In £act they weaken the Tripartite Agreement itseltf, and s,eem to be useless bits of ersatz diplomacy. " Auswartiges Amt, Buero St. Sekretaer, Besuch Tuka, 610/ 248742-818. 8. For the Delegation's "Who's Who" see Alppendix II. 9. "He (Antonescu) had bairely left Berlin . .. when Dr. Tuka, the Slovak Prime Minister, arrived to sign his counrtry's adhesion to the Pact. The document was ready and his signature was prompt" - Dipl. correspond,e nt of the London "Times". In fact, the s igning took place less than two and ·a halif hours after Tukas' arrival. 1-0. For the text of the Brotocol see Alppendix I. 11. Joseph Lettrich: History of Modern Slovakia, Atlantic Press, London, 1956, p. 167. 12. Ar.ticle 3 of the Pact runs: (The three Contracti!Ilg Parties) "further undertake to assist one another with all political, econemic and military means, if one of them is attacked by a Poweir at present not involved in the European war or in the Chiinese..Jarpanese conflict." This could have meant only the USA or the USSR. But Article 5 stated that the iterms of the Pact did not "in any way aifilieot the politica'l strutus which exists between each of the three Contraicting Parties and Soviet Russiia." APPENDIX I The Protocol of Slovakia's Accession to the Tripartite Pact The Governments of Germany, Italy and Japan, on the one hand, and the Government of Slovakia, on the other hand, represented by the signa,to:ries to the documenrt, declare as follows: 1. Slovakia joins the Tripartite Pact sig.n ed at Berlin on September 27, 1940. 2. As far as the joint technical commissions provided under Article 4 of the Tripartite Pact concern matters affecting Slovak 18 SLOVAKIA interests, Slovakia. will be represented ait the discussions of these committees. 3. The text o;f the Tr.iipartite Pact is atltached to the present Protocol, which is drawn up in the German, Italian, Japanese, and Slovak languages, each text to ha1Ve the validity of the original. The Protocol comes into effect on the da~ of signature . .AIPPENDIX II The Slovak Delegation - Who Was Who: Dr. Vojtech Tuka - Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign A1ff.airs. Born on July 4, 1880, at P.i-argy, Tuka was, before 1918, a Professor of Internationa,l Law at the then Hungarian University at Bratislava. After the first World Wa r he played a leading role in the Slovak autonomist movement of the Hlinka Party. Accused of treason by the Czech Brague, he wa•s involved in the notorious "Tuka Trial." On flimsy and rigged evid'ence he was found guiity of espiona•ge and p:l,,Oltting a,ga,inst the Repuiblic and sentenced to 15 years in ja11. After havi,ng been imprisoned at Pankrac in Prague for more than seven years, sick and nearly blind, he was pardoned by Presidental amnesty, and the remainder of his sentence he was to spend in custody at Plzen. Released in October, 1938, he pr-0mptly resumed his political activity. In the first Slovak independent goviermnent ~March 1J939) he became the deputy Prime Minister and laiter, after the retirement of Sidor. ,also the acting Minfater of Interior. On the election ·of Dr. Joseph Tiso as Presiident o:f Slovakia, Tuka became Brime Minister. Mter the Sal2Jburg Conference (July 1940) Tuka not only retained his post, but a'lso took over the Foreign Ministry. Tuka was executed by the Prague Government in Bratislava August 20, 1946. Slovak Minister in Berlin. A high school Matul Cernak teacher by profession, Cernak had a long record of continuous activity in the ranks of the Hlinka Party. In Septem,ber, 1<938, he was appointed a minister in the Czecho-Slovak Government. He immediately demanded autonomy for Slovakia. This not granted, he resigned in protest. In the first Sloviak autonomous governmenit he was given the post of the Ministry of Educaiti001 (October 11938) and in addition was entrusted with the lead,ership of the Youth Organization (Hlinka's Youth). Being openly for a complete secession, he was imprisoned by the Czechs (March 1939) and treated raither brutaUy. After the Declaration of Slovak Independence he was sent to Germany as the Slovak diplomatic representative. He was killed by a bomb sent through the mail in Munich, July 5, 1955. Karo• Murgal - Ohief of the Propaganda Bureau. A joumaHsit, Murga§ came into prominence in the hectic days of October 1938 Ma!l"Ch 1939. After the Salzburg Oond'eroo.ce· he was made the Chie!f of the Propaganda Bureau as the only suifable ohoice (h,e was the on1y person of irutelligence and aibility ready to toiw the German line). Ing. Jozef Mracna - Ohief of the Political Division of the Slovak Foreign Ministry. Mraona was born on February 21, 1900. He was a career diplomat of the Czooho..Slovak diplomatic service. At the time of the declaration of Slovak independence (March 1939) he was the Cze:cho..Slovak Consul in New York, but immediately offered his services to the Slovak State. Gifted, honest and exiperieru:ed, he was 1 SLOVAKIA 19 the most caiplllble and authoritative personality in the Slovak Foreig111 Ministry, but later he became rather passive. He enjoyed Tuka's full confidence and in return was his loyal, but not uncritica'l, co-worker. ,or. Raduz Radlinsky - Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol at the Slovak Foreign Miinistry. Former employee of the Czecho-61ovak Foreign Ministry, where he held a minor position in the Protocol. On the basis of this activity he was entrusted with the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol in Bratislava. '11he Germans constantly objected to his position. Lieutenant-Colonel ~tefan Tata.rko Military Aittache at the Slovak Legaition in Berlin. A professional soldier of some ability, Tatarko created practically out of nothing the Sfovak Military Secret Service. Later he was apointed military -atta:che to Berlin. Ait one time he was not trusted by the Germans because of his in:cautiously expressed d'oulbts about final German vietory. But he must have corrected himself, because later he was promoted to the Chief of Cabinet at the Slovak Ministry of defense. Jan Belnay - Commercial Atta:che at the Slovak Legation in Berlin. He was born on Oct-Ober 23, 1900. Mosit of his study-years (in Chemistry) were spent in Germany, the remainder in Prague. He worked at the Czecho-Slovak Economic Academy, a111d Ia1ter at the Czecho-Slovak EX1pOrt Institute. In MaTCh, 11939, he joined the staff of the Slovak Foreign Ministry and s·oon was appointed a commercial attaohe to Berlin. His professional eicperien:ce and fluent knowledge of German served him in good stead and in 1941 he was promoted to the position of Chief of the Diplomatic Protocol. Jan Farkal - Tuka's Adjutant . .A,s a comparnion in T~a's tribulations (he figured in the "Tuka Trial") Fark'as claimed also a share in Tuka's honors. He devoutly followed Tuka's footsteps and parroted his pronoun:cements aholllt the introduction of Nazism into Slovakia, but was not particularly giiited to make a higher grade. A,t one stage Tuka insisted on his appointment as a Minister of Finance, but was rebuff.ed. • • • WHO SAID IT? "Since, in the new situation, it was impossilble to coHa-borate oifficiaHy with the Soviet Union, we . . . d~d nothing which might prejudike or ipre.vent the removal of co-operation at the earliest posstble moment; I need 0I11ly recall how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many others during the Soviet-Finnish War. Moreover, even in that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves rund important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND WEST, London. 1944.  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 Slovakia's Accession to the Tripartite Pact Description An account of the resource Francis Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 6-19 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vnuk, František, 1926- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/705922a72e63667fe54f580c319c4fa4.pdf 58310ead3afe5d6530b02fc14e4aa1ea PDF Text Text 20 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH The question of the position of Slovakia in the Roman Catholic Church was again erroneously explained recently. And once again by Czechs who apparently still feel that they should dominate the Slovaks in all things. In a recent issue (No. 2, 1959) of the Czech Catholic periodical "Novy '.Zivot" (New Life) - published in Rome - the question whether Archbishop Beran was a Czech or CzechoSlovak Primate was answered in this fashion: "The Prague Archbishop was therefore a Czech Metropolitan, but Primate of the Czech (Bohemian - ed.) kingdom. And this title is used on official documents to this day.. : .. When, therefore, the boundaries of the state were increased or decreased, the territory of the Primate also automatically increased or decreased. "But as long as the ICzecho..Slovak Repwblic is the legal heir of the Czech @3ohemian - ed.) kingdom, the Archbishop of Prague is the Primate of the entire state •a nd can be called the Primate of Czecho..Slovakia (or, if you will, the Czecho.JSlovak Primate), even though the Prague archbischops, after the estarblishment of the Czecho..Slovak tRepU!blic, never did call themselves in this fashion, but used only the old historic title; and the title tells us nothing else but that the Primate is (often because of the antiquity of the bis•h op's See) the first bishop in the state. The basis for this denotation i,s therefore territorial and not perhaps linguistic and the less so even political." "The truth will prevail," say the Czechs, and the Slovaks firmly believe that it will even in this case, the feelings and propaganda of the Czechs not withstanding! According to valid ecclesiastical law the status of dioceses or ecclesiastical provinces is decided exclusively and only by the Holy See, the highest ecclesiastical authority (Can. 251, par. 1). Consequently, only the Holy See grants or changes titles of persons who have jurisdiction or whatever authority, even if it be only honorary over these units. This is valid in every case and, hence, even in the case of Slovakia. When Saint Methodius was given jurisdiction over the Danubian Slovans (Slavic peoples), the Slovaks certainly belonged to that area, because the document of Pope Adrian II is even addressed to Svatopluk, who at that time �SLOVAKIA 21 ruled in Nitra, and to Kocef, Pribina's son, who managed Pannonia (Cf. Cod. dipl. et epist. regni Boh., t. 1, No. 12, pp. 7-9). Nitra had become a bishopric already in 880 A.D. (Registrum Johannis VII, epist, 257, Arch. Vatic.) on the basis of the decision of Pope John VIII. Prague only in 973, that is, ninety-three years later. The forefathers of the Slovaks, settled on both sides of the Morava river, formed the nucleus of the Great Moravian Empire. The fact that Nitra is the oldest bishopric of the Slovans north of the Danube is not altered at all by the unfavorable conditions that prevailed at that time (Wiching) or later which enabled the ignoring of its significance. At that time, therefore, Slovakia had its bishopric and belonged under the jurisdiction of Saint Methodius. After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire early in the tenth century, Slovakia eventually became a part of Hungary even as regards ecclesiastical affairs. The bishopric of Nitra was re-established about 1024 and always recalled the days of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The rest of the territory of Slovakia belonged under the ecclesiastical management of Ostrihom and Eger, even though, for example, the Spis province had its own provost from the end of the twelfth century. A great stride forward was the establishment of new bishoprics on the territory: the bishopric of Banska Bystrica, Spis Province, and Roznava in 1776; the diocese of Kosice in 1804; and the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov in 1816. Nitra, Banska Bystrica, and Roznava belonged under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ostrihom, while the Spis and Kosice bishoprics were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Eger as suffragan bishoprics. After the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918, the apostolic administratorship of Trnava was established temporarily. The new position of Slovakia within the Church was determined in 1937, when the Holy See issued the Apostolic Constitution "Ad ecclesiastici regiminis incrementum" (AAS, 1937, pp. 366-369). This Constitution freed the Slovak dioceses and apostolic administratorships from the jurisdiction of Ostrihom and Eger and placed �22 SLOVAKIA them directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. True it is, that even this position is considered temporary by the document, because it expressly states that the Apostolic See will establish a Metropolitan See as quickly as possible in Slovakia. Slovakia would then became an independent ecclesiastical province. The document, furthermore, expressly commands all concerned to abide by the decision of the Holy See and forbids any opposition to it or violation of it. Unfortunately, the world situation did not permit the establishment of an ecclesiastical province in Slovakia. Legally, then, according to Ohurch Law, the dioceses and apostolic administratorships of Slovakia are directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, that is, they are responsible to the Holy See dircetly and not to the Prague or Olomouc provinces. Since that is the case, we know then that the explanation given by the Czech periodical Novy Zivot is erroneous. According to present Church Law, the title of Primate is purely an honorary one. Excepting the Hungarian Primate, the bearers of this title have no jurisdiction because of it. In the past, however, Primates did have a definite right over Metropolitans and Bishops (Wernz-Vidal: Jus Canonicum, II, Nr. 517). Of course, only the Holy See has the right to grant or change this title - just as it has to grant or change any other title denoting such a high honor. Since we are concerned with a title that is more of a historical nature, its bearers use it in the same sense that it was granted, even though it is not in line with the present terminology of countries or their political division or affiliation (federation). So it is that in France the Archbishop of Lyons uses the title of "primas de Gaulles," and not the title of French Primate; the Archbishop of Salzburg uses the title "Primate of Germany" and not Primate of Austria and Germany. Similarly, then, even the Prague archbishops consistently used and still do use the title "Primate of the Bohemian Kingdom" or "Primate of the lands of the former Bohemian Kingdom." In the Czech case, there is no basis for changing this title arbitrarily by private individuals. �SLOVAKIA 23 The author of the explanation given in the Czech periodically Novy Zivot assumed that Slovakia was a part of the Bohemian Kingdom. History, however, tells us that Slovakia was not a part of that kingdom, and, therefore, had no jurisdictional connection with it. And when a new political state was formed, composed of the lands that once belonged to the Bohemian Kingdom and of Slovakia, the distinction was made, if we recall, between the so-called "historical lands" and Slovakia (as if Slovakia did not have a history of its own!) and, therefore, there was a difference between the heir to the historical lands of the Bohemian Crown and Slovakia, the land of the Slovaks. In short, what applied to the Bohemian Kingdom did not apply to Slovakia which was not a part of that kingdom. But even if anyone should think that Slovakia is also heir of the Czech State, let him bear in mind that the title of Primate is territorial. It is valid only in the territory that it was granted and not otherwise, unless the Holy See changes it with a new decision. This was adhered to even by the Archbishops of Prague. One might ,believe that, as a rule, there is only one Primate in any one state, but he would be mistaken. In Spain the title of Primate is enjoyed by two archbishops: the Archbishop of Toledo and the Archbishop of Tarragon. England and Scotland form one political state, but the Engli~h Primate is not the Primate of Scotland. When Ireland belonged to one political formation with England, the Primate of England was not the Primate of Ireland. There is, therefore, no objective argument in this regard to extend arbitrarily the title of Czech Primate over a new territory, to Slovakia. If we allow our thoughts to be the offspring of our desires, then there is no guarantee that they will be correct. It is only when our thoughts express an objective reality that they are truthful. Then even the deeds following from them can be just. Some time ago the Novy Zivot published an address of the Archbishop of London in which His Excellency on the basis of the erroneous information - referred to the Archbishop of Prague as the Primate of Czecho-Slo- �24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the � 20 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH The question of the position of Slovakia in the Roman Catholic Church was again erroneously explained recently. And once again by Czechs who apparently still feel that they should dominate the Slovaks in all things. In a recent issue (No. 2, 1959) of the Czech Catholic periodical "Novy '.Zivot" (New Life) - published in Rome - the question whether Archbishop Beran was a Czech or CzechoSlovak Primate was answered in this fashion: "The Prague Archbishop was therefore a Czech Metropolitan, but Primate of the Czech (Bohemian - ed.) kingdom. And this title is used on official documents to this day.. : .. When, therefore, the boundaries of the state were increased or decreased, the territory of the Primate also automatically increased or decreased. "But as long as the ICzecho..Slovak Repwblic is the legal heir of the Czech @3ohemian - ed.) kingdom, the Archbishop of Prague is the Primate of the entire state •a nd can be called the Primate of Czecho..Slovakia (or, if you will, the Czecho.JSlovak Primate), even though the Prague archbischops, after the estarblishment of the Czecho..Slovak tRepU!blic, never did call themselves in this fashion, but used only the old historic title; and the title tells us nothing else but that the Primate is (often because of the antiquity of the bis•h op's See) the first bishop in the state. The basis for this denotation i,s therefore territorial and not perhaps linguistic and the less so even political." "The truth will prevail," say the Czechs, and the Slovaks firmly believe that it will even in this case, the feelings and propaganda of the Czechs not withstanding! According to valid ecclesiastical law the status of dioceses or ecclesiastical provinces is decided exclusively and only by the Holy See, the highest ecclesiastical authority (Can. 251, par. 1). Consequently, only the Holy See grants or changes titles of persons who have jurisdiction or whatever authority, even if it be only honorary over these units. This is valid in every case and, hence, even in the case of Slovakia. When Saint Methodius was given jurisdiction over the Danubian Slovans (Slavic peoples), the Slovaks certainly belonged to that area, because the document of Pope Adrian II is even addressed to Svatopluk, who at that time �SLOVAKIA 21 ruled in Nitra, and to Kocef, Pribina's son, who managed Pannonia (Cf. Cod. dipl. et epist. regni Boh., t. 1, No. 12, pp. 7-9). Nitra had become a bishopric already in 880 A.D. (Registrum Johannis VII, epist, 257, Arch. Vatic.) on the basis of the decision of Pope John VIII. Prague only in 973, that is, ninety-three years later. The forefathers of the Slovaks, settled on both sides of the Morava river, formed the nucleus of the Great Moravian Empire. The fact that Nitra is the oldest bishopric of the Slovans north of the Danube is not altered at all by the unfavorable conditions that prevailed at that time (Wiching) or later which enabled the ignoring of its significance. At that time, therefore, Slovakia had its bishopric and belonged under the jurisdiction of Saint Methodius. After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire early in the tenth century, Slovakia eventually became a part of Hungary even as regards ecclesiastical affairs. The bishopric of Nitra was re-established about 1024 and always recalled the days of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The rest of the territory of Slovakia belonged under the ecclesiastical management of Ostrihom and Eger, even though, for example, the Spis province had its own provost from the end of the twelfth century. A great stride forward was the establishment of new bishoprics on the territory: the bishopric of Banska Bystrica, Spis Province, and Roznava in 1776; the diocese of Kosice in 1804; and the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov in 1816. Nitra, Banska Bystrica, and Roznava belonged under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ostrihom, while the Spis and Kosice bishoprics were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Eger as suffragan bishoprics. After the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918, the apostolic administratorship of Trnava was established temporarily. The new position of Slovakia within the Church was determined in 1937, when the Holy See issued the Apostolic Constitution "Ad ecclesiastici regiminis incrementum" (AAS, 1937, pp. 366-369). This Constitution freed the Slovak dioceses and apostolic administratorships from the jurisdiction of Ostrihom and Eger and placed �22 SLOVAKIA them directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. True it is, that even this position is considered temporary by the document, because it expressly states that the Apostolic See will establish a Metropolitan See as quickly as possible in Slovakia. Slovakia would then became an independent ecclesiastical province. The document, furthermore, expressly commands all concerned to abide by the decision of the Holy See and forbids any opposition to it or violation of it. Unfortunately, the world situation did not permit the establishment of an ecclesiastical province in Slovakia. Legally, then, according to Ohurch Law, the dioceses and apostolic administratorships of Slovakia are directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, that is, they are responsible to the Holy See dircetly and not to the Prague or Olomouc provinces. Since that is the case, we know then that the explanation given by the Czech periodical Novy Zivot is erroneous. According to present Church Law, the title of Primate is purely an honorary one. Excepting the Hungarian Primate, the bearers of this title have no jurisdiction because of it. In the past, however, Primates did have a definite right over Metropolitans and Bishops (Wernz-Vidal: Jus Canonicum, II, Nr. 517). Of course, only the Holy See has the right to grant or change this title - just as it has to grant or change any other title denoting such a high honor. Since we are concerned with a title that is more of a historical nature, its bearers use it in the same sense that it was granted, even though it is not in line with the present terminology of countries or their political division or affiliation (federation). So it is that in France the Archbishop of Lyons uses the title of "primas de Gaulles," and not the title of French Primate; the Archbishop of Salzburg uses the title "Primate of Germany" and not Primate of Austria and Germany. Similarly, then, even the Prague archbishops consistently used and still do use the title "Primate of the Bohemian Kingdom" or "Primate of the lands of the former Bohemian Kingdom." In the Czech case, there is no basis for changing this title arbitrarily by private individuals. �SLOVAKIA 23 The author of the explanation given in the Czech periodically Novy Zivot assumed that Slovakia was a part of the Bohemian Kingdom. History, however, tells us that Slovakia was not a part of that kingdom, and, therefore, had no jurisdictional connection with it. And when a new political state was formed, composed of the lands that once belonged to the Bohemian Kingdom and of Slovakia, the distinction was made, if we recall, between the so-called "historical lands" and Slovakia (as if Slovakia did not have a history of its own!) and, therefore, there was a difference between the heir to the historical lands of the Bohemian Crown and Slovakia, the land of the Slovaks. In short, what applied to the Bohemian Kingdom did not apply to Slovakia which was not a part of that kingdom. But even if anyone should think that Slovakia is also heir of the Czech State, let him bear in mind that the title of Primate is territorial. It is valid only in the territory that it was granted and not otherwise, unless the Holy See changes it with a new decision. This was adhered to even by the Archbishops of Prague. One might ,believe that, as a rule, there is only one Primate in any one state, but he would be mistaken. In Spain the title of Primate is enjoyed by two archbishops: the Archbishop of Toledo and the Archbishop of Tarragon. England and Scotland form one political state, but the Engli~h Primate is not the Primate of Scotland. When Ireland belonged to one political formation with England, the Primate of England was not the Primate of Ireland. There is, therefore, no objective argument in this regard to extend arbitrarily the title of Czech Primate over a new territory, to Slovakia. If we allow our thoughts to be the offspring of our desires, then there is no guarantee that they will be correct. It is only when our thoughts express an objective reality that they are truthful. Then even the deeds following from them can be just. Some time ago the Novy Zivot published an address of the Archbishop of London in which His Excellency on the basis of the erroneous information - referred to the Archbishop of Prague as the Primate of Czecho-Slo- �24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 20 SLOVAKIA SLOVAKIA AND THE CHURCH The question of the position of Slovakia in the Roman Catholic Church was again erroneously explained recently. And once again by Czechs who apparently still feel that they should dominate the Slovaks in all things. In a recent issue (No. 2, 1959) of the Czech Catholic periodical "Novy '.Zivot" (New Life) - published in Rome - the question whether Archbishop Beran was a Czech or CzechoSlovak Primate was answered in this fashion: "The Prague Archbishop was therefore a Czech Metropolitan, but Primate of the Czech (Bohemian - ed.) kingdom. And this title is used on official documents to this day.. : .. When, therefore, the boundaries of the state were increased or decreased, the territory of the Primate also automatically increased or decreased. "But as long as the ICzecho..Slovak Repwblic is the legal heir of the Czech @3ohemian - ed.) kingdom, the Archbishop of Prague is the Primate of the entire state •a nd can be called the Primate of Czecho..Slovakia (or, if you will, the Czecho.JSlovak Primate), even though the Prague archbischops, after the estarblishment of the Czecho..Slovak tRepU!blic, never did call themselves in this fashion, but used only the old historic title; and the title tells us nothing else but that the Primate is (often because of the antiquity of the bis•h op's See) the first bishop in the state. The basis for this denotation i,s therefore territorial and not perhaps linguistic and the less so even political." "The truth will prevail," say the Czechs, and the Slovaks firmly believe that it will even in this case, the feelings and propaganda of the Czechs not withstanding! According to valid ecclesiastical law the status of dioceses or ecclesiastical provinces is decided exclusively and only by the Holy See, the highest ecclesiastical authority (Can. 251, par. 1). Consequently, only the Holy See grants or changes titles of persons who have jurisdiction or whatever authority, even if it be only honorary over these units. This is valid in every case and, hence, even in the case of Slovakia. When Saint Methodius was given jurisdiction over the Danubian Slovans (Slavic peoples), the Slovaks certainly belonged to that area, because the document of Pope Adrian II is even addressed to Svatopluk, who at that time SLOVAKIA 21 ruled in Nitra, and to Kocef, Pribina's son, who managed Pannonia (Cf. Cod. dipl. et epist. regni Boh., t. 1, No. 12, pp. 7-9). Nitra had become a bishopric already in 880 A.D. (Registrum Johannis VII, epist, 257, Arch. Vatic.) on the basis of the decision of Pope John VIII. Prague only in 973, that is, ninety-three years later. The forefathers of the Slovaks, settled on both sides of the Morava river, formed the nucleus of the Great Moravian Empire. The fact that Nitra is the oldest bishopric of the Slovans north of the Danube is not altered at all by the unfavorable conditions that prevailed at that time (Wiching) or later which enabled the ignoring of its significance. At that time, therefore, Slovakia had its bishopric and belonged under the jurisdiction of Saint Methodius. After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire early in the tenth century, Slovakia eventually became a part of Hungary even as regards ecclesiastical affairs. The bishopric of Nitra was re-established about 1024 and always recalled the days of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The rest of the territory of Slovakia belonged under the ecclesiastical management of Ostrihom and Eger, even though, for example, the Spis province had its own provost from the end of the twelfth century. A great stride forward was the establishment of new bishoprics on the territory: the bishopric of Banska Bystrica, Spis Province, and Roznava in 1776; the diocese of Kosice in 1804; and the Greek Catholic diocese of Presov in 1816. Nitra, Banska Bystrica, and Roznava belonged under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Ostrihom, while the Spis and Kosice bishoprics were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Eger as suffragan bishoprics. After the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918, the apostolic administratorship of Trnava was established temporarily. The new position of Slovakia within the Church was determined in 1937, when the Holy See issued the Apostolic Constitution "Ad ecclesiastici regiminis incrementum" (AAS, 1937, pp. 366-369). This Constitution freed the Slovak dioceses and apostolic administratorships from the jurisdiction of Ostrihom and Eger and placed 22 SLOVAKIA them directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. True it is, that even this position is considered temporary by the document, because it expressly states that the Apostolic See will establish a Metropolitan See as quickly as possible in Slovakia. Slovakia would then became an independent ecclesiastical province. The document, furthermore, expressly commands all concerned to abide by the decision of the Holy See and forbids any opposition to it or violation of it. Unfortunately, the world situation did not permit the establishment of an ecclesiastical province in Slovakia. Legally, then, according to Ohurch Law, the dioceses and apostolic administratorships of Slovakia are directly under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, that is, they are responsible to the Holy See dircetly and not to the Prague or Olomouc provinces. Since that is the case, we know then that the explanation given by the Czech periodical Novy Zivot is erroneous. According to present Church Law, the title of Primate is purely an honorary one. Excepting the Hungarian Primate, the bearers of this title have no jurisdiction because of it. In the past, however, Primates did have a definite right over Metropolitans and Bishops (Wernz-Vidal: Jus Canonicum, II, Nr. 517). Of course, only the Holy See has the right to grant or change this title - just as it has to grant or change any other title denoting such a high honor. Since we are concerned with a title that is more of a historical nature, its bearers use it in the same sense that it was granted, even though it is not in line with the present terminology of countries or their political division or affiliation (federation). So it is that in France the Archbishop of Lyons uses the title of "primas de Gaulles," and not the title of French Primate; the Archbishop of Salzburg uses the title "Primate of Germany" and not Primate of Austria and Germany. Similarly, then, even the Prague archbishops consistently used and still do use the title "Primate of the Bohemian Kingdom" or "Primate of the lands of the former Bohemian Kingdom." In the Czech case, there is no basis for changing this title arbitrarily by private individuals. SLOVAKIA 23 The author of the explanation given in the Czech periodically Novy Zivot assumed that Slovakia was a part of the Bohemian Kingdom. History, however, tells us that Slovakia was not a part of that kingdom, and, therefore, had no jurisdictional connection with it. And when a new political state was formed, composed of the lands that once belonged to the Bohemian Kingdom and of Slovakia, the distinction was made, if we recall, between the so-called "historical lands" and Slovakia (as if Slovakia did not have a history of its own!) and, therefore, there was a difference between the heir to the historical lands of the Bohemian Crown and Slovakia, the land of the Slovaks. In short, what applied to the Bohemian Kingdom did not apply to Slovakia which was not a part of that kingdom. But even if anyone should think that Slovakia is also heir of the Czech State, let him bear in mind that the title of Primate is territorial. It is valid only in the territory that it was granted and not otherwise, unless the Holy See changes it with a new decision. This was adhered to even by the Archbishops of Prague. One might ,believe that, as a rule, there is only one Primate in any one state, but he would be mistaken. In Spain the title of Primate is enjoyed by two archbishops: the Archbishop of Toledo and the Archbishop of Tarragon. England and Scotland form one political state, but the Engli~h Primate is not the Primate of Scotland. When Ireland belonged to one political formation with England, the Primate of England was not the Primate of Ireland. There is, therefore, no objective argument in this regard to extend arbitrarily the title of Czech Primate over a new territory, to Slovakia. If we allow our thoughts to be the offspring of our desires, then there is no guarantee that they will be correct. It is only when our thoughts express an objective reality that they are truthful. Then even the deeds following from them can be just. Some time ago the Novy Zivot published an address of the Archbishop of London in which His Excellency on the basis of the erroneous information - referred to the Archbishop of Prague as the Primate of Czecho-Slo- 24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the  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 Slovakia and the Church Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 20-24 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/47327409e105ee97510413943ee0b6bd.pdf 64c0f2e60d8bfad4e4f2c47e3eab6e1b PDF Text Text 24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the �SLOVAKIA 25 fulfillment of the law. We must remember, however, that obligations of justice take precedence over the obligations of charity and that where justice is lacking there can be no true charity. To give to our neighbor in charity what is due to him in justice would be sordid mockery. Those of us who have seen Communists at close range know how violently they oppose charity as a substitute for justice but unfortunately they seem to know little about what justice really is and what it demands. It is equally unfortunate that many of our anti-Communist statesmen seem to know just as little as the Communists do about what justice demands in the international sphere. The Charter of the United Nations in its Preamble speaks of justice for all nations, and President Eisenhower in a recent television address declared that justice and peace are only two faces of the same coin. These declarations would not only be admirable but supremely important if they were accompanied by a clear-cut and sound definition of what justice between nations is and what it demands. Even without a precise definition of justice and its demands, such declarations would be truly precious if we could assume that the present world order is just; for then every one of us could easily supply a definition merely by saying that justice demands the preservation of the status quo, the observance of international treaties, international agreements, etc. Here, the crucial question is: Is Our Present World Order Just? Many good people seem to think that the only thing that's wrong with our world is that we have too many Communists and that if we could only be rid of Communism the whole world could be happy. They think that the ogre of Communism is kept alive only by the lying propaganda of a few self-seeking tyrants who keep their dupes in line with the most savage terrorism. I hold no brief for Communism. I could not defend Communism without betraying my own friends who suffered exquisite torture at Communist hands and without betraying all of the Christians in China, some of whom were buried alive by the Communists while I was; still in Peking. �26 SLOVAKIA Without excusing the horrors and abuses of the Communists, let us admit here and now that it is precisely the injustice of our present unbalanced and unhealthy world order that provides the Communist propaganda machine with its best ammunition. I hope within the next few minutes to cite some facts and statistics to prove that our present world is unjust but before taking up that point I'd like to call your attention to a few of the glaring failures and mistakes of the Free World in its fight against Communism. The Free World is placing great emphasis on military preparedness as a means of combatting the Communist threat. That, of course, is necessary. It's a mistake, however, to think that bombs and bullets can ever be an antidote to an ideology - especially the kind of ideology which Pope Pius XI has described as a kind of mysticism - a false mysticism, it is true, but still a mysticism. There are Communists who would be willing to fight with stones and stick;; if necessary and are willing to die rather than give up that pseudo-mysticism of theirs. MQst people in the Free World admit that bombs and bullets are no real antidote to the Communist ideology and they are therefore stressing the idea of freedom as an anti-dote to Communistic ideals and practices. Freedom is, of course, one of God's greatest natural gifts to man. History has also proven over and over again that an atmosphere of freedom is most conducive not only to sound political life but also to healthy economic development. This freedom, however, must be real; it must be for all; above all, it must be in harmony with justice. When I was directing the Catholic news service in Peking I got reports of a million people starving to death in China. These people were "free" to eat - if they could find the necessary food. They couldn't find it - and hence they were not really free to eat. The liberalistic ideas of John Locke, John Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rosseau as applied in the nineteenth century led to economic anarchy and all kinds of injustice. That kind of liberty gave birth to the monstrosity that we know as Communism today and it is still provid- �SLOVAKIA 27 ing ammunition for the Communist propaganda machine in the hungry countries today. Liberty of that kind is as closely related to Communism as a grandfather is related to his grandson. Liberty if joined together with justice can indeed serve as a splendid antidote to the Communist ideology and there are many good men who are making it so today. On the other hand, there are others who are loud in condemning Communism, but who are afraid even to whisper that the hungry people in other countries have a real right to human existence. That kind of anti-communism is ineffectual if not actually harmful. Let us then have liberty - but let it be a liberty that is eternally wedded to JUSTICE FOR ALL MEN! It is only on this kind of justice, coupled with liberty, that we will be ruble to provide an effective antidote to the Communist ideology. The biggest job ahead of us is to create a system of social thought that will provide for real justice for all men. If that justice is wedded to the truth that makes men free, this combination of justice and truth and freedom will give birth to an ideology that will be more effective than all of the "A" and "H" bombs in the world. If, on the other hand, we continue to tolerate a world order in which more than half of humanity is deprived of its right to a truly human existence, our bombs may prove to be nothing but the instruments of a wholesale destruction in which democracy itself will perish and we ourselves will go down to ultimate defeat. Our Unjust World Order Providing enough food for everybody is certainly one of the most basic requirements for a healty world order. There are many prophets of doom who fear that the day will soon come when the earth simply cannot provide food for all. It is certainly true that half of the world's population today is undernourished if not actualJy starving. Some say that no less than 70 percent of the human race is undernourished. �28 SLOVAKIA The question for us to consider is this: is all this hunger really due to over-population or is it due to mismanagement in our conduct of world affairs? Experts of our Department of Agriculture in Washington are quoted as saying that 16,000,000,000 acres could be used by modern methods throughout the world for food production. On the other hand, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations declared in its 1956 Yearbook that at present less than 3,340,000,000 acres are under cultivation. If these figures are accurate, it means that 79 percent of the land that could be used for food production, is now simply going to waste. These statistics certainly indicate that there is still a great deal of land that we could use and are not using. Other facts seem to indicate that we are not using our Godgiven brains either. Alluding to the great progress made by the agricultural scientists in recent years, the Daily News in New York declared editorially on August 7, 1952 that if we really put our scientific know-how and technical skill to work in this country, the Mississippi Basin alone could provide food for a population of 500,000,000 or approximately three times the present total population of this whole country. Reader's Digest in its issue for September, 1952, carried an article in which it was stated that Brazil alone could support a total population of one billion or nearly twenty times its present population. These estimates are based on the present findings of agricultural science and we must remember that the scientists are constantly finding ways of increasing production. As one of them declared : "The big harvest is still ahead." Another scientist, Professor Rosin, who is not interested in agriculture but in chemistry, has declared that if we devoted only as much money to chemical research as w spend in one month on military preparedness, the chemists could find ways of producing so much food artificially that we could turn all our farms into parks and flowerbeds and still feed humanity more adequately than it is being fed today. A sad but effective commentary on the statistics quoted above is provided by the "plague" of agricultural over- �SLOVAKIA 29 production which is giving farmers and statesmen such a headache in various countries. During his campaign speech on agriculture last fall, President Eisenhower told us that our Government has spent $9,000,000,000 for the purchase of agricultural surplus products merely to keep them off the market and is storing them at the cost of $1,000,000 a day. In 1957 our Government had paid farmers 260 million dollars for not cultivating 12,000,000 acres and, according to the President's campaign speech,. the planning called for the immobilization of from forty to fifty million acres in 1958. Agricultral producers of about 25 countries who met in Nairobi, Africa, a few years ago, complained that the most serious problem confronting world agriculture today is the fact that "effective demand" cannot keep up with productive capacity. Time does not permit of any detailed discussion of natural resources of our earth in so far as these things industry, trade and finance or of the still undeveloped have a bearing on hunger and the world's other ills. Suffice it to say that industry in some areas is forced to curtail production and lay off workers simply because people in other areas, some of which are enormously rich in undeveloped resources, are too poor to buy what they really need or what they would like to have. The facts and figures which I have just quoted seem to prove conclusively that if half of the human race is still hungry, the blame is not to be placed on poor old mother earth. Neither are our agricultural scientists to blame. The blame is rather to be placed on the immaturity of our international politics and our international economics. Our science is indeed worthy of the twentieth century but our international economics and our international politics seem to be stuck somewhere in the nineteenth, the eighteenth, the seventeenth or the sixteenth century. The tragic significance of the agricultural statistics which I have just quoted is punctuated and accentuated when they are compared with conditions in the hungry nations. Japan, with a population of more than 90,000,000 �30 SLOVAKIA today has less farm land than is actually under cultivation in the little State of New York. With more than six million farm families, the country has only 14,000,000 acres of food producing land. Let us remember that according to the experts quoted by Josue de Castro, there are still nearly 13,000,000,000 acres throughout the world that could be used for food production but are actually lying idle. If these figures are even approximately correct, it means that throughout the world there are more than 900 arable acres lying idle for every acre that Japan has at her disposal for food production. In the cities of Japan, a better than average wage is sufficient only to keep a man, his wife and one child in comfort. With two children the situation is no longer comfortable and with three children, a man with even a better than average wage is apt to go into debt. Three million people in Japan are suffering from tuberculosis and 1,300,000 are more or less mentally deranged, largely due to economic worries. Under such circumstances, is it surprising that this Abortion has been legalized for economic reasons so that non-Christian nation is going all-out for birth-control? a family that is too poor to support another child can legally have an abortion. In 1955 abortions in Japan equalled the number of births - 1,700,000 of each. The Japanese know the horrors connected with abortions and for that reason 30,000 experts have been trained in the use of contraceptives so as to teach people everywhere how to use them. Shall we ,b lame the Japanese for these practices or shall we place the blame on the insane world order that makes such things necessary? It would take too long to give the corresponding data concerning India, Java, Egypt, China and many other crowded sectors of the globe. I have already told you that when I was in Peking I received reports of 1,000,000 deaths by starvation in China at a time when my own brothers in Idaho were being paid for not cultivating their fields. Need I remind you that China is today the second greatest stronghold of Communism in the world? �SLOVAKIA 31 Where Is The Solution? Many of you may remember that certain spokesmen for the World Health Organization of the United Nations hoped to solve the world's problems by starting all-out birth control movements in the crowded areas of the globe. Some of the Catholic representatives in the World Health Organization opposed this plan so bitterly that the others dared not go on openly with their plan for fear that the whole Organizatiofl would be destroyed. Though the Catholic representatnves in the World Health Organization opposed birth control they did not succeed in bringing forward any real solution. During a violent controversy I had in Tokyo eight years ago .on the subject of birth control, I too was challenged to bring forward a positive solution. The challenge seemed reasonable so a number of us began to study not only the effects of the world's population and its resources but also contemporary social theory. After several years we arrived at the conclusion that contemporary social theory - at least our Catholic social teaching - is mature anough to INDICATE solutions for social and economic problems WITHIN a nation but that even our Catholic social doctrine has not matured to the point where it can effectively grapple with INTERNATIONAL social and economic problems. It was obvious to all of us that we could not find the talent in Japan that would be needed to extend our social teaching to the international sphere so I gave up my press work on the first of January last year in order to go looking for the needed talent. During this year and a half I have contacted a large number of Catholic specialists in economics, sociology, international law, moral theology, natural law, etc. In Asia and Europe as well as in the United States I found general agreement among the scholars I consulted to the effect that our failure to extend our social teaching to the international sphere has: a) greatly weakened our position in the face of international Communism; b) defeated many of our efforts for world peace. These specialists also agree that it is imperative to mobil- �32 SLOVAKIA ize the best talent of the whole world for the creation of a new science of international social justice. A Science Of International Social Justice It is of the essence of a science that it should include all of the related principles underlying a specified field of knowledge along with the conclusions logically drawn from those principles. The history of all of our sciences shows that no science has ever grown up over night but in many cases the principles were shown and accepted long before they were coordinated into a system and before most of the conclusions had been drawn. In the matter of international social justice, we have a few basic principles which can now be affirmed though the scholars have not as yet drawn up any system of conclusions from them. Perhaps the most basic of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. That does not mean that every one is entitled to a Cadillac or a Ford. Perhaps not to a bicycle. But every human being does have a right to enough to eat, enough to wear, enough to feed, clothe and house his children. People also have a right to found a family and therefore also the right to enough of this world's goods so that they can observe the natural law in family life. The correlative of a "right" is not charity or handouts, but justice. It cannot be said that this or that individual has an obligation in justice to provide this or that stranger with all that is needed for a human existence. It can, however, be said that society has an obligation in justice to set up such a social and economic order as will enable all men, under the proper conditions, to secure for themselves what is needed for a truly human existence. It can also be said that all of the members of society have an obligation in justice to do their share in order that society as a whole can create such a social and economic order. A second principle that can be affirmed is the one enunciated by Pope Pius XII on June 1, 1941, when he pointed to all of the land now going to waste throughout �SLOVAKIA 33 the world and declared that it had been "created and prepared" by God "for the use of all .. " His Holiness did not, of course say: "for the OWNERSHIP of all." It is to be expected that any attempt to reduce this principle to practice will meet with bitter opposition on the part of that liberalistic school of thought which seeks absolute freedom of action in the economic sphere and refuses to face the responsibilities which are correlative to every right. Perhaps the best answer for people who take this stand is the well known fact that a mistake in a chemical laboratory can blow up not only the laboratory but all of the workers who are in it. History shows many cases in which mistakes in politics or economics have also led to explosions that are far more disastrous than can occur in any laboratory. Communism might be referred to as one such explosion - and it has already engulfed nations with a total population of some 800,000,000. You may remember that Pope Pius XII on December 24, 1941, only two and a half weeks after Pearl Harbor, called for a "new order, based on moral principles" which would enable "nations less favored by nature" to have access to resources beyond their borders, resources which, His Holiness declared, were "destined for all." In the same paragraph, His Holiness warned that if nothing were done in the future peace treaty to create such an order, there would remain in the relations between peoples a deep and far reaching root of dissension which would eventually "lead to new conflicts." It was, perhaps, fear of such new conflicts which prompted the authors of the Atlantic Charter to make a similar plea or pledge earlier that year. Unfortunately, little has been done so far as to implement the pleas and pledges of the Holy Father or the Atlantic Charter. That the Pope's warning about "future conflicts" was well-grounded is proven by the many danger spots that exist in our world today. There is no need to cite more than one example - that of Japan: Hoping to solve their naitonal prdblems in a peaceful way, a group of Japanese business men suggested a few �34 SLOVAKIA years ago that Japan buy the whole island of New Guinea and thought $8,000,000,000 would be a fair price. The island has a population of less than 2,000,000 but an American population expert estimated in 1929 that it could support about 125,000,000 Orientals. If the proposition had reached the discussion stage, all of the nations involved could have insisted on conditions that would guarantee their own security but refusal on the part of Australia and England was so instantaneous and blunt, that it never did reach the discussion stage. According to Anton Zischka in his book Japan in der Welt, Portugal was willing to sell her part of Tim.or to Japan several decades ago but was forbidden to do so by England to which Portugal owed a great deal of money. If Japan had been able to buy New Guinea, her people would have new hope for the future and would be kept so busy with development work that radicals and war-mongers would get little or no hearing and Japan would today be a strong, steadying influence for the whole Far East. As it is, most of the foreigners I met in Tokyo feel that if nothing is done soon and in a big way to remedy Japan's economic condition, no moderate Government will be able to remain in power in Tokyo 15 or 20 years from now. These people fear that if nothing is done to give the J apanase people real hope, the country will be forced by economic necessity to go either to the extreme right of more militarism or to the extreme left of Communism. The probability is in favor of Communism and this view is confirmed by a report concerning the Japanese Federation of Student Autonomous Organizations published in the New York Times on July 18, 1957. According to the Times article,, the Federation has 270,000 members out of a total of 680,000 College and University students and its official magazine recently published an article which spoke of the "heavy responsibilities" the members would have in carrying out their "special mission" when the Democratic revolution comes. A leading Australian Catholic who visited me in Tokyo several years ago summed up the situation as follows: If Japan goes Communist, the United States will have to withdraw from Okinawa and that will mean that Australia, �SLOVAKIA 35 Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Siam and what is left of Korea and Indochina will all be surrendered to Communism. Developments of this sort would certainly bring World War III much closer. If such a war does break out, many will cry out again in a frenzy against "War Criminals." It is logical to ask, however, whether the real "War Criminal" will not be that unhealthy and insane world order which leaves half of humanity hungry in a world of potential plenty. Appeal to the Universities I have referred to two principles which could serve as foundations for a new science of international social justice. One of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. The other is that the land now going to waste was created and prepared by God for the use of all. I have also referred to the pleas of Pope Pius XII and the Atlantic Charter for a world order which would give hungry nations access to resources beyond their borders. To build up such a science and blueprint this new world order will require the best talent the world has to offer. While this science would provide guidance for statesmen, we must recognize that the statesmen are too busy to undertake this kind of an assignment which requires the quiet study that is possible only for university men and private research workers. The new science will have to be based on natural law but if it is to be of practical value it will have to be integrated with all of the social sciences. For this reason, the cooperation of economists, sociologists and specialists in international law, etc., will be needed as well as that of moralists and specialists in natural law. Objections It might be objected that even the most perfect science of international social justice will be of no use unless we get international laws passed to back up the findings of such a science. This is a real objection but an answer to it is to be found in the relationship between the ideas of law and justice. While laws are enacted to guarantee a regime of justice, it is absolutely impossible even to draft a �36 SLOVAKIA good law until our notions of justice are clear. Within nations where people have been rubbing shoulders for century after century, our notions of what is fair for everybody are fairly clear and it is for this reason that the nations have been a:ble to draft many god laws. In the international sphere, however, practically no progress has been made in the notion of justice and its demands since the days of Francisco de Vitoria 400 years ago and Hugo Grotius 300 years ago. This is one of the main reasons why our international law is ,s till so inadequate and there is no hope of developing a really effective system of international law or of ending our era of virtual international anarchy until our notions of justice between nations are clarified. Another objection which some might raise is that any attempt to introduce real international social justice would simply rob the rich without helping the poor. To this the answer is obvious. The fact that most farmers and workers in the United States today have enough money to buy automobiles has not hurt our automobile industry in the least. If an era of international social justice could raise the living standards of another billion and a half of human beings, their added buying power would open up such markets and inaugurate such a period of general prosperity as the world has never dared to envision even in its fondest dreams. Last Argument in Favor As a final argument in favor of international social justice we might say that there is no real hope of world peace as long as large segments of the human race have every reason to feel that they are not being treated justly. This feeling is the stuff of which wars are made and promoted with the plea of "self defense." World War II cost us 20,000,000 dead and 30,000,000 wounded. Financial costs, including war damages and war costs amounted to $1,340,000,000,000 or about $520 for every man, woman and child in the whole world - a total of $2,600 for every family of five persons. Not included in these items are the tears and heartaches of hundreds of millions of human beings who lost a father, a brother or a son during the war. If we are pushed into an atomic World War III, the cost of World �SLOVAKIA 37 War II will look like peanuts. It has been well said that the next war will be fought with atomic power and the one after that with bows and arrows. I remember that when I started to study history some 47 years ago, I congratulated myself on having been born in an age that is civilized and no longer wages war. I was just old enough to register for service when World War I ended, but, during World War II, I had ample time in J:ipanese Concentration Camps to think over the kind of civilization we have today and the result has been a very, very sad disillusionment. Millions of others, soldiers with their wives, their parents and their children have been similarly disillusioned and if one of our Catholic organizations can spearhead a movement in favor of such justice as will prevent wars in the future it will have millions of followers . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The United States passed a law against Communists. This law is giving the gentlemen from the Central Action Committee of the (Czechoslovak) National Front - who now shamelessly appear under the name the Council of Free Czechoslovakia - quite a headache. The new law is made to order for all Socialists, but also for many Czech Populists and Slovak Democrats who helped to destroy the economical structure of Czecho-:Slovakia, to suppress political freedom and who otherwise cleared the road for the complete victory of Communism. Of course, it is altogether possible that the gentlemen will try to dodge the consequences of their past by denying and lying about it. But it is not only the National Socialists who are appearing under a false flag. (Lettrich's) Slovak DemocFats are doing the same thing: without notifying their members or asking them for their assent, they have now changed to "Slovak Agrarians." Of course, income from the Agrarian International is connected with this and the gentlemen, who never before were agriculturists by vocation, have nevertheless become professional Slovak Agrarians." - (NAROD, Czech Bulletin, London, Nov. 1950). � 24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the �SLOVAKIA 25 fulfillment of the law. We must remember, however, that obligations of justice take precedence over the obligations of charity and that where justice is lacking there can be no true charity. To give to our neighbor in charity what is due to him in justice would be sordid mockery. Those of us who have seen Communists at close range know how violently they oppose charity as a substitute for justice but unfortunately they seem to know little about what justice really is and what it demands. It is equally unfortunate that many of our anti-Communist statesmen seem to know just as little as the Communists do about what justice demands in the international sphere. The Charter of the United Nations in its Preamble speaks of justice for all nations, and President Eisenhower in a recent television address declared that justice and peace are only two faces of the same coin. These declarations would not only be admirable but supremely important if they were accompanied by a clear-cut and sound definition of what justice between nations is and what it demands. Even without a precise definition of justice and its demands, such declarations would be truly precious if we could assume that the present world order is just; for then every one of us could easily supply a definition merely by saying that justice demands the preservation of the status quo, the observance of international treaties, international agreements, etc. Here, the crucial question is: Is Our Present World Order Just? Many good people seem to think that the only thing that's wrong with our world is that we have too many Communists and that if we could only be rid of Communism the whole world could be happy. They think that the ogre of Communism is kept alive only by the lying propaganda of a few self-seeking tyrants who keep their dupes in line with the most savage terrorism. I hold no brief for Communism. I could not defend Communism without betraying my own friends who suffered exquisite torture at Communist hands and without betraying all of the Christians in China, some of whom were buried alive by the Communists while I was; still in Peking. �26 SLOVAKIA Without excusing the horrors and abuses of the Communists, let us admit here and now that it is precisely the injustice of our present unbalanced and unhealthy world order that provides the Communist propaganda machine with its best ammunition. I hope within the next few minutes to cite some facts and statistics to prove that our present world is unjust but before taking up that point I'd like to call your attention to a few of the glaring failures and mistakes of the Free World in its fight against Communism. The Free World is placing great emphasis on military preparedness as a means of combatting the Communist threat. That, of course, is necessary. It's a mistake, however, to think that bombs and bullets can ever be an antidote to an ideology - especially the kind of ideology which Pope Pius XI has described as a kind of mysticism - a false mysticism, it is true, but still a mysticism. There are Communists who would be willing to fight with stones and stick;; if necessary and are willing to die rather than give up that pseudo-mysticism of theirs. MQst people in the Free World admit that bombs and bullets are no real antidote to the Communist ideology and they are therefore stressing the idea of freedom as an anti-dote to Communistic ideals and practices. Freedom is, of course, one of God's greatest natural gifts to man. History has also proven over and over again that an atmosphere of freedom is most conducive not only to sound political life but also to healthy economic development. This freedom, however, must be real; it must be for all; above all, it must be in harmony with justice. When I was directing the Catholic news service in Peking I got reports of a million people starving to death in China. These people were "free" to eat - if they could find the necessary food. They couldn't find it - and hence they were not really free to eat. The liberalistic ideas of John Locke, John Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rosseau as applied in the nineteenth century led to economic anarchy and all kinds of injustice. That kind of liberty gave birth to the monstrosity that we know as Communism today and it is still provid- �SLOVAKIA 27 ing ammunition for the Communist propaganda machine in the hungry countries today. Liberty of that kind is as closely related to Communism as a grandfather is related to his grandson. Liberty if joined together with justice can indeed serve as a splendid antidote to the Communist ideology and there are many good men who are making it so today. On the other hand, there are others who are loud in condemning Communism, but who are afraid even to whisper that the hungry people in other countries have a real right to human existence. That kind of anti-communism is ineffectual if not actually harmful. Let us then have liberty - but let it be a liberty that is eternally wedded to JUSTICE FOR ALL MEN! It is only on this kind of justice, coupled with liberty, that we will be ruble to provide an effective antidote to the Communist ideology. The biggest job ahead of us is to create a system of social thought that will provide for real justice for all men. If that justice is wedded to the truth that makes men free, this combination of justice and truth and freedom will give birth to an ideology that will be more effective than all of the "A" and "H" bombs in the world. If, on the other hand, we continue to tolerate a world order in which more than half of humanity is deprived of its right to a truly human existence, our bombs may prove to be nothing but the instruments of a wholesale destruction in which democracy itself will perish and we ourselves will go down to ultimate defeat. Our Unjust World Order Providing enough food for everybody is certainly one of the most basic requirements for a healty world order. There are many prophets of doom who fear that the day will soon come when the earth simply cannot provide food for all. It is certainly true that half of the world's population today is undernourished if not actualJy starving. Some say that no less than 70 percent of the human race is undernourished. �28 SLOVAKIA The question for us to consider is this: is all this hunger really due to over-population or is it due to mismanagement in our conduct of world affairs? Experts of our Department of Agriculture in Washington are quoted as saying that 16,000,000,000 acres could be used by modern methods throughout the world for food production. On the other hand, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations declared in its 1956 Yearbook that at present less than 3,340,000,000 acres are under cultivation. If these figures are accurate, it means that 79 percent of the land that could be used for food production, is now simply going to waste. These statistics certainly indicate that there is still a great deal of land that we could use and are not using. Other facts seem to indicate that we are not using our Godgiven brains either. Alluding to the great progress made by the agricultural scientists in recent years, the Daily News in New York declared editorially on August 7, 1952 that if we really put our scientific know-how and technical skill to work in this country, the Mississippi Basin alone could provide food for a population of 500,000,000 or approximately three times the present total population of this whole country. Reader's Digest in its issue for September, 1952, carried an article in which it was stated that Brazil alone could support a total population of one billion or nearly twenty times its present population. These estimates are based on the present findings of agricultural science and we must remember that the scientists are constantly finding ways of increasing production. As one of them declared : "The big harvest is still ahead." Another scientist, Professor Rosin, who is not interested in agriculture but in chemistry, has declared that if we devoted only as much money to chemical research as w spend in one month on military preparedness, the chemists could find ways of producing so much food artificially that we could turn all our farms into parks and flowerbeds and still feed humanity more adequately than it is being fed today. A sad but effective commentary on the statistics quoted above is provided by the "plague" of agricultural over- �SLOVAKIA 29 production which is giving farmers and statesmen such a headache in various countries. During his campaign speech on agriculture last fall, President Eisenhower told us that our Government has spent $9,000,000,000 for the purchase of agricultural surplus products merely to keep them off the market and is storing them at the cost of $1,000,000 a day. In 1957 our Government had paid farmers 260 million dollars for not cultivating 12,000,000 acres and, according to the President's campaign speech,. the planning called for the immobilization of from forty to fifty million acres in 1958. Agricultral producers of about 25 countries who met in Nairobi, Africa, a few years ago, complained that the most serious problem confronting world agriculture today is the fact that "effective demand" cannot keep up with productive capacity. Time does not permit of any detailed discussion of natural resources of our earth in so far as these things industry, trade and finance or of the still undeveloped have a bearing on hunger and the world's other ills. Suffice it to say that industry in some areas is forced to curtail production and lay off workers simply because people in other areas, some of which are enormously rich in undeveloped resources, are too poor to buy what they really need or what they would like to have. The facts and figures which I have just quoted seem to prove conclusively that if half of the human race is still hungry, the blame is not to be placed on poor old mother earth. Neither are our agricultural scientists to blame. The blame is rather to be placed on the immaturity of our international politics and our international economics. Our science is indeed worthy of the twentieth century but our international economics and our international politics seem to be stuck somewhere in the nineteenth, the eighteenth, the seventeenth or the sixteenth century. The tragic significance of the agricultural statistics which I have just quoted is punctuated and accentuated when they are compared with conditions in the hungry nations. Japan, with a population of more than 90,000,000 �30 SLOVAKIA today has less farm land than is actually under cultivation in the little State of New York. With more than six million farm families, the country has only 14,000,000 acres of food producing land. Let us remember that according to the experts quoted by Josue de Castro, there are still nearly 13,000,000,000 acres throughout the world that could be used for food production but are actually lying idle. If these figures are even approximately correct, it means that throughout the world there are more than 900 arable acres lying idle for every acre that Japan has at her disposal for food production. In the cities of Japan, a better than average wage is sufficient only to keep a man, his wife and one child in comfort. With two children the situation is no longer comfortable and with three children, a man with even a better than average wage is apt to go into debt. Three million people in Japan are suffering from tuberculosis and 1,300,000 are more or less mentally deranged, largely due to economic worries. Under such circumstances, is it surprising that this Abortion has been legalized for economic reasons so that non-Christian nation is going all-out for birth-control? a family that is too poor to support another child can legally have an abortion. In 1955 abortions in Japan equalled the number of births - 1,700,000 of each. The Japanese know the horrors connected with abortions and for that reason 30,000 experts have been trained in the use of contraceptives so as to teach people everywhere how to use them. Shall we ,b lame the Japanese for these practices or shall we place the blame on the insane world order that makes such things necessary? It would take too long to give the corresponding data concerning India, Java, Egypt, China and many other crowded sectors of the globe. I have already told you that when I was in Peking I received reports of 1,000,000 deaths by starvation in China at a time when my own brothers in Idaho were being paid for not cultivating their fields. Need I remind you that China is today the second greatest stronghold of Communism in the world? �SLOVAKIA 31 Where Is The Solution? Many of you may remember that certain spokesmen for the World Health Organization of the United Nations hoped to solve the world's problems by starting all-out birth control movements in the crowded areas of the globe. Some of the Catholic representatives in the World Health Organization opposed this plan so bitterly that the others dared not go on openly with their plan for fear that the whole Organizatiofl would be destroyed. Though the Catholic representatnves in the World Health Organization opposed birth control they did not succeed in bringing forward any real solution. During a violent controversy I had in Tokyo eight years ago .on the subject of birth control, I too was challenged to bring forward a positive solution. The challenge seemed reasonable so a number of us began to study not only the effects of the world's population and its resources but also contemporary social theory. After several years we arrived at the conclusion that contemporary social theory - at least our Catholic social teaching - is mature anough to INDICATE solutions for social and economic problems WITHIN a nation but that even our Catholic social doctrine has not matured to the point where it can effectively grapple with INTERNATIONAL social and economic problems. It was obvious to all of us that we could not find the talent in Japan that would be needed to extend our social teaching to the international sphere so I gave up my press work on the first of January last year in order to go looking for the needed talent. During this year and a half I have contacted a large number of Catholic specialists in economics, sociology, international law, moral theology, natural law, etc. In Asia and Europe as well as in the United States I found general agreement among the scholars I consulted to the effect that our failure to extend our social teaching to the international sphere has: a) greatly weakened our position in the face of international Communism; b) defeated many of our efforts for world peace. These specialists also agree that it is imperative to mobil- �32 SLOVAKIA ize the best talent of the whole world for the creation of a new science of international social justice. A Science Of International Social Justice It is of the essence of a science that it should include all of the related principles underlying a specified field of knowledge along with the conclusions logically drawn from those principles. The history of all of our sciences shows that no science has ever grown up over night but in many cases the principles were shown and accepted long before they were coordinated into a system and before most of the conclusions had been drawn. In the matter of international social justice, we have a few basic principles which can now be affirmed though the scholars have not as yet drawn up any system of conclusions from them. Perhaps the most basic of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. That does not mean that every one is entitled to a Cadillac or a Ford. Perhaps not to a bicycle. But every human being does have a right to enough to eat, enough to wear, enough to feed, clothe and house his children. People also have a right to found a family and therefore also the right to enough of this world's goods so that they can observe the natural law in family life. The correlative of a "right" is not charity or handouts, but justice. It cannot be said that this or that individual has an obligation in justice to provide this or that stranger with all that is needed for a human existence. It can, however, be said that society has an obligation in justice to set up such a social and economic order as will enable all men, under the proper conditions, to secure for themselves what is needed for a truly human existence. It can also be said that all of the members of society have an obligation in justice to do their share in order that society as a whole can create such a social and economic order. A second principle that can be affirmed is the one enunciated by Pope Pius XII on June 1, 1941, when he pointed to all of the land now going to waste throughout �SLOVAKIA 33 the world and declared that it had been "created and prepared" by God "for the use of all .. " His Holiness did not, of course say: "for the OWNERSHIP of all." It is to be expected that any attempt to reduce this principle to practice will meet with bitter opposition on the part of that liberalistic school of thought which seeks absolute freedom of action in the economic sphere and refuses to face the responsibilities which are correlative to every right. Perhaps the best answer for people who take this stand is the well known fact that a mistake in a chemical laboratory can blow up not only the laboratory but all of the workers who are in it. History shows many cases in which mistakes in politics or economics have also led to explosions that are far more disastrous than can occur in any laboratory. Communism might be referred to as one such explosion - and it has already engulfed nations with a total population of some 800,000,000. You may remember that Pope Pius XII on December 24, 1941, only two and a half weeks after Pearl Harbor, called for a "new order, based on moral principles" which would enable "nations less favored by nature" to have access to resources beyond their borders, resources which, His Holiness declared, were "destined for all." In the same paragraph, His Holiness warned that if nothing were done in the future peace treaty to create such an order, there would remain in the relations between peoples a deep and far reaching root of dissension which would eventually "lead to new conflicts." It was, perhaps, fear of such new conflicts which prompted the authors of the Atlantic Charter to make a similar plea or pledge earlier that year. Unfortunately, little has been done so far as to implement the pleas and pledges of the Holy Father or the Atlantic Charter. That the Pope's warning about "future conflicts" was well-grounded is proven by the many danger spots that exist in our world today. There is no need to cite more than one example - that of Japan: Hoping to solve their naitonal prdblems in a peaceful way, a group of Japanese business men suggested a few �34 SLOVAKIA years ago that Japan buy the whole island of New Guinea and thought $8,000,000,000 would be a fair price. The island has a population of less than 2,000,000 but an American population expert estimated in 1929 that it could support about 125,000,000 Orientals. If the proposition had reached the discussion stage, all of the nations involved could have insisted on conditions that would guarantee their own security but refusal on the part of Australia and England was so instantaneous and blunt, that it never did reach the discussion stage. According to Anton Zischka in his book Japan in der Welt, Portugal was willing to sell her part of Tim.or to Japan several decades ago but was forbidden to do so by England to which Portugal owed a great deal of money. If Japan had been able to buy New Guinea, her people would have new hope for the future and would be kept so busy with development work that radicals and war-mongers would get little or no hearing and Japan would today be a strong, steadying influence for the whole Far East. As it is, most of the foreigners I met in Tokyo feel that if nothing is done soon and in a big way to remedy Japan's economic condition, no moderate Government will be able to remain in power in Tokyo 15 or 20 years from now. These people fear that if nothing is done to give the J apanase people real hope, the country will be forced by economic necessity to go either to the extreme right of more militarism or to the extreme left of Communism. The probability is in favor of Communism and this view is confirmed by a report concerning the Japanese Federation of Student Autonomous Organizations published in the New York Times on July 18, 1957. According to the Times article,, the Federation has 270,000 members out of a total of 680,000 College and University students and its official magazine recently published an article which spoke of the "heavy responsibilities" the members would have in carrying out their "special mission" when the Democratic revolution comes. A leading Australian Catholic who visited me in Tokyo several years ago summed up the situation as follows: If Japan goes Communist, the United States will have to withdraw from Okinawa and that will mean that Australia, �SLOVAKIA 35 Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Siam and what is left of Korea and Indochina will all be surrendered to Communism. Developments of this sort would certainly bring World War III much closer. If such a war does break out, many will cry out again in a frenzy against "War Criminals." It is logical to ask, however, whether the real "War Criminal" will not be that unhealthy and insane world order which leaves half of humanity hungry in a world of potential plenty. Appeal to the Universities I have referred to two principles which could serve as foundations for a new science of international social justice. One of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. The other is that the land now going to waste was created and prepared by God for the use of all. I have also referred to the pleas of Pope Pius XII and the Atlantic Charter for a world order which would give hungry nations access to resources beyond their borders. To build up such a science and blueprint this new world order will require the best talent the world has to offer. While this science would provide guidance for statesmen, we must recognize that the statesmen are too busy to undertake this kind of an assignment which requires the quiet study that is possible only for university men and private research workers. The new science will have to be based on natural law but if it is to be of practical value it will have to be integrated with all of the social sciences. For this reason, the cooperation of economists, sociologists and specialists in international law, etc., will be needed as well as that of moralists and specialists in natural law. Objections It might be objected that even the most perfect science of international social justice will be of no use unless we get international laws passed to back up the findings of such a science. This is a real objection but an answer to it is to be found in the relationship between the ideas of law and justice. While laws are enacted to guarantee a regime of justice, it is absolutely impossible even to draft a �36 SLOVAKIA good law until our notions of justice are clear. Within nations where people have been rubbing shoulders for century after century, our notions of what is fair for everybody are fairly clear and it is for this reason that the nations have been a:ble to draft many god laws. In the international sphere, however, practically no progress has been made in the notion of justice and its demands since the days of Francisco de Vitoria 400 years ago and Hugo Grotius 300 years ago. This is one of the main reasons why our international law is ,s till so inadequate and there is no hope of developing a really effective system of international law or of ending our era of virtual international anarchy until our notions of justice between nations are clarified. Another objection which some might raise is that any attempt to introduce real international social justice would simply rob the rich without helping the poor. To this the answer is obvious. The fact that most farmers and workers in the United States today have enough money to buy automobiles has not hurt our automobile industry in the least. If an era of international social justice could raise the living standards of another billion and a half of human beings, their added buying power would open up such markets and inaugurate such a period of general prosperity as the world has never dared to envision even in its fondest dreams. Last Argument in Favor As a final argument in favor of international social justice we might say that there is no real hope of world peace as long as large segments of the human race have every reason to feel that they are not being treated justly. This feeling is the stuff of which wars are made and promoted with the plea of "self defense." World War II cost us 20,000,000 dead and 30,000,000 wounded. Financial costs, including war damages and war costs amounted to $1,340,000,000,000 or about $520 for every man, woman and child in the whole world - a total of $2,600 for every family of five persons. Not included in these items are the tears and heartaches of hundreds of millions of human beings who lost a father, a brother or a son during the war. If we are pushed into an atomic World War III, the cost of World �SLOVAKIA 37 War II will look like peanuts. It has been well said that the next war will be fought with atomic power and the one after that with bows and arrows. I remember that when I started to study history some 47 years ago, I congratulated myself on having been born in an age that is civilized and no longer wages war. I was just old enough to register for service when World War I ended, but, during World War II, I had ample time in J:ipanese Concentration Camps to think over the kind of civilization we have today and the result has been a very, very sad disillusionment. Millions of others, soldiers with their wives, their parents and their children have been similarly disillusioned and if one of our Catholic organizations can spearhead a movement in favor of such justice as will prevent wars in the future it will have millions of followers . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The United States passed a law against Communists. This law is giving the gentlemen from the Central Action Committee of the (Czechoslovak) National Front - who now shamelessly appear under the name the Council of Free Czechoslovakia - quite a headache. The new law is made to order for all Socialists, but also for many Czech Populists and Slovak Democrats who helped to destroy the economical structure of Czecho-:Slovakia, to suppress political freedom and who otherwise cleared the road for the complete victory of Communism. Of course, it is altogether possible that the gentlemen will try to dodge the consequences of their past by denying and lying about it. But it is not only the National Socialists who are appearing under a false flag. (Lettrich's) Slovak DemocFats are doing the same thing: without notifying their members or asking them for their assent, they have now changed to "Slovak Agrarians." Of course, income from the Agrarian International is connected with this and the gentlemen, who never before were agriculturists by vocation, have nevertheless become professional Slovak Agrarians." - (NAROD, Czech Bulletin, London, Nov. 1950). � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 24 SLOVAKIA vakia. The editor of the Czech periodical had the opportunity to learn how the Slovaks in Rome felt about the matter. They held no ill will for the Archbishop of London, but they did for the Czechs associated with Novy Zivot, the editor of which certainly knows better. The Czechs apparently have learned little or nothing from the past. They keep parroting listlessly the slogan "truth will prevail" - a la Masaryk and Benes - while they spread false propaganda even about those who are supposed to be "closely related" to them. It is obvious that the Czech periodical "Novy Zivot" (New Life) is still following the old life which brought ruin to the Slovak and Czech nations. • • • INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Due to the scientific and technological revolutions of the past century, the world has become international in spite of itself and does not know what to do about this new situation. The number of international organizations created since 1860 to cope with specific international problems is simply phenomenal. The first global attempt made to grapple with all of these problems in general was made after World War I when the League of Nations was formally erected. The League failed but its failure did not kill the sense of need :for such an organization and after World War II another attempt was made in the creation of the United Nations Organization. Unfortunately, many people today fear that the United Nations Organization will go the way of the League unless it can "grow up" and mature to the point where it can command not only the respect but also the confidence of all nations, great and small. Justice - Not Merely Charity There are good-hearted people who think that charity alone will suffice to cure the ills of our world. It is true that love for God and neighbor are the two greatest commandments and that acording to St. Paul, Charity is the SLOVAKIA 25 fulfillment of the law. We must remember, however, that obligations of justice take precedence over the obligations of charity and that where justice is lacking there can be no true charity. To give to our neighbor in charity what is due to him in justice would be sordid mockery. Those of us who have seen Communists at close range know how violently they oppose charity as a substitute for justice but unfortunately they seem to know little about what justice really is and what it demands. It is equally unfortunate that many of our anti-Communist statesmen seem to know just as little as the Communists do about what justice demands in the international sphere. The Charter of the United Nations in its Preamble speaks of justice for all nations, and President Eisenhower in a recent television address declared that justice and peace are only two faces of the same coin. These declarations would not only be admirable but supremely important if they were accompanied by a clear-cut and sound definition of what justice between nations is and what it demands. Even without a precise definition of justice and its demands, such declarations would be truly precious if we could assume that the present world order is just; for then every one of us could easily supply a definition merely by saying that justice demands the preservation of the status quo, the observance of international treaties, international agreements, etc. Here, the crucial question is: Is Our Present World Order Just? Many good people seem to think that the only thing that's wrong with our world is that we have too many Communists and that if we could only be rid of Communism the whole world could be happy. They think that the ogre of Communism is kept alive only by the lying propaganda of a few self-seeking tyrants who keep their dupes in line with the most savage terrorism. I hold no brief for Communism. I could not defend Communism without betraying my own friends who suffered exquisite torture at Communist hands and without betraying all of the Christians in China, some of whom were buried alive by the Communists while I was; still in Peking. 26 SLOVAKIA Without excusing the horrors and abuses of the Communists, let us admit here and now that it is precisely the injustice of our present unbalanced and unhealthy world order that provides the Communist propaganda machine with its best ammunition. I hope within the next few minutes to cite some facts and statistics to prove that our present world is unjust but before taking up that point I'd like to call your attention to a few of the glaring failures and mistakes of the Free World in its fight against Communism. The Free World is placing great emphasis on military preparedness as a means of combatting the Communist threat. That, of course, is necessary. It's a mistake, however, to think that bombs and bullets can ever be an antidote to an ideology - especially the kind of ideology which Pope Pius XI has described as a kind of mysticism - a false mysticism, it is true, but still a mysticism. There are Communists who would be willing to fight with stones and stick;; if necessary and are willing to die rather than give up that pseudo-mysticism of theirs. MQst people in the Free World admit that bombs and bullets are no real antidote to the Communist ideology and they are therefore stressing the idea of freedom as an anti-dote to Communistic ideals and practices. Freedom is, of course, one of God's greatest natural gifts to man. History has also proven over and over again that an atmosphere of freedom is most conducive not only to sound political life but also to healthy economic development. This freedom, however, must be real; it must be for all; above all, it must be in harmony with justice. When I was directing the Catholic news service in Peking I got reports of a million people starving to death in China. These people were "free" to eat - if they could find the necessary food. They couldn't find it - and hence they were not really free to eat. The liberalistic ideas of John Locke, John Hobbes and Jean Jacques Rosseau as applied in the nineteenth century led to economic anarchy and all kinds of injustice. That kind of liberty gave birth to the monstrosity that we know as Communism today and it is still provid- SLOVAKIA 27 ing ammunition for the Communist propaganda machine in the hungry countries today. Liberty of that kind is as closely related to Communism as a grandfather is related to his grandson. Liberty if joined together with justice can indeed serve as a splendid antidote to the Communist ideology and there are many good men who are making it so today. On the other hand, there are others who are loud in condemning Communism, but who are afraid even to whisper that the hungry people in other countries have a real right to human existence. That kind of anti-communism is ineffectual if not actually harmful. Let us then have liberty - but let it be a liberty that is eternally wedded to JUSTICE FOR ALL MEN! It is only on this kind of justice, coupled with liberty, that we will be ruble to provide an effective antidote to the Communist ideology. The biggest job ahead of us is to create a system of social thought that will provide for real justice for all men. If that justice is wedded to the truth that makes men free, this combination of justice and truth and freedom will give birth to an ideology that will be more effective than all of the "A" and "H" bombs in the world. If, on the other hand, we continue to tolerate a world order in which more than half of humanity is deprived of its right to a truly human existence, our bombs may prove to be nothing but the instruments of a wholesale destruction in which democracy itself will perish and we ourselves will go down to ultimate defeat. Our Unjust World Order Providing enough food for everybody is certainly one of the most basic requirements for a healty world order. There are many prophets of doom who fear that the day will soon come when the earth simply cannot provide food for all. It is certainly true that half of the world's population today is undernourished if not actualJy starving. Some say that no less than 70 percent of the human race is undernourished. 28 SLOVAKIA The question for us to consider is this: is all this hunger really due to over-population or is it due to mismanagement in our conduct of world affairs? Experts of our Department of Agriculture in Washington are quoted as saying that 16,000,000,000 acres could be used by modern methods throughout the world for food production. On the other hand, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations declared in its 1956 Yearbook that at present less than 3,340,000,000 acres are under cultivation. If these figures are accurate, it means that 79 percent of the land that could be used for food production, is now simply going to waste. These statistics certainly indicate that there is still a great deal of land that we could use and are not using. Other facts seem to indicate that we are not using our Godgiven brains either. Alluding to the great progress made by the agricultural scientists in recent years, the Daily News in New York declared editorially on August 7, 1952 that if we really put our scientific know-how and technical skill to work in this country, the Mississippi Basin alone could provide food for a population of 500,000,000 or approximately three times the present total population of this whole country. Reader's Digest in its issue for September, 1952, carried an article in which it was stated that Brazil alone could support a total population of one billion or nearly twenty times its present population. These estimates are based on the present findings of agricultural science and we must remember that the scientists are constantly finding ways of increasing production. As one of them declared : "The big harvest is still ahead." Another scientist, Professor Rosin, who is not interested in agriculture but in chemistry, has declared that if we devoted only as much money to chemical research as w spend in one month on military preparedness, the chemists could find ways of producing so much food artificially that we could turn all our farms into parks and flowerbeds and still feed humanity more adequately than it is being fed today. A sad but effective commentary on the statistics quoted above is provided by the "plague" of agricultural over- SLOVAKIA 29 production which is giving farmers and statesmen such a headache in various countries. During his campaign speech on agriculture last fall, President Eisenhower told us that our Government has spent $9,000,000,000 for the purchase of agricultural surplus products merely to keep them off the market and is storing them at the cost of $1,000,000 a day. In 1957 our Government had paid farmers 260 million dollars for not cultivating 12,000,000 acres and, according to the President's campaign speech,. the planning called for the immobilization of from forty to fifty million acres in 1958. Agricultral producers of about 25 countries who met in Nairobi, Africa, a few years ago, complained that the most serious problem confronting world agriculture today is the fact that "effective demand" cannot keep up with productive capacity. Time does not permit of any detailed discussion of natural resources of our earth in so far as these things industry, trade and finance or of the still undeveloped have a bearing on hunger and the world's other ills. Suffice it to say that industry in some areas is forced to curtail production and lay off workers simply because people in other areas, some of which are enormously rich in undeveloped resources, are too poor to buy what they really need or what they would like to have. The facts and figures which I have just quoted seem to prove conclusively that if half of the human race is still hungry, the blame is not to be placed on poor old mother earth. Neither are our agricultural scientists to blame. The blame is rather to be placed on the immaturity of our international politics and our international economics. Our science is indeed worthy of the twentieth century but our international economics and our international politics seem to be stuck somewhere in the nineteenth, the eighteenth, the seventeenth or the sixteenth century. The tragic significance of the agricultural statistics which I have just quoted is punctuated and accentuated when they are compared with conditions in the hungry nations. Japan, with a population of more than 90,000,000 30 SLOVAKIA today has less farm land than is actually under cultivation in the little State of New York. With more than six million farm families, the country has only 14,000,000 acres of food producing land. Let us remember that according to the experts quoted by Josue de Castro, there are still nearly 13,000,000,000 acres throughout the world that could be used for food production but are actually lying idle. If these figures are even approximately correct, it means that throughout the world there are more than 900 arable acres lying idle for every acre that Japan has at her disposal for food production. In the cities of Japan, a better than average wage is sufficient only to keep a man, his wife and one child in comfort. With two children the situation is no longer comfortable and with three children, a man with even a better than average wage is apt to go into debt. Three million people in Japan are suffering from tuberculosis and 1,300,000 are more or less mentally deranged, largely due to economic worries. Under such circumstances, is it surprising that this Abortion has been legalized for economic reasons so that non-Christian nation is going all-out for birth-control? a family that is too poor to support another child can legally have an abortion. In 1955 abortions in Japan equalled the number of births - 1,700,000 of each. The Japanese know the horrors connected with abortions and for that reason 30,000 experts have been trained in the use of contraceptives so as to teach people everywhere how to use them. Shall we ,b lame the Japanese for these practices or shall we place the blame on the insane world order that makes such things necessary? It would take too long to give the corresponding data concerning India, Java, Egypt, China and many other crowded sectors of the globe. I have already told you that when I was in Peking I received reports of 1,000,000 deaths by starvation in China at a time when my own brothers in Idaho were being paid for not cultivating their fields. Need I remind you that China is today the second greatest stronghold of Communism in the world? SLOVAKIA 31 Where Is The Solution? Many of you may remember that certain spokesmen for the World Health Organization of the United Nations hoped to solve the world's problems by starting all-out birth control movements in the crowded areas of the globe. Some of the Catholic representatives in the World Health Organization opposed this plan so bitterly that the others dared not go on openly with their plan for fear that the whole Organizatiofl would be destroyed. Though the Catholic representatnves in the World Health Organization opposed birth control they did not succeed in bringing forward any real solution. During a violent controversy I had in Tokyo eight years ago .on the subject of birth control, I too was challenged to bring forward a positive solution. The challenge seemed reasonable so a number of us began to study not only the effects of the world's population and its resources but also contemporary social theory. After several years we arrived at the conclusion that contemporary social theory - at least our Catholic social teaching - is mature anough to INDICATE solutions for social and economic problems WITHIN a nation but that even our Catholic social doctrine has not matured to the point where it can effectively grapple with INTERNATIONAL social and economic problems. It was obvious to all of us that we could not find the talent in Japan that would be needed to extend our social teaching to the international sphere so I gave up my press work on the first of January last year in order to go looking for the needed talent. During this year and a half I have contacted a large number of Catholic specialists in economics, sociology, international law, moral theology, natural law, etc. In Asia and Europe as well as in the United States I found general agreement among the scholars I consulted to the effect that our failure to extend our social teaching to the international sphere has: a) greatly weakened our position in the face of international Communism; b) defeated many of our efforts for world peace. These specialists also agree that it is imperative to mobil- 32 SLOVAKIA ize the best talent of the whole world for the creation of a new science of international social justice. A Science Of International Social Justice It is of the essence of a science that it should include all of the related principles underlying a specified field of knowledge along with the conclusions logically drawn from those principles. The history of all of our sciences shows that no science has ever grown up over night but in many cases the principles were shown and accepted long before they were coordinated into a system and before most of the conclusions had been drawn. In the matter of international social justice, we have a few basic principles which can now be affirmed though the scholars have not as yet drawn up any system of conclusions from them. Perhaps the most basic of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. That does not mean that every one is entitled to a Cadillac or a Ford. Perhaps not to a bicycle. But every human being does have a right to enough to eat, enough to wear, enough to feed, clothe and house his children. People also have a right to found a family and therefore also the right to enough of this world's goods so that they can observe the natural law in family life. The correlative of a "right" is not charity or handouts, but justice. It cannot be said that this or that individual has an obligation in justice to provide this or that stranger with all that is needed for a human existence. It can, however, be said that society has an obligation in justice to set up such a social and economic order as will enable all men, under the proper conditions, to secure for themselves what is needed for a truly human existence. It can also be said that all of the members of society have an obligation in justice to do their share in order that society as a whole can create such a social and economic order. A second principle that can be affirmed is the one enunciated by Pope Pius XII on June 1, 1941, when he pointed to all of the land now going to waste throughout SLOVAKIA 33 the world and declared that it had been "created and prepared" by God "for the use of all .. " His Holiness did not, of course say: "for the OWNERSHIP of all." It is to be expected that any attempt to reduce this principle to practice will meet with bitter opposition on the part of that liberalistic school of thought which seeks absolute freedom of action in the economic sphere and refuses to face the responsibilities which are correlative to every right. Perhaps the best answer for people who take this stand is the well known fact that a mistake in a chemical laboratory can blow up not only the laboratory but all of the workers who are in it. History shows many cases in which mistakes in politics or economics have also led to explosions that are far more disastrous than can occur in any laboratory. Communism might be referred to as one such explosion - and it has already engulfed nations with a total population of some 800,000,000. You may remember that Pope Pius XII on December 24, 1941, only two and a half weeks after Pearl Harbor, called for a "new order, based on moral principles" which would enable "nations less favored by nature" to have access to resources beyond their borders, resources which, His Holiness declared, were "destined for all." In the same paragraph, His Holiness warned that if nothing were done in the future peace treaty to create such an order, there would remain in the relations between peoples a deep and far reaching root of dissension which would eventually "lead to new conflicts." It was, perhaps, fear of such new conflicts which prompted the authors of the Atlantic Charter to make a similar plea or pledge earlier that year. Unfortunately, little has been done so far as to implement the pleas and pledges of the Holy Father or the Atlantic Charter. That the Pope's warning about "future conflicts" was well-grounded is proven by the many danger spots that exist in our world today. There is no need to cite more than one example - that of Japan: Hoping to solve their naitonal prdblems in a peaceful way, a group of Japanese business men suggested a few 34 SLOVAKIA years ago that Japan buy the whole island of New Guinea and thought $8,000,000,000 would be a fair price. The island has a population of less than 2,000,000 but an American population expert estimated in 1929 that it could support about 125,000,000 Orientals. If the proposition had reached the discussion stage, all of the nations involved could have insisted on conditions that would guarantee their own security but refusal on the part of Australia and England was so instantaneous and blunt, that it never did reach the discussion stage. According to Anton Zischka in his book Japan in der Welt, Portugal was willing to sell her part of Tim.or to Japan several decades ago but was forbidden to do so by England to which Portugal owed a great deal of money. If Japan had been able to buy New Guinea, her people would have new hope for the future and would be kept so busy with development work that radicals and war-mongers would get little or no hearing and Japan would today be a strong, steadying influence for the whole Far East. As it is, most of the foreigners I met in Tokyo feel that if nothing is done soon and in a big way to remedy Japan's economic condition, no moderate Government will be able to remain in power in Tokyo 15 or 20 years from now. These people fear that if nothing is done to give the J apanase people real hope, the country will be forced by economic necessity to go either to the extreme right of more militarism or to the extreme left of Communism. The probability is in favor of Communism and this view is confirmed by a report concerning the Japanese Federation of Student Autonomous Organizations published in the New York Times on July 18, 1957. According to the Times article,, the Federation has 270,000 members out of a total of 680,000 College and University students and its official magazine recently published an article which spoke of the "heavy responsibilities" the members would have in carrying out their "special mission" when the Democratic revolution comes. A leading Australian Catholic who visited me in Tokyo several years ago summed up the situation as follows: If Japan goes Communist, the United States will have to withdraw from Okinawa and that will mean that Australia, SLOVAKIA 35 Indonesia, the Philippines, Burma, Siam and what is left of Korea and Indochina will all be surrendered to Communism. Developments of this sort would certainly bring World War III much closer. If such a war does break out, many will cry out again in a frenzy against "War Criminals." It is logical to ask, however, whether the real "War Criminal" will not be that unhealthy and insane world order which leaves half of humanity hungry in a world of potential plenty. Appeal to the Universities I have referred to two principles which could serve as foundations for a new science of international social justice. One of these principles is that every human being has a real right to a human existence. The other is that the land now going to waste was created and prepared by God for the use of all. I have also referred to the pleas of Pope Pius XII and the Atlantic Charter for a world order which would give hungry nations access to resources beyond their borders. To build up such a science and blueprint this new world order will require the best talent the world has to offer. While this science would provide guidance for statesmen, we must recognize that the statesmen are too busy to undertake this kind of an assignment which requires the quiet study that is possible only for university men and private research workers. The new science will have to be based on natural law but if it is to be of practical value it will have to be integrated with all of the social sciences. For this reason, the cooperation of economists, sociologists and specialists in international law, etc., will be needed as well as that of moralists and specialists in natural law. Objections It might be objected that even the most perfect science of international social justice will be of no use unless we get international laws passed to back up the findings of such a science. This is a real objection but an answer to it is to be found in the relationship between the ideas of law and justice. While laws are enacted to guarantee a regime of justice, it is absolutely impossible even to draft a 36 SLOVAKIA good law until our notions of justice are clear. Within nations where people have been rubbing shoulders for century after century, our notions of what is fair for everybody are fairly clear and it is for this reason that the nations have been a:ble to draft many god laws. In the international sphere, however, practically no progress has been made in the notion of justice and its demands since the days of Francisco de Vitoria 400 years ago and Hugo Grotius 300 years ago. This is one of the main reasons why our international law is ,s till so inadequate and there is no hope of developing a really effective system of international law or of ending our era of virtual international anarchy until our notions of justice between nations are clarified. Another objection which some might raise is that any attempt to introduce real international social justice would simply rob the rich without helping the poor. To this the answer is obvious. The fact that most farmers and workers in the United States today have enough money to buy automobiles has not hurt our automobile industry in the least. If an era of international social justice could raise the living standards of another billion and a half of human beings, their added buying power would open up such markets and inaugurate such a period of general prosperity as the world has never dared to envision even in its fondest dreams. Last Argument in Favor As a final argument in favor of international social justice we might say that there is no real hope of world peace as long as large segments of the human race have every reason to feel that they are not being treated justly. This feeling is the stuff of which wars are made and promoted with the plea of "self defense." World War II cost us 20,000,000 dead and 30,000,000 wounded. Financial costs, including war damages and war costs amounted to $1,340,000,000,000 or about $520 for every man, woman and child in the whole world - a total of $2,600 for every family of five persons. Not included in these items are the tears and heartaches of hundreds of millions of human beings who lost a father, a brother or a son during the war. If we are pushed into an atomic World War III, the cost of World SLOVAKIA 37 War II will look like peanuts. It has been well said that the next war will be fought with atomic power and the one after that with bows and arrows. I remember that when I started to study history some 47 years ago, I congratulated myself on having been born in an age that is civilized and no longer wages war. I was just old enough to register for service when World War I ended, but, during World War II, I had ample time in J:ipanese Concentration Camps to think over the kind of civilization we have today and the result has been a very, very sad disillusionment. Millions of others, soldiers with their wives, their parents and their children have been similarly disillusioned and if one of our Catholic organizations can spearhead a movement in favor of such justice as will prevent wars in the future it will have millions of followers . • • • WHO SAID IT? "The United States passed a law against Communists. This law is giving the gentlemen from the Central Action Committee of the (Czechoslovak) National Front - who now shamelessly appear under the name the Council of Free Czechoslovakia - quite a headache. The new law is made to order for all Socialists, but also for many Czech Populists and Slovak Democrats who helped to destroy the economical structure of Czecho-:Slovakia, to suppress political freedom and who otherwise cleared the road for the complete victory of Communism. Of course, it is altogether possible that the gentlemen will try to dodge the consequences of their past by denying and lying about it. But it is not only the National Socialists who are appearing under a false flag. (Lettrich's) Slovak DemocFats are doing the same thing: without notifying their members or asking them for their assent, they have now changed to "Slovak Agrarians." Of course, income from the Agrarian International is connected with this and the gentlemen, who never before were agriculturists by vocation, have nevertheless become professional Slovak Agrarians." - (NAROD, Czech Bulletin, London, Nov. 1950).  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 International Social Justice Description An account of the resource Rev. William A. Kaschmitter, M.N. Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 24-37 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kaschmitter, William A. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/32d1053a80dcb78dc024f7df71c4639e.pdf 9418bfa45709b25302ea6e1e013f0934 PDF Text Text 38 SLOVAKIA ·SLOVAK NATION ALISM: 1 B. S. BUC, Ph.D. NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY 1. The Ephemeral Slovak Soviet Republic Because of the deeply religious basis of the Slovaks as well as the agrarian nature of Slovakia, Communism with its revolutionary materialistic-socia l program had from the beginning no hope of winning over the Slovaks. It, therefore, endeavored all the more to conquer them by force. The first attempt at forceful domination in Slovakia was undertaken in 1919. This occurred after the First World War in connection with the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic whose leader was the well known Bela Kuhn. The Hungarian Communist government invaded Slovakia with its army and occupied the Eastern sector with the sities of Presov and Kosice. Following in the wake of the occupation, a public Communist assembly met at Presov on June 16, 1919, and announced the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic with the proclamation that: This day the Slovak Soviet RepUiblic was created on Slovaik soil, liberated from imperialism. The first conscious, instinctive act of the proletariat, freed from the yoke of Czech imperialism, was that oppressors proclaim with such great glory, but in reality falsify (1). At this assembly, a temporary revolutionary committee was appointed which transferred its seat from Presov to Kosice. There on June 20, 1919, a twenty-member Slovak Revolutionary Council was named with the Czech Communist A. Jarousek at its head. This Council formally informed the Czecho-iSlovak government in Prague that Slovakia is separating from the Czech lands. Immediately the Soviet government of Moscow hastened to greet this new Slovak dictatorship of the proletariat. The existence of this very stormily-begun Slovak Soviet Republic was short-lived. On July 5, 1919, the Red Hungarian Army was coerced to withdraw from Slovak territory and the "Slovak Soviet Republic" ended. Except for many atrocities perpetrated on the inhabitants by the �SLOVAKIA 39 Red Army, no signs whatever remained in Slovakia after this three-week Communist adventure (2). 2. Coordination of Nationalism and Class Struggle After the shattering of this first Communist attempt to enslave Slovakia in 1919, it would hardly be necessary to speak of the Communist Party in connection with Slovak nationalism. But the situation which ensued in Slovakia, after Communist occupation in 1944 through Russian partisans and then the army, made the Communist Party one of the most significant fashioners of the present fate of Slovaks in general. It was a repetition of the events of 1919, except with longer lasting and far-reaching results. Communism would never have attained its present position in Slovakia, had the end of the war not permitted it. Election results prior to the Second World War indicate that the Communist Party was never powerful in Slovakia; in the election year of 1919, it had 10.66 per cent of the votes; in 1935, 12.97 per cent. And even these percentages would be lower, if other nationalities were separated and only Slovak votes counted. This is shown by the fact that in voting districts comprising a clearly Slovak population, the percentage gains of the Communist Party were always substantially lower than in districts where they were mixed with Hungarians(3). The weak successes of the Communists in Slovakia, despite the facts that the social situation of the Slovak population was really not the best, must be attributed to the religious foundation of the Slovaks and in part to the influence of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, which in its program presented a more compact statement of the national and social demands of the Slovak inhabitants. Recalling to mind the delicacy of the nationality problem in the newly established Czecho-Slovakia, the Communist Party immediately in 1919 began to orientate its program in order to draw as much as possible from it. Clement Gottwald, leader of the Party, marked this program in 1924 in the following words: Such a solution to the question must be sought and found which will enable the Party to support nationality movements �40 SLOVAKIA and to unite its revolui-tonary energies, or to coordinate with revolutionary class warfare the whole proletariat of the CzechoSlovak RepUlblic. I am of the opinion that the Party can, with comparatirve ea,se, gain leadership in the movement of national minorities and thus cast to the r,e ar the bour,geois-chauvinist parties . .. . The Comunist Party in Slovakia must not only utilize the national movements for the class interests of the proletariat, but must stand directly at its head and lead it along paths actually revolutionary (4). In accord with the plan, the Communist Party in Slovakia also fought for the autonomy of Slovakia as did the Slovak People's Party. When in the elections of 1925 the autonomists achieved their greatest successes, the Communists hastened to promise more than autonomy. In January, 1926, they announced: 'Dhe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia raises .. these concrete demands: the complete independence of Slovakia. Let the SlovaJk nation itself decide on arranging its own affairs (5). This signified competition with the autonomists in emphasizing Slovak national ambitions. We do not know for sure whether to account the gains - even though trivial - of the Communist Party in Slovakia to its social struggle for the rights of the proletariat, or to its tactizing with Slovak nationalism. But the latter definitely gained votes for them. Despite its more than positive position in regard to Slovak nationalism, the Communist party was nevertheless organized only on a statewide basis as a "Czechoslovak" Party. Its leadership in Slovakia, however, rested in the hands of a sma:11 but capable group of Slovak intellectuals, who became adherents of the Party not from social motives, but rather because its ideological foundation introduced to them a new kind of belief. They were Slovak nationalists, but because of their negative attitude toward religion, they found it difficult to attach themselves to the other two national parties, namely, the Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; the former was led by a Catholic priest, the latter by a Lutheran minister. They were, therefore, idealists blinded by idealism to such an extent that they were unable to realize that the Communist Party was actually an instrument of Russian imperialism, concealing itself at times in relation to �SLOVAKIA 41 Slav nations under Russian Pan-Slavism. They were fittingly called "Sa:lon Communists," because both their social position and their behavior were in complete opposition to the concept "proletariat" which they were supposed to represent. It is not surprising, therefore, that this group of Slovak Communists received the dissolution of Czecho-Slovakia in 1938 with as much joy as the other Slovak national elements. Although the Slovak Government had forbidden the activities of the Communist Party, yet a majority of its representatives was left free and held important offices. This enabled them, through salon and not revolutionary means, to make preparations for the opportune establishment of a "Slovak Republic without Germans and Fascists" when the occasion should arise (6). 3. Towards a New Slovak Soviet Republic The moments for the fulfillment of their plans seemed to arrive when, near the end of August, 1944, Soviet parachutists succeeded in carrying the operations of war into Slo.vak territory and called forth co-called "Slovak uprising against the Germans." Slovak Communists, therefore, hastened in September of that year to establish the indepen*dent Communist Party of Slovakia to the great surprise of Czech Communist agents. They acted in accord with Moscow itself, which sought, through its partisans, to win over the President of the Slovak Republic, Joseph Tiso, by promising protection to the Slovak Republic (7). Tiso's attitude to these efforts was one of greatest rejection: Cooperation with Moscow would have signified a terrible cata,s trophe for the nation. It would have been a denial of Christianity. Communism was from its first beginnings and remained an irreconcilable enemy not only of our nation, our independence, but is a danger for all of Europe. Communism brings with itself a rapid debasement of the moral, spiritual and material level of every nation in whose bosom it reposes. Every true patriot, therefore, cannot soil his hands by cooperating with such a political system as well as with its representatives residing in Moscow (8). In these steps we see the two-faced action of Moscow, which "did not cease to assure officially that her aim was �42 SLOVAKIA to renew the Czecho-Slovak Republic, but underneath carried on, through her partisans, a survey to ascertain the mood in Slovakia towards the annexation of that country (9). 4. Change of Moscow's Plans When Moscow failed to gain support of Slovak national elements to proclaim the Slovak Soviet Republic and saw that Communism in Slovakia lacked strong roots, she decided definitely to reestablish Czecho-Slovakia. The elections of 1946 in renovated Czech-Slovakia indicate why this solution was more advantageous for Moscow's plans. The Communist Party in Czech territory had a more probable chance of winning. This decision of Moscow, however, meant the beginning of tragedy for Slovak national Communists. It was already discernible in the action of Moscow, which appointed William Siroky, a Hungarian by origin, as Chairman of the newly established Communist Party in Slovakia in preference to Slovak nationalists. In Siroky Moscow found a very compliant instrument for her further political drama in Czecho-Slovakia. Czecho-Slovakia indeed was renewed, but not in its original size and greatness. First of all Moscow annexed Ruthenia. When Dr. Edward Benes was returning from Moscow, shortly after the Red Army occupied Slovak territory, he had to remain in Kosice where the native Communists compelled him to agree to the so-called Kosice program of April, 1945, according to which the new Czecho-Slovakia was to be a state of two nations, Czech and Slovak. Clement Gottwald, as Premier of the government, announced on April 5, 1945, that "the Republic will be renewed as a comomn state of the co-equal Czech and Slovak nations" and that "the new government of the Republic will be concerned that, during the constitutional solution of the relations between the Czech and Slovak nations, the Slovak organs will be constituted with the same legislative, administrative and executive power which the Slovak nation enjoys today in its Slovak National Council" (10). Perhaps, in respect to elections, the Slovaks �SLOVAKIA 43 were at least promised autonomy as the last step to win them over to Communism. 5. Centralized Czecho-Slovakia Once Again A year later, in May of 1946, the first elections were held in the new Czecho-Slovakia, and they indicated a substantial difference within the Communist Parties of Slovakia and the Czech lands. The Communist Party of Slovakia, united with the Social Democrats, gained 30.6 per cent of the votes; whereas in Czech territory the Communist party obtained 40.4 per cent and the Social Democrats 15.6 per cent which together totalled 56 per cent. In Czech lands we see a very evident victory for the Communist Party. Of the 300 seats in Parliament, the combined parties of the Communists and Socialists had 153 deputies. A certain official from the Russian embassy made this observation about the results of the 1946 elections: "The majority is not great, but it suffices in order to rule over the other parties in a democratic way" (11). The elections sounded the death knell of the promised autonomy for Slovakia. Theoretically, the principle of two nations was continually stressed; practically, however, even a stronger centralization than during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic began to shape up. Even more, on September 28, 1948, when the Communist Party of Slovakia was abolished and became a part of the united Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. This was more than the Slovak Communists could stand. Even the fear of retaliation •c ould not restrain them from rising up in opposition. The threat of revenge for this deviation from servility was not long in coming. In February of 1951, the foremost leaders, V. Clementis, Dr. G. Husak, L. Novomesky and K. Smidke, were expelled from the Party and deprived of all functions because "they planned a new Slovak separatist program and together formed a plot aimed at tearing Slovakia away from the Czecho-Slovak Republic" (12). In April others were condemned as bourgeois nationalists. The substance of their crimes is contained in a long condemnation, in which we find the following: �44 SLOVAKIA The ideological background of their treachery consisted in their attempts to solve the national question of the Slovak nation, not in collruboration with thet Czech working class but mainly in cooperation with the Slovak bourgeoisie and accepted eventually their leadership. In this connection they accepted the Slovak fascist puppet State. Later on, they successfully penetrated the leadership of the Slovak national uprising and got hold of important positions in the new People's Democratic State. They misused their positions in the Slovak National Council and on the Board of Commissioners in a criminal way in order to isolate Slovakia from the Czech working people and from the construction of Socialism, thus strengthening in Slovakia the remnants of capitalism and jeopardizing the achievements of the Slovak working class. Their aim was to break up the common Czecho-Slo,vak State and to hand over Slovakia to the reactionary bourg.eois-iP and to the mercy of foreign imperialists (13'). We do not know how L. Novomesky, one of the accused, understood, a;fter his trial, the words which he wrote in 1948, prior to his imprisonment, in the introduction to a book of his co-sufferer G. Husak: They say superficially that re,volutions devour their o,wn children. This is not trur! The truth rather is that revolutions, determined to r-emain faithful to their program, slough off those of their children who would pel'vert their meaning, their program and their end (14). After this purge President Gottwald appointed a Czech Communist, M. Bacilek, as President of the Slovak National Council. The whole apparatus of the Communist Party and administration in Slovakia is now in the hands of Czechs and Magyars, and not in the hands of Slovak elements. In liquidating the Communist Slovaks, Prague liquidated practically the idea of a Czecho,Slovak State. !Between the years 19415 and HW7, Benes had annihilated the Ca,tholics, the principal political force of Slovakia. During the course of the crisis 1n ,119418, the Czech Communists and Democrats had era.sed such Slovak Protestants as Le.Urich, and Ursiny. Prague suppressed finally the last political suppor.t of the Czecho-Siovak State in Slovakia: the Communists. The fourth Czecho-Slovak Republic as a national State of Czechs and Slovak,s is, therefore, dead. Instead a Socialist Soviet State emerges (,115). 6. Aftermath of Stalin's Death The changes in Moscow after the death of Joseph Stalin, however, testify that the drama of Slovak na- �SLOVAKIA 45 tionalist Communists is not completed and awaits the completion of its last act, if the new seemingly revolutionary directives, inaugurated by the XX Congress of the Communist Party in Moscow by Khrushchev, will be brought into effect. These directives, among other things, stress very emphatically the principle of self-determination in dealing with the national ambitions of various nations. If action really follows words, then this "new Moscow approach" towards the solution of problems stemming from nationalism may give the Slovak nationalist Communists new hopes to implement their old dream, the Slovak Soviet Republic. It seems that the first step along this new line was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Czecho-Slovakia, which convened from the first to eleventh of May, 1956, in order to discuss the directives of the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the U. S. S. R. Present at this meeting was W. Siroky, the present :Prime Minister of the Czecho-Slovak Government. He uttered a manifesto in which among other things, he stressed: A!bove all it is necessary to concern ourselves with the questions of extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak Nation-al Council of the highest organ of State power in Slovakia. Today there are already suppositions for extending the legislative jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council, and we must probably think also -about constitutional changes i,n the same way. . . . In just that way must we consider extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council in the eyes of the Board of Commissioners and e~pressly estaiblish constitutional conclusions of responsibility to the Board of •Commissionens o'f ithe Slovak National Council (16). The Slovak National Council and the Board of Commissioners, according to the Kosice program of 1945, were to be the legisfative and executive organs of the planned autonomous government of Slovakia. After the elections of 1946 their jurisdiction was completely limited, so that they really became only executive organs of the centralist administration of Prague. The conclusion of w_ Siroky's address would be that in due time a complete autonomy would prevail. But W. Siroky went so far as to say: "as the foundatio~ of its politics concerning the nationalist question, the Communist Party considers the right of na- �46 SLOVAKIA tions toward self-expression, that is, the right to break away freely from or unite freely to another nation" (17). Such a position would have been favorably acceptable to the nationalist Slovak Communists, but Siroky, a Stalinist and still in power, gave to it his own interpretation. It was certainly with the intention to threaten his imprisoned colleagues that in concluding his address he said: 'Noting our successes, . . . we can in no way underestimate the influence of the bourgeois nationalist ideology, Its heralds utilize every occasion of um.est, every want and negative mani• festation for its spread and livelihood. It is the plaitform of the enemies of socialism, and must not even lead us astray then when 1bouregois nationalism, as for example at present, emerges under the slogan of a People's Democratic Slovakia 018). Here then is the evidence why nationalist Slovak Communists, even when released from prison, have not been rehabilitated. If, however, Moscow shall desire the removal of W. Siroky and Bacilek and shall set up the first, then the world in the near future shall be surprised to hear the proclamation of a new Slovak Soviet Republic. The recently developed situation in Hungary strengthened again the position of the Stalinists and brought ahout the occupation of Slovakia by the Czech and Russ~an armies. 7. There Will Be No Stopping The existence of the Slovaks as a political force in Central Europe is not a fact of negligible importance at the present time. They have reached such a level of group consciousness that it will be impossible to disregard them in dealing with the political problems of that area. Their emergence presents a vivid example of the development of modern nationalism, for, as Don Luigi Sturzo has writ7 ten: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and on affirming it in the struggle with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping." Many incentives led the Slovaks to develop a consciousness of their own personality despite the fact that they have been living for over a thousand . years without any specific political rights within Hungary. �SLOVAKIA 47 The first incentive came from the social philosophy of the Enlightenment. It created a new political power out of the submerged social class of people by advocating certain rights for the masses in dealing with the public affairs of states. At the same time this movement destroyed the predominance of Latin and elevated the people's language to literary prominence. In the case of the Slovaks it led to the codification of their vernacular language which became the first step towards the assertion of their own distinct personality. German Romantic philosophy provided a second incentive and gave a further impetus towards the same goal. Its contribution consisted in defining more closely the concept "people" by changing it into the concept "nation" whereby a greater stress was placed upon the importance of a common history, language and culture. This philosophy was also instrumental in creating among the Slav nations a literary and political movement called Pan-Slavism. Under the impact of Pan-Slavism Slovaks were made aware of their glorious past as represented by Greater Moravia, the first Slav state in Central Europe, and began to feel that their land was the cradle of present-day cultures. The third incentive was provided by President Wilson's principle of self-determination of nations and the Western Allies' decision to dismember Austria-Hungary after the First World War. The map of Central Europe was changed and the Slovaks became a part of a new state called the Czecho-Slovak Republic. In the CzechoSlovak Republic they were supposed to be equal partners with the kin Czechs, but these ambitions were never realized because the imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation sought to merge them with the Czechs on the ground of their close kinship. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak Republic the almost extinct Slovak community grew up into a new democratic society, and the Slovaks were ready to venture into an independent life in their own Slovak Republic. At present the overwhelming majority of Slovaks consider the situation as an enforced one and remain almost united in their efforts to regain their lost independence. �48 SLOVAKIA Under the present circumstances their ,o bjectives and efforts are directed towards the following goals: 1. Slovakia within the framework of a democratic Czecho-Slovakia is still the objective of a small group of "Czecho-Slovaks" who are composed primarily of former diplomats and leading personalities of the first CzechoS1ovakia. Being aware of the opposition of the majority of Slovaks at home agruinst the Czechs this group of Slovaks finally agreed to have the state based on the idea of two distinct Czech and Slovak nations instead of the former imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation. 2. Independent Slovakia either as a unit within the proposed federated Central Europe or simply as an independent democratic state. Both alternatives enjoy almost the same popularity with the overwhelming majority of the Slovaks at home and abroad. They represent the desires and endeavors of a substantial part of the Slovak population whose objective has always been to assure for Slovaks the rights of an ethnographically, culturally and politica:lly distinct personality in the international family of nations. 3. A Slovak Soviet Republic might have been the objective of a small group of Slovak Communists before they were executed or imprisoned as bourgeois deviationists. They once again seemed to have had a chance to act after Stalin's death but are now forestalled by what happened in Hungary in 1956. In spite of the fact that there still are groups among the Slovaks that endeavor to make Slovakia dependent upon the Czechs or upon the Russians, the ambitions of Slovak nationalism will hardly be gratified until the Slovaks find their haven in a sovereign Slovak State or in such a political arrangement of Central Europe wherein the Slovaks will be allotted the same sovereign rights as other so-called established nations possess today. (11J) iM. Gosiorovsky: "O Sovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919", Nova Mysl, Pr-ague, September, 191'9, 2716,284. (Q) Ibidem. (3) !For ,e xample, 1n the elections of 1.929 voting districts, comprising a clearly Slovak population conceded very little percentage-wise to the Communist Party: Presov 4.57 per cent, Turcian- �SLOVAKIA 49 sky Sv. Martin 6J18 per cent, Ba,nska Bystrica 7.60 per cent. Whereas in districts comprising a greater majority of Hungarians, the Communists showed grea ter gains: Kosice 115.4!8 per cent and Nove Zamky IJ6.84 ·p er cent. - Dr. F. Durcansky, Biela Kniha, Buenos Aires, 19B4, p. 7'84). {4) Pravda Chudoby, 30. juna 1954. (5) Pravda, 30. maja 1'926. (6) Durcansky, op. cit., p. 796. (7) Dr. F. Durcansky, "Marne sa snail Moskva ziskat' Slovakov", Literarny almanac'1 Slovaka v Amerike, Chicago, 195G, pp. 43-48. (8) 1lbid., pp. 45-416. {9) J. Smutny, Doklady a rozp.ravy, CLondon, November 1952), p. 5. (10) Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy, (Praha 1<947), pp. 21 sp. (l1lJ) iH. Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved, (London, 1949), p. 47. C12) Rude pravo, (27. fobruara 19511). •Q13) Joseph Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 11955. 014) G. Husak, Zapas o zajtrajsok, (Bratislava, 1943), p. 3. (15) ,J . A. !Mikus, op. cit., ,p. 3'86. (Paris, 119515), p. 386. (16) Slovak, (jun 11956). (17) Ibidem. (lt8) Ibidem. BIBLIOGRAPHY Association Hongroise des Affaires Etrangeres. La deportation des Hongrois de Slovaquie, Budapest, .1947. Aulneau, J .: Histoire de l'Europe Central, Paris, ·1926. Autonomist: Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy, Jednota Press, Middletown, Pa., ,11935. Benes, E.: Czechoslovak Policy fo.r Victory and Peace, London, 1:94'4. Benes, E.: Le probleme .A utrichien et la question tcheque, Paris, •1908. Benes, E.: My War Memoirs, London, 1928. Blasko, S.: Slovakia in Blood and Shackles, Piassaic, N .J., 1954. Bokes, F.: Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia), Bratislava, 1'946. Botto, J.: Slovaci: Vyvin ich narodneho povedomia (Slovaks: the Development of Their National Consciousness), Turciansky Sv. Martin, ·11906. Carr, E. H.: Natio,nalism and After, London, 1·946. Chmelar, J.: National Minorities in Central Europe, Prague, 1'937. Clementis, V.: Panslavism, Past and Present, London, 194G. Culen, K.: Dejiny Slovakov v Amerike (History of the Slovaks in America), Bratislava, 11942. Cul-en, K.:Cesi a Slovaci v statnych sluibach CSR (Cze'Chs and Slovak•s in the Civil Service of the Czechoslovak Republic), Bratislava, 1944>. Culen, K.: Pittsburghska dohoda (The Pittsburgh .Pact), •B ratislava, '1937. Denis, E.: La question d'Autriche: Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917. Diamond, W.: Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London. 1947. �50 SLOVAKIA Durcansky, F.: Slovenska biela kniha (Slovak White Book), Buenos Aires, 11954!. European Movement: Basis For An Eastern Europea,i Policy, London, 1950. Gottwald, K.: Slove,nsko hladuje (Slovakia is Starving), Bratislava, 1925. Gottwald, K.: Za socialisticky itat, za socialisticke pravo (For a Socialistic State, For a Socialistic Right), Prague, 1940. Hodza, M.: Federation in Central Europe, London, 1~. Hrusovsky, F.: Slovensko v dejinach Strecl,nej Europy (Slovakia in the History of Central Eu.rope), Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1939. Hrufovsky, F ,: This Is Slovakia, Obrana Press, Scranton, Pa., 1955. Ingrim, R.: After Hitler Stalin? Bruce Pulb lishing Co., Milwaukee, '1946. Lloyd George, David: The Truth About the Peace Treaties, London, 1 '1925. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary a,nd Her Successo.rs, London-New York, 194'3'. Macartney, C. A.: National States and National Minorities, London, 1934. Macartney, C. A.: Problems of the Danube Basin, London, 194!2. M~ryk, T. G.: New Europe, London, 11917. Masaryk, T. G.: The Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis, London, 1915. Masaryk, T. G.: La resurrection d'un etat (Souvenirs et reflections 1914-1958), Paris, .1930. Mendelsohn, P.: The Nuremberg Documents, London, 11946. Mikus, J. A.: La Slovaquie da,ns le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1955-. Miniisterstvo vnitra (The Ministry of Interior): Spiknuti proti republice (Conspiracy Against the Czecho-Slovak Republic in Slovakia), Prague, 194'7. Osusky, S.: Benes and Slovakia, London, 1943. Peroutka, V.: Budovani statu (Building of a New State), Pra•g ue, 11'93•3-li936. Popovici, Aurel: Die Verei,n igten Staaten von Grossoesterreich, Leipzig, 1906. Rene, Renry: Questions d'Aut.riche-Hongrie et questions d'Orient, P-aris, 1903. Ripka, H.: Small and Great Nations, London, 1194!4'. Ripka, H.: Czechoslovakia Enslaved, London, 1948. Schlesinger, R.: Federalism i,n Central Europe, London, 1945. Seton Watson, R. W.: Slovakia Then and Now, London and Prague, 1 1'931. Seton Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 194'3'. Seton Watson, R. W.: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, 1945. Sidor, K.: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934. Sidor, K.: Slovenska politika na pode p.razskeho snemu (Slovak Politics On the ·F loor of the Prague ,Parliament), iBratislll/Va, 1943. Shafer, Boyd C.: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, 19514. Slovak Catholic Federation of America: The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh Pact, Chicago, 1004. �SLOVAKIA 51 Sturzo, Do r Luigi: NatiQ\nalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946. Thomson, Harrison: Czechoslovakia in European Histo.ry, Princeton Press, New Jerisey, 11'944. Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy (Decrees and First Manifestoes of the Czecho-Slovak Gover,nment Composed of the Czech and Slovak National Front), Prague, 1947. Ustav Dr. E. Benesa CDr. E. Benes lns'titurte): Doklady a .rozpravy (Documents and Deliberations), London, 1'952. ARTICLES IN MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS Brauner, H.: Die Volkswerdung der Slowaken (The Development of Slovaks lnot a Nation), a treatise published in Deutsches Archive ftir Landes und Volkswerdung, Vo1. V, Berlin, 1944. Darras, M.: Onze ans de vie independante en Slovaquie, Le monde slave, Paris, May-June, .1000. Durcansky, F.: l'.Europe Central dans le passe et dans l'avenir, La revue de drnit internacional, de sciences diplomatiques et politiques, Geneve, XX]I, annee, no. 1, 1/94'4. Durcansky, F.: Marne sa snaii Moskva ziskat' Slovakov (The Futile Efforts of Moscow to Win Over the Slovaks), Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerike, an Almanach pU!blished in Chicago by the publislhers of the SLOVAK V AiMERllKE, a newspaper in the Slovak language, Chicago, 1:953. Chudoba, B.: Czechoslovakia: A Study in Disintegration, Thought, Fordham University Quarterly, March, 1950. Clementis, V.: Ni satelite de l'U.R.S.S. ni artisan d'un bloc slave, Parallele 50, Paris, September 20, '1950. Gosiorovs'ky, .M.: 0 •S ovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919 (About the Soviets in Slovakia in 1919), Nova mysl (The New Thought), Prague, September, 111919. Hlinka, A.: Memoirs des Slovaques a la Conference de la Paix, A Memorandum to the Peace Conference in Paris, 1919. Kirschbaum, J .: Slovakia and Central European Federation Plans, SLOVAIIQ!A, a periodical plllblished by the Slovak League of Ameriica, Middletown, Pa., April, 1953. Pir, A. V.: America's Slovak Societies, published in the Bulletin of t he Slovak Nat ional Council A'broa,d, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956. Naboienska itatistika (Religious Statistics), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (Almanach of the Canadian Slovak League), Winnipeg, Manitdba, 19zy3. Schlesinger, R.: Slovakia Today and Tomorrow, Contemporary Review, London, August, 1939. ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS Pravda (The Truth), an official paper of the Communist Party in Slovakia. Samostatnost' pre Slovensko (Independence For Slovakia), Bratislava, May 30, 1926. Pravda Chudoby (The Truth of the Downtroddtm), a Czech, Communist rparper. Narodni h,nuti a komunisticka strana Ceskoslovenska (National Movements and the Communist 'Party of Czechoslovakia), Prague, June 3'0, 1924. �52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs � 38 SLOVAKIA ·SLOVAK NATION ALISM: 1 B. S. BUC, Ph.D. NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY 1. The Ephemeral Slovak Soviet Republic Because of the deeply religious basis of the Slovaks as well as the agrarian nature of Slovakia, Communism with its revolutionary materialistic-socia l program had from the beginning no hope of winning over the Slovaks. It, therefore, endeavored all the more to conquer them by force. The first attempt at forceful domination in Slovakia was undertaken in 1919. This occurred after the First World War in connection with the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic whose leader was the well known Bela Kuhn. The Hungarian Communist government invaded Slovakia with its army and occupied the Eastern sector with the sities of Presov and Kosice. Following in the wake of the occupation, a public Communist assembly met at Presov on June 16, 1919, and announced the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic with the proclamation that: This day the Slovak Soviet RepUiblic was created on Slovaik soil, liberated from imperialism. The first conscious, instinctive act of the proletariat, freed from the yoke of Czech imperialism, was that oppressors proclaim with such great glory, but in reality falsify (1). At this assembly, a temporary revolutionary committee was appointed which transferred its seat from Presov to Kosice. There on June 20, 1919, a twenty-member Slovak Revolutionary Council was named with the Czech Communist A. Jarousek at its head. This Council formally informed the Czecho-iSlovak government in Prague that Slovakia is separating from the Czech lands. Immediately the Soviet government of Moscow hastened to greet this new Slovak dictatorship of the proletariat. The existence of this very stormily-begun Slovak Soviet Republic was short-lived. On July 5, 1919, the Red Hungarian Army was coerced to withdraw from Slovak territory and the "Slovak Soviet Republic" ended. Except for many atrocities perpetrated on the inhabitants by the �SLOVAKIA 39 Red Army, no signs whatever remained in Slovakia after this three-week Communist adventure (2). 2. Coordination of Nationalism and Class Struggle After the shattering of this first Communist attempt to enslave Slovakia in 1919, it would hardly be necessary to speak of the Communist Party in connection with Slovak nationalism. But the situation which ensued in Slovakia, after Communist occupation in 1944 through Russian partisans and then the army, made the Communist Party one of the most significant fashioners of the present fate of Slovaks in general. It was a repetition of the events of 1919, except with longer lasting and far-reaching results. Communism would never have attained its present position in Slovakia, had the end of the war not permitted it. Election results prior to the Second World War indicate that the Communist Party was never powerful in Slovakia; in the election year of 1919, it had 10.66 per cent of the votes; in 1935, 12.97 per cent. And even these percentages would be lower, if other nationalities were separated and only Slovak votes counted. This is shown by the fact that in voting districts comprising a clearly Slovak population, the percentage gains of the Communist Party were always substantially lower than in districts where they were mixed with Hungarians(3). The weak successes of the Communists in Slovakia, despite the facts that the social situation of the Slovak population was really not the best, must be attributed to the religious foundation of the Slovaks and in part to the influence of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, which in its program presented a more compact statement of the national and social demands of the Slovak inhabitants. Recalling to mind the delicacy of the nationality problem in the newly established Czecho-Slovakia, the Communist Party immediately in 1919 began to orientate its program in order to draw as much as possible from it. Clement Gottwald, leader of the Party, marked this program in 1924 in the following words: Such a solution to the question must be sought and found which will enable the Party to support nationality movements �40 SLOVAKIA and to unite its revolui-tonary energies, or to coordinate with revolutionary class warfare the whole proletariat of the CzechoSlovak RepUlblic. I am of the opinion that the Party can, with comparatirve ea,se, gain leadership in the movement of national minorities and thus cast to the r,e ar the bour,geois-chauvinist parties . .. . The Comunist Party in Slovakia must not only utilize the national movements for the class interests of the proletariat, but must stand directly at its head and lead it along paths actually revolutionary (4). In accord with the plan, the Communist Party in Slovakia also fought for the autonomy of Slovakia as did the Slovak People's Party. When in the elections of 1925 the autonomists achieved their greatest successes, the Communists hastened to promise more than autonomy. In January, 1926, they announced: 'Dhe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia raises .. these concrete demands: the complete independence of Slovakia. Let the SlovaJk nation itself decide on arranging its own affairs (5). This signified competition with the autonomists in emphasizing Slovak national ambitions. We do not know for sure whether to account the gains - even though trivial - of the Communist Party in Slovakia to its social struggle for the rights of the proletariat, or to its tactizing with Slovak nationalism. But the latter definitely gained votes for them. Despite its more than positive position in regard to Slovak nationalism, the Communist party was nevertheless organized only on a statewide basis as a "Czechoslovak" Party. Its leadership in Slovakia, however, rested in the hands of a sma:11 but capable group of Slovak intellectuals, who became adherents of the Party not from social motives, but rather because its ideological foundation introduced to them a new kind of belief. They were Slovak nationalists, but because of their negative attitude toward religion, they found it difficult to attach themselves to the other two national parties, namely, the Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; the former was led by a Catholic priest, the latter by a Lutheran minister. They were, therefore, idealists blinded by idealism to such an extent that they were unable to realize that the Communist Party was actually an instrument of Russian imperialism, concealing itself at times in relation to �SLOVAKIA 41 Slav nations under Russian Pan-Slavism. They were fittingly called "Sa:lon Communists," because both their social position and their behavior were in complete opposition to the concept "proletariat" which they were supposed to represent. It is not surprising, therefore, that this group of Slovak Communists received the dissolution of Czecho-Slovakia in 1938 with as much joy as the other Slovak national elements. Although the Slovak Government had forbidden the activities of the Communist Party, yet a majority of its representatives was left free and held important offices. This enabled them, through salon and not revolutionary means, to make preparations for the opportune establishment of a "Slovak Republic without Germans and Fascists" when the occasion should arise (6). 3. Towards a New Slovak Soviet Republic The moments for the fulfillment of their plans seemed to arrive when, near the end of August, 1944, Soviet parachutists succeeded in carrying the operations of war into Slo.vak territory and called forth co-called "Slovak uprising against the Germans." Slovak Communists, therefore, hastened in September of that year to establish the indepen*dent Communist Party of Slovakia to the great surprise of Czech Communist agents. They acted in accord with Moscow itself, which sought, through its partisans, to win over the President of the Slovak Republic, Joseph Tiso, by promising protection to the Slovak Republic (7). Tiso's attitude to these efforts was one of greatest rejection: Cooperation with Moscow would have signified a terrible cata,s trophe for the nation. It would have been a denial of Christianity. Communism was from its first beginnings and remained an irreconcilable enemy not only of our nation, our independence, but is a danger for all of Europe. Communism brings with itself a rapid debasement of the moral, spiritual and material level of every nation in whose bosom it reposes. Every true patriot, therefore, cannot soil his hands by cooperating with such a political system as well as with its representatives residing in Moscow (8). In these steps we see the two-faced action of Moscow, which "did not cease to assure officially that her aim was �42 SLOVAKIA to renew the Czecho-Slovak Republic, but underneath carried on, through her partisans, a survey to ascertain the mood in Slovakia towards the annexation of that country (9). 4. Change of Moscow's Plans When Moscow failed to gain support of Slovak national elements to proclaim the Slovak Soviet Republic and saw that Communism in Slovakia lacked strong roots, she decided definitely to reestablish Czecho-Slovakia. The elections of 1946 in renovated Czech-Slovakia indicate why this solution was more advantageous for Moscow's plans. The Communist Party in Czech territory had a more probable chance of winning. This decision of Moscow, however, meant the beginning of tragedy for Slovak national Communists. It was already discernible in the action of Moscow, which appointed William Siroky, a Hungarian by origin, as Chairman of the newly established Communist Party in Slovakia in preference to Slovak nationalists. In Siroky Moscow found a very compliant instrument for her further political drama in Czecho-Slovakia. Czecho-Slovakia indeed was renewed, but not in its original size and greatness. First of all Moscow annexed Ruthenia. When Dr. Edward Benes was returning from Moscow, shortly after the Red Army occupied Slovak territory, he had to remain in Kosice where the native Communists compelled him to agree to the so-called Kosice program of April, 1945, according to which the new Czecho-Slovakia was to be a state of two nations, Czech and Slovak. Clement Gottwald, as Premier of the government, announced on April 5, 1945, that "the Republic will be renewed as a comomn state of the co-equal Czech and Slovak nations" and that "the new government of the Republic will be concerned that, during the constitutional solution of the relations between the Czech and Slovak nations, the Slovak organs will be constituted with the same legislative, administrative and executive power which the Slovak nation enjoys today in its Slovak National Council" (10). Perhaps, in respect to elections, the Slovaks �SLOVAKIA 43 were at least promised autonomy as the last step to win them over to Communism. 5. Centralized Czecho-Slovakia Once Again A year later, in May of 1946, the first elections were held in the new Czecho-Slovakia, and they indicated a substantial difference within the Communist Parties of Slovakia and the Czech lands. The Communist Party of Slovakia, united with the Social Democrats, gained 30.6 per cent of the votes; whereas in Czech territory the Communist party obtained 40.4 per cent and the Social Democrats 15.6 per cent which together totalled 56 per cent. In Czech lands we see a very evident victory for the Communist Party. Of the 300 seats in Parliament, the combined parties of the Communists and Socialists had 153 deputies. A certain official from the Russian embassy made this observation about the results of the 1946 elections: "The majority is not great, but it suffices in order to rule over the other parties in a democratic way" (11). The elections sounded the death knell of the promised autonomy for Slovakia. Theoretically, the principle of two nations was continually stressed; practically, however, even a stronger centralization than during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic began to shape up. Even more, on September 28, 1948, when the Communist Party of Slovakia was abolished and became a part of the united Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. This was more than the Slovak Communists could stand. Even the fear of retaliation •c ould not restrain them from rising up in opposition. The threat of revenge for this deviation from servility was not long in coming. In February of 1951, the foremost leaders, V. Clementis, Dr. G. Husak, L. Novomesky and K. Smidke, were expelled from the Party and deprived of all functions because "they planned a new Slovak separatist program and together formed a plot aimed at tearing Slovakia away from the Czecho-Slovak Republic" (12). In April others were condemned as bourgeois nationalists. The substance of their crimes is contained in a long condemnation, in which we find the following: �44 SLOVAKIA The ideological background of their treachery consisted in their attempts to solve the national question of the Slovak nation, not in collruboration with thet Czech working class but mainly in cooperation with the Slovak bourgeoisie and accepted eventually their leadership. In this connection they accepted the Slovak fascist puppet State. Later on, they successfully penetrated the leadership of the Slovak national uprising and got hold of important positions in the new People's Democratic State. They misused their positions in the Slovak National Council and on the Board of Commissioners in a criminal way in order to isolate Slovakia from the Czech working people and from the construction of Socialism, thus strengthening in Slovakia the remnants of capitalism and jeopardizing the achievements of the Slovak working class. Their aim was to break up the common Czecho-Slo,vak State and to hand over Slovakia to the reactionary bourg.eois-iP and to the mercy of foreign imperialists (13'). We do not know how L. Novomesky, one of the accused, understood, a;fter his trial, the words which he wrote in 1948, prior to his imprisonment, in the introduction to a book of his co-sufferer G. Husak: They say superficially that re,volutions devour their o,wn children. This is not trur! The truth rather is that revolutions, determined to r-emain faithful to their program, slough off those of their children who would pel'vert their meaning, their program and their end (14). After this purge President Gottwald appointed a Czech Communist, M. Bacilek, as President of the Slovak National Council. The whole apparatus of the Communist Party and administration in Slovakia is now in the hands of Czechs and Magyars, and not in the hands of Slovak elements. In liquidating the Communist Slovaks, Prague liquidated practically the idea of a Czecho,Slovak State. !Between the years 19415 and HW7, Benes had annihilated the Ca,tholics, the principal political force of Slovakia. During the course of the crisis 1n ,119418, the Czech Communists and Democrats had era.sed such Slovak Protestants as Le.Urich, and Ursiny. Prague suppressed finally the last political suppor.t of the Czecho-Siovak State in Slovakia: the Communists. The fourth Czecho-Slovak Republic as a national State of Czechs and Slovak,s is, therefore, dead. Instead a Socialist Soviet State emerges (,115). 6. Aftermath of Stalin's Death The changes in Moscow after the death of Joseph Stalin, however, testify that the drama of Slovak na- �SLOVAKIA 45 tionalist Communists is not completed and awaits the completion of its last act, if the new seemingly revolutionary directives, inaugurated by the XX Congress of the Communist Party in Moscow by Khrushchev, will be brought into effect. These directives, among other things, stress very emphatically the principle of self-determination in dealing with the national ambitions of various nations. If action really follows words, then this "new Moscow approach" towards the solution of problems stemming from nationalism may give the Slovak nationalist Communists new hopes to implement their old dream, the Slovak Soviet Republic. It seems that the first step along this new line was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Czecho-Slovakia, which convened from the first to eleventh of May, 1956, in order to discuss the directives of the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the U. S. S. R. Present at this meeting was W. Siroky, the present :Prime Minister of the Czecho-Slovak Government. He uttered a manifesto in which among other things, he stressed: A!bove all it is necessary to concern ourselves with the questions of extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak Nation-al Council of the highest organ of State power in Slovakia. Today there are already suppositions for extending the legislative jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council, and we must probably think also -about constitutional changes i,n the same way. . . . In just that way must we consider extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council in the eyes of the Board of Commissioners and e~pressly estaiblish constitutional conclusions of responsibility to the Board of •Commissionens o'f ithe Slovak National Council (16). The Slovak National Council and the Board of Commissioners, according to the Kosice program of 1945, were to be the legisfative and executive organs of the planned autonomous government of Slovakia. After the elections of 1946 their jurisdiction was completely limited, so that they really became only executive organs of the centralist administration of Prague. The conclusion of w_ Siroky's address would be that in due time a complete autonomy would prevail. But W. Siroky went so far as to say: "as the foundatio~ of its politics concerning the nationalist question, the Communist Party considers the right of na- �46 SLOVAKIA tions toward self-expression, that is, the right to break away freely from or unite freely to another nation" (17). Such a position would have been favorably acceptable to the nationalist Slovak Communists, but Siroky, a Stalinist and still in power, gave to it his own interpretation. It was certainly with the intention to threaten his imprisoned colleagues that in concluding his address he said: 'Noting our successes, . . . we can in no way underestimate the influence of the bourgeois nationalist ideology, Its heralds utilize every occasion of um.est, every want and negative mani• festation for its spread and livelihood. It is the plaitform of the enemies of socialism, and must not even lead us astray then when 1bouregois nationalism, as for example at present, emerges under the slogan of a People's Democratic Slovakia 018). Here then is the evidence why nationalist Slovak Communists, even when released from prison, have not been rehabilitated. If, however, Moscow shall desire the removal of W. Siroky and Bacilek and shall set up the first, then the world in the near future shall be surprised to hear the proclamation of a new Slovak Soviet Republic. The recently developed situation in Hungary strengthened again the position of the Stalinists and brought ahout the occupation of Slovakia by the Czech and Russ~an armies. 7. There Will Be No Stopping The existence of the Slovaks as a political force in Central Europe is not a fact of negligible importance at the present time. They have reached such a level of group consciousness that it will be impossible to disregard them in dealing with the political problems of that area. Their emergence presents a vivid example of the development of modern nationalism, for, as Don Luigi Sturzo has writ7 ten: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and on affirming it in the struggle with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping." Many incentives led the Slovaks to develop a consciousness of their own personality despite the fact that they have been living for over a thousand . years without any specific political rights within Hungary. �SLOVAKIA 47 The first incentive came from the social philosophy of the Enlightenment. It created a new political power out of the submerged social class of people by advocating certain rights for the masses in dealing with the public affairs of states. At the same time this movement destroyed the predominance of Latin and elevated the people's language to literary prominence. In the case of the Slovaks it led to the codification of their vernacular language which became the first step towards the assertion of their own distinct personality. German Romantic philosophy provided a second incentive and gave a further impetus towards the same goal. Its contribution consisted in defining more closely the concept "people" by changing it into the concept "nation" whereby a greater stress was placed upon the importance of a common history, language and culture. This philosophy was also instrumental in creating among the Slav nations a literary and political movement called Pan-Slavism. Under the impact of Pan-Slavism Slovaks were made aware of their glorious past as represented by Greater Moravia, the first Slav state in Central Europe, and began to feel that their land was the cradle of present-day cultures. The third incentive was provided by President Wilson's principle of self-determination of nations and the Western Allies' decision to dismember Austria-Hungary after the First World War. The map of Central Europe was changed and the Slovaks became a part of a new state called the Czecho-Slovak Republic. In the CzechoSlovak Republic they were supposed to be equal partners with the kin Czechs, but these ambitions were never realized because the imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation sought to merge them with the Czechs on the ground of their close kinship. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak Republic the almost extinct Slovak community grew up into a new democratic society, and the Slovaks were ready to venture into an independent life in their own Slovak Republic. At present the overwhelming majority of Slovaks consider the situation as an enforced one and remain almost united in their efforts to regain their lost independence. �48 SLOVAKIA Under the present circumstances their ,o bjectives and efforts are directed towards the following goals: 1. Slovakia within the framework of a democratic Czecho-Slovakia is still the objective of a small group of "Czecho-Slovaks" who are composed primarily of former diplomats and leading personalities of the first CzechoS1ovakia. Being aware of the opposition of the majority of Slovaks at home agruinst the Czechs this group of Slovaks finally agreed to have the state based on the idea of two distinct Czech and Slovak nations instead of the former imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation. 2. Independent Slovakia either as a unit within the proposed federated Central Europe or simply as an independent democratic state. Both alternatives enjoy almost the same popularity with the overwhelming majority of the Slovaks at home and abroad. They represent the desires and endeavors of a substantial part of the Slovak population whose objective has always been to assure for Slovaks the rights of an ethnographically, culturally and politica:lly distinct personality in the international family of nations. 3. A Slovak Soviet Republic might have been the objective of a small group of Slovak Communists before they were executed or imprisoned as bourgeois deviationists. They once again seemed to have had a chance to act after Stalin's death but are now forestalled by what happened in Hungary in 1956. In spite of the fact that there still are groups among the Slovaks that endeavor to make Slovakia dependent upon the Czechs or upon the Russians, the ambitions of Slovak nationalism will hardly be gratified until the Slovaks find their haven in a sovereign Slovak State or in such a political arrangement of Central Europe wherein the Slovaks will be allotted the same sovereign rights as other so-called established nations possess today. (11J) iM. Gosiorovsky: "O Sovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919", Nova Mysl, Pr-ague, September, 191'9, 2716,284. (Q) Ibidem. (3) !For ,e xample, 1n the elections of 1.929 voting districts, comprising a clearly Slovak population conceded very little percentage-wise to the Communist Party: Presov 4.57 per cent, Turcian- �SLOVAKIA 49 sky Sv. Martin 6J18 per cent, Ba,nska Bystrica 7.60 per cent. Whereas in districts comprising a greater majority of Hungarians, the Communists showed grea ter gains: Kosice 115.4!8 per cent and Nove Zamky IJ6.84 ·p er cent. - Dr. F. Durcansky, Biela Kniha, Buenos Aires, 19B4, p. 7'84). {4) Pravda Chudoby, 30. juna 1954. (5) Pravda, 30. maja 1'926. (6) Durcansky, op. cit., p. 796. (7) Dr. F. Durcansky, "Marne sa snail Moskva ziskat' Slovakov", Literarny almanac'1 Slovaka v Amerike, Chicago, 195G, pp. 43-48. (8) 1lbid., pp. 45-416. {9) J. Smutny, Doklady a rozp.ravy, CLondon, November 1952), p. 5. (10) Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy, (Praha 1<947), pp. 21 sp. (l1lJ) iH. Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved, (London, 1949), p. 47. C12) Rude pravo, (27. fobruara 19511). •Q13) Joseph Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 11955. 014) G. Husak, Zapas o zajtrajsok, (Bratislava, 1943), p. 3. (15) ,J . A. !Mikus, op. cit., ,p. 3'86. (Paris, 119515), p. 386. (16) Slovak, (jun 11956). (17) Ibidem. (lt8) Ibidem. BIBLIOGRAPHY Association Hongroise des Affaires Etrangeres. La deportation des Hongrois de Slovaquie, Budapest, .1947. Aulneau, J .: Histoire de l'Europe Central, Paris, ·1926. Autonomist: Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy, Jednota Press, Middletown, Pa., ,11935. Benes, E.: Czechoslovak Policy fo.r Victory and Peace, London, 1:94'4. Benes, E.: Le probleme .A utrichien et la question tcheque, Paris, •1908. Benes, E.: My War Memoirs, London, 1928. Blasko, S.: Slovakia in Blood and Shackles, Piassaic, N .J., 1954. Bokes, F.: Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia), Bratislava, 1'946. Botto, J.: Slovaci: Vyvin ich narodneho povedomia (Slovaks: the Development of Their National Consciousness), Turciansky Sv. Martin, ·11906. Carr, E. H.: Natio,nalism and After, London, 1·946. Chmelar, J.: National Minorities in Central Europe, Prague, 1'937. Clementis, V.: Panslavism, Past and Present, London, 194G. Culen, K.: Dejiny Slovakov v Amerike (History of the Slovaks in America), Bratislava, 11942. Cul-en, K.:Cesi a Slovaci v statnych sluibach CSR (Cze'Chs and Slovak•s in the Civil Service of the Czechoslovak Republic), Bratislava, 1944>. Culen, K.: Pittsburghska dohoda (The Pittsburgh .Pact), •B ratislava, '1937. Denis, E.: La question d'Autriche: Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917. Diamond, W.: Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London. 1947. �50 SLOVAKIA Durcansky, F.: Slovenska biela kniha (Slovak White Book), Buenos Aires, 11954!. European Movement: Basis For An Eastern Europea,i Policy, London, 1950. Gottwald, K.: Slove,nsko hladuje (Slovakia is Starving), Bratislava, 1925. Gottwald, K.: Za socialisticky itat, za socialisticke pravo (For a Socialistic State, For a Socialistic Right), Prague, 1940. Hodza, M.: Federation in Central Europe, London, 1~. Hrusovsky, F.: Slovensko v dejinach Strecl,nej Europy (Slovakia in the History of Central Eu.rope), Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1939. Hrufovsky, F ,: This Is Slovakia, Obrana Press, Scranton, Pa., 1955. Ingrim, R.: After Hitler Stalin? Bruce Pulb lishing Co., Milwaukee, '1946. Lloyd George, David: The Truth About the Peace Treaties, London, 1 '1925. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary a,nd Her Successo.rs, London-New York, 194'3'. Macartney, C. A.: National States and National Minorities, London, 1934. Macartney, C. A.: Problems of the Danube Basin, London, 194!2. M~ryk, T. G.: New Europe, London, 11917. Masaryk, T. G.: The Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis, London, 1915. Masaryk, T. G.: La resurrection d'un etat (Souvenirs et reflections 1914-1958), Paris, .1930. Mendelsohn, P.: The Nuremberg Documents, London, 11946. Mikus, J. A.: La Slovaquie da,ns le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1955-. Miniisterstvo vnitra (The Ministry of Interior): Spiknuti proti republice (Conspiracy Against the Czecho-Slovak Republic in Slovakia), Prague, 194'7. Osusky, S.: Benes and Slovakia, London, 1943. Peroutka, V.: Budovani statu (Building of a New State), Pra•g ue, 11'93•3-li936. Popovici, Aurel: Die Verei,n igten Staaten von Grossoesterreich, Leipzig, 1906. Rene, Renry: Questions d'Aut.riche-Hongrie et questions d'Orient, P-aris, 1903. Ripka, H.: Small and Great Nations, London, 1194!4'. Ripka, H.: Czechoslovakia Enslaved, London, 1948. Schlesinger, R.: Federalism i,n Central Europe, London, 1945. Seton Watson, R. W.: Slovakia Then and Now, London and Prague, 1 1'931. Seton Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 194'3'. Seton Watson, R. W.: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, 1945. Sidor, K.: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934. Sidor, K.: Slovenska politika na pode p.razskeho snemu (Slovak Politics On the ·F loor of the Prague ,Parliament), iBratislll/Va, 1943. Shafer, Boyd C.: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, 19514. Slovak Catholic Federation of America: The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh Pact, Chicago, 1004. �SLOVAKIA 51 Sturzo, Do r Luigi: NatiQ\nalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946. Thomson, Harrison: Czechoslovakia in European Histo.ry, Princeton Press, New Jerisey, 11'944. Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy (Decrees and First Manifestoes of the Czecho-Slovak Gover,nment Composed of the Czech and Slovak National Front), Prague, 1947. Ustav Dr. E. Benesa CDr. E. Benes lns'titurte): Doklady a .rozpravy (Documents and Deliberations), London, 1'952. ARTICLES IN MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS Brauner, H.: Die Volkswerdung der Slowaken (The Development of Slovaks lnot a Nation), a treatise published in Deutsches Archive ftir Landes und Volkswerdung, Vo1. V, Berlin, 1944. Darras, M.: Onze ans de vie independante en Slovaquie, Le monde slave, Paris, May-June, .1000. Durcansky, F.: l'.Europe Central dans le passe et dans l'avenir, La revue de drnit internacional, de sciences diplomatiques et politiques, Geneve, XX]I, annee, no. 1, 1/94'4. Durcansky, F.: Marne sa snaii Moskva ziskat' Slovakov (The Futile Efforts of Moscow to Win Over the Slovaks), Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerike, an Almanach pU!blished in Chicago by the publislhers of the SLOVAK V AiMERllKE, a newspaper in the Slovak language, Chicago, 1:953. Chudoba, B.: Czechoslovakia: A Study in Disintegration, Thought, Fordham University Quarterly, March, 1950. Clementis, V.: Ni satelite de l'U.R.S.S. ni artisan d'un bloc slave, Parallele 50, Paris, September 20, '1950. Gosiorovs'ky, .M.: 0 •S ovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919 (About the Soviets in Slovakia in 1919), Nova mysl (The New Thought), Prague, September, 111919. Hlinka, A.: Memoirs des Slovaques a la Conference de la Paix, A Memorandum to the Peace Conference in Paris, 1919. Kirschbaum, J .: Slovakia and Central European Federation Plans, SLOVAIIQ!A, a periodical plllblished by the Slovak League of Ameriica, Middletown, Pa., April, 1953. Pir, A. V.: America's Slovak Societies, published in the Bulletin of t he Slovak Nat ional Council A'broa,d, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956. Naboienska itatistika (Religious Statistics), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (Almanach of the Canadian Slovak League), Winnipeg, Manitdba, 19zy3. Schlesinger, R.: Slovakia Today and Tomorrow, Contemporary Review, London, August, 1939. ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS Pravda (The Truth), an official paper of the Communist Party in Slovakia. Samostatnost' pre Slovensko (Independence For Slovakia), Bratislava, May 30, 1926. Pravda Chudoby (The Truth of the Downtroddtm), a Czech, Communist rparper. Narodni h,nuti a komunisticka strana Ceskoslovenska (National Movements and the Communist 'Party of Czechoslovakia), Prague, June 3'0, 1924. �52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 38 SLOVAKIA ·SLOVAK NATION ALISM: 1 B. S. BUC, Ph.D. NATIONALISM OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY 1. The Ephemeral Slovak Soviet Republic Because of the deeply religious basis of the Slovaks as well as the agrarian nature of Slovakia, Communism with its revolutionary materialistic-socia l program had from the beginning no hope of winning over the Slovaks. It, therefore, endeavored all the more to conquer them by force. The first attempt at forceful domination in Slovakia was undertaken in 1919. This occurred after the First World War in connection with the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic whose leader was the well known Bela Kuhn. The Hungarian Communist government invaded Slovakia with its army and occupied the Eastern sector with the sities of Presov and Kosice. Following in the wake of the occupation, a public Communist assembly met at Presov on June 16, 1919, and announced the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic with the proclamation that: This day the Slovak Soviet RepUiblic was created on Slovaik soil, liberated from imperialism. The first conscious, instinctive act of the proletariat, freed from the yoke of Czech imperialism, was that oppressors proclaim with such great glory, but in reality falsify (1). At this assembly, a temporary revolutionary committee was appointed which transferred its seat from Presov to Kosice. There on June 20, 1919, a twenty-member Slovak Revolutionary Council was named with the Czech Communist A. Jarousek at its head. This Council formally informed the Czecho-iSlovak government in Prague that Slovakia is separating from the Czech lands. Immediately the Soviet government of Moscow hastened to greet this new Slovak dictatorship of the proletariat. The existence of this very stormily-begun Slovak Soviet Republic was short-lived. On July 5, 1919, the Red Hungarian Army was coerced to withdraw from Slovak territory and the "Slovak Soviet Republic" ended. Except for many atrocities perpetrated on the inhabitants by the SLOVAKIA 39 Red Army, no signs whatever remained in Slovakia after this three-week Communist adventure (2). 2. Coordination of Nationalism and Class Struggle After the shattering of this first Communist attempt to enslave Slovakia in 1919, it would hardly be necessary to speak of the Communist Party in connection with Slovak nationalism. But the situation which ensued in Slovakia, after Communist occupation in 1944 through Russian partisans and then the army, made the Communist Party one of the most significant fashioners of the present fate of Slovaks in general. It was a repetition of the events of 1919, except with longer lasting and far-reaching results. Communism would never have attained its present position in Slovakia, had the end of the war not permitted it. Election results prior to the Second World War indicate that the Communist Party was never powerful in Slovakia; in the election year of 1919, it had 10.66 per cent of the votes; in 1935, 12.97 per cent. And even these percentages would be lower, if other nationalities were separated and only Slovak votes counted. This is shown by the fact that in voting districts comprising a clearly Slovak population, the percentage gains of the Communist Party were always substantially lower than in districts where they were mixed with Hungarians(3). The weak successes of the Communists in Slovakia, despite the facts that the social situation of the Slovak population was really not the best, must be attributed to the religious foundation of the Slovaks and in part to the influence of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, which in its program presented a more compact statement of the national and social demands of the Slovak inhabitants. Recalling to mind the delicacy of the nationality problem in the newly established Czecho-Slovakia, the Communist Party immediately in 1919 began to orientate its program in order to draw as much as possible from it. Clement Gottwald, leader of the Party, marked this program in 1924 in the following words: Such a solution to the question must be sought and found which will enable the Party to support nationality movements 40 SLOVAKIA and to unite its revolui-tonary energies, or to coordinate with revolutionary class warfare the whole proletariat of the CzechoSlovak RepUlblic. I am of the opinion that the Party can, with comparatirve ea,se, gain leadership in the movement of national minorities and thus cast to the r,e ar the bour,geois-chauvinist parties . .. . The Comunist Party in Slovakia must not only utilize the national movements for the class interests of the proletariat, but must stand directly at its head and lead it along paths actually revolutionary (4). In accord with the plan, the Communist Party in Slovakia also fought for the autonomy of Slovakia as did the Slovak People's Party. When in the elections of 1925 the autonomists achieved their greatest successes, the Communists hastened to promise more than autonomy. In January, 1926, they announced: 'Dhe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia raises .. these concrete demands: the complete independence of Slovakia. Let the SlovaJk nation itself decide on arranging its own affairs (5). This signified competition with the autonomists in emphasizing Slovak national ambitions. We do not know for sure whether to account the gains - even though trivial - of the Communist Party in Slovakia to its social struggle for the rights of the proletariat, or to its tactizing with Slovak nationalism. But the latter definitely gained votes for them. Despite its more than positive position in regard to Slovak nationalism, the Communist party was nevertheless organized only on a statewide basis as a "Czechoslovak" Party. Its leadership in Slovakia, however, rested in the hands of a sma:11 but capable group of Slovak intellectuals, who became adherents of the Party not from social motives, but rather because its ideological foundation introduced to them a new kind of belief. They were Slovak nationalists, but because of their negative attitude toward religion, they found it difficult to attach themselves to the other two national parties, namely, the Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party; the former was led by a Catholic priest, the latter by a Lutheran minister. They were, therefore, idealists blinded by idealism to such an extent that they were unable to realize that the Communist Party was actually an instrument of Russian imperialism, concealing itself at times in relation to SLOVAKIA 41 Slav nations under Russian Pan-Slavism. They were fittingly called "Sa:lon Communists," because both their social position and their behavior were in complete opposition to the concept "proletariat" which they were supposed to represent. It is not surprising, therefore, that this group of Slovak Communists received the dissolution of Czecho-Slovakia in 1938 with as much joy as the other Slovak national elements. Although the Slovak Government had forbidden the activities of the Communist Party, yet a majority of its representatives was left free and held important offices. This enabled them, through salon and not revolutionary means, to make preparations for the opportune establishment of a "Slovak Republic without Germans and Fascists" when the occasion should arise (6). 3. Towards a New Slovak Soviet Republic The moments for the fulfillment of their plans seemed to arrive when, near the end of August, 1944, Soviet parachutists succeeded in carrying the operations of war into Slo.vak territory and called forth co-called "Slovak uprising against the Germans." Slovak Communists, therefore, hastened in September of that year to establish the indepen*dent Communist Party of Slovakia to the great surprise of Czech Communist agents. They acted in accord with Moscow itself, which sought, through its partisans, to win over the President of the Slovak Republic, Joseph Tiso, by promising protection to the Slovak Republic (7). Tiso's attitude to these efforts was one of greatest rejection: Cooperation with Moscow would have signified a terrible cata,s trophe for the nation. It would have been a denial of Christianity. Communism was from its first beginnings and remained an irreconcilable enemy not only of our nation, our independence, but is a danger for all of Europe. Communism brings with itself a rapid debasement of the moral, spiritual and material level of every nation in whose bosom it reposes. Every true patriot, therefore, cannot soil his hands by cooperating with such a political system as well as with its representatives residing in Moscow (8). In these steps we see the two-faced action of Moscow, which "did not cease to assure officially that her aim was 42 SLOVAKIA to renew the Czecho-Slovak Republic, but underneath carried on, through her partisans, a survey to ascertain the mood in Slovakia towards the annexation of that country (9). 4. Change of Moscow's Plans When Moscow failed to gain support of Slovak national elements to proclaim the Slovak Soviet Republic and saw that Communism in Slovakia lacked strong roots, she decided definitely to reestablish Czecho-Slovakia. The elections of 1946 in renovated Czech-Slovakia indicate why this solution was more advantageous for Moscow's plans. The Communist Party in Czech territory had a more probable chance of winning. This decision of Moscow, however, meant the beginning of tragedy for Slovak national Communists. It was already discernible in the action of Moscow, which appointed William Siroky, a Hungarian by origin, as Chairman of the newly established Communist Party in Slovakia in preference to Slovak nationalists. In Siroky Moscow found a very compliant instrument for her further political drama in Czecho-Slovakia. Czecho-Slovakia indeed was renewed, but not in its original size and greatness. First of all Moscow annexed Ruthenia. When Dr. Edward Benes was returning from Moscow, shortly after the Red Army occupied Slovak territory, he had to remain in Kosice where the native Communists compelled him to agree to the so-called Kosice program of April, 1945, according to which the new Czecho-Slovakia was to be a state of two nations, Czech and Slovak. Clement Gottwald, as Premier of the government, announced on April 5, 1945, that "the Republic will be renewed as a comomn state of the co-equal Czech and Slovak nations" and that "the new government of the Republic will be concerned that, during the constitutional solution of the relations between the Czech and Slovak nations, the Slovak organs will be constituted with the same legislative, administrative and executive power which the Slovak nation enjoys today in its Slovak National Council" (10). Perhaps, in respect to elections, the Slovaks SLOVAKIA 43 were at least promised autonomy as the last step to win them over to Communism. 5. Centralized Czecho-Slovakia Once Again A year later, in May of 1946, the first elections were held in the new Czecho-Slovakia, and they indicated a substantial difference within the Communist Parties of Slovakia and the Czech lands. The Communist Party of Slovakia, united with the Social Democrats, gained 30.6 per cent of the votes; whereas in Czech territory the Communist party obtained 40.4 per cent and the Social Democrats 15.6 per cent which together totalled 56 per cent. In Czech lands we see a very evident victory for the Communist Party. Of the 300 seats in Parliament, the combined parties of the Communists and Socialists had 153 deputies. A certain official from the Russian embassy made this observation about the results of the 1946 elections: "The majority is not great, but it suffices in order to rule over the other parties in a democratic way" (11). The elections sounded the death knell of the promised autonomy for Slovakia. Theoretically, the principle of two nations was continually stressed; practically, however, even a stronger centralization than during the first Czecho-Slovak Republic began to shape up. Even more, on September 28, 1948, when the Communist Party of Slovakia was abolished and became a part of the united Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. This was more than the Slovak Communists could stand. Even the fear of retaliation •c ould not restrain them from rising up in opposition. The threat of revenge for this deviation from servility was not long in coming. In February of 1951, the foremost leaders, V. Clementis, Dr. G. Husak, L. Novomesky and K. Smidke, were expelled from the Party and deprived of all functions because "they planned a new Slovak separatist program and together formed a plot aimed at tearing Slovakia away from the Czecho-Slovak Republic" (12). In April others were condemned as bourgeois nationalists. The substance of their crimes is contained in a long condemnation, in which we find the following: 44 SLOVAKIA The ideological background of their treachery consisted in their attempts to solve the national question of the Slovak nation, not in collruboration with thet Czech working class but mainly in cooperation with the Slovak bourgeoisie and accepted eventually their leadership. In this connection they accepted the Slovak fascist puppet State. Later on, they successfully penetrated the leadership of the Slovak national uprising and got hold of important positions in the new People's Democratic State. They misused their positions in the Slovak National Council and on the Board of Commissioners in a criminal way in order to isolate Slovakia from the Czech working people and from the construction of Socialism, thus strengthening in Slovakia the remnants of capitalism and jeopardizing the achievements of the Slovak working class. Their aim was to break up the common Czecho-Slo,vak State and to hand over Slovakia to the reactionary bourg.eois-iP and to the mercy of foreign imperialists (13'). We do not know how L. Novomesky, one of the accused, understood, a;fter his trial, the words which he wrote in 1948, prior to his imprisonment, in the introduction to a book of his co-sufferer G. Husak: They say superficially that re,volutions devour their o,wn children. This is not trur! The truth rather is that revolutions, determined to r-emain faithful to their program, slough off those of their children who would pel'vert their meaning, their program and their end (14). After this purge President Gottwald appointed a Czech Communist, M. Bacilek, as President of the Slovak National Council. The whole apparatus of the Communist Party and administration in Slovakia is now in the hands of Czechs and Magyars, and not in the hands of Slovak elements. In liquidating the Communist Slovaks, Prague liquidated practically the idea of a Czecho,Slovak State. !Between the years 19415 and HW7, Benes had annihilated the Ca,tholics, the principal political force of Slovakia. During the course of the crisis 1n ,119418, the Czech Communists and Democrats had era.sed such Slovak Protestants as Le.Urich, and Ursiny. Prague suppressed finally the last political suppor.t of the Czecho-Siovak State in Slovakia: the Communists. The fourth Czecho-Slovak Republic as a national State of Czechs and Slovak,s is, therefore, dead. Instead a Socialist Soviet State emerges (,115). 6. Aftermath of Stalin's Death The changes in Moscow after the death of Joseph Stalin, however, testify that the drama of Slovak na- SLOVAKIA 45 tionalist Communists is not completed and awaits the completion of its last act, if the new seemingly revolutionary directives, inaugurated by the XX Congress of the Communist Party in Moscow by Khrushchev, will be brought into effect. These directives, among other things, stress very emphatically the principle of self-determination in dealing with the national ambitions of various nations. If action really follows words, then this "new Moscow approach" towards the solution of problems stemming from nationalism may give the Slovak nationalist Communists new hopes to implement their old dream, the Slovak Soviet Republic. It seems that the first step along this new line was made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Czecho-Slovakia, which convened from the first to eleventh of May, 1956, in order to discuss the directives of the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the U. S. S. R. Present at this meeting was W. Siroky, the present :Prime Minister of the Czecho-Slovak Government. He uttered a manifesto in which among other things, he stressed: A!bove all it is necessary to concern ourselves with the questions of extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak Nation-al Council of the highest organ of State power in Slovakia. Today there are already suppositions for extending the legislative jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council, and we must probably think also -about constitutional changes i,n the same way. . . . In just that way must we consider extending the jurisdiction of the Slovak National Council in the eyes of the Board of Commissioners and e~pressly estaiblish constitutional conclusions of responsibility to the Board of •Commissionens o'f ithe Slovak National Council (16). The Slovak National Council and the Board of Commissioners, according to the Kosice program of 1945, were to be the legisfative and executive organs of the planned autonomous government of Slovakia. After the elections of 1946 their jurisdiction was completely limited, so that they really became only executive organs of the centralist administration of Prague. The conclusion of w_ Siroky's address would be that in due time a complete autonomy would prevail. But W. Siroky went so far as to say: "as the foundatio~ of its politics concerning the nationalist question, the Communist Party considers the right of na- 46 SLOVAKIA tions toward self-expression, that is, the right to break away freely from or unite freely to another nation" (17). Such a position would have been favorably acceptable to the nationalist Slovak Communists, but Siroky, a Stalinist and still in power, gave to it his own interpretation. It was certainly with the intention to threaten his imprisoned colleagues that in concluding his address he said: 'Noting our successes, . . . we can in no way underestimate the influence of the bourgeois nationalist ideology, Its heralds utilize every occasion of um.est, every want and negative mani• festation for its spread and livelihood. It is the plaitform of the enemies of socialism, and must not even lead us astray then when 1bouregois nationalism, as for example at present, emerges under the slogan of a People's Democratic Slovakia 018). Here then is the evidence why nationalist Slovak Communists, even when released from prison, have not been rehabilitated. If, however, Moscow shall desire the removal of W. Siroky and Bacilek and shall set up the first, then the world in the near future shall be surprised to hear the proclamation of a new Slovak Soviet Republic. The recently developed situation in Hungary strengthened again the position of the Stalinists and brought ahout the occupation of Slovakia by the Czech and Russ~an armies. 7. There Will Be No Stopping The existence of the Slovaks as a political force in Central Europe is not a fact of negligible importance at the present time. They have reached such a level of group consciousness that it will be impossible to disregard them in dealing with the political problems of that area. Their emergence presents a vivid example of the development of modern nationalism, for, as Don Luigi Sturzo has writ7 ten: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and on affirming it in the struggle with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping." Many incentives led the Slovaks to develop a consciousness of their own personality despite the fact that they have been living for over a thousand . years without any specific political rights within Hungary. SLOVAKIA 47 The first incentive came from the social philosophy of the Enlightenment. It created a new political power out of the submerged social class of people by advocating certain rights for the masses in dealing with the public affairs of states. At the same time this movement destroyed the predominance of Latin and elevated the people's language to literary prominence. In the case of the Slovaks it led to the codification of their vernacular language which became the first step towards the assertion of their own distinct personality. German Romantic philosophy provided a second incentive and gave a further impetus towards the same goal. Its contribution consisted in defining more closely the concept "people" by changing it into the concept "nation" whereby a greater stress was placed upon the importance of a common history, language and culture. This philosophy was also instrumental in creating among the Slav nations a literary and political movement called Pan-Slavism. Under the impact of Pan-Slavism Slovaks were made aware of their glorious past as represented by Greater Moravia, the first Slav state in Central Europe, and began to feel that their land was the cradle of present-day cultures. The third incentive was provided by President Wilson's principle of self-determination of nations and the Western Allies' decision to dismember Austria-Hungary after the First World War. The map of Central Europe was changed and the Slovaks became a part of a new state called the Czecho-Slovak Republic. In the CzechoSlovak Republic they were supposed to be equal partners with the kin Czechs, but these ambitions were never realized because the imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation sought to merge them with the Czechs on the ground of their close kinship. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak Republic the almost extinct Slovak community grew up into a new democratic society, and the Slovaks were ready to venture into an independent life in their own Slovak Republic. At present the overwhelming majority of Slovaks consider the situation as an enforced one and remain almost united in their efforts to regain their lost independence. 48 SLOVAKIA Under the present circumstances their ,o bjectives and efforts are directed towards the following goals: 1. Slovakia within the framework of a democratic Czecho-Slovakia is still the objective of a small group of "Czecho-Slovaks" who are composed primarily of former diplomats and leading personalities of the first CzechoS1ovakia. Being aware of the opposition of the majority of Slovaks at home agruinst the Czechs this group of Slovaks finally agreed to have the state based on the idea of two distinct Czech and Slovak nations instead of the former imaginary "Czechoslovak" nation. 2. Independent Slovakia either as a unit within the proposed federated Central Europe or simply as an independent democratic state. Both alternatives enjoy almost the same popularity with the overwhelming majority of the Slovaks at home and abroad. They represent the desires and endeavors of a substantial part of the Slovak population whose objective has always been to assure for Slovaks the rights of an ethnographically, culturally and politica:lly distinct personality in the international family of nations. 3. A Slovak Soviet Republic might have been the objective of a small group of Slovak Communists before they were executed or imprisoned as bourgeois deviationists. They once again seemed to have had a chance to act after Stalin's death but are now forestalled by what happened in Hungary in 1956. In spite of the fact that there still are groups among the Slovaks that endeavor to make Slovakia dependent upon the Czechs or upon the Russians, the ambitions of Slovak nationalism will hardly be gratified until the Slovaks find their haven in a sovereign Slovak State or in such a political arrangement of Central Europe wherein the Slovaks will be allotted the same sovereign rights as other so-called established nations possess today. (11J) iM. Gosiorovsky: "O Sovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919", Nova Mysl, Pr-ague, September, 191'9, 2716,284. (Q) Ibidem. (3) !For ,e xample, 1n the elections of 1.929 voting districts, comprising a clearly Slovak population conceded very little percentage-wise to the Communist Party: Presov 4.57 per cent, Turcian- SLOVAKIA 49 sky Sv. Martin 6J18 per cent, Ba,nska Bystrica 7.60 per cent. Whereas in districts comprising a greater majority of Hungarians, the Communists showed grea ter gains: Kosice 115.4!8 per cent and Nove Zamky IJ6.84 ·p er cent. - Dr. F. Durcansky, Biela Kniha, Buenos Aires, 19B4, p. 7'84). {4) Pravda Chudoby, 30. juna 1954. (5) Pravda, 30. maja 1'926. (6) Durcansky, op. cit., p. 796. (7) Dr. F. Durcansky, "Marne sa snail Moskva ziskat' Slovakov", Literarny almanac'1 Slovaka v Amerike, Chicago, 195G, pp. 43-48. (8) 1lbid., pp. 45-416. {9) J. Smutny, Doklady a rozp.ravy, CLondon, November 1952), p. 5. (10) Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy, (Praha 1<947), pp. 21 sp. (l1lJ) iH. Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved, (London, 1949), p. 47. C12) Rude pravo, (27. fobruara 19511). •Q13) Joseph Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 11955. 014) G. Husak, Zapas o zajtrajsok, (Bratislava, 1943), p. 3. (15) ,J . A. !Mikus, op. cit., ,p. 3'86. (Paris, 119515), p. 386. (16) Slovak, (jun 11956). (17) Ibidem. (lt8) Ibidem. BIBLIOGRAPHY Association Hongroise des Affaires Etrangeres. La deportation des Hongrois de Slovaquie, Budapest, .1947. Aulneau, J .: Histoire de l'Europe Central, Paris, ·1926. Autonomist: Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy, Jednota Press, Middletown, Pa., ,11935. Benes, E.: Czechoslovak Policy fo.r Victory and Peace, London, 1:94'4. Benes, E.: Le probleme .A utrichien et la question tcheque, Paris, •1908. Benes, E.: My War Memoirs, London, 1928. Blasko, S.: Slovakia in Blood and Shackles, Piassaic, N .J., 1954. Bokes, F.: Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia), Bratislava, 1'946. Botto, J.: Slovaci: Vyvin ich narodneho povedomia (Slovaks: the Development of Their National Consciousness), Turciansky Sv. Martin, ·11906. Carr, E. H.: Natio,nalism and After, London, 1·946. Chmelar, J.: National Minorities in Central Europe, Prague, 1'937. Clementis, V.: Panslavism, Past and Present, London, 194G. Culen, K.: Dejiny Slovakov v Amerike (History of the Slovaks in America), Bratislava, 11942. Cul-en, K.:Cesi a Slovaci v statnych sluibach CSR (Cze'Chs and Slovak•s in the Civil Service of the Czechoslovak Republic), Bratislava, 1944>. Culen, K.: Pittsburghska dohoda (The Pittsburgh .Pact), •B ratislava, '1937. Denis, E.: La question d'Autriche: Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917. Diamond, W.: Czechoslovakia Between East and West, London. 1947. 50 SLOVAKIA Durcansky, F.: Slovenska biela kniha (Slovak White Book), Buenos Aires, 11954!. European Movement: Basis For An Eastern Europea,i Policy, London, 1950. Gottwald, K.: Slove,nsko hladuje (Slovakia is Starving), Bratislava, 1925. Gottwald, K.: Za socialisticky itat, za socialisticke pravo (For a Socialistic State, For a Socialistic Right), Prague, 1940. Hodza, M.: Federation in Central Europe, London, 1~. Hrusovsky, F.: Slovensko v dejinach Strecl,nej Europy (Slovakia in the History of Central Eu.rope), Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1939. Hrufovsky, F ,: This Is Slovakia, Obrana Press, Scranton, Pa., 1955. Ingrim, R.: After Hitler Stalin? Bruce Pulb lishing Co., Milwaukee, '1946. Lloyd George, David: The Truth About the Peace Treaties, London, 1 '1925. Macartney, C. A.: Hungary a,nd Her Successo.rs, London-New York, 194'3'. Macartney, C. A.: National States and National Minorities, London, 1934. Macartney, C. A.: Problems of the Danube Basin, London, 194!2. M~ryk, T. G.: New Europe, London, 11917. Masaryk, T. G.: The Problem of Small Nations in the European Crisis, London, 1915. Masaryk, T. G.: La resurrection d'un etat (Souvenirs et reflections 1914-1958), Paris, .1930. Mendelsohn, P.: The Nuremberg Documents, London, 11946. Mikus, J. A.: La Slovaquie da,ns le drame de l'Europe, Paris, 1955-. Miniisterstvo vnitra (The Ministry of Interior): Spiknuti proti republice (Conspiracy Against the Czecho-Slovak Republic in Slovakia), Prague, 194'7. Osusky, S.: Benes and Slovakia, London, 1943. Peroutka, V.: Budovani statu (Building of a New State), Pra•g ue, 11'93•3-li936. Popovici, Aurel: Die Verei,n igten Staaten von Grossoesterreich, Leipzig, 1906. Rene, Renry: Questions d'Aut.riche-Hongrie et questions d'Orient, P-aris, 1903. Ripka, H.: Small and Great Nations, London, 1194!4'. Ripka, H.: Czechoslovakia Enslaved, London, 1948. Schlesinger, R.: Federalism i,n Central Europe, London, 1945. Seton Watson, R. W.: Slovakia Then and Now, London and Prague, 1 1'931. Seton Watson, R. W.: A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 194'3'. Seton Watson, R. W.: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, 1945. Sidor, K.: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934. Sidor, K.: Slovenska politika na pode p.razskeho snemu (Slovak Politics On the ·F loor of the Prague ,Parliament), iBratislll/Va, 1943. Shafer, Boyd C.: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, 19514. Slovak Catholic Federation of America: The Slovaks and the Pittsburgh Pact, Chicago, 1004. SLOVAKIA 51 Sturzo, Do r Luigi: NatiQ\nalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946. Thomson, Harrison: Czechoslovakia in European Histo.ry, Princeton Press, New Jerisey, 11'944. Ustanoveni ceskoslovenske vlady Narodni fronty Cechu a Slovaku a jeji prvni projevy (Decrees and First Manifestoes of the Czecho-Slovak Gover,nment Composed of the Czech and Slovak National Front), Prague, 1947. Ustav Dr. E. Benesa CDr. E. Benes lns'titurte): Doklady a .rozpravy (Documents and Deliberations), London, 1'952. ARTICLES IN MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS Brauner, H.: Die Volkswerdung der Slowaken (The Development of Slovaks lnot a Nation), a treatise published in Deutsches Archive ftir Landes und Volkswerdung, Vo1. V, Berlin, 1944. Darras, M.: Onze ans de vie independante en Slovaquie, Le monde slave, Paris, May-June, .1000. Durcansky, F.: l'.Europe Central dans le passe et dans l'avenir, La revue de drnit internacional, de sciences diplomatiques et politiques, Geneve, XX]I, annee, no. 1, 1/94'4. Durcansky, F.: Marne sa snaii Moskva ziskat' Slovakov (The Futile Efforts of Moscow to Win Over the Slovaks), Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerike, an Almanach pU!blished in Chicago by the publislhers of the SLOVAK V AiMERllKE, a newspaper in the Slovak language, Chicago, 1:953. Chudoba, B.: Czechoslovakia: A Study in Disintegration, Thought, Fordham University Quarterly, March, 1950. Clementis, V.: Ni satelite de l'U.R.S.S. ni artisan d'un bloc slave, Parallele 50, Paris, September 20, '1950. Gosiorovs'ky, .M.: 0 •S ovietoch na Slovensku v roku 1919 (About the Soviets in Slovakia in 1919), Nova mysl (The New Thought), Prague, September, 111919. Hlinka, A.: Memoirs des Slovaques a la Conference de la Paix, A Memorandum to the Peace Conference in Paris, 1919. Kirschbaum, J .: Slovakia and Central European Federation Plans, SLOVAIIQ!A, a periodical plllblished by the Slovak League of Ameriica, Middletown, Pa., April, 1953. Pir, A. V.: America's Slovak Societies, published in the Bulletin of t he Slovak Nat ional Council A'broa,d, Middletown, Pa., August, 1956. Naboienska itatistika (Religious Statistics), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (Almanach of the Canadian Slovak League), Winnipeg, Manitdba, 19zy3. Schlesinger, R.: Slovakia Today and Tomorrow, Contemporary Review, London, August, 1939. ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS Pravda (The Truth), an official paper of the Communist Party in Slovakia. Samostatnost' pre Slovensko (Independence For Slovakia), Bratislava, May 30, 1926. Pravda Chudoby (The Truth of the Downtroddtm), a Czech, Communist rparper. Narodni h,nuti a komunisticka strana Ceskoslovenska (National Movements and the Communist 'Party of Czechoslovakia), Prague, June 3'0, 1924. 52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Slovak Nationalism: Nationalism of the Communist Party Description An account of the resource B. S. Buc, Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959<br />pp. 38-52<br /><ol><li>The Ephemeral Slovak Soviet Republic</li> <li>Coordination of Nationalism and Class Struggle</li> <li>Towards a New Slovak Soviet Republic</li> <li>Change of Moscow's Plans</li> <li>Centralized Czecho-Slovakia Once Again</li> <li>Aftermath of Stalin's Death</li> <li>There Will Be No Stopping</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Buc, B. S. (Bonaventure S.), 1910-1966 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/aebf66a905109a14ec9e6bc1165cc6c8.pdf 2771a004fd5d14b75a05d156558182f8 PDF Text Text 52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs �SLOVAKIA 53 approximately $175 - if the ordinary persons can afford to buy them. Cheap sweaters cost $35, and shoes cost $30. In general, Father Seginak notes, the populace is dressed in a markedly drab manner. The trip to Presov was made in a two engine plane. Since it was dark when the plane was landing, Father Seginak remarked to his traveling companion how bumpy the landing was. "Little wonder," said Father Michnik. "look out the window, we're landing in a cow pasture." There was no concrete or asphalt runway - just a muddy field. This was the Presov airport. Upon landing the first impression was the number of policemen and soldiers who guarded the field with machine guns. A bus immediately picked up the plane passengers and hustled them through guarded areas. One could not help but feel that they didn't want prying eyes to ferret out some sort of dark secret to be found there. Loudspeakers were in prominence everywhere. The presence of the hammer and sickle with an abundance of red stars left little doubt as to who ran the country. In Presov itself there is but one hotel at which one may stay - the Hotel Dukla. There is inconvenience after inconvenience. The telephone may be used only between the hours of 8 a. m. and 6 p. m. The radio in the threadbare room did little to relieve the monotony - one station blared forth propaganda incessantly. Contrary to the idea the communists would like to foist upon the world that it is the land of the workers' paradise - the raw facts of life do not substantiate it. A 57-year-old woman told of how she began her day at 4 a. m., and after a two mile walk to the potato field she worked until darkness. For lunch she was permitted to build a fire and eat a few of the potatoes with bread and barley coffee. Meat in the diet is simply non-existent. An 80-year-old woman was assigned the task of caring for the chickens and livestock. The chickens were given a communist mandate to produce a certain quota of eggs or else. The "or else" meant that the 80-year-old woman was forced to beg, borrow or steal the eggs if her quota was not filled. In the communist scheme of things four- �54 SLOVAKIA fifths of a head of steer belongs to the government. Which fifth belongs to the down-trodden peasants was not made too clear. If a head of steer dies the peasant is held responsible and must replace it. By this arrangement the government never loses. The homes of the village people are very poor. In a four-room house it is ordinary to quarter two families. They use a common kitchen and each family has one room. This apparently is Khrushchev's idea of perfect living quarters for the working people while he enjoys his dacha outside Moscow. There is no running water, heating is primitive, and sidewalks are non-existent. Electricity has been promised - probably for the purpose of installing more loudspeakers to drone the glories of communism incessantly. American movies are not shown for fear that the populace would see how well Americans live. It is a fact that the people have been led to believe utter poverty reigns in the United States. The ruthless persecution of the Byzantine Catholic Church in the Presov district has taken its toll. One example is given of the village priest who was called by a well-dressed man from the confessional on Holy Saturday. He claimed he had spiritual problems. The priest walked with him a short distance where an armored car and two motorcycles whisked him away. He was never heard from again. A communist agent in the guise of an Orthodox priest took his place. The people do not attend the church now because they know that the "priest" in reality is a communist spy in their midst. With a great deal of relief did the two priests leave this land of the living-dead. As tourists they had been warned to take no maps with them, have no prayer books and stay away from relatives, lest they implicate them as spies against the peoples' government. Father Minchik remarked to his superior that one never leaves an Iron Curtain country quite the same person he was upon entering it. A hatred and revulsion for the tyranny of communism seems to pervade a person's soul after a close contact with this social sickness of our day. - "Byzantine Catholic World." � 52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs �SLOVAKIA 53 approximately $175 - if the ordinary persons can afford to buy them. Cheap sweaters cost $35, and shoes cost $30. In general, Father Seginak notes, the populace is dressed in a markedly drab manner. The trip to Presov was made in a two engine plane. Since it was dark when the plane was landing, Father Seginak remarked to his traveling companion how bumpy the landing was. "Little wonder," said Father Michnik. "look out the window, we're landing in a cow pasture." There was no concrete or asphalt runway - just a muddy field. This was the Presov airport. Upon landing the first impression was the number of policemen and soldiers who guarded the field with machine guns. A bus immediately picked up the plane passengers and hustled them through guarded areas. One could not help but feel that they didn't want prying eyes to ferret out some sort of dark secret to be found there. Loudspeakers were in prominence everywhere. The presence of the hammer and sickle with an abundance of red stars left little doubt as to who ran the country. In Presov itself there is but one hotel at which one may stay - the Hotel Dukla. There is inconvenience after inconvenience. The telephone may be used only between the hours of 8 a. m. and 6 p. m. The radio in the threadbare room did little to relieve the monotony - one station blared forth propaganda incessantly. Contrary to the idea the communists would like to foist upon the world that it is the land of the workers' paradise - the raw facts of life do not substantiate it. A 57-year-old woman told of how she began her day at 4 a. m., and after a two mile walk to the potato field she worked until darkness. For lunch she was permitted to build a fire and eat a few of the potatoes with bread and barley coffee. Meat in the diet is simply non-existent. An 80-year-old woman was assigned the task of caring for the chickens and livestock. The chickens were given a communist mandate to produce a certain quota of eggs or else. The "or else" meant that the 80-year-old woman was forced to beg, borrow or steal the eggs if her quota was not filled. In the communist scheme of things four- �54 SLOVAKIA fifths of a head of steer belongs to the government. Which fifth belongs to the down-trodden peasants was not made too clear. If a head of steer dies the peasant is held responsible and must replace it. By this arrangement the government never loses. The homes of the village people are very poor. In a four-room house it is ordinary to quarter two families. They use a common kitchen and each family has one room. This apparently is Khrushchev's idea of perfect living quarters for the working people while he enjoys his dacha outside Moscow. There is no running water, heating is primitive, and sidewalks are non-existent. Electricity has been promised - probably for the purpose of installing more loudspeakers to drone the glories of communism incessantly. American movies are not shown for fear that the populace would see how well Americans live. It is a fact that the people have been led to believe utter poverty reigns in the United States. The ruthless persecution of the Byzantine Catholic Church in the Presov district has taken its toll. One example is given of the village priest who was called by a well-dressed man from the confessional on Holy Saturday. He claimed he had spiritual problems. The priest walked with him a short distance where an armored car and two motorcycles whisked him away. He was never heard from again. A communist agent in the guise of an Orthodox priest took his place. The people do not attend the church now because they know that the "priest" in reality is a communist spy in their midst. With a great deal of relief did the two priests leave this land of the living-dead. As tourists they had been warned to take no maps with them, have no prayer books and stay away from relatives, lest they implicate them as spies against the peoples' government. Father Minchik remarked to his superior that one never leaves an Iron Curtain country quite the same person he was upon entering it. A hatred and revulsion for the tyranny of communism seems to pervade a person's soul after a close contact with this social sickness of our day. - "Byzantine Catholic World." � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 52 SLOVAKIA Rude pravo (The Red Law), an official paper of the Czeeh Communist Party. Odhaleni zradcu (The Traitors Uncovered), Pra,g ue, Felbruary 27, ,1951<. Slovak, a paper published by the Slovak Liberation Committee in Munich, Germany. Autonomna vlada pre Slovensko? (An Autonomous Government For Slovakia?), !Munich, June, 1956 . • • • FA'llHER SEGIN!AK'S IMPRE$SIONS OF PRAGUE AND PRESOV "A visit behind the Iron Curtain can best be characterized by the feeling that one is seeing the living-dead." With these words, Father Theodore Seginak, 0.S.B., superior of the Benedictine Fathers' Holy Trinity Priory, described his recent visit to Prague in Bohemia and Presov in Slovakia. After attending a meeting of all the Benedictine superiors of the world in Rome from September 18 to 26, Father Seginak was accompanied by Father Alexander Minchik, O.S.B., on the trip behind the Iron Curtain. Visas for the trip behind the Iron Curtain are most difficult to obtain. Only after repeated requests had been made did the two priests receive the necessary permission to visit. Even so only two times a week can flights from Vienna to Prague be had. At the Prague airport a thorough search of all apparel was made, as well as a close scrutiny of all money brought into the country. The customs officials demanded to see everything, and sternly warned the two priests that on their return journey they would be required to show a receipt for all purchases made during their visit. The streets of Prague were filled with sullen, downcast persons who performed their duties with a mechanical precision. One always had the feeling that the eyes of the communist "big brother" were on you. In fact, it is routine in restaurants to sit down to a meal and look up to see a policeman gaping in the window at the diners. The very best meal is steak - which is really hamburger with an egg on top. Father Seginak was amazed at the prices of clothing and the very poor quality. An American $45 suit costs SLOVAKIA 53 approximately $175 - if the ordinary persons can afford to buy them. Cheap sweaters cost $35, and shoes cost $30. In general, Father Seginak notes, the populace is dressed in a markedly drab manner. The trip to Presov was made in a two engine plane. Since it was dark when the plane was landing, Father Seginak remarked to his traveling companion how bumpy the landing was. "Little wonder," said Father Michnik. "look out the window, we're landing in a cow pasture." There was no concrete or asphalt runway - just a muddy field. This was the Presov airport. Upon landing the first impression was the number of policemen and soldiers who guarded the field with machine guns. A bus immediately picked up the plane passengers and hustled them through guarded areas. One could not help but feel that they didn't want prying eyes to ferret out some sort of dark secret to be found there. Loudspeakers were in prominence everywhere. The presence of the hammer and sickle with an abundance of red stars left little doubt as to who ran the country. In Presov itself there is but one hotel at which one may stay - the Hotel Dukla. There is inconvenience after inconvenience. The telephone may be used only between the hours of 8 a. m. and 6 p. m. The radio in the threadbare room did little to relieve the monotony - one station blared forth propaganda incessantly. Contrary to the idea the communists would like to foist upon the world that it is the land of the workers' paradise - the raw facts of life do not substantiate it. A 57-year-old woman told of how she began her day at 4 a. m., and after a two mile walk to the potato field she worked until darkness. For lunch she was permitted to build a fire and eat a few of the potatoes with bread and barley coffee. Meat in the diet is simply non-existent. An 80-year-old woman was assigned the task of caring for the chickens and livestock. The chickens were given a communist mandate to produce a certain quota of eggs or else. The "or else" meant that the 80-year-old woman was forced to beg, borrow or steal the eggs if her quota was not filled. In the communist scheme of things four- 54 SLOVAKIA fifths of a head of steer belongs to the government. Which fifth belongs to the down-trodden peasants was not made too clear. If a head of steer dies the peasant is held responsible and must replace it. By this arrangement the government never loses. The homes of the village people are very poor. In a four-room house it is ordinary to quarter two families. They use a common kitchen and each family has one room. This apparently is Khrushchev's idea of perfect living quarters for the working people while he enjoys his dacha outside Moscow. There is no running water, heating is primitive, and sidewalks are non-existent. Electricity has been promised - probably for the purpose of installing more loudspeakers to drone the glories of communism incessantly. American movies are not shown for fear that the populace would see how well Americans live. It is a fact that the people have been led to believe utter poverty reigns in the United States. The ruthless persecution of the Byzantine Catholic Church in the Presov district has taken its toll. One example is given of the village priest who was called by a well-dressed man from the confessional on Holy Saturday. He claimed he had spiritual problems. The priest walked with him a short distance where an armored car and two motorcycles whisked him away. He was never heard from again. A communist agent in the guise of an Orthodox priest took his place. The people do not attend the church now because they know that the "priest" in reality is a communist spy in their midst. With a great deal of relief did the two priests leave this land of the living-dead. As tourists they had been warned to take no maps with them, have no prayer books and stay away from relatives, lest they implicate them as spies against the peoples' government. Father Minchik remarked to his superior that one never leaves an Iron Curtain country quite the same person he was upon entering it. A hatred and revulsion for the tyranny of communism seems to pervade a person's soul after a close contact with this social sickness of our day. - "Byzantine Catholic World."  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 Father Seginak's Impression of Prague and Presov Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 52-54 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0fcff6a2fbe2355dbb865f74581341f3.pdf d7a5df4e425f7e69a3af05a8c8c03079 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 55 THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND Joseph Cieker It seems that the politicians, who have led and are still leading the destinies of the present time, have been charmed by some kind of enchantresses. They are unable to free themselves from the snares which had been placed for them by Communism. Nay, it would rather seem that the more it appears that they are getting free of them, the more they are really being entangled by them. Not th-at Communism has changed its content and its substance. Its substance and its goal is always the same. Only the strategy and tactics of Communism change. If leading political factors had actually devoted themselves responsibly and directly to the study of Communism, they would have undoubtedly found ,a definite course of action against it. The fact is that they have not. They rather concerned tJhemselves with its strategy and tactics. And the latter governed to a great extent their policies and diplomacy. Thus we were witnesses of the strategic and tactical squables, which perhaps, at times, led to temporary results, but in substance did not contribute to the solution of world Communism, which as a phenomenon simply will not be disputed or debated away and thereby even less to be minimized. Every strategic and tactical move of Communism is reacted to with more or less success, but the burden of the problem remains unchanged on the lives of nations. In fact the burden becomes greater with time. If these so-called victories of international non-Communist politics really were equal to the criteria which had been brought forth in connection with the various diplomatic reactions to the strategic and tactical undertakings of the Red Kremlin, then the power of international Communism would already have been broken. The fact that this power has not been broken is evidence of the fact that the victories were merely of a peripheral significance, and as such were frequently noted as brilliant actions of experimental patrols. We still have not sunk our teeth into the reality and substance of international Communism and into the body of the international policy of the Soviet Union. �56 SLOVAKIA Communism certainly is not a secret organization. Neither is the politics of the .Soviet Union. Entire libraries could be filled with literature about what Communism is, what it wants, and just how it aims to attain its ultimate goat However, even if this literature did not exist, we have before us the work of 40 years of international Communism and of the international politics of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, despite all this, leading politicians and diplomats of the West - with a few exceptions have yet to prove that they are seriously concerned about what Communism writes, talks, and does. As if all this were some sort of witchcraft. Beginning with Lenin and ending with Khrusohchev the basic principles of Communism have been clearly stated to the whole world. Leading figures of Communism have sworn time and again that they shall never abandon their goal no matter what the cost. They announced this by means of all possible forms. But it seems that the world deliberately closed its ears, so that it would not have to hear and then believe, and finally so that it would not have to proceed to serious and principal decisions. As an explanation Jet it suffice now to quote in this connection a part of a statement of a Soviet intellectual, the rector of the political School of Lenin Dmytryj Manuilsky, made twenty-eight years ago. During the past three decades many substantial changes have taken place in the Europe and world structure. During this time, international Communism has made far-reaching steps in its march to its ultimate goal. In 1931, Manuilsky, lecturing to the undergraduates of Moscow's Lenin School, said: War to the hilt between Communism and Capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course , we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20 or 30 years. The bourgeoisie will have to be lulled to sleep first. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace movement in history. We shall make resounding declarations for the benefit of peace, friendship , and mutual international symphaties. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent, will be overjoyed to cooperate in their own destruction . They wi II leap at another chance to be our friend s. As soon as their guard is down and they are drunk with gullibil ity, · we shall leap on them and smash them with our fists. Nikita Khruschchev, the most experienced coexisten- �SLOVAKIA 57 tialist - noticing in 1955 that his speeches and recommendations in regard to coexistence are being explained altogether unilaterally by non-Communists for their own benefit and as a guarantee of permanent comfort, hurried to make the following clear: "It is true that we are adherents of coexistence, but at the same time we are also adherents of the expansion of Communism over the entire world. We are faced with the reality of the existence of two different systems in the world. You , the Capitalists, insist that you shall go your own way. Y o\! will do that until the day you realize that this has led you into a blind alley out of which there is no exit. Since you stubbornly hold to the idea that your system is not ancient and decadent enough, and since you think that you can compete with us, well, we have nothing against this. Time will prove who was right." Communism has placed its cards on the table to be seen by all in the game. It has shoved them under the very noses of its fellow players. For long decades it has never changed its game. It keeps on hammering the same tune all the time: we shall destroy you! But the nonCommunist world keeps whistling its own tune as it enters the blind alley from which there will be no way out as Nikita Khruschchev so clearly pointed out. The nonCommunist world apparently still does not have sufficient proof of what Communism really is and what it aims to attain. Stubbornly it keeps on asking the Kremlin to say it again. And then once again. After so many encores, the non-Communist world still is looking for some kind of a change of heart of the Kremlin. P erhaps, it thinks, after all these smiles there will follow a r evision of the entire Communist program. And who can say definitely that a palace r evolution in the Kremlin, or a quarrel between members of the Politbureau, or the fall of a Soviet Marshal, or a quarrel between Peking and Moscow, will not force a change of the ultimate goal? Wishful, useless thinking! All the questions which the non-Communist world has put and will put to the Kremlin have already been answered. At least the principal questions have been clearly answered. The others, the answers to peripheral questions, do not matter, because the problem posed by international Communism cannot be solved by them. � SLOVAKIA 55 THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND Joseph Cieker It seems that the politicians, who have led and are still leading the destinies of the present time, have been charmed by some kind of enchantresses. They are unable to free themselves from the snares which had been placed for them by Communism. Nay, it would rather seem that the more it appears that they are getting free of them, the more they are really being entangled by them. Not th-at Communism has changed its content and its substance. Its substance and its goal is always the same. Only the strategy and tactics of Communism change. If leading political factors had actually devoted themselves responsibly and directly to the study of Communism, they would have undoubtedly found ,a definite course of action against it. The fact is that they have not. They rather concerned tJhemselves with its strategy and tactics. And the latter governed to a great extent their policies and diplomacy. Thus we were witnesses of the strategic and tactical squables, which perhaps, at times, led to temporary results, but in substance did not contribute to the solution of world Communism, which as a phenomenon simply will not be disputed or debated away and thereby even less to be minimized. Every strategic and tactical move of Communism is reacted to with more or less success, but the burden of the problem remains unchanged on the lives of nations. In fact the burden becomes greater with time. If these so-called victories of international non-Communist politics really were equal to the criteria which had been brought forth in connection with the various diplomatic reactions to the strategic and tactical undertakings of the Red Kremlin, then the power of international Communism would already have been broken. The fact that this power has not been broken is evidence of the fact that the victories were merely of a peripheral significance, and as such were frequently noted as brilliant actions of experimental patrols. We still have not sunk our teeth into the reality and substance of international Communism and into the body of the international policy of the Soviet Union. �56 SLOVAKIA Communism certainly is not a secret organization. Neither is the politics of the .Soviet Union. Entire libraries could be filled with literature about what Communism is, what it wants, and just how it aims to attain its ultimate goat However, even if this literature did not exist, we have before us the work of 40 years of international Communism and of the international politics of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, despite all this, leading politicians and diplomats of the West - with a few exceptions have yet to prove that they are seriously concerned about what Communism writes, talks, and does. As if all this were some sort of witchcraft. Beginning with Lenin and ending with Khrusohchev the basic principles of Communism have been clearly stated to the whole world. Leading figures of Communism have sworn time and again that they shall never abandon their goal no matter what the cost. They announced this by means of all possible forms. But it seems that the world deliberately closed its ears, so that it would not have to hear and then believe, and finally so that it would not have to proceed to serious and principal decisions. As an explanation Jet it suffice now to quote in this connection a part of a statement of a Soviet intellectual, the rector of the political School of Lenin Dmytryj Manuilsky, made twenty-eight years ago. During the past three decades many substantial changes have taken place in the Europe and world structure. During this time, international Communism has made far-reaching steps in its march to its ultimate goal. In 1931, Manuilsky, lecturing to the undergraduates of Moscow's Lenin School, said: War to the hilt between Communism and Capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course , we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20 or 30 years. The bourgeoisie will have to be lulled to sleep first. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace movement in history. We shall make resounding declarations for the benefit of peace, friendship , and mutual international symphaties. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent, will be overjoyed to cooperate in their own destruction . They wi II leap at another chance to be our friend s. As soon as their guard is down and they are drunk with gullibil ity, · we shall leap on them and smash them with our fists. Nikita Khruschchev, the most experienced coexisten- �SLOVAKIA 57 tialist - noticing in 1955 that his speeches and recommendations in regard to coexistence are being explained altogether unilaterally by non-Communists for their own benefit and as a guarantee of permanent comfort, hurried to make the following clear: "It is true that we are adherents of coexistence, but at the same time we are also adherents of the expansion of Communism over the entire world. We are faced with the reality of the existence of two different systems in the world. You , the Capitalists, insist that you shall go your own way. Y o\! will do that until the day you realize that this has led you into a blind alley out of which there is no exit. Since you stubbornly hold to the idea that your system is not ancient and decadent enough, and since you think that you can compete with us, well, we have nothing against this. Time will prove who was right." Communism has placed its cards on the table to be seen by all in the game. It has shoved them under the very noses of its fellow players. For long decades it has never changed its game. It keeps on hammering the same tune all the time: we shall destroy you! But the nonCommunist world keeps whistling its own tune as it enters the blind alley from which there will be no way out as Nikita Khruschchev so clearly pointed out. The nonCommunist world apparently still does not have sufficient proof of what Communism really is and what it aims to attain. Stubbornly it keeps on asking the Kremlin to say it again. And then once again. After so many encores, the non-Communist world still is looking for some kind of a change of heart of the Kremlin. P erhaps, it thinks, after all these smiles there will follow a r evision of the entire Communist program. And who can say definitely that a palace r evolution in the Kremlin, or a quarrel between members of the Politbureau, or the fall of a Soviet Marshal, or a quarrel between Peking and Moscow, will not force a change of the ultimate goal? Wishful, useless thinking! All the questions which the non-Communist world has put and will put to the Kremlin have already been answered. At least the principal questions have been clearly answered. The others, the answers to peripheral questions, do not matter, because the problem posed by international Communism cannot be solved by them. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 55 THE KREMLIN HAS SHOWN ITS HAND Joseph Cieker It seems that the politicians, who have led and are still leading the destinies of the present time, have been charmed by some kind of enchantresses. They are unable to free themselves from the snares which had been placed for them by Communism. Nay, it would rather seem that the more it appears that they are getting free of them, the more they are really being entangled by them. Not th-at Communism has changed its content and its substance. Its substance and its goal is always the same. Only the strategy and tactics of Communism change. If leading political factors had actually devoted themselves responsibly and directly to the study of Communism, they would have undoubtedly found ,a definite course of action against it. The fact is that they have not. They rather concerned tJhemselves with its strategy and tactics. And the latter governed to a great extent their policies and diplomacy. Thus we were witnesses of the strategic and tactical squables, which perhaps, at times, led to temporary results, but in substance did not contribute to the solution of world Communism, which as a phenomenon simply will not be disputed or debated away and thereby even less to be minimized. Every strategic and tactical move of Communism is reacted to with more or less success, but the burden of the problem remains unchanged on the lives of nations. In fact the burden becomes greater with time. If these so-called victories of international non-Communist politics really were equal to the criteria which had been brought forth in connection with the various diplomatic reactions to the strategic and tactical undertakings of the Red Kremlin, then the power of international Communism would already have been broken. The fact that this power has not been broken is evidence of the fact that the victories were merely of a peripheral significance, and as such were frequently noted as brilliant actions of experimental patrols. We still have not sunk our teeth into the reality and substance of international Communism and into the body of the international policy of the Soviet Union. 56 SLOVAKIA Communism certainly is not a secret organization. Neither is the politics of the .Soviet Union. Entire libraries could be filled with literature about what Communism is, what it wants, and just how it aims to attain its ultimate goat However, even if this literature did not exist, we have before us the work of 40 years of international Communism and of the international politics of the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, despite all this, leading politicians and diplomats of the West - with a few exceptions have yet to prove that they are seriously concerned about what Communism writes, talks, and does. As if all this were some sort of witchcraft. Beginning with Lenin and ending with Khrusohchev the basic principles of Communism have been clearly stated to the whole world. Leading figures of Communism have sworn time and again that they shall never abandon their goal no matter what the cost. They announced this by means of all possible forms. But it seems that the world deliberately closed its ears, so that it would not have to hear and then believe, and finally so that it would not have to proceed to serious and principal decisions. As an explanation Jet it suffice now to quote in this connection a part of a statement of a Soviet intellectual, the rector of the political School of Lenin Dmytryj Manuilsky, made twenty-eight years ago. During the past three decades many substantial changes have taken place in the Europe and world structure. During this time, international Communism has made far-reaching steps in its march to its ultimate goal. In 1931, Manuilsky, lecturing to the undergraduates of Moscow's Lenin School, said: War to the hilt between Communism and Capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course , we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20 or 30 years. The bourgeoisie will have to be lulled to sleep first. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace movement in history. We shall make resounding declarations for the benefit of peace, friendship , and mutual international symphaties. The capitalist countries, stupid and decadent, will be overjoyed to cooperate in their own destruction . They wi II leap at another chance to be our friend s. As soon as their guard is down and they are drunk with gullibil ity, · we shall leap on them and smash them with our fists. Nikita Khruschchev, the most experienced coexisten- SLOVAKIA 57 tialist - noticing in 1955 that his speeches and recommendations in regard to coexistence are being explained altogether unilaterally by non-Communists for their own benefit and as a guarantee of permanent comfort, hurried to make the following clear: "It is true that we are adherents of coexistence, but at the same time we are also adherents of the expansion of Communism over the entire world. We are faced with the reality of the existence of two different systems in the world. You , the Capitalists, insist that you shall go your own way. Y o\! will do that until the day you realize that this has led you into a blind alley out of which there is no exit. Since you stubbornly hold to the idea that your system is not ancient and decadent enough, and since you think that you can compete with us, well, we have nothing against this. Time will prove who was right." Communism has placed its cards on the table to be seen by all in the game. It has shoved them under the very noses of its fellow players. For long decades it has never changed its game. It keeps on hammering the same tune all the time: we shall destroy you! But the nonCommunist world keeps whistling its own tune as it enters the blind alley from which there will be no way out as Nikita Khruschchev so clearly pointed out. The nonCommunist world apparently still does not have sufficient proof of what Communism really is and what it aims to attain. Stubbornly it keeps on asking the Kremlin to say it again. And then once again. After so many encores, the non-Communist world still is looking for some kind of a change of heart of the Kremlin. P erhaps, it thinks, after all these smiles there will follow a r evision of the entire Communist program. And who can say definitely that a palace r evolution in the Kremlin, or a quarrel between members of the Politbureau, or the fall of a Soviet Marshal, or a quarrel between Peking and Moscow, will not force a change of the ultimate goal? Wishful, useless thinking! All the questions which the non-Communist world has put and will put to the Kremlin have already been answered. At least the principal questions have been clearly answered. The others, the answers to peripheral questions, do not matter, because the problem posed by international Communism cannot be solved by them.  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 Kremlin Has Shown Its Hand Description An account of the resource Joseph Cieker Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 55-57 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cieker, Jozef, 1907-1969 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/96c88b0c43ad0dee0c1922896b17068a.pdf 9a5cce28c1f8b40e16f0754233eab5dc PDF Text Text 58 SLOVAKIA ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG A Survey of Slovak Church Music BY ,SISTE R M. PASCH AL , SS. C. M. Characterized from the very dawn of history as a singing people, the 'S lovaks readily consecrated this talent to God's service when the glad tidings of the Gospel were brought to them more than eleven hundred years ago. Christianization of the Slovaks dates back to the ninth century, to the consecration of the first Catholic church, built by Prince Pribina in Nitra in 833. Thereafter, down through the centuries, the Slovak people have been praising God with hymns and songs. In prosperity and in adversity, in the humble church of an obscure village as well as in a baroque cathedral like that of Kosice, at the simple tasks about the home as well as on festive pilgrimages, centuries ago as well as in our own day the hymn and the chant are offered to God by generation after generation of Slovak Catholics. In recent times Slovak congregational singing attracted considerable attention during the pilgrimages which the Federation of Slovak Catholics sponsored to shrines in Canada, New York, Philadelphia, Scranton, and Washington, D. C. Onlokers were frankly amazed at the spectacle. Rarely, if ever, had they seen such large groups united in prayerful song. It is truly an inspiration to hear the Slovaks sing at their religious services especially where there is congregational participation. How did the ancestors of Modern Slovaks develop their religious music and how closely does it follow the spirit of the liturgy ? From the earliest Christian era the Catholic Church has solicitously guarded the art and purity of music in Her public worship. In this respect Church authori'ties in Slovakia were exceptionally vigilant. The Byzantine rite with its exquisitely melodic liturgy was introduced amonf the Slovaks by SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. Through their apostles the Slovak people likewise learned to foster a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a devotion which is so deeply rooted among the �SLOVAKIA 59 Slovaks that in most of their churches it is still customary for the Rosary Society to sing Marian hymns in public procession after High Mass on the first Sunday of the month. The saintly brothers translated the missal (Kievsky misal), the ritual (Euchologium Sinajske), the breviary and a collection of liturgical hymns (strumicky oktoich) into Old Slavonic. When they visited Rome to confer with the Holy Father, Pope Adrian LI placed these liturgical books on the Blessed Virgin's altar and blessed them. Then he permitted SS. Cyril and Methodius to use the Slavonic language in the Hturgy. "Hospodine, pomiluj ny," whose author very likely was St. Methodius himself, is the only hymn preserved from that period. For several centuries the development of religious music was halted by persecutions directed against the Old Slavonic liturgy and sterile period followed. By the twelfth century, however, various diocesan synods began to approve directives for liturgical singing. A summary of the most important of these would include the following: In 1114 the Synod of Ostrihom legislated that only hymns approved by Church authorities be used in the churches. In 1494 the Synod of Nitra directed that Holy Mass be accompanied with singing in all parish churches. The Synod of Trnava in 1560 commanded under pain of censure that no hymns either in the vernacular or in Latin be admitted for church use unless it could be ascertained that they had been approved by ecclesiastical authorities over a hundred years ago, lest the faithful by 'their very attraction to exercises of devotion be misled into heresy. In 1638 the Synod of Trnava char.ged a committee of competent musicians to collect liturgical hymns sung by the people and have them presented to Church authorities for approval and publication. This measure was needed to guard against the infiltration of Protestant influence which tried to establish itself with the seventeenth century's creation and importation of new homes. Composers of proved merit contributed to ~andard collections of �60 SLOVAKIA Slovak hymns and preserved acceptable manuscript copies. One such manuscript collection was Antifonae et cantiones variae cum notis musicis Slavonice et latine. rt comprises 338 sheets of copy. Another which is dated 1657 was Cantilenae conventus Lauritani ord. Serv. B. V. M. An even greater revival was brought about when the Slovak Jesuits founded the Catholic University of Trnava in 1635. In accordance with the prescriptions of the Council of Trent (1545-1'563) they collected the ancient Slovak liturgical hymns and prepared for the press the first printed Slovak hymnal Cantus Catholici. lt was published in two editions: in 1655 and in 1700 and it has been proved that its compiler was a Slovak Jesuit, Benedikt Szollossi (1601:J1656). Cantus Catholici has three hundred eighteen pages of unisonous hymns. Of these, sixty-two are Latin and two hundred twenty-seven are Slovak. In 1937 Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky revived about seventy hymns from the threehundred-year-old Cantus Catholici by introducing a modernized form of them in the Jedno,tny katolicky spevnik of which we shall speak presently. Cantus C3itholici is uniquely valuable from the musical standpoint inasmuch as its sources are traceable to Gregorian Chant. The ancient Slovak hymns preserved in it exemplify the use of tropes among the Slavs as early as the close of the Middle Ages. Tropes, of course, are a more or less poe'tical commentary that is woven into the liturgical text, forming with it a complete unit ; it is an interpolation in a liturgical text or the embellishment brought about by such interpolation, that is, insertions or additions. Let us take the Kyrie E1eison from tlhe Ordinary of the Mass as an example. On the last syllable of the "Kyrie" where a melisma was sung, a phrase or a stanza was composed to fit the melisma. In this way some additional text was inserted between the "Kyrie" and the "eleison." Consequently, a melismatic Kyrie had nine stanzaic insertions. The Gregorian Kyrie II in mode 3 carried this interpolation thus: Kyrie - fons bonitatis, Pater ingeniti, a quo cuncta procedunt - eleison. The Cau.tus Catholici has a �SLOVAKIA 61 closely paralleled translation of this interpolation: Hospodine, studnice dobrotj, Otce nerozeny, od teba wssecko dobre pochazi - smiluj sa natl nami. This is one example of how the ancient vernacular hymns of the Slovaks were developed in Gregorian style, characterized pricipally by the use of modal modulations and cadences ending on the dominant. It is interesting to note that a number of Slovak folk songs (of which there are some 40,000) were also developed in the same manner. The Latin preface of the Cantus Catholici points out the fact that the liturgy was performed in the vernacular at the altar and in choir. The hymns and psalms taug,ht in church were frequently repeated with much spirit at recreation and feasts, in the vineyards and in the field. In the course of time manuscripts of church music were collected by interested individuals. Outstanding among the composers and compilers were Pavlin Bajan (1783), a Franciscan; and later Andrej Radlinsky and Frantisek Sasinek, two priests who made a noteworthy contribution by their 1872 publication of Vseobecna sbierka cirkevnych katolickych pesniciek slovenskych, which contained 1,047 hymns. The Society of St. Adalbert commissioned Frantisek Matzenauer, a priest director, and Joseph Mathulay, an organist, to write the accompaniments for the above mentioned collection. The result was Duchovny spevnik katolicky (1882). In response to the November 22, 1903 "Motu Proprio" of St. Pius X , a national hymnal entitled Nabozny kresfan containing 400 hymns was compiled by Msgr. Andrej Hlinka and Joseph Chladek in 1906. A unique contribution to Catholic Slovak hymnody is the voluminous Jednotny katolicky spevnik (1937). lt was projected at a meeting held by the Society of St. Adalbert on March 8, 1921, when in the presence of three newly consecrated Slovak bishops and at their direction it was resolved to compile and publish a new hymnal. Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky, a highly reputable Slovak composer, was commissioned to harmonize and arrange the Slovak hymns. Committees on liturgy, literature, and hymnody collaborated with Schneider-Trnavs'ky in this re- �62 SLOVAKIA sponsible undertaking. For ten years they devoted themselves to the dedicated work of collecting the treasures of Slovak Church music, to discriminate, to discard whatever might be classified as undesirable and to preserve or to restore all that was worthy. The Committees observed the directives contained in the "Motu Proprio" of Pope Pius X and in the "Apostolic Constitution (December 22, 1928) of Pope Pius XI. The extensive bibliography enumerates references to thirty-three printed hymnals and onehundred-four printed manuals and prayer books; six manuscript collections of hymns without melodies and ten manuscript collections with melodies. All these were studied with scholarly diligence. Of the five hundred forty-one hymns listed in the index of the Jednotny katolicky spevnik those devoted to Christmas, Lent, the Blessed Sacrament, and the Blessed Virgin Mary are most largely represented. The contents are arranged according to the liturgical year with specific recommedations for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, for liturgical processions, and for various other religious functions. Out of consideration for the needs of the congregation, the limitations of school children, and the abilities of trained choirs who would use the hymnal, the compiler also included carols, hymns for pilgrimages, choral Slovak Mass hymns, and Latin hymns. It may be asked what qualities characterize Slovak liturgical and reltgious hymns. Careful study will show that it is their singular charm to have those very characteristics which are recommended in the "Musicae Sacrae Disciplina" (December 25, 1955) of Pope Pius Xfil. Slovak hymns confirm fully to Christian teaching, they use simple tunes and simple words, and they possess religious dignity and becoming gravity. They make no provisions for brilliant solos, they exhibit no florid styles, no elaborate cadences, no suggestive worldliness or sentimentality to distract the devotion of the worshippers. The music of the Mass hymns is consonant with the religious expression contained in the texts of the Ordinary of the Mass. As a matter of fact the very text of the �SLOVAKIA 63 Mass hymns is a close paraphrase of the text of the Ordinary. These Mass hymns are still sung in Slovak parish churches both in America and abroad during the Missa Cantata. By them the choir and the congregation are enabled to unite closely with the priest in the sacred action of the Mass. Most of the hymns for Lent and Advent are written in a minor tonality and express sincere expectation, longing, love, hope, and sorrow. Diatonic progressions and sequential melodic passages make the tunes naturally singable, and the inert musical signs of the Christmas and Easter hymns come to life best when they are sung and played by souls radiating a great love for God. Marian hymns expand the praises sung in honor of the Mother of God to very numerous lines comprising more than one hundred hymns. Generally the refrain reiterates the message of her feasts or a particular supplication. Hymns in honor of the Blessed Sacrament and the Saints as well as pilgrimages and processional hymns vary in their messages and expressions but they retain the same commendable simplicity of melody subordinated to the prayerfulness of the words. The melodic structure of the Chant depends on the accent which is the soul of the Latin word. Slovak vernacular hymns which are reliable translations from Latin texts are easily adapted to Gregorian Chant since the accent and the word order of the Slovak language readily correspond to the Latin original in very many instances. A few hymns that illustrate this adaptability from Latin to Slovak are : Stabat Mater - Sta.la Matka (Sequence) Lauda Sion - Chval' Sione (Sequence) Pange Lingua - Javte usta Adore Te - Klaniam sa Ti J esu Dulcis - J ezu sladky The genuineness and the excellence of Slovak hymn tones was recognized by such an authority as Nicola A. Montani, the compiler of the Saint Gregory Hymnal (1920). �64 SLOVAKIA Mr. Montani incorporated into this American hymn book over twenty Slovak hymn tunes for which he adapted English texts and one setting for the "Tantum Ergo." In his encyclical on sacred music the late Pope Pius XII mentioned that hymns are effective in the religious instruction of boys and girls. It is worthy of mention that children in iSlovakia sang their catechism at least as early as 1913. Andrej Camba!, a Slovak Jesuit, translated into Slovak the catechism hymns originally used by Ignac Parhamer, a Jesuit missionary who instructed the people of Austria-Hungary in the eighteenth century. In his preface Father Camba! wrote : "I present this Catechism to you in song, that you may learn Christian Doctrine in a delightful manner and have it well impressed upon your minds." This survey may help to show how rich is the heritage of sacred music which has been preserved by the Slovak people, who justly pride themselves on having 2,000 hymns in their treasury of music. These hymns are the expression of the mind and heart of the Church regarding sacred music. They also embody the joyous and prayerful spirit of a singing people. (Caecilia, Vol. 85, No. 2) • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his Iaitest stateanenJts ail.ways stres.setl, tihait OUT pact of alliamce with Soviet Russia and our friendshl!p with other Slav nations mwst not encroa;ch on o:ur friendly and cordiail relations with other dean0teratic states. This is .the natural desire, shared 1b y an enormous majority of our people, and nothing presvents us :fu-oan keeping the cc:xruftdence of the democratic states and stTe:nigthenmg and deepening our friendshl!p with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wants ro fumow this line of po:lircy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain ,preijrumces of the West with regard to the Soviet Union, which are stiil existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozeicho-Silovakia, OW1I Bulletin, June 1, 1945. � 58 SLOVAKIA ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG A Survey of Slovak Church Music BY ,SISTE R M. PASCH AL , SS. C. M. Characterized from the very dawn of history as a singing people, the 'S lovaks readily consecrated this talent to God's service when the glad tidings of the Gospel were brought to them more than eleven hundred years ago. Christianization of the Slovaks dates back to the ninth century, to the consecration of the first Catholic church, built by Prince Pribina in Nitra in 833. Thereafter, down through the centuries, the Slovak people have been praising God with hymns and songs. In prosperity and in adversity, in the humble church of an obscure village as well as in a baroque cathedral like that of Kosice, at the simple tasks about the home as well as on festive pilgrimages, centuries ago as well as in our own day the hymn and the chant are offered to God by generation after generation of Slovak Catholics. In recent times Slovak congregational singing attracted considerable attention during the pilgrimages which the Federation of Slovak Catholics sponsored to shrines in Canada, New York, Philadelphia, Scranton, and Washington, D. C. Onlokers were frankly amazed at the spectacle. Rarely, if ever, had they seen such large groups united in prayerful song. It is truly an inspiration to hear the Slovaks sing at their religious services especially where there is congregational participation. How did the ancestors of Modern Slovaks develop their religious music and how closely does it follow the spirit of the liturgy ? From the earliest Christian era the Catholic Church has solicitously guarded the art and purity of music in Her public worship. In this respect Church authori'ties in Slovakia were exceptionally vigilant. The Byzantine rite with its exquisitely melodic liturgy was introduced amonf the Slovaks by SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. Through their apostles the Slovak people likewise learned to foster a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a devotion which is so deeply rooted among the �SLOVAKIA 59 Slovaks that in most of their churches it is still customary for the Rosary Society to sing Marian hymns in public procession after High Mass on the first Sunday of the month. The saintly brothers translated the missal (Kievsky misal), the ritual (Euchologium Sinajske), the breviary and a collection of liturgical hymns (strumicky oktoich) into Old Slavonic. When they visited Rome to confer with the Holy Father, Pope Adrian LI placed these liturgical books on the Blessed Virgin's altar and blessed them. Then he permitted SS. Cyril and Methodius to use the Slavonic language in the Hturgy. "Hospodine, pomiluj ny," whose author very likely was St. Methodius himself, is the only hymn preserved from that period. For several centuries the development of religious music was halted by persecutions directed against the Old Slavonic liturgy and sterile period followed. By the twelfth century, however, various diocesan synods began to approve directives for liturgical singing. A summary of the most important of these would include the following: In 1114 the Synod of Ostrihom legislated that only hymns approved by Church authorities be used in the churches. In 1494 the Synod of Nitra directed that Holy Mass be accompanied with singing in all parish churches. The Synod of Trnava in 1560 commanded under pain of censure that no hymns either in the vernacular or in Latin be admitted for church use unless it could be ascertained that they had been approved by ecclesiastical authorities over a hundred years ago, lest the faithful by 'their very attraction to exercises of devotion be misled into heresy. In 1638 the Synod of Trnava char.ged a committee of competent musicians to collect liturgical hymns sung by the people and have them presented to Church authorities for approval and publication. This measure was needed to guard against the infiltration of Protestant influence which tried to establish itself with the seventeenth century's creation and importation of new homes. Composers of proved merit contributed to ~andard collections of �60 SLOVAKIA Slovak hymns and preserved acceptable manuscript copies. One such manuscript collection was Antifonae et cantiones variae cum notis musicis Slavonice et latine. rt comprises 338 sheets of copy. Another which is dated 1657 was Cantilenae conventus Lauritani ord. Serv. B. V. M. An even greater revival was brought about when the Slovak Jesuits founded the Catholic University of Trnava in 1635. In accordance with the prescriptions of the Council of Trent (1545-1'563) they collected the ancient Slovak liturgical hymns and prepared for the press the first printed Slovak hymnal Cantus Catholici. lt was published in two editions: in 1655 and in 1700 and it has been proved that its compiler was a Slovak Jesuit, Benedikt Szollossi (1601:J1656). Cantus Catholici has three hundred eighteen pages of unisonous hymns. Of these, sixty-two are Latin and two hundred twenty-seven are Slovak. In 1937 Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky revived about seventy hymns from the threehundred-year-old Cantus Catholici by introducing a modernized form of them in the Jedno,tny katolicky spevnik of which we shall speak presently. Cantus C3itholici is uniquely valuable from the musical standpoint inasmuch as its sources are traceable to Gregorian Chant. The ancient Slovak hymns preserved in it exemplify the use of tropes among the Slavs as early as the close of the Middle Ages. Tropes, of course, are a more or less poe'tical commentary that is woven into the liturgical text, forming with it a complete unit ; it is an interpolation in a liturgical text or the embellishment brought about by such interpolation, that is, insertions or additions. Let us take the Kyrie E1eison from tlhe Ordinary of the Mass as an example. On the last syllable of the "Kyrie" where a melisma was sung, a phrase or a stanza was composed to fit the melisma. In this way some additional text was inserted between the "Kyrie" and the "eleison." Consequently, a melismatic Kyrie had nine stanzaic insertions. The Gregorian Kyrie II in mode 3 carried this interpolation thus: Kyrie - fons bonitatis, Pater ingeniti, a quo cuncta procedunt - eleison. The Cau.tus Catholici has a �SLOVAKIA 61 closely paralleled translation of this interpolation: Hospodine, studnice dobrotj, Otce nerozeny, od teba wssecko dobre pochazi - smiluj sa natl nami. This is one example of how the ancient vernacular hymns of the Slovaks were developed in Gregorian style, characterized pricipally by the use of modal modulations and cadences ending on the dominant. It is interesting to note that a number of Slovak folk songs (of which there are some 40,000) were also developed in the same manner. The Latin preface of the Cantus Catholici points out the fact that the liturgy was performed in the vernacular at the altar and in choir. The hymns and psalms taug,ht in church were frequently repeated with much spirit at recreation and feasts, in the vineyards and in the field. In the course of time manuscripts of church music were collected by interested individuals. Outstanding among the composers and compilers were Pavlin Bajan (1783), a Franciscan; and later Andrej Radlinsky and Frantisek Sasinek, two priests who made a noteworthy contribution by their 1872 publication of Vseobecna sbierka cirkevnych katolickych pesniciek slovenskych, which contained 1,047 hymns. The Society of St. Adalbert commissioned Frantisek Matzenauer, a priest director, and Joseph Mathulay, an organist, to write the accompaniments for the above mentioned collection. The result was Duchovny spevnik katolicky (1882). In response to the November 22, 1903 "Motu Proprio" of St. Pius X , a national hymnal entitled Nabozny kresfan containing 400 hymns was compiled by Msgr. Andrej Hlinka and Joseph Chladek in 1906. A unique contribution to Catholic Slovak hymnody is the voluminous Jednotny katolicky spevnik (1937). lt was projected at a meeting held by the Society of St. Adalbert on March 8, 1921, when in the presence of three newly consecrated Slovak bishops and at their direction it was resolved to compile and publish a new hymnal. Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky, a highly reputable Slovak composer, was commissioned to harmonize and arrange the Slovak hymns. Committees on liturgy, literature, and hymnody collaborated with Schneider-Trnavs'ky in this re- �62 SLOVAKIA sponsible undertaking. For ten years they devoted themselves to the dedicated work of collecting the treasures of Slovak Church music, to discriminate, to discard whatever might be classified as undesirable and to preserve or to restore all that was worthy. The Committees observed the directives contained in the "Motu Proprio" of Pope Pius X and in the "Apostolic Constitution (December 22, 1928) of Pope Pius XI. The extensive bibliography enumerates references to thirty-three printed hymnals and onehundred-four printed manuals and prayer books; six manuscript collections of hymns without melodies and ten manuscript collections with melodies. All these were studied with scholarly diligence. Of the five hundred forty-one hymns listed in the index of the Jednotny katolicky spevnik those devoted to Christmas, Lent, the Blessed Sacrament, and the Blessed Virgin Mary are most largely represented. The contents are arranged according to the liturgical year with specific recommedations for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, for liturgical processions, and for various other religious functions. Out of consideration for the needs of the congregation, the limitations of school children, and the abilities of trained choirs who would use the hymnal, the compiler also included carols, hymns for pilgrimages, choral Slovak Mass hymns, and Latin hymns. It may be asked what qualities characterize Slovak liturgical and reltgious hymns. Careful study will show that it is their singular charm to have those very characteristics which are recommended in the "Musicae Sacrae Disciplina" (December 25, 1955) of Pope Pius Xfil. Slovak hymns confirm fully to Christian teaching, they use simple tunes and simple words, and they possess religious dignity and becoming gravity. They make no provisions for brilliant solos, they exhibit no florid styles, no elaborate cadences, no suggestive worldliness or sentimentality to distract the devotion of the worshippers. The music of the Mass hymns is consonant with the religious expression contained in the texts of the Ordinary of the Mass. As a matter of fact the very text of the �SLOVAKIA 63 Mass hymns is a close paraphrase of the text of the Ordinary. These Mass hymns are still sung in Slovak parish churches both in America and abroad during the Missa Cantata. By them the choir and the congregation are enabled to unite closely with the priest in the sacred action of the Mass. Most of the hymns for Lent and Advent are written in a minor tonality and express sincere expectation, longing, love, hope, and sorrow. Diatonic progressions and sequential melodic passages make the tunes naturally singable, and the inert musical signs of the Christmas and Easter hymns come to life best when they are sung and played by souls radiating a great love for God. Marian hymns expand the praises sung in honor of the Mother of God to very numerous lines comprising more than one hundred hymns. Generally the refrain reiterates the message of her feasts or a particular supplication. Hymns in honor of the Blessed Sacrament and the Saints as well as pilgrimages and processional hymns vary in their messages and expressions but they retain the same commendable simplicity of melody subordinated to the prayerfulness of the words. The melodic structure of the Chant depends on the accent which is the soul of the Latin word. Slovak vernacular hymns which are reliable translations from Latin texts are easily adapted to Gregorian Chant since the accent and the word order of the Slovak language readily correspond to the Latin original in very many instances. A few hymns that illustrate this adaptability from Latin to Slovak are : Stabat Mater - Sta.la Matka (Sequence) Lauda Sion - Chval' Sione (Sequence) Pange Lingua - Javte usta Adore Te - Klaniam sa Ti J esu Dulcis - J ezu sladky The genuineness and the excellence of Slovak hymn tones was recognized by such an authority as Nicola A. Montani, the compiler of the Saint Gregory Hymnal (1920). �64 SLOVAKIA Mr. Montani incorporated into this American hymn book over twenty Slovak hymn tunes for which he adapted English texts and one setting for the "Tantum Ergo." In his encyclical on sacred music the late Pope Pius XII mentioned that hymns are effective in the religious instruction of boys and girls. It is worthy of mention that children in iSlovakia sang their catechism at least as early as 1913. Andrej Camba!, a Slovak Jesuit, translated into Slovak the catechism hymns originally used by Ignac Parhamer, a Jesuit missionary who instructed the people of Austria-Hungary in the eighteenth century. In his preface Father Camba! wrote : "I present this Catechism to you in song, that you may learn Christian Doctrine in a delightful manner and have it well impressed upon your minds." This survey may help to show how rich is the heritage of sacred music which has been preserved by the Slovak people, who justly pride themselves on having 2,000 hymns in their treasury of music. These hymns are the expression of the mind and heart of the Church regarding sacred music. They also embody the joyous and prayerful spirit of a singing people. (Caecilia, Vol. 85, No. 2) • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his Iaitest stateanenJts ail.ways stres.setl, tihait OUT pact of alliamce with Soviet Russia and our friendshl!p with other Slav nations mwst not encroa;ch on o:ur friendly and cordiail relations with other dean0teratic states. This is .the natural desire, shared 1b y an enormous majority of our people, and nothing presvents us :fu-oan keeping the cc:xruftdence of the democratic states and stTe:nigthenmg and deepening our friendshl!p with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wants ro fumow this line of po:lircy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain ,preijrumces of the West with regard to the Soviet Union, which are stiil existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozeicho-Silovakia, OW1I Bulletin, June 1, 1945. � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 58 SLOVAKIA ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS OF PRAYERFUL SONG A Survey of Slovak Church Music BY ,SISTE R M. PASCH AL , SS. C. M. Characterized from the very dawn of history as a singing people, the 'S lovaks readily consecrated this talent to God's service when the glad tidings of the Gospel were brought to them more than eleven hundred years ago. Christianization of the Slovaks dates back to the ninth century, to the consecration of the first Catholic church, built by Prince Pribina in Nitra in 833. Thereafter, down through the centuries, the Slovak people have been praising God with hymns and songs. In prosperity and in adversity, in the humble church of an obscure village as well as in a baroque cathedral like that of Kosice, at the simple tasks about the home as well as on festive pilgrimages, centuries ago as well as in our own day the hymn and the chant are offered to God by generation after generation of Slovak Catholics. In recent times Slovak congregational singing attracted considerable attention during the pilgrimages which the Federation of Slovak Catholics sponsored to shrines in Canada, New York, Philadelphia, Scranton, and Washington, D. C. Onlokers were frankly amazed at the spectacle. Rarely, if ever, had they seen such large groups united in prayerful song. It is truly an inspiration to hear the Slovaks sing at their religious services especially where there is congregational participation. How did the ancestors of Modern Slovaks develop their religious music and how closely does it follow the spirit of the liturgy ? From the earliest Christian era the Catholic Church has solicitously guarded the art and purity of music in Her public worship. In this respect Church authori'ties in Slovakia were exceptionally vigilant. The Byzantine rite with its exquisitely melodic liturgy was introduced amonf the Slovaks by SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. Through their apostles the Slovak people likewise learned to foster a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a devotion which is so deeply rooted among the SLOVAKIA 59 Slovaks that in most of their churches it is still customary for the Rosary Society to sing Marian hymns in public procession after High Mass on the first Sunday of the month. The saintly brothers translated the missal (Kievsky misal), the ritual (Euchologium Sinajske), the breviary and a collection of liturgical hymns (strumicky oktoich) into Old Slavonic. When they visited Rome to confer with the Holy Father, Pope Adrian LI placed these liturgical books on the Blessed Virgin's altar and blessed them. Then he permitted SS. Cyril and Methodius to use the Slavonic language in the Hturgy. "Hospodine, pomiluj ny," whose author very likely was St. Methodius himself, is the only hymn preserved from that period. For several centuries the development of religious music was halted by persecutions directed against the Old Slavonic liturgy and sterile period followed. By the twelfth century, however, various diocesan synods began to approve directives for liturgical singing. A summary of the most important of these would include the following: In 1114 the Synod of Ostrihom legislated that only hymns approved by Church authorities be used in the churches. In 1494 the Synod of Nitra directed that Holy Mass be accompanied with singing in all parish churches. The Synod of Trnava in 1560 commanded under pain of censure that no hymns either in the vernacular or in Latin be admitted for church use unless it could be ascertained that they had been approved by ecclesiastical authorities over a hundred years ago, lest the faithful by 'their very attraction to exercises of devotion be misled into heresy. In 1638 the Synod of Trnava char.ged a committee of competent musicians to collect liturgical hymns sung by the people and have them presented to Church authorities for approval and publication. This measure was needed to guard against the infiltration of Protestant influence which tried to establish itself with the seventeenth century's creation and importation of new homes. Composers of proved merit contributed to ~andard collections of 60 SLOVAKIA Slovak hymns and preserved acceptable manuscript copies. One such manuscript collection was Antifonae et cantiones variae cum notis musicis Slavonice et latine. rt comprises 338 sheets of copy. Another which is dated 1657 was Cantilenae conventus Lauritani ord. Serv. B. V. M. An even greater revival was brought about when the Slovak Jesuits founded the Catholic University of Trnava in 1635. In accordance with the prescriptions of the Council of Trent (1545-1'563) they collected the ancient Slovak liturgical hymns and prepared for the press the first printed Slovak hymnal Cantus Catholici. lt was published in two editions: in 1655 and in 1700 and it has been proved that its compiler was a Slovak Jesuit, Benedikt Szollossi (1601:J1656). Cantus Catholici has three hundred eighteen pages of unisonous hymns. Of these, sixty-two are Latin and two hundred twenty-seven are Slovak. In 1937 Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky revived about seventy hymns from the threehundred-year-old Cantus Catholici by introducing a modernized form of them in the Jedno,tny katolicky spevnik of which we shall speak presently. Cantus C3itholici is uniquely valuable from the musical standpoint inasmuch as its sources are traceable to Gregorian Chant. The ancient Slovak hymns preserved in it exemplify the use of tropes among the Slavs as early as the close of the Middle Ages. Tropes, of course, are a more or less poe'tical commentary that is woven into the liturgical text, forming with it a complete unit ; it is an interpolation in a liturgical text or the embellishment brought about by such interpolation, that is, insertions or additions. Let us take the Kyrie E1eison from tlhe Ordinary of the Mass as an example. On the last syllable of the "Kyrie" where a melisma was sung, a phrase or a stanza was composed to fit the melisma. In this way some additional text was inserted between the "Kyrie" and the "eleison." Consequently, a melismatic Kyrie had nine stanzaic insertions. The Gregorian Kyrie II in mode 3 carried this interpolation thus: Kyrie - fons bonitatis, Pater ingeniti, a quo cuncta procedunt - eleison. The Cau.tus Catholici has a SLOVAKIA 61 closely paralleled translation of this interpolation: Hospodine, studnice dobrotj, Otce nerozeny, od teba wssecko dobre pochazi - smiluj sa natl nami. This is one example of how the ancient vernacular hymns of the Slovaks were developed in Gregorian style, characterized pricipally by the use of modal modulations and cadences ending on the dominant. It is interesting to note that a number of Slovak folk songs (of which there are some 40,000) were also developed in the same manner. The Latin preface of the Cantus Catholici points out the fact that the liturgy was performed in the vernacular at the altar and in choir. The hymns and psalms taug,ht in church were frequently repeated with much spirit at recreation and feasts, in the vineyards and in the field. In the course of time manuscripts of church music were collected by interested individuals. Outstanding among the composers and compilers were Pavlin Bajan (1783), a Franciscan; and later Andrej Radlinsky and Frantisek Sasinek, two priests who made a noteworthy contribution by their 1872 publication of Vseobecna sbierka cirkevnych katolickych pesniciek slovenskych, which contained 1,047 hymns. The Society of St. Adalbert commissioned Frantisek Matzenauer, a priest director, and Joseph Mathulay, an organist, to write the accompaniments for the above mentioned collection. The result was Duchovny spevnik katolicky (1882). In response to the November 22, 1903 "Motu Proprio" of St. Pius X , a national hymnal entitled Nabozny kresfan containing 400 hymns was compiled by Msgr. Andrej Hlinka and Joseph Chladek in 1906. A unique contribution to Catholic Slovak hymnody is the voluminous Jednotny katolicky spevnik (1937). lt was projected at a meeting held by the Society of St. Adalbert on March 8, 1921, when in the presence of three newly consecrated Slovak bishops and at their direction it was resolved to compile and publish a new hymnal. Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky, a highly reputable Slovak composer, was commissioned to harmonize and arrange the Slovak hymns. Committees on liturgy, literature, and hymnody collaborated with Schneider-Trnavs'ky in this re- 62 SLOVAKIA sponsible undertaking. For ten years they devoted themselves to the dedicated work of collecting the treasures of Slovak Church music, to discriminate, to discard whatever might be classified as undesirable and to preserve or to restore all that was worthy. The Committees observed the directives contained in the "Motu Proprio" of Pope Pius X and in the "Apostolic Constitution (December 22, 1928) of Pope Pius XI. The extensive bibliography enumerates references to thirty-three printed hymnals and onehundred-four printed manuals and prayer books; six manuscript collections of hymns without melodies and ten manuscript collections with melodies. All these were studied with scholarly diligence. Of the five hundred forty-one hymns listed in the index of the Jednotny katolicky spevnik those devoted to Christmas, Lent, the Blessed Sacrament, and the Blessed Virgin Mary are most largely represented. The contents are arranged according to the liturgical year with specific recommedations for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, for liturgical processions, and for various other religious functions. Out of consideration for the needs of the congregation, the limitations of school children, and the abilities of trained choirs who would use the hymnal, the compiler also included carols, hymns for pilgrimages, choral Slovak Mass hymns, and Latin hymns. It may be asked what qualities characterize Slovak liturgical and reltgious hymns. Careful study will show that it is their singular charm to have those very characteristics which are recommended in the "Musicae Sacrae Disciplina" (December 25, 1955) of Pope Pius Xfil. Slovak hymns confirm fully to Christian teaching, they use simple tunes and simple words, and they possess religious dignity and becoming gravity. They make no provisions for brilliant solos, they exhibit no florid styles, no elaborate cadences, no suggestive worldliness or sentimentality to distract the devotion of the worshippers. The music of the Mass hymns is consonant with the religious expression contained in the texts of the Ordinary of the Mass. As a matter of fact the very text of the SLOVAKIA 63 Mass hymns is a close paraphrase of the text of the Ordinary. These Mass hymns are still sung in Slovak parish churches both in America and abroad during the Missa Cantata. By them the choir and the congregation are enabled to unite closely with the priest in the sacred action of the Mass. Most of the hymns for Lent and Advent are written in a minor tonality and express sincere expectation, longing, love, hope, and sorrow. Diatonic progressions and sequential melodic passages make the tunes naturally singable, and the inert musical signs of the Christmas and Easter hymns come to life best when they are sung and played by souls radiating a great love for God. Marian hymns expand the praises sung in honor of the Mother of God to very numerous lines comprising more than one hundred hymns. Generally the refrain reiterates the message of her feasts or a particular supplication. Hymns in honor of the Blessed Sacrament and the Saints as well as pilgrimages and processional hymns vary in their messages and expressions but they retain the same commendable simplicity of melody subordinated to the prayerfulness of the words. The melodic structure of the Chant depends on the accent which is the soul of the Latin word. Slovak vernacular hymns which are reliable translations from Latin texts are easily adapted to Gregorian Chant since the accent and the word order of the Slovak language readily correspond to the Latin original in very many instances. A few hymns that illustrate this adaptability from Latin to Slovak are : Stabat Mater - Sta.la Matka (Sequence) Lauda Sion - Chval' Sione (Sequence) Pange Lingua - Javte usta Adore Te - Klaniam sa Ti J esu Dulcis - J ezu sladky The genuineness and the excellence of Slovak hymn tones was recognized by such an authority as Nicola A. Montani, the compiler of the Saint Gregory Hymnal (1920). 64 SLOVAKIA Mr. Montani incorporated into this American hymn book over twenty Slovak hymn tunes for which he adapted English texts and one setting for the "Tantum Ergo." In his encyclical on sacred music the late Pope Pius XII mentioned that hymns are effective in the religious instruction of boys and girls. It is worthy of mention that children in iSlovakia sang their catechism at least as early as 1913. Andrej Camba!, a Slovak Jesuit, translated into Slovak the catechism hymns originally used by Ignac Parhamer, a Jesuit missionary who instructed the people of Austria-Hungary in the eighteenth century. In his preface Father Camba! wrote : "I present this Catechism to you in song, that you may learn Christian Doctrine in a delightful manner and have it well impressed upon your minds." This survey may help to show how rich is the heritage of sacred music which has been preserved by the Slovak people, who justly pride themselves on having 2,000 hymns in their treasury of music. These hymns are the expression of the mind and heart of the Church regarding sacred music. They also embody the joyous and prayerful spirit of a singing people. (Caecilia, Vol. 85, No. 2) • • • WHO SAID IT? "President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his Iaitest stateanenJts ail.ways stres.setl, tihait OUT pact of alliamce with Soviet Russia and our friendshl!p with other Slav nations mwst not encroa;ch on o:ur friendly and cordiail relations with other dean0teratic states. This is .the natural desire, shared 1b y an enormous majority of our people, and nothing presvents us :fu-oan keeping the cc:xruftdence of the democratic states and stTe:nigthenmg and deepening our friendshl!p with our great western Allies. Moscow, too, wants ro fumow this line of po:lircy. rt will, however, be necessary for certain ,preijrumces of the West with regard to the Soviet Union, which are stiil existing, to be swept away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozeicho-Silovakia, OW1I Bulletin, June 1, 1945.  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 Eleven Hundred Years of Prayerful Song: A Survey of Slovak Church Music Description An account of the resource Sister M. Paschal, SS.C.M. Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 58-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sister M. Paschal, SS.C.M. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/460e5a702ebd3ed54ba269409452a768.pdf d6fd783faf2ed8f1b10456590990fb51 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 65 STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 Francis Vnuk The same day that German divisions entered Bohemia and Moravia (:M arch 15) and Hitler parked himself in the Hradcany, Weizsaeker, German State Secretary, sent a circular to all German foreign missions in countries, in which Czecho-:Slovakia had diplomatic representation, to be ready to take over Prague diplomatic services. Particularly, the persons concerned were to see to it that all political and secret material was safeguarded. Hitler made the matter public on March 16, 1939, and the Czec:h Foreign Minister Chvalkovsky issued instructions the same afternoon to the effect that all foreign offices of the Czecho-Slovak Republic ceased to function as such and were to ibe surrendered to the German foreign offices in the respective countries. We know that not all foreign representations of Prague followed Chvalkovsky's directive. The deciding factor here was not Chvalkovsky's order (after all he was only doing what the Germans wanted him to do), but the stand taken toward Germany by the respective countries. In neutral countries and those which sympathized with Germany, the order was carried out without complications. Not so, however, where the mood was anti-German. Chvalkovsky's order was thus ignored in Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, and in Santiago. In three instances the diplomats were of Slovak origin: V,l adimir Hurban in Washington, George Slavik in Warsaw, and Stephen Osusky in Paris. 'Dhe case of Stephen Osusky is most interesting and perhaps least known. We know what had happened in Warsaw and in Washington. But little or nothing about what had transpired in Paris at the time. Perhaps because of Osusky' s influence. Now, what did happen in Paris at the time? Welczek, the German Ambassador in Paris, did try to contact Osusky, though unsuccessfully, after he had received Weizsaecker's directive. Late in the afternoon of 1 �66 SLOVAKIA March 16th, however, a member of the German Embassy (Braeuer) did contact Cerny of the Czecho-Slovak Embassy and explained the implication of Hitler's decree. Cerny was satisfied with Braeuer's explanation, but informed him - though he and the rest of the staff were ready to do what was asked of them - they could do nothing without Osusky, who, they said, still had no made up his mind on the matter. In the evening the Germans finaHy did get to Osusky by phone. Quirring, the German Embassy's legal counsel, first talked to him and later Welczek himself. Osusky took the stand that preliminarily he could not surrender the Embassy because he had learned about Hitler's proclamation, he said, only from the newspapers and officially he had nothing from Prague. Furthermore, he added that he needed a certain amount of time to let the French Government know in an appropriate manner what had happened. Welczek took cognizance of this but reminded Osusky, in order that there be no doubt about the matter, that the situation is completely clear and that Osusky bears full responsibility for his rejective attitude to surrender the embassy and its contents. Osusky, however , took exception and denied the accusation that he had taken a rejective stand on the matter. For the reason mentioned, he said, he simply could not surrender the embassy. On the second day (March 17), Welczek again contacted Osusky. This time Osusky admitted that he had received the directive from Prague but that he would have to discuss the situation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs which still regarded him as the responsible he.ad of the Czecho-Slovak :Ennbassy because it had not been informed about the new situation. Welczek retorted that he had informed the French Government in writing about the new situation and, therefore, Osusky should know what he is supposed to do. Osusky replied that he would go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then let the German Embassy know about the matter of surrendering his post. Dusk turned into darkness, but no report came from Osusky. Naturally, the Germans were becoming impatient. �SLOVAKIA 67 When they called Osusky' s office, they were told he was not in. Neither was his secretary. They decided then to visit Osusky's office. When they came to the building and found that it was heavily guarded by the French police, they left without further pursuing their mission. In the meantime, Cerny (the Czech Embassy's legal counsel) made an appearance at the German Embassy to report that he and the other personnel of the CzechoSlovak Embassy did not identify themselves with Osusky and that they told Osusky openly they did not agree with his position. Furthermore, when he told Osusky that he would let the Germans know how the personnel felt about the matter, Osusky replied that he could not prevent him needed time ( 1Cerny) from doing so, but that he (Osusky) to arrange his affairs before he surrendered the office. After that, according to Cerny, Osusky would be indifferent to what would happen. Cerny also assured the Germans that "tomorrow (March 18) , he would again tell Osusky that the embassy personnel urgently requests that he surrender the embassy to the Germans. But the Germans knew that Cerny meant little in the situation. If the French authorities are back of Osusky, the latter certainly would not be guided by what Cerny and the Czech Embassy personnel recommended. And there were signs that Osusky did have the backing of the French for his stand. Welczek r ecalled that the position of the French Foreign Ministry heralded nothing good when it was handed the notification of Hitler's decree. At that time C h a r v e r i a t, head of the political division of the French Foreign Ministry indicated that French official circles did not rgeard the situation as clear and consistent. Complications arose, Charveriat said, because the CzechoSlovak Embassy also represented Slovakia and Ruthenia, while the Germans made a Protectorate only of Bohemia and Moravia. The French Government, continued Charveriat, wishes therefore to carefully look into all the implications and devote proper attention to the position of the Czecho-.Slovak Embassy. Rushing matters would only increase the suspicion of the French, Charveriat concluded. The Germans answered that the French have no business �68 SLOVAKIA investigating this matter, because it concerns exclusively only Osusky and Welczek as the only representative of Germany. Encouraged by French assurances, Osusky stubbornly stood his ground. German hopes to take over the Czech Embassy faded. However, after (March 23) the 'DEMPS published a telegram in whioh Osusky sought the help of Herriot. It was obvious that the telegram was inspired by French circles. Osusky then told journalists (and the French press ga,ve this wide publicity) that he was remaining in the embassy to continue to represent the interests of his countrymen in France. The French Government then assured Osusky that it would continue to recogni2e him as tJhe accredited ambassador so that he could keep on looking after the interests of Czecho-,Slovakia. These interests, however, could not re 1 ate to the Czecho-S1ovak Republic which factually did not exist. 0susky could hold his position because there were some 50,000 former Czecho../Slovak citizens in France, the overwhelming majority of whom were Slovaks. They were concentrated in the environs of Paris, Strassburg, and Lille. How did Osusky protect their interests? By forcing them to join the Czecho-Slovak Legion! As a result of French action, the Germans were not even able to take over the Czech consulates in France. What happened with Cerny and the embassy personnel for whom he spoke? He changed his "line" after the publication of Osusky's telegram in the French press, so that everything and everybody at the Czecho-Slovak Embassy came into line with Osusky. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Peace Policy of the USSR - Our Alliance," is the theme of the lecture which will be delivered by Minister Dr. Hubert Ripka in the Prague Central Li:brary on Friday, October 31, 1947, at 7:30 P. M. The lecture is being sponsored by the Committee for the Celebration of the 30th Annirversary of the Revolution." (The Czech SVOBODNE SLOVO, 10-30-47). � SLOVAKIA 65 STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 Francis Vnuk The same day that German divisions entered Bohemia and Moravia (:M arch 15) and Hitler parked himself in the Hradcany, Weizsaeker, German State Secretary, sent a circular to all German foreign missions in countries, in which Czecho-:Slovakia had diplomatic representation, to be ready to take over Prague diplomatic services. Particularly, the persons concerned were to see to it that all political and secret material was safeguarded. Hitler made the matter public on March 16, 1939, and the Czec:h Foreign Minister Chvalkovsky issued instructions the same afternoon to the effect that all foreign offices of the Czecho-Slovak Republic ceased to function as such and were to ibe surrendered to the German foreign offices in the respective countries. We know that not all foreign representations of Prague followed Chvalkovsky's directive. The deciding factor here was not Chvalkovsky's order (after all he was only doing what the Germans wanted him to do), but the stand taken toward Germany by the respective countries. In neutral countries and those which sympathized with Germany, the order was carried out without complications. Not so, however, where the mood was anti-German. Chvalkovsky's order was thus ignored in Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, and in Santiago. In three instances the diplomats were of Slovak origin: V,l adimir Hurban in Washington, George Slavik in Warsaw, and Stephen Osusky in Paris. 'Dhe case of Stephen Osusky is most interesting and perhaps least known. We know what had happened in Warsaw and in Washington. But little or nothing about what had transpired in Paris at the time. Perhaps because of Osusky' s influence. Now, what did happen in Paris at the time? Welczek, the German Ambassador in Paris, did try to contact Osusky, though unsuccessfully, after he had received Weizsaecker's directive. Late in the afternoon of 1 �66 SLOVAKIA March 16th, however, a member of the German Embassy (Braeuer) did contact Cerny of the Czecho-Slovak Embassy and explained the implication of Hitler's decree. Cerny was satisfied with Braeuer's explanation, but informed him - though he and the rest of the staff were ready to do what was asked of them - they could do nothing without Osusky, who, they said, still had no made up his mind on the matter. In the evening the Germans finaHy did get to Osusky by phone. Quirring, the German Embassy's legal counsel, first talked to him and later Welczek himself. Osusky took the stand that preliminarily he could not surrender the Embassy because he had learned about Hitler's proclamation, he said, only from the newspapers and officially he had nothing from Prague. Furthermore, he added that he needed a certain amount of time to let the French Government know in an appropriate manner what had happened. Welczek took cognizance of this but reminded Osusky, in order that there be no doubt about the matter, that the situation is completely clear and that Osusky bears full responsibility for his rejective attitude to surrender the embassy and its contents. Osusky, however , took exception and denied the accusation that he had taken a rejective stand on the matter. For the reason mentioned, he said, he simply could not surrender the embassy. On the second day (March 17), Welczek again contacted Osusky. This time Osusky admitted that he had received the directive from Prague but that he would have to discuss the situation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs which still regarded him as the responsible he.ad of the Czecho-Slovak :Ennbassy because it had not been informed about the new situation. Welczek retorted that he had informed the French Government in writing about the new situation and, therefore, Osusky should know what he is supposed to do. Osusky replied that he would go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then let the German Embassy know about the matter of surrendering his post. Dusk turned into darkness, but no report came from Osusky. Naturally, the Germans were becoming impatient. �SLOVAKIA 67 When they called Osusky' s office, they were told he was not in. Neither was his secretary. They decided then to visit Osusky's office. When they came to the building and found that it was heavily guarded by the French police, they left without further pursuing their mission. In the meantime, Cerny (the Czech Embassy's legal counsel) made an appearance at the German Embassy to report that he and the other personnel of the CzechoSlovak Embassy did not identify themselves with Osusky and that they told Osusky openly they did not agree with his position. Furthermore, when he told Osusky that he would let the Germans know how the personnel felt about the matter, Osusky replied that he could not prevent him needed time ( 1Cerny) from doing so, but that he (Osusky) to arrange his affairs before he surrendered the office. After that, according to Cerny, Osusky would be indifferent to what would happen. Cerny also assured the Germans that "tomorrow (March 18) , he would again tell Osusky that the embassy personnel urgently requests that he surrender the embassy to the Germans. But the Germans knew that Cerny meant little in the situation. If the French authorities are back of Osusky, the latter certainly would not be guided by what Cerny and the Czech Embassy personnel recommended. And there were signs that Osusky did have the backing of the French for his stand. Welczek r ecalled that the position of the French Foreign Ministry heralded nothing good when it was handed the notification of Hitler's decree. At that time C h a r v e r i a t, head of the political division of the French Foreign Ministry indicated that French official circles did not rgeard the situation as clear and consistent. Complications arose, Charveriat said, because the CzechoSlovak Embassy also represented Slovakia and Ruthenia, while the Germans made a Protectorate only of Bohemia and Moravia. The French Government, continued Charveriat, wishes therefore to carefully look into all the implications and devote proper attention to the position of the Czecho-.Slovak Embassy. Rushing matters would only increase the suspicion of the French, Charveriat concluded. The Germans answered that the French have no business �68 SLOVAKIA investigating this matter, because it concerns exclusively only Osusky and Welczek as the only representative of Germany. Encouraged by French assurances, Osusky stubbornly stood his ground. German hopes to take over the Czech Embassy faded. However, after (March 23) the 'DEMPS published a telegram in whioh Osusky sought the help of Herriot. It was obvious that the telegram was inspired by French circles. Osusky then told journalists (and the French press ga,ve this wide publicity) that he was remaining in the embassy to continue to represent the interests of his countrymen in France. The French Government then assured Osusky that it would continue to recogni2e him as tJhe accredited ambassador so that he could keep on looking after the interests of Czecho-,Slovakia. These interests, however, could not re 1 ate to the Czecho-S1ovak Republic which factually did not exist. 0susky could hold his position because there were some 50,000 former Czecho../Slovak citizens in France, the overwhelming majority of whom were Slovaks. They were concentrated in the environs of Paris, Strassburg, and Lille. How did Osusky protect their interests? By forcing them to join the Czecho-Slovak Legion! As a result of French action, the Germans were not even able to take over the Czech consulates in France. What happened with Cerny and the embassy personnel for whom he spoke? He changed his "line" after the publication of Osusky's telegram in the French press, so that everything and everybody at the Czecho-Slovak Embassy came into line with Osusky. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Peace Policy of the USSR - Our Alliance," is the theme of the lecture which will be delivered by Minister Dr. Hubert Ripka in the Prague Central Li:brary on Friday, October 31, 1947, at 7:30 P. M. The lecture is being sponsored by the Committee for the Celebration of the 30th Annirversary of the Revolution." (The Czech SVOBODNE SLOVO, 10-30-47). � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 65 STEPHEN OSUSKY AND MARCH 1939 Francis Vnuk The same day that German divisions entered Bohemia and Moravia (:M arch 15) and Hitler parked himself in the Hradcany, Weizsaeker, German State Secretary, sent a circular to all German foreign missions in countries, in which Czecho-:Slovakia had diplomatic representation, to be ready to take over Prague diplomatic services. Particularly, the persons concerned were to see to it that all political and secret material was safeguarded. Hitler made the matter public on March 16, 1939, and the Czec:h Foreign Minister Chvalkovsky issued instructions the same afternoon to the effect that all foreign offices of the Czecho-Slovak Republic ceased to function as such and were to ibe surrendered to the German foreign offices in the respective countries. We know that not all foreign representations of Prague followed Chvalkovsky's directive. The deciding factor here was not Chvalkovsky's order (after all he was only doing what the Germans wanted him to do), but the stand taken toward Germany by the respective countries. In neutral countries and those which sympathized with Germany, the order was carried out without complications. Not so, however, where the mood was anti-German. Chvalkovsky's order was thus ignored in Washington, London, Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, and in Santiago. In three instances the diplomats were of Slovak origin: V,l adimir Hurban in Washington, George Slavik in Warsaw, and Stephen Osusky in Paris. 'Dhe case of Stephen Osusky is most interesting and perhaps least known. We know what had happened in Warsaw and in Washington. But little or nothing about what had transpired in Paris at the time. Perhaps because of Osusky' s influence. Now, what did happen in Paris at the time? Welczek, the German Ambassador in Paris, did try to contact Osusky, though unsuccessfully, after he had received Weizsaecker's directive. Late in the afternoon of 1 66 SLOVAKIA March 16th, however, a member of the German Embassy (Braeuer) did contact Cerny of the Czecho-Slovak Embassy and explained the implication of Hitler's decree. Cerny was satisfied with Braeuer's explanation, but informed him - though he and the rest of the staff were ready to do what was asked of them - they could do nothing without Osusky, who, they said, still had no made up his mind on the matter. In the evening the Germans finaHy did get to Osusky by phone. Quirring, the German Embassy's legal counsel, first talked to him and later Welczek himself. Osusky took the stand that preliminarily he could not surrender the Embassy because he had learned about Hitler's proclamation, he said, only from the newspapers and officially he had nothing from Prague. Furthermore, he added that he needed a certain amount of time to let the French Government know in an appropriate manner what had happened. Welczek took cognizance of this but reminded Osusky, in order that there be no doubt about the matter, that the situation is completely clear and that Osusky bears full responsibility for his rejective attitude to surrender the embassy and its contents. Osusky, however , took exception and denied the accusation that he had taken a rejective stand on the matter. For the reason mentioned, he said, he simply could not surrender the embassy. On the second day (March 17), Welczek again contacted Osusky. This time Osusky admitted that he had received the directive from Prague but that he would have to discuss the situation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs which still regarded him as the responsible he.ad of the Czecho-Slovak :Ennbassy because it had not been informed about the new situation. Welczek retorted that he had informed the French Government in writing about the new situation and, therefore, Osusky should know what he is supposed to do. Osusky replied that he would go to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then let the German Embassy know about the matter of surrendering his post. Dusk turned into darkness, but no report came from Osusky. Naturally, the Germans were becoming impatient. SLOVAKIA 67 When they called Osusky' s office, they were told he was not in. Neither was his secretary. They decided then to visit Osusky's office. When they came to the building and found that it was heavily guarded by the French police, they left without further pursuing their mission. In the meantime, Cerny (the Czech Embassy's legal counsel) made an appearance at the German Embassy to report that he and the other personnel of the CzechoSlovak Embassy did not identify themselves with Osusky and that they told Osusky openly they did not agree with his position. Furthermore, when he told Osusky that he would let the Germans know how the personnel felt about the matter, Osusky replied that he could not prevent him needed time ( 1Cerny) from doing so, but that he (Osusky) to arrange his affairs before he surrendered the office. After that, according to Cerny, Osusky would be indifferent to what would happen. Cerny also assured the Germans that "tomorrow (March 18) , he would again tell Osusky that the embassy personnel urgently requests that he surrender the embassy to the Germans. But the Germans knew that Cerny meant little in the situation. If the French authorities are back of Osusky, the latter certainly would not be guided by what Cerny and the Czech Embassy personnel recommended. And there were signs that Osusky did have the backing of the French for his stand. Welczek r ecalled that the position of the French Foreign Ministry heralded nothing good when it was handed the notification of Hitler's decree. At that time C h a r v e r i a t, head of the political division of the French Foreign Ministry indicated that French official circles did not rgeard the situation as clear and consistent. Complications arose, Charveriat said, because the CzechoSlovak Embassy also represented Slovakia and Ruthenia, while the Germans made a Protectorate only of Bohemia and Moravia. The French Government, continued Charveriat, wishes therefore to carefully look into all the implications and devote proper attention to the position of the Czecho-.Slovak Embassy. Rushing matters would only increase the suspicion of the French, Charveriat concluded. The Germans answered that the French have no business 68 SLOVAKIA investigating this matter, because it concerns exclusively only Osusky and Welczek as the only representative of Germany. Encouraged by French assurances, Osusky stubbornly stood his ground. German hopes to take over the Czech Embassy faded. However, after (March 23) the 'DEMPS published a telegram in whioh Osusky sought the help of Herriot. It was obvious that the telegram was inspired by French circles. Osusky then told journalists (and the French press ga,ve this wide publicity) that he was remaining in the embassy to continue to represent the interests of his countrymen in France. The French Government then assured Osusky that it would continue to recogni2e him as tJhe accredited ambassador so that he could keep on looking after the interests of Czecho-,Slovakia. These interests, however, could not re 1 ate to the Czecho-S1ovak Republic which factually did not exist. 0susky could hold his position because there were some 50,000 former Czecho../Slovak citizens in France, the overwhelming majority of whom were Slovaks. They were concentrated in the environs of Paris, Strassburg, and Lille. How did Osusky protect their interests? By forcing them to join the Czecho-Slovak Legion! As a result of French action, the Germans were not even able to take over the Czech consulates in France. What happened with Cerny and the embassy personnel for whom he spoke? He changed his "line" after the publication of Osusky's telegram in the French press, so that everything and everybody at the Czecho-Slovak Embassy came into line with Osusky. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The Peace Policy of the USSR - Our Alliance," is the theme of the lecture which will be delivered by Minister Dr. Hubert Ripka in the Prague Central Li:brary on Friday, October 31, 1947, at 7:30 P. M. The lecture is being sponsored by the Committee for the Celebration of the 30th Annirversary of the Revolution." (The Czech SVOBODNE SLOVO, 10-30-47).  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 Stephen Osuský and March 1939 Description An account of the resource Francis Vnuk Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 65-68 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vnuk, František, 1926- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c6066799d2c648d30601272429b42647.pdf 191697fac20fdcca6f1a5954187f5822 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 69 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 Constantine Colen I have read Vnuk's article on Osusky in the Slovak press and believe it in the interest of historians to enlarge upon it, since I have quite a file on Osusky, the man who was delegated by the Slovak League of America to do a certain job for it in 1916 (to get the story in Europe of what was to be done with Austria-Hungary at the end of World War 1 and, particularly, to see what could be done to liberate the Slovaks from the hegemony of Budapest), but thusfar has failed to report his findings to the League. Now, how did Osusky, a Slovak who found favorwith T. G.Masaryk, protect the interests of his fellowSlovaks in France? Let me tell you how he tried to make cannon fodder of them for the French in the last war. After Germany attacked France, Osusky began to organize a new Czecho~Slovak army in France, knowing that some 50,000 Slovaks had settled there. In the years w:hen thousands upon thousands of Czechs poured into Slovakia to help the "backward, primitive" Slovaks, thousands upon thousands of Slovaks were forced to seek their bread in foreign lands. France was one of the countries where the Slovaks settled in larger numbers. Osusky was a politician who had two irons in th fire. Thus he began his political career, and thus he ended it. Whenever he made one of his rare appearences in Slovakia, his "homeland," Osusky would turn radical and make a speech on how the Slovaks were being mistreated by Prague. On to Prague he would then go and do some smooth explaining so that his Prague boss would not be angry with him. In the fall of 1938, Osusky same to Prague and sought the favor of the deputies of the Slovak People's Party. He delivered a long address to the Club of Deputies and Senators in which he did not treat Eduard Benes and Milan Hodza too kindly. Osusky was the protege of Masaryk, while Hodza, also of Slovak origin, was in favor with Benes. It was no secret that Osusky had hoped to become the Foreign Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. The address, how- �70 SLOVAKIA ever, fell short of its mark. After Osusky left the Club, Tiso, later President of the Slovak Republic, remarked amusingly: "The discharged maid came to complain about her mistress." The Populists agreed tha Hodza could answer Osusky in the Club. Hodza, however, let one of his friends answer Osusky. Osusky and the Czechs Stephen Osusky remained in Paris where he began to organize the "liberation" movement, but behind the scenes he was also opposed to Benes. With the Czechs under Benes, Osusky was a member of Benes's "Czecho-Slovak National Committee," and yet he intervened with French authorities so that Daladier would not accept Benes as the head of the movement. Benes was furious. And it was Benes who told an American correspondent that Osusky is a link between Daladier and the Habsburg Otto. As a result, Czech emigrants turned against Osusky, calling him a traitor, a contemptible man, and a careerist who had, they said, "thrown himself out of the liberation movement." Did France Betray Czecho-Slovakia? Osusky lived so long in France that he finally became a Frenchman in spirit. After Munich, leading Czech personalities unhesitatingly declared that France had betrayed Czecho-'Slovakia. When the Czechs and Slovaks in France let it be known that they felt the same way, the French Government warned Osusky that it had enough of such "bad conduct." Osusky replied publicly in the newspapers, berating his countrymen for their "unbecoming" conduct. "In one's awn home," Osusky said, "no one allows himself to be called a traitor. A traitor is an enemy. To call the French enemies and at the same time live among them and accept their hospitality, this is something that cannot be borne well. lt simply was not true," concluded Osusky, "and France is the Mother of our freedom and independence." The First "State Act" Of course, Osusky had to show his appreciation to the French Government for letting him keep the Czecho- �SLOVAKIA 71 Slovak Embassy. Fr-ance needed soldiers. There were thousands of Slovak workers in France, and Osusky gave them the choice of sacrificing themselves for France or going to a concentration camp. In his press, of course, 0susky said this "diplomatically" thusly: "Czecho-'Slovak citizens here in France have the right to think and to give expression to their thoughts. They have a right to look after their own livelihood and to care for their own welfare." A "Proclamation" form was then issued in Czech, which the Slovak and Czechs were supposed to sign and return to 0susky's office. This was to be proof that the men were signing up "voluntavily" and without reservations for a Czecho-Slovak army, and the women for whatever duties mig,ht be ,a ssigned to them by the Czecho-lSlovak Foreign Center. As one Slovak put it: "They are forcing us to die for something that is foreign but even this verdict of death cannot be published in Slovak, but in Czech!" The Slovaks in France· Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, was a center of Slovak national and cultural life. Over 1,000 Slovaks lived there. They were "stubborn" Slovaks, who would not be influenced by Czech or "Czechoslovak" propaganda. They had their own Slovak school. Prague tried unsuccessfuly to place a Czech teacher. Finally a Slovak was appointed. Of course, he was not an autonomist. All the Argenteuil Slovaks, however, backed the right of the Slovaks to autonomy, that is, to home rule or to states' rights. They never had any trouble with the French authorities before Germany invaded Bohemia and Moravia. But plenty after Benes, Jan Masaryk and other 0zech "patriots" with their Slovak helpers went into exile. 'Dhe cry went out to organize a "Czechoslovak" resistance. The chief problem was to organize an army in France. After months of agitation among the Slovaks, five volunteered to join the Czecho-:Slovak Legion in Fance. A roundup of Slovaks began; all capable of bearing arms were brought by the police to the Police Commissioner where they were ordered to sign up with the Czecho-Slovak Le- �72 SLOVAKIA gion. Excepting the five mentioned, all other refused to do so. Those that were citizens of France were willing to answer the call from the authorities when it was issued, but refused to sign up for the Czecho-Slovak Legion. The result was that some were jailed, while many others were placed in concentration camps at Rolland Garros, Buffalo Bill, and still others were relegated to forced labor on the Spanish frontier. Fathers of families were not excepted. Benes and Osusky had to have an army. The hapless Slovaks were then visited by agents of the Paris Czecho-Slovak Office who urged them to "get smart" and si•g n up for the Legion. The Slovaks. however, resisted stubbornly, asking: "for what?" Letters, sent to relatives in Slovakia, told of the suffering they undergo because they refused to fight against their brethren in Slovakia who had as much rig,ht to freedom and independence as Benes and his Czechs. Their attitude was like that of the French in Quebec, Canada. That is how they began to organize the Czecho-Slovak Legion in France. Much was said about it. Czech propaganda wrote about thousands and tens of thousands joining up "voluntarily and enthusiastically." The periodical "Cesko~Slovensky boj" (,T he Czecho-'S lovak Struggle) reported on the "Departure of our First Defenders": 160 men and ten officers under the command of Captain Kratky; three companies headed by two battalions. In the meantime Prchala and Snejdarek, both Czech Generals, were waiting for something to do. Osusky Vs. Benes After Slovakia proclaimed her independence on March 14, 1939, and the Czech lands were occupied by the Germans, it seemed that Osusky and Benes would become reconciled. In America Benes praised Osusky for organizing the new resistance movement in France. But Osusky apparently did not want to be a subordinate of Benes who had capitulated to Hitler at Munich. Backed by the French, who wanted Benes to lose himself, Osusky wanted the No. �73 SLOVAKIA 1 spot as far as Czecho-Slovak leadership abroad was concerned. On July 29, 1939, the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" published th€ July 10th resolution of "Osusky's countrymen" who had settled in Grand Combe, wherein they acknowledged the leadership of Osusky and expressed full confidence in him. The Ruthenians followed suit. Pamphlets sharply critical of Benes were circulated among the Slovaks in France. In his propaganda organ, Osusky began to write a bout the need of a new and different Czecho-Slovakia, unlike the old one. He said that generals who lost the war do have the obligation to continue working, but that they did not have any right at all to lead the Slovaks and Czechs into a new fight. He did not consider himself as one of the generals who lost the war. The new resistance, it was said, must be imbued with a new spirit and must be lead by new leaders (''Slovensky I:.ud" - Buenos Aires, May 18, 1939). 1 In the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" of June 10, 1939, he wrote about the situation and feelings of the Slovaks in Ozecho-Slovakia. "The fact is," Osusky said, "that many Slovaks do not believe in the ,l egal continuity of the CzeohoS1ovak Republic and in its restoration, because some Slovaks and Czechs threaten the Slovak with even a tougher and more ruthless centralism that the one they lived under for twenty years." Osusky recalled that he had protested against the policy followed in Slovakia. "I recall that in the fall of 1937, a year before the catastrophe," Osusky dec,Iared, "I had foretold in official places the end of the Republic if a radical change and improvement did not take place." Rigid centralism - the cause of so many quarrels between the Slovaks and Czechs - is hurried and dead, and "I hereby publicly state that I shall never agree to have the Slovak nation robbed of its sacred rights ... We are here concerned with the existence and the future of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," continued Osusky, and "whosoever threatens the Slovaks with centralism is an enemy of the restoration of the Republic. and that for the reason that without the Slovaks Czecho- �74 SLOVAKIA Slovakia cannot be and sha11 not be restored." Diplomatic double talk! Osusky in London After the fall of France, Osusky, like Hodza before him, was given the "Benes treatment" for faithful services rendered: first he was vilified and then dropped. Among other things, Benes and his political entourage accused 0susky of: using :State finances for "other purposes;" sabota·g ing the evacuation of Czecho-Slovaks from France; helping Hitler to divide the "Ozechoslovak nation" even before Munich; favoring French policy in Munich; and repudiating the "president's" conception of the second resistance movement, according to which Benes was still president of Czecho~Slovakia which legally did not cease to exist, and Benes, therefore is "the sole source of constitutional rights and State sovereignty of Masaryk's f.irst Republic." The Czech press in America, which up to that time wrote highly of Osusky and his "occomplishments," now turned against him. Osusky now became a Habsburg monarchist, a reactionary, a collaborator of Germans, and declared that he must never be allowed to return to "liberated" Czecho-'Slovakia. In his MEMOIDS, Benes referred to ()Busky and others as "malcontents who, when they wanted to extort something for their personal benefit, used to threaten or attack me (sometimes with extreme lack of decency or political propriety" (p. 1'21). Benes expe1led Osusky from his London "government-in-exile" in March, 1942, stating, however, that Osusky had "resigned." "But I did not resign," Osusky hurried to reply, "I was simply dismissed." Not being able to get his side of the story to the West, Osusky published several pamphlets to exonerate himself and indict Benes and his "illegal" political clique. As far as Osusky was concerned, "Dr. Edward Benes had resigned from the office of president of the Czecllo-,Slovak Republic," and Dr. EmH Ha.cha was elected according to the Constitution in his stead and, therefore, "legally and in fact Dr. Edward Benes ceased to ·b e president of the Ozecho-Slovak Republic." Benes, however, had the right connections in London and Washington. In the end he, and not Osusky, prevailed. �SLOVAKIA 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe, � SLOVAKIA 69 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 Constantine Colen I have read Vnuk's article on Osusky in the Slovak press and believe it in the interest of historians to enlarge upon it, since I have quite a file on Osusky, the man who was delegated by the Slovak League of America to do a certain job for it in 1916 (to get the story in Europe of what was to be done with Austria-Hungary at the end of World War 1 and, particularly, to see what could be done to liberate the Slovaks from the hegemony of Budapest), but thusfar has failed to report his findings to the League. Now, how did Osusky, a Slovak who found favorwith T. G.Masaryk, protect the interests of his fellowSlovaks in France? Let me tell you how he tried to make cannon fodder of them for the French in the last war. After Germany attacked France, Osusky began to organize a new Czecho~Slovak army in France, knowing that some 50,000 Slovaks had settled there. In the years w:hen thousands upon thousands of Czechs poured into Slovakia to help the "backward, primitive" Slovaks, thousands upon thousands of Slovaks were forced to seek their bread in foreign lands. France was one of the countries where the Slovaks settled in larger numbers. Osusky was a politician who had two irons in th fire. Thus he began his political career, and thus he ended it. Whenever he made one of his rare appearences in Slovakia, his "homeland," Osusky would turn radical and make a speech on how the Slovaks were being mistreated by Prague. On to Prague he would then go and do some smooth explaining so that his Prague boss would not be angry with him. In the fall of 1938, Osusky same to Prague and sought the favor of the deputies of the Slovak People's Party. He delivered a long address to the Club of Deputies and Senators in which he did not treat Eduard Benes and Milan Hodza too kindly. Osusky was the protege of Masaryk, while Hodza, also of Slovak origin, was in favor with Benes. It was no secret that Osusky had hoped to become the Foreign Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. The address, how- �70 SLOVAKIA ever, fell short of its mark. After Osusky left the Club, Tiso, later President of the Slovak Republic, remarked amusingly: "The discharged maid came to complain about her mistress." The Populists agreed tha Hodza could answer Osusky in the Club. Hodza, however, let one of his friends answer Osusky. Osusky and the Czechs Stephen Osusky remained in Paris where he began to organize the "liberation" movement, but behind the scenes he was also opposed to Benes. With the Czechs under Benes, Osusky was a member of Benes's "Czecho-Slovak National Committee," and yet he intervened with French authorities so that Daladier would not accept Benes as the head of the movement. Benes was furious. And it was Benes who told an American correspondent that Osusky is a link between Daladier and the Habsburg Otto. As a result, Czech emigrants turned against Osusky, calling him a traitor, a contemptible man, and a careerist who had, they said, "thrown himself out of the liberation movement." Did France Betray Czecho-Slovakia? Osusky lived so long in France that he finally became a Frenchman in spirit. After Munich, leading Czech personalities unhesitatingly declared that France had betrayed Czecho-'Slovakia. When the Czechs and Slovaks in France let it be known that they felt the same way, the French Government warned Osusky that it had enough of such "bad conduct." Osusky replied publicly in the newspapers, berating his countrymen for their "unbecoming" conduct. "In one's awn home," Osusky said, "no one allows himself to be called a traitor. A traitor is an enemy. To call the French enemies and at the same time live among them and accept their hospitality, this is something that cannot be borne well. lt simply was not true," concluded Osusky, "and France is the Mother of our freedom and independence." The First "State Act" Of course, Osusky had to show his appreciation to the French Government for letting him keep the Czecho- �SLOVAKIA 71 Slovak Embassy. Fr-ance needed soldiers. There were thousands of Slovak workers in France, and Osusky gave them the choice of sacrificing themselves for France or going to a concentration camp. In his press, of course, 0susky said this "diplomatically" thusly: "Czecho-'Slovak citizens here in France have the right to think and to give expression to their thoughts. They have a right to look after their own livelihood and to care for their own welfare." A "Proclamation" form was then issued in Czech, which the Slovak and Czechs were supposed to sign and return to 0susky's office. This was to be proof that the men were signing up "voluntavily" and without reservations for a Czecho-Slovak army, and the women for whatever duties mig,ht be ,a ssigned to them by the Czecho-lSlovak Foreign Center. As one Slovak put it: "They are forcing us to die for something that is foreign but even this verdict of death cannot be published in Slovak, but in Czech!" The Slovaks in France· Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, was a center of Slovak national and cultural life. Over 1,000 Slovaks lived there. They were "stubborn" Slovaks, who would not be influenced by Czech or "Czechoslovak" propaganda. They had their own Slovak school. Prague tried unsuccessfuly to place a Czech teacher. Finally a Slovak was appointed. Of course, he was not an autonomist. All the Argenteuil Slovaks, however, backed the right of the Slovaks to autonomy, that is, to home rule or to states' rights. They never had any trouble with the French authorities before Germany invaded Bohemia and Moravia. But plenty after Benes, Jan Masaryk and other 0zech "patriots" with their Slovak helpers went into exile. 'Dhe cry went out to organize a "Czechoslovak" resistance. The chief problem was to organize an army in France. After months of agitation among the Slovaks, five volunteered to join the Czecho-:Slovak Legion in Fance. A roundup of Slovaks began; all capable of bearing arms were brought by the police to the Police Commissioner where they were ordered to sign up with the Czecho-Slovak Le- �72 SLOVAKIA gion. Excepting the five mentioned, all other refused to do so. Those that were citizens of France were willing to answer the call from the authorities when it was issued, but refused to sign up for the Czecho-Slovak Legion. The result was that some were jailed, while many others were placed in concentration camps at Rolland Garros, Buffalo Bill, and still others were relegated to forced labor on the Spanish frontier. Fathers of families were not excepted. Benes and Osusky had to have an army. The hapless Slovaks were then visited by agents of the Paris Czecho-Slovak Office who urged them to "get smart" and si•g n up for the Legion. The Slovaks. however, resisted stubbornly, asking: "for what?" Letters, sent to relatives in Slovakia, told of the suffering they undergo because they refused to fight against their brethren in Slovakia who had as much rig,ht to freedom and independence as Benes and his Czechs. Their attitude was like that of the French in Quebec, Canada. That is how they began to organize the Czecho-Slovak Legion in France. Much was said about it. Czech propaganda wrote about thousands and tens of thousands joining up "voluntarily and enthusiastically." The periodical "Cesko~Slovensky boj" (,T he Czecho-'S lovak Struggle) reported on the "Departure of our First Defenders": 160 men and ten officers under the command of Captain Kratky; three companies headed by two battalions. In the meantime Prchala and Snejdarek, both Czech Generals, were waiting for something to do. Osusky Vs. Benes After Slovakia proclaimed her independence on March 14, 1939, and the Czech lands were occupied by the Germans, it seemed that Osusky and Benes would become reconciled. In America Benes praised Osusky for organizing the new resistance movement in France. But Osusky apparently did not want to be a subordinate of Benes who had capitulated to Hitler at Munich. Backed by the French, who wanted Benes to lose himself, Osusky wanted the No. �73 SLOVAKIA 1 spot as far as Czecho-Slovak leadership abroad was concerned. On July 29, 1939, the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" published th€ July 10th resolution of "Osusky's countrymen" who had settled in Grand Combe, wherein they acknowledged the leadership of Osusky and expressed full confidence in him. The Ruthenians followed suit. Pamphlets sharply critical of Benes were circulated among the Slovaks in France. In his propaganda organ, Osusky began to write a bout the need of a new and different Czecho-Slovakia, unlike the old one. He said that generals who lost the war do have the obligation to continue working, but that they did not have any right at all to lead the Slovaks and Czechs into a new fight. He did not consider himself as one of the generals who lost the war. The new resistance, it was said, must be imbued with a new spirit and must be lead by new leaders (''Slovensky I:.ud" - Buenos Aires, May 18, 1939). 1 In the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" of June 10, 1939, he wrote about the situation and feelings of the Slovaks in Ozecho-Slovakia. "The fact is," Osusky said, "that many Slovaks do not believe in the ,l egal continuity of the CzeohoS1ovak Republic and in its restoration, because some Slovaks and Czechs threaten the Slovak with even a tougher and more ruthless centralism that the one they lived under for twenty years." Osusky recalled that he had protested against the policy followed in Slovakia. "I recall that in the fall of 1937, a year before the catastrophe," Osusky dec,Iared, "I had foretold in official places the end of the Republic if a radical change and improvement did not take place." Rigid centralism - the cause of so many quarrels between the Slovaks and Czechs - is hurried and dead, and "I hereby publicly state that I shall never agree to have the Slovak nation robbed of its sacred rights ... We are here concerned with the existence and the future of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," continued Osusky, and "whosoever threatens the Slovaks with centralism is an enemy of the restoration of the Republic. and that for the reason that without the Slovaks Czecho- �74 SLOVAKIA Slovakia cannot be and sha11 not be restored." Diplomatic double talk! Osusky in London After the fall of France, Osusky, like Hodza before him, was given the "Benes treatment" for faithful services rendered: first he was vilified and then dropped. Among other things, Benes and his political entourage accused 0susky of: using :State finances for "other purposes;" sabota·g ing the evacuation of Czecho-Slovaks from France; helping Hitler to divide the "Ozechoslovak nation" even before Munich; favoring French policy in Munich; and repudiating the "president's" conception of the second resistance movement, according to which Benes was still president of Czecho~Slovakia which legally did not cease to exist, and Benes, therefore is "the sole source of constitutional rights and State sovereignty of Masaryk's f.irst Republic." The Czech press in America, which up to that time wrote highly of Osusky and his "occomplishments," now turned against him. Osusky now became a Habsburg monarchist, a reactionary, a collaborator of Germans, and declared that he must never be allowed to return to "liberated" Czecho-'Slovakia. In his MEMOIDS, Benes referred to ()Busky and others as "malcontents who, when they wanted to extort something for their personal benefit, used to threaten or attack me (sometimes with extreme lack of decency or political propriety" (p. 1'21). Benes expe1led Osusky from his London "government-in-exile" in March, 1942, stating, however, that Osusky had "resigned." "But I did not resign," Osusky hurried to reply, "I was simply dismissed." Not being able to get his side of the story to the West, Osusky published several pamphlets to exonerate himself and indict Benes and his "illegal" political clique. As far as Osusky was concerned, "Dr. Edward Benes had resigned from the office of president of the Czecllo-,Slovak Republic," and Dr. EmH Ha.cha was elected according to the Constitution in his stead and, therefore, "legally and in fact Dr. Edward Benes ceased to ·b e president of the Ozecho-Slovak Republic." Benes, however, had the right connections in London and Washington. In the end he, and not Osusky, prevailed. �SLOVAKIA 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe, � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 69 OSUSKY AFTER MARCH 14, 1939 Constantine Colen I have read Vnuk's article on Osusky in the Slovak press and believe it in the interest of historians to enlarge upon it, since I have quite a file on Osusky, the man who was delegated by the Slovak League of America to do a certain job for it in 1916 (to get the story in Europe of what was to be done with Austria-Hungary at the end of World War 1 and, particularly, to see what could be done to liberate the Slovaks from the hegemony of Budapest), but thusfar has failed to report his findings to the League. Now, how did Osusky, a Slovak who found favorwith T. G.Masaryk, protect the interests of his fellowSlovaks in France? Let me tell you how he tried to make cannon fodder of them for the French in the last war. After Germany attacked France, Osusky began to organize a new Czecho~Slovak army in France, knowing that some 50,000 Slovaks had settled there. In the years w:hen thousands upon thousands of Czechs poured into Slovakia to help the "backward, primitive" Slovaks, thousands upon thousands of Slovaks were forced to seek their bread in foreign lands. France was one of the countries where the Slovaks settled in larger numbers. Osusky was a politician who had two irons in th fire. Thus he began his political career, and thus he ended it. Whenever he made one of his rare appearences in Slovakia, his "homeland," Osusky would turn radical and make a speech on how the Slovaks were being mistreated by Prague. On to Prague he would then go and do some smooth explaining so that his Prague boss would not be angry with him. In the fall of 1938, Osusky same to Prague and sought the favor of the deputies of the Slovak People's Party. He delivered a long address to the Club of Deputies and Senators in which he did not treat Eduard Benes and Milan Hodza too kindly. Osusky was the protege of Masaryk, while Hodza, also of Slovak origin, was in favor with Benes. It was no secret that Osusky had hoped to become the Foreign Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. The address, how- 70 SLOVAKIA ever, fell short of its mark. After Osusky left the Club, Tiso, later President of the Slovak Republic, remarked amusingly: "The discharged maid came to complain about her mistress." The Populists agreed tha Hodza could answer Osusky in the Club. Hodza, however, let one of his friends answer Osusky. Osusky and the Czechs Stephen Osusky remained in Paris where he began to organize the "liberation" movement, but behind the scenes he was also opposed to Benes. With the Czechs under Benes, Osusky was a member of Benes's "Czecho-Slovak National Committee," and yet he intervened with French authorities so that Daladier would not accept Benes as the head of the movement. Benes was furious. And it was Benes who told an American correspondent that Osusky is a link between Daladier and the Habsburg Otto. As a result, Czech emigrants turned against Osusky, calling him a traitor, a contemptible man, and a careerist who had, they said, "thrown himself out of the liberation movement." Did France Betray Czecho-Slovakia? Osusky lived so long in France that he finally became a Frenchman in spirit. After Munich, leading Czech personalities unhesitatingly declared that France had betrayed Czecho-'Slovakia. When the Czechs and Slovaks in France let it be known that they felt the same way, the French Government warned Osusky that it had enough of such "bad conduct." Osusky replied publicly in the newspapers, berating his countrymen for their "unbecoming" conduct. "In one's awn home," Osusky said, "no one allows himself to be called a traitor. A traitor is an enemy. To call the French enemies and at the same time live among them and accept their hospitality, this is something that cannot be borne well. lt simply was not true," concluded Osusky, "and France is the Mother of our freedom and independence." The First "State Act" Of course, Osusky had to show his appreciation to the French Government for letting him keep the Czecho- SLOVAKIA 71 Slovak Embassy. Fr-ance needed soldiers. There were thousands of Slovak workers in France, and Osusky gave them the choice of sacrificing themselves for France or going to a concentration camp. In his press, of course, 0susky said this "diplomatically" thusly: "Czecho-'Slovak citizens here in France have the right to think and to give expression to their thoughts. They have a right to look after their own livelihood and to care for their own welfare." A "Proclamation" form was then issued in Czech, which the Slovak and Czechs were supposed to sign and return to 0susky's office. This was to be proof that the men were signing up "voluntavily" and without reservations for a Czecho-Slovak army, and the women for whatever duties mig,ht be ,a ssigned to them by the Czecho-lSlovak Foreign Center. As one Slovak put it: "They are forcing us to die for something that is foreign but even this verdict of death cannot be published in Slovak, but in Czech!" The Slovaks in France· Argenteuil, a suburb of Paris, was a center of Slovak national and cultural life. Over 1,000 Slovaks lived there. They were "stubborn" Slovaks, who would not be influenced by Czech or "Czechoslovak" propaganda. They had their own Slovak school. Prague tried unsuccessfuly to place a Czech teacher. Finally a Slovak was appointed. Of course, he was not an autonomist. All the Argenteuil Slovaks, however, backed the right of the Slovaks to autonomy, that is, to home rule or to states' rights. They never had any trouble with the French authorities before Germany invaded Bohemia and Moravia. But plenty after Benes, Jan Masaryk and other 0zech "patriots" with their Slovak helpers went into exile. 'Dhe cry went out to organize a "Czechoslovak" resistance. The chief problem was to organize an army in France. After months of agitation among the Slovaks, five volunteered to join the Czecho-:Slovak Legion in Fance. A roundup of Slovaks began; all capable of bearing arms were brought by the police to the Police Commissioner where they were ordered to sign up with the Czecho-Slovak Le- 72 SLOVAKIA gion. Excepting the five mentioned, all other refused to do so. Those that were citizens of France were willing to answer the call from the authorities when it was issued, but refused to sign up for the Czecho-Slovak Legion. The result was that some were jailed, while many others were placed in concentration camps at Rolland Garros, Buffalo Bill, and still others were relegated to forced labor on the Spanish frontier. Fathers of families were not excepted. Benes and Osusky had to have an army. The hapless Slovaks were then visited by agents of the Paris Czecho-Slovak Office who urged them to "get smart" and si•g n up for the Legion. The Slovaks. however, resisted stubbornly, asking: "for what?" Letters, sent to relatives in Slovakia, told of the suffering they undergo because they refused to fight against their brethren in Slovakia who had as much rig,ht to freedom and independence as Benes and his Czechs. Their attitude was like that of the French in Quebec, Canada. That is how they began to organize the Czecho-Slovak Legion in France. Much was said about it. Czech propaganda wrote about thousands and tens of thousands joining up "voluntarily and enthusiastically." The periodical "Cesko~Slovensky boj" (,T he Czecho-'S lovak Struggle) reported on the "Departure of our First Defenders": 160 men and ten officers under the command of Captain Kratky; three companies headed by two battalions. In the meantime Prchala and Snejdarek, both Czech Generals, were waiting for something to do. Osusky Vs. Benes After Slovakia proclaimed her independence on March 14, 1939, and the Czech lands were occupied by the Germans, it seemed that Osusky and Benes would become reconciled. In America Benes praised Osusky for organizing the new resistance movement in France. But Osusky apparently did not want to be a subordinate of Benes who had capitulated to Hitler at Munich. Backed by the French, who wanted Benes to lose himself, Osusky wanted the No. 73 SLOVAKIA 1 spot as far as Czecho-Slovak leadership abroad was concerned. On July 29, 1939, the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" published th€ July 10th resolution of "Osusky's countrymen" who had settled in Grand Combe, wherein they acknowledged the leadership of Osusky and expressed full confidence in him. The Ruthenians followed suit. Pamphlets sharply critical of Benes were circulated among the Slovaks in France. In his propaganda organ, Osusky began to write a bout the need of a new and different Czecho-Slovakia, unlike the old one. He said that generals who lost the war do have the obligation to continue working, but that they did not have any right at all to lead the Slovaks and Czechs into a new fight. He did not consider himself as one of the generals who lost the war. The new resistance, it was said, must be imbued with a new spirit and must be lead by new leaders (''Slovensky I:.ud" - Buenos Aires, May 18, 1939). 1 In the "Cesko-Slovensky Boj" of June 10, 1939, he wrote about the situation and feelings of the Slovaks in Ozecho-Slovakia. "The fact is," Osusky said, "that many Slovaks do not believe in the ,l egal continuity of the CzeohoS1ovak Republic and in its restoration, because some Slovaks and Czechs threaten the Slovak with even a tougher and more ruthless centralism that the one they lived under for twenty years." Osusky recalled that he had protested against the policy followed in Slovakia. "I recall that in the fall of 1937, a year before the catastrophe," Osusky dec,Iared, "I had foretold in official places the end of the Republic if a radical change and improvement did not take place." Rigid centralism - the cause of so many quarrels between the Slovaks and Czechs - is hurried and dead, and "I hereby publicly state that I shall never agree to have the Slovak nation robbed of its sacred rights ... We are here concerned with the existence and the future of the Czecho-Slovak Republic," continued Osusky, and "whosoever threatens the Slovaks with centralism is an enemy of the restoration of the Republic. and that for the reason that without the Slovaks Czecho- 74 SLOVAKIA Slovakia cannot be and sha11 not be restored." Diplomatic double talk! Osusky in London After the fall of France, Osusky, like Hodza before him, was given the "Benes treatment" for faithful services rendered: first he was vilified and then dropped. Among other things, Benes and his political entourage accused 0susky of: using :State finances for "other purposes;" sabota·g ing the evacuation of Czecho-Slovaks from France; helping Hitler to divide the "Ozechoslovak nation" even before Munich; favoring French policy in Munich; and repudiating the "president's" conception of the second resistance movement, according to which Benes was still president of Czecho~Slovakia which legally did not cease to exist, and Benes, therefore is "the sole source of constitutional rights and State sovereignty of Masaryk's f.irst Republic." The Czech press in America, which up to that time wrote highly of Osusky and his "occomplishments," now turned against him. Osusky now became a Habsburg monarchist, a reactionary, a collaborator of Germans, and declared that he must never be allowed to return to "liberated" Czecho-'Slovakia. In his MEMOIDS, Benes referred to ()Busky and others as "malcontents who, when they wanted to extort something for their personal benefit, used to threaten or attack me (sometimes with extreme lack of decency or political propriety" (p. 1'21). Benes expe1led Osusky from his London "government-in-exile" in March, 1942, stating, however, that Osusky had "resigned." "But I did not resign," Osusky hurried to reply, "I was simply dismissed." Not being able to get his side of the story to the West, Osusky published several pamphlets to exonerate himself and indict Benes and his "illegal" political clique. As far as Osusky was concerned, "Dr. Edward Benes had resigned from the office of president of the Czecllo-,Slovak Republic," and Dr. EmH Ha.cha was elected according to the Constitution in his stead and, therefore, "legally and in fact Dr. Edward Benes ceased to ·b e president of the Ozecho-Slovak Republic." Benes, however, had the right connections in London and Washington. In the end he, and not Osusky, prevailed. SLOVAKIA 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe,  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 Osuský After March 14, 1939 Description An account of the resource Constantine Čulen Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 69-75 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Čulen, Konštantín, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ea7114ef5ca7fee82566ca0db869e3bb.pdf 9b1864922378b5efa3e619289ee3e3ac PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe, �76 SLOVAKIA but also that of the cultural life. Christianity changed and ennobled the character of the medieval man who learned to realize that his life's goal was the salvation of his immortal soul. The religious spirit of the medieval person knew how to suffer the difficulties and miseries of this life patiently, because he understood that it was in this valley of tears that he prepared for eternal life. The Christian concept of life elevated the human spirit to God and gave medieval culture a special character. Christian culture of the Middle Ages attained its full development in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries and found beautiful expression in the creative arts in the Gothic style of architecture. In the beginning the Church was the only organization which fostered culture, the sciences and the arts, educated youth in its ,p arish, capitulary and monastery schools, and also collected rich treasures of artistic creations in its churches. Later, especially from the thirteneth century on, knights became a significant factor in the cultural life of Europe. They endeavored to excell not only in military accomplishments, but also in Christian virtues. From the fourteenth century the cities became important centers of progress, both cultural and spiritual. Slovakia, because of her geogrruphical position, came under the strong influence of the cultural movements, which swept across Central Europe from the second half of the thirteenth century. In Slovakia, Gothic culture reached a high degree of perfection and beauty in 1:!he fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and its final offshoots extend to the sixteenth century. Artistic works, which have been preserved from those times in Slovakia, are proof that cultural life there developed somewhat belatedly, but in its maturity did not remain behind the cultural devel'o pment of Central Europe. As everywhere in Europe, so in Slovakia, the first and only centers of culture were the monasteries and other ecclesiastical institutions. Supported generously by the royalty and the nobility, they performed not only a religious, but also a highly worthy cultural mission. �SLOVAKIA 77 Besides the old abbeys of the Benedictine Order, which originated in Slovaki'a before the inva:sion of the Turks, a large number of monasteries and churches of the Order of St. Francis a:nd of the Preachers of St. Dominic were founded in the cities of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Franciscans came from Italy and the Dominicans from Spain. The Premonstratensi'ans and Cistercians originated in France and founded their first monasteries in Slovakia outside the cities. Not only beautiful churches, but also artshops, trade shops and libraries sprang up near all these institutions. To some of these monasteries and chapters the king granted the right of issuing, transcribing and clarifying documents. Such monasteries were called "trustworthy" places. In Slovakia the following enjoyed· that privilege: the Chapters in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis; the Benedictine abbey of St. Benedict near the Hron, the Premonstratensian monastery in Klastor-pod-Znievom and in Jasov. Archives originated in these abbeys in which records, various literary works and documents were deposited. When the Anjous came to the throne in Hungary, and the Luxemburgs to the throne in Bohemia, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, higher western European culture came to Central Europe, which in a twofold way penetrated into the territory of Slovakia. In those times Knighthood developed in Central Europe which with its higher culture and refined morals enlightened and edified the masses of the people. Slovak nobility soon adopted the manner of life of the knights, even to the extent of replacing wooden palisades and fortresses with strong stone citadels with moats, towers and bastions. These castles of the knights, often built on high a:nd impregnable rocks, were not only strongholds, but also witnesses of the active life of the knights. Among the owners of these castles were many Slova:k knights, as it attested to by Slovak names of many citadels Strecno, Lietava, Likava, Vrsatec, Lednica, Hrusov, Hricov, Blatnica, Krasna Horka, etc. Later, rich mining a:nd commercial towns became the most significant centers of culture. The inhabitants of the cities had more of a mind for cultural interests than the �78 SLOVAKIA agricultural inhabitants of the villages. This undoubtedly was due to the influence of their occupation and their economic condition. The German settlers of Slovak cities maintained contacts with their fatherland and its higher culture. This "city" culture made itself manifest not only in the city itself, in the architecture of urban homes and public buildings, but also in the life of the people in general. The city dwellers, as merchants and artisans, came into contact with near and distant lands, and adopted the more progressive ways of living. In the cities there were schools (in Bratislava and in Spisska Kapitula already in the thirteenth century), and foreign artisans and artists came to the cities to build and decorate civic structures, especially the parish churches. At fuat time several universities were set up in Central Europe after the pattern of the University of Paris. These universities (Prague, 1348; Cracow, 1364; Vienna, 1365) were also attended by students from Slovakia, because the first Hungarian university founded ·b y Louis the Great in Patikostoly in 1367, had closed its doors. Some of them won high academic honors and became professors at these universities. In this way Slovakia was in contact with higher European culture, the centers of which were the universities. But most striking is the participation of Slovakia in the contemporary cultural trends in the field of creative art. Gothic art, as it developed in France, Germany and Italy, ex,pressed the loftiness of the Christian spirit which .frees itself from the earth and soars into the heights. This idea received expression especially in the building of Gothic churches, which with their height, ease and gracefulness rose high above the surroundings and elevated the thoughts of the believing man to God. This style was adopted in Slovakia already in the middle of the thirteenth century and, in the church structures, blended with the final echoes of the Romanesque style. An example of early Gothic architecture has been preserved in Slovakia in the church of the former prepositure of Turiec, in Klastor-pod-Z nievom (The Monastery-be neathZniev), built about 1260. The Franciscan church in Brati- �SLOVAKIA 79 slava and the Dominican church in Kosice were built at the end of the thirteenth century. Many imposing Gothic churches were erected in the fourteenth century in the thriving cities of Slovakia, among them the parish churches in Bratislava, Levoca, Trnava, Bardejov, Presov, and, especially, St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Kosice. Beautiful Gothic temples of worsmp were also con,rtructed in the Spis region and the mining cities of Central Slovakia. The Gothic churches of the Slovak monasteries at St. Beiiadik, Mariatal, Oko1icne, and the church of the Red Monastery ( Cerveny Klastor) date from that time. Vienna and Prague strongly influenced the development of Gothic art in western Slovakia, while Bratislava and Cracow influenced its growth in Central and Eastern Slovakia. Besides the great and imposing Gothic churches of the cities, there arose in Slovakia a large number of small village churches, which even in their simplicity and artistic modesty attest that Gothic culture penetrated deeply into medieval Slovakia arrd left many relics there. While the city churches were, as a rule, designed and built by foreign architects, the small village churches were generally designed and built by native masters, who had adopted the structural characteristics of the Gothic .style of architecture. Besides the ecclesiastical edifices of the city, the medieval castles which ornament the peaks of Slovak mountains are also counted among the relics of Gothic art. Hardly anywhere in Central Europe are there as many castles as in Slovakia. Even this circumstance proves that Slovakia participated in the contemporary growth of Europe. Some of these castles because of their location, size, and structure, are outstanding souvenirs of Gothic architecture. The majority of these castles already has succumbed to the ha:rmful influence of time, but even in the ruins some Gothic gates, windows, high vaults and arches have been preserved in Bratislava, Zvolen, Vigfas, Strecno, Trencin, Orava and Spis. Only a few Gothic homes have been preserved in the cities, because they had to be removed to make way for newer building developments in later centuries. Remnants �80 SLOVAKIA of ancient municipal buildings, city fortifications and Gothic homes are rare; only in Bratislava has, a portion of the ancient City Hall been preserved, while Levoca still has a part of its old city wall and a part of a Gothic home. Several examples of stone decorations have also been preserved; especially the reliefs on the portals of the church in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Spisska Nova Ves and Kosice. Woodcarving reached a high degree of perfection in Slovakia and many wooden statues of the Madonna, St. Barbara and St. Catherine have been preserved in Spis and :in the mining towns. The wing altars of the churches of Spis, Saris and other eastern cities, are among the most valuable memorials of Gothic art in Slova!kia. Some wing altars have also been preserved in Banska Bystrica, Stiavnica and other parts of Slovakia. An outstanding woodcarver of that time was Master Paul of Levoca, who made the beautiful altar of the Nativity in Bardejov and the main altar in St. Jacob's church in Levoca. The apprentices of this master artist of Levoca decorated the churches in Spis with remarkable wood-carvings. The development of Gothic painting was subject to several influences. In southern Slovakia, where Gothic frescoes were preserved in Chyzne and Stitnik, the Italian influence predominated. In western Slovakia the Italian style came 'by way of neighboring Austria, while Gothic painting developed in eastern Slovakia under the influence of Silesia. Besides mural frescoes ( the oldest painting in the Spisska Krupitula depicts the coronation of Charles Robert and dates back to 1317), many framed paintings on the wing altars have been preserved. E~amples of high artistic workmanship, especially religious articles ( chalices, monstrances, crucifixes, Mass vestments, etc.) have been preserved in many parish and monastery churches. Many of these relics originated in Slovak workshops which also exported their products. In Spis bells were poured for churches in Poland. This great wealth of mementos from the Gothic period shows clearly that Slovakia lived a rich cultural life from the 13th to the 15th century and did not remain behind neighboring cultured countries in the field of creative arts . � SLOVAKIA 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe, �76 SLOVAKIA but also that of the cultural life. Christianity changed and ennobled the character of the medieval man who learned to realize that his life's goal was the salvation of his immortal soul. The religious spirit of the medieval person knew how to suffer the difficulties and miseries of this life patiently, because he understood that it was in this valley of tears that he prepared for eternal life. The Christian concept of life elevated the human spirit to God and gave medieval culture a special character. Christian culture of the Middle Ages attained its full development in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries and found beautiful expression in the creative arts in the Gothic style of architecture. In the beginning the Church was the only organization which fostered culture, the sciences and the arts, educated youth in its ,p arish, capitulary and monastery schools, and also collected rich treasures of artistic creations in its churches. Later, especially from the thirteneth century on, knights became a significant factor in the cultural life of Europe. They endeavored to excell not only in military accomplishments, but also in Christian virtues. From the fourteenth century the cities became important centers of progress, both cultural and spiritual. Slovakia, because of her geogrruphical position, came under the strong influence of the cultural movements, which swept across Central Europe from the second half of the thirteenth century. In Slovakia, Gothic culture reached a high degree of perfection and beauty in 1:!he fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and its final offshoots extend to the sixteenth century. Artistic works, which have been preserved from those times in Slovakia, are proof that cultural life there developed somewhat belatedly, but in its maturity did not remain behind the cultural devel'o pment of Central Europe. As everywhere in Europe, so in Slovakia, the first and only centers of culture were the monasteries and other ecclesiastical institutions. Supported generously by the royalty and the nobility, they performed not only a religious, but also a highly worthy cultural mission. �SLOVAKIA 77 Besides the old abbeys of the Benedictine Order, which originated in Slovaki'a before the inva:sion of the Turks, a large number of monasteries and churches of the Order of St. Francis a:nd of the Preachers of St. Dominic were founded in the cities of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Franciscans came from Italy and the Dominicans from Spain. The Premonstratensi'ans and Cistercians originated in France and founded their first monasteries in Slovakia outside the cities. Not only beautiful churches, but also artshops, trade shops and libraries sprang up near all these institutions. To some of these monasteries and chapters the king granted the right of issuing, transcribing and clarifying documents. Such monasteries were called "trustworthy" places. In Slovakia the following enjoyed· that privilege: the Chapters in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis; the Benedictine abbey of St. Benedict near the Hron, the Premonstratensian monastery in Klastor-pod-Znievom and in Jasov. Archives originated in these abbeys in which records, various literary works and documents were deposited. When the Anjous came to the throne in Hungary, and the Luxemburgs to the throne in Bohemia, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, higher western European culture came to Central Europe, which in a twofold way penetrated into the territory of Slovakia. In those times Knighthood developed in Central Europe which with its higher culture and refined morals enlightened and edified the masses of the people. Slovak nobility soon adopted the manner of life of the knights, even to the extent of replacing wooden palisades and fortresses with strong stone citadels with moats, towers and bastions. These castles of the knights, often built on high a:nd impregnable rocks, were not only strongholds, but also witnesses of the active life of the knights. Among the owners of these castles were many Slova:k knights, as it attested to by Slovak names of many citadels Strecno, Lietava, Likava, Vrsatec, Lednica, Hrusov, Hricov, Blatnica, Krasna Horka, etc. Later, rich mining a:nd commercial towns became the most significant centers of culture. The inhabitants of the cities had more of a mind for cultural interests than the �78 SLOVAKIA agricultural inhabitants of the villages. This undoubtedly was due to the influence of their occupation and their economic condition. The German settlers of Slovak cities maintained contacts with their fatherland and its higher culture. This "city" culture made itself manifest not only in the city itself, in the architecture of urban homes and public buildings, but also in the life of the people in general. The city dwellers, as merchants and artisans, came into contact with near and distant lands, and adopted the more progressive ways of living. In the cities there were schools (in Bratislava and in Spisska Kapitula already in the thirteenth century), and foreign artisans and artists came to the cities to build and decorate civic structures, especially the parish churches. At fuat time several universities were set up in Central Europe after the pattern of the University of Paris. These universities (Prague, 1348; Cracow, 1364; Vienna, 1365) were also attended by students from Slovakia, because the first Hungarian university founded ·b y Louis the Great in Patikostoly in 1367, had closed its doors. Some of them won high academic honors and became professors at these universities. In this way Slovakia was in contact with higher European culture, the centers of which were the universities. But most striking is the participation of Slovakia in the contemporary cultural trends in the field of creative art. Gothic art, as it developed in France, Germany and Italy, ex,pressed the loftiness of the Christian spirit which .frees itself from the earth and soars into the heights. This idea received expression especially in the building of Gothic churches, which with their height, ease and gracefulness rose high above the surroundings and elevated the thoughts of the believing man to God. This style was adopted in Slovakia already in the middle of the thirteenth century and, in the church structures, blended with the final echoes of the Romanesque style. An example of early Gothic architecture has been preserved in Slovakia in the church of the former prepositure of Turiec, in Klastor-pod-Z nievom (The Monastery-be neathZniev), built about 1260. The Franciscan church in Brati- �SLOVAKIA 79 slava and the Dominican church in Kosice were built at the end of the thirteenth century. Many imposing Gothic churches were erected in the fourteenth century in the thriving cities of Slovakia, among them the parish churches in Bratislava, Levoca, Trnava, Bardejov, Presov, and, especially, St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Kosice. Beautiful Gothic temples of worsmp were also con,rtructed in the Spis region and the mining cities of Central Slovakia. The Gothic churches of the Slovak monasteries at St. Beiiadik, Mariatal, Oko1icne, and the church of the Red Monastery ( Cerveny Klastor) date from that time. Vienna and Prague strongly influenced the development of Gothic art in western Slovakia, while Bratislava and Cracow influenced its growth in Central and Eastern Slovakia. Besides the great and imposing Gothic churches of the cities, there arose in Slovakia a large number of small village churches, which even in their simplicity and artistic modesty attest that Gothic culture penetrated deeply into medieval Slovakia arrd left many relics there. While the city churches were, as a rule, designed and built by foreign architects, the small village churches were generally designed and built by native masters, who had adopted the structural characteristics of the Gothic .style of architecture. Besides the ecclesiastical edifices of the city, the medieval castles which ornament the peaks of Slovak mountains are also counted among the relics of Gothic art. Hardly anywhere in Central Europe are there as many castles as in Slovakia. Even this circumstance proves that Slovakia participated in the contemporary growth of Europe. Some of these castles because of their location, size, and structure, are outstanding souvenirs of Gothic architecture. The majority of these castles already has succumbed to the ha:rmful influence of time, but even in the ruins some Gothic gates, windows, high vaults and arches have been preserved in Bratislava, Zvolen, Vigfas, Strecno, Trencin, Orava and Spis. Only a few Gothic homes have been preserved in the cities, because they had to be removed to make way for newer building developments in later centuries. Remnants �80 SLOVAKIA of ancient municipal buildings, city fortifications and Gothic homes are rare; only in Bratislava has, a portion of the ancient City Hall been preserved, while Levoca still has a part of its old city wall and a part of a Gothic home. Several examples of stone decorations have also been preserved; especially the reliefs on the portals of the church in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Spisska Nova Ves and Kosice. Woodcarving reached a high degree of perfection in Slovakia and many wooden statues of the Madonna, St. Barbara and St. Catherine have been preserved in Spis and :in the mining towns. The wing altars of the churches of Spis, Saris and other eastern cities, are among the most valuable memorials of Gothic art in Slova!kia. Some wing altars have also been preserved in Banska Bystrica, Stiavnica and other parts of Slovakia. An outstanding woodcarver of that time was Master Paul of Levoca, who made the beautiful altar of the Nativity in Bardejov and the main altar in St. Jacob's church in Levoca. The apprentices of this master artist of Levoca decorated the churches in Spis with remarkable wood-carvings. The development of Gothic painting was subject to several influences. In southern Slovakia, where Gothic frescoes were preserved in Chyzne and Stitnik, the Italian influence predominated. In western Slovakia the Italian style came 'by way of neighboring Austria, while Gothic painting developed in eastern Slovakia under the influence of Silesia. Besides mural frescoes ( the oldest painting in the Spisska Krupitula depicts the coronation of Charles Robert and dates back to 1317), many framed paintings on the wing altars have been preserved. E~amples of high artistic workmanship, especially religious articles ( chalices, monstrances, crucifixes, Mass vestments, etc.) have been preserved in many parish and monastery churches. Many of these relics originated in Slovak workshops which also exported their products. In Spis bells were poured for churches in Poland. This great wealth of mementos from the Gothic period shows clearly that Slovakia lived a rich cultural life from the 13th to the 15th century and did not remain behind neighboring cultured countries in the field of creative arts . � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 75 In politics it seldom pays to to sit on two chairs. OsuS'ky began his career when the Slovak League sent him to Europe to Masaryk to work for the establishment of Czecho-,Slovakia and to see to it that Slovakia was granted autonomy. Osusky found it convenient and profitable to forget the League and the rights of his Slovak people to freedom, freedom from a1ien domination. He preferred to serve Masaryk and his senseless concept of "Czechoslovakism." At one time it was said that Osusky claimed "credit" for the fact that the Pittsburgh Pact was not even mentioned dunng the Paris Peace Conference negotiations. Osusky served as a Prague ambassador for over twenty years. He did a commendable job of it. Today, perhaps as he writes his memoirs in Washington, the Czechs don't want him - and the Slovaks, his own people, won't ·have him. • • • ibe History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK 1Continu ed) Slovakia played an important role in the relations of the kingdom which developed between Hungary and Poland during the reign of the Anjous. Louis the Great wanted to ,b ecome Polish king after the death of Casimir the Great, the last male descendant of the Piastov Clan. The agreements by which this union of Poland and Hungary was to be realized, were concluded in Slovak cities, especially in ,Kosice which was on the Cracow-Budin highway. It was at Kosice, after several meetings, that it was decided to have t!he daughter of Louis the Great, succeed him to the cP olish throne after his death. The reign of the Anjous brought Slovakia a notable contribution especially in the field of culture. G001HIC ClJiL'NJRE IN SLOVAKIA Medieval culture is a Christian culture. The Church concerned itself not only with the advancement of Christian faith and morals among the uncivilized nations of Europe, 76 SLOVAKIA but also that of the cultural life. Christianity changed and ennobled the character of the medieval man who learned to realize that his life's goal was the salvation of his immortal soul. The religious spirit of the medieval person knew how to suffer the difficulties and miseries of this life patiently, because he understood that it was in this valley of tears that he prepared for eternal life. The Christian concept of life elevated the human spirit to God and gave medieval culture a special character. Christian culture of the Middle Ages attained its full development in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries and found beautiful expression in the creative arts in the Gothic style of architecture. In the beginning the Church was the only organization which fostered culture, the sciences and the arts, educated youth in its ,p arish, capitulary and monastery schools, and also collected rich treasures of artistic creations in its churches. Later, especially from the thirteneth century on, knights became a significant factor in the cultural life of Europe. They endeavored to excell not only in military accomplishments, but also in Christian virtues. From the fourteenth century the cities became important centers of progress, both cultural and spiritual. Slovakia, because of her geogrruphical position, came under the strong influence of the cultural movements, which swept across Central Europe from the second half of the thirteenth century. In Slovakia, Gothic culture reached a high degree of perfection and beauty in 1:!he fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and its final offshoots extend to the sixteenth century. Artistic works, which have been preserved from those times in Slovakia, are proof that cultural life there developed somewhat belatedly, but in its maturity did not remain behind the cultural devel'o pment of Central Europe. As everywhere in Europe, so in Slovakia, the first and only centers of culture were the monasteries and other ecclesiastical institutions. Supported generously by the royalty and the nobility, they performed not only a religious, but also a highly worthy cultural mission. SLOVAKIA 77 Besides the old abbeys of the Benedictine Order, which originated in Slovaki'a before the inva:sion of the Turks, a large number of monasteries and churches of the Order of St. Francis a:nd of the Preachers of St. Dominic were founded in the cities of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Franciscans came from Italy and the Dominicans from Spain. The Premonstratensi'ans and Cistercians originated in France and founded their first monasteries in Slovakia outside the cities. Not only beautiful churches, but also artshops, trade shops and libraries sprang up near all these institutions. To some of these monasteries and chapters the king granted the right of issuing, transcribing and clarifying documents. Such monasteries were called "trustworthy" places. In Slovakia the following enjoyed· that privilege: the Chapters in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis; the Benedictine abbey of St. Benedict near the Hron, the Premonstratensian monastery in Klastor-pod-Znievom and in Jasov. Archives originated in these abbeys in which records, various literary works and documents were deposited. When the Anjous came to the throne in Hungary, and the Luxemburgs to the throne in Bohemia, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, higher western European culture came to Central Europe, which in a twofold way penetrated into the territory of Slovakia. In those times Knighthood developed in Central Europe which with its higher culture and refined morals enlightened and edified the masses of the people. Slovak nobility soon adopted the manner of life of the knights, even to the extent of replacing wooden palisades and fortresses with strong stone citadels with moats, towers and bastions. These castles of the knights, often built on high a:nd impregnable rocks, were not only strongholds, but also witnesses of the active life of the knights. Among the owners of these castles were many Slova:k knights, as it attested to by Slovak names of many citadels Strecno, Lietava, Likava, Vrsatec, Lednica, Hrusov, Hricov, Blatnica, Krasna Horka, etc. Later, rich mining a:nd commercial towns became the most significant centers of culture. The inhabitants of the cities had more of a mind for cultural interests than the 78 SLOVAKIA agricultural inhabitants of the villages. This undoubtedly was due to the influence of their occupation and their economic condition. The German settlers of Slovak cities maintained contacts with their fatherland and its higher culture. This "city" culture made itself manifest not only in the city itself, in the architecture of urban homes and public buildings, but also in the life of the people in general. The city dwellers, as merchants and artisans, came into contact with near and distant lands, and adopted the more progressive ways of living. In the cities there were schools (in Bratislava and in Spisska Kapitula already in the thirteenth century), and foreign artisans and artists came to the cities to build and decorate civic structures, especially the parish churches. At fuat time several universities were set up in Central Europe after the pattern of the University of Paris. These universities (Prague, 1348; Cracow, 1364; Vienna, 1365) were also attended by students from Slovakia, because the first Hungarian university founded ·b y Louis the Great in Patikostoly in 1367, had closed its doors. Some of them won high academic honors and became professors at these universities. In this way Slovakia was in contact with higher European culture, the centers of which were the universities. But most striking is the participation of Slovakia in the contemporary cultural trends in the field of creative art. Gothic art, as it developed in France, Germany and Italy, ex,pressed the loftiness of the Christian spirit which .frees itself from the earth and soars into the heights. This idea received expression especially in the building of Gothic churches, which with their height, ease and gracefulness rose high above the surroundings and elevated the thoughts of the believing man to God. This style was adopted in Slovakia already in the middle of the thirteenth century and, in the church structures, blended with the final echoes of the Romanesque style. An example of early Gothic architecture has been preserved in Slovakia in the church of the former prepositure of Turiec, in Klastor-pod-Z nievom (The Monastery-be neathZniev), built about 1260. The Franciscan church in Brati- SLOVAKIA 79 slava and the Dominican church in Kosice were built at the end of the thirteenth century. Many imposing Gothic churches were erected in the fourteenth century in the thriving cities of Slovakia, among them the parish churches in Bratislava, Levoca, Trnava, Bardejov, Presov, and, especially, St. Elizabeth's Cathedral in Kosice. Beautiful Gothic temples of worsmp were also con,rtructed in the Spis region and the mining cities of Central Slovakia. The Gothic churches of the Slovak monasteries at St. Beiiadik, Mariatal, Oko1icne, and the church of the Red Monastery ( Cerveny Klastor) date from that time. Vienna and Prague strongly influenced the development of Gothic art in western Slovakia, while Bratislava and Cracow influenced its growth in Central and Eastern Slovakia. Besides the great and imposing Gothic churches of the cities, there arose in Slovakia a large number of small village churches, which even in their simplicity and artistic modesty attest that Gothic culture penetrated deeply into medieval Slovakia arrd left many relics there. While the city churches were, as a rule, designed and built by foreign architects, the small village churches were generally designed and built by native masters, who had adopted the structural characteristics of the Gothic .style of architecture. Besides the ecclesiastical edifices of the city, the medieval castles which ornament the peaks of Slovak mountains are also counted among the relics of Gothic art. Hardly anywhere in Central Europe are there as many castles as in Slovakia. Even this circumstance proves that Slovakia participated in the contemporary growth of Europe. Some of these castles because of their location, size, and structure, are outstanding souvenirs of Gothic architecture. The majority of these castles already has succumbed to the ha:rmful influence of time, but even in the ruins some Gothic gates, windows, high vaults and arches have been preserved in Bratislava, Zvolen, Vigfas, Strecno, Trencin, Orava and Spis. Only a few Gothic homes have been preserved in the cities, because they had to be removed to make way for newer building developments in later centuries. Remnants 80 SLOVAKIA of ancient municipal buildings, city fortifications and Gothic homes are rare; only in Bratislava has, a portion of the ancient City Hall been preserved, while Levoca still has a part of its old city wall and a part of a Gothic home. Several examples of stone decorations have also been preserved; especially the reliefs on the portals of the church in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica, Spisska Nova Ves and Kosice. Woodcarving reached a high degree of perfection in Slovakia and many wooden statues of the Madonna, St. Barbara and St. Catherine have been preserved in Spis and :in the mining towns. The wing altars of the churches of Spis, Saris and other eastern cities, are among the most valuable memorials of Gothic art in Slova!kia. Some wing altars have also been preserved in Banska Bystrica, Stiavnica and other parts of Slovakia. An outstanding woodcarver of that time was Master Paul of Levoca, who made the beautiful altar of the Nativity in Bardejov and the main altar in St. Jacob's church in Levoca. The apprentices of this master artist of Levoca decorated the churches in Spis with remarkable wood-carvings. The development of Gothic painting was subject to several influences. In southern Slovakia, where Gothic frescoes were preserved in Chyzne and Stitnik, the Italian influence predominated. In western Slovakia the Italian style came 'by way of neighboring Austria, while Gothic painting developed in eastern Slovakia under the influence of Silesia. Besides mural frescoes ( the oldest painting in the Spisska Krupitula depicts the coronation of Charles Robert and dates back to 1317), many framed paintings on the wing altars have been preserved. E~amples of high artistic workmanship, especially religious articles ( chalices, monstrances, crucifixes, Mass vestments, etc.) have been preserved in many parish and monastery churches. Many of these relics originated in Slovak workshops which also exported their products. In Spis bells were poured for churches in Poland. This great wealth of mementos from the Gothic period shows clearly that Slovakia lived a rich cultural life from the 13th to the 15th century and did not remain behind neighboring cultured countries in the field of creative arts .  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 History of Slovakia (9/9) Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 9, No. 5 (30), June-December 1959 pp. 75-80 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 Relation A related resource continued from <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/299">Vol. 9, No. 4 (29), pp. 72-80</a> LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8ea97d379c7675dd02bb8f78441bccaf.pdf f511cd75d1441c0293b703d38aeff9b9 PDF Text Text Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary President:; John Janosik Msqr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 650 Braddock Ave. Monessen, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Stephen Dr. Peter P. H letko Dubiel 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Joseph Steller P:·nsldent 2879 N. 44th St. Milwaukee 10, Wis. Ph i lip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Michael J. Vargovic Joseph Bendik P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. National President First Catholic Slovak Union Jul i a Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Milan V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. :--ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National Preslden~ Slovak Catholic Sokol John Rozboril National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union 1122 Sylvan Ave. Homestead, Pa. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA .\I idriletown, Pa. BRATSTVO SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio SLOVENSKE NOVINV ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio Chicago, Ill. KATOLiCKV SOKOL SVORNOST OSADN E H LASV Pl\.Ssalc, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. �SLOVAKIA: The old castle of Banska Stiavnica (13-16th Cent.) � Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary President:; John Janosik Msqr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 650 Braddock Ave. Monessen, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Stephen Dr. Peter P. H letko Dubiel 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Joseph Steller P:·nsldent 2879 N. 44th St. Milwaukee 10, Wis. Ph i lip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Michael J. Vargovic Joseph Bendik P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. National President First Catholic Slovak Union Jul i a Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Milan V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. :--ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National Preslden~ Slovak Catholic Sokol John Rozboril National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union 1122 Sylvan Ave. Homestead, Pa. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA .\I idriletown, Pa. BRATSTVO SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio SLOVENSKE NOVINV ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio Chicago, Ill. KATOLiCKV SOKOL SVORNOST OSADN E H LASV Pl\.Ssalc, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. �SLOVAKIA: The old castle of Banska Stiavnica (13-16th Cent.) � 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 1959, Vol. 9 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 4 [sic] (No. 29), March 1959.</li> <li>Issue 5 [sic] (No. 30), June-December 1959.</li> </ul> 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 1959 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 Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Honorary President:; John Janosik Msqr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A. 650 Braddock Ave. Monessen, Pa. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, hio Stephen Dr. Peter P. H letko Dubiel 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 48 Warrensville, Ill. Joseph Steller P:·nsldent 2879 N. 44th St. Milwaukee 10, Wis. Ph i lip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Michael J. Vargovic Joseph Bendik P. 0. Box 230 Uniontown, Pa. National President First Catholic Slovak Union Jul i a Krajcovic Helen Kocan 1648 W. 18th Street Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Recording Secretary John Horecky Paul 2264 Walton Ave. New York 53, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach Milan V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. :--ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Anna Sotak National President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union Paul P. Jamriska 536 Marie Ave. Pittsburgh 2, Pa. Paul C. Kazimer Fallat National Preslden~ Slovak Catholic Sokol John Rozboril National President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union 1122 Sylvan Ave. Homestead, Pa. SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA .\I idriletown, Pa. BRATSTVO SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Scranton, Pa. Cleveland, Ohio SLOVENSKE NOVINV ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio Chicago, Ill. KATOLiCKV SOKOL SVORNOST OSADN E H LASV Pl\.Ssalc, N. J. Whitaker, Pa. Chicago, Ill. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE Middletown, Pa. SLOVAKIA: The old castle of Banska Stiavnica (13-16th Cent.)  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. 9, No. 5 (30) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-December 1959 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9e114fd13afdb937bd65377a2a212f50.pdf acae0707c5a2b0d373a35a4cc4928fd3 PDF Text Text MARCH, 1958 VOL. VIII NO. l (26) IN THIS ISSUE: UUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD : I Uudovit Stur and Pan-Slavism II Stur's Role in Linguistics and Philology III Stur's Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Achievements IV Revolutionary, Idealist, Romantic, or Realist? ''.MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOV AKIA EXILES" OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! - SLOVAK NAT IONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 59 Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �SLOVAK.IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independence. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independence. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. Send subscriptions to: SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Mldl1!etown, Pa. � MARCH, 1958 VOL. VIII NO. l (26) IN THIS ISSUE: UUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD : I Uudovit Stur and Pan-Slavism II Stur's Role in Linguistics and Philology III Stur's Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Achievements IV Revolutionary, Idealist, Romantic, or Realist? ''.MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOV AKIA EXILES" OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! - SLOVAK NAT IONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 59 Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �SLOVAK.IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independence. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independence. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. Send subscriptions to: SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Mldl1!etown, Pa. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 MARCH, 1958 VOL. VIII NO. l (26) IN THIS ISSUE: UUDOViT STUR AND HIS PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD : I Uudovit Stur and Pan-Slavism II Stur's Role in Linguistics and Philology III Stur's Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Achievements IV Revolutionary, Idealist, Romantic, or Realist? ''.MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOV AKIA EXILES" OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! - SLOVAK NAT IONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 59 Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA SLOVAK.IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independence. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independence. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. Send subscriptions to: SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Mldl1!etown, Pa.  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. 8, No. 1 (26) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d50783a331b225bc03870154ff45540b.pdf c10429c060fd41608051e2e5a04b0f59 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA Published VOL. VIII quarterly by the Slovak League MARCH, 1958 of America NO. 1 (26) EUDOvtT STUR AND ms PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD By Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. INTRODUCTORY NOTE Among Slovaks of the XIXth century who acquired their fame in the Slavic world, I'..udovit Stur (born 1815, died 1856) is among his contemporaries, poet Jan Kollar and ethnologist Pavel J. Safarik, one whose role and significance are still to be reconsidered and objectively reevaluated. Though nobody tried to claim him because some of his works were written in foreign languages, as it happened to Kollar and Safarik, who even now are classified as Czech poets and scholars, the literary value of Stur's works and the seriousness of his political and philosophical conceptions were questioned and often intentionally underestimated and distorted. While even scholars and literary historians at today's communist universities reevaluated - despite Sh1r's wellknown condemnation of Communism(!) his literary heritage and classified him among outstanding Slavic poets(2), philologists, philosophers and political leaders of the XIXth century - in many scholarly works in the free world he has been presented again and again "mediocre as a writer and thinker, but full of the typical sentimentalism and lyricism of the period, a man who like many at that time devoted all his life to the cause of his people and spent himself in its service."(3) · This judgment, which is quoted from Hans Kohn'. s "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," one of the most objective and up to date works on the subject, was uncritically repeated since it appeared for the first time in Ernest Denis' book "La Question d' Autriche - Les Slovaques," published in 1917.(4) Actually, this superficial and antagonistic view has been based on a thesis "Louis Stu.r �2 SLOVAKIA et l' idee d' independance slovaque," prepared by a young university student from Central Europe, H. Tourzer, who compiled unfavorable views and interpretations of Stur's work by contemporary Czech and Slovak literary critics and Stur's opponents. Instead of basing her judgment on a critical analysis of Stur's works, the young candidate for a Ph.D., Tourzer, presented Stur to the Western world in accordance with some political tendencies but in a highly unobjective light. Needless to say that neither Denis, nor Seton-Watson - another authority on the Slovak question - nor Hans Kohn, nor Kann ever analyzed and read Stur's works, some of them never translated into foreign languages and, consequently, the conclusions published in their books hardly resulted from their own analysis.(5) After a century, while commemorating Stur's centenary of death, we feel obliged to shed an objective light on Stur's work, his literary heritage, and his role in the Slavic world of the XIXth century. We are in a position to base our judgments not only on all his works - which until recently were not available in extenso - but on a hundred years span of time, which tested many of his conceptions and achievements and as the heat of the antagonists, who hated and debased him for political reasons, cooled down to a great extent by force of the vitality of Stur's ideas and the righteousness of his conceptions. Looking for Stur's place in the Slavic world, naturally we cannot avoid some purely Slovak cultural and political issues, though there is a great deal of truth in Hans Kohn's words that "the Slovak nation, with its own literary language, was definitely established"(6) by the merits of Stur's manifold activities, and this cannot, of course, be without interest for a student of the Slavic world in the field of linguistics, ethnology, history, or politics. Avoiding Stur's role and his historical achievements within a purely national range of his activities, an analysis of his works, conceptions, and lifelong struggles moves us to consider Stur's place in the Slavic world, 1) in the PanSlavic movement; 2) in the field of linguistics; and, 3) in literature. �SLOVAKIA 3 I I'..UDOVfT STUR AND PAN-SLAVISM Seton-Watson, one of the best English experts on Slovakia's past cultural and political struggles and aspirations, assessed Stur's significance in the Slavic world together with Kollar's and Safarik's role, stating that "their writings were of capital importance in the whole Slav revival of the last century, and form a strange sentimental link between the Western romantic school and the extravagancies of Pan-Slavism."(7) And referring to the first Slav Congress in Prague in 1848, Seton-Watson says that Stur "played a decisive part in the preparations for the Congress" and that at the Congress the four Slovaks - Safarik, Stur, Hurban and Hodza - played a part second to none save Palacky.(8) These two opinions on Stur's significance in the PanSlavic movement call for an analysis and completion in order to be understood properly. Quite a few of the experts on Slavic studies know Stur as a writer predominantly from his last work, written around 1855 in German and never published in Stur's native language, entitled "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future), which was published in Russian translation in 1867, and its specially printed edition was presented to the foreign Slavic delegates to the Moscow Slav Congress in order to attract attention to the political views of the Russian organizers of the Congress. The book represents, according to Prof. Lednicki, an "integral PanSlavism, practically degenerating into Pan-Russianism, and a quite exceptional tribute to the cultural, moral and political forces of the Russian Empire.(9) And in view of a recent analysis by Michael Petrovich, which seems to be one of the best documented and objective, the work "is a romantic melange of science and poetry presented in a vigorous style and an argumentation which is remarkably consequential even when mistaken."(10) Though Stur was quite a prolific writer and his works embraced many fields of intellectual activities from history and poetry to philosophy and philology(ll), for the last hundred years it has been, nevertheless, the above �4 SLOVAKIA mentioned book which made Stur known among the students of Slavistics outside his native land and, therefore, an analysis seems to be opportune on this occasion. What are the main ideas and the principal reasons that this little book - probably only an introduction to a larger history of the Slavs - made Stur one of the major figures among the Slavic intelligentsia of the nineteenth century? Even if we do not accept the view of Prof. Lednicki that the work presents " the most complete and consistently developed program for the subjugation of Slavs to Russia" - Seton-Watson's view is that even in this book Stur's aim was to preserve his own people - it was, among all reasons for its fame, Stur's political and philosophical conceptions which stirred the greatest interest in it. Stur adopted Hegel's and Herder's ideas that gave the Slavs the consciousness of a unity based upon the community of language and glorious destiny, and proclaimed them the coming leaders of Europe. He was thrilled by the vision of a gigantic empire sprawling from the Carpathians of his own native land to the shores of the Pacific. Drawing on history, philosophy, literature, philology, theology, and folklore, as well as on a penetrating insight into contemporary events, Stur emphasized that the Slavs have a mission to fulfill in universal history - or, in other words, that they have a historic vocation. This mission, however, they can fulfill only if united, and in his analysis of the world situation, in which he presents an apocalyptic vision of Western Europe's doom, there were three roads to consider: 1. Slavic federation without Russia. 2. Transformation of Austria into a Slavic federation. 3. Union with Russia - as a monarchic empire under Russian leadership, united in the Orthodox Church and the Russian literary language. Neither of the first two solutions had an appeal to Stur's vision of Slavdom's future and to his philosophy of history. Any attempt to organize a federation of European Slavic nations was doomed to failure in his opinion, because of the geographical situation, internal rivalries, re- �SLOVAKIA 5 ligious differences, cultural differentation, and intermingled non-Slavic elements. Though a few years ago, at the Slav Congress in Prague(12), he was not far from accepting Palacky's idea of Austroslavism and led the Slovaks on the side of the Habsburg's forces against the Magyars in the revolution of 1848, his books condemn in strong terms Austria and the idea of an Austro-Slavic federation. "There remains a third road," Stur insists, "the only one which is sure and has a future - the Union of all Slavs with Russia." "Russia is the prime mover and the leader of our national family," continues Stur. "Our people are but a fragment of a single nationality, they can be reborn and united into a single whole only by a related benevolent and great Power." That Power among the Slavs in Stur's time was only Russia. "Let us go forth together," urges Stur, "in the spirit of our people, under the leadership of the racial elders given to us by history." How was this Russian-led Slavic Union to come about? Stur recommended a return of all Slavs to the GrecoSlavic Church, urged the adoption of the Russian language and Cyrillic alphabet by all Slavs as a common literary language, but how to change the political situation of the Slavic peoples dominated by Austria and Turkey and bring them under the Russian leadership, Stur did not venture to say. He acknowledged that it could be realized only "under the pressure of grave political events" and therefore, he writes: "We do not consider it necessary, and we even consider it superfluous, to define prematurely the means of unification and degree of the reciprocal relations of the Slavs with Russia. The means and the degree of this unification will emerge from circumstances yet to come about. But it is useful," he concludes, "at least to raise the question, to speak about this subject and to prepare our minds for it." Stur's political and philosophical conceptions expressed in this book remain a puzzle even to such experts on his writings as Prof. Cizevskij(13), and they never were explained either by his own compatriots or anyone else. �6 SLOVAKIA Stur adopted Hegel's idea of the succession of various nations on the historical stage as a consecutive incarnation of the universal spirit while studying in Halle, where he came into contact with German nationalism and philosophy. After his return to his native land, however, Stur became a passionate champion of Slovak national independence and fought for a distinct Slovak literary language even against Kollar and his Czech friends. He was for the idea of Slavic reciprocity, and many things stirred his Slavic pride, but his Pan-Slavism was, until this book appeared, a cultural, more or less defensive movement, with emphasis on language, literature, and culture, and politically it aimed at the liberation of his people and other Slavic oppressed nations from foreign rule, with Russia's help, but not under Russia's hegemony. Cizevskij and some other experts on Stur's writings try to explain Stur's political re-orientation mainly as a result of political events in Central Europe and particularly in Slovakia after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848, and such is also our opinion. "It was in a conflicting mood of helplessness and inversely high hopes in salvation from Slavic Russia that Stur wrote his famous work," is the explanation of another Slavist, Prof. Petrovich. "The failure of the Slovak revolution and other political demonstrations (May 1, 1848, Lipt. sv. Mikulas) brought Stur to the conclusion that it was useless for his people to seek its own freedom alone or in the frame of Austroslavism." Stur made it clear, however, even in this book, that his principal aim was to preserve his own people, and besides he set out to accomplish four basic tasks: 1. To determine, largely by reviewing the Slavic past, whether the Slavs had a role of their own to fulfill in world history; 2. to describe the Slavic mission in universal history against the background of the cultural. differences between Western and Eastern Europe; 3. to show what advantages the Slavs possessed by comparing their institutions, traditions; and qualities with those of the West; 4. to demonstrate that the Slavs could accomplish their mission only through political unification under Russian leadership(14). �SLOVAKIA 7 No doubt, this was a new look on the Slavic world. Was it original? We cannot deny that he applied some Hegelian principles of philosophy, such as the primacy of the idea in man's development, Hegel's dialectical approach to historical evolution, and Herder's vision of Slavdom taking place in succession of the bearers of the idea. But there are many original approaches in his book which cannot be linked either with German philosophy or Russian Slavophils, which is the second of alleged influences. Cizevskij defends Stu.r's originality(15). Florinskij, in the preface to the second edition of Stu.r's book (1905), stresses that Stur is very close to the viewpoints of the Russian Slavophils, Chomiakov, Pogodin, Kiriejevski, Aksakov, and their successors, but he also says that "insofar as one can judge by known biographical data, Stu.r's views arose in him independently, apart from any influence of Russian Slavophilism whatsoever." And such also was the opinion of Prof. A. Budilovic and others(16). Stu.r's biographical data speak, in fact, against dependence on Slavophils, though he knew Bodianski, Pogodin, Sevyrev, Sreznevski, Raevski, and others. We can, therefore, defend his originality in many regards, especially if we consider the intellectual climate of Europe in Stu.r's time and if we take into account that Slovakia - with Kollar and Safarik and Herkel, who invented the term "panslavismus," - was the classic land of Slavic reciprocity and that "as in name, so in sentiment, the Slovak never ceased being a Slav." ' Since N. I. Danilevskij and R. A. Fadejev came many years after Stu.r's death(17), Stur can be rightly consider_e d as the founder of political Pan-Slavism, of which Kollar was the poet and Safarik the scientist. �8 SLOVAKIA II STUR'S ROLE IN LINGUISTICS AND PHILOLOGY The role of f,udovit Stur in the field of Slavic studies is generally little known outside of Slovakia. In English, French and German published works, Stur is presented mainly as a political leader(18), a mediocre poet, owing his fame in the Slavic world to his treatise "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" which is, as we mentioned before, a study of a political, sociological, and philosophical character. A few years ago Professor D. Cizevskij, in his German book - translated in the meantime into the Slovak under the title "Sturova filozofia zivota" (Stu.r's Philosophy of Life) -found however, that Stur was also a philosopher of considerable knowledge and originality(19). He shows, of course, dependence on Hegel and contemporary German philosophers. But to present him in such a light, as if he had blindly applied Hegel's philosophy to Slavic or Slovak life, as he was accused by his opponents, seems to be a malicious distortion. In view of Cizevskij's analysis, Stur's generation had several thinkers who tried to create their own philosophical system and who, in their time, among Slavic nations excelled in originality bf thinking. As for Stu.r's philosophy, Cizevskij refuted in his book the assertions that: 1. Stur was a simple follower of Hegel; 2. that his philosophical views were those of contemporary romantic philosophy. In Cizevskij's opinion Stur formed an independent philosophical system which in many ways differs from that of Hegel, and his approach to life's phenomena were highly realistic(20). This, however, is not our concern in the present analysis. Considering Stu.r's role in linguistics and philology, it would be unjust and incorrect not to recognize his merits(21). Stur was no J agic or Miklosic as far as overall Slavic philology is concerned, but without exaggeration we may say that the role, along with A. Bernolak, was that of Vuk Karadzic, Gaj, or Vraz in establishing new literary Slavic languages. There have been until recently many misconceptions as far as the Slovak language, its history and place among �SLOVAKIA 9 the Slavic languages are concerned. A thorough study of phonology, etymology, lexicography, and grammar now shows that the Slovak language is distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident one hundred years ago when contemporary theories in linguistics were still based on primitive methods and the science of philology was in its infancy. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are far advanced beyond the hasty, unwarranted conclusions of a century ago. It is to Stur's credit that - after a century of clashes and discussions between Czech linguists and the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, who replaced the Latin already in the 17th century with a Slovak literary language - the Slovak language was properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and Stur helped to establish it irrevocably among Slavic languages of the Western group. Stur accepted the phonetic orthography of Bernolak which from the philological and practical standpoint best answered the purpose, but for scientific and ideological reasons he decided to adopt the dialect of Central Slovakia and not the western Slovak dialect used since 1635 at the University of Trnava and codified by Bernolak in his Grammar and huge dictionary, the latter in six languages(22). It would be superfluous now to point out that formulating purely scientific views on the proper relations between the Czech and Slovak languages, most of the Czech and other philologists and literary historians were influenced by political views and aspirations. The claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the older Czech was not based on facts of history or philology. It was, according to Stur a biased opinion of those who wished to deny to the Slovaks the right to their independent national life. Though Stur's works in the field of philology - "Narecia slovensko" (Slovak dialect) and his Grammar - are marked by amateurism of XIXth century patriots, and it would be difficult to call him "a scholar trained in the science �10 SLOVAKIA of philology," nevertheless he grasped the true basis of the Slovak language by a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and by a comparative study of their developments. Modern philological research gave Stur reason in many respects. According to Professor Bartek, Stur, who studied and spoke several Slavic languages and was acquainted with comparative philology, was "in his time an extraordinary good philologist, who intuitively often correctly came upon certain individual characteristics of the Slovak language, so that even a modern philological analysis of his work will confirm the correctness of many of Stu.r's linguistic findings, the justification for which science in that period could not prove(23). Stu.r's view that the Slovak language developed independently was confirmed also by Trubeckoj, who considers the disappearance of the lesser vowel sounds (slabe jery) in the Slavic derivatives as the last common change and the date of birth of the Slavic languages. The end of the vowel signs in fact caused a fundamental change in the phonological technique of the Slavic dialects, as well as in the original forms in many instances, so that the entire phonological structure was revised, not uniformly but individually, in each Slavic dialect, which fact brought into being the independent Slavic languages as we have them today(24). Stur considered the Slovak language as the central and cardinal language among all the Slavic tongues. We, of course, can question this from the linguistical point of view and accept that Stur wished to emphasize the central position of Slovakia linguistically, historically, and geographically as the centrum of all Slavdom. Stur viewec' the position of the Slovak language as a central clearinghouse ' mainly because he was conscious of many of its similarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the agreement with the Yugoslav dialects with which the Slovak came into intimate contact in the tenth century as is evident from the presence of Yugoslavism in the Slovak language even today. According to Stur, in the ninth century the Old Sla- �SLOVAKIA 11 vonic was still the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology. From the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, among them also the Slovak tongue. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory in the eleventh century was annexed by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with the Czechs was through the Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovakian dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West and to the present time have retained their own phonological structure. Stur's claim that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech, or the so-called "czechoslovak" language, was based on assumptions many of which were in the meantime proven correct by scientific research of authorities on the subject(25). Professor Senn formulated the results of the new research in this regard in his study on Slavic linguistics, published in "A Handbook of Slavic Studies," edited by Prof. Strakhovsky, and Prof. Henry Bartek from the University of Bratislava, who dedicated to this problem several of his works, says that "we may rightly claim that at the time of the disintegration of the Old Slavonic, the era saw the rise of new, independent Slavic languages, among them being also the Slovak, whose development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language." According to Bartek, the ancient phonological nature of the Slovak language certainly indicates that even in the centuries that followed the disappearance of the Old Slavonic, the Slovak tongue was not subject to a common evolution with the Czech which possesses its own unique phonological system, which is quite different from the Slovak." "In conclusion," says Bartek, "we may say that the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue having its rightful place of equality alongside the Czech or any other Slavic tongue," as Stur asserted over a hundred years ago. �12 SLOVAKIA III STUR'S LITERARY AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS There was for a long time no unanimity among literary historians and critics as to whether Stur was in the first plaee "f homme de pensee," or if in his activities prevailed "f homme d' action." His role in the Slav Congress in Prague, in 1848, his many contacts with Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav intellectuals, his part in the Slovak revolution of 1848, and his role in the Hungarian Diet definitely mark him as "l' homme d' action." From his correspondence we know now that he had direct relations with the leaders of all Slavic peoples and, when sentenced to death for his part in the Slovak revolution, he removed himself to Vienna and there came into contact with other Slav representatives, notably the Slovene Stanko Vraz, and still more important with Ban Jelacic and the Serbian Patriarch Rajacic, who were working hand in hand and paid a joint visit to the Imperial Court. On the other hand, Stur played the most important role among the young generation of his time in the Slovak national revival, in the reform of the Slovak literary language, and in the resulting unity of the Slovak people which was followed by flourishing cultural and literary activities(26). Consequently, to measure Stur's significance and to see objectively his achievements, his intellectual profile and spiritual foundations, we have to consider his activities also in the Slovak cultural and political life. There his significance was great and far-reaching not only in the development of Slovak literature and the Slovak national ideology, but also in philosophy and politics. Slovakia and the Slovak people being a part of the Slav world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival, logically a part of hi.; manifold contributions, is also to be considered within the framework of the Slavic world. Under Stur's leadership, the Slovak intelligentsia composed mostly of Catholic and Protestant clergy, a few teachers, lawyers, and other members of the middle class �SLOVAKIA 13 - continued to build a new national culture which centered in the Catholic university of Trnava (founded 1635) and was successfully developed by a group of Catholic writers, scholars, and poets, among whom particularly the learned linguist Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Holly played leading r6les(27). This new Slovak culture was necessarily and intentionally based on the Slovak peasantry, on small towns and villages with their own specific traditions and artistic creative genius manifested in flourishing folk songs, artistically designed architecture, toolmaking, and resourceful popular music. Since the Slovak gentry continued to lose its national characteristics and assimilated with the Magyar gentry, abandoning the Slovak people in the middle of rising nationalism and political transformations, the Slovak intellectuals could not but take over the culture of the Slovak peasants, middle classes, and a handful of nationally-minded petty aristocrats and from it, before and especially in Sb1r's time, they developed their own national culture and new national consciousness. As in political thinking and planning, so in Stur's cultural activities, his creative work was in harmony with the climate of the epoch in Western and especially in Central Europe, where among the smaller nations romanticism and nationalism were either identical or very related, and national and historical consciousness and popular art, folksongs, sagas, and fairy tales were the focus of interest. In this climate Stur successfully organized his literary school and cultural activities which marked a new era in Slovak national life. His approach was philosophical, since he had a mystic idea of the nation and a respect for it as a person, and there was a strong spiritualism and idealism in his literary and cultural activities. His literary school adopted aesthetic and philosophical principles which became the real basis of last century's Slovak national revival and marked especially the literary and cultural life of Slovakia. During the revolution of 1848-49, Stur's literary school, as correctly says Gudrun Apel,(28) fulfilled to a large extent the function of a political and military leadership; with Stur, Hurban, Hodza among the �14 SLOVAKIA main leaders. The members of this school "imposed the most exacting task on themselves in order to elevate the Slovak people to the same cultural level as the rest of Europe, to release their creative energies, and to enable a new national culture to arise from the existing popular art and language."(29) Stu.r's influence was so strong that some of the principles of Stu.r's ideology and aesthetic principles lived in the cultural life of Slovakia until her subjugation by the present Communist rule. For a long time the folk-song was the basis of all poetic style, and Slovak poetry was mainly an expression of the national idea, national sufferings, joys, hopes, and struggles, as Stur demanded and practiced. Stu.r's claim - that the poet had to be the herald and prophet of a new and better world, something of a was resocial revolutionary and a national leader spected during the past one hundred years in Slovak literature not only in the nationalist era, but also the first years under Communism. Many literary critics refer to Stu.r's poetry and prose as romantic. But in Stu.r's poetry, as in his philosophy, is an evident lack of some principal elements of romanticism. The leading motives of his poetry - as well as of that of his group - were anti-feudal and anti-aristocratic; he made common cause with the people and fought for its rights; he was full of enthusiasm and faith in a new life. Stur advocated national solidarity of an ethical and emotional nature. According to Stu.r's words: "the course of time ... should rouse the poet to exalt songs of life and not of sickness, despair and hopelessness ... " As in his analysis of Janko Kral's poetry G. Apel rightly noticed, Stur and his group knew longing, but their longing was directed toward concrete political and social goals, especially in the years preceding the revolution of 1848-49, which were full of enthusiasm for the struggle and hope for victory. Consequently, Stur and his contemporaries created a literature which echoed not only melancholy and restlessness, but also the call for revolution and the demand for a better world. �SLOVAKIA 15 The lyrical lament is strong in Stiir's poetry as in his prose. But he passed from the sphere of personal and social into that of national and Slavic thought in all his works. The soul of the nation - or of the Slavs - was his constant subject, and the pain of the nation's sufferings, struggles and failures form the pervading atmosphere of his writings. On the whole, Sb'.lr and his followers combined a realist's keen insight into contemporary social problems(30) with the romantic inheritance of warm-hearted attachment to their country and people and, of course, to Slavdom. They advocated democratic enlightenment in relation to unprivileged classes - peasants and workers - and glorified their qualities, as they glorified the Slavs and their past. One of them, Samo Tomasik, created the Slav anthem "Hej, Slovania." And they gave to the Slovak people not only a new hope and a new ideal, but also a pride expressed in Vajansky's famous verse: I am proud to be a Slovak, Elegant is my race; A hundred million souls it numbers, Over half the world it governs. With the Slovak tongue you traverse The four parts of the earth: One my brother palms does plant, Another eternal ice does scan, A third o'er the sea does fly! From this Kollar-inspired phantasy of one great Slav nation and one Slav language, the Slovaks, as rightly says Hans Kohn, "feeling abandoned in Hungary and their national existence threatened, ~ay have drawn strength and faith in the indestructibility of the Slovak people and language," and it helped to continue to maintain contacts with the cultural life of other Slavic peoples. In fact, Stur and his followers transplanted into Slovakia not only Pushkin's poetry, but also Mickiewicz, Sevcenko and Yugoslav poets. Stur's contemporaries demonstrated their Pan-Slavic sympathy and tendencies by read- �16 SLOVAKIA ing Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav authors in the original, and famous Mickiewicz's "Ode to Youth," according to W. Bobek, "not even in Poland had been so enthusiastically received as in Slovakia." We can say that Slovak literature since Stu.r's time developed under a strong influence of the outstanding works of Slav authors and was marked, like Polish and Russian literature, by an extensive use of folk tradition and regionalism, drawing on folklore and legend in the same way and to the same extent as did the literature of other Slavs.(31) �SLOVAKIA 17 IV REVOLUTIONARY, IDEALIST, ROMANTIC, OR REALIST? During the past one hundred years, opponents and adherents of Sh1r's achievements and conceptions classified him differently. To the Hungarian gentry who persecuted and sentenced him to death, he was a revolutionary and a rebel. He was idealist or romantic to those in Central Europe who did not believe in the final victory of truth and natural rights of the oppressed peoples arid did not wish to see Slovaks develop culturally, socially and politically into a distinct national entity. Stur was a romantic day-dreamer for all those who disliked the idea of Slavic reciprocity, his vision of a great future for Slavdom, or his assiduous work for equal rights of the Slovak people with other Central European nations, including Slovak national independence which he advocated in the following terms: "Each nation is only one part of humanity, and no nation can claim for itself that it alone has attained the best human evolution and possible perfection. Therefore, no nation has a right to force upon another nation its way of life when that nation wants to move for itself and educate itself as it sees fit. "So that we (Slovaks) might be r evived and take the place in history which according to our strength and abilities belongs to us, we must once and for all free ourselves from the hated alien yoke and gain state independence for ourselves; because a nation which is enslaved has its hands tied, its spirit stifled, and is forever threatened with the danger that sooner or later it will perish." Considered purely on the basis of his writings, Shir appears to a superficial critic as a revolutionary and als·o a romantic idealist. When all parliamentary and political methods proved unsuccessful, he led, in 1848, the Slovak people in armed resistance against the revolution of the Magyar aristocrats and for Slovak autonomy within th:e framework of the Habsburg Monarchy. But before this happened Stur tried all possible peaceful means, as even a brief look into his activities would show. �18 SLOVAKIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -·-· - ·-· ··-· . -· By advocating the Slovak national cause and uniting the Slovak Catholics and Protestants by means of a common literary language, Stur aimed at a higher cultural level of the broad masses and thereby to gain theqi for the struggle for national equality in Hungary. "Stur was clearly aware of the fact," writes Bartek, "that unity in the literary language was not the ultimate goal of his nation, but only a medium of further national development. The Slovaks, therefore, felt that the proper course had been taken in regard to their literary language. Even John Holly, not only the greatest Slovak poet at that time, but also the greatest ideologist of his nation, gave Stur's action his blessing and, therefore, Stur was joined by the Catholics, representing five-sixths, the absolute majority of the Slovak nation.(32) As a member of the Hungarian Diet, Stur appears as an enlightened fighter for freedom and social progress. A review of his speeches and articles from that time reveals that he demanded equal rights for all nationalities in Hungary, in cultural and political life, and insisted on the adoption by the Diet of laws to free the peasant masses from the feudalistic Robot system and labor , rent, so that the culture of the country might increase by the foundation of schools in national tongues. Among many of his recommendations to the Diet, we also read his fervent demand to industrialize Slovakia and to adopt humanitarian laws regarding relations between gentry and the working class, the State authorities and citizens. The obsolete social and political structure of Hungary was one of the main topics of Stur's speeches. He recommended a federalistic system giving justice to all nationalities and appealed to the magnates to give attention to the development of the State in the spirit of new social and political ideas, and to make it a part of modern Europe. Stur was not a rebel, according to Bartek. As long as there was any hope of settlement with the Magyars, he did not advocate the destruction of the Hungarian State. He warned the ruling Magyar class that they could not forever ignore and suppress the inherent rights of nationalities and exploit the Slovaks and other peoples of �SLOVAKIA 19 Hungary without expecting them to strike back with their righteous demands for a free national life, for the same rights the Magyars were resolved to fight for in the Habsburg Empire. When all these demands hit upon deaf ears, only then did L. Stur and his group decide to organize the Slovak revolution of 1848-49 in which Stur played the leading role together with J. M. Hurban and M. M. Hodza, and which marked, though defeated and betrayed by Vienna, an important milestone in Slovak history. The torch of national consciousness, which Stur and his group had taken over from the followers of Bernolak and J. Holly, as a result of this revolution, became a lasting light for Slovakia's national struggles and aspirations. As for the assertion that Stur was a daydreamer in politics and a romantic in philosophy, recent analysis of his writings by Prof. D. Cizevskij, Prof. S. Polakovic, Dr. S. S. Osusky, and many others, completely repudiates this view. In his book "Stu.r's Philosophy of Life," Prof. Cizevskij proves that Stur was in many respects an original philosopher and not merely an epigon of Hegel and German romantic thinkers. On the contrary, Stu.r's philosophy lacks several characteristic features of German romanticism, according to Cizevskij's thorough analysis which finds him a realist in his approaches to the phenomena of life. Strangely and unfortunately enough, but recent political developments in Central and Eastern Europe proved that even Stu.r's big dream of united Slavic peoples under Russia may become a reality. Not under an enlightened Russian czar with humanistic and liberal views, not as a community dedicated to the Orthodox Church and struggling for the highest ideals of freedom and respect for human beings, as Stur wished to see it in his work "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future) . Moscow has become the political powerhouse of the Slav world under quite different circumstances, but Stu.r's vision of a single united Slavic world under Russian leadership has technically materialized. �20 SLOVAKIA Stur's v1s1on of Slovak cultural, political, and social . life did not prove to be daydreaming either. There is a Slovak nation with its own literature, cultural institutions, and is practically without illiteracy. There is a strong national consciousness and a sound social stratification, unbalanced only by the present Communist regime. And there is also a fighting spirit of the new Slovak generations for national and social justice among Central European peoples and a constant resistance against Communist ideology, about which over a century ago E. Stur wrote : "Communism not only commits outrageous injustice against all civil society .. . but it also ruins all personal initiative, endeavor and enthusiasm. It divides the family, it destroys the household and thus it opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution, and indulgence. It degrades man to animal level. . . . "Communism has matured to the same degree as atheism and defection from Christianity. . . . In all types of Communism, whatever their classification may be, the outlook is only toward a dismal life. It brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind . . . . " Despite Stur's comparatively youthful age, his education and activities, as well as those of his group, were admirably manysided. Besides an ardent love and sacrifice for the national cause, Stur and his followers became a model for many generations in their thorough preparation for the role which they marked out for themselves in Slovak life. Because they were human, they did make mistakes, but enemies of the Slovak national revival are pointing to and magnifying these in vain. Their mistakes were the mistakes of the century in which they lived, as Ernest Denis so understandingly reflected in his "La Question d' Autriche-Les Slovaques," published in 1917. Their smallness or greatness, their realism or romanticism can be measured only against the background of the conditions and of the period in which they lived, and against the results of their work which brought a new and more dynamic life to the Slovak people.(33) To summarize, it is certainly proper and correct to say �SLOVAKIA 21 that the significance of r.udovit Stur was great and farreaching, in the first place, in the revival of Slovak national life, where Stur played the role of reformer of the Slovak literary language, greatly contributed to the modern Slovak national ideology, gave to his people a new vision of political freedom and of a better future, and by his own example, his writings embracing poetry, philosophy, history, sociology, etc., gave a strong impetus to Slovak life in general. Since Slovakia and the Slovak people are surely a part of the Slavic world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival is logically a part of his manifold contributions to be considered within the over-all Slavic world, too. On his position among Slav intellectuals of the XIXth century speaks not only the role he played at the first Slavic Congress in Prague, his rich correspondence with practically all outstanding Slavic leaders, but also the fact that his work "Slavdom and the World of the Future" was translated and twice published by Russian intellectuals in the last and at the beginning of this century. Being endowed with extraordinary natural capacity for creative and original conceptions, Stur belongs with Jan Kollar and Pavel J. Safarik to the Slovaks of the XIXth century who can rightly be regarded as great figures of the Slavic world. �22 SLOVAKIA NOTES 1. Stur's condemnation of Communism around 1850 became a part of the Slovak national ideology and has been quoted again and again. According to Stur, Communism "ranks among the wildest of offshoots ever conceived by the human brain ... it brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind, it shatters all the bonds of social living and opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution and indulgence. In place of holy ties, it offers profiteering, rioting and their like and thus it degrades man to animal level etc . ... " 2. A. Mraz, professor at the University of Bratislava, in his German book "Die Literature der Slowaken" and in his new · book "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948, says that "Stur war nicht nur ein glilcklicher Reformator und genialer Organisator und Initiator, er ragte auch als Dichter for" (p. 92). 3. Cfr. Hans Kohn, "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," University of Notre Dame Press, 1953, (p. 20). Les Slovaques," 4. Ernest Denis, "La Question d' Autriche Paris, Librairie Delagrave, (pp. 162- 170). 5. Objective studies on Stur in foreign languages were published by Prof. Dimitrij Cizevskij , "l!udovit ~tur's Philosophie des Litbens," Halle, 1938, and by Michael B. Petrovich, "The Emergence of Russian Pan-Slavism 1856-1870," Columbia University Press, 1956. 6. Ibidem, (p. 21). 7. Prof. Seton-Watson, "History of the Czechs and Slovaks," London, 1942, (p. 259). 8. Ibidem, (p. 262). See also Louis Leger, "Le Panslavisme et I' inte''l.!uderet francaise," Paris, Ernest Flammarion, 1917, (p. 164) vit Stur etait Slovaque, comme Kollar, comme Schafarik. On voit quel role les Slovaques si oublies chez nous, pour ne pas dire si ignores, ont joue dans la vie de la race slave au XIXe siecle." Leger confirms that the appeal to the Slavs for the First Congress in Prague in 1848 "avait ete redige par l' ectivain slovaque I.!udevit stur. " 9. Cfr. W. Lednicki, "Panslavism, in European Ideologies," ed. by Felix Gross, New York, 1948, (p. 838). 10. Journal of Central European Affairs, XII, 1952, I, 1- 19. 11. Stur's writings were published in several volumes. To his most important published works belong the following: Songs and Poems ; Ancient and New History of the Slovaks; Slavdom and the Future of the World ; Slovak Vernacular and the Need to Write In It; Slovak Grammar, and a great number of articles and studies, some of them published recently under the title : Slova na c!ase. He also was founder and editor of newspapers and reviews : Slovak National Review, The Eagle, etc. 12. Cfr. Louis Leger, "Le Panslavism et I' interet francais," (pp. 164-202). 13. See "~turova filozofia iivota," Bratislava, 1941, SUS, (p. III). 14. Cfr. I.!udovit Stur, "Slavianstvo i mir budushchago; Poslanie �SLOVAKIA 23 Slavianam s beregov Dunaja," translated from the German MS by V. L Lamanskij in "Chteniia lmperatorskago Obschchestva lstorii i Drevnostei Rossiiskich pri Moskovskom Universitete, Ill, Material y slavianskie," Books 1-3, Moscow, 1867, (pp. 1-191). For an analysis of Stur's work, see M. B. . Petrovich's "The Emergence of Russian Panslavism" and his "l!udovit ~tur and Russian Panslavism" in the Journal of Central European Affairs, April, 1952, 1-19. In German an objective analysis can be found in Alfred Fischel's book "Der Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg," Stuttgart and Berlin, 1919. 15. Cfr. "~turova filozofia zivota" and also Doc. S. Polako~ic, "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filozofie," Bratislava, 1944. 16. Cfr. Petrovich's works. 17. Danilevskii's first series of articles were published in 1869 in "Zaria" and so was his remarkable book "Rossiia i Evropa; vzgliad na kulturnyia i politicheskija otnosheniia slavianskago mira k germano-romanskomu." R. A. Fadieev published his "Mnienie o vostochnom voprosie" also in 1870; Stur died in 1856. 18. Cfr. works by Seton-Watson, Ernest Denis, Louis Leger, A. Fischel, H. Kohn, etc. For E. Denis "Stur reste encore aujourd' hui le nom le plus illustre de l' histoire slovaque . . . et l' ame de la resistance nationale .. . il ne vivait que pour sa cause et son ame debordait d' amour et de foi . .. " (p. 164). 19. Cfr. also Polakovic's "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filo• zofie," (p. 56). 20. Cfr. Cizevskij's chapter "Stur and Hegel" and also statement by him on p. 107 of his work. 21. See "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June 1956, article by Prof. H. Bartek. 22. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," Scranton, Pa., 1947, (pp. 90-100). 23. See H. Bartek : "l!udovit Shir a slovencina," Bratislava, 1943, and also his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956 (p. 9). 24. Cfr. "Revue des Etudes slaves," Paris, II, (pp. 217-18), article by H. Bartek. 25. Stur also adopted the view that the archaic Czech language, which was used for some time in Slovakia by the Protestant intelli· gentsia, was merely a borrowed language, and that the Slovak Protestants used it for liturgy and literature in the same way as the Catholics used Latin. This thesis was supported before Stur by many Catholic Slovak writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Cfr. "Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact," by J . M. Kirschbaum, Vol. I, 1956, Slavic and Easf European Studies. 26. Cfr. Prof. A. Mraz, "Die Literature der Slowaken," as well as his recent work "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948. 27. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," (pp. 103-105). 28. See, "A Byronic Hero in Slovak Literature," The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume XXXIV, No. 83, June, 1956, (pp. 338-354). 29. Ibidem, (pp. 33941). 30. On Stur's social ideas see Dr. J . Pauco, "l!udovychova u �24 SLOVAKIA Sturovcov," Turc. sv. Martin, 1943, and his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, March, 1956. In Pauco's view Stur and his followers "concerned themselves with the welfare of the entire nation. They fought to improve their economy, but they also fought with equal vigor against alcoholism, illiteracy, etc." 31. Cfr. "A Note On Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz," by J. M. Kirschbaum , in "Mickiewic z in World Literature," Univ. of California Press, 1956. See also Cizevskij's contributio n: "Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral," Ibidem, (pp. 469-484). 32. H. Bartek, "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956. 33. See "Uudovit Stur po sto rokoch," by J. M. Kirschbaum , Most, Vol. III, No. 4. 195. � SLOVAKIA Published VOL. VIII quarterly by the Slovak League MARCH, 1958 of America NO. 1 (26) EUDOvtT STUR AND ms PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD By Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. INTRODUCTORY NOTE Among Slovaks of the XIXth century who acquired their fame in the Slavic world, I'..udovit Stur (born 1815, died 1856) is among his contemporaries, poet Jan Kollar and ethnologist Pavel J. Safarik, one whose role and significance are still to be reconsidered and objectively reevaluated. Though nobody tried to claim him because some of his works were written in foreign languages, as it happened to Kollar and Safarik, who even now are classified as Czech poets and scholars, the literary value of Stur's works and the seriousness of his political and philosophical conceptions were questioned and often intentionally underestimated and distorted. While even scholars and literary historians at today's communist universities reevaluated - despite Sh1r's wellknown condemnation of Communism(!) his literary heritage and classified him among outstanding Slavic poets(2), philologists, philosophers and political leaders of the XIXth century - in many scholarly works in the free world he has been presented again and again "mediocre as a writer and thinker, but full of the typical sentimentalism and lyricism of the period, a man who like many at that time devoted all his life to the cause of his people and spent himself in its service."(3) · This judgment, which is quoted from Hans Kohn'. s "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," one of the most objective and up to date works on the subject, was uncritically repeated since it appeared for the first time in Ernest Denis' book "La Question d' Autriche - Les Slovaques," published in 1917.(4) Actually, this superficial and antagonistic view has been based on a thesis "Louis Stu.r �2 SLOVAKIA et l' idee d' independance slovaque," prepared by a young university student from Central Europe, H. Tourzer, who compiled unfavorable views and interpretations of Stur's work by contemporary Czech and Slovak literary critics and Stur's opponents. Instead of basing her judgment on a critical analysis of Stur's works, the young candidate for a Ph.D., Tourzer, presented Stur to the Western world in accordance with some political tendencies but in a highly unobjective light. Needless to say that neither Denis, nor Seton-Watson - another authority on the Slovak question - nor Hans Kohn, nor Kann ever analyzed and read Stur's works, some of them never translated into foreign languages and, consequently, the conclusions published in their books hardly resulted from their own analysis.(5) After a century, while commemorating Stur's centenary of death, we feel obliged to shed an objective light on Stur's work, his literary heritage, and his role in the Slavic world of the XIXth century. We are in a position to base our judgments not only on all his works - which until recently were not available in extenso - but on a hundred years span of time, which tested many of his conceptions and achievements and as the heat of the antagonists, who hated and debased him for political reasons, cooled down to a great extent by force of the vitality of Stur's ideas and the righteousness of his conceptions. Looking for Stur's place in the Slavic world, naturally we cannot avoid some purely Slovak cultural and political issues, though there is a great deal of truth in Hans Kohn's words that "the Slovak nation, with its own literary language, was definitely established"(6) by the merits of Stur's manifold activities, and this cannot, of course, be without interest for a student of the Slavic world in the field of linguistics, ethnology, history, or politics. Avoiding Stur's role and his historical achievements within a purely national range of his activities, an analysis of his works, conceptions, and lifelong struggles moves us to consider Stur's place in the Slavic world, 1) in the PanSlavic movement; 2) in the field of linguistics; and, 3) in literature. �SLOVAKIA 3 I I'..UDOVfT STUR AND PAN-SLAVISM Seton-Watson, one of the best English experts on Slovakia's past cultural and political struggles and aspirations, assessed Stur's significance in the Slavic world together with Kollar's and Safarik's role, stating that "their writings were of capital importance in the whole Slav revival of the last century, and form a strange sentimental link between the Western romantic school and the extravagancies of Pan-Slavism."(7) And referring to the first Slav Congress in Prague in 1848, Seton-Watson says that Stur "played a decisive part in the preparations for the Congress" and that at the Congress the four Slovaks - Safarik, Stur, Hurban and Hodza - played a part second to none save Palacky.(8) These two opinions on Stur's significance in the PanSlavic movement call for an analysis and completion in order to be understood properly. Quite a few of the experts on Slavic studies know Stur as a writer predominantly from his last work, written around 1855 in German and never published in Stur's native language, entitled "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future), which was published in Russian translation in 1867, and its specially printed edition was presented to the foreign Slavic delegates to the Moscow Slav Congress in order to attract attention to the political views of the Russian organizers of the Congress. The book represents, according to Prof. Lednicki, an "integral PanSlavism, practically degenerating into Pan-Russianism, and a quite exceptional tribute to the cultural, moral and political forces of the Russian Empire.(9) And in view of a recent analysis by Michael Petrovich, which seems to be one of the best documented and objective, the work "is a romantic melange of science and poetry presented in a vigorous style and an argumentation which is remarkably consequential even when mistaken."(10) Though Stur was quite a prolific writer and his works embraced many fields of intellectual activities from history and poetry to philosophy and philology(ll), for the last hundred years it has been, nevertheless, the above �4 SLOVAKIA mentioned book which made Stur known among the students of Slavistics outside his native land and, therefore, an analysis seems to be opportune on this occasion. What are the main ideas and the principal reasons that this little book - probably only an introduction to a larger history of the Slavs - made Stur one of the major figures among the Slavic intelligentsia of the nineteenth century? Even if we do not accept the view of Prof. Lednicki that the work presents " the most complete and consistently developed program for the subjugation of Slavs to Russia" - Seton-Watson's view is that even in this book Stur's aim was to preserve his own people - it was, among all reasons for its fame, Stur's political and philosophical conceptions which stirred the greatest interest in it. Stur adopted Hegel's and Herder's ideas that gave the Slavs the consciousness of a unity based upon the community of language and glorious destiny, and proclaimed them the coming leaders of Europe. He was thrilled by the vision of a gigantic empire sprawling from the Carpathians of his own native land to the shores of the Pacific. Drawing on history, philosophy, literature, philology, theology, and folklore, as well as on a penetrating insight into contemporary events, Stur emphasized that the Slavs have a mission to fulfill in universal history - or, in other words, that they have a historic vocation. This mission, however, they can fulfill only if united, and in his analysis of the world situation, in which he presents an apocalyptic vision of Western Europe's doom, there were three roads to consider: 1. Slavic federation without Russia. 2. Transformation of Austria into a Slavic federation. 3. Union with Russia - as a monarchic empire under Russian leadership, united in the Orthodox Church and the Russian literary language. Neither of the first two solutions had an appeal to Stur's vision of Slavdom's future and to his philosophy of history. Any attempt to organize a federation of European Slavic nations was doomed to failure in his opinion, because of the geographical situation, internal rivalries, re- �SLOVAKIA 5 ligious differences, cultural differentation, and intermingled non-Slavic elements. Though a few years ago, at the Slav Congress in Prague(12), he was not far from accepting Palacky's idea of Austroslavism and led the Slovaks on the side of the Habsburg's forces against the Magyars in the revolution of 1848, his books condemn in strong terms Austria and the idea of an Austro-Slavic federation. "There remains a third road," Stur insists, "the only one which is sure and has a future - the Union of all Slavs with Russia." "Russia is the prime mover and the leader of our national family," continues Stur. "Our people are but a fragment of a single nationality, they can be reborn and united into a single whole only by a related benevolent and great Power." That Power among the Slavs in Stur's time was only Russia. "Let us go forth together," urges Stur, "in the spirit of our people, under the leadership of the racial elders given to us by history." How was this Russian-led Slavic Union to come about? Stur recommended a return of all Slavs to the GrecoSlavic Church, urged the adoption of the Russian language and Cyrillic alphabet by all Slavs as a common literary language, but how to change the political situation of the Slavic peoples dominated by Austria and Turkey and bring them under the Russian leadership, Stur did not venture to say. He acknowledged that it could be realized only "under the pressure of grave political events" and therefore, he writes: "We do not consider it necessary, and we even consider it superfluous, to define prematurely the means of unification and degree of the reciprocal relations of the Slavs with Russia. The means and the degree of this unification will emerge from circumstances yet to come about. But it is useful," he concludes, "at least to raise the question, to speak about this subject and to prepare our minds for it." Stur's political and philosophical conceptions expressed in this book remain a puzzle even to such experts on his writings as Prof. Cizevskij(13), and they never were explained either by his own compatriots or anyone else. �6 SLOVAKIA Stur adopted Hegel's idea of the succession of various nations on the historical stage as a consecutive incarnation of the universal spirit while studying in Halle, where he came into contact with German nationalism and philosophy. After his return to his native land, however, Stur became a passionate champion of Slovak national independence and fought for a distinct Slovak literary language even against Kollar and his Czech friends. He was for the idea of Slavic reciprocity, and many things stirred his Slavic pride, but his Pan-Slavism was, until this book appeared, a cultural, more or less defensive movement, with emphasis on language, literature, and culture, and politically it aimed at the liberation of his people and other Slavic oppressed nations from foreign rule, with Russia's help, but not under Russia's hegemony. Cizevskij and some other experts on Stur's writings try to explain Stur's political re-orientation mainly as a result of political events in Central Europe and particularly in Slovakia after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848, and such is also our opinion. "It was in a conflicting mood of helplessness and inversely high hopes in salvation from Slavic Russia that Stur wrote his famous work," is the explanation of another Slavist, Prof. Petrovich. "The failure of the Slovak revolution and other political demonstrations (May 1, 1848, Lipt. sv. Mikulas) brought Stur to the conclusion that it was useless for his people to seek its own freedom alone or in the frame of Austroslavism." Stur made it clear, however, even in this book, that his principal aim was to preserve his own people, and besides he set out to accomplish four basic tasks: 1. To determine, largely by reviewing the Slavic past, whether the Slavs had a role of their own to fulfill in world history; 2. to describe the Slavic mission in universal history against the background of the cultural. differences between Western and Eastern Europe; 3. to show what advantages the Slavs possessed by comparing their institutions, traditions; and qualities with those of the West; 4. to demonstrate that the Slavs could accomplish their mission only through political unification under Russian leadership(14). �SLOVAKIA 7 No doubt, this was a new look on the Slavic world. Was it original? We cannot deny that he applied some Hegelian principles of philosophy, such as the primacy of the idea in man's development, Hegel's dialectical approach to historical evolution, and Herder's vision of Slavdom taking place in succession of the bearers of the idea. But there are many original approaches in his book which cannot be linked either with German philosophy or Russian Slavophils, which is the second of alleged influences. Cizevskij defends Stu.r's originality(15). Florinskij, in the preface to the second edition of Stu.r's book (1905), stresses that Stur is very close to the viewpoints of the Russian Slavophils, Chomiakov, Pogodin, Kiriejevski, Aksakov, and their successors, but he also says that "insofar as one can judge by known biographical data, Stu.r's views arose in him independently, apart from any influence of Russian Slavophilism whatsoever." And such also was the opinion of Prof. A. Budilovic and others(16). Stu.r's biographical data speak, in fact, against dependence on Slavophils, though he knew Bodianski, Pogodin, Sevyrev, Sreznevski, Raevski, and others. We can, therefore, defend his originality in many regards, especially if we consider the intellectual climate of Europe in Stu.r's time and if we take into account that Slovakia - with Kollar and Safarik and Herkel, who invented the term "panslavismus," - was the classic land of Slavic reciprocity and that "as in name, so in sentiment, the Slovak never ceased being a Slav." ' Since N. I. Danilevskij and R. A. Fadejev came many years after Stu.r's death(17), Stur can be rightly consider_e d as the founder of political Pan-Slavism, of which Kollar was the poet and Safarik the scientist. �8 SLOVAKIA II STUR'S ROLE IN LINGUISTICS AND PHILOLOGY The role of f,udovit Stur in the field of Slavic studies is generally little known outside of Slovakia. In English, French and German published works, Stur is presented mainly as a political leader(18), a mediocre poet, owing his fame in the Slavic world to his treatise "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" which is, as we mentioned before, a study of a political, sociological, and philosophical character. A few years ago Professor D. Cizevskij, in his German book - translated in the meantime into the Slovak under the title "Sturova filozofia zivota" (Stu.r's Philosophy of Life) -found however, that Stur was also a philosopher of considerable knowledge and originality(19). He shows, of course, dependence on Hegel and contemporary German philosophers. But to present him in such a light, as if he had blindly applied Hegel's philosophy to Slavic or Slovak life, as he was accused by his opponents, seems to be a malicious distortion. In view of Cizevskij's analysis, Stur's generation had several thinkers who tried to create their own philosophical system and who, in their time, among Slavic nations excelled in originality bf thinking. As for Stu.r's philosophy, Cizevskij refuted in his book the assertions that: 1. Stur was a simple follower of Hegel; 2. that his philosophical views were those of contemporary romantic philosophy. In Cizevskij's opinion Stur formed an independent philosophical system which in many ways differs from that of Hegel, and his approach to life's phenomena were highly realistic(20). This, however, is not our concern in the present analysis. Considering Stu.r's role in linguistics and philology, it would be unjust and incorrect not to recognize his merits(21). Stur was no J agic or Miklosic as far as overall Slavic philology is concerned, but without exaggeration we may say that the role, along with A. Bernolak, was that of Vuk Karadzic, Gaj, or Vraz in establishing new literary Slavic languages. There have been until recently many misconceptions as far as the Slovak language, its history and place among �SLOVAKIA 9 the Slavic languages are concerned. A thorough study of phonology, etymology, lexicography, and grammar now shows that the Slovak language is distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident one hundred years ago when contemporary theories in linguistics were still based on primitive methods and the science of philology was in its infancy. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are far advanced beyond the hasty, unwarranted conclusions of a century ago. It is to Stur's credit that - after a century of clashes and discussions between Czech linguists and the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, who replaced the Latin already in the 17th century with a Slovak literary language - the Slovak language was properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and Stur helped to establish it irrevocably among Slavic languages of the Western group. Stur accepted the phonetic orthography of Bernolak which from the philological and practical standpoint best answered the purpose, but for scientific and ideological reasons he decided to adopt the dialect of Central Slovakia and not the western Slovak dialect used since 1635 at the University of Trnava and codified by Bernolak in his Grammar and huge dictionary, the latter in six languages(22). It would be superfluous now to point out that formulating purely scientific views on the proper relations between the Czech and Slovak languages, most of the Czech and other philologists and literary historians were influenced by political views and aspirations. The claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the older Czech was not based on facts of history or philology. It was, according to Stur a biased opinion of those who wished to deny to the Slovaks the right to their independent national life. Though Stur's works in the field of philology - "Narecia slovensko" (Slovak dialect) and his Grammar - are marked by amateurism of XIXth century patriots, and it would be difficult to call him "a scholar trained in the science �10 SLOVAKIA of philology," nevertheless he grasped the true basis of the Slovak language by a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and by a comparative study of their developments. Modern philological research gave Stur reason in many respects. According to Professor Bartek, Stur, who studied and spoke several Slavic languages and was acquainted with comparative philology, was "in his time an extraordinary good philologist, who intuitively often correctly came upon certain individual characteristics of the Slovak language, so that even a modern philological analysis of his work will confirm the correctness of many of Stu.r's linguistic findings, the justification for which science in that period could not prove(23). Stu.r's view that the Slovak language developed independently was confirmed also by Trubeckoj, who considers the disappearance of the lesser vowel sounds (slabe jery) in the Slavic derivatives as the last common change and the date of birth of the Slavic languages. The end of the vowel signs in fact caused a fundamental change in the phonological technique of the Slavic dialects, as well as in the original forms in many instances, so that the entire phonological structure was revised, not uniformly but individually, in each Slavic dialect, which fact brought into being the independent Slavic languages as we have them today(24). Stur considered the Slovak language as the central and cardinal language among all the Slavic tongues. We, of course, can question this from the linguistical point of view and accept that Stur wished to emphasize the central position of Slovakia linguistically, historically, and geographically as the centrum of all Slavdom. Stur viewec' the position of the Slovak language as a central clearinghouse ' mainly because he was conscious of many of its similarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the agreement with the Yugoslav dialects with which the Slovak came into intimate contact in the tenth century as is evident from the presence of Yugoslavism in the Slovak language even today. According to Stur, in the ninth century the Old Sla- �SLOVAKIA 11 vonic was still the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology. From the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, among them also the Slovak tongue. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory in the eleventh century was annexed by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with the Czechs was through the Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovakian dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West and to the present time have retained their own phonological structure. Stur's claim that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech, or the so-called "czechoslovak" language, was based on assumptions many of which were in the meantime proven correct by scientific research of authorities on the subject(25). Professor Senn formulated the results of the new research in this regard in his study on Slavic linguistics, published in "A Handbook of Slavic Studies," edited by Prof. Strakhovsky, and Prof. Henry Bartek from the University of Bratislava, who dedicated to this problem several of his works, says that "we may rightly claim that at the time of the disintegration of the Old Slavonic, the era saw the rise of new, independent Slavic languages, among them being also the Slovak, whose development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language." According to Bartek, the ancient phonological nature of the Slovak language certainly indicates that even in the centuries that followed the disappearance of the Old Slavonic, the Slovak tongue was not subject to a common evolution with the Czech which possesses its own unique phonological system, which is quite different from the Slovak." "In conclusion," says Bartek, "we may say that the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue having its rightful place of equality alongside the Czech or any other Slavic tongue," as Stur asserted over a hundred years ago. �12 SLOVAKIA III STUR'S LITERARY AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS There was for a long time no unanimity among literary historians and critics as to whether Stur was in the first plaee "f homme de pensee," or if in his activities prevailed "f homme d' action." His role in the Slav Congress in Prague, in 1848, his many contacts with Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav intellectuals, his part in the Slovak revolution of 1848, and his role in the Hungarian Diet definitely mark him as "l' homme d' action." From his correspondence we know now that he had direct relations with the leaders of all Slavic peoples and, when sentenced to death for his part in the Slovak revolution, he removed himself to Vienna and there came into contact with other Slav representatives, notably the Slovene Stanko Vraz, and still more important with Ban Jelacic and the Serbian Patriarch Rajacic, who were working hand in hand and paid a joint visit to the Imperial Court. On the other hand, Stur played the most important role among the young generation of his time in the Slovak national revival, in the reform of the Slovak literary language, and in the resulting unity of the Slovak people which was followed by flourishing cultural and literary activities(26). Consequently, to measure Stur's significance and to see objectively his achievements, his intellectual profile and spiritual foundations, we have to consider his activities also in the Slovak cultural and political life. There his significance was great and far-reaching not only in the development of Slovak literature and the Slovak national ideology, but also in philosophy and politics. Slovakia and the Slovak people being a part of the Slav world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival, logically a part of hi.; manifold contributions, is also to be considered within the framework of the Slavic world. Under Stur's leadership, the Slovak intelligentsia composed mostly of Catholic and Protestant clergy, a few teachers, lawyers, and other members of the middle class �SLOVAKIA 13 - continued to build a new national culture which centered in the Catholic university of Trnava (founded 1635) and was successfully developed by a group of Catholic writers, scholars, and poets, among whom particularly the learned linguist Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Holly played leading r6les(27). This new Slovak culture was necessarily and intentionally based on the Slovak peasantry, on small towns and villages with their own specific traditions and artistic creative genius manifested in flourishing folk songs, artistically designed architecture, toolmaking, and resourceful popular music. Since the Slovak gentry continued to lose its national characteristics and assimilated with the Magyar gentry, abandoning the Slovak people in the middle of rising nationalism and political transformations, the Slovak intellectuals could not but take over the culture of the Slovak peasants, middle classes, and a handful of nationally-minded petty aristocrats and from it, before and especially in Sb1r's time, they developed their own national culture and new national consciousness. As in political thinking and planning, so in Stur's cultural activities, his creative work was in harmony with the climate of the epoch in Western and especially in Central Europe, where among the smaller nations romanticism and nationalism were either identical or very related, and national and historical consciousness and popular art, folksongs, sagas, and fairy tales were the focus of interest. In this climate Stur successfully organized his literary school and cultural activities which marked a new era in Slovak national life. His approach was philosophical, since he had a mystic idea of the nation and a respect for it as a person, and there was a strong spiritualism and idealism in his literary and cultural activities. His literary school adopted aesthetic and philosophical principles which became the real basis of last century's Slovak national revival and marked especially the literary and cultural life of Slovakia. During the revolution of 1848-49, Stur's literary school, as correctly says Gudrun Apel,(28) fulfilled to a large extent the function of a political and military leadership; with Stur, Hurban, Hodza among the �14 SLOVAKIA main leaders. The members of this school "imposed the most exacting task on themselves in order to elevate the Slovak people to the same cultural level as the rest of Europe, to release their creative energies, and to enable a new national culture to arise from the existing popular art and language."(29) Stu.r's influence was so strong that some of the principles of Stu.r's ideology and aesthetic principles lived in the cultural life of Slovakia until her subjugation by the present Communist rule. For a long time the folk-song was the basis of all poetic style, and Slovak poetry was mainly an expression of the national idea, national sufferings, joys, hopes, and struggles, as Stur demanded and practiced. Stu.r's claim - that the poet had to be the herald and prophet of a new and better world, something of a was resocial revolutionary and a national leader spected during the past one hundred years in Slovak literature not only in the nationalist era, but also the first years under Communism. Many literary critics refer to Stu.r's poetry and prose as romantic. But in Stu.r's poetry, as in his philosophy, is an evident lack of some principal elements of romanticism. The leading motives of his poetry - as well as of that of his group - were anti-feudal and anti-aristocratic; he made common cause with the people and fought for its rights; he was full of enthusiasm and faith in a new life. Stur advocated national solidarity of an ethical and emotional nature. According to Stu.r's words: "the course of time ... should rouse the poet to exalt songs of life and not of sickness, despair and hopelessness ... " As in his analysis of Janko Kral's poetry G. Apel rightly noticed, Stur and his group knew longing, but their longing was directed toward concrete political and social goals, especially in the years preceding the revolution of 1848-49, which were full of enthusiasm for the struggle and hope for victory. Consequently, Stur and his contemporaries created a literature which echoed not only melancholy and restlessness, but also the call for revolution and the demand for a better world. �SLOVAKIA 15 The lyrical lament is strong in Stiir's poetry as in his prose. But he passed from the sphere of personal and social into that of national and Slavic thought in all his works. The soul of the nation - or of the Slavs - was his constant subject, and the pain of the nation's sufferings, struggles and failures form the pervading atmosphere of his writings. On the whole, Sb'.lr and his followers combined a realist's keen insight into contemporary social problems(30) with the romantic inheritance of warm-hearted attachment to their country and people and, of course, to Slavdom. They advocated democratic enlightenment in relation to unprivileged classes - peasants and workers - and glorified their qualities, as they glorified the Slavs and their past. One of them, Samo Tomasik, created the Slav anthem "Hej, Slovania." And they gave to the Slovak people not only a new hope and a new ideal, but also a pride expressed in Vajansky's famous verse: I am proud to be a Slovak, Elegant is my race; A hundred million souls it numbers, Over half the world it governs. With the Slovak tongue you traverse The four parts of the earth: One my brother palms does plant, Another eternal ice does scan, A third o'er the sea does fly! From this Kollar-inspired phantasy of one great Slav nation and one Slav language, the Slovaks, as rightly says Hans Kohn, "feeling abandoned in Hungary and their national existence threatened, ~ay have drawn strength and faith in the indestructibility of the Slovak people and language," and it helped to continue to maintain contacts with the cultural life of other Slavic peoples. In fact, Stur and his followers transplanted into Slovakia not only Pushkin's poetry, but also Mickiewicz, Sevcenko and Yugoslav poets. Stur's contemporaries demonstrated their Pan-Slavic sympathy and tendencies by read- �16 SLOVAKIA ing Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav authors in the original, and famous Mickiewicz's "Ode to Youth," according to W. Bobek, "not even in Poland had been so enthusiastically received as in Slovakia." We can say that Slovak literature since Stu.r's time developed under a strong influence of the outstanding works of Slav authors and was marked, like Polish and Russian literature, by an extensive use of folk tradition and regionalism, drawing on folklore and legend in the same way and to the same extent as did the literature of other Slavs.(31) �SLOVAKIA 17 IV REVOLUTIONARY, IDEALIST, ROMANTIC, OR REALIST? During the past one hundred years, opponents and adherents of Sh1r's achievements and conceptions classified him differently. To the Hungarian gentry who persecuted and sentenced him to death, he was a revolutionary and a rebel. He was idealist or romantic to those in Central Europe who did not believe in the final victory of truth and natural rights of the oppressed peoples arid did not wish to see Slovaks develop culturally, socially and politically into a distinct national entity. Stur was a romantic day-dreamer for all those who disliked the idea of Slavic reciprocity, his vision of a great future for Slavdom, or his assiduous work for equal rights of the Slovak people with other Central European nations, including Slovak national independence which he advocated in the following terms: "Each nation is only one part of humanity, and no nation can claim for itself that it alone has attained the best human evolution and possible perfection. Therefore, no nation has a right to force upon another nation its way of life when that nation wants to move for itself and educate itself as it sees fit. "So that we (Slovaks) might be r evived and take the place in history which according to our strength and abilities belongs to us, we must once and for all free ourselves from the hated alien yoke and gain state independence for ourselves; because a nation which is enslaved has its hands tied, its spirit stifled, and is forever threatened with the danger that sooner or later it will perish." Considered purely on the basis of his writings, Shir appears to a superficial critic as a revolutionary and als·o a romantic idealist. When all parliamentary and political methods proved unsuccessful, he led, in 1848, the Slovak people in armed resistance against the revolution of the Magyar aristocrats and for Slovak autonomy within th:e framework of the Habsburg Monarchy. But before this happened Stur tried all possible peaceful means, as even a brief look into his activities would show. �18 SLOVAKIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -·-· - ·-· ··-· . -· By advocating the Slovak national cause and uniting the Slovak Catholics and Protestants by means of a common literary language, Stur aimed at a higher cultural level of the broad masses and thereby to gain theqi for the struggle for national equality in Hungary. "Stur was clearly aware of the fact," writes Bartek, "that unity in the literary language was not the ultimate goal of his nation, but only a medium of further national development. The Slovaks, therefore, felt that the proper course had been taken in regard to their literary language. Even John Holly, not only the greatest Slovak poet at that time, but also the greatest ideologist of his nation, gave Stur's action his blessing and, therefore, Stur was joined by the Catholics, representing five-sixths, the absolute majority of the Slovak nation.(32) As a member of the Hungarian Diet, Stur appears as an enlightened fighter for freedom and social progress. A review of his speeches and articles from that time reveals that he demanded equal rights for all nationalities in Hungary, in cultural and political life, and insisted on the adoption by the Diet of laws to free the peasant masses from the feudalistic Robot system and labor , rent, so that the culture of the country might increase by the foundation of schools in national tongues. Among many of his recommendations to the Diet, we also read his fervent demand to industrialize Slovakia and to adopt humanitarian laws regarding relations between gentry and the working class, the State authorities and citizens. The obsolete social and political structure of Hungary was one of the main topics of Stur's speeches. He recommended a federalistic system giving justice to all nationalities and appealed to the magnates to give attention to the development of the State in the spirit of new social and political ideas, and to make it a part of modern Europe. Stur was not a rebel, according to Bartek. As long as there was any hope of settlement with the Magyars, he did not advocate the destruction of the Hungarian State. He warned the ruling Magyar class that they could not forever ignore and suppress the inherent rights of nationalities and exploit the Slovaks and other peoples of �SLOVAKIA 19 Hungary without expecting them to strike back with their righteous demands for a free national life, for the same rights the Magyars were resolved to fight for in the Habsburg Empire. When all these demands hit upon deaf ears, only then did L. Stur and his group decide to organize the Slovak revolution of 1848-49 in which Stur played the leading role together with J. M. Hurban and M. M. Hodza, and which marked, though defeated and betrayed by Vienna, an important milestone in Slovak history. The torch of national consciousness, which Stur and his group had taken over from the followers of Bernolak and J. Holly, as a result of this revolution, became a lasting light for Slovakia's national struggles and aspirations. As for the assertion that Stur was a daydreamer in politics and a romantic in philosophy, recent analysis of his writings by Prof. D. Cizevskij, Prof. S. Polakovic, Dr. S. S. Osusky, and many others, completely repudiates this view. In his book "Stu.r's Philosophy of Life," Prof. Cizevskij proves that Stur was in many respects an original philosopher and not merely an epigon of Hegel and German romantic thinkers. On the contrary, Stu.r's philosophy lacks several characteristic features of German romanticism, according to Cizevskij's thorough analysis which finds him a realist in his approaches to the phenomena of life. Strangely and unfortunately enough, but recent political developments in Central and Eastern Europe proved that even Stu.r's big dream of united Slavic peoples under Russia may become a reality. Not under an enlightened Russian czar with humanistic and liberal views, not as a community dedicated to the Orthodox Church and struggling for the highest ideals of freedom and respect for human beings, as Stur wished to see it in his work "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future) . Moscow has become the political powerhouse of the Slav world under quite different circumstances, but Stu.r's vision of a single united Slavic world under Russian leadership has technically materialized. �20 SLOVAKIA Stur's v1s1on of Slovak cultural, political, and social . life did not prove to be daydreaming either. There is a Slovak nation with its own literature, cultural institutions, and is practically without illiteracy. There is a strong national consciousness and a sound social stratification, unbalanced only by the present Communist regime. And there is also a fighting spirit of the new Slovak generations for national and social justice among Central European peoples and a constant resistance against Communist ideology, about which over a century ago E. Stur wrote : "Communism not only commits outrageous injustice against all civil society .. . but it also ruins all personal initiative, endeavor and enthusiasm. It divides the family, it destroys the household and thus it opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution, and indulgence. It degrades man to animal level. . . . "Communism has matured to the same degree as atheism and defection from Christianity. . . . In all types of Communism, whatever their classification may be, the outlook is only toward a dismal life. It brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind . . . . " Despite Stur's comparatively youthful age, his education and activities, as well as those of his group, were admirably manysided. Besides an ardent love and sacrifice for the national cause, Stur and his followers became a model for many generations in their thorough preparation for the role which they marked out for themselves in Slovak life. Because they were human, they did make mistakes, but enemies of the Slovak national revival are pointing to and magnifying these in vain. Their mistakes were the mistakes of the century in which they lived, as Ernest Denis so understandingly reflected in his "La Question d' Autriche-Les Slovaques," published in 1917. Their smallness or greatness, their realism or romanticism can be measured only against the background of the conditions and of the period in which they lived, and against the results of their work which brought a new and more dynamic life to the Slovak people.(33) To summarize, it is certainly proper and correct to say �SLOVAKIA 21 that the significance of r.udovit Stur was great and farreaching, in the first place, in the revival of Slovak national life, where Stur played the role of reformer of the Slovak literary language, greatly contributed to the modern Slovak national ideology, gave to his people a new vision of political freedom and of a better future, and by his own example, his writings embracing poetry, philosophy, history, sociology, etc., gave a strong impetus to Slovak life in general. Since Slovakia and the Slovak people are surely a part of the Slavic world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival is logically a part of his manifold contributions to be considered within the over-all Slavic world, too. On his position among Slav intellectuals of the XIXth century speaks not only the role he played at the first Slavic Congress in Prague, his rich correspondence with practically all outstanding Slavic leaders, but also the fact that his work "Slavdom and the World of the Future" was translated and twice published by Russian intellectuals in the last and at the beginning of this century. Being endowed with extraordinary natural capacity for creative and original conceptions, Stur belongs with Jan Kollar and Pavel J. Safarik to the Slovaks of the XIXth century who can rightly be regarded as great figures of the Slavic world. �22 SLOVAKIA NOTES 1. Stur's condemnation of Communism around 1850 became a part of the Slovak national ideology and has been quoted again and again. According to Stur, Communism "ranks among the wildest of offshoots ever conceived by the human brain ... it brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind, it shatters all the bonds of social living and opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution and indulgence. In place of holy ties, it offers profiteering, rioting and their like and thus it degrades man to animal level etc . ... " 2. A. Mraz, professor at the University of Bratislava, in his German book "Die Literature der Slowaken" and in his new · book "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948, says that "Stur war nicht nur ein glilcklicher Reformator und genialer Organisator und Initiator, er ragte auch als Dichter for" (p. 92). 3. Cfr. Hans Kohn, "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," University of Notre Dame Press, 1953, (p. 20). Les Slovaques," 4. Ernest Denis, "La Question d' Autriche Paris, Librairie Delagrave, (pp. 162- 170). 5. Objective studies on Stur in foreign languages were published by Prof. Dimitrij Cizevskij , "l!udovit ~tur's Philosophie des Litbens," Halle, 1938, and by Michael B. Petrovich, "The Emergence of Russian Pan-Slavism 1856-1870," Columbia University Press, 1956. 6. Ibidem, (p. 21). 7. Prof. Seton-Watson, "History of the Czechs and Slovaks," London, 1942, (p. 259). 8. Ibidem, (p. 262). See also Louis Leger, "Le Panslavisme et I' inte''l.!uderet francaise," Paris, Ernest Flammarion, 1917, (p. 164) vit Stur etait Slovaque, comme Kollar, comme Schafarik. On voit quel role les Slovaques si oublies chez nous, pour ne pas dire si ignores, ont joue dans la vie de la race slave au XIXe siecle." Leger confirms that the appeal to the Slavs for the First Congress in Prague in 1848 "avait ete redige par l' ectivain slovaque I.!udevit stur. " 9. Cfr. W. Lednicki, "Panslavism, in European Ideologies," ed. by Felix Gross, New York, 1948, (p. 838). 10. Journal of Central European Affairs, XII, 1952, I, 1- 19. 11. Stur's writings were published in several volumes. To his most important published works belong the following: Songs and Poems ; Ancient and New History of the Slovaks; Slavdom and the Future of the World ; Slovak Vernacular and the Need to Write In It; Slovak Grammar, and a great number of articles and studies, some of them published recently under the title : Slova na c!ase. He also was founder and editor of newspapers and reviews : Slovak National Review, The Eagle, etc. 12. Cfr. Louis Leger, "Le Panslavism et I' interet francais," (pp. 164-202). 13. See "~turova filozofia iivota," Bratislava, 1941, SUS, (p. III). 14. Cfr. I.!udovit Stur, "Slavianstvo i mir budushchago; Poslanie �SLOVAKIA 23 Slavianam s beregov Dunaja," translated from the German MS by V. L Lamanskij in "Chteniia lmperatorskago Obschchestva lstorii i Drevnostei Rossiiskich pri Moskovskom Universitete, Ill, Material y slavianskie," Books 1-3, Moscow, 1867, (pp. 1-191). For an analysis of Stur's work, see M. B. . Petrovich's "The Emergence of Russian Panslavism" and his "l!udovit ~tur and Russian Panslavism" in the Journal of Central European Affairs, April, 1952, 1-19. In German an objective analysis can be found in Alfred Fischel's book "Der Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg," Stuttgart and Berlin, 1919. 15. Cfr. "~turova filozofia zivota" and also Doc. S. Polako~ic, "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filozofie," Bratislava, 1944. 16. Cfr. Petrovich's works. 17. Danilevskii's first series of articles were published in 1869 in "Zaria" and so was his remarkable book "Rossiia i Evropa; vzgliad na kulturnyia i politicheskija otnosheniia slavianskago mira k germano-romanskomu." R. A. Fadieev published his "Mnienie o vostochnom voprosie" also in 1870; Stur died in 1856. 18. Cfr. works by Seton-Watson, Ernest Denis, Louis Leger, A. Fischel, H. Kohn, etc. For E. Denis "Stur reste encore aujourd' hui le nom le plus illustre de l' histoire slovaque . . . et l' ame de la resistance nationale .. . il ne vivait que pour sa cause et son ame debordait d' amour et de foi . .. " (p. 164). 19. Cfr. also Polakovic's "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filo• zofie," (p. 56). 20. Cfr. Cizevskij's chapter "Stur and Hegel" and also statement by him on p. 107 of his work. 21. See "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June 1956, article by Prof. H. Bartek. 22. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," Scranton, Pa., 1947, (pp. 90-100). 23. See H. Bartek : "l!udovit Shir a slovencina," Bratislava, 1943, and also his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956 (p. 9). 24. Cfr. "Revue des Etudes slaves," Paris, II, (pp. 217-18), article by H. Bartek. 25. Stur also adopted the view that the archaic Czech language, which was used for some time in Slovakia by the Protestant intelli· gentsia, was merely a borrowed language, and that the Slovak Protestants used it for liturgy and literature in the same way as the Catholics used Latin. This thesis was supported before Stur by many Catholic Slovak writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Cfr. "Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact," by J . M. Kirschbaum, Vol. I, 1956, Slavic and Easf European Studies. 26. Cfr. Prof. A. Mraz, "Die Literature der Slowaken," as well as his recent work "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948. 27. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," (pp. 103-105). 28. See, "A Byronic Hero in Slovak Literature," The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume XXXIV, No. 83, June, 1956, (pp. 338-354). 29. Ibidem, (pp. 33941). 30. On Stur's social ideas see Dr. J . Pauco, "l!udovychova u �24 SLOVAKIA Sturovcov," Turc. sv. Martin, 1943, and his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, March, 1956. In Pauco's view Stur and his followers "concerned themselves with the welfare of the entire nation. They fought to improve their economy, but they also fought with equal vigor against alcoholism, illiteracy, etc." 31. Cfr. "A Note On Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz," by J. M. Kirschbaum , in "Mickiewic z in World Literature," Univ. of California Press, 1956. See also Cizevskij's contributio n: "Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral," Ibidem, (pp. 469-484). 32. H. Bartek, "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956. 33. See "Uudovit Stur po sto rokoch," by J. M. Kirschbaum , Most, Vol. III, No. 4. 195. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 VOL. VIII quarterly by the Slovak League MARCH, 1958 of America NO. 1 (26) EUDOvtT STUR AND ms PLACE IN THE SLAVIC WORLD By Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. INTRODUCTORY NOTE Among Slovaks of the XIXth century who acquired their fame in the Slavic world, I'..udovit Stur (born 1815, died 1856) is among his contemporaries, poet Jan Kollar and ethnologist Pavel J. Safarik, one whose role and significance are still to be reconsidered and objectively reevaluated. Though nobody tried to claim him because some of his works were written in foreign languages, as it happened to Kollar and Safarik, who even now are classified as Czech poets and scholars, the literary value of Stur's works and the seriousness of his political and philosophical conceptions were questioned and often intentionally underestimated and distorted. While even scholars and literary historians at today's communist universities reevaluated - despite Sh1r's wellknown condemnation of Communism(!) his literary heritage and classified him among outstanding Slavic poets(2), philologists, philosophers and political leaders of the XIXth century - in many scholarly works in the free world he has been presented again and again "mediocre as a writer and thinker, but full of the typical sentimentalism and lyricism of the period, a man who like many at that time devoted all his life to the cause of his people and spent himself in its service."(3) · This judgment, which is quoted from Hans Kohn'. s "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," one of the most objective and up to date works on the subject, was uncritically repeated since it appeared for the first time in Ernest Denis' book "La Question d' Autriche - Les Slovaques," published in 1917.(4) Actually, this superficial and antagonistic view has been based on a thesis "Louis Stu.r 2 SLOVAKIA et l' idee d' independance slovaque," prepared by a young university student from Central Europe, H. Tourzer, who compiled unfavorable views and interpretations of Stur's work by contemporary Czech and Slovak literary critics and Stur's opponents. Instead of basing her judgment on a critical analysis of Stur's works, the young candidate for a Ph.D., Tourzer, presented Stur to the Western world in accordance with some political tendencies but in a highly unobjective light. Needless to say that neither Denis, nor Seton-Watson - another authority on the Slovak question - nor Hans Kohn, nor Kann ever analyzed and read Stur's works, some of them never translated into foreign languages and, consequently, the conclusions published in their books hardly resulted from their own analysis.(5) After a century, while commemorating Stur's centenary of death, we feel obliged to shed an objective light on Stur's work, his literary heritage, and his role in the Slavic world of the XIXth century. We are in a position to base our judgments not only on all his works - which until recently were not available in extenso - but on a hundred years span of time, which tested many of his conceptions and achievements and as the heat of the antagonists, who hated and debased him for political reasons, cooled down to a great extent by force of the vitality of Stur's ideas and the righteousness of his conceptions. Looking for Stur's place in the Slavic world, naturally we cannot avoid some purely Slovak cultural and political issues, though there is a great deal of truth in Hans Kohn's words that "the Slovak nation, with its own literary language, was definitely established"(6) by the merits of Stur's manifold activities, and this cannot, of course, be without interest for a student of the Slavic world in the field of linguistics, ethnology, history, or politics. Avoiding Stur's role and his historical achievements within a purely national range of his activities, an analysis of his works, conceptions, and lifelong struggles moves us to consider Stur's place in the Slavic world, 1) in the PanSlavic movement; 2) in the field of linguistics; and, 3) in literature. SLOVAKIA 3 I I'..UDOVfT STUR AND PAN-SLAVISM Seton-Watson, one of the best English experts on Slovakia's past cultural and political struggles and aspirations, assessed Stur's significance in the Slavic world together with Kollar's and Safarik's role, stating that "their writings were of capital importance in the whole Slav revival of the last century, and form a strange sentimental link between the Western romantic school and the extravagancies of Pan-Slavism."(7) And referring to the first Slav Congress in Prague in 1848, Seton-Watson says that Stur "played a decisive part in the preparations for the Congress" and that at the Congress the four Slovaks - Safarik, Stur, Hurban and Hodza - played a part second to none save Palacky.(8) These two opinions on Stur's significance in the PanSlavic movement call for an analysis and completion in order to be understood properly. Quite a few of the experts on Slavic studies know Stur as a writer predominantly from his last work, written around 1855 in German and never published in Stur's native language, entitled "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future), which was published in Russian translation in 1867, and its specially printed edition was presented to the foreign Slavic delegates to the Moscow Slav Congress in order to attract attention to the political views of the Russian organizers of the Congress. The book represents, according to Prof. Lednicki, an "integral PanSlavism, practically degenerating into Pan-Russianism, and a quite exceptional tribute to the cultural, moral and political forces of the Russian Empire.(9) And in view of a recent analysis by Michael Petrovich, which seems to be one of the best documented and objective, the work "is a romantic melange of science and poetry presented in a vigorous style and an argumentation which is remarkably consequential even when mistaken."(10) Though Stur was quite a prolific writer and his works embraced many fields of intellectual activities from history and poetry to philosophy and philology(ll), for the last hundred years it has been, nevertheless, the above 4 SLOVAKIA mentioned book which made Stur known among the students of Slavistics outside his native land and, therefore, an analysis seems to be opportune on this occasion. What are the main ideas and the principal reasons that this little book - probably only an introduction to a larger history of the Slavs - made Stur one of the major figures among the Slavic intelligentsia of the nineteenth century? Even if we do not accept the view of Prof. Lednicki that the work presents " the most complete and consistently developed program for the subjugation of Slavs to Russia" - Seton-Watson's view is that even in this book Stur's aim was to preserve his own people - it was, among all reasons for its fame, Stur's political and philosophical conceptions which stirred the greatest interest in it. Stur adopted Hegel's and Herder's ideas that gave the Slavs the consciousness of a unity based upon the community of language and glorious destiny, and proclaimed them the coming leaders of Europe. He was thrilled by the vision of a gigantic empire sprawling from the Carpathians of his own native land to the shores of the Pacific. Drawing on history, philosophy, literature, philology, theology, and folklore, as well as on a penetrating insight into contemporary events, Stur emphasized that the Slavs have a mission to fulfill in universal history - or, in other words, that they have a historic vocation. This mission, however, they can fulfill only if united, and in his analysis of the world situation, in which he presents an apocalyptic vision of Western Europe's doom, there were three roads to consider: 1. Slavic federation without Russia. 2. Transformation of Austria into a Slavic federation. 3. Union with Russia - as a monarchic empire under Russian leadership, united in the Orthodox Church and the Russian literary language. Neither of the first two solutions had an appeal to Stur's vision of Slavdom's future and to his philosophy of history. Any attempt to organize a federation of European Slavic nations was doomed to failure in his opinion, because of the geographical situation, internal rivalries, re- SLOVAKIA 5 ligious differences, cultural differentation, and intermingled non-Slavic elements. Though a few years ago, at the Slav Congress in Prague(12), he was not far from accepting Palacky's idea of Austroslavism and led the Slovaks on the side of the Habsburg's forces against the Magyars in the revolution of 1848, his books condemn in strong terms Austria and the idea of an Austro-Slavic federation. "There remains a third road," Stur insists, "the only one which is sure and has a future - the Union of all Slavs with Russia." "Russia is the prime mover and the leader of our national family," continues Stur. "Our people are but a fragment of a single nationality, they can be reborn and united into a single whole only by a related benevolent and great Power." That Power among the Slavs in Stur's time was only Russia. "Let us go forth together," urges Stur, "in the spirit of our people, under the leadership of the racial elders given to us by history." How was this Russian-led Slavic Union to come about? Stur recommended a return of all Slavs to the GrecoSlavic Church, urged the adoption of the Russian language and Cyrillic alphabet by all Slavs as a common literary language, but how to change the political situation of the Slavic peoples dominated by Austria and Turkey and bring them under the Russian leadership, Stur did not venture to say. He acknowledged that it could be realized only "under the pressure of grave political events" and therefore, he writes: "We do not consider it necessary, and we even consider it superfluous, to define prematurely the means of unification and degree of the reciprocal relations of the Slavs with Russia. The means and the degree of this unification will emerge from circumstances yet to come about. But it is useful," he concludes, "at least to raise the question, to speak about this subject and to prepare our minds for it." Stur's political and philosophical conceptions expressed in this book remain a puzzle even to such experts on his writings as Prof. Cizevskij(13), and they never were explained either by his own compatriots or anyone else. 6 SLOVAKIA Stur adopted Hegel's idea of the succession of various nations on the historical stage as a consecutive incarnation of the universal spirit while studying in Halle, where he came into contact with German nationalism and philosophy. After his return to his native land, however, Stur became a passionate champion of Slovak national independence and fought for a distinct Slovak literary language even against Kollar and his Czech friends. He was for the idea of Slavic reciprocity, and many things stirred his Slavic pride, but his Pan-Slavism was, until this book appeared, a cultural, more or less defensive movement, with emphasis on language, literature, and culture, and politically it aimed at the liberation of his people and other Slavic oppressed nations from foreign rule, with Russia's help, but not under Russia's hegemony. Cizevskij and some other experts on Stur's writings try to explain Stur's political re-orientation mainly as a result of political events in Central Europe and particularly in Slovakia after the unsuccessful revolution of 1848, and such is also our opinion. "It was in a conflicting mood of helplessness and inversely high hopes in salvation from Slavic Russia that Stur wrote his famous work," is the explanation of another Slavist, Prof. Petrovich. "The failure of the Slovak revolution and other political demonstrations (May 1, 1848, Lipt. sv. Mikulas) brought Stur to the conclusion that it was useless for his people to seek its own freedom alone or in the frame of Austroslavism." Stur made it clear, however, even in this book, that his principal aim was to preserve his own people, and besides he set out to accomplish four basic tasks: 1. To determine, largely by reviewing the Slavic past, whether the Slavs had a role of their own to fulfill in world history; 2. to describe the Slavic mission in universal history against the background of the cultural. differences between Western and Eastern Europe; 3. to show what advantages the Slavs possessed by comparing their institutions, traditions; and qualities with those of the West; 4. to demonstrate that the Slavs could accomplish their mission only through political unification under Russian leadership(14). SLOVAKIA 7 No doubt, this was a new look on the Slavic world. Was it original? We cannot deny that he applied some Hegelian principles of philosophy, such as the primacy of the idea in man's development, Hegel's dialectical approach to historical evolution, and Herder's vision of Slavdom taking place in succession of the bearers of the idea. But there are many original approaches in his book which cannot be linked either with German philosophy or Russian Slavophils, which is the second of alleged influences. Cizevskij defends Stu.r's originality(15). Florinskij, in the preface to the second edition of Stu.r's book (1905), stresses that Stur is very close to the viewpoints of the Russian Slavophils, Chomiakov, Pogodin, Kiriejevski, Aksakov, and their successors, but he also says that "insofar as one can judge by known biographical data, Stu.r's views arose in him independently, apart from any influence of Russian Slavophilism whatsoever." And such also was the opinion of Prof. A. Budilovic and others(16). Stu.r's biographical data speak, in fact, against dependence on Slavophils, though he knew Bodianski, Pogodin, Sevyrev, Sreznevski, Raevski, and others. We can, therefore, defend his originality in many regards, especially if we consider the intellectual climate of Europe in Stu.r's time and if we take into account that Slovakia - with Kollar and Safarik and Herkel, who invented the term "panslavismus," - was the classic land of Slavic reciprocity and that "as in name, so in sentiment, the Slovak never ceased being a Slav." ' Since N. I. Danilevskij and R. A. Fadejev came many years after Stu.r's death(17), Stur can be rightly consider_e d as the founder of political Pan-Slavism, of which Kollar was the poet and Safarik the scientist. 8 SLOVAKIA II STUR'S ROLE IN LINGUISTICS AND PHILOLOGY The role of f,udovit Stur in the field of Slavic studies is generally little known outside of Slovakia. In English, French and German published works, Stur is presented mainly as a political leader(18), a mediocre poet, owing his fame in the Slavic world to his treatise "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" which is, as we mentioned before, a study of a political, sociological, and philosophical character. A few years ago Professor D. Cizevskij, in his German book - translated in the meantime into the Slovak under the title "Sturova filozofia zivota" (Stu.r's Philosophy of Life) -found however, that Stur was also a philosopher of considerable knowledge and originality(19). He shows, of course, dependence on Hegel and contemporary German philosophers. But to present him in such a light, as if he had blindly applied Hegel's philosophy to Slavic or Slovak life, as he was accused by his opponents, seems to be a malicious distortion. In view of Cizevskij's analysis, Stur's generation had several thinkers who tried to create their own philosophical system and who, in their time, among Slavic nations excelled in originality bf thinking. As for Stu.r's philosophy, Cizevskij refuted in his book the assertions that: 1. Stur was a simple follower of Hegel; 2. that his philosophical views were those of contemporary romantic philosophy. In Cizevskij's opinion Stur formed an independent philosophical system which in many ways differs from that of Hegel, and his approach to life's phenomena were highly realistic(20). This, however, is not our concern in the present analysis. Considering Stu.r's role in linguistics and philology, it would be unjust and incorrect not to recognize his merits(21). Stur was no J agic or Miklosic as far as overall Slavic philology is concerned, but without exaggeration we may say that the role, along with A. Bernolak, was that of Vuk Karadzic, Gaj, or Vraz in establishing new literary Slavic languages. There have been until recently many misconceptions as far as the Slovak language, its history and place among SLOVAKIA 9 the Slavic languages are concerned. A thorough study of phonology, etymology, lexicography, and grammar now shows that the Slovak language is distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident one hundred years ago when contemporary theories in linguistics were still based on primitive methods and the science of philology was in its infancy. Modern techniques in linguistics have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving us modified views that are far advanced beyond the hasty, unwarranted conclusions of a century ago. It is to Stur's credit that - after a century of clashes and discussions between Czech linguists and the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, who replaced the Latin already in the 17th century with a Slovak literary language - the Slovak language was properly classified as the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and Stur helped to establish it irrevocably among Slavic languages of the Western group. Stur accepted the phonetic orthography of Bernolak which from the philological and practical standpoint best answered the purpose, but for scientific and ideological reasons he decided to adopt the dialect of Central Slovakia and not the western Slovak dialect used since 1635 at the University of Trnava and codified by Bernolak in his Grammar and huge dictionary, the latter in six languages(22). It would be superfluous now to point out that formulating purely scientific views on the proper relations between the Czech and Slovak languages, most of the Czech and other philologists and literary historians were influenced by political views and aspirations. The claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the older Czech was not based on facts of history or philology. It was, according to Stur a biased opinion of those who wished to deny to the Slovaks the right to their independent national life. Though Stur's works in the field of philology - "Narecia slovensko" (Slovak dialect) and his Grammar - are marked by amateurism of XIXth century patriots, and it would be difficult to call him "a scholar trained in the science 10 SLOVAKIA of philology," nevertheless he grasped the true basis of the Slovak language by a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and by a comparative study of their developments. Modern philological research gave Stur reason in many respects. According to Professor Bartek, Stur, who studied and spoke several Slavic languages and was acquainted with comparative philology, was "in his time an extraordinary good philologist, who intuitively often correctly came upon certain individual characteristics of the Slovak language, so that even a modern philological analysis of his work will confirm the correctness of many of Stu.r's linguistic findings, the justification for which science in that period could not prove(23). Stu.r's view that the Slovak language developed independently was confirmed also by Trubeckoj, who considers the disappearance of the lesser vowel sounds (slabe jery) in the Slavic derivatives as the last common change and the date of birth of the Slavic languages. The end of the vowel signs in fact caused a fundamental change in the phonological technique of the Slavic dialects, as well as in the original forms in many instances, so that the entire phonological structure was revised, not uniformly but individually, in each Slavic dialect, which fact brought into being the independent Slavic languages as we have them today(24). Stur considered the Slovak language as the central and cardinal language among all the Slavic tongues. We, of course, can question this from the linguistical point of view and accept that Stur wished to emphasize the central position of Slovakia linguistically, historically, and geographically as the centrum of all Slavdom. Stur viewec' the position of the Slovak language as a central clearinghouse ' mainly because he was conscious of many of its similarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the agreement with the Yugoslav dialects with which the Slovak came into intimate contact in the tenth century as is evident from the presence of Yugoslavism in the Slovak language even today. According to Stur, in the ninth century the Old Sla- SLOVAKIA 11 vonic was still the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology. From the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, among them also the Slovak tongue. This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory in the eleventh century was annexed by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with the Czechs was through the Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovakian dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West and to the present time have retained their own phonological structure. Stur's claim that the Slovak language never was a part of the Czech, or the so-called "czechoslovak" language, was based on assumptions many of which were in the meantime proven correct by scientific research of authorities on the subject(25). Professor Senn formulated the results of the new research in this regard in his study on Slavic linguistics, published in "A Handbook of Slavic Studies," edited by Prof. Strakhovsky, and Prof. Henry Bartek from the University of Bratislava, who dedicated to this problem several of his works, says that "we may rightly claim that at the time of the disintegration of the Old Slavonic, the era saw the rise of new, independent Slavic languages, among them being also the Slovak, whose development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language." According to Bartek, the ancient phonological nature of the Slovak language certainly indicates that even in the centuries that followed the disappearance of the Old Slavonic, the Slovak tongue was not subject to a common evolution with the Czech which possesses its own unique phonological system, which is quite different from the Slovak." "In conclusion," says Bartek, "we may say that the Slovak language is by every right of its origin and development an independent tongue having its rightful place of equality alongside the Czech or any other Slavic tongue," as Stur asserted over a hundred years ago. 12 SLOVAKIA III STUR'S LITERARY AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS There was for a long time no unanimity among literary historians and critics as to whether Stur was in the first plaee "f homme de pensee," or if in his activities prevailed "f homme d' action." His role in the Slav Congress in Prague, in 1848, his many contacts with Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav intellectuals, his part in the Slovak revolution of 1848, and his role in the Hungarian Diet definitely mark him as "l' homme d' action." From his correspondence we know now that he had direct relations with the leaders of all Slavic peoples and, when sentenced to death for his part in the Slovak revolution, he removed himself to Vienna and there came into contact with other Slav representatives, notably the Slovene Stanko Vraz, and still more important with Ban Jelacic and the Serbian Patriarch Rajacic, who were working hand in hand and paid a joint visit to the Imperial Court. On the other hand, Stur played the most important role among the young generation of his time in the Slovak national revival, in the reform of the Slovak literary language, and in the resulting unity of the Slovak people which was followed by flourishing cultural and literary activities(26). Consequently, to measure Stur's significance and to see objectively his achievements, his intellectual profile and spiritual foundations, we have to consider his activities also in the Slovak cultural and political life. There his significance was great and far-reaching not only in the development of Slovak literature and the Slovak national ideology, but also in philosophy and politics. Slovakia and the Slovak people being a part of the Slav world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival, logically a part of hi.; manifold contributions, is also to be considered within the framework of the Slavic world. Under Stur's leadership, the Slovak intelligentsia composed mostly of Catholic and Protestant clergy, a few teachers, lawyers, and other members of the middle class SLOVAKIA 13 - continued to build a new national culture which centered in the Catholic university of Trnava (founded 1635) and was successfully developed by a group of Catholic writers, scholars, and poets, among whom particularly the learned linguist Anton Bernolak and the poet Jan Holly played leading r6les(27). This new Slovak culture was necessarily and intentionally based on the Slovak peasantry, on small towns and villages with their own specific traditions and artistic creative genius manifested in flourishing folk songs, artistically designed architecture, toolmaking, and resourceful popular music. Since the Slovak gentry continued to lose its national characteristics and assimilated with the Magyar gentry, abandoning the Slovak people in the middle of rising nationalism and political transformations, the Slovak intellectuals could not but take over the culture of the Slovak peasants, middle classes, and a handful of nationally-minded petty aristocrats and from it, before and especially in Sb1r's time, they developed their own national culture and new national consciousness. As in political thinking and planning, so in Stur's cultural activities, his creative work was in harmony with the climate of the epoch in Western and especially in Central Europe, where among the smaller nations romanticism and nationalism were either identical or very related, and national and historical consciousness and popular art, folksongs, sagas, and fairy tales were the focus of interest. In this climate Stur successfully organized his literary school and cultural activities which marked a new era in Slovak national life. His approach was philosophical, since he had a mystic idea of the nation and a respect for it as a person, and there was a strong spiritualism and idealism in his literary and cultural activities. His literary school adopted aesthetic and philosophical principles which became the real basis of last century's Slovak national revival and marked especially the literary and cultural life of Slovakia. During the revolution of 1848-49, Stur's literary school, as correctly says Gudrun Apel,(28) fulfilled to a large extent the function of a political and military leadership; with Stur, Hurban, Hodza among the 14 SLOVAKIA main leaders. The members of this school "imposed the most exacting task on themselves in order to elevate the Slovak people to the same cultural level as the rest of Europe, to release their creative energies, and to enable a new national culture to arise from the existing popular art and language."(29) Stu.r's influence was so strong that some of the principles of Stu.r's ideology and aesthetic principles lived in the cultural life of Slovakia until her subjugation by the present Communist rule. For a long time the folk-song was the basis of all poetic style, and Slovak poetry was mainly an expression of the national idea, national sufferings, joys, hopes, and struggles, as Stur demanded and practiced. Stu.r's claim - that the poet had to be the herald and prophet of a new and better world, something of a was resocial revolutionary and a national leader spected during the past one hundred years in Slovak literature not only in the nationalist era, but also the first years under Communism. Many literary critics refer to Stu.r's poetry and prose as romantic. But in Stu.r's poetry, as in his philosophy, is an evident lack of some principal elements of romanticism. The leading motives of his poetry - as well as of that of his group - were anti-feudal and anti-aristocratic; he made common cause with the people and fought for its rights; he was full of enthusiasm and faith in a new life. Stur advocated national solidarity of an ethical and emotional nature. According to Stu.r's words: "the course of time ... should rouse the poet to exalt songs of life and not of sickness, despair and hopelessness ... " As in his analysis of Janko Kral's poetry G. Apel rightly noticed, Stur and his group knew longing, but their longing was directed toward concrete political and social goals, especially in the years preceding the revolution of 1848-49, which were full of enthusiasm for the struggle and hope for victory. Consequently, Stur and his contemporaries created a literature which echoed not only melancholy and restlessness, but also the call for revolution and the demand for a better world. SLOVAKIA 15 The lyrical lament is strong in Stiir's poetry as in his prose. But he passed from the sphere of personal and social into that of national and Slavic thought in all his works. The soul of the nation - or of the Slavs - was his constant subject, and the pain of the nation's sufferings, struggles and failures form the pervading atmosphere of his writings. On the whole, Sb'.lr and his followers combined a realist's keen insight into contemporary social problems(30) with the romantic inheritance of warm-hearted attachment to their country and people and, of course, to Slavdom. They advocated democratic enlightenment in relation to unprivileged classes - peasants and workers - and glorified their qualities, as they glorified the Slavs and their past. One of them, Samo Tomasik, created the Slav anthem "Hej, Slovania." And they gave to the Slovak people not only a new hope and a new ideal, but also a pride expressed in Vajansky's famous verse: I am proud to be a Slovak, Elegant is my race; A hundred million souls it numbers, Over half the world it governs. With the Slovak tongue you traverse The four parts of the earth: One my brother palms does plant, Another eternal ice does scan, A third o'er the sea does fly! From this Kollar-inspired phantasy of one great Slav nation and one Slav language, the Slovaks, as rightly says Hans Kohn, "feeling abandoned in Hungary and their national existence threatened, ~ay have drawn strength and faith in the indestructibility of the Slovak people and language," and it helped to continue to maintain contacts with the cultural life of other Slavic peoples. In fact, Stur and his followers transplanted into Slovakia not only Pushkin's poetry, but also Mickiewicz, Sevcenko and Yugoslav poets. Stur's contemporaries demonstrated their Pan-Slavic sympathy and tendencies by read- 16 SLOVAKIA ing Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, and Yugoslav authors in the original, and famous Mickiewicz's "Ode to Youth," according to W. Bobek, "not even in Poland had been so enthusiastically received as in Slovakia." We can say that Slovak literature since Stu.r's time developed under a strong influence of the outstanding works of Slav authors and was marked, like Polish and Russian literature, by an extensive use of folk tradition and regionalism, drawing on folklore and legend in the same way and to the same extent as did the literature of other Slavs.(31) SLOVAKIA 17 IV REVOLUTIONARY, IDEALIST, ROMANTIC, OR REALIST? During the past one hundred years, opponents and adherents of Sh1r's achievements and conceptions classified him differently. To the Hungarian gentry who persecuted and sentenced him to death, he was a revolutionary and a rebel. He was idealist or romantic to those in Central Europe who did not believe in the final victory of truth and natural rights of the oppressed peoples arid did not wish to see Slovaks develop culturally, socially and politically into a distinct national entity. Stur was a romantic day-dreamer for all those who disliked the idea of Slavic reciprocity, his vision of a great future for Slavdom, or his assiduous work for equal rights of the Slovak people with other Central European nations, including Slovak national independence which he advocated in the following terms: "Each nation is only one part of humanity, and no nation can claim for itself that it alone has attained the best human evolution and possible perfection. Therefore, no nation has a right to force upon another nation its way of life when that nation wants to move for itself and educate itself as it sees fit. "So that we (Slovaks) might be r evived and take the place in history which according to our strength and abilities belongs to us, we must once and for all free ourselves from the hated alien yoke and gain state independence for ourselves; because a nation which is enslaved has its hands tied, its spirit stifled, and is forever threatened with the danger that sooner or later it will perish." Considered purely on the basis of his writings, Shir appears to a superficial critic as a revolutionary and als·o a romantic idealist. When all parliamentary and political methods proved unsuccessful, he led, in 1848, the Slovak people in armed resistance against the revolution of the Magyar aristocrats and for Slovak autonomy within th:e framework of the Habsburg Monarchy. But before this happened Stur tried all possible peaceful means, as even a brief look into his activities would show. 18 SLOVAKIA - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -·-· - ·-· ··-· . -· By advocating the Slovak national cause and uniting the Slovak Catholics and Protestants by means of a common literary language, Stur aimed at a higher cultural level of the broad masses and thereby to gain theqi for the struggle for national equality in Hungary. "Stur was clearly aware of the fact," writes Bartek, "that unity in the literary language was not the ultimate goal of his nation, but only a medium of further national development. The Slovaks, therefore, felt that the proper course had been taken in regard to their literary language. Even John Holly, not only the greatest Slovak poet at that time, but also the greatest ideologist of his nation, gave Stur's action his blessing and, therefore, Stur was joined by the Catholics, representing five-sixths, the absolute majority of the Slovak nation.(32) As a member of the Hungarian Diet, Stur appears as an enlightened fighter for freedom and social progress. A review of his speeches and articles from that time reveals that he demanded equal rights for all nationalities in Hungary, in cultural and political life, and insisted on the adoption by the Diet of laws to free the peasant masses from the feudalistic Robot system and labor , rent, so that the culture of the country might increase by the foundation of schools in national tongues. Among many of his recommendations to the Diet, we also read his fervent demand to industrialize Slovakia and to adopt humanitarian laws regarding relations between gentry and the working class, the State authorities and citizens. The obsolete social and political structure of Hungary was one of the main topics of Stur's speeches. He recommended a federalistic system giving justice to all nationalities and appealed to the magnates to give attention to the development of the State in the spirit of new social and political ideas, and to make it a part of modern Europe. Stur was not a rebel, according to Bartek. As long as there was any hope of settlement with the Magyars, he did not advocate the destruction of the Hungarian State. He warned the ruling Magyar class that they could not forever ignore and suppress the inherent rights of nationalities and exploit the Slovaks and other peoples of SLOVAKIA 19 Hungary without expecting them to strike back with their righteous demands for a free national life, for the same rights the Magyars were resolved to fight for in the Habsburg Empire. When all these demands hit upon deaf ears, only then did L. Stur and his group decide to organize the Slovak revolution of 1848-49 in which Stur played the leading role together with J. M. Hurban and M. M. Hodza, and which marked, though defeated and betrayed by Vienna, an important milestone in Slovak history. The torch of national consciousness, which Stur and his group had taken over from the followers of Bernolak and J. Holly, as a result of this revolution, became a lasting light for Slovakia's national struggles and aspirations. As for the assertion that Stur was a daydreamer in politics and a romantic in philosophy, recent analysis of his writings by Prof. D. Cizevskij, Prof. S. Polakovic, Dr. S. S. Osusky, and many others, completely repudiates this view. In his book "Stu.r's Philosophy of Life," Prof. Cizevskij proves that Stur was in many respects an original philosopher and not merely an epigon of Hegel and German romantic thinkers. On the contrary, Stu.r's philosophy lacks several characteristic features of German romanticism, according to Cizevskij's thorough analysis which finds him a realist in his approaches to the phenomena of life. Strangely and unfortunately enough, but recent political developments in Central and Eastern Europe proved that even Stu.r's big dream of united Slavic peoples under Russia may become a reality. Not under an enlightened Russian czar with humanistic and liberal views, not as a community dedicated to the Orthodox Church and struggling for the highest ideals of freedom and respect for human beings, as Stur wished to see it in his work "Das Slawenthum und die Welt der Zukunft" (Slavdom and the World of the Future) . Moscow has become the political powerhouse of the Slav world under quite different circumstances, but Stu.r's vision of a single united Slavic world under Russian leadership has technically materialized. 20 SLOVAKIA Stur's v1s1on of Slovak cultural, political, and social . life did not prove to be daydreaming either. There is a Slovak nation with its own literature, cultural institutions, and is practically without illiteracy. There is a strong national consciousness and a sound social stratification, unbalanced only by the present Communist regime. And there is also a fighting spirit of the new Slovak generations for national and social justice among Central European peoples and a constant resistance against Communist ideology, about which over a century ago E. Stur wrote : "Communism not only commits outrageous injustice against all civil society .. . but it also ruins all personal initiative, endeavor and enthusiasm. It divides the family, it destroys the household and thus it opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution, and indulgence. It degrades man to animal level. . . . "Communism has matured to the same degree as atheism and defection from Christianity. . . . In all types of Communism, whatever their classification may be, the outlook is only toward a dismal life. It brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind . . . . " Despite Stur's comparatively youthful age, his education and activities, as well as those of his group, were admirably manysided. Besides an ardent love and sacrifice for the national cause, Stur and his followers became a model for many generations in their thorough preparation for the role which they marked out for themselves in Slovak life. Because they were human, they did make mistakes, but enemies of the Slovak national revival are pointing to and magnifying these in vain. Their mistakes were the mistakes of the century in which they lived, as Ernest Denis so understandingly reflected in his "La Question d' Autriche-Les Slovaques," published in 1917. Their smallness or greatness, their realism or romanticism can be measured only against the background of the conditions and of the period in which they lived, and against the results of their work which brought a new and more dynamic life to the Slovak people.(33) To summarize, it is certainly proper and correct to say SLOVAKIA 21 that the significance of r.udovit Stur was great and farreaching, in the first place, in the revival of Slovak national life, where Stur played the role of reformer of the Slovak literary language, greatly contributed to the modern Slovak national ideology, gave to his people a new vision of political freedom and of a better future, and by his own example, his writings embracing poetry, philosophy, history, sociology, etc., gave a strong impetus to Slovak life in general. Since Slovakia and the Slovak people are surely a part of the Slavic world, Stur's role in the Slovak national revival is logically a part of his manifold contributions to be considered within the over-all Slavic world, too. On his position among Slav intellectuals of the XIXth century speaks not only the role he played at the first Slavic Congress in Prague, his rich correspondence with practically all outstanding Slavic leaders, but also the fact that his work "Slavdom and the World of the Future" was translated and twice published by Russian intellectuals in the last and at the beginning of this century. Being endowed with extraordinary natural capacity for creative and original conceptions, Stur belongs with Jan Kollar and Pavel J. Safarik to the Slovaks of the XIXth century who can rightly be regarded as great figures of the Slavic world. 22 SLOVAKIA NOTES 1. Stur's condemnation of Communism around 1850 became a part of the Slovak national ideology and has been quoted again and again. According to Stur, Communism "ranks among the wildest of offshoots ever conceived by the human brain ... it brings in its wake despotism of the grossest kind, it shatters all the bonds of social living and opens wide the door to every type of immorality, dissolution and indulgence. In place of holy ties, it offers profiteering, rioting and their like and thus it degrades man to animal level etc . ... " 2. A. Mraz, professor at the University of Bratislava, in his German book "Die Literature der Slowaken" and in his new · book "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948, says that "Stur war nicht nur ein glilcklicher Reformator und genialer Organisator und Initiator, er ragte auch als Dichter for" (p. 92). 3. Cfr. Hans Kohn, "Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology," University of Notre Dame Press, 1953, (p. 20). Les Slovaques," 4. Ernest Denis, "La Question d' Autriche Paris, Librairie Delagrave, (pp. 162- 170). 5. Objective studies on Stur in foreign languages were published by Prof. Dimitrij Cizevskij , "l!udovit ~tur's Philosophie des Litbens," Halle, 1938, and by Michael B. Petrovich, "The Emergence of Russian Pan-Slavism 1856-1870," Columbia University Press, 1956. 6. Ibidem, (p. 21). 7. Prof. Seton-Watson, "History of the Czechs and Slovaks," London, 1942, (p. 259). 8. Ibidem, (p. 262). See also Louis Leger, "Le Panslavisme et I' inte''l.!uderet francaise," Paris, Ernest Flammarion, 1917, (p. 164) vit Stur etait Slovaque, comme Kollar, comme Schafarik. On voit quel role les Slovaques si oublies chez nous, pour ne pas dire si ignores, ont joue dans la vie de la race slave au XIXe siecle." Leger confirms that the appeal to the Slavs for the First Congress in Prague in 1848 "avait ete redige par l' ectivain slovaque I.!udevit stur. " 9. Cfr. W. Lednicki, "Panslavism, in European Ideologies," ed. by Felix Gross, New York, 1948, (p. 838). 10. Journal of Central European Affairs, XII, 1952, I, 1- 19. 11. Stur's writings were published in several volumes. To his most important published works belong the following: Songs and Poems ; Ancient and New History of the Slovaks; Slavdom and the Future of the World ; Slovak Vernacular and the Need to Write In It; Slovak Grammar, and a great number of articles and studies, some of them published recently under the title : Slova na c!ase. He also was founder and editor of newspapers and reviews : Slovak National Review, The Eagle, etc. 12. Cfr. Louis Leger, "Le Panslavism et I' interet francais," (pp. 164-202). 13. See "~turova filozofia iivota," Bratislava, 1941, SUS, (p. III). 14. Cfr. I.!udovit Stur, "Slavianstvo i mir budushchago; Poslanie SLOVAKIA 23 Slavianam s beregov Dunaja," translated from the German MS by V. L Lamanskij in "Chteniia lmperatorskago Obschchestva lstorii i Drevnostei Rossiiskich pri Moskovskom Universitete, Ill, Material y slavianskie," Books 1-3, Moscow, 1867, (pp. 1-191). For an analysis of Stur's work, see M. B. . Petrovich's "The Emergence of Russian Panslavism" and his "l!udovit ~tur and Russian Panslavism" in the Journal of Central European Affairs, April, 1952, 1-19. In German an objective analysis can be found in Alfred Fischel's book "Der Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg," Stuttgart and Berlin, 1919. 15. Cfr. "~turova filozofia zivota" and also Doc. S. Polako~ic, "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filozofie," Bratislava, 1944. 16. Cfr. Petrovich's works. 17. Danilevskii's first series of articles were published in 1869 in "Zaria" and so was his remarkable book "Rossiia i Evropa; vzgliad na kulturnyia i politicheskija otnosheniia slavianskago mira k germano-romanskomu." R. A. Fadieev published his "Mnienie o vostochnom voprosie" also in 1870; Stur died in 1856. 18. Cfr. works by Seton-Watson, Ernest Denis, Louis Leger, A. Fischel, H. Kohn, etc. For E. Denis "Stur reste encore aujourd' hui le nom le plus illustre de l' histoire slovaque . . . et l' ame de la resistance nationale .. . il ne vivait que pour sa cause et son ame debordait d' amour et de foi . .. " (p. 164). 19. Cfr. also Polakovic's "Zaciatky slovenskej narodnej filo• zofie," (p. 56). 20. Cfr. Cizevskij's chapter "Stur and Hegel" and also statement by him on p. 107 of his work. 21. See "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June 1956, article by Prof. H. Bartek. 22. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," Scranton, Pa., 1947, (pp. 90-100). 23. See H. Bartek : "l!udovit Shir a slovencina," Bratislava, 1943, and also his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956 (p. 9). 24. Cfr. "Revue des Etudes slaves," Paris, II, (pp. 217-18), article by H. Bartek. 25. Stur also adopted the view that the archaic Czech language, which was used for some time in Slovakia by the Protestant intelli· gentsia, was merely a borrowed language, and that the Slovak Protestants used it for liturgy and literature in the same way as the Catholics used Latin. This thesis was supported before Stur by many Catholic Slovak writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Cfr. "Slovak Literature Under the Soviet Impact," by J . M. Kirschbaum, Vol. I, 1956, Slavic and Easf European Studies. 26. Cfr. Prof. A. Mraz, "Die Literature der Slowaken," as well as his recent work "Dejiny slovenskej literatury," Bratislava, 1948. 27. Cfr. Peter P. Yurchak, "The Slovaks," (pp. 103-105). 28. See, "A Byronic Hero in Slovak Literature," The Slavonic and East European Review, Volume XXXIV, No. 83, June, 1956, (pp. 338-354). 29. Ibidem, (pp. 33941). 30. On Stur's social ideas see Dr. J . Pauco, "l!udovychova u 24 SLOVAKIA Sturovcov," Turc. sv. Martin, 1943, and his article in "Slovakia," Vol. VI, March, 1956. In Pauco's view Stur and his followers "concerned themselves with the welfare of the entire nation. They fought to improve their economy, but they also fought with equal vigor against alcoholism, illiteracy, etc." 31. Cfr. "A Note On Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz," by J. M. Kirschbaum , in "Mickiewic z in World Literature," Univ. of California Press, 1956. See also Cizevskij's contributio n: "Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral," Ibidem, (pp. 469-484). 32. H. Bartek, "Slovakia," Vol. VI, June, 1956. 33. See "Uudovit Stur po sto rokoch," by J. M. Kirschbaum , Most, Vol. III, No. 4. 195.  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 Ľudovít Štúr and His Place in the Slavic World Description An account of the resource Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), March 1958<br />pp. 1-24<br /><ol type="I"><li>Ľudovít Štúr and Pan-Slavism, pp. 3-7</li> <li>Štúr's Role in Linguistics and Philology, pp. 8-11</li> <li>Štúr's Literary Aesthetics and Cultural Achievements, pp. 12-16</li> <li>Revolutionary Idealist, Romantic, or Realist?, pp. 17-21</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2bff1fbc3d972fb941760624552ad0bb.pdf 3426d624405905543431722dd095a2bf PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 25 OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! P.A. HROBAK When Dr. Edward Benes returned to Czecho-Slovakia in 1945, after deserting her in 1938, he became "president" again, but this time not by the will of the people of that hapless country, but by the grace of Stalin, the strong man of the Kremlin. Of course, not unconditionally: he became titular head, because he had promised to do a job for Stalin. This is the only plausible explanation of why the people of Czecho-Slovakia tolerated the man who cowardly fled his responsibilities in 1938, after selling out the Slovaks and the Czechs to Hitler without even consulting the Czecho-Slovak Parliament. Even before his return to Prague, Dr. Edward Benes, Czech Nazi No. 1, handpicked members of his government very carefully: no anti-socialists and anti-Communists were allowed. They lost no time in getting down to the job Benes had promised Stalin to do : eliminate all anti-Soviet elements from public life. The government controlled all political parties, the radio, press, schools, and industry; ecclesiastical properties were "nationalized" in Slovakia as early as 1945, and, later, in 1947-1948, also in Bohemia and Moravia. The Communist-dominated NATIONAL FRONT government of the Benes-Gottwald coalition would not tolerate any opposition; it ruled by decrees which were issued by Benes and approved and signed by members of his government. Thousands of Slovaks and Czechs were disfranchised, dispossessed and deported, hundreds were put to death by the "people's courts," many more thousands were persecuted and deported, and hundreds of thousands were confined to jails and concentration camps. All this was done in the name of "people's democracy" and T. G. Masaryk's "liberalism and humanitarianism''! Stalin appreciated that and so did the Czech Reds. When all "undesirable" elements had just about been purged from public life and over three million Sudeten Germans were transferred to Germany in a "humanely and orderly" manner, hundreds of thousands dying in the transfer, Stalin wanted to show his "appreciation" to Benes and his followers, so he ordered Gottwald, the leading Czech Red, to take over all power in Czecho-Slovakia and buzz the Benes Czechs to get, while the going was good. Gottwald had little trouble taking over on February 25, 1948, in fact, no trouble at all. And because the Benes Czechs had shown such a great eagerness to collaborate, with Moscow and the Czech Reds during the foregoing three years, Gottwald even allowed most of them to escape with their families to the West. The Benes Czechs exclusively were allowed to influence the Western Powers, particularly the United States, England and France; they were the sole authorities and the only "reliable" sources of information in matters Czecho-Slovakian during the war and after 1945; they served as "expert" advisors to the United States (Roosevelt), England (Churchill), and Soviet Russia (Stalin). Benes and his group, who had deserted their country in 1938 and surrendered the great war potential of Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler, did their �56 SLOVAKIA jobs well in IRO, OWI, the CIA, CIC, UNRRA, the military, etc., smearing all their political enemies and making it as miserable for them as they possibly could. The Slovaks, who always adamantly opposed Marxistic socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes, suffered most. After February 25, 1948, however, the Benes Czechs and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," found themselves out in the cold, when Gottwald and his Czech Reds told them to get, or else. So to the West they went as fast as they possibly could, experiencing little or no difficulty, and bewailing the "rough" treatCZECHOSLOVAK COUNCIL IN WASHINGTON "New National Councils are being formed in this country to represent the silenced people behind the Iron Curtain. They are being built up from the ever-increasing number of political emigrants who are arriving in the United States. Immense help can be given to the Western democracies by these councils. They can keep up communication through underground channels with the forces at home still fighting for freedom. They can inform the Voice of America of the most effective form of broadcast for their respective countries. They can become useful centers of help to DP's and can contribute greatly to employment and resettlement schemes. They can build up a close cooperation among themselves and thus prepare for a future federated Europe. Along with these possibilities comes a corresponding responsibility resting upon our own Government as to the choice of members for these councils. In certain instances, such as that of the Czechoslovak Council now being formed in Washington under the leadership of Dr. Peter Zenkl, the former Mayor of Prague, it is not quite clear how much evidence of this responsibility our State Department is showing. If there is to be but one council, and not two - Czech and Slovak separately - then the Slovaks should be represented by men acceptable to the people at home, men who represent not only the Lutheran minority but also the large Catholic majority in Slovakia. The most important prerequisite for eligibility to the Council should certainly be a clear-cut opposition to communism. Such a record can be seriously questioned in the case of at least one of the ten Czech politicians recently invited by the State Department to come to this country, since he is known for obstructing the opposition to communism in the past. The query naturally arises: just how accurately is our State Department informed as to the previous history of all the men whom it is inviting to our shores?" - (AMERICA, Feb. 19, 1949). ment they received from the Czech Reds after they performed so many invaluable services for them, as well as for Stalin. That's gratitude for you, they said, just as if things like that had never happened before. We know they did, and they should have known , too, because such is always the net result of collaborating with the Reds ·and Moscow. We are still waiting to hear or see a public statement by the Benes Czechs to the effect that they regret their collaboration with �SLOVAKIA 27 the Czech Reds and Moscow. All their public statements thus far are marked by the same tendency: an attempt to whitewash · and cover up their willing collaboration with the Reds. They . are not sorry for selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to the Czech Reds and Moscow, but they rather mourn the fact that the Reds threw them out of government, i.e., repudiated further collaboration! But the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats" were not finished yet, not by a long shot. Thanks to Socialist Benes, they had good connections in the West. How could the West abandon them now, after they had rendered so many fine services for the Czech "progressive and liberal" ideals of T. G. Masaryk's "humanitarian" democracy and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes? And they reckoned correctly; they were adopted by the West. The promoters of Czech National Socialism and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," claimed themselves "anti-communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia and posed as victims of communist tyranny. Shortly thereafter they were sitting in judgment over Slovak and Czech exiles in the West, advising the Western Powers exactly who was or was not "reliable" among those who had fled from Czecho-Slovakia prior to 1948, and pretending that only they were the "true" representatives of the Slovak and Czech nations and, hence, entitled to speak for them in the free world. We know that the gullible West, particularly the United States, rushed legislation to make it possible for the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, former members of the communist-dominated National Front government of Prague, to emigrate to the United States, England, and other free countries. The very people who, until February 25, 1948, sang praises to Stalin, the invincible Red liberators and the great achievements of Soviet Russia; the very same people who, unt~l February 25, 1948, blatantly insisted that the Soviet Union was not interfering in the internal affairs of Czecho-Slovakia, and that there was nothing so "democratic" as the new order promoted by the Kremlin, the new order of "people's" democracies! In November, 1948, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings prepared a "memorandum" on the political structure and activities of Slovak and Czech exiles, which was a grand effort to smear and vilify all true opponents of Communism, its handmaid Czech National Socialism, and the Soviet system, particularly the Catholic Slovaks and Czechs and the Roman Catholic Church (Vatican). At the same time, however, it does reveal the perverted hypocritical mind of the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, though I doubt it was intended to do so. The document, a copy of which was sent to me by a patriotic Czech whose conscience made him break with the Benes clique, has never been published or referred to publicly, to my knowledge, because all concerned wanted it to be kept "secret and confidential" by all recipients and particularly the State Department of the United States of America: According to my Czech informant, the "Memorandum" was sent to the mo, various U. S. departments of government, including the State Department, CIA, CIC, and :. also to some "very important and influential persons in America .and England. Here it is published in full for the first time for the edification of the American public and students of history. � SLOVAKIA 25 OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! P.A. HROBAK When Dr. Edward Benes returned to Czecho-Slovakia in 1945, after deserting her in 1938, he became "president" again, but this time not by the will of the people of that hapless country, but by the grace of Stalin, the strong man of the Kremlin. Of course, not unconditionally: he became titular head, because he had promised to do a job for Stalin. This is the only plausible explanation of why the people of Czecho-Slovakia tolerated the man who cowardly fled his responsibilities in 1938, after selling out the Slovaks and the Czechs to Hitler without even consulting the Czecho-Slovak Parliament. Even before his return to Prague, Dr. Edward Benes, Czech Nazi No. 1, handpicked members of his government very carefully: no anti-socialists and anti-Communists were allowed. They lost no time in getting down to the job Benes had promised Stalin to do : eliminate all anti-Soviet elements from public life. The government controlled all political parties, the radio, press, schools, and industry; ecclesiastical properties were "nationalized" in Slovakia as early as 1945, and, later, in 1947-1948, also in Bohemia and Moravia. The Communist-dominated NATIONAL FRONT government of the Benes-Gottwald coalition would not tolerate any opposition; it ruled by decrees which were issued by Benes and approved and signed by members of his government. Thousands of Slovaks and Czechs were disfranchised, dispossessed and deported, hundreds were put to death by the "people's courts," many more thousands were persecuted and deported, and hundreds of thousands were confined to jails and concentration camps. All this was done in the name of "people's democracy" and T. G. Masaryk's "liberalism and humanitarianism''! Stalin appreciated that and so did the Czech Reds. When all "undesirable" elements had just about been purged from public life and over three million Sudeten Germans were transferred to Germany in a "humanely and orderly" manner, hundreds of thousands dying in the transfer, Stalin wanted to show his "appreciation" to Benes and his followers, so he ordered Gottwald, the leading Czech Red, to take over all power in Czecho-Slovakia and buzz the Benes Czechs to get, while the going was good. Gottwald had little trouble taking over on February 25, 1948, in fact, no trouble at all. And because the Benes Czechs had shown such a great eagerness to collaborate, with Moscow and the Czech Reds during the foregoing three years, Gottwald even allowed most of them to escape with their families to the West. The Benes Czechs exclusively were allowed to influence the Western Powers, particularly the United States, England and France; they were the sole authorities and the only "reliable" sources of information in matters Czecho-Slovakian during the war and after 1945; they served as "expert" advisors to the United States (Roosevelt), England (Churchill), and Soviet Russia (Stalin). Benes and his group, who had deserted their country in 1938 and surrendered the great war potential of Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler, did their �56 SLOVAKIA jobs well in IRO, OWI, the CIA, CIC, UNRRA, the military, etc., smearing all their political enemies and making it as miserable for them as they possibly could. The Slovaks, who always adamantly opposed Marxistic socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes, suffered most. After February 25, 1948, however, the Benes Czechs and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," found themselves out in the cold, when Gottwald and his Czech Reds told them to get, or else. So to the West they went as fast as they possibly could, experiencing little or no difficulty, and bewailing the "rough" treatCZECHOSLOVAK COUNCIL IN WASHINGTON "New National Councils are being formed in this country to represent the silenced people behind the Iron Curtain. They are being built up from the ever-increasing number of political emigrants who are arriving in the United States. Immense help can be given to the Western democracies by these councils. They can keep up communication through underground channels with the forces at home still fighting for freedom. They can inform the Voice of America of the most effective form of broadcast for their respective countries. They can become useful centers of help to DP's and can contribute greatly to employment and resettlement schemes. They can build up a close cooperation among themselves and thus prepare for a future federated Europe. Along with these possibilities comes a corresponding responsibility resting upon our own Government as to the choice of members for these councils. In certain instances, such as that of the Czechoslovak Council now being formed in Washington under the leadership of Dr. Peter Zenkl, the former Mayor of Prague, it is not quite clear how much evidence of this responsibility our State Department is showing. If there is to be but one council, and not two - Czech and Slovak separately - then the Slovaks should be represented by men acceptable to the people at home, men who represent not only the Lutheran minority but also the large Catholic majority in Slovakia. The most important prerequisite for eligibility to the Council should certainly be a clear-cut opposition to communism. Such a record can be seriously questioned in the case of at least one of the ten Czech politicians recently invited by the State Department to come to this country, since he is known for obstructing the opposition to communism in the past. The query naturally arises: just how accurately is our State Department informed as to the previous history of all the men whom it is inviting to our shores?" - (AMERICA, Feb. 19, 1949). ment they received from the Czech Reds after they performed so many invaluable services for them, as well as for Stalin. That's gratitude for you, they said, just as if things like that had never happened before. We know they did, and they should have known , too, because such is always the net result of collaborating with the Reds ·and Moscow. We are still waiting to hear or see a public statement by the Benes Czechs to the effect that they regret their collaboration with �SLOVAKIA 27 the Czech Reds and Moscow. All their public statements thus far are marked by the same tendency: an attempt to whitewash · and cover up their willing collaboration with the Reds. They . are not sorry for selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to the Czech Reds and Moscow, but they rather mourn the fact that the Reds threw them out of government, i.e., repudiated further collaboration! But the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats" were not finished yet, not by a long shot. Thanks to Socialist Benes, they had good connections in the West. How could the West abandon them now, after they had rendered so many fine services for the Czech "progressive and liberal" ideals of T. G. Masaryk's "humanitarian" democracy and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes? And they reckoned correctly; they were adopted by the West. The promoters of Czech National Socialism and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," claimed themselves "anti-communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia and posed as victims of communist tyranny. Shortly thereafter they were sitting in judgment over Slovak and Czech exiles in the West, advising the Western Powers exactly who was or was not "reliable" among those who had fled from Czecho-Slovakia prior to 1948, and pretending that only they were the "true" representatives of the Slovak and Czech nations and, hence, entitled to speak for them in the free world. We know that the gullible West, particularly the United States, rushed legislation to make it possible for the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, former members of the communist-dominated National Front government of Prague, to emigrate to the United States, England, and other free countries. The very people who, until February 25, 1948, sang praises to Stalin, the invincible Red liberators and the great achievements of Soviet Russia; the very same people who, unt~l February 25, 1948, blatantly insisted that the Soviet Union was not interfering in the internal affairs of Czecho-Slovakia, and that there was nothing so "democratic" as the new order promoted by the Kremlin, the new order of "people's" democracies! In November, 1948, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings prepared a "memorandum" on the political structure and activities of Slovak and Czech exiles, which was a grand effort to smear and vilify all true opponents of Communism, its handmaid Czech National Socialism, and the Soviet system, particularly the Catholic Slovaks and Czechs and the Roman Catholic Church (Vatican). At the same time, however, it does reveal the perverted hypocritical mind of the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, though I doubt it was intended to do so. The document, a copy of which was sent to me by a patriotic Czech whose conscience made him break with the Benes clique, has never been published or referred to publicly, to my knowledge, because all concerned wanted it to be kept "secret and confidential" by all recipients and particularly the State Department of the United States of America: According to my Czech informant, the "Memorandum" was sent to the mo, various U. S. departments of government, including the State Department, CIA, CIC, and :. also to some "very important and influential persons in America .and England. Here it is published in full for the first time for the edification of the American public and students of history. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 25 OUR EXPERTS: THE CZECH SOCIALISTS! P.A. HROBAK When Dr. Edward Benes returned to Czecho-Slovakia in 1945, after deserting her in 1938, he became "president" again, but this time not by the will of the people of that hapless country, but by the grace of Stalin, the strong man of the Kremlin. Of course, not unconditionally: he became titular head, because he had promised to do a job for Stalin. This is the only plausible explanation of why the people of Czecho-Slovakia tolerated the man who cowardly fled his responsibilities in 1938, after selling out the Slovaks and the Czechs to Hitler without even consulting the Czecho-Slovak Parliament. Even before his return to Prague, Dr. Edward Benes, Czech Nazi No. 1, handpicked members of his government very carefully: no anti-socialists and anti-Communists were allowed. They lost no time in getting down to the job Benes had promised Stalin to do : eliminate all anti-Soviet elements from public life. The government controlled all political parties, the radio, press, schools, and industry; ecclesiastical properties were "nationalized" in Slovakia as early as 1945, and, later, in 1947-1948, also in Bohemia and Moravia. The Communist-dominated NATIONAL FRONT government of the Benes-Gottwald coalition would not tolerate any opposition; it ruled by decrees which were issued by Benes and approved and signed by members of his government. Thousands of Slovaks and Czechs were disfranchised, dispossessed and deported, hundreds were put to death by the "people's courts," many more thousands were persecuted and deported, and hundreds of thousands were confined to jails and concentration camps. All this was done in the name of "people's democracy" and T. G. Masaryk's "liberalism and humanitarianism''! Stalin appreciated that and so did the Czech Reds. When all "undesirable" elements had just about been purged from public life and over three million Sudeten Germans were transferred to Germany in a "humanely and orderly" manner, hundreds of thousands dying in the transfer, Stalin wanted to show his "appreciation" to Benes and his followers, so he ordered Gottwald, the leading Czech Red, to take over all power in Czecho-Slovakia and buzz the Benes Czechs to get, while the going was good. Gottwald had little trouble taking over on February 25, 1948, in fact, no trouble at all. And because the Benes Czechs had shown such a great eagerness to collaborate, with Moscow and the Czech Reds during the foregoing three years, Gottwald even allowed most of them to escape with their families to the West. The Benes Czechs exclusively were allowed to influence the Western Powers, particularly the United States, England and France; they were the sole authorities and the only "reliable" sources of information in matters Czecho-Slovakian during the war and after 1945; they served as "expert" advisors to the United States (Roosevelt), England (Churchill), and Soviet Russia (Stalin). Benes and his group, who had deserted their country in 1938 and surrendered the great war potential of Czecho-Slovakia to Hitler, did their 56 SLOVAKIA jobs well in IRO, OWI, the CIA, CIC, UNRRA, the military, etc., smearing all their political enemies and making it as miserable for them as they possibly could. The Slovaks, who always adamantly opposed Marxistic socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes, suffered most. After February 25, 1948, however, the Benes Czechs and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," found themselves out in the cold, when Gottwald and his Czech Reds told them to get, or else. So to the West they went as fast as they possibly could, experiencing little or no difficulty, and bewailing the "rough" treatCZECHOSLOVAK COUNCIL IN WASHINGTON "New National Councils are being formed in this country to represent the silenced people behind the Iron Curtain. They are being built up from the ever-increasing number of political emigrants who are arriving in the United States. Immense help can be given to the Western democracies by these councils. They can keep up communication through underground channels with the forces at home still fighting for freedom. They can inform the Voice of America of the most effective form of broadcast for their respective countries. They can become useful centers of help to DP's and can contribute greatly to employment and resettlement schemes. They can build up a close cooperation among themselves and thus prepare for a future federated Europe. Along with these possibilities comes a corresponding responsibility resting upon our own Government as to the choice of members for these councils. In certain instances, such as that of the Czechoslovak Council now being formed in Washington under the leadership of Dr. Peter Zenkl, the former Mayor of Prague, it is not quite clear how much evidence of this responsibility our State Department is showing. If there is to be but one council, and not two - Czech and Slovak separately - then the Slovaks should be represented by men acceptable to the people at home, men who represent not only the Lutheran minority but also the large Catholic majority in Slovakia. The most important prerequisite for eligibility to the Council should certainly be a clear-cut opposition to communism. Such a record can be seriously questioned in the case of at least one of the ten Czech politicians recently invited by the State Department to come to this country, since he is known for obstructing the opposition to communism in the past. The query naturally arises: just how accurately is our State Department informed as to the previous history of all the men whom it is inviting to our shores?" - (AMERICA, Feb. 19, 1949). ment they received from the Czech Reds after they performed so many invaluable services for them, as well as for Stalin. That's gratitude for you, they said, just as if things like that had never happened before. We know they did, and they should have known , too, because such is always the net result of collaborating with the Reds ·and Moscow. We are still waiting to hear or see a public statement by the Benes Czechs to the effect that they regret their collaboration with SLOVAKIA 27 the Czech Reds and Moscow. All their public statements thus far are marked by the same tendency: an attempt to whitewash · and cover up their willing collaboration with the Reds. They . are not sorry for selling out the Slovaks and Czechs to the Czech Reds and Moscow, but they rather mourn the fact that the Reds threw them out of government, i.e., repudiated further collaboration! But the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats" were not finished yet, not by a long shot. Thanks to Socialist Benes, they had good connections in the West. How could the West abandon them now, after they had rendered so many fine services for the Czech "progressive and liberal" ideals of T. G. Masaryk's "humanitarian" democracy and the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes? And they reckoned correctly; they were adopted by the West. The promoters of Czech National Socialism and their hirelings, the Lettrich Slovak "democrats," claimed themselves "anti-communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia and posed as victims of communist tyranny. Shortly thereafter they were sitting in judgment over Slovak and Czech exiles in the West, advising the Western Powers exactly who was or was not "reliable" among those who had fled from Czecho-Slovakia prior to 1948, and pretending that only they were the "true" representatives of the Slovak and Czech nations and, hence, entitled to speak for them in the free world. We know that the gullible West, particularly the United States, rushed legislation to make it possible for the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, former members of the communist-dominated National Front government of Prague, to emigrate to the United States, England, and other free countries. The very people who, until February 25, 1948, sang praises to Stalin, the invincible Red liberators and the great achievements of Soviet Russia; the very same people who, unt~l February 25, 1948, blatantly insisted that the Soviet Union was not interfering in the internal affairs of Czecho-Slovakia, and that there was nothing so "democratic" as the new order promoted by the Kremlin, the new order of "people's" democracies! In November, 1948, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings prepared a "memorandum" on the political structure and activities of Slovak and Czech exiles, which was a grand effort to smear and vilify all true opponents of Communism, its handmaid Czech National Socialism, and the Soviet system, particularly the Catholic Slovaks and Czechs and the Roman Catholic Church (Vatican). At the same time, however, it does reveal the perverted hypocritical mind of the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings, though I doubt it was intended to do so. The document, a copy of which was sent to me by a patriotic Czech whose conscience made him break with the Benes clique, has never been published or referred to publicly, to my knowledge, because all concerned wanted it to be kept "secret and confidential" by all recipients and particularly the State Department of the United States of America: According to my Czech informant, the "Memorandum" was sent to the mo, various U. S. departments of government, including the State Department, CIA, CIC, and :. also to some "very important and influential persons in America .and England. Here it is published in full for the first time for the edification of the American public and students of history.  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 Our Experts: The Czech Socialists! Description An account of the resource P. A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), March 1958 pp. 25-27 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/01a4e4d4fde256155ccb3b6c5e635ae8.pdf 0f5e5ddbc0d87b87d78e8d67237eebbb PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKIA "MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA EXILES" Th.is memorandum deals with political aspects ,o f CzechoslovaJk exrile groups only, especially so far ,a s their anticommunism and its motilves are concerned. Politically European anti-communism i,s not a united movement ; it contains factions and tendencies democratically not qualified or even disqualified. I1t has to ibe emphasized that yesterday's enemies of democracy (nacism and its friends), whicih are offering themselves as allies todlay, could easily become an acute iand fatal problem for democracy, in case not sufficient aJttention iis paid to the implications. Anti-communism as sucll is merely a potential ally oif democracy. In our opinion, all ,political emigration should be clasSlified alreadry now as to the real motives of its anti-communist attitude. We, in Czeoho-sio.vaJkia, who hawe lived to see the destruction of democracy first ·b y fascism and lat-er by communism, know only too well that these two contrasting ideologies, irreconcilaible ideologicaHy, are quite ridenitical insofar as their psychology and ethi:cs are concerned. Intermediate and .fresh as the experience with the Communists lives among politic:al exiles, it is very dangerous for democratic thin1king and feeling and tends to extremism and primirtiive radi'calism. The irritative camip psychology diminishes 1Jhe aJbility for finer distinctions and, as a consequence, anti--c01m:mwrism turns into the criticism of a very primitive, sometimes of quite fascist character. This tendency, which in the end would ,b ecome hiarmful to the cause of world democracy, is not very acute in CzeclloslovaJk camps unless it is left to develOip entirely in its own way. CzeohoslovaJk political emigration can be classified according to the motives of its anti-communism as follows : 1. Political Catholics: opponents of Communism for religious and confessional reasons. This g1roup has to be soodilvided into two parts: Czech and Slovak. Czeich Catholics are well equdipped ideologically; they are in contact with and influenced by modern Catholic movements in the West, �29 SLOVAKIA especially by that of F1rance. Their orientation is universal, hllimanitarian and, thrroug,h Masarytk's influence, also democrat.ic. They idenltify CommUll!ism with !Marxism and interpret it as a logical consequence of materialism and atheism. To a certain ex.tent their faith is liberal, at least it used to be so in Czechoslovakia. This feature, however, is weaken-, ing here in exile and is ,being replaced ,by one that is more conse.r,vaJtirve and confessional. The activities of this group are ca>rried on with the help of Catholic clergy which, in its turn, is supported by the VaJtrican throug,h .t!he Pax Romana org,anizatiOiil. The work of this group is, for that rea son, much easier and it is visilble everyiwhere. .Some movements of our emigirants from Ge11many had almost an exclusive Catholic character. So the transfer to Italy, for instance, consisted mainly of Catholics. The political Catholics are very expansive and so they may get into conflict with the above mentioned tiradition which is of lay, liberal and democratic character. The representatives, of this ,group are: Mr. Bohdan Chudoba, MP, Mrs. Kozeluhova, Mr. Prochazka, former Minister of Health, Mr. Tigrid, Chief Editor of (the Czech) Catholic Party Pre.s s. fu spite of the faot tha:t Bohemia is to a great e·x tent (96 % ) a Catholic country, the religious affiliation has never been identified with the political one; that is why the Oatholic Party has enjoyed no ,great significance since 1918, and it is hardly to be expected that it will be otherwise fn the future democratic Czechoslovakia. 1 The movement of political Catholicism in Slovakia, with the exception of a small groUJp of moderni sts, is of a mo•r e primitive nature and it has al,ways pursued policies which were in permanent conflict with the Czechoslovak democracy since the end of World War One. The Slovruk population is SO% Catholic; in 1938 election HSLS - (the Hlinka Slovruk Peoiple's Party) - polled rubout 40 % of all rvotes and, was relatively the strongest party. 'Dhi,s grolllp has two ,political cente115 outside Czechoslovakia. T,he first is in USA among the Slovak spooking American citizens, popularly spoiken of in C~hoslovakia 1 �30 SLOVAKIA as American Slovaiks. Their press (e. g. Slova:k Defense, Slovalk in America, Catholic) vehemently campailgns against the new ipoliltiC'al exiles who left their home-country after February 1948 only. They stand openly for legal continuity of the so-called SlOWJk State, campaign for it in pwblic and declare at the same tirme their intention to taike revenge on all participants in the 1944 anti-German rising at Banska Bystrica in the middle of Slovatkia, further on all politicians who have shown good will in cooperation with the Soviets during or after the war. Under the pressure of this kind of propaganda many SloviaJk,s succumb, become indifd:erent to the cause .o f CzechoslovaJkia, or even turn hostile to it. This political war-fare against Czechosl()IVakia is going on under the guise of Christian charity which appears to have been led until recently ,by an American citizen of Slovak origin, Father Billy. As ,the Ciharacter of the SloW!lk exiles is to a much smaller exitent ,p olitical than it is the case with the Czech emigTees, 8111d as it contains elements of very poor social and intellectual level, the kind .o f propaganda mentioned aJbove has had consideralble success. If the promises of material help, ,by which F1ather Billy has been able to influence the political minds of Slova;k emigrants in Germany, are Ito realize, it will certainly oreate another obstacle on the way of harmonious coo,peration of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. The other center of politioal Catholioism, which is in contact wilth t:lhe first, is the V1atican and is dommated by the former minister of Czechoslovakia at the time of Munich Agreement who Jailer held the post of Amb~dor of the Slovak State to the Holy Seat, Mr. Karol Sidor. He himself has been away frO!ffi Siov.rukia since 1939 and is profiting out od: a legend which has grown around him. Mr. Karol Sidor was a 'b ig man in the HSI.IS; he was lOQlked upon as a successor of Father Andrej Hlinka to the highest offioe in the Pairty. He was a leader of the most radical fri8tion of the young party followers and the founder as well as the Commander-in-Chief of HG (Hldnlka Guards, rurnied trooips of the ·P arty, formed on the pattern ·of the Gerrfiah SA or SS) . During the Munich crisis and after the resignation of President Benes, he became Minister in Prague Government �SLOVAKIA 31 and - as the consequence of this he lost corutact with the separatist wing of the Party, which in the meantime passed under the control of Flather Tiso, later president of an :independent SlovaJk State. Influenced .by Pra,gue and •b y his master Father Hilnika, w'ho died already in 1936, he believed in a solution whi_c h was based on the principle of tervitorial inltegrity of the Republic. His hesitation at the critical moment before the estia:blishment of Protectorate ()lVer Bohemia (Mairch 13, 1939) ca,used tlhat he lost all the German sympathies and facilitated the .r ise of Tiso. Later he was aippointed Am'bassador to Vlatican where he has ~en since. His ,attitude to Czechoslovalkia is equiivocal; until not long ago he stood for SlovaJk Staite; now, after some months of international development, he is more reserved and the latest news suggest that he almost reversed his mi.ti.al position. In spiite of the fact that Sidor has not engaged himself for certain reasons in the fascist regime in Slovalkira during the war, he is not without responsibi.Lity for what was going on there dru:ring his aJbserrce. His responsiibility is, in our opinion, essentia,L As the Chief of the Hlinlka Party press, leader of radicals and an important Party ,b oss - all in one person - he was the most characteristic representative of Slovak nationalism. He was in a pernnanent opposition to the democratic form of Cz;ecfuosloivrukia. He did his best to mruke the SloV'aJk national movement more radical and V1ulgar and, in this way, he induced the movement to• take the shaipe it did and .to end as it did, that is in the destruction of Czechoslova!kia, su:ppression of democracy and strengthening of fascist power in Burope. Sidor a:s a politician is without sufficient education, foresight, and sense of responsibility; he is unacceptable to the democrats in spite of the fact that his stay in Vatican has had a positive influence on him. Long emigrartion has made him to develop a Fuhrer-complex and a harmful sense of SQIVereignty. Even if his political conception has ~come more democratic, as a consequeil'ce of his contact with Vatican, there is nothing by which he could contribute to the cause of democracy. "With Sidor against the Jews" is the quintessence of his legend in Slovaikia. He has no other fol- �32 SLOVAKIA lowers there; if he switched over to different slogans, he would have to give up his o,w:n pa.sit and aJbandon those political and psychological forces which adoire him now. It cannot be sufficiently oouphasized that the whole emotional and ideological back,g round of Slovak separatism is giiven absolutely by the SloivaJk State, its inner spirit, its values and prejudices, and :if .Sidor did not serve these forces, he would be coI11Sidered as a traitor and opportunist. 2. Anti-communism as an expression of Czech or Slovak nationalism: On the Czech side, it is General Prchala who can be :termed as its representative. General Prcihala is a Czech afficer who did not return home after the last war because of political differences with Dr. Benes. His followers ma.Ike Ulp a tiny group among our exiles. The judgemenrts on General's qualities as a soldier run diametrioo.Uy, but there is no doulbt about his poliitical capaJbilities among the democratic exiles. The legend tha,t grew around him, as an immediate consequence of the first disruppointment after FeJbruary, has mostly eva;poraJted since. General Prchala is said by the peo,ple who know him to be a man of very limited views who has no political sense; he is said to hruve no democratic coI11Victions, and, besides, he suffers from something lilke megalomania. His political reasoning is emlbryonic and naive. He refuses to recognize .the necessity of political parties in democr.acy; he f101tters the Sudeten Germans for reasons of his personal amlbition, which iis ,b oth -u nreasona!ble and irresponsrble. His negotiations with the SlovaJk 5elparatist fraction which Mr. P. Pridavok in London, are too hasty to be considered seriously. His followers in CzechosloviaJkia are scanty and the democratic exile group do not oount with him ei,t her. His worshippers do not know him personally ; they regard him as the most outspoken anti-Communist and from their own illusions aJbout his personality which ilisappear as soon as they come in contact with reality. It is our opinion that General Prchala will go to the history of our emigration as a little episode. General Prchala's group is exploiting the fact of his long emig,raJtion and absence from his own country and has some financial means at dis posal. lit has its own paper "Cesky boj" published in London. His followers are recuit- �SLOVAKIA 33 ed from emigr.ants who left Czechoslovakia partly before the last war, but mostly who left between the years 194'51947. It is characteristic that they generally live outside the caimps. They founded in London The Czech National Committee which operates also .in the US Zone and has nothing in c01Inmon with Czechoslovakia Relief Committee. Prchala's group acceipts the Slovak seiparati,s m, supports ilt on account of common ideological affinity, and they plan to gather a Central European Federation. General Prchlala acts entirely with the ,peoip le of his kind. They are nationalists by outlook, their emotional and ideological background is, quite opposed to the ideas on which a healthy and organic federation could arise. The real motirves behind Prchala's federational plans iare opportunist in character. The idea of federation, if the latter is to be workable, pre-supposes Slljpra-inaitionalizing and democratic thuillcing, it presU!pposes the super nationalism not its ,a ssertion which, in sulbstance, is national egoism. On the Sl()I\Tlaik side, the nationlist group with the movement of poliitical Catholicism, insofar as the representatives and t>heiir folloiWers are concerned, has always been so since 1•918, aJ11d the best eXipression since was the Slwak State with a priest as president and a third of members of parliament also priests. The real leader of this groUJp is Mr. Durcansky, who is sometimes cOIIl:Sidered as successor of Father Tiso. As the fiTst Foreign Minister of the Slovaik Puippet Government, he is on the liist of war criminals and, consequently, the Slovak nationalists are more or less olbliged to accept Mr. Sidor, who represents the policy of tJhe Vatican as their leader. But for this fact, the position of Mr. Durcansky would be dominant beyond any doub:t, because of his relatitvely gireater erudition (he was professor of international laiw at ,the Bratislaivia University from 1939 till 1944), Intelligence, and because of Ms political skill. The gross of the Slovalk separatist group consists of young people (around 19 or 20 years of age). These people harve no personal experience of democracy. They are not sUJfficiently educated, inexperienced in all respects, they �34 SLOVAKIA ,s uccumb to the ,p ropaganda of the more radical, noisy and vulgar it is. This kind of propaganda exerts influence even on ipeople who left CzechoslovaJkia for quite apolitic.al reasons. MT. Durfansky had h4; organization built uip already at the time when the Czechoslovakia exile movement was yet non-existent. Lacking all the means, it is very difficult for the democratic exiles to catch up with him in thjs respect. DUT.fansky has his agents in all Czechoslovak camps, canv~ing for him both openly and secretly. It is· sad, and characteristic as well, tlhait these agents use all meians at their disposal, including bribes ( cigarettes, food packages from USA, promises of visa to Argentin,a, which is the country of residence of Mr. Durcansky). In spite af the ban on all political actiiVities in refugee caimps, the agents of Mr. Durcansky exercise great moral presswre on democratic Slovaiks by propaganda of revenge for the execution of Father Tiso and for the Bystrica rising in 1944, by campaigning oipenly for the Sl01VaJk State, which is 1being treated as a fait aiccompli in Catholic nationalistic preiss of .AJIIlerican Slovak,s in USA, Slovak refugees are instilled 1zy fear and used for political plans of Mr. Durcansky. An illegal pa-per by n,ame of "1Slova1k Struggle" is being pulb1ished lb y "Tiso's Society" somewhere in Munich. This mimeographe d paper stands openly for the Slovak State, for its idea a,,nd its fascist representative s, some of whom were listed as the war CTiminals still during •t he war (Tiso, Durca.nsky) . 3. Fascism in exile: It is implied in the former movements where it exists potentially for the present. It does not exist as ,a clear-cut cxrientation, hut its expression can be detected on different tendencies. It emerges on the surface indiividually without the couvage to appear as an open o.vga.ruzation. The real danger begins there where the anticommunist attitude turns into sheer passion and irrationalism, naJtional, religious, or racial. This danger is not acute for the present and would lbe easily neutralized by a clearer moral support to b,e accorded to the Czechoslovak democratic exiles 1b y the Western democracies. ½. Conservatives : One can count here the followers of �SLOVAKIA 35 all political parties which: were not admitted by the Third Reipulblic (1945) and were recognized now in exile: Peasant's Party, National Democrats, and the party defending the interests of small business and handwork. Those ,parties can serve well to the cause of democracy in CzechoslovaJkia, especially the Peasant's Party, if it strikes roots in Slovakia and turns the Party Politics into another direction leading out of the present dead-loclc situation created by the nationalist complex. This would contribute to the political intergration of both ,p ar.ts of the Republic, even if on the basis of a more conserviaUve character. In general, these parties represent vested interests · rather than ideologies. They stand for economic liberalism which best favors the interests of their followers. 1 It is 1known that the Peasant's Party was well received by all political groups, especially lby (the Czech) Social Democrats. The initia,l mutual resipect and good will of the two latter parties gives rise to speculations on an eventual coalition in the future which was well known in -t he party politics of the First Republic, ,w hen it was characteristically called "red-green coalition." 5. Decomratic exile groups: It is difficult to speaik a/bout the •pol-itic<al parties in connection with this group which reyresents the Czechoslovak tradition of universal and moral humanism as formulat,ed by Masaryk. In general, is can be said that the political .g rouping of tJhis block coincides with the parties forming the Government Coalition of the ,First Republic ( up till 1938) , the parties which stood b,y Masaryk without any reservation and later backed ,h is successor to the presidency, Mr. Benes; one can include into this growp (Czech) National Socialists (Czech) Social ~9CI"ats and, to a certain extent, the Czech Catholic Party and the old Peasant's Party. -, '·The opposition of this democratic block t.o Communism is motivated by humanitarian philosophy, cultural and moral universalism. This group opposes all na1Jional, confessional and class exclusiveness, its faith is undogmatic, lay ,and social in character. In European politics is stands for "troisieme force" with the democracy as a dominant �36 SLOVAKIA feature. It represents the best Czechoslovak tradition (Hus, Comenius, Masaryk), its orientation is universal, essentially related to or even identical with the democratic spirit of the West. It is a natural, unopportunistic ally of the West and an exclusive representative of Western orientation in Czechoslovakia in every respect. . '11he representatives of this group haive suffered most thI1ough the Oommunist cowp d'etat in February this yeaT. They tried their best to cooperate with the Communists, following the lines of policy laid do,w n by Yalta and other aJgreements, and now they pay dear for the failure of their "mission of good will" by inner chaos and repercussions caused hy tJhe political demagogy of the undemocratic antiCommunism. The democratic block, which still represents the majority of rpu!blic opinion in CzechosloV!aikia, is in a state of fermentation, revaluation, revision and heaJrt-searchmg. The visilble signs for this search for new policies can 'b e traced in the attempt to estalblish a single Socialist Party in CzechoslovaJkia on the pattern of Western Labour Parti~, in the retrospectirve criticism of our ,p ast policies towards the national minorities, in the reconstruction of _political status quo ante Munich, in the sympathies with the federatiOIIl :plans in Europe, and in many other tendencies. The personalities belonging to this group may be listed as follo,w s : Mr. Ferdinand Peroutka, Editor of the most influential non-1party weekly review "Dnesek; former ministers :Zen.kl, Majer, Stransky, Ripka; generals: Basal, Ingr; Slovaks: Osusky, Papanek, Slavik, Kocvara, General Feriencik. Franek, and others. Out of all groups this democratic bloclk is at the greatest disadvantage insofor as their position in refugee camps is concerned; it has no, press except "Svobodny Zitrek" published in Paris; it is without any visible material, financial, and moral support which is iacc0irded : more or less to all other exile groups, especially to our older exiles (1008, 1944-1947), which are rather defective, from the point of view of pure democracy. In general it can be 1 �SLOVAKIA 37 said that the democratic exiles h:we suppoI'ted Benes's policy from 1945 : they stood for the policy of understanding with the Communists, partly spontaneously and partly under the pressure of both internal political situation, and left <JSR only in Febl'uary when they were threatened by physical force. They do not consider the policy of Benes as a mistake, but rather as failure of good will and personal tragedy. The illusion of Benes is often compared to that of Roosevelt. The democrats feel that their experiment was an honest attempt which, from the pont of view of world democracy, was absolutely necessary .. The failure is not received with satisfaction by the genuine democrats; they rather feel disa,ppointed and deceived. 'Dhe disa,ppointme nt becomes aH the more ,pairuf.ul for them as they reconsider their mistaJkes and ,s acrifices. The democratic self-criticism aims in the first place at their own political parties and politicians. They admit shortsightedness, lao'k of foresight, and carelessness in respect of the real aims hidden behind the com..'TI unist activities, and, finally, they confess to helplessness and hesitation at the time when the communist intentions become evident. The most painful are the concessions made to the Communists in what concerns the integrity of democracy, such as the inhumanities colDJilltted during the expulsion of the Sudenten-Ger mans and Hungarians, the misuse of political trials and purges, excesses of .s ecret police, and the like. Under the pressure of ideological disunity and self-criticism, some princilples, as regards the future political system, crystalize: the preservation of state continuity on a new basis, enlarged politically (by the reintroduction of some of the old parties), and personally (1b y the admittance to the political life of the country of non-ipa,rty personalities) . The persons of some ,p restige, who were not engaged in party politics and whose attitude to the past regime (1945-48) is merely critical not a priori negatirve, are the following: Peroutka, Papanek, Osusky, Hasal, Feriencik, and a few others. In general, one cay say the exile resistance movement which is being born outside Czoohoslovak ia is not motivated by negation or contempt, but by understanding and criticism of Benes's Republic. In the ey~ of democratic 1 �38 SLOVAKIA exiles this attitude becomes the chief criterion of a democratic qualification. After the death of Benes and Masaryk, junior, C:rechoslovak exiles are without a recognized leader and it is doubtful whether such a person will arise in a spontaneous way. The aibsen<!e of a leading personality is being felt everywhere, especially while our resistance organization is at its beginning. 'Dhe choice of democratic representatives is, at this time of recession of European democracy, very acute and more responsible than ever •b efore. It is quite clear that the judgement of Western governments will 1be essential in this choice; their responsilbility for the future of European democracy wiH be very large. We think it would be desirruble that the charitable character of the assistance to our refugees should be repla,ced, within the limits given by the ,policies of Western democracies, by a support of a more political character. We are convinced that such a revision of our "refugee status" would play an important role from the military point of view as well. The apolitical character of the aid to our refugees has a harmful influence on the moral of the people concerned, especially on the younger refugees, who left their homes mostly on the basis of false information and supposition that they would be immediately drafted into the Czechoslovak or other military forces. The present camps are for many emigrants an education for political indifiference and the only interest that remains is to emigrate and to settle down. The emigrants, who are living outside the camps •b eyond the reach of political or other control authority, S1Uccumb to harmful orientations and other influences. Czech@slovak emigrants, wtho are living outside the Czechoslovalk camps in Austria and South Germany, mostly left Czechoslovakia long before February 1948 and are very often guilty of collaboration with nacism. The Sudeten-German problem: It was said already that the excesses committed in connection with the transfer of Sudeten-Ge.ranans were a very paJinful affair for the democrats. Many of them came over to Gernnany with the intention of opening a new chapter in �SLOVAKIA 39 CzeohoslovaJk-German relations, a chapter of cooperation and understanding , which was to be based on mutual concessions and compromises. This tendency is waning in contact with the every-day German reality, even if the original intention is not being aJbandoned entirely. Germany of today is democratic on the surface only and any cooperation with her seems to be still very risky. For that reason thP transfer of the Gernnan minority in 1945-46 it as present considered generally to have been the only possible solution under the circumstances . This attitude is accepted generally by tihe whole (Czech) democratic block, though it is often felt to •be o:f rather an emergency and unfinished character. The Slovak Problem: The Slovalk exiles, who left Czechoslovak ia between the time of liberation and February 1948, had an exclusively collaborationist character; the nationalist and fascist feature of this exile movement grew more intense under the influence olf exile p.sychology and with the gradual failure of the Czechoslovak democratic experiment. H this democratic experiment with the Communism had succeeded, these exiles would ha,ve never gained any significance. New possibilities for them are opening only nOIW after Ozech and Slovak democrats had to resign their "good will mission" and have compromised to a certain degree with the Communists. As these fascist and half-fascist exiles have been coming over to Germany now for more than three years and ha'Ve 1been supported not only by the Slovalk charity org,anizations in the USA, but by the Germans as well - which is characteristic in itself - they are numerically stronger than the recent democratic groups. To illustrate the quality and intelleotual level olf the people concerned, we gi,ve the total number of university graduates in iboth opposing groups of 'SlQIV,aks as it Q<!mtrs in the greatest Czechoslovak refugee camp in Ludwigsiburg (•J age:rihofkaser n) : Among 200 SlovaJks in .t he camp, there ,are 14 university graduates, out of which 1 (one) is nationalist-se paratist, while the other thirteen are democrats standing for the unity of Czechoslovakia. The average age of the members belonging to the democratic group is albout 33, in the separatists group it maJkes only 22 years. �40 SLOVAKIA The number of democratic Slovruks in exile increases raipidly since Febraury 1948 and amounts to aJbout 30 or 40% in aH the camps. This is caused by the fact that, until recently, the Communists refrained from wholesale persecution of the democrats in Slovia!kia 1beoause of the relative werukness of the COIIIlmunists in this part of the Republic. The political representation and importance of the Slovaks in exile politics outside Germany is so strong and great as never before. One of the candidates for chairmanship of the Czechoslovak National Council in the UISA is a SlovaJk, Mr. Osusky, Professor at Colgate University, USA, and fomner Ambassador oif Ozechoslovaikia to France. In the United Nations, it is a Slova!k, Mr. Papanek, who defends the cause of the Czechoslovak people there. He is assisted 1b y the former ambassador to US Government, Mr. Slavik, who is also a Slovalk. The strong Democratic Party (the majority ,p arty which polled 62 % of all votes recorded in the ,l ast free elections in SlolV'~kia in 1946) stands for a united but decentralized CzechoslovaJkia and its democracy (except for 2 dissidents: Dr. Bohm and Mr. Blasko, MPs) . It is to be emphasized that the underlying idea of nationalist and separatist movement has been a democratic one. It was represented by HSLIS ( The Hlinka SlOIV~ People's Party) which was lbanned after the defeat of Germany in 194!5, because of its wholehearted collaboration with nacism during the war. This party has /been in the full sense oif the word the pioneer, the spearhead and an exclusiive representative of fascism already long before 1938. Since 1921 and 1933, respectively, the movement sympathized quite openly and unambiguously with Mussolini and Hitler; it was already so at the time when, thanks to the maigic personal i.nifl:uence of president Masaryik, there were no pro-fascist tendencies in Czechoslovak political life. The nationalist and separatist press, from ~o,re or after Munich, sup.plies a mass of evidence slllpporting fully the foregoing sba.tements. This concerns the Party's official organ "Slovak" and "The Slovak Truth," just as well as the mo,re radical papers "Gardista" and especially "Nastup," the organ of Sidor extremists, edited then ,b y Dr. Durcansky. The ,Slovak nationalist and separatist movement has �SLOVAKIA 41 done its best to bring a,bout a situation suitaible for the destruction of CzechoslovaJkia and suppression of democracy. The so-called SlovaJk State, the full acceptance of its ideology and recognition of its leaders by Hitler was only a logical consequence. Tille present -leaders of Slovak separatists in exile are all mem1bevs of the HSI.JS and belong to the second or third garniturc (except Sidor and Durcanslky who belong to the first), which is the most radical and fanatical. 'I1hey are mostly young people belonging to the generation which has grown up at the time of Hitler expansion and had no opportunity to assimilate the democratic spirit, which in any case was too young in Slovakia. It is necessary to emiphasize that the Slovaks entered history as a nation only in 1918; this single fact explains almost everything aJbout the nature and quality of Slo,valk nationalism and separatism. In genera,!, the problem of Slovruk nationalism is a problem of democracy. In many a respect it resemJbles the problem of German nationalism and democracy. There is not question of refusing the recognition of the Slovaiks as a nation, with its equal rights; there is no difference between the nationalists and democrats in this point. The conflict is idoologica,l, moral, and cultural. Essentially it is a conflict between fascism and democracy. The Slo,vaks-Democrats are standing automatically for OOR, because they see in it a guarantee of democracy also for Slovakia. They are without any nationalist prejudice. and the question of CzechSlovak relations is for them lbut a question of governmental and administrative technique. 'Dhe motives ,b ehind the Slova!k separatism is political immaturity, nationalist passions, anti-Czech, anti-Hungavian, anti-Jewish hatred, lacking all objective foundations. 'I1he Sloviruk separatism is !basically an rubsence of ,correct political thiniking, lack of education, democratic tradition, humanitarian feeling, and a want of culture in general. It is based on psychic complexes and it is a kind of primitivism. The Western democracies may not make any compromise with it if they do not wish to weaken the democracy of Slovakia and if their aim is the reconstruction of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The only political goal of Slov8Jk nationalism is a re-establish- �42 SLOVAKIA ment of an independent -Slo1Va:k State with the same underlying ideology as that which prevailed under Tiso. Any compromise in 1Jhls respect would mean an irrevocaJble step backward and a retreat a,way from democracy. Their attitude toward federation plans, in which they see a good Oipportunity, is motivated by naked political opportunism. They are inc3!pa!ble of any federation because of their deep nationalist prejudice and complex. Their aim is the destruction of OSR, the seizure of power which would be otherwise impossible, because of the fascist past of all leaders oif nationalist separatism. The criticism of the foregoing passage .should not be interpretd as prejudice. H is not al,w ays easy for Western olbservers to understand fully the d.ifif.ioult position of democratic ideas in the countries where, in albsence of a strong tradition, they are e~sed to the inroads not only of communism, but also of another ikind of political primitivism ( nationalism, church confessionalism). The present criticism is based on the results of a thorough analysis of the so-called "Slovak Problem." It is only because of the lack of space that the fads are accumulated without adequate basis of objective evidence. May we stress, too, that the authors of the most critical parts and passages on the Slovaik nationalism contained in the present memo,r,andum are Slovaks and Catholics as well. The significance of Dr. Benes: A negative attitude towards the personality of Benes is held by two political groups only : Prchala and Slovak nationalists. The attitude of a small minority of Conserwatives, Catholics and some other Right Wing Politicians is also more or less revered. The democrats in general are rather united in their relations to Benes. The doubts aibout his policies, which arose in exile following immediately the communist overthrow of the democracy regimes, hawe disappeared, so that after his refusal to add his signature to the · new communist-'Siponsored Constitution, which was later follO!Wed 'by his resignation, Benes slowly became the symbol of democratic struggle against the Communism. Before his death, he was virtually expected to resume his leadership of the third resistance struggle for a new, free, and d ~ cratic Czechoslovakia in exile. �SLOVAKIA 43 iHis death was mourned ,b y all quarters. The devotion to his idea.ls grew more intense everywhere, partly as a result of pressure of demagogic and rough propaganda by the two groups mentioned a'bove. In general, it can be said that Czechoslovak democratic exile block follows the path of Masarytk's tradition of Human democracy, which is in no way o.pposed to Benes's policies, even if they are criticized in some very important aspects, such as national state, .regulated democracy, the prdl>lem of national minorities in OSR, and especially the practical politics since the liberation (194'5). Benes remains an authority for all the democrats at home and in exile as a theoretician of democracy; for the majority of emigrants he represents the symbol of national independence. His prestige has been growing continuously since his resignation, and his departure is being felt every.where as irreplaceable. It is recognized almost generally that Benes acted under the pressure and responsibility which was historic and which eliminates any attempt at an objective judgement in the present moment. Political aspirations of democratic exile block: CzechoslovaJk democratic political groups in exile regret the state of non-existence of a recognized representiati,ve body; the general disappointment, too, is 'being felt in respect of the undiscriminating, apolitical, refugee status accorded to Czechoslovak political exiles. Czechoslovak political e::iciles feel they are no emigrants and they are inclined to accept the emigration possi!bilities given only insofar as they offer the basis for political activities in the broadest possible extent, directed to the ultimat.e goal of all exiles to the re-establishment of a free and democratic Czechosloivaikia. This "Refugee Status" is disliiked most of all by the Czechoslovak democratic exiles which consider themse1ves as true allies of the West and as the real representatives of an allied Nation which is democratically so qualified as no other nation of Central and Eastern Europe. Ozechoslovak democratic exiles would be very happy to see the change in their status and their general position. Frankfurt-Main, in November 1948. �44 SLOVAKIA Taking into account what has happened since 1948, particularly the "special" treatment accorded the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings by our State Department, I believe it is safe to say that " In our issue of February 19 (p. 531) we wondered what sort of information the State Department has been provided with in choosing members for the Czechoslovak Council recently formed in Washington. The reserves we expressed on that occasion are confirmed by a letter sent us since then by a distinguished statesman prominent in Czechoslovakia's political life previous to the communist coup. We quote a few lines from his letter: In this new Czecho-Slovak Council there are no Slovak Catholics (the three Slovaks who are nominally Catholics never took part in the religious and cultural life of the country), and the Czech People's Party is represented by three persons of doubtful moral standing who had always been friends of Soviet domination. The rest are Marxian Socialists - who are presumably in great favor at Washington and three Czech Agrarians( who are perhaps the only Catholics in the whole assembly. Perhaps the State Department officials are right in thinking that a council, whatever may be its composition, is better than no council. From the standpoint of American political strategy no objection can be raised. But my own view of these things is a bit different. The leaders of the newly formed Council are Marxists can Bolshevism be defeated by its own ideas? They are freethinkers and opponents of any religious instruction. What Cultural ideas will they give to my unhappy people? They will have to rule in Slovakia by sheer force - could that be called democracy? Their conception of foreign policy is that of military alliances a la Benes and hatred towards all the neighbors - does that mean peace? Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that men who were bitter enemies of the Marshall Plan are now invited by the State Department to America. "Czechoslovakia is a Catholic country (Bohemia and Moravia 75 percent, Slovakia 80 percent), and yet the principal men in this Council are either Protestants or atheists. It is certainly not raising a religious issue to ask if such an arrangement is equitable. Again the question arises: whose advice, if any, is being followed by the State Department in this strange procedure?"-(AM ERICA, March 19, 1949) . the "memorandum" has proved its usefulness for the Benes Czechs, serving as a criterion or guide for "policy makers" in the United �SLOVAKIA 45 States Government, particularly in regard to the question of what exiles from Czecho-Slovakia could be considered "trustworthy and reliable experts" on Czecho-Slovakian matters. In 1949, after our State Department (Acheson) invited the Benes Czechs to the U. S. A. and gave a batch of blank visas to Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Benes, at that time in Paris, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings were brought to the United States at taxpayers' expense to advise our Government and its various departments and agencies on the matter of how to fight Communism and the Communists and outsmart Soviet Russia in the field of psychological warfare! The NEW YORK TIMES stated at that time (Feb. 6, 1949) that "they plan to set up what will be, in effect, a Czechoslovak Government in exile" - and previous to that date (Jan. 5, 1949), the same source reported the arrival of a "High Escaped Czech" - Arnost Heidrich - who, according to well-informed Czechs is neither of Slovak nor Czech origin, as follows: "Arnost Heidrich, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Foreign Office and for fourteen years legal and political adviser to the late Dr. Edward Benes, has escaped from Prague and came to Washington with a detailed story of Communist activities and plans in Eastern Europe. M. Heidrich, a white-haired 59-year-old civil servant who is well known and trusted by the United States Government, was brought here by United States authorities and has made a full report of conditions in Czechoslovakia to the State Department." Apparently, Mr. Heidrich, like Dr. Eduard Benes, knew all about Communist activities and plans! After their arrival in the U. S., the Benes Czechs, (Ripka Zenkl, Taborsky, Peroutka, Ingr, Majer, Firt, Prochazka, etc.) and their Slovak hirelin&_s (Lettrich, Kocvara, Hodfa, Papanek, Franek, Slavik, Krno, Mudry-Sebik, etc.) organized the "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" and set up headquarters in Washington. As "experts," they were soon employed by the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe), various universities, the VOA (USIA), CIA, Library of Congress, the Pentagon, and other agencies of U. S. Government in one capacity or another. I have said it before and I repeat it again that I am convinced that the Benes Czechs exercise great influence and practically control the so-called "Czechoslovak" unit or division of both the RFE and also the VOA (USIA) in regard to "reliability" of personnel, exile and otherwise, employed. In the light of the facts uncovered during the past nine years, why are they still tolerated in 1958? The Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings have been discredited by their own peoples at home, so why should we curry their favor? The Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it have brought this to the attention of our Government, the Free Europe Committee, and the USIA (VOA) on several occasions, but practically nothing was done to remedy the situation. Someone, it seems, has decreed that patriotic Slovaks must be ignored and discriminated against; and this applies practhey simply are not tically to Slovak and Czech Catholics wanted; Hence, I am strongly inclined to believe that the 1948 "MEMORANDUM" of the Benes Czechs is still considered valid by some VIP in official Washington. So the "expert" advisers to de- �46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During � 28 SLOVAKIA "MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA EXILES" Th.is memorandum deals with political aspects ,o f CzechoslovaJk exrile groups only, especially so far ,a s their anticommunism and its motilves are concerned. Politically European anti-communism i,s not a united movement ; it contains factions and tendencies democratically not qualified or even disqualified. I1t has to ibe emphasized that yesterday's enemies of democracy (nacism and its friends), whicih are offering themselves as allies todlay, could easily become an acute iand fatal problem for democracy, in case not sufficient aJttention iis paid to the implications. Anti-communism as sucll is merely a potential ally oif democracy. In our opinion, all ,political emigration should be clasSlified alreadry now as to the real motives of its anti-communist attitude. We, in Czeoho-sio.vaJkia, who hawe lived to see the destruction of democracy first ·b y fascism and lat-er by communism, know only too well that these two contrasting ideologies, irreconcilaible ideologicaHy, are quite ridenitical insofar as their psychology and ethi:cs are concerned. Intermediate and .fresh as the experience with the Communists lives among politic:al exiles, it is very dangerous for democratic thin1king and feeling and tends to extremism and primirtiive radi'calism. The irritative camip psychology diminishes 1Jhe aJbility for finer distinctions and, as a consequence, anti--c01m:mwrism turns into the criticism of a very primitive, sometimes of quite fascist character. This tendency, which in the end would ,b ecome hiarmful to the cause of world democracy, is not very acute in CzeclloslovaJk camps unless it is left to develOip entirely in its own way. CzeohoslovaJk political emigration can be classified according to the motives of its anti-communism as follows : 1. Political Catholics: opponents of Communism for religious and confessional reasons. This g1roup has to be soodilvided into two parts: Czech and Slovak. Czeich Catholics are well equdipped ideologically; they are in contact with and influenced by modern Catholic movements in the West, �29 SLOVAKIA especially by that of F1rance. Their orientation is universal, hllimanitarian and, thrroug,h Masarytk's influence, also democrat.ic. They idenltify CommUll!ism with !Marxism and interpret it as a logical consequence of materialism and atheism. To a certain ex.tent their faith is liberal, at least it used to be so in Czechoslovakia. This feature, however, is weaken-, ing here in exile and is ,being replaced ,by one that is more conse.r,vaJtirve and confessional. The activities of this group are ca>rried on with the help of Catholic clergy which, in its turn, is supported by the VaJtrican throug,h .t!he Pax Romana org,anizatiOiil. The work of this group is, for that rea son, much easier and it is visilble everyiwhere. .Some movements of our emigirants from Ge11many had almost an exclusive Catholic character. So the transfer to Italy, for instance, consisted mainly of Catholics. The political Catholics are very expansive and so they may get into conflict with the above mentioned tiradition which is of lay, liberal and democratic character. The representatives, of this ,group are: Mr. Bohdan Chudoba, MP, Mrs. Kozeluhova, Mr. Prochazka, former Minister of Health, Mr. Tigrid, Chief Editor of (the Czech) Catholic Party Pre.s s. fu spite of the faot tha:t Bohemia is to a great e·x tent (96 % ) a Catholic country, the religious affiliation has never been identified with the political one; that is why the Oatholic Party has enjoyed no ,great significance since 1918, and it is hardly to be expected that it will be otherwise fn the future democratic Czechoslovakia. 1 The movement of political Catholicism in Slovakia, with the exception of a small groUJp of moderni sts, is of a mo•r e primitive nature and it has al,ways pursued policies which were in permanent conflict with the Czechoslovak democracy since the end of World War One. The Slovruk population is SO% Catholic; in 1938 election HSLS - (the Hlinka Slovruk Peoiple's Party) - polled rubout 40 % of all rvotes and, was relatively the strongest party. 'Dhi,s grolllp has two ,political cente115 outside Czechoslovakia. T,he first is in USA among the Slovak spooking American citizens, popularly spoiken of in C~hoslovakia 1 �30 SLOVAKIA as American Slovaiks. Their press (e. g. Slova:k Defense, Slovalk in America, Catholic) vehemently campailgns against the new ipoliltiC'al exiles who left their home-country after February 1948 only. They stand openly for legal continuity of the so-called SlOWJk State, campaign for it in pwblic and declare at the same tirme their intention to taike revenge on all participants in the 1944 anti-German rising at Banska Bystrica in the middle of Slovatkia, further on all politicians who have shown good will in cooperation with the Soviets during or after the war. Under the pressure of this kind of propaganda many SloviaJk,s succumb, become indifd:erent to the cause .o f CzechoslovaJkia, or even turn hostile to it. This political war-fare against Czechosl()IVakia is going on under the guise of Christian charity which appears to have been led until recently ,by an American citizen of Slovak origin, Father Billy. As ,the Ciharacter of the SloW!lk exiles is to a much smaller exitent ,p olitical than it is the case with the Czech emigTees, 8111d as it contains elements of very poor social and intellectual level, the kind .o f propaganda mentioned aJbove has had consideralble success. If the promises of material help, ,by which F1ather Billy has been able to influence the political minds of Slova;k emigrants in Germany, are Ito realize, it will certainly oreate another obstacle on the way of harmonious coo,peration of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. The other center of politioal Catholioism, which is in contact wilth t:lhe first, is the V1atican and is dommated by the former minister of Czechoslovakia at the time of Munich Agreement who Jailer held the post of Amb~dor of the Slovak State to the Holy Seat, Mr. Karol Sidor. He himself has been away frO!ffi Siov.rukia since 1939 and is profiting out od: a legend which has grown around him. Mr. Karol Sidor was a 'b ig man in the HSI.IS; he was lOQlked upon as a successor of Father Andrej Hlinka to the highest offioe in the Pairty. He was a leader of the most radical fri8tion of the young party followers and the founder as well as the Commander-in-Chief of HG (Hldnlka Guards, rurnied trooips of the ·P arty, formed on the pattern ·of the Gerrfiah SA or SS) . During the Munich crisis and after the resignation of President Benes, he became Minister in Prague Government �SLOVAKIA 31 and - as the consequence of this he lost corutact with the separatist wing of the Party, which in the meantime passed under the control of Flather Tiso, later president of an :independent SlovaJk State. Influenced .by Pra,gue and •b y his master Father Hilnika, w'ho died already in 1936, he believed in a solution whi_c h was based on the principle of tervitorial inltegrity of the Republic. His hesitation at the critical moment before the estia:blishment of Protectorate ()lVer Bohemia (Mairch 13, 1939) ca,used tlhat he lost all the German sympathies and facilitated the .r ise of Tiso. Later he was aippointed Am'bassador to Vlatican where he has ~en since. His ,attitude to Czechoslovalkia is equiivocal; until not long ago he stood for SlovaJk Staite; now, after some months of international development, he is more reserved and the latest news suggest that he almost reversed his mi.ti.al position. In spiite of the fact that Sidor has not engaged himself for certain reasons in the fascist regime in Slovalkira during the war, he is not without responsibi.Lity for what was going on there dru:ring his aJbserrce. His responsiibility is, in our opinion, essentia,L As the Chief of the Hlinlka Party press, leader of radicals and an important Party ,b oss - all in one person - he was the most characteristic representative of Slovak nationalism. He was in a pernnanent opposition to the democratic form of Cz;ecfuosloivrukia. He did his best to mruke the SloV'aJk national movement more radical and V1ulgar and, in this way, he induced the movement to• take the shaipe it did and .to end as it did, that is in the destruction of Czechoslova!kia, su:ppression of democracy and strengthening of fascist power in Burope. Sidor a:s a politician is without sufficient education, foresight, and sense of responsibility; he is unacceptable to the democrats in spite of the fact that his stay in Vatican has had a positive influence on him. Long emigrartion has made him to develop a Fuhrer-complex and a harmful sense of SQIVereignty. Even if his political conception has ~come more democratic, as a consequeil'ce of his contact with Vatican, there is nothing by which he could contribute to the cause of democracy. "With Sidor against the Jews" is the quintessence of his legend in Slovaikia. He has no other fol- �32 SLOVAKIA lowers there; if he switched over to different slogans, he would have to give up his o,w:n pa.sit and aJbandon those political and psychological forces which adoire him now. It cannot be sufficiently oouphasized that the whole emotional and ideological back,g round of Slovak separatism is giiven absolutely by the SloivaJk State, its inner spirit, its values and prejudices, and :if .Sidor did not serve these forces, he would be coI11Sidered as a traitor and opportunist. 2. Anti-communism as an expression of Czech or Slovak nationalism: On the Czech side, it is General Prchala who can be :termed as its representative. General Prcihala is a Czech afficer who did not return home after the last war because of political differences with Dr. Benes. His followers ma.Ike Ulp a tiny group among our exiles. The judgemenrts on General's qualities as a soldier run diametrioo.Uy, but there is no doulbt about his poliitical capaJbilities among the democratic exiles. The legend tha,t grew around him, as an immediate consequence of the first disruppointment after FeJbruary, has mostly eva;poraJted since. General Prchala is said by the peo,ple who know him to be a man of very limited views who has no political sense; he is said to hruve no democratic coI11Victions, and, besides, he suffers from something lilke megalomania. His political reasoning is emlbryonic and naive. He refuses to recognize .the necessity of political parties in democr.acy; he f101tters the Sudeten Germans for reasons of his personal amlbition, which iis ,b oth -u nreasona!ble and irresponsrble. His negotiations with the SlovaJk 5elparatist fraction which Mr. P. Pridavok in London, are too hasty to be considered seriously. His followers in CzechosloviaJkia are scanty and the democratic exile group do not oount with him ei,t her. His worshippers do not know him personally ; they regard him as the most outspoken anti-Communist and from their own illusions aJbout his personality which ilisappear as soon as they come in contact with reality. It is our opinion that General Prchala will go to the history of our emigration as a little episode. General Prchala's group is exploiting the fact of his long emig,raJtion and absence from his own country and has some financial means at dis posal. lit has its own paper "Cesky boj" published in London. His followers are recuit- �SLOVAKIA 33 ed from emigr.ants who left Czechoslovakia partly before the last war, but mostly who left between the years 194'51947. It is characteristic that they generally live outside the caimps. They founded in London The Czech National Committee which operates also .in the US Zone and has nothing in c01Inmon with Czechoslovakia Relief Committee. Prchala's group acceipts the Slovak seiparati,s m, supports ilt on account of common ideological affinity, and they plan to gather a Central European Federation. General Prchlala acts entirely with the ,peoip le of his kind. They are nationalists by outlook, their emotional and ideological background is, quite opposed to the ideas on which a healthy and organic federation could arise. The real motirves behind Prchala's federational plans iare opportunist in character. The idea of federation, if the latter is to be workable, pre-supposes Slljpra-inaitionalizing and democratic thuillcing, it presU!pposes the super nationalism not its ,a ssertion which, in sulbstance, is national egoism. On the Sl()I\Tlaik side, the nationlist group with the movement of poliitical Catholicism, insofar as the representatives and t>heiir folloiWers are concerned, has always been so since 1•918, aJ11d the best eXipression since was the Slwak State with a priest as president and a third of members of parliament also priests. The real leader of this groUJp is Mr. Durcansky, who is sometimes cOIIl:Sidered as successor of Father Tiso. As the fiTst Foreign Minister of the Slovaik Puippet Government, he is on the liist of war criminals and, consequently, the Slovak nationalists are more or less olbliged to accept Mr. Sidor, who represents the policy of tJhe Vatican as their leader. But for this fact, the position of Mr. Durcansky would be dominant beyond any doub:t, because of his relatitvely gireater erudition (he was professor of international laiw at ,the Bratislaivia University from 1939 till 1944), Intelligence, and because of Ms political skill. The gross of the Slovalk separatist group consists of young people (around 19 or 20 years of age). These people harve no personal experience of democracy. They are not sUJfficiently educated, inexperienced in all respects, they �34 SLOVAKIA ,s uccumb to the ,p ropaganda of the more radical, noisy and vulgar it is. This kind of propaganda exerts influence even on ipeople who left CzechoslovaJkia for quite apolitic.al reasons. MT. Durfansky had h4; organization built uip already at the time when the Czechoslovakia exile movement was yet non-existent. Lacking all the means, it is very difficult for the democratic exiles to catch up with him in thjs respect. DUT.fansky has his agents in all Czechoslovak camps, canv~ing for him both openly and secretly. It is· sad, and characteristic as well, tlhait these agents use all meians at their disposal, including bribes ( cigarettes, food packages from USA, promises of visa to Argentin,a, which is the country of residence of Mr. Durcansky). In spite af the ban on all political actiiVities in refugee caimps, the agents of Mr. Durcansky exercise great moral presswre on democratic Slovaiks by propaganda of revenge for the execution of Father Tiso and for the Bystrica rising in 1944, by campaigning oipenly for the Sl01VaJk State, which is 1being treated as a fait aiccompli in Catholic nationalistic preiss of .AJIIlerican Slovak,s in USA, Slovak refugees are instilled 1zy fear and used for political plans of Mr. Durcansky. An illegal pa-per by n,ame of "1Slova1k Struggle" is being pulb1ished lb y "Tiso's Society" somewhere in Munich. This mimeographe d paper stands openly for the Slovak State, for its idea a,,nd its fascist representative s, some of whom were listed as the war CTiminals still during •t he war (Tiso, Durca.nsky) . 3. Fascism in exile: It is implied in the former movements where it exists potentially for the present. It does not exist as ,a clear-cut cxrientation, hut its expression can be detected on different tendencies. It emerges on the surface indiividually without the couvage to appear as an open o.vga.ruzation. The real danger begins there where the anticommunist attitude turns into sheer passion and irrationalism, naJtional, religious, or racial. This danger is not acute for the present and would lbe easily neutralized by a clearer moral support to b,e accorded to the Czechoslovak democratic exiles 1b y the Western democracies. ½. Conservatives : One can count here the followers of �SLOVAKIA 35 all political parties which: were not admitted by the Third Reipulblic (1945) and were recognized now in exile: Peasant's Party, National Democrats, and the party defending the interests of small business and handwork. Those ,parties can serve well to the cause of democracy in CzechoslovaJkia, especially the Peasant's Party, if it strikes roots in Slovakia and turns the Party Politics into another direction leading out of the present dead-loclc situation created by the nationalist complex. This would contribute to the political intergration of both ,p ar.ts of the Republic, even if on the basis of a more conserviaUve character. In general, these parties represent vested interests · rather than ideologies. They stand for economic liberalism which best favors the interests of their followers. 1 It is 1known that the Peasant's Party was well received by all political groups, especially lby (the Czech) Social Democrats. The initia,l mutual resipect and good will of the two latter parties gives rise to speculations on an eventual coalition in the future which was well known in -t he party politics of the First Republic, ,w hen it was characteristically called "red-green coalition." 5. Decomratic exile groups: It is difficult to speaik a/bout the •pol-itic<al parties in connection with this group which reyresents the Czechoslovak tradition of universal and moral humanism as formulat,ed by Masaryk. In general, is can be said that the political .g rouping of tJhis block coincides with the parties forming the Government Coalition of the ,First Republic ( up till 1938) , the parties which stood b,y Masaryk without any reservation and later backed ,h is successor to the presidency, Mr. Benes; one can include into this growp (Czech) National Socialists (Czech) Social ~9CI"ats and, to a certain extent, the Czech Catholic Party and the old Peasant's Party. -, '·The opposition of this democratic block t.o Communism is motivated by humanitarian philosophy, cultural and moral universalism. This group opposes all na1Jional, confessional and class exclusiveness, its faith is undogmatic, lay ,and social in character. In European politics is stands for "troisieme force" with the democracy as a dominant �36 SLOVAKIA feature. It represents the best Czechoslovak tradition (Hus, Comenius, Masaryk), its orientation is universal, essentially related to or even identical with the democratic spirit of the West. It is a natural, unopportunistic ally of the West and an exclusive representative of Western orientation in Czechoslovakia in every respect. . '11he representatives of this group haive suffered most thI1ough the Oommunist cowp d'etat in February this yeaT. They tried their best to cooperate with the Communists, following the lines of policy laid do,w n by Yalta and other aJgreements, and now they pay dear for the failure of their "mission of good will" by inner chaos and repercussions caused hy tJhe political demagogy of the undemocratic antiCommunism. The democratic block, which still represents the majority of rpu!blic opinion in CzechosloV!aikia, is in a state of fermentation, revaluation, revision and heaJrt-searchmg. The visilble signs for this search for new policies can 'b e traced in the attempt to estalblish a single Socialist Party in CzechoslovaJkia on the pattern of Western Labour Parti~, in the retrospectirve criticism of our ,p ast policies towards the national minorities, in the reconstruction of _political status quo ante Munich, in the sympathies with the federatiOIIl :plans in Europe, and in many other tendencies. The personalities belonging to this group may be listed as follo,w s : Mr. Ferdinand Peroutka, Editor of the most influential non-1party weekly review "Dnesek; former ministers :Zen.kl, Majer, Stransky, Ripka; generals: Basal, Ingr; Slovaks: Osusky, Papanek, Slavik, Kocvara, General Feriencik. Franek, and others. Out of all groups this democratic bloclk is at the greatest disadvantage insofor as their position in refugee camps is concerned; it has no, press except "Svobodny Zitrek" published in Paris; it is without any visible material, financial, and moral support which is iacc0irded : more or less to all other exile groups, especially to our older exiles (1008, 1944-1947), which are rather defective, from the point of view of pure democracy. In general it can be 1 �SLOVAKIA 37 said that the democratic exiles h:we suppoI'ted Benes's policy from 1945 : they stood for the policy of understanding with the Communists, partly spontaneously and partly under the pressure of both internal political situation, and left <JSR only in Febl'uary when they were threatened by physical force. They do not consider the policy of Benes as a mistake, but rather as failure of good will and personal tragedy. The illusion of Benes is often compared to that of Roosevelt. The democrats feel that their experiment was an honest attempt which, from the pont of view of world democracy, was absolutely necessary .. The failure is not received with satisfaction by the genuine democrats; they rather feel disa,ppointed and deceived. 'Dhe disa,ppointme nt becomes aH the more ,pairuf.ul for them as they reconsider their mistaJkes and ,s acrifices. The democratic self-criticism aims in the first place at their own political parties and politicians. They admit shortsightedness, lao'k of foresight, and carelessness in respect of the real aims hidden behind the com..'TI unist activities, and, finally, they confess to helplessness and hesitation at the time when the communist intentions become evident. The most painful are the concessions made to the Communists in what concerns the integrity of democracy, such as the inhumanities colDJilltted during the expulsion of the Sudenten-Ger mans and Hungarians, the misuse of political trials and purges, excesses of .s ecret police, and the like. Under the pressure of ideological disunity and self-criticism, some princilples, as regards the future political system, crystalize: the preservation of state continuity on a new basis, enlarged politically (by the reintroduction of some of the old parties), and personally (1b y the admittance to the political life of the country of non-ipa,rty personalities) . The persons of some ,p restige, who were not engaged in party politics and whose attitude to the past regime (1945-48) is merely critical not a priori negatirve, are the following: Peroutka, Papanek, Osusky, Hasal, Feriencik, and a few others. In general, one cay say the exile resistance movement which is being born outside Czoohoslovak ia is not motivated by negation or contempt, but by understanding and criticism of Benes's Republic. In the ey~ of democratic 1 �38 SLOVAKIA exiles this attitude becomes the chief criterion of a democratic qualification. After the death of Benes and Masaryk, junior, C:rechoslovak exiles are without a recognized leader and it is doubtful whether such a person will arise in a spontaneous way. The aibsen<!e of a leading personality is being felt everywhere, especially while our resistance organization is at its beginning. 'Dhe choice of democratic representatives is, at this time of recession of European democracy, very acute and more responsible than ever •b efore. It is quite clear that the judgement of Western governments will 1be essential in this choice; their responsilbility for the future of European democracy wiH be very large. We think it would be desirruble that the charitable character of the assistance to our refugees should be repla,ced, within the limits given by the ,policies of Western democracies, by a support of a more political character. We are convinced that such a revision of our "refugee status" would play an important role from the military point of view as well. The apolitical character of the aid to our refugees has a harmful influence on the moral of the people concerned, especially on the younger refugees, who left their homes mostly on the basis of false information and supposition that they would be immediately drafted into the Czechoslovak or other military forces. The present camps are for many emigrants an education for political indifiference and the only interest that remains is to emigrate and to settle down. The emigrants, who are living outside the camps •b eyond the reach of political or other control authority, S1Uccumb to harmful orientations and other influences. Czech@slovak emigrants, wtho are living outside the Czechoslovalk camps in Austria and South Germany, mostly left Czechoslovakia long before February 1948 and are very often guilty of collaboration with nacism. The Sudeten-German problem: It was said already that the excesses committed in connection with the transfer of Sudeten-Ge.ranans were a very paJinful affair for the democrats. Many of them came over to Gernnany with the intention of opening a new chapter in �SLOVAKIA 39 CzeohoslovaJk-German relations, a chapter of cooperation and understanding , which was to be based on mutual concessions and compromises. This tendency is waning in contact with the every-day German reality, even if the original intention is not being aJbandoned entirely. Germany of today is democratic on the surface only and any cooperation with her seems to be still very risky. For that reason thP transfer of the Gernnan minority in 1945-46 it as present considered generally to have been the only possible solution under the circumstances . This attitude is accepted generally by tihe whole (Czech) democratic block, though it is often felt to •be o:f rather an emergency and unfinished character. The Slovak Problem: The Slovalk exiles, who left Czechoslovak ia between the time of liberation and February 1948, had an exclusively collaborationist character; the nationalist and fascist feature of this exile movement grew more intense under the influence olf exile p.sychology and with the gradual failure of the Czechoslovak democratic experiment. H this democratic experiment with the Communism had succeeded, these exiles would ha,ve never gained any significance. New possibilities for them are opening only nOIW after Ozech and Slovak democrats had to resign their "good will mission" and have compromised to a certain degree with the Communists. As these fascist and half-fascist exiles have been coming over to Germany now for more than three years and ha'Ve 1been supported not only by the Slovalk charity org,anizations in the USA, but by the Germans as well - which is characteristic in itself - they are numerically stronger than the recent democratic groups. To illustrate the quality and intelleotual level olf the people concerned, we gi,ve the total number of university graduates in iboth opposing groups of 'SlQIV,aks as it Q<!mtrs in the greatest Czechoslovak refugee camp in Ludwigsiburg (•J age:rihofkaser n) : Among 200 SlovaJks in .t he camp, there ,are 14 university graduates, out of which 1 (one) is nationalist-se paratist, while the other thirteen are democrats standing for the unity of Czechoslovakia. The average age of the members belonging to the democratic group is albout 33, in the separatists group it maJkes only 22 years. �40 SLOVAKIA The number of democratic Slovruks in exile increases raipidly since Febraury 1948 and amounts to aJbout 30 or 40% in aH the camps. This is caused by the fact that, until recently, the Communists refrained from wholesale persecution of the democrats in Slovia!kia 1beoause of the relative werukness of the COIIIlmunists in this part of the Republic. The political representation and importance of the Slovaks in exile politics outside Germany is so strong and great as never before. One of the candidates for chairmanship of the Czechoslovak National Council in the UISA is a SlovaJk, Mr. Osusky, Professor at Colgate University, USA, and fomner Ambassador oif Ozechoslovaikia to France. In the United Nations, it is a Slova!k, Mr. Papanek, who defends the cause of the Czechoslovak people there. He is assisted 1b y the former ambassador to US Government, Mr. Slavik, who is also a Slovalk. The strong Democratic Party (the majority ,p arty which polled 62 % of all votes recorded in the ,l ast free elections in SlolV'~kia in 1946) stands for a united but decentralized CzechoslovaJkia and its democracy (except for 2 dissidents: Dr. Bohm and Mr. Blasko, MPs) . It is to be emphasized that the underlying idea of nationalist and separatist movement has been a democratic one. It was represented by HSLIS ( The Hlinka SlOIV~ People's Party) which was lbanned after the defeat of Germany in 194!5, because of its wholehearted collaboration with nacism during the war. This party has /been in the full sense oif the word the pioneer, the spearhead and an exclusiive representative of fascism already long before 1938. Since 1921 and 1933, respectively, the movement sympathized quite openly and unambiguously with Mussolini and Hitler; it was already so at the time when, thanks to the maigic personal i.nifl:uence of president Masaryik, there were no pro-fascist tendencies in Czechoslovak political life. The nationalist and separatist press, from ~o,re or after Munich, sup.plies a mass of evidence slllpporting fully the foregoing sba.tements. This concerns the Party's official organ "Slovak" and "The Slovak Truth," just as well as the mo,re radical papers "Gardista" and especially "Nastup," the organ of Sidor extremists, edited then ,b y Dr. Durcansky. The ,Slovak nationalist and separatist movement has �SLOVAKIA 41 done its best to bring a,bout a situation suitaible for the destruction of CzechoslovaJkia and suppression of democracy. The so-called SlovaJk State, the full acceptance of its ideology and recognition of its leaders by Hitler was only a logical consequence. Tille present -leaders of Slovak separatists in exile are all mem1bevs of the HSI.JS and belong to the second or third garniturc (except Sidor and Durcanslky who belong to the first), which is the most radical and fanatical. 'I1hey are mostly young people belonging to the generation which has grown up at the time of Hitler expansion and had no opportunity to assimilate the democratic spirit, which in any case was too young in Slovakia. It is necessary to emiphasize that the Slovaks entered history as a nation only in 1918; this single fact explains almost everything aJbout the nature and quality of Slo,valk nationalism and separatism. In genera,!, the problem of Slovruk nationalism is a problem of democracy. In many a respect it resemJbles the problem of German nationalism and democracy. There is not question of refusing the recognition of the Slovaiks as a nation, with its equal rights; there is no difference between the nationalists and democrats in this point. The conflict is idoologica,l, moral, and cultural. Essentially it is a conflict between fascism and democracy. The Slo,vaks-Democrats are standing automatically for OOR, because they see in it a guarantee of democracy also for Slovakia. They are without any nationalist prejudice. and the question of CzechSlovak relations is for them lbut a question of governmental and administrative technique. 'Dhe motives ,b ehind the Slova!k separatism is political immaturity, nationalist passions, anti-Czech, anti-Hungavian, anti-Jewish hatred, lacking all objective foundations. 'I1he Sloviruk separatism is !basically an rubsence of ,correct political thiniking, lack of education, democratic tradition, humanitarian feeling, and a want of culture in general. It is based on psychic complexes and it is a kind of primitivism. The Western democracies may not make any compromise with it if they do not wish to weaken the democracy of Slovakia and if their aim is the reconstruction of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The only political goal of Slov8Jk nationalism is a re-establish- �42 SLOVAKIA ment of an independent -Slo1Va:k State with the same underlying ideology as that which prevailed under Tiso. Any compromise in 1Jhls respect would mean an irrevocaJble step backward and a retreat a,way from democracy. Their attitude toward federation plans, in which they see a good Oipportunity, is motivated by naked political opportunism. They are inc3!pa!ble of any federation because of their deep nationalist prejudice and complex. Their aim is the destruction of OSR, the seizure of power which would be otherwise impossible, because of the fascist past of all leaders oif nationalist separatism. The criticism of the foregoing passage .should not be interpretd as prejudice. H is not al,w ays easy for Western olbservers to understand fully the d.ifif.ioult position of democratic ideas in the countries where, in albsence of a strong tradition, they are e~sed to the inroads not only of communism, but also of another ikind of political primitivism ( nationalism, church confessionalism). The present criticism is based on the results of a thorough analysis of the so-called "Slovak Problem." It is only because of the lack of space that the fads are accumulated without adequate basis of objective evidence. May we stress, too, that the authors of the most critical parts and passages on the Slovaik nationalism contained in the present memo,r,andum are Slovaks and Catholics as well. The significance of Dr. Benes: A negative attitude towards the personality of Benes is held by two political groups only : Prchala and Slovak nationalists. The attitude of a small minority of Conserwatives, Catholics and some other Right Wing Politicians is also more or less revered. The democrats in general are rather united in their relations to Benes. The doubts aibout his policies, which arose in exile following immediately the communist overthrow of the democracy regimes, hawe disappeared, so that after his refusal to add his signature to the · new communist-'Siponsored Constitution, which was later follO!Wed 'by his resignation, Benes slowly became the symbol of democratic struggle against the Communism. Before his death, he was virtually expected to resume his leadership of the third resistance struggle for a new, free, and d ~ cratic Czechoslovakia in exile. �SLOVAKIA 43 iHis death was mourned ,b y all quarters. The devotion to his idea.ls grew more intense everywhere, partly as a result of pressure of demagogic and rough propaganda by the two groups mentioned a'bove. In general, it can be said that Czechoslovak democratic exile block follows the path of Masarytk's tradition of Human democracy, which is in no way o.pposed to Benes's policies, even if they are criticized in some very important aspects, such as national state, .regulated democracy, the prdl>lem of national minorities in OSR, and especially the practical politics since the liberation (194'5). Benes remains an authority for all the democrats at home and in exile as a theoretician of democracy; for the majority of emigrants he represents the symbol of national independence. His prestige has been growing continuously since his resignation, and his departure is being felt every.where as irreplaceable. It is recognized almost generally that Benes acted under the pressure and responsibility which was historic and which eliminates any attempt at an objective judgement in the present moment. Political aspirations of democratic exile block: CzechoslovaJk democratic political groups in exile regret the state of non-existence of a recognized representiati,ve body; the general disappointment, too, is 'being felt in respect of the undiscriminating, apolitical, refugee status accorded to Czechoslovak political exiles. Czechoslovak political e::iciles feel they are no emigrants and they are inclined to accept the emigration possi!bilities given only insofar as they offer the basis for political activities in the broadest possible extent, directed to the ultimat.e goal of all exiles to the re-establishment of a free and democratic Czechosloivaikia. This "Refugee Status" is disliiked most of all by the Czechoslovak democratic exiles which consider themse1ves as true allies of the West and as the real representatives of an allied Nation which is democratically so qualified as no other nation of Central and Eastern Europe. Ozechoslovak democratic exiles would be very happy to see the change in their status and their general position. Frankfurt-Main, in November 1948. �44 SLOVAKIA Taking into account what has happened since 1948, particularly the "special" treatment accorded the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings by our State Department, I believe it is safe to say that " In our issue of February 19 (p. 531) we wondered what sort of information the State Department has been provided with in choosing members for the Czechoslovak Council recently formed in Washington. The reserves we expressed on that occasion are confirmed by a letter sent us since then by a distinguished statesman prominent in Czechoslovakia's political life previous to the communist coup. We quote a few lines from his letter: In this new Czecho-Slovak Council there are no Slovak Catholics (the three Slovaks who are nominally Catholics never took part in the religious and cultural life of the country), and the Czech People's Party is represented by three persons of doubtful moral standing who had always been friends of Soviet domination. The rest are Marxian Socialists - who are presumably in great favor at Washington and three Czech Agrarians( who are perhaps the only Catholics in the whole assembly. Perhaps the State Department officials are right in thinking that a council, whatever may be its composition, is better than no council. From the standpoint of American political strategy no objection can be raised. But my own view of these things is a bit different. The leaders of the newly formed Council are Marxists can Bolshevism be defeated by its own ideas? They are freethinkers and opponents of any religious instruction. What Cultural ideas will they give to my unhappy people? They will have to rule in Slovakia by sheer force - could that be called democracy? Their conception of foreign policy is that of military alliances a la Benes and hatred towards all the neighbors - does that mean peace? Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that men who were bitter enemies of the Marshall Plan are now invited by the State Department to America. "Czechoslovakia is a Catholic country (Bohemia and Moravia 75 percent, Slovakia 80 percent), and yet the principal men in this Council are either Protestants or atheists. It is certainly not raising a religious issue to ask if such an arrangement is equitable. Again the question arises: whose advice, if any, is being followed by the State Department in this strange procedure?"-(AM ERICA, March 19, 1949) . the "memorandum" has proved its usefulness for the Benes Czechs, serving as a criterion or guide for "policy makers" in the United �SLOVAKIA 45 States Government, particularly in regard to the question of what exiles from Czecho-Slovakia could be considered "trustworthy and reliable experts" on Czecho-Slovakian matters. In 1949, after our State Department (Acheson) invited the Benes Czechs to the U. S. A. and gave a batch of blank visas to Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Benes, at that time in Paris, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings were brought to the United States at taxpayers' expense to advise our Government and its various departments and agencies on the matter of how to fight Communism and the Communists and outsmart Soviet Russia in the field of psychological warfare! The NEW YORK TIMES stated at that time (Feb. 6, 1949) that "they plan to set up what will be, in effect, a Czechoslovak Government in exile" - and previous to that date (Jan. 5, 1949), the same source reported the arrival of a "High Escaped Czech" - Arnost Heidrich - who, according to well-informed Czechs is neither of Slovak nor Czech origin, as follows: "Arnost Heidrich, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Foreign Office and for fourteen years legal and political adviser to the late Dr. Edward Benes, has escaped from Prague and came to Washington with a detailed story of Communist activities and plans in Eastern Europe. M. Heidrich, a white-haired 59-year-old civil servant who is well known and trusted by the United States Government, was brought here by United States authorities and has made a full report of conditions in Czechoslovakia to the State Department." Apparently, Mr. Heidrich, like Dr. Eduard Benes, knew all about Communist activities and plans! After their arrival in the U. S., the Benes Czechs, (Ripka Zenkl, Taborsky, Peroutka, Ingr, Majer, Firt, Prochazka, etc.) and their Slovak hirelin&_s (Lettrich, Kocvara, Hodfa, Papanek, Franek, Slavik, Krno, Mudry-Sebik, etc.) organized the "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" and set up headquarters in Washington. As "experts," they were soon employed by the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe), various universities, the VOA (USIA), CIA, Library of Congress, the Pentagon, and other agencies of U. S. Government in one capacity or another. I have said it before and I repeat it again that I am convinced that the Benes Czechs exercise great influence and practically control the so-called "Czechoslovak" unit or division of both the RFE and also the VOA (USIA) in regard to "reliability" of personnel, exile and otherwise, employed. In the light of the facts uncovered during the past nine years, why are they still tolerated in 1958? The Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings have been discredited by their own peoples at home, so why should we curry their favor? The Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it have brought this to the attention of our Government, the Free Europe Committee, and the USIA (VOA) on several occasions, but practically nothing was done to remedy the situation. Someone, it seems, has decreed that patriotic Slovaks must be ignored and discriminated against; and this applies practhey simply are not tically to Slovak and Czech Catholics wanted; Hence, I am strongly inclined to believe that the 1948 "MEMORANDUM" of the Benes Czechs is still considered valid by some VIP in official Washington. So the "expert" advisers to de- �46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 "MEMORANDUM ON POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA EXILES" Th.is memorandum deals with political aspects ,o f CzechoslovaJk exrile groups only, especially so far ,a s their anticommunism and its motilves are concerned. Politically European anti-communism i,s not a united movement ; it contains factions and tendencies democratically not qualified or even disqualified. I1t has to ibe emphasized that yesterday's enemies of democracy (nacism and its friends), whicih are offering themselves as allies todlay, could easily become an acute iand fatal problem for democracy, in case not sufficient aJttention iis paid to the implications. Anti-communism as sucll is merely a potential ally oif democracy. In our opinion, all ,political emigration should be clasSlified alreadry now as to the real motives of its anti-communist attitude. We, in Czeoho-sio.vaJkia, who hawe lived to see the destruction of democracy first ·b y fascism and lat-er by communism, know only too well that these two contrasting ideologies, irreconcilaible ideologicaHy, are quite ridenitical insofar as their psychology and ethi:cs are concerned. Intermediate and .fresh as the experience with the Communists lives among politic:al exiles, it is very dangerous for democratic thin1king and feeling and tends to extremism and primirtiive radi'calism. The irritative camip psychology diminishes 1Jhe aJbility for finer distinctions and, as a consequence, anti--c01m:mwrism turns into the criticism of a very primitive, sometimes of quite fascist character. This tendency, which in the end would ,b ecome hiarmful to the cause of world democracy, is not very acute in CzeclloslovaJk camps unless it is left to develOip entirely in its own way. CzeohoslovaJk political emigration can be classified according to the motives of its anti-communism as follows : 1. Political Catholics: opponents of Communism for religious and confessional reasons. This g1roup has to be soodilvided into two parts: Czech and Slovak. Czeich Catholics are well equdipped ideologically; they are in contact with and influenced by modern Catholic movements in the West, 29 SLOVAKIA especially by that of F1rance. Their orientation is universal, hllimanitarian and, thrroug,h Masarytk's influence, also democrat.ic. They idenltify CommUll!ism with !Marxism and interpret it as a logical consequence of materialism and atheism. To a certain ex.tent their faith is liberal, at least it used to be so in Czechoslovakia. This feature, however, is weaken-, ing here in exile and is ,being replaced ,by one that is more conse.r,vaJtirve and confessional. The activities of this group are ca>rried on with the help of Catholic clergy which, in its turn, is supported by the VaJtrican throug,h .t!he Pax Romana org,anizatiOiil. The work of this group is, for that rea son, much easier and it is visilble everyiwhere. .Some movements of our emigirants from Ge11many had almost an exclusive Catholic character. So the transfer to Italy, for instance, consisted mainly of Catholics. The political Catholics are very expansive and so they may get into conflict with the above mentioned tiradition which is of lay, liberal and democratic character. The representatives, of this ,group are: Mr. Bohdan Chudoba, MP, Mrs. Kozeluhova, Mr. Prochazka, former Minister of Health, Mr. Tigrid, Chief Editor of (the Czech) Catholic Party Pre.s s. fu spite of the faot tha:t Bohemia is to a great e·x tent (96 % ) a Catholic country, the religious affiliation has never been identified with the political one; that is why the Oatholic Party has enjoyed no ,great significance since 1918, and it is hardly to be expected that it will be otherwise fn the future democratic Czechoslovakia. 1 The movement of political Catholicism in Slovakia, with the exception of a small groUJp of moderni sts, is of a mo•r e primitive nature and it has al,ways pursued policies which were in permanent conflict with the Czechoslovak democracy since the end of World War One. The Slovruk population is SO% Catholic; in 1938 election HSLS - (the Hlinka Slovruk Peoiple's Party) - polled rubout 40 % of all rvotes and, was relatively the strongest party. 'Dhi,s grolllp has two ,political cente115 outside Czechoslovakia. T,he first is in USA among the Slovak spooking American citizens, popularly spoiken of in C~hoslovakia 1 30 SLOVAKIA as American Slovaiks. Their press (e. g. Slova:k Defense, Slovalk in America, Catholic) vehemently campailgns against the new ipoliltiC'al exiles who left their home-country after February 1948 only. They stand openly for legal continuity of the so-called SlOWJk State, campaign for it in pwblic and declare at the same tirme their intention to taike revenge on all participants in the 1944 anti-German rising at Banska Bystrica in the middle of Slovatkia, further on all politicians who have shown good will in cooperation with the Soviets during or after the war. Under the pressure of this kind of propaganda many SloviaJk,s succumb, become indifd:erent to the cause .o f CzechoslovaJkia, or even turn hostile to it. This political war-fare against Czechosl()IVakia is going on under the guise of Christian charity which appears to have been led until recently ,by an American citizen of Slovak origin, Father Billy. As ,the Ciharacter of the SloW!lk exiles is to a much smaller exitent ,p olitical than it is the case with the Czech emigTees, 8111d as it contains elements of very poor social and intellectual level, the kind .o f propaganda mentioned aJbove has had consideralble success. If the promises of material help, ,by which F1ather Billy has been able to influence the political minds of Slova;k emigrants in Germany, are Ito realize, it will certainly oreate another obstacle on the way of harmonious coo,peration of Czechs and Slovaks in exile. The other center of politioal Catholioism, which is in contact wilth t:lhe first, is the V1atican and is dommated by the former minister of Czechoslovakia at the time of Munich Agreement who Jailer held the post of Amb~dor of the Slovak State to the Holy Seat, Mr. Karol Sidor. He himself has been away frO!ffi Siov.rukia since 1939 and is profiting out od: a legend which has grown around him. Mr. Karol Sidor was a 'b ig man in the HSI.IS; he was lOQlked upon as a successor of Father Andrej Hlinka to the highest offioe in the Pairty. He was a leader of the most radical fri8tion of the young party followers and the founder as well as the Commander-in-Chief of HG (Hldnlka Guards, rurnied trooips of the ·P arty, formed on the pattern ·of the Gerrfiah SA or SS) . During the Munich crisis and after the resignation of President Benes, he became Minister in Prague Government SLOVAKIA 31 and - as the consequence of this he lost corutact with the separatist wing of the Party, which in the meantime passed under the control of Flather Tiso, later president of an :independent SlovaJk State. Influenced .by Pra,gue and •b y his master Father Hilnika, w'ho died already in 1936, he believed in a solution whi_c h was based on the principle of tervitorial inltegrity of the Republic. His hesitation at the critical moment before the estia:blishment of Protectorate ()lVer Bohemia (Mairch 13, 1939) ca,used tlhat he lost all the German sympathies and facilitated the .r ise of Tiso. Later he was aippointed Am'bassador to Vlatican where he has ~en since. His ,attitude to Czechoslovalkia is equiivocal; until not long ago he stood for SlovaJk Staite; now, after some months of international development, he is more reserved and the latest news suggest that he almost reversed his mi.ti.al position. In spiite of the fact that Sidor has not engaged himself for certain reasons in the fascist regime in Slovalkira during the war, he is not without responsibi.Lity for what was going on there dru:ring his aJbserrce. His responsiibility is, in our opinion, essentia,L As the Chief of the Hlinlka Party press, leader of radicals and an important Party ,b oss - all in one person - he was the most characteristic representative of Slovak nationalism. He was in a pernnanent opposition to the democratic form of Cz;ecfuosloivrukia. He did his best to mruke the SloV'aJk national movement more radical and V1ulgar and, in this way, he induced the movement to• take the shaipe it did and .to end as it did, that is in the destruction of Czechoslova!kia, su:ppression of democracy and strengthening of fascist power in Burope. Sidor a:s a politician is without sufficient education, foresight, and sense of responsibility; he is unacceptable to the democrats in spite of the fact that his stay in Vatican has had a positive influence on him. Long emigrartion has made him to develop a Fuhrer-complex and a harmful sense of SQIVereignty. Even if his political conception has ~come more democratic, as a consequeil'ce of his contact with Vatican, there is nothing by which he could contribute to the cause of democracy. "With Sidor against the Jews" is the quintessence of his legend in Slovaikia. He has no other fol- 32 SLOVAKIA lowers there; if he switched over to different slogans, he would have to give up his o,w:n pa.sit and aJbandon those political and psychological forces which adoire him now. It cannot be sufficiently oouphasized that the whole emotional and ideological back,g round of Slovak separatism is giiven absolutely by the SloivaJk State, its inner spirit, its values and prejudices, and :if .Sidor did not serve these forces, he would be coI11Sidered as a traitor and opportunist. 2. Anti-communism as an expression of Czech or Slovak nationalism: On the Czech side, it is General Prchala who can be :termed as its representative. General Prcihala is a Czech afficer who did not return home after the last war because of political differences with Dr. Benes. His followers ma.Ike Ulp a tiny group among our exiles. The judgemenrts on General's qualities as a soldier run diametrioo.Uy, but there is no doulbt about his poliitical capaJbilities among the democratic exiles. The legend tha,t grew around him, as an immediate consequence of the first disruppointment after FeJbruary, has mostly eva;poraJted since. General Prchala is said by the peo,ple who know him to be a man of very limited views who has no political sense; he is said to hruve no democratic coI11Victions, and, besides, he suffers from something lilke megalomania. His political reasoning is emlbryonic and naive. He refuses to recognize .the necessity of political parties in democr.acy; he f101tters the Sudeten Germans for reasons of his personal amlbition, which iis ,b oth -u nreasona!ble and irresponsrble. His negotiations with the SlovaJk 5elparatist fraction which Mr. P. Pridavok in London, are too hasty to be considered seriously. His followers in CzechosloviaJkia are scanty and the democratic exile group do not oount with him ei,t her. His worshippers do not know him personally ; they regard him as the most outspoken anti-Communist and from their own illusions aJbout his personality which ilisappear as soon as they come in contact with reality. It is our opinion that General Prchala will go to the history of our emigration as a little episode. General Prchala's group is exploiting the fact of his long emig,raJtion and absence from his own country and has some financial means at dis posal. lit has its own paper "Cesky boj" published in London. His followers are recuit- SLOVAKIA 33 ed from emigr.ants who left Czechoslovakia partly before the last war, but mostly who left between the years 194'51947. It is characteristic that they generally live outside the caimps. They founded in London The Czech National Committee which operates also .in the US Zone and has nothing in c01Inmon with Czechoslovakia Relief Committee. Prchala's group acceipts the Slovak seiparati,s m, supports ilt on account of common ideological affinity, and they plan to gather a Central European Federation. General Prchlala acts entirely with the ,peoip le of his kind. They are nationalists by outlook, their emotional and ideological background is, quite opposed to the ideas on which a healthy and organic federation could arise. The real motirves behind Prchala's federational plans iare opportunist in character. The idea of federation, if the latter is to be workable, pre-supposes Slljpra-inaitionalizing and democratic thuillcing, it presU!pposes the super nationalism not its ,a ssertion which, in sulbstance, is national egoism. On the Sl()I\Tlaik side, the nationlist group with the movement of poliitical Catholicism, insofar as the representatives and t>heiir folloiWers are concerned, has always been so since 1•918, aJ11d the best eXipression since was the Slwak State with a priest as president and a third of members of parliament also priests. The real leader of this groUJp is Mr. Durcansky, who is sometimes cOIIl:Sidered as successor of Father Tiso. As the fiTst Foreign Minister of the Slovaik Puippet Government, he is on the liist of war criminals and, consequently, the Slovak nationalists are more or less olbliged to accept Mr. Sidor, who represents the policy of tJhe Vatican as their leader. But for this fact, the position of Mr. Durcansky would be dominant beyond any doub:t, because of his relatitvely gireater erudition (he was professor of international laiw at ,the Bratislaivia University from 1939 till 1944), Intelligence, and because of Ms political skill. The gross of the Slovalk separatist group consists of young people (around 19 or 20 years of age). These people harve no personal experience of democracy. They are not sUJfficiently educated, inexperienced in all respects, they 34 SLOVAKIA ,s uccumb to the ,p ropaganda of the more radical, noisy and vulgar it is. This kind of propaganda exerts influence even on ipeople who left CzechoslovaJkia for quite apolitic.al reasons. MT. Durfansky had h4; organization built uip already at the time when the Czechoslovakia exile movement was yet non-existent. Lacking all the means, it is very difficult for the democratic exiles to catch up with him in thjs respect. DUT.fansky has his agents in all Czechoslovak camps, canv~ing for him both openly and secretly. It is· sad, and characteristic as well, tlhait these agents use all meians at their disposal, including bribes ( cigarettes, food packages from USA, promises of visa to Argentin,a, which is the country of residence of Mr. Durcansky). In spite af the ban on all political actiiVities in refugee caimps, the agents of Mr. Durcansky exercise great moral presswre on democratic Slovaiks by propaganda of revenge for the execution of Father Tiso and for the Bystrica rising in 1944, by campaigning oipenly for the Sl01VaJk State, which is 1being treated as a fait aiccompli in Catholic nationalistic preiss of .AJIIlerican Slovak,s in USA, Slovak refugees are instilled 1zy fear and used for political plans of Mr. Durcansky. An illegal pa-per by n,ame of "1Slova1k Struggle" is being pulb1ished lb y "Tiso's Society" somewhere in Munich. This mimeographe d paper stands openly for the Slovak State, for its idea a,,nd its fascist representative s, some of whom were listed as the war CTiminals still during •t he war (Tiso, Durca.nsky) . 3. Fascism in exile: It is implied in the former movements where it exists potentially for the present. It does not exist as ,a clear-cut cxrientation, hut its expression can be detected on different tendencies. It emerges on the surface indiividually without the couvage to appear as an open o.vga.ruzation. The real danger begins there where the anticommunist attitude turns into sheer passion and irrationalism, naJtional, religious, or racial. This danger is not acute for the present and would lbe easily neutralized by a clearer moral support to b,e accorded to the Czechoslovak democratic exiles 1b y the Western democracies. ½. Conservatives : One can count here the followers of SLOVAKIA 35 all political parties which: were not admitted by the Third Reipulblic (1945) and were recognized now in exile: Peasant's Party, National Democrats, and the party defending the interests of small business and handwork. Those ,parties can serve well to the cause of democracy in CzechoslovaJkia, especially the Peasant's Party, if it strikes roots in Slovakia and turns the Party Politics into another direction leading out of the present dead-loclc situation created by the nationalist complex. This would contribute to the political intergration of both ,p ar.ts of the Republic, even if on the basis of a more conserviaUve character. In general, these parties represent vested interests · rather than ideologies. They stand for economic liberalism which best favors the interests of their followers. 1 It is 1known that the Peasant's Party was well received by all political groups, especially lby (the Czech) Social Democrats. The initia,l mutual resipect and good will of the two latter parties gives rise to speculations on an eventual coalition in the future which was well known in -t he party politics of the First Republic, ,w hen it was characteristically called "red-green coalition." 5. Decomratic exile groups: It is difficult to speaik a/bout the •pol-itic<al parties in connection with this group which reyresents the Czechoslovak tradition of universal and moral humanism as formulat,ed by Masaryk. In general, is can be said that the political .g rouping of tJhis block coincides with the parties forming the Government Coalition of the ,First Republic ( up till 1938) , the parties which stood b,y Masaryk without any reservation and later backed ,h is successor to the presidency, Mr. Benes; one can include into this growp (Czech) National Socialists (Czech) Social ~9CI"ats and, to a certain extent, the Czech Catholic Party and the old Peasant's Party. -, '·The opposition of this democratic block t.o Communism is motivated by humanitarian philosophy, cultural and moral universalism. This group opposes all na1Jional, confessional and class exclusiveness, its faith is undogmatic, lay ,and social in character. In European politics is stands for "troisieme force" with the democracy as a dominant 36 SLOVAKIA feature. It represents the best Czechoslovak tradition (Hus, Comenius, Masaryk), its orientation is universal, essentially related to or even identical with the democratic spirit of the West. It is a natural, unopportunistic ally of the West and an exclusive representative of Western orientation in Czechoslovakia in every respect. . '11he representatives of this group haive suffered most thI1ough the Oommunist cowp d'etat in February this yeaT. They tried their best to cooperate with the Communists, following the lines of policy laid do,w n by Yalta and other aJgreements, and now they pay dear for the failure of their "mission of good will" by inner chaos and repercussions caused hy tJhe political demagogy of the undemocratic antiCommunism. The democratic block, which still represents the majority of rpu!blic opinion in CzechosloV!aikia, is in a state of fermentation, revaluation, revision and heaJrt-searchmg. The visilble signs for this search for new policies can 'b e traced in the attempt to estalblish a single Socialist Party in CzechoslovaJkia on the pattern of Western Labour Parti~, in the retrospectirve criticism of our ,p ast policies towards the national minorities, in the reconstruction of _political status quo ante Munich, in the sympathies with the federatiOIIl :plans in Europe, and in many other tendencies. The personalities belonging to this group may be listed as follo,w s : Mr. Ferdinand Peroutka, Editor of the most influential non-1party weekly review "Dnesek; former ministers :Zen.kl, Majer, Stransky, Ripka; generals: Basal, Ingr; Slovaks: Osusky, Papanek, Slavik, Kocvara, General Feriencik. Franek, and others. Out of all groups this democratic bloclk is at the greatest disadvantage insofor as their position in refugee camps is concerned; it has no, press except "Svobodny Zitrek" published in Paris; it is without any visible material, financial, and moral support which is iacc0irded : more or less to all other exile groups, especially to our older exiles (1008, 1944-1947), which are rather defective, from the point of view of pure democracy. In general it can be 1 SLOVAKIA 37 said that the democratic exiles h:we suppoI'ted Benes's policy from 1945 : they stood for the policy of understanding with the Communists, partly spontaneously and partly under the pressure of both internal political situation, and left <JSR only in Febl'uary when they were threatened by physical force. They do not consider the policy of Benes as a mistake, but rather as failure of good will and personal tragedy. The illusion of Benes is often compared to that of Roosevelt. The democrats feel that their experiment was an honest attempt which, from the pont of view of world democracy, was absolutely necessary .. The failure is not received with satisfaction by the genuine democrats; they rather feel disa,ppointed and deceived. 'Dhe disa,ppointme nt becomes aH the more ,pairuf.ul for them as they reconsider their mistaJkes and ,s acrifices. The democratic self-criticism aims in the first place at their own political parties and politicians. They admit shortsightedness, lao'k of foresight, and carelessness in respect of the real aims hidden behind the com..'TI unist activities, and, finally, they confess to helplessness and hesitation at the time when the communist intentions become evident. The most painful are the concessions made to the Communists in what concerns the integrity of democracy, such as the inhumanities colDJilltted during the expulsion of the Sudenten-Ger mans and Hungarians, the misuse of political trials and purges, excesses of .s ecret police, and the like. Under the pressure of ideological disunity and self-criticism, some princilples, as regards the future political system, crystalize: the preservation of state continuity on a new basis, enlarged politically (by the reintroduction of some of the old parties), and personally (1b y the admittance to the political life of the country of non-ipa,rty personalities) . The persons of some ,p restige, who were not engaged in party politics and whose attitude to the past regime (1945-48) is merely critical not a priori negatirve, are the following: Peroutka, Papanek, Osusky, Hasal, Feriencik, and a few others. In general, one cay say the exile resistance movement which is being born outside Czoohoslovak ia is not motivated by negation or contempt, but by understanding and criticism of Benes's Republic. In the ey~ of democratic 1 38 SLOVAKIA exiles this attitude becomes the chief criterion of a democratic qualification. After the death of Benes and Masaryk, junior, C:rechoslovak exiles are without a recognized leader and it is doubtful whether such a person will arise in a spontaneous way. The aibsen<!e of a leading personality is being felt everywhere, especially while our resistance organization is at its beginning. 'Dhe choice of democratic representatives is, at this time of recession of European democracy, very acute and more responsible than ever •b efore. It is quite clear that the judgement of Western governments will 1be essential in this choice; their responsilbility for the future of European democracy wiH be very large. We think it would be desirruble that the charitable character of the assistance to our refugees should be repla,ced, within the limits given by the ,policies of Western democracies, by a support of a more political character. We are convinced that such a revision of our "refugee status" would play an important role from the military point of view as well. The apolitical character of the aid to our refugees has a harmful influence on the moral of the people concerned, especially on the younger refugees, who left their homes mostly on the basis of false information and supposition that they would be immediately drafted into the Czechoslovak or other military forces. The present camps are for many emigrants an education for political indifiference and the only interest that remains is to emigrate and to settle down. The emigrants, who are living outside the camps •b eyond the reach of political or other control authority, S1Uccumb to harmful orientations and other influences. Czech@slovak emigrants, wtho are living outside the Czechoslovalk camps in Austria and South Germany, mostly left Czechoslovakia long before February 1948 and are very often guilty of collaboration with nacism. The Sudeten-German problem: It was said already that the excesses committed in connection with the transfer of Sudeten-Ge.ranans were a very paJinful affair for the democrats. Many of them came over to Gernnany with the intention of opening a new chapter in SLOVAKIA 39 CzeohoslovaJk-German relations, a chapter of cooperation and understanding , which was to be based on mutual concessions and compromises. This tendency is waning in contact with the every-day German reality, even if the original intention is not being aJbandoned entirely. Germany of today is democratic on the surface only and any cooperation with her seems to be still very risky. For that reason thP transfer of the Gernnan minority in 1945-46 it as present considered generally to have been the only possible solution under the circumstances . This attitude is accepted generally by tihe whole (Czech) democratic block, though it is often felt to •be o:f rather an emergency and unfinished character. The Slovak Problem: The Slovalk exiles, who left Czechoslovak ia between the time of liberation and February 1948, had an exclusively collaborationist character; the nationalist and fascist feature of this exile movement grew more intense under the influence olf exile p.sychology and with the gradual failure of the Czechoslovak democratic experiment. H this democratic experiment with the Communism had succeeded, these exiles would ha,ve never gained any significance. New possibilities for them are opening only nOIW after Ozech and Slovak democrats had to resign their "good will mission" and have compromised to a certain degree with the Communists. As these fascist and half-fascist exiles have been coming over to Germany now for more than three years and ha'Ve 1been supported not only by the Slovalk charity org,anizations in the USA, but by the Germans as well - which is characteristic in itself - they are numerically stronger than the recent democratic groups. To illustrate the quality and intelleotual level olf the people concerned, we gi,ve the total number of university graduates in iboth opposing groups of 'SlQIV,aks as it Q<!mtrs in the greatest Czechoslovak refugee camp in Ludwigsiburg (•J age:rihofkaser n) : Among 200 SlovaJks in .t he camp, there ,are 14 university graduates, out of which 1 (one) is nationalist-se paratist, while the other thirteen are democrats standing for the unity of Czechoslovakia. The average age of the members belonging to the democratic group is albout 33, in the separatists group it maJkes only 22 years. 40 SLOVAKIA The number of democratic Slovruks in exile increases raipidly since Febraury 1948 and amounts to aJbout 30 or 40% in aH the camps. This is caused by the fact that, until recently, the Communists refrained from wholesale persecution of the democrats in Slovia!kia 1beoause of the relative werukness of the COIIIlmunists in this part of the Republic. The political representation and importance of the Slovaks in exile politics outside Germany is so strong and great as never before. One of the candidates for chairmanship of the Czechoslovak National Council in the UISA is a SlovaJk, Mr. Osusky, Professor at Colgate University, USA, and fomner Ambassador oif Ozechoslovaikia to France. In the United Nations, it is a Slova!k, Mr. Papanek, who defends the cause of the Czechoslovak people there. He is assisted 1b y the former ambassador to US Government, Mr. Slavik, who is also a Slovalk. The strong Democratic Party (the majority ,p arty which polled 62 % of all votes recorded in the ,l ast free elections in SlolV'~kia in 1946) stands for a united but decentralized CzechoslovaJkia and its democracy (except for 2 dissidents: Dr. Bohm and Mr. Blasko, MPs) . It is to be emphasized that the underlying idea of nationalist and separatist movement has been a democratic one. It was represented by HSLIS ( The Hlinka SlOIV~ People's Party) which was lbanned after the defeat of Germany in 194!5, because of its wholehearted collaboration with nacism during the war. This party has /been in the full sense oif the word the pioneer, the spearhead and an exclusiive representative of fascism already long before 1938. Since 1921 and 1933, respectively, the movement sympathized quite openly and unambiguously with Mussolini and Hitler; it was already so at the time when, thanks to the maigic personal i.nifl:uence of president Masaryik, there were no pro-fascist tendencies in Czechoslovak political life. The nationalist and separatist press, from ~o,re or after Munich, sup.plies a mass of evidence slllpporting fully the foregoing sba.tements. This concerns the Party's official organ "Slovak" and "The Slovak Truth," just as well as the mo,re radical papers "Gardista" and especially "Nastup," the organ of Sidor extremists, edited then ,b y Dr. Durcansky. The ,Slovak nationalist and separatist movement has SLOVAKIA 41 done its best to bring a,bout a situation suitaible for the destruction of CzechoslovaJkia and suppression of democracy. The so-called SlovaJk State, the full acceptance of its ideology and recognition of its leaders by Hitler was only a logical consequence. Tille present -leaders of Slovak separatists in exile are all mem1bevs of the HSI.JS and belong to the second or third garniturc (except Sidor and Durcanslky who belong to the first), which is the most radical and fanatical. 'I1hey are mostly young people belonging to the generation which has grown up at the time of Hitler expansion and had no opportunity to assimilate the democratic spirit, which in any case was too young in Slovakia. It is necessary to emiphasize that the Slovaks entered history as a nation only in 1918; this single fact explains almost everything aJbout the nature and quality of Slo,valk nationalism and separatism. In genera,!, the problem of Slovruk nationalism is a problem of democracy. In many a respect it resemJbles the problem of German nationalism and democracy. There is not question of refusing the recognition of the Slovaiks as a nation, with its equal rights; there is no difference between the nationalists and democrats in this point. The conflict is idoologica,l, moral, and cultural. Essentially it is a conflict between fascism and democracy. The Slo,vaks-Democrats are standing automatically for OOR, because they see in it a guarantee of democracy also for Slovakia. They are without any nationalist prejudice. and the question of CzechSlovak relations is for them lbut a question of governmental and administrative technique. 'Dhe motives ,b ehind the Slova!k separatism is political immaturity, nationalist passions, anti-Czech, anti-Hungavian, anti-Jewish hatred, lacking all objective foundations. 'I1he Sloviruk separatism is !basically an rubsence of ,correct political thiniking, lack of education, democratic tradition, humanitarian feeling, and a want of culture in general. It is based on psychic complexes and it is a kind of primitivism. The Western democracies may not make any compromise with it if they do not wish to weaken the democracy of Slovakia and if their aim is the reconstruction of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. The only political goal of Slov8Jk nationalism is a re-establish- 42 SLOVAKIA ment of an independent -Slo1Va:k State with the same underlying ideology as that which prevailed under Tiso. Any compromise in 1Jhls respect would mean an irrevocaJble step backward and a retreat a,way from democracy. Their attitude toward federation plans, in which they see a good Oipportunity, is motivated by naked political opportunism. They are inc3!pa!ble of any federation because of their deep nationalist prejudice and complex. Their aim is the destruction of OSR, the seizure of power which would be otherwise impossible, because of the fascist past of all leaders oif nationalist separatism. The criticism of the foregoing passage .should not be interpretd as prejudice. H is not al,w ays easy for Western olbservers to understand fully the d.ifif.ioult position of democratic ideas in the countries where, in albsence of a strong tradition, they are e~sed to the inroads not only of communism, but also of another ikind of political primitivism ( nationalism, church confessionalism). The present criticism is based on the results of a thorough analysis of the so-called "Slovak Problem." It is only because of the lack of space that the fads are accumulated without adequate basis of objective evidence. May we stress, too, that the authors of the most critical parts and passages on the Slovaik nationalism contained in the present memo,r,andum are Slovaks and Catholics as well. The significance of Dr. Benes: A negative attitude towards the personality of Benes is held by two political groups only : Prchala and Slovak nationalists. The attitude of a small minority of Conserwatives, Catholics and some other Right Wing Politicians is also more or less revered. The democrats in general are rather united in their relations to Benes. The doubts aibout his policies, which arose in exile following immediately the communist overthrow of the democracy regimes, hawe disappeared, so that after his refusal to add his signature to the · new communist-'Siponsored Constitution, which was later follO!Wed 'by his resignation, Benes slowly became the symbol of democratic struggle against the Communism. Before his death, he was virtually expected to resume his leadership of the third resistance struggle for a new, free, and d ~ cratic Czechoslovakia in exile. SLOVAKIA 43 iHis death was mourned ,b y all quarters. The devotion to his idea.ls grew more intense everywhere, partly as a result of pressure of demagogic and rough propaganda by the two groups mentioned a'bove. In general, it can be said that Czechoslovak democratic exile block follows the path of Masarytk's tradition of Human democracy, which is in no way o.pposed to Benes's policies, even if they are criticized in some very important aspects, such as national state, .regulated democracy, the prdl>lem of national minorities in OSR, and especially the practical politics since the liberation (194'5). Benes remains an authority for all the democrats at home and in exile as a theoretician of democracy; for the majority of emigrants he represents the symbol of national independence. His prestige has been growing continuously since his resignation, and his departure is being felt every.where as irreplaceable. It is recognized almost generally that Benes acted under the pressure and responsibility which was historic and which eliminates any attempt at an objective judgement in the present moment. Political aspirations of democratic exile block: CzechoslovaJk democratic political groups in exile regret the state of non-existence of a recognized representiati,ve body; the general disappointment, too, is 'being felt in respect of the undiscriminating, apolitical, refugee status accorded to Czechoslovak political exiles. Czechoslovak political e::iciles feel they are no emigrants and they are inclined to accept the emigration possi!bilities given only insofar as they offer the basis for political activities in the broadest possible extent, directed to the ultimat.e goal of all exiles to the re-establishment of a free and democratic Czechosloivaikia. This "Refugee Status" is disliiked most of all by the Czechoslovak democratic exiles which consider themse1ves as true allies of the West and as the real representatives of an allied Nation which is democratically so qualified as no other nation of Central and Eastern Europe. Ozechoslovak democratic exiles would be very happy to see the change in their status and their general position. Frankfurt-Main, in November 1948. 44 SLOVAKIA Taking into account what has happened since 1948, particularly the "special" treatment accorded the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings by our State Department, I believe it is safe to say that " In our issue of February 19 (p. 531) we wondered what sort of information the State Department has been provided with in choosing members for the Czechoslovak Council recently formed in Washington. The reserves we expressed on that occasion are confirmed by a letter sent us since then by a distinguished statesman prominent in Czechoslovakia's political life previous to the communist coup. We quote a few lines from his letter: In this new Czecho-Slovak Council there are no Slovak Catholics (the three Slovaks who are nominally Catholics never took part in the religious and cultural life of the country), and the Czech People's Party is represented by three persons of doubtful moral standing who had always been friends of Soviet domination. The rest are Marxian Socialists - who are presumably in great favor at Washington and three Czech Agrarians( who are perhaps the only Catholics in the whole assembly. Perhaps the State Department officials are right in thinking that a council, whatever may be its composition, is better than no council. From the standpoint of American political strategy no objection can be raised. But my own view of these things is a bit different. The leaders of the newly formed Council are Marxists can Bolshevism be defeated by its own ideas? They are freethinkers and opponents of any religious instruction. What Cultural ideas will they give to my unhappy people? They will have to rule in Slovakia by sheer force - could that be called democracy? Their conception of foreign policy is that of military alliances a la Benes and hatred towards all the neighbors - does that mean peace? Perhaps the greatest irony of all is that men who were bitter enemies of the Marshall Plan are now invited by the State Department to America. "Czechoslovakia is a Catholic country (Bohemia and Moravia 75 percent, Slovakia 80 percent), and yet the principal men in this Council are either Protestants or atheists. It is certainly not raising a religious issue to ask if such an arrangement is equitable. Again the question arises: whose advice, if any, is being followed by the State Department in this strange procedure?"-(AM ERICA, March 19, 1949) . the "memorandum" has proved its usefulness for the Benes Czechs, serving as a criterion or guide for "policy makers" in the United SLOVAKIA 45 States Government, particularly in regard to the question of what exiles from Czecho-Slovakia could be considered "trustworthy and reliable experts" on Czecho-Slovakian matters. In 1949, after our State Department (Acheson) invited the Benes Czechs to the U. S. A. and gave a batch of blank visas to Dr. Hubert Ripka, right-hand man of Dr. Benes, at that time in Paris, the Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings were brought to the United States at taxpayers' expense to advise our Government and its various departments and agencies on the matter of how to fight Communism and the Communists and outsmart Soviet Russia in the field of psychological warfare! The NEW YORK TIMES stated at that time (Feb. 6, 1949) that "they plan to set up what will be, in effect, a Czechoslovak Government in exile" - and previous to that date (Jan. 5, 1949), the same source reported the arrival of a "High Escaped Czech" - Arnost Heidrich - who, according to well-informed Czechs is neither of Slovak nor Czech origin, as follows: "Arnost Heidrich, Secretary General of the Czechoslovak Foreign Office and for fourteen years legal and political adviser to the late Dr. Edward Benes, has escaped from Prague and came to Washington with a detailed story of Communist activities and plans in Eastern Europe. M. Heidrich, a white-haired 59-year-old civil servant who is well known and trusted by the United States Government, was brought here by United States authorities and has made a full report of conditions in Czechoslovakia to the State Department." Apparently, Mr. Heidrich, like Dr. Eduard Benes, knew all about Communist activities and plans! After their arrival in the U. S., the Benes Czechs, (Ripka Zenkl, Taborsky, Peroutka, Ingr, Majer, Firt, Prochazka, etc.) and their Slovak hirelin&_s (Lettrich, Kocvara, Hodfa, Papanek, Franek, Slavik, Krno, Mudry-Sebik, etc.) organized the "COUNCIL OF FREE CZECHOSLOVAKIA" and set up headquarters in Washington. As "experts," they were soon employed by the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe), various universities, the VOA (USIA), CIA, Library of Congress, the Pentagon, and other agencies of U. S. Government in one capacity or another. I have said it before and I repeat it again that I am convinced that the Benes Czechs exercise great influence and practically control the so-called "Czechoslovak" unit or division of both the RFE and also the VOA (USIA) in regard to "reliability" of personnel, exile and otherwise, employed. In the light of the facts uncovered during the past nine years, why are they still tolerated in 1958? The Benes Czechs and their Slovak hirelings have been discredited by their own peoples at home, so why should we curry their favor? The Slovak League of America and the Slovak organizations affiliated with it have brought this to the attention of our Government, the Free Europe Committee, and the USIA (VOA) on several occasions, but practically nothing was done to remedy the situation. Someone, it seems, has decreed that patriotic Slovaks must be ignored and discriminated against; and this applies practhey simply are not tically to Slovak and Czech Catholics wanted; Hence, I am strongly inclined to believe that the 1948 "MEMORANDUM" of the Benes Czechs is still considered valid by some VIP in official Washington. So the "expert" advisers to de- 46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During  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 Memorandum on Political Structure and Activities of Czechoslovakia Exiles Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), March 1958 pp. 28-46 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cd6fdeb7bf9c1e701006882fa9be89ea.pdf f0212d8b7ed16139def8efddc82bb212 PDF Text Text 46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During �SLOVAKIA 47 the First World War Western Democracies actually gave it physical support so that it could achieve partially the fulfillment of its ambitions. In the words of Don Luigi Sturza: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and in affirming it in the struggles with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping."(!) Dissatisfied with only a partial fulfillment of its political ambitions, Slovak nationalism is endeavoring at the present time to attain the final goal sought by every nationalism, that is, complete national independence in its own state. Generally, under the term of nationalism fall most present political efforts that seek to alter the existing status quo which was formed in past centuries by great powers and the maintaining of which occupies their chief interests. The modern nationalistic movements seem to be governed more by sentiment than by realism in their outlook with regard to geographical, economic and strategic setups. From the standpoint of economy, they aim at breaking up time-tested, unified wholes and to form instead economically and strategically isolated inactive groups that easily succumb to one or another imperialism. The characteristic quality of these modern nationalistic movements is revolutionism. Under this term we must consider not only the violence that is perpetrated in the struggle for liberation, but above all the effort exerted to establish society upon new foundations. Such an arrangement cannot be realized in the present because its formation is always dependent upon a temporal and historical evolution. It is, however, difficult to condemn nationalistic movements from the standpoint of being guided more by sentiment than by realism. They are emotional only because they are striving to undo what we hold as sacred, accepted forms of the past; or they are realistic in that they endeavor to fulfill the modern principle of freedom and equality not only in the case of individuals, but also in the case of the organized groups that we call nations. �48 SLOVAKIA 2. Nature of Modern Nationalism Modern nationalism is very difficult to define precisely because its concept is not fixed and varies in scope and meaning. Nationalism is what the nationalists have made it; it is not a neat fixed concept, but a varying combination of beliefs and conditions. It may be in part founded on myth, but myths, like other errors, have a way of perpetuating themselves and of becoming not true but real. The fact is that myth and actuality, and truth and error, are inextricably intermixed in modern nationalism.. The only reasonable way to get at the nature of nationalism is to determine what beliefs - however true or false - and what conditions - however misinterpreted - are commonly present. The following ten are here hypothetically advanced. No claim is laid for their infallibility or finality. 1. A certain defined (often vaguely) unit of territory (whether possessed or coveted). 2. Some common cultural characteristics, such as language (or widely understood languages), customs, manners, and literature (folk tales and lore are the beginning). If an individual believes he shares these, and wishes to continue sharing them, he is usually said to be a member of the nationality. 3. Some common dominant social (as Christian) and economic (as capitalistic or recently communistic) institutions. 4. A common independent or sovereign government (type does not matter) or the desire for one. The "principle" that each nationality should be separate and independent is involved here. 5. A belief in a common history (it can be invented) and in a common origin (often mistakingly conceived to be racial in nature). 6. A love or esteem for fellow nationals (not necessarily as individuals). 7. A devotion to the entity (however little comprehended) called the nation, which embodies the common territory, culture, social and economic institutions, government, and fellow nationals, and which is at the same time (whether organism or not) more than their sum. 8. A common pride in the achievements (often military more than cultural) of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies (particularly its defeats). 9. A disregard for the hostility to other (not necessarily all) like groups, especially if these prevent or seem to threaten the separate national existence. 10. A hope that the nation will have a great and glorious future (usually in teritorial expansion) and become supreme in some way (in world power if the nation is already large) (2). Applying to the Slovaks, these ten characteristic points upon which all modern nationalisms are supposed to be based, we arrive at the conclusion that Slovak nationalism is based upon : �SLOVAKIA 49 1. a certain defined territory; 2. its own language and culture; 3. the Christian foundation of its society; 4. the "principle" that Slovaks must live in their own independent state; 5. the knowledge of its own long history; 6. a love for fellow nationals; 7. a devotion to their territory, 8. more upon a common sorrow for national tragedy than pride in national achievements; 9. a certain hostility to those who have attempted, or are attempting, to enslave the Slovak people; 10. a hope that the nation will be glorious, but definitely not an ambition to make Slovakia a decisive world power. 8. Geographical and Historical Suppositions of Slovak Nationalism The territory occupied by the Slovaks lies in the heart of Europe. Although Slovakia is a small country, it is, nevertheless, larger in area than Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, or Switzerland. Slovakia today comprises an area of 48,957 square kilometers, or 22,500 square miles, and approximates the size of Belgium and Holland combined, or the size of West Virginia in the U. S. A. Its present population is 3,800,000. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, has described the political significance of the geographical position of Slovakia in the following words: "Slovakia lies along the northern shores of the Central Danube, where the eastern slopes of the Alps touch the western slopes of the Carpathian mountains, and its territory covers the northern part of the Danubian basin. Since the dawn of European history, a route has run through the gate of the Danube, connecting the West and the East. This important route was intersected at this very point by several routes which ran from south to north and linked the coasts of the Adriatic with those of the Baltic and North Seas. From earliest times, nations seeking new homelands have flowed over these routes which intersect along the Danube. Through the portals of the Danube marched aggressive conquerors, and the soil of this land frequently served as the stage for bloody conflicts. The nation which settled in such a bustling spot experienced little peace, continually having to defend itself to keep from being swept away by the raging �50 SLOVAKIA storms. In defending its life its strength was exhausted and hence could not grow and develop as it might have in a peaceful atmosphere where the catastrophe is not always imminent . . . When, at the end of the 4th Century, the Romans had to withdraw from the Danube, and when, subsequently, the German tribes also left that territory, the Slavs flooded Central Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans" (3). Since the sixth century, therefore, the territory of Slovakia has been the homeland of the Slovaks and their forefathers. During the first two centuries the Slav (Slovanic) tribes, whose descendants are the present-day Slovaks, did not enjoy an independent life. For from the sixth to the eighth century, the entire central European sector suffered under the dominating sway of warring Avars who carried on attacks upon Western Europe. At the end of the eighth century, however, Charlemagne successfully destroyed the power of the Avar Empire. This victory enabled the tribes of the Slovanic races to begin efforts at unification and soon to establish the Greater Moravian Empire. This era then saw the definite beginning and unfolding of the history of the Slovaks, although most of the Slavs can trace from it the partial origins, if not of their political, at least of their cultural life. The brief but exceedingly rich history of the Greater Moravian Empire is a source of "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies"(4) for Slovak nationalism. Without a doubt, it would be difficult to prove that during the existence of the Greater Moravian Empire the Slovaks constituted an element independent and separate from the other Slav (Slovanic) races. They constituted a part of the Slav races who, during the migration of nations, crossed the Carpathian boundaries and settled in the valley of the Danube and Moravian rivers. Furthermore, no clearly defined boundaries of Greater Moravia existed. Nevertheless, we know that it covered a large part of the territory surrounding the Carpathian mountains. In this sector the interests of the Western Franks met with the interests of the Byzantine Empire. The empire of Great Moravia was located in the territories of present-day Slovakia and Moravia, which were inhabited at that time by �SLOVAKIA 51 the predecessors of the Slovaks, with the Czechs settling in the land of the Boii, Bohemia. The first documentary evidence of Great Moravia dates from the year 822. In that year a parliamentary gathering took place at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, which included representatives of Great Moravia. The leaders of Great Moravia had to maintain constant vigilance against the frequent attacks of the Franks who, under the guise of spreading Christianity, sought to make vassals of the Great Moravian rulers(5). For a time the inhabitants of Great Moravia were successful. But to the danger which threatened them from the part of the Franks was soon added the danger of harrassing Magyar nomads of Mongolian origin, who had then begun to make inroads into Central Europe. After many bitter and wearisome struggles they finally succumbed either in the year 906 or 908. Though short-lived, the Great Moravia's eventful life proved itself an inexhaustible source of heroic material for the poets of the budding Slovak nationalism of the 17th and 18th centuries. Faithful to the mythical tendencies of Romanticism and Pan-Slavism, Slovak authors exploited successfully Great Moravia's hidden past and thus created in the almost extinct group of Slovak people a feeling of greatness and national pride. Slovakia was made by them the cradle of all Slav (Slovanic) cultures and the Slovaks the leading Slav nation in the conversion of the other Slavs from backward paganism to the higher cultural life of Christianity. These conclusions were reached on the ground of two testimonials which, even at the present time, bear witness of Great Moravia's cultural role and political importance for the Slovanic nations. These testimonials are : a church built in 830 A.D., and the Slovanic liturgy with its Cyrillic alphabet. They represented two different tendencies that play a big role in Great Moravia's politics on account of her vital position between the German Franks and . the Byzantines, respectively between the Latin and Eastern (Greek) form of Christianity. The little church in the Slovak city of Nitra, portions of whose walls are still preserved in the foundations of the �52 SLOVAKIA Cathedral church, is a testimonal of German influence and of the Latin trend in the Great Moravian era. It was built by Pribina - one of the first known ru• lers on Slovak soil who chose Nitra as the seat of govern• ment - and blessed by Adalram, the Archbishop of Salzburg, in the year 833(6). From this fact it is evident that Pribina brought with him the Germanic influence which he absorbed under the rulers of the Frankish Empire. For Slovak nationalism, however, this church is an historical mdication of the bent of the forefathers of Slovakia to Western culture, so clearly manifested in the Latin form of Christianity. The culture-religious testimonial, linking Great Moravia with the present, is the Slovanic liturgy still faithfully followed in Orthodox churches and the Greek Catholic churches of the Eastern Rite. The alphabet of the Russians and other Slavs also has its origin in Great Moravia. Not all the rulers favored Germanic influences as freely and sympathetically as Pribina. Rather they opposed them because of their desire to preserve as great an independence as possible. This opposition led at first to internal dissensions and later manifested itself in sincere efforts to find means of christianizing the Slovak and other Slovanic tribes of Great Moravia other than that of Frankish missionaries. During the internal upheaval Mojmir replaced Pribina. The defeat and departure of Pribina signifies the removal of Frankish influence and a broader unification of all Slovak and other Slovanic tribes under one ruler. The rulers of the Franks, however, always used the matter of Christianizing the Slavs as an excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of Great Moravia. The rulers of Great Moravia were therefore left with but one choice: to seek out such means of christianizing their subjects which would enable them to restrain every occasion of the Frankish Empire to circumscribe Slovak independence and subject the people to vassalage. This was the aim of Rastislav, Mojmir's successor, when he turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael Ill - according to a preserved legend - with a request to send a bishop and teacher, who would enlighten and instruct his �SLOVAKIA 53 people in the true faith and in their own tongue"(7). Emperor Michael III must have realized the political implications of Rastislav's request, for he sent at once, in the year 863, to Great Moravia two of his most worthy and learned men - the Saints Cyril and Methodius who are honored today not only as Slovak Apostles, but also as "Apostles of the Slavs." Though Saints Cyri land Methodius were Greeks, they nevertheless understood the language of the Slovaks. They began their missionary labors by introducing a new adphabet and by translating the Bible and other religious books into the language of the people. Thus, through their efforts, was founded the Slovanic liturgy. Frankish bishops, however, saw in these innovations an opportune occasion to cause discord, for at this time divisions appeared which eventually ended in schism and divided the people into two camps, namely, the western and eastern forms of Christianity. Saints Cyril and Methodius desired to safeguard their methods of christianization in the eyes of Rome and obtained permission from the Pope to conduct the liturgy in Slovanic. But the political pressure of the Franks upon Great Moravia steadily grew stronger and stronger. It sapped the strength of the Slovak rulers and succeeded in bringing about the catastrophe of 906, i.e., the downfall of Great Moravia. The missionary labors of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the central European sphere of activity came to an end. Their pupils wended their way to the Balkans and lived among the Bulgarians and other Slovanic races, who eventually became the heirs of that cultural seed first sown in the confines of present-day Slovakia. With the downfall of Great Moravia, new states gradually began to take form in Central Europe, namely, the Czech, Polish, and Hungarian. For a thousand years this well-established portion of Great Moravia became a part of Hungarian rule. When, however, new ideas in the far distant future offer new opportunities for organizing a society, Great Moravia once again comes to life in the minds of its present generations, and becomes for the Slovaks the source of their "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its �54 SLOVAKIA tragedies"(8). The brief but very dramatic events of Great Moravia play a very important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism: they give it an historical substance for its ambitions to statehood an doffer countless historical examples of past heroism as an incentive in its present attempts to acrieve these ambitions. The link between Great Moravia and present-day Slovak nationalism is more emotional than real, for the end of Great Moravia meant the end of its cultural and political influence within the area of Central Europe which is today called Slovakia. The Slovanic race residing at that time on the territory of what is iow Slovakia, the forefathers of the Slovaks, definitely came under the sphere of influence of Latin Christianity and politically became a part of the Hungarian State. That they were not wholly absorbed by the Magyars during the many centuries of their life in the Hungarian State can be attributed only to the cosmopolitan character of the Hungarian State and to the use of Latin as the official language in governmental and educational systems. The concepts "nation" and "nationality," as we know them today, probably did not exist at all at that time, and were certainly entirely different from the concept "state." 4. New Concepts: "People" and "Nation" The origin of modern Slovak nationalism, as well as of all nationalism in Central Europe, must be determined from that period when, under the influence of the Enlightenment, great masses of hitherto enslaved peoples began to be aware of their distinctive group characteristics. Medieval, feudal society itself felt that the end was near for its outmoded social system and clamored for reform. These reforms were to better the conditions and status of the "people" so that they could ascend the European political stage as new and revolutionary actors. As decisive political actors, these "people" first appeared in the American Revolution, where they laid the foundations of American democracy as opposed to European aristocracy and its autocratic form of government. A further and more radically revolutionary appearance of these actors occurred �SLOVAKIA 55 in the French Revolution which shook the foundations not only of France but of all Europe. Thanks to the military genius of Napoleon, the battlecry of these new revolutionary "people" flooded all of Europe with his soldiers. In the political millieu of the Slovaks, under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the revolutionary "people" obtained certain rights emanating from the drastic reforms inaugurated by the emperor of "Enlightenment," Joseph II. Although the greater portion of these reforms had to be repealed because of the opposition of the yet powerful upper class, nevertheless much agitation and reaction ensued with the result that this empire found itself embroiled in a revolutionary cauldron - the presentiment of its eventual downfall. In the language of the thinkers of the Enlightenment the concept "people" primarily denoted the social class of the poor as distinct from the class of aristocrats. It brought about revolutions of the poor against the rich, respectively of the underprivileged against the privileged. In this conflict, however, the established boundaries of the medieval states were not affected. When subsequently the German Romantic philosophers came to emphasize the importance of common history, language and culture, the cosmopolitan medieval European society started to split also along the new line of ethnographical groups, called nations. The result of it was that the long time established boundaries of the European states started to crack under the constant efforts of the ethnographical groups to emancipate themselves from the subjection of the other ethnographic groups that might have been predominating in their original states. In the case of "people" there was much more concern over the freedom of the individual, whereas in the case of "nation" the struggle for the freedom of the groups, called nations, is uppermost. In those places where language boundaries were consonant with the boundaries of the state, the concept "nation"(9), based upon a kinship of language, produced a greater national unity. Such was the situation in France and Germany. A homogeneous language produced among the Germans a strong feeling of fellowship and led to the unification of the Germans into a solid German state �56 SLOVAKIA under the leadership of Prussia. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however, the language question became the root of great discord and shook the foundations of this mighty territory. The many nationalities under its sway, after asserting their individuality, began to demand their own rights and, abetted by Western Democracies, brought Austro-Hungary to complete dissolution. This period of increasing European ferment brought forth also from the Slovaks their assertion for national independence from the other components of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, particularly from the Magyars. As the other nations under Austro-Hungarian domination, so too the Slovaks codified their national language and began to search for historical, ideological, and cultural evidence that would express their national individuality. At first this national reawakening bore the markings of Pan-Slavism, whereby the Slovaks sought to establish Slovakia as the cradle of all the Slovanic nations. Memories of Great Moravia played an important role in this regard, for in the minds of Pan-Slavism this empire was the first political manifestation of Slovaks as well as the other Slavs. PanSlavism was supported more by Slovak Lutherans rather than Catholics. The reason is that many Slovak Lutherans received their education in Germany where they had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with Hegelian philosophy, which laid a mystical foundation for the nation state on a high phi•losophical plane where God, the world-spirit, reason, nature, and history intermingled and became one. In the profound and seldom clear introductions to his Philosophy of Right and Philosophy of History he proclaimed that each people was imbued with a world force endowing it with peculiar spirit and special purpose, and that the state was the final embodiment of dialectic evolution flowing out of the historical experience and genius of a people (10). Basing himself on the philosopphical premises of Hegel, Herder came to the conclusion that the Roman and German nations had fulfilled their historical mission and that the future will belong to the Slovanic peoples. Because of their dove-like character, they will bring to the world a period of peace and gentleness. These claims were in complete opposition to historical facts, but as myths they were �SLOVAKIA 57 instrumental in g1vmg birth to a special heroic Pan-Slavistic literature. By exalting the mythological past of Slovanic nations this literature gave rise to national pride. On the other hand, the realistic politics in which the Slovaks had to engage in order to safeguard themselves from the Magyarizing efforts of the rulers of the Hungarian State, led them gradually to abandon the utopian idea of Pan-Slavism and to assert instead their distinct national individuality. From 1860 to the end of the First World War, they had to undergo a period of severe trials at the hands of the Magyars, who attempted to accomplish in a few decades what they had failed to attain in centuries, that is, the assimilation of non-Magyar nations in Hungary. It is difficult to say whether they could have succeeded in this venture, because the First World War disrupted their attempts. The Slovaks, as well as the other nations in Austro-Hunga ry, found themselves in new political circumstances, and gained more favorable opportunities to develop their distinct national traits. 5. Progress of Slovak Nationalism After the First World War The dissolution of the Austro-Hung arian Monarchy after the First World War opened up a great opportunity for the development of Slovak national sentiment. Slovakia was taken away from the Magyars. With its inclusion in the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Slovakia for the first time in history obtained defined boundaries. The importance of this historical step cannot be minimized, for Slovak nationalism began to lean upon a certain well defined territory. The separation of the Slovaks from the Magyars broke also the tie binding the former to their feudal order and opened up opportunities for the near revolutionary development of a new democratic, Slovak society within the confines of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Through the medium of schools, the Magyar attempt to assimilate the Slovaks was halted. In the Czecho-Slovak Republic the national Slovak language became the language not only of the people but also of the schools and official business. Thus, for the first time in history, opportunities arose for the formation of a distinct �58 SLOVAKIA Slovak culture, even though the centralizing efforts of the new Czecho-Slovak state, dominated by the Czechs, were opposed to such a development. Although at the present time the vast majority of the Slovaks bears an unfriendly attitude toward inclusion in any form of Czecho-Slovakia, whether it be communist or democratic, it is self-evident that such was not the case during the First World War. Then the Slovaks accepted warm-hearted ly and hopefully the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, for together with the Czechs they possessed a mutual kinship of language and culture as well as similar political ambitions. The present unfavorable attitude toward the Czechs is attributed to the failure of Czechs to fulfill their promises and agreements, that is, the failure to grant autonomy to Slovakia and the refusal to concede to the Slovaks ethnical and racial rights belonging to them as a distinct nation. Instead, the Czech majority in the Prague parliament decided to form the so-called "Czechoslovak" nation by law, i.e., by maens of the Czechoslovak constitution, whereby the Slovaks in practice were identified racially with the Czechs, and Slovakia was made completely dependent upon the central government in Prague. Such an action was looked upon in Slovakia as a secret move to assimilate the Slovaks with the Czechs, and thus to deprive the Slovaks of their national individuality. Therefore, imediately after the creation of Czecho-Slovakia following the First World War, there arose in Slovakia a powerful movement for autonomy. This movement, warring against the concept "Czechoslovak nation" and the centralism based upon it, presents a new phase in the development of Slovak nationalism in the new and more favorable conditions of the Czechoslovak Republic. Even though this movement never had a clear majority of the Slovaks, but "this," as Mr. C. A. Macartney rightly points out, "does not necessarily mean that the majority of the Slovaks were in favor of a centralized Czechoslovak Republic. The elections were not fought on the issue of Autonomy versus Centralism, and material advantages were to be gained by voting for the Czechoslovak parties, especially for the always inoffice Agrarians. In fact, apart for the small and cultured Lutheran minority, most Slovaks who voted for the democratic Czechoslovak parties were probably opportunists. Those who felt most strongly were usually Autonomists or Communists" (11. ) �SLOVAKIA 59 Little wonder, therefore, that the majority of Slovaks displayed no sorrow at Hitler's overthrow of Czecho-Slovakia and accepted joyfully the idea of establishing a separate Slovak state, even though it was widely felt that the conditions for beginning a seprate existence during the revolutionary period of 1938-1939 were not very favorable. The existence of the Slovak Republic during the Second World War may appear to outside observers as the operation of those political elements is widely known as fascism, actually, however, the short-lived existence of the Slovak Republic indicates the final phase of the development of Slovak nationalism: the achieving of its own statehood. In spite of the situations in which the Slovaks have become involved since the last war, their efforts both in the free Western World and in Slovakia are concentrated as they never were before to restore independence to their country. (1) Nationalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946; p. 16. (2) Boyd C. Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, Harcourt, Brace Company, 1954, pp. 7-8. (3) This is Slovakia: Obrana Press, Scranton, 1955; pp. 2-6. (4) Shafer: op. cit.; p. 7. (5) Dr. Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1940; p. 31. (6) Bokes: op. cit., p. 33. (7) Dr. Uudovit Zachar: Borba za narodnu slobodu, Bratislava, 1931; p. 220. (8) Shafer: op. cit.; p . 7. (9) The reader should be reminded that the author of this treatise uses always the word "nation" to indicate an ethnographic group and not a nation-state. (10) Boyd Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality; p. 25. (11) Seton Watson: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, Hutchinson Co. , 1945; pp. 176-177 . • • • WHO SAID IT? ''Consemralive Catholic politics has no place in the twentieth century, noc can it exist in the proximity of the lJlSS!R. Politics of provocation is no positive politics. Denunciation of Comm unism, often supported by the shibboleth "For God and Country," can no longer be accepted even in view of the dem()ICratic evolution Olf the Slovak nation." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, DNESEK, 11-20-47). � 46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During �SLOVAKIA 47 the First World War Western Democracies actually gave it physical support so that it could achieve partially the fulfillment of its ambitions. In the words of Don Luigi Sturza: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and in affirming it in the struggles with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping."(!) Dissatisfied with only a partial fulfillment of its political ambitions, Slovak nationalism is endeavoring at the present time to attain the final goal sought by every nationalism, that is, complete national independence in its own state. Generally, under the term of nationalism fall most present political efforts that seek to alter the existing status quo which was formed in past centuries by great powers and the maintaining of which occupies their chief interests. The modern nationalistic movements seem to be governed more by sentiment than by realism in their outlook with regard to geographical, economic and strategic setups. From the standpoint of economy, they aim at breaking up time-tested, unified wholes and to form instead economically and strategically isolated inactive groups that easily succumb to one or another imperialism. The characteristic quality of these modern nationalistic movements is revolutionism. Under this term we must consider not only the violence that is perpetrated in the struggle for liberation, but above all the effort exerted to establish society upon new foundations. Such an arrangement cannot be realized in the present because its formation is always dependent upon a temporal and historical evolution. It is, however, difficult to condemn nationalistic movements from the standpoint of being guided more by sentiment than by realism. They are emotional only because they are striving to undo what we hold as sacred, accepted forms of the past; or they are realistic in that they endeavor to fulfill the modern principle of freedom and equality not only in the case of individuals, but also in the case of the organized groups that we call nations. �48 SLOVAKIA 2. Nature of Modern Nationalism Modern nationalism is very difficult to define precisely because its concept is not fixed and varies in scope and meaning. Nationalism is what the nationalists have made it; it is not a neat fixed concept, but a varying combination of beliefs and conditions. It may be in part founded on myth, but myths, like other errors, have a way of perpetuating themselves and of becoming not true but real. The fact is that myth and actuality, and truth and error, are inextricably intermixed in modern nationalism.. The only reasonable way to get at the nature of nationalism is to determine what beliefs - however true or false - and what conditions - however misinterpreted - are commonly present. The following ten are here hypothetically advanced. No claim is laid for their infallibility or finality. 1. A certain defined (often vaguely) unit of territory (whether possessed or coveted). 2. Some common cultural characteristics, such as language (or widely understood languages), customs, manners, and literature (folk tales and lore are the beginning). If an individual believes he shares these, and wishes to continue sharing them, he is usually said to be a member of the nationality. 3. Some common dominant social (as Christian) and economic (as capitalistic or recently communistic) institutions. 4. A common independent or sovereign government (type does not matter) or the desire for one. The "principle" that each nationality should be separate and independent is involved here. 5. A belief in a common history (it can be invented) and in a common origin (often mistakingly conceived to be racial in nature). 6. A love or esteem for fellow nationals (not necessarily as individuals). 7. A devotion to the entity (however little comprehended) called the nation, which embodies the common territory, culture, social and economic institutions, government, and fellow nationals, and which is at the same time (whether organism or not) more than their sum. 8. A common pride in the achievements (often military more than cultural) of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies (particularly its defeats). 9. A disregard for the hostility to other (not necessarily all) like groups, especially if these prevent or seem to threaten the separate national existence. 10. A hope that the nation will have a great and glorious future (usually in teritorial expansion) and become supreme in some way (in world power if the nation is already large) (2). Applying to the Slovaks, these ten characteristic points upon which all modern nationalisms are supposed to be based, we arrive at the conclusion that Slovak nationalism is based upon : �SLOVAKIA 49 1. a certain defined territory; 2. its own language and culture; 3. the Christian foundation of its society; 4. the "principle" that Slovaks must live in their own independent state; 5. the knowledge of its own long history; 6. a love for fellow nationals; 7. a devotion to their territory, 8. more upon a common sorrow for national tragedy than pride in national achievements; 9. a certain hostility to those who have attempted, or are attempting, to enslave the Slovak people; 10. a hope that the nation will be glorious, but definitely not an ambition to make Slovakia a decisive world power. 8. Geographical and Historical Suppositions of Slovak Nationalism The territory occupied by the Slovaks lies in the heart of Europe. Although Slovakia is a small country, it is, nevertheless, larger in area than Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, or Switzerland. Slovakia today comprises an area of 48,957 square kilometers, or 22,500 square miles, and approximates the size of Belgium and Holland combined, or the size of West Virginia in the U. S. A. Its present population is 3,800,000. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, has described the political significance of the geographical position of Slovakia in the following words: "Slovakia lies along the northern shores of the Central Danube, where the eastern slopes of the Alps touch the western slopes of the Carpathian mountains, and its territory covers the northern part of the Danubian basin. Since the dawn of European history, a route has run through the gate of the Danube, connecting the West and the East. This important route was intersected at this very point by several routes which ran from south to north and linked the coasts of the Adriatic with those of the Baltic and North Seas. From earliest times, nations seeking new homelands have flowed over these routes which intersect along the Danube. Through the portals of the Danube marched aggressive conquerors, and the soil of this land frequently served as the stage for bloody conflicts. The nation which settled in such a bustling spot experienced little peace, continually having to defend itself to keep from being swept away by the raging �50 SLOVAKIA storms. In defending its life its strength was exhausted and hence could not grow and develop as it might have in a peaceful atmosphere where the catastrophe is not always imminent . . . When, at the end of the 4th Century, the Romans had to withdraw from the Danube, and when, subsequently, the German tribes also left that territory, the Slavs flooded Central Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans" (3). Since the sixth century, therefore, the territory of Slovakia has been the homeland of the Slovaks and their forefathers. During the first two centuries the Slav (Slovanic) tribes, whose descendants are the present-day Slovaks, did not enjoy an independent life. For from the sixth to the eighth century, the entire central European sector suffered under the dominating sway of warring Avars who carried on attacks upon Western Europe. At the end of the eighth century, however, Charlemagne successfully destroyed the power of the Avar Empire. This victory enabled the tribes of the Slovanic races to begin efforts at unification and soon to establish the Greater Moravian Empire. This era then saw the definite beginning and unfolding of the history of the Slovaks, although most of the Slavs can trace from it the partial origins, if not of their political, at least of their cultural life. The brief but exceedingly rich history of the Greater Moravian Empire is a source of "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies"(4) for Slovak nationalism. Without a doubt, it would be difficult to prove that during the existence of the Greater Moravian Empire the Slovaks constituted an element independent and separate from the other Slav (Slovanic) races. They constituted a part of the Slav races who, during the migration of nations, crossed the Carpathian boundaries and settled in the valley of the Danube and Moravian rivers. Furthermore, no clearly defined boundaries of Greater Moravia existed. Nevertheless, we know that it covered a large part of the territory surrounding the Carpathian mountains. In this sector the interests of the Western Franks met with the interests of the Byzantine Empire. The empire of Great Moravia was located in the territories of present-day Slovakia and Moravia, which were inhabited at that time by �SLOVAKIA 51 the predecessors of the Slovaks, with the Czechs settling in the land of the Boii, Bohemia. The first documentary evidence of Great Moravia dates from the year 822. In that year a parliamentary gathering took place at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, which included representatives of Great Moravia. The leaders of Great Moravia had to maintain constant vigilance against the frequent attacks of the Franks who, under the guise of spreading Christianity, sought to make vassals of the Great Moravian rulers(5). For a time the inhabitants of Great Moravia were successful. But to the danger which threatened them from the part of the Franks was soon added the danger of harrassing Magyar nomads of Mongolian origin, who had then begun to make inroads into Central Europe. After many bitter and wearisome struggles they finally succumbed either in the year 906 or 908. Though short-lived, the Great Moravia's eventful life proved itself an inexhaustible source of heroic material for the poets of the budding Slovak nationalism of the 17th and 18th centuries. Faithful to the mythical tendencies of Romanticism and Pan-Slavism, Slovak authors exploited successfully Great Moravia's hidden past and thus created in the almost extinct group of Slovak people a feeling of greatness and national pride. Slovakia was made by them the cradle of all Slav (Slovanic) cultures and the Slovaks the leading Slav nation in the conversion of the other Slavs from backward paganism to the higher cultural life of Christianity. These conclusions were reached on the ground of two testimonials which, even at the present time, bear witness of Great Moravia's cultural role and political importance for the Slovanic nations. These testimonials are : a church built in 830 A.D., and the Slovanic liturgy with its Cyrillic alphabet. They represented two different tendencies that play a big role in Great Moravia's politics on account of her vital position between the German Franks and . the Byzantines, respectively between the Latin and Eastern (Greek) form of Christianity. The little church in the Slovak city of Nitra, portions of whose walls are still preserved in the foundations of the �52 SLOVAKIA Cathedral church, is a testimonal of German influence and of the Latin trend in the Great Moravian era. It was built by Pribina - one of the first known ru• lers on Slovak soil who chose Nitra as the seat of govern• ment - and blessed by Adalram, the Archbishop of Salzburg, in the year 833(6). From this fact it is evident that Pribina brought with him the Germanic influence which he absorbed under the rulers of the Frankish Empire. For Slovak nationalism, however, this church is an historical mdication of the bent of the forefathers of Slovakia to Western culture, so clearly manifested in the Latin form of Christianity. The culture-religious testimonial, linking Great Moravia with the present, is the Slovanic liturgy still faithfully followed in Orthodox churches and the Greek Catholic churches of the Eastern Rite. The alphabet of the Russians and other Slavs also has its origin in Great Moravia. Not all the rulers favored Germanic influences as freely and sympathetically as Pribina. Rather they opposed them because of their desire to preserve as great an independence as possible. This opposition led at first to internal dissensions and later manifested itself in sincere efforts to find means of christianizing the Slovak and other Slovanic tribes of Great Moravia other than that of Frankish missionaries. During the internal upheaval Mojmir replaced Pribina. The defeat and departure of Pribina signifies the removal of Frankish influence and a broader unification of all Slovak and other Slovanic tribes under one ruler. The rulers of the Franks, however, always used the matter of Christianizing the Slavs as an excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of Great Moravia. The rulers of Great Moravia were therefore left with but one choice: to seek out such means of christianizing their subjects which would enable them to restrain every occasion of the Frankish Empire to circumscribe Slovak independence and subject the people to vassalage. This was the aim of Rastislav, Mojmir's successor, when he turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael Ill - according to a preserved legend - with a request to send a bishop and teacher, who would enlighten and instruct his �SLOVAKIA 53 people in the true faith and in their own tongue"(7). Emperor Michael III must have realized the political implications of Rastislav's request, for he sent at once, in the year 863, to Great Moravia two of his most worthy and learned men - the Saints Cyril and Methodius who are honored today not only as Slovak Apostles, but also as "Apostles of the Slavs." Though Saints Cyri land Methodius were Greeks, they nevertheless understood the language of the Slovaks. They began their missionary labors by introducing a new adphabet and by translating the Bible and other religious books into the language of the people. Thus, through their efforts, was founded the Slovanic liturgy. Frankish bishops, however, saw in these innovations an opportune occasion to cause discord, for at this time divisions appeared which eventually ended in schism and divided the people into two camps, namely, the western and eastern forms of Christianity. Saints Cyril and Methodius desired to safeguard their methods of christianization in the eyes of Rome and obtained permission from the Pope to conduct the liturgy in Slovanic. But the political pressure of the Franks upon Great Moravia steadily grew stronger and stronger. It sapped the strength of the Slovak rulers and succeeded in bringing about the catastrophe of 906, i.e., the downfall of Great Moravia. The missionary labors of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the central European sphere of activity came to an end. Their pupils wended their way to the Balkans and lived among the Bulgarians and other Slovanic races, who eventually became the heirs of that cultural seed first sown in the confines of present-day Slovakia. With the downfall of Great Moravia, new states gradually began to take form in Central Europe, namely, the Czech, Polish, and Hungarian. For a thousand years this well-established portion of Great Moravia became a part of Hungarian rule. When, however, new ideas in the far distant future offer new opportunities for organizing a society, Great Moravia once again comes to life in the minds of its present generations, and becomes for the Slovaks the source of their "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its �54 SLOVAKIA tragedies"(8). The brief but very dramatic events of Great Moravia play a very important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism: they give it an historical substance for its ambitions to statehood an doffer countless historical examples of past heroism as an incentive in its present attempts to acrieve these ambitions. The link between Great Moravia and present-day Slovak nationalism is more emotional than real, for the end of Great Moravia meant the end of its cultural and political influence within the area of Central Europe which is today called Slovakia. The Slovanic race residing at that time on the territory of what is iow Slovakia, the forefathers of the Slovaks, definitely came under the sphere of influence of Latin Christianity and politically became a part of the Hungarian State. That they were not wholly absorbed by the Magyars during the many centuries of their life in the Hungarian State can be attributed only to the cosmopolitan character of the Hungarian State and to the use of Latin as the official language in governmental and educational systems. The concepts "nation" and "nationality," as we know them today, probably did not exist at all at that time, and were certainly entirely different from the concept "state." 4. New Concepts: "People" and "Nation" The origin of modern Slovak nationalism, as well as of all nationalism in Central Europe, must be determined from that period when, under the influence of the Enlightenment, great masses of hitherto enslaved peoples began to be aware of their distinctive group characteristics. Medieval, feudal society itself felt that the end was near for its outmoded social system and clamored for reform. These reforms were to better the conditions and status of the "people" so that they could ascend the European political stage as new and revolutionary actors. As decisive political actors, these "people" first appeared in the American Revolution, where they laid the foundations of American democracy as opposed to European aristocracy and its autocratic form of government. A further and more radically revolutionary appearance of these actors occurred �SLOVAKIA 55 in the French Revolution which shook the foundations not only of France but of all Europe. Thanks to the military genius of Napoleon, the battlecry of these new revolutionary "people" flooded all of Europe with his soldiers. In the political millieu of the Slovaks, under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the revolutionary "people" obtained certain rights emanating from the drastic reforms inaugurated by the emperor of "Enlightenment," Joseph II. Although the greater portion of these reforms had to be repealed because of the opposition of the yet powerful upper class, nevertheless much agitation and reaction ensued with the result that this empire found itself embroiled in a revolutionary cauldron - the presentiment of its eventual downfall. In the language of the thinkers of the Enlightenment the concept "people" primarily denoted the social class of the poor as distinct from the class of aristocrats. It brought about revolutions of the poor against the rich, respectively of the underprivileged against the privileged. In this conflict, however, the established boundaries of the medieval states were not affected. When subsequently the German Romantic philosophers came to emphasize the importance of common history, language and culture, the cosmopolitan medieval European society started to split also along the new line of ethnographical groups, called nations. The result of it was that the long time established boundaries of the European states started to crack under the constant efforts of the ethnographical groups to emancipate themselves from the subjection of the other ethnographic groups that might have been predominating in their original states. In the case of "people" there was much more concern over the freedom of the individual, whereas in the case of "nation" the struggle for the freedom of the groups, called nations, is uppermost. In those places where language boundaries were consonant with the boundaries of the state, the concept "nation"(9), based upon a kinship of language, produced a greater national unity. Such was the situation in France and Germany. A homogeneous language produced among the Germans a strong feeling of fellowship and led to the unification of the Germans into a solid German state �56 SLOVAKIA under the leadership of Prussia. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however, the language question became the root of great discord and shook the foundations of this mighty territory. The many nationalities under its sway, after asserting their individuality, began to demand their own rights and, abetted by Western Democracies, brought Austro-Hungary to complete dissolution. This period of increasing European ferment brought forth also from the Slovaks their assertion for national independence from the other components of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, particularly from the Magyars. As the other nations under Austro-Hungarian domination, so too the Slovaks codified their national language and began to search for historical, ideological, and cultural evidence that would express their national individuality. At first this national reawakening bore the markings of Pan-Slavism, whereby the Slovaks sought to establish Slovakia as the cradle of all the Slovanic nations. Memories of Great Moravia played an important role in this regard, for in the minds of Pan-Slavism this empire was the first political manifestation of Slovaks as well as the other Slavs. PanSlavism was supported more by Slovak Lutherans rather than Catholics. The reason is that many Slovak Lutherans received their education in Germany where they had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with Hegelian philosophy, which laid a mystical foundation for the nation state on a high phi•losophical plane where God, the world-spirit, reason, nature, and history intermingled and became one. In the profound and seldom clear introductions to his Philosophy of Right and Philosophy of History he proclaimed that each people was imbued with a world force endowing it with peculiar spirit and special purpose, and that the state was the final embodiment of dialectic evolution flowing out of the historical experience and genius of a people (10). Basing himself on the philosopphical premises of Hegel, Herder came to the conclusion that the Roman and German nations had fulfilled their historical mission and that the future will belong to the Slovanic peoples. Because of their dove-like character, they will bring to the world a period of peace and gentleness. These claims were in complete opposition to historical facts, but as myths they were �SLOVAKIA 57 instrumental in g1vmg birth to a special heroic Pan-Slavistic literature. By exalting the mythological past of Slovanic nations this literature gave rise to national pride. On the other hand, the realistic politics in which the Slovaks had to engage in order to safeguard themselves from the Magyarizing efforts of the rulers of the Hungarian State, led them gradually to abandon the utopian idea of Pan-Slavism and to assert instead their distinct national individuality. From 1860 to the end of the First World War, they had to undergo a period of severe trials at the hands of the Magyars, who attempted to accomplish in a few decades what they had failed to attain in centuries, that is, the assimilation of non-Magyar nations in Hungary. It is difficult to say whether they could have succeeded in this venture, because the First World War disrupted their attempts. The Slovaks, as well as the other nations in Austro-Hunga ry, found themselves in new political circumstances, and gained more favorable opportunities to develop their distinct national traits. 5. Progress of Slovak Nationalism After the First World War The dissolution of the Austro-Hung arian Monarchy after the First World War opened up a great opportunity for the development of Slovak national sentiment. Slovakia was taken away from the Magyars. With its inclusion in the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Slovakia for the first time in history obtained defined boundaries. The importance of this historical step cannot be minimized, for Slovak nationalism began to lean upon a certain well defined territory. The separation of the Slovaks from the Magyars broke also the tie binding the former to their feudal order and opened up opportunities for the near revolutionary development of a new democratic, Slovak society within the confines of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Through the medium of schools, the Magyar attempt to assimilate the Slovaks was halted. In the Czecho-Slovak Republic the national Slovak language became the language not only of the people but also of the schools and official business. Thus, for the first time in history, opportunities arose for the formation of a distinct �58 SLOVAKIA Slovak culture, even though the centralizing efforts of the new Czecho-Slovak state, dominated by the Czechs, were opposed to such a development. Although at the present time the vast majority of the Slovaks bears an unfriendly attitude toward inclusion in any form of Czecho-Slovakia, whether it be communist or democratic, it is self-evident that such was not the case during the First World War. Then the Slovaks accepted warm-hearted ly and hopefully the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, for together with the Czechs they possessed a mutual kinship of language and culture as well as similar political ambitions. The present unfavorable attitude toward the Czechs is attributed to the failure of Czechs to fulfill their promises and agreements, that is, the failure to grant autonomy to Slovakia and the refusal to concede to the Slovaks ethnical and racial rights belonging to them as a distinct nation. Instead, the Czech majority in the Prague parliament decided to form the so-called "Czechoslovak" nation by law, i.e., by maens of the Czechoslovak constitution, whereby the Slovaks in practice were identified racially with the Czechs, and Slovakia was made completely dependent upon the central government in Prague. Such an action was looked upon in Slovakia as a secret move to assimilate the Slovaks with the Czechs, and thus to deprive the Slovaks of their national individuality. Therefore, imediately after the creation of Czecho-Slovakia following the First World War, there arose in Slovakia a powerful movement for autonomy. This movement, warring against the concept "Czechoslovak nation" and the centralism based upon it, presents a new phase in the development of Slovak nationalism in the new and more favorable conditions of the Czechoslovak Republic. Even though this movement never had a clear majority of the Slovaks, but "this," as Mr. C. A. Macartney rightly points out, "does not necessarily mean that the majority of the Slovaks were in favor of a centralized Czechoslovak Republic. The elections were not fought on the issue of Autonomy versus Centralism, and material advantages were to be gained by voting for the Czechoslovak parties, especially for the always inoffice Agrarians. In fact, apart for the small and cultured Lutheran minority, most Slovaks who voted for the democratic Czechoslovak parties were probably opportunists. Those who felt most strongly were usually Autonomists or Communists" (11. ) �SLOVAKIA 59 Little wonder, therefore, that the majority of Slovaks displayed no sorrow at Hitler's overthrow of Czecho-Slovakia and accepted joyfully the idea of establishing a separate Slovak state, even though it was widely felt that the conditions for beginning a seprate existence during the revolutionary period of 1938-1939 were not very favorable. The existence of the Slovak Republic during the Second World War may appear to outside observers as the operation of those political elements is widely known as fascism, actually, however, the short-lived existence of the Slovak Republic indicates the final phase of the development of Slovak nationalism: the achieving of its own statehood. In spite of the situations in which the Slovaks have become involved since the last war, their efforts both in the free Western World and in Slovakia are concentrated as they never were before to restore independence to their country. (1) Nationalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946; p. 16. (2) Boyd C. Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, Harcourt, Brace Company, 1954, pp. 7-8. (3) This is Slovakia: Obrana Press, Scranton, 1955; pp. 2-6. (4) Shafer: op. cit.; p. 7. (5) Dr. Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1940; p. 31. (6) Bokes: op. cit., p. 33. (7) Dr. Uudovit Zachar: Borba za narodnu slobodu, Bratislava, 1931; p. 220. (8) Shafer: op. cit.; p . 7. (9) The reader should be reminded that the author of this treatise uses always the word "nation" to indicate an ethnographic group and not a nation-state. (10) Boyd Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality; p. 25. (11) Seton Watson: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, Hutchinson Co. , 1945; pp. 176-177 . • • • WHO SAID IT? ''Consemralive Catholic politics has no place in the twentieth century, noc can it exist in the proximity of the lJlSS!R. Politics of provocation is no positive politics. Denunciation of Comm unism, often supported by the shibboleth "For God and Country," can no longer be accepted even in view of the dem()ICratic evolution Olf the Slovak nation." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, DNESEK, 11-20-47). � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 46 SLOVAKIA partment heads of U. S. Government on all Slovak and Czech matters still remain at their posts at our expense on the strength of a memorandum prepared by the Benes Czechs a memorandum whose language reveals that its authors just as well might have been the Czech Reds, or their "comrades" in Moscow! • • • SLOVAK NATIONALISM: THE ORIGINS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM B. S. Bue, Ph.D. 1. Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo" To speak of the Slovaks is to touch upon a problem which at the present time has assumed vital and worldwide proportions, namely, the problem of nationalism. Nationalism is one of the most discussed issues in the modern political world. The reason lies in the more extensive definition by which nationalism refers not only to the lofty devotion of citizens towards their native country, also known as patriotism, but especially to a revolutionary movement of our modern society. Thus, nationalism is giving rise to dangerous political tensions in various sectors of the globe and threatening to disintegrate the political status quo of many long established nations. There is need, therefore, of a thorough understanding of all its components, motives, and objectives. Slovak nationalism involves a lofty devotion to a native land, but as yet has not developed serious revolutionary characteristics. It has not, therefore, attracted significant attention from the international community. Nevertheless, it has grown from almost complete oblivion t o such proportions that it must be taken into consideration as one of the most important forces shaping the future destiny of Central Europe. From the beginning of its existence Slovak nationalism was nurtured by ideas which followed the revolutionary changes of medieval, feudal society and laid the foundation for the birth of new political systems which we call "Western Democracy." But Slovak nationalism is Western not because of its ideological relationship alone. During SLOVAKIA 47 the First World War Western Democracies actually gave it physical support so that it could achieve partially the fulfillment of its ambitions. In the words of Don Luigi Sturza: "Once a country or a people has succeeded in developing a consciousness of its own personality and in affirming it in the struggles with which history has confronted it, there is no stopping."(!) Dissatisfied with only a partial fulfillment of its political ambitions, Slovak nationalism is endeavoring at the present time to attain the final goal sought by every nationalism, that is, complete national independence in its own state. Generally, under the term of nationalism fall most present political efforts that seek to alter the existing status quo which was formed in past centuries by great powers and the maintaining of which occupies their chief interests. The modern nationalistic movements seem to be governed more by sentiment than by realism in their outlook with regard to geographical, economic and strategic setups. From the standpoint of economy, they aim at breaking up time-tested, unified wholes and to form instead economically and strategically isolated inactive groups that easily succumb to one or another imperialism. The characteristic quality of these modern nationalistic movements is revolutionism. Under this term we must consider not only the violence that is perpetrated in the struggle for liberation, but above all the effort exerted to establish society upon new foundations. Such an arrangement cannot be realized in the present because its formation is always dependent upon a temporal and historical evolution. It is, however, difficult to condemn nationalistic movements from the standpoint of being guided more by sentiment than by realism. They are emotional only because they are striving to undo what we hold as sacred, accepted forms of the past; or they are realistic in that they endeavor to fulfill the modern principle of freedom and equality not only in the case of individuals, but also in the case of the organized groups that we call nations. 48 SLOVAKIA 2. Nature of Modern Nationalism Modern nationalism is very difficult to define precisely because its concept is not fixed and varies in scope and meaning. Nationalism is what the nationalists have made it; it is not a neat fixed concept, but a varying combination of beliefs and conditions. It may be in part founded on myth, but myths, like other errors, have a way of perpetuating themselves and of becoming not true but real. The fact is that myth and actuality, and truth and error, are inextricably intermixed in modern nationalism.. The only reasonable way to get at the nature of nationalism is to determine what beliefs - however true or false - and what conditions - however misinterpreted - are commonly present. The following ten are here hypothetically advanced. No claim is laid for their infallibility or finality. 1. A certain defined (often vaguely) unit of territory (whether possessed or coveted). 2. Some common cultural characteristics, such as language (or widely understood languages), customs, manners, and literature (folk tales and lore are the beginning). If an individual believes he shares these, and wishes to continue sharing them, he is usually said to be a member of the nationality. 3. Some common dominant social (as Christian) and economic (as capitalistic or recently communistic) institutions. 4. A common independent or sovereign government (type does not matter) or the desire for one. The "principle" that each nationality should be separate and independent is involved here. 5. A belief in a common history (it can be invented) and in a common origin (often mistakingly conceived to be racial in nature). 6. A love or esteem for fellow nationals (not necessarily as individuals). 7. A devotion to the entity (however little comprehended) called the nation, which embodies the common territory, culture, social and economic institutions, government, and fellow nationals, and which is at the same time (whether organism or not) more than their sum. 8. A common pride in the achievements (often military more than cultural) of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies (particularly its defeats). 9. A disregard for the hostility to other (not necessarily all) like groups, especially if these prevent or seem to threaten the separate national existence. 10. A hope that the nation will have a great and glorious future (usually in teritorial expansion) and become supreme in some way (in world power if the nation is already large) (2). Applying to the Slovaks, these ten characteristic points upon which all modern nationalisms are supposed to be based, we arrive at the conclusion that Slovak nationalism is based upon : SLOVAKIA 49 1. a certain defined territory; 2. its own language and culture; 3. the Christian foundation of its society; 4. the "principle" that Slovaks must live in their own independent state; 5. the knowledge of its own long history; 6. a love for fellow nationals; 7. a devotion to their territory, 8. more upon a common sorrow for national tragedy than pride in national achievements; 9. a certain hostility to those who have attempted, or are attempting, to enslave the Slovak people; 10. a hope that the nation will be glorious, but definitely not an ambition to make Slovakia a decisive world power. 8. Geographical and Historical Suppositions of Slovak Nationalism The territory occupied by the Slovaks lies in the heart of Europe. Although Slovakia is a small country, it is, nevertheless, larger in area than Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Holland, or Switzerland. Slovakia today comprises an area of 48,957 square kilometers, or 22,500 square miles, and approximates the size of Belgium and Holland combined, or the size of West Virginia in the U. S. A. Its present population is 3,800,000. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slovak historian, has described the political significance of the geographical position of Slovakia in the following words: "Slovakia lies along the northern shores of the Central Danube, where the eastern slopes of the Alps touch the western slopes of the Carpathian mountains, and its territory covers the northern part of the Danubian basin. Since the dawn of European history, a route has run through the gate of the Danube, connecting the West and the East. This important route was intersected at this very point by several routes which ran from south to north and linked the coasts of the Adriatic with those of the Baltic and North Seas. From earliest times, nations seeking new homelands have flowed over these routes which intersect along the Danube. Through the portals of the Danube marched aggressive conquerors, and the soil of this land frequently served as the stage for bloody conflicts. The nation which settled in such a bustling spot experienced little peace, continually having to defend itself to keep from being swept away by the raging 50 SLOVAKIA storms. In defending its life its strength was exhausted and hence could not grow and develop as it might have in a peaceful atmosphere where the catastrophe is not always imminent . . . When, at the end of the 4th Century, the Romans had to withdraw from the Danube, and when, subsequently, the German tribes also left that territory, the Slavs flooded Central Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans" (3). Since the sixth century, therefore, the territory of Slovakia has been the homeland of the Slovaks and their forefathers. During the first two centuries the Slav (Slovanic) tribes, whose descendants are the present-day Slovaks, did not enjoy an independent life. For from the sixth to the eighth century, the entire central European sector suffered under the dominating sway of warring Avars who carried on attacks upon Western Europe. At the end of the eighth century, however, Charlemagne successfully destroyed the power of the Avar Empire. This victory enabled the tribes of the Slovanic races to begin efforts at unification and soon to establish the Greater Moravian Empire. This era then saw the definite beginning and unfolding of the history of the Slovaks, although most of the Slavs can trace from it the partial origins, if not of their political, at least of their cultural life. The brief but exceedingly rich history of the Greater Moravian Empire is a source of "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its tragedies"(4) for Slovak nationalism. Without a doubt, it would be difficult to prove that during the existence of the Greater Moravian Empire the Slovaks constituted an element independent and separate from the other Slav (Slovanic) races. They constituted a part of the Slav races who, during the migration of nations, crossed the Carpathian boundaries and settled in the valley of the Danube and Moravian rivers. Furthermore, no clearly defined boundaries of Greater Moravia existed. Nevertheless, we know that it covered a large part of the territory surrounding the Carpathian mountains. In this sector the interests of the Western Franks met with the interests of the Byzantine Empire. The empire of Great Moravia was located in the territories of present-day Slovakia and Moravia, which were inhabited at that time by SLOVAKIA 51 the predecessors of the Slovaks, with the Czechs settling in the land of the Boii, Bohemia. The first documentary evidence of Great Moravia dates from the year 822. In that year a parliamentary gathering took place at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, which included representatives of Great Moravia. The leaders of Great Moravia had to maintain constant vigilance against the frequent attacks of the Franks who, under the guise of spreading Christianity, sought to make vassals of the Great Moravian rulers(5). For a time the inhabitants of Great Moravia were successful. But to the danger which threatened them from the part of the Franks was soon added the danger of harrassing Magyar nomads of Mongolian origin, who had then begun to make inroads into Central Europe. After many bitter and wearisome struggles they finally succumbed either in the year 906 or 908. Though short-lived, the Great Moravia's eventful life proved itself an inexhaustible source of heroic material for the poets of the budding Slovak nationalism of the 17th and 18th centuries. Faithful to the mythical tendencies of Romanticism and Pan-Slavism, Slovak authors exploited successfully Great Moravia's hidden past and thus created in the almost extinct group of Slovak people a feeling of greatness and national pride. Slovakia was made by them the cradle of all Slav (Slovanic) cultures and the Slovaks the leading Slav nation in the conversion of the other Slavs from backward paganism to the higher cultural life of Christianity. These conclusions were reached on the ground of two testimonials which, even at the present time, bear witness of Great Moravia's cultural role and political importance for the Slovanic nations. These testimonials are : a church built in 830 A.D., and the Slovanic liturgy with its Cyrillic alphabet. They represented two different tendencies that play a big role in Great Moravia's politics on account of her vital position between the German Franks and . the Byzantines, respectively between the Latin and Eastern (Greek) form of Christianity. The little church in the Slovak city of Nitra, portions of whose walls are still preserved in the foundations of the 52 SLOVAKIA Cathedral church, is a testimonal of German influence and of the Latin trend in the Great Moravian era. It was built by Pribina - one of the first known ru• lers on Slovak soil who chose Nitra as the seat of govern• ment - and blessed by Adalram, the Archbishop of Salzburg, in the year 833(6). From this fact it is evident that Pribina brought with him the Germanic influence which he absorbed under the rulers of the Frankish Empire. For Slovak nationalism, however, this church is an historical mdication of the bent of the forefathers of Slovakia to Western culture, so clearly manifested in the Latin form of Christianity. The culture-religious testimonial, linking Great Moravia with the present, is the Slovanic liturgy still faithfully followed in Orthodox churches and the Greek Catholic churches of the Eastern Rite. The alphabet of the Russians and other Slavs also has its origin in Great Moravia. Not all the rulers favored Germanic influences as freely and sympathetically as Pribina. Rather they opposed them because of their desire to preserve as great an independence as possible. This opposition led at first to internal dissensions and later manifested itself in sincere efforts to find means of christianizing the Slovak and other Slovanic tribes of Great Moravia other than that of Frankish missionaries. During the internal upheaval Mojmir replaced Pribina. The defeat and departure of Pribina signifies the removal of Frankish influence and a broader unification of all Slovak and other Slovanic tribes under one ruler. The rulers of the Franks, however, always used the matter of Christianizing the Slavs as an excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of Great Moravia. The rulers of Great Moravia were therefore left with but one choice: to seek out such means of christianizing their subjects which would enable them to restrain every occasion of the Frankish Empire to circumscribe Slovak independence and subject the people to vassalage. This was the aim of Rastislav, Mojmir's successor, when he turned to the Byzantine Emperor Michael Ill - according to a preserved legend - with a request to send a bishop and teacher, who would enlighten and instruct his SLOVAKIA 53 people in the true faith and in their own tongue"(7). Emperor Michael III must have realized the political implications of Rastislav's request, for he sent at once, in the year 863, to Great Moravia two of his most worthy and learned men - the Saints Cyril and Methodius who are honored today not only as Slovak Apostles, but also as "Apostles of the Slavs." Though Saints Cyri land Methodius were Greeks, they nevertheless understood the language of the Slovaks. They began their missionary labors by introducing a new adphabet and by translating the Bible and other religious books into the language of the people. Thus, through their efforts, was founded the Slovanic liturgy. Frankish bishops, however, saw in these innovations an opportune occasion to cause discord, for at this time divisions appeared which eventually ended in schism and divided the people into two camps, namely, the western and eastern forms of Christianity. Saints Cyril and Methodius desired to safeguard their methods of christianization in the eyes of Rome and obtained permission from the Pope to conduct the liturgy in Slovanic. But the political pressure of the Franks upon Great Moravia steadily grew stronger and stronger. It sapped the strength of the Slovak rulers and succeeded in bringing about the catastrophe of 906, i.e., the downfall of Great Moravia. The missionary labors of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the central European sphere of activity came to an end. Their pupils wended their way to the Balkans and lived among the Bulgarians and other Slovanic races, who eventually became the heirs of that cultural seed first sown in the confines of present-day Slovakia. With the downfall of Great Moravia, new states gradually began to take form in Central Europe, namely, the Czech, Polish, and Hungarian. For a thousand years this well-established portion of Great Moravia became a part of Hungarian rule. When, however, new ideas in the far distant future offer new opportunities for organizing a society, Great Moravia once again comes to life in the minds of its present generations, and becomes for the Slovaks the source of their "common pride in the achievements of this nation and a common sorrow in its 54 SLOVAKIA tragedies"(8). The brief but very dramatic events of Great Moravia play a very important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism: they give it an historical substance for its ambitions to statehood an doffer countless historical examples of past heroism as an incentive in its present attempts to acrieve these ambitions. The link between Great Moravia and present-day Slovak nationalism is more emotional than real, for the end of Great Moravia meant the end of its cultural and political influence within the area of Central Europe which is today called Slovakia. The Slovanic race residing at that time on the territory of what is iow Slovakia, the forefathers of the Slovaks, definitely came under the sphere of influence of Latin Christianity and politically became a part of the Hungarian State. That they were not wholly absorbed by the Magyars during the many centuries of their life in the Hungarian State can be attributed only to the cosmopolitan character of the Hungarian State and to the use of Latin as the official language in governmental and educational systems. The concepts "nation" and "nationality," as we know them today, probably did not exist at all at that time, and were certainly entirely different from the concept "state." 4. New Concepts: "People" and "Nation" The origin of modern Slovak nationalism, as well as of all nationalism in Central Europe, must be determined from that period when, under the influence of the Enlightenment, great masses of hitherto enslaved peoples began to be aware of their distinctive group characteristics. Medieval, feudal society itself felt that the end was near for its outmoded social system and clamored for reform. These reforms were to better the conditions and status of the "people" so that they could ascend the European political stage as new and revolutionary actors. As decisive political actors, these "people" first appeared in the American Revolution, where they laid the foundations of American democracy as opposed to European aristocracy and its autocratic form of government. A further and more radically revolutionary appearance of these actors occurred SLOVAKIA 55 in the French Revolution which shook the foundations not only of France but of all Europe. Thanks to the military genius of Napoleon, the battlecry of these new revolutionary "people" flooded all of Europe with his soldiers. In the political millieu of the Slovaks, under the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the revolutionary "people" obtained certain rights emanating from the drastic reforms inaugurated by the emperor of "Enlightenment," Joseph II. Although the greater portion of these reforms had to be repealed because of the opposition of the yet powerful upper class, nevertheless much agitation and reaction ensued with the result that this empire found itself embroiled in a revolutionary cauldron - the presentiment of its eventual downfall. In the language of the thinkers of the Enlightenment the concept "people" primarily denoted the social class of the poor as distinct from the class of aristocrats. It brought about revolutions of the poor against the rich, respectively of the underprivileged against the privileged. In this conflict, however, the established boundaries of the medieval states were not affected. When subsequently the German Romantic philosophers came to emphasize the importance of common history, language and culture, the cosmopolitan medieval European society started to split also along the new line of ethnographical groups, called nations. The result of it was that the long time established boundaries of the European states started to crack under the constant efforts of the ethnographical groups to emancipate themselves from the subjection of the other ethnographic groups that might have been predominating in their original states. In the case of "people" there was much more concern over the freedom of the individual, whereas in the case of "nation" the struggle for the freedom of the groups, called nations, is uppermost. In those places where language boundaries were consonant with the boundaries of the state, the concept "nation"(9), based upon a kinship of language, produced a greater national unity. Such was the situation in France and Germany. A homogeneous language produced among the Germans a strong feeling of fellowship and led to the unification of the Germans into a solid German state 56 SLOVAKIA under the leadership of Prussia. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, however, the language question became the root of great discord and shook the foundations of this mighty territory. The many nationalities under its sway, after asserting their individuality, began to demand their own rights and, abetted by Western Democracies, brought Austro-Hungary to complete dissolution. This period of increasing European ferment brought forth also from the Slovaks their assertion for national independence from the other components of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, particularly from the Magyars. As the other nations under Austro-Hungarian domination, so too the Slovaks codified their national language and began to search for historical, ideological, and cultural evidence that would express their national individuality. At first this national reawakening bore the markings of Pan-Slavism, whereby the Slovaks sought to establish Slovakia as the cradle of all the Slovanic nations. Memories of Great Moravia played an important role in this regard, for in the minds of Pan-Slavism this empire was the first political manifestation of Slovaks as well as the other Slavs. PanSlavism was supported more by Slovak Lutherans rather than Catholics. The reason is that many Slovak Lutherans received their education in Germany where they had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with Hegelian philosophy, which laid a mystical foundation for the nation state on a high phi•losophical plane where God, the world-spirit, reason, nature, and history intermingled and became one. In the profound and seldom clear introductions to his Philosophy of Right and Philosophy of History he proclaimed that each people was imbued with a world force endowing it with peculiar spirit and special purpose, and that the state was the final embodiment of dialectic evolution flowing out of the historical experience and genius of a people (10). Basing himself on the philosopphical premises of Hegel, Herder came to the conclusion that the Roman and German nations had fulfilled their historical mission and that the future will belong to the Slovanic peoples. Because of their dove-like character, they will bring to the world a period of peace and gentleness. These claims were in complete opposition to historical facts, but as myths they were SLOVAKIA 57 instrumental in g1vmg birth to a special heroic Pan-Slavistic literature. By exalting the mythological past of Slovanic nations this literature gave rise to national pride. On the other hand, the realistic politics in which the Slovaks had to engage in order to safeguard themselves from the Magyarizing efforts of the rulers of the Hungarian State, led them gradually to abandon the utopian idea of Pan-Slavism and to assert instead their distinct national individuality. From 1860 to the end of the First World War, they had to undergo a period of severe trials at the hands of the Magyars, who attempted to accomplish in a few decades what they had failed to attain in centuries, that is, the assimilation of non-Magyar nations in Hungary. It is difficult to say whether they could have succeeded in this venture, because the First World War disrupted their attempts. The Slovaks, as well as the other nations in Austro-Hunga ry, found themselves in new political circumstances, and gained more favorable opportunities to develop their distinct national traits. 5. Progress of Slovak Nationalism After the First World War The dissolution of the Austro-Hung arian Monarchy after the First World War opened up a great opportunity for the development of Slovak national sentiment. Slovakia was taken away from the Magyars. With its inclusion in the Czecho-Slovak Republic, Slovakia for the first time in history obtained defined boundaries. The importance of this historical step cannot be minimized, for Slovak nationalism began to lean upon a certain well defined territory. The separation of the Slovaks from the Magyars broke also the tie binding the former to their feudal order and opened up opportunities for the near revolutionary development of a new democratic, Slovak society within the confines of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Through the medium of schools, the Magyar attempt to assimilate the Slovaks was halted. In the Czecho-Slovak Republic the national Slovak language became the language not only of the people but also of the schools and official business. Thus, for the first time in history, opportunities arose for the formation of a distinct 58 SLOVAKIA Slovak culture, even though the centralizing efforts of the new Czecho-Slovak state, dominated by the Czechs, were opposed to such a development. Although at the present time the vast majority of the Slovaks bears an unfriendly attitude toward inclusion in any form of Czecho-Slovakia, whether it be communist or democratic, it is self-evident that such was not the case during the First World War. Then the Slovaks accepted warm-hearted ly and hopefully the creation of Czecho-Slovakia, for together with the Czechs they possessed a mutual kinship of language and culture as well as similar political ambitions. The present unfavorable attitude toward the Czechs is attributed to the failure of Czechs to fulfill their promises and agreements, that is, the failure to grant autonomy to Slovakia and the refusal to concede to the Slovaks ethnical and racial rights belonging to them as a distinct nation. Instead, the Czech majority in the Prague parliament decided to form the so-called "Czechoslovak" nation by law, i.e., by maens of the Czechoslovak constitution, whereby the Slovaks in practice were identified racially with the Czechs, and Slovakia was made completely dependent upon the central government in Prague. Such an action was looked upon in Slovakia as a secret move to assimilate the Slovaks with the Czechs, and thus to deprive the Slovaks of their national individuality. Therefore, imediately after the creation of Czecho-Slovakia following the First World War, there arose in Slovakia a powerful movement for autonomy. This movement, warring against the concept "Czechoslovak nation" and the centralism based upon it, presents a new phase in the development of Slovak nationalism in the new and more favorable conditions of the Czechoslovak Republic. Even though this movement never had a clear majority of the Slovaks, but "this," as Mr. C. A. Macartney rightly points out, "does not necessarily mean that the majority of the Slovaks were in favor of a centralized Czechoslovak Republic. The elections were not fought on the issue of Autonomy versus Centralism, and material advantages were to be gained by voting for the Czechoslovak parties, especially for the always inoffice Agrarians. In fact, apart for the small and cultured Lutheran minority, most Slovaks who voted for the democratic Czechoslovak parties were probably opportunists. Those who felt most strongly were usually Autonomists or Communists" (11. ) SLOVAKIA 59 Little wonder, therefore, that the majority of Slovaks displayed no sorrow at Hitler's overthrow of Czecho-Slovakia and accepted joyfully the idea of establishing a separate Slovak state, even though it was widely felt that the conditions for beginning a seprate existence during the revolutionary period of 1938-1939 were not very favorable. The existence of the Slovak Republic during the Second World War may appear to outside observers as the operation of those political elements is widely known as fascism, actually, however, the short-lived existence of the Slovak Republic indicates the final phase of the development of Slovak nationalism: the achieving of its own statehood. In spite of the situations in which the Slovaks have become involved since the last war, their efforts both in the free Western World and in Slovakia are concentrated as they never were before to restore independence to their country. (1) Nationalism and Internationalism, New York, 1946; p. 16. (2) Boyd C. Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality, New York, Harcourt, Brace Company, 1954, pp. 7-8. (3) This is Slovakia: Obrana Press, Scranton, 1955; pp. 2-6. (4) Shafer: op. cit.; p. 7. (5) Dr. Frantisek Bokes: Dejiny Slovenska a Slovakov, Bratislava, 1940; p. 31. (6) Bokes: op. cit., p. 33. (7) Dr. Uudovit Zachar: Borba za narodnu slobodu, Bratislava, 1931; p. 220. (8) Shafer: op. cit.; p . 7. (9) The reader should be reminded that the author of this treatise uses always the word "nation" to indicate an ethnographic group and not a nation-state. (10) Boyd Shafer: Nationalism: Myth and Reality; p. 25. (11) Seton Watson: Eastern Europe Between the Wars 1918-1941, London, Hutchinson Co. , 1945; pp. 176-177 . • • • WHO SAID IT? ''Consemralive Catholic politics has no place in the twentieth century, noc can it exist in the proximity of the lJlSS!R. Politics of provocation is no positive politics. Denunciation of Comm unism, often supported by the shibboleth "For God and Country," can no longer be accepted even in view of the dem()ICratic evolution Olf the Slovak nation." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, DNESEK, 11-20-47).  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 Slovak Nationalism: The Origins of Slovak Nationalism Description An account of the resource B. S. Buc, Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), March 1958<br />pp. 46-59<br /><ol><li>Nationalism and the Existing "Status Quo"</li> <li>Nature of Modern Nationalism</li> <li>Geographical and Historical Suppositions of Slovak Nationalism</li> <li>New Concepts: "People" and "Nation"</li> <li>Progress of Slovak Nationalism After the First World War</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Buc, B. S. (Bonaventure S.), 1910-1966 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/25c6222e686d29376116b9467f446ab3.pdf 0e3370bce8d294dca51f3e0edbd2de47 PDF Text Text 60 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) 5. The city of Nitra was a significant crossroads in those times. An important highway went northward from the city, branched off into Trencin and connected the Nitra valley with the Vah river country. This road continued northward through Prievidza to Vysehrad on the Nitra and Turiec boundaries, then downriver towards the Vah where it connected with the Vah river road. This connection enabled Nitra to keep in touch with northern Slovakia and also with Poland. 6. Another road went out from Nitra towards the Danube to Ostrihom and Budin, and from there continued along the Danube to the Balkans. Two side roads branched off from this highway to the east: one turned from the mouth of the Ipel river, winding upstream into the valley of the Hornad, and then went into the valley of the Poprad river, and downstream to the Visla river into Poland; the other led from Budin along the southern foot of the Matra Mountain and the northern bank of the Tisa river into Zemplin and through the Saris country to the north. In addition to these main highways which connected Slovakia with the neighboring countries, numerous sideroads ran through the Slovak territory which connected individual Slovak regions and extended from valley to valley. These roads also went from castle to castle and, therefore, were called "castle roads" (hradske cesty). CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA A multitude of picturesque ruins of medieval castles is one of the special attractions of Slovakia. They bear witness of the centuries during which Slovakia was a frontier bulwark of Western European civilization against the continuous encroachment of the rapacious Turks. Life in those days was full of romance and danger. The most ancient castles in Slovakia were already men- �SLOVAKIA 61 tioned in the times of the Great Moravian Empire. Foremost among these was the Devin Castle, the residential citadel of the rulers of Great Moravia, which was an important border fortress near the Danube Gate even after Slovakia was annexed by Hungary. In the historical development of Slovakia, a significant role was played by the Nitra Castle which retained its importance in the succeeding centuries because of its strategic position. Wooden forts preceeded the mighty stone edifices of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The disastrous Mongol incursion of 1241 proved the inefficacy of the wooden structures and there followed a period of intensive building of castles with stone. This building activity continued well into the seventeenth century and ended with the foundation of Leopoldov in 1665 by Emperor Leopold I, which was closely modeled after Palma Nuova in Northern Italy. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the medieval castles no longer fulfilled the demands of military technique and, as the danger of further Turkish invasions ceased, their owners abandoned them to live in more comfortable quarters. Palaces replaced citadels. A few of the old castles were refashioned and to this day remain habitable. One of the largest and most interesting of the latter is at Bojnice which has no less than 218 halls and rooms, is encircled by wide moats, and has several massive, lofty towers. Near the Danube river, marking the southern border of Slovakia during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, were the Ostrihom and Vysehrad castles which belonged to Slovakia even though situated on the right bank of the Danube. There were many fortresses along the Vah river, such as: ~intava, which guarded the passage across the Vah and which was later destroyed ; Hlohovec, which towers over the gorge that connects the Vah region with the Nitra country; and farther to the north, the castles Bana (today "Vesele' near Piesfany) , Beckov and Trencin. On the Nitra-Turiec frontier toward the extensive Vysehrad Castle which lost its importance in the 13th century, Tekov Castle was in the southern part of Slovakia, in the �62 SLOVAKIA Hron country, and Hont Castle was in the Ipel valley. The Budinec Castle was built on the northern slope of Mount Matra, and the Gerner Castle stood near the Bodrog river. In addition to these more significant castles of the 10-12th centuries, there were many other strongholds in Slovakia which provided protection and shelter for the people and their livestock in times of danger. As to the number and picturesquene ss of ruins, the Vah river compares favorably to the Rhine. The setting is possibly even more romantic and cer tainly more primitive. Many of the ruins are flanked by dense forests. There are some thirty of them, built mostly upon steep crags over looking the river. In the Middle Ages they were quite impregnable. Standing aloof from human habitations of today, their very isolation transports the visitor in spirit to bygone centuries of armored knights and robber barons, to the years when royal authority was rather difficult to enforce. The owner was truly lord over the land which his eye could survey. The mightiest and most accessible of the citadels on the Vah is at Trencin. Between the years 1301-1321 it was the residence of the famous Matthew Cak, "lord of Vah and of the Tatras, " who possessed more than thirty castles in different parts of the land. King Charles Robert of Hungary besieged him in vain. The only time the stronghold fell before an enemy was in 1528 after a month's arduous siege. The large stone cannon balls from this siege are still visible in the walls of the ruined castle. In 1663 the Turks and in 1704 Francis Rakoczy II tried to capture it, but failed. Fire reduced it to ruins in 1790. The most extensive ruins in Slovakia is Spis Hrad, situated in the Spis region. Built of white limestone, it glistens six hundred feet above the sur rounding landscape. It is huge, having no less than five large courtyards and 135 halls and rooms. The lookout tower has four stories. The walls are ten feet thick and reach an altitude of seventy feet. It is also one of the oldest castles in Slovakia, being mentioned already in the year 1120. It was abandoned in 1710 and devastated by fire in 1780. Undoubtedly the most memorable of the ruins of Slo- �SLOVAKIA 63 vakia is magnificent Devin, situated not far from Bratislava, some five miles towards Vienna. Devin is unique. It is unlike anything else to be seen in Europe. A romantic complex of ruins loom some 240 feet above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, right on the frontier between Slovakia and Austria. Here end the Carpathians, and across the Danube commence the Alps. The view from Devin is exquisitely beautiful. Regardless of season and weather it rewards the visitor with a vista which penetrates the soul. Towards sunrise you behold the majestic Danube flowing swiftly towards the Black Sea. Along its left bank are hills adorned with deciduous forests, and on the slopes, exposed to the southern sun, are vineyards, small and quiltlike, as are the fields on the more level opposite side of the stream. Also there are forests, restful to gaze upon, which ascend hills, the outposts of the Alps. During the first two centuries of our era Devin served as an outpost of the Roman Empire against the turbulent Marcomanni and Quadi, Germanic tribes living north of the Danube. It was fortified by the fourteenth legion. With the advent of the Slovaks about the sixth century, the place received its present appellation, named probably after the national godess "Deva" (girl, maiden). It became a refuge from the ruthless Uralo-Altaic Avars who held to the plains and to the swamps. As the Slovaks became united and powerful, it became one of the principal centers. It was here that King Louis the German besieged the Slovak Rastislav, ruler of the Great Moravian realm, without avail in the year 864. Right beneath the ruins lies the town of Devin, exetic and appealing, where life is placid, more like the gently flowing Morava than the more energetic Danube. Towards sunset you see the fertile plains of Austria, park-like scenery with villages and an occasional manor set in woods and fields. You see the Danube approaching, undulating, and forming many wooded islets. Across the Danube to the south you behold the Austrian town of Hainburg nestled beneath the ruins of the historic fortress of Altenburg, the Carnuntum of the Romans, headquarters of one of their legions. Finally, on the horizon to the southwest, the real Alps meet your avid gaze. Looking about upon the wonder- �64 SLOVAKIA ful panorama, you forget the woes and worries of everyday life and for the moment become a poet to whom the world is a paradise. Great Moravia, divided and embroiled, collapsed in 906 before the savage onrush of the Magyar horsemen. Devin, however, remained in the hands of the Slovaks well into the eleventh century. In 1683 it successfully withstood a siege by the Turks. The destruction of the castle was due to Napoleon who, in 1809, ordered it to be razed. Despite the fact that of the once mighty stone castle only two medieval towers and a few walls have been preserved, the ruins, nevertheless, present a majestic appearance. That which remains is stately and imposing. The site of Devin is truly immense. Its expanse is large enough for a dozen ordinary castles or fortresses. That, as well as its incomparable location, gives it majesty. The places where there were once lofty walls and wide moats can still be clearly distinguished. Devin is prehistoric as well as historic ground. Man was here long before the commencement of the Christian era. Bits of pottery from the Hallstatt period and remains of abodes from the second La Tene period have been unearthed by archeologists, who have been carrying on extensive excavations since 1923. The future is likely to further extend the past. For untold centuries it was strategically the most vital point of Central Europe. In its immediate vicinity were fought the battles which determined the fate of the heart of the continent. (To be continued) "The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - Farrar, Straus and Young, 360 pgs., $3.75. - The book tells the story of a Slovak nun who helped many Slovaks escape from their Communist-domin ated land to the west and then had to flee for her life herself, when the Reds learned about her activity. Sister Cecilia told her story to William Brinkley, assistant editor of LIFE magazine, who then wrote the book. Read this exciting book. Order your copy from SLOVAKIA. � 60 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) 5. The city of Nitra was a significant crossroads in those times. An important highway went northward from the city, branched off into Trencin and connected the Nitra valley with the Vah river country. This road continued northward through Prievidza to Vysehrad on the Nitra and Turiec boundaries, then downriver towards the Vah where it connected with the Vah river road. This connection enabled Nitra to keep in touch with northern Slovakia and also with Poland. 6. Another road went out from Nitra towards the Danube to Ostrihom and Budin, and from there continued along the Danube to the Balkans. Two side roads branched off from this highway to the east: one turned from the mouth of the Ipel river, winding upstream into the valley of the Hornad, and then went into the valley of the Poprad river, and downstream to the Visla river into Poland; the other led from Budin along the southern foot of the Matra Mountain and the northern bank of the Tisa river into Zemplin and through the Saris country to the north. In addition to these main highways which connected Slovakia with the neighboring countries, numerous sideroads ran through the Slovak territory which connected individual Slovak regions and extended from valley to valley. These roads also went from castle to castle and, therefore, were called "castle roads" (hradske cesty). CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA A multitude of picturesque ruins of medieval castles is one of the special attractions of Slovakia. They bear witness of the centuries during which Slovakia was a frontier bulwark of Western European civilization against the continuous encroachment of the rapacious Turks. Life in those days was full of romance and danger. The most ancient castles in Slovakia were already men- �SLOVAKIA 61 tioned in the times of the Great Moravian Empire. Foremost among these was the Devin Castle, the residential citadel of the rulers of Great Moravia, which was an important border fortress near the Danube Gate even after Slovakia was annexed by Hungary. In the historical development of Slovakia, a significant role was played by the Nitra Castle which retained its importance in the succeeding centuries because of its strategic position. Wooden forts preceeded the mighty stone edifices of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The disastrous Mongol incursion of 1241 proved the inefficacy of the wooden structures and there followed a period of intensive building of castles with stone. This building activity continued well into the seventeenth century and ended with the foundation of Leopoldov in 1665 by Emperor Leopold I, which was closely modeled after Palma Nuova in Northern Italy. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the medieval castles no longer fulfilled the demands of military technique and, as the danger of further Turkish invasions ceased, their owners abandoned them to live in more comfortable quarters. Palaces replaced citadels. A few of the old castles were refashioned and to this day remain habitable. One of the largest and most interesting of the latter is at Bojnice which has no less than 218 halls and rooms, is encircled by wide moats, and has several massive, lofty towers. Near the Danube river, marking the southern border of Slovakia during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, were the Ostrihom and Vysehrad castles which belonged to Slovakia even though situated on the right bank of the Danube. There were many fortresses along the Vah river, such as: ~intava, which guarded the passage across the Vah and which was later destroyed ; Hlohovec, which towers over the gorge that connects the Vah region with the Nitra country; and farther to the north, the castles Bana (today "Vesele' near Piesfany) , Beckov and Trencin. On the Nitra-Turiec frontier toward the extensive Vysehrad Castle which lost its importance in the 13th century, Tekov Castle was in the southern part of Slovakia, in the �62 SLOVAKIA Hron country, and Hont Castle was in the Ipel valley. The Budinec Castle was built on the northern slope of Mount Matra, and the Gerner Castle stood near the Bodrog river. In addition to these more significant castles of the 10-12th centuries, there were many other strongholds in Slovakia which provided protection and shelter for the people and their livestock in times of danger. As to the number and picturesquene ss of ruins, the Vah river compares favorably to the Rhine. The setting is possibly even more romantic and cer tainly more primitive. Many of the ruins are flanked by dense forests. There are some thirty of them, built mostly upon steep crags over looking the river. In the Middle Ages they were quite impregnable. Standing aloof from human habitations of today, their very isolation transports the visitor in spirit to bygone centuries of armored knights and robber barons, to the years when royal authority was rather difficult to enforce. The owner was truly lord over the land which his eye could survey. The mightiest and most accessible of the citadels on the Vah is at Trencin. Between the years 1301-1321 it was the residence of the famous Matthew Cak, "lord of Vah and of the Tatras, " who possessed more than thirty castles in different parts of the land. King Charles Robert of Hungary besieged him in vain. The only time the stronghold fell before an enemy was in 1528 after a month's arduous siege. The large stone cannon balls from this siege are still visible in the walls of the ruined castle. In 1663 the Turks and in 1704 Francis Rakoczy II tried to capture it, but failed. Fire reduced it to ruins in 1790. The most extensive ruins in Slovakia is Spis Hrad, situated in the Spis region. Built of white limestone, it glistens six hundred feet above the sur rounding landscape. It is huge, having no less than five large courtyards and 135 halls and rooms. The lookout tower has four stories. The walls are ten feet thick and reach an altitude of seventy feet. It is also one of the oldest castles in Slovakia, being mentioned already in the year 1120. It was abandoned in 1710 and devastated by fire in 1780. Undoubtedly the most memorable of the ruins of Slo- �SLOVAKIA 63 vakia is magnificent Devin, situated not far from Bratislava, some five miles towards Vienna. Devin is unique. It is unlike anything else to be seen in Europe. A romantic complex of ruins loom some 240 feet above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, right on the frontier between Slovakia and Austria. Here end the Carpathians, and across the Danube commence the Alps. The view from Devin is exquisitely beautiful. Regardless of season and weather it rewards the visitor with a vista which penetrates the soul. Towards sunrise you behold the majestic Danube flowing swiftly towards the Black Sea. Along its left bank are hills adorned with deciduous forests, and on the slopes, exposed to the southern sun, are vineyards, small and quiltlike, as are the fields on the more level opposite side of the stream. Also there are forests, restful to gaze upon, which ascend hills, the outposts of the Alps. During the first two centuries of our era Devin served as an outpost of the Roman Empire against the turbulent Marcomanni and Quadi, Germanic tribes living north of the Danube. It was fortified by the fourteenth legion. With the advent of the Slovaks about the sixth century, the place received its present appellation, named probably after the national godess "Deva" (girl, maiden). It became a refuge from the ruthless Uralo-Altaic Avars who held to the plains and to the swamps. As the Slovaks became united and powerful, it became one of the principal centers. It was here that King Louis the German besieged the Slovak Rastislav, ruler of the Great Moravian realm, without avail in the year 864. Right beneath the ruins lies the town of Devin, exetic and appealing, where life is placid, more like the gently flowing Morava than the more energetic Danube. Towards sunset you see the fertile plains of Austria, park-like scenery with villages and an occasional manor set in woods and fields. You see the Danube approaching, undulating, and forming many wooded islets. Across the Danube to the south you behold the Austrian town of Hainburg nestled beneath the ruins of the historic fortress of Altenburg, the Carnuntum of the Romans, headquarters of one of their legions. Finally, on the horizon to the southwest, the real Alps meet your avid gaze. Looking about upon the wonder- �64 SLOVAKIA ful panorama, you forget the woes and worries of everyday life and for the moment become a poet to whom the world is a paradise. Great Moravia, divided and embroiled, collapsed in 906 before the savage onrush of the Magyar horsemen. Devin, however, remained in the hands of the Slovaks well into the eleventh century. In 1683 it successfully withstood a siege by the Turks. The destruction of the castle was due to Napoleon who, in 1809, ordered it to be razed. Despite the fact that of the once mighty stone castle only two medieval towers and a few walls have been preserved, the ruins, nevertheless, present a majestic appearance. That which remains is stately and imposing. The site of Devin is truly immense. Its expanse is large enough for a dozen ordinary castles or fortresses. That, as well as its incomparable location, gives it majesty. The places where there were once lofty walls and wide moats can still be clearly distinguished. Devin is prehistoric as well as historic ground. Man was here long before the commencement of the Christian era. Bits of pottery from the Hallstatt period and remains of abodes from the second La Tene period have been unearthed by archeologists, who have been carrying on extensive excavations since 1923. The future is likely to further extend the past. For untold centuries it was strategically the most vital point of Central Europe. In its immediate vicinity were fought the battles which determined the fate of the heart of the continent. (To be continued) "The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - Farrar, Straus and Young, 360 pgs., $3.75. - The book tells the story of a Slovak nun who helped many Slovaks escape from their Communist-domin ated land to the west and then had to flee for her life herself, when the Reds learned about her activity. Sister Cecilia told her story to William Brinkley, assistant editor of LIFE magazine, who then wrote the book. Read this exciting book. Order your copy from SLOVAKIA. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 60 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) 5. The city of Nitra was a significant crossroads in those times. An important highway went northward from the city, branched off into Trencin and connected the Nitra valley with the Vah river country. This road continued northward through Prievidza to Vysehrad on the Nitra and Turiec boundaries, then downriver towards the Vah where it connected with the Vah river road. This connection enabled Nitra to keep in touch with northern Slovakia and also with Poland. 6. Another road went out from Nitra towards the Danube to Ostrihom and Budin, and from there continued along the Danube to the Balkans. Two side roads branched off from this highway to the east: one turned from the mouth of the Ipel river, winding upstream into the valley of the Hornad, and then went into the valley of the Poprad river, and downstream to the Visla river into Poland; the other led from Budin along the southern foot of the Matra Mountain and the northern bank of the Tisa river into Zemplin and through the Saris country to the north. In addition to these main highways which connected Slovakia with the neighboring countries, numerous sideroads ran through the Slovak territory which connected individual Slovak regions and extended from valley to valley. These roads also went from castle to castle and, therefore, were called "castle roads" (hradske cesty). CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA A multitude of picturesque ruins of medieval castles is one of the special attractions of Slovakia. They bear witness of the centuries during which Slovakia was a frontier bulwark of Western European civilization against the continuous encroachment of the rapacious Turks. Life in those days was full of romance and danger. The most ancient castles in Slovakia were already men- SLOVAKIA 61 tioned in the times of the Great Moravian Empire. Foremost among these was the Devin Castle, the residential citadel of the rulers of Great Moravia, which was an important border fortress near the Danube Gate even after Slovakia was annexed by Hungary. In the historical development of Slovakia, a significant role was played by the Nitra Castle which retained its importance in the succeeding centuries because of its strategic position. Wooden forts preceeded the mighty stone edifices of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The disastrous Mongol incursion of 1241 proved the inefficacy of the wooden structures and there followed a period of intensive building of castles with stone. This building activity continued well into the seventeenth century and ended with the foundation of Leopoldov in 1665 by Emperor Leopold I, which was closely modeled after Palma Nuova in Northern Italy. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the medieval castles no longer fulfilled the demands of military technique and, as the danger of further Turkish invasions ceased, their owners abandoned them to live in more comfortable quarters. Palaces replaced citadels. A few of the old castles were refashioned and to this day remain habitable. One of the largest and most interesting of the latter is at Bojnice which has no less than 218 halls and rooms, is encircled by wide moats, and has several massive, lofty towers. Near the Danube river, marking the southern border of Slovakia during the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, were the Ostrihom and Vysehrad castles which belonged to Slovakia even though situated on the right bank of the Danube. There were many fortresses along the Vah river, such as: ~intava, which guarded the passage across the Vah and which was later destroyed ; Hlohovec, which towers over the gorge that connects the Vah region with the Nitra country; and farther to the north, the castles Bana (today "Vesele' near Piesfany) , Beckov and Trencin. On the Nitra-Turiec frontier toward the extensive Vysehrad Castle which lost its importance in the 13th century, Tekov Castle was in the southern part of Slovakia, in the 62 SLOVAKIA Hron country, and Hont Castle was in the Ipel valley. The Budinec Castle was built on the northern slope of Mount Matra, and the Gerner Castle stood near the Bodrog river. In addition to these more significant castles of the 10-12th centuries, there were many other strongholds in Slovakia which provided protection and shelter for the people and their livestock in times of danger. As to the number and picturesquene ss of ruins, the Vah river compares favorably to the Rhine. The setting is possibly even more romantic and cer tainly more primitive. Many of the ruins are flanked by dense forests. There are some thirty of them, built mostly upon steep crags over looking the river. In the Middle Ages they were quite impregnable. Standing aloof from human habitations of today, their very isolation transports the visitor in spirit to bygone centuries of armored knights and robber barons, to the years when royal authority was rather difficult to enforce. The owner was truly lord over the land which his eye could survey. The mightiest and most accessible of the citadels on the Vah is at Trencin. Between the years 1301-1321 it was the residence of the famous Matthew Cak, "lord of Vah and of the Tatras, " who possessed more than thirty castles in different parts of the land. King Charles Robert of Hungary besieged him in vain. The only time the stronghold fell before an enemy was in 1528 after a month's arduous siege. The large stone cannon balls from this siege are still visible in the walls of the ruined castle. In 1663 the Turks and in 1704 Francis Rakoczy II tried to capture it, but failed. Fire reduced it to ruins in 1790. The most extensive ruins in Slovakia is Spis Hrad, situated in the Spis region. Built of white limestone, it glistens six hundred feet above the sur rounding landscape. It is huge, having no less than five large courtyards and 135 halls and rooms. The lookout tower has four stories. The walls are ten feet thick and reach an altitude of seventy feet. It is also one of the oldest castles in Slovakia, being mentioned already in the year 1120. It was abandoned in 1710 and devastated by fire in 1780. Undoubtedly the most memorable of the ruins of Slo- SLOVAKIA 63 vakia is magnificent Devin, situated not far from Bratislava, some five miles towards Vienna. Devin is unique. It is unlike anything else to be seen in Europe. A romantic complex of ruins loom some 240 feet above the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, right on the frontier between Slovakia and Austria. Here end the Carpathians, and across the Danube commence the Alps. The view from Devin is exquisitely beautiful. Regardless of season and weather it rewards the visitor with a vista which penetrates the soul. Towards sunrise you behold the majestic Danube flowing swiftly towards the Black Sea. Along its left bank are hills adorned with deciduous forests, and on the slopes, exposed to the southern sun, are vineyards, small and quiltlike, as are the fields on the more level opposite side of the stream. Also there are forests, restful to gaze upon, which ascend hills, the outposts of the Alps. During the first two centuries of our era Devin served as an outpost of the Roman Empire against the turbulent Marcomanni and Quadi, Germanic tribes living north of the Danube. It was fortified by the fourteenth legion. With the advent of the Slovaks about the sixth century, the place received its present appellation, named probably after the national godess "Deva" (girl, maiden). It became a refuge from the ruthless Uralo-Altaic Avars who held to the plains and to the swamps. As the Slovaks became united and powerful, it became one of the principal centers. It was here that King Louis the German besieged the Slovak Rastislav, ruler of the Great Moravian realm, without avail in the year 864. Right beneath the ruins lies the town of Devin, exetic and appealing, where life is placid, more like the gently flowing Morava than the more energetic Danube. Towards sunset you see the fertile plains of Austria, park-like scenery with villages and an occasional manor set in woods and fields. You see the Danube approaching, undulating, and forming many wooded islets. Across the Danube to the south you behold the Austrian town of Hainburg nestled beneath the ruins of the historic fortress of Altenburg, the Carnuntum of the Romans, headquarters of one of their legions. Finally, on the horizon to the southwest, the real Alps meet your avid gaze. Looking about upon the wonder- 64 SLOVAKIA ful panorama, you forget the woes and worries of everyday life and for the moment become a poet to whom the world is a paradise. Great Moravia, divided and embroiled, collapsed in 906 before the savage onrush of the Magyar horsemen. Devin, however, remained in the hands of the Slovaks well into the eleventh century. In 1683 it successfully withstood a siege by the Turks. The destruction of the castle was due to Napoleon who, in 1809, ordered it to be razed. Despite the fact that of the once mighty stone castle only two medieval towers and a few walls have been preserved, the ruins, nevertheless, present a majestic appearance. That which remains is stately and imposing. The site of Devin is truly immense. Its expanse is large enough for a dozen ordinary castles or fortresses. That, as well as its incomparable location, gives it majesty. The places where there were once lofty walls and wide moats can still be clearly distinguished. Devin is prehistoric as well as historic ground. Man was here long before the commencement of the Christian era. Bits of pottery from the Hallstatt period and remains of abodes from the second La Tene period have been unearthed by archeologists, who have been carrying on extensive excavations since 1923. The future is likely to further extend the past. For untold centuries it was strategically the most vital point of Central Europe. In its immediate vicinity were fought the battles which determined the fate of the heart of the continent. (To be continued) "The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - Farrar, Straus and Young, 360 pgs., $3.75. - The book tells the story of a Slovak nun who helped many Slovaks escape from their Communist-domin ated land to the west and then had to flee for her life herself, when the Reds learned about her activity. Sister Cecilia told her story to William Brinkley, assistant editor of LIFE magazine, who then wrote the book. Read this exciting book. Order your copy from SLOVAKIA.  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 History of Slovakia (5/9) Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), March 1958 pp. 60-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 Relation A related resource continued from <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/229">Vol. 7, No. 3-4 (24-25), pp. 88-96</a><br />continues in <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/271">Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), pp. 56-64</a> LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/03eeaeda7072db4e699198fa2cb16345.pdf d9889ff31b7499950d1dbae0861f38b6 PDF Text Text Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Andrew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Peter P. H letko 61 Wood land Avenu e Campbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warrenville, Ill. Ste ph en Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Elizab eth Andrejko President 551 Grove Avenue J ohnstown, P a. Philip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iiddletown, Pa . ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Rev. John W. Krispinsky Michael J. 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio Ju I ia Vargovic National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic H e len Kocan 1648 W. 18th S tree t Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Culen Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach M ila n V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Dub i el 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Anna Sotak Nationa l President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 810 Montoo th Street Pittsb::rgh 10, Pa. John Josepl, G. Prusa 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril ationa l President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown , Pa. S cran ton , Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Clevela nd, Ohio Ch ica.go, Ill. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N . J. SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Whitaker, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE \Vhilitq; I nn Chicago, [II �SKALICA, SLOVAKIA: A Roman chapel (rotunda) of the 12th century � Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Andrew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Peter P. H letko 61 Wood land Avenu e Campbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warrenville, Ill. Ste ph en Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Elizab eth Andrejko President 551 Grove Avenue J ohnstown, P a. Philip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iiddletown, Pa . ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Rev. John W. Krispinsky Michael J. 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio Ju I ia Vargovic National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic H e len Kocan 1648 W. 18th S tree t Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Culen Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach M ila n V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Dub i el 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Anna Sotak Nationa l President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 810 Montoo th Street Pittsb::rgh 10, Pa. John Josepl, G. Prusa 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril ationa l President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown , Pa. S cran ton , Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Clevela nd, Ohio Ch ica.go, Ill. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N . J. SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Whitaker, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE \Vhilitq; I nn Chicago, [II �SKALICA, SLOVAKIA: A Roman chapel (rotunda) of the 12th century � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) Andrew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Peter P. H letko 61 Wood land Avenu e Campbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warrenville, Ill. Ste ph en Msgr. F. J . Dubosh, P.A. 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio Elizab eth Andrejko President 551 Grove Avenue J ohnstown, P a. Philip A. Hrobak P. 0. Box 150 ~iiddletown, Pa . ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents Rev. John W. Krispinsky Michael J. 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio Ju I ia Vargovic National President First Catholic Slovak Union Krajcovic H e len Kocan 1648 W. 18th S tree t Chicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Culen Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fallat National President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer Stephen J. Tkach M ila n V. Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic<tgo 38, Ill. National President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Paul Dub i el 12210 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio Anna Sotak Nationa l President Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union P. Jamriska 810 Montoo th Street Pittsb::rgh 10, Pa. John Josepl, G. Prusa 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril ationa l President Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA Middletown , Pa. S cran ton , Pa. Cleveland, Ohio BRATSTVO SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Clevela nd, Ohio Ch ica.go, Ill. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N . J. SVORNOST OSADNE HLASY Whitaker, Pa. SLOVAK V AMERIKE \Vhilitq; I nn Chicago, [II SKALICA, SLOVAKIA: A Roman chapel (rotunda) of the 12th century  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. 8, No. 1 (26) Description An account of the resource includes photo of Skalica, Slovakia: A Roman chapel (rotunda) of the 12th century Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1958 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/cf3669d6bbadc58579366cbbb92662a6.pdf 4341a0d4822a40fc980ed57fbf53568e PDF Text Text ======= ======= == =====-=--JUNE, 1958 VOL . VIII NO. 2 (27} IN THIS ISSUE: SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" SLOVAK EMIGRATION THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: PGS. 17, 56, 64. • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �SLOV AKlA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. 'l'he chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understandi ng and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independenc e. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independenc e. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. 8ubscr1pt1on to Slovakia $1.00 per year iJ1 the U. S. A. -- $2.00 elsewhere. ~end subscription s to: SLOVA KIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletow'1 . Pa. � ======= ======= == =====-=--JUNE, 1958 VOL . VIII NO. 2 (27} IN THIS ISSUE: SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" SLOVAK EMIGRATION THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: PGS. 17, 56, 64. • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA �SLOV AKlA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. 'l'he chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understandi ng and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independenc e. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independenc e. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. 8ubscr1pt1on to Slovakia $1.00 per year iJ1 the U. S. A. -- $2.00 elsewhere. ~end subscription s to: SLOVA KIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletow'1 . Pa. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 ======= ======= == =====-=--JUNE, 1958 VOL . VIII NO. 2 (27} IN THIS ISSUE: SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" SLOVAK EMIGRATION THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: PGS. 17, 56, 64. • • • Edited and compiled by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA SLOV AKlA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. 'l'he chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA is to promote a better understandi ng and appreciation of the Slovak nation and its long struggle for freedom and independenc e. As Americans, members of the Slovak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all nations, has an inherent and God-given right to freedom and independenc e. They are dedicated to the cause of the American way of life, Slovak freedom and world peace and are determined to oppose the plague of Communism and all other totalitarian political systems. 8ubscr1pt1on to Slovakia $1.00 per year iJ1 the U. S. A. -- $2.00 elsewhere. ~end subscription s to: SLOVA KIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JEDNOTA PRESS Middletow'1 . Pa.  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. 8, No. 2 (27) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e4e96e0185e88caf73e4f3a0ea0568ae.pdf 75095b8ce4605699c52bae7ffdcaf674 PDF Text Text Published quarterly by the VOL. VIII Slovak League of America NO. 2 (27) JUNE, 1958 SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM ' B. S. BUC, Ph.D. . 1. Magyar Renegade vs. Pan-Slavist The historical and ideological development of Slovak nationalism was certainly not devoid of internal conflicts. It is self-evident that a society, which lived through many centuries without any political markings whatsoever, had to submit to a series of influences. They left many traces upon its national• character, which hindered the harmonious blending of energies that would have been necessary for the more succes'sfu1 attainment of a lofty goal. Since the Slovaks had lived for a thousand years within the framework of the Hungarian State without their territorial boundaries, they possessed no suppositions to establish at least that kind of group consciousness which would mirror the cultural, political, or geographical character of the land in which they lived. Even though reawakened Slovak nationalism traced its beginnings of national individuality to G'reat Moravia, it had to lean mostly upon an ethnical distinction from the Magyar.(1) Since the land of the Slovaks formed an integral part of the Hungarian over practically the entire ethnical expanse of the Slovaks, and in the' south created such a conglomeration of Slovak and Magyar elements, th1:1.t even today it is impossible fo establish between them such bountiaries which would be agreeable to ' the state and at the same time would fulfill the desire for self-determination. Into the territory of Slovakia, as it was formed after the First World War as a part of Czecho-Slovakia, were incorporated 655,322 Hungarians. They comprised 27 percent of all the inhabitants. Meanwhile 180,000 Slovaks re, ,.. mained in Hungary and they, for the most part, were scat"( ( �2 SLOVAKIA tered throughout the land. This fact gave the Magyars a Slovakia in order to liberate their co-racialists. And they accomplished their goal in 1938 when Czecho-Slovakia crumbled under Hitler's pressure. The Vienna arbitrage, whose principal agents were the Italian foreign minister Ciano and the German foreign minister Ribentrop, apportioned to Hungary 10,309 square kilometers of Slovak land together with 853,670 inhabitants. According to statistics of the year 1930, these inhabitants comprised 503,980 Magyars, 26,157 Jews, 272,145 Slovaks, and 1,825 Ruthenians. Still remaining in Slovakia were 57,193 Magyars. The number of Slovaks in Hungary after the arbitrage increased from 180,00 to 352,145, that is, six times more than the Magyars remaining in Slovakia(2). After the Second World War, all the land taken away by the arbitrage was returned to Slovakia. The new communist-dominated Czecho-Slovak government proceeded to solve this national mixup by making an agreement with Communist Hungary to exchange all Magyars in Slovakia for all Slovaks in Hungary. Furthermore, it removed forcibly a certain portion of the Magyars from Southern Slovakia into the Sudetenland in place of the ousted Germans. Prior to World War I, the upper social classes in Slovakia - the intelligentsia, merchants and greater landowners - were also almost wholly magyarized. If they acknowledged their Slovak origin, they nevertheless accepted the idea of the Hungarian State as their political "credo" and did not concur with the efforts of revived Slovak nationalism. Rather they looked upon it as the manifestation of an unfriendly attitude to the Hungarian fatherland. They therefore engaged freely in all undertakings of the Hungarian government to smear the Pan-Slavists, as they labelled the Slovak patriots. Thus at the very beginning of Slovak nationalism, arises the first major conflict, namely the struggle between Slovak renegades and Pan-Slavists. Slovak renegades were those people of Slovak origin who, either because of opportunities or conviction, offered their services toward the assimilating efforts of the Hun_garian government, which aimed at creating as soon as possible a homogeneous speaking Magyar State. On the �SLOVAKIA 3 other hand, Slovak patriots, were considered Pan-Slavists. They were so named because, in their political struggle, they proceeded hand in hand with the other Slav nationalities in Hungary and often gave evidence of Pan-Slavistic tendencies. The conflict of these two divisions within Slovak society grew steadily more and more violent after the revolutionary year of 1848. Upon it were centered all struggles on Slovak ethnical territory, whether they were of a political, cultural, social, or religious nature. The division of Slovak society into renegades and Pan-Slavists had not only political but also social roots. The assemblage of Slovak renegades was composed of members of the lordly class, among whom we find the intelligentsia, merchants, greater landowners or peers. On the other side stood the great mass of people comprising the Pan-Slavists, among whom were numbered small village farmers and various agricultural workers. Because industry was still in its rudimentary stages, the working class was practically non-extant. From among the intelligentsia, priests had the closest contacts with the broad masses of people and, therefore, became natural leaders and agents of Slovak nationalism. . The aforementioned fact gives further testimony that Slovak nationalism was more a social than a national movement in its beginnings. The reviving tasks of national leaders in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism possessed rather a culturo-social than a national-political character. Slovak leaders entered upon a national-political program only with the revolutionary times of 1848, when they organized a military uprising and brought forth their demand that not Magyar but rather Slovak should be the language used in schools and official circles of the defined Slovak territory within the framework of Hungary. The beginnings leading towards the accomplishment of this demand seemed very favorable in the years prior to 1867. At that time Vienna, resisting the revolting Magyars, sought the support of her nationalities who demanded from the Magyar government of Hungary the same national rights which the Magyars, led by Slovak renegade Louis Kossuth, demanded for themselves in Vienna. �4 SLOVAKIA In 1867, .however, a ~ettlement took place between Vieniia and' Budapest. Slovak nationalism thus lost the '' giveIJ. over support of Vienna and was as a prize to the Magyars to become an internal concz;en of the Hungarian portion of the Habsburg Monarchy. Immediatel y the Magyars feverishly set for~h to magyarize all their nationalities, which action manifested itself on Slovak ethnical .territory by the abolition of all Slovak , political and purely cultural institutions and by the introductio n of Magyar as the official language jn HtJ.ngary. SGhools 1 were to educate a new generation, one that would speak only Magyar and one that would be devoted w:holly to the, Magyars and the ,Hungarian State which they controlled. In these attempts the Magyar-co ntrolled Hungarian governmen t found in Slovakia willing supporters among the ranks of the above-men tioned Slovak renegades, who, in full compliance ·with the psychologic al bent of every renegade, labored more fanatically in instilling the magyarizing program than the governmen t itself had actually contemplat ed. The result could only end in a bitter conflict with the deeply Slovak-con scious group of inhabitants. , This conflict came to light npt only in political manifestations, as is elecfoms, but purrow~d deep even into the daily concerns of the inhabitants . In elections, genuinely Slovak candidates generally had little hope of winning even in those ,electoral districts where the vast majority sympathize d with them. The reason lay in a voting law , which granted voting privileges only to those who possessed a certain· amount of property. This law excluded from voting precisely that portion of Slovak ethnical teritory which formed tb.e basis of Slovak nationalism and granted the decisive word to those who had lost t~eir Slovak national consciousn ess but propertywise were more ,powerful. li'urthermo re, the elections were public and influenced very ev,idently by much use of bribery. Official candidates received heavy aid and support from the governmen t, whereas national candidates could only rely upon their, own resources, which were for the most part meagre and limited. In daily life the conflict between . Slovak renegades �SLOVAKIA 5 and patriotic Slovaks was mirrored mostly in the use of language. The renegades used the Magyar tongue almost exclusively; they regarded the speaking of Magyar not only as a maninfestation of "patriotic" sentiment, but also as the mark of a higher social position. Slovak, 1on the other hand, was looked upon as the tongue of poverty and its use was considered a display of "anti-patriotic'' feeling. In this conflict, which created an atmosphere of almost continual political as well as social tension, Slovak nationalism suffered the loss of much strength, for social privileges, schools and governmental pressure inflicted upon it serious harm and threatened it with destruction. 2. "Czechoslovak" vs. Autonomist With the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia this process was suddenly halted and the Slovaks found themselves in more favorable conditions. Because of the- changed political situation, a large 'number bf former Slovak renegades departed from Slovakia. Furthermore, many of them began to admit again their Sldvak origin, orientated themselves to the new poltiical setup, and even though manifesting little enthusiasm for the revolutionary change, they nevertheless undertook no organized effort which could have proved detrimental to the erection of the new state. It is comprehensible that all national Slovak units accepted the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia with gfeat enthusiasm. But this enthusiasm lasted only as long as its emotional foundation, built in the past under the influence of Pan-Slavism, was extanh It was primarily nurtured by a common fate of the Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary and led them to progress jointly in their struggles for national ,rights. When, however, both units merged and , had to work out serious problems which appeared during the erection of the new state, the basic difference of the Czech and Slovak character projected itself on the scene and gave an impetus to many conflicts, which in time grew more violent. It is true that Czechs and Slovaks did not find it too difficult to understand one another ling-uistica:lly because of the marked kinship of their languages. Nevertheless, 1-the ideological antl cultural background · of �6 SLOVAKIA / their natures showed itself to be so different that it created an almost impassable gulf between them. The fore-warning of this break was the difference of their religious positions. From the burning of John Hus, the first ecclesiastical reformer at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Czech character continued to show opposition to Rome and to the Habsburgs. After successfully routing all Czech reforming elements in 1647, the Habsburgs carried on intensive re-Catholiciza tion in Czech lands. With the downfall of the Habsburgs after the First World War, the Czechs found it opportune to undo what they had looked upon as an injustice and, therefore, did not conceal their anti-Catholic thinking in creating CzechoSlovakia. The Slovaks, who are 82 percent Catholic, had no grudge against Rome, and after attaining their national liberty showed no unfriendliness to Catholicism. Thus, immediately in the beginning of the new state, the religious question became an experimental rock of Czech-Slovak relationship and drove the popular and formerly Czechinclined Father Andrew Hlinka with his Slovak People's Party into violent opposition against the Czechs. When, in addition, with the help of a minority of Slovak Lutherans and isolated Liberals, Prague began to organize Czecho-Slova kia centralisticall y by disregarding former agreements about making it a federative republic of two distinct nations, "Czechs and Slovaks," Slovak Catholics inaugurated a movement which came to be known under the name "Autonomist. " The whole discussion seemed, however, to turn around the connotation of the phrase "Czechoslovak nation." In the first chapter of this treatise, allusion was made to the impact of Pan-Slavism upon the budding Slovak nationalism. The Pan-Slavist visualized a kind of political and ethnographica l unification of all Slavs on the ground of their kinship and close language relationship. Influenced by this Pan-Slavistic trend, some Slovaks - especially Lutherans - were prone to accept the idea of the complete fusion of the Slovaks with the Czechs. This objective was to be achieved through a centralized rather than federative Czecho-Slovak ia. Thus, in disregard of all �SLOVAKIA 7 previous agreements between the Czechs and Slovaks, the Czecho-Slovak Republic was organized on the basis of a centralized government. Moreover, the special phrase "Czechoslovak nation" was coined. It had to denote that Czechs and Slovaks were ethnographically, culturally, and politically the same nation. Practically, it meant that the Slovaks were to be made over into Czechs, since the Slovak language was declared a dialect of the Czech and Slovakia was not conceded any right to self-government. Thus, in this new conflict "Czechoslovak vs. Autonomist" two issues were involved: the issue of national difference between the Slovaks and Czechs and the issue of self-government for Slovakia. Those who denied them were "Czechoslovaks"; those who claimed them were "Autonomists." There arose once again the struggle between those who favored the government and those who opposed it for its incorrect interpretation of Slovak feelings. To determine by proper evaluation which side profited in this conflict, it would be unjust to form conclusions solely on the basis of the election outcomes of those parties who stood for the autonomist program. The Slovak People's Party, led by Father Hlinka, alone had a purely autonomist program. But the individuality of the Slovak nation was also stressed by the Slovak National Party, led by Martin Razus, a Lutheran minister, comprising chiefly the Slovak Lutherans, and by the Communist Party. The latter proceeded further than Hlinka's party by demanding the complete separation of Slovakia from the Czechs lands as early as 1926. The autonomist movement achieved its greatest victory in the elections of 1925; of the 299 representative seats in the Czecho-Slovak Parliament, 160 were won by the Czechs, 47 by the Slovaks, 5 by the Ruthenians, 1 by the Russians, 75 by the Germans and 10 by the Magyars. Now the 47 seats belonging to the Slovaks did not represent autonomists only; it simply indicated the representatives from Slovak ethnical territory. Of these seats, 23, belonged to the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 5 to the Communist Party, 1 to the Slovak National Party; the remainder belonged to the parties which based their plat- �8 SLOVAKIA form on the principle of a "Czechoslovak" nation and stood for a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic(3). Even though the Slovak People's Party emerged from this election with 23 delegates and gained ascendancy over the other parties seeking for votes in Slovakia, its strength would not necesarily indicate that the idea of a Slovak national individuality was highly popular among Slovak inhabitants. In evaluating the results to determine how parties opposed to this idea were won over in Slovakia, one must not overlook the factor of material benefits offered by those in power to anyone voting for them. Thus, opportunism rather than nationalism was the chief factor which influenced the so-called official parties on Slovak ethnical territory. Actually the defenders and confessors of centralism in Slovakia comprised only a small group of individuals who, with the aid of the Czechs, constituted a true ruling class. In this way they assured for themselves a lasting political career and of course material comforts. They, therefore, took the place of the former Slovak renegades and, like the latter, were the instruments of foreign influences endeavoring to deter the uni-characteristic development of Slovak nationalism. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak versus Autonomist conflict, Slovak nationalism possessed since the beginning a greater advantage than in the Slovak renegade versus patriotic Slovak conflict because it had the support of schools. It is a very significant circumstance, that although the greater majority of professors and teachers in Slovak schools at the beginning of the Czecho-Slovak Repuplic were Czechs, who came to Slovakia l:>ecause of the lack of specialized Slovak talent, they nevertheless were not able to educate a Slovak generation which wo_u ld become devoted to the idea of the "Czechoslovak" nation, and to a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic ,based on that idea. The Czechs explain this phenomenon as the ungratefulness of the young Slovak generation for ,proferred aid. It is true that this Czech assistance enabl,~d the Slovaks to make inroads into modern European , society. But the key to the correct evaluation of this seeming ungrateful_ness is offered, by statistics which co111pare the labor pos- �SLOVAKIA 9 sibilities between Czechs and Slovaks on Slovak ethnical territory. The employment question became the most effective outlet for the dissemination of the autonomist movement over the broader Slovak strata, whereby a young, Czech-trained Slovak generation was won over to its objectives. On the other hand, it aided also that group of Slovaks and Czechs who, controlling the sole possibility of distributing labor, possessed an effective means of advantageously influencing in politics all opportunistically inclined natures. Thus, the "Czechoslovak" versus Autonomist conflict also assumed the character of a social struggle. The employment problem in other homogeneous speaking states caused a social tension and made it possible for Communists and Socialists to make greater election gains. In Slovakia, however, it led to an increased tension between Czechs and Slovaks and became the fruitful soil for a separatist nationalism. Czech officials, teachers, and other white collar employees entered Slovakia with the understanding that they would remain there in the exercise of their proper functions until Slovakia could gather sufficient expert forces of its own. After the departure of the Magyars and Slovak, renegades, there remained few experts in Slovakia who could be used in public administration and education(4). Since the Czechs in Austria had their own autonomy and at the same time took an important part in the management of the entire monarchy, they possessed a surplus of intellectuals and for that reason considered Slovakia as a province for the allocation of their intellectuals. Not only did the Czechs reveal an unwillingness to leave the labor possibilities in favor of the new Slovak intelligentsia, but, by utilizing their own influential connections, they also increased their own ranks. The unequal representation of Slovaks and Czechs that existed in the public organs of Slovakia is evident from the following employment statistics of the Board of State Railways in Bratislava and Kosice. In 1925, of 5,134 engineers and higher officers, 90 percent were Czechs; of 12,355 second grade laborers 60 percent were Czechs; of 16, 025 unskilled laborers, 30 percent were Czechs(5). �10 SLOVAKIA This situation is best mirrored in the emigration from Czecho-Slovakia during the years 1920-1937. Of the 400,193 people, who emigrated from the whole country, 213,283 or 52.2 percent belonged to Slovakia. This is an astonishingly high percentage when one considers that Slovakia formed only 23 percent of the whole population of the Czecho-Slovak Republic(6). It was impossible for such a situation not to give rise to many complaints on the part of the Slovaks. It turned them against the Czechs as well as against the Czecho-Slovak state and steadily created suppositions for the greater emphasis of a separate national individuality and eventually an independent state. 3. Lutheran vs. Catholic The conflicts of Slovak nationalism often have their roots in the religious differences of the Slovak population. We have already mentioned that Catholic priests and Lutheran ministers had played an important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism. To Western observers this often appears as a remnant of so-called clericalism. It is hardly possible, however, to make a parallel between what is known in France and Italy as clericalism and the role of priests in Slovak politics. In Slovakia priests entered into politics under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment, which philosophy gave an impetus to anticlerical struggles in other countries. And it is a fact that Slovak priests also entered into frequent controversy with higher members of the hierarchy, chiefly because the latter were not of Slovak origin and for the greater part supported the Magyar government in its attempts at assimilation in Hungary. That these conflicts did not develop into open religious splits can be accredited to the Popes who, stemming from Pope Leo XIII and his social encyclicals, sympathized with peoples' movements and continually sought to keep them within the fold of the Church. It happened frequently that in disagreements, involving priests and bishops, Rome stood on the side of the priests whenever the controversy stemmed from different social or national sources An outstanding example of the Vatican's attitude is �SLOVAKIA 11 mirrored in the case of Father IDinka, leader of the Slovak Autonomists. Suspended in 1906 by his Magyar Bishop Parvy for participating in the election campaign, Hlinka found Rome favorable to his cause. Bishop Parvy was thus virtually compelled to reinstate Hlinka as pastor. Thus, assured of the sympathies of the Vatican and enthused over the idea of helping their oppressed kin, the Slovak priests took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. Whenever any member of the Slovak laity in Hungary received an education, the person usually became denationalized either because of the schools or the nature of his position, which demanded of him a subservient service to the government. Otherwise it was impossible to advance in a chosen career. Furthermore, children from peasant, village families found it economically almost impossible to receive a higher education. Only members of wealthier families, which comprised the group of Slovak renegades, were able to pursue higher studies and obtain leading positions. The only vocation open to boys with a village and farming background was that to the priesthood. Not only did the priestly vocation offer an education to such boys, since seminary studies were almost completely free, but it also sent its priests back among the same people whence they came. Furthermore, although the courses were conducted in a Magyar spirit, and this could have influenced them, nevertheless upon the completion of their studies they returned to their own people and once again found themselves in the center of their origin. Moreover, they were not weighted down with the fear that they would be hindered in their career if they failed to act according to the intentions of the government. They were, therefore, very independent in their actions and in fulfilling their vocation. These priests, however, were on the lowest rung of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the higher rungs were either completely Magyar or Slovak renegadist. It is self-evident that they would be mostly attracted to the ideas of the Enlightenment concerning the people and later romantic ideas concerning the nation. In the majority of instances they, therefore, sought with revolutionary zest to make �12 SLOVAKIA these ideas productive under the motto: "For God and Country!" It is true that, because of the nature of their vocation, they carried religion into politics, and therefore gave an impetus to conflicts of a religious nature. But it is also true, that the reasons why religion became embroiled in politics in Central Europe were not because priests desired to become the leaders of national and peoples' movements, but because of the very nature of the society which retained the religious foundation it had inherited from the Middle Ages. The undermining of this foundation, after the birth of Liberalism, could not fail to call forth ecclesiastical reaction, which began to appear in the establishment of Catholic parties as the most effective, defensive means in the political struggles of democracies. According to the statistics of 1930, the population of Slovakia comprised percentage-wise the following religious denominations: Roman and Greek Catholics - 78.013 percent; Lutherans 12.008 percent; Calvinists 4.376 percent; Jews - 4.102 percent; others - 1.5 percent(?). Only Catholics and Lutherans, however, play a role in Slovak nationalism. Calvinists are for the most part Magyars; and Jews, when not Magyars, in most instances take sides with those who oppose Slovak nationalism. Between Lutherans and Catholics there existed in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism a certain competition in patriotism, which did not always tend in the same direction, principally in matters concerning the legislation of the national Slovak language. In their religious services, the Lutherans used the old Czech language of the so-called "Kralice Bible" that was translated by the Moravian Brethren who were followers of John Hus. This fact led them to retain Czech as the literary tongue for some time. Catholics, on the other hand, always used the Slovak language of the common people and legalized it as national in 1787. From the beginning, Catholics showed the evident tendency to emphasize their distinct national Slovak individuality from that of the Czechs. Lutherans, highly influenced by Pan-Slavism however, were prone to accept the idea that Czechs and Slovaks form a common racial unit of one great Slav family. �SLOVAKIA 13 It was not until the revolutionary times of 1848 that r..udovit Stur, one of the most eminent Lutheran national revivers, established the supposition that Lutherans should also accept the principle of a Slovak language distinct from the Czech. Suppositions were thus established for the close cooperation between Lutherans and Catholics to guarantee national rights to Slovaks in what formerely had been Hungary. In spite of their minority, the Lutherans in 1848 took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. They formed a rich romantic literature, initiated many political steps in the Hungarian government to obtain national rights for Slovaks, founded a few Slovak cultural institutions and led the only Slovak political party in Hungary, called the Slovak National Party. Catholics accepted their leadership as self-evidential. This acceptance assured almost complete harmony between both units of Slovak nationalism. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Catholics were summoned into more feverish political activity by a newly-created, all-state, Catholic party called the People's Party, founded and headed by the Magyar Count Zichy. The party was brought to life through many laws passed by the liberal-controlled Hungarian Parliament that sought to destroy the present Christian tradition of the country. One of these laws dealt with marriage and demanded that every citizen undergo a civil wedding ceremony. Otherwise, the program of the People's Party appropriated the social principles enumerated in the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII and also fought for the recognition of national rights for individual nationalism in Hungary. It was a program which Slovak Catholic priests were seeking to realize for a long time. For this reason, the party achieved comparatively wonderful success on Slovak ethnical territory shortly after its entrance into the political struggle. In this party Father Andrew Hlinka achieved public political recognition and in time became the most eminent representative of Slovak nationalism. Although the People's Party received great help from non-Magyar priests and the Catholic laity, the Magyar leaders were in no way anxious to fulfill the nationalitypoint of their program either in the government or within �14 SLOVAKIA the framework of their own party. Rather they supported almost openly the assimilative pressure of the government upon nationalities and, therefore, upon the Slovaks. The deceived Slovak Catholics, therefore, left this party and formed their own Slovak People's Party under the leadership of Father Andrew Hlinka. This party appropriated the social and religious program of the original People's Party and immediately brought forth its claim to national rights for Slovaks. The introduction of the Slovak People's Party created the following situation in Slovakia: Slovak Catholics began to organize into the People's Party, whereas the existing Slovak National Party became only a political organ of Slovak Lutherans. It emphasized a political division according to religion, but no serious conflicts, in the sense of Catholic versus Lutheran, ensued at that time. Magyar pressure steadily created new suppositions for cooperation towards the same national goal. This political division along religious lines became the source of conflict between Catholics and Lutherans only when, in the new Czecho-Slovakia, the fight for national rights was replaced by the struggle to seize power. In this struggle the Lutherans were victorious, because they accepted willingly the centralizing efforts of Prague. The anti-ecclesiastical and Hussite-enrooted politics of the new Czecho-Slovakia meant a grave injury to the deeply religious-conscious Catholics, though it was, to a certain extent, welcomed by the Lutherans. For Catholics, it was a serious reason to fight uncompromisingly for an autonomous Slovakia; for Lutherans and a small group of liberals it was the foundation whereby they easily accepted the principle of the "Czechoslovak" nation and the centralization based on this principle. Prague, therefore, rewarded them with power, and did that without any regard for the vast majority of Slovak Catholics. Practically all of the more prominent politicians in Czecho-Slovakia from Slovakia were Lutherans. They formed a very narrow ruling class, because they were limited to a few chosen families. Out of their midst came a narrow circile of so-called "experts," whom Prague made good use of to govern in Slo- �SLOVAKIA 15 vakia. The eminent English historian C. A. Macartney describes the situation thusly: The fact remains that the (Czechoslovak) government has been obliged more often than not to rule Slovakia against the wishes of most of its inhabitants, maintaining itself only by the expedients of restricting the powers of the self-governing bodies to within the narrowest possible limits, of filling the seats designated for "experts" with its own nominees, and utilizing freely weapons of censorship and police supervision(8). 4. The Reason For the Division It will not be hard to understand why the above-mentioned conflicts developed within the Slovak community if we bear in mind the two main obstacles which revived Slovak nationalism had to overcome. The one was of an internal character, while the other was due to external pressure. Internally, the Slovaks had at the beginning the ten- t dency to confuse their nationality with that of an imaginary Slav nation. This mixup arose from the Pan-Slavistic ideology that greatly appealed to some Slovak leaders, because it imbued them with the feeling of strength in view of the desperate situation in which they found themselves in Hungary. On the other hand, it hindered them from developing the consciousness of a distinct national Slovak character, because some readily accepted the idea of unity with the "closest" Slav nation, namely, th,e Czechs. The Slovaks who felt most strongly inclined to a union with the Czechs opposed the codification of a separate Slovak language. To them the Czech language seemed suitable even for those of their kin living in Hungary. Although these tendencies never took firm roots with majority of the population in Slovakia, they were, the ) nevertheless, strong enough to arouse conflicts and later to enable the Czechs to exploit the Slovaks politically. That I the Czechs have not succeeded can be attributed to the fact that the majority of the Slovaks have always felt \ and professed to be an ethnographically, historically, and culturally distinct nation from the Czechs, and have constantly endeavored to create for Slovakia such political conditions which would stress that distinct national character. I �16 SLOVAKIA The terms "Czechoslovak" and "Autonomist" are to be understood as political designations: the "Czechoslovaks" are those Slovaks who profess to be Czechs; the "Autonomists" are those who feel and act as Slovaks. The designation "Autonomist" comes from the Autonomist Party whose purpose was to assure an autonomous government for Slovakia as opposed to a centralized Czecho-Slovakia sought for by Czechoslovaks. The conflict "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" can best be expressed in the form of a question: Are we Czechs or are we Slovaks? To this question the Czechoslovak would answer: I am a Czech; the Autonomist: I am a Slovak. Realizing these basic differences, we can easily see that the "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict resemble the former "Slovak renegade (Magyarized Slovak) versus Pan-Slavist" conflict. The term "Czechoslovak" compares with the Slovak renegade, while the term "Autonomist" with the Pan-Slavist. The difference, however, lies in the fact that the Magyarized Slovak denied his Slovak nationality, while the Czechoslovak has always admitted his original Slovak ethnographical nationality. The former's denial flows from the lack of kinship between Slovaks and Magyars, whereas the Czechoslovak admission is based upon a close racial kinship between Czechs' and Slovaks. Thus, the latter would like to merge the Slovaks with the Czechs despite the fact that there is a sensitive difference between both these related nations. That these conflicts developed to such proportions as to endanger the survival of the Slovaks can be accounted for by the political pressure exerted first by Magyars and later by Czechs. With the removal of that pressure came the disappearance of these conflicts and a deeper understanding of a distinct national personality ensued. As of now, the "Magyarized Slovak versus Pan-Slavist" conflict belongs to history and has r.ceased to be of any importance in the politics of the country. Hardly any citizen of Slovak descent would long for the return of former Hungary, let alone to profess any kinship with the Magyars. The "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict is not yet dead. Nevertheless, it is losing its original "rai- �SLOVAKIA 17 son d' etre." The Slovaks who still long for the preservation of Czecho-Slovakia, have abandoned the highly disputed fiction of the "Czechoslovak nation" and are accepting the realistic view that Czechs and Slovaks are ethnographically, politically, and historically distinct nations. Thus, these conflicts brought to an end discussions about national personality. The differences which still remain / revolve about the following problem: in what kind of an alliance or political form should Slovaks live to assure for themselves the best conditions for their future survival? (1) Sometimes a distinction has to be made between "Magyar" and "Hungarian" in dealing with the national problems of Hungary prior to World War I. The former Hungarian Kingdom was a country of many nationalities that in their capacity of citizens, were also Hungarians. The designation "Magyar" for "Hungarian" is, therefore, more appropriate whenever the ethnographic character of the problem is to be emphasized. Thus "Magyarizing process" is to denote the forceful methods used by the dominating Magyars or Hungarians to assimilate the other nationalities of Hungary with the view of creating a linguistically and ethnographically homogeneous state. (2) Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le Drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955; p. 104. (3) Karol Sidor: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934; p. 535. (4) Harrison Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History, p. 292. ((5) K. Culen: Cesi a Slovaci vo Verejnej Sprave Cesko-Slo• venskej Republiky, Bratislava, 1944; p. 70. (6) Joseph A. Mikus: op. cit.; p. 66. (7) Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, Winnipeg, 1953; p. 64. (8) Hungary and Her Successors, London, 1937; p. 145. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The on[y just and deimocira.tiic solution od' tJhe 'Cwchoslo,v ak' mess crnate'd by T. G. Masaryk and Benes and their foHorwers woudd be tJhe compl.ete freedom and .poliitica:l. inde-0 pendence of the nations inv;o1ved. No just and deimoeratic soluition will be arnived at as long as a 'CzechoslovaJkia' is a}iloiwed to ex,isit, becaiuse everything proposed in the direction of rea[i:zirug the fornldaimental rights of the Slovruk and Rlutihenian peoples would. he l'a be[ed 'aiccording to law' as anti~State and punishiable as such, as. it had been in the first (1918-1938) and third ReipUibJics (1945-1948) orf Czecho-Slo~ia." - (P. A. Hroibak, letter to Hon. Aivin M. Benltfo:y, Juliy 10, 1953). � Published quarterly by the VOL. VIII Slovak League of America NO. 2 (27) JUNE, 1958 SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM ' B. S. BUC, Ph.D. . 1. Magyar Renegade vs. Pan-Slavist The historical and ideological development of Slovak nationalism was certainly not devoid of internal conflicts. It is self-evident that a society, which lived through many centuries without any political markings whatsoever, had to submit to a series of influences. They left many traces upon its national• character, which hindered the harmonious blending of energies that would have been necessary for the more succes'sfu1 attainment of a lofty goal. Since the Slovaks had lived for a thousand years within the framework of the Hungarian State without their territorial boundaries, they possessed no suppositions to establish at least that kind of group consciousness which would mirror the cultural, political, or geographical character of the land in which they lived. Even though reawakened Slovak nationalism traced its beginnings of national individuality to G'reat Moravia, it had to lean mostly upon an ethnical distinction from the Magyar.(1) Since the land of the Slovaks formed an integral part of the Hungarian over practically the entire ethnical expanse of the Slovaks, and in the' south created such a conglomeration of Slovak and Magyar elements, th1:1.t even today it is impossible fo establish between them such bountiaries which would be agreeable to ' the state and at the same time would fulfill the desire for self-determination. Into the territory of Slovakia, as it was formed after the First World War as a part of Czecho-Slovakia, were incorporated 655,322 Hungarians. They comprised 27 percent of all the inhabitants. Meanwhile 180,000 Slovaks re, ,.. mained in Hungary and they, for the most part, were scat"( ( �2 SLOVAKIA tered throughout the land. This fact gave the Magyars a Slovakia in order to liberate their co-racialists. And they accomplished their goal in 1938 when Czecho-Slovakia crumbled under Hitler's pressure. The Vienna arbitrage, whose principal agents were the Italian foreign minister Ciano and the German foreign minister Ribentrop, apportioned to Hungary 10,309 square kilometers of Slovak land together with 853,670 inhabitants. According to statistics of the year 1930, these inhabitants comprised 503,980 Magyars, 26,157 Jews, 272,145 Slovaks, and 1,825 Ruthenians. Still remaining in Slovakia were 57,193 Magyars. The number of Slovaks in Hungary after the arbitrage increased from 180,00 to 352,145, that is, six times more than the Magyars remaining in Slovakia(2). After the Second World War, all the land taken away by the arbitrage was returned to Slovakia. The new communist-dominated Czecho-Slovak government proceeded to solve this national mixup by making an agreement with Communist Hungary to exchange all Magyars in Slovakia for all Slovaks in Hungary. Furthermore, it removed forcibly a certain portion of the Magyars from Southern Slovakia into the Sudetenland in place of the ousted Germans. Prior to World War I, the upper social classes in Slovakia - the intelligentsia, merchants and greater landowners - were also almost wholly magyarized. If they acknowledged their Slovak origin, they nevertheless accepted the idea of the Hungarian State as their political "credo" and did not concur with the efforts of revived Slovak nationalism. Rather they looked upon it as the manifestation of an unfriendly attitude to the Hungarian fatherland. They therefore engaged freely in all undertakings of the Hungarian government to smear the Pan-Slavists, as they labelled the Slovak patriots. Thus at the very beginning of Slovak nationalism, arises the first major conflict, namely the struggle between Slovak renegades and Pan-Slavists. Slovak renegades were those people of Slovak origin who, either because of opportunities or conviction, offered their services toward the assimilating efforts of the Hun_garian government, which aimed at creating as soon as possible a homogeneous speaking Magyar State. On the �SLOVAKIA 3 other hand, Slovak patriots, were considered Pan-Slavists. They were so named because, in their political struggle, they proceeded hand in hand with the other Slav nationalities in Hungary and often gave evidence of Pan-Slavistic tendencies. The conflict of these two divisions within Slovak society grew steadily more and more violent after the revolutionary year of 1848. Upon it were centered all struggles on Slovak ethnical territory, whether they were of a political, cultural, social, or religious nature. The division of Slovak society into renegades and Pan-Slavists had not only political but also social roots. The assemblage of Slovak renegades was composed of members of the lordly class, among whom we find the intelligentsia, merchants, greater landowners or peers. On the other side stood the great mass of people comprising the Pan-Slavists, among whom were numbered small village farmers and various agricultural workers. Because industry was still in its rudimentary stages, the working class was practically non-extant. From among the intelligentsia, priests had the closest contacts with the broad masses of people and, therefore, became natural leaders and agents of Slovak nationalism. . The aforementioned fact gives further testimony that Slovak nationalism was more a social than a national movement in its beginnings. The reviving tasks of national leaders in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism possessed rather a culturo-social than a national-political character. Slovak leaders entered upon a national-political program only with the revolutionary times of 1848, when they organized a military uprising and brought forth their demand that not Magyar but rather Slovak should be the language used in schools and official circles of the defined Slovak territory within the framework of Hungary. The beginnings leading towards the accomplishment of this demand seemed very favorable in the years prior to 1867. At that time Vienna, resisting the revolting Magyars, sought the support of her nationalities who demanded from the Magyar government of Hungary the same national rights which the Magyars, led by Slovak renegade Louis Kossuth, demanded for themselves in Vienna. �4 SLOVAKIA In 1867, .however, a ~ettlement took place between Vieniia and' Budapest. Slovak nationalism thus lost the '' giveIJ. over support of Vienna and was as a prize to the Magyars to become an internal concz;en of the Hungarian portion of the Habsburg Monarchy. Immediatel y the Magyars feverishly set for~h to magyarize all their nationalities, which action manifested itself on Slovak ethnical .territory by the abolition of all Slovak , political and purely cultural institutions and by the introductio n of Magyar as the official language jn HtJ.ngary. SGhools 1 were to educate a new generation, one that would speak only Magyar and one that would be devoted w:holly to the, Magyars and the ,Hungarian State which they controlled. In these attempts the Magyar-co ntrolled Hungarian governmen t found in Slovakia willing supporters among the ranks of the above-men tioned Slovak renegades, who, in full compliance ·with the psychologic al bent of every renegade, labored more fanatically in instilling the magyarizing program than the governmen t itself had actually contemplat ed. The result could only end in a bitter conflict with the deeply Slovak-con scious group of inhabitants. , This conflict came to light npt only in political manifestations, as is elecfoms, but purrow~d deep even into the daily concerns of the inhabitants . In elections, genuinely Slovak candidates generally had little hope of winning even in those ,electoral districts where the vast majority sympathize d with them. The reason lay in a voting law , which granted voting privileges only to those who possessed a certain· amount of property. This law excluded from voting precisely that portion of Slovak ethnical teritory which formed tb.e basis of Slovak nationalism and granted the decisive word to those who had lost t~eir Slovak national consciousn ess but propertywise were more ,powerful. li'urthermo re, the elections were public and influenced very ev,idently by much use of bribery. Official candidates received heavy aid and support from the governmen t, whereas national candidates could only rely upon their, own resources, which were for the most part meagre and limited. In daily life the conflict between . Slovak renegades �SLOVAKIA 5 and patriotic Slovaks was mirrored mostly in the use of language. The renegades used the Magyar tongue almost exclusively; they regarded the speaking of Magyar not only as a maninfestation of "patriotic" sentiment, but also as the mark of a higher social position. Slovak, 1on the other hand, was looked upon as the tongue of poverty and its use was considered a display of "anti-patriotic'' feeling. In this conflict, which created an atmosphere of almost continual political as well as social tension, Slovak nationalism suffered the loss of much strength, for social privileges, schools and governmental pressure inflicted upon it serious harm and threatened it with destruction. 2. "Czechoslovak" vs. Autonomist With the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia this process was suddenly halted and the Slovaks found themselves in more favorable conditions. Because of the- changed political situation, a large 'number bf former Slovak renegades departed from Slovakia. Furthermore, many of them began to admit again their Sldvak origin, orientated themselves to the new poltiical setup, and even though manifesting little enthusiasm for the revolutionary change, they nevertheless undertook no organized effort which could have proved detrimental to the erection of the new state. It is comprehensible that all national Slovak units accepted the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia with gfeat enthusiasm. But this enthusiasm lasted only as long as its emotional foundation, built in the past under the influence of Pan-Slavism, was extanh It was primarily nurtured by a common fate of the Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary and led them to progress jointly in their struggles for national ,rights. When, however, both units merged and , had to work out serious problems which appeared during the erection of the new state, the basic difference of the Czech and Slovak character projected itself on the scene and gave an impetus to many conflicts, which in time grew more violent. It is true that Czechs and Slovaks did not find it too difficult to understand one another ling-uistica:lly because of the marked kinship of their languages. Nevertheless, 1-the ideological antl cultural background · of �6 SLOVAKIA / their natures showed itself to be so different that it created an almost impassable gulf between them. The fore-warning of this break was the difference of their religious positions. From the burning of John Hus, the first ecclesiastical reformer at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Czech character continued to show opposition to Rome and to the Habsburgs. After successfully routing all Czech reforming elements in 1647, the Habsburgs carried on intensive re-Catholiciza tion in Czech lands. With the downfall of the Habsburgs after the First World War, the Czechs found it opportune to undo what they had looked upon as an injustice and, therefore, did not conceal their anti-Catholic thinking in creating CzechoSlovakia. The Slovaks, who are 82 percent Catholic, had no grudge against Rome, and after attaining their national liberty showed no unfriendliness to Catholicism. Thus, immediately in the beginning of the new state, the religious question became an experimental rock of Czech-Slovak relationship and drove the popular and formerly Czechinclined Father Andrew Hlinka with his Slovak People's Party into violent opposition against the Czechs. When, in addition, with the help of a minority of Slovak Lutherans and isolated Liberals, Prague began to organize Czecho-Slova kia centralisticall y by disregarding former agreements about making it a federative republic of two distinct nations, "Czechs and Slovaks," Slovak Catholics inaugurated a movement which came to be known under the name "Autonomist. " The whole discussion seemed, however, to turn around the connotation of the phrase "Czechoslovak nation." In the first chapter of this treatise, allusion was made to the impact of Pan-Slavism upon the budding Slovak nationalism. The Pan-Slavist visualized a kind of political and ethnographica l unification of all Slavs on the ground of their kinship and close language relationship. Influenced by this Pan-Slavistic trend, some Slovaks - especially Lutherans - were prone to accept the idea of the complete fusion of the Slovaks with the Czechs. This objective was to be achieved through a centralized rather than federative Czecho-Slovak ia. Thus, in disregard of all �SLOVAKIA 7 previous agreements between the Czechs and Slovaks, the Czecho-Slovak Republic was organized on the basis of a centralized government. Moreover, the special phrase "Czechoslovak nation" was coined. It had to denote that Czechs and Slovaks were ethnographically, culturally, and politically the same nation. Practically, it meant that the Slovaks were to be made over into Czechs, since the Slovak language was declared a dialect of the Czech and Slovakia was not conceded any right to self-government. Thus, in this new conflict "Czechoslovak vs. Autonomist" two issues were involved: the issue of national difference between the Slovaks and Czechs and the issue of self-government for Slovakia. Those who denied them were "Czechoslovaks"; those who claimed them were "Autonomists." There arose once again the struggle between those who favored the government and those who opposed it for its incorrect interpretation of Slovak feelings. To determine by proper evaluation which side profited in this conflict, it would be unjust to form conclusions solely on the basis of the election outcomes of those parties who stood for the autonomist program. The Slovak People's Party, led by Father Hlinka, alone had a purely autonomist program. But the individuality of the Slovak nation was also stressed by the Slovak National Party, led by Martin Razus, a Lutheran minister, comprising chiefly the Slovak Lutherans, and by the Communist Party. The latter proceeded further than Hlinka's party by demanding the complete separation of Slovakia from the Czechs lands as early as 1926. The autonomist movement achieved its greatest victory in the elections of 1925; of the 299 representative seats in the Czecho-Slovak Parliament, 160 were won by the Czechs, 47 by the Slovaks, 5 by the Ruthenians, 1 by the Russians, 75 by the Germans and 10 by the Magyars. Now the 47 seats belonging to the Slovaks did not represent autonomists only; it simply indicated the representatives from Slovak ethnical territory. Of these seats, 23, belonged to the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 5 to the Communist Party, 1 to the Slovak National Party; the remainder belonged to the parties which based their plat- �8 SLOVAKIA form on the principle of a "Czechoslovak" nation and stood for a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic(3). Even though the Slovak People's Party emerged from this election with 23 delegates and gained ascendancy over the other parties seeking for votes in Slovakia, its strength would not necesarily indicate that the idea of a Slovak national individuality was highly popular among Slovak inhabitants. In evaluating the results to determine how parties opposed to this idea were won over in Slovakia, one must not overlook the factor of material benefits offered by those in power to anyone voting for them. Thus, opportunism rather than nationalism was the chief factor which influenced the so-called official parties on Slovak ethnical territory. Actually the defenders and confessors of centralism in Slovakia comprised only a small group of individuals who, with the aid of the Czechs, constituted a true ruling class. In this way they assured for themselves a lasting political career and of course material comforts. They, therefore, took the place of the former Slovak renegades and, like the latter, were the instruments of foreign influences endeavoring to deter the uni-characteristic development of Slovak nationalism. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak versus Autonomist conflict, Slovak nationalism possessed since the beginning a greater advantage than in the Slovak renegade versus patriotic Slovak conflict because it had the support of schools. It is a very significant circumstance, that although the greater majority of professors and teachers in Slovak schools at the beginning of the Czecho-Slovak Repuplic were Czechs, who came to Slovakia l:>ecause of the lack of specialized Slovak talent, they nevertheless were not able to educate a Slovak generation which wo_u ld become devoted to the idea of the "Czechoslovak" nation, and to a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic ,based on that idea. The Czechs explain this phenomenon as the ungratefulness of the young Slovak generation for ,proferred aid. It is true that this Czech assistance enabl,~d the Slovaks to make inroads into modern European , society. But the key to the correct evaluation of this seeming ungrateful_ness is offered, by statistics which co111pare the labor pos- �SLOVAKIA 9 sibilities between Czechs and Slovaks on Slovak ethnical territory. The employment question became the most effective outlet for the dissemination of the autonomist movement over the broader Slovak strata, whereby a young, Czech-trained Slovak generation was won over to its objectives. On the other hand, it aided also that group of Slovaks and Czechs who, controlling the sole possibility of distributing labor, possessed an effective means of advantageously influencing in politics all opportunistically inclined natures. Thus, the "Czechoslovak" versus Autonomist conflict also assumed the character of a social struggle. The employment problem in other homogeneous speaking states caused a social tension and made it possible for Communists and Socialists to make greater election gains. In Slovakia, however, it led to an increased tension between Czechs and Slovaks and became the fruitful soil for a separatist nationalism. Czech officials, teachers, and other white collar employees entered Slovakia with the understanding that they would remain there in the exercise of their proper functions until Slovakia could gather sufficient expert forces of its own. After the departure of the Magyars and Slovak, renegades, there remained few experts in Slovakia who could be used in public administration and education(4). Since the Czechs in Austria had their own autonomy and at the same time took an important part in the management of the entire monarchy, they possessed a surplus of intellectuals and for that reason considered Slovakia as a province for the allocation of their intellectuals. Not only did the Czechs reveal an unwillingness to leave the labor possibilities in favor of the new Slovak intelligentsia, but, by utilizing their own influential connections, they also increased their own ranks. The unequal representation of Slovaks and Czechs that existed in the public organs of Slovakia is evident from the following employment statistics of the Board of State Railways in Bratislava and Kosice. In 1925, of 5,134 engineers and higher officers, 90 percent were Czechs; of 12,355 second grade laborers 60 percent were Czechs; of 16, 025 unskilled laborers, 30 percent were Czechs(5). �10 SLOVAKIA This situation is best mirrored in the emigration from Czecho-Slovakia during the years 1920-1937. Of the 400,193 people, who emigrated from the whole country, 213,283 or 52.2 percent belonged to Slovakia. This is an astonishingly high percentage when one considers that Slovakia formed only 23 percent of the whole population of the Czecho-Slovak Republic(6). It was impossible for such a situation not to give rise to many complaints on the part of the Slovaks. It turned them against the Czechs as well as against the Czecho-Slovak state and steadily created suppositions for the greater emphasis of a separate national individuality and eventually an independent state. 3. Lutheran vs. Catholic The conflicts of Slovak nationalism often have their roots in the religious differences of the Slovak population. We have already mentioned that Catholic priests and Lutheran ministers had played an important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism. To Western observers this often appears as a remnant of so-called clericalism. It is hardly possible, however, to make a parallel between what is known in France and Italy as clericalism and the role of priests in Slovak politics. In Slovakia priests entered into politics under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment, which philosophy gave an impetus to anticlerical struggles in other countries. And it is a fact that Slovak priests also entered into frequent controversy with higher members of the hierarchy, chiefly because the latter were not of Slovak origin and for the greater part supported the Magyar government in its attempts at assimilation in Hungary. That these conflicts did not develop into open religious splits can be accredited to the Popes who, stemming from Pope Leo XIII and his social encyclicals, sympathized with peoples' movements and continually sought to keep them within the fold of the Church. It happened frequently that in disagreements, involving priests and bishops, Rome stood on the side of the priests whenever the controversy stemmed from different social or national sources An outstanding example of the Vatican's attitude is �SLOVAKIA 11 mirrored in the case of Father IDinka, leader of the Slovak Autonomists. Suspended in 1906 by his Magyar Bishop Parvy for participating in the election campaign, Hlinka found Rome favorable to his cause. Bishop Parvy was thus virtually compelled to reinstate Hlinka as pastor. Thus, assured of the sympathies of the Vatican and enthused over the idea of helping their oppressed kin, the Slovak priests took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. Whenever any member of the Slovak laity in Hungary received an education, the person usually became denationalized either because of the schools or the nature of his position, which demanded of him a subservient service to the government. Otherwise it was impossible to advance in a chosen career. Furthermore, children from peasant, village families found it economically almost impossible to receive a higher education. Only members of wealthier families, which comprised the group of Slovak renegades, were able to pursue higher studies and obtain leading positions. The only vocation open to boys with a village and farming background was that to the priesthood. Not only did the priestly vocation offer an education to such boys, since seminary studies were almost completely free, but it also sent its priests back among the same people whence they came. Furthermore, although the courses were conducted in a Magyar spirit, and this could have influenced them, nevertheless upon the completion of their studies they returned to their own people and once again found themselves in the center of their origin. Moreover, they were not weighted down with the fear that they would be hindered in their career if they failed to act according to the intentions of the government. They were, therefore, very independent in their actions and in fulfilling their vocation. These priests, however, were on the lowest rung of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the higher rungs were either completely Magyar or Slovak renegadist. It is self-evident that they would be mostly attracted to the ideas of the Enlightenment concerning the people and later romantic ideas concerning the nation. In the majority of instances they, therefore, sought with revolutionary zest to make �12 SLOVAKIA these ideas productive under the motto: "For God and Country!" It is true that, because of the nature of their vocation, they carried religion into politics, and therefore gave an impetus to conflicts of a religious nature. But it is also true, that the reasons why religion became embroiled in politics in Central Europe were not because priests desired to become the leaders of national and peoples' movements, but because of the very nature of the society which retained the religious foundation it had inherited from the Middle Ages. The undermining of this foundation, after the birth of Liberalism, could not fail to call forth ecclesiastical reaction, which began to appear in the establishment of Catholic parties as the most effective, defensive means in the political struggles of democracies. According to the statistics of 1930, the population of Slovakia comprised percentage-wise the following religious denominations: Roman and Greek Catholics - 78.013 percent; Lutherans 12.008 percent; Calvinists 4.376 percent; Jews - 4.102 percent; others - 1.5 percent(?). Only Catholics and Lutherans, however, play a role in Slovak nationalism. Calvinists are for the most part Magyars; and Jews, when not Magyars, in most instances take sides with those who oppose Slovak nationalism. Between Lutherans and Catholics there existed in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism a certain competition in patriotism, which did not always tend in the same direction, principally in matters concerning the legislation of the national Slovak language. In their religious services, the Lutherans used the old Czech language of the so-called "Kralice Bible" that was translated by the Moravian Brethren who were followers of John Hus. This fact led them to retain Czech as the literary tongue for some time. Catholics, on the other hand, always used the Slovak language of the common people and legalized it as national in 1787. From the beginning, Catholics showed the evident tendency to emphasize their distinct national Slovak individuality from that of the Czechs. Lutherans, highly influenced by Pan-Slavism however, were prone to accept the idea that Czechs and Slovaks form a common racial unit of one great Slav family. �SLOVAKIA 13 It was not until the revolutionary times of 1848 that r..udovit Stur, one of the most eminent Lutheran national revivers, established the supposition that Lutherans should also accept the principle of a Slovak language distinct from the Czech. Suppositions were thus established for the close cooperation between Lutherans and Catholics to guarantee national rights to Slovaks in what formerely had been Hungary. In spite of their minority, the Lutherans in 1848 took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. They formed a rich romantic literature, initiated many political steps in the Hungarian government to obtain national rights for Slovaks, founded a few Slovak cultural institutions and led the only Slovak political party in Hungary, called the Slovak National Party. Catholics accepted their leadership as self-evidential. This acceptance assured almost complete harmony between both units of Slovak nationalism. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Catholics were summoned into more feverish political activity by a newly-created, all-state, Catholic party called the People's Party, founded and headed by the Magyar Count Zichy. The party was brought to life through many laws passed by the liberal-controlled Hungarian Parliament that sought to destroy the present Christian tradition of the country. One of these laws dealt with marriage and demanded that every citizen undergo a civil wedding ceremony. Otherwise, the program of the People's Party appropriated the social principles enumerated in the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII and also fought for the recognition of national rights for individual nationalism in Hungary. It was a program which Slovak Catholic priests were seeking to realize for a long time. For this reason, the party achieved comparatively wonderful success on Slovak ethnical territory shortly after its entrance into the political struggle. In this party Father Andrew Hlinka achieved public political recognition and in time became the most eminent representative of Slovak nationalism. Although the People's Party received great help from non-Magyar priests and the Catholic laity, the Magyar leaders were in no way anxious to fulfill the nationalitypoint of their program either in the government or within �14 SLOVAKIA the framework of their own party. Rather they supported almost openly the assimilative pressure of the government upon nationalities and, therefore, upon the Slovaks. The deceived Slovak Catholics, therefore, left this party and formed their own Slovak People's Party under the leadership of Father Andrew Hlinka. This party appropriated the social and religious program of the original People's Party and immediately brought forth its claim to national rights for Slovaks. The introduction of the Slovak People's Party created the following situation in Slovakia: Slovak Catholics began to organize into the People's Party, whereas the existing Slovak National Party became only a political organ of Slovak Lutherans. It emphasized a political division according to religion, but no serious conflicts, in the sense of Catholic versus Lutheran, ensued at that time. Magyar pressure steadily created new suppositions for cooperation towards the same national goal. This political division along religious lines became the source of conflict between Catholics and Lutherans only when, in the new Czecho-Slovakia, the fight for national rights was replaced by the struggle to seize power. In this struggle the Lutherans were victorious, because they accepted willingly the centralizing efforts of Prague. The anti-ecclesiastical and Hussite-enrooted politics of the new Czecho-Slovakia meant a grave injury to the deeply religious-conscious Catholics, though it was, to a certain extent, welcomed by the Lutherans. For Catholics, it was a serious reason to fight uncompromisingly for an autonomous Slovakia; for Lutherans and a small group of liberals it was the foundation whereby they easily accepted the principle of the "Czechoslovak" nation and the centralization based on this principle. Prague, therefore, rewarded them with power, and did that without any regard for the vast majority of Slovak Catholics. Practically all of the more prominent politicians in Czecho-Slovakia from Slovakia were Lutherans. They formed a very narrow ruling class, because they were limited to a few chosen families. Out of their midst came a narrow circile of so-called "experts," whom Prague made good use of to govern in Slo- �SLOVAKIA 15 vakia. The eminent English historian C. A. Macartney describes the situation thusly: The fact remains that the (Czechoslovak) government has been obliged more often than not to rule Slovakia against the wishes of most of its inhabitants, maintaining itself only by the expedients of restricting the powers of the self-governing bodies to within the narrowest possible limits, of filling the seats designated for "experts" with its own nominees, and utilizing freely weapons of censorship and police supervision(8). 4. The Reason For the Division It will not be hard to understand why the above-mentioned conflicts developed within the Slovak community if we bear in mind the two main obstacles which revived Slovak nationalism had to overcome. The one was of an internal character, while the other was due to external pressure. Internally, the Slovaks had at the beginning the ten- t dency to confuse their nationality with that of an imaginary Slav nation. This mixup arose from the Pan-Slavistic ideology that greatly appealed to some Slovak leaders, because it imbued them with the feeling of strength in view of the desperate situation in which they found themselves in Hungary. On the other hand, it hindered them from developing the consciousness of a distinct national Slovak character, because some readily accepted the idea of unity with the "closest" Slav nation, namely, th,e Czechs. The Slovaks who felt most strongly inclined to a union with the Czechs opposed the codification of a separate Slovak language. To them the Czech language seemed suitable even for those of their kin living in Hungary. Although these tendencies never took firm roots with majority of the population in Slovakia, they were, the ) nevertheless, strong enough to arouse conflicts and later to enable the Czechs to exploit the Slovaks politically. That I the Czechs have not succeeded can be attributed to the fact that the majority of the Slovaks have always felt \ and professed to be an ethnographically, historically, and culturally distinct nation from the Czechs, and have constantly endeavored to create for Slovakia such political conditions which would stress that distinct national character. I �16 SLOVAKIA The terms "Czechoslovak" and "Autonomist" are to be understood as political designations: the "Czechoslovaks" are those Slovaks who profess to be Czechs; the "Autonomists" are those who feel and act as Slovaks. The designation "Autonomist" comes from the Autonomist Party whose purpose was to assure an autonomous government for Slovakia as opposed to a centralized Czecho-Slovakia sought for by Czechoslovaks. The conflict "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" can best be expressed in the form of a question: Are we Czechs or are we Slovaks? To this question the Czechoslovak would answer: I am a Czech; the Autonomist: I am a Slovak. Realizing these basic differences, we can easily see that the "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict resemble the former "Slovak renegade (Magyarized Slovak) versus Pan-Slavist" conflict. The term "Czechoslovak" compares with the Slovak renegade, while the term "Autonomist" with the Pan-Slavist. The difference, however, lies in the fact that the Magyarized Slovak denied his Slovak nationality, while the Czechoslovak has always admitted his original Slovak ethnographical nationality. The former's denial flows from the lack of kinship between Slovaks and Magyars, whereas the Czechoslovak admission is based upon a close racial kinship between Czechs' and Slovaks. Thus, the latter would like to merge the Slovaks with the Czechs despite the fact that there is a sensitive difference between both these related nations. That these conflicts developed to such proportions as to endanger the survival of the Slovaks can be accounted for by the political pressure exerted first by Magyars and later by Czechs. With the removal of that pressure came the disappearance of these conflicts and a deeper understanding of a distinct national personality ensued. As of now, the "Magyarized Slovak versus Pan-Slavist" conflict belongs to history and has r.ceased to be of any importance in the politics of the country. Hardly any citizen of Slovak descent would long for the return of former Hungary, let alone to profess any kinship with the Magyars. The "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict is not yet dead. Nevertheless, it is losing its original "rai- �SLOVAKIA 17 son d' etre." The Slovaks who still long for the preservation of Czecho-Slovakia, have abandoned the highly disputed fiction of the "Czechoslovak nation" and are accepting the realistic view that Czechs and Slovaks are ethnographically, politically, and historically distinct nations. Thus, these conflicts brought to an end discussions about national personality. The differences which still remain / revolve about the following problem: in what kind of an alliance or political form should Slovaks live to assure for themselves the best conditions for their future survival? (1) Sometimes a distinction has to be made between "Magyar" and "Hungarian" in dealing with the national problems of Hungary prior to World War I. The former Hungarian Kingdom was a country of many nationalities that in their capacity of citizens, were also Hungarians. The designation "Magyar" for "Hungarian" is, therefore, more appropriate whenever the ethnographic character of the problem is to be emphasized. Thus "Magyarizing process" is to denote the forceful methods used by the dominating Magyars or Hungarians to assimilate the other nationalities of Hungary with the view of creating a linguistically and ethnographically homogeneous state. (2) Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le Drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955; p. 104. (3) Karol Sidor: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934; p. 535. (4) Harrison Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History, p. 292. ((5) K. Culen: Cesi a Slovaci vo Verejnej Sprave Cesko-Slo• venskej Republiky, Bratislava, 1944; p. 70. (6) Joseph A. Mikus: op. cit.; p. 66. (7) Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, Winnipeg, 1953; p. 64. (8) Hungary and Her Successors, London, 1937; p. 145. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The on[y just and deimocira.tiic solution od' tJhe 'Cwchoslo,v ak' mess crnate'd by T. G. Masaryk and Benes and their foHorwers woudd be tJhe compl.ete freedom and .poliitica:l. inde-0 pendence of the nations inv;o1ved. No just and deimoeratic soluition will be arnived at as long as a 'CzechoslovaJkia' is a}iloiwed to ex,isit, becaiuse everything proposed in the direction of rea[i:zirug the fornldaimental rights of the Slovruk and Rlutihenian peoples would. he l'a be[ed 'aiccording to law' as anti~State and punishiable as such, as. it had been in the first (1918-1938) and third ReipUibJics (1945-1948) orf Czecho-Slo~ia." - (P. A. Hroibak, letter to Hon. Aivin M. Benltfo:y, Juliy 10, 1953). � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 Published quarterly by the VOL. VIII Slovak League of America NO. 2 (27) JUNE, 1958 SLOVAK NATIONALISM: CONFLICTS OF SLOVAK NATIONALISM ' B. S. BUC, Ph.D. . 1. Magyar Renegade vs. Pan-Slavist The historical and ideological development of Slovak nationalism was certainly not devoid of internal conflicts. It is self-evident that a society, which lived through many centuries without any political markings whatsoever, had to submit to a series of influences. They left many traces upon its national• character, which hindered the harmonious blending of energies that would have been necessary for the more succes'sfu1 attainment of a lofty goal. Since the Slovaks had lived for a thousand years within the framework of the Hungarian State without their territorial boundaries, they possessed no suppositions to establish at least that kind of group consciousness which would mirror the cultural, political, or geographical character of the land in which they lived. Even though reawakened Slovak nationalism traced its beginnings of national individuality to G'reat Moravia, it had to lean mostly upon an ethnical distinction from the Magyar.(1) Since the land of the Slovaks formed an integral part of the Hungarian over practically the entire ethnical expanse of the Slovaks, and in the' south created such a conglomeration of Slovak and Magyar elements, th1:1.t even today it is impossible fo establish between them such bountiaries which would be agreeable to ' the state and at the same time would fulfill the desire for self-determination. Into the territory of Slovakia, as it was formed after the First World War as a part of Czecho-Slovakia, were incorporated 655,322 Hungarians. They comprised 27 percent of all the inhabitants. Meanwhile 180,000 Slovaks re, ,.. mained in Hungary and they, for the most part, were scat"( ( 2 SLOVAKIA tered throughout the land. This fact gave the Magyars a Slovakia in order to liberate their co-racialists. And they accomplished their goal in 1938 when Czecho-Slovakia crumbled under Hitler's pressure. The Vienna arbitrage, whose principal agents were the Italian foreign minister Ciano and the German foreign minister Ribentrop, apportioned to Hungary 10,309 square kilometers of Slovak land together with 853,670 inhabitants. According to statistics of the year 1930, these inhabitants comprised 503,980 Magyars, 26,157 Jews, 272,145 Slovaks, and 1,825 Ruthenians. Still remaining in Slovakia were 57,193 Magyars. The number of Slovaks in Hungary after the arbitrage increased from 180,00 to 352,145, that is, six times more than the Magyars remaining in Slovakia(2). After the Second World War, all the land taken away by the arbitrage was returned to Slovakia. The new communist-dominated Czecho-Slovak government proceeded to solve this national mixup by making an agreement with Communist Hungary to exchange all Magyars in Slovakia for all Slovaks in Hungary. Furthermore, it removed forcibly a certain portion of the Magyars from Southern Slovakia into the Sudetenland in place of the ousted Germans. Prior to World War I, the upper social classes in Slovakia - the intelligentsia, merchants and greater landowners - were also almost wholly magyarized. If they acknowledged their Slovak origin, they nevertheless accepted the idea of the Hungarian State as their political "credo" and did not concur with the efforts of revived Slovak nationalism. Rather they looked upon it as the manifestation of an unfriendly attitude to the Hungarian fatherland. They therefore engaged freely in all undertakings of the Hungarian government to smear the Pan-Slavists, as they labelled the Slovak patriots. Thus at the very beginning of Slovak nationalism, arises the first major conflict, namely the struggle between Slovak renegades and Pan-Slavists. Slovak renegades were those people of Slovak origin who, either because of opportunities or conviction, offered their services toward the assimilating efforts of the Hun_garian government, which aimed at creating as soon as possible a homogeneous speaking Magyar State. On the SLOVAKIA 3 other hand, Slovak patriots, were considered Pan-Slavists. They were so named because, in their political struggle, they proceeded hand in hand with the other Slav nationalities in Hungary and often gave evidence of Pan-Slavistic tendencies. The conflict of these two divisions within Slovak society grew steadily more and more violent after the revolutionary year of 1848. Upon it were centered all struggles on Slovak ethnical territory, whether they were of a political, cultural, social, or religious nature. The division of Slovak society into renegades and Pan-Slavists had not only political but also social roots. The assemblage of Slovak renegades was composed of members of the lordly class, among whom we find the intelligentsia, merchants, greater landowners or peers. On the other side stood the great mass of people comprising the Pan-Slavists, among whom were numbered small village farmers and various agricultural workers. Because industry was still in its rudimentary stages, the working class was practically non-extant. From among the intelligentsia, priests had the closest contacts with the broad masses of people and, therefore, became natural leaders and agents of Slovak nationalism. . The aforementioned fact gives further testimony that Slovak nationalism was more a social than a national movement in its beginnings. The reviving tasks of national leaders in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism possessed rather a culturo-social than a national-political character. Slovak leaders entered upon a national-political program only with the revolutionary times of 1848, when they organized a military uprising and brought forth their demand that not Magyar but rather Slovak should be the language used in schools and official circles of the defined Slovak territory within the framework of Hungary. The beginnings leading towards the accomplishment of this demand seemed very favorable in the years prior to 1867. At that time Vienna, resisting the revolting Magyars, sought the support of her nationalities who demanded from the Magyar government of Hungary the same national rights which the Magyars, led by Slovak renegade Louis Kossuth, demanded for themselves in Vienna. 4 SLOVAKIA In 1867, .however, a ~ettlement took place between Vieniia and' Budapest. Slovak nationalism thus lost the '' giveIJ. over support of Vienna and was as a prize to the Magyars to become an internal concz;en of the Hungarian portion of the Habsburg Monarchy. Immediatel y the Magyars feverishly set for~h to magyarize all their nationalities, which action manifested itself on Slovak ethnical .territory by the abolition of all Slovak , political and purely cultural institutions and by the introductio n of Magyar as the official language jn HtJ.ngary. SGhools 1 were to educate a new generation, one that would speak only Magyar and one that would be devoted w:holly to the, Magyars and the ,Hungarian State which they controlled. In these attempts the Magyar-co ntrolled Hungarian governmen t found in Slovakia willing supporters among the ranks of the above-men tioned Slovak renegades, who, in full compliance ·with the psychologic al bent of every renegade, labored more fanatically in instilling the magyarizing program than the governmen t itself had actually contemplat ed. The result could only end in a bitter conflict with the deeply Slovak-con scious group of inhabitants. , This conflict came to light npt only in political manifestations, as is elecfoms, but purrow~d deep even into the daily concerns of the inhabitants . In elections, genuinely Slovak candidates generally had little hope of winning even in those ,electoral districts where the vast majority sympathize d with them. The reason lay in a voting law , which granted voting privileges only to those who possessed a certain· amount of property. This law excluded from voting precisely that portion of Slovak ethnical teritory which formed tb.e basis of Slovak nationalism and granted the decisive word to those who had lost t~eir Slovak national consciousn ess but propertywise were more ,powerful. li'urthermo re, the elections were public and influenced very ev,idently by much use of bribery. Official candidates received heavy aid and support from the governmen t, whereas national candidates could only rely upon their, own resources, which were for the most part meagre and limited. In daily life the conflict between . Slovak renegades SLOVAKIA 5 and patriotic Slovaks was mirrored mostly in the use of language. The renegades used the Magyar tongue almost exclusively; they regarded the speaking of Magyar not only as a maninfestation of "patriotic" sentiment, but also as the mark of a higher social position. Slovak, 1on the other hand, was looked upon as the tongue of poverty and its use was considered a display of "anti-patriotic'' feeling. In this conflict, which created an atmosphere of almost continual political as well as social tension, Slovak nationalism suffered the loss of much strength, for social privileges, schools and governmental pressure inflicted upon it serious harm and threatened it with destruction. 2. "Czechoslovak" vs. Autonomist With the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia this process was suddenly halted and the Slovaks found themselves in more favorable conditions. Because of the- changed political situation, a large 'number bf former Slovak renegades departed from Slovakia. Furthermore, many of them began to admit again their Sldvak origin, orientated themselves to the new poltiical setup, and even though manifesting little enthusiasm for the revolutionary change, they nevertheless undertook no organized effort which could have proved detrimental to the erection of the new state. It is comprehensible that all national Slovak units accepted the establishment of Czecho-Slovakia with gfeat enthusiasm. But this enthusiasm lasted only as long as its emotional foundation, built in the past under the influence of Pan-Slavism, was extanh It was primarily nurtured by a common fate of the Czechs and Slovaks in Austria-Hungary and led them to progress jointly in their struggles for national ,rights. When, however, both units merged and , had to work out serious problems which appeared during the erection of the new state, the basic difference of the Czech and Slovak character projected itself on the scene and gave an impetus to many conflicts, which in time grew more violent. It is true that Czechs and Slovaks did not find it too difficult to understand one another ling-uistica:lly because of the marked kinship of their languages. Nevertheless, 1-the ideological antl cultural background · of 6 SLOVAKIA / their natures showed itself to be so different that it created an almost impassable gulf between them. The fore-warning of this break was the difference of their religious positions. From the burning of John Hus, the first ecclesiastical reformer at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Czech character continued to show opposition to Rome and to the Habsburgs. After successfully routing all Czech reforming elements in 1647, the Habsburgs carried on intensive re-Catholiciza tion in Czech lands. With the downfall of the Habsburgs after the First World War, the Czechs found it opportune to undo what they had looked upon as an injustice and, therefore, did not conceal their anti-Catholic thinking in creating CzechoSlovakia. The Slovaks, who are 82 percent Catholic, had no grudge against Rome, and after attaining their national liberty showed no unfriendliness to Catholicism. Thus, immediately in the beginning of the new state, the religious question became an experimental rock of Czech-Slovak relationship and drove the popular and formerly Czechinclined Father Andrew Hlinka with his Slovak People's Party into violent opposition against the Czechs. When, in addition, with the help of a minority of Slovak Lutherans and isolated Liberals, Prague began to organize Czecho-Slova kia centralisticall y by disregarding former agreements about making it a federative republic of two distinct nations, "Czechs and Slovaks," Slovak Catholics inaugurated a movement which came to be known under the name "Autonomist. " The whole discussion seemed, however, to turn around the connotation of the phrase "Czechoslovak nation." In the first chapter of this treatise, allusion was made to the impact of Pan-Slavism upon the budding Slovak nationalism. The Pan-Slavist visualized a kind of political and ethnographica l unification of all Slavs on the ground of their kinship and close language relationship. Influenced by this Pan-Slavistic trend, some Slovaks - especially Lutherans - were prone to accept the idea of the complete fusion of the Slovaks with the Czechs. This objective was to be achieved through a centralized rather than federative Czecho-Slovak ia. Thus, in disregard of all SLOVAKIA 7 previous agreements between the Czechs and Slovaks, the Czecho-Slovak Republic was organized on the basis of a centralized government. Moreover, the special phrase "Czechoslovak nation" was coined. It had to denote that Czechs and Slovaks were ethnographically, culturally, and politically the same nation. Practically, it meant that the Slovaks were to be made over into Czechs, since the Slovak language was declared a dialect of the Czech and Slovakia was not conceded any right to self-government. Thus, in this new conflict "Czechoslovak vs. Autonomist" two issues were involved: the issue of national difference between the Slovaks and Czechs and the issue of self-government for Slovakia. Those who denied them were "Czechoslovaks"; those who claimed them were "Autonomists." There arose once again the struggle between those who favored the government and those who opposed it for its incorrect interpretation of Slovak feelings. To determine by proper evaluation which side profited in this conflict, it would be unjust to form conclusions solely on the basis of the election outcomes of those parties who stood for the autonomist program. The Slovak People's Party, led by Father Hlinka, alone had a purely autonomist program. But the individuality of the Slovak nation was also stressed by the Slovak National Party, led by Martin Razus, a Lutheran minister, comprising chiefly the Slovak Lutherans, and by the Communist Party. The latter proceeded further than Hlinka's party by demanding the complete separation of Slovakia from the Czechs lands as early as 1926. The autonomist movement achieved its greatest victory in the elections of 1925; of the 299 representative seats in the Czecho-Slovak Parliament, 160 were won by the Czechs, 47 by the Slovaks, 5 by the Ruthenians, 1 by the Russians, 75 by the Germans and 10 by the Magyars. Now the 47 seats belonging to the Slovaks did not represent autonomists only; it simply indicated the representatives from Slovak ethnical territory. Of these seats, 23, belonged to the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 5 to the Communist Party, 1 to the Slovak National Party; the remainder belonged to the parties which based their plat- 8 SLOVAKIA form on the principle of a "Czechoslovak" nation and stood for a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic(3). Even though the Slovak People's Party emerged from this election with 23 delegates and gained ascendancy over the other parties seeking for votes in Slovakia, its strength would not necesarily indicate that the idea of a Slovak national individuality was highly popular among Slovak inhabitants. In evaluating the results to determine how parties opposed to this idea were won over in Slovakia, one must not overlook the factor of material benefits offered by those in power to anyone voting for them. Thus, opportunism rather than nationalism was the chief factor which influenced the so-called official parties on Slovak ethnical territory. Actually the defenders and confessors of centralism in Slovakia comprised only a small group of individuals who, with the aid of the Czechs, constituted a true ruling class. In this way they assured for themselves a lasting political career and of course material comforts. They, therefore, took the place of the former Slovak renegades and, like the latter, were the instruments of foreign influences endeavoring to deter the uni-characteristic development of Slovak nationalism. Nevertheless, in the Czecho-Slovak versus Autonomist conflict, Slovak nationalism possessed since the beginning a greater advantage than in the Slovak renegade versus patriotic Slovak conflict because it had the support of schools. It is a very significant circumstance, that although the greater majority of professors and teachers in Slovak schools at the beginning of the Czecho-Slovak Repuplic were Czechs, who came to Slovakia l:>ecause of the lack of specialized Slovak talent, they nevertheless were not able to educate a Slovak generation which wo_u ld become devoted to the idea of the "Czechoslovak" nation, and to a centralized Czecho-Slovak Republic ,based on that idea. The Czechs explain this phenomenon as the ungratefulness of the young Slovak generation for ,proferred aid. It is true that this Czech assistance enabl,~d the Slovaks to make inroads into modern European , society. But the key to the correct evaluation of this seeming ungrateful_ness is offered, by statistics which co111pare the labor pos- SLOVAKIA 9 sibilities between Czechs and Slovaks on Slovak ethnical territory. The employment question became the most effective outlet for the dissemination of the autonomist movement over the broader Slovak strata, whereby a young, Czech-trained Slovak generation was won over to its objectives. On the other hand, it aided also that group of Slovaks and Czechs who, controlling the sole possibility of distributing labor, possessed an effective means of advantageously influencing in politics all opportunistically inclined natures. Thus, the "Czechoslovak" versus Autonomist conflict also assumed the character of a social struggle. The employment problem in other homogeneous speaking states caused a social tension and made it possible for Communists and Socialists to make greater election gains. In Slovakia, however, it led to an increased tension between Czechs and Slovaks and became the fruitful soil for a separatist nationalism. Czech officials, teachers, and other white collar employees entered Slovakia with the understanding that they would remain there in the exercise of their proper functions until Slovakia could gather sufficient expert forces of its own. After the departure of the Magyars and Slovak, renegades, there remained few experts in Slovakia who could be used in public administration and education(4). Since the Czechs in Austria had their own autonomy and at the same time took an important part in the management of the entire monarchy, they possessed a surplus of intellectuals and for that reason considered Slovakia as a province for the allocation of their intellectuals. Not only did the Czechs reveal an unwillingness to leave the labor possibilities in favor of the new Slovak intelligentsia, but, by utilizing their own influential connections, they also increased their own ranks. The unequal representation of Slovaks and Czechs that existed in the public organs of Slovakia is evident from the following employment statistics of the Board of State Railways in Bratislava and Kosice. In 1925, of 5,134 engineers and higher officers, 90 percent were Czechs; of 12,355 second grade laborers 60 percent were Czechs; of 16, 025 unskilled laborers, 30 percent were Czechs(5). 10 SLOVAKIA This situation is best mirrored in the emigration from Czecho-Slovakia during the years 1920-1937. Of the 400,193 people, who emigrated from the whole country, 213,283 or 52.2 percent belonged to Slovakia. This is an astonishingly high percentage when one considers that Slovakia formed only 23 percent of the whole population of the Czecho-Slovak Republic(6). It was impossible for such a situation not to give rise to many complaints on the part of the Slovaks. It turned them against the Czechs as well as against the Czecho-Slovak state and steadily created suppositions for the greater emphasis of a separate national individuality and eventually an independent state. 3. Lutheran vs. Catholic The conflicts of Slovak nationalism often have their roots in the religious differences of the Slovak population. We have already mentioned that Catholic priests and Lutheran ministers had played an important role in the reawakening of Slovak nationalism. To Western observers this often appears as a remnant of so-called clericalism. It is hardly possible, however, to make a parallel between what is known in France and Italy as clericalism and the role of priests in Slovak politics. In Slovakia priests entered into politics under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment, which philosophy gave an impetus to anticlerical struggles in other countries. And it is a fact that Slovak priests also entered into frequent controversy with higher members of the hierarchy, chiefly because the latter were not of Slovak origin and for the greater part supported the Magyar government in its attempts at assimilation in Hungary. That these conflicts did not develop into open religious splits can be accredited to the Popes who, stemming from Pope Leo XIII and his social encyclicals, sympathized with peoples' movements and continually sought to keep them within the fold of the Church. It happened frequently that in disagreements, involving priests and bishops, Rome stood on the side of the priests whenever the controversy stemmed from different social or national sources An outstanding example of the Vatican's attitude is SLOVAKIA 11 mirrored in the case of Father IDinka, leader of the Slovak Autonomists. Suspended in 1906 by his Magyar Bishop Parvy for participating in the election campaign, Hlinka found Rome favorable to his cause. Bishop Parvy was thus virtually compelled to reinstate Hlinka as pastor. Thus, assured of the sympathies of the Vatican and enthused over the idea of helping their oppressed kin, the Slovak priests took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. Whenever any member of the Slovak laity in Hungary received an education, the person usually became denationalized either because of the schools or the nature of his position, which demanded of him a subservient service to the government. Otherwise it was impossible to advance in a chosen career. Furthermore, children from peasant, village families found it economically almost impossible to receive a higher education. Only members of wealthier families, which comprised the group of Slovak renegades, were able to pursue higher studies and obtain leading positions. The only vocation open to boys with a village and farming background was that to the priesthood. Not only did the priestly vocation offer an education to such boys, since seminary studies were almost completely free, but it also sent its priests back among the same people whence they came. Furthermore, although the courses were conducted in a Magyar spirit, and this could have influenced them, nevertheless upon the completion of their studies they returned to their own people and once again found themselves in the center of their origin. Moreover, they were not weighted down with the fear that they would be hindered in their career if they failed to act according to the intentions of the government. They were, therefore, very independent in their actions and in fulfilling their vocation. These priests, however, were on the lowest rung of the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the higher rungs were either completely Magyar or Slovak renegadist. It is self-evident that they would be mostly attracted to the ideas of the Enlightenment concerning the people and later romantic ideas concerning the nation. In the majority of instances they, therefore, sought with revolutionary zest to make 12 SLOVAKIA these ideas productive under the motto: "For God and Country!" It is true that, because of the nature of their vocation, they carried religion into politics, and therefore gave an impetus to conflicts of a religious nature. But it is also true, that the reasons why religion became embroiled in politics in Central Europe were not because priests desired to become the leaders of national and peoples' movements, but because of the very nature of the society which retained the religious foundation it had inherited from the Middle Ages. The undermining of this foundation, after the birth of Liberalism, could not fail to call forth ecclesiastical reaction, which began to appear in the establishment of Catholic parties as the most effective, defensive means in the political struggles of democracies. According to the statistics of 1930, the population of Slovakia comprised percentage-wise the following religious denominations: Roman and Greek Catholics - 78.013 percent; Lutherans 12.008 percent; Calvinists 4.376 percent; Jews - 4.102 percent; others - 1.5 percent(?). Only Catholics and Lutherans, however, play a role in Slovak nationalism. Calvinists are for the most part Magyars; and Jews, when not Magyars, in most instances take sides with those who oppose Slovak nationalism. Between Lutherans and Catholics there existed in the beginnings of Slovak nationalism a certain competition in patriotism, which did not always tend in the same direction, principally in matters concerning the legislation of the national Slovak language. In their religious services, the Lutherans used the old Czech language of the so-called "Kralice Bible" that was translated by the Moravian Brethren who were followers of John Hus. This fact led them to retain Czech as the literary tongue for some time. Catholics, on the other hand, always used the Slovak language of the common people and legalized it as national in 1787. From the beginning, Catholics showed the evident tendency to emphasize their distinct national Slovak individuality from that of the Czechs. Lutherans, highly influenced by Pan-Slavism however, were prone to accept the idea that Czechs and Slovaks form a common racial unit of one great Slav family. SLOVAKIA 13 It was not until the revolutionary times of 1848 that r..udovit Stur, one of the most eminent Lutheran national revivers, established the supposition that Lutherans should also accept the principle of a Slovak language distinct from the Czech. Suppositions were thus established for the close cooperation between Lutherans and Catholics to guarantee national rights to Slovaks in what formerely had been Hungary. In spite of their minority, the Lutherans in 1848 took over the leadership in Slovak nationalism. They formed a rich romantic literature, initiated many political steps in the Hungarian government to obtain national rights for Slovaks, founded a few Slovak cultural institutions and led the only Slovak political party in Hungary, called the Slovak National Party. Catholics accepted their leadership as self-evidential. This acceptance assured almost complete harmony between both units of Slovak nationalism. Towards the end of the nineteenth century Catholics were summoned into more feverish political activity by a newly-created, all-state, Catholic party called the People's Party, founded and headed by the Magyar Count Zichy. The party was brought to life through many laws passed by the liberal-controlled Hungarian Parliament that sought to destroy the present Christian tradition of the country. One of these laws dealt with marriage and demanded that every citizen undergo a civil wedding ceremony. Otherwise, the program of the People's Party appropriated the social principles enumerated in the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII and also fought for the recognition of national rights for individual nationalism in Hungary. It was a program which Slovak Catholic priests were seeking to realize for a long time. For this reason, the party achieved comparatively wonderful success on Slovak ethnical territory shortly after its entrance into the political struggle. In this party Father Andrew Hlinka achieved public political recognition and in time became the most eminent representative of Slovak nationalism. Although the People's Party received great help from non-Magyar priests and the Catholic laity, the Magyar leaders were in no way anxious to fulfill the nationalitypoint of their program either in the government or within 14 SLOVAKIA the framework of their own party. Rather they supported almost openly the assimilative pressure of the government upon nationalities and, therefore, upon the Slovaks. The deceived Slovak Catholics, therefore, left this party and formed their own Slovak People's Party under the leadership of Father Andrew Hlinka. This party appropriated the social and religious program of the original People's Party and immediately brought forth its claim to national rights for Slovaks. The introduction of the Slovak People's Party created the following situation in Slovakia: Slovak Catholics began to organize into the People's Party, whereas the existing Slovak National Party became only a political organ of Slovak Lutherans. It emphasized a political division according to religion, but no serious conflicts, in the sense of Catholic versus Lutheran, ensued at that time. Magyar pressure steadily created new suppositions for cooperation towards the same national goal. This political division along religious lines became the source of conflict between Catholics and Lutherans only when, in the new Czecho-Slovakia, the fight for national rights was replaced by the struggle to seize power. In this struggle the Lutherans were victorious, because they accepted willingly the centralizing efforts of Prague. The anti-ecclesiastical and Hussite-enrooted politics of the new Czecho-Slovakia meant a grave injury to the deeply religious-conscious Catholics, though it was, to a certain extent, welcomed by the Lutherans. For Catholics, it was a serious reason to fight uncompromisingly for an autonomous Slovakia; for Lutherans and a small group of liberals it was the foundation whereby they easily accepted the principle of the "Czechoslovak" nation and the centralization based on this principle. Prague, therefore, rewarded them with power, and did that without any regard for the vast majority of Slovak Catholics. Practically all of the more prominent politicians in Czecho-Slovakia from Slovakia were Lutherans. They formed a very narrow ruling class, because they were limited to a few chosen families. Out of their midst came a narrow circile of so-called "experts," whom Prague made good use of to govern in Slo- SLOVAKIA 15 vakia. The eminent English historian C. A. Macartney describes the situation thusly: The fact remains that the (Czechoslovak) government has been obliged more often than not to rule Slovakia against the wishes of most of its inhabitants, maintaining itself only by the expedients of restricting the powers of the self-governing bodies to within the narrowest possible limits, of filling the seats designated for "experts" with its own nominees, and utilizing freely weapons of censorship and police supervision(8). 4. The Reason For the Division It will not be hard to understand why the above-mentioned conflicts developed within the Slovak community if we bear in mind the two main obstacles which revived Slovak nationalism had to overcome. The one was of an internal character, while the other was due to external pressure. Internally, the Slovaks had at the beginning the ten- t dency to confuse their nationality with that of an imaginary Slav nation. This mixup arose from the Pan-Slavistic ideology that greatly appealed to some Slovak leaders, because it imbued them with the feeling of strength in view of the desperate situation in which they found themselves in Hungary. On the other hand, it hindered them from developing the consciousness of a distinct national Slovak character, because some readily accepted the idea of unity with the "closest" Slav nation, namely, th,e Czechs. The Slovaks who felt most strongly inclined to a union with the Czechs opposed the codification of a separate Slovak language. To them the Czech language seemed suitable even for those of their kin living in Hungary. Although these tendencies never took firm roots with majority of the population in Slovakia, they were, the ) nevertheless, strong enough to arouse conflicts and later to enable the Czechs to exploit the Slovaks politically. That I the Czechs have not succeeded can be attributed to the fact that the majority of the Slovaks have always felt \ and professed to be an ethnographically, historically, and culturally distinct nation from the Czechs, and have constantly endeavored to create for Slovakia such political conditions which would stress that distinct national character. I 16 SLOVAKIA The terms "Czechoslovak" and "Autonomist" are to be understood as political designations: the "Czechoslovaks" are those Slovaks who profess to be Czechs; the "Autonomists" are those who feel and act as Slovaks. The designation "Autonomist" comes from the Autonomist Party whose purpose was to assure an autonomous government for Slovakia as opposed to a centralized Czecho-Slovakia sought for by Czechoslovaks. The conflict "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" can best be expressed in the form of a question: Are we Czechs or are we Slovaks? To this question the Czechoslovak would answer: I am a Czech; the Autonomist: I am a Slovak. Realizing these basic differences, we can easily see that the "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict resemble the former "Slovak renegade (Magyarized Slovak) versus Pan-Slavist" conflict. The term "Czechoslovak" compares with the Slovak renegade, while the term "Autonomist" with the Pan-Slavist. The difference, however, lies in the fact that the Magyarized Slovak denied his Slovak nationality, while the Czechoslovak has always admitted his original Slovak ethnographical nationality. The former's denial flows from the lack of kinship between Slovaks and Magyars, whereas the Czechoslovak admission is based upon a close racial kinship between Czechs' and Slovaks. Thus, the latter would like to merge the Slovaks with the Czechs despite the fact that there is a sensitive difference between both these related nations. That these conflicts developed to such proportions as to endanger the survival of the Slovaks can be accounted for by the political pressure exerted first by Magyars and later by Czechs. With the removal of that pressure came the disappearance of these conflicts and a deeper understanding of a distinct national personality ensued. As of now, the "Magyarized Slovak versus Pan-Slavist" conflict belongs to history and has r.ceased to be of any importance in the politics of the country. Hardly any citizen of Slovak descent would long for the return of former Hungary, let alone to profess any kinship with the Magyars. The "Czechoslovak versus Autonomist" conflict is not yet dead. Nevertheless, it is losing its original "rai- SLOVAKIA 17 son d' etre." The Slovaks who still long for the preservation of Czecho-Slovakia, have abandoned the highly disputed fiction of the "Czechoslovak nation" and are accepting the realistic view that Czechs and Slovaks are ethnographically, politically, and historically distinct nations. Thus, these conflicts brought to an end discussions about national personality. The differences which still remain / revolve about the following problem: in what kind of an alliance or political form should Slovaks live to assure for themselves the best conditions for their future survival? (1) Sometimes a distinction has to be made between "Magyar" and "Hungarian" in dealing with the national problems of Hungary prior to World War I. The former Hungarian Kingdom was a country of many nationalities that in their capacity of citizens, were also Hungarians. The designation "Magyar" for "Hungarian" is, therefore, more appropriate whenever the ethnographic character of the problem is to be emphasized. Thus "Magyarizing process" is to denote the forceful methods used by the dominating Magyars or Hungarians to assimilate the other nationalities of Hungary with the view of creating a linguistically and ethnographically homogeneous state. (2) Joseph A. Mikus: La Slovaquie dans le Drame de !'Europe, Paris, 1955; p. 104. (3) Karol Sidor: Andrej Hlinka, Bratislava, 1934; p. 535. (4) Harrison Thomson: Czechoslovakia in European History, p. 292. ((5) K. Culen: Cesi a Slovaci vo Verejnej Sprave Cesko-Slo• venskej Republiky, Bratislava, 1944; p. 70. (6) Joseph A. Mikus: op. cit.; p. 66. (7) Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, Winnipeg, 1953; p. 64. (8) Hungary and Her Successors, London, 1937; p. 145. • • • WHO SAID IT? "The on[y just and deimocira.tiic solution od' tJhe 'Cwchoslo,v ak' mess crnate'd by T. G. Masaryk and Benes and their foHorwers woudd be tJhe compl.ete freedom and .poliitica:l. inde-0 pendence of the nations inv;o1ved. No just and deimoeratic soluition will be arnived at as long as a 'CzechoslovaJkia' is a}iloiwed to ex,isit, becaiuse everything proposed in the direction of rea[i:zirug the fornldaimental rights of the Slovruk and Rlutihenian peoples would. he l'a be[ed 'aiccording to law' as anti~State and punishiable as such, as. it had been in the first (1918-1938) and third ReipUibJics (1945-1948) orf Czecho-Slo~ia." - (P. A. Hroibak, letter to Hon. Aivin M. Benltfo:y, Juliy 10, 1953).  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 Slovak Nationalism: Conflicts of Slovak Nationalism Description An account of the resource B. S. Buc, Ph.D.<br />Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958<br />pp. 1-17<br /><ol><li>Magyar Renegade vs. Pan-Slavist</li> <li>"Czechoslovak" vs. Autonomist</li> <li>Lutheran vs. Catholic</li> <li>The Reason for the Division</li> </ol> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Buc, B. S. (Bonaventure S.), 1910-1966 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5df349359c13f759066467f60fa19f41.pdf fa86e8be18d24769d0e5fe3811b9ef87 PDF Text Text 18 SLOVAKIA UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum An dbjective search of the cultural development of Central ffiurOlpe will r,e veal that Slo,vakia was not only "the first cultural center," as M. Hodzas wrote, but also a land of noteworthy university traditions. With the loss of ,p olitical indeipenden~e in the tenth century and the inco.rporation of Slova!kia first into muJti-national Hungary and later into Ozecho..,Slova!kia, the university tradttions, as well as the entire cultural development of Slovalkia, are often ,presented, it is true, in foreign works as a paTt of Magyar and/ or Czech culture. This is e3:pecially true alb uot the foundation and activity of un1versities in SlorvaJkia, which Mwgyar historians, both young and old (1), classified e~clustvely under the caption of culture of the Magyar nation, despite the fact that in the Middle Ages - and in Cenm-ail ,E}urope even in the 17th centll!rY - modern nationalism ,w as something unknown and that those universities were conducted in a .s pirit of unirversalisrn and cosmopolitanism. Several arguments speak against any such exiplanation of the cultural development in Central ffiurope, and especially in the multi-national !Hungary ,p rior to 19118: 1) the nature of the medieval class .state which was managed by the nobility and gentry of all ethnical components; 2) the character of medieval universities and their mission; and, 3) the nationalistic composition of the students and the ,professorial sta~f. 'l 'f, in thi,s conteIIl\po11aneous period, one would classify, by an ex post exiplaination, the universities of Hungary as the cultural heritage of only one nation, then he would be malking use of an interpretation that is not in line ,w ith logic and historical truth. Cultural values in Hungary were creaited 1b y all the nations of Hungary and, since the nonMagyar nations often exceeded the Maigyars numerically, we can apply only the territorial 1principle when designing the prfority right of cultural institutions. Therefore, even �SLOVAKIA 19 this dissertaion speaJks rubout the university traditi:ons in Slova!kia and not aJbout traditions of Slova;k universities. It would not be in line with the resttlts of an oibjective search of the Slovak cultural ,p ast, if we should present the universities in Slovakia of the 15th or 17th century as 'SlovaJk. If we did, we would there by be committing an error almost as great as the Magyars when they present them a,s Magyar, or as the e~clusive heritage of the Magyar nation. But even overlooking the fact that the 15th or the 17th century did not as yet know the concept of a nation in the sense of the present-day meaning of the word and that culturnl institutions in Central Europe, and esipecially in Hungary, had a universalistic spirit and a language that was foremost Latin, the .national composition of Hungary demands a just distribution of merits, as well as cultural heritage, amon5 all the nations of the poiy,g lot Cro1WI1 of St. Stephen. II ffiven with this scrll!pulous distinction, the Sl01va!ks do have a prio,r ity right to three universities from the times of former Hungary and to two from the time of the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Sl01Valk Republic. That is, on the territory of Slovaikia, there was not only the .A;cadenia Istroipolitana, founded in Bratislaivia by Mathias Corrwin in 1465, and the University of 'I'rnava from the year 1635, but also the universities of Kosice and Bratislava. The Aicademia I.stropolitana, named aftex the Greek for Danulbe (Istros), was a typical medieval university, set up on the order of Italian universities, particularly that of Bologna, its mission /being mainly religious. Hungary, and especially Slcwalkia, was devastated by Jis:kra's Czech mercenary soldiers and by religious quarrels,. After Ji$kra's crupitulation in 1642, and after he had se:cured himself a;gainst the Turkish danger, King Mathias sought to consolidate his country. His plans called for, above all else, a learned priesthood and an educated nolbility revived in the Catholic spirit. Since at that time there was no university in Hungary, as the King himself wrote in his peti- �20 SLOVAKIA tion of May 19, 1465 which was addressed to the Pope, Mathias requested permission for a "studium generale" and Pope Pole II granted it on the same day. In the petition, King Mathias stated what motivated him to estrublish a university in Bratislava and what ,punpo.se it was to serwe. He wrote that "in the countries .bordering with hereti'Cs there is a need of learned men and that this was a loss for the Church itself, as well as for the Christian religion." The Ki.ng entrusted the organization of the university to the Arch'bishop of Ostrihom, J,o hn Vitez, and the university was started in the home of the Ventura Street. The solemn opening of the univensity took 1place on Jwy 28, 1467. Fortihwith the University of Bratisla;va established good relations with the Univensity orf Vienna which he.ljped out with several of its eminent professo,r s. With the death af King Mathias, however, the uni,v ersity not only lost its founder, but also its protector; it closed its doors in 1490. The Academia Istropolitana was a complete uniiversity with four faculties and a .study c,urriculum that equaled that of other European, particularly the Italian and German, univeTSities. The immediate proximity oif the older and well estalblished Uniiversity of Vienna, and the renown of the University of Cracow, estaiblished in 1364, and the Unirversity of Prague (11348) did not allow the University of Bratislaiva to develop as ,planned by King Mathias, who did want to attract students even from the surrounding countries. The fact is that many students from Hungary itself, particularly from SlorvaJkia, studied in Cracow and Pra1gue, Vienna and at Ralian universities. According to some sources in the years 1400-1525 in Oraco,w alone over 2000 students frOIIIl Slovakia attended, especially from her eastern area (2). Territorially, the Unirversity of Bratisla;va belongs to the history of Slovakia, in the remaining aspects it was a medievaI Catholic unirveTsity and :belongs to all the nations of Hungary from whkh ,b oth the students and also the professors descended. And since even in this case the �SLOVAKIA 21 Magyars cannot apply the dynastic principle (King Mathias was not of a Magyar dynasty), it is decidedly not in line with historic fact if anyone plruces the unhrersity in the cultural hi<story of only the Magyar nation. "The Academy Istropolitna, " as professor A. MTaz correctly states it, "originated f,r om the will and decision of the Hungarian ruler, it was the result of his cultUJral policy, which wais in many ways influenced by humanism and by contacts especially with the romantic world. Its designation must be understood in an all-state sense, but the very fact that this univer,s ity ori,g inated on Slovak territory, that in its ran1ks there was a great percentage of Slova!k students and professors - all thi,s puts the Corwinian Unirversity of Bratislava into close and lirvely relations with Slovalk cultUTal de,velo1pment" (3). The second univernity on the territory of Slorvakia, the Jesuit University in Trnava, was founded by Archlbishop Peter Pazmany and approved by ffimperor Ferdinand on Odolber 18, 1635. The UnirverS!ity of Trnava was also a Catholic unirver,s ity in ,w hich L'a tin was used, as is proved by the register and catalogues which haive 1been preserved. At first there were only two faculties at this uniiversity (iphilosoiphical and theological), with two others added later (the law faculty in 1667, and the medical in 1769). Archbishop Pa,m nany, originally a Calv:in of German birth (4), was critical of the Magyar nation wh~ch he clai<med as his own; but he, 1i'ke the other ecclesiastical authorities were aiware of the fact that Hungary was polyg,l ot and, therefore, it can be rightly claimed that the university was estalblished for all the nationalities of Hungary with the aim to speed the victory of the Counter-Reformation among the Magyars, as well as among the SJo,vaJks, and Germans, nay even among the Serbs and Ruthenians .by means of the Cyrillic a1phalbet. The words of the Charter about "noibilissimae gentis Hun1garicae" cannot b,e explaaned otherwise than that Pa~many had in mind the state-nation of Hungary, which was administered not only by the Magyar, but also by the Croation and Slovalk nobility and gentTy and compo,s ed of even the Ruimanians of Transyl- �22 SLOVAKIA vania, the Germans, Senbs, and Ruthenians who occupied the lands of St. Stephen's Crown. In the Charter, Archlbishoip Pazmainy says literally: "We often ~o1idtously pondered just in what manner we might take crure of prQlpagating the Catholic religion in Hungary and to wplift the authority of the ndble Hungarian naition; and the most advantageous medium that we came wpon was the estaJblishment of a university in which the mind of a belligerent nation could be moderated and capable people might be ti-ained for the administration Church and also the State." The administration of the State, especially in the 17th century, was not exclusively in the hands of the Magyar nobility and gentry, inasmuch the Magyarization of the Slovak nobility, for example, came quite some time later. Under the influence of the Tu:rlkish occupation and the partition of Hungary into three paI'ts (the southern and central part occupied by the Turks; Transylvainia and the Tisa River area b~ independent princes; and the northern part, that is SlovaJkia, with smaller parts of western Hungary administered by the Hapsburgs) , Slovakia played an altogether exceptional role in the 17th century. She was, Hod.fa tells us, the refuge of many intellectual efforts and for some time there was more cultural movement in Slo,vaJkia than in Bohemia or the occupied part of Hungary. .Aiccording to Hodza, practically a,U movements of the cultural and political Life met there and Slova1kia was indisputaJbly the cultural center of Catholic Hungary (5). So that the Slovalks could regard the Uni,v ersity of TrnaJva as their own is attested to not only by the fact that is was on the territocy of Slorvalkia which .played, as we saiw aJbove, an exrceptional role in Hungary in the seventeenth century. The significance of this university for the cultura-l development of the Slovaiks, their langunge and their national conscioU!Sness was so far-reaching that even one of the outstanding literary historians of the .p resent communistic university in SlovaJkia, Professo;r A. Mraz, acknowledges that "with its activity and within its frame- �SLOVAKIA 23 wor'k cultwral and scientific life was prQ_pagated and deepened, the effects of which, all things considered, affected very strong,ly the Sl~ak part of the inhaJbitants, even though this was done according to the plan of religious and scientific direction of this high school and its inclusion into the Jesuit European school ,system. Because o.f the university, Trnava became the cultuTal center of Catholic Hun,gary and Slovakia in the seventeenth centUTy." Mraz also states that "for 160 yews o,f the existence of the University of Trnava on SloiVaJk territory, together with its activity and educational atmosphere created by it, there were crystallized such SlovaJk cultural and natonal realities that were the support of Slovak national renascence" ( 6). From the archives orf the University of Trnava, we learn that UJP to the time of its transfer to Budin in the year 1777, the Slovaks attended the university in greatest numbers, not only as students but, in s·o me years, the Slovaxs predominated as professors. In the first five years, for example, out of 248 students logic, 90 are indicated a,s 'SlovaJks and 77 as Magyars (the others were marked as Croatians and Germans, or their nationality was not indicated). Mter 1649, the registers of the university do not indicate the nationality of the students reg,ulal'ly, but the nationality of those re::!eiving the baccalaureate is indicated: even during this period, it can lbe 1proved that the Siloiva'ks and other iSlorvanic peoples werre in the rubsolute majority at the uniivers,ity (7). Now, then, if we regard the University of Trna.va from the standpoint of the question whom it sewed, who studied and taught at it, the ,p reponderance is on the side of the SlovaJks, Croatians and Germans, a;nd then come the Magyars. As far as· cultural influence is concerned, the University of Trnarva has merited a permanent place in SlovaJk cultural history with the literary activity o.f its professors and wards even in the Slovak langua,ge. From the yearr 1578 to 1777, the unirvevsity issued 79 Lrutin pulblicati<ons in the field of apologetics and contro;versial works~· but also 14 such ipU!bli:cations in Slorvak. During that same, time, 20 Magyar and 12 German, lbut also 75 bodks in the �24 SLOVAKIA field of scetics and preaching (8), so that "the crystallization of the langll!age of Catholic writers from the period of the University of Trnava was marked to such a degree that when Anthony Bernolruk and his g,r oup came out with the idea of an independent Slovalk literary langua;ge, in many things they only codified the practices, prevalent in Catholic literature, of their predeces,s ors" (9). From the rubove, it is undouibtedly surfrficiently clear that the SlO'Vaiks can rightfully inolude the UnilV'ersity of Ton:wa in the cultural heritage of the 1Slovalk nation and that !it ibelOiillgs in the first iplace to the unirve:r,sity traditions of SlovaJkia. It was iin such a sense that the Slovaks celebrated the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Trnava in 1935, when they pulblished a whole ,s eries of literary works commemorating the occasion with the actirve ,partic~pation of not only their cultura·l, but also their ,politi'cal institutions. The third uni,v ersity in SlovaJkia was established in Kosice in 1657 by Benedict Kisdi, the bishop of Jasov; it began its aietivity in 1'658, and the 1SlovaJks are commemorating the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Kosice this year. Like the University oif Trnava, the University .of Kosice, too, is grateful to the Jesuits for its development and Mgh acaderruc standing .Emiperor Leopold I rupproved its foundation in 1660, when he issued a Golden Bull, placing the unirversity on a level with the other universities of the mona;rchy with the right of granting academic titles and degrees. The Unirver.sity of Kosice - later degraded to an academy iby the There~iaJll reforms and to a law academy during the Bachera - was formded lb y the same motives as the Trna'Va University. In the Charter of February 26, 1657, Bishop Benedict states that he decided to establish a "studiUJm universale, that is, an academy or unirversity and to entrust it to the Jesuits, whose industry, loyalty and skill in the educational field are known to the who,le world, .so that it could train caipaJble priests the lack of ,whom ~ very harmful for God's Chwrch and for our afflicted fatherland" (10). �SLOVAKIA 25 After the dissolution of the Kosice law academy by the Praigue Government in 1922, the archives of the University of Kosice, were taken to Bratislava and, as far as is known, no one has made a thorough study of them so that we might know a;ccurately the composition of the student 1body and its professorial staff. From the wo11ks of Jesuit scientific scholars, who have been active in Italian universities during recent years, we :know that religious servi·c es with exclusively Slo,va.k sermons, during the first years, in the uniiversity cha1pel, attracted so many listenera that they could not be taJken care of in the chaipel. Father Stanislaus Po1cin also states that one of his famous students was A. Balud'ansky, a native of Vysne Olsovany, who ovganized the Uniivers,ity oif St. Petersburg and also was its rector (11). On the whole, the Kosi,ce University was very much li!ke the University of Trnava. From the academic standpoint, the University of Kosice was independent, according to the intentions of its founder it was administered as an institution of higher learning only by Church regulations and later in the sense of the Bull of Leopold I. The latter granted the uni,v ersity the same iprivileges, immunities and .p rerogatives which he had granted to other great universities of the Hrupslburg Monarvchy, and the degrees ,granted ,b y it were on the same level as those granted :b y the other European universities. According to the Charter, at the univer~ity of Kosice there were faculties of logic, philosophy, mathematics, theology, moral, rupologetics, and Heibrew. In 1777 the university lost its theological faculty, but then the faculty of ,la;w was estrublished which, as we mentioned aJbo:ve, remained until 1922. Since we are here concerned with a unirversity on SlovaJk territory, we can conclude that, up to the time of the Theresiam reforms, its character di:fifered little, if at aU, from that of the University of Tr:nava. Certainly its national compositiorn and mission wer,e much the s,a me. It was a Jesuit Latin university set up to serve Counter-Reformation efforts in multi-national Hungary. Though parts of eastern !Slovakia were strongly influenced for a time by the �26 SLOVAKIA Reformation, the Slavruk element during the time of the Kosice University was more strongJy represented inasmuch the neighlboring Maygar parts of Hungary were strongly Calvm.istic and the stage for revolutionary, anti-Hapsburg activities. At the !b eginning of the eighteenth century, in the eastern parts of SlovaJkia, even the Slovaik Calvinists pwblished religious literature in the national tongue and expressed the hyipothesis that it was iproibably there that even the first translation Off he Holy Writ of the year 17561757 originated, with Romuald Hadlbavy, author of a LatinSlovruk dictionary, ipartioipating in it. A study of the archives would undoubtedly tell us much about the composition of students and professors of the University o.f Kosice. Unfortunately they are not accessible to us today because of the Czecho-Comrrnmist occupation of Slova1kia. A few documents rubout the Kosice University can be found in the arch1ves of the Vatican (12), but they do not ,g ive us a clear answer to the questions referred to. Ln 1912 another school of higher learning was established in Bratislava, the Academy of law, which belongs to SlovaJkia only territorially since its spirit and aims differed swbstantially from those of the universities dealt with above. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, this academy was tr~ferred to Pathlrnstoly (P&!s). The Comenius University was then organized in Bratislava to help the Czech governments Cz.echize the Slovaks. Slovak generations, educated iby the Czech professors of this university, did not succumlb, however, but went in the 01pposite direction: they .b ecame strongly nationalistic, forming the vanguard of the movement for the ouJ.trn-al and political individuality and independence of 'Slo!V'akia. fo 1939, they changed not only the name of the university, iburt also its spirit and mission: the Slovak University serived the highest cultural, political, and economical aims of the Slovak nation until the Slovak Republic was destroyed in AprH, 1945, when Benes, with the help of the United Nations, estaJblished another "Czec:ho-iSlovaJkia," a ,p olitical mons·t irosity more monstrous than the first which was born in 1918. Since 1945, lilke the other fom m;;titutions of higher �SLOVAKIA 27 learning, the SlovaJk University in Bratislava, is a tool of Communism in the hands of a Czecho-Communist government. Slovaks At Foreign Universities To complete the picture oif university traditions in Slovakia, we must mention at least ibriefly that f,r om the fourteenth century until the pre;,;ent time Slovalks studied and taught not only in S,lovaJk unilver,s ities, or only in Hoogary and Austria, hut also in significant numbers in practically all European universities. Some of them attained high honors and recognition not only of university circles, but even of the sovereigns. In the era of Humanism and Renaissance, Slo•v ~s studied mamly at the Italian universities in Bologna and Padua, but also in Paris, Vienna, and especially in Crrueow a,nd P.ra,gue. At the latter univ,e rsity, Va:vrinec Benedicti of Nedozery (1'555-11616) was the rector and wrote a Czech ,gram.mer, while John Jesenius from Turiec County excelled in medicine, atd'. Our list of eminent ,SlovaJks of the Hwmanistic, Renaissanoe and Enlightenment eras at foreign universities is far from complete, but it is a noteworthy list. John Samb.oclky (Sambuet.1:S, born in Trnruva 16'31), made himself famous at the University of Bologna and later became an advisor and personal physician to, ffirrvpreor Maximilian II in Vienna. His literacy wo!'!ks we,r e ,published in practically all centers of humanistic culture from Padua through Paris, Vienna, G€neva, Nruples and Antwer;p on to ,F rrunkfurt. His scientific works were in the ma-i n of a historical and legal nature, but he also wrote Latin verses. Ma.rtin Rakovsky enjoyed world fame also in his time; and renaissance learning. In the writing of such treati!Ses Peter Rewa also excelled; his "De Monarchia et sacra corona regni Hungariae" was published in Fran:kfurt in 16159. The Uni'Versity of Trnava mulitiplied its scientific activity and interest of Slovruks in a university education not only on natrve soil, but also in foreign lands. Many scienti£ic workers and defenders of the Slwaiks and their culture grew up within its circle. One of the most prominent representatives of scientific scholars of Trnava was �28 SLOVAKIA Martin Szentivanyi who hailed from Liptovsky Svaty Jan; he ,w rote a1bout fifty various volumes and a six..ivolume encyclopedia called "Curiosora et selectiora variarum scientiarum miscellanea" in which he collected the scientific 1 knowledge of the va-rious disciplines of his time, from philosophy and mathematics to history, geogiraiphy, theology and economy (13). In the eighteenth century we have quite a numlber of eminent Slovruks worthy of mention, of whom we have in the first place Adam F. Kollar (lborn 1718 in Terchova) and Mathias Bel. Kollar, lilbrarian to the emperor's court in Vienna, devoted his time to history and diplomacy, but al.so to social and educational questions. During the refol'lms of Marie-Therese he played a significant role in her educational changes and in contempo,r ary pedago,grics. Mathias Bel, iborn in Ocova as Funtilk, was such a prominent and many-sided .personality that as a Lutheran he received recognition f;z-om the Pope and the Catholic ruler, who g,r anted him the title of nobleman. Bel, called "magnum decus Hungariae," published his scientific work,s in Latin, Ger.man, and Magyar; seven of his works, however, were in Slovruk. Most of his lite;z-ary works concerned themse1ves with history, geogra.phy, ethnography, and philology. He was a member of many foreign scientific societies and one of the most ,p rominent personalities of his generation in all of Hungary. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries SlovaJk Catholics and Lutherans studied and taught at many foreign universities and so helrped to elevate the culture of other nations, ,pairticularly that of the Czechs and Magyars. This question, however, still needs a systematic going-over and, hence, is not included in this dissertation. A significant numlber of Slovruks are also active in the contemporary period at various universities of the free woTld, particularly in Rome, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chili, Flrance, and the United ,States. ,Dr. Milan Hodza stated only a fact at the beginning af Woirld War II when he wrote that "Slovakia reached if not surpassed the Central European civilization level." �SLOVAKIA REFERENCES 1. Dez1der Heckenast: HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITIES, PAST A ND PRESENT, Slavic and East European Studies, Vol. II, Part 1, pp. 31-39; University of Montreal, Canada. 2. Compare Samuel Osusky's "Nasi studenti na Krakovskej universite od 1400-1525," Vi era a veda, Vol. II, 1931, pp. 174-178, 226-233, and Vol. IV, 1933, pp. 232-244. 3. Andrej Mraz : DEJINY SLOVENSKEJ LITERATURY, Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts, Bratislava, 1948, pp. 20-21. 4. In his letter of December 5, 1634, Pazmany wrote the Bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal F. Ditrichstein, that his family comes from Germany (ex Germania) and that is why, he said, that he wishes his last descendant would become a complete Moravian (totaliter Moravum facere constitutum habeo). According to I. Acsady, Pazmany "frequently told Ferdinand II that it was not possible to trust even the best Magyar and that the Magyar people needed a yoke, because it was only thus that it would be possible to keep it under control. He did not even believe his own non-Catholic countrymen, nay, not even in the future of the Magyar nation," (quoted from Daniel Varsik's Slovak book: THE NATIONALITY PROBLEM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TRNAVA, Bratislava, 1938, p. 37). How Pazmany felt about the nationalities is also attested to by the gift which he gave the Franciscan church in Trnava "moved," as he wrote. "above all else by paternal love for the Slovak nation and by t he ardor of the devout people" (Epistolae, II, p. 2-1). 5. Dr. Milan Hodfa: FEDERATION IN CENTRAL EUROPE, London, 1942, pp. 208-209: "During the seventeenth century .. . Slovakia became also the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts on behalf of that country. For some time to come in Slovakia there was much more cultural movement than in Bohemia or occupied Hungary .. . Trnava, which housed the Catholic University before it was transferred to Budapest, became a center of Catholic culture in the realm. Slovakia revealed itself as a meeting-place of practically all contemporary currents of cultural and political ideas." 6. Andrew Mraz: op. cit., pp. 35, 62. 7. Compare the thorough study of D. Varsik. "Narodnostny problem Trnavske j uni ve rz ity," which also has a resume in French in which Varsik states literally: "11 etait par consequent nature! que !'element slovaque fut preponderant a l'Universite de Trnava" (pp. 240-241). 8. Compare Stephen Dubravec's "Apologetika a kontroverz istika na un iverzite v Trnave," Sbornik LVOSSV, Vol. II, No. 2, Trnava, 1935, p. 197). 9. Andrew Mraz : op. cit., pp. 46-47. 10. Compare Stanislaus Polcin's S.J., "Tristo rokov od zalozenia Kosickej univerzity," MOST, Cleveland, 0., Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, pp. 97-106. 11. MOST, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, p. 105. 12. About the documents in the Vatican Archives, vd. mention in the study of S. Polcin,S.J. 13. Compare Stanislaus Jurovsky's "Fil ozofia Ma rti na Szent ivanyi ho," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1944. � 18 SLOVAKIA UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum An dbjective search of the cultural development of Central ffiurOlpe will r,e veal that Slo,vakia was not only "the first cultural center," as M. Hodzas wrote, but also a land of noteworthy university traditions. With the loss of ,p olitical indeipenden~e in the tenth century and the inco.rporation of Slova!kia first into muJti-national Hungary and later into Ozecho..,Slova!kia, the university tradttions, as well as the entire cultural development of Slovalkia, are often ,presented, it is true, in foreign works as a paTt of Magyar and/ or Czech culture. This is e3:pecially true alb uot the foundation and activity of un1versities in SlorvaJkia, which Mwgyar historians, both young and old (1), classified e~clustvely under the caption of culture of the Magyar nation, despite the fact that in the Middle Ages - and in Cenm-ail ,E}urope even in the 17th centll!rY - modern nationalism ,w as something unknown and that those universities were conducted in a .s pirit of unirversalisrn and cosmopolitanism. Several arguments speak against any such exiplanation of the cultural development in Central ffiurope, and especially in the multi-national !Hungary ,p rior to 19118: 1) the nature of the medieval class .state which was managed by the nobility and gentry of all ethnical components; 2) the character of medieval universities and their mission; and, 3) the nationalistic composition of the students and the ,professorial sta~f. 'l 'f, in thi,s conteIIl\po11aneous period, one would classify, by an ex post exiplaination, the universities of Hungary as the cultural heritage of only one nation, then he would be malking use of an interpretation that is not in line ,w ith logic and historical truth. Cultural values in Hungary were creaited 1b y all the nations of Hungary and, since the nonMagyar nations often exceeded the Maigyars numerically, we can apply only the territorial 1principle when designing the prfority right of cultural institutions. Therefore, even �SLOVAKIA 19 this dissertaion speaJks rubout the university traditi:ons in Slova!kia and not aJbout traditions of Slova;k universities. It would not be in line with the resttlts of an oibjective search of the Slovak cultural ,p ast, if we should present the universities in Slovakia of the 15th or 17th century as 'SlovaJk. If we did, we would there by be committing an error almost as great as the Magyars when they present them a,s Magyar, or as the e~clusive heritage of the Magyar nation. But even overlooking the fact that the 15th or the 17th century did not as yet know the concept of a nation in the sense of the present-day meaning of the word and that culturnl institutions in Central Europe, and esipecially in Hungary, had a universalistic spirit and a language that was foremost Latin, the .national composition of Hungary demands a just distribution of merits, as well as cultural heritage, amon5 all the nations of the poiy,g lot Cro1WI1 of St. Stephen. II ffiven with this scrll!pulous distinction, the Sl01va!ks do have a prio,r ity right to three universities from the times of former Hungary and to two from the time of the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Sl01Valk Republic. That is, on the territory of Slovaikia, there was not only the .A;cadenia Istroipolitana, founded in Bratislaivia by Mathias Corrwin in 1465, and the University of 'I'rnava from the year 1635, but also the universities of Kosice and Bratislava. The Aicademia I.stropolitana, named aftex the Greek for Danulbe (Istros), was a typical medieval university, set up on the order of Italian universities, particularly that of Bologna, its mission /being mainly religious. Hungary, and especially Slcwalkia, was devastated by Jis:kra's Czech mercenary soldiers and by religious quarrels,. After Ji$kra's crupitulation in 1642, and after he had se:cured himself a;gainst the Turkish danger, King Mathias sought to consolidate his country. His plans called for, above all else, a learned priesthood and an educated nolbility revived in the Catholic spirit. Since at that time there was no university in Hungary, as the King himself wrote in his peti- �20 SLOVAKIA tion of May 19, 1465 which was addressed to the Pope, Mathias requested permission for a "studium generale" and Pope Pole II granted it on the same day. In the petition, King Mathias stated what motivated him to estrublish a university in Bratislava and what ,punpo.se it was to serwe. He wrote that "in the countries .bordering with hereti'Cs there is a need of learned men and that this was a loss for the Church itself, as well as for the Christian religion." The Ki.ng entrusted the organization of the university to the Arch'bishop of Ostrihom, J,o hn Vitez, and the university was started in the home of the Ventura Street. The solemn opening of the univensity took 1place on Jwy 28, 1467. Fortihwith the University of Bratisla;va established good relations with the Univensity orf Vienna which he.ljped out with several of its eminent professo,r s. With the death af King Mathias, however, the uni,v ersity not only lost its founder, but also its protector; it closed its doors in 1490. The Academia Istropolitana was a complete uniiversity with four faculties and a .study c,urriculum that equaled that of other European, particularly the Italian and German, univeTSities. The immediate proximity oif the older and well estalblished Uniiversity of Vienna, and the renown of the University of Cracow, estaiblished in 1364, and the Unirversity of Prague (11348) did not allow the University of Bratislaiva to develop as ,planned by King Mathias, who did want to attract students even from the surrounding countries. The fact is that many students from Hungary itself, particularly from SlorvaJkia, studied in Cracow and Pra1gue, Vienna and at Ralian universities. According to some sources in the years 1400-1525 in Oraco,w alone over 2000 students frOIIIl Slovakia attended, especially from her eastern area (2). Territorially, the Unirversity of Bratisla;va belongs to the history of Slovakia, in the remaining aspects it was a medievaI Catholic unirveTsity and :belongs to all the nations of Hungary from whkh ,b oth the students and also the professors descended. And since even in this case the �SLOVAKIA 21 Magyars cannot apply the dynastic principle (King Mathias was not of a Magyar dynasty), it is decidedly not in line with historic fact if anyone plruces the unhrersity in the cultural hi<story of only the Magyar nation. "The Academy Istropolitna, " as professor A. MTaz correctly states it, "originated f,r om the will and decision of the Hungarian ruler, it was the result of his cultUJral policy, which wais in many ways influenced by humanism and by contacts especially with the romantic world. Its designation must be understood in an all-state sense, but the very fact that this univer,s ity ori,g inated on Slovak territory, that in its ran1ks there was a great percentage of Slova!k students and professors - all thi,s puts the Corwinian Unirversity of Bratislava into close and lirvely relations with Slovalk cultUTal de,velo1pment" (3). The second univernity on the territory of Slorvakia, the Jesuit University in Trnava, was founded by Archlbishop Peter Pazmany and approved by ffimperor Ferdinand on Odolber 18, 1635. The UnirverS!ity of Trnava was also a Catholic unirver,s ity in ,w hich L'a tin was used, as is proved by the register and catalogues which haive 1been preserved. At first there were only two faculties at this uniiversity (iphilosoiphical and theological), with two others added later (the law faculty in 1667, and the medical in 1769). Archbishop Pa,m nany, originally a Calv:in of German birth (4), was critical of the Magyar nation wh~ch he clai<med as his own; but he, 1i'ke the other ecclesiastical authorities were aiware of the fact that Hungary was polyg,l ot and, therefore, it can be rightly claimed that the university was estalblished for all the nationalities of Hungary with the aim to speed the victory of the Counter-Reformation among the Magyars, as well as among the SJo,vaJks, and Germans, nay even among the Serbs and Ruthenians .by means of the Cyrillic a1phalbet. The words of the Charter about "noibilissimae gentis Hun1garicae" cannot b,e explaaned otherwise than that Pa~many had in mind the state-nation of Hungary, which was administered not only by the Magyar, but also by the Croation and Slovalk nobility and gentTy and compo,s ed of even the Ruimanians of Transyl- �22 SLOVAKIA vania, the Germans, Senbs, and Ruthenians who occupied the lands of St. Stephen's Crown. In the Charter, Archlbishoip Pazmainy says literally: "We often ~o1idtously pondered just in what manner we might take crure of prQlpagating the Catholic religion in Hungary and to wplift the authority of the ndble Hungarian naition; and the most advantageous medium that we came wpon was the estaJblishment of a university in which the mind of a belligerent nation could be moderated and capable people might be ti-ained for the administration Church and also the State." The administration of the State, especially in the 17th century, was not exclusively in the hands of the Magyar nobility and gentry, inasmuch the Magyarization of the Slovak nobility, for example, came quite some time later. Under the influence of the Tu:rlkish occupation and the partition of Hungary into three paI'ts (the southern and central part occupied by the Turks; Transylvainia and the Tisa River area b~ independent princes; and the northern part, that is SlovaJkia, with smaller parts of western Hungary administered by the Hapsburgs) , Slovakia played an altogether exceptional role in the 17th century. She was, Hod.fa tells us, the refuge of many intellectual efforts and for some time there was more cultural movement in Slo,vaJkia than in Bohemia or the occupied part of Hungary. .Aiccording to Hodza, practically a,U movements of the cultural and political Life met there and Slova1kia was indisputaJbly the cultural center of Catholic Hungary (5). So that the Slovalks could regard the Uni,v ersity of TrnaJva as their own is attested to not only by the fact that is was on the territocy of Slorvalkia which .played, as we saiw aJbove, an exrceptional role in Hungary in the seventeenth century. The significance of this university for the cultura-l development of the Slovaiks, their langunge and their national conscioU!Sness was so far-reaching that even one of the outstanding literary historians of the .p resent communistic university in SlovaJkia, Professo;r A. Mraz, acknowledges that "with its activity and within its frame- �SLOVAKIA 23 wor'k cultwral and scientific life was prQ_pagated and deepened, the effects of which, all things considered, affected very strong,ly the Sl~ak part of the inhaJbitants, even though this was done according to the plan of religious and scientific direction of this high school and its inclusion into the Jesuit European school ,system. Because o.f the university, Trnava became the cultuTal center of Catholic Hun,gary and Slovakia in the seventeenth centUTy." Mraz also states that "for 160 yews o,f the existence of the University of Trnava on SloiVaJk territory, together with its activity and educational atmosphere created by it, there were crystallized such SlovaJk cultural and natonal realities that were the support of Slovak national renascence" ( 6). From the archives orf the University of Trnava, we learn that UJP to the time of its transfer to Budin in the year 1777, the Slovaks attended the university in greatest numbers, not only as students but, in s·o me years, the Slovaxs predominated as professors. In the first five years, for example, out of 248 students logic, 90 are indicated a,s 'SlovaJks and 77 as Magyars (the others were marked as Croatians and Germans, or their nationality was not indicated). Mter 1649, the registers of the university do not indicate the nationality of the students reg,ulal'ly, but the nationality of those re::!eiving the baccalaureate is indicated: even during this period, it can lbe 1proved that the Siloiva'ks and other iSlorvanic peoples werre in the rubsolute majority at the uniivers,ity (7). Now, then, if we regard the University of Trna.va from the standpoint of the question whom it sewed, who studied and taught at it, the ,p reponderance is on the side of the SlovaJks, Croatians and Germans, a;nd then come the Magyars. As far as· cultural influence is concerned, the University of Trnarva has merited a permanent place in SlovaJk cultural history with the literary activity o.f its professors and wards even in the Slovak langua,ge. From the yearr 1578 to 1777, the unirvevsity issued 79 Lrutin pulblicati<ons in the field of apologetics and contro;versial works~· but also 14 such ipU!bli:cations in Slorvak. During that same, time, 20 Magyar and 12 German, lbut also 75 bodks in the �24 SLOVAKIA field of scetics and preaching (8), so that "the crystallization of the langll!age of Catholic writers from the period of the University of Trnava was marked to such a degree that when Anthony Bernolruk and his g,r oup came out with the idea of an independent Slovalk literary langua;ge, in many things they only codified the practices, prevalent in Catholic literature, of their predeces,s ors" (9). From the rubove, it is undouibtedly surfrficiently clear that the SlO'Vaiks can rightfully inolude the UnilV'ersity of Ton:wa in the cultural heritage of the 1Slovalk nation and that !it ibelOiillgs in the first iplace to the unirve:r,sity traditions of SlovaJkia. It was iin such a sense that the Slovaks celebrated the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Trnava in 1935, when they pulblished a whole ,s eries of literary works commemorating the occasion with the actirve ,partic~pation of not only their cultura·l, but also their ,politi'cal institutions. The third uni,v ersity in SlovaJkia was established in Kosice in 1657 by Benedict Kisdi, the bishop of Jasov; it began its aietivity in 1'658, and the 1SlovaJks are commemorating the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Kosice this year. Like the University oif Trnava, the University .of Kosice, too, is grateful to the Jesuits for its development and Mgh acaderruc standing .Emiperor Leopold I rupproved its foundation in 1660, when he issued a Golden Bull, placing the unirversity on a level with the other universities of the mona;rchy with the right of granting academic titles and degrees. The Unirver.sity of Kosice - later degraded to an academy iby the There~iaJll reforms and to a law academy during the Bachera - was formded lb y the same motives as the Trna'Va University. In the Charter of February 26, 1657, Bishop Benedict states that he decided to establish a "studiUJm universale, that is, an academy or unirversity and to entrust it to the Jesuits, whose industry, loyalty and skill in the educational field are known to the who,le world, .so that it could train caipaJble priests the lack of ,whom ~ very harmful for God's Chwrch and for our afflicted fatherland" (10). �SLOVAKIA 25 After the dissolution of the Kosice law academy by the Praigue Government in 1922, the archives of the University of Kosice, were taken to Bratislava and, as far as is known, no one has made a thorough study of them so that we might know a;ccurately the composition of the student 1body and its professorial staff. From the wo11ks of Jesuit scientific scholars, who have been active in Italian universities during recent years, we :know that religious servi·c es with exclusively Slo,va.k sermons, during the first years, in the uniiversity cha1pel, attracted so many listenera that they could not be taJken care of in the chaipel. Father Stanislaus Po1cin also states that one of his famous students was A. Balud'ansky, a native of Vysne Olsovany, who ovganized the Uniivers,ity oif St. Petersburg and also was its rector (11). On the whole, the Kosi,ce University was very much li!ke the University of Trnava. From the academic standpoint, the University of Kosice was independent, according to the intentions of its founder it was administered as an institution of higher learning only by Church regulations and later in the sense of the Bull of Leopold I. The latter granted the uni,v ersity the same iprivileges, immunities and .p rerogatives which he had granted to other great universities of the Hrupslburg Monarvchy, and the degrees ,granted ,b y it were on the same level as those granted :b y the other European universities. According to the Charter, at the univer~ity of Kosice there were faculties of logic, philosophy, mathematics, theology, moral, rupologetics, and Heibrew. In 1777 the university lost its theological faculty, but then the faculty of ,la;w was estrublished which, as we mentioned aJbo:ve, remained until 1922. Since we are here concerned with a unirversity on SlovaJk territory, we can conclude that, up to the time of the Theresiam reforms, its character di:fifered little, if at aU, from that of the University of Tr:nava. Certainly its national compositiorn and mission wer,e much the s,a me. It was a Jesuit Latin university set up to serve Counter-Reformation efforts in multi-national Hungary. Though parts of eastern !Slovakia were strongly influenced for a time by the �26 SLOVAKIA Reformation, the Slavruk element during the time of the Kosice University was more strongJy represented inasmuch the neighlboring Maygar parts of Hungary were strongly Calvm.istic and the stage for revolutionary, anti-Hapsburg activities. At the !b eginning of the eighteenth century, in the eastern parts of SlovaJkia, even the Slovaik Calvinists pwblished religious literature in the national tongue and expressed the hyipothesis that it was iproibably there that even the first translation Off he Holy Writ of the year 17561757 originated, with Romuald Hadlbavy, author of a LatinSlovruk dictionary, ipartioipating in it. A study of the archives would undoubtedly tell us much about the composition of students and professors of the University o.f Kosice. Unfortunately they are not accessible to us today because of the Czecho-Comrrnmist occupation of Slova1kia. A few documents rubout the Kosice University can be found in the arch1ves of the Vatican (12), but they do not ,g ive us a clear answer to the questions referred to. Ln 1912 another school of higher learning was established in Bratislava, the Academy of law, which belongs to SlovaJkia only territorially since its spirit and aims differed swbstantially from those of the universities dealt with above. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, this academy was tr~ferred to Pathlrnstoly (P&!s). The Comenius University was then organized in Bratislava to help the Czech governments Cz.echize the Slovaks. Slovak generations, educated iby the Czech professors of this university, did not succumlb, however, but went in the 01pposite direction: they .b ecame strongly nationalistic, forming the vanguard of the movement for the ouJ.trn-al and political individuality and independence of 'Slo!V'akia. fo 1939, they changed not only the name of the university, iburt also its spirit and mission: the Slovak University serived the highest cultural, political, and economical aims of the Slovak nation until the Slovak Republic was destroyed in AprH, 1945, when Benes, with the help of the United Nations, estaJblished another "Czec:ho-iSlovaJkia," a ,p olitical mons·t irosity more monstrous than the first which was born in 1918. Since 1945, lilke the other fom m;;titutions of higher �SLOVAKIA 27 learning, the SlovaJk University in Bratislava, is a tool of Communism in the hands of a Czecho-Communist government. Slovaks At Foreign Universities To complete the picture oif university traditions in Slovakia, we must mention at least ibriefly that f,r om the fourteenth century until the pre;,;ent time Slovalks studied and taught not only in S,lovaJk unilver,s ities, or only in Hoogary and Austria, hut also in significant numbers in practically all European universities. Some of them attained high honors and recognition not only of university circles, but even of the sovereigns. In the era of Humanism and Renaissance, Slo•v ~s studied mamly at the Italian universities in Bologna and Padua, but also in Paris, Vienna, and especially in Crrueow a,nd P.ra,gue. At the latter univ,e rsity, Va:vrinec Benedicti of Nedozery (1'555-11616) was the rector and wrote a Czech ,gram.mer, while John Jesenius from Turiec County excelled in medicine, atd'. Our list of eminent ,SlovaJks of the Hwmanistic, Renaissanoe and Enlightenment eras at foreign universities is far from complete, but it is a noteworthy list. John Samb.oclky (Sambuet.1:S, born in Trnruva 16'31), made himself famous at the University of Bologna and later became an advisor and personal physician to, ffirrvpreor Maximilian II in Vienna. His literacy wo!'!ks we,r e ,published in practically all centers of humanistic culture from Padua through Paris, Vienna, G€neva, Nruples and Antwer;p on to ,F rrunkfurt. His scientific works were in the ma-i n of a historical and legal nature, but he also wrote Latin verses. Ma.rtin Rakovsky enjoyed world fame also in his time; and renaissance learning. In the writing of such treati!Ses Peter Rewa also excelled; his "De Monarchia et sacra corona regni Hungariae" was published in Fran:kfurt in 16159. The Uni'Versity of Trnava mulitiplied its scientific activity and interest of Slovruks in a university education not only on natrve soil, but also in foreign lands. Many scienti£ic workers and defenders of the Slwaiks and their culture grew up within its circle. One of the most prominent representatives of scientific scholars of Trnava was �28 SLOVAKIA Martin Szentivanyi who hailed from Liptovsky Svaty Jan; he ,w rote a1bout fifty various volumes and a six..ivolume encyclopedia called "Curiosora et selectiora variarum scientiarum miscellanea" in which he collected the scientific 1 knowledge of the va-rious disciplines of his time, from philosophy and mathematics to history, geogiraiphy, theology and economy (13). In the eighteenth century we have quite a numlber of eminent Slovruks worthy of mention, of whom we have in the first place Adam F. Kollar (lborn 1718 in Terchova) and Mathias Bel. Kollar, lilbrarian to the emperor's court in Vienna, devoted his time to history and diplomacy, but al.so to social and educational questions. During the refol'lms of Marie-Therese he played a significant role in her educational changes and in contempo,r ary pedago,grics. Mathias Bel, iborn in Ocova as Funtilk, was such a prominent and many-sided .personality that as a Lutheran he received recognition f;z-om the Pope and the Catholic ruler, who g,r anted him the title of nobleman. Bel, called "magnum decus Hungariae," published his scientific work,s in Latin, Ger.man, and Magyar; seven of his works, however, were in Slovruk. Most of his lite;z-ary works concerned themse1ves with history, geogra.phy, ethnography, and philology. He was a member of many foreign scientific societies and one of the most ,p rominent personalities of his generation in all of Hungary. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries SlovaJk Catholics and Lutherans studied and taught at many foreign universities and so helrped to elevate the culture of other nations, ,pairticularly that of the Czechs and Magyars. This question, however, still needs a systematic going-over and, hence, is not included in this dissertation. A significant numlber of Slovruks are also active in the contemporary period at various universities of the free woTld, particularly in Rome, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chili, Flrance, and the United ,States. ,Dr. Milan Hodza stated only a fact at the beginning af Woirld War II when he wrote that "Slovakia reached if not surpassed the Central European civilization level." �SLOVAKIA REFERENCES 1. Dez1der Heckenast: HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITIES, PAST A ND PRESENT, Slavic and East European Studies, Vol. II, Part 1, pp. 31-39; University of Montreal, Canada. 2. Compare Samuel Osusky's "Nasi studenti na Krakovskej universite od 1400-1525," Vi era a veda, Vol. II, 1931, pp. 174-178, 226-233, and Vol. IV, 1933, pp. 232-244. 3. Andrej Mraz : DEJINY SLOVENSKEJ LITERATURY, Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts, Bratislava, 1948, pp. 20-21. 4. In his letter of December 5, 1634, Pazmany wrote the Bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal F. Ditrichstein, that his family comes from Germany (ex Germania) and that is why, he said, that he wishes his last descendant would become a complete Moravian (totaliter Moravum facere constitutum habeo). According to I. Acsady, Pazmany "frequently told Ferdinand II that it was not possible to trust even the best Magyar and that the Magyar people needed a yoke, because it was only thus that it would be possible to keep it under control. He did not even believe his own non-Catholic countrymen, nay, not even in the future of the Magyar nation," (quoted from Daniel Varsik's Slovak book: THE NATIONALITY PROBLEM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TRNAVA, Bratislava, 1938, p. 37). How Pazmany felt about the nationalities is also attested to by the gift which he gave the Franciscan church in Trnava "moved," as he wrote. "above all else by paternal love for the Slovak nation and by t he ardor of the devout people" (Epistolae, II, p. 2-1). 5. Dr. Milan Hodfa: FEDERATION IN CENTRAL EUROPE, London, 1942, pp. 208-209: "During the seventeenth century .. . Slovakia became also the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts on behalf of that country. For some time to come in Slovakia there was much more cultural movement than in Bohemia or occupied Hungary .. . Trnava, which housed the Catholic University before it was transferred to Budapest, became a center of Catholic culture in the realm. Slovakia revealed itself as a meeting-place of practically all contemporary currents of cultural and political ideas." 6. Andrew Mraz: op. cit., pp. 35, 62. 7. Compare the thorough study of D. Varsik. "Narodnostny problem Trnavske j uni ve rz ity," which also has a resume in French in which Varsik states literally: "11 etait par consequent nature! que !'element slovaque fut preponderant a l'Universite de Trnava" (pp. 240-241). 8. Compare Stephen Dubravec's "Apologetika a kontroverz istika na un iverzite v Trnave," Sbornik LVOSSV, Vol. II, No. 2, Trnava, 1935, p. 197). 9. Andrew Mraz : op. cit., pp. 46-47. 10. Compare Stanislaus Polcin's S.J., "Tristo rokov od zalozenia Kosickej univerzity," MOST, Cleveland, 0., Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, pp. 97-106. 11. MOST, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, p. 105. 12. About the documents in the Vatican Archives, vd. mention in the study of S. Polcin,S.J. 13. Compare Stanislaus Jurovsky's "Fil ozofia Ma rti na Szent ivanyi ho," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1944. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 18 SLOVAKIA UNIVERSITY TRADITIONS IN SLOVAKIA Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum An dbjective search of the cultural development of Central ffiurOlpe will r,e veal that Slo,vakia was not only "the first cultural center," as M. Hodzas wrote, but also a land of noteworthy university traditions. With the loss of ,p olitical indeipenden~e in the tenth century and the inco.rporation of Slova!kia first into muJti-national Hungary and later into Ozecho..,Slova!kia, the university tradttions, as well as the entire cultural development of Slovalkia, are often ,presented, it is true, in foreign works as a paTt of Magyar and/ or Czech culture. This is e3:pecially true alb uot the foundation and activity of un1versities in SlorvaJkia, which Mwgyar historians, both young and old (1), classified e~clustvely under the caption of culture of the Magyar nation, despite the fact that in the Middle Ages - and in Cenm-ail ,E}urope even in the 17th centll!rY - modern nationalism ,w as something unknown and that those universities were conducted in a .s pirit of unirversalisrn and cosmopolitanism. Several arguments speak against any such exiplanation of the cultural development in Central ffiurope, and especially in the multi-national !Hungary ,p rior to 19118: 1) the nature of the medieval class .state which was managed by the nobility and gentry of all ethnical components; 2) the character of medieval universities and their mission; and, 3) the nationalistic composition of the students and the ,professorial sta~f. 'l 'f, in thi,s conteIIl\po11aneous period, one would classify, by an ex post exiplaination, the universities of Hungary as the cultural heritage of only one nation, then he would be malking use of an interpretation that is not in line ,w ith logic and historical truth. Cultural values in Hungary were creaited 1b y all the nations of Hungary and, since the nonMagyar nations often exceeded the Maigyars numerically, we can apply only the territorial 1principle when designing the prfority right of cultural institutions. Therefore, even SLOVAKIA 19 this dissertaion speaJks rubout the university traditi:ons in Slova!kia and not aJbout traditions of Slova;k universities. It would not be in line with the resttlts of an oibjective search of the Slovak cultural ,p ast, if we should present the universities in Slovakia of the 15th or 17th century as 'SlovaJk. If we did, we would there by be committing an error almost as great as the Magyars when they present them a,s Magyar, or as the e~clusive heritage of the Magyar nation. But even overlooking the fact that the 15th or the 17th century did not as yet know the concept of a nation in the sense of the present-day meaning of the word and that culturnl institutions in Central Europe, and esipecially in Hungary, had a universalistic spirit and a language that was foremost Latin, the .national composition of Hungary demands a just distribution of merits, as well as cultural heritage, amon5 all the nations of the poiy,g lot Cro1WI1 of St. Stephen. II ffiven with this scrll!pulous distinction, the Sl01va!ks do have a prio,r ity right to three universities from the times of former Hungary and to two from the time of the incorporation of Slovakia into the Czecho-Sl01Valk Republic. That is, on the territory of Slovaikia, there was not only the .A;cadenia Istroipolitana, founded in Bratislaivia by Mathias Corrwin in 1465, and the University of 'I'rnava from the year 1635, but also the universities of Kosice and Bratislava. The Aicademia I.stropolitana, named aftex the Greek for Danulbe (Istros), was a typical medieval university, set up on the order of Italian universities, particularly that of Bologna, its mission /being mainly religious. Hungary, and especially Slcwalkia, was devastated by Jis:kra's Czech mercenary soldiers and by religious quarrels,. After Ji$kra's crupitulation in 1642, and after he had se:cured himself a;gainst the Turkish danger, King Mathias sought to consolidate his country. His plans called for, above all else, a learned priesthood and an educated nolbility revived in the Catholic spirit. Since at that time there was no university in Hungary, as the King himself wrote in his peti- 20 SLOVAKIA tion of May 19, 1465 which was addressed to the Pope, Mathias requested permission for a "studium generale" and Pope Pole II granted it on the same day. In the petition, King Mathias stated what motivated him to estrublish a university in Bratislava and what ,punpo.se it was to serwe. He wrote that "in the countries .bordering with hereti'Cs there is a need of learned men and that this was a loss for the Church itself, as well as for the Christian religion." The Ki.ng entrusted the organization of the university to the Arch'bishop of Ostrihom, J,o hn Vitez, and the university was started in the home of the Ventura Street. The solemn opening of the univensity took 1place on Jwy 28, 1467. Fortihwith the University of Bratisla;va established good relations with the Univensity orf Vienna which he.ljped out with several of its eminent professo,r s. With the death af King Mathias, however, the uni,v ersity not only lost its founder, but also its protector; it closed its doors in 1490. The Academia Istropolitana was a complete uniiversity with four faculties and a .study c,urriculum that equaled that of other European, particularly the Italian and German, univeTSities. The immediate proximity oif the older and well estalblished Uniiversity of Vienna, and the renown of the University of Cracow, estaiblished in 1364, and the Unirversity of Prague (11348) did not allow the University of Bratislaiva to develop as ,planned by King Mathias, who did want to attract students even from the surrounding countries. The fact is that many students from Hungary itself, particularly from SlorvaJkia, studied in Cracow and Pra1gue, Vienna and at Ralian universities. According to some sources in the years 1400-1525 in Oraco,w alone over 2000 students frOIIIl Slovakia attended, especially from her eastern area (2). Territorially, the Unirversity of Bratisla;va belongs to the history of Slovakia, in the remaining aspects it was a medievaI Catholic unirveTsity and :belongs to all the nations of Hungary from whkh ,b oth the students and also the professors descended. And since even in this case the SLOVAKIA 21 Magyars cannot apply the dynastic principle (King Mathias was not of a Magyar dynasty), it is decidedly not in line with historic fact if anyone plruces the unhrersity in the cultural hi<story of only the Magyar nation. "The Academy Istropolitna, " as professor A. MTaz correctly states it, "originated f,r om the will and decision of the Hungarian ruler, it was the result of his cultUJral policy, which wais in many ways influenced by humanism and by contacts especially with the romantic world. Its designation must be understood in an all-state sense, but the very fact that this univer,s ity ori,g inated on Slovak territory, that in its ran1ks there was a great percentage of Slova!k students and professors - all thi,s puts the Corwinian Unirversity of Bratislava into close and lirvely relations with Slovalk cultUTal de,velo1pment" (3). The second univernity on the territory of Slorvakia, the Jesuit University in Trnava, was founded by Archlbishop Peter Pazmany and approved by ffimperor Ferdinand on Odolber 18, 1635. The UnirverS!ity of Trnava was also a Catholic unirver,s ity in ,w hich L'a tin was used, as is proved by the register and catalogues which haive 1been preserved. At first there were only two faculties at this uniiversity (iphilosoiphical and theological), with two others added later (the law faculty in 1667, and the medical in 1769). Archbishop Pa,m nany, originally a Calv:in of German birth (4), was critical of the Magyar nation wh~ch he clai<med as his own; but he, 1i'ke the other ecclesiastical authorities were aiware of the fact that Hungary was polyg,l ot and, therefore, it can be rightly claimed that the university was estalblished for all the nationalities of Hungary with the aim to speed the victory of the Counter-Reformation among the Magyars, as well as among the SJo,vaJks, and Germans, nay even among the Serbs and Ruthenians .by means of the Cyrillic a1phalbet. The words of the Charter about "noibilissimae gentis Hun1garicae" cannot b,e explaaned otherwise than that Pa~many had in mind the state-nation of Hungary, which was administered not only by the Magyar, but also by the Croation and Slovalk nobility and gentTy and compo,s ed of even the Ruimanians of Transyl- 22 SLOVAKIA vania, the Germans, Senbs, and Ruthenians who occupied the lands of St. Stephen's Crown. In the Charter, Archlbishoip Pazmainy says literally: "We often ~o1idtously pondered just in what manner we might take crure of prQlpagating the Catholic religion in Hungary and to wplift the authority of the ndble Hungarian naition; and the most advantageous medium that we came wpon was the estaJblishment of a university in which the mind of a belligerent nation could be moderated and capable people might be ti-ained for the administration Church and also the State." The administration of the State, especially in the 17th century, was not exclusively in the hands of the Magyar nobility and gentry, inasmuch the Magyarization of the Slovak nobility, for example, came quite some time later. Under the influence of the Tu:rlkish occupation and the partition of Hungary into three paI'ts (the southern and central part occupied by the Turks; Transylvainia and the Tisa River area b~ independent princes; and the northern part, that is SlovaJkia, with smaller parts of western Hungary administered by the Hapsburgs) , Slovakia played an altogether exceptional role in the 17th century. She was, Hod.fa tells us, the refuge of many intellectual efforts and for some time there was more cultural movement in Slo,vaJkia than in Bohemia or the occupied part of Hungary. .Aiccording to Hodza, practically a,U movements of the cultural and political Life met there and Slova1kia was indisputaJbly the cultural center of Catholic Hungary (5). So that the Slovalks could regard the Uni,v ersity of TrnaJva as their own is attested to not only by the fact that is was on the territocy of Slorvalkia which .played, as we saiw aJbove, an exrceptional role in Hungary in the seventeenth century. The significance of this university for the cultura-l development of the Slovaiks, their langunge and their national conscioU!Sness was so far-reaching that even one of the outstanding literary historians of the .p resent communistic university in SlovaJkia, Professo;r A. Mraz, acknowledges that "with its activity and within its frame- SLOVAKIA 23 wor'k cultwral and scientific life was prQ_pagated and deepened, the effects of which, all things considered, affected very strong,ly the Sl~ak part of the inhaJbitants, even though this was done according to the plan of religious and scientific direction of this high school and its inclusion into the Jesuit European school ,system. Because o.f the university, Trnava became the cultuTal center of Catholic Hun,gary and Slovakia in the seventeenth centUTy." Mraz also states that "for 160 yews o,f the existence of the University of Trnava on SloiVaJk territory, together with its activity and educational atmosphere created by it, there were crystallized such SlovaJk cultural and natonal realities that were the support of Slovak national renascence" ( 6). From the archives orf the University of Trnava, we learn that UJP to the time of its transfer to Budin in the year 1777, the Slovaks attended the university in greatest numbers, not only as students but, in s·o me years, the Slovaxs predominated as professors. In the first five years, for example, out of 248 students logic, 90 are indicated a,s 'SlovaJks and 77 as Magyars (the others were marked as Croatians and Germans, or their nationality was not indicated). Mter 1649, the registers of the university do not indicate the nationality of the students reg,ulal'ly, but the nationality of those re::!eiving the baccalaureate is indicated: even during this period, it can lbe 1proved that the Siloiva'ks and other iSlorvanic peoples werre in the rubsolute majority at the uniivers,ity (7). Now, then, if we regard the University of Trna.va from the standpoint of the question whom it sewed, who studied and taught at it, the ,p reponderance is on the side of the SlovaJks, Croatians and Germans, a;nd then come the Magyars. As far as· cultural influence is concerned, the University of Trnarva has merited a permanent place in SlovaJk cultural history with the literary activity o.f its professors and wards even in the Slovak langua,ge. From the yearr 1578 to 1777, the unirvevsity issued 79 Lrutin pulblicati<ons in the field of apologetics and contro;versial works~· but also 14 such ipU!bli:cations in Slorvak. During that same, time, 20 Magyar and 12 German, lbut also 75 bodks in the 24 SLOVAKIA field of scetics and preaching (8), so that "the crystallization of the langll!age of Catholic writers from the period of the University of Trnava was marked to such a degree that when Anthony Bernolruk and his g,r oup came out with the idea of an independent Slovalk literary langua;ge, in many things they only codified the practices, prevalent in Catholic literature, of their predeces,s ors" (9). From the rubove, it is undouibtedly surfrficiently clear that the SlO'Vaiks can rightfully inolude the UnilV'ersity of Ton:wa in the cultural heritage of the 1Slovalk nation and that !it ibelOiillgs in the first iplace to the unirve:r,sity traditions of SlovaJkia. It was iin such a sense that the Slovaks celebrated the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Trnava in 1935, when they pulblished a whole ,s eries of literary works commemorating the occasion with the actirve ,partic~pation of not only their cultura·l, but also their ,politi'cal institutions. The third uni,v ersity in SlovaJkia was established in Kosice in 1657 by Benedict Kisdi, the bishop of Jasov; it began its aietivity in 1'658, and the 1SlovaJks are commemorating the tri-centennial of the foundation of the University of Kosice this year. Like the University oif Trnava, the University .of Kosice, too, is grateful to the Jesuits for its development and Mgh acaderruc standing .Emiperor Leopold I rupproved its foundation in 1660, when he issued a Golden Bull, placing the unirversity on a level with the other universities of the mona;rchy with the right of granting academic titles and degrees. The Unirver.sity of Kosice - later degraded to an academy iby the There~iaJll reforms and to a law academy during the Bachera - was formded lb y the same motives as the Trna'Va University. In the Charter of February 26, 1657, Bishop Benedict states that he decided to establish a "studiUJm universale, that is, an academy or unirversity and to entrust it to the Jesuits, whose industry, loyalty and skill in the educational field are known to the who,le world, .so that it could train caipaJble priests the lack of ,whom ~ very harmful for God's Chwrch and for our afflicted fatherland" (10). SLOVAKIA 25 After the dissolution of the Kosice law academy by the Praigue Government in 1922, the archives of the University of Kosice, were taken to Bratislava and, as far as is known, no one has made a thorough study of them so that we might know a;ccurately the composition of the student 1body and its professorial staff. From the wo11ks of Jesuit scientific scholars, who have been active in Italian universities during recent years, we :know that religious servi·c es with exclusively Slo,va.k sermons, during the first years, in the uniiversity cha1pel, attracted so many listenera that they could not be taJken care of in the chaipel. Father Stanislaus Po1cin also states that one of his famous students was A. Balud'ansky, a native of Vysne Olsovany, who ovganized the Uniivers,ity oif St. Petersburg and also was its rector (11). On the whole, the Kosi,ce University was very much li!ke the University of Trnava. From the academic standpoint, the University of Kosice was independent, according to the intentions of its founder it was administered as an institution of higher learning only by Church regulations and later in the sense of the Bull of Leopold I. The latter granted the uni,v ersity the same iprivileges, immunities and .p rerogatives which he had granted to other great universities of the Hrupslburg Monarvchy, and the degrees ,granted ,b y it were on the same level as those granted :b y the other European universities. According to the Charter, at the univer~ity of Kosice there were faculties of logic, philosophy, mathematics, theology, moral, rupologetics, and Heibrew. In 1777 the university lost its theological faculty, but then the faculty of ,la;w was estrublished which, as we mentioned aJbo:ve, remained until 1922. Since we are here concerned with a unirversity on SlovaJk territory, we can conclude that, up to the time of the Theresiam reforms, its character di:fifered little, if at aU, from that of the University of Tr:nava. Certainly its national compositiorn and mission wer,e much the s,a me. It was a Jesuit Latin university set up to serve Counter-Reformation efforts in multi-national Hungary. Though parts of eastern !Slovakia were strongly influenced for a time by the 26 SLOVAKIA Reformation, the Slavruk element during the time of the Kosice University was more strongJy represented inasmuch the neighlboring Maygar parts of Hungary were strongly Calvm.istic and the stage for revolutionary, anti-Hapsburg activities. At the !b eginning of the eighteenth century, in the eastern parts of SlovaJkia, even the Slovaik Calvinists pwblished religious literature in the national tongue and expressed the hyipothesis that it was iproibably there that even the first translation Off he Holy Writ of the year 17561757 originated, with Romuald Hadlbavy, author of a LatinSlovruk dictionary, ipartioipating in it. A study of the archives would undoubtedly tell us much about the composition of students and professors of the University o.f Kosice. Unfortunately they are not accessible to us today because of the Czecho-Comrrnmist occupation of Slova1kia. A few documents rubout the Kosice University can be found in the arch1ves of the Vatican (12), but they do not ,g ive us a clear answer to the questions referred to. Ln 1912 another school of higher learning was established in Bratislava, the Academy of law, which belongs to SlovaJkia only territorially since its spirit and aims differed swbstantially from those of the universities dealt with above. After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, this academy was tr~ferred to Pathlrnstoly (P&!s). The Comenius University was then organized in Bratislava to help the Czech governments Cz.echize the Slovaks. Slovak generations, educated iby the Czech professors of this university, did not succumlb, however, but went in the 01pposite direction: they .b ecame strongly nationalistic, forming the vanguard of the movement for the ouJ.trn-al and political individuality and independence of 'Slo!V'akia. fo 1939, they changed not only the name of the university, iburt also its spirit and mission: the Slovak University serived the highest cultural, political, and economical aims of the Slovak nation until the Slovak Republic was destroyed in AprH, 1945, when Benes, with the help of the United Nations, estaJblished another "Czec:ho-iSlovaJkia," a ,p olitical mons·t irosity more monstrous than the first which was born in 1918. Since 1945, lilke the other fom m;;titutions of higher SLOVAKIA 27 learning, the SlovaJk University in Bratislava, is a tool of Communism in the hands of a Czecho-Communist government. Slovaks At Foreign Universities To complete the picture oif university traditions in Slovakia, we must mention at least ibriefly that f,r om the fourteenth century until the pre;,;ent time Slovalks studied and taught not only in S,lovaJk unilver,s ities, or only in Hoogary and Austria, hut also in significant numbers in practically all European universities. Some of them attained high honors and recognition not only of university circles, but even of the sovereigns. In the era of Humanism and Renaissance, Slo•v ~s studied mamly at the Italian universities in Bologna and Padua, but also in Paris, Vienna, and especially in Crrueow a,nd P.ra,gue. At the latter univ,e rsity, Va:vrinec Benedicti of Nedozery (1'555-11616) was the rector and wrote a Czech ,gram.mer, while John Jesenius from Turiec County excelled in medicine, atd'. Our list of eminent ,SlovaJks of the Hwmanistic, Renaissanoe and Enlightenment eras at foreign universities is far from complete, but it is a noteworthy list. John Samb.oclky (Sambuet.1:S, born in Trnruva 16'31), made himself famous at the University of Bologna and later became an advisor and personal physician to, ffirrvpreor Maximilian II in Vienna. His literacy wo!'!ks we,r e ,published in practically all centers of humanistic culture from Padua through Paris, Vienna, G€neva, Nruples and Antwer;p on to ,F rrunkfurt. His scientific works were in the ma-i n of a historical and legal nature, but he also wrote Latin verses. Ma.rtin Rakovsky enjoyed world fame also in his time; and renaissance learning. In the writing of such treati!Ses Peter Rewa also excelled; his "De Monarchia et sacra corona regni Hungariae" was published in Fran:kfurt in 16159. The Uni'Versity of Trnava mulitiplied its scientific activity and interest of Slovruks in a university education not only on natrve soil, but also in foreign lands. Many scienti£ic workers and defenders of the Slwaiks and their culture grew up within its circle. One of the most prominent representatives of scientific scholars of Trnava was 28 SLOVAKIA Martin Szentivanyi who hailed from Liptovsky Svaty Jan; he ,w rote a1bout fifty various volumes and a six..ivolume encyclopedia called "Curiosora et selectiora variarum scientiarum miscellanea" in which he collected the scientific 1 knowledge of the va-rious disciplines of his time, from philosophy and mathematics to history, geogiraiphy, theology and economy (13). In the eighteenth century we have quite a numlber of eminent Slovruks worthy of mention, of whom we have in the first place Adam F. Kollar (lborn 1718 in Terchova) and Mathias Bel. Kollar, lilbrarian to the emperor's court in Vienna, devoted his time to history and diplomacy, but al.so to social and educational questions. During the refol'lms of Marie-Therese he played a significant role in her educational changes and in contempo,r ary pedago,grics. Mathias Bel, iborn in Ocova as Funtilk, was such a prominent and many-sided .personality that as a Lutheran he received recognition f;z-om the Pope and the Catholic ruler, who g,r anted him the title of nobleman. Bel, called "magnum decus Hungariae," published his scientific work,s in Latin, Ger.man, and Magyar; seven of his works, however, were in Slovruk. Most of his lite;z-ary works concerned themse1ves with history, geogra.phy, ethnography, and philology. He was a member of many foreign scientific societies and one of the most ,p rominent personalities of his generation in all of Hungary. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries SlovaJk Catholics and Lutherans studied and taught at many foreign universities and so helrped to elevate the culture of other nations, ,pairticularly that of the Czechs and Magyars. This question, however, still needs a systematic going-over and, hence, is not included in this dissertation. A significant numlber of Slovruks are also active in the contemporary period at various universities of the free woTld, particularly in Rome, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chili, Flrance, and the United ,States. ,Dr. Milan Hodza stated only a fact at the beginning af Woirld War II when he wrote that "Slovakia reached if not surpassed the Central European civilization level." SLOVAKIA REFERENCES 1. Dez1der Heckenast: HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITIES, PAST A ND PRESENT, Slavic and East European Studies, Vol. II, Part 1, pp. 31-39; University of Montreal, Canada. 2. Compare Samuel Osusky's "Nasi studenti na Krakovskej universite od 1400-1525," Vi era a veda, Vol. II, 1931, pp. 174-178, 226-233, and Vol. IV, 1933, pp. 232-244. 3. Andrej Mraz : DEJINY SLOVENSKEJ LITERATURY, Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts, Bratislava, 1948, pp. 20-21. 4. In his letter of December 5, 1634, Pazmany wrote the Bishop of Olomouc, Cardinal F. Ditrichstein, that his family comes from Germany (ex Germania) and that is why, he said, that he wishes his last descendant would become a complete Moravian (totaliter Moravum facere constitutum habeo). According to I. Acsady, Pazmany "frequently told Ferdinand II that it was not possible to trust even the best Magyar and that the Magyar people needed a yoke, because it was only thus that it would be possible to keep it under control. He did not even believe his own non-Catholic countrymen, nay, not even in the future of the Magyar nation," (quoted from Daniel Varsik's Slovak book: THE NATIONALITY PROBLEM OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TRNAVA, Bratislava, 1938, p. 37). How Pazmany felt about the nationalities is also attested to by the gift which he gave the Franciscan church in Trnava "moved," as he wrote. "above all else by paternal love for the Slovak nation and by t he ardor of the devout people" (Epistolae, II, p. 2-1). 5. Dr. Milan Hodfa: FEDERATION IN CENTRAL EUROPE, London, 1942, pp. 208-209: "During the seventeenth century .. . Slovakia became also the refuge of many lofty intellectual efforts on behalf of that country. For some time to come in Slovakia there was much more cultural movement than in Bohemia or occupied Hungary .. . Trnava, which housed the Catholic University before it was transferred to Budapest, became a center of Catholic culture in the realm. Slovakia revealed itself as a meeting-place of practically all contemporary currents of cultural and political ideas." 6. Andrew Mraz: op. cit., pp. 35, 62. 7. Compare the thorough study of D. Varsik. "Narodnostny problem Trnavske j uni ve rz ity," which also has a resume in French in which Varsik states literally: "11 etait par consequent nature! que !'element slovaque fut preponderant a l'Universite de Trnava" (pp. 240-241). 8. Compare Stephen Dubravec's "Apologetika a kontroverz istika na un iverzite v Trnave," Sbornik LVOSSV, Vol. II, No. 2, Trnava, 1935, p. 197). 9. Andrew Mraz : op. cit., pp. 46-47. 10. Compare Stanislaus Polcin's S.J., "Tristo rokov od zalozenia Kosickej univerzity," MOST, Cleveland, 0., Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, pp. 97-106. 11. MOST, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1957, p. 105. 12. About the documents in the Vatican Archives, vd. mention in the study of S. Polcin,S.J. 13. Compare Stanislaus Jurovsky's "Fil ozofia Ma rti na Szent ivanyi ho," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1944.  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 University Traditions in Slovakia Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958 pp. 18-29 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0268b310794cea2a5333798ce11728df.pdf 410663f290902852eacdfbea2d657236 PDF Text Text 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, �SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 �32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 �SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- �34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. �SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that �36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the �SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the �38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- �SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the �40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- �SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- �42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in �SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. �44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the �SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, �46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. �SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well �48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956). � 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, �SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 �32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 �SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- �34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. �SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that �36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the �SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the �38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- �SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the �40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- �SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- �42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in �SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. �44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the �SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, �46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. �SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well �48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956). � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- 34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that 36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the 38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the 40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- 42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. 44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, 46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well 48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956).  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 Origin of "Slovan" and "Slovak" Description An account of the resource Dr. Henrich Bartek Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958 pp. 30-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bartek, Henrich, 1907-1986 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0320081ee2ff2025916682b59c012c94.pdf 2dafcfc71dce2c68e8997c530f0965f7 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA SWVAK EMIGRATION Constantine Culen 49 I ,J I 1 n ' At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the middle and lo;wer noibility held 70 % of the land in Slovakia. 'Dhe laind from which the Slovalk people was supposed rto maJke a liviing, the urlbarial land, a;mounted to only about 11 % of the total, ,b ut JI' even tlhis land did not b,e long to it. From what the land, yielded, the SlovaJk had to pay his taxes to feudal lords to wlhom the land ,b elonged according to the Ja,ws of that time - and to the so1Verign, w'ho tried to secure ,t he mil>it>a:ry defense of his realm from the taxes of the poorest people. Disease and constant warfary, of the rebellious nOlbility decimated t:Jhe tp0pu:lation. The nobility ruppropril}ted depopulated arets, even where some people ~till rerp.ained, usually -the more. productive areas. ,Slovakia lost its productiive force and gained an uniprodudive no~ bility. ' At that time one-half of the privileged class of the wlhole of Hungary lived in t3lovaki~; in BratisJa,v a County every tent'b ,p erson was a nobleman. The same situation preivailed in t,he counties of Turiec and Zemplin. This class reaUy did live a parasitic life; it was without initiative and considered it an insult to wor,k · it lived a wild life from the swea1:t. and blo9d of the po~rest people. According to I. A:csady, eminent Magyar author, the nolbility toolk away 167 1000 "Pressburg measures" of land from the peasants from 1700 to 1720. We can aippreciate wlhat that meant if we realize that five ,s uch measures a1lowed a livelihood for one family. In twenty years, therefore, mOTe than 33,000 Slovak families lost their means af livelihood; and ~bout 200,000 people were deipriived. of bread and ah existence! In five years (from 171·5 to 17'20) , 1,240 fawlies of Uptov County and 2,000 families of SaTis County were reduced to beggary oy the mY.b1eis. In the times when the rest of Europe was liberating itself from feudal regimes, Slovakia had to provide for 53 %<of the pTtvileged porpulaition of Hungary frro1m tJhe means that were not even sufficient for the .tnost primi- �50 SLOVAKIA tiive living of the serfs themselves. Practically every decade of the eigihteenth century is ma:z,ked with the death of tens ,o.f thousands of people firom hunger and pestilence. 'Dhe inhabitants fled from the villages, fathers of families abandoned their wives and children, and thousands oif acr~ of land .r ema,i ned uncuit1vated. Ba:ttalions oif gendarmes inteIWened, but to no avail. The oppressed and miseraJbJe people 'kept pouring to the south, to the more fertile land, wlhence reports had spread aibout a better and more free life on the desolat-ru but Twk-albandoned "Dolna zem" (lorwer coutry). Orv,e r 1,000 farrnilies left Liptov from 1715 to 1717; Orav;a County, among tlhe most populated of that time, lost almost onethivd of its 1peo1ple, Spis one-fifth, while in Saris the peasants aJbandoned three villa,ges completely and nine others almost comipletely. Thousands of peQple poured into south ern HungaTy from the counties of Zemplin and Albauj. In 1703, the first Slovaks had already settled in BOTos Jeno in Arad County; in 171'5, SlovaJk,s .built up Slovenska Caba, Endrod in 1'718, Sarvas i,n 1722, Slovensky Komlos in 1746, an:d communities in Bekes County; In 1747, the communities of Mokra and Menyhaza in Arad County, etc. Of course, with this first migiration the misery in .SlovaJkia did not diminish. Division of the land remained unchanged, because not even Theresian registers, nay, not even the agrarian reforms of 1836, brought any relief. A neglig~ble percentage of land was in the hands of peasants and strong population increases only aggraJVated the situation. From the second half o.f the eighteenth century until the liberation of the serfs in 1848, Slo,v ak blood continued to fl'orw to the south and strengthened t'he settlements of the Dolna ,zem. From there it flowed to Backia and Banat, then c·o ursed its way farther to the east into Transylvania, to the west into Croatia and Slavonia, and along the Darnulbe all the way to Bulgaria. Marie-Therese colonized Novo Selo and Padina with Slovaks in 1762; the Royal Ex-chequer settled them in Palota, Canada County, in 1768, while Joseph I plaiced them, in 17813, in Ba/lmvar, Ternes County, and also in 1 �SJ,OVAKIA 51 Elbendorf, KTasoiva County. In 1805, Francis I settled Slovaks together with Germans in Sairca, Torontala County; in 1807, in Butin, Arad County; in 1810, in the .communities o£ Sana:d and Baton.a o,n the Military Border (Vojenska hrani,ca); :from 1843 to 1845, the Ex-chequer settled them in. the communities of .AJ1'berti and NadlaJk, Canada County, where Slovruks had already settled previous to that time. It is not an easy task to trace accUTately just when and hoiw many Slovruks emigrated from their homeland to foreign lands to seek freedom and bread, b;ut the fact that already in 1880 one-qua:r,ter million SlovaJks of Hungary lived outside of Slovak national territory remains an eternal aiccusation against Hungary feudalism. Up to the yea,r 1880, Slovruk emigration a!p.peairs to be the first collective protest against the feudalistic economic regime. Mter that yeaT, a new psychological motive ruppears on the scene. The time of the economic conjuncture of the New W~ld and the time to enrich oneself had arrived. 'Dhe oppfessed ,p eople maJkes a grand effort to rid itself od' its bondage. 'the docile SlcwaJks be<::ame fully awaire of their own strength, 'perseverance and honesty, and believe that they can malke out better in foreign lands than at home. What economic improlent could the Slovak meland, but the popue ~ t at home? People left their lation kept on increasing. At ho , where bwo thirds of the cleared land, only a part of. hich belonged to the people, became so atomized because of the heritage laiws that one-fourth of all the agricultural units were less than one measure? The Slova;ks saw no hope of better economic conditions at that time. The low productivity of the soil, the competition of Magyar farm products, the lack of industry and commerce, philoxera which destroyed all the winelands of eastern SlovaJkia, increasing local and state taxes, poor distribution and increasing price of vital necessities, high interest rates and constant exiploitation held the small huslban man in a permanent crisis. But the land barons were not concerned with the plight of the small husbandmen; they would not �52 SLOVAKIA let go pf any part of their lands. This was all contrasted with the rosy ;pi:ot,ure of America, whJrch soon came to be ca1led ".tlh e promised lamd." T,he desiTe for national freedom and the hunger for cheap land soon had hundreds of thousands of Slwalks m8Jking their way, legally or illegally, to the ; 'New World." Slovaks began to emigrate in greater numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. From 1879 to· 18 91, Slova.ks from Zemplin County numbered 23,940; only 6,718 of them returned after a time, so that wer 17,000 of the first Slorva!k pioneers remained in America. .A'ccording to population staltistics of that time, the cooorties of AJb.auj, Zemplin, Saris, and Spis, together had a population of 888,678. But a census of the people rervealed that there were only 810,393 peorple in those countries. More than 75,000 Slovaks from these countris had alrady emigrated to America! By that time there were also 5,000 Slovaks in America from the counties of Gerner and Liptov, the total in America then being 80,000. Letters from Slovaiks in the "New World" to relahves and friends in the "home count·r,y" soon had more thousands of Slovaiks crossing the ocean to America. In the beginning, the Hungarian gorvernment, controlled by the Magyars, did nothing to stop the emigration to America and other lands. Later on, however, when the emigration mavement reached catastrophic prQPortions. the government tried to stop the trend by building urp industry in the hilly regions, but this did not remedy the situation. There was no comparison between America and Hungary when it caime to the question of getting "real" money for wo:rlkin1g. Petty and insignificant social reforms proclaimed by the Hungarian g nvernments, most of them never realized, did not influence the Slovaks. After all, thei-r brethren had tasted of real freedom in America ! Up to the first World War, Slorva:kia lost some 22,000 people annually ; they emigrated in the best yea·r s of theiir productive life and formed the most valuable and enter,prising class of the population. Uip to the year 1890, ars we saw a!bove, an average of 9,000 Slovaks left their homeland annually. In the years �SLOVAKIA 53 following this average increased raipidly. In 1869, there were 1,997 ,0-96 persons in twe1ve Slorvalk counties; but in 1'890, 31 years later, there were 2,240,044 in the same counties, indicating an increase of only 12.2 % (242,948), even though birtihs exceeded deaths by 27.5 % ! Obviously tJhe differenice between the natural and the actual increase, 307,81'3 persons, was already beyond the boTders of SlovaJkia in 1900. The Hungarian pu'b,lic paid no attention to this great movement. It was generally said that it was due to the "itch to tra vel aJbroad" and wa;s convinced t!hat every Slovalk emigrant, after a time, would return to his homeland. Of course, it is true thait Slo,vaJks returned home in greater numbers tha,n Germans and MaJgyars, but the numlber of returnees was. insignificant in comparision to the number of those who settled down permanently in America. In 1900, 14,170 persons emigrnted from SlolV'aJkia; in 1901 - 19,302 ; in 1902 - 18,760; in 1903 - 17,063; in 1·904 - 17,477 ; but in 1905 - 38,770! In the latter year, 4,038 SlovaJks returned to SlovaJkia, but 34,732 remained in America. What Euro,p ean states lost more population by emigration in those same years? From 1905 to 1910, 117,188 Slovalks left thek homeland and 39,965 of them returned: in five years 77,223 more Slovruks settled beyond the ocean. In that first decade of the present century, the migrational stream swallowed up ,t he natural increaise in the counties of Tu:riec, Hont, and Orava: three times that of Gerner and Zemplin counties: five times that of the counties of Uzhorod and Albauj: and 12-13 times that of Spis and Saris counties. From 1910 on, the number of emigrants frOIIn Slovakia constantly decreases, indicating a decline of conjunctuTe and tighter immigration regulations. From 1,910 to the beginning of World War I, only an average of 10,760 persons emigrated from Slova;kia annually, while more than 4,000 of them returned annually. DuriTllg tlhat period Slovakia lost 33,788 ~ons and daughters. By recaipitulating the figuTes given aJb01Ve, we learn that from 1880, the year when emigration from Slovakia began in greater numbers, to the outbreak of World War I, 1 �54 SLOVAKIA S,lQ/Vaooia lost more than 550,000 pe0iple through emigration. That more than that numlber actually left Slovakia during that time (,w e must rookon with those who emigrated illegally to America and, hence, did not figure satisticatly) is ,pr01ven by the 1921 census, accord,ing to which there were more than 619,000 Slovaks of the first and second generations in America. From 1 901 to 1910, Hungarian immigrants sent postal money orders in the amount of 1,248,81'8.7-40 crowns. During that tilme a total of 1,236,000 persons emigrated frOIIll Hungary; 18 % of that total - 228,000 persons - was Slovalk. Hence, we can saifely sa;y that Slovalkis sent their relatives at least l.'8 % of the total a,mount of crowns, that is, 223,'5127,000 crowns, or an average 22,352,000 crowns aru:JJually during that period. Adually, however, we know that si,gnifiicamtly more than this amount helped out SlovaJk economy, because many Slovalks sent money through b,an!ks and aill those who returned brought it with them, but we do nn have any record of this amount. With American doUws the SlovaJks at home paid their debts, bought new land from the great landowners, built stone and brick houses, boug:ht agricultural implements, and began to invest in various industrial entenprises. The family at home was better orfif economicaHy and wages began to increase. What the Slovaiks had learned in America they put to good use in Slov,aJkia after their return, raiising the sodal level particularly orf the poorest people o:f eastern Slo,vakia. With the progress of time, however, the spiritual effects prOlVed to be even more significant than the econolffilic effects. The late Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slo,va:k historian, pointed this out when he wrote: "ISlovaik emigraints that left t 1heir homeland, often without national consciousness, became conscious of their ethnic 01rigin in a foreign world, in a new environment, and far from their homeland, aind they cultivated and deepened their Slov·a k national soUdarity wherever they had an QPportunity to do so. It so happened that Slo.vruk emi,g rants far beyond the ocean or in pre-wa,r Russia were more strongly conscious of tJheir nationality and possessed a profounder SlovaJk feeling than the Slovaks at home who lagged in their 1 �SLOVAKIA 55 national development, or succumbed to Magyarization, influenced as they were by the MaJgyarization politics of the Hungarian government. The results of the contacts between Slo,vaik Amedca and Slovald.a became a,parent in various fields and in vairioUJs manners, and the Magyar government evaluated them well, seing in the national awrukening of eastern Slovaik,ia the influence of .American emigrants from Saris and Zemplin, and tried to paralyze this inf1uence by all pos•silble means. "The hundreds of thousands of American Slo,valks attentitvely followed the development of national life in SlovaJkia, intenvened in this development a:nd moraHy and materially aided every Slovak underta:king whioh aimed to gain national freedom for their countrymen. We would be very ungrateful and unjust, if we should underestimate th!.s participation of the American Slova'k s in the histori-cal development of the SloivaJk nation." • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are a chosen generation to which it has been granted to fulfill a unique historical task: to rid our country of Germans, in other words, the eternal danger to peace in our land and in Europe ... What was done and supported by laws i:n our country was the entering upon a path which the nation has chosen and along which it shall develop. There is no turning back from this path, even if some one would desire to do so. Obviously we ourselves do not wish to do so. We have begun a gigantic task which must be successful. For its success all of us are responsible to future generations." (Dr. Peter Zenkl, SVOBODNE SLOVO, Jan. 1, 1946) . • • "At this fateful ti-me, when the Red Army and the armies of the United States and other United Nations are fighting on German sohl, we can look forward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nazi aggressors and the attaiinment oif our common goail - a durruble and just peace and a continuance of close coHruboration between a!1l the United Nations." - F. D. Roosevelt's caJblegrrum, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the SovieJt President on the occasion of the 27ith amtiJVersary orf the fOU!lldling of the USSR. � SLOVAKIA SWVAK EMIGRATION Constantine Culen 49 I ,J I 1 n ' At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the middle and lo;wer noibility held 70 % of the land in Slovakia. 'Dhe laind from which the Slovalk people was supposed rto maJke a liviing, the urlbarial land, a;mounted to only about 11 % of the total, ,b ut JI' even tlhis land did not b,e long to it. From what the land, yielded, the SlovaJk had to pay his taxes to feudal lords to wlhom the land ,b elonged according to the Ja,ws of that time - and to the so1Verign, w'ho tried to secure ,t he mil>it>a:ry defense of his realm from the taxes of the poorest people. Disease and constant warfary, of the rebellious nOlbility decimated t:Jhe tp0pu:lation. The nobility ruppropril}ted depopulated arets, even where some people ~till rerp.ained, usually -the more. productive areas. ,Slovakia lost its productiive force and gained an uniprodudive no~ bility. ' At that time one-half of the privileged class of the wlhole of Hungary lived in t3lovaki~; in BratisJa,v a County every tent'b ,p erson was a nobleman. The same situation preivailed in t,he counties of Turiec and Zemplin. This class reaUy did live a parasitic life; it was without initiative and considered it an insult to wor,k · it lived a wild life from the swea1:t. and blo9d of the po~rest people. According to I. A:csady, eminent Magyar author, the nolbility toolk away 167 1000 "Pressburg measures" of land from the peasants from 1700 to 1720. We can aippreciate wlhat that meant if we realize that five ,s uch measures a1lowed a livelihood for one family. In twenty years, therefore, mOTe than 33,000 Slovak families lost their means af livelihood; and ~bout 200,000 people were deipriived. of bread and ah existence! In five years (from 171·5 to 17'20) , 1,240 fawlies of Uptov County and 2,000 families of SaTis County were reduced to beggary oy the mY.b1eis. In the times when the rest of Europe was liberating itself from feudal regimes, Slovakia had to provide for 53 %<of the pTtvileged porpulaition of Hungary frro1m tJhe means that were not even sufficient for the .tnost primi- �50 SLOVAKIA tiive living of the serfs themselves. Practically every decade of the eigihteenth century is ma:z,ked with the death of tens ,o.f thousands of people firom hunger and pestilence. 'Dhe inhabitants fled from the villages, fathers of families abandoned their wives and children, and thousands oif acr~ of land .r ema,i ned uncuit1vated. Ba:ttalions oif gendarmes inteIWened, but to no avail. The oppressed and miseraJbJe people 'kept pouring to the south, to the more fertile land, wlhence reports had spread aibout a better and more free life on the desolat-ru but Twk-albandoned "Dolna zem" (lorwer coutry). Orv,e r 1,000 farrnilies left Liptov from 1715 to 1717; Orav;a County, among tlhe most populated of that time, lost almost onethivd of its 1peo1ple, Spis one-fifth, while in Saris the peasants aJbandoned three villa,ges completely and nine others almost comipletely. Thousands of peQple poured into south ern HungaTy from the counties of Zemplin and Albauj. In 1703, the first Slovaks had already settled in BOTos Jeno in Arad County; in 171'5, SlovaJk,s .built up Slovenska Caba, Endrod in 1'718, Sarvas i,n 1722, Slovensky Komlos in 1746, an:d communities in Bekes County; In 1747, the communities of Mokra and Menyhaza in Arad County, etc. Of course, with this first migiration the misery in .SlovaJkia did not diminish. Division of the land remained unchanged, because not even Theresian registers, nay, not even the agrarian reforms of 1836, brought any relief. A neglig~ble percentage of land was in the hands of peasants and strong population increases only aggraJVated the situation. From the second half o.f the eighteenth century until the liberation of the serfs in 1848, Slo,v ak blood continued to fl'orw to the south and strengthened t'he settlements of the Dolna ,zem. From there it flowed to Backia and Banat, then c·o ursed its way farther to the east into Transylvania, to the west into Croatia and Slavonia, and along the Darnulbe all the way to Bulgaria. Marie-Therese colonized Novo Selo and Padina with Slovaks in 1762; the Royal Ex-chequer settled them in Palota, Canada County, in 1768, while Joseph I plaiced them, in 17813, in Ba/lmvar, Ternes County, and also in 1 �SJ,OVAKIA 51 Elbendorf, KTasoiva County. In 1805, Francis I settled Slovaks together with Germans in Sairca, Torontala County; in 1807, in Butin, Arad County; in 1810, in the .communities o£ Sana:d and Baton.a o,n the Military Border (Vojenska hrani,ca); :from 1843 to 1845, the Ex-chequer settled them in. the communities of .AJ1'berti and NadlaJk, Canada County, where Slovruks had already settled previous to that time. It is not an easy task to trace accUTately just when and hoiw many Slovruks emigrated from their homeland to foreign lands to seek freedom and bread, b;ut the fact that already in 1880 one-qua:r,ter million SlovaJks of Hungary lived outside of Slovak national territory remains an eternal aiccusation against Hungary feudalism. Up to the yea,r 1880, Slovruk emigration a!p.peairs to be the first collective protest against the feudalistic economic regime. Mter that yeaT, a new psychological motive ruppears on the scene. The time of the economic conjuncture of the New W~ld and the time to enrich oneself had arrived. 'Dhe oppfessed ,p eople maJkes a grand effort to rid itself od' its bondage. 'the docile SlcwaJks be<::ame fully awaire of their own strength, 'perseverance and honesty, and believe that they can malke out better in foreign lands than at home. What economic improlent could the Slovak meland, but the popue ~ t at home? People left their lation kept on increasing. At ho , where bwo thirds of the cleared land, only a part of. hich belonged to the people, became so atomized because of the heritage laiws that one-fourth of all the agricultural units were less than one measure? The Slova;ks saw no hope of better economic conditions at that time. The low productivity of the soil, the competition of Magyar farm products, the lack of industry and commerce, philoxera which destroyed all the winelands of eastern SlovaJkia, increasing local and state taxes, poor distribution and increasing price of vital necessities, high interest rates and constant exiploitation held the small huslban man in a permanent crisis. But the land barons were not concerned with the plight of the small husbandmen; they would not �52 SLOVAKIA let go pf any part of their lands. This was all contrasted with the rosy ;pi:ot,ure of America, whJrch soon came to be ca1led ".tlh e promised lamd." T,he desiTe for national freedom and the hunger for cheap land soon had hundreds of thousands of Slwalks m8Jking their way, legally or illegally, to the ; 'New World." Slovaks began to emigrate in greater numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. From 1879 to· 18 91, Slova.ks from Zemplin County numbered 23,940; only 6,718 of them returned after a time, so that wer 17,000 of the first Slorva!k pioneers remained in America. .A'ccording to population staltistics of that time, the cooorties of AJb.auj, Zemplin, Saris, and Spis, together had a population of 888,678. But a census of the people rervealed that there were only 810,393 peorple in those countries. More than 75,000 Slovaks from these countris had alrady emigrated to America! By that time there were also 5,000 Slovaks in America from the counties of Gerner and Liptov, the total in America then being 80,000. Letters from Slovaiks in the "New World" to relahves and friends in the "home count·r,y" soon had more thousands of Slovaiks crossing the ocean to America. In the beginning, the Hungarian gorvernment, controlled by the Magyars, did nothing to stop the emigration to America and other lands. Later on, however, when the emigration mavement reached catastrophic prQPortions. the government tried to stop the trend by building urp industry in the hilly regions, but this did not remedy the situation. There was no comparison between America and Hungary when it caime to the question of getting "real" money for wo:rlkin1g. Petty and insignificant social reforms proclaimed by the Hungarian g nvernments, most of them never realized, did not influence the Slovaks. After all, thei-r brethren had tasted of real freedom in America ! Up to the first World War, Slorva:kia lost some 22,000 people annually ; they emigrated in the best yea·r s of theiir productive life and formed the most valuable and enter,prising class of the population. Uip to the year 1890, ars we saw a!bove, an average of 9,000 Slovaks left their homeland annually. In the years �SLOVAKIA 53 following this average increased raipidly. In 1869, there were 1,997 ,0-96 persons in twe1ve Slorvalk counties; but in 1'890, 31 years later, there were 2,240,044 in the same counties, indicating an increase of only 12.2 % (242,948), even though birtihs exceeded deaths by 27.5 % ! Obviously tJhe differenice between the natural and the actual increase, 307,81'3 persons, was already beyond the boTders of SlovaJkia in 1900. The Hungarian pu'b,lic paid no attention to this great movement. It was generally said that it was due to the "itch to tra vel aJbroad" and wa;s convinced t!hat every Slovalk emigrant, after a time, would return to his homeland. Of course, it is true thait Slo,vaJks returned home in greater numbers tha,n Germans and MaJgyars, but the numlber of returnees was. insignificant in comparision to the number of those who settled down permanently in America. In 1900, 14,170 persons emigrnted from SlolV'aJkia; in 1901 - 19,302 ; in 1902 - 18,760; in 1903 - 17,063; in 1·904 - 17,477 ; but in 1905 - 38,770! In the latter year, 4,038 SlovaJks returned to SlovaJkia, but 34,732 remained in America. What Euro,p ean states lost more population by emigration in those same years? From 1905 to 1910, 117,188 Slovalks left thek homeland and 39,965 of them returned: in five years 77,223 more Slovruks settled beyond the ocean. In that first decade of the present century, the migrational stream swallowed up ,t he natural increaise in the counties of Tu:riec, Hont, and Orava: three times that of Gerner and Zemplin counties: five times that of the counties of Uzhorod and Albauj: and 12-13 times that of Spis and Saris counties. From 1910 on, the number of emigrants frOIIn Slovakia constantly decreases, indicating a decline of conjunctuTe and tighter immigration regulations. From 1,910 to the beginning of World War I, only an average of 10,760 persons emigrated from Slova;kia annually, while more than 4,000 of them returned annually. DuriTllg tlhat period Slovakia lost 33,788 ~ons and daughters. By recaipitulating the figuTes given aJb01Ve, we learn that from 1880, the year when emigration from Slovakia began in greater numbers, to the outbreak of World War I, 1 �54 SLOVAKIA S,lQ/Vaooia lost more than 550,000 pe0iple through emigration. That more than that numlber actually left Slovakia during that time (,w e must rookon with those who emigrated illegally to America and, hence, did not figure satisticatly) is ,pr01ven by the 1921 census, accord,ing to which there were more than 619,000 Slovaks of the first and second generations in America. From 1 901 to 1910, Hungarian immigrants sent postal money orders in the amount of 1,248,81'8.7-40 crowns. During that tilme a total of 1,236,000 persons emigrated frOIIll Hungary; 18 % of that total - 228,000 persons - was Slovalk. Hence, we can saifely sa;y that Slovalkis sent their relatives at least l.'8 % of the total a,mount of crowns, that is, 223,'5127,000 crowns, or an average 22,352,000 crowns aru:JJually during that period. Adually, however, we know that si,gnifiicamtly more than this amount helped out SlovaJk economy, because many Slovalks sent money through b,an!ks and aill those who returned brought it with them, but we do nn have any record of this amount. With American doUws the SlovaJks at home paid their debts, bought new land from the great landowners, built stone and brick houses, boug:ht agricultural implements, and began to invest in various industrial entenprises. The family at home was better orfif economicaHy and wages began to increase. What the Slovaiks had learned in America they put to good use in Slov,aJkia after their return, raiising the sodal level particularly orf the poorest people o:f eastern Slo,vakia. With the progress of time, however, the spiritual effects prOlVed to be even more significant than the econolffilic effects. The late Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slo,va:k historian, pointed this out when he wrote: "ISlovaik emigraints that left t 1heir homeland, often without national consciousness, became conscious of their ethnic 01rigin in a foreign world, in a new environment, and far from their homeland, aind they cultivated and deepened their Slov·a k national soUdarity wherever they had an QPportunity to do so. It so happened that Slo.vruk emi,g rants far beyond the ocean or in pre-wa,r Russia were more strongly conscious of tJheir nationality and possessed a profounder SlovaJk feeling than the Slovaks at home who lagged in their 1 �SLOVAKIA 55 national development, or succumbed to Magyarization, influenced as they were by the MaJgyarization politics of the Hungarian government. The results of the contacts between Slo,vaik Amedca and Slovald.a became a,parent in various fields and in vairioUJs manners, and the Magyar government evaluated them well, seing in the national awrukening of eastern Slovaik,ia the influence of .American emigrants from Saris and Zemplin, and tried to paralyze this inf1uence by all pos•silble means. "The hundreds of thousands of American Slo,valks attentitvely followed the development of national life in SlovaJkia, intenvened in this development a:nd moraHy and materially aided every Slovak underta:king whioh aimed to gain national freedom for their countrymen. We would be very ungrateful and unjust, if we should underestimate th!.s participation of the American Slova'k s in the histori-cal development of the SloivaJk nation." • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are a chosen generation to which it has been granted to fulfill a unique historical task: to rid our country of Germans, in other words, the eternal danger to peace in our land and in Europe ... What was done and supported by laws i:n our country was the entering upon a path which the nation has chosen and along which it shall develop. There is no turning back from this path, even if some one would desire to do so. Obviously we ourselves do not wish to do so. We have begun a gigantic task which must be successful. For its success all of us are responsible to future generations." (Dr. Peter Zenkl, SVOBODNE SLOVO, Jan. 1, 1946) . • • "At this fateful ti-me, when the Red Army and the armies of the United States and other United Nations are fighting on German sohl, we can look forward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nazi aggressors and the attaiinment oif our common goail - a durruble and just peace and a continuance of close coHruboration between a!1l the United Nations." - F. D. Roosevelt's caJblegrrum, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the SovieJt President on the occasion of the 27ith amtiJVersary orf the fOU!lldling of the USSR. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 SWVAK EMIGRATION Constantine Culen 49 I ,J I 1 n ' At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the middle and lo;wer noibility held 70 % of the land in Slovakia. 'Dhe laind from which the Slovalk people was supposed rto maJke a liviing, the urlbarial land, a;mounted to only about 11 % of the total, ,b ut JI' even tlhis land did not b,e long to it. From what the land, yielded, the SlovaJk had to pay his taxes to feudal lords to wlhom the land ,b elonged according to the Ja,ws of that time - and to the so1Verign, w'ho tried to secure ,t he mil>it>a:ry defense of his realm from the taxes of the poorest people. Disease and constant warfary, of the rebellious nOlbility decimated t:Jhe tp0pu:lation. The nobility ruppropril}ted depopulated arets, even where some people ~till rerp.ained, usually -the more. productive areas. ,Slovakia lost its productiive force and gained an uniprodudive no~ bility. ' At that time one-half of the privileged class of the wlhole of Hungary lived in t3lovaki~; in BratisJa,v a County every tent'b ,p erson was a nobleman. The same situation preivailed in t,he counties of Turiec and Zemplin. This class reaUy did live a parasitic life; it was without initiative and considered it an insult to wor,k · it lived a wild life from the swea1:t. and blo9d of the po~rest people. According to I. A:csady, eminent Magyar author, the nolbility toolk away 167 1000 "Pressburg measures" of land from the peasants from 1700 to 1720. We can aippreciate wlhat that meant if we realize that five ,s uch measures a1lowed a livelihood for one family. In twenty years, therefore, mOTe than 33,000 Slovak families lost their means af livelihood; and ~bout 200,000 people were deipriived. of bread and ah existence! In five years (from 171·5 to 17'20) , 1,240 fawlies of Uptov County and 2,000 families of SaTis County were reduced to beggary oy the mY.b1eis. In the times when the rest of Europe was liberating itself from feudal regimes, Slovakia had to provide for 53 %<of the pTtvileged porpulaition of Hungary frro1m tJhe means that were not even sufficient for the .tnost primi- 50 SLOVAKIA tiive living of the serfs themselves. Practically every decade of the eigihteenth century is ma:z,ked with the death of tens ,o.f thousands of people firom hunger and pestilence. 'Dhe inhabitants fled from the villages, fathers of families abandoned their wives and children, and thousands oif acr~ of land .r ema,i ned uncuit1vated. Ba:ttalions oif gendarmes inteIWened, but to no avail. The oppressed and miseraJbJe people 'kept pouring to the south, to the more fertile land, wlhence reports had spread aibout a better and more free life on the desolat-ru but Twk-albandoned "Dolna zem" (lorwer coutry). Orv,e r 1,000 farrnilies left Liptov from 1715 to 1717; Orav;a County, among tlhe most populated of that time, lost almost onethivd of its 1peo1ple, Spis one-fifth, while in Saris the peasants aJbandoned three villa,ges completely and nine others almost comipletely. Thousands of peQple poured into south ern HungaTy from the counties of Zemplin and Albauj. In 1703, the first Slovaks had already settled in BOTos Jeno in Arad County; in 171'5, SlovaJk,s .built up Slovenska Caba, Endrod in 1'718, Sarvas i,n 1722, Slovensky Komlos in 1746, an:d communities in Bekes County; In 1747, the communities of Mokra and Menyhaza in Arad County, etc. Of course, with this first migiration the misery in .SlovaJkia did not diminish. Division of the land remained unchanged, because not even Theresian registers, nay, not even the agrarian reforms of 1836, brought any relief. A neglig~ble percentage of land was in the hands of peasants and strong population increases only aggraJVated the situation. From the second half o.f the eighteenth century until the liberation of the serfs in 1848, Slo,v ak blood continued to fl'orw to the south and strengthened t'he settlements of the Dolna ,zem. From there it flowed to Backia and Banat, then c·o ursed its way farther to the east into Transylvania, to the west into Croatia and Slavonia, and along the Darnulbe all the way to Bulgaria. Marie-Therese colonized Novo Selo and Padina with Slovaks in 1762; the Royal Ex-chequer settled them in Palota, Canada County, in 1768, while Joseph I plaiced them, in 17813, in Ba/lmvar, Ternes County, and also in 1 SJ,OVAKIA 51 Elbendorf, KTasoiva County. In 1805, Francis I settled Slovaks together with Germans in Sairca, Torontala County; in 1807, in Butin, Arad County; in 1810, in the .communities o£ Sana:d and Baton.a o,n the Military Border (Vojenska hrani,ca); :from 1843 to 1845, the Ex-chequer settled them in. the communities of .AJ1'berti and NadlaJk, Canada County, where Slovruks had already settled previous to that time. It is not an easy task to trace accUTately just when and hoiw many Slovruks emigrated from their homeland to foreign lands to seek freedom and bread, b;ut the fact that already in 1880 one-qua:r,ter million SlovaJks of Hungary lived outside of Slovak national territory remains an eternal aiccusation against Hungary feudalism. Up to the yea,r 1880, Slovruk emigration a!p.peairs to be the first collective protest against the feudalistic economic regime. Mter that yeaT, a new psychological motive ruppears on the scene. The time of the economic conjuncture of the New W~ld and the time to enrich oneself had arrived. 'Dhe oppfessed ,p eople maJkes a grand effort to rid itself od' its bondage. 'the docile SlcwaJks be<::ame fully awaire of their own strength, 'perseverance and honesty, and believe that they can malke out better in foreign lands than at home. What economic improlent could the Slovak meland, but the popue ~ t at home? People left their lation kept on increasing. At ho , where bwo thirds of the cleared land, only a part of. hich belonged to the people, became so atomized because of the heritage laiws that one-fourth of all the agricultural units were less than one measure? The Slova;ks saw no hope of better economic conditions at that time. The low productivity of the soil, the competition of Magyar farm products, the lack of industry and commerce, philoxera which destroyed all the winelands of eastern SlovaJkia, increasing local and state taxes, poor distribution and increasing price of vital necessities, high interest rates and constant exiploitation held the small huslban man in a permanent crisis. But the land barons were not concerned with the plight of the small husbandmen; they would not 52 SLOVAKIA let go pf any part of their lands. This was all contrasted with the rosy ;pi:ot,ure of America, whJrch soon came to be ca1led ".tlh e promised lamd." T,he desiTe for national freedom and the hunger for cheap land soon had hundreds of thousands of Slwalks m8Jking their way, legally or illegally, to the ; 'New World." Slovaks began to emigrate in greater numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. From 1879 to· 18 91, Slova.ks from Zemplin County numbered 23,940; only 6,718 of them returned after a time, so that wer 17,000 of the first Slorva!k pioneers remained in America. .A'ccording to population staltistics of that time, the cooorties of AJb.auj, Zemplin, Saris, and Spis, together had a population of 888,678. But a census of the people rervealed that there were only 810,393 peorple in those countries. More than 75,000 Slovaks from these countris had alrady emigrated to America! By that time there were also 5,000 Slovaks in America from the counties of Gerner and Liptov, the total in America then being 80,000. Letters from Slovaiks in the "New World" to relahves and friends in the "home count·r,y" soon had more thousands of Slovaiks crossing the ocean to America. In the beginning, the Hungarian gorvernment, controlled by the Magyars, did nothing to stop the emigration to America and other lands. Later on, however, when the emigration mavement reached catastrophic prQPortions. the government tried to stop the trend by building urp industry in the hilly regions, but this did not remedy the situation. There was no comparison between America and Hungary when it caime to the question of getting "real" money for wo:rlkin1g. Petty and insignificant social reforms proclaimed by the Hungarian g nvernments, most of them never realized, did not influence the Slovaks. After all, thei-r brethren had tasted of real freedom in America ! Up to the first World War, Slorva:kia lost some 22,000 people annually ; they emigrated in the best yea·r s of theiir productive life and formed the most valuable and enter,prising class of the population. Uip to the year 1890, ars we saw a!bove, an average of 9,000 Slovaks left their homeland annually. In the years SLOVAKIA 53 following this average increased raipidly. In 1869, there were 1,997 ,0-96 persons in twe1ve Slorvalk counties; but in 1'890, 31 years later, there were 2,240,044 in the same counties, indicating an increase of only 12.2 % (242,948), even though birtihs exceeded deaths by 27.5 % ! Obviously tJhe differenice between the natural and the actual increase, 307,81'3 persons, was already beyond the boTders of SlovaJkia in 1900. The Hungarian pu'b,lic paid no attention to this great movement. It was generally said that it was due to the "itch to tra vel aJbroad" and wa;s convinced t!hat every Slovalk emigrant, after a time, would return to his homeland. Of course, it is true thait Slo,vaJks returned home in greater numbers tha,n Germans and MaJgyars, but the numlber of returnees was. insignificant in comparision to the number of those who settled down permanently in America. In 1900, 14,170 persons emigrnted from SlolV'aJkia; in 1901 - 19,302 ; in 1902 - 18,760; in 1903 - 17,063; in 1·904 - 17,477 ; but in 1905 - 38,770! In the latter year, 4,038 SlovaJks returned to SlovaJkia, but 34,732 remained in America. What Euro,p ean states lost more population by emigration in those same years? From 1905 to 1910, 117,188 Slovalks left thek homeland and 39,965 of them returned: in five years 77,223 more Slovruks settled beyond the ocean. In that first decade of the present century, the migrational stream swallowed up ,t he natural increaise in the counties of Tu:riec, Hont, and Orava: three times that of Gerner and Zemplin counties: five times that of the counties of Uzhorod and Albauj: and 12-13 times that of Spis and Saris counties. From 1910 on, the number of emigrants frOIIn Slovakia constantly decreases, indicating a decline of conjunctuTe and tighter immigration regulations. From 1,910 to the beginning of World War I, only an average of 10,760 persons emigrated from Slova;kia annually, while more than 4,000 of them returned annually. DuriTllg tlhat period Slovakia lost 33,788 ~ons and daughters. By recaipitulating the figuTes given aJb01Ve, we learn that from 1880, the year when emigration from Slovakia began in greater numbers, to the outbreak of World War I, 1 54 SLOVAKIA S,lQ/Vaooia lost more than 550,000 pe0iple through emigration. That more than that numlber actually left Slovakia during that time (,w e must rookon with those who emigrated illegally to America and, hence, did not figure satisticatly) is ,pr01ven by the 1921 census, accord,ing to which there were more than 619,000 Slovaks of the first and second generations in America. From 1 901 to 1910, Hungarian immigrants sent postal money orders in the amount of 1,248,81'8.7-40 crowns. During that tilme a total of 1,236,000 persons emigrated frOIIll Hungary; 18 % of that total - 228,000 persons - was Slovalk. Hence, we can saifely sa;y that Slovalkis sent their relatives at least l.'8 % of the total a,mount of crowns, that is, 223,'5127,000 crowns, or an average 22,352,000 crowns aru:JJually during that period. Adually, however, we know that si,gnifiicamtly more than this amount helped out SlovaJk economy, because many Slovalks sent money through b,an!ks and aill those who returned brought it with them, but we do nn have any record of this amount. With American doUws the SlovaJks at home paid their debts, bought new land from the great landowners, built stone and brick houses, boug:ht agricultural implements, and began to invest in various industrial entenprises. The family at home was better orfif economicaHy and wages began to increase. What the Slovaiks had learned in America they put to good use in Slov,aJkia after their return, raiising the sodal level particularly orf the poorest people o:f eastern Slo,vakia. With the progress of time, however, the spiritual effects prOlVed to be even more significant than the econolffilic effects. The late Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, eminent Slo,va:k historian, pointed this out when he wrote: "ISlovaik emigraints that left t 1heir homeland, often without national consciousness, became conscious of their ethnic 01rigin in a foreign world, in a new environment, and far from their homeland, aind they cultivated and deepened their Slov·a k national soUdarity wherever they had an QPportunity to do so. It so happened that Slo.vruk emi,g rants far beyond the ocean or in pre-wa,r Russia were more strongly conscious of tJheir nationality and possessed a profounder SlovaJk feeling than the Slovaks at home who lagged in their 1 SLOVAKIA 55 national development, or succumbed to Magyarization, influenced as they were by the MaJgyarization politics of the Hungarian government. The results of the contacts between Slo,vaik Amedca and Slovald.a became a,parent in various fields and in vairioUJs manners, and the Magyar government evaluated them well, seing in the national awrukening of eastern Slovaik,ia the influence of .American emigrants from Saris and Zemplin, and tried to paralyze this inf1uence by all pos•silble means. "The hundreds of thousands of American Slo,valks attentitvely followed the development of national life in SlovaJkia, intenvened in this development a:nd moraHy and materially aided every Slovak underta:king whioh aimed to gain national freedom for their countrymen. We would be very ungrateful and unjust, if we should underestimate th!.s participation of the American Slova'k s in the histori-cal development of the SloivaJk nation." • • • WHO SAID IT? "We are a chosen generation to which it has been granted to fulfill a unique historical task: to rid our country of Germans, in other words, the eternal danger to peace in our land and in Europe ... What was done and supported by laws i:n our country was the entering upon a path which the nation has chosen and along which it shall develop. There is no turning back from this path, even if some one would desire to do so. Obviously we ourselves do not wish to do so. We have begun a gigantic task which must be successful. For its success all of us are responsible to future generations." (Dr. Peter Zenkl, SVOBODNE SLOVO, Jan. 1, 1946) . • • "At this fateful ti-me, when the Red Army and the armies of the United States and other United Nations are fighting on German sohl, we can look forward with even greater confidence to the early defeat of the Nazi aggressors and the attaiinment oif our common goail - a durruble and just peace and a continuance of close coHruboration between a!1l the United Nations." - F. D. Roosevelt's caJblegrrum, Noiv. 6, 1944, to the SovieJt President on the occasion of the 27ith amtiJVersary orf the fOU!lldling of the USSR.  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 Slovak Emigration Description An account of the resource Constantine Čulen Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958 pp. 49-55 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Čulen, Konštantín, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0085549364f4ab9f07fc2b8fbbab86db.pdf b417fb83e147b748ef4979f0e379c128 PDF Text Text 56 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) In the areas which were quite populated, the country was divided into regions (zupy), according to the pattern of Great Moravia. A representative of the king, administering a region, was called a regional administrator (zupan; ispan). The zupan was not only administrator in political and economic affairs, but in judicial matters as well. He was the judge, who presided over all litigations, and the commander of the army which the region was obliged to muster for the king in time of war. The Slovaks used to refer to these regions also as "stolice" (seats). The oldest regional seats in Slovakia originated from the territories of Slovak tribal principalities. The center of a region was the castle in which the zupan resided. Churches and rectories, to which all settlements belonged, were part and parcel of the regional castles. The regional seats thus became the centers of Church and State administrations. In those times the feudal system prevailed. The entire system rested. on the basis of land. According to the theory of the time, all lands belonged to the emperor or king. The king could make grants of land-fiefs or feuds, from which we derive feudalism - to his followers. Such a grant was called a feudal tenure. A lord (magnate or magistrate) could also be a vassal of another lord by virtue of such a grant of land, and kings holding lands from other kings were also vassals to those kings. A lord (vel'moz) had the right to subdivide his land among other vassals on the same basis as that on which he had received it from the king. A lord obtaining land from another had to go through a ceremony known as homage. Kneeling before the grantor, and placing his hands between the hands of the lord, he swore aloud that he would be his lord's man (homme), that he would devote himself to him and render him such services as were necessary and stipulated. After the oath was given and accepted, the lord granted the lands by investiture. �SLOVAKIA 57 In taking the oath, a vassal promised never to disclose his lord's secrets and to acquaint his lord with all information about his enemies. If the lord was unhorsed in battle, the vassal was obliged to give his own horse to his lord. A vassal was bound to uphold his lord's honor and reputation at all times. When necessary, the vassal was obliged to go to battle with his lord and, in proportion to the amount of land granted, to raise the required number of men to serve for a stipulated period, which meant that the fighting could be waged only near home. The vassal agreed to serve as magistrate and to assist the lord in the government of his domain and in the maintenanc e of order. Of course, the relation of rights and duties of lords and vassals was reciprocal. A fief could not be taken back arbitrarily. The lord promised to protect his vassal, deal with him justly and safeguard his rights and privileges. The regulations described above pertained to the higher classes - the nobility, the fighting class in the feudal system. But a similar system prevailed in the parceling out of land by the lord to his working-cl ass tenants. In this case, however, the grants were known as "servile tenures." After a lord received his grant of land from the king, he had to have it cultivated. This work was done by the working classes known as serfs. Those who received "servile tenures" later on became the landed genry (zemianstv o), while the others remained landless serfs. The holders of "servile tenures" paid for their land in labor or in produce, giving a portion of their annual crops. Upon these the lord depended for his support, and in his relation to them he had duties to perform as well as rights to exact. Most of the lowest peasants, the landless serfs, were inalienably attached to the land, tied up forever to the manor within which they were born. The citizens of some villages were servants of the king's court and, hence, were called courtiers (dvornici). These villages even today are named "Dvorniky." Forest wardens (hajnici) took care of the king's forests, raised and trained his hounds and falcons. Towns and villages named Hajniky, Psary, Sokolany, Sokolce, Sokolova, Sokolovce, harbored these forest wardens. Fishermen lived in �58 SLOVAKIA the village of Ryba.re. Artisans who worked for the king's court or the royal castle named the towns they inhabited after their trades (Stitare, Hrnciarovce, Tesare, Kovacova, etc.). Among the inhabitants of the villages, which already in 1075 belonged to the monastery of St. Benedict-Abovethe-Hron, even goldsmiths (zlatnici) are mentioned. The people who inhabited the territory of Slovak:a during the 10th-12th centuries were descendants of the inhabitants of Great Moravia. That they were Slovaks is attested to by the geographical names of the entire Slovak territory. After a time, when the Magyars began to settle in Slovakia, the Slovak names were adopted by them in the form used by the Slovaks. But even personal names of the inhabitants of Slovakia, preserved in old documents, tell us that Slovakia was inhabited by Slovaks continuously from about the fifth century. These personal names come to us either from ancient pagan times or are the Slovak forms of Latin Christian names. In those times, the Slovaks used such names most frequently: Bogat, Bogdan, Bogomier, Bogomil, Bogorad, Bohumir, Bohurad, Bohuta, Bolerad, Boleslav, Domagost, Domoslav, Dragos, Drazko, Ivan, Ivanka, Milovan, Milvan, Mladen, Milgost, Milota, Mojtech, Mojta, Mutimir, Premlad, Pribyla, Preslav, Radovan, Radvan, Radon, Rados, Stoj(i)slav, Sebeslav, Tvrdos, Vid(a), Vojislav, Vojtech, Vladislav, Zdislav. The Slovak names Beno, Benko, Benus, Benata are derived from the Latin "Benedictus." Many geographical names originated from these personal names: Bohunice from Bohun, Boleraz from Bolerad, Budatin from Budata, Radosina from Radosa, Radvan from Radovan, Mojtin from Mojta, Tvrdosin from Tvrdos. Besides the orig,i nal Slovak inhabitants who settled in Slovakia, the Magyars began to settle near the lower ends of Slovak rivers and even established several settlements in the valleys farther north, where, in time, they were assimilated by the older Slovak inhabitants. Besides the Magyars, only scattered groups of foreign warriors settled along the Slovak frontier, where they served as sentinels. The only memento of their stay in Slovakia has been preserved in the names of the several settlements they occupied. For- �SLOVAKIA 59 eign merchants, especially Germans and Jews, settled below the most famous castles, such as Bratislava and Nitra, but only as guests whom the king allowed to peddle foreign goods. It was thus that the first market settlements originated beneath the most ancient castles of Slovakia. THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH The Church played a preeminent role in the cultural life of Slovakia from the earliest times. From the beginning of the eleventh century practically the entire area of Slovakia was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ostrihom. From the end of the eleventh century a part of eastern Slovakia was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Jager (Eger; Erlau), and from the beginning of the twelfth century a part of northwest Slovakia with the central Vah area became the territory of the revived Bishopric of Nitra. The spiritual needs of the population were taken care of by the parishes connected with the castles, and especially by the parishes of the regional castles. Later, in place of these large castle parishes, there originated archdiaconates which had jurisdiction over several parishes. Monasteries had an extraordinary significance. Besides propagating Christianity, they sought to improve the economic and cultural conditions of their respective communities. The monks cleared forests, drained marshes, regulated the flow of streams, and changed unfertile soil into fertile fields. It was thus that new settlements sprang up in the vicinity of the monasteries. Near the monasteries imposing churches were erected which the monks ornamented with paintings and statues. The monasteries were, therefore, the first workshops of creative art in Slovakia. The oldest Slovak monasteries belonged to the Benedictine Order. Among these is the abbey of St. Hippolytus on Mount Zobor, whose origin goes back to the Great Moravian Empire. During the reign of King St. Stephen, this abbey became the heir to the properties of the Slovak principality of Nitra. St. Benedict's Abbey, near the Hron river, played a significant role in the settlement of the Hron region and in its economic and cultural development. It was founded by the Slovak feudal lord Gejza in 1075. Towards �60 SLOVAKIA the end of the 11th century another Slovak Benedictine monastery was founded in Diakovcie, in southern Slovakia, which belonged to the abbey on Mount Pannonia. In the twelfth century prepositures were established in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis. The first monastery of the Order of the Premonstratensians was founded by Lord Lampert in 1135 A.D. in Bzovik. The Cistercians settled in Lipovnik, near Roznava, in 1141 A.D., and later in Bardejov and Stiavnik. In the first half of the 13th century, the mendicant order of St. Francis came to the land of the Slovaks and built its first monasteries in Bratislava, Nitra and Trnava. Christian churches were being built in Slovakia since the ninth century. Because these ancient churches, connected with castles and monasteries, were made of wood, few traces of them remain today. In many places, however, cemeteries which date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, have been preserved. They have evidences that even churches once stood on the premises. In those days church architecture in Bavaria and Italy was Romanesque. In the 12th century small stone structures in that style were constructed also in Slovakia. The oldest Romanesque churches that have withstood the assault of the ages in Slovakia are found in Drazovcie, near Nitra, in Pominovci~, near Puchov, and in Kliz-Hradiste, not far from Topol'cany. Larger churches were erected near monasteries, and their foundations may be found to this day under newer top-structures which were added during the succeeding centuries. In southern Slovakia the Italian influence was prevalent, as might be seen from the extant Romanesque churches in Bin, not far from Komarno, and in Diakovcie. In many places at least the remains of Romanesque structures have been preserved and these now form parts of churches which were built after a later pattern. The Cathedral in Spisska Kapitula and in Nitra are examples of such structures. Romanesque paintings have been preserved in Zegra, Spis county. An interesting relic of Romanesque architecture are the rotundas found in Skalica and Dechtice. The Romanesque style was followed in Slo- �SLOVAKIA 61 vakia up to the middle of the 13th century, · at which time a new form of architecture replaced it. THE TURKS IliVADE SLOVAKIA In the twelfth century Slovakia enjoyed years of relatively peaceful development. The increasing population shifted upstream from the densely populated plains into the hills of central Slovakia, where conditions were almost ideal for animal husbandry. ln the lowlands and basins of northern Slovakia forests were cleared, new tracts of land were made arable and new settlements were founded. New monastic institutions establishing their monasteries on border-lands of Slovakia effectively aided the settlement of the hilly regions. Germans also settled in these wooded regions of Slovakia. The number of settlements increased and new churches were. built, so that Slovakia progressed not only economically, but also culturally. In the thirteenth century, however, a terrible catastrophe interrupted this peaceful development when the terrible Turks invaded Slovakia. The Turks belong to the group of Mongolian nations. Turkish tribes lived in central Asia, where they created a large empire in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the heart of which was near the Bajkal Sea. The le_a der of the Turks was the notorious and brutal warrior Temudzin, later known as Genghis Khan, "the Scourge of God." In a short time the Turks conquered all neighboring Mongolian nations and extended their power to China and India, so that a large part of Asia was ,under their domination. Later they set out to subjugate Europe. On. the north of the Caucasus region, they defeated the Kumani who sought the aid of Russian princes. ln 1223 A.D. they attacked the Russians and crushed them near the Kalka river. Shortly thereafter the Turkish armies came up all the way to the Carpathians and prepared to invade Poland and Hungary under the leadership of Khan Batu. The Turks engaged in animal husbandry, but spent most of their lives in warfare. To get accustomed to the hardships of military life, they lived very simply. Their food was frugal, their clothing was made of skins of animals, and they cared little for personal cleanliness. Only the nobility lived in luxury and splendor. Their women and �62 SLOVAKIA children usually accompanied them on their military expeditions. The Turks were not very talkative. The Turks waged war on ponies which excelled in endurance and speed. Courage and cruelty were the trademarks of the Turkish army. Any soldier guilty of a breach of discipline, or retreating in battle, or of showing mercy to a foe, was executed summarily. They slaughtered their conquered foe mercilessly; only women and healthy young men were taken into capbvity as slaves. Captives, placed in the vanguard, had to engage the enemy before the regular Turkish army went into the skirmish. The country through which they passed became a barren wasteland, because they burned all villages and towns, massacred their inhabitants, and carried off all portable booty. They were armed with long arrows, curved scimitars, javelins, leather helmets and shields. They were so well trained that even in full gallop they could release an arrow or javelin with deadly accuracy. The Kumani in southern Russia, attacked by the Turks, fled to the west and begged the king of Hungary to permit them to settle in his kingdom. They numbered about 40,000 families. The king acquiesced, because he thought they could greatly assist him against the Turks. However, at that time conditions in Hungary were rather unsettled. During the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235 A.D.), who permitted many foreigners to settle in Hungary, many disorders took place. The feudal magnates took advantage of the situation by appropriating royal property. Belo, the oldest son of the King, became the leader of the feudal magnates, because he saw that his father's weakness was the cause of the weakness of the entire country. In 1222 A.D. the King was compelled to issue the Golden Bull in which he guaranteed the nobility various rights. When Belo IV (1235-1270) succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, conditions in Hungary were such that he was forced to break the power of the feudal barons and recover the lands which they had appropriated. Relations between the nobility and the King were tense and the tension increased all the more when danger from the outside threatened the country. And at that time, the Turks stood before the gates of Hungary. �SLOVAKIA 63 The Turkish armies were divided into several units. One division under Peta invaded Poland, burned Cracow, and defeated Henry the Pius near Lehnica in Silesia. The second poured through the Carpathian passes into Hungary in 1241 A.D. Upon learning that Khan Batu at the head of a great force broke through the Verek Pass and was coming into the interior to take revenge on the ingdom for harboring the Kumani, King Belo issued a command to all nobles to mobilize their forces and hasten to the royal camp. But the nobility even then underestimated the gravity of the situation, gave the King trouble and accused the Kumani as the cause of the Turkish invasion. Finally, when the King collected enough men for his army, he set out to meet the invaders, who in the meantime had forded the Slam\ (Salty) river. At midnight, April 11, 1241, the Turks encircled Bela's camp and then utterly defeated his army. Many nobles and bishops, among them also the Bishop of Nitra, fell in battle. Only small detachments succeeded in hacking their way through the Turks and saving themselves by flight. Belo IV himself was in grave danger, but his most loyal magnates covered him well and enabled him to escape into the hills nearby. The King, escorted by several riders, rode through Saris, Spis and Liptov and came to Turiec. After resting a while at the Nitra castle, he fled to Austria, leaving the country to the mercy of the savage Turks. Hungary was defenseless and the Turks pillaged the country mercilessly. One division of the invaders tore deeply into Slovakia, ravaged Zemplin and Saris, and came as far as Spis. To saive themselves from destruction, the inhabitants of Spis fled into the inaccessible forests and took refuge on a huge, protruding cliff, known since that day as the Rock of Refuge. Another division devastated Gerner, Novohrad and Hont, and penetrated deeply into the Hron region. On the western and southern slopes of Stina, above Banska Stiavnica, is an extensive meadow, which even today is called the Turkish Meadow. Western iand southern Slovakra did not ascape the catastrophe either. The Turkish force led by Peta, which invaded Silesia, turned south, rode through Moravia and the �64 SLOVAKIA Vlar Pass into Slovakia. The inhabitants of the Vah region fled to the forests to escape the savage hordes of Peta. The strongholds of Trencin, Nitra, Bratisla.va and Komarno defended themselves heroically. Ancient Slovak churches became the victims of Turkish devastation, and a large part of the Slovak population pel'ished at the hands of the savage, bloodthirsty Turks. In the winter of 1241-1242, the Turks crossed the frozen Danube river near 0strihom and conquered and pillaged the Transdanubian territory. Belo IV took refuge on the Dalmatian islands. At that time Khan Batu received word from Asia of the death of the Great Khan 0gotaj. Being anxious to make his claim to the vacant throne, Batu hastened home with his entire force. In this way Slovakia was freed from the unbearable tyranny of the Turks. But what the Tur.k;s failed to destroy became the spoils of the feudal barons who tore into Slovak regions to complete the work of destruction. Upon emerging from their. hiding places in the inaccessible mountains, the inhabitants of Slovaki,a found their viUfl,ges, homes and churches i~ ashes. M4sery, want and disease reigned everywhere. But the Slovak nation outlived even that calamity and put its shoulders to the task of rebuilding its homes and churches to s~feguard its national existence in its homeland. (To be continued) fl. l -f • 'f , 'T • • • WHO SAID IT? "Consider the situation of the twent-y--Odd non-western nations which are nexlt door to tlhe SOIViet world. These exposed: nrutions fe1t that they have been ipUt in the exipendable class, condeimned in perpeiDrni.ty to be the ramparts against whiich tJhe ang,ry waves of So'Vie't cOIIIlmunism will constantly hlurl themselives. . . . They cannot he enthusi astic about polides whitch wouiltl merely perpetuate so hrezardous ailld uncomfortruble a !Position. Today they liive close to '.deSipair because the United States, th~ historic lea:der of the forces of freedom, seems dedicated to the negative policy of containment and stalemate." - (John 'Foster Dulles, A POLICY OF BOLDNESS, May 19, 1952). 1 � 56 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) In the areas which were quite populated, the country was divided into regions (zupy), according to the pattern of Great Moravia. A representative of the king, administering a region, was called a regional administrator (zupan; ispan). The zupan was not only administrator in political and economic affairs, but in judicial matters as well. He was the judge, who presided over all litigations, and the commander of the army which the region was obliged to muster for the king in time of war. The Slovaks used to refer to these regions also as "stolice" (seats). The oldest regional seats in Slovakia originated from the territories of Slovak tribal principalities. The center of a region was the castle in which the zupan resided. Churches and rectories, to which all settlements belonged, were part and parcel of the regional castles. The regional seats thus became the centers of Church and State administrations. In those times the feudal system prevailed. The entire system rested. on the basis of land. According to the theory of the time, all lands belonged to the emperor or king. The king could make grants of land-fiefs or feuds, from which we derive feudalism - to his followers. Such a grant was called a feudal tenure. A lord (magnate or magistrate) could also be a vassal of another lord by virtue of such a grant of land, and kings holding lands from other kings were also vassals to those kings. A lord (vel'moz) had the right to subdivide his land among other vassals on the same basis as that on which he had received it from the king. A lord obtaining land from another had to go through a ceremony known as homage. Kneeling before the grantor, and placing his hands between the hands of the lord, he swore aloud that he would be his lord's man (homme), that he would devote himself to him and render him such services as were necessary and stipulated. After the oath was given and accepted, the lord granted the lands by investiture. �SLOVAKIA 57 In taking the oath, a vassal promised never to disclose his lord's secrets and to acquaint his lord with all information about his enemies. If the lord was unhorsed in battle, the vassal was obliged to give his own horse to his lord. A vassal was bound to uphold his lord's honor and reputation at all times. When necessary, the vassal was obliged to go to battle with his lord and, in proportion to the amount of land granted, to raise the required number of men to serve for a stipulated period, which meant that the fighting could be waged only near home. The vassal agreed to serve as magistrate and to assist the lord in the government of his domain and in the maintenanc e of order. Of course, the relation of rights and duties of lords and vassals was reciprocal. A fief could not be taken back arbitrarily. The lord promised to protect his vassal, deal with him justly and safeguard his rights and privileges. The regulations described above pertained to the higher classes - the nobility, the fighting class in the feudal system. But a similar system prevailed in the parceling out of land by the lord to his working-cl ass tenants. In this case, however, the grants were known as "servile tenures." After a lord received his grant of land from the king, he had to have it cultivated. This work was done by the working classes known as serfs. Those who received "servile tenures" later on became the landed genry (zemianstv o), while the others remained landless serfs. The holders of "servile tenures" paid for their land in labor or in produce, giving a portion of their annual crops. Upon these the lord depended for his support, and in his relation to them he had duties to perform as well as rights to exact. Most of the lowest peasants, the landless serfs, were inalienably attached to the land, tied up forever to the manor within which they were born. The citizens of some villages were servants of the king's court and, hence, were called courtiers (dvornici). These villages even today are named "Dvorniky." Forest wardens (hajnici) took care of the king's forests, raised and trained his hounds and falcons. Towns and villages named Hajniky, Psary, Sokolany, Sokolce, Sokolova, Sokolovce, harbored these forest wardens. Fishermen lived in �58 SLOVAKIA the village of Ryba.re. Artisans who worked for the king's court or the royal castle named the towns they inhabited after their trades (Stitare, Hrnciarovce, Tesare, Kovacova, etc.). Among the inhabitants of the villages, which already in 1075 belonged to the monastery of St. Benedict-Abovethe-Hron, even goldsmiths (zlatnici) are mentioned. The people who inhabited the territory of Slovak:a during the 10th-12th centuries were descendants of the inhabitants of Great Moravia. That they were Slovaks is attested to by the geographical names of the entire Slovak territory. After a time, when the Magyars began to settle in Slovakia, the Slovak names were adopted by them in the form used by the Slovaks. But even personal names of the inhabitants of Slovakia, preserved in old documents, tell us that Slovakia was inhabited by Slovaks continuously from about the fifth century. These personal names come to us either from ancient pagan times or are the Slovak forms of Latin Christian names. In those times, the Slovaks used such names most frequently: Bogat, Bogdan, Bogomier, Bogomil, Bogorad, Bohumir, Bohurad, Bohuta, Bolerad, Boleslav, Domagost, Domoslav, Dragos, Drazko, Ivan, Ivanka, Milovan, Milvan, Mladen, Milgost, Milota, Mojtech, Mojta, Mutimir, Premlad, Pribyla, Preslav, Radovan, Radvan, Radon, Rados, Stoj(i)slav, Sebeslav, Tvrdos, Vid(a), Vojislav, Vojtech, Vladislav, Zdislav. The Slovak names Beno, Benko, Benus, Benata are derived from the Latin "Benedictus." Many geographical names originated from these personal names: Bohunice from Bohun, Boleraz from Bolerad, Budatin from Budata, Radosina from Radosa, Radvan from Radovan, Mojtin from Mojta, Tvrdosin from Tvrdos. Besides the orig,i nal Slovak inhabitants who settled in Slovakia, the Magyars began to settle near the lower ends of Slovak rivers and even established several settlements in the valleys farther north, where, in time, they were assimilated by the older Slovak inhabitants. Besides the Magyars, only scattered groups of foreign warriors settled along the Slovak frontier, where they served as sentinels. The only memento of their stay in Slovakia has been preserved in the names of the several settlements they occupied. For- �SLOVAKIA 59 eign merchants, especially Germans and Jews, settled below the most famous castles, such as Bratislava and Nitra, but only as guests whom the king allowed to peddle foreign goods. It was thus that the first market settlements originated beneath the most ancient castles of Slovakia. THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH The Church played a preeminent role in the cultural life of Slovakia from the earliest times. From the beginning of the eleventh century practically the entire area of Slovakia was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ostrihom. From the end of the eleventh century a part of eastern Slovakia was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Jager (Eger; Erlau), and from the beginning of the twelfth century a part of northwest Slovakia with the central Vah area became the territory of the revived Bishopric of Nitra. The spiritual needs of the population were taken care of by the parishes connected with the castles, and especially by the parishes of the regional castles. Later, in place of these large castle parishes, there originated archdiaconates which had jurisdiction over several parishes. Monasteries had an extraordinary significance. Besides propagating Christianity, they sought to improve the economic and cultural conditions of their respective communities. The monks cleared forests, drained marshes, regulated the flow of streams, and changed unfertile soil into fertile fields. It was thus that new settlements sprang up in the vicinity of the monasteries. Near the monasteries imposing churches were erected which the monks ornamented with paintings and statues. The monasteries were, therefore, the first workshops of creative art in Slovakia. The oldest Slovak monasteries belonged to the Benedictine Order. Among these is the abbey of St. Hippolytus on Mount Zobor, whose origin goes back to the Great Moravian Empire. During the reign of King St. Stephen, this abbey became the heir to the properties of the Slovak principality of Nitra. St. Benedict's Abbey, near the Hron river, played a significant role in the settlement of the Hron region and in its economic and cultural development. It was founded by the Slovak feudal lord Gejza in 1075. Towards �60 SLOVAKIA the end of the 11th century another Slovak Benedictine monastery was founded in Diakovcie, in southern Slovakia, which belonged to the abbey on Mount Pannonia. In the twelfth century prepositures were established in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis. The first monastery of the Order of the Premonstratensians was founded by Lord Lampert in 1135 A.D. in Bzovik. The Cistercians settled in Lipovnik, near Roznava, in 1141 A.D., and later in Bardejov and Stiavnik. In the first half of the 13th century, the mendicant order of St. Francis came to the land of the Slovaks and built its first monasteries in Bratislava, Nitra and Trnava. Christian churches were being built in Slovakia since the ninth century. Because these ancient churches, connected with castles and monasteries, were made of wood, few traces of them remain today. In many places, however, cemeteries which date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, have been preserved. They have evidences that even churches once stood on the premises. In those days church architecture in Bavaria and Italy was Romanesque. In the 12th century small stone structures in that style were constructed also in Slovakia. The oldest Romanesque churches that have withstood the assault of the ages in Slovakia are found in Drazovcie, near Nitra, in Pominovci~, near Puchov, and in Kliz-Hradiste, not far from Topol'cany. Larger churches were erected near monasteries, and their foundations may be found to this day under newer top-structures which were added during the succeeding centuries. In southern Slovakia the Italian influence was prevalent, as might be seen from the extant Romanesque churches in Bin, not far from Komarno, and in Diakovcie. In many places at least the remains of Romanesque structures have been preserved and these now form parts of churches which were built after a later pattern. The Cathedral in Spisska Kapitula and in Nitra are examples of such structures. Romanesque paintings have been preserved in Zegra, Spis county. An interesting relic of Romanesque architecture are the rotundas found in Skalica and Dechtice. The Romanesque style was followed in Slo- �SLOVAKIA 61 vakia up to the middle of the 13th century, · at which time a new form of architecture replaced it. THE TURKS IliVADE SLOVAKIA In the twelfth century Slovakia enjoyed years of relatively peaceful development. The increasing population shifted upstream from the densely populated plains into the hills of central Slovakia, where conditions were almost ideal for animal husbandry. ln the lowlands and basins of northern Slovakia forests were cleared, new tracts of land were made arable and new settlements were founded. New monastic institutions establishing their monasteries on border-lands of Slovakia effectively aided the settlement of the hilly regions. Germans also settled in these wooded regions of Slovakia. The number of settlements increased and new churches were. built, so that Slovakia progressed not only economically, but also culturally. In the thirteenth century, however, a terrible catastrophe interrupted this peaceful development when the terrible Turks invaded Slovakia. The Turks belong to the group of Mongolian nations. Turkish tribes lived in central Asia, where they created a large empire in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the heart of which was near the Bajkal Sea. The le_a der of the Turks was the notorious and brutal warrior Temudzin, later known as Genghis Khan, "the Scourge of God." In a short time the Turks conquered all neighboring Mongolian nations and extended their power to China and India, so that a large part of Asia was ,under their domination. Later they set out to subjugate Europe. On. the north of the Caucasus region, they defeated the Kumani who sought the aid of Russian princes. ln 1223 A.D. they attacked the Russians and crushed them near the Kalka river. Shortly thereafter the Turkish armies came up all the way to the Carpathians and prepared to invade Poland and Hungary under the leadership of Khan Batu. The Turks engaged in animal husbandry, but spent most of their lives in warfare. To get accustomed to the hardships of military life, they lived very simply. Their food was frugal, their clothing was made of skins of animals, and they cared little for personal cleanliness. Only the nobility lived in luxury and splendor. Their women and �62 SLOVAKIA children usually accompanied them on their military expeditions. The Turks were not very talkative. The Turks waged war on ponies which excelled in endurance and speed. Courage and cruelty were the trademarks of the Turkish army. Any soldier guilty of a breach of discipline, or retreating in battle, or of showing mercy to a foe, was executed summarily. They slaughtered their conquered foe mercilessly; only women and healthy young men were taken into capbvity as slaves. Captives, placed in the vanguard, had to engage the enemy before the regular Turkish army went into the skirmish. The country through which they passed became a barren wasteland, because they burned all villages and towns, massacred their inhabitants, and carried off all portable booty. They were armed with long arrows, curved scimitars, javelins, leather helmets and shields. They were so well trained that even in full gallop they could release an arrow or javelin with deadly accuracy. The Kumani in southern Russia, attacked by the Turks, fled to the west and begged the king of Hungary to permit them to settle in his kingdom. They numbered about 40,000 families. The king acquiesced, because he thought they could greatly assist him against the Turks. However, at that time conditions in Hungary were rather unsettled. During the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235 A.D.), who permitted many foreigners to settle in Hungary, many disorders took place. The feudal magnates took advantage of the situation by appropriating royal property. Belo, the oldest son of the King, became the leader of the feudal magnates, because he saw that his father's weakness was the cause of the weakness of the entire country. In 1222 A.D. the King was compelled to issue the Golden Bull in which he guaranteed the nobility various rights. When Belo IV (1235-1270) succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, conditions in Hungary were such that he was forced to break the power of the feudal barons and recover the lands which they had appropriated. Relations between the nobility and the King were tense and the tension increased all the more when danger from the outside threatened the country. And at that time, the Turks stood before the gates of Hungary. �SLOVAKIA 63 The Turkish armies were divided into several units. One division under Peta invaded Poland, burned Cracow, and defeated Henry the Pius near Lehnica in Silesia. The second poured through the Carpathian passes into Hungary in 1241 A.D. Upon learning that Khan Batu at the head of a great force broke through the Verek Pass and was coming into the interior to take revenge on the ingdom for harboring the Kumani, King Belo issued a command to all nobles to mobilize their forces and hasten to the royal camp. But the nobility even then underestimated the gravity of the situation, gave the King trouble and accused the Kumani as the cause of the Turkish invasion. Finally, when the King collected enough men for his army, he set out to meet the invaders, who in the meantime had forded the Slam\ (Salty) river. At midnight, April 11, 1241, the Turks encircled Bela's camp and then utterly defeated his army. Many nobles and bishops, among them also the Bishop of Nitra, fell in battle. Only small detachments succeeded in hacking their way through the Turks and saving themselves by flight. Belo IV himself was in grave danger, but his most loyal magnates covered him well and enabled him to escape into the hills nearby. The King, escorted by several riders, rode through Saris, Spis and Liptov and came to Turiec. After resting a while at the Nitra castle, he fled to Austria, leaving the country to the mercy of the savage Turks. Hungary was defenseless and the Turks pillaged the country mercilessly. One division of the invaders tore deeply into Slovakia, ravaged Zemplin and Saris, and came as far as Spis. To saive themselves from destruction, the inhabitants of Spis fled into the inaccessible forests and took refuge on a huge, protruding cliff, known since that day as the Rock of Refuge. Another division devastated Gerner, Novohrad and Hont, and penetrated deeply into the Hron region. On the western and southern slopes of Stina, above Banska Stiavnica, is an extensive meadow, which even today is called the Turkish Meadow. Western iand southern Slovakra did not ascape the catastrophe either. The Turkish force led by Peta, which invaded Silesia, turned south, rode through Moravia and the �64 SLOVAKIA Vlar Pass into Slovakia. The inhabitants of the Vah region fled to the forests to escape the savage hordes of Peta. The strongholds of Trencin, Nitra, Bratisla.va and Komarno defended themselves heroically. Ancient Slovak churches became the victims of Turkish devastation, and a large part of the Slovak population pel'ished at the hands of the savage, bloodthirsty Turks. In the winter of 1241-1242, the Turks crossed the frozen Danube river near 0strihom and conquered and pillaged the Transdanubian territory. Belo IV took refuge on the Dalmatian islands. At that time Khan Batu received word from Asia of the death of the Great Khan 0gotaj. Being anxious to make his claim to the vacant throne, Batu hastened home with his entire force. In this way Slovakia was freed from the unbearable tyranny of the Turks. But what the Tur.k;s failed to destroy became the spoils of the feudal barons who tore into Slovak regions to complete the work of destruction. Upon emerging from their. hiding places in the inaccessible mountains, the inhabitants of Slovaki,a found their viUfl,ges, homes and churches i~ ashes. M4sery, want and disease reigned everywhere. But the Slovak nation outlived even that calamity and put its shoulders to the task of rebuilding its homes and churches to s~feguard its national existence in its homeland. (To be continued) fl. l -f • 'f , 'T • • • WHO SAID IT? "Consider the situation of the twent-y--Odd non-western nations which are nexlt door to tlhe SOIViet world. These exposed: nrutions fe1t that they have been ipUt in the exipendable class, condeimned in perpeiDrni.ty to be the ramparts against whiich tJhe ang,ry waves of So'Vie't cOIIIlmunism will constantly hlurl themselives. . . . They cannot he enthusi astic about polides whitch wouiltl merely perpetuate so hrezardous ailld uncomfortruble a !Position. Today they liive close to '.deSipair because the United States, th~ historic lea:der of the forces of freedom, seems dedicated to the negative policy of containment and stalemate." - (John 'Foster Dulles, A POLICY OF BOLDNESS, May 19, 1952). 1 � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 56 SLOVAKIA The History of Slovakia: By PHILIP A. HROBAK (Continued) In the areas which were quite populated, the country was divided into regions (zupy), according to the pattern of Great Moravia. A representative of the king, administering a region, was called a regional administrator (zupan; ispan). The zupan was not only administrator in political and economic affairs, but in judicial matters as well. He was the judge, who presided over all litigations, and the commander of the army which the region was obliged to muster for the king in time of war. The Slovaks used to refer to these regions also as "stolice" (seats). The oldest regional seats in Slovakia originated from the territories of Slovak tribal principalities. The center of a region was the castle in which the zupan resided. Churches and rectories, to which all settlements belonged, were part and parcel of the regional castles. The regional seats thus became the centers of Church and State administrations. In those times the feudal system prevailed. The entire system rested. on the basis of land. According to the theory of the time, all lands belonged to the emperor or king. The king could make grants of land-fiefs or feuds, from which we derive feudalism - to his followers. Such a grant was called a feudal tenure. A lord (magnate or magistrate) could also be a vassal of another lord by virtue of such a grant of land, and kings holding lands from other kings were also vassals to those kings. A lord (vel'moz) had the right to subdivide his land among other vassals on the same basis as that on which he had received it from the king. A lord obtaining land from another had to go through a ceremony known as homage. Kneeling before the grantor, and placing his hands between the hands of the lord, he swore aloud that he would be his lord's man (homme), that he would devote himself to him and render him such services as were necessary and stipulated. After the oath was given and accepted, the lord granted the lands by investiture. SLOVAKIA 57 In taking the oath, a vassal promised never to disclose his lord's secrets and to acquaint his lord with all information about his enemies. If the lord was unhorsed in battle, the vassal was obliged to give his own horse to his lord. A vassal was bound to uphold his lord's honor and reputation at all times. When necessary, the vassal was obliged to go to battle with his lord and, in proportion to the amount of land granted, to raise the required number of men to serve for a stipulated period, which meant that the fighting could be waged only near home. The vassal agreed to serve as magistrate and to assist the lord in the government of his domain and in the maintenanc e of order. Of course, the relation of rights and duties of lords and vassals was reciprocal. A fief could not be taken back arbitrarily. The lord promised to protect his vassal, deal with him justly and safeguard his rights and privileges. The regulations described above pertained to the higher classes - the nobility, the fighting class in the feudal system. But a similar system prevailed in the parceling out of land by the lord to his working-cl ass tenants. In this case, however, the grants were known as "servile tenures." After a lord received his grant of land from the king, he had to have it cultivated. This work was done by the working classes known as serfs. Those who received "servile tenures" later on became the landed genry (zemianstv o), while the others remained landless serfs. The holders of "servile tenures" paid for their land in labor or in produce, giving a portion of their annual crops. Upon these the lord depended for his support, and in his relation to them he had duties to perform as well as rights to exact. Most of the lowest peasants, the landless serfs, were inalienably attached to the land, tied up forever to the manor within which they were born. The citizens of some villages were servants of the king's court and, hence, were called courtiers (dvornici). These villages even today are named "Dvorniky." Forest wardens (hajnici) took care of the king's forests, raised and trained his hounds and falcons. Towns and villages named Hajniky, Psary, Sokolany, Sokolce, Sokolova, Sokolovce, harbored these forest wardens. Fishermen lived in 58 SLOVAKIA the village of Ryba.re. Artisans who worked for the king's court or the royal castle named the towns they inhabited after their trades (Stitare, Hrnciarovce, Tesare, Kovacova, etc.). Among the inhabitants of the villages, which already in 1075 belonged to the monastery of St. Benedict-Abovethe-Hron, even goldsmiths (zlatnici) are mentioned. The people who inhabited the territory of Slovak:a during the 10th-12th centuries were descendants of the inhabitants of Great Moravia. That they were Slovaks is attested to by the geographical names of the entire Slovak territory. After a time, when the Magyars began to settle in Slovakia, the Slovak names were adopted by them in the form used by the Slovaks. But even personal names of the inhabitants of Slovakia, preserved in old documents, tell us that Slovakia was inhabited by Slovaks continuously from about the fifth century. These personal names come to us either from ancient pagan times or are the Slovak forms of Latin Christian names. In those times, the Slovaks used such names most frequently: Bogat, Bogdan, Bogomier, Bogomil, Bogorad, Bohumir, Bohurad, Bohuta, Bolerad, Boleslav, Domagost, Domoslav, Dragos, Drazko, Ivan, Ivanka, Milovan, Milvan, Mladen, Milgost, Milota, Mojtech, Mojta, Mutimir, Premlad, Pribyla, Preslav, Radovan, Radvan, Radon, Rados, Stoj(i)slav, Sebeslav, Tvrdos, Vid(a), Vojislav, Vojtech, Vladislav, Zdislav. The Slovak names Beno, Benko, Benus, Benata are derived from the Latin "Benedictus." Many geographical names originated from these personal names: Bohunice from Bohun, Boleraz from Bolerad, Budatin from Budata, Radosina from Radosa, Radvan from Radovan, Mojtin from Mojta, Tvrdosin from Tvrdos. Besides the orig,i nal Slovak inhabitants who settled in Slovakia, the Magyars began to settle near the lower ends of Slovak rivers and even established several settlements in the valleys farther north, where, in time, they were assimilated by the older Slovak inhabitants. Besides the Magyars, only scattered groups of foreign warriors settled along the Slovak frontier, where they served as sentinels. The only memento of their stay in Slovakia has been preserved in the names of the several settlements they occupied. For- SLOVAKIA 59 eign merchants, especially Germans and Jews, settled below the most famous castles, such as Bratislava and Nitra, but only as guests whom the king allowed to peddle foreign goods. It was thus that the first market settlements originated beneath the most ancient castles of Slovakia. THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH The Church played a preeminent role in the cultural life of Slovakia from the earliest times. From the beginning of the eleventh century practically the entire area of Slovakia was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Ostrihom. From the end of the eleventh century a part of eastern Slovakia was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Jager (Eger; Erlau), and from the beginning of the twelfth century a part of northwest Slovakia with the central Vah area became the territory of the revived Bishopric of Nitra. The spiritual needs of the population were taken care of by the parishes connected with the castles, and especially by the parishes of the regional castles. Later, in place of these large castle parishes, there originated archdiaconates which had jurisdiction over several parishes. Monasteries had an extraordinary significance. Besides propagating Christianity, they sought to improve the economic and cultural conditions of their respective communities. The monks cleared forests, drained marshes, regulated the flow of streams, and changed unfertile soil into fertile fields. It was thus that new settlements sprang up in the vicinity of the monasteries. Near the monasteries imposing churches were erected which the monks ornamented with paintings and statues. The monasteries were, therefore, the first workshops of creative art in Slovakia. The oldest Slovak monasteries belonged to the Benedictine Order. Among these is the abbey of St. Hippolytus on Mount Zobor, whose origin goes back to the Great Moravian Empire. During the reign of King St. Stephen, this abbey became the heir to the properties of the Slovak principality of Nitra. St. Benedict's Abbey, near the Hron river, played a significant role in the settlement of the Hron region and in its economic and cultural development. It was founded by the Slovak feudal lord Gejza in 1075. Towards 60 SLOVAKIA the end of the 11th century another Slovak Benedictine monastery was founded in Diakovcie, in southern Slovakia, which belonged to the abbey on Mount Pannonia. In the twelfth century prepositures were established in Bratislava, Nitra and Spis. The first monastery of the Order of the Premonstratensians was founded by Lord Lampert in 1135 A.D. in Bzovik. The Cistercians settled in Lipovnik, near Roznava, in 1141 A.D., and later in Bardejov and Stiavnik. In the first half of the 13th century, the mendicant order of St. Francis came to the land of the Slovaks and built its first monasteries in Bratislava, Nitra and Trnava. Christian churches were being built in Slovakia since the ninth century. Because these ancient churches, connected with castles and monasteries, were made of wood, few traces of them remain today. In many places, however, cemeteries which date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, have been preserved. They have evidences that even churches once stood on the premises. In those days church architecture in Bavaria and Italy was Romanesque. In the 12th century small stone structures in that style were constructed also in Slovakia. The oldest Romanesque churches that have withstood the assault of the ages in Slovakia are found in Drazovcie, near Nitra, in Pominovci~, near Puchov, and in Kliz-Hradiste, not far from Topol'cany. Larger churches were erected near monasteries, and their foundations may be found to this day under newer top-structures which were added during the succeeding centuries. In southern Slovakia the Italian influence was prevalent, as might be seen from the extant Romanesque churches in Bin, not far from Komarno, and in Diakovcie. In many places at least the remains of Romanesque structures have been preserved and these now form parts of churches which were built after a later pattern. The Cathedral in Spisska Kapitula and in Nitra are examples of such structures. Romanesque paintings have been preserved in Zegra, Spis county. An interesting relic of Romanesque architecture are the rotundas found in Skalica and Dechtice. The Romanesque style was followed in Slo- SLOVAKIA 61 vakia up to the middle of the 13th century, · at which time a new form of architecture replaced it. THE TURKS IliVADE SLOVAKIA In the twelfth century Slovakia enjoyed years of relatively peaceful development. The increasing population shifted upstream from the densely populated plains into the hills of central Slovakia, where conditions were almost ideal for animal husbandry. ln the lowlands and basins of northern Slovakia forests were cleared, new tracts of land were made arable and new settlements were founded. New monastic institutions establishing their monasteries on border-lands of Slovakia effectively aided the settlement of the hilly regions. Germans also settled in these wooded regions of Slovakia. The number of settlements increased and new churches were. built, so that Slovakia progressed not only economically, but also culturally. In the thirteenth century, however, a terrible catastrophe interrupted this peaceful development when the terrible Turks invaded Slovakia. The Turks belong to the group of Mongolian nations. Turkish tribes lived in central Asia, where they created a large empire in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the heart of which was near the Bajkal Sea. The le_a der of the Turks was the notorious and brutal warrior Temudzin, later known as Genghis Khan, "the Scourge of God." In a short time the Turks conquered all neighboring Mongolian nations and extended their power to China and India, so that a large part of Asia was ,under their domination. Later they set out to subjugate Europe. On. the north of the Caucasus region, they defeated the Kumani who sought the aid of Russian princes. ln 1223 A.D. they attacked the Russians and crushed them near the Kalka river. Shortly thereafter the Turkish armies came up all the way to the Carpathians and prepared to invade Poland and Hungary under the leadership of Khan Batu. The Turks engaged in animal husbandry, but spent most of their lives in warfare. To get accustomed to the hardships of military life, they lived very simply. Their food was frugal, their clothing was made of skins of animals, and they cared little for personal cleanliness. Only the nobility lived in luxury and splendor. Their women and 62 SLOVAKIA children usually accompanied them on their military expeditions. The Turks were not very talkative. The Turks waged war on ponies which excelled in endurance and speed. Courage and cruelty were the trademarks of the Turkish army. Any soldier guilty of a breach of discipline, or retreating in battle, or of showing mercy to a foe, was executed summarily. They slaughtered their conquered foe mercilessly; only women and healthy young men were taken into capbvity as slaves. Captives, placed in the vanguard, had to engage the enemy before the regular Turkish army went into the skirmish. The country through which they passed became a barren wasteland, because they burned all villages and towns, massacred their inhabitants, and carried off all portable booty. They were armed with long arrows, curved scimitars, javelins, leather helmets and shields. They were so well trained that even in full gallop they could release an arrow or javelin with deadly accuracy. The Kumani in southern Russia, attacked by the Turks, fled to the west and begged the king of Hungary to permit them to settle in his kingdom. They numbered about 40,000 families. The king acquiesced, because he thought they could greatly assist him against the Turks. However, at that time conditions in Hungary were rather unsettled. During the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235 A.D.), who permitted many foreigners to settle in Hungary, many disorders took place. The feudal magnates took advantage of the situation by appropriating royal property. Belo, the oldest son of the King, became the leader of the feudal magnates, because he saw that his father's weakness was the cause of the weakness of the entire country. In 1222 A.D. the King was compelled to issue the Golden Bull in which he guaranteed the nobility various rights. When Belo IV (1235-1270) succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, conditions in Hungary were such that he was forced to break the power of the feudal barons and recover the lands which they had appropriated. Relations between the nobility and the King were tense and the tension increased all the more when danger from the outside threatened the country. And at that time, the Turks stood before the gates of Hungary. SLOVAKIA 63 The Turkish armies were divided into several units. One division under Peta invaded Poland, burned Cracow, and defeated Henry the Pius near Lehnica in Silesia. The second poured through the Carpathian passes into Hungary in 1241 A.D. Upon learning that Khan Batu at the head of a great force broke through the Verek Pass and was coming into the interior to take revenge on the ingdom for harboring the Kumani, King Belo issued a command to all nobles to mobilize their forces and hasten to the royal camp. But the nobility even then underestimated the gravity of the situation, gave the King trouble and accused the Kumani as the cause of the Turkish invasion. Finally, when the King collected enough men for his army, he set out to meet the invaders, who in the meantime had forded the Slam\ (Salty) river. At midnight, April 11, 1241, the Turks encircled Bela's camp and then utterly defeated his army. Many nobles and bishops, among them also the Bishop of Nitra, fell in battle. Only small detachments succeeded in hacking their way through the Turks and saving themselves by flight. Belo IV himself was in grave danger, but his most loyal magnates covered him well and enabled him to escape into the hills nearby. The King, escorted by several riders, rode through Saris, Spis and Liptov and came to Turiec. After resting a while at the Nitra castle, he fled to Austria, leaving the country to the mercy of the savage Turks. Hungary was defenseless and the Turks pillaged the country mercilessly. One division of the invaders tore deeply into Slovakia, ravaged Zemplin and Saris, and came as far as Spis. To saive themselves from destruction, the inhabitants of Spis fled into the inaccessible forests and took refuge on a huge, protruding cliff, known since that day as the Rock of Refuge. Another division devastated Gerner, Novohrad and Hont, and penetrated deeply into the Hron region. On the western and southern slopes of Stina, above Banska Stiavnica, is an extensive meadow, which even today is called the Turkish Meadow. Western iand southern Slovakra did not ascape the catastrophe either. The Turkish force led by Peta, which invaded Silesia, turned south, rode through Moravia and the 64 SLOVAKIA Vlar Pass into Slovakia. The inhabitants of the Vah region fled to the forests to escape the savage hordes of Peta. The strongholds of Trencin, Nitra, Bratisla.va and Komarno defended themselves heroically. Ancient Slovak churches became the victims of Turkish devastation, and a large part of the Slovak population pel'ished at the hands of the savage, bloodthirsty Turks. In the winter of 1241-1242, the Turks crossed the frozen Danube river near 0strihom and conquered and pillaged the Transdanubian territory. Belo IV took refuge on the Dalmatian islands. At that time Khan Batu received word from Asia of the death of the Great Khan 0gotaj. Being anxious to make his claim to the vacant throne, Batu hastened home with his entire force. In this way Slovakia was freed from the unbearable tyranny of the Turks. But what the Tur.k;s failed to destroy became the spoils of the feudal barons who tore into Slovak regions to complete the work of destruction. Upon emerging from their. hiding places in the inaccessible mountains, the inhabitants of Slovaki,a found their viUfl,ges, homes and churches i~ ashes. M4sery, want and disease reigned everywhere. But the Slovak nation outlived even that calamity and put its shoulders to the task of rebuilding its homes and churches to s~feguard its national existence in its homeland. (To be continued) fl. l -f • 'f , 'T • • • WHO SAID IT? "Consider the situation of the twent-y--Odd non-western nations which are nexlt door to tlhe SOIViet world. These exposed: nrutions fe1t that they have been ipUt in the exipendable class, condeimned in perpeiDrni.ty to be the ramparts against whiich tJhe ang,ry waves of So'Vie't cOIIIlmunism will constantly hlurl themselives. . . . They cannot he enthusi astic about polides whitch wouiltl merely perpetuate so hrezardous ailld uncomfortruble a !Position. Today they liive close to '.deSipair because the United States, th~ historic lea:der of the forces of freedom, seems dedicated to the negative policy of containment and stalemate." - (John 'Foster Dulles, A POLICY OF BOLDNESS, May 19, 1952). 1  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 History of Slovakia (6/9) Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958 pp. 56-64 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 Relation A related resource continued from <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/278">Vol. 8, No. 1 (26), pp. 60-64</a><br />continues in <a href="https://slovakia.omeka.net/items/show/260">Vol. 8, No. 3 (28), pp. 69-80</a> LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0ed3ffb9a95a7811650d2078b427ad87.pdf 44cebf2161e6ba0ad838816bee2ef4c9 PDF Text Text Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) A n drew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Pete r P. H l etko 61 Woodland Avenu e C::.rapbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warre~ville, Ill. Steph en Msgr. F. J. Dubosh , P.A. Dubi e l 12210 Detroit Avenu e Lakewood, Ohio 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio El izab et h Andrejko P:·esident 551 Grove Avenue Johnstown, Pa. Phil i p A. Hrobak P. n. Box 150 :YJ:iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents M icha el J. Vargovi c Rev. John W . Kri spinsky 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Kraj covic H elen K ocan 1648 W . 18th Street 2 hicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Cu l en Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fall at NaLioual President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer St ephen J. Tkach M i lan V . Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic1,go 38, Ill. :-,, ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An n a Sota~ National President Ladi es Pennsylvania S lovak Catholic Union Pa u l P. Ja mriska 810 Montooth Street Pittsb\lrgh 10, Pa. Josept, G. Prusa Joh n 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril . ational Presiden t Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVE N SKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEONOTA '.\1iddletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Clevelan d, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N. J. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio· Ch icago , lll SVORNOST OSAONE H 1-ASY Chicag o. Ill Whitaker l'a SLOVAK V AMERIKE Whiting, Ind. �SLOVAKIA: Ruins of the Topolcany Castle, Nitra County � Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) A n drew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Pete r P. H l etko 61 Woodland Avenu e C::.rapbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warre~ville, Ill. Steph en Msgr. F. J. Dubosh , P.A. Dubi e l 12210 Detroit Avenu e Lakewood, Ohio 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio El izab et h Andrejko P:·esident 551 Grove Avenue Johnstown, Pa. Phil i p A. Hrobak P. n. Box 150 :YJ:iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents M icha el J. Vargovi c Rev. John W . Kri spinsky 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Kraj covic H elen K ocan 1648 W . 18th Street 2 hicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Cu l en Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fall at NaLioual President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer St ephen J. Tkach M i lan V . Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic1,go 38, Ill. :-,, ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An n a Sota~ National President Ladi es Pennsylvania S lovak Catholic Union Pa u l P. Ja mriska 810 Montooth Street Pittsb\lrgh 10, Pa. Josept, G. Prusa Joh n 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril . ational Presiden t Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVE N SKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEONOTA '.\1iddletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Clevelan d, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N. J. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio· Ch icago , lll SVORNOST OSAONE H 1-ASY Chicag o. Ill Whitaker l'a SLOVAK V AMERIKE Whiting, Ind. �SLOVAKIA: Ruins of the Topolcany Castle, Nitra County � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 Officers of the Slovak League of America (Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio) A n drew J. Hamrock Honora1 y Presidents Dr. Pete r P. H l etko 61 Woodland Avenu e C::.rapbell, Ohio Batavia Rd., Box 17 Warre~ville, Ill. Steph en Msgr. F. J. Dubosh , P.A. Dubi e l 12210 Detroit Avenu e Lakewood, Ohio 12608 Madison Avenue Lakewood 7, Ohio El izab et h Andrejko P:·esident 551 Grove Avenue Johnstown, Pa. Phil i p A. Hrobak P. n. Box 150 :YJ:iddletown, Pa. ADVISORY COUNCIL Vice-Presidents M icha el J. Vargovi c Rev. John W . Kri spinsky 2425 W. 11th Street Cleveland, Ohio National President First Catholic Slovak Union Julia Kraj covic H elen K ocan 1648 W . 18th Street 2 hicago 8, Ill. National President First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union Re cording Secretary Constantine Cu l en Paul 2900 East Boulevard Cleveland 4, Ohio Fall at NaLioual President Slovak Catholic Sokol Secretary-Treasurer St ephen J. Tkach M i lan V . Blazek 4922 S. Leclaire Avenue Chic1,go 38, Ill. :-,, ational President Pa. Catholic Slovak Union EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE An n a Sota~ National President Ladi es Pennsylvania S lovak Catholic Union Pa u l P. Ja mriska 810 Montooth Street Pittsb\lrgh 10, Pa. Josept, G. Prusa Joh n 205 Madison Street Passaic, N. J. Rozboril . ational Presiden t Slovak Catholic Cadet Union SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS (Affiliated with the Slovak League of America) JEDNOTA SLOVE N SKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEONOTA '.\1iddletown, Pa. Scranton, Pa. Clevelan d, Ohio BRATSTVO Wilkes-Barre, Pa. KATOLiCKY SOKOL Passaic. N. J. SLOVENSKE NOVINY ZORNICKA Cleveland, Ohio· Ch icago , lll SVORNOST OSAONE H 1-ASY Chicag o. Ill Whitaker l'a SLOVAK V AMERIKE Whiting, Ind. SLOVAKIA: Ruins of the Topolcany Castle, Nitra County  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. 8, No. 2 (27) Description An account of the resource includes photo of Ruins of the Topolčany Castle, Nitra County Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/daa076f4001d5e0e38b897e8b44b7939.pdf 31676bcc8dcc227fe07a34ddfaf5c979 PDF Text Text VOL . VIII DECEMBER, 1958 NO. 3 (28) IN THIS ISSUE: WHY THE CZECHS DID NOT FIGHT HON. B. CARROLL REESE: THE SUDETEN GERMANS SLOVAK NATIONALISM: FEDERATIVE TENDENCIES OF SLOVAK N.ATIONALISl\-1 THE SLOVAKS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS CASTLES OF SLOVAE.IA: KRASNA HORKA SLOVAKIA'S LIFELINE WITH THE WEST RICHARD WEISHAR : . THE ROOTS OF COMMUNISM IN THE C>SR. ANDREW HLINKA AND PRAGUE THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 46, 51, 68, 80 • • • Edited and compi led by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ~-~NSER 'LIBRARY _ , -: ! . L~RSVI.LLE STATE COLLEGE .ILLERSVILLE, -PA 17551 �RECOMMENDE D BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILE CE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $i.oo. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA " - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to pr omote a better under· standing and appreciation of t he Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JED N OTA PRESS Mi ddletown , Pa. � VOL . VIII DECEMBER, 1958 NO. 3 (28) IN THIS ISSUE: WHY THE CZECHS DID NOT FIGHT HON. B. CARROLL REESE: THE SUDETEN GERMANS SLOVAK NATIONALISM: FEDERATIVE TENDENCIES OF SLOVAK N.ATIONALISl\-1 THE SLOVAKS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS CASTLES OF SLOVAE.IA: KRASNA HORKA SLOVAKIA'S LIFELINE WITH THE WEST RICHARD WEISHAR : . THE ROOTS OF COMMUNISM IN THE C>SR. ANDREW HLINKA AND PRAGUE THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 46, 51, 68, 80 • • • Edited and compi led by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ~-~NSER 'LIBRARY _ , -: ! . L~RSVI.LLE STATE COLLEGE .ILLERSVILLE, -PA 17551 �RECOMMENDE D BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILE CE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $i.oo. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA " - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to pr omote a better under· standing and appreciation of t he Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JED N OTA PRESS Mi ddletown , Pa. � 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 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> 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 1958 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 VOL . VIII DECEMBER, 1958 NO. 3 (28) IN THIS ISSUE: WHY THE CZECHS DID NOT FIGHT HON. B. CARROLL REESE: THE SUDETEN GERMANS SLOVAK NATIONALISM: FEDERATIVE TENDENCIES OF SLOVAK N.ATIONALISl\-1 THE SLOVAKS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS CASTLES OF SLOVAE.IA: KRASNA HORKA SLOVAKIA'S LIFELINE WITH THE WEST RICHARD WEISHAR : . THE ROOTS OF COMMUNISM IN THE C>SR. ANDREW HLINKA AND PRAGUE THE HISTORY OF SLOVAKIA (Continued) WHO SAID IT: P. 46, 51, 68, 80 • • • Edited and compi led by PHILIP A. HROBAK SLOVAKIA Box 150 Middletown, Pa. • • • Published by THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA ~-~NSER 'LIBRARY _ , -: ! . L~RSVI.LLE STATE COLLEGE .ILLERSVILLE, -PA 17551 RECOMMENDE D BOOKS: THIS IS SLOVAKIA, Hrusovsky; $1.00. THE SLOVAKS, Yurchak; paper cover $2.00; cloth $3.00. SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK HISTORY, Skultety; $1.00 (paper); $2.00 (cloth cover). THE DELIVERANCE OF SISTER CECILIA, $3.75. THE CHURCH OF SILE CE IN SLOVAKIA, Zubek; $3.50. FALSE FREEDOM, Delaney; $i.oo. SLOVAKIA'S ROAD TO STATEHOOD, Woytko; $1.50. ·'CZECHOSLOVAKIA " - History Made to Order, Hrobak; 50c. UNCONQUERABLES, Pauco; $3.50 ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVAK POETRY, Kramoris; $2.00. ♦ ♦ ♦ SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America, a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent. The main purpose of SLOVAKIA is to pr omote a better under· standing and appreciation of t he Slovak nation and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. $1.00 per annum in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere. SLOVAKIA P. 0 . Box 150 Middletown, Pa. Printed in the U. S. A. JED N OTA PRESS Mi ddletown , Pa.  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. 8, No. 3 (28) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1958