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SLOVAKIA
13
INTERVIEW
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhardt and_ the Slovak Aviators
(Broadcast by the B.B.C. May 8 at 7 p. m. EST and May 9 at 2:45
p. m. EST. Released on May 8, 1953, 7 p. m. EST.)
Tlh e thrree Slovak avfatars, Lieutenant Kmrnan, Sergeant
FleiS'Clhhacker and Sergeant Momar, who .fiew, Mrurch 13,
1953, from Piest'.amy into the Brr,i'tish 2i0Ile 'in Austria, are
now in London. Sill' Robert Bruce Locldlardlt had an interview ,wJtJh them there whiicll was brooo'casit by the B.B.C.
into Czecho-Slovrukfo.. Sir Robert Bruce Loci{hardt, former
di'Plomat in Pirague, spoke in Czech while the three aviaJtors
answered in Sfovak.
Sir Robert: Tell me, plea;se, the reason foir yoUJr courageouis escaipe :Erorn Ozeicfuo~Slovakia? Have you fled beca UJSe ()(f rpoJi'tiK!a,l or ooonomiic motives, or ibecause of both?
Krman: We .fled Czech·o~Slovrukiia because of pdli'tical
and economic reasons. Our 1poli.tical convictions have never
been along Communist lines and our sympathies went to the
Western AJI:li~s. To .remain in Communist Czecho,Slovalkda
when we had the ;pos!silbility of flying abroad wou!ld have
been equal to giviing Ulp living. Any acti:viity against the
Communist regime at lbhe pr~enrt time ~ing irmpossllble,
theire is now ibult one opportuni,'ty to work for our people
and !this oppontunilty lies outside of the lron Curtain. For
these reasons we had no pers_peotirve in"' Ozec'llo,SlovaJkia.
01.l1I' officers reproached U'S many times on. accoun/t of our
political ind;tfference. FuPthermore, conditions in a:11 branches
of life were tenrilble, impossible to imrugine for people in the
Western World.
Sir Robert: What diflference did you olbserwe after your
escape between the life in Ozecllo-Slovakia and tJhaJt ilil Wes.tern IDurope? War imltance, what do people on the stre~s looik
Hke or what !kind of .artilcles are being sold in ,t he stores?
Fleischhacker: After my escaipe I wa·s sU1I1prised to see
how many rtJhings people were a!ble to buy for a small
amount of money . For example, I had to spend my two
month's salary to get a decent suit, while here a worker can
�14
SLOVAKIA
bu~ a silt with one week of worik. Freedom of speec'h impressed me deeply and I was immensely sur,pziised to see in
a London ,prur'k a crowd which any one, wlho desilred to do
so, icowld address on a sulbject of hiis f.ree choice. I was most
impressed by ,t he faces of the persons -:- wilbh whom I am
not yet aJble to speak -- which reflected satisfaction and
poise. ENery one is rwel.1.iJ. dressed and every(bodiy belhaves
nicely with one andt:Jher. Motorists rure very courteous to pedestrians, and waiitJin,g lfoc the buses - in so orderly a manner rwi'bhou't even one pushing - seems to me ailmost unbelievaible.
Sir Robert: Blow st-rong is rt'he anti-communist feeling
in Czecho-Slovakia:? Couid you tell me, Wlhat is, in _your ~
timation, the per,centage of the po,p ulation whiic'h adheres
to Communi,s m?
Molnar: W!hait ,t he conditions are in this respect in
Czechia, I do not ,knorw. As for Slo'Vakia, .the anti-Comunist attitude of tlhe ipopu4ation e~ends all over the counltry.
Resistance a;ga'ioot the regime is 'Very strong. Every person
who follows with open eyes the activities of the :regume is, as
a matter of prin!Ciiple, a,gaiilllst it. Expressed in .p ercentage,
the ,situa;tion [odk•s ld!ke this: eighty per cent of tlle Slovaks
are not memb~rs of tlle Communist Party, neiJther a;re they
adherents of Communism. The o.v erwhelmmg majority of
them are against Communism wilbh tlhei:r wiho1e hearts and
souJs. Twenty per cenlt are Communists, but even ha1:f of
tllese are only because they w,ant ,t o keep theilr jobs or get
better ones.
Sir Robert: Do you mean t:haJt the Communist regime
is more hated now ltJhan it was in 1948?
Krman: I know that in Slovaikia resistance to Communism is of an older date. Alf1ter the First World War, OU!l' fatillers tasted of Communism during the strug.gle against the
Bo:lshevism of Bella lfohn in Hungary. So, the dldest generation have inifornned us very we1'1 '3J'bout this danger. During
the Hife of the Slovak State, W1hen Slovak soldiers fOU!ght
against Coonmun:ism on Soviet temitory, they had tlle oppoa:-tunilty to e,operience fiirst 'hand what Oommtmism is. T,here-
�SLOVAKIA
15
fore, I am coiwinced .fuaJt in S'loIValkia there was from tihe beginning of fue Comlmltmist dominamion greater and moire
decisive oppO'siltion aigainst the regime than in Ozechiia. T,he
Red A'I1my, aJt tlhe ti!me of ' 11:iJberaticm" of our cotm'try, only
conf:iimned whait our soldiera saw in Sovti.et Russia.
Sir Robert: Wlhat is the alttitude of the non-Communist
population towa,rd foz,mer ipolitical parties and refugees?
Molnar: The non-Communist population of SlovaJkia
condemns these parties and bhcir leading personaJltities who
fled to the Western coU!Illtries. 'Dhe reason for bb/is attitude
is that in 'Spite of the fact that t!hey have had a greater
percentage of people on theiir side, they weire unable to check
the expansion of the CommU!Ilist reg1ime and ,t o prevent its
taking over of the ,w'hole Government.
Sir Robert: Iis the anti-CommUillisit attiltulde stronger
among fuose who are ll!Ildeir 30 years of age or among the
older ones·?
Fleischlt3(cker: The anltli..Communist feeling is stronger
among ·people more than 30 yeairs old, because, s1ionce tlhe end
of fue Second Wo,r,ld War, the youth is educ-aJted in the Communist spirilt in tlhe sohools, in the factories, in the military
servke. There are many yOU!Il.g men of 25 wiho fall for Communist promises. The majo:rd.ty of men of 30, however, still
remembers well the times of lilberty, the times when food
and cl·o thes were not rationed and wlhen there was a great
possilbility for everylbod,y to get a job.
Sir Robert: Do the Czechs and S1oivaks stiH remember
the great men like T. G. Masairyk, Milan Steifanrnk, Edward
Benes, Jan Masa.iryik, and Alrchlbishop Beram.? Are these personalities known ,b y the young generaJtion?
Krman: '11he young ,p eople know very little o!f ,tihese men,
because the Commll!Ilist regime - wifuout any consideraition
for theli,r merilts - is ipresenlting them in a very bad 1ight.
Neverth~less, Milan Ra'stislav Stefanik enjo,yetl the fame of
a national saint in Slovakia. Lately, however, tJhe Communists in our country try to destroy everything which draws
the attention of our people to his memory.
�16
SLOVAKIA
In Bohemia and Moraivia the names Olf T. G. Masaryk,
Edward Benes and Archbishop Beran axe still. quite popuiar, but not m S1ovaJkia, where the names of Hlinka, Tiso,
Stefanik preva,i'l.
Sir Robert: How do the anti-Communist Czecho~Slovalks im~,gii,ne lbhe ,1ilberation of Ozecho-Siovrukia. and the future of their Staite in a li!beraited Elllrope?
Molnar: The majorilty of the anti-Communist Slovaks
i:. for a Central-European federaJtion of peoples, in which
every nation wi.N decide its. own af,fa:II'ls and wihere every
memlber whlll have equal,i ty o,f r~ghrts wtiith oither pairtners.
But :t!he main task i'S to be seen in the common decision o!f
all these peoip[e,s - Czeclhs, S1ovaJks, Magyars and alt.hens to destroy the Communist tyranny. - ('Slovruk League PTess
BU!reau by pemnission of the BBC, London, and ,t he interviewed).
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"I fully understand the reasons which led France and Great Britain to demand that we should not fight in September 1938 • . . . In
that year, I think the only countries in Europe prepared for the war
were GERMANY, THE SOVIET UNION AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
I had no doubts whatever about Czechoslovak preparedness. Our
resources were great and they were fully mobilized. From 1933, when
Hitler took the whole power in Germany into his hands, I WAS SU RE
that Europe was moving rapidly towards a great and terrible crisis . . . . In 1938 in September we had ONE MILLION AND A HALF
splendidly equipped soldiers. They were at the disposal of the struggle
for democracy and freedom together with all our powerful industries.
The events in 1938 prevented it.' Nazi Germany disbanded and destroyed this splendid army. Only a very small part of it succeeded In
reaching the Allied countries."
Dr. Benes, Speech, New York,
May 26, 1943).
•
•
•
"Czecho-Slovakia and Germany were the only two countries in
Europe, which, in the September 1938 crisis, were TOTALLY PREPARED FOR WAR. As for us, our resources were mobilized to the
highest degree. And these resources were very great! • . • Had not
PRAGUE adopted during the September crisis a passive attitude, Hitler would have unleashed the war then • • • . WE, therefore, under
irresistible pressure submitted to the decision which had been made.
I RESIGNED THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT, made preparations in
the country for a struggle against Naziism in the event of war, and
went into exile. The whole nation very soon understood." - Dr. Edward
Benes, Central European Observer, 1-17-41) .
�
SLOVAKIA
13
INTERVIEW
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhardt and_ the Slovak Aviators
(Broadcast by the B.B.C. May 8 at 7 p. m. EST and May 9 at 2:45
p. m. EST. Released on May 8, 1953, 7 p. m. EST.)
Tlh e thrree Slovak avfatars, Lieutenant Kmrnan, Sergeant
FleiS'Clhhacker and Sergeant Momar, who .fiew, Mrurch 13,
1953, from Piest'.amy into the Brr,i'tish 2i0Ile 'in Austria, are
now in London. Sill' Robert Bruce Locldlardlt had an interview ,wJtJh them there whiicll was brooo'casit by the B.B.C.
into Czecho-Slovrukfo.. Sir Robert Bruce Loci{hardt, former
di'Plomat in Pirague, spoke in Czech while the three aviaJtors
answered in Sfovak.
Sir Robert: Tell me, plea;se, the reason foir yoUJr courageouis escaipe :Erorn Ozeicfuo~Slovakia? Have you fled beca UJSe ()(f rpoJi'tiK!a,l or ooonomiic motives, or ibecause of both?
Krman: We .fled Czech·o~Slovrukiia because of pdli'tical
and economic reasons. Our 1poli.tical convictions have never
been along Communist lines and our sympathies went to the
Western AJI:li~s. To .remain in Communist Czecho,Slovalkda
when we had the ;pos!silbility of flying abroad wou!ld have
been equal to giviing Ulp living. Any acti:viity against the
Communist regime at lbhe pr~enrt time ~ing irmpossllble,
theire is now ibult one opportuni,'ty to work for our people
and !this oppontunilty lies outside of the lron Curtain. For
these reasons we had no pers_peotirve in"' Ozec'llo,SlovaJkia.
01.l1I' officers reproached U'S many times on. accoun/t of our
political ind;tfference. FuPthermore, conditions in a:11 branches
of life were tenrilble, impossible to imrugine for people in the
Western World.
Sir Robert: What diflference did you olbserwe after your
escape between the life in Ozecllo-Slovakia and tJhaJt ilil Wes.tern IDurope? War imltance, what do people on the stre~s looik
Hke or what !kind of .artilcles are being sold in ,t he stores?
Fleischhacker: After my escaipe I wa·s sU1I1prised to see
how many rtJhings people were a!ble to buy for a small
amount of money . For example, I had to spend my two
month's salary to get a decent suit, while here a worker can
�14
SLOVAKIA
bu~ a silt with one week of worik. Freedom of speec'h impressed me deeply and I was immensely sur,pziised to see in
a London ,prur'k a crowd which any one, wlho desilred to do
so, icowld address on a sulbject of hiis f.ree choice. I was most
impressed by ,t he faces of the persons -:- wilbh whom I am
not yet aJble to speak -- which reflected satisfaction and
poise. ENery one is rwel.1.iJ. dressed and every(bodiy belhaves
nicely with one andt:Jher. Motorists rure very courteous to pedestrians, and waiitJin,g lfoc the buses - in so orderly a manner rwi'bhou't even one pushing - seems to me ailmost unbelievaible.
Sir Robert: Blow st-rong is rt'he anti-communist feeling
in Czecho-Slovakia:? Couid you tell me, Wlhat is, in _your ~
timation, the per,centage of the po,p ulation whiic'h adheres
to Communi,s m?
Molnar: W!hait ,t he conditions are in this respect in
Czechia, I do not ,knorw. As for Slo'Vakia, .the anti-Comunist attitude of tlhe ipopu4ation e~ends all over the counltry.
Resistance a;ga'ioot the regime is 'Very strong. Every person
who follows with open eyes the activities of the :regume is, as
a matter of prin!Ciiple, a,gaiilllst it. Expressed in .p ercentage,
the ,situa;tion [odk•s ld!ke this: eighty per cent of tlle Slovaks
are not memb~rs of tlle Communist Party, neiJther a;re they
adherents of Communism. The o.v erwhelmmg majority of
them are against Communism wilbh tlhei:r wiho1e hearts and
souJs. Twenty per cenlt are Communists, but even ha1:f of
tllese are only because they w,ant ,t o keep theilr jobs or get
better ones.
Sir Robert: Do you mean t:haJt the Communist regime
is more hated now ltJhan it was in 1948?
Krman: I know that in Slovaikia resistance to Communism is of an older date. Alf1ter the First World War, OU!l' fatillers tasted of Communism during the strug.gle against the
Bo:lshevism of Bella lfohn in Hungary. So, the dldest generation have inifornned us very we1'1 '3J'bout this danger. During
the Hife of the Slovak State, W1hen Slovak soldiers fOU!ght
against Coonmun:ism on Soviet temitory, they had tlle oppoa:-tunilty to e,operience fiirst 'hand what Oommtmism is. T,here-
�SLOVAKIA
15
fore, I am coiwinced .fuaJt in S'loIValkia there was from tihe beginning of fue Comlmltmist dominamion greater and moire
decisive oppO'siltion aigainst the regime than in Ozechiia. T,he
Red A'I1my, aJt tlhe ti!me of ' 11:iJberaticm" of our cotm'try, only
conf:iimned whait our soldiera saw in Sovti.et Russia.
Sir Robert: Wlhat is the alttitude of the non-Communist
population towa,rd foz,mer ipolitical parties and refugees?
Molnar: The non-Communist population of SlovaJkia
condemns these parties and bhcir leading personaJltities who
fled to the Western coU!Illtries. 'Dhe reason for bb/is attitude
is that in 'Spite of the fact that t!hey have had a greater
percentage of people on theiir side, they weire unable to check
the expansion of the CommU!Ilist reg1ime and ,t o prevent its
taking over of the ,w'hole Government.
Sir Robert: Iis the anti-CommUillisit attiltulde stronger
among fuose who are ll!Ildeir 30 years of age or among the
older ones·?
Fleischlt3(cker: The anltli..Communist feeling is stronger
among ·people more than 30 yeairs old, because, s1ionce tlhe end
of fue Second Wo,r,ld War, the youth is educ-aJted in the Communist spirilt in tlhe sohools, in the factories, in the military
servke. There are many yOU!Il.g men of 25 wiho fall for Communist promises. The majo:rd.ty of men of 30, however, still
remembers well the times of lilberty, the times when food
and cl·o thes were not rationed and wlhen there was a great
possilbility for everylbod,y to get a job.
Sir Robert: Do the Czechs and S1oivaks stiH remember
the great men like T. G. Masairyk, Milan Steifanrnk, Edward
Benes, Jan Masa.iryik, and Alrchlbishop Beram.? Are these personalities known ,b y the young generaJtion?
Krman: '11he young ,p eople know very little o!f ,tihese men,
because the Commll!Ilist regime - wifuout any consideraition
for theli,r merilts - is ipresenlting them in a very bad 1ight.
Neverth~less, Milan Ra'stislav Stefanik enjo,yetl the fame of
a national saint in Slovakia. Lately, however, tJhe Communists in our country try to destroy everything which draws
the attention of our people to his memory.
�16
SLOVAKIA
In Bohemia and Moraivia the names Olf T. G. Masaryk,
Edward Benes and Archbishop Beran axe still. quite popuiar, but not m S1ovaJkia, where the names of Hlinka, Tiso,
Stefanik preva,i'l.
Sir Robert: How do the anti-Communist Czecho~Slovalks im~,gii,ne lbhe ,1ilberation of Ozecho-Siovrukia. and the future of their Staite in a li!beraited Elllrope?
Molnar: The majorilty of the anti-Communist Slovaks
i:. for a Central-European federaJtion of peoples, in which
every nation wi.N decide its. own af,fa:II'ls and wihere every
memlber whlll have equal,i ty o,f r~ghrts wtiith oither pairtners.
But :t!he main task i'S to be seen in the common decision o!f
all these peoip[e,s - Czeclhs, S1ovaJks, Magyars and alt.hens to destroy the Communist tyranny. - ('Slovruk League PTess
BU!reau by pemnission of the BBC, London, and ,t he interviewed).
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"I fully understand the reasons which led France and Great Britain to demand that we should not fight in September 1938 • . . . In
that year, I think the only countries in Europe prepared for the war
were GERMANY, THE SOVIET UNION AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
I had no doubts whatever about Czechoslovak preparedness. Our
resources were great and they were fully mobilized. From 1933, when
Hitler took the whole power in Germany into his hands, I WAS SU RE
that Europe was moving rapidly towards a great and terrible crisis . . . . In 1938 in September we had ONE MILLION AND A HALF
splendidly equipped soldiers. They were at the disposal of the struggle
for democracy and freedom together with all our powerful industries.
The events in 1938 prevented it.' Nazi Germany disbanded and destroyed this splendid army. Only a very small part of it succeeded In
reaching the Allied countries."
Dr. Benes, Speech, New York,
May 26, 1943).
•
•
•
"Czecho-Slovakia and Germany were the only two countries in
Europe, which, in the September 1938 crisis, were TOTALLY PREPARED FOR WAR. As for us, our resources were mobilized to the
highest degree. And these resources were very great! • . • Had not
PRAGUE adopted during the September crisis a passive attitude, Hitler would have unleashed the war then • • • . WE, therefore, under
irresistible pressure submitted to the decision which had been made.
I RESIGNED THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT, made preparations in
the country for a struggle against Naziism in the event of war, and
went into exile. The whole nation very soon understood." - Dr. Edward
Benes, Central European Observer, 1-17-41) .
�
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1953, Vol. 3
Description
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<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</li>
</ul>
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The Slovak League of America
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1953
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SLOVAKIA
13
INTERVIEW
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhardt and_ the Slovak Aviators
(Broadcast by the B.B.C. May 8 at 7 p. m. EST and May 9 at 2:45
p. m. EST. Released on May 8, 1953, 7 p. m. EST.)
Tlh e thrree Slovak avfatars, Lieutenant Kmrnan, Sergeant
FleiS'Clhhacker and Sergeant Momar, who .fiew, Mrurch 13,
1953, from Piest'.amy into the Brr,i'tish 2i0Ile 'in Austria, are
now in London. Sill' Robert Bruce Locldlardlt had an interview ,wJtJh them there whiicll was brooo'casit by the B.B.C.
into Czecho-Slovrukfo.. Sir Robert Bruce Loci{hardt, former
di'Plomat in Pirague, spoke in Czech while the three aviaJtors
answered in Sfovak.
Sir Robert: Tell me, plea;se, the reason foir yoUJr courageouis escaipe :Erorn Ozeicfuo~Slovakia? Have you fled beca UJSe ()(f rpoJi'tiK!a,l or ooonomiic motives, or ibecause of both?
Krman: We .fled Czech·o~Slovrukiia because of pdli'tical
and economic reasons. Our 1poli.tical convictions have never
been along Communist lines and our sympathies went to the
Western AJI:li~s. To .remain in Communist Czecho,Slovalkda
when we had the ;pos!silbility of flying abroad wou!ld have
been equal to giviing Ulp living. Any acti:viity against the
Communist regime at lbhe pr~enrt time ~ing irmpossllble,
theire is now ibult one opportuni,'ty to work for our people
and !this oppontunilty lies outside of the lron Curtain. For
these reasons we had no pers_peotirve in"' Ozec'llo,SlovaJkia.
01.l1I' officers reproached U'S many times on. accoun/t of our
political ind;tfference. FuPthermore, conditions in a:11 branches
of life were tenrilble, impossible to imrugine for people in the
Western World.
Sir Robert: What diflference did you olbserwe after your
escape between the life in Ozecllo-Slovakia and tJhaJt ilil Wes.tern IDurope? War imltance, what do people on the stre~s looik
Hke or what !kind of .artilcles are being sold in ,t he stores?
Fleischhacker: After my escaipe I wa·s sU1I1prised to see
how many rtJhings people were a!ble to buy for a small
amount of money . For example, I had to spend my two
month's salary to get a decent suit, while here a worker can
14
SLOVAKIA
bu~ a silt with one week of worik. Freedom of speec'h impressed me deeply and I was immensely sur,pziised to see in
a London ,prur'k a crowd which any one, wlho desilred to do
so, icowld address on a sulbject of hiis f.ree choice. I was most
impressed by ,t he faces of the persons -:- wilbh whom I am
not yet aJble to speak -- which reflected satisfaction and
poise. ENery one is rwel.1.iJ. dressed and every(bodiy belhaves
nicely with one andt:Jher. Motorists rure very courteous to pedestrians, and waiitJin,g lfoc the buses - in so orderly a manner rwi'bhou't even one pushing - seems to me ailmost unbelievaible.
Sir Robert: Blow st-rong is rt'he anti-communist feeling
in Czecho-Slovakia:? Couid you tell me, Wlhat is, in _your ~
timation, the per,centage of the po,p ulation whiic'h adheres
to Communi,s m?
Molnar: W!hait ,t he conditions are in this respect in
Czechia, I do not ,knorw. As for Slo'Vakia, .the anti-Comunist attitude of tlhe ipopu4ation e~ends all over the counltry.
Resistance a;ga'ioot the regime is 'Very strong. Every person
who follows with open eyes the activities of the :regume is, as
a matter of prin!Ciiple, a,gaiilllst it. Expressed in .p ercentage,
the ,situa;tion [odk•s ld!ke this: eighty per cent of tlle Slovaks
are not memb~rs of tlle Communist Party, neiJther a;re they
adherents of Communism. The o.v erwhelmmg majority of
them are against Communism wilbh tlhei:r wiho1e hearts and
souJs. Twenty per cenlt are Communists, but even ha1:f of
tllese are only because they w,ant ,t o keep theilr jobs or get
better ones.
Sir Robert: Do you mean t:haJt the Communist regime
is more hated now ltJhan it was in 1948?
Krman: I know that in Slovaikia resistance to Communism is of an older date. Alf1ter the First World War, OU!l' fatillers tasted of Communism during the strug.gle against the
Bo:lshevism of Bella lfohn in Hungary. So, the dldest generation have inifornned us very we1'1 '3J'bout this danger. During
the Hife of the Slovak State, W1hen Slovak soldiers fOU!ght
against Coonmun:ism on Soviet temitory, they had tlle oppoa:-tunilty to e,operience fiirst 'hand what Oommtmism is. T,here-
SLOVAKIA
15
fore, I am coiwinced .fuaJt in S'loIValkia there was from tihe beginning of fue Comlmltmist dominamion greater and moire
decisive oppO'siltion aigainst the regime than in Ozechiia. T,he
Red A'I1my, aJt tlhe ti!me of ' 11:iJberaticm" of our cotm'try, only
conf:iimned whait our soldiera saw in Sovti.et Russia.
Sir Robert: Wlhat is the alttitude of the non-Communist
population towa,rd foz,mer ipolitical parties and refugees?
Molnar: The non-Communist population of SlovaJkia
condemns these parties and bhcir leading personaJltities who
fled to the Western coU!Illtries. 'Dhe reason for bb/is attitude
is that in 'Spite of the fact that t!hey have had a greater
percentage of people on theiir side, they weire unable to check
the expansion of the CommU!Ilist reg1ime and ,t o prevent its
taking over of the ,w'hole Government.
Sir Robert: Iis the anti-CommUillisit attiltulde stronger
among fuose who are ll!Ildeir 30 years of age or among the
older ones·?
Fleischlt3(cker: The anltli..Communist feeling is stronger
among ·people more than 30 yeairs old, because, s1ionce tlhe end
of fue Second Wo,r,ld War, the youth is educ-aJted in the Communist spirilt in tlhe sohools, in the factories, in the military
servke. There are many yOU!Il.g men of 25 wiho fall for Communist promises. The majo:rd.ty of men of 30, however, still
remembers well the times of lilberty, the times when food
and cl·o thes were not rationed and wlhen there was a great
possilbility for everylbod,y to get a job.
Sir Robert: Do the Czechs and S1oivaks stiH remember
the great men like T. G. Masairyk, Milan Steifanrnk, Edward
Benes, Jan Masa.iryik, and Alrchlbishop Beram.? Are these personalities known ,b y the young generaJtion?
Krman: '11he young ,p eople know very little o!f ,tihese men,
because the Commll!Ilist regime - wifuout any consideraition
for theli,r merilts - is ipresenlting them in a very bad 1ight.
Neverth~less, Milan Ra'stislav Stefanik enjo,yetl the fame of
a national saint in Slovakia. Lately, however, tJhe Communists in our country try to destroy everything which draws
the attention of our people to his memory.
16
SLOVAKIA
In Bohemia and Moraivia the names Olf T. G. Masaryk,
Edward Benes and Archbishop Beran axe still. quite popuiar, but not m S1ovaJkia, where the names of Hlinka, Tiso,
Stefanik preva,i'l.
Sir Robert: How do the anti-Communist Czecho~Slovalks im~,gii,ne lbhe ,1ilberation of Ozecho-Siovrukia. and the future of their Staite in a li!beraited Elllrope?
Molnar: The majorilty of the anti-Communist Slovaks
i:. for a Central-European federaJtion of peoples, in which
every nation wi.N decide its. own af,fa:II'ls and wihere every
memlber whlll have equal,i ty o,f r~ghrts wtiith oither pairtners.
But :t!he main task i'S to be seen in the common decision o!f
all these peoip[e,s - Czeclhs, S1ovaJks, Magyars and alt.hens to destroy the Communist tyranny. - ('Slovruk League PTess
BU!reau by pemnission of the BBC, London, and ,t he interviewed).
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"I fully understand the reasons which led France and Great Britain to demand that we should not fight in September 1938 • . . . In
that year, I think the only countries in Europe prepared for the war
were GERMANY, THE SOVIET UNION AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA.
I had no doubts whatever about Czechoslovak preparedness. Our
resources were great and they were fully mobilized. From 1933, when
Hitler took the whole power in Germany into his hands, I WAS SU RE
that Europe was moving rapidly towards a great and terrible crisis . . . . In 1938 in September we had ONE MILLION AND A HALF
splendidly equipped soldiers. They were at the disposal of the struggle
for democracy and freedom together with all our powerful industries.
The events in 1938 prevented it.' Nazi Germany disbanded and destroyed this splendid army. Only a very small part of it succeeded In
reaching the Allied countries."
Dr. Benes, Speech, New York,
May 26, 1943).
•
•
•
"Czecho-Slovakia and Germany were the only two countries in
Europe, which, in the September 1938 crisis, were TOTALLY PREPARED FOR WAR. As for us, our resources were mobilized to the
highest degree. And these resources were very great! • . • Had not
PRAGUE adopted during the September crisis a passive attitude, Hitler would have unleashed the war then • • • . WE, therefore, under
irresistible pressure submitted to the decision which had been made.
I RESIGNED THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT, made preparations in
the country for a struggle against Naziism in the event of war, and
went into exile. The whole nation very soon understood." - Dr. Edward
Benes, Central European Observer, 1-17-41) .
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
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhardt and the Slovak Aviators
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 2 (7), July 1953
pp. 13-16
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2c82a300fcc80b3010544178ccc6c9e4.pdf
57656682930c6a62eefb3d76cdf36399
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
9
BUILDING ANOTHER BRIDGE?
Genera,l Lev :PIIX:'ha'la, head of the Czech Nationa'l Committee in London, broke ,wiltfh lli. Edwaxd Benes /When he
could no longer ,surfifer in silenice ,his dildtatorial, :imperiom;
and pro-lSOVliet 1po1'icy. ]t hruppened in London during the
wair. Prchala fost .his lave for Benes in 1938, when he oapitullarted to the M1.midh Alg;reemen't witlhourt 1the consent of
the 0zecho~Slovruk Prurliarrnent, .then resigned ifrom :the Presidency, thus surrendering his coll!Iltry, lodk, stock and ba,rrel, :to HiltJler w.iithout -Olffering tJhe slightest physical resistance, and then cowardly fled rto London.
From thrut time on, Prchwla re.gamded Benes and his
political clii.que - .the Czech NaJtional Socialists, or Ozedh
N aizis, as they axe .referred to - as hypocrites and frauds
who h elched forth volumes of democratic slogans and
S'peeches, bwt kept idiri'Vliing Czooho-iSlovrukia and tlhe who-le of
Erurope inito ,t he dultldhe:s af -Moscow.
In the Fcllruacy . 9, 19153, ,i ssue of the "<Ceske Listy"
(Ozech News), .t he oflfilcial organ of ,B rehala's ·giroll!p, the
General .reilates ,a nother inciderut to ,p rove the ,hy;pocrisy of
the (in)lfamous ,bridge-ib-ui[der, Dr. Edward Benes, who
brought Communism into Ozecho-Slovakia and Centrail Eu•r ope to threaJten ,tJhe secudty and democraitlic ,l:tfe of the entire Euiropean contilllerut. 'Dhe i'Il!ci:dent goes baok to ,tfue time
of the :presidenltial elec'tlionlS in 1935.
Uncertam of the swpport of ,the Caitholics in the various
par.ties, especially ,t he support of tlhe Slovalks, ibecause Dr.
Edwar.d Benes dlid cOiilltrilbute many articles to "f.ree-thinkriillg" iperiodica!lis and iwas a Freemason even before World
War I, lri's followers (,rut his 1b ehest) suddenly ,d iscovered
that Benes was a "loyall SOIIl of the Roman Catholic Ohurdh
since the dlay he was lbarn." Monsignor John Sraimek',s caiptains in his 0zech People's Party tooik up the cry, even
though Sramek .knew 1betlter, and used every me·a ns to convince the Vatican that Benes •reruJily was a "loyal son" of the
Catholic Church.
Prc,hal-a -clai.!ffis thaJt eventll!ally the Sramek Czechs put
their: story across and Rome urgently requested the CaJt!ho-
�10
SLOVAKIA
l:i!c members of the Ozecho-'SlovaJk National Assemlbly to
vote and wonk for !the election of Dr. Edward iBenes. We
know thalt Benes ,was eleclted. lwen the Sfova'ks 'Voted for
brim wilthout a dissenlt!ing vote, · !beoamse Dr. Joseph Tiso
had cornrinced them ito do so on the stTeng:th of the piromise
m'ade iby Benes that :Slovruk!ia wowld ibe granted full au'tonom~
wiitihin a yerur. We :know ,tlhaJt Benes never fulfilled it!hat ipromi'se, or eiven meant to fulifiM ilt. And he ireipaid iDr. J ·O'Seplh
Ti:so in 1947 by senldling him to .the igallows. That's the kind
of man Benes was.
W:hat hruppened after ,t he elections of 1935, aJs told lby
Prchala, wfillJ. oorlou\btedily •s hook €/Ven the most ardent admiireirs of Benes, General Lev Prcha.O.a says:
"Alflter ithe presidential elections, jjt was by sheer
a.ocidenit that tlhe edge of the curtain, which had hid'den
the 1rea;lrity, was rai!sed. Alf1teir the elootion of Benes as
'Presidenlt, I wa·s just leaving the Vladis1av Hill in the
Brag,ue Castle, when suddenllY I overheard a very familiar voiice sing olllt in open •rrupture: 'Well, we put it
across, didn't we? !' The senltenice wais spoken in godd
Russian. I was right - it .rea:Hy was A lexandrovsky,
the Russian ambassadw, who was joyously swinging
his amns. The inlto~ication over the sU1CCeSIS was
stronger than the diplom!atic resei,ve for wlhich I had
previiously known him. Those Russian words opened
my eyes.
"When I iresigned .firom the .:£unction of Vke-Commander of ithe Czed'no-Sl'ovak General Staff in 1933 and
went to eastern SlovaJkia, I was quft.te a di stan1Ce from
eveirything that was 1::a.king jplace in P,r ague I wrus a soldier and not a poilitician; I did not belong to any panty,
bl.lit inlterna1 and foreign. deve'loipments. did interest me.
AB I traveled by tra:in :frrom Kosi'Ce to Praigue, I met
the Slova'k depulties and senaJtors. I learned that Hlinka's party probaJbly woulltl ivote for Benes in the presidentia:1 elections. This su!I1prised rme a:nd, therefore, after my arrival in Brague I soug1ht the .reason for ffiinka''S turning over to the Castle and to Benes. I found
ouJt tih at tJhe V:aJt~can had recommended Benes to Hlinlka.
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
11
"However, after accidentally oivezfuearing the words
of .Am'baJSador Afex:andirovsky, it was c[ear to me ,t hat
· Benes was Sta'1in's candidaite ! I was aware that the
V a,tJican knowin,gJy ,coll!ld nOlt recommend a candidate
of the Bolshewks. '.Dhe exp1anaitioin was simple: tlhe V:atican wias a vtl.dtim of an unheard af hoax!"
It is very mudh ;possi!ble tha;t even now some of the
Benes "Ozechosloviaik!s" rure lbrying rto dece'i!ve tJhe Vatican.
'llhe .puiblfuhers of i'bhe "Tribuna" (The Tribune), the official
organ of itlhe •~Ozeclloslovalk Foreign Institute in Exile" pub:J.ished in .Paris, do nolt say so directly, but their articles
tend in thaJt di-rect_ion. The socialists writing for the '":Dribuna" keep on bringmg Ulp T. G. Masaryk and hils statement
that tihe proiblem of the sigmficance of Czech hristory is a
religfoUJS qu~on. Of course, they oonvenientliy forget to
mention that T. G. MasaJr!Ylk ,had ,1!he Ozeoh Reifonmaation ,in
mind ·a nd tJhat ait ,t he time he :had sai'd those words, he was
the Jeader of tJhe mti-Caitholic firght in Czedho-!SlovaJlda.
Ag:ain it is evident ltJhaJt the Benes sociaAi'sts thriive on
frauds, deceiits and initmig!ll'e. Referring to the itrend lin the
"Tri!bU111a," General P'lrohala says:
"By means of this ,t rick, however, the 'Dribuna is
endeavoring to realize a muich greater firaJUd. It is try.
ing to evdke in the high Roman Caitlholic Hierarclhy
a faJVOraJble impression for itself and iits cmn political
ends. 'Jlhis time, however, uninformed .readers and tlh.e
'Czechoslovak' exi:les in genera;! are ·swppo.sed to bre inspked to ~buikl a 1brid!ge' to Rome. It wi!H not sw-prise
me ,i f this is being done by atlteimpting a f1raudlulent explanaJtion Olf Masary1k's thesis, becM1se every one knows
that the peopl'e in t:Jh.e 'Councii of Free ~echo-SIJ.01Vakiiia.'
are not interested m princi~es, hut only in tactics, aJltoget'her an:ording to the reci,pe of old MachiavelJi anrl
his modern a<lmilrer'S."
We rure inclined to lbelieve General .Brohala. Enough
damage and suffering has been inflidted by the lfoHowers of
Benes and his ruinous poHcy of "CzechOislovaklism" and pro.
SO'V'ietism on the Czech and Slovak nations, nay, on the
�12
SLOVAKIA
whcle of tJhe EU1ropean conrtinent. '.Dhe former Ozecll National !Socialists - all memlbers of the Communist-dominated
"Naltional F1ront" ,go;vernmenlt of Benes and Gottwald s'hou[(i not 1b e tir:u1sted, 1b ut releg.aJted ,to the po[iibi.cal rubbish
herup. Today theli,r ,l eaders (Zenkll, Rilpka) a.re disc:redi1ted
and disowned ,b y the Ozecihs at home and aJbroad and represenlt no one hut themselves and their mercenrury clique. The
saime may be said for lthe "Wlindow-dressin,g " Slovak renegades in tile ,servJce am:l 1pay of t;he Benes CzecihlS. (Leittricli,
Sla:vilk, OsUJSky, Kocivara), ,w ho spealk for and represent oniy
themseilves and not tlhe Slovaik nation. Under the leadership
of Dr EdwaTd Benes they lb uilt the "lb;rM1ge" between the
Ewst and the West, over wlhiich oame ,S talin's h-011des into
Central Europe. They must not be given the chance to build
S'lllc:h "bridges" to Rome, or ,b etween the USA and Moscow.
•
•
•
"The story of the gradual adoption by ·the
Allies of the (Czechoslovak) theses of Mas aryk and his group cannot
and need not be retold h ere. By patient and lndefatiga.ble propaganda
they Implanted their major postulates - the existence of a 'CzechoSlovak nation ' and the desire of the Slovak branch of it to form a
part of a Czechoslovak State - so firmly in the minds of the Allies
that they were never seriously questioned at the Peace Conference.
The 'Czecho-Slovak' Govern ment h ad b een recognized by all the
Principal Allied a nd Ass o ciated Powers even BEFORE the peace
negotiations began - an act which implied that the Slovak question
was in principle already settled - while when the moment arrived
for settling all questions of de tail, including the drafting of a frontier,
it found the Czecho-Slovak Government firmly established as a :negotiating party; Indeed, in something like a privileged position." ~A . Mac a rtney: HUNGA'RY AND HER SUCCESSORS, London, 1937,
page 98) .
WHO SAID IT? -
•
WHO SAi D IT? -
•
•
" If a single dynasty h ad united both peoples
(Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union,
a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and
with ft ···a Czechoslovak lang uage any minor dialectal differences
which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen;
and w hil e t he Slavs of Bohemia developed the Czech nationality and
language, to which the intermediate dialects of Moravia graiitated,
the Slovaks, under l,lungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the ·czechs, but were not even able to form a single
literary language with them." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND
HER SUCCESSORS.::..:_ London, 1937).
�
SLOVAKIA
9
BUILDING ANOTHER BRIDGE?
Genera,l Lev :PIIX:'ha'la, head of the Czech Nationa'l Committee in London, broke ,wiltfh lli. Edwaxd Benes /When he
could no longer ,surfifer in silenice ,his dildtatorial, :imperiom;
and pro-lSOVliet 1po1'icy. ]t hruppened in London during the
wair. Prchala fost .his lave for Benes in 1938, when he oapitullarted to the M1.midh Alg;reemen't witlhourt 1the consent of
the 0zecho~Slovruk Prurliarrnent, .then resigned ifrom :the Presidency, thus surrendering his coll!Iltry, lodk, stock and ba,rrel, :to HiltJler w.iithout -Olffering tJhe slightest physical resistance, and then cowardly fled rto London.
From thrut time on, Prchwla re.gamded Benes and his
political clii.que - .the Czech NaJtional Socialists, or Ozedh
N aizis, as they axe .referred to - as hypocrites and frauds
who h elched forth volumes of democratic slogans and
S'peeches, bwt kept idiri'Vliing Czooho-iSlovrukia and tlhe who-le of
Erurope inito ,t he dultldhe:s af -Moscow.
In the Fcllruacy . 9, 19153, ,i ssue of the "<Ceske Listy"
(Ozech News), .t he oflfilcial organ of ,B rehala's ·giroll!p, the
General .reilates ,a nother inciderut to ,p rove the ,hy;pocrisy of
the (in)lfamous ,bridge-ib-ui[der, Dr. Edward Benes, who
brought Communism into Ozecho-Slovakia and Centrail Eu•r ope to threaJten ,tJhe secudty and democraitlic ,l:tfe of the entire Euiropean contilllerut. 'Dhe i'Il!ci:dent goes baok to ,tfue time
of the :presidenltial elec'tlionlS in 1935.
Uncertam of the swpport of ,the Caitholics in the various
par.ties, especially ,t he support of tlhe Slovalks, ibecause Dr.
Edwar.d Benes dlid cOiilltrilbute many articles to "f.ree-thinkriillg" iperiodica!lis and iwas a Freemason even before World
War I, lri's followers (,rut his 1b ehest) suddenly ,d iscovered
that Benes was a "loyall SOIIl of the Roman Catholic Ohurdh
since the dlay he was lbarn." Monsignor John Sraimek',s caiptains in his 0zech People's Party tooik up the cry, even
though Sramek .knew 1betlter, and used every me·a ns to convince the Vatican that Benes •reruJily was a "loyal son" of the
Catholic Church.
Prc,hal-a -clai.!ffis thaJt eventll!ally the Sramek Czechs put
their: story across and Rome urgently requested the CaJt!ho-
�10
SLOVAKIA
l:i!c members of the Ozecho-'SlovaJk National Assemlbly to
vote and wonk for !the election of Dr. Edward iBenes. We
know thalt Benes ,was eleclted. lwen the Sfova'ks 'Voted for
brim wilthout a dissenlt!ing vote, · !beoamse Dr. Joseph Tiso
had cornrinced them ito do so on the stTeng:th of the piromise
m'ade iby Benes that :Slovruk!ia wowld ibe granted full au'tonom~
wiitihin a yerur. We :know ,tlhaJt Benes never fulfilled it!hat ipromi'se, or eiven meant to fulifiM ilt. And he ireipaid iDr. J ·O'Seplh
Ti:so in 1947 by senldling him to .the igallows. That's the kind
of man Benes was.
W:hat hruppened after ,t he elections of 1935, aJs told lby
Prchala, wfillJ. oorlou\btedily •s hook €/Ven the most ardent admiireirs of Benes, General Lev Prcha.O.a says:
"Alflter ithe presidential elections, jjt was by sheer
a.ocidenit that tlhe edge of the curtain, which had hid'den
the 1rea;lrity, was rai!sed. Alf1teir the elootion of Benes as
'Presidenlt, I wa·s just leaving the Vladis1av Hill in the
Brag,ue Castle, when suddenllY I overheard a very familiar voiice sing olllt in open •rrupture: 'Well, we put it
across, didn't we? !' The senltenice wais spoken in godd
Russian. I was right - it .rea:Hy was A lexandrovsky,
the Russian ambassadw, who was joyously swinging
his amns. The inlto~ication over the sU1CCeSIS was
stronger than the diplom!atic resei,ve for wlhich I had
previiously known him. Those Russian words opened
my eyes.
"When I iresigned .firom the .:£unction of Vke-Commander of ithe Czed'no-Sl'ovak General Staff in 1933 and
went to eastern SlovaJkia, I was quft.te a di stan1Ce from
eveirything that was 1::a.king jplace in P,r ague I wrus a soldier and not a poilitician; I did not belong to any panty,
bl.lit inlterna1 and foreign. deve'loipments. did interest me.
AB I traveled by tra:in :frrom Kosi'Ce to Praigue, I met
the Slova'k depulties and senaJtors. I learned that Hlinka's party probaJbly woulltl ivote for Benes in the presidentia:1 elections. This su!I1prised rme a:nd, therefore, after my arrival in Brague I soug1ht the .reason for ffiinka''S turning over to the Castle and to Benes. I found
ouJt tih at tJhe V:aJt~can had recommended Benes to Hlinlka.
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
11
"However, after accidentally oivezfuearing the words
of .Am'baJSador Afex:andirovsky, it was c[ear to me ,t hat
· Benes was Sta'1in's candidaite ! I was aware that the
V a,tJican knowin,gJy ,coll!ld nOlt recommend a candidate
of the Bolshewks. '.Dhe exp1anaitioin was simple: tlhe V:atican wias a vtl.dtim of an unheard af hoax!"
It is very mudh ;possi!ble tha;t even now some of the
Benes "Ozechosloviaik!s" rure lbrying rto dece'i!ve tJhe Vatican.
'llhe .puiblfuhers of i'bhe "Tribuna" (The Tribune), the official
organ of itlhe •~Ozeclloslovalk Foreign Institute in Exile" pub:J.ished in .Paris, do nolt say so directly, but their articles
tend in thaJt di-rect_ion. The socialists writing for the '":Dribuna" keep on bringmg Ulp T. G. Masaryk and hils statement
that tihe proiblem of the sigmficance of Czech hristory is a
religfoUJS qu~on. Of course, they oonvenientliy forget to
mention that T. G. MasaJr!Ylk ,had ,1!he Ozeoh Reifonmaation ,in
mind ·a nd tJhat ait ,t he time he :had sai'd those words, he was
the Jeader of tJhe mti-Caitholic firght in Czedho-!SlovaJlda.
Ag:ain it is evident ltJhaJt the Benes sociaAi'sts thriive on
frauds, deceiits and initmig!ll'e. Referring to the itrend lin the
"Tri!bU111a," General P'lrohala says:
"By means of this ,t rick, however, the 'Dribuna is
endeavoring to realize a muich greater firaJUd. It is try.
ing to evdke in the high Roman Caitlholic Hierarclhy
a faJVOraJble impression for itself and iits cmn political
ends. 'Jlhis time, however, uninformed .readers and tlh.e
'Czechoslovak' exi:les in genera;! are ·swppo.sed to bre inspked to ~buikl a 1brid!ge' to Rome. It wi!H not sw-prise
me ,i f this is being done by atlteimpting a f1raudlulent explanaJtion Olf Masary1k's thesis, becM1se every one knows
that the peopl'e in t:Jh.e 'Councii of Free ~echo-SIJ.01Vakiiia.'
are not interested m princi~es, hut only in tactics, aJltoget'her an:ording to the reci,pe of old MachiavelJi anrl
his modern a<lmilrer'S."
We rure inclined to lbelieve General .Brohala. Enough
damage and suffering has been inflidted by the lfoHowers of
Benes and his ruinous poHcy of "CzechOislovaklism" and pro.
SO'V'ietism on the Czech and Slovak nations, nay, on the
�12
SLOVAKIA
whcle of tJhe EU1ropean conrtinent. '.Dhe former Ozecll National !Socialists - all memlbers of the Communist-dominated
"Naltional F1ront" ,go;vernmenlt of Benes and Gottwald s'hou[(i not 1b e tir:u1sted, 1b ut releg.aJted ,to the po[iibi.cal rubbish
herup. Today theli,r ,l eaders (Zenkll, Rilpka) a.re disc:redi1ted
and disowned ,b y the Ozecihs at home and aJbroad and represenlt no one hut themselves and their mercenrury clique. The
saime may be said for lthe "Wlindow-dressin,g " Slovak renegades in tile ,servJce am:l 1pay of t;he Benes CzecihlS. (Leittricli,
Sla:vilk, OsUJSky, Kocivara), ,w ho spealk for and represent oniy
themseilves and not tlhe Slovaik nation. Under the leadership
of Dr EdwaTd Benes they lb uilt the "lb;rM1ge" between the
Ewst and the West, over wlhiich oame ,S talin's h-011des into
Central Europe. They must not be given the chance to build
S'lllc:h "bridges" to Rome, or ,b etween the USA and Moscow.
•
•
•
"The story of the gradual adoption by ·the
Allies of the (Czechoslovak) theses of Mas aryk and his group cannot
and need not be retold h ere. By patient and lndefatiga.ble propaganda
they Implanted their major postulates - the existence of a 'CzechoSlovak nation ' and the desire of the Slovak branch of it to form a
part of a Czechoslovak State - so firmly in the minds of the Allies
that they were never seriously questioned at the Peace Conference.
The 'Czecho-Slovak' Govern ment h ad b een recognized by all the
Principal Allied a nd Ass o ciated Powers even BEFORE the peace
negotiations began - an act which implied that the Slovak question
was in principle already settled - while when the moment arrived
for settling all questions of de tail, including the drafting of a frontier,
it found the Czecho-Slovak Government firmly established as a :negotiating party; Indeed, in something like a privileged position." ~A . Mac a rtney: HUNGA'RY AND HER SUCCESSORS, London, 1937,
page 98) .
WHO SAID IT? -
•
WHO SAi D IT? -
•
•
" If a single dynasty h ad united both peoples
(Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union,
a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and
with ft ···a Czechoslovak lang uage any minor dialectal differences
which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen;
and w hil e t he Slavs of Bohemia developed the Czech nationality and
language, to which the intermediate dialects of Moravia graiitated,
the Slovaks, under l,lungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the ·czechs, but were not even able to form a single
literary language with them." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND
HER SUCCESSORS.::..:_ London, 1937).
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
9
BUILDING ANOTHER BRIDGE?
Genera,l Lev :PIIX:'ha'la, head of the Czech Nationa'l Committee in London, broke ,wiltfh lli. Edwaxd Benes /When he
could no longer ,surfifer in silenice ,his dildtatorial, :imperiom;
and pro-lSOVliet 1po1'icy. ]t hruppened in London during the
wair. Prchala fost .his lave for Benes in 1938, when he oapitullarted to the M1.midh Alg;reemen't witlhourt 1the consent of
the 0zecho~Slovruk Prurliarrnent, .then resigned ifrom :the Presidency, thus surrendering his coll!Iltry, lodk, stock and ba,rrel, :to HiltJler w.iithout -Olffering tJhe slightest physical resistance, and then cowardly fled rto London.
From thrut time on, Prchwla re.gamded Benes and his
political clii.que - .the Czech NaJtional Socialists, or Ozedh
N aizis, as they axe .referred to - as hypocrites and frauds
who h elched forth volumes of democratic slogans and
S'peeches, bwt kept idiri'Vliing Czooho-iSlovrukia and tlhe who-le of
Erurope inito ,t he dultldhe:s af -Moscow.
In the Fcllruacy . 9, 19153, ,i ssue of the "<Ceske Listy"
(Ozech News), .t he oflfilcial organ of ,B rehala's ·giroll!p, the
General .reilates ,a nother inciderut to ,p rove the ,hy;pocrisy of
the (in)lfamous ,bridge-ib-ui[der, Dr. Edward Benes, who
brought Communism into Ozecho-Slovakia and Centrail Eu•r ope to threaJten ,tJhe secudty and democraitlic ,l:tfe of the entire Euiropean contilllerut. 'Dhe i'Il!ci:dent goes baok to ,tfue time
of the :presidenltial elec'tlionlS in 1935.
Uncertam of the swpport of ,the Caitholics in the various
par.ties, especially ,t he support of tlhe Slovalks, ibecause Dr.
Edwar.d Benes dlid cOiilltrilbute many articles to "f.ree-thinkriillg" iperiodica!lis and iwas a Freemason even before World
War I, lri's followers (,rut his 1b ehest) suddenly ,d iscovered
that Benes was a "loyall SOIIl of the Roman Catholic Ohurdh
since the dlay he was lbarn." Monsignor John Sraimek',s caiptains in his 0zech People's Party tooik up the cry, even
though Sramek .knew 1betlter, and used every me·a ns to convince the Vatican that Benes •reruJily was a "loyal son" of the
Catholic Church.
Prc,hal-a -clai.!ffis thaJt eventll!ally the Sramek Czechs put
their: story across and Rome urgently requested the CaJt!ho-
10
SLOVAKIA
l:i!c members of the Ozecho-'SlovaJk National Assemlbly to
vote and wonk for !the election of Dr. Edward iBenes. We
know thalt Benes ,was eleclted. lwen the Sfova'ks 'Voted for
brim wilthout a dissenlt!ing vote, · !beoamse Dr. Joseph Tiso
had cornrinced them ito do so on the stTeng:th of the piromise
m'ade iby Benes that :Slovruk!ia wowld ibe granted full au'tonom~
wiitihin a yerur. We :know ,tlhaJt Benes never fulfilled it!hat ipromi'se, or eiven meant to fulifiM ilt. And he ireipaid iDr. J ·O'Seplh
Ti:so in 1947 by senldling him to .the igallows. That's the kind
of man Benes was.
W:hat hruppened after ,t he elections of 1935, aJs told lby
Prchala, wfillJ. oorlou\btedily •s hook €/Ven the most ardent admiireirs of Benes, General Lev Prcha.O.a says:
"Alflter ithe presidential elections, jjt was by sheer
a.ocidenit that tlhe edge of the curtain, which had hid'den
the 1rea;lrity, was rai!sed. Alf1teir the elootion of Benes as
'Presidenlt, I wa·s just leaving the Vladis1av Hill in the
Brag,ue Castle, when suddenllY I overheard a very familiar voiice sing olllt in open •rrupture: 'Well, we put it
across, didn't we? !' The senltenice wais spoken in godd
Russian. I was right - it .rea:Hy was A lexandrovsky,
the Russian ambassadw, who was joyously swinging
his amns. The inlto~ication over the sU1CCeSIS was
stronger than the diplom!atic resei,ve for wlhich I had
previiously known him. Those Russian words opened
my eyes.
"When I iresigned .firom the .:£unction of Vke-Commander of ithe Czed'no-Sl'ovak General Staff in 1933 and
went to eastern SlovaJkia, I was quft.te a di stan1Ce from
eveirything that was 1::a.king jplace in P,r ague I wrus a soldier and not a poilitician; I did not belong to any panty,
bl.lit inlterna1 and foreign. deve'loipments. did interest me.
AB I traveled by tra:in :frrom Kosi'Ce to Praigue, I met
the Slova'k depulties and senaJtors. I learned that Hlinka's party probaJbly woulltl ivote for Benes in the presidentia:1 elections. This su!I1prised rme a:nd, therefore, after my arrival in Brague I soug1ht the .reason for ffiinka''S turning over to the Castle and to Benes. I found
ouJt tih at tJhe V:aJt~can had recommended Benes to Hlinlka.
1
1
SLOVAKIA
11
"However, after accidentally oivezfuearing the words
of .Am'baJSador Afex:andirovsky, it was c[ear to me ,t hat
· Benes was Sta'1in's candidaite ! I was aware that the
V a,tJican knowin,gJy ,coll!ld nOlt recommend a candidate
of the Bolshewks. '.Dhe exp1anaitioin was simple: tlhe V:atican wias a vtl.dtim of an unheard af hoax!"
It is very mudh ;possi!ble tha;t even now some of the
Benes "Ozechosloviaik!s" rure lbrying rto dece'i!ve tJhe Vatican.
'llhe .puiblfuhers of i'bhe "Tribuna" (The Tribune), the official
organ of itlhe •~Ozeclloslovalk Foreign Institute in Exile" pub:J.ished in .Paris, do nolt say so directly, but their articles
tend in thaJt di-rect_ion. The socialists writing for the '":Dribuna" keep on bringmg Ulp T. G. Masaryk and hils statement
that tihe proiblem of the sigmficance of Czech hristory is a
religfoUJS qu~on. Of course, they oonvenientliy forget to
mention that T. G. MasaJr!Ylk ,had ,1!he Ozeoh Reifonmaation ,in
mind ·a nd tJhat ait ,t he time he :had sai'd those words, he was
the Jeader of tJhe mti-Caitholic firght in Czedho-!SlovaJlda.
Ag:ain it is evident ltJhaJt the Benes sociaAi'sts thriive on
frauds, deceiits and initmig!ll'e. Referring to the itrend lin the
"Tri!bU111a," General P'lrohala says:
"By means of this ,t rick, however, the 'Dribuna is
endeavoring to realize a muich greater firaJUd. It is try.
ing to evdke in the high Roman Caitlholic Hierarclhy
a faJVOraJble impression for itself and iits cmn political
ends. 'Jlhis time, however, uninformed .readers and tlh.e
'Czechoslovak' exi:les in genera;! are ·swppo.sed to bre inspked to ~buikl a 1brid!ge' to Rome. It wi!H not sw-prise
me ,i f this is being done by atlteimpting a f1raudlulent explanaJtion Olf Masary1k's thesis, becM1se every one knows
that the peopl'e in t:Jh.e 'Councii of Free ~echo-SIJ.01Vakiiia.'
are not interested m princi~es, hut only in tactics, aJltoget'her an:ording to the reci,pe of old MachiavelJi anrl
his modern a<lmilrer'S."
We rure inclined to lbelieve General .Brohala. Enough
damage and suffering has been inflidted by the lfoHowers of
Benes and his ruinous poHcy of "CzechOislovaklism" and pro.
SO'V'ietism on the Czech and Slovak nations, nay, on the
12
SLOVAKIA
whcle of tJhe EU1ropean conrtinent. '.Dhe former Ozecll National !Socialists - all memlbers of the Communist-dominated
"Naltional F1ront" ,go;vernmenlt of Benes and Gottwald s'hou[(i not 1b e tir:u1sted, 1b ut releg.aJted ,to the po[iibi.cal rubbish
herup. Today theli,r ,l eaders (Zenkll, Rilpka) a.re disc:redi1ted
and disowned ,b y the Ozecihs at home and aJbroad and represenlt no one hut themselves and their mercenrury clique. The
saime may be said for lthe "Wlindow-dressin,g " Slovak renegades in tile ,servJce am:l 1pay of t;he Benes CzecihlS. (Leittricli,
Sla:vilk, OsUJSky, Kocivara), ,w ho spealk for and represent oniy
themseilves and not tlhe Slovaik nation. Under the leadership
of Dr EdwaTd Benes they lb uilt the "lb;rM1ge" between the
Ewst and the West, over wlhiich oame ,S talin's h-011des into
Central Europe. They must not be given the chance to build
S'lllc:h "bridges" to Rome, or ,b etween the USA and Moscow.
•
•
•
"The story of the gradual adoption by ·the
Allies of the (Czechoslovak) theses of Mas aryk and his group cannot
and need not be retold h ere. By patient and lndefatiga.ble propaganda
they Implanted their major postulates - the existence of a 'CzechoSlovak nation ' and the desire of the Slovak branch of it to form a
part of a Czechoslovak State - so firmly in the minds of the Allies
that they were never seriously questioned at the Peace Conference.
The 'Czecho-Slovak' Govern ment h ad b een recognized by all the
Principal Allied a nd Ass o ciated Powers even BEFORE the peace
negotiations began - an act which implied that the Slovak question
was in principle already settled - while when the moment arrived
for settling all questions of de tail, including the drafting of a frontier,
it found the Czecho-Slovak Government firmly established as a :negotiating party; Indeed, in something like a privileged position." ~A . Mac a rtney: HUNGA'RY AND HER SUCCESSORS, London, 1937,
page 98) .
WHO SAID IT? -
•
WHO SAi D IT? -
•
•
" If a single dynasty h ad united both peoples
(Czechs and Slovaks) in a permanent, or at least an enduring union,
a Czechoslovak nationality would assuredly have been formed and
with ft ···a Czechoslovak lang uage any minor dialectal differences
which existed would have been smoothed out. This did not happen;
and w hil e t he Slavs of Bohemia developed the Czech nationality and
language, to which the intermediate dialects of Moravia graiitated,
the Slovaks, under l,lungarian rule, not only developed along different lines from the ·czechs, but were not even able to form a single
literary language with them." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND
HER SUCCESSORS.::..:_ London, 1937).
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Building Another Bridge?
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 2 (7), July 1953
pp. 9-12
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/30370abbad833529b5b5369b482485bc.pdf
d042de9e573abccd4ef69fd6b09254b6
PDF Text
Text
JULY 195 3
VOL. Ill
IN THIS ISSUE :
THE TRUE FACE OF SLOVAKIA
BUILDING ANOTHER BRIDGE ?
R. B. LOCKHARDT AND THE SLOVAK AVIATORS
OUR BLUNDERING CZECHO-SLOVAKIA POLICY_
THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF A FEDERATION
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA : HRICOV
THREE MONTHS IN " LIBERATED" BRATIS L AVA
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY I N SLOVAKI A
SLOVAK F OLKLORE: THE DEVIL HAS TO WORK
WHO SAID IT ?: 8, 12, 16, 25, 56, 61
Edi t ed and compi led by
P HILIP A . H RO BAK
Published by
THE SLOV A K LEAGUE OF AMERICA
NO. 2
�SLOV A.KIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Amerteans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVA.KIA
s to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedom and
independence.
1
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
Middletown, Pa.
�
JULY 195 3
VOL. Ill
IN THIS ISSUE :
THE TRUE FACE OF SLOVAKIA
BUILDING ANOTHER BRIDGE ?
R. B. LOCKHARDT AND THE SLOVAK AVIATORS
OUR BLUNDERING CZECHO-SLOVAKIA POLICY_
THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF A FEDERATION
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA : HRICOV
THREE MONTHS IN " LIBERATED" BRATIS L AVA
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY I N SLOVAKI A
SLOVAK F OLKLORE: THE DEVIL HAS TO WORK
WHO SAID IT ?: 8, 12, 16, 25, 56, 61
Edi t ed and compi led by
P HILIP A . H RO BAK
Published by
THE SLOV A K LEAGUE OF AMERICA
NO. 2
�SLOV A.KIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Amerteans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVA.KIA
s to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedom and
independence.
1
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
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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 2 (7)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
July 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c7b85cca4b0b64d97a27d4955f292f97.pdf
dc679d7aa01724a49ab22387c94bb99d
PDF Text
Text
YOU CAN LEARN SLOVAK
as easily as you can any other modern language. Slovak
should be a MUST for students of Slovanic languages,
because it is the simplest of all of them and a KEY to
all of them. Prove it to yourself with the most scholarly
text on Slovak, the
SLOVAK LESSONS
A practical study of the Slovak Grammar, 92
lessons, 400 pages ; exercises in Slovak and English;
English-Slovak and Slovak-English vocabulary. Hard
cover, bound in cloth, $3.50
HROBAK'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY - the best and
most complete dictionary of its kind; 702 pages with a
brief sumary of the Slovak Grammar. Hard cover, bound
in cloth, $4.00
THE SLOVAKS, by Peter P. Yurchak, should be read by
all students interested in the history and traditions of
the Slovak nation; 312 pages, hard cover, bound in cloth
- $3.00; paper cover - $2.00
SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK IUSTORY
by Joseph Skultety, translation by 0. D. Koreff;
a documented refutation of several errors propagated by writers and historians; 229 pages, hard
cover, bound in cloth - $2.00; paper cover $1.00.
Order from:
P.A.HROBAK
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
�SLOVAKIA
Festive headdress of the women of Vefky Lorn,
southeastern Slovakia
�
YOU CAN LEARN SLOVAK
as easily as you can any other modern language. Slovak
should be a MUST for students of Slovanic languages,
because it is the simplest of all of them and a KEY to
all of them. Prove it to yourself with the most scholarly
text on Slovak, the
SLOVAK LESSONS
A practical study of the Slovak Grammar, 92
lessons, 400 pages ; exercises in Slovak and English;
English-Slovak and Slovak-English vocabulary. Hard
cover, bound in cloth, $3.50
HROBAK'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY - the best and
most complete dictionary of its kind; 702 pages with a
brief sumary of the Slovak Grammar. Hard cover, bound
in cloth, $4.00
THE SLOVAKS, by Peter P. Yurchak, should be read by
all students interested in the history and traditions of
the Slovak nation; 312 pages, hard cover, bound in cloth
- $3.00; paper cover - $2.00
SKETCHES FROM SLOVAK IUSTORY
by Joseph Skultety, translation by 0. D. Koreff;
a documented refutation of several errors propagated by writers and historians; 229 pages, hard
cover, bound in cloth - $2.00; paper cover $1.00.
Order from:
P.A.HROBAK
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
�SLOVAKIA
Festive headdress of the women of Vefky Lorn,
southeastern 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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
Festive headdress of the women of Vefky Lorn,
southeastern 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
Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6)
Description
An account of the resource
includes portrait of woman showing festive headdress of Veľký Lom, southeastern Slovakia
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/4492c25b0d17d146832900fba8e031c6.pdf
751016d5778459600a6bdada2d7bbfbc
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
61
MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF SLOVAKIA
Nature has endowed Slovakia with medicinal springs in
a truly prolific manner. In fact, Slovakia, in this respect, is
the first land of Europe. There are fifteen larger thermal
watering places, forty-six medicinal springs, and a large
number of spots where cold mineral water gushes forth out
of the earth. In addition there are several springs to which
until about 1930 no attention had been paid.
Some of the spas have rbeen operating for many decades,
even centuries, and enjoy a worldwide reputation. In respect to the perfect comfort of their inner furnishings, they
can be placed side by side with any of the world's great
watering places.
Especially well-known are Piesfany and Trencianske
Teplice with their hot springs which have temperatures of
67 and 42 degrees Centigrade respectively. At these two spas
rheumatism, ischias, and related diseases are healed. Unique
is Sliac, the Slovak Nauheim, where there are warm carbon
springs having a temperature of forty degrees Centigrade.
Women's ailments, severe heart diseases, and illnesses of
the spine are cured here in almost miraculous manner. At
Vysne Ruzbachy there is a swimming basin, in the middle
of the woods, supplied by a warm mineral spring. The springs
at Ciz are considered the strongest in Europe in their content of iodine and bromium. Herlany has a geyser 180 feet
high which comes out of a depth of 1200 feet. Korytnica is
the best-known of the alkali-saline baths. Bojnice is a sulphur spa with strongly radioactive slime. The sulphur water
has a temperature of forty-six degrees Centigrade. Rajecke
Teplice, Sklenne Teplice, Brusno, Kovacovo, Bardejovske kupele, Ganovce, and Vyhne, are a few of the many otoor
mineral spas of Slovakia.
The magnificent scenic situation of the spas of Slovakia
makes them particularly beautiful places to tarry at. Most
of them are located in the romantic valleys of rivers and
are surrounded by extensive forests. Unlimited opportunities
�tiZ
:::;LOVAKIA
are provided for walks and drives. There is abundant chance
to fish and to hunt, and to enjoy other sports as well.
The best known climatic resorts are situated in the High
Tatra Mountains. The hotels are unusually comfortable and
lie at high altitudes, the maximum being 1360 meters above
sea level. They possess the advantage of complete protection
against North winds and are nestled in vast forests. Among
them are Strbske Pleso, Tatranska Poljanka, Stary Smokovec,
Novy Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, and Tatranske Matliary. The intense radiation of the sun in protected areas
makes them comparable with the most famous mountain
resort of Switzerland. Here there are de luxe hotels as well
as simpler pensions and tourist homes. Adjacent to the mountain resorts is a natural park which serves as a reservation
for the flora and fauna of the region. The other chains of
the Carpathian Mountains, as the Bela Alps, the so-called
Low Tatras, etc, offer an inexhaustible multitude of places
where provisions for visitors are comfortable though simple.
Lubochna possesses especially comfortable villas and hotels.
Unfortunately, today everything in Slovakia belongs to
the Czecho-Communis t state which is greatly concerned
about who visits Slovakia. However, tourists will again visit
the springs of Slovakia when the present tyranny passes .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TODAY it is clear to every observer who is not blind that if
Slovakia is liberated from the power of communism, it w ill be an independent state. Just as independent as my own homeland, the Cze<:h
kingdom. The certainty of this prospect in the future is prompted by:
a) the enthusiastic will of the great majority of Slovaks; b) by the
absence of a factor which could prevent this." (Dr. Bohdan Chu-
,loba, former member of the CZECH People's Party and the Prague
Parliament).
•
•
•
"We have been accused of sullying the good relations between
the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic, but the Democratic Party
has clearly stated that it is aware of what it is doing on that score.
It is aware of the fact that only an intimately united friendship with
the USSR must be our policy in the future. Thereby we do not follow
our narrow party interests, but we are convinced that this is in the
interest of the entire Czechoslovak Republic." (Jan Lichner,
one of Lettrich's democrats, CAS, 5-14-46).
�
SLOVAKIA
61
MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF SLOVAKIA
Nature has endowed Slovakia with medicinal springs in
a truly prolific manner. In fact, Slovakia, in this respect, is
the first land of Europe. There are fifteen larger thermal
watering places, forty-six medicinal springs, and a large
number of spots where cold mineral water gushes forth out
of the earth. In addition there are several springs to which
until about 1930 no attention had been paid.
Some of the spas have rbeen operating for many decades,
even centuries, and enjoy a worldwide reputation. In respect to the perfect comfort of their inner furnishings, they
can be placed side by side with any of the world's great
watering places.
Especially well-known are Piesfany and Trencianske
Teplice with their hot springs which have temperatures of
67 and 42 degrees Centigrade respectively. At these two spas
rheumatism, ischias, and related diseases are healed. Unique
is Sliac, the Slovak Nauheim, where there are warm carbon
springs having a temperature of forty degrees Centigrade.
Women's ailments, severe heart diseases, and illnesses of
the spine are cured here in almost miraculous manner. At
Vysne Ruzbachy there is a swimming basin, in the middle
of the woods, supplied by a warm mineral spring. The springs
at Ciz are considered the strongest in Europe in their content of iodine and bromium. Herlany has a geyser 180 feet
high which comes out of a depth of 1200 feet. Korytnica is
the best-known of the alkali-saline baths. Bojnice is a sulphur spa with strongly radioactive slime. The sulphur water
has a temperature of forty-six degrees Centigrade. Rajecke
Teplice, Sklenne Teplice, Brusno, Kovacovo, Bardejovske kupele, Ganovce, and Vyhne, are a few of the many otoor
mineral spas of Slovakia.
The magnificent scenic situation of the spas of Slovakia
makes them particularly beautiful places to tarry at. Most
of them are located in the romantic valleys of rivers and
are surrounded by extensive forests. Unlimited opportunities
�tiZ
:::;LOVAKIA
are provided for walks and drives. There is abundant chance
to fish and to hunt, and to enjoy other sports as well.
The best known climatic resorts are situated in the High
Tatra Mountains. The hotels are unusually comfortable and
lie at high altitudes, the maximum being 1360 meters above
sea level. They possess the advantage of complete protection
against North winds and are nestled in vast forests. Among
them are Strbske Pleso, Tatranska Poljanka, Stary Smokovec,
Novy Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, and Tatranske Matliary. The intense radiation of the sun in protected areas
makes them comparable with the most famous mountain
resort of Switzerland. Here there are de luxe hotels as well
as simpler pensions and tourist homes. Adjacent to the mountain resorts is a natural park which serves as a reservation
for the flora and fauna of the region. The other chains of
the Carpathian Mountains, as the Bela Alps, the so-called
Low Tatras, etc, offer an inexhaustible multitude of places
where provisions for visitors are comfortable though simple.
Lubochna possesses especially comfortable villas and hotels.
Unfortunately, today everything in Slovakia belongs to
the Czecho-Communis t state which is greatly concerned
about who visits Slovakia. However, tourists will again visit
the springs of Slovakia when the present tyranny passes .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TODAY it is clear to every observer who is not blind that if
Slovakia is liberated from the power of communism, it w ill be an independent state. Just as independent as my own homeland, the Cze<:h
kingdom. The certainty of this prospect in the future is prompted by:
a) the enthusiastic will of the great majority of Slovaks; b) by the
absence of a factor which could prevent this." (Dr. Bohdan Chu-
,loba, former member of the CZECH People's Party and the Prague
Parliament).
•
•
•
"We have been accused of sullying the good relations between
the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic, but the Democratic Party
has clearly stated that it is aware of what it is doing on that score.
It is aware of the fact that only an intimately united friendship with
the USSR must be our policy in the future. Thereby we do not follow
our narrow party interests, but we are convinced that this is in the
interest of the entire Czechoslovak Republic." (Jan Lichner,
one of Lettrich's democrats, CAS, 5-14-46).
�
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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF SLOVAKIA
Nature has endowed Slovakia with medicinal springs in
a truly prolific manner. In fact, Slovakia, in this respect, is
the first land of Europe. There are fifteen larger thermal
watering places, forty-six medicinal springs, and a large
number of spots where cold mineral water gushes forth out
of the earth. In addition there are several springs to which
until about 1930 no attention had been paid.
Some of the spas have rbeen operating for many decades,
even centuries, and enjoy a worldwide reputation. In respect to the perfect comfort of their inner furnishings, they
can be placed side by side with any of the world's great
watering places.
Especially well-known are Piesfany and Trencianske
Teplice with their hot springs which have temperatures of
67 and 42 degrees Centigrade respectively. At these two spas
rheumatism, ischias, and related diseases are healed. Unique
is Sliac, the Slovak Nauheim, where there are warm carbon
springs having a temperature of forty degrees Centigrade.
Women's ailments, severe heart diseases, and illnesses of
the spine are cured here in almost miraculous manner. At
Vysne Ruzbachy there is a swimming basin, in the middle
of the woods, supplied by a warm mineral spring. The springs
at Ciz are considered the strongest in Europe in their content of iodine and bromium. Herlany has a geyser 180 feet
high which comes out of a depth of 1200 feet. Korytnica is
the best-known of the alkali-saline baths. Bojnice is a sulphur spa with strongly radioactive slime. The sulphur water
has a temperature of forty-six degrees Centigrade. Rajecke
Teplice, Sklenne Teplice, Brusno, Kovacovo, Bardejovske kupele, Ganovce, and Vyhne, are a few of the many otoor
mineral spas of Slovakia.
The magnificent scenic situation of the spas of Slovakia
makes them particularly beautiful places to tarry at. Most
of them are located in the romantic valleys of rivers and
are surrounded by extensive forests. Unlimited opportunities
tiZ
:::;LOVAKIA
are provided for walks and drives. There is abundant chance
to fish and to hunt, and to enjoy other sports as well.
The best known climatic resorts are situated in the High
Tatra Mountains. The hotels are unusually comfortable and
lie at high altitudes, the maximum being 1360 meters above
sea level. They possess the advantage of complete protection
against North winds and are nestled in vast forests. Among
them are Strbske Pleso, Tatranska Poljanka, Stary Smokovec,
Novy Smokovec, Tatranska Lomnica, and Tatranske Matliary. The intense radiation of the sun in protected areas
makes them comparable with the most famous mountain
resort of Switzerland. Here there are de luxe hotels as well
as simpler pensions and tourist homes. Adjacent to the mountain resorts is a natural park which serves as a reservation
for the flora and fauna of the region. The other chains of
the Carpathian Mountains, as the Bela Alps, the so-called
Low Tatras, etc, offer an inexhaustible multitude of places
where provisions for visitors are comfortable though simple.
Lubochna possesses especially comfortable villas and hotels.
Unfortunately, today everything in Slovakia belongs to
the Czecho-Communis t state which is greatly concerned
about who visits Slovakia. However, tourists will again visit
the springs of Slovakia when the present tyranny passes .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TODAY it is clear to every observer who is not blind that if
Slovakia is liberated from the power of communism, it w ill be an independent state. Just as independent as my own homeland, the Cze<:h
kingdom. The certainty of this prospect in the future is prompted by:
a) the enthusiastic will of the great majority of Slovaks; b) by the
absence of a factor which could prevent this." (Dr. Bohdan Chu-
,loba, former member of the CZECH People's Party and the Prague
Parliament).
•
•
•
"We have been accused of sullying the good relations between
the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic, but the Democratic Party
has clearly stated that it is aware of what it is doing on that score.
It is aware of the fact that only an intimately united friendship with
the USSR must be our policy in the future. Thereby we do not follow
our narrow party interests, but we are convinced that this is in the
interest of the entire Czechoslovak Republic." (Jan Lichner,
one of Lettrich's democrats, CAS, 5-14-46).
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
Medicinal Springs in Slovakia
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953
pp. 61-62
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7a3033fbc750bf84e96852cef9a672bb.pdf
f62ed6b74ec119818831168f1938ea87
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STREONO
One orf the fourteen fortresses in ruins along the river
Vah is the castle Sltrecno, lbuiit, they say, by the fea-rless
Matthew C8ik, "the Lord orf the Vah and the Tatras."
Mainy were the occupants of this stronghold, the glory orf
a past era, nestled on the summit of Mt. Bieda. We read
that St·r ecno was the home orf Francis Veseliny in the
17th century. The wife of Veseliny, Sophia Bosniak, died
in the stronghold .A!pril 28, 1644, Mld her body, interned
in the Lamretanian side-cllapel of the Teplicka ohuroh,
has remained practicailly whole for over 300 years.
Sophia married the haJndsome Veseliny in her best
years; they were ve-ry h-ruppy at Streono. They were haippy,
thaJt is untH Veseliny was cailed aiway by duty. When he
returned Veseliny was ra very changed man. He practicaJUy
ignored Sophia who had n.m out to welcome him home.
He spent daiys ,a t a time in his room or on the hunt and
ate his meals alone. Sophia became very sad indeed; she
was alone and in tears. Then the news came to her . that
Vese1iny was prepa,ring to leave the castle the Tuesday
before IDaster. The night before the said Tuesday, Solphia
receiived a letter from her slister, W1hiClh explained why
her husband acted so strangely. The news broke her heart,
when she learned that Veseliny had fallen in love with another rund wanted to lea,ve her.
Near the narrow pa,th which led to Stroono was a
higih boulder, inside of which was an altiar of the Blessed
Virgin Maxy. Sophia hastened there with a heavy heart
and spent the whole night in prayer. The following morning, Veseliny noticed her as he was ready to leave the
castle. Sophie was all spent from tears. Veseliiny was moved exceedingly. Sophia's prayers were heard. Her husband
leaped from his horse, embraced his wife, a,nd begged her
forg~veness. That was easy enough to do for the fuithful,
haippy witfe. That Tuesday beoome a special day for Sophia.
�SLOVAKIA
39
Every year on ,t he Tuesday before Easter she would go
baxefoot to the caive of the Blessed Mother. She visited
the church in Tepli'c:ka every day and during advent made
the visit ib,amoot. Sophia was noted for her kindness,
the ipoor were her wards and she founded a hospitall.
Mter Sophia died at Strecno, April 28, 1644, the
chrupel of the Blessed Mother was oipened to the pulblic,
as the saintly Sophia had wished before her death. Her
body w8JS not preserved artificially or scientifioaUy, yet
it has not fallen into decay. The story goes on to say
that when Thokoly invaded the vicinity in 1678, he plundered and burned Stroono ;and had the casket conta!ining
the body of Sophia taken from the chapel and opened, intending to rab it of jewelry and valuaibles. Wihen he found
but 01J1e finger bearing a ring, Thokoly flew into a rage,
cut the ring finger off, and threw the 1body of Sophia into
lime. But her body remained practically the same as it
was. Sophia's body was removed to the Teplmka church
in 1'698, when Leopold I. ordered Strecno destro3/ed. In
1729 the ·casket was placed in the Lau:retanian Ohapel. Albove
the casket i s a portrait of Sophia. The Slovaks of the vicinity
say that the casket contains the body of a saint. The people
of 2iHna even today honor Sophia as the mother- of widows
rund onphruns.
1
•
•
•
"In the most important decisions, such for
instance as concerned the foreign policy of the state, the government
never consulted the parliament. In the summer of 1947, when the
government was confronted with a Soviet demand not to participate in the Paris conference on the Marshall Plan, it did not even
consult the parliamentary committee of foreign affairs, and the
chairman of the committee. lvo Duchacek, a former Socialist newsWHO SAID IT? -
paperman, refused my demand for an immediate convocation of the
committee. Although the great majority of citizens, including even
most of the supporters of the Socialist parties, were in favor of participation and although the minis ters were warned to this effect by
several deputies, the government unanimously decided not to participate. This was extraordinary in view of the fact that there were
only nine Communist members in the government of twenty-aix minis-
ters, the seventeen non-Communists clearly having a preponderant
majority. Through this decision, the last opportunity to have new
elections was probably lost." (Bohdan Chudoba, former member
of the Czech Parliament, in THOUGHT, Fordham University Quarterly, Vol 25. No 96, 1950) .
�
SLOVAKIA
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STREONO
One orf the fourteen fortresses in ruins along the river
Vah is the castle Sltrecno, lbuiit, they say, by the fea-rless
Matthew C8ik, "the Lord orf the Vah and the Tatras."
Mainy were the occupants of this stronghold, the glory orf
a past era, nestled on the summit of Mt. Bieda. We read
that St·r ecno was the home orf Francis Veseliny in the
17th century. The wife of Veseliny, Sophia Bosniak, died
in the stronghold .A!pril 28, 1644, Mld her body, interned
in the Lamretanian side-cllapel of the Teplicka ohuroh,
has remained practicailly whole for over 300 years.
Sophia married the haJndsome Veseliny in her best
years; they were ve-ry h-ruppy at Streono. They were haippy,
thaJt is untH Veseliny was cailed aiway by duty. When he
returned Veseliny was ra very changed man. He practicaJUy
ignored Sophia who had n.m out to welcome him home.
He spent daiys ,a t a time in his room or on the hunt and
ate his meals alone. Sophia became very sad indeed; she
was alone and in tears. Then the news came to her . that
Vese1iny was prepa,ring to leave the castle the Tuesday
before IDaster. The night before the said Tuesday, Solphia
receiived a letter from her slister, W1hiClh explained why
her husband acted so strangely. The news broke her heart,
when she learned that Veseliny had fallen in love with another rund wanted to lea,ve her.
Near the narrow pa,th which led to Stroono was a
higih boulder, inside of which was an altiar of the Blessed
Virgin Maxy. Sophia hastened there with a heavy heart
and spent the whole night in prayer. The following morning, Veseliny noticed her as he was ready to leave the
castle. Sophie was all spent from tears. Veseliiny was moved exceedingly. Sophia's prayers were heard. Her husband
leaped from his horse, embraced his wife, a,nd begged her
forg~veness. That was easy enough to do for the fuithful,
haippy witfe. That Tuesday beoome a special day for Sophia.
�SLOVAKIA
39
Every year on ,t he Tuesday before Easter she would go
baxefoot to the caive of the Blessed Mother. She visited
the church in Tepli'c:ka every day and during advent made
the visit ib,amoot. Sophia was noted for her kindness,
the ipoor were her wards and she founded a hospitall.
Mter Sophia died at Strecno, April 28, 1644, the
chrupel of the Blessed Mother was oipened to the pulblic,
as the saintly Sophia had wished before her death. Her
body w8JS not preserved artificially or scientifioaUy, yet
it has not fallen into decay. The story goes on to say
that when Thokoly invaded the vicinity in 1678, he plundered and burned Stroono ;and had the casket conta!ining
the body of Sophia taken from the chapel and opened, intending to rab it of jewelry and valuaibles. Wihen he found
but 01J1e finger bearing a ring, Thokoly flew into a rage,
cut the ring finger off, and threw the 1body of Sophia into
lime. But her body remained practically the same as it
was. Sophia's body was removed to the Teplmka church
in 1'698, when Leopold I. ordered Strecno destro3/ed. In
1729 the ·casket was placed in the Lau:retanian Ohapel. Albove
the casket i s a portrait of Sophia. The Slovaks of the vicinity
say that the casket contains the body of a saint. The people
of 2iHna even today honor Sophia as the mother- of widows
rund onphruns.
1
•
•
•
"In the most important decisions, such for
instance as concerned the foreign policy of the state, the government
never consulted the parliament. In the summer of 1947, when the
government was confronted with a Soviet demand not to participate in the Paris conference on the Marshall Plan, it did not even
consult the parliamentary committee of foreign affairs, and the
chairman of the committee. lvo Duchacek, a former Socialist newsWHO SAID IT? -
paperman, refused my demand for an immediate convocation of the
committee. Although the great majority of citizens, including even
most of the supporters of the Socialist parties, were in favor of participation and although the minis ters were warned to this effect by
several deputies, the government unanimously decided not to participate. This was extraordinary in view of the fact that there were
only nine Communist members in the government of twenty-aix minis-
ters, the seventeen non-Communists clearly having a preponderant
majority. Through this decision, the last opportunity to have new
elections was probably lost." (Bohdan Chudoba, former member
of the Czech Parliament, in THOUGHT, Fordham University Quarterly, Vol 25. No 96, 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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STREONO
One orf the fourteen fortresses in ruins along the river
Vah is the castle Sltrecno, lbuiit, they say, by the fea-rless
Matthew C8ik, "the Lord orf the Vah and the Tatras."
Mainy were the occupants of this stronghold, the glory orf
a past era, nestled on the summit of Mt. Bieda. We read
that St·r ecno was the home orf Francis Veseliny in the
17th century. The wife of Veseliny, Sophia Bosniak, died
in the stronghold .A!pril 28, 1644, Mld her body, interned
in the Lamretanian side-cllapel of the Teplicka ohuroh,
has remained practicailly whole for over 300 years.
Sophia married the haJndsome Veseliny in her best
years; they were ve-ry h-ruppy at Streono. They were haippy,
thaJt is untH Veseliny was cailed aiway by duty. When he
returned Veseliny was ra very changed man. He practicaJUy
ignored Sophia who had n.m out to welcome him home.
He spent daiys ,a t a time in his room or on the hunt and
ate his meals alone. Sophia became very sad indeed; she
was alone and in tears. Then the news came to her . that
Vese1iny was prepa,ring to leave the castle the Tuesday
before IDaster. The night before the said Tuesday, Solphia
receiived a letter from her slister, W1hiClh explained why
her husband acted so strangely. The news broke her heart,
when she learned that Veseliny had fallen in love with another rund wanted to lea,ve her.
Near the narrow pa,th which led to Stroono was a
higih boulder, inside of which was an altiar of the Blessed
Virgin Maxy. Sophia hastened there with a heavy heart
and spent the whole night in prayer. The following morning, Veseliny noticed her as he was ready to leave the
castle. Sophie was all spent from tears. Veseliiny was moved exceedingly. Sophia's prayers were heard. Her husband
leaped from his horse, embraced his wife, a,nd begged her
forg~veness. That was easy enough to do for the fuithful,
haippy witfe. That Tuesday beoome a special day for Sophia.
SLOVAKIA
39
Every year on ,t he Tuesday before Easter she would go
baxefoot to the caive of the Blessed Mother. She visited
the church in Tepli'c:ka every day and during advent made
the visit ib,amoot. Sophia was noted for her kindness,
the ipoor were her wards and she founded a hospitall.
Mter Sophia died at Strecno, April 28, 1644, the
chrupel of the Blessed Mother was oipened to the pulblic,
as the saintly Sophia had wished before her death. Her
body w8JS not preserved artificially or scientifioaUy, yet
it has not fallen into decay. The story goes on to say
that when Thokoly invaded the vicinity in 1678, he plundered and burned Stroono ;and had the casket conta!ining
the body of Sophia taken from the chapel and opened, intending to rab it of jewelry and valuaibles. Wihen he found
but 01J1e finger bearing a ring, Thokoly flew into a rage,
cut the ring finger off, and threw the 1body of Sophia into
lime. But her body remained practically the same as it
was. Sophia's body was removed to the Teplmka church
in 1'698, when Leopold I. ordered Strecno destro3/ed. In
1729 the ·casket was placed in the Lau:retanian Ohapel. Albove
the casket i s a portrait of Sophia. The Slovaks of the vicinity
say that the casket contains the body of a saint. The people
of 2iHna even today honor Sophia as the mother- of widows
rund onphruns.
1
•
•
•
"In the most important decisions, such for
instance as concerned the foreign policy of the state, the government
never consulted the parliament. In the summer of 1947, when the
government was confronted with a Soviet demand not to participate in the Paris conference on the Marshall Plan, it did not even
consult the parliamentary committee of foreign affairs, and the
chairman of the committee. lvo Duchacek, a former Socialist newsWHO SAID IT? -
paperman, refused my demand for an immediate convocation of the
committee. Although the great majority of citizens, including even
most of the supporters of the Socialist parties, were in favor of participation and although the minis ters were warned to this effect by
several deputies, the government unanimously decided not to participate. This was extraordinary in view of the fact that there were
only nine Communist members in the government of twenty-aix minis-
ters, the seventeen non-Communists clearly having a preponderant
majority. Through this decision, the last opportunity to have new
elections was probably lost." (Bohdan Chudoba, former member
of the Czech Parliament, in THOUGHT, Fordham University Quarterly, Vol 25. No 96, 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
Castles of Slovakia: Strečno
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953
pp. 38-39
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
castles
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2e00c1a5a00320878474ec6eeb1cf4c2.pdf
fd3d26399edffe1e6a7635c4c34b45b6
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKI.A
ANNIVERSARY OF A MURDER
· April 18, 1953, marks the sixth anniversary of the
blackest deed in the history of Czecho-Slovakia - the
µiµ,rder of Dr. Joseph Tiso, champion of Slovak freedom,
exemplary priest of God, and first president of the independent Slovak Republic. This day will be solemnly commemorated by Slovaks everywhere, at home and abroad,
as long as they live. For them Tiso will always be a hero
and a martyr; he was the most beloved man in Slovakia,
because he ruled his country wisely under the most trying
circumstances and saved his nation from destruction.
During the summer of 1946, Dr. Edward Benes told
the Slovak Council of Commissioners that Dr. Joseph Tiso
would be put to death, but the majority of Slovaks still
believed that Benes would change his mind and spare Tiso's
life. When the "peo·p le's" court pronounced sentence on
Dr. Tiso and ordered him to be hanged, Dr. Edward Benes
had the opportunity to improve the deteriorated relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks, As president, he
could have granted clemency after Tiso filed his plea for
mercy, but Benes preferred to reject it. Benes refused
clemency to and ordered the execution of the man who
was in a large measure responsible for his election to the
presidency in 1935 !
_When Dr. Benes gave in to the demand of the CzechoSlovak stooges of the Kremlin who demanded Tiso's head,
he drove the last nail into the coffin of Czecho-Slovakia
and killed the last hope of ever bringing the Czechs and
the Slovaks together again under one political roof. True,
the Slovaks are under that roof today, but not because
they willed it; they were forced under it. And nothing
but force and terror will keep them under it.
The Slovaks proclaimed the independence of their
country through their duly elected representatives in the
Slovak Parliament on March 14, 1939. The same parliament
elected Dr. Joseph Tiso president of the independent Slovak Republic in October of that same year. From then un-
�ILOVAKIA
29
til the wanton and violent destruction of the Slovak Re-
pulic in 1945, when the Slovak Government and Dr. Joseph
Tiso were forced to flee Bratislava, there was not a single
official execution in Slovakia bearing Dr. Tiso's signature.
And .during the war the people of Slovakia fared . better
than even most neutral countries. The Slovaks still firmly
believe that no matter what the circumstances under
which the independent Slovak Republic was born, it should
have never been destroyed. It could have served Christianity and the western democracies effectively after 1945.
Dr. Joseph Tiso, who had refused to have Slovakia
join the Soviet system as an "independent" state during
the war, died on the gallows in the courtyard of the Bratislava prison when dawn broke on April 18, 1947. His
greatest crime was his great love for his people and the
Christian-democratic way of life. He believed that his nation, just as all nations large and small, had the God-given,
inherent right to freedom and independence. Tiso was an implacable enemy of Godless, materialistic Communism. In the
tradition of his people he fought the dread plague. of Communism in and out of season. Even as he was being led to the
gallows, Dr. Tiso prayed and begged his people to continue
their fight against the system which would pervert and
enslave mankind.
Father Joseph Tiso, who had not signed a single
order of execution and had saved thousands of Christians and Jews from death at the hands of Hitler's madmen, was himself shamefully put to death on the gallows
by the man who resigned and betrayed the highest trust
of his people and cowardly fled his country during its
darkest hour - - Dr. Edward Benes. But the Communistdominated Prague Government of Dr. Edward Benes was
not satisfied with the murder of Tiso- It even denied him
his last request: to be buried in a plot in his own parish
cemetery in Banovce. The lifeless body of Tiso was buried
secretly; later, it is said, it was disintered and cremated,
the ashes being ~attered to the winds, or, as , some say,
cast into the waters of the Vltava which long ago •claimed
the life of St. John Nepomucene.
�30
SLOVAKIA
The Prague government tried to erase the memory
of Tiso from the hearts and minds of the Slovak people
by all means at its disposal. It was and still is a crime
to utter Tiso's name publicly, or mention it in the CzechoSlovak press or broadcasts. Bu~ the more Prague tries to
suppress the memory of Tiso, the more it becomes endeared
and steeled in the hearts of Slovaks everywhere. They
know that Tiso died for his faith and for his people. Father
Tiso still lives in his countrymen, who today are more determined than ever that Communism shall be crushed and
that they shall once again have their own independent
Slovak Republic. They believe that, because Father Tiso
believed it. And they believe, too, that the murderers of
their beloved martyr and hero shall not escape the just
punishment of God. When a Slovak meets a Slovak at
home or in exile, he says: "Remember Tiso - carry on!"
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES : - Your comment of November 18 (1947) on 'the dark curtain descending on
Prague' seems to me to be overrated. that the Communist power in
Czechoslovakia is 'entrenched in the internal administration' Is an ii·
Jusion. It is untru e that the Army is In the Communist hand s. The
fact that a Communist is Secretary of the Interior doesn't mean at
all that Communists control the internal machinery of the State. . . .
Your comment on the new leadership of the Socialist (Marxist) party
appears to be influenced by yom fear of the Russi an interference in
the Internal affairs of Czechoslovakia. Everi your correspondent at
Prague had to state, however {THE TIMES, Oct. 19 ), that 'the Czechs
and Slovaks are made of different stuff from that of some of the ir
neighboring countries.' The replacement of a pro-Soviet president
of the party by a new man, which was carried out by a free voting
of the members, is new evidence of the independent spirit of the 70.
year-old Socialist party in Bohemia, whiob is friendly to the Russians but which always has beeu opposed to the overrule of the competitive Communist party."
Vlastimal Kybal, THE NEW YORK
TIMES. 11-27-47.
•
•
•
"Our people at home are united. All the Czechs are . .. as is the
overwhelming majority of the Slovaks. . . . They have tabled all internal issues; t;hey are interested only in the liberation of the nation
and the state and the reunification of the Czech lands with Slovakia."
- Dr. Edward Benes, Nov. 12, 194-2 (BENE$ AND SLOVAKIA by Dr.
Stephen Osusky, 19'43).
�
SLOVAKI.A
ANNIVERSARY OF A MURDER
· April 18, 1953, marks the sixth anniversary of the
blackest deed in the history of Czecho-Slovakia - the
µiµ,rder of Dr. Joseph Tiso, champion of Slovak freedom,
exemplary priest of God, and first president of the independent Slovak Republic. This day will be solemnly commemorated by Slovaks everywhere, at home and abroad,
as long as they live. For them Tiso will always be a hero
and a martyr; he was the most beloved man in Slovakia,
because he ruled his country wisely under the most trying
circumstances and saved his nation from destruction.
During the summer of 1946, Dr. Edward Benes told
the Slovak Council of Commissioners that Dr. Joseph Tiso
would be put to death, but the majority of Slovaks still
believed that Benes would change his mind and spare Tiso's
life. When the "peo·p le's" court pronounced sentence on
Dr. Tiso and ordered him to be hanged, Dr. Edward Benes
had the opportunity to improve the deteriorated relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks, As president, he
could have granted clemency after Tiso filed his plea for
mercy, but Benes preferred to reject it. Benes refused
clemency to and ordered the execution of the man who
was in a large measure responsible for his election to the
presidency in 1935 !
_When Dr. Benes gave in to the demand of the CzechoSlovak stooges of the Kremlin who demanded Tiso's head,
he drove the last nail into the coffin of Czecho-Slovakia
and killed the last hope of ever bringing the Czechs and
the Slovaks together again under one political roof. True,
the Slovaks are under that roof today, but not because
they willed it; they were forced under it. And nothing
but force and terror will keep them under it.
The Slovaks proclaimed the independence of their
country through their duly elected representatives in the
Slovak Parliament on March 14, 1939. The same parliament
elected Dr. Joseph Tiso president of the independent Slovak Republic in October of that same year. From then un-
�ILOVAKIA
29
til the wanton and violent destruction of the Slovak Re-
pulic in 1945, when the Slovak Government and Dr. Joseph
Tiso were forced to flee Bratislava, there was not a single
official execution in Slovakia bearing Dr. Tiso's signature.
And .during the war the people of Slovakia fared . better
than even most neutral countries. The Slovaks still firmly
believe that no matter what the circumstances under
which the independent Slovak Republic was born, it should
have never been destroyed. It could have served Christianity and the western democracies effectively after 1945.
Dr. Joseph Tiso, who had refused to have Slovakia
join the Soviet system as an "independent" state during
the war, died on the gallows in the courtyard of the Bratislava prison when dawn broke on April 18, 1947. His
greatest crime was his great love for his people and the
Christian-democratic way of life. He believed that his nation, just as all nations large and small, had the God-given,
inherent right to freedom and independence. Tiso was an implacable enemy of Godless, materialistic Communism. In the
tradition of his people he fought the dread plague. of Communism in and out of season. Even as he was being led to the
gallows, Dr. Tiso prayed and begged his people to continue
their fight against the system which would pervert and
enslave mankind.
Father Joseph Tiso, who had not signed a single
order of execution and had saved thousands of Christians and Jews from death at the hands of Hitler's madmen, was himself shamefully put to death on the gallows
by the man who resigned and betrayed the highest trust
of his people and cowardly fled his country during its
darkest hour - - Dr. Edward Benes. But the Communistdominated Prague Government of Dr. Edward Benes was
not satisfied with the murder of Tiso- It even denied him
his last request: to be buried in a plot in his own parish
cemetery in Banovce. The lifeless body of Tiso was buried
secretly; later, it is said, it was disintered and cremated,
the ashes being ~attered to the winds, or, as , some say,
cast into the waters of the Vltava which long ago •claimed
the life of St. John Nepomucene.
�30
SLOVAKIA
The Prague government tried to erase the memory
of Tiso from the hearts and minds of the Slovak people
by all means at its disposal. It was and still is a crime
to utter Tiso's name publicly, or mention it in the CzechoSlovak press or broadcasts. Bu~ the more Prague tries to
suppress the memory of Tiso, the more it becomes endeared
and steeled in the hearts of Slovaks everywhere. They
know that Tiso died for his faith and for his people. Father
Tiso still lives in his countrymen, who today are more determined than ever that Communism shall be crushed and
that they shall once again have their own independent
Slovak Republic. They believe that, because Father Tiso
believed it. And they believe, too, that the murderers of
their beloved martyr and hero shall not escape the just
punishment of God. When a Slovak meets a Slovak at
home or in exile, he says: "Remember Tiso - carry on!"
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES : - Your comment of November 18 (1947) on 'the dark curtain descending on
Prague' seems to me to be overrated. that the Communist power in
Czechoslovakia is 'entrenched in the internal administration' Is an ii·
Jusion. It is untru e that the Army is In the Communist hand s. The
fact that a Communist is Secretary of the Interior doesn't mean at
all that Communists control the internal machinery of the State. . . .
Your comment on the new leadership of the Socialist (Marxist) party
appears to be influenced by yom fear of the Russi an interference in
the Internal affairs of Czechoslovakia. Everi your correspondent at
Prague had to state, however {THE TIMES, Oct. 19 ), that 'the Czechs
and Slovaks are made of different stuff from that of some of the ir
neighboring countries.' The replacement of a pro-Soviet president
of the party by a new man, which was carried out by a free voting
of the members, is new evidence of the independent spirit of the 70.
year-old Socialist party in Bohemia, whiob is friendly to the Russians but which always has beeu opposed to the overrule of the competitive Communist party."
Vlastimal Kybal, THE NEW YORK
TIMES. 11-27-47.
•
•
•
"Our people at home are united. All the Czechs are . .. as is the
overwhelming majority of the Slovaks. . . . They have tabled all internal issues; t;hey are interested only in the liberation of the nation
and the state and the reunification of the Czech lands with Slovakia."
- Dr. Edward Benes, Nov. 12, 194-2 (BENE$ AND SLOVAKIA by Dr.
Stephen Osusky, 19'43).
�
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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
SLOVAKI.A
ANNIVERSARY OF A MURDER
· April 18, 1953, marks the sixth anniversary of the
blackest deed in the history of Czecho-Slovakia - the
µiµ,rder of Dr. Joseph Tiso, champion of Slovak freedom,
exemplary priest of God, and first president of the independent Slovak Republic. This day will be solemnly commemorated by Slovaks everywhere, at home and abroad,
as long as they live. For them Tiso will always be a hero
and a martyr; he was the most beloved man in Slovakia,
because he ruled his country wisely under the most trying
circumstances and saved his nation from destruction.
During the summer of 1946, Dr. Edward Benes told
the Slovak Council of Commissioners that Dr. Joseph Tiso
would be put to death, but the majority of Slovaks still
believed that Benes would change his mind and spare Tiso's
life. When the "peo·p le's" court pronounced sentence on
Dr. Tiso and ordered him to be hanged, Dr. Edward Benes
had the opportunity to improve the deteriorated relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks, As president, he
could have granted clemency after Tiso filed his plea for
mercy, but Benes preferred to reject it. Benes refused
clemency to and ordered the execution of the man who
was in a large measure responsible for his election to the
presidency in 1935 !
_When Dr. Benes gave in to the demand of the CzechoSlovak stooges of the Kremlin who demanded Tiso's head,
he drove the last nail into the coffin of Czecho-Slovakia
and killed the last hope of ever bringing the Czechs and
the Slovaks together again under one political roof. True,
the Slovaks are under that roof today, but not because
they willed it; they were forced under it. And nothing
but force and terror will keep them under it.
The Slovaks proclaimed the independence of their
country through their duly elected representatives in the
Slovak Parliament on March 14, 1939. The same parliament
elected Dr. Joseph Tiso president of the independent Slovak Republic in October of that same year. From then un-
ILOVAKIA
29
til the wanton and violent destruction of the Slovak Re-
pulic in 1945, when the Slovak Government and Dr. Joseph
Tiso were forced to flee Bratislava, there was not a single
official execution in Slovakia bearing Dr. Tiso's signature.
And .during the war the people of Slovakia fared . better
than even most neutral countries. The Slovaks still firmly
believe that no matter what the circumstances under
which the independent Slovak Republic was born, it should
have never been destroyed. It could have served Christianity and the western democracies effectively after 1945.
Dr. Joseph Tiso, who had refused to have Slovakia
join the Soviet system as an "independent" state during
the war, died on the gallows in the courtyard of the Bratislava prison when dawn broke on April 18, 1947. His
greatest crime was his great love for his people and the
Christian-democratic way of life. He believed that his nation, just as all nations large and small, had the God-given,
inherent right to freedom and independence. Tiso was an implacable enemy of Godless, materialistic Communism. In the
tradition of his people he fought the dread plague. of Communism in and out of season. Even as he was being led to the
gallows, Dr. Tiso prayed and begged his people to continue
their fight against the system which would pervert and
enslave mankind.
Father Joseph Tiso, who had not signed a single
order of execution and had saved thousands of Christians and Jews from death at the hands of Hitler's madmen, was himself shamefully put to death on the gallows
by the man who resigned and betrayed the highest trust
of his people and cowardly fled his country during its
darkest hour - - Dr. Edward Benes. But the Communistdominated Prague Government of Dr. Edward Benes was
not satisfied with the murder of Tiso- It even denied him
his last request: to be buried in a plot in his own parish
cemetery in Banovce. The lifeless body of Tiso was buried
secretly; later, it is said, it was disintered and cremated,
the ashes being ~attered to the winds, or, as , some say,
cast into the waters of the Vltava which long ago •claimed
the life of St. John Nepomucene.
30
SLOVAKIA
The Prague government tried to erase the memory
of Tiso from the hearts and minds of the Slovak people
by all means at its disposal. It was and still is a crime
to utter Tiso's name publicly, or mention it in the CzechoSlovak press or broadcasts. Bu~ the more Prague tries to
suppress the memory of Tiso, the more it becomes endeared
and steeled in the hearts of Slovaks everywhere. They
know that Tiso died for his faith and for his people. Father
Tiso still lives in his countrymen, who today are more determined than ever that Communism shall be crushed and
that they shall once again have their own independent
Slovak Republic. They believe that, because Father Tiso
believed it. And they believe, too, that the murderers of
their beloved martyr and hero shall not escape the just
punishment of God. When a Slovak meets a Slovak at
home or in exile, he says: "Remember Tiso - carry on!"
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES : - Your comment of November 18 (1947) on 'the dark curtain descending on
Prague' seems to me to be overrated. that the Communist power in
Czechoslovakia is 'entrenched in the internal administration' Is an ii·
Jusion. It is untru e that the Army is In the Communist hand s. The
fact that a Communist is Secretary of the Interior doesn't mean at
all that Communists control the internal machinery of the State. . . .
Your comment on the new leadership of the Socialist (Marxist) party
appears to be influenced by yom fear of the Russi an interference in
the Internal affairs of Czechoslovakia. Everi your correspondent at
Prague had to state, however {THE TIMES, Oct. 19 ), that 'the Czechs
and Slovaks are made of different stuff from that of some of the ir
neighboring countries.' The replacement of a pro-Soviet president
of the party by a new man, which was carried out by a free voting
of the members, is new evidence of the independent spirit of the 70.
year-old Socialist party in Bohemia, whiob is friendly to the Russians but which always has beeu opposed to the overrule of the competitive Communist party."
Vlastimal Kybal, THE NEW YORK
TIMES. 11-27-47.
•
•
•
"Our people at home are united. All the Czechs are . .. as is the
overwhelming majority of the Slovaks. . . . They have tabled all internal issues; t;hey are interested only in the liberation of the nation
and the state and the reunification of the Czech lands with Slovakia."
- Dr. Edward Benes, Nov. 12, 194-2 (BENE$ AND SLOVAKIA by Dr.
Stephen Osusky, 19'43).
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
Anniversary of a Murder
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953
pp. 28-30
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a83255c1c53af815564410caaea602e8.pdf
d36d283cbe9e54d89f9c0fd782c87040
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
CAPRONI: NUMBER 11,495
THE TRAGEDY OF GENERAL STEFANIK
May 4, 1919, was a beautiful day. The Slov3Jks of
BTatislaJVa and vi~i.Jni,ty were uip bright and ear.1y polis'hiing
their boots and dressing in their best clothes.
And there was a good reason for it.
Genera:l Millan R- Stefam&, wa,r id01l cxf the Slwak
nation, was returniil!g home to Slova:kia - the Slo'Vl8Jkia
that was beginning to /breathe a new ilife, the life of a free
nation wiit:h.in the foamework of the newly born Czecho
slovak Repulblic. He wa:s coming home to taike up his duties
as minister of Defense in ,t he sta;te he helped create with
T. G. Masaryk and Dr. fildward' Benes.
A Httle ai,ter 11 A. M., the Italian plane - Oaproni
No. 11,495 - cire1ed the field near BratisJ!ava (Vajnocy)
and prepared for a landing.
Then something terrible happened.
The Ca:pI1001ii rocked, bUII"st into flames and crashed
to the .grolliild, oaim-ymg General Stefanik and his Italian
friends to their death. The plane was shot down by the
Ozecho-S1ova:k mililtairy ga,rrison staJtioned near Vajnory
ai'I'pOrt. lit was shot down oo. orders from the commanding
officem at the garirison.
Masruryik's government explained that it was a;Il a
tiraig,iic mistake. T,he oomrrnandring officer thought it was an
enemy plane - the men did not know Stefani!k was arriving in an Italian plane - they did not know he was in
that particular pliane. And more. There were eye witnesses.
Some of the men in that garrison, still alive today, insisted
thait Stefanik was murdered. The fi:rst volley, they saiy,
missed the ipliane, /but the second hit its target. stefaniik
the sold!ie:r, statesman a:nd astronomer was dead.
The SloV13Jks demanded that an inrvestigatiron ·b e made
by the government. Masaryk ·a nd his government wouM
not aillow it. IDvertihing wa,s done to hush up the affair.
The world got to kn'()IW little rubout the tragedy cxf Stefanik.
But the Slova:ks kept ga,thering evidence. It pointed to one
thlng: Stefanik, co-creator of the Ozecho~Slovak Repufblic,
�SLOVAKIA
27
wa,s not wamted rby the men orf Prague; he wouid be in
their way and appose every act of the Ozechs to mruke a
cdlooy of SlO'Vak,i a; he would msist on a free Slo:vaki1a within the framework of Czec'ho-Slovaki!a as Masaryk haJd promised the :SlovaJks it wow1d be.
Today - thirty-fowr years af.ter Stefanik's tr.agic death
- the Slovak,s still beliieve thiat General Milan R. Stefanilk
was murdered - murdered by the men who had plotted
against the hfe of the S1ovaik nation. By the men who promised the Slovalks a free life, their own state government,
thei,r own legdslaltive assembly, Slovak schools and institutions to get them into a common state with the Ozechs and then failled to keep their promises- The ,anti-demooratic,
anti-!Slovak and anti-Ohrat1an polilcy of those men wias
responsible for what happened in and to Czecho-Slovakia
since 191'8. Czecho-Slova'kiia wa;s a fallacy from the start.
It was bud!l.t on sand. It coll.aipsed when the fimt hurri'crune
struck, because there was no one to defend it. Even the
OLechs would not fire a shot at the NaJzis or Communists
in its defense.
Stefarak's wor,k of liberating his nation from tyranny
is not done. The Slovaks at home and in emigration are
determined more than ever to complete the joib that he
had begun. Slovrukia shaH. ibe free and the Slova:ks s!ha.ll ·
again Liive a life of firee men in their 01W11 independent Slovak
Repuiblic.
•
WHO SAID IT? -
•
•
"In a more general way, the Czechs have
<lone much to arouse the resentment even of Slovak naturally favorable towards them, and have grievously damaged their own cause by
overstressing the "Czechoslovak" idea and by certain measures regarded by the Slovaks as attempts to deprive them of their own nationality. It is paradoxical, but natural, that the weakness of the
foundations on whi ch the "Czechoslovak" Idea rested became most
apparent the moment tliat the idea received official recognition.
Such phrases as "Czechoslovak nationallty" and "Czechoslovak Ian•
guage" might be used for the benefit of the out.side world and in
constitutional and other State documents, but the fact remains that
to the vast majority of both peoples the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and
not one." - (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS;
1937, London).
�
SLOVAKIA
CAPRONI: NUMBER 11,495
THE TRAGEDY OF GENERAL STEFANIK
May 4, 1919, was a beautiful day. The Slov3Jks of
BTatislaJVa and vi~i.Jni,ty were uip bright and ear.1y polis'hiing
their boots and dressing in their best clothes.
And there was a good reason for it.
Genera:l Millan R- Stefam&, wa,r id01l cxf the Slwak
nation, was returniil!g home to Slova:kia - the Slo'Vl8Jkia
that was beginning to /breathe a new ilife, the life of a free
nation wiit:h.in the foamework of the newly born Czecho
slovak Repulblic. He wa:s coming home to taike up his duties
as minister of Defense in ,t he sta;te he helped create with
T. G. Masaryk and Dr. fildward' Benes.
A Httle ai,ter 11 A. M., the Italian plane - Oaproni
No. 11,495 - cire1ed the field near BratisJ!ava (Vajnocy)
and prepared for a landing.
Then something terrible happened.
The Ca:pI1001ii rocked, bUII"st into flames and crashed
to the .grolliild, oaim-ymg General Stefanik and his Italian
friends to their death. The plane was shot down by the
Ozecho-S1ova:k mililtairy ga,rrison staJtioned near Vajnory
ai'I'pOrt. lit was shot down oo. orders from the commanding
officem at the garirison.
Masruryik's government explained that it was a;Il a
tiraig,iic mistake. T,he oomrrnandring officer thought it was an
enemy plane - the men did not know Stefani!k was arriving in an Italian plane - they did not know he was in
that particular pliane. And more. There were eye witnesses.
Some of the men in that garrison, still alive today, insisted
thait Stefanik was murdered. The fi:rst volley, they saiy,
missed the ipliane, /but the second hit its target. stefaniik
the sold!ie:r, statesman a:nd astronomer was dead.
The SloV13Jks demanded that an inrvestigatiron ·b e made
by the government. Masaryk ·a nd his government wouM
not aillow it. IDvertihing wa,s done to hush up the affair.
The world got to kn'()IW little rubout the tragedy cxf Stefanik.
But the Slova:ks kept ga,thering evidence. It pointed to one
thlng: Stefanik, co-creator of the Ozecho~Slovak Repufblic,
�SLOVAKIA
27
wa,s not wamted rby the men orf Prague; he wouid be in
their way and appose every act of the Ozechs to mruke a
cdlooy of SlO'Vak,i a; he would msist on a free Slo:vaki1a within the framework of Czec'ho-Slovaki!a as Masaryk haJd promised the :SlovaJks it wow1d be.
Today - thirty-fowr years af.ter Stefanik's tr.agic death
- the Slovak,s still beliieve thiat General Milan R. Stefanilk
was murdered - murdered by the men who had plotted
against the hfe of the S1ovaik nation. By the men who promised the Slovalks a free life, their own state government,
thei,r own legdslaltive assembly, Slovak schools and institutions to get them into a common state with the Ozechs and then failled to keep their promises- The ,anti-demooratic,
anti-!Slovak and anti-Ohrat1an polilcy of those men wias
responsible for what happened in and to Czecho-Slovakia
since 191'8. Czecho-Slova'kiia wa;s a fallacy from the start.
It was bud!l.t on sand. It coll.aipsed when the fimt hurri'crune
struck, because there was no one to defend it. Even the
OLechs would not fire a shot at the NaJzis or Communists
in its defense.
Stefarak's wor,k of liberating his nation from tyranny
is not done. The Slovaks at home and in emigration are
determined more than ever to complete the joib that he
had begun. Slovrukia shaH. ibe free and the Slova:ks s!ha.ll ·
again Liive a life of firee men in their 01W11 independent Slovak
Repuiblic.
•
WHO SAID IT? -
•
•
"In a more general way, the Czechs have
<lone much to arouse the resentment even of Slovak naturally favorable towards them, and have grievously damaged their own cause by
overstressing the "Czechoslovak" idea and by certain measures regarded by the Slovaks as attempts to deprive them of their own nationality. It is paradoxical, but natural, that the weakness of the
foundations on whi ch the "Czechoslovak" Idea rested became most
apparent the moment tliat the idea received official recognition.
Such phrases as "Czechoslovak nationallty" and "Czechoslovak Ian•
guage" might be used for the benefit of the out.side world and in
constitutional and other State documents, but the fact remains that
to the vast majority of both peoples the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and
not one." - (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS;
1937, London).
�
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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
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
CAPRONI: NUMBER 11,495
THE TRAGEDY OF GENERAL STEFANIK
May 4, 1919, was a beautiful day. The Slov3Jks of
BTatislaJVa and vi~i.Jni,ty were uip bright and ear.1y polis'hiing
their boots and dressing in their best clothes.
And there was a good reason for it.
Genera:l Millan R- Stefam&, wa,r id01l cxf the Slwak
nation, was returniil!g home to Slova:kia - the Slo'Vl8Jkia
that was beginning to /breathe a new ilife, the life of a free
nation wiit:h.in the foamework of the newly born Czecho
slovak Repulblic. He wa:s coming home to taike up his duties
as minister of Defense in ,t he sta;te he helped create with
T. G. Masaryk and Dr. fildward' Benes.
A Httle ai,ter 11 A. M., the Italian plane - Oaproni
No. 11,495 - cire1ed the field near BratisJ!ava (Vajnocy)
and prepared for a landing.
Then something terrible happened.
The Ca:pI1001ii rocked, bUII"st into flames and crashed
to the .grolliild, oaim-ymg General Stefanik and his Italian
friends to their death. The plane was shot down by the
Ozecho-S1ova:k mililtairy ga,rrison staJtioned near Vajnory
ai'I'pOrt. lit was shot down oo. orders from the commanding
officem at the garirison.
Masruryik's government explained that it was a;Il a
tiraig,iic mistake. T,he oomrrnandring officer thought it was an
enemy plane - the men did not know Stefani!k was arriving in an Italian plane - they did not know he was in
that particular pliane. And more. There were eye witnesses.
Some of the men in that garrison, still alive today, insisted
thait Stefanik was murdered. The fi:rst volley, they saiy,
missed the ipliane, /but the second hit its target. stefaniik
the sold!ie:r, statesman a:nd astronomer was dead.
The SloV13Jks demanded that an inrvestigatiron ·b e made
by the government. Masaryk ·a nd his government wouM
not aillow it. IDvertihing wa,s done to hush up the affair.
The world got to kn'()IW little rubout the tragedy cxf Stefanik.
But the Slova:ks kept ga,thering evidence. It pointed to one
thlng: Stefanik, co-creator of the Ozecho~Slovak Repufblic,
SLOVAKIA
27
wa,s not wamted rby the men orf Prague; he wouid be in
their way and appose every act of the Ozechs to mruke a
cdlooy of SlO'Vak,i a; he would msist on a free Slo:vaki1a within the framework of Czec'ho-Slovaki!a as Masaryk haJd promised the :SlovaJks it wow1d be.
Today - thirty-fowr years af.ter Stefanik's tr.agic death
- the Slovak,s still beliieve thiat General Milan R. Stefanilk
was murdered - murdered by the men who had plotted
against the hfe of the S1ovaik nation. By the men who promised the Slovalks a free life, their own state government,
thei,r own legdslaltive assembly, Slovak schools and institutions to get them into a common state with the Ozechs and then failled to keep their promises- The ,anti-demooratic,
anti-!Slovak and anti-Ohrat1an polilcy of those men wias
responsible for what happened in and to Czecho-Slovakia
since 191'8. Czecho-Slova'kiia wa;s a fallacy from the start.
It was bud!l.t on sand. It coll.aipsed when the fimt hurri'crune
struck, because there was no one to defend it. Even the
OLechs would not fire a shot at the NaJzis or Communists
in its defense.
Stefarak's wor,k of liberating his nation from tyranny
is not done. The Slovaks at home and in emigration are
determined more than ever to complete the joib that he
had begun. Slovrukia shaH. ibe free and the Slova:ks s!ha.ll ·
again Liive a life of firee men in their 01W11 independent Slovak
Repuiblic.
•
WHO SAID IT? -
•
•
"In a more general way, the Czechs have
<lone much to arouse the resentment even of Slovak naturally favorable towards them, and have grievously damaged their own cause by
overstressing the "Czechoslovak" idea and by certain measures regarded by the Slovaks as attempts to deprive them of their own nationality. It is paradoxical, but natural, that the weakness of the
foundations on whi ch the "Czechoslovak" Idea rested became most
apparent the moment tliat the idea received official recognition.
Such phrases as "Czechoslovak nationallty" and "Czechoslovak Ian•
guage" might be used for the benefit of the out.side world and in
constitutional and other State documents, but the fact remains that
to the vast majority of both peoples the idea remained a pure fiction, and the languages, like the peoples, were, in solid fact, two and
not one." - (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS;
1937, London).
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The Tragedy of General Štefánik
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953
pp. 26-27
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3fccb11f4d283110b2fc8ee7a7bb96f2.pdf
ab176c3e7fd44f306078bae227de8f92
PDF Text
Text
APRIL 195 3
VOL. Ill
\1/f
,;
'.
:,
~
IN THilS ISSUE:
SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN FEDERATION
PLAN S
THE SLOVAKS AND PRESIDENT EISENHOWER
THE TRAGEDY OF GENERAL STEFANIK
ANNIVERSARY OF A MURDER
THE " RUSSIA FIRST" BOYS IN RADIO FREE EUROP E
I.. ,
; CA STLES OF SLOVAKIA : STRECNO
. (.'
A VOICE FOR SLO V A K I A
i
! ;
) i
COULD CZECHS AND SLOVAKS A GREE ?
THE TRAGIC CASE OF DUSAN SLAVIK
JOHN HOLL Y -
PIONEER IN SLOVAK POETR Y
Tf:I E SLOVAK TO N GUE
SLOVAK ISSUES IN EVER Y LITTLE T OW N
I
MEDICINAL SPRINGS I N S LOVAKIA
CZECHO-S L OVA K I A
WHO SAID IT ? -
PP. 25, 27, 30, 39, 44, 48, 52, 55, 57, 60, 62
Edited a nd compiled by
,'pf-ilLIP A. H ROBAK
Published by
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOV A.KIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
is to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedom and
in dependence.
As Americans, members of the
Gluvak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all
nat:i:ons, 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:
SLOV AKIA
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U.S. A.
JEDNOTA PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�
APRIL 195 3
VOL. Ill
\1/f
,;
'.
:,
~
IN THilS ISSUE:
SLOVAKIA AND CENTRAL EUROPEAN FEDERATION
PLAN S
THE SLOVAKS AND PRESIDENT EISENHOWER
THE TRAGEDY OF GENERAL STEFANIK
ANNIVERSARY OF A MURDER
THE " RUSSIA FIRST" BOYS IN RADIO FREE EUROP E
I.. ,
; CA STLES OF SLOVAKIA : STRECNO
. (.'
A VOICE FOR SLO V A K I A
i
! ;
) i
COULD CZECHS AND SLOVAKS A GREE ?
THE TRAGIC CASE OF DUSAN SLAVIK
JOHN HOLL Y -
PIONEER IN SLOVAK POETR Y
Tf:I E SLOVAK TO N GUE
SLOVAK ISSUES IN EVER Y LITTLE T OW N
I
MEDICINAL SPRINGS I N S LOVAKIA
CZECHO-S L OVA K I A
WHO SAID IT ? -
PP. 25, 27, 30, 39, 44, 48, 52, 55, 57, 60, 62
Edited a nd compiled by
,'pf-ilLIP A. H ROBAK
Published by
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOV A.KIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
is to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedom and
in dependence.
As Americans, members of the
Gluvak League of America firmly believe that the Slovak nation, just as all
nat:i:ons, 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:
SLOV AKIA
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
1953, Vol. 3
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 6), April 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 7), July 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 3 (No. 8), September 1953.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 9), December 1953.</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
1953
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
April 1953
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8e67f5e893ce8286891d56acdce08984.pdf
551042d3dab0dbc48cb2bdd4e9c1b5de
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio.)
•
John J . S i rotnak
610-612 Lincoln 'l'rust Bldg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
Honorary President
Or. Peter P. H letko
1943 W. 48th Street
( 'h ic:ago 9, Illi no is
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Owosso, Mich.
President
Ph ilip A. Hrobak
P . 0. Box 150. Midd letown, P a. St e phan ie 0. Husek
Georgian Court College
Vice-President
Lakewood, N. J.
Jaco b Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
15~7 - 167th Street
Michael J . Vargovich
Hammond , Ind.
National Presid ent
First Catholic Slovak Union
\'ice-President
of U . S. A.
J ulia Krajcovlc
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill. Helen Kocan
National President
Recording Secretary
First Catholic S lovak
Fra ncis H rusovsky
Ladies Union
2900 East Boulevard
Frank Sobus
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretar y-Treas urer
Mil an V. Blaze k
4205 W. Cull erton Street
Chicago 23, Ill.
Stephen ·J . Tkach
ational P r esident
Penna. Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Gabriel-1 E. Vavrek
National P r esid ent
Ladies Pennsylvania
S lovak Union
Pa ul P . Jamriska
S10 Montooth S treet
Pittsb u rgh 10, P a.
J oseph Prusa
205 Madison St. , Passaic, N . J.
John Rozboril
Natioqal President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affil iated with th e Slovak Lea gu e of Am erica)
JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATST VO
Wilk es-Ba rre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVI NY
Cleveland , Ohio
ZORNICKA
Wilk es-Barre. Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKO L
Pa~~aic-, N . J .
SVORNOST
Whi1ak er, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Wh.iting, Ind.
�uins of Pusty Hrad (Desolate Castle), originally called Zvolen Castle, aJbove the city of Zvolen, Slovakia.
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio.)
•
John J . S i rotnak
610-612 Lincoln 'l'rust Bldg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
Honorary President
Or. Peter P. H letko
1943 W. 48th Street
( 'h ic:ago 9, Illi no is
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Owosso, Mich.
President
Ph ilip A. Hrobak
P . 0. Box 150. Midd letown, P a. St e phan ie 0. Husek
Georgian Court College
Vice-President
Lakewood, N. J.
Jaco b Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
15~7 - 167th Street
Michael J . Vargovich
Hammond , Ind.
National Presid ent
First Catholic Slovak Union
\'ice-President
of U . S. A.
J ulia Krajcovlc
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill. Helen Kocan
National President
Recording Secretary
First Catholic S lovak
Fra ncis H rusovsky
Ladies Union
2900 East Boulevard
Frank Sobus
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretar y-Treas urer
Mil an V. Blaze k
4205 W. Cull erton Street
Chicago 23, Ill.
Stephen ·J . Tkach
ational P r esident
Penna. Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Gabriel-1 E. Vavrek
National P r esid ent
Ladies Pennsylvania
S lovak Union
Pa ul P . Jamriska
S10 Montooth S treet
Pittsb u rgh 10, P a.
J oseph Prusa
205 Madison St. , Passaic, N . J.
John Rozboril
Natioqal President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affil iated with th e Slovak Lea gu e of Am erica)
JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATST VO
Wilk es-Ba rre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVI NY
Cleveland , Ohio
ZORNICKA
Wilk es-Barre. Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKO L
Pa~~aic-, N . J .
SVORNOST
Whi1ak er, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Wh.iting, Ind.
�uins of Pusty Hrad (Desolate Castle), originally called Zvolen Castle, aJbove the city of Zvolen, 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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
Ruins of Pustý Hrad (Desolate Castle), originally called Zvolen Castle, above the city of Zvolen, Slovakia
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Pustý Hrad (Desolate Castle), originally called Zvolen Castle, above the city of Zvolen, Slovakia
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Sept.-Dec. 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/44ae109f3693bc37ab8a05b714053322.pdf
d080a2570ff320c01dc77ef764d10187
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
95
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
The mighty of the UiSSR are not respecters of persons. They use all means and all persons at an times to attain their dia1bolical ends. They did just that in Russia, in
POiland, Hungary, filstlon:ia, LitJhuiania, La'tV1ila, Ohina, Korea,
etc., etc. Everything a;ccording to the master pla!ll. OzechoSlovakia was no exception. The Mosoow Reds and their
Czech stooges in Czecho~Slova'kia acted according to that
plan. Dr. Edward Benes and John Masarylk were used by the
men of the Kremlin to deceive the West and even themselives. Dr. Benes's pro-Soviet ipolicy brought ruin to CzechoSlovakia and enhanced the position of the Communists in
Europe. Benes should have known better, because he
cl-aimed thiat he knew Stalin and the USSR betJter 1:Jhan did
the great statesmen of the West. If he did, then he deliberately betmyed the Czechs and Slo,vaJks of Ozecho-Sloivakia,
nay even the whole of Europe, to Moscow.
On March 1, 1948, John Masaryk, the little son of the
great father, was interviewed by the editor Oif the French
paper '''L'ORDRE." What he said then will certainly never
be forgotten ,b y the Slovaks, but should be remembered by
all peoples of the free West as well. The interview:
''Mr. Minist.er, how do you judge the Anglo-American-
French proclamation?"
Masa,ry;k: "It is easy to make a proclamation whereby
the politics Oif a foreign state is condemned. The people of
the Ozechoslova!k Republic has spoken. The change in our
conception of democracy is new and notable. I always went
along with the peo,ple and shall go ailong with it eiven
today!"
"How did the crisis come about?"
Masaryk: "There were some people in our State who
thought that we coUild govern without the Oommunists, or
a:gainst them. I haive always ,p assionately denied this thesis.
The crisis was evoked by the resignation of three parties of
the National F'ro1I1t. Today we have a new National Front.
It is necessary to c<>Qperate with it. The new government
�96
SLOVAKIA
was installed in a constitutional manner and shall conduct
itself democraticalli y accoroing to the Constitution."
"How did the change in government taJke place?"
Masarytk: "Changes of this kind, such as is ours, are
usuaUy connected with a cirvil war and great saicrifices. The
nations of the Czechosl:ovruk Republic are 1peace-iloiving. They
desire a lasting pea;ce. We in Czechoslovak ia know what a
war is amd, therefore, foolish is the man who thinik,s that
some change can talke place in this our love fo:r peace. Our
na,tionrs frequent1iy iplayed an important role in the history of Europe. OUT ipeople is and shaH remain democratic,
as I have said, and, therefore, I 1believe in it and love it.
I entered into this Government as a convinced democrat and
I shall seIWe our new democracy as long as my strength
holds out."
In the West it was thought that there was no democracy, no freedom, no legal certainty in Comm!Uilistic CzechoSlova;kia. But Ma:sar,yik ridiculed the thought. Ma:saryk declared that he wanted to ser.ve the "new" demO'Cracy as long
as his streillgth held out. Well, he did not sexwe long. Moscow ma;d,e the de:cision. Wi11 the West ,p rofit 'by that lesson? Or wfil,l Washington, London and Paris continue to be
deceiirved by the fol,]1owers of Dr. Benes's ,p ro-Sorviet poHcy
who are nOIW organized in the so~called "Cooncil of Free
Ozechoslo-v;aJki'a" ? Benes and Masaryk are gone. They went
out of this world without repenting the evil they had perpetrated a:gainst the Slova:k and Czech nations, nay, against
the whole oif Christian Europe.
The Slorvaik nation, terrorized and crucified by the
"new" democracy of Benes and Masary1k and their followers (Zffillkl, Rilplm., IAttri~h, etc.) , cries out :fTOim under the
"democratic" gaUows and from the "democratic" concentration camps to afil Slovaks and to an the peoples of free
democracies: Lettrich, Zen!k~, R~pka and the other Benes
"Czechosfov3Jk s" do not and cannot speaik in our name, but
only in the name oif the incredible crimes they ha;ve commi~
ted a:gainst the Slovwk n~tion in tJhe name of ,t he "new" democracy, in the name of inrternationa:l Communism which
they heliped to install in OUT helpless and haipless Slova!kia.
�
SLOVAKIA
95
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
The mighty of the UiSSR are not respecters of persons. They use all means and all persons at an times to attain their dia1bolical ends. They did just that in Russia, in
POiland, Hungary, filstlon:ia, LitJhuiania, La'tV1ila, Ohina, Korea,
etc., etc. Everything a;ccording to the master pla!ll. OzechoSlovakia was no exception. The Mosoow Reds and their
Czech stooges in Czecho~Slova'kia acted according to that
plan. Dr. Edward Benes and John Masarylk were used by the
men of the Kremlin to deceive the West and even themselives. Dr. Benes's pro-Soviet ipolicy brought ruin to CzechoSlovakia and enhanced the position of the Communists in
Europe. Benes should have known better, because he
cl-aimed thiat he knew Stalin and the USSR betJter 1:Jhan did
the great statesmen of the West. If he did, then he deliberately betmyed the Czechs and Slo,vaJks of Ozecho-Sloivakia,
nay even the whole of Europe, to Moscow.
On March 1, 1948, John Masaryk, the little son of the
great father, was interviewed by the editor Oif the French
paper '''L'ORDRE." What he said then will certainly never
be forgotten ,b y the Slovaks, but should be remembered by
all peoples of the free West as well. The interview:
''Mr. Minist.er, how do you judge the Anglo-American-
French proclamation?"
Masa,ry;k: "It is easy to make a proclamation whereby
the politics Oif a foreign state is condemned. The people of
the Ozechoslova!k Republic has spoken. The change in our
conception of democracy is new and notable. I always went
along with the peo,ple and shall go ailong with it eiven
today!"
"How did the crisis come about?"
Masaryk: "There were some people in our State who
thought that we coUild govern without the Oommunists, or
a:gainst them. I haive always ,p assionately denied this thesis.
The crisis was evoked by the resignation of three parties of
the National F'ro1I1t. Today we have a new National Front.
It is necessary to c<>Qperate with it. The new government
�96
SLOVAKIA
was installed in a constitutional manner and shall conduct
itself democraticalli y accoroing to the Constitution."
"How did the change in government taJke place?"
Masarytk: "Changes of this kind, such as is ours, are
usuaUy connected with a cirvil war and great saicrifices. The
nations of the Czechosl:ovruk Republic are 1peace-iloiving. They
desire a lasting pea;ce. We in Czechoslovak ia know what a
war is amd, therefore, foolish is the man who thinik,s that
some change can talke place in this our love fo:r peace. Our
na,tionrs frequent1iy iplayed an important role in the history of Europe. OUT ipeople is and shaH remain democratic,
as I have said, and, therefore, I 1believe in it and love it.
I entered into this Government as a convinced democrat and
I shall seIWe our new democracy as long as my strength
holds out."
In the West it was thought that there was no democracy, no freedom, no legal certainty in Comm!Uilistic CzechoSlova;kia. But Ma:sar,yik ridiculed the thought. Ma:saryk declared that he wanted to ser.ve the "new" demO'Cracy as long
as his streillgth held out. Well, he did not sexwe long. Moscow ma;d,e the de:cision. Wi11 the West ,p rofit 'by that lesson? Or wfil,l Washington, London and Paris continue to be
deceiirved by the fol,]1owers of Dr. Benes's ,p ro-Sorviet poHcy
who are nOIW organized in the so~called "Cooncil of Free
Ozechoslo-v;aJki'a" ? Benes and Masaryk are gone. They went
out of this world without repenting the evil they had perpetrated a:gainst the Slova:k and Czech nations, nay, against
the whole oif Christian Europe.
The Slorvaik nation, terrorized and crucified by the
"new" democracy of Benes and Masary1k and their followers (Zffillkl, Rilplm., IAttri~h, etc.) , cries out :fTOim under the
"democratic" gaUows and from the "democratic" concentration camps to afil Slovaks and to an the peoples of free
democracies: Lettrich, Zen!k~, R~pka and the other Benes
"Czechosfov3Jk s" do not and cannot speaik in our name, but
only in the name oif the incredible crimes they ha;ve commi~
ted a:gainst the Slovwk n~tion in tJhe name of ,t he "new" democracy, in the name of inrternationa:l Communism which
they heliped to install in OUT helpless and haipless Slova!kia.
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
95
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
The mighty of the UiSSR are not respecters of persons. They use all means and all persons at an times to attain their dia1bolical ends. They did just that in Russia, in
POiland, Hungary, filstlon:ia, LitJhuiania, La'tV1ila, Ohina, Korea,
etc., etc. Everything a;ccording to the master pla!ll. OzechoSlovakia was no exception. The Mosoow Reds and their
Czech stooges in Czecho~Slova'kia acted according to that
plan. Dr. Edward Benes and John Masarylk were used by the
men of the Kremlin to deceive the West and even themselives. Dr. Benes's pro-Soviet ipolicy brought ruin to CzechoSlovakia and enhanced the position of the Communists in
Europe. Benes should have known better, because he
cl-aimed thiat he knew Stalin and the USSR betJter 1:Jhan did
the great statesmen of the West. If he did, then he deliberately betmyed the Czechs and Slo,vaJks of Ozecho-Sloivakia,
nay even the whole of Europe, to Moscow.
On March 1, 1948, John Masaryk, the little son of the
great father, was interviewed by the editor Oif the French
paper '''L'ORDRE." What he said then will certainly never
be forgotten ,b y the Slovaks, but should be remembered by
all peoples of the free West as well. The interview:
''Mr. Minist.er, how do you judge the Anglo-American-
French proclamation?"
Masa,ry;k: "It is easy to make a proclamation whereby
the politics Oif a foreign state is condemned. The people of
the Ozechoslova!k Republic has spoken. The change in our
conception of democracy is new and notable. I always went
along with the peo,ple and shall go ailong with it eiven
today!"
"How did the crisis come about?"
Masaryk: "There were some people in our State who
thought that we coUild govern without the Oommunists, or
a:gainst them. I haive always ,p assionately denied this thesis.
The crisis was evoked by the resignation of three parties of
the National F'ro1I1t. Today we have a new National Front.
It is necessary to c<>Qperate with it. The new government
96
SLOVAKIA
was installed in a constitutional manner and shall conduct
itself democraticalli y accoroing to the Constitution."
"How did the change in government taJke place?"
Masarytk: "Changes of this kind, such as is ours, are
usuaUy connected with a cirvil war and great saicrifices. The
nations of the Czechosl:ovruk Republic are 1peace-iloiving. They
desire a lasting pea;ce. We in Czechoslovak ia know what a
war is amd, therefore, foolish is the man who thinik,s that
some change can talke place in this our love fo:r peace. Our
na,tionrs frequent1iy iplayed an important role in the history of Europe. OUT ipeople is and shaH remain democratic,
as I have said, and, therefore, I 1believe in it and love it.
I entered into this Government as a convinced democrat and
I shall seIWe our new democracy as long as my strength
holds out."
In the West it was thought that there was no democracy, no freedom, no legal certainty in Comm!Uilistic CzechoSlova;kia. But Ma:sar,yik ridiculed the thought. Ma:saryk declared that he wanted to ser.ve the "new" demO'Cracy as long
as his streillgth held out. Well, he did not sexwe long. Moscow ma;d,e the de:cision. Wi11 the West ,p rofit 'by that lesson? Or wfil,l Washington, London and Paris continue to be
deceiirved by the fol,]1owers of Dr. Benes's ,p ro-Sorviet poHcy
who are nOIW organized in the so~called "Cooncil of Free
Ozechoslo-v;aJki'a" ? Benes and Masaryk are gone. They went
out of this world without repenting the evil they had perpetrated a:gainst the Slova:k and Czech nations, nay, against
the whole oif Christian Europe.
The Slorvaik nation, terrorized and crucified by the
"new" democracy of Benes and Masary1k and their followers (Zffillkl, Rilplm., IAttri~h, etc.) , cries out :fTOim under the
"democratic" gaUows and from the "democratic" concentration camps to afil Slovaks and to an the peoples of free
democracies: Lettrich, Zen!k~, R~pka and the other Benes
"Czechosfov3Jk s" do not and cannot speaik in our name, but
only in the name oif the incredible crimes they ha;ve commi~
ted a:gainst the Slovwk n~tion in tJhe name of ,t he "new" democracy, in the name of inrternationa:l Communism which
they heliped to install in OUT helpless and haipless Slova!kia.
Dublin Core
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Title
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John Masaryk Was No Exception
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954
pp. 95-96
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Sept.-Dec. 1954
-
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8303d0bf4edfec408f97127c03b0584b
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Text
92
SLOVAKIA
the Communists in February 1948. He went into exile in 1949, but
returned voluntanily to Czecho-Slova:kia in December 1953. He was
employed secretly by Radio Free Europe.
Since leaving Czecho-,Slova,kia, Dr. Ripka has advocated a poHcy of "co-existence" in the following terms:
"Today more than ever I persist in bel ieving that a free and
independent Cz·ecihoslov,a kia cannot exist except in a balanced Europe in
which the Western Powers and Russia are trying to live on good
terms. Even the events of February 1948 h ave not been able to shake
this conviction, which remain s the keystone of my whole co nception of for eign policy." (Czechoslovakia Enslaved, 1~50, p, 74)
This is the record of an exile politician living in the
United States and paid a salary from funds corntriihwted to
fight Communism. It is for the reader to drnw hi:s own conclusions om the, /basis of this record. - (Overseas Research,
Inc., Special Bulletin, Nov. 28, 1954, Washington, D. C.)
•
• •
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
'JIHE OLD CASTLE ( Stary Hrad)
The ruins of th£s ,o ld castle still .stand on a ,p recipitous
rock aJbave the river Vah. The structure, named the Old
Castle of Trencin (!Stary Hrad) 'belongs to the c1ass of
fortresses which were lb:uilt ,prabaJbly during the time af tihe
Great Mornvian EmpiTe. Tr,a,veli!ng against the current of
the Vah, Stary Hlrad cam. be seen on the left side. We are
told that it was once called Nez;budsky Oastle, which attests to -i ts antiquity. 01dest arvailaJble documents refer to
it as the Old Castle ("Castmm Stargra,d"); they teU us
that it was -gi,v en to Bohumir Seibaslarvorvilc aJbout 1250 for
bravery displayed in -the battle against the Tatars neaT
S·rujaiva. Stary Hrad is more ancient than Streicno. The
structure itself suggests that it was !built ,3J'bout the same
time as the Devin and Trencin castles,, i.e., during the
Roman era.
Bohumir ,w as lord of the castle until 1'266 ; Count Peter
of Hont from 1 267 to the end of the thirteenth century,
when the Balasa family gained ownership. Then iMatthew
Calk, "Lord of the Vah and the Tatras," -besieged and sei'Zed
it, hut did not keep it for long, because we learn that a
certain Thomas Carpi exchanged it in 1'323 for his property
1
�SLOVAKIA
93
in :Darmoty. Donte, administrator (2upan) of Zvolen County became owner of it earl;y in the 15th century for a short
time, when King Lottci.s donated it to Sandzi'Voj, a Polish
nobleman, because he had he1ped his daughter Hedwig gain
the Polish throne. Sandlzirvod, . however, remained in SlovaJkia only a short time. !Stary Hrad iwas donated to
Queen ElitzaJbeth, wifo oif King Allbrecht (1439). 'Iwo year.s
later the PoTIJgrac clan of Svaty Mikulas occ,upied Stary
Hrad and Strecno; the family was loyal to Jiskra of
Brandys.
The Pongrac clan terrorized the entire Vah Valley.
John Hlunady of TransyJvarnia allied himself with Po.ngrac
to fiight the iking, who had procliaimed him a rebel. Pongrac was c3JPtured in Budin and condemned to jail for life;
his companions iwerre hanged lby order of King Vlooisla;v.
After Hun,ady made up with the iking, he entreated him to
free ,Pcmgrac so that he might lead the fight against the
Turks who were 'Plundering the Balkans. The expedition
against the Tur.ks was disastrous for the Christians, but
Pongrac escaped to· return home safely.
A short time. later, with the help of Komororvsky, administrator of Liptorv County, Pongrac regained. Stary
Hrad and Stre1Cno, and then seized Branc. Pongrac and
his men made se,vera.J predatory ex'Peditions into Poland
and caused ~ing Cazimir to complain to the HungaTian
Estates, demanding that they do something aJbout the
rdl:Jber knight. The ,Diet in .Segedin decided to punish
Pongrac, and Ulrich Cilslky was delegated to undertake
the tasik (1449). But, it seems, Cils.'ky did not measure up
to it, because the sorties into Poland continued and he himself was murdered in Belgrade, in. 1456.
According to the record, Pongrac was proibaJbly needed
by the king, who was willing not only to forget his transgressions, but even made him the Zupan of Liptorv County.
When Ladisilav Hurnady ,w as beheaded in 1'456, Pongrac
joined Uip with rhis uncle Siladi and King Mathias recogruzed: him a1S1 lord orf Stary Hrad, 1Stre:eno and Brame. After
Pongrfoc, the ,oiwners of Stary Hrad changed. frequently. We
find the Zapolskys, Takolys and Rakoczis among them. In
time it lost its strategic significance, was aJbandoned and
�94
SLOVAKIA
foll into ruin. Since the road leading through the valley is
on the other side of the V ah, 1Stary Hrad i,s seldom visited.
What is left of it hangs like an eagle's nest albove the aibyss,
crumlbling aiway stone lb.y stone and falling into the foam.y
waters of the V ah.
The ;neighlboring rock Which towers aJbove the ruins of
St,a ry Hrad is called Margaret. Legend tells us how it acquired its name. The Slo'VaJks of IStrecno say that a come-ly widow of S ~ o had a very bea.utifol step-daughter
named Margaret. They got alon,g ve;ry nicely until love intervened. I:t so happened that a handsome young man, employed on the estate of the wido.w, became the obd·e ct of
her affections. But the yollll1g handsome one prefer.red to
cast his eyes upon the !beautiful Margaret and scorn her
step-mother. [Hurt and angered, the widow decided to do
away with Margaret.
One day the ,w idow sent her daughter on an errand
to relatives in. Vru1lky and ordered her to return the same
evening. Retwrning home, Margaret tripped gayly along
the 'beaiten. path near the Vah, singill'g her favorite SlovaJk
melodies. As she cliirn)bed the rooky slope, Margaret paused
several times to .r est. When she reached the summit of the
rook, a po.mt where the path comes dangerously close to
the edge of. the c1i!ff, Maragret paused again a.n.d gazed in
wonderment on the bea.JUtiful !Valley 1beloiW. IBeifore the pooc
girl couid realize what had happened, she was hurtling
through space into the chu.rni.Il!g waters of the Vah below.
The 1Vengelful, murderous widorw, questioned by the handsome one aJbout /Margaret, replied evasilvely a.n.d roused his
suspicions. When the 1battered, cold, still body of Margaret
was found se1Veral days later, caught ibetween the rocks,
her lOIVer cried hysterically for diaJy s and finally lOSJt control of hi-s mind.
But Ma:rgaret's mocderous stepmother did not gain
her end. The handsome yoll'Ilg man, who had become Margaret's lover, never reooivered his mind. iHla!vinig learned
the a,wful truth, he roamed aimlessly on the rook, from
which hist loved one was hurtled to her death, until he
also perished. &om that day to this the rock is called
Margaret.
�
92
SLOVAKIA
the Communists in February 1948. He went into exile in 1949, but
returned voluntanily to Czecho-Slova:kia in December 1953. He was
employed secretly by Radio Free Europe.
Since leaving Czecho-,Slova,kia, Dr. Ripka has advocated a poHcy of "co-existence" in the following terms:
"Today more than ever I persist in bel ieving that a free and
independent Cz·ecihoslov,a kia cannot exist except in a balanced Europe in
which the Western Powers and Russia are trying to live on good
terms. Even the events of February 1948 h ave not been able to shake
this conviction, which remain s the keystone of my whole co nception of for eign policy." (Czechoslovakia Enslaved, 1~50, p, 74)
This is the record of an exile politician living in the
United States and paid a salary from funds corntriihwted to
fight Communism. It is for the reader to drnw hi:s own conclusions om the, /basis of this record. - (Overseas Research,
Inc., Special Bulletin, Nov. 28, 1954, Washington, D. C.)
•
• •
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
'JIHE OLD CASTLE ( Stary Hrad)
The ruins of th£s ,o ld castle still .stand on a ,p recipitous
rock aJbave the river Vah. The structure, named the Old
Castle of Trencin (!Stary Hrad) 'belongs to the c1ass of
fortresses which were lb:uilt ,prabaJbly during the time af tihe
Great Mornvian EmpiTe. Tr,a,veli!ng against the current of
the Vah, Stary Hlrad cam. be seen on the left side. We are
told that it was once called Nez;budsky Oastle, which attests to -i ts antiquity. 01dest arvailaJble documents refer to
it as the Old Castle ("Castmm Stargra,d"); they teU us
that it was -gi,v en to Bohumir Seibaslarvorvilc aJbout 1250 for
bravery displayed in -the battle against the Tatars neaT
S·rujaiva. Stary Hrad is more ancient than Streicno. The
structure itself suggests that it was !built ,3J'bout the same
time as the Devin and Trencin castles,, i.e., during the
Roman era.
Bohumir ,w as lord of the castle until 1'266 ; Count Peter
of Hont from 1 267 to the end of the thirteenth century,
when the Balasa family gained ownership. Then iMatthew
Calk, "Lord of the Vah and the Tatras," -besieged and sei'Zed
it, hut did not keep it for long, because we learn that a
certain Thomas Carpi exchanged it in 1'323 for his property
1
�SLOVAKIA
93
in :Darmoty. Donte, administrator (2upan) of Zvolen County became owner of it earl;y in the 15th century for a short
time, when King Lottci.s donated it to Sandzi'Voj, a Polish
nobleman, because he had he1ped his daughter Hedwig gain
the Polish throne. Sandlzirvod, . however, remained in SlovaJkia only a short time. !Stary Hrad iwas donated to
Queen ElitzaJbeth, wifo oif King Allbrecht (1439). 'Iwo year.s
later the PoTIJgrac clan of Svaty Mikulas occ,upied Stary
Hrad and Strecno; the family was loyal to Jiskra of
Brandys.
The Pongrac clan terrorized the entire Vah Valley.
John Hlunady of TransyJvarnia allied himself with Po.ngrac
to fiight the iking, who had procliaimed him a rebel. Pongrac was c3JPtured in Budin and condemned to jail for life;
his companions iwerre hanged lby order of King Vlooisla;v.
After Hun,ady made up with the iking, he entreated him to
free ,Pcmgrac so that he might lead the fight against the
Turks who were 'Plundering the Balkans. The expedition
against the Tur.ks was disastrous for the Christians, but
Pongrac escaped to· return home safely.
A short time. later, with the help of Komororvsky, administrator of Liptorv County, Pongrac regained. Stary
Hrad and Stre1Cno, and then seized Branc. Pongrac and
his men made se,vera.J predatory ex'Peditions into Poland
and caused ~ing Cazimir to complain to the HungaTian
Estates, demanding that they do something aJbout the
rdl:Jber knight. The ,Diet in .Segedin decided to punish
Pongrac, and Ulrich Cilslky was delegated to undertake
the tasik (1449). But, it seems, Cils.'ky did not measure up
to it, because the sorties into Poland continued and he himself was murdered in Belgrade, in. 1456.
According to the record, Pongrac was proibaJbly needed
by the king, who was willing not only to forget his transgressions, but even made him the Zupan of Liptorv County.
When Ladisilav Hurnady ,w as beheaded in 1'456, Pongrac
joined Uip with rhis uncle Siladi and King Mathias recogruzed: him a1S1 lord orf Stary Hrad, 1Stre:eno and Brame. After
Pongrfoc, the ,oiwners of Stary Hrad changed. frequently. We
find the Zapolskys, Takolys and Rakoczis among them. In
time it lost its strategic significance, was aJbandoned and
�94
SLOVAKIA
foll into ruin. Since the road leading through the valley is
on the other side of the V ah, 1Stary Hrad i,s seldom visited.
What is left of it hangs like an eagle's nest albove the aibyss,
crumlbling aiway stone lb.y stone and falling into the foam.y
waters of the V ah.
The ;neighlboring rock Which towers aJbove the ruins of
St,a ry Hrad is called Margaret. Legend tells us how it acquired its name. The Slo'VaJks of IStrecno say that a come-ly widow of S ~ o had a very bea.utifol step-daughter
named Margaret. They got alon,g ve;ry nicely until love intervened. I:t so happened that a handsome young man, employed on the estate of the wido.w, became the obd·e ct of
her affections. But the yollll1g handsome one prefer.red to
cast his eyes upon the !beautiful Margaret and scorn her
step-mother. [Hurt and angered, the widow decided to do
away with Margaret.
One day the ,w idow sent her daughter on an errand
to relatives in. Vru1lky and ordered her to return the same
evening. Retwrning home, Margaret tripped gayly along
the 'beaiten. path near the Vah, singill'g her favorite SlovaJk
melodies. As she cliirn)bed the rooky slope, Margaret paused
several times to .r est. When she reached the summit of the
rook, a po.mt where the path comes dangerously close to
the edge of. the c1i!ff, Maragret paused again a.n.d gazed in
wonderment on the bea.JUtiful !Valley 1beloiW. IBeifore the pooc
girl couid realize what had happened, she was hurtling
through space into the chu.rni.Il!g waters of the Vah below.
The 1Vengelful, murderous widorw, questioned by the handsome one aJbout /Margaret, replied evasilvely a.n.d roused his
suspicions. When the 1battered, cold, still body of Margaret
was found se1Veral days later, caught ibetween the rocks,
her lOIVer cried hysterically for diaJy s and finally lOSJt control of hi-s mind.
But Ma:rgaret's mocderous stepmother did not gain
her end. The handsome yoll'Ilg man, who had become Margaret's lover, never reooivered his mind. iHla!vinig learned
the a,wful truth, he roamed aimlessly on the rook, from
which hist loved one was hurtled to her death, until he
also perished. &om that day to this the rock is called
Margaret.
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
92
SLOVAKIA
the Communists in February 1948. He went into exile in 1949, but
returned voluntanily to Czecho-Slova:kia in December 1953. He was
employed secretly by Radio Free Europe.
Since leaving Czecho-,Slova,kia, Dr. Ripka has advocated a poHcy of "co-existence" in the following terms:
"Today more than ever I persist in bel ieving that a free and
independent Cz·ecihoslov,a kia cannot exist except in a balanced Europe in
which the Western Powers and Russia are trying to live on good
terms. Even the events of February 1948 h ave not been able to shake
this conviction, which remain s the keystone of my whole co nception of for eign policy." (Czechoslovakia Enslaved, 1~50, p, 74)
This is the record of an exile politician living in the
United States and paid a salary from funds corntriihwted to
fight Communism. It is for the reader to drnw hi:s own conclusions om the, /basis of this record. - (Overseas Research,
Inc., Special Bulletin, Nov. 28, 1954, Washington, D. C.)
•
• •
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
'JIHE OLD CASTLE ( Stary Hrad)
The ruins of th£s ,o ld castle still .stand on a ,p recipitous
rock aJbave the river Vah. The structure, named the Old
Castle of Trencin (!Stary Hrad) 'belongs to the c1ass of
fortresses which were lb:uilt ,prabaJbly during the time af tihe
Great Mornvian EmpiTe. Tr,a,veli!ng against the current of
the Vah, Stary Hlrad cam. be seen on the left side. We are
told that it was once called Nez;budsky Oastle, which attests to -i ts antiquity. 01dest arvailaJble documents refer to
it as the Old Castle ("Castmm Stargra,d"); they teU us
that it was -gi,v en to Bohumir Seibaslarvorvilc aJbout 1250 for
bravery displayed in -the battle against the Tatars neaT
S·rujaiva. Stary Hrad is more ancient than Streicno. The
structure itself suggests that it was !built ,3J'bout the same
time as the Devin and Trencin castles,, i.e., during the
Roman era.
Bohumir ,w as lord of the castle until 1'266 ; Count Peter
of Hont from 1 267 to the end of the thirteenth century,
when the Balasa family gained ownership. Then iMatthew
Calk, "Lord of the Vah and the Tatras," -besieged and sei'Zed
it, hut did not keep it for long, because we learn that a
certain Thomas Carpi exchanged it in 1'323 for his property
1
SLOVAKIA
93
in :Darmoty. Donte, administrator (2upan) of Zvolen County became owner of it earl;y in the 15th century for a short
time, when King Lottci.s donated it to Sandzi'Voj, a Polish
nobleman, because he had he1ped his daughter Hedwig gain
the Polish throne. Sandlzirvod, . however, remained in SlovaJkia only a short time. !Stary Hrad iwas donated to
Queen ElitzaJbeth, wifo oif King Allbrecht (1439). 'Iwo year.s
later the PoTIJgrac clan of Svaty Mikulas occ,upied Stary
Hrad and Strecno; the family was loyal to Jiskra of
Brandys.
The Pongrac clan terrorized the entire Vah Valley.
John Hlunady of TransyJvarnia allied himself with Po.ngrac
to fiight the iking, who had procliaimed him a rebel. Pongrac was c3JPtured in Budin and condemned to jail for life;
his companions iwerre hanged lby order of King Vlooisla;v.
After Hun,ady made up with the iking, he entreated him to
free ,Pcmgrac so that he might lead the fight against the
Turks who were 'Plundering the Balkans. The expedition
against the Tur.ks was disastrous for the Christians, but
Pongrac escaped to· return home safely.
A short time. later, with the help of Komororvsky, administrator of Liptorv County, Pongrac regained. Stary
Hrad and Stre1Cno, and then seized Branc. Pongrac and
his men made se,vera.J predatory ex'Peditions into Poland
and caused ~ing Cazimir to complain to the HungaTian
Estates, demanding that they do something aJbout the
rdl:Jber knight. The ,Diet in .Segedin decided to punish
Pongrac, and Ulrich Cilslky was delegated to undertake
the tasik (1449). But, it seems, Cils.'ky did not measure up
to it, because the sorties into Poland continued and he himself was murdered in Belgrade, in. 1456.
According to the record, Pongrac was proibaJbly needed
by the king, who was willing not only to forget his transgressions, but even made him the Zupan of Liptorv County.
When Ladisilav Hurnady ,w as beheaded in 1'456, Pongrac
joined Uip with rhis uncle Siladi and King Mathias recogruzed: him a1S1 lord orf Stary Hrad, 1Stre:eno and Brame. After
Pongrfoc, the ,oiwners of Stary Hrad changed. frequently. We
find the Zapolskys, Takolys and Rakoczis among them. In
time it lost its strategic significance, was aJbandoned and
94
SLOVAKIA
foll into ruin. Since the road leading through the valley is
on the other side of the V ah, 1Stary Hrad i,s seldom visited.
What is left of it hangs like an eagle's nest albove the aibyss,
crumlbling aiway stone lb.y stone and falling into the foam.y
waters of the V ah.
The ;neighlboring rock Which towers aJbove the ruins of
St,a ry Hrad is called Margaret. Legend tells us how it acquired its name. The Slo'VaJks of IStrecno say that a come-ly widow of S ~ o had a very bea.utifol step-daughter
named Margaret. They got alon,g ve;ry nicely until love intervened. I:t so happened that a handsome young man, employed on the estate of the wido.w, became the obd·e ct of
her affections. But the yollll1g handsome one prefer.red to
cast his eyes upon the !beautiful Margaret and scorn her
step-mother. [Hurt and angered, the widow decided to do
away with Margaret.
One day the ,w idow sent her daughter on an errand
to relatives in. Vru1lky and ordered her to return the same
evening. Retwrning home, Margaret tripped gayly along
the 'beaiten. path near the Vah, singill'g her favorite SlovaJk
melodies. As she cliirn)bed the rooky slope, Margaret paused
several times to .r est. When she reached the summit of the
rook, a po.mt where the path comes dangerously close to
the edge of. the c1i!ff, Maragret paused again a.n.d gazed in
wonderment on the bea.JUtiful !Valley 1beloiW. IBeifore the pooc
girl couid realize what had happened, she was hurtling
through space into the chu.rni.Il!g waters of the Vah below.
The 1Vengelful, murderous widorw, questioned by the handsome one aJbout /Margaret, replied evasilvely a.n.d roused his
suspicions. When the 1battered, cold, still body of Margaret
was found se1Veral days later, caught ibetween the rocks,
her lOIVer cried hysterically for diaJy s and finally lOSJt control of hi-s mind.
But Ma:rgaret's mocderous stepmother did not gain
her end. The handsome yoll'Ilg man, who had become Margaret's lover, never reooivered his mind. iHla!vinig learned
the a,wful truth, he roamed aimlessly on the rook, from
which hist loved one was hurtled to her death, until he
also perished. &om that day to this the rock is called
Margaret.
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: The Old Castle (Starý Hrad)
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13),
pp. 92-94
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Sept.-Dec. 1954
castles
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3a416b849dc5c304286bb7127e026b60.pdf
aabc41157f5922ee35512537dc87450e
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
49
low about 1 per cent ownership in a farm project, as mentioned a:oove in reference to JRD.
After a complete turnaJbout af policy in Sl01Vrukia, in
1953, mruny farmers welcomed the chance to quit the JiRD
and begin farming pri'Vately. Many see in this move, a wealkness of the Communists and are thus guilty Olf a serious
er.ror, 1because the same thing is hO'Ulld to hruppen in Slovakia that haJppened in the lJISIS'R and wherever the Reds
are in pOIWer: general collecti,vi,z ation is bound to come. It
is unfortunate that so many people still do not understand
how Communism woI"ks, the tactics 1:Jhe Communists use
to attain their ends. In Slovakia, all the farmers who quit
the 'kolchooes are m'3.11ked men. As soon as the economic
situation improives and a surplus of farm products is lblri.lt
up in Slo.vrukia, the farmers will be compelled to join the
kolchooes and Sovhozes. Those who refuse to join will be
lalbe-led "enemies" of the !State and dealt with accordingly .
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
TI-IE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
In a certain village there once lived a poor but upright
and devout man. Althoogh as gray as a pigeon, he had
never, not even once, c<mmritted sin. He never hurt any one
by word o:r deed, nor did he ever offend a siingle person in
any way.
This, Oif course, irritated the devil in hell, who said,
scratching behind his ears :
'"I1his is certainly exasperating with this man. Other
persons, no matter how upright, render me a service at
least once during their lifetime. This fellow, however, Slhall
die today oir tomorro.w and as yet has not done my ibidding
even Oll1Ce. But just wait, mister, I'll show you uip yet!"
Not knowing of the trap the devil was setting for him,
the poor man lirved ;peacefully in his shack, praying to God
daily, never offending any one, CO'Veting not another's possessions, and conducting himself in an things according to
God's commandments.
�50
SLOVAKIA
Suddenly, without a warning - would that he had
stayed in the bottomless pit of hell! - the devil gallops
into the poor man's room just as God had made him: he
had teeth Hke pikes, legs like a horse, horns on his head,
and even a tail behind. Without ado, he began:
"Well, no dowbt albout it, you know who I am, do you
not? I ha.ve ibeen trailing you since you were /born, but
never once could I catch you committing sin. Now, you
choose what it is you ,w ant to do: either you shall kill a
man, or blaspheme God, or you shall get drunk. Whether
you want to or not, Oille oif these three sins you must commit. Tomorroiw I shall come ag,ain to, hear what your decision is."
As he finished spooking, the devil flew up the chimney. And what did the upright man do? Indeed, :he was not
very frig\hte:ned, because he ikneiw that whosoever is Wiith
God, with him God also is. Nevertheless, he spent the whole
day thinlking albout what he should do. He could not ma!ke
a decision. The enti.re God:-giiven day he read devout b.ooks
and th.en prayed, sighing: "lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
But what hruppened? The next morning the devil again
came down the chimney and, facmg the poor man, said:
"Well, have you thought over what I had said to you?"
"Aye, I have, indeed I have. If you are a devil, go to
hell, w,here the Lord Chiriist has p1'aced you and let upright ,p eople live in peace. I sha;ll not sin just to please
you!"
"But," retorted the deivil, ":I s,ay to you aigain that you
cannot avoid this, !b ecause there is not, nor shall there be,
a man in this world who shall not sin at least once during
his lifetime. ltf you continue to defy me, I swear that you
shall commit all three sins. Now, think it over again; I
shall come again t01IDorow."
With this the devil vanished up the chimney again.
The poor mam. remained alooe fbehind a table with his
head restinrg in t'he paJlms of his hands. He was thinking
the matter over. The more he ra!ked his brains a.bout it,
the more he was conviil!cing himself that the devil did say
something.
�51
SLOVAKIA
"Indeed," he reasoned, "the devil was right. All of us
axe sinners. Surely, the Lord Christ would nort ha,ve died
in vain even for me - and I have not as yet sinned even
once. Aye, the devil could be right. Well, I shall not pull
fingers with him. But to kill a man? Thart would be a grave
sin, indeed. Never in my Hfe haJVe I hurt any one, not even
the smallest child, nor hruve I layed even my small finger
on any one - and now I should kill some one? That I shall
never do! But to iblaspheme the Lord, God, that, too,
would ibe a gra,ve .sin. From my youth I have been careful
not to say an evil word to any one and now, in my old age,
I iaim supposed to iblasrpheme God? Even that is ourt! Get
drunk? Hmm, that would perhaps lbe the smallest sin;
with it I would harm no one. I shall get drUil!k, come home
and sloop it off - and the matter shall lbe ended; the devil
will not bother me any more."
Hlaiving thought QIVer the matter in this manner, the
uprigiht man rose from the talble as he uttered the last
words to himself and wended his way to. a tavern. There
he dranlk and drank until he could drink no more
His feet quite unsteady, the poor but foolish man
made his way home. Once in the house, tholl!gh it never
had been his cmstom to create a scene, he now raved and
ranted. Unfortunately his grandchild began to cry; un-•
hesitatingly he t:Jhwm.ped it heavily QIVer the head, so that
the child became silent for all eternity. Then he let loose
a torrent of cur:ses and bJasrphemies that shoOlk the h(}IUSe.
He cursed the devil, all the saints, a,nd blasrpemed God
Himself.
lBehold, the fruit of drunkeness ! 1f the poor man had
avoided intoxication, he could have died a holy man. He
did not want to commit murder o,r blaspheme God, but
ooce under the influence of liquor he did both. And so it
was that a righteous man tb ecame a scoundrel, thief and
murderer. It is most difficult, they say, to get intoxicated
the first time, but ever so easy after that first time.
And the blacik, evil one in hell was overjoyed and is
still rejoicing to the present time that his invention of
whiskey was not in vain! - (Tra,nslated 1by Andrew Bachleda.)
1
�
SLOVAKIA
49
low about 1 per cent ownership in a farm project, as mentioned a:oove in reference to JRD.
After a complete turnaJbout af policy in Sl01Vrukia, in
1953, mruny farmers welcomed the chance to quit the JiRD
and begin farming pri'Vately. Many see in this move, a wealkness of the Communists and are thus guilty Olf a serious
er.ror, 1because the same thing is hO'Ulld to hruppen in Slovakia that haJppened in the lJISIS'R and wherever the Reds
are in pOIWer: general collecti,vi,z ation is bound to come. It
is unfortunate that so many people still do not understand
how Communism woI"ks, the tactics 1:Jhe Communists use
to attain their ends. In Slovakia, all the farmers who quit
the 'kolchooes are m'3.11ked men. As soon as the economic
situation improives and a surplus of farm products is lblri.lt
up in Slo.vrukia, the farmers will be compelled to join the
kolchooes and Sovhozes. Those who refuse to join will be
lalbe-led "enemies" of the !State and dealt with accordingly .
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
TI-IE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
In a certain village there once lived a poor but upright
and devout man. Althoogh as gray as a pigeon, he had
never, not even once, c<mmritted sin. He never hurt any one
by word o:r deed, nor did he ever offend a siingle person in
any way.
This, Oif course, irritated the devil in hell, who said,
scratching behind his ears :
'"I1his is certainly exasperating with this man. Other
persons, no matter how upright, render me a service at
least once during their lifetime. This fellow, however, Slhall
die today oir tomorro.w and as yet has not done my ibidding
even Oll1Ce. But just wait, mister, I'll show you uip yet!"
Not knowing of the trap the devil was setting for him,
the poor man lirved ;peacefully in his shack, praying to God
daily, never offending any one, CO'Veting not another's possessions, and conducting himself in an things according to
God's commandments.
�50
SLOVAKIA
Suddenly, without a warning - would that he had
stayed in the bottomless pit of hell! - the devil gallops
into the poor man's room just as God had made him: he
had teeth Hke pikes, legs like a horse, horns on his head,
and even a tail behind. Without ado, he began:
"Well, no dowbt albout it, you know who I am, do you
not? I ha.ve ibeen trailing you since you were /born, but
never once could I catch you committing sin. Now, you
choose what it is you ,w ant to do: either you shall kill a
man, or blaspheme God, or you shall get drunk. Whether
you want to or not, Oille oif these three sins you must commit. Tomorroiw I shall come ag,ain to, hear what your decision is."
As he finished spooking, the devil flew up the chimney. And what did the upright man do? Indeed, :he was not
very frig\hte:ned, because he ikneiw that whosoever is Wiith
God, with him God also is. Nevertheless, he spent the whole
day thinlking albout what he should do. He could not ma!ke
a decision. The enti.re God:-giiven day he read devout b.ooks
and th.en prayed, sighing: "lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
But what hruppened? The next morning the devil again
came down the chimney and, facmg the poor man, said:
"Well, have you thought over what I had said to you?"
"Aye, I have, indeed I have. If you are a devil, go to
hell, w,here the Lord Chiriist has p1'aced you and let upright ,p eople live in peace. I sha;ll not sin just to please
you!"
"But," retorted the deivil, ":I s,ay to you aigain that you
cannot avoid this, !b ecause there is not, nor shall there be,
a man in this world who shall not sin at least once during
his lifetime. ltf you continue to defy me, I swear that you
shall commit all three sins. Now, think it over again; I
shall come again t01IDorow."
With this the devil vanished up the chimney again.
The poor mam. remained alooe fbehind a table with his
head restinrg in t'he paJlms of his hands. He was thinking
the matter over. The more he ra!ked his brains a.bout it,
the more he was conviil!cing himself that the devil did say
something.
�51
SLOVAKIA
"Indeed," he reasoned, "the devil was right. All of us
axe sinners. Surely, the Lord Christ would nort ha,ve died
in vain even for me - and I have not as yet sinned even
once. Aye, the devil could be right. Well, I shall not pull
fingers with him. But to kill a man? Thart would be a grave
sin, indeed. Never in my Hfe haJVe I hurt any one, not even
the smallest child, nor hruve I layed even my small finger
on any one - and now I should kill some one? That I shall
never do! But to iblaspheme the Lord, God, that, too,
would ibe a gra,ve .sin. From my youth I have been careful
not to say an evil word to any one and now, in my old age,
I iaim supposed to iblasrpheme God? Even that is ourt! Get
drunk? Hmm, that would perhaps lbe the smallest sin;
with it I would harm no one. I shall get drUil!k, come home
and sloop it off - and the matter shall lbe ended; the devil
will not bother me any more."
Hlaiving thought QIVer the matter in this manner, the
uprigiht man rose from the talble as he uttered the last
words to himself and wended his way to. a tavern. There
he dranlk and drank until he could drink no more
His feet quite unsteady, the poor but foolish man
made his way home. Once in the house, tholl!gh it never
had been his cmstom to create a scene, he now raved and
ranted. Unfortunately his grandchild began to cry; un-•
hesitatingly he t:Jhwm.ped it heavily QIVer the head, so that
the child became silent for all eternity. Then he let loose
a torrent of cur:ses and bJasrphemies that shoOlk the h(}IUSe.
He cursed the devil, all the saints, a,nd blasrpemed God
Himself.
lBehold, the fruit of drunkeness ! 1f the poor man had
avoided intoxication, he could have died a holy man. He
did not want to commit murder o,r blaspheme God, but
ooce under the influence of liquor he did both. And so it
was that a righteous man tb ecame a scoundrel, thief and
murderer. It is most difficult, they say, to get intoxicated
the first time, but ever so easy after that first time.
And the blacik, evil one in hell was overjoyed and is
still rejoicing to the present time that his invention of
whiskey was not in vain! - (Tra,nslated 1by Andrew Bachleda.)
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
Text
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Text
Any textual data included in the document
SLOVAKIA
49
low about 1 per cent ownership in a farm project, as mentioned a:oove in reference to JRD.
After a complete turnaJbout af policy in Sl01Vrukia, in
1953, mruny farmers welcomed the chance to quit the JiRD
and begin farming pri'Vately. Many see in this move, a wealkness of the Communists and are thus guilty Olf a serious
er.ror, 1because the same thing is hO'Ulld to hruppen in Slovakia that haJppened in the lJISIS'R and wherever the Reds
are in pOIWer: general collecti,vi,z ation is bound to come. It
is unfortunate that so many people still do not understand
how Communism woI"ks, the tactics 1:Jhe Communists use
to attain their ends. In Slovakia, all the farmers who quit
the 'kolchooes are m'3.11ked men. As soon as the economic
situation improives and a surplus of farm products is lblri.lt
up in Slo.vrukia, the farmers will be compelled to join the
kolchooes and Sovhozes. Those who refuse to join will be
lalbe-led "enemies" of the !State and dealt with accordingly .
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
TI-IE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
In a certain village there once lived a poor but upright
and devout man. Althoogh as gray as a pigeon, he had
never, not even once, c<mmritted sin. He never hurt any one
by word o:r deed, nor did he ever offend a siingle person in
any way.
This, Oif course, irritated the devil in hell, who said,
scratching behind his ears :
'"I1his is certainly exasperating with this man. Other
persons, no matter how upright, render me a service at
least once during their lifetime. This fellow, however, Slhall
die today oir tomorro.w and as yet has not done my ibidding
even Oll1Ce. But just wait, mister, I'll show you uip yet!"
Not knowing of the trap the devil was setting for him,
the poor man lirved ;peacefully in his shack, praying to God
daily, never offending any one, CO'Veting not another's possessions, and conducting himself in an things according to
God's commandments.
50
SLOVAKIA
Suddenly, without a warning - would that he had
stayed in the bottomless pit of hell! - the devil gallops
into the poor man's room just as God had made him: he
had teeth Hke pikes, legs like a horse, horns on his head,
and even a tail behind. Without ado, he began:
"Well, no dowbt albout it, you know who I am, do you
not? I ha.ve ibeen trailing you since you were /born, but
never once could I catch you committing sin. Now, you
choose what it is you ,w ant to do: either you shall kill a
man, or blaspheme God, or you shall get drunk. Whether
you want to or not, Oille oif these three sins you must commit. Tomorroiw I shall come ag,ain to, hear what your decision is."
As he finished spooking, the devil flew up the chimney. And what did the upright man do? Indeed, :he was not
very frig\hte:ned, because he ikneiw that whosoever is Wiith
God, with him God also is. Nevertheless, he spent the whole
day thinlking albout what he should do. He could not ma!ke
a decision. The enti.re God:-giiven day he read devout b.ooks
and th.en prayed, sighing: "lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
But what hruppened? The next morning the devil again
came down the chimney and, facmg the poor man, said:
"Well, have you thought over what I had said to you?"
"Aye, I have, indeed I have. If you are a devil, go to
hell, w,here the Lord Chiriist has p1'aced you and let upright ,p eople live in peace. I sha;ll not sin just to please
you!"
"But," retorted the deivil, ":I s,ay to you aigain that you
cannot avoid this, !b ecause there is not, nor shall there be,
a man in this world who shall not sin at least once during
his lifetime. ltf you continue to defy me, I swear that you
shall commit all three sins. Now, think it over again; I
shall come again t01IDorow."
With this the devil vanished up the chimney again.
The poor mam. remained alooe fbehind a table with his
head restinrg in t'he paJlms of his hands. He was thinking
the matter over. The more he ra!ked his brains a.bout it,
the more he was conviil!cing himself that the devil did say
something.
51
SLOVAKIA
"Indeed," he reasoned, "the devil was right. All of us
axe sinners. Surely, the Lord Christ would nort ha,ve died
in vain even for me - and I have not as yet sinned even
once. Aye, the devil could be right. Well, I shall not pull
fingers with him. But to kill a man? Thart would be a grave
sin, indeed. Never in my Hfe haJVe I hurt any one, not even
the smallest child, nor hruve I layed even my small finger
on any one - and now I should kill some one? That I shall
never do! But to iblaspheme the Lord, God, that, too,
would ibe a gra,ve .sin. From my youth I have been careful
not to say an evil word to any one and now, in my old age,
I iaim supposed to iblasrpheme God? Even that is ourt! Get
drunk? Hmm, that would perhaps lbe the smallest sin;
with it I would harm no one. I shall get drUil!k, come home
and sloop it off - and the matter shall lbe ended; the devil
will not bother me any more."
Hlaiving thought QIVer the matter in this manner, the
uprigiht man rose from the talble as he uttered the last
words to himself and wended his way to. a tavern. There
he dranlk and drank until he could drink no more
His feet quite unsteady, the poor but foolish man
made his way home. Once in the house, tholl!gh it never
had been his cmstom to create a scene, he now raved and
ranted. Unfortunately his grandchild began to cry; un-•
hesitatingly he t:Jhwm.ped it heavily QIVer the head, so that
the child became silent for all eternity. Then he let loose
a torrent of cur:ses and bJasrphemies that shoOlk the h(}IUSe.
He cursed the devil, all the saints, a,nd blasrpemed God
Himself.
lBehold, the fruit of drunkeness ! 1f the poor man had
avoided intoxication, he could have died a holy man. He
did not want to commit murder o,r blaspheme God, but
ooce under the influence of liquor he did both. And so it
was that a righteous man tb ecame a scoundrel, thief and
murderer. It is most difficult, they say, to get intoxicated
the first time, but ever so easy after that first time.
And the blacik, evil one in hell was overjoyed and is
still rejoicing to the present time that his invention of
whiskey was not in vain! - (Tra,nslated 1by Andrew Bachleda.)
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
Slovak Folklore: The Man Who Never Sinned
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954
pp. 49-51
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Sept.-Dec. 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/eb635f999ed711f2ef9c4b2ccc76ca4c.pdf
fad6c62494aeb869bf33b589432a28b5
PDF Text
Text
~~ IL (0) W&
VOL.' i - : J
-
~1~:'o;_
SEPT .-DEC. 1954
"-
l ,: ~ - ~-4
( ~~13 )
~
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE SLOVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944
NATIONALISM VS INTERNATIONALISM
DR. LETTRICH ' S PRINCIPLES
THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM
THE LETTRICH "<DEMOCRATS " AND COMMUNISM
NATIONALIZATION OF P R IVATE PROPERT Y
IN SLOVAKIA
SLOVAK FOLKLORE : THE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
EASTERN SLOVAKIA WAS SLOVAK FOR CENTURIES
SELF- DETERMINATION FOR SLOVAKIA
THE APOSTLE·$ OF BOGUS FEDERALISM
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED
POWER
IN
~~
SLOVAKIA\
PROFILE OF AN EXILE POLITICIAN
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: T H E OLD CASTLE ( STARY HRAD)'\~
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
WHO SAi D IT ? -
*
PP. 22, 58, 77, 84
*
*
Edit ed .:. nd · c ompil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Pub I ished by
T HE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the :::;1ovak League of America,
a cultural arnl ci vie federation of Amerwans of Slovak d.e::icent.
'fhe chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA
Ls to pro111ote a better understanding
and appn!c1atio11 of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedorn and
independence.
As Americans, members of the
Bluvak 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 1ife, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determined to
oppose the plague of Communism and
all other totalitarjan political systems.
Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per
.v ear in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U.S. A.
JEDNOTA PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SL OV AK IA
Published
VOL. IV
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
SEPT.-,DEC. 1954
With this issue SLOVAKIA
ends its fourVh year. With th1s
double issue it makes its thirteenth appearance. The first iss ue in 195£ will be marked Vol.
V, No. 14. We hope that we haeve
satisfied our readers in the past
four years ,a nd will be able to do
so in the future. At any irate we
shall do our utmost not to disappoint them.
SLOVAKIA is, indeed, different
from most other periodicals, and
it was intended to be so. It has
a definite mission to fulfill, a
mission that does not co mpare
w1th that of other literature, ex.
cept in its dedication to truth
and justice, to the American way
of life and to the struggle against
all tyranny,
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF
AMERICA, the publisher of the
SII.JOVAK,I,A, certainly is rendering a valuable service not only
for its membership and the Slovak nation, but for America and
the rest of the free world as
well. 'I\he more the nations of
the earth know and understand
one another, the better -sh all they
appreoia.te themselves and the
friendlier will be their relationships , Without thls knowledge,
relationship and understanding a
peaceful world is unthinkable.
Dr. Stephen Osusky, former
Czecho,S,l ovak
amb assador
to
France and now a member of the
so.called "Coun,cll of Free Czechoslovakia," filed ,a $250,000.00
libel suit in July against the C. S.
(Czeohoalovak) Publishing Co.,
and Dr. Hubert Ripka, former
member of the Nation,al Front
League
of
America
NO. 3-4 (12-13)
government of the Benes•Gottwald coalition. Andrew Valusek
president of the pu blishing con'.
cern, ,a nd Jan P,apa.nek, vice-presiden t and former Czecho-Slovak
delegate to the United
ations,
were also named. We did n ot
expect anything to come of that
act:ion, ,hence we were not too dis.
appointed Wlhen it was reported
that noth1ng oame of it.
Osusky today is supposed to
represent the political will of the
Slovak nation, but in reality he
does not. Amerioans of Slovak
descent still recall that Mir. Osusky was delegated by tihe Slovak
League of America to go to Europe to look after the intereats
of the Slovak nation after World
War I. T. G. Masaryk offered
him a tempting position and
Osusky forgot about his Slovak
people. As far as is known, h e
has not as yet reported to the
Slovak League on the mission en.
trusted to him some 35 years
ago. Osu sky ihas never been
elected by the lovaks at home
to represent them in any politf.cal capacity.
"The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - by •S ister Cecilia as told
to William Brinkley, assistant
editor of :UIJF'E magazine - bas
been published by Farrar, Straus
and Young. Sister Cecilia, a SJo.
v,ak nun, was w,anted by tihe Communists for her underground
work of helping her countrymen
flee the Reds. Then she had to
flee for her life herself. Tille
R eds pursued S·ister Cecilia for
four months, ,b ut were unable to
catch up with ber. Resorting to
�2
SLOVAKIA
various disguises, Sister Cecilia,
finally in dangerous flight, made
her way to the W-e st and free•
dom. After two years in West
Germany, Sister Cecilia came to
America in Febmary, 1954. The
story of Sister Cecilia's daring
exploits is interestingly presented
by Mr. Brinkley in 360 pages.
Y-0u can get your copy from the
pUJb!isher for $3.75.
Over 20,000 book&, with a to•
tal issue of some 330,000,0-00, 'have
been published in Czedho•Slova•k ia by the Reds from 1945 to the
end of 1953.
MATUS ZVON , to whom Dr.
,Ce.sarich refers in 'his article
"The Apostles of Bogus Federalism," in this Issue, is not kno,wn
among Slovak writers, hence, tJb.e
name obviously is a pseudonym.
" Slova kia
i n .B I o o d and
Sh ackl es" by Stephen Blasko. for-
mer Slovak deputy to tJhe Prague
Parliament, w.as published dur•
ing the summer by the Oatholic
Slovak Sokol, Passaic, N. J. It is
an expose of Gen. Nic-hoLas Ferjencik, called "the Bloody Gen•
era!," and -h is brutal police force,
the N.KVD of <SloV>akia. You can
have a copy for just one dollar.
We are often asked for tb ack
copies of SIJOVA.IGA. All axe
still ,availaible in limited num·
bers except Vol. 1, N o. 2. OUT
readers may stLll get ALL avail_
a,ble copies (13 issues) for only
$5.00 as long as the supply ,l asts.
THE
NEW
TESTAMENT,
transl,ated into S'lovak by Charles
Strmei'i of the Slovak Benedictine
High School, Cleveland, Ohio, has
just been pu'Mls'hed ,b y Obrana
Press, lnc., Scranton, Pa., in
easily rnadable type. Over 950
pages and bound in clotih, the
bodk sells for $10.-00.
The " t en th anniversary" of the
Communist-inspired 1944 Slovak
upnsmg (massacre) was cele.
brated ,b y the Reds of CzechoSlovaki-a August 29, 1944. The
Benes Czechs and Czech Slovaks
(''Czechoslovaks"!) commemorat_
ed it in America -rulso (NE:W
YOIRK TIMES, August 29, 1954),
but not in the fashion they were
accustomed to before February
25, 1948, w'hen they suddenly became "anti-Communist, democra_
tic exiles." A rather detailed account of the m1snom ered "Slovaik National Uprising" is presented in this issue of SiWVA-
KIA.
" FALSE FREEDOM " - a new
book by Edward L. Delaney and
dedicated " To the memo r y of th e
martyred patri ot,. Prelate, and
Presi dent, Joseph T •iso" made
its ap·pearance recently. You can
get your copy from S:UOVAKIA:
in cloth (Library Edition)
$3.00; paper cover -- $2.00.
Andrew Gemersky ls the pseudonym of a •S lov,ak w ho escaped
from
Slovakia
just
several
months ago, He contacted SLOV AKlA soon after he arrived in
West Germany, He was witness
t-0 the t'hlngs he writes about.
His frun:lly is still in Slovakia.
The
Slovak
Institute,
spon.
sored by the Slovak !Benedictine
Fathers of Cleveland, 0 ., opened
Its third year of ,a ctivity Novemb er 3.
Evening olasses for
adults, every second Wednesday,
commence at 8 P. M. Slovak
language and history courses are
open to all without charge. Sessions are held at the Benedictine
High Scho-01, 2900 Bast Boulevard.
�SLOVAKIA
History or propaganda? the
title of an article that will aJP·
pear in future issues of SLOVAKLA. Wak.h tor it and, in the
meantime, send a subscription
for a friend . We ihave said on
many occasions that no nation
has been so misrepresented, minimized and vilified as the Slovcak nation, and now for the
proof as offered by "eminen.t" hist orians who attempted to write
albout the Slovaks and t heir country without sufficient prEWaration and stud,y_
The
International
Peasant
Union, headed by Mikolajczyk,
did itself no good 1by publishing
Fedor Hod.fa's a r ticle (The SJova'k Democratic P,a rty) in its ·B ul.
letin. The pea,sants of S'1ovakia
could never endorse Hodza's
airticle - or any of the Lettrlch
"democrats" w'ho collaborated
with the Reds and the USSR.
The
Red
Czech
Government
was among the very first s•a tellite governments to name a delegation to the USSIR•s'I)Onsored
European confer·e nce, held in
Moscow recently. It seems that
nothing has c hanged in Czech
Prague : even under Benes, the
0zechs were always among the
fir.st to run to Mo scow.
McCarthy or no
MoGarthy,
Ameri cans cannot let up in their
fight against Communists and
1Red
infiltration of Government
and industry without endangering
the security of the United States.
The Was,hlngton "censure" spectacle was lamentable and reprehensible. Who of the di'stinguis·hed membe.rs of the Watkins
committee was not at one time
or another guilty of the same
charges as McCarthy? And who
is it that is so interested in hav.
3
i.ng Americans
forget the task
the MoOarthy committee was to
accomplish and w'ho it was that
initiated the Wlhole debacle by
preferring C'harges ,a gain8t the
committee?
The New York S.tate Supreme
Court ruled (No,v . 17) that the
Ozecll Reds of Pra,gue ,aJ:1e not
entitled to the 0 zecho.,s:Iova.k
Red Cross fund'S he1d by Dr.
Jan Papanek; former Czecho•Slovak delegate to the United Nations who voted with the US~IR
on most im,portant issues. According to the NEW YORKSKY
DIDNNiK, the money will lbe
used by the "American Fund
for Czec•hoslovak Refugees" of
which Pa,panek is the ·head. OnJy
bhe "politicaJ:ly relfable" get help
from th!llt fund, so that means
patriotic Sloviaks are out. The
NY(l) was overjoyed that ''iPapanek won and the Communists
lost." The latter ,Jost some.thin,g
they did not have - and Papane.k got his hands on money
that was not rightfully his to diis.
pose of in t'he first place.
1
Mendes France, might say "veni, vidi" a bout his recent visit
to the USA, but ·h ardly "vici," as
many papers would htave us believe. Whether he ca.ptured the
'hearts of Americans remains to
be :see.n. 'In the. meantime, it
would be well for America to
pause and ref.lect on what has
happened in Vietnam, and ot•h er
states witJh coalition governments which included the Reds.
!Have you renewed your subscription to SLOVAKIA? And
why not subscribe for a friend?
IMIDRRY 0HRIS'I1MAiS AN'D A
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
�
~~ IL (0) W&
VOL.' i - : J
-
~1~:'o;_
SEPT .-DEC. 1954
"-
l ,: ~ - ~-4
( ~~13 )
~
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE SLOVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944
NATIONALISM VS INTERNATIONALISM
DR. LETTRICH ' S PRINCIPLES
THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM
THE LETTRICH "<DEMOCRATS " AND COMMUNISM
NATIONALIZATION OF P R IVATE PROPERT Y
IN SLOVAKIA
SLOVAK FOLKLORE : THE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
EASTERN SLOVAKIA WAS SLOVAK FOR CENTURIES
SELF- DETERMINATION FOR SLOVAKIA
THE APOSTLE·$ OF BOGUS FEDERALISM
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED
POWER
IN
~~
SLOVAKIA\
PROFILE OF AN EXILE POLITICIAN
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: T H E OLD CASTLE ( STARY HRAD)'\~
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
WHO SAi D IT ? -
*
PP. 22, 58, 77, 84
*
*
Edit ed .:. nd · c ompil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Pub I ished by
T HE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the :::;1ovak League of America,
a cultural arnl ci vie federation of Amerwans of Slovak d.e::icent.
'fhe chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA
Ls to pro111ote a better understanding
and appn!c1atio11 of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedorn and
independence.
As Americans, members of the
Bluvak 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 1ife, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determined to
oppose the plague of Communism and
all other totalitarjan political systems.
Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per
.v ear in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U.S. A.
JEDNOTA PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SL OV AK IA
Published
VOL. IV
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
SEPT.-,DEC. 1954
With this issue SLOVAKIA
ends its fourVh year. With th1s
double issue it makes its thirteenth appearance. The first iss ue in 195£ will be marked Vol.
V, No. 14. We hope that we haeve
satisfied our readers in the past
four years ,a nd will be able to do
so in the future. At any irate we
shall do our utmost not to disappoint them.
SLOVAKIA is, indeed, different
from most other periodicals, and
it was intended to be so. It has
a definite mission to fulfill, a
mission that does not co mpare
w1th that of other literature, ex.
cept in its dedication to truth
and justice, to the American way
of life and to the struggle against
all tyranny,
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF
AMERICA, the publisher of the
SII.JOVAK,I,A, certainly is rendering a valuable service not only
for its membership and the Slovak nation, but for America and
the rest of the free world as
well. 'I\he more the nations of
the earth know and understand
one another, the better -sh all they
appreoia.te themselves and the
friendlier will be their relationships , Without thls knowledge,
relationship and understanding a
peaceful world is unthinkable.
Dr. Stephen Osusky, former
Czecho,S,l ovak
amb assador
to
France and now a member of the
so.called "Coun,cll of Free Czechoslovakia," filed ,a $250,000.00
libel suit in July against the C. S.
(Czeohoalovak) Publishing Co.,
and Dr. Hubert Ripka, former
member of the Nation,al Front
League
of
America
NO. 3-4 (12-13)
government of the Benes•Gottwald coalition. Andrew Valusek
president of the pu blishing con'.
cern, ,a nd Jan P,apa.nek, vice-presiden t and former Czecho-Slovak
delegate to the United
ations,
were also named. We did n ot
expect anything to come of that
act:ion, ,hence we were not too dis.
appointed Wlhen it was reported
that noth1ng oame of it.
Osusky today is supposed to
represent the political will of the
Slovak nation, but in reality he
does not. Amerioans of Slovak
descent still recall that Mir. Osusky was delegated by tihe Slovak
League of America to go to Europe to look after the intereats
of the Slovak nation after World
War I. T. G. Masaryk offered
him a tempting position and
Osusky forgot about his Slovak
people. As far as is known, h e
has not as yet reported to the
Slovak League on the mission en.
trusted to him some 35 years
ago. Osu sky ihas never been
elected by the lovaks at home
to represent them in any politf.cal capacity.
"The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - by •S ister Cecilia as told
to William Brinkley, assistant
editor of :UIJF'E magazine - bas
been published by Farrar, Straus
and Young. Sister Cecilia, a SJo.
v,ak nun, was w,anted by tihe Communists for her underground
work of helping her countrymen
flee the Reds. Then she had to
flee for her life herself. Tille
R eds pursued S·ister Cecilia for
four months, ,b ut were unable to
catch up with ber. Resorting to
�2
SLOVAKIA
various disguises, Sister Cecilia,
finally in dangerous flight, made
her way to the W-e st and free•
dom. After two years in West
Germany, Sister Cecilia came to
America in Febmary, 1954. The
story of Sister Cecilia's daring
exploits is interestingly presented
by Mr. Brinkley in 360 pages.
Y-0u can get your copy from the
pUJb!isher for $3.75.
Over 20,000 book&, with a to•
tal issue of some 330,000,0-00, 'have
been published in Czedho•Slova•k ia by the Reds from 1945 to the
end of 1953.
MATUS ZVON , to whom Dr.
,Ce.sarich refers in 'his article
"The Apostles of Bogus Federalism," in this Issue, is not kno,wn
among Slovak writers, hence, tJb.e
name obviously is a pseudonym.
" Slova kia
i n .B I o o d and
Sh ackl es" by Stephen Blasko. for-
mer Slovak deputy to tJhe Prague
Parliament, w.as published dur•
ing the summer by the Oatholic
Slovak Sokol, Passaic, N. J. It is
an expose of Gen. Nic-hoLas Ferjencik, called "the Bloody Gen•
era!," and -h is brutal police force,
the N.KVD of <SloV>akia. You can
have a copy for just one dollar.
We are often asked for tb ack
copies of SIJOVA.IGA. All axe
still ,availaible in limited num·
bers except Vol. 1, N o. 2. OUT
readers may stLll get ALL avail_
a,ble copies (13 issues) for only
$5.00 as long as the supply ,l asts.
THE
NEW
TESTAMENT,
transl,ated into S'lovak by Charles
Strmei'i of the Slovak Benedictine
High School, Cleveland, Ohio, has
just been pu'Mls'hed ,b y Obrana
Press, lnc., Scranton, Pa., in
easily rnadable type. Over 950
pages and bound in clotih, the
bodk sells for $10.-00.
The " t en th anniversary" of the
Communist-inspired 1944 Slovak
upnsmg (massacre) was cele.
brated ,b y the Reds of CzechoSlovaki-a August 29, 1944. The
Benes Czechs and Czech Slovaks
(''Czechoslovaks"!) commemorat_
ed it in America -rulso (NE:W
YOIRK TIMES, August 29, 1954),
but not in the fashion they were
accustomed to before February
25, 1948, w'hen they suddenly became "anti-Communist, democra_
tic exiles." A rather detailed account of the m1snom ered "Slovaik National Uprising" is presented in this issue of SiWVA-
KIA.
" FALSE FREEDOM " - a new
book by Edward L. Delaney and
dedicated " To the memo r y of th e
martyred patri ot,. Prelate, and
Presi dent, Joseph T •iso" made
its ap·pearance recently. You can
get your copy from S:UOVAKIA:
in cloth (Library Edition)
$3.00; paper cover -- $2.00.
Andrew Gemersky ls the pseudonym of a •S lov,ak w ho escaped
from
Slovakia
just
several
months ago, He contacted SLOV AKlA soon after he arrived in
West Germany, He was witness
t-0 the t'hlngs he writes about.
His frun:lly is still in Slovakia.
The
Slovak
Institute,
spon.
sored by the Slovak !Benedictine
Fathers of Cleveland, 0 ., opened
Its third year of ,a ctivity Novemb er 3.
Evening olasses for
adults, every second Wednesday,
commence at 8 P. M. Slovak
language and history courses are
open to all without charge. Sessions are held at the Benedictine
High Scho-01, 2900 Bast Boulevard.
�SLOVAKIA
History or propaganda? the
title of an article that will aJP·
pear in future issues of SLOVAKLA. Wak.h tor it and, in the
meantime, send a subscription
for a friend . We ihave said on
many occasions that no nation
has been so misrepresented, minimized and vilified as the Slovcak nation, and now for the
proof as offered by "eminen.t" hist orians who attempted to write
albout the Slovaks and t heir country without sufficient prEWaration and stud,y_
The
International
Peasant
Union, headed by Mikolajczyk,
did itself no good 1by publishing
Fedor Hod.fa's a r ticle (The SJova'k Democratic P,a rty) in its ·B ul.
letin. The pea,sants of S'1ovakia
could never endorse Hodza's
airticle - or any of the Lettrlch
"democrats" w'ho collaborated
with the Reds and the USSR.
The
Red
Czech
Government
was among the very first s•a tellite governments to name a delegation to the USSIR•s'I)Onsored
European confer·e nce, held in
Moscow recently. It seems that
nothing has c hanged in Czech
Prague : even under Benes, the
0zechs were always among the
fir.st to run to Mo scow.
McCarthy or no
MoGarthy,
Ameri cans cannot let up in their
fight against Communists and
1Red
infiltration of Government
and industry without endangering
the security of the United States.
The Was,hlngton "censure" spectacle was lamentable and reprehensible. Who of the di'stinguis·hed membe.rs of the Watkins
committee was not at one time
or another guilty of the same
charges as McCarthy? And who
is it that is so interested in hav.
3
i.ng Americans
forget the task
the MoOarthy committee was to
accomplish and w'ho it was that
initiated the Wlhole debacle by
preferring C'harges ,a gain8t the
committee?
The New York S.tate Supreme
Court ruled (No,v . 17) that the
Ozecll Reds of Pra,gue ,aJ:1e not
entitled to the 0 zecho.,s:Iova.k
Red Cross fund'S he1d by Dr.
Jan Papanek; former Czecho•Slovak delegate to the United Nations who voted with the US~IR
on most im,portant issues. According to the NEW YORKSKY
DIDNNiK, the money will lbe
used by the "American Fund
for Czec•hoslovak Refugees" of
which Pa,panek is the ·head. OnJy
bhe "politicaJ:ly relfable" get help
from th!llt fund, so that means
patriotic Sloviaks are out. The
NY(l) was overjoyed that ''iPapanek won and the Communists
lost." The latter ,Jost some.thin,g
they did not have - and Papane.k got his hands on money
that was not rightfully his to diis.
pose of in t'he first place.
1
Mendes France, might say "veni, vidi" a bout his recent visit
to the USA, but ·h ardly "vici," as
many papers would htave us believe. Whether he ca.ptured the
'hearts of Americans remains to
be :see.n. 'In the. meantime, it
would be well for America to
pause and ref.lect on what has
happened in Vietnam, and ot•h er
states witJh coalition governments which included the Reds.
!Have you renewed your subscription to SLOVAKIA? And
why not subscribe for a friend?
IMIDRRY 0HRIS'I1MAiS AN'D A
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
~~ IL (0) W&
VOL.' i - : J
-
~1~:'o;_
SEPT .-DEC. 1954
"-
l ,: ~ - ~-4
( ~~13 )
~
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE SLOVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944
NATIONALISM VS INTERNATIONALISM
DR. LETTRICH ' S PRINCIPLES
THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM
THE LETTRICH "<DEMOCRATS " AND COMMUNISM
NATIONALIZATION OF P R IVATE PROPERT Y
IN SLOVAKIA
SLOVAK FOLKLORE : THE MAN WHO NEVER SINNED
EASTERN SLOVAKIA WAS SLOVAK FOR CENTURIES
SELF- DETERMINATION FOR SLOVAKIA
THE APOSTLE·$ OF BOGUS FEDERALISM
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED
POWER
IN
~~
SLOVAKIA\
PROFILE OF AN EXILE POLITICIAN
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA: T H E OLD CASTLE ( STARY HRAD)'\~
JOHN MASARYK WAS NO EXCEPTION
WHO SAi D IT ? -
*
PP. 22, 58, 77, 84
*
*
Edit ed .:. nd · c ompil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Pub I ished by
T HE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the :::;1ovak League of America,
a cultural arnl ci vie federation of Amerwans of Slovak d.e::icent.
'fhe chief purpose of SLOVAK.IA
Ls to pro111ote a better understanding
and appn!c1atio11 of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle for freedorn and
independence.
As Americans, members of the
Bluvak 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 1ife, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determined to
oppose the plague of Communism and
all other totalitarjan political systems.
Subscription to Slovakia $1.00 per
.v ear in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U.S. A.
JEDNOTA PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
SL OV AK IA
Published
VOL. IV
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
SEPT.-,DEC. 1954
With this issue SLOVAKIA
ends its fourVh year. With th1s
double issue it makes its thirteenth appearance. The first iss ue in 195£ will be marked Vol.
V, No. 14. We hope that we haeve
satisfied our readers in the past
four years ,a nd will be able to do
so in the future. At any irate we
shall do our utmost not to disappoint them.
SLOVAKIA is, indeed, different
from most other periodicals, and
it was intended to be so. It has
a definite mission to fulfill, a
mission that does not co mpare
w1th that of other literature, ex.
cept in its dedication to truth
and justice, to the American way
of life and to the struggle against
all tyranny,
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF
AMERICA, the publisher of the
SII.JOVAK,I,A, certainly is rendering a valuable service not only
for its membership and the Slovak nation, but for America and
the rest of the free world as
well. 'I\he more the nations of
the earth know and understand
one another, the better -sh all they
appreoia.te themselves and the
friendlier will be their relationships , Without thls knowledge,
relationship and understanding a
peaceful world is unthinkable.
Dr. Stephen Osusky, former
Czecho,S,l ovak
amb assador
to
France and now a member of the
so.called "Coun,cll of Free Czechoslovakia," filed ,a $250,000.00
libel suit in July against the C. S.
(Czeohoalovak) Publishing Co.,
and Dr. Hubert Ripka, former
member of the Nation,al Front
League
of
America
NO. 3-4 (12-13)
government of the Benes•Gottwald coalition. Andrew Valusek
president of the pu blishing con'.
cern, ,a nd Jan P,apa.nek, vice-presiden t and former Czecho-Slovak
delegate to the United
ations,
were also named. We did n ot
expect anything to come of that
act:ion, ,hence we were not too dis.
appointed Wlhen it was reported
that noth1ng oame of it.
Osusky today is supposed to
represent the political will of the
Slovak nation, but in reality he
does not. Amerioans of Slovak
descent still recall that Mir. Osusky was delegated by tihe Slovak
League of America to go to Europe to look after the intereats
of the Slovak nation after World
War I. T. G. Masaryk offered
him a tempting position and
Osusky forgot about his Slovak
people. As far as is known, h e
has not as yet reported to the
Slovak League on the mission en.
trusted to him some 35 years
ago. Osu sky ihas never been
elected by the lovaks at home
to represent them in any politf.cal capacity.
"The Deliverance of Sister Cecilia" - by •S ister Cecilia as told
to William Brinkley, assistant
editor of :UIJF'E magazine - bas
been published by Farrar, Straus
and Young. Sister Cecilia, a SJo.
v,ak nun, was w,anted by tihe Communists for her underground
work of helping her countrymen
flee the Reds. Then she had to
flee for her life herself. Tille
R eds pursued S·ister Cecilia for
four months, ,b ut were unable to
catch up with ber. Resorting to
2
SLOVAKIA
various disguises, Sister Cecilia,
finally in dangerous flight, made
her way to the W-e st and free•
dom. After two years in West
Germany, Sister Cecilia came to
America in Febmary, 1954. The
story of Sister Cecilia's daring
exploits is interestingly presented
by Mr. Brinkley in 360 pages.
Y-0u can get your copy from the
pUJb!isher for $3.75.
Over 20,000 book&, with a to•
tal issue of some 330,000,0-00, 'have
been published in Czedho•Slova•k ia by the Reds from 1945 to the
end of 1953.
MATUS ZVON , to whom Dr.
,Ce.sarich refers in 'his article
"The Apostles of Bogus Federalism," in this Issue, is not kno,wn
among Slovak writers, hence, tJb.e
name obviously is a pseudonym.
" Slova kia
i n .B I o o d and
Sh ackl es" by Stephen Blasko. for-
mer Slovak deputy to tJhe Prague
Parliament, w.as published dur•
ing the summer by the Oatholic
Slovak Sokol, Passaic, N. J. It is
an expose of Gen. Nic-hoLas Ferjencik, called "the Bloody Gen•
era!," and -h is brutal police force,
the N.KVD of <SloV>akia. You can
have a copy for just one dollar.
We are often asked for tb ack
copies of SIJOVA.IGA. All axe
still ,availaible in limited num·
bers except Vol. 1, N o. 2. OUT
readers may stLll get ALL avail_
a,ble copies (13 issues) for only
$5.00 as long as the supply ,l asts.
THE
NEW
TESTAMENT,
transl,ated into S'lovak by Charles
Strmei'i of the Slovak Benedictine
High School, Cleveland, Ohio, has
just been pu'Mls'hed ,b y Obrana
Press, lnc., Scranton, Pa., in
easily rnadable type. Over 950
pages and bound in clotih, the
bodk sells for $10.-00.
The " t en th anniversary" of the
Communist-inspired 1944 Slovak
upnsmg (massacre) was cele.
brated ,b y the Reds of CzechoSlovaki-a August 29, 1944. The
Benes Czechs and Czech Slovaks
(''Czechoslovaks"!) commemorat_
ed it in America -rulso (NE:W
YOIRK TIMES, August 29, 1954),
but not in the fashion they were
accustomed to before February
25, 1948, w'hen they suddenly became "anti-Communist, democra_
tic exiles." A rather detailed account of the m1snom ered "Slovaik National Uprising" is presented in this issue of SiWVA-
KIA.
" FALSE FREEDOM " - a new
book by Edward L. Delaney and
dedicated " To the memo r y of th e
martyred patri ot,. Prelate, and
Presi dent, Joseph T •iso" made
its ap·pearance recently. You can
get your copy from S:UOVAKIA:
in cloth (Library Edition)
$3.00; paper cover -- $2.00.
Andrew Gemersky ls the pseudonym of a •S lov,ak w ho escaped
from
Slovakia
just
several
months ago, He contacted SLOV AKlA soon after he arrived in
West Germany, He was witness
t-0 the t'hlngs he writes about.
His frun:lly is still in Slovakia.
The
Slovak
Institute,
spon.
sored by the Slovak !Benedictine
Fathers of Cleveland, 0 ., opened
Its third year of ,a ctivity Novemb er 3.
Evening olasses for
adults, every second Wednesday,
commence at 8 P. M. Slovak
language and history courses are
open to all without charge. Sessions are held at the Benedictine
High Scho-01, 2900 Bast Boulevard.
SLOVAKIA
History or propaganda? the
title of an article that will aJP·
pear in future issues of SLOVAKLA. Wak.h tor it and, in the
meantime, send a subscription
for a friend . We ihave said on
many occasions that no nation
has been so misrepresented, minimized and vilified as the Slovcak nation, and now for the
proof as offered by "eminen.t" hist orians who attempted to write
albout the Slovaks and t heir country without sufficient prEWaration and stud,y_
The
International
Peasant
Union, headed by Mikolajczyk,
did itself no good 1by publishing
Fedor Hod.fa's a r ticle (The SJova'k Democratic P,a rty) in its ·B ul.
letin. The pea,sants of S'1ovakia
could never endorse Hodza's
airticle - or any of the Lettrlch
"democrats" w'ho collaborated
with the Reds and the USSR.
The
Red
Czech
Government
was among the very first s•a tellite governments to name a delegation to the USSIR•s'I)Onsored
European confer·e nce, held in
Moscow recently. It seems that
nothing has c hanged in Czech
Prague : even under Benes, the
0zechs were always among the
fir.st to run to Mo scow.
McCarthy or no
MoGarthy,
Ameri cans cannot let up in their
fight against Communists and
1Red
infiltration of Government
and industry without endangering
the security of the United States.
The Was,hlngton "censure" spectacle was lamentable and reprehensible. Who of the di'stinguis·hed membe.rs of the Watkins
committee was not at one time
or another guilty of the same
charges as McCarthy? And who
is it that is so interested in hav.
3
i.ng Americans
forget the task
the MoOarthy committee was to
accomplish and w'ho it was that
initiated the Wlhole debacle by
preferring C'harges ,a gain8t the
committee?
The New York S.tate Supreme
Court ruled (No,v . 17) that the
Ozecll Reds of Pra,gue ,aJ:1e not
entitled to the 0 zecho.,s:Iova.k
Red Cross fund'S he1d by Dr.
Jan Papanek; former Czecho•Slovak delegate to the United Nations who voted with the US~IR
on most im,portant issues. According to the NEW YORKSKY
DIDNNiK, the money will lbe
used by the "American Fund
for Czec•hoslovak Refugees" of
which Pa,panek is the ·head. OnJy
bhe "politicaJ:ly relfable" get help
from th!llt fund, so that means
patriotic Sloviaks are out. The
NY(l) was overjoyed that ''iPapanek won and the Communists
lost." The latter ,Jost some.thin,g
they did not have - and Papane.k got his hands on money
that was not rightfully his to diis.
pose of in t'he first place.
1
Mendes France, might say "veni, vidi" a bout his recent visit
to the USA, but ·h ardly "vici," as
many papers would htave us believe. Whether he ca.ptured the
'hearts of Americans remains to
be :see.n. 'In the. meantime, it
would be well for America to
pause and ref.lect on what has
happened in Vietnam, and ot•h er
states witJh coalition governments which included the Reds.
!Have you renewed your subscription to SLOVAKIA? And
why not subscribe for a friend?
IMIDRRY 0HRIS'I1MAiS AN'D A
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
Sept.-Dec. 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/57771c21abf587901bbc84c916b62e8f.pdf
5ab02c69841d5adf74f6b3535bea90a3
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organi zed 1907 in Cle veland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
1943 W .
C' hicago
John J . Sirotnak
61U-612 Lincoln Trust Bldg.
Sc ran ton 3, Pa.
I'r es iJen l
P. H letko
48th Street
9, [l]i nois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Pres id ent
Owoss o, :vii ch.
Philip A. H r obak
P. 0 . Box 150, Middl e town , Pa. Ste phani e 0. Husek
Georgian Co ur t Co ll ege
Vice-Prei;id e n t
L a kewood, N. J.
J acob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167 th Street
Michael J. Vargovich
H ammond, Tnd.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Pre sident
of U . S . A.
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Recording Secre tary
Francis H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleve land 4, Ohio
Helen Kocan
National President
First Catholic Slova k
Ladies Union
Frank Sobus
National P r e sident
Slovak Catholic Sokol
S ec re ta ry-Tre as u rer
Mi la n V. Blazek
4205 W . Cull erton Street
Chicago 23, Ill.
Stephen J. Tkach
National President
P e nna. Slovak Union
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P . Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10 , P a .
Joseph Prusa
205 Ma dison St.. Pa,ssaic, N. J.
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath olic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
S cranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland, Ohio.
BRATSTVO
Wilk es-Ba rre , P a .
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N . J .
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE. HLASY
.\I iddletown,
SLO VAK V AMERIK E
Whi t ing, Ind .
Chicago,
m.
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Ruins of Devin Castle (south view) i Slovaikia. History
tells that the Slo;vak King Raistishw ruled the Great Moravian Empire from this fortress in the ninth century.
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organi zed 1907 in Cle veland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
1943 W .
C' hicago
John J . Sirotnak
61U-612 Lincoln Trust Bldg.
Sc ran ton 3, Pa.
I'r es iJen l
P. H letko
48th Street
9, [l]i nois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Pres id ent
Owoss o, :vii ch.
Philip A. H r obak
P. 0 . Box 150, Middl e town , Pa. Ste phani e 0. Husek
Georgian Co ur t Co ll ege
Vice-Prei;id e n t
L a kewood, N. J.
J acob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167 th Street
Michael J. Vargovich
H ammond, Tnd.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Pre sident
of U . S . A.
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Recording Secre tary
Francis H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleve land 4, Ohio
Helen Kocan
National President
First Catholic Slova k
Ladies Union
Frank Sobus
National P r e sident
Slovak Catholic Sokol
S ec re ta ry-Tre as u rer
Mi la n V. Blazek
4205 W . Cull erton Street
Chicago 23, Ill.
Stephen J. Tkach
National President
P e nna. Slovak Union
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P . Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10 , P a .
Joseph Prusa
205 Ma dison St.. Pa,ssaic, N. J.
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath olic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
S cranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland, Ohio.
BRATSTVO
Wilk es-Ba rre , P a .
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N . J .
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE. HLASY
.\I iddletown,
SLO VAK V AMERIK E
Whi t ing, Ind .
Chicago,
m.
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;.i. .:.q
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'
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..,.CA
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-<'~·
Ruins of Devin Castle (south view) i Slovaikia. History
tells that the Slo;vak King Raistishw ruled the Great Moravian Empire from this fortress in the ninth 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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
(Organi zed 1907 in Cle veland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
1943 W .
C' hicago
John J . Sirotnak
61U-612 Lincoln Trust Bldg.
Sc ran ton 3, Pa.
I'r es iJen l
P. H letko
48th Street
9, [l]i nois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Pres id ent
Owoss o, :vii ch.
Philip A. H r obak
P. 0 . Box 150, Middl e town , Pa. Ste phani e 0. Husek
Georgian Co ur t Co ll ege
Vice-Prei;id e n t
L a kewood, N. J.
J acob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167 th Street
Michael J. Vargovich
H ammond, Tnd.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Pre sident
of U . S . A.
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Recording Secre tary
Francis H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleve land 4, Ohio
Helen Kocan
National President
First Catholic Slova k
Ladies Union
Frank Sobus
National P r e sident
Slovak Catholic Sokol
S ec re ta ry-Tre as u rer
Mi la n V. Blazek
4205 W . Cull erton Street
Chicago 23, Ill.
Stephen J. Tkach
National President
P e nna. Slovak Union
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P . Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10 , P a .
Joseph Prusa
205 Ma dison St.. Pa,ssaic, N. J.
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath olic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
S cranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland, Ohio.
BRATSTVO
Wilk es-Ba rre , P a .
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N . J .
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE. HLASY
.\I iddletown,
SLO VAK V AMERIK E
Whi t ing, Ind .
Chicago,
m.
.,.
;.i. .:.q
.. ,
'
•
t
..,.CA
!
~>.
. </
.,,;
.,
l
,
;'
r
1f·i~
''U
;4 i;
,
''
'
'
'
~
-
.-.
.
./
I
-<'~·
Ruins of Devin Castle (south view) i Slovaikia. History
tells that the Slo;vak King Raistishw ruled the Great Moravian Empire from this fortress in the ninth 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. 4, No. 1 (10)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Devín Castle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/12b947135282539907e952e9791ea5eb.pdf
a9d5b0ba4c3a697082adf96f9236a26a
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
31
DECLARATION
OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF
SWVAK DESCENT MAY 24-25, 1954,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
WE - the participants of the National Conference of
Americans of Slovak descent, sponsored by the Slovak
League of America at Washington, D. C., May 24-25, 1954
- do solemnly and unanimously declare:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of our
American Democracy - the principles upon which our
United States of America was founded and which made it
the greatest democratic country in the world.
2. Our primary interest is the welfare and security of
the United States of America.
3. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarian political system. We recognize the Godless philosophy of materialistic Communism as the dread evil and
conspiracy against free humanity that it is, as a political
system which threatens mankind with utter enslavement.
We have fought consistently and resolutely against it in and
out of season and, today, are more determined than ever to
persevere in our fight against it with all possible means at
our command until the plague of Communism is completely
wiped off the face of the earth .
4. We cannot sU1bscribe to the policy that doing business with the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best
interests of the welfare and security of the United States
and the free world.
5. The ''Council of Free Czechoslovakia" does not express the political will of the Slovak nation or the will of the
Slovaks in exile. The Slovak members ("Czech" Slovaks)
of the Council are individuals who either did not get a mandate from the Slovak nation, or betrayed it by collaborating
with communists and the Sovi6}t Union.
We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official
and private American institutions desiring any information
�32
SLOVAKIA
on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the
Slovak League of America, an Amelticfu illSltitution which
since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation.
Another organization worthy of consultation in the
matter of the problems of the Slovak nation is the Slovak
National Council Abroad whose leadership and membership
~epreserits the majority o.f the Slovak exiles.
6. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our
Government, its agencies and Congressional Comrriitt~ to
ferret out, unmask and prosecute all subversive elements,
specifically all communists and fellow~travelers, which propagate class hatreds, economic strife, chaos and anarchy.
All persons and organizations, who wittingly or unwittingly
give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism,
should be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of
our Government.
7. We approve the idea of a United Nations Organization which shall promote and preserve peace and prosperity
in all countries of the world, as far as is humanly possible.
The UNO at the present time is not really an organization
of United Nations, but an organization of Governments, several of which definitely are not representative of the political will and the national interests of the nations they
claim to represent.
8. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that
a.11 nations have the right to determine by their own free
choice the state or form of political organization under
which they wish to live. The principle of self-determination
- the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe
since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson must apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation
from .which we are descended.
9. We endorse the principle that the Government of
the United States shall refuse to recognize any government
imposed upon any nation by the force of an alien power
and urge that this principle be made operative even in the
case of the Slovak nation, which is in fact dominated today
�SLOVAKIA
33
by the . Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in violation of
the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations Organization and the fundamental principle of American policy of self-determination.
10. The independent Slovak Republic, established by the
duly elected representatives of the Slovak nation on March
14, 1939, should not have been destroyed by the victorious
allied Nations without consulting the will of the Slovak nation. We, therefore, respectfully request the President of the
U. S. and the Congress to instruct our delegate to the United
Nations Organization to request an investigation by the
UNO of the destruction of the Slovak Republic.
11. We furthermo.re , respectfully petition the President of the U. S. and the Congress to voice a strong protest
against the violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and political
leaders by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague.
12. As Christians and adherents of the democratic
way of life, we resolutely oppose the domination and exploitation of any nation by any other nation or political state.
The Slovak nation did not want to be dominated by the Magyars prior to 1918 and, today, does not want to be ruled by
the Czech nation. We firmly believe that the national existence and the welfare of the Slovruk nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak
Republic.
13. We seek no special favors or grants for the nation
we are descended from. We only plead for the recognition
of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because it cannot voice itself freely today. These rights are
predicated on the elementary democratic and Christian principle that all peoples, wherever they may be found and however few their numbers, are morally entitled to speak in the
council- of nations, there to defend the rights of their nation to survival and self-fulfillment.
14. The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings ("Czech"
Slovaks), now organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, do not represent the political will of the
�34
SLOVAKIA
Slovak nation and, therefore, have no authority to speak for
the Slovaks anywhere. One such organization, the "Council
of Free Czechoslovakia," purports to be an organization of
''anti-communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slova:kia,
but is, in fact, an organization controlled by Czechs who
were members of the communist-dominated "National
Front" government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and
outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in
Czecho-Slovakia. The leading members of this Council should
be recognized for what they really were in their homeland:
promoters of socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of the
Czech socialists a nd communists.
(Signatures:)
P. A. Hrobak, Jacob J. Kocis, Julia Krajcovic, Milan V.
Blazek, Frantisek Hrusovsky, t Theodore G. Kojis, O.S.B.,
Abbot, P. Jamriska, Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, Joseph G. Prusa,
John J. Sirotnak, Julius A. Janci, Stephanie 0. Husek, Peter
P. Hletko M.D., George P. Baluh, Stephen J. Tkach, M. J.
Wargovich, Helen Kocan, Gabriela I. Vavrek, Frank J.
Gurcak, Rev. Cyril M. Orendac, Karol Piacek, Frank Bobus,
Marge Bleskan, Jozef A. Mikus, Mary Koenig, Victoria Lunter, Veronica Ginovsky, Maria Kolesar, Anna M. Sotak, John
Lafko, Edward Alexovic, John P. Stankovic, M. F. Gajdos,
Marge Bleskan, Anna Mae Hutira, Bridget Alexovic, George
S. Luba O.S.B., Rev. Michael M. Tondra, Rev. Casimir
Cvercko, Rev. John E. Senglar D.S.L., Susan Matuscak,
Martin Kopunek, John A. Kanuck, Anna E. Kanuck, Rev.
Augustine J. Zan, Rev. Max. Chladny-Hanos S.T.D., Frank
Tartal, Mary Luchansky, Matej Varga, Steve S. Koenig,
John J. Rozboril, Mary Janci, Joseph Bransky, Stefan Klucar,
Bernadina Hanuscin, Helen Kudlac, Maria Walovich, Rev.
Joseph Chochula, Rev. Alfons Vercek, Rev. Charles J. Florek,
Paul C. Kazimer, Jan Beliansky, Stefan Hodos, M. J. Bosak,
�SLOVAKIA
35
Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M.
Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike
Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary
Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek,
Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci,
Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary
Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna
K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya.
•
•
•
ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK,
PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED
AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL,
MAY 24, 1954
As citizens of the United States of America we firmly
hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the
inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the
right to establish their own political state and to freely
elect a govern.men t of their own choice.
On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien
domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right
when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence
of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and
established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light
and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with
it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak
Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an
independent republic.
Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations,
did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the
Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945).
And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic
was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great
Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu-
�
SLOVAKIA
31
DECLARATION
OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF
SWVAK DESCENT MAY 24-25, 1954,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
WE - the participants of the National Conference of
Americans of Slovak descent, sponsored by the Slovak
League of America at Washington, D. C., May 24-25, 1954
- do solemnly and unanimously declare:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of our
American Democracy - the principles upon which our
United States of America was founded and which made it
the greatest democratic country in the world.
2. Our primary interest is the welfare and security of
the United States of America.
3. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarian political system. We recognize the Godless philosophy of materialistic Communism as the dread evil and
conspiracy against free humanity that it is, as a political
system which threatens mankind with utter enslavement.
We have fought consistently and resolutely against it in and
out of season and, today, are more determined than ever to
persevere in our fight against it with all possible means at
our command until the plague of Communism is completely
wiped off the face of the earth .
4. We cannot sU1bscribe to the policy that doing business with the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best
interests of the welfare and security of the United States
and the free world.
5. The ''Council of Free Czechoslovakia" does not express the political will of the Slovak nation or the will of the
Slovaks in exile. The Slovak members ("Czech" Slovaks)
of the Council are individuals who either did not get a mandate from the Slovak nation, or betrayed it by collaborating
with communists and the Sovi6}t Union.
We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official
and private American institutions desiring any information
�32
SLOVAKIA
on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the
Slovak League of America, an Amelticfu illSltitution which
since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation.
Another organization worthy of consultation in the
matter of the problems of the Slovak nation is the Slovak
National Council Abroad whose leadership and membership
~epreserits the majority o.f the Slovak exiles.
6. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our
Government, its agencies and Congressional Comrriitt~ to
ferret out, unmask and prosecute all subversive elements,
specifically all communists and fellow~travelers, which propagate class hatreds, economic strife, chaos and anarchy.
All persons and organizations, who wittingly or unwittingly
give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism,
should be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of
our Government.
7. We approve the idea of a United Nations Organization which shall promote and preserve peace and prosperity
in all countries of the world, as far as is humanly possible.
The UNO at the present time is not really an organization
of United Nations, but an organization of Governments, several of which definitely are not representative of the political will and the national interests of the nations they
claim to represent.
8. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that
a.11 nations have the right to determine by their own free
choice the state or form of political organization under
which they wish to live. The principle of self-determination
- the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe
since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson must apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation
from .which we are descended.
9. We endorse the principle that the Government of
the United States shall refuse to recognize any government
imposed upon any nation by the force of an alien power
and urge that this principle be made operative even in the
case of the Slovak nation, which is in fact dominated today
�SLOVAKIA
33
by the . Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in violation of
the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations Organization and the fundamental principle of American policy of self-determination.
10. The independent Slovak Republic, established by the
duly elected representatives of the Slovak nation on March
14, 1939, should not have been destroyed by the victorious
allied Nations without consulting the will of the Slovak nation. We, therefore, respectfully request the President of the
U. S. and the Congress to instruct our delegate to the United
Nations Organization to request an investigation by the
UNO of the destruction of the Slovak Republic.
11. We furthermo.re , respectfully petition the President of the U. S. and the Congress to voice a strong protest
against the violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and political
leaders by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague.
12. As Christians and adherents of the democratic
way of life, we resolutely oppose the domination and exploitation of any nation by any other nation or political state.
The Slovak nation did not want to be dominated by the Magyars prior to 1918 and, today, does not want to be ruled by
the Czech nation. We firmly believe that the national existence and the welfare of the Slovruk nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak
Republic.
13. We seek no special favors or grants for the nation
we are descended from. We only plead for the recognition
of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because it cannot voice itself freely today. These rights are
predicated on the elementary democratic and Christian principle that all peoples, wherever they may be found and however few their numbers, are morally entitled to speak in the
council- of nations, there to defend the rights of their nation to survival and self-fulfillment.
14. The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings ("Czech"
Slovaks), now organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, do not represent the political will of the
�34
SLOVAKIA
Slovak nation and, therefore, have no authority to speak for
the Slovaks anywhere. One such organization, the "Council
of Free Czechoslovakia," purports to be an organization of
''anti-communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slova:kia,
but is, in fact, an organization controlled by Czechs who
were members of the communist-dominated "National
Front" government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and
outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in
Czecho-Slovakia. The leading members of this Council should
be recognized for what they really were in their homeland:
promoters of socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of the
Czech socialists a nd communists.
(Signatures:)
P. A. Hrobak, Jacob J. Kocis, Julia Krajcovic, Milan V.
Blazek, Frantisek Hrusovsky, t Theodore G. Kojis, O.S.B.,
Abbot, P. Jamriska, Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, Joseph G. Prusa,
John J. Sirotnak, Julius A. Janci, Stephanie 0. Husek, Peter
P. Hletko M.D., George P. Baluh, Stephen J. Tkach, M. J.
Wargovich, Helen Kocan, Gabriela I. Vavrek, Frank J.
Gurcak, Rev. Cyril M. Orendac, Karol Piacek, Frank Bobus,
Marge Bleskan, Jozef A. Mikus, Mary Koenig, Victoria Lunter, Veronica Ginovsky, Maria Kolesar, Anna M. Sotak, John
Lafko, Edward Alexovic, John P. Stankovic, M. F. Gajdos,
Marge Bleskan, Anna Mae Hutira, Bridget Alexovic, George
S. Luba O.S.B., Rev. Michael M. Tondra, Rev. Casimir
Cvercko, Rev. John E. Senglar D.S.L., Susan Matuscak,
Martin Kopunek, John A. Kanuck, Anna E. Kanuck, Rev.
Augustine J. Zan, Rev. Max. Chladny-Hanos S.T.D., Frank
Tartal, Mary Luchansky, Matej Varga, Steve S. Koenig,
John J. Rozboril, Mary Janci, Joseph Bransky, Stefan Klucar,
Bernadina Hanuscin, Helen Kudlac, Maria Walovich, Rev.
Joseph Chochula, Rev. Alfons Vercek, Rev. Charles J. Florek,
Paul C. Kazimer, Jan Beliansky, Stefan Hodos, M. J. Bosak,
�SLOVAKIA
35
Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M.
Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike
Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary
Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek,
Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci,
Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary
Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna
K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya.
•
•
•
ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK,
PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED
AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL,
MAY 24, 1954
As citizens of the United States of America we firmly
hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the
inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the
right to establish their own political state and to freely
elect a govern.men t of their own choice.
On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien
domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right
when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence
of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and
established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light
and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with
it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak
Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an
independent republic.
Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations,
did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the
Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945).
And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic
was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great
Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu-
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
31
DECLARATION
OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMERICANS OF
SWVAK DESCENT MAY 24-25, 1954,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
WE - the participants of the National Conference of
Americans of Slovak descent, sponsored by the Slovak
League of America at Washington, D. C., May 24-25, 1954
- do solemnly and unanimously declare:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of our
American Democracy - the principles upon which our
United States of America was founded and which made it
the greatest democratic country in the world.
2. Our primary interest is the welfare and security of
the United States of America.
3. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarian political system. We recognize the Godless philosophy of materialistic Communism as the dread evil and
conspiracy against free humanity that it is, as a political
system which threatens mankind with utter enslavement.
We have fought consistently and resolutely against it in and
out of season and, today, are more determined than ever to
persevere in our fight against it with all possible means at
our command until the plague of Communism is completely
wiped off the face of the earth .
4. We cannot sU1bscribe to the policy that doing business with the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best
interests of the welfare and security of the United States
and the free world.
5. The ''Council of Free Czechoslovakia" does not express the political will of the Slovak nation or the will of the
Slovaks in exile. The Slovak members ("Czech" Slovaks)
of the Council are individuals who either did not get a mandate from the Slovak nation, or betrayed it by collaborating
with communists and the Sovi6}t Union.
We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official
and private American institutions desiring any information
32
SLOVAKIA
on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the
Slovak League of America, an Amelticfu illSltitution which
since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation.
Another organization worthy of consultation in the
matter of the problems of the Slovak nation is the Slovak
National Council Abroad whose leadership and membership
~epreserits the majority o.f the Slovak exiles.
6. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our
Government, its agencies and Congressional Comrriitt~ to
ferret out, unmask and prosecute all subversive elements,
specifically all communists and fellow~travelers, which propagate class hatreds, economic strife, chaos and anarchy.
All persons and organizations, who wittingly or unwittingly
give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism,
should be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of
our Government.
7. We approve the idea of a United Nations Organization which shall promote and preserve peace and prosperity
in all countries of the world, as far as is humanly possible.
The UNO at the present time is not really an organization
of United Nations, but an organization of Governments, several of which definitely are not representative of the political will and the national interests of the nations they
claim to represent.
8. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that
a.11 nations have the right to determine by their own free
choice the state or form of political organization under
which they wish to live. The principle of self-determination
- the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe
since the administration of President Woodrow Wilson must apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation
from .which we are descended.
9. We endorse the principle that the Government of
the United States shall refuse to recognize any government
imposed upon any nation by the force of an alien power
and urge that this principle be made operative even in the
case of the Slovak nation, which is in fact dominated today
SLOVAKIA
33
by the . Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in violation of
the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations Organization and the fundamental principle of American policy of self-determination.
10. The independent Slovak Republic, established by the
duly elected representatives of the Slovak nation on March
14, 1939, should not have been destroyed by the victorious
allied Nations without consulting the will of the Slovak nation. We, therefore, respectfully request the President of the
U. S. and the Congress to instruct our delegate to the United
Nations Organization to request an investigation by the
UNO of the destruction of the Slovak Republic.
11. We furthermo.re , respectfully petition the President of the U. S. and the Congress to voice a strong protest
against the violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and political
leaders by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague.
12. As Christians and adherents of the democratic
way of life, we resolutely oppose the domination and exploitation of any nation by any other nation or political state.
The Slovak nation did not want to be dominated by the Magyars prior to 1918 and, today, does not want to be ruled by
the Czech nation. We firmly believe that the national existence and the welfare of the Slovruk nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak
Republic.
13. We seek no special favors or grants for the nation
we are descended from. We only plead for the recognition
of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because it cannot voice itself freely today. These rights are
predicated on the elementary democratic and Christian principle that all peoples, wherever they may be found and however few their numbers, are morally entitled to speak in the
council- of nations, there to defend the rights of their nation to survival and self-fulfillment.
14. The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings ("Czech"
Slovaks), now organized in various Czech and "Czechoslovak" organizations, do not represent the political will of the
34
SLOVAKIA
Slovak nation and, therefore, have no authority to speak for
the Slovaks anywhere. One such organization, the "Council
of Free Czechoslovakia," purports to be an organization of
''anti-communist, democratic exiles" from Czecho-Slova:kia,
but is, in fact, an organization controlled by Czechs who
were members of the communist-dominated "National
Front" government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald, which collaborated closely with the Soviet Union and
outlawed all anti-socialistic and anti-communistic parties in
Czecho-Slovakia. The leading members of this Council should
be recognized for what they really were in their homeland:
promoters of socialism and the pro-Soviet policy of the
Czech socialists a nd communists.
(Signatures:)
P. A. Hrobak, Jacob J. Kocis, Julia Krajcovic, Milan V.
Blazek, Frantisek Hrusovsky, t Theodore G. Kojis, O.S.B.,
Abbot, P. Jamriska, Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, Joseph G. Prusa,
John J. Sirotnak, Julius A. Janci, Stephanie 0. Husek, Peter
P. Hletko M.D., George P. Baluh, Stephen J. Tkach, M. J.
Wargovich, Helen Kocan, Gabriela I. Vavrek, Frank J.
Gurcak, Rev. Cyril M. Orendac, Karol Piacek, Frank Bobus,
Marge Bleskan, Jozef A. Mikus, Mary Koenig, Victoria Lunter, Veronica Ginovsky, Maria Kolesar, Anna M. Sotak, John
Lafko, Edward Alexovic, John P. Stankovic, M. F. Gajdos,
Marge Bleskan, Anna Mae Hutira, Bridget Alexovic, George
S. Luba O.S.B., Rev. Michael M. Tondra, Rev. Casimir
Cvercko, Rev. John E. Senglar D.S.L., Susan Matuscak,
Martin Kopunek, John A. Kanuck, Anna E. Kanuck, Rev.
Augustine J. Zan, Rev. Max. Chladny-Hanos S.T.D., Frank
Tartal, Mary Luchansky, Matej Varga, Steve S. Koenig,
John J. Rozboril, Mary Janci, Joseph Bransky, Stefan Klucar,
Bernadina Hanuscin, Helen Kudlac, Maria Walovich, Rev.
Joseph Chochula, Rev. Alfons Vercek, Rev. Charles J. Florek,
Paul C. Kazimer, Jan Beliansky, Stefan Hodos, M. J. Bosak,
SLOVAKIA
35
Jozef Pauco, Vojtech Balaz, Frank Deviatka, Method M.
Balco, Juraj Getlik, Anton Moravcik, Otto Klement, Mike
Soyka Sr., Joseph Stanek, Dr. Rudolph Medlen, Mary
Student, Stephen Student, Gabriel Lantos, Andrew Welchek,
Simon Siranec, Blase Dvorsky, Michal Rak, Veronica Janci,
Anna M. Kocur, Irene F. Kocur, Anna V. Kocur, Mary
Welchek, Irene Halac, Terezia Ondriska, Anna Vizza, Susanna
K.lucar, Veronica Patala, Julia P. Benya.
•
•
•
ADDRESS OF PHILIP A. HROBAK,
PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DELIVERED
AT THE INFORMAL DINNER OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
OF AMERICANS OF SLOVAK DESCENT, WASHINGTON HOTEL,
MAY 24, 1954
As citizens of the United States of America we firmly
hold to the belief that all nations without exception have the
inherent, God-given right to freedom and independence, the
right to establish their own political state and to freely
elect a govern.men t of their own choice.
On March 14, 1939, after over ten centuries of alien
domination, the Slovak nation exercised its inherent right
when its duly elected representatives in the Bratislava Assembly of autonomous Slovakia proclaimed the independence
of the land the Slovaks had occupied for 1500 years and
established the Republic of Slovakia. Of course, certain people in America present this historical fact in a false light
and attempt to debase and vilify everything connected with
it. But the utterly simple historical truth is that the Slovak
Assembly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an
independent republic.
Independent Slovakia, the dream of Slova;k generations,
did become a reality and was thoroughly enjoyed by the
Slovak people, even though it was short-lived (1939-1945).
And it is significant even today that the Slovak Republic
was recognized by twenty-seven countries, includmg Great
Britain, France, Japan, and even the Soviet Union. Natu-
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
Declaration of the National Conference of Americans of Slovak Descent - May 24-25,1954, Washington, D.C.
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954
pp. 31-35
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/61b97e8a6667b4e204ee5aec380a2684.pdf
d51f4318c3ccf8071e25c987b7b5f243
PDF Text
Text
20
SLOVAKIA
I WAS AN OFFICER OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMV
Anonymous Preferred
Until the autumn of 1'948, I was an active officer of the
Ozecho.;Slovak Army, bearing the rank of Stalff-Captain. I
achieved this rank doing regular officer's duties after graduating as ·an artiHery 'lieutenant from the Military Academy
at BratisilaNa, the capital city of Slovrukia, my country.
In 1942-43, ·as a member of the Slovak Army, I was ~n
comlbat rugainst the U.1S.S.R. During that time I travelled
through Galicia, Ukvainia, White Ruthenia and the Caucasus and :came· in cootact with the divty, miserable, starved
and frightened population of those territories. I spoke with
many intellec.tuals there and they gave me an idea of what
real life is li!ke in communist Russia. I had heard similar
stories before, at home, but found it hard to believe them.
Now I had it first hand from people who. lived under the
men of the -Kremlin.
At t:Jhe end of 1944 and the 1b eginning of 19415, the Red
Army made its way in Slovakia and eventually "lit~ted"
all of Ozecho-,Slovakia. The Red occupation lasted until the
end of 1946, but even after that time the country, especially
Slo.va!kia - the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia - remained
an eldarado for · military units, groups and indi,viduals whether desertees or reguJar sOildier of the Red Arimy who robbed, pillaged, plundered, murdered and raped almost
at will.
Thds occupation had a very great influence on the reorgani1z ation of the OzechO-iSlorvak Army after the wrur. First,
because the first 1post-war Ozeoho.;81ovak government was
established in Moscow, which was its official residence for a
time, and, secondly, beca.u se the first Czecho-Slova;k _A rmy
corps, organized in Russia during the war, was the fir~t to
come into the coll!Iltry with the Russdans.
The Ozecho-.Slov-a k Army was made up of two nationalities: the. Czechs and the ,Sfovruks, These two nations, even
thoug,h they lived in the same state and were governed by
the same government (Prague), did not get along very
�SLOVAKIA
21
well. Causes of this lay deeply in the mentalities coming out
of their religious beliefs, traditions and economic structure.
Furthermore, the Slova:ks felt that they were forced to lilve
with the Czechs in the same state, since no reaJl representative of the SlovaJk nation attended the P.aris Peace Conference in 1'919, or was consulted. As time went on, the lea;d.
ing Czech politiciruns e~loited the Slovaks more and more
and stul:fuornly refused to recognize their just claims and
their inherent dght to freedom, lilberty and the pursuit of
hruppiness. This resulted in the utter colia:pse of Ozecho-,Slovakia in 1939, when the Slovruk nation proclaimed the independence of SlovaJkia all1d the Czechs ca:me under the Germans.
The prolblems which preceded the collapse of the first
Ozech0-4SlovaJk Repulblic (1918-11938) were not solved after
1945, but rather intensified. They af1footed /both civilian and
army personnel. The deteriorated relations between the
Ozechs and Slo'Vaks g;rew worse, because Dr. Edward Benes
and his Moscow government pursued communist tendencies
and persecuted anti-socialistic and anti--communistic elements e$peciaHy in S}()JVa,k ia. Thousands of good citizens
were disfranchised, dispossessed, forcefully deported out of
Slovrukia, jailed and even executed lb ecaue they refused to accept the new order of Benes and Stalin and cooperate with
Communists. Officers of the Slovak Army and their families
suffered the most.
The armed forces were suibordinate to the Ministry of
National Defense and were dirvided ,i nto four inHitary regions
(Vojenske Olblasti): 1. Praigue, 2. Hradec Kralove, 3. Brno,
4. Bratislava. The Department of Defense Security was o-r ganized under the Ministry of National Defense; its task
was to -keep the military in line and it was much the same
as the NKVD in the Red Army. The department had 'brancihes or units at aH headquarters, in all army units and Judependent units. The heads oif these departments were also
sll!bstitute commanders; all were from the first Ozecho-,Slovak Army Corps which was trained and schooled in Russia. Their activities were aiimed especiaUy against Slwaik officers ·who were at least 90 per cent anti-communist. This socalled · "Fifth Department" (Intelligence) of the Ministry of
�22
SLOVAK·I A
Naitional Defense had to keep a record of just albout everything on everybody in the Army. Agents of the department
shadowed every officer amd reported what he did on or
off duty . .Ais soon as am,y officer !became a suspect of some
indiscretion or v-iolation - real or imagined - he was
jailed and held for court.
Another new department established within the armed
forces was the Department of T,raining and Education. Officers of this department were assigned to every military
unit, staritilng from a company, battery, or a wing. The functions of these officers were the same as those of the Polytrl.llks (political commissars) in the Red Army. Their job was
to preserve unity in the army, hold the soldiers to certain
princi<ples and incmkate and foster the idea of devotion and
loyalty to the state and the regime. These officers spread
the seed of Commun<ism and hate against their superiors
among their men. Once a week they held lectures, praJsin,g
Stalin, the Red Army, the heroes of Socialism and Soviet
establishment s and smearing and condemning Ca;piWism,
western democracy and Christianity.
The officers of this Department of Educaition and braining had little or no education at a;ll. Communists took advantage of this fact and devloped in them a certain 'kind of
ill-aimbition by granting them high ranks, because they had
learned to speaik and act as they were ordered. In 1948 I
was an instructor in a.school for officers in reserve. I taught
ballistics. When I had to interrupt my teaching, because I
was called to taike part in artill.ery maneuvers, a captain substituted for me. When he introduced' himself to the attendants of the sohool, he told them: "Let the staff-captaiin continue gilv:ing you lectures on the subject of baHistics. I can't
do it, because I finished at the Moscow School and their
ballistics are altogether different than those of the CzechoSlovaik A,r my; they use different mathematics; it's very complicated, so I won't coinfuse you with it." The students immediately felt that something was wrong, because my substitute did not want to teach ballistics. 'Dhey urged him to
explain ballistics as taught by the Moscow School, but he
evaded alil questions on the suibject and preferred to talk
about the history of the Red Army. When I returned to the
�SLOVAKIA
23
school, I chec,ked the record orf this individual and found
that he was illiterate when drafted into the service.
The officer-iins tructors had a very destTuct1ve inf1uence
upon the moral discipline, and behavior of the men. 'I'heir
poweT increased to such an extent that rriany commande rs
could not f,ulfiH programs and orders regarding men's training. In 1946 morale and discipline were so deteriorate d that
practically no one's orders were 01beyed; such a condition
existed in SlovaJkia especially. During a football game in
Bratislawa ilil 1946, a riot 'b roke out in the stands and General
Sirica, commande r of 'Military District No. 4 was beaten
brutally when he attempted to ca:Jm the rioters. These officers, it seems, were outside the jurisdiction of regU'lar commanders. COIIllmanders usually did not ask to haive them
puniished or transferred , because i[ they did so, they were
the 01I1es to 'be punished and t:Jransferred.
The reoiiganiza tion of the Czooho-Slo vak Airrmiy, Sovietstyle, was begun in 1945, ·b ut was not completed in 1948,
antj. I doubt that it will ever be completed. Chaos, fear and
inseouriity, brought in ,by Dr. Benes and his Londlon-Moscow
governmen t in 1946, hiwe taken hold of the milita_ry. No one
is certain of anything; every!body, it seems, is spying on
every!body else. Partisans, formerly ,p rivileged, who robb,e d,
plundered and raped the population, are now :be:ing replaced
as um-eliaJble. The Communis ts are in complete power and
control in Ozeicho-Slovaikia and oruy tried and loya,1-to-Moscow Reds are placed in responsible positions Court martials
and severe punishmen ts hwe failed to increase disciipline and
morale. Desertions by officers, who were favorites just a
while back, ooour daily.
1
During 1947 and 1948 I was imprisoned on several occasions and inivesitiigated on ohar,ges of conspiracy. When I
escruped successfull y in the autumn of 1948, I said good-1bye
to no one, not even my dear wife who was with chi'ld at that
time. After I deserted the army and escaped, I Jearned that
my wife W?,S 'jaHed man~ times and brutally beaten during
the investigatio n. Her herulth gradually broke down and in
1951 she died under the most tragic circumstan ces, leaving
two small children. She was only 26.
�SLOVAKIA
Living in Canada today, I am not an ofificer any more.
I work as a helper on construction jobs and feel well ·and
satisfied, though I cannot but he1p think of my children and
re'latirves over there. And despite the hardships and . misfortunes which ibeset me some time ago, when I fost. aff I
had gatined during my residence in Canada, I fee1 rich, because I .lmow thait, God willing, I'll ·b e up tomQII'rOW doing
the same wo:r1k I was doing yesterday without a police
guard. I can malke my plans for the future freely without
fear that some one shall intenfere in my affairs. Today my
only wish is that I might have my children with me to en'.i<)y
the peace and security of a great democratic country.
• • •
TH~ SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
Dr. Arved Grebert
When judging the problem of the function of the Slovak State in the CootraJl-Ewropean area, it is necessary
a.1bove all else to bear in. mind several faicts which ·emanate
from the goopoliticaJl situation of the territOII'y of Slovakia.
The territory of SlovaJlci.a occutpies am. important place in
the Central-®uropean region. Its sfu-ategic significance, its
mineral wealth, the ,p ower potential of its inhaJbitants, as
weli as its economk produicti.Jvity represents values, always
tempts its nerghl>ors, especially the Magyrurs, Ozechs and the
Poles. The attempt to dominate Slovakia, or to gain influence over it, is, therefore, a natural part of their poHtical
aspirations and plans.
"The Gibraltar and the Danube Basin"
From the military standpoint, Slovakia is one of the most
natural stroo.gholds of Central Europe. Propped up against
the migihty Car,pathian range of mountains, which represent
its everlasting and natural 1borders on the north and · the
west, and protected on the s01Uth /by the broad Danulbe, the
second lamgest ri,yer on the Eurqpean continent, its territory presents an ideal terrain for military defense. Its valleys are narrowed and, therefore, easily defended. effoet.Nely
even with a relatively small number of people and arms.
�
20
SLOVAKIA
I WAS AN OFFICER OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMV
Anonymous Preferred
Until the autumn of 1'948, I was an active officer of the
Ozecho.;Slovak Army, bearing the rank of Stalff-Captain. I
achieved this rank doing regular officer's duties after graduating as ·an artiHery 'lieutenant from the Military Academy
at BratisilaNa, the capital city of Slovrukia, my country.
In 1942-43, ·as a member of the Slovak Army, I was ~n
comlbat rugainst the U.1S.S.R. During that time I travelled
through Galicia, Ukvainia, White Ruthenia and the Caucasus and :came· in cootact with the divty, miserable, starved
and frightened population of those territories. I spoke with
many intellec.tuals there and they gave me an idea of what
real life is li!ke in communist Russia. I had heard similar
stories before, at home, but found it hard to believe them.
Now I had it first hand from people who. lived under the
men of the -Kremlin.
At t:Jhe end of 1944 and the 1b eginning of 19415, the Red
Army made its way in Slovakia and eventually "lit~ted"
all of Ozecho-,Slovakia. The Red occupation lasted until the
end of 1946, but even after that time the country, especially
Slo.va!kia - the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia - remained
an eldarado for · military units, groups and indi,viduals whether desertees or reguJar sOildier of the Red Arimy who robbed, pillaged, plundered, murdered and raped almost
at will.
Thds occupation had a very great influence on the reorgani1z ation of the OzechO-iSlorvak Army after the wrur. First,
because the first 1post-war Ozeoho.;81ovak government was
established in Moscow, which was its official residence for a
time, and, secondly, beca.u se the first Czecho-Slova;k _A rmy
corps, organized in Russia during the war, was the fir~t to
come into the coll!Iltry with the Russdans.
The Ozecho-.Slov-a k Army was made up of two nationalities: the. Czechs and the ,Sfovruks, These two nations, even
thoug,h they lived in the same state and were governed by
the same government (Prague), did not get along very
�SLOVAKIA
21
well. Causes of this lay deeply in the mentalities coming out
of their religious beliefs, traditions and economic structure.
Furthermore, the Slova:ks felt that they were forced to lilve
with the Czechs in the same state, since no reaJl representative of the SlovaJk nation attended the P.aris Peace Conference in 1'919, or was consulted. As time went on, the lea;d.
ing Czech politiciruns e~loited the Slovaks more and more
and stul:fuornly refused to recognize their just claims and
their inherent dght to freedom, lilberty and the pursuit of
hruppiness. This resulted in the utter colia:pse of Ozecho-,Slovakia in 1939, when the Slovruk nation proclaimed the independence of SlovaJkia all1d the Czechs ca:me under the Germans.
The prolblems which preceded the collapse of the first
Ozech0-4SlovaJk Repulblic (1918-11938) were not solved after
1945, but rather intensified. They af1footed /both civilian and
army personnel. The deteriorated relations between the
Ozechs and Slo'Vaks g;rew worse, because Dr. Edward Benes
and his Moscow government pursued communist tendencies
and persecuted anti-socialistic and anti--communistic elements e$peciaHy in S}()JVa,k ia. Thousands of good citizens
were disfranchised, dispossessed, forcefully deported out of
Slovrukia, jailed and even executed lb ecaue they refused to accept the new order of Benes and Stalin and cooperate with
Communists. Officers of the Slovak Army and their families
suffered the most.
The armed forces were suibordinate to the Ministry of
National Defense and were dirvided ,i nto four inHitary regions
(Vojenske Olblasti): 1. Praigue, 2. Hradec Kralove, 3. Brno,
4. Bratislava. The Department of Defense Security was o-r ganized under the Ministry of National Defense; its task
was to -keep the military in line and it was much the same
as the NKVD in the Red Army. The department had 'brancihes or units at aH headquarters, in all army units and Judependent units. The heads oif these departments were also
sll!bstitute commanders; all were from the first Ozecho-,Slovak Army Corps which was trained and schooled in Russia. Their activities were aiimed especiaUy against Slwaik officers ·who were at least 90 per cent anti-communist. This socalled · "Fifth Department" (Intelligence) of the Ministry of
�22
SLOVAK·I A
Naitional Defense had to keep a record of just albout everything on everybody in the Army. Agents of the department
shadowed every officer amd reported what he did on or
off duty . .Ais soon as am,y officer !became a suspect of some
indiscretion or v-iolation - real or imagined - he was
jailed and held for court.
Another new department established within the armed
forces was the Department of T,raining and Education. Officers of this department were assigned to every military
unit, staritilng from a company, battery, or a wing. The functions of these officers were the same as those of the Polytrl.llks (political commissars) in the Red Army. Their job was
to preserve unity in the army, hold the soldiers to certain
princi<ples and incmkate and foster the idea of devotion and
loyalty to the state and the regime. These officers spread
the seed of Commun<ism and hate against their superiors
among their men. Once a week they held lectures, praJsin,g
Stalin, the Red Army, the heroes of Socialism and Soviet
establishment s and smearing and condemning Ca;piWism,
western democracy and Christianity.
The officers of this Department of Educaition and braining had little or no education at a;ll. Communists took advantage of this fact and devloped in them a certain 'kind of
ill-aimbition by granting them high ranks, because they had
learned to speaik and act as they were ordered. In 1948 I
was an instructor in a.school for officers in reserve. I taught
ballistics. When I had to interrupt my teaching, because I
was called to taike part in artill.ery maneuvers, a captain substituted for me. When he introduced' himself to the attendants of the sohool, he told them: "Let the staff-captaiin continue gilv:ing you lectures on the subject of baHistics. I can't
do it, because I finished at the Moscow School and their
ballistics are altogether different than those of the CzechoSlovaik A,r my; they use different mathematics; it's very complicated, so I won't coinfuse you with it." The students immediately felt that something was wrong, because my substitute did not want to teach ballistics. 'Dhey urged him to
explain ballistics as taught by the Moscow School, but he
evaded alil questions on the suibject and preferred to talk
about the history of the Red Army. When I returned to the
�SLOVAKIA
23
school, I chec,ked the record orf this individual and found
that he was illiterate when drafted into the service.
The officer-iins tructors had a very destTuct1ve inf1uence
upon the moral discipline, and behavior of the men. 'I'heir
poweT increased to such an extent that rriany commande rs
could not f,ulfiH programs and orders regarding men's training. In 1946 morale and discipline were so deteriorate d that
practically no one's orders were 01beyed; such a condition
existed in SlovaJkia especially. During a football game in
Bratislawa ilil 1946, a riot 'b roke out in the stands and General
Sirica, commande r of 'Military District No. 4 was beaten
brutally when he attempted to ca:Jm the rioters. These officers, it seems, were outside the jurisdiction of regU'lar commanders. COIIllmanders usually did not ask to haive them
puniished or transferred , because i[ they did so, they were
the 01I1es to 'be punished and t:Jransferred.
The reoiiganiza tion of the Czooho-Slo vak Airrmiy, Sovietstyle, was begun in 1945, ·b ut was not completed in 1948,
antj. I doubt that it will ever be completed. Chaos, fear and
inseouriity, brought in ,by Dr. Benes and his Londlon-Moscow
governmen t in 1946, hiwe taken hold of the milita_ry. No one
is certain of anything; every!body, it seems, is spying on
every!body else. Partisans, formerly ,p rivileged, who robb,e d,
plundered and raped the population, are now :be:ing replaced
as um-eliaJble. The Communis ts are in complete power and
control in Ozeicho-Slovaikia and oruy tried and loya,1-to-Moscow Reds are placed in responsible positions Court martials
and severe punishmen ts hwe failed to increase disciipline and
morale. Desertions by officers, who were favorites just a
while back, ooour daily.
1
During 1947 and 1948 I was imprisoned on several occasions and inivesitiigated on ohar,ges of conspiracy. When I
escruped successfull y in the autumn of 1948, I said good-1bye
to no one, not even my dear wife who was with chi'ld at that
time. After I deserted the army and escaped, I Jearned that
my wife W?,S 'jaHed man~ times and brutally beaten during
the investigatio n. Her herulth gradually broke down and in
1951 she died under the most tragic circumstan ces, leaving
two small children. She was only 26.
�SLOVAKIA
Living in Canada today, I am not an ofificer any more.
I work as a helper on construction jobs and feel well ·and
satisfied, though I cannot but he1p think of my children and
re'latirves over there. And despite the hardships and . misfortunes which ibeset me some time ago, when I fost. aff I
had gatined during my residence in Canada, I fee1 rich, because I .lmow thait, God willing, I'll ·b e up tomQII'rOW doing
the same wo:r1k I was doing yesterday without a police
guard. I can malke my plans for the future freely without
fear that some one shall intenfere in my affairs. Today my
only wish is that I might have my children with me to en'.i<)y
the peace and security of a great democratic country.
• • •
TH~ SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
Dr. Arved Grebert
When judging the problem of the function of the Slovak State in the CootraJl-Ewropean area, it is necessary
a.1bove all else to bear in. mind several faicts which ·emanate
from the goopoliticaJl situation of the territOII'y of Slovakia.
The territory of SlovaJlci.a occutpies am. important place in
the Central-®uropean region. Its sfu-ategic significance, its
mineral wealth, the ,p ower potential of its inhaJbitants, as
weli as its economk produicti.Jvity represents values, always
tempts its nerghl>ors, especially the Magyrurs, Ozechs and the
Poles. The attempt to dominate Slovakia, or to gain influence over it, is, therefore, a natural part of their poHtical
aspirations and plans.
"The Gibraltar and the Danube Basin"
From the military standpoint, Slovakia is one of the most
natural stroo.gholds of Central Europe. Propped up against
the migihty Car,pathian range of mountains, which represent
its everlasting and natural 1borders on the north and · the
west, and protected on the s01Uth /by the broad Danulbe, the
second lamgest ri,yer on the Eurqpean continent, its territory presents an ideal terrain for military defense. Its valleys are narrowed and, therefore, easily defended. effoet.Nely
even with a relatively small number of people and arms.
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
I WAS AN OFFICER OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMV
Anonymous Preferred
Until the autumn of 1'948, I was an active officer of the
Ozecho.;Slovak Army, bearing the rank of Stalff-Captain. I
achieved this rank doing regular officer's duties after graduating as ·an artiHery 'lieutenant from the Military Academy
at BratisilaNa, the capital city of Slovrukia, my country.
In 1942-43, ·as a member of the Slovak Army, I was ~n
comlbat rugainst the U.1S.S.R. During that time I travelled
through Galicia, Ukvainia, White Ruthenia and the Caucasus and :came· in cootact with the divty, miserable, starved
and frightened population of those territories. I spoke with
many intellec.tuals there and they gave me an idea of what
real life is li!ke in communist Russia. I had heard similar
stories before, at home, but found it hard to believe them.
Now I had it first hand from people who. lived under the
men of the -Kremlin.
At t:Jhe end of 1944 and the 1b eginning of 19415, the Red
Army made its way in Slovakia and eventually "lit~ted"
all of Ozecho-,Slovakia. The Red occupation lasted until the
end of 1946, but even after that time the country, especially
Slo.va!kia - the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia - remained
an eldarado for · military units, groups and indi,viduals whether desertees or reguJar sOildier of the Red Arimy who robbed, pillaged, plundered, murdered and raped almost
at will.
Thds occupation had a very great influence on the reorgani1z ation of the OzechO-iSlorvak Army after the wrur. First,
because the first 1post-war Ozeoho.;81ovak government was
established in Moscow, which was its official residence for a
time, and, secondly, beca.u se the first Czecho-Slova;k _A rmy
corps, organized in Russia during the war, was the fir~t to
come into the coll!Iltry with the Russdans.
The Ozecho-.Slov-a k Army was made up of two nationalities: the. Czechs and the ,Sfovruks, These two nations, even
thoug,h they lived in the same state and were governed by
the same government (Prague), did not get along very
SLOVAKIA
21
well. Causes of this lay deeply in the mentalities coming out
of their religious beliefs, traditions and economic structure.
Furthermore, the Slova:ks felt that they were forced to lilve
with the Czechs in the same state, since no reaJl representative of the SlovaJk nation attended the P.aris Peace Conference in 1'919, or was consulted. As time went on, the lea;d.
ing Czech politiciruns e~loited the Slovaks more and more
and stul:fuornly refused to recognize their just claims and
their inherent dght to freedom, lilberty and the pursuit of
hruppiness. This resulted in the utter colia:pse of Ozecho-,Slovakia in 1939, when the Slovruk nation proclaimed the independence of SlovaJkia all1d the Czechs ca:me under the Germans.
The prolblems which preceded the collapse of the first
Ozech0-4SlovaJk Repulblic (1918-11938) were not solved after
1945, but rather intensified. They af1footed /both civilian and
army personnel. The deteriorated relations between the
Ozechs and Slo'Vaks g;rew worse, because Dr. Edward Benes
and his Moscow government pursued communist tendencies
and persecuted anti-socialistic and anti--communistic elements e$peciaHy in S}()JVa,k ia. Thousands of good citizens
were disfranchised, dispossessed, forcefully deported out of
Slovrukia, jailed and even executed lb ecaue they refused to accept the new order of Benes and Stalin and cooperate with
Communists. Officers of the Slovak Army and their families
suffered the most.
The armed forces were suibordinate to the Ministry of
National Defense and were dirvided ,i nto four inHitary regions
(Vojenske Olblasti): 1. Praigue, 2. Hradec Kralove, 3. Brno,
4. Bratislava. The Department of Defense Security was o-r ganized under the Ministry of National Defense; its task
was to -keep the military in line and it was much the same
as the NKVD in the Red Army. The department had 'brancihes or units at aH headquarters, in all army units and Judependent units. The heads oif these departments were also
sll!bstitute commanders; all were from the first Ozecho-,Slovak Army Corps which was trained and schooled in Russia. Their activities were aiimed especiaUy against Slwaik officers ·who were at least 90 per cent anti-communist. This socalled · "Fifth Department" (Intelligence) of the Ministry of
22
SLOVAK·I A
Naitional Defense had to keep a record of just albout everything on everybody in the Army. Agents of the department
shadowed every officer amd reported what he did on or
off duty . .Ais soon as am,y officer !became a suspect of some
indiscretion or v-iolation - real or imagined - he was
jailed and held for court.
Another new department established within the armed
forces was the Department of T,raining and Education. Officers of this department were assigned to every military
unit, staritilng from a company, battery, or a wing. The functions of these officers were the same as those of the Polytrl.llks (political commissars) in the Red Army. Their job was
to preserve unity in the army, hold the soldiers to certain
princi<ples and incmkate and foster the idea of devotion and
loyalty to the state and the regime. These officers spread
the seed of Commun<ism and hate against their superiors
among their men. Once a week they held lectures, praJsin,g
Stalin, the Red Army, the heroes of Socialism and Soviet
establishment s and smearing and condemning Ca;piWism,
western democracy and Christianity.
The officers of this Department of Educaition and braining had little or no education at a;ll. Communists took advantage of this fact and devloped in them a certain 'kind of
ill-aimbition by granting them high ranks, because they had
learned to speaik and act as they were ordered. In 1948 I
was an instructor in a.school for officers in reserve. I taught
ballistics. When I had to interrupt my teaching, because I
was called to taike part in artill.ery maneuvers, a captain substituted for me. When he introduced' himself to the attendants of the sohool, he told them: "Let the staff-captaiin continue gilv:ing you lectures on the subject of baHistics. I can't
do it, because I finished at the Moscow School and their
ballistics are altogether different than those of the CzechoSlovaik A,r my; they use different mathematics; it's very complicated, so I won't coinfuse you with it." The students immediately felt that something was wrong, because my substitute did not want to teach ballistics. 'Dhey urged him to
explain ballistics as taught by the Moscow School, but he
evaded alil questions on the suibject and preferred to talk
about the history of the Red Army. When I returned to the
SLOVAKIA
23
school, I chec,ked the record orf this individual and found
that he was illiterate when drafted into the service.
The officer-iins tructors had a very destTuct1ve inf1uence
upon the moral discipline, and behavior of the men. 'I'heir
poweT increased to such an extent that rriany commande rs
could not f,ulfiH programs and orders regarding men's training. In 1946 morale and discipline were so deteriorate d that
practically no one's orders were 01beyed; such a condition
existed in SlovaJkia especially. During a football game in
Bratislawa ilil 1946, a riot 'b roke out in the stands and General
Sirica, commande r of 'Military District No. 4 was beaten
brutally when he attempted to ca:Jm the rioters. These officers, it seems, were outside the jurisdiction of regU'lar commanders. COIIllmanders usually did not ask to haive them
puniished or transferred , because i[ they did so, they were
the 01I1es to 'be punished and t:Jransferred.
The reoiiganiza tion of the Czooho-Slo vak Airrmiy, Sovietstyle, was begun in 1945, ·b ut was not completed in 1948,
antj. I doubt that it will ever be completed. Chaos, fear and
inseouriity, brought in ,by Dr. Benes and his Londlon-Moscow
governmen t in 1946, hiwe taken hold of the milita_ry. No one
is certain of anything; every!body, it seems, is spying on
every!body else. Partisans, formerly ,p rivileged, who robb,e d,
plundered and raped the population, are now :be:ing replaced
as um-eliaJble. The Communis ts are in complete power and
control in Ozeicho-Slovaikia and oruy tried and loya,1-to-Moscow Reds are placed in responsible positions Court martials
and severe punishmen ts hwe failed to increase disciipline and
morale. Desertions by officers, who were favorites just a
while back, ooour daily.
1
During 1947 and 1948 I was imprisoned on several occasions and inivesitiigated on ohar,ges of conspiracy. When I
escruped successfull y in the autumn of 1948, I said good-1bye
to no one, not even my dear wife who was with chi'ld at that
time. After I deserted the army and escaped, I Jearned that
my wife W?,S 'jaHed man~ times and brutally beaten during
the investigatio n. Her herulth gradually broke down and in
1951 she died under the most tragic circumstan ces, leaving
two small children. She was only 26.
SLOVAKIA
Living in Canada today, I am not an ofificer any more.
I work as a helper on construction jobs and feel well ·and
satisfied, though I cannot but he1p think of my children and
re'latirves over there. And despite the hardships and . misfortunes which ibeset me some time ago, when I fost. aff I
had gatined during my residence in Canada, I fee1 rich, because I .lmow thait, God willing, I'll ·b e up tomQII'rOW doing
the same wo:r1k I was doing yesterday without a police
guard. I can malke my plans for the future freely without
fear that some one shall intenfere in my affairs. Today my
only wish is that I might have my children with me to en'.i<)y
the peace and security of a great democratic country.
• • •
TH~ SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
Dr. Arved Grebert
When judging the problem of the function of the Slovak State in the CootraJl-Ewropean area, it is necessary
a.1bove all else to bear in. mind several faicts which ·emanate
from the goopoliticaJl situation of the territOII'y of Slovakia.
The territory of SlovaJlci.a occutpies am. important place in
the Central-®uropean region. Its sfu-ategic significance, its
mineral wealth, the ,p ower potential of its inhaJbitants, as
weli as its economk produicti.Jvity represents values, always
tempts its nerghl>ors, especially the Magyrurs, Ozechs and the
Poles. The attempt to dominate Slovakia, or to gain influence over it, is, therefore, a natural part of their poHtical
aspirations and plans.
"The Gibraltar and the Danube Basin"
From the military standpoint, Slovakia is one of the most
natural stroo.gholds of Central Europe. Propped up against
the migihty Car,pathian range of mountains, which represent
its everlasting and natural 1borders on the north and · the
west, and protected on the s01Uth /by the broad Danulbe, the
second lamgest ri,yer on the Eurqpean continent, its territory presents an ideal terrain for military defense. Its valleys are narrowed and, therefore, easily defended. effoet.Nely
even with a relatively small number of people and arms.
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
I Was an Officer in the Czecho-Slovak Army
Description
An account of the resource
Anonymous Preferred
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954
pp. 20-24
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c1b4c01c282a23f5617c662b2dcfb47b.pdf
5183f4c90973d838c6d2636b069c1b04
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
15
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIKAVA
'I'he ruins of this ancient castle are situated, on an isolated rook aibove the toiwn of Lilkarva, near Ruwmlberok, in
LiptO'V County. In the bax::kgroiund it is surrounded by mountains, the nearest of wlhich is caUed Cebrat,. while memoraJble ChOlc rises northeast and fogenda.ry Mnich soutih of the
castle. On Mt. Mnich (Monk) there was at one time a monastery of the Red MonJk-lremp18!rs. Legend has it that this
monastery was conneioted with the 'V'illage of Llkaiva lby underground passages.
It has not been definitely estaJblished when Likav a
Castle was !built; some historians say that it was 1built during the time of Mojmir or Svatop'h.1.ik, while others olaim that
the Red Monks, the Templars, who had occuJpied a whole
series of 1Slovruk castles, built it in the 13th century to preveillt the wHd Tatars from coming into Ora,iva.
The ruins of Liikaiva iare very interesting even today. Its
mam walls reach heaivenward, forming the image oif a ship.
The buildings of Li!kaNa were quite extensive and in some
places as high as five . .stories. Traces of :p aintings, histOI1ical
dates and various decorations on the walls are stilil faintly
vi,silble, as are evidences of several gates and underground
store rooms. Soutlh and west of the castle were two extensive gardens; below the castle a yard and a fishpond north
of it. The iview from the castle is ivery 1bea,wtifuL On the south
one can see the ,w hite ho1Uses of Liik,a va, ~ond which lies
Ruzomberok, the city of Father Andrew llli.nika, champion
of justice and Slo1vaJk freedom.
When danger threatened, the people of Gerner, UptOIV
and Turiec usually fled to the hills and mountains. The
Likava Castle was a sarfe pla-ce of refuge when 500,000 Tatars itore into Hungary in 1241 ; in the battle a/bove the Sajava River some 100,000 soldiers perished. The people
of those regions fled not only into the mountains and
castles, but also sought refuge in the many caives for which
�16
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia is noted. Plroof od: this exists in the carves of Liptov and those orf Mt. Mnich and Mt. Choe.
After the depa:riture of the Tata.Ts, Likava passed into
the hands of Genman calonirers who were called in by King
Bela IV of HUil!gary. In 1312, the lord of Lrkaiva Castle was
Radomir, the last Prior Of Cerveny Klastor (Red . Monastery) on Mt. Mnich. Three years later (1'31'5) Ki:ng Charles
RdbeTt •donated Lilkava to Miatusv Done, administrator of
Li-pto1V Oounty, for aid giiven him in 1:Jhe battle near Rozhanovce. Later, the casble 1belonged to George Buibek (Bebek ?) , King Zigmll!l1d, John Jiskra (1441), Peter Komorovsky (1449); the la;tter also awned the Oraiva Castle. Other
owners of Likava included Andrew Bathory, John Krusie,
the Hunady's, Zaipol'skys, Illeshazis and, finaMy the Tokolys.
While the latteT family held it, Litkava ,p robably sa;w its most
glorious days. Of course, the owners and the people connected with the castle never had any long, peaceful periods.;
the never-ending struggle for 1:Jhe crown of Hungary brought
misery and suffering to the p01pU1lation; the throne of Hungary was seldom gained without bloodshed. Many of the
battles for the throne took place ,b eneath the Lilkaiva Castle.
'Dhe Tokoly clan became a ,power in Hungary and rebelled a:gainst the thTOne. In 1670, when the imperial anny
besieged the Orava Castle, whi-ch was held by 1:Jhe elder Toko1y, his so.n Emevich, disguised as a woman, fled Likava
and organiized a rebellion against the HaJb$burgs. When
Francis Raikoczi ordered the old castle demol,ished in 1707,
the people undertook the task enthusiastically, but the
walls would not go down. No one became interested in re building the old Lika1Va 'bastion, so tJhe bleak walls remain
a silent and ominous witness to a troubled past.
•
•
•
DEFINITION OF A CZECHOSLOVAK: A Czechoslo vak is a Czech
or renegade Slovak who claims that the Slovak nation does not want
to be free and independent, but prefers to be under the domination
of the Czechs, who are, according to him, the only peuple in the
world who can safeguard the national existence of the Slovak people
and promote its national welfare better than the Slovaks themselves.
In short: A LIAR!
�
SLOVAKIA
15
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIKAVA
'I'he ruins of this ancient castle are situated, on an isolated rook aibove the toiwn of Lilkarva, near Ruwmlberok, in
LiptO'V County. In the bax::kgroiund it is surrounded by mountains, the nearest of wlhich is caUed Cebrat,. while memoraJble ChOlc rises northeast and fogenda.ry Mnich soutih of the
castle. On Mt. Mnich (Monk) there was at one time a monastery of the Red MonJk-lremp18!rs. Legend has it that this
monastery was conneioted with the 'V'illage of Llkaiva lby underground passages.
It has not been definitely estaJblished when Likav a
Castle was !built; some historians say that it was 1built during the time of Mojmir or Svatop'h.1.ik, while others olaim that
the Red Monks, the Templars, who had occuJpied a whole
series of 1Slovruk castles, built it in the 13th century to preveillt the wHd Tatars from coming into Ora,iva.
The ruins of Liikaiva iare very interesting even today. Its
mam walls reach heaivenward, forming the image oif a ship.
The buildings of Li!kaNa were quite extensive and in some
places as high as five . .stories. Traces of :p aintings, histOI1ical
dates and various decorations on the walls are stilil faintly
vi,silble, as are evidences of several gates and underground
store rooms. Soutlh and west of the castle were two extensive gardens; below the castle a yard and a fishpond north
of it. The iview from the castle is ivery 1bea,wtifuL On the south
one can see the ,w hite ho1Uses of Liik,a va, ~ond which lies
Ruzomberok, the city of Father Andrew llli.nika, champion
of justice and Slo1vaJk freedom.
When danger threatened, the people of Gerner, UptOIV
and Turiec usually fled to the hills and mountains. The
Likava Castle was a sarfe pla-ce of refuge when 500,000 Tatars itore into Hungary in 1241 ; in the battle a/bove the Sajava River some 100,000 soldiers perished. The people
of those regions fled not only into the mountains and
castles, but also sought refuge in the many caives for which
�16
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia is noted. Plroof od: this exists in the carves of Liptov and those orf Mt. Mnich and Mt. Choe.
After the depa:riture of the Tata.Ts, Likava passed into
the hands of Genman calonirers who were called in by King
Bela IV of HUil!gary. In 1312, the lord of Lrkaiva Castle was
Radomir, the last Prior Of Cerveny Klastor (Red . Monastery) on Mt. Mnich. Three years later (1'31'5) Ki:ng Charles
RdbeTt •donated Lilkava to Miatusv Done, administrator of
Li-pto1V Oounty, for aid giiven him in 1:Jhe battle near Rozhanovce. Later, the casble 1belonged to George Buibek (Bebek ?) , King Zigmll!l1d, John Jiskra (1441), Peter Komorovsky (1449); the la;tter also awned the Oraiva Castle. Other
owners of Likava included Andrew Bathory, John Krusie,
the Hunady's, Zaipol'skys, Illeshazis and, finaMy the Tokolys.
While the latteT family held it, Litkava ,p robably sa;w its most
glorious days. Of course, the owners and the people connected with the castle never had any long, peaceful periods.;
the never-ending struggle for 1:Jhe crown of Hungary brought
misery and suffering to the p01pU1lation; the throne of Hungary was seldom gained without bloodshed. Many of the
battles for the throne took place ,b eneath the Lilkaiva Castle.
'Dhe Tokoly clan became a ,power in Hungary and rebelled a:gainst the thTOne. In 1670, when the imperial anny
besieged the Orava Castle, whi-ch was held by 1:Jhe elder Toko1y, his so.n Emevich, disguised as a woman, fled Likava
and organiized a rebellion against the HaJb$burgs. When
Francis Raikoczi ordered the old castle demol,ished in 1707,
the people undertook the task enthusiastically, but the
walls would not go down. No one became interested in re building the old Lika1Va 'bastion, so tJhe bleak walls remain
a silent and ominous witness to a troubled past.
•
•
•
DEFINITION OF A CZECHOSLOVAK: A Czechoslo vak is a Czech
or renegade Slovak who claims that the Slovak nation does not want
to be free and independent, but prefers to be under the domination
of the Czechs, who are, according to him, the only peuple in the
world who can safeguard the national existence of the Slovak people
and promote its national welfare better than the Slovaks themselves.
In short: A LIAR!
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
15
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIKAVA
'I'he ruins of this ancient castle are situated, on an isolated rook aibove the toiwn of Lilkarva, near Ruwmlberok, in
LiptO'V County. In the bax::kgroiund it is surrounded by mountains, the nearest of wlhich is caUed Cebrat,. while memoraJble ChOlc rises northeast and fogenda.ry Mnich soutih of the
castle. On Mt. Mnich (Monk) there was at one time a monastery of the Red MonJk-lremp18!rs. Legend has it that this
monastery was conneioted with the 'V'illage of Llkaiva lby underground passages.
It has not been definitely estaJblished when Likav a
Castle was !built; some historians say that it was 1built during the time of Mojmir or Svatop'h.1.ik, while others olaim that
the Red Monks, the Templars, who had occuJpied a whole
series of 1Slovruk castles, built it in the 13th century to preveillt the wHd Tatars from coming into Ora,iva.
The ruins of Liikaiva iare very interesting even today. Its
mam walls reach heaivenward, forming the image oif a ship.
The buildings of Li!kaNa were quite extensive and in some
places as high as five . .stories. Traces of :p aintings, histOI1ical
dates and various decorations on the walls are stilil faintly
vi,silble, as are evidences of several gates and underground
store rooms. Soutlh and west of the castle were two extensive gardens; below the castle a yard and a fishpond north
of it. The iview from the castle is ivery 1bea,wtifuL On the south
one can see the ,w hite ho1Uses of Liik,a va, ~ond which lies
Ruzomberok, the city of Father Andrew llli.nika, champion
of justice and Slo1vaJk freedom.
When danger threatened, the people of Gerner, UptOIV
and Turiec usually fled to the hills and mountains. The
Likava Castle was a sarfe pla-ce of refuge when 500,000 Tatars itore into Hungary in 1241 ; in the battle a/bove the Sajava River some 100,000 soldiers perished. The people
of those regions fled not only into the mountains and
castles, but also sought refuge in the many caives for which
16
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia is noted. Plroof od: this exists in the carves of Liptov and those orf Mt. Mnich and Mt. Choe.
After the depa:riture of the Tata.Ts, Likava passed into
the hands of Genman calonirers who were called in by King
Bela IV of HUil!gary. In 1312, the lord of Lrkaiva Castle was
Radomir, the last Prior Of Cerveny Klastor (Red . Monastery) on Mt. Mnich. Three years later (1'31'5) Ki:ng Charles
RdbeTt •donated Lilkava to Miatusv Done, administrator of
Li-pto1V Oounty, for aid giiven him in 1:Jhe battle near Rozhanovce. Later, the casble 1belonged to George Buibek (Bebek ?) , King Zigmll!l1d, John Jiskra (1441), Peter Komorovsky (1449); the la;tter also awned the Oraiva Castle. Other
owners of Likava included Andrew Bathory, John Krusie,
the Hunady's, Zaipol'skys, Illeshazis and, finaMy the Tokolys.
While the latteT family held it, Litkava ,p robably sa;w its most
glorious days. Of course, the owners and the people connected with the castle never had any long, peaceful periods.;
the never-ending struggle for 1:Jhe crown of Hungary brought
misery and suffering to the p01pU1lation; the throne of Hungary was seldom gained without bloodshed. Many of the
battles for the throne took place ,b eneath the Lilkaiva Castle.
'Dhe Tokoly clan became a ,power in Hungary and rebelled a:gainst the thTOne. In 1670, when the imperial anny
besieged the Orava Castle, whi-ch was held by 1:Jhe elder Toko1y, his so.n Emevich, disguised as a woman, fled Likava
and organiized a rebellion against the HaJb$burgs. When
Francis Raikoczi ordered the old castle demol,ished in 1707,
the people undertook the task enthusiastically, but the
walls would not go down. No one became interested in re building the old Lika1Va 'bastion, so tJhe bleak walls remain
a silent and ominous witness to a troubled past.
•
•
•
DEFINITION OF A CZECHOSLOVAK: A Czechoslo vak is a Czech
or renegade Slovak who claims that the Slovak nation does not want
to be free and independent, but prefers to be under the domination
of the Czechs, who are, according to him, the only peuple in the
world who can safeguard the national existence of the Slovak people
and promote its national welfare better than the Slovaks themselves.
In short: A LIAR!
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: Likava
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954
pp. 15-16
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1954
castles
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/49c22a933a41fb6c35fc24890b895dd2.pdf
1d665ed688c0f104a1b3b9d37fb8d66d
PDF Text
Text
VOL. IV
JUNE ,1954
NO. 2 (11i
IN TillS ISSUE:
Tf;IE CA§E OF DR. HUBERT RIPKA AND COMPANY
.r-;
. ·,:p·,:,cASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
I
f"
. .....
LIKAVA
f
LIBERATI .O N -
INDEPENDENCE -
I
FEDERATION
,- '
I Y'/AS AN OFFICER IN THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMY
THE SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
DECL.:ARATION -
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SLOVAKS
ADDRE•SS OF, PH I LIP A. H ROBAK
MARCH 14 -
SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY
THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE
WHO SAID IT ? -
*
*
P.
64
*
Edited and compile.d by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
· THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
ts 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
Middletown , Pa .
�SLOVAKIA,
Published quarter ly by the Slova k
VO L. IV
JU N E 1954
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, one of
the founders of tlhe so-called
" Coun c il of F r ee Czechoslovaki a," and former mem1ber of the
Communist-dmninated "Nation a 1
Fron.t" government of Benes and
Gottwald, tried hard to e."plain
a.way his coilla'boraJtion wHh the
Reds of his country and wi-th
Moscow in a s·e ries of articles pUJblished -in the NEW YORESKY
DENINiK, last March (March 1226, 19'54). His record, however,
stands. To our readers we recommend Ripka's book "EAISl'l' ANiD
WEST" (London, 1944) so that
they might see just :hO<W Mr.
Ripk,a and otJher Bene.s Czechs
fought Communism at home and
aJbroad . Since the book is no:t
easy to get, the s ,LOV!A.K NEWS·
LElT'DER, might serve the pul'lpose,
since it has -published lerugthy
quotations from it since Miairch,
1954. Copies gf .the NiIDWSLETTER are still available for those
who wish t hem. Send 25 cents to
SLOVAKIA to pay for the cost
of handling and postage.
DR. FEDOR HODZA, son of the
Ia te premier of Czecho,S!ova:kia,
s igned
the
letter
protesting
" forced I·a:bor" which was published- in the NEW YORK
TIIM ES, April 8, 1954. He signed
it as a member of ithe "'Steering
Committee, Council of Free Czechosfovakia." With the contents
of the · letter prnbaib ly we could
all agree, but was no.t the same
Hodza, as were other Czecll politicians now organized in the
"Council of Free Ozechoslovakia,"
a member of the ''National
Front As semibly in Pra.g ue whiC1h
Leag ue of Ame rica
N O. 2 (1 1)
,p ;assed Law No. 88, the Compulsory LaJbor Decree, October 1,
19'45? Furthermore, ·w e und erstand that Hodza declared in tlie
Prague Assembly on No·vembe.r
14, 1945, that ,hifs ,>arty (The Let.
'trLch "democrats") " unreservedly
accepts its slb.are of resipon·s ibility
for esta,blislhing complete co ntrol
by the State of aJl! productive
laibor." Would he no,w want us to
'b elieve .that he and his poli<ti,cal
f,riend.s were not aware of the
fact that s lave or forced la bor
oa,mps did exist in Czecho-Slova.
kia when they ruled that country together? Well !·
"CZECHOSLOVAKISM
AME,RICANIS M" a
v ersus
48-page
expose of the pro-Soviet " N•a tional Fronters" in the so-caBe.d
",Council of Free Czecllosiovakia"
- Slhould be read by ever:9" one
seeking the ansrwer to the question why "Czechosloviak demo craoy" converted so ea:shly to a
R ed ·"people's denioc-i,a,cy." Send
25 ce nts in sta1I11Ps or coin and
your co1py will •be se nt promptly.
MORE THAN FORTY Catholic
priests were arrested last M,arch
by the Communist authorities in
Slovakia in the wake of "illegal"
celeibrations comm emorating the
1'5th anniversary of the proclamation of Slovakia's independence,
according to rep'Or:ts · from Vienna. T<he .priests were arres.ted for
off.erirug "unlta.wful" Masses a,nd
paying tribute to Dr. Josepih Tiso, first .president of independent Slovakia, who •was hanged in
194,7 by Vhe Benes-Gottwald regime. ·'I1housands of Slovaks were
�2
SLOVAKli
questioned and detained by the ·
,security police for takin-g par.t in
"illegal" independence demonstra.
tions. The spirit of freedom and
independence lives on in Slovakia!
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, promoter of the pro,Soviet policy of the
Czech National ,SO!cialdsts (the
Czech Naz'is) and author of the
"we-must-colla:boraite-wti.th-1:!he U.
S. S. R. book EAJST AND WEST
(London, 1944), received a ho,t
reception
from ,the
Chtca:go
Czechs the evening of May 10th.
Police were called in to quell the
distunbance when Rilpka ma.de his
,a p;pearance to lecture. -Pic<kets
barred RLpka's entrance to a. lecture hall and one. of them even
l:Yanged Ri pka over the head wit,h
a po!>ter he was carirying. The
Czechs are finalcy- 1beginning .to
s-e parate tJhe chaff from the
wheat.
1
TISO DAY, April 18:th, was reverently ·c ommemorated by true
Slovaks everywhere, Americans
of Slovak descent includ•e d. Dr.
Joseph Tiso, .president of the Slovak Repub1ic (19.39-19145), was
murdered April 18, 1'947, by the
Communist-do:mina:ted "National
Front" gove.rnment of the iBenesGottw'a.ld coalition. Tiso grows in
s,tature with the passing years
and hi s memory lives on in the
hearts of •Slovaks every,w'here.
Con•g ress. Brom'inent American
•personalities are g,radwally learning the. awful trutih about the po1i tical me.ss that wa;s Czecho-Slova:kia ,a nd the peoJ.}le directly and
indirectly resJ.}ons~ble for the sellOLLt of the Czech and Slov01k nations ,to the USSR It is especially gratifying th-at responsible people in Go.v e;rnment a.re finially
le.arning to distinguish ,Slova/ks
from Czechs. 'l'he stirr.i ng and inspiring mess,a ges of President
Eisenhower, V. P. Richard Nixon,
S-ec retary of S·tate John Foster
Dulles, were well received and
,aJ.)pfauded lustily.
BOL•SHEVISM s.till devours its
own cb1ldren. Last April, five
leading Slovak Reas Husak,
HorvaJth, Oka.Li, Holdos and Novomes•ky - were given sentences
of ten years to life for "cons·piring aga inst tJhe integrity of the
State." The Czech Reds are sup11eme rulers in Czecho-Slovakia,
but even they do not know whose
,h eau wHl lbe on the block next.
JOH,N HVASTA, American citizen of Slovak descent, Hillside,
N. J ., told the story of his ar-r est
and escape from Red Cze.cho:SilOIV'akiia In the. SA'DtJIR'OA'Y EVE.
NIING POST (May 15•22, 1~&4) .
Hva,sta expects to have a book
pUJblislhed 'before .the end of the
year.
1
Sl •S TER
THE
NAT1IOiNAL
CONFER-
ENCE of Americans of Silovak
Descent, sponsored by the. Slovak
League of America, in WaSihington, D. C.. May 24-25, 19'54, was
attended ,b y some 1,3,5 delegates
from pra-ctically all parts of
.A:merica settled 'b y the Slova:ks
and some 50 honored guests,
wlhich included three senators and
32 representatives of the U. S.
MAKARIA
BARATH,
a Slovak nun -w ho fled tJhe Communists in Czecho•Slovwkia, told
the story of her underground
rwor.k .anu the success of her
flight in LI•F E mwg,azine, May 17,
19,54. The niun esca-ped from Slovakia in 195.2, spent the next .two
yeiars in Ba..varia and arrived in
'New York last February_ She
aame to · PihiJ.adelphia for a brief
visit June Nth.
�SLOVAKIA
THE SLOVAKS aire not taking
to Marxist sociaUsm quickly
enough, so the Czech Reds of
Prague held new elections to local "national" committees in Sfovakia M.ay l&tlh. Zaipotoeky, Red
Czech president, asked to have
the "1b est" citizens elected, and
the "!best" of the wornit that
could be .found were elected.
Poor SlovakJa!
MR. JOHN PAPI\NEK, former
Czecho-Slovak delegate to the
UN, writes the column "From
the United Nations" Wihich appears in the Ozech "progres,s ive"
papers and the NEW YORK'8KY
DillNN1K, the Czechosfovak daHy
pu,blislhed in. Slovak lan'g uage"(!).
Pa,panek now tells ho,w Communists might be stop,ped or weak•
ened, but he does not want to be
asked how he vote·d on various
issues, ru· why he voted with the
U SISR, when a delegate of Mr.
Benes to the U.N. Papanek might
make his stories a 1bit shorter and
more to the point ,b y saying:
Beihold, hmv I promoted Dr. Benes's
,pro-iSoviet
,p olicy
and
backed tlhe Red-s in the U.N. by
voting wi•th them - now, I, Pa•
panek, admit that is not the w,a y
to stop or wea,ken Communist'S.
Or is confession no longer good
for the soul?
HAVE YOU READ "This is
.Slovakia" by Dr. F,rancis Hrusovs ky, eminent Slovalk historian?
If not, do so at your earliest convenience. You ,oan order your
COPf, , trom SWVAKIA only
$1.0().
THE "MATICA SLOV,ENSKA"
(Slovak Institute) is no more.
The famous cultural institution
of learning was outlawed by decree of the Slovak National Coun-
3
cil on April 27th. T,he Matica
1b,ui:lding is now a lilbra;ry. The
diS1Solution of the institution wias
expected since ·t he Reds estrublished tlhe "Slovak Academy of
Sciences" la.st year whiclb. allegedly took over mos.t of the func.
tions of the Mtatica, the guardian
of Slovak national and cultural
traditions.
"MOST" (Brid,ge), quarterly for
<Slovak culture, estaJbliSihed in
1953, contains many noteworthy
contri,b utions of Slovak intellec·tuals. We recomemnd it to a:11
our readers who C'an read Slovak.
Issue No. 3 has just come off the
press. 'I1he quarterly is edited by
Rev. Niooolas Sprinc of the Slovak Benedictine High School,
Cleveland, Ohio. You can have
'IMOST" for five dollars per annum. Send subscriptions to:
MOST, 2006 Slchrage Avenue,
Whiting, Ind.
"DR.
JOZEF T,IISO
O SEBE"
(Dr. Joseph Tiso .Aibout Himself)
is the title of a book p,ulblished
by the Slovak Catholic Sokol
Press, Passaic, N. J. It was authored by Dr. Joseph Pauco, Middle.t01Wn. Pa., former editor of the
S100VAK, the largest Slovak
daily in Slovakia during tlhe war
years. T-h e speech of Dr. Tiso,
president of the Slovak Republic
(19,39-1945), made in !his own
defense at the conclusion of his
trial in 1-94'7, lasting eleven full
hours, forms the contents of the
book. EX:planatory notes are supplied by Dr. Pauco, who prepared
the speech for puiblic.ation. We
,heartily recommend it to the
readers of Slovakiia who have
a reading ·knowle<lgi'l of Slovak.
You can get a copy by sending
$1.50 to : Dr. Joseph Pauco, 114
N. U nion Street, Middletown, Pa.
�
VOL. IV
JUNE ,1954
NO. 2 (11i
IN TillS ISSUE:
Tf;IE CA§E OF DR. HUBERT RIPKA AND COMPANY
.r-;
. ·,:p·,:,cASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
I
f"
. .....
LIKAVA
f
LIBERATI .O N -
INDEPENDENCE -
I
FEDERATION
,- '
I Y'/AS AN OFFICER IN THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMY
THE SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
DECL.:ARATION -
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SLOVAKS
ADDRE•SS OF, PH I LIP A. H ROBAK
MARCH 14 -
SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY
THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE
WHO SAID IT ? -
*
*
P.
64
*
Edited and compile.d by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
· THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
ts 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
Middletown , Pa .
�SLOVAKIA,
Published quarter ly by the Slova k
VO L. IV
JU N E 1954
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, one of
the founders of tlhe so-called
" Coun c il of F r ee Czechoslovaki a," and former mem1ber of the
Communist-dmninated "Nation a 1
Fron.t" government of Benes and
Gottwald, tried hard to e."plain
a.way his coilla'boraJtion wHh the
Reds of his country and wi-th
Moscow in a s·e ries of articles pUJblished -in the NEW YORESKY
DENINiK, last March (March 1226, 19'54). His record, however,
stands. To our readers we recommend Ripka's book "EAISl'l' ANiD
WEST" (London, 1944) so that
they might see just :hO<W Mr.
Ripk,a and otJher Bene.s Czechs
fought Communism at home and
aJbroad . Since the book is no:t
easy to get, the s ,LOV!A.K NEWS·
LElT'DER, might serve the pul'lpose,
since it has -published lerugthy
quotations from it since Miairch,
1954. Copies gf .the NiIDWSLETTER are still available for those
who wish t hem. Send 25 cents to
SLOVAKIA to pay for the cost
of handling and postage.
DR. FEDOR HODZA, son of the
Ia te premier of Czecho,S!ova:kia,
s igned
the
letter
protesting
" forced I·a:bor" which was published- in the NEW YORK
TIIM ES, April 8, 1954. He signed
it as a member of ithe "'Steering
Committee, Council of Free Czechosfovakia." With the contents
of the · letter prnbaib ly we could
all agree, but was no.t the same
Hodza, as were other Czecll politicians now organized in the
"Council of Free Ozechoslovakia,"
a member of the ''National
Front As semibly in Pra.g ue whiC1h
Leag ue of Ame rica
N O. 2 (1 1)
,p ;assed Law No. 88, the Compulsory LaJbor Decree, October 1,
19'45? Furthermore, ·w e und erstand that Hodza declared in tlie
Prague Assembly on No·vembe.r
14, 1945, that ,hifs ,>arty (The Let.
'trLch "democrats") " unreservedly
accepts its slb.are of resipon·s ibility
for esta,blislhing complete co ntrol
by the State of aJl! productive
laibor." Would he no,w want us to
'b elieve .that he and his poli<ti,cal
f,riend.s were not aware of the
fact that s lave or forced la bor
oa,mps did exist in Czecho-Slova.
kia when they ruled that country together? Well !·
"CZECHOSLOVAKISM
AME,RICANIS M" a
v ersus
48-page
expose of the pro-Soviet " N•a tional Fronters" in the so-caBe.d
",Council of Free Czecllosiovakia"
- Slhould be read by ever:9" one
seeking the ansrwer to the question why "Czechosloviak demo craoy" converted so ea:shly to a
R ed ·"people's denioc-i,a,cy." Send
25 ce nts in sta1I11Ps or coin and
your co1py will •be se nt promptly.
MORE THAN FORTY Catholic
priests were arrested last M,arch
by the Communist authorities in
Slovakia in the wake of "illegal"
celeibrations comm emorating the
1'5th anniversary of the proclamation of Slovakia's independence,
according to rep'Or:ts · from Vienna. T<he .priests were arres.ted for
off.erirug "unlta.wful" Masses a,nd
paying tribute to Dr. Josepih Tiso, first .president of independent Slovakia, who •was hanged in
194,7 by Vhe Benes-Gottwald regime. ·'I1housands of Slovaks were
�2
SLOVAKli
questioned and detained by the ·
,security police for takin-g par.t in
"illegal" independence demonstra.
tions. The spirit of freedom and
independence lives on in Slovakia!
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, promoter of the pro,Soviet policy of the
Czech National ,SO!cialdsts (the
Czech Naz'is) and author of the
"we-must-colla:boraite-wti.th-1:!he U.
S. S. R. book EAJST AND WEST
(London, 1944), received a ho,t
reception
from ,the
Chtca:go
Czechs the evening of May 10th.
Police were called in to quell the
distunbance when Rilpka ma.de his
,a p;pearance to lecture. -Pic<kets
barred RLpka's entrance to a. lecture hall and one. of them even
l:Yanged Ri pka over the head wit,h
a po!>ter he was carirying. The
Czechs are finalcy- 1beginning .to
s-e parate tJhe chaff from the
wheat.
1
TISO DAY, April 18:th, was reverently ·c ommemorated by true
Slovaks everywhere, Americans
of Slovak descent includ•e d. Dr.
Joseph Tiso, .president of the Slovak Repub1ic (19.39-19145), was
murdered April 18, 1'947, by the
Communist-do:mina:ted "National
Front" gove.rnment of the iBenesGottw'a.ld coalition. Tiso grows in
s,tature with the passing years
and hi s memory lives on in the
hearts of •Slovaks every,w'here.
Con•g ress. Brom'inent American
•personalities are g,radwally learning the. awful trutih about the po1i tical me.ss that wa;s Czecho-Slova:kia ,a nd the peoJ.}le directly and
indirectly resJ.}ons~ble for the sellOLLt of the Czech and Slov01k nations ,to the USSR It is especially gratifying th-at responsible people in Go.v e;rnment a.re finially
le.arning to distinguish ,Slova/ks
from Czechs. 'l'he stirr.i ng and inspiring mess,a ges of President
Eisenhower, V. P. Richard Nixon,
S-ec retary of S·tate John Foster
Dulles, were well received and
,aJ.)pfauded lustily.
BOL•SHEVISM s.till devours its
own cb1ldren. Last April, five
leading Slovak Reas Husak,
HorvaJth, Oka.Li, Holdos and Novomes•ky - were given sentences
of ten years to life for "cons·piring aga inst tJhe integrity of the
State." The Czech Reds are sup11eme rulers in Czecho-Slovakia,
but even they do not know whose
,h eau wHl lbe on the block next.
JOH,N HVASTA, American citizen of Slovak descent, Hillside,
N. J ., told the story of his ar-r est
and escape from Red Cze.cho:SilOIV'akiia In the. SA'DtJIR'OA'Y EVE.
NIING POST (May 15•22, 1~&4) .
Hva,sta expects to have a book
pUJblislhed 'before .the end of the
year.
1
Sl •S TER
THE
NAT1IOiNAL
CONFER-
ENCE of Americans of Silovak
Descent, sponsored by the. Slovak
League of America, in WaSihington, D. C.. May 24-25, 19'54, was
attended ,b y some 1,3,5 delegates
from pra-ctically all parts of
.A:merica settled 'b y the Slova:ks
and some 50 honored guests,
wlhich included three senators and
32 representatives of the U. S.
MAKARIA
BARATH,
a Slovak nun -w ho fled tJhe Communists in Czecho•Slovwkia, told
the story of her underground
rwor.k .anu the success of her
flight in LI•F E mwg,azine, May 17,
19,54. The niun esca-ped from Slovakia in 195.2, spent the next .two
yeiars in Ba..varia and arrived in
'New York last February_ She
aame to · PihiJ.adelphia for a brief
visit June Nth.
�SLOVAKIA
THE SLOVAKS aire not taking
to Marxist sociaUsm quickly
enough, so the Czech Reds of
Prague held new elections to local "national" committees in Sfovakia M.ay l&tlh. Zaipotoeky, Red
Czech president, asked to have
the "1b est" citizens elected, and
the "!best" of the wornit that
could be .found were elected.
Poor SlovakJa!
MR. JOHN PAPI\NEK, former
Czecho-Slovak delegate to the
UN, writes the column "From
the United Nations" Wihich appears in the Ozech "progres,s ive"
papers and the NEW YORK'8KY
DillNN1K, the Czechosfovak daHy
pu,blislhed in. Slovak lan'g uage"(!).
Pa,panek now tells ho,w Communists might be stop,ped or weak•
ened, but he does not want to be
asked how he vote·d on various
issues, ru· why he voted with the
U SISR, when a delegate of Mr.
Benes to the U.N. Papanek might
make his stories a 1bit shorter and
more to the point ,b y saying:
Beihold, hmv I promoted Dr. Benes's
,pro-iSoviet
,p olicy
and
backed tlhe Red-s in the U.N. by
voting wi•th them - now, I, Pa•
panek, admit that is not the w,a y
to stop or wea,ken Communist'S.
Or is confession no longer good
for the soul?
HAVE YOU READ "This is
.Slovakia" by Dr. F,rancis Hrusovs ky, eminent Slovalk historian?
If not, do so at your earliest convenience. You ,oan order your
COPf, , trom SWVAKIA only
$1.0().
THE "MATICA SLOV,ENSKA"
(Slovak Institute) is no more.
The famous cultural institution
of learning was outlawed by decree of the Slovak National Coun-
3
cil on April 27th. T,he Matica
1b,ui:lding is now a lilbra;ry. The
diS1Solution of the institution wias
expected since ·t he Reds estrublished tlhe "Slovak Academy of
Sciences" la.st year whiclb. allegedly took over mos.t of the func.
tions of the Mtatica, the guardian
of Slovak national and cultural
traditions.
"MOST" (Brid,ge), quarterly for
<Slovak culture, estaJbliSihed in
1953, contains many noteworthy
contri,b utions of Slovak intellec·tuals. We recomemnd it to a:11
our readers who C'an read Slovak.
Issue No. 3 has just come off the
press. 'I1he quarterly is edited by
Rev. Niooolas Sprinc of the Slovak Benedictine High School,
Cleveland, Ohio. You can have
'IMOST" for five dollars per annum. Send subscriptions to:
MOST, 2006 Slchrage Avenue,
Whiting, Ind.
"DR.
JOZEF T,IISO
O SEBE"
(Dr. Joseph Tiso .Aibout Himself)
is the title of a book p,ulblished
by the Slovak Catholic Sokol
Press, Passaic, N. J. It was authored by Dr. Joseph Pauco, Middle.t01Wn. Pa., former editor of the
S100VAK, the largest Slovak
daily in Slovakia during tlhe war
years. T-h e speech of Dr. Tiso,
president of the Slovak Republic
(19,39-1945), made in !his own
defense at the conclusion of his
trial in 1-94'7, lasting eleven full
hours, forms the contents of the
book. EX:planatory notes are supplied by Dr. Pauco, who prepared
the speech for puiblic.ation. We
,heartily recommend it to the
readers of Slovakiia who have
a reading ·knowle<lgi'l of Slovak.
You can get a copy by sending
$1.50 to : Dr. Joseph Pauco, 114
N. U nion Street, 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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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. IV
JUNE ,1954
NO. 2 (11i
IN TillS ISSUE:
Tf;IE CA§E OF DR. HUBERT RIPKA AND COMPANY
.r-;
. ·,:p·,:,cASTLES OF SLOVAKIA:
I
f"
. .....
LIKAVA
f
LIBERATI .O N -
INDEPENDENCE -
I
FEDERATION
,- '
I Y'/AS AN OFFICER IN THE CZECHO-SLOVAK ARMY
THE SLOVAK STATE AND CENTRAL EUROPE
DECL.:ARATION -
NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SLOVAKS
ADDRE•SS OF, PH I LIP A. H ROBAK
MARCH 14 -
SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE DAY
THE SLOVAKS AND KING SAMO'S EMPIRE
WHO SAID IT ? -
*
*
P.
64
*
Edited and compile.d by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
· THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
ts 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
Middletown , Pa .
SLOVAKIA,
Published quarter ly by the Slova k
VO L. IV
JU N E 1954
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, one of
the founders of tlhe so-called
" Coun c il of F r ee Czechoslovaki a," and former mem1ber of the
Communist-dmninated "Nation a 1
Fron.t" government of Benes and
Gottwald, tried hard to e."plain
a.way his coilla'boraJtion wHh the
Reds of his country and wi-th
Moscow in a s·e ries of articles pUJblished -in the NEW YORESKY
DENINiK, last March (March 1226, 19'54). His record, however,
stands. To our readers we recommend Ripka's book "EAISl'l' ANiD
WEST" (London, 1944) so that
they might see just :hO<W Mr.
Ripk,a and otJher Bene.s Czechs
fought Communism at home and
aJbroad . Since the book is no:t
easy to get, the s ,LOV!A.K NEWS·
LElT'DER, might serve the pul'lpose,
since it has -published lerugthy
quotations from it since Miairch,
1954. Copies gf .the NiIDWSLETTER are still available for those
who wish t hem. Send 25 cents to
SLOVAKIA to pay for the cost
of handling and postage.
DR. FEDOR HODZA, son of the
Ia te premier of Czecho,S!ova:kia,
s igned
the
letter
protesting
" forced I·a:bor" which was published- in the NEW YORK
TIIM ES, April 8, 1954. He signed
it as a member of ithe "'Steering
Committee, Council of Free Czechosfovakia." With the contents
of the · letter prnbaib ly we could
all agree, but was no.t the same
Hodza, as were other Czecll politicians now organized in the
"Council of Free Ozechoslovakia,"
a member of the ''National
Front As semibly in Pra.g ue whiC1h
Leag ue of Ame rica
N O. 2 (1 1)
,p ;assed Law No. 88, the Compulsory LaJbor Decree, October 1,
19'45? Furthermore, ·w e und erstand that Hodza declared in tlie
Prague Assembly on No·vembe.r
14, 1945, that ,hifs ,>arty (The Let.
'trLch "democrats") " unreservedly
accepts its slb.are of resipon·s ibility
for esta,blislhing complete co ntrol
by the State of aJl! productive
laibor." Would he no,w want us to
'b elieve .that he and his poli<ti,cal
f,riend.s were not aware of the
fact that s lave or forced la bor
oa,mps did exist in Czecho-Slova.
kia when they ruled that country together? Well !·
"CZECHOSLOVAKISM
AME,RICANIS M" a
v ersus
48-page
expose of the pro-Soviet " N•a tional Fronters" in the so-caBe.d
",Council of Free Czecllosiovakia"
- Slhould be read by ever:9" one
seeking the ansrwer to the question why "Czechosloviak demo craoy" converted so ea:shly to a
R ed ·"people's denioc-i,a,cy." Send
25 ce nts in sta1I11Ps or coin and
your co1py will •be se nt promptly.
MORE THAN FORTY Catholic
priests were arrested last M,arch
by the Communist authorities in
Slovakia in the wake of "illegal"
celeibrations comm emorating the
1'5th anniversary of the proclamation of Slovakia's independence,
according to rep'Or:ts · from Vienna. T<he .priests were arres.ted for
off.erirug "unlta.wful" Masses a,nd
paying tribute to Dr. Josepih Tiso, first .president of independent Slovakia, who •was hanged in
194,7 by Vhe Benes-Gottwald regime. ·'I1housands of Slovaks were
2
SLOVAKli
questioned and detained by the ·
,security police for takin-g par.t in
"illegal" independence demonstra.
tions. The spirit of freedom and
independence lives on in Slovakia!
DR. HUBERT RIPKA, promoter of the pro,Soviet policy of the
Czech National ,SO!cialdsts (the
Czech Naz'is) and author of the
"we-must-colla:boraite-wti.th-1:!he U.
S. S. R. book EAJST AND WEST
(London, 1944), received a ho,t
reception
from ,the
Chtca:go
Czechs the evening of May 10th.
Police were called in to quell the
distunbance when Rilpka ma.de his
,a p;pearance to lecture. -Pic<kets
barred RLpka's entrance to a. lecture hall and one. of them even
l:Yanged Ri pka over the head wit,h
a po!>ter he was carirying. The
Czechs are finalcy- 1beginning .to
s-e parate tJhe chaff from the
wheat.
1
TISO DAY, April 18:th, was reverently ·c ommemorated by true
Slovaks everywhere, Americans
of Slovak descent includ•e d. Dr.
Joseph Tiso, .president of the Slovak Repub1ic (19.39-19145), was
murdered April 18, 1'947, by the
Communist-do:mina:ted "National
Front" gove.rnment of the iBenesGottw'a.ld coalition. Tiso grows in
s,tature with the passing years
and hi s memory lives on in the
hearts of •Slovaks every,w'here.
Con•g ress. Brom'inent American
•personalities are g,radwally learning the. awful trutih about the po1i tical me.ss that wa;s Czecho-Slova:kia ,a nd the peoJ.}le directly and
indirectly resJ.}ons~ble for the sellOLLt of the Czech and Slov01k nations ,to the USSR It is especially gratifying th-at responsible people in Go.v e;rnment a.re finially
le.arning to distinguish ,Slova/ks
from Czechs. 'l'he stirr.i ng and inspiring mess,a ges of President
Eisenhower, V. P. Richard Nixon,
S-ec retary of S·tate John Foster
Dulles, were well received and
,aJ.)pfauded lustily.
BOL•SHEVISM s.till devours its
own cb1ldren. Last April, five
leading Slovak Reas Husak,
HorvaJth, Oka.Li, Holdos and Novomes•ky - were given sentences
of ten years to life for "cons·piring aga inst tJhe integrity of the
State." The Czech Reds are sup11eme rulers in Czecho-Slovakia,
but even they do not know whose
,h eau wHl lbe on the block next.
JOH,N HVASTA, American citizen of Slovak descent, Hillside,
N. J ., told the story of his ar-r est
and escape from Red Cze.cho:SilOIV'akiia In the. SA'DtJIR'OA'Y EVE.
NIING POST (May 15•22, 1~&4) .
Hva,sta expects to have a book
pUJblislhed 'before .the end of the
year.
1
Sl •S TER
THE
NAT1IOiNAL
CONFER-
ENCE of Americans of Silovak
Descent, sponsored by the. Slovak
League of America, in WaSihington, D. C.. May 24-25, 19'54, was
attended ,b y some 1,3,5 delegates
from pra-ctically all parts of
.A:merica settled 'b y the Slova:ks
and some 50 honored guests,
wlhich included three senators and
32 representatives of the U. S.
MAKARIA
BARATH,
a Slovak nun -w ho fled tJhe Communists in Czecho•Slovwkia, told
the story of her underground
rwor.k .anu the success of her
flight in LI•F E mwg,azine, May 17,
19,54. The niun esca-ped from Slovakia in 195.2, spent the next .two
yeiars in Ba..varia and arrived in
'New York last February_ She
aame to · PihiJ.adelphia for a brief
visit June Nth.
SLOVAKIA
THE SLOVAKS aire not taking
to Marxist sociaUsm quickly
enough, so the Czech Reds of
Prague held new elections to local "national" committees in Sfovakia M.ay l&tlh. Zaipotoeky, Red
Czech president, asked to have
the "1b est" citizens elected, and
the "!best" of the wornit that
could be .found were elected.
Poor SlovakJa!
MR. JOHN PAPI\NEK, former
Czecho-Slovak delegate to the
UN, writes the column "From
the United Nations" Wihich appears in the Ozech "progres,s ive"
papers and the NEW YORK'8KY
DillNN1K, the Czechosfovak daHy
pu,blislhed in. Slovak lan'g uage"(!).
Pa,panek now tells ho,w Communists might be stop,ped or weak•
ened, but he does not want to be
asked how he vote·d on various
issues, ru· why he voted with the
U SISR, when a delegate of Mr.
Benes to the U.N. Papanek might
make his stories a 1bit shorter and
more to the point ,b y saying:
Beihold, hmv I promoted Dr. Benes's
,pro-iSoviet
,p olicy
and
backed tlhe Red-s in the U.N. by
voting wi•th them - now, I, Pa•
panek, admit that is not the w,a y
to stop or wea,ken Communist'S.
Or is confession no longer good
for the soul?
HAVE YOU READ "This is
.Slovakia" by Dr. F,rancis Hrusovs ky, eminent Slovalk historian?
If not, do so at your earliest convenience. You ,oan order your
COPf, , trom SWVAKIA only
$1.0().
THE "MATICA SLOV,ENSKA"
(Slovak Institute) is no more.
The famous cultural institution
of learning was outlawed by decree of the Slovak National Coun-
3
cil on April 27th. T,he Matica
1b,ui:lding is now a lilbra;ry. The
diS1Solution of the institution wias
expected since ·t he Reds estrublished tlhe "Slovak Academy of
Sciences" la.st year whiclb. allegedly took over mos.t of the func.
tions of the Mtatica, the guardian
of Slovak national and cultural
traditions.
"MOST" (Brid,ge), quarterly for
<Slovak culture, estaJbliSihed in
1953, contains many noteworthy
contri,b utions of Slovak intellec·tuals. We recomemnd it to a:11
our readers who C'an read Slovak.
Issue No. 3 has just come off the
press. 'I1he quarterly is edited by
Rev. Niooolas Sprinc of the Slovak Benedictine High School,
Cleveland, Ohio. You can have
'IMOST" for five dollars per annum. Send subscriptions to:
MOST, 2006 Slchrage Avenue,
Whiting, Ind.
"DR.
JOZEF T,IISO
O SEBE"
(Dr. Joseph Tiso .Aibout Himself)
is the title of a book p,ulblished
by the Slovak Catholic Sokol
Press, Passaic, N. J. It was authored by Dr. Joseph Pauco, Middle.t01Wn. Pa., former editor of the
S100VAK, the largest Slovak
daily in Slovakia during tlhe war
years. T-h e speech of Dr. Tiso,
president of the Slovak Republic
(19,39-1945), made in !his own
defense at the conclusion of his
trial in 1-94'7, lasting eleven full
hours, forms the contents of the
book. EX:planatory notes are supplied by Dr. Pauco, who prepared
the speech for puiblic.ation. We
,heartily recommend it to the
readers of Slovakiia who have
a reading ·knowle<lgi'l of Slovak.
You can get a copy by sending
$1.50 to : Dr. Joseph Pauco, 114
N. U nion Street, 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. 4, No. 2 (11)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c8967aaa42bc5a289ba209343bfe2261.pdf
e5f62adc476fb0b67db9fd19f4af9cef
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organ ized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr, Peter
1943 W.
Chi cago
John J. Sirotnak
610-612 L inco ln Trust B ldg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
President
P. Hletko
48th Street
9, Illin ois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Owosso , Micl1.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. 0. Box 150, Midd letown, Pa. Ste phanie 0. Husek
Georgian Court Coll ege
Lakewood, N. J.
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Street
Michael J. Vargov ich
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak Un ion
Vice-President
of U. S. A.
Julia Krajcovlc
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Rec01·d ing Secretary
Fra ncis H rusovsky
2900 East Boul evard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Frank Sobus
National President
S lovak Catholi c Sokol
Sec re ta ry-Treas u rer
Milan V. Blazek
4205 W . Cullerton Street
Ch icago 23, 111.
EXECUTIVE
Helen Kocan
National P r es ident
F irst Catholi c Slovak
Ladies Union
Stephen J . Tkach
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
Gabr iela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
P ittsb urgh 10, P a.
Joseph Prusa
205 Mad ison St., Passaic, N. J .
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of Amer ica )
JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
.ZENSKA JEDNOTA
BRATSTVO
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland, Oh io.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KA TOL i CKY SOKO L
Passaic, N. J.
S VORNOST
Wh1taker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill .
Cleveland, Ohio.
�General Milan R. Stefanik, soldier, statesman and
astronomer, whose tragic death occurred May 4, 1919, when
his plane was "accidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison
near Vajnory, Slovakia.
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organ ized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr, Peter
1943 W.
Chi cago
John J. Sirotnak
610-612 L inco ln Trust B ldg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
President
P. Hletko
48th Street
9, Illin ois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Owosso , Micl1.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. 0. Box 150, Midd letown, Pa. Ste phanie 0. Husek
Georgian Court Coll ege
Lakewood, N. J.
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Street
Michael J. Vargov ich
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak Un ion
Vice-President
of U. S. A.
Julia Krajcovlc
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Rec01·d ing Secretary
Fra ncis H rusovsky
2900 East Boul evard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Frank Sobus
National President
S lovak Catholi c Sokol
Sec re ta ry-Treas u rer
Milan V. Blazek
4205 W . Cullerton Street
Ch icago 23, 111.
EXECUTIVE
Helen Kocan
National P r es ident
F irst Catholi c Slovak
Ladies Union
Stephen J . Tkach
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
Gabr iela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
P ittsb urgh 10, P a.
Joseph Prusa
205 Mad ison St., Passaic, N. J .
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of Amer ica )
JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
.ZENSKA JEDNOTA
BRATSTVO
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland, Oh io.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KA TOL i CKY SOKO L
Passaic, N. J.
S VORNOST
Wh1taker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill .
Cleveland, Ohio.
�General Milan R. Stefanik, soldier, statesman and
astronomer, whose tragic death occurred May 4, 1919, when
his plane was "accidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison
near Vajnory, 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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
(Organ ized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio.)
•
Honorary
Dr, Peter
1943 W.
Chi cago
John J. Sirotnak
610-612 L inco ln Trust B ldg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
President
P. Hletko
48th Street
9, Illin ois
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East Mason Street
Owosso , Micl1.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. 0. Box 150, Midd letown, Pa. Ste phanie 0. Husek
Georgian Court Coll ege
Lakewood, N. J.
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Street
Michael J. Vargov ich
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak Un ion
Vice-President
of U. S. A.
Julia Krajcovlc
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
Rec01·d ing Secretary
Fra ncis H rusovsky
2900 East Boul evard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Frank Sobus
National President
S lovak Catholi c Sokol
Sec re ta ry-Treas u rer
Milan V. Blazek
4205 W . Cullerton Street
Ch icago 23, 111.
EXECUTIVE
Helen Kocan
National P r es ident
F irst Catholi c Slovak
Ladies Union
Stephen J . Tkach
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
Gabr iela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
P ittsb urgh 10, P a.
Joseph Prusa
205 Mad ison St., Passaic, N. J .
SLOVAK
John Rozboril
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of Amer ica )
JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
.ZENSKA JEDNOTA
BRATSTVO
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland, Oh io.
ZORNICKA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
KA TOL i CKY SOKO L
Passaic, N. J.
S VORNOST
Wh1taker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill .
Cleveland, Ohio.
General Milan R. Stefanik, soldier, statesman and
astronomer, whose tragic death occurred May 4, 1919, when
his plane was "accidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison
near Vajnory, 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
Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10)
Description
An account of the resource
includes portrait of Gen. Milan R. Štefánik
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/06ffe1aed7fe2ac7435cb40bb8e506df.pdf
95d24e9b5d08db54f68d08c75203d2fb
PDF Text
Text
63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
�64
SLOVAKIA
do the reibeUing against the emperor by himself. The emperor's generai, Tilly, defeated Frederick and the Czech
ma;g;nates ·at White Moiuntain in 1620. Frederick fled the
country while the emperor was rounding up his enemies.
The emperor abrogated the ipr1vileges orf the aristocratic
estates with the wcclaim of the common Czech pe01ple. The
Thirty Years' Wa;r raged with like fury in Bohemia -and the
Germanies. There ,certainly was no national pumpose, especially no Czech national punpose - 'behind it a,t all After
the smoke ,orf the lb attle cleia,r~d, there was -little evidence
of Czech national co;nsciousness until the mid<ile orf the nineteenth century.
1
In the liight of historic~l facts,, the legend tha,t the
Czechs lost their political (national) indeipendence in 1620
remains just what it was - a legend. As much so as the
legend or fiction o;f a single, united "Ozechoslava;k" nation!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Slovak tradition and economy stand as a barrier between Czechs and Sfova;ks. . . So important was the Siova,k
problem in the minds of both Czech and Slorvak leaders, that
it was a major subject of study a11d debate during the war
and has continued to .be ever since. An effort was made to
solve the problem in 194'5 in the Kosice Programme, in which
Czechs and Slovaks are defined as two distinct nations
united by common interest in a single state. This is in
itse'lf a complete reversal orf .the ethnic theory on which
the first Repulblic was built: the. belief that Czechs and
Slovaks constituted a single nation. The Kpsice , Program
further provided that the Slovaks should be the masters in
their Slovak lands, just as the Czechs in their Czech homeland, and that the gorvernment will regard the Slorvak Na-.
tional Counici.J not only as the rightfiu[ re<presentatirve of the
indirviduwl Siorvak nation, but aJlso as, the bearer of so:verei,gn
right on SlorvaJk territory." ~ William Diamond, CZECHOSLOVAKIA BETWEIDN EAST AND WEST, Londoo., 1947.
�
63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
�64
SLOVAKIA
do the reibeUing against the emperor by himself. The emperor's generai, Tilly, defeated Frederick and the Czech
ma;g;nates ·at White Moiuntain in 1620. Frederick fled the
country while the emperor was rounding up his enemies.
The emperor abrogated the ipr1vileges orf the aristocratic
estates with the wcclaim of the common Czech pe01ple. The
Thirty Years' Wa;r raged with like fury in Bohemia -and the
Germanies. There ,certainly was no national pumpose, especially no Czech national punpose - 'behind it a,t all After
the smoke ,orf the lb attle cleia,r~d, there was -little evidence
of Czech national co;nsciousness until the mid<ile orf the nineteenth century.
1
In the liight of historic~l facts,, the legend tha,t the
Czechs lost their political (national) indeipendence in 1620
remains just what it was - a legend. As much so as the
legend or fiction o;f a single, united "Ozechoslava;k" nation!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Slovak tradition and economy stand as a barrier between Czechs and Sfova;ks. . . So important was the Siova,k
problem in the minds of both Czech and Slorvak leaders, that
it was a major subject of study a11d debate during the war
and has continued to .be ever since. An effort was made to
solve the problem in 194'5 in the Kosice Programme, in which
Czechs and Slovaks are defined as two distinct nations
united by common interest in a single state. This is in
itse'lf a complete reversal orf .the ethnic theory on which
the first Repulblic was built: the. belief that Czechs and
Slovaks constituted a single nation. The Kpsice , Program
further provided that the Slovaks should be the masters in
their Slovak lands, just as the Czechs in their Czech homeland, and that the gorvernment will regard the Slorvak Na-.
tional Counici.J not only as the rightfiu[ re<presentatirve of the
indirviduwl Siorvak nation, but aJlso as, the bearer of so:verei,gn
right on SlorvaJk territory." ~ William Diamond, CZECHOSLOVAKIA BETWEIDN EAST AND WEST, Londoo., 1947.
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
64
SLOVAKIA
do the reibeUing against the emperor by himself. The emperor's generai, Tilly, defeated Frederick and the Czech
ma;g;nates ·at White Moiuntain in 1620. Frederick fled the
country while the emperor was rounding up his enemies.
The emperor abrogated the ipr1vileges orf the aristocratic
estates with the wcclaim of the common Czech pe01ple. The
Thirty Years' Wa;r raged with like fury in Bohemia -and the
Germanies. There ,certainly was no national pumpose, especially no Czech national punpose - 'behind it a,t all After
the smoke ,orf the lb attle cleia,r~d, there was -little evidence
of Czech national co;nsciousness until the mid<ile orf the nineteenth century.
1
In the liight of historic~l facts,, the legend tha,t the
Czechs lost their political (national) indeipendence in 1620
remains just what it was - a legend. As much so as the
legend or fiction o;f a single, united "Ozechoslava;k" nation!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Slovak tradition and economy stand as a barrier between Czechs and Sfova;ks. . . So important was the Siova,k
problem in the minds of both Czech and Slorvak leaders, that
it was a major subject of study a11d debate during the war
and has continued to .be ever since. An effort was made to
solve the problem in 194'5 in the Kosice Programme, in which
Czechs and Slovaks are defined as two distinct nations
united by common interest in a single state. This is in
itse'lf a complete reversal orf .the ethnic theory on which
the first Repulblic was built: the. belief that Czechs and
Slovaks constituted a single nation. The Kpsice , Program
further provided that the Slovaks should be the masters in
their Slovak lands, just as the Czechs in their Czech homeland, and that the gorvernment will regard the Slorvak Na-.
tional Counici.J not only as the rightfiu[ re<presentatirve of the
indirviduwl Siorvak nation, but aJlso as, the bearer of so:verei,gn
right on SlorvaJk territory." ~ William Diamond, CZECHOSLOVAKIA BETWEIDN EAST AND WEST, Londoo., 1947.
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
White Mountain - Historical Forgery
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954
pp. 63-64
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/96d04a4a837ae0e45ee85998b4dff11a.pdf
9e5e206f00cb0421dba1339b2a117ae2
PDF Text
Text
60
SLOVAKIA
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIETAVA
Li etava was one of the most extensive castles of the
V ah region and ,pro\baibly one of the largest orf Slovakia.
With its locati,on and structure it al1s o is one of lthe most beautiful of ruins. Like Hricov and Sul'ov, Lieta,va was buHt on
hu1g e sandstone roicks which not only made a firm foundation, but also provided exceHent buiiding ma,terial. Because
it was practkally inaiccessilble, it afforded good protection
for its masters. The ea stern and northern sides orf Lietava
Castle espeicially are so steep that an approach from those
sides i,s whoHy impossi'ble . And this · characteristic most
likely gruve rise to the legend for the origin of the name
of the castle. Louis the Great, ,Slovaiks will teJl you, ordered
his burlders to !build him a new castle 1in about 1360 on such
a spot that would lbe inaccessible to an enemy who did not
know how to fly. Hence, the name LietaJVa from the, SlO!Vak
"lietat'" (to fily). Liefa'Va was one of a number of fortresses
and castles built at that time.
1
Lietawa is mosrt accessilble from the southern side, where
one can enter the castle grounds through the main gate.
At the western and eastern ends of the spacious courtyard
we see the remains of two ,s quare towers ,w ith gun oipeinings.
To gert to the 1inner courtyard, which housed the inhalbitants
of the castle, one has to pass throll1gh anotherr massive gate.
Here we <find ,a huge cistern carved inrto the rO'ck, into which
flowed the rainwater from the rooftops of the !buildings
close by through wooden and clay troughs.
,
In the center orf the yard there stood a mighty tower
with walls two meterrs thi,ok ; its circumference was 36
meters,. Accoroing to experts this was the oldest part of the
Lietava fortress - the last ref'll!ge of those, besieged by an
enemy. On the southern side of the dwelling pl~es ~an be
seen even today the escutcheon of the Kostka clan, i.e, a
hand gvilpipirng a siword with a half-moon and a 1brachial
star. On the eastern side there iprotrudes a mighty semicircU'lar -bastion with many gun-holes; on the ground floor
�SLOVAKIA
61
'large ones for cannons and small ones for musk~ts on the
upper floor.
At the foot of the castle, aJb,o ve the town of Lietava,
stands a historic churich with a Gothic tower, which probably was a ,g uard tower, since it was 'buult on the slope of the
hill. When the caSitle 1perished, two paintings, two, painted
and richly caTVed chureh pews and three bells were brought
to this ,c hurch from the castle chaipeJ. During Worrld War I,
the Hungarian government had these relics removed. According to an ancient story, there was a precious altar
painting in this chur,ch, whi-ch also had its origin in the
LietaJVa Castle. The painting depfoted a multitude o:f people
surrounding an old ,priest who was being thrown oiver the
cliff onto prepared siprked-lpoles by wi1d Tatars.
An · ancient legend teHs us that the painting originated
in the fol1lowi.nig imaniner. Aifter the historic battle near
Saj,wa, the Tataric hordes ,s cattered all o;ver the country.
One of their groUJps 1ca;me to Lietava, and the residents, fled
in terror before them, many hiding in the hills, while the
rest, mostly dlder men, ,w omen and ohildren, barric·a ded
themsel,ves :in the church. In those days, chu11ches were
fortified with walls so that in ti:me of need they did offer
some measure of ,protection. Among the unfortunates in the
chmch, wa;s a!lso an old priest who encouraged his fait:hfol
to ,prepare to defend themselves. As ,s oon as the Tatars
came to the chur,ch, they called out to the defende:ris to surrender the church willingly and then all wou1d 1b e free to go
their way. The old priest admonished his 1people not to believe the heathen ter,rorists, but the faithful eventually
gruve UJP and surrendered the church. They were basely
deceived. The Tatars rounded them all up and marched
them to the edge of a high rock: below, in the albyss, spilked
poles were driven in the ,g round. The wild Tatars screamed
at their prisoners to renounce their Christian fruith or be
thrown off the cliff onto the, spiked poles. The wged priest
pleaded with his faithfol to. remain true to Chri.st, and true
they did remain. The · enraged Tatars forced many oiver
the cliff with their ·spears and knives. When the rest would
not renounce their faith, the Tatars seized the old priest and
�SLOVAKIA
62
t!hrew him headlong into .the a:byss. But, lo and behold, a
miracle happened! T.he ,priest did not fall on ,t he spikes belorw. He siim:ply dis111Ppeared. The heathen Tatar brutes were
ama;zed and fri,gihtened; it did not ta:ke them long to clear
out of Lietava and the country.
What really happened to the aged ·priest? His fall to
certain doom was checked ·~ a staunch bush which projected out of the cliff and he mana;ged to hang on, out of
s~ght of the Tatars. When the residents of Lietava ireturned
f.rom the ,hills shortl,y after, they freed thek heroic and
saintly priest and buried the victims of Tatar brutality. Lietaiva commemorated the memo,ry of this. miraculous liberation for centuries. The paintiing resulted; it was hUIIlg above
the altar of the church.
'-'
According to tradition, long before the wills of Lieta va
Castle were built on the steep rock, a pagan shrine was built
on the site. It was. made of wood, and, hence, in time disaippeared completely. .Aibove the entrance to the shrine, on
a hU1ge beam, theire was caI"Ved an image of the sun, which
meant that the forefathers orf ,the Slo1vaJks. worrs.hiipped the
sun as the giver of life. Pagan priestesses: lived beneath the
shrine; it was 1Jhedr duty to bring honey water, ripened
grains and f,rurits, wreaths and other airtioles of sa;crifice to
their gods. Many years later a Christian church repl-a,ced the
pa:gan shrine.
History tells us that Lo:u.is the Great donated the Lieta;va stronghold in 1360 to Stephen Bwbek from Plesivec for
sel'!Vices rendered him during his wars in Italy. In 1403,
however, one of his descendants, Henry (Im.ro), fought
a;gainst King Zigimund, and because of this both Strecno
and Lietava were given to some Polisih nobleman by Zigmund. Later, however, the Bubelk clan was amnestied by the
king, who returned Lietwva to them. One of the Bubeiks
died near Luicenec in the, battle a:gaiinst Jiskra. Later, when
the castle •b ecame the ;property of the Zfupol'skys, John Zapol'sky donated it to Nkholas Kostka, a Bohemian nobleman. In 1538, General Ntcholas Turi ()(f Ferdinand I's army
SU!ITounded the castle, lb ut was not able to take it; Kostka
defended it successfully.
1
�63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
�
60
SLOVAKIA
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIETAVA
Li etava was one of the most extensive castles of the
V ah region and ,pro\baibly one of the largest orf Slovakia.
With its locati,on and structure it al1s o is one of lthe most beautiful of ruins. Like Hricov and Sul'ov, Lieta,va was buHt on
hu1g e sandstone roicks which not only made a firm foundation, but also provided exceHent buiiding ma,terial. Because
it was practkally inaiccessilble, it afforded good protection
for its masters. The ea stern and northern sides orf Lietava
Castle espeicially are so steep that an approach from those
sides i,s whoHy impossi'ble . And this · characteristic most
likely gruve rise to the legend for the origin of the name
of the castle. Louis the Great, ,Slovaiks will teJl you, ordered
his burlders to !build him a new castle 1in about 1360 on such
a spot that would lbe inaccessible to an enemy who did not
know how to fly. Hence, the name LietaJVa from the, SlO!Vak
"lietat'" (to fily). Liefa'Va was one of a number of fortresses
and castles built at that time.
1
Lietawa is mosrt accessilble from the southern side, where
one can enter the castle grounds through the main gate.
At the western and eastern ends of the spacious courtyard
we see the remains of two ,s quare towers ,w ith gun oipeinings.
To gert to the 1inner courtyard, which housed the inhalbitants
of the castle, one has to pass throll1gh anotherr massive gate.
Here we <find ,a huge cistern carved inrto the rO'ck, into which
flowed the rainwater from the rooftops of the !buildings
close by through wooden and clay troughs.
,
In the center orf the yard there stood a mighty tower
with walls two meterrs thi,ok ; its circumference was 36
meters,. Accoroing to experts this was the oldest part of the
Lietava fortress - the last ref'll!ge of those, besieged by an
enemy. On the southern side of the dwelling pl~es ~an be
seen even today the escutcheon of the Kostka clan, i.e, a
hand gvilpipirng a siword with a half-moon and a 1brachial
star. On the eastern side there iprotrudes a mighty semicircU'lar -bastion with many gun-holes; on the ground floor
�SLOVAKIA
61
'large ones for cannons and small ones for musk~ts on the
upper floor.
At the foot of the castle, aJb,o ve the town of Lietava,
stands a historic churich with a Gothic tower, which probably was a ,g uard tower, since it was 'buult on the slope of the
hill. When the caSitle 1perished, two paintings, two, painted
and richly caTVed chureh pews and three bells were brought
to this ,c hurch from the castle chaipeJ. During Worrld War I,
the Hungarian government had these relics removed. According to an ancient story, there was a precious altar
painting in this chur,ch, whi-ch also had its origin in the
LietaJVa Castle. The painting depfoted a multitude o:f people
surrounding an old ,priest who was being thrown oiver the
cliff onto prepared siprked-lpoles by wi1d Tatars.
An · ancient legend teHs us that the painting originated
in the fol1lowi.nig imaniner. Aifter the historic battle near
Saj,wa, the Tataric hordes ,s cattered all o;ver the country.
One of their groUJps 1ca;me to Lietava, and the residents, fled
in terror before them, many hiding in the hills, while the
rest, mostly dlder men, ,w omen and ohildren, barric·a ded
themsel,ves :in the church. In those days, chu11ches were
fortified with walls so that in ti:me of need they did offer
some measure of ,protection. Among the unfortunates in the
chmch, wa;s a!lso an old priest who encouraged his fait:hfol
to ,prepare to defend themselves. As ,s oon as the Tatars
came to the chur,ch, they called out to the defende:ris to surrender the church willingly and then all wou1d 1b e free to go
their way. The old priest admonished his 1people not to believe the heathen ter,rorists, but the faithful eventually
gruve UJP and surrendered the church. They were basely
deceived. The Tatars rounded them all up and marched
them to the edge of a high rock: below, in the albyss, spilked
poles were driven in the ,g round. The wild Tatars screamed
at their prisoners to renounce their Christian fruith or be
thrown off the cliff onto the, spiked poles. The wged priest
pleaded with his faithfol to. remain true to Chri.st, and true
they did remain. The · enraged Tatars forced many oiver
the cliff with their ·spears and knives. When the rest would
not renounce their faith, the Tatars seized the old priest and
�SLOVAKIA
62
t!hrew him headlong into .the a:byss. But, lo and behold, a
miracle happened! T.he ,priest did not fall on ,t he spikes belorw. He siim:ply dis111Ppeared. The heathen Tatar brutes were
ama;zed and fri,gihtened; it did not ta:ke them long to clear
out of Lietava and the country.
What really happened to the aged ·priest? His fall to
certain doom was checked ·~ a staunch bush which projected out of the cliff and he mana;ged to hang on, out of
s~ght of the Tatars. When the residents of Lietava ireturned
f.rom the ,hills shortl,y after, they freed thek heroic and
saintly priest and buried the victims of Tatar brutality. Lietaiva commemorated the memo,ry of this. miraculous liberation for centuries. The paintiing resulted; it was hUIIlg above
the altar of the church.
'-'
According to tradition, long before the wills of Lieta va
Castle were built on the steep rock, a pagan shrine was built
on the site. It was. made of wood, and, hence, in time disaippeared completely. .Aibove the entrance to the shrine, on
a hU1ge beam, theire was caI"Ved an image of the sun, which
meant that the forefathers orf ,the Slo1vaJks. worrs.hiipped the
sun as the giver of life. Pagan priestesses: lived beneath the
shrine; it was 1Jhedr duty to bring honey water, ripened
grains and f,rurits, wreaths and other airtioles of sa;crifice to
their gods. Many years later a Christian church repl-a,ced the
pa:gan shrine.
History tells us that Lo:u.is the Great donated the Lieta;va stronghold in 1360 to Stephen Bwbek from Plesivec for
sel'!Vices rendered him during his wars in Italy. In 1403,
however, one of his descendants, Henry (Im.ro), fought
a;gainst King Zigimund, and because of this both Strecno
and Lietava were given to some Polisih nobleman by Zigmund. Later, however, the Bubelk clan was amnestied by the
king, who returned Lietwva to them. One of the Bubeiks
died near Luicenec in the, battle a:gaiinst Jiskra. Later, when
the castle •b ecame the ;property of the Zfupol'skys, John Zapol'sky donated it to Nkholas Kostka, a Bohemian nobleman. In 1538, General Ntcholas Turi ()(f Ferdinand I's army
SU!ITounded the castle, lb ut was not able to take it; Kostka
defended it successfully.
1
�63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
LIETAVA
Li etava was one of the most extensive castles of the
V ah region and ,pro\baibly one of the largest orf Slovakia.
With its locati,on and structure it al1s o is one of lthe most beautiful of ruins. Like Hricov and Sul'ov, Lieta,va was buHt on
hu1g e sandstone roicks which not only made a firm foundation, but also provided exceHent buiiding ma,terial. Because
it was practkally inaiccessilble, it afforded good protection
for its masters. The ea stern and northern sides orf Lietava
Castle espeicially are so steep that an approach from those
sides i,s whoHy impossi'ble . And this · characteristic most
likely gruve rise to the legend for the origin of the name
of the castle. Louis the Great, ,Slovaiks will teJl you, ordered
his burlders to !build him a new castle 1in about 1360 on such
a spot that would lbe inaccessible to an enemy who did not
know how to fly. Hence, the name LietaJVa from the, SlO!Vak
"lietat'" (to fily). Liefa'Va was one of a number of fortresses
and castles built at that time.
1
Lietawa is mosrt accessilble from the southern side, where
one can enter the castle grounds through the main gate.
At the western and eastern ends of the spacious courtyard
we see the remains of two ,s quare towers ,w ith gun oipeinings.
To gert to the 1inner courtyard, which housed the inhalbitants
of the castle, one has to pass throll1gh anotherr massive gate.
Here we <find ,a huge cistern carved inrto the rO'ck, into which
flowed the rainwater from the rooftops of the !buildings
close by through wooden and clay troughs.
,
In the center orf the yard there stood a mighty tower
with walls two meterrs thi,ok ; its circumference was 36
meters,. Accoroing to experts this was the oldest part of the
Lietava fortress - the last ref'll!ge of those, besieged by an
enemy. On the southern side of the dwelling pl~es ~an be
seen even today the escutcheon of the Kostka clan, i.e, a
hand gvilpipirng a siword with a half-moon and a 1brachial
star. On the eastern side there iprotrudes a mighty semicircU'lar -bastion with many gun-holes; on the ground floor
SLOVAKIA
61
'large ones for cannons and small ones for musk~ts on the
upper floor.
At the foot of the castle, aJb,o ve the town of Lietava,
stands a historic churich with a Gothic tower, which probably was a ,g uard tower, since it was 'buult on the slope of the
hill. When the caSitle 1perished, two paintings, two, painted
and richly caTVed chureh pews and three bells were brought
to this ,c hurch from the castle chaipeJ. During Worrld War I,
the Hungarian government had these relics removed. According to an ancient story, there was a precious altar
painting in this chur,ch, whi-ch also had its origin in the
LietaJVa Castle. The painting depfoted a multitude o:f people
surrounding an old ,priest who was being thrown oiver the
cliff onto prepared siprked-lpoles by wi1d Tatars.
An · ancient legend teHs us that the painting originated
in the fol1lowi.nig imaniner. Aifter the historic battle near
Saj,wa, the Tataric hordes ,s cattered all o;ver the country.
One of their groUJps 1ca;me to Lietava, and the residents, fled
in terror before them, many hiding in the hills, while the
rest, mostly dlder men, ,w omen and ohildren, barric·a ded
themsel,ves :in the church. In those days, chu11ches were
fortified with walls so that in ti:me of need they did offer
some measure of ,protection. Among the unfortunates in the
chmch, wa;s a!lso an old priest who encouraged his fait:hfol
to ,prepare to defend themselves. As ,s oon as the Tatars
came to the chur,ch, they called out to the defende:ris to surrender the church willingly and then all wou1d 1b e free to go
their way. The old priest admonished his 1people not to believe the heathen ter,rorists, but the faithful eventually
gruve UJP and surrendered the church. They were basely
deceived. The Tatars rounded them all up and marched
them to the edge of a high rock: below, in the albyss, spilked
poles were driven in the ,g round. The wild Tatars screamed
at their prisoners to renounce their Christian fruith or be
thrown off the cliff onto the, spiked poles. The wged priest
pleaded with his faithfol to. remain true to Chri.st, and true
they did remain. The · enraged Tatars forced many oiver
the cliff with their ·spears and knives. When the rest would
not renounce their faith, the Tatars seized the old priest and
SLOVAKIA
62
t!hrew him headlong into .the a:byss. But, lo and behold, a
miracle happened! T.he ,priest did not fall on ,t he spikes belorw. He siim:ply dis111Ppeared. The heathen Tatar brutes were
ama;zed and fri,gihtened; it did not ta:ke them long to clear
out of Lietava and the country.
What really happened to the aged ·priest? His fall to
certain doom was checked ·~ a staunch bush which projected out of the cliff and he mana;ged to hang on, out of
s~ght of the Tatars. When the residents of Lietava ireturned
f.rom the ,hills shortl,y after, they freed thek heroic and
saintly priest and buried the victims of Tatar brutality. Lietaiva commemorated the memo,ry of this. miraculous liberation for centuries. The paintiing resulted; it was hUIIlg above
the altar of the church.
'-'
According to tradition, long before the wills of Lieta va
Castle were built on the steep rock, a pagan shrine was built
on the site. It was. made of wood, and, hence, in time disaippeared completely. .Aibove the entrance to the shrine, on
a hU1ge beam, theire was caI"Ved an image of the sun, which
meant that the forefathers orf ,the Slo1vaJks. worrs.hiipped the
sun as the giver of life. Pagan priestesses: lived beneath the
shrine; it was 1Jhedr duty to bring honey water, ripened
grains and f,rurits, wreaths and other airtioles of sa;crifice to
their gods. Many years later a Christian church repl-a,ced the
pa:gan shrine.
History tells us that Lo:u.is the Great donated the Lieta;va stronghold in 1360 to Stephen Bwbek from Plesivec for
sel'!Vices rendered him during his wars in Italy. In 1403,
however, one of his descendants, Henry (Im.ro), fought
a;gainst King Zigimund, and because of this both Strecno
and Lietava were given to some Polisih nobleman by Zigmund. Later, however, the Bubelk clan was amnestied by the
king, who returned Lietwva to them. One of the Bubeiks
died near Luicenec in the, battle a:gaiinst Jiskra. Later, when
the castle •b ecame the ;property of the Zfupol'skys, John Zapol'sky donated it to Nkholas Kostka, a Bohemian nobleman. In 1538, General Ntcholas Turi ()(f Ferdinand I's army
SU!ITounded the castle, lb ut was not able to take it; Kostka
defended it successfully.
1
63
SLOVAKIA
Lieta:va ,p robably witnessed its most glorious day at the
time when Francis Thul'zo mrurried Kostika's daughter and
received Lietava as a dowry. Thurzo, however, ;preferred to
live in the Orava Castle. When he left Lletava without an
occupant, it gradually 1beca.me neglected and the teeth of
time and weather toolk their toll. During the time od: Francis Raik6czi M, the stronghold of Lletaiva wa·s ,partly repaired, ibut shortly thererufter was completely abandoned
to its sad fate.
• • •
WIDTE MOUNTAIN -
IDSTOR'ICAL FORGERY
Soone Czechs, Ozech historians and their aipologists indulge in descrilbing tJhe anti-Hussite .crusades as national
swppression and the "Hussite Century" as a period of enlightemnent and Czech "national" rule in BO'hemia. Their
claim that the Czechs lost their "national" independence
in 1620 (Battle of White Mountain) has 1been rnpeated so
often that finally most Ozechs have come to believe it. T. G.
Masaryik, Dr. Edward Benes and their !followers haive propagated this legend consistently sin.ce the foundation of Czecho-Slovakia in 1918. It is a singular example of historkal
forgery.
The overthrow of Hussitism has been consciously misinterpreted as a siUippress:ion of the Czech n1a tion lby the
Czechs th~se1ves to gain the symaipthy of other nations.
The White Mountain !battle was not a nationaJl, but strictly
a religious allld dynastic a,ffair.. After the battle was O'Ver,
the emperor had some 27 od: the "relbel" :l eaders decapitated.
Six were of German odgin. But none was executed because
of his nationality.
1
We know that the Thirty Years' War started in Bohemia in 1'618, when the Pmtestant aristocraits there refused
to elect Feroinand of Austria, iHoly Roman IDmipe;ror, to the
vrucant throne od: Bohem'ia, 1preforring yo1Un,g Fredericlk,
Elector Palatine, instead. This rularmed the Protestant
princes, especially John George of Saxony, to such an. extent that they declared themselves neutral and let Frederick
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: Lietava
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954
pp. 60-63
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
castles
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fe0355c840d12e4ad582c385f3c8f471.pdf
7ea5d1e0e8149451a3c37eaf429c9a58
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
55
DR. STEPHEN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
The name of Dr. Stephen Osusky, mentioned from time
to time in the American press, has a)gam aippeared jll!st recently. Educated in Ameri'oo, Dr. OsUSlky went on a mission foT the Slovak Loogue of America aft~ WoI'ld War I ,
after Czeoho-lSlOVlaJkia was born, burt did not return to report to the Leaigue. Instead, he was retained by T. G. Masaryk to do special wo:vk and, later, was appointed amb.ass~doir of Czecho-Slovalkiia to F'ran'Ce. OSIUiSky served in that
capacity in Paris until the collapse of Czecho...SlwaJkia in
1939 and then fell out with Dr. Edward Benes. Today he is
one of the leaders orf the so-called "Council of Free CzechoSlovaki1a ," which is srtiJ1l dominated by the poilitical followers
of Dr. Edwiard Benes, the Czech National Socialists.
O'bjectiwty would not 'b e serwed if we were to deny
that Dr. Stephen Osusky is the best known living personafity of Slo vaik origin in international circles. At the same
time, however, we mu:st make it clear that Dr. Stephen
Os'USlky is so regarded both in Ozeich as well as international
cirrcles only becaJU!se he is of Slwak origin. Lt may be welJ,
then, to state cleady o'Il!ce rugain just how the Slovaks view
the po1iti~l !Plans and exile actiivity of the contradiotocy
personality of Dr. Oswsky.
If it were not for the fact that American puiblic opinion
suP!I)Orts anti-Oommunisrt politicians from behind the IToo
Ourlain and is seelking out a part of the Czooh poUticai
exiles - featuriing at ail costs Slovaks who support the plan
of contiinuing the Czecho-,Slova)k Repulblic - Dr. Stephen
Osusky woUJld not have a pla;tfo:r,m to stand on in foreign
circles. lif it were not fOT his "Czeoho.JSIJ.o!Va!kia must be preserved at a1l costs" stand, OSJU:Sky wotrld not eivoo be noticed. His broad education, his professiori,a i and pU!blicationaiJ.
activities would hardly be noticed, i.f it were not fo:r the
polii.tical ba)cikisitJa!ge scenes in which and f.or which Dr.
Osusky is represented in the role of "representatirve of th.e
Sl~aks."
Keeipmg thls fact in mind, let us at least oorsorily
anal,yze the relationshilp of Dr. Osusky to Slovakia and vice-
�56
SLOVAKIA
versa. Hundreds of thousands of Slovaks in the free woTld,
many of whom Juwe e:,cpended much effort and surffering
in the struggle for the na,tural rights od' the Slovak nation,
certaim.y do have a right to speak their minds rubout the
question whether Dr. Stephen Osusky has the authority to
spealk for the SlovaJk nation, especially as long as his policy
is anti-Slaviak .
.Several years a:go this writer pointed to the hiStorical opportunity wh:i!ch circumstances in the contemporary sirbuation presented Dr. Osuslky with so that he mi1g ht
play a historic role in the Slovalk nation. As I said then I
repeat now: Dr. Osusky could have played that role only
if his political plans and his political activity were in accord with the aspirations and natural rights of the Slovak
nation. We must remetmlber that Dr. Osusky, excepti.ll!g for
the mandate giiven him by the Slovaik League oif America
af:ter Wodd War I, never possessed, nor does even nOIW poSsess, any mandate or legitimation from the peqple oif SlovaJkia to represenlt it in any manner whatsoever. By the fact
that he is o!f Sl'(Walk birth, Osuslky would have the right
to speak in the .rra,me of the Slovaks only when wihate;ver he
might say, pl1an, or present to the world would be in fuhl
accord with the will of the majority oif the SlovaJk nation.
Dr. Stephen Osusky grew wp and was educated outside
of Slovakia. He did not live in Slo;vakia for over thirty
years; he witnessed the temfiic struggle of the Slovak n:atinn for its b,asic ,h uman rights and its intense spiritual and
material development from a plush diplomatic chair, or as
a professor at various American unilversities. Dr. Osusky,
therefore, is not justified in considering his own conceptions better than those of the Slovak nation itsclf and those
of the majority oif Sloivak exiles, who during the past thirty
years grew up with the Slovak people, suffered with 1t and
fOUJght for its freedom and equality. If, .therefore, the politica:l credo of Dr. OsUJSky is expressed by his fUIIllctions and
by hls - presence in the "Council of Free Ozeichoslovakia,"
we must place him in the rruruks of those people oif Slo-vruk
origin, who con.scfously or unconsciously are working
ag,ainst the moot vital interests of the Slo1Vak nation and,
�57
SLOVAKIA
therefore, belong not among its representatives, but among
its evil-doers and enemies. In the question of whether we
are for or against the Ozecho-Slovak Repuiblic, we are not
concerned wiith partisan-political d~!fferences, with a diiffereTIJCe of opinion aJbout a poHrtical system o.r administraUve
adjustment, but definitely with the elementa!1y rughrt of the
Slo.va!ks to their OIW'.Il lid'e, their very own existence and
their future as a free nation.
After what the Slovaks have gone through and are
still suffering in the Ozecho-,Slwak Reipulblic, it is c!1ystal
clea:r that the Czechs and Slavak,s can live in one state only
at the expense af the Sfovaks. Therefore, flirting with the
idea of the cont-in1Ued existence of Ozecho-1SlovaJkia only
helps to uphold Ozech imperialistic tendencies in the world
which deny even a bare national exfatence to the Slovalk
nation. For that reason "Ozechoslovakism" is only a viariation of Magyarism, and, in the last ana'l ysis, a synonym for
trea:chery, such as was per.petrated by Kosurth and Masaryk,
and many others in the recent past.
We do not doubt in the least that these matters are
clear to the experienced dlipl'Olmat and learned university
professor, Dr. Stephen Osusky, unless his complete separiation from Slovakia during his l,i fetime, or the influences of
his enviironment, prevent him from seeing clearly Slovak
reality and the aJbiJ.ity of the Slovak nation to live. If, however, Dr. Osusky is not suffering from a feelring of national
inferiority and is not looildng at the Slovak Il!ation through
the spectacles, of several Slwailc Communist co1l a:borators,
who fear that they would niot be alble to return to Slovakia
without Czech aid, then we cannot regard his past a:cti,v ity
and his present memlbershirp in the "Council of Free CzechoSlovakia" as a matter of ta;c,tJics, as some of his adherents
claim.
The international puibliic thinks in completely clear
categories: if Dr. Osusky is in the "Council of Free O.reohds~ovaJkia," he is for the continuance of Czecho-Slo:vakia,
and, therefore, against the effort of the Sl01Vruks to lirve thei'l'
own indeipendent life. Inasmuch as the majority of the Slovak nation is for a different solution Of the Slovak problem
1
�58
SLOVAKIA
than being included in the framewo:r.k of the Czecho-Slovak
Repwblic, Dr. Stephen Osusky, with his presence in the
"Cou:nicil .o f Free Ozechoslova!kia," is really woTking against
the ldgitimaite aspirations of the Slovak nation for equality
with the other nations of central Europe and, consequently,
does not have the least authorization to s,pe,ak as a representaJtive of the S101V1ak nation. The SlovaJks in the s.o.- called
"Counoil of Free 0zechoslova:kia" are and can only be representaitives of the nation which no longer considers it
necessary to delbate with any one aJbout its SlovaJk individuality and its inherent right to its own political life.
ATgurrnents that the SlovaJk question can be aided by the
"Council of Free Ozecho:s!lova!kia," inasmlllich as oeritain circles on this continent are supporting the Council, are log,icaUy and olbjectively sheer nonsense. It must be quite olbvious
to ·a ll concerned that if there were no Slovaks in the service of Czech tendencies, then no democratic power would
recogn±ze the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," and the
Slovaks would then hawe their own representation recognized and surpported in New York, Washington and elsewihere, just as aN the other natfon:s from behind the Iron
CuTtain. Only as long as people a;re found to whom Rtpka,
Zenlcl, etc., are dearer than the American Slovaks and the·
entire Slovak nation at home, and to whom the 0zechoSlovaJk Repu!blic is closer than the freedom oif the Slovak
niation, can the State Dejpartment and the Foreign Office
prefer the recognition of the "Council of Free 0zechoslova.
kia" to a separate Slova;k representation, without prejudicing the future, as has been told to us on various 0::::::asions.
From this viewipoint, the presence of Dr. 0susky in the
"Council of Flree 0zecho,slova!kfa" means that he is against
the vitaJl interests of the Slovak nation. And his fight with
the Czechs for the recognition of Slovak rights, as some
would ha;ve us believe, evokes only the view that even in his
~e we are concerned with nothing else than what he himoolf wrote in his book "The Wiaiy of the Free": "His:to-ry
teaches, and practiocal eX!perience corroborates, that when
politicians are engaged in bitter struggle against their rivals, they never Like to admit plllblicly that they axe fight-
�SLO\.AKIA
59
ing for SUlpI'emacy and power. They prefer to disguise their
ambiti()IIlS by c1aiming to de.fend high principles."
The greatness of people in polii.tics res.ts on the fact
that they had recognized the Hand of God in history, the
needs of the times, and at critical moments spalce aibout
principles clearly and unequiivoca[ly. By cloa!king hiJI:nself in
a diplomatic fog and remaining in a Czech exile organization Dr. Osu!Sky can gain only one thing: in Sl0ivak history
he will be placed a[ongsride of Derer, Iivanka, Srolbar and
J ehl'rcka - and not among the greatest Sloivaks. But that
is Dr. Osusky's concern and not ours. The Slmnaik nation
will win in its fight for freedom and equality in central
Euro,pe even without his help and despite his opposition and
treachery. Czecho-SlQIVa/kia is today a Russi:a,n satelilite, and
in a free Europe there shall be no place for satellites. - (J. K.)
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
· " On November 23rd at the congress of the National
Socialist Agricultural and Forestry Workers the Minister of
Education, Stransky, appealed to those present 'not to allow
disgust to deprive them of their real love for Russia, or
of their admiration for the achievements of the Soviet Government. Nor must they allow disgust to make them lose
IDA.ST
their understanding of the National Front'." EUROPE, Dec. 4, 1947; London .
•
•
•
"Since, in the new situation, it was imposs~ble to colla-borate officially with the Soviet Union, we . . . did nothing
which might prejudice or prevent the reim.O!Val of co-0peration at the earliest possible moment; I need on!ly recall
how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many
others during the SQIViet-Finnish War. Morewer, even in
that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves. and
important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND
WEST, London, 1944.
1
�
SLOVAKIA
55
DR. STEPHEN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
The name of Dr. Stephen Osusky, mentioned from time
to time in the American press, has a)gam aippeared jll!st recently. Educated in Ameri'oo, Dr. OsUSlky went on a mission foT the Slovak Loogue of America aft~ WoI'ld War I ,
after Czeoho-lSlOVlaJkia was born, burt did not return to report to the Leaigue. Instead, he was retained by T. G. Masaryk to do special wo:vk and, later, was appointed amb.ass~doir of Czecho-Slovalkiia to F'ran'Ce. OSIUiSky served in that
capacity in Paris until the collapse of Czecho...SlwaJkia in
1939 and then fell out with Dr. Edward Benes. Today he is
one of the leaders orf the so-called "Council of Free CzechoSlovaki1a ," which is srtiJ1l dominated by the poilitical followers
of Dr. Edwiard Benes, the Czech National Socialists.
O'bjectiwty would not 'b e serwed if we were to deny
that Dr. Stephen Osusky is the best known living personafity of Slo vaik origin in international circles. At the same
time, however, we mu:st make it clear that Dr. Stephen
Os'USlky is so regarded both in Ozeich as well as international
cirrcles only becaJU!se he is of Slwak origin. Lt may be welJ,
then, to state cleady o'Il!ce rugain just how the Slovaks view
the po1iti~l !Plans and exile actiivity of the contradiotocy
personality of Dr. Oswsky.
If it were not for the fact that American puiblic opinion
suP!I)Orts anti-Oommunisrt politicians from behind the IToo
Ourlain and is seelking out a part of the Czooh poUticai
exiles - featuriing at ail costs Slovaks who support the plan
of contiinuing the Czecho-,Slova)k Repulblic - Dr. Stephen
Osusky woUJld not have a pla;tfo:r,m to stand on in foreign
circles. lif it were not fOT his "Czeoho.JSIJ.o!Va!kia must be preserved at a1l costs" stand, OSJU:Sky wotrld not eivoo be noticed. His broad education, his professiori,a i and pU!blicationaiJ.
activities would hardly be noticed, i.f it were not fo:r the
polii.tical ba)cikisitJa!ge scenes in which and f.or which Dr.
Osusky is represented in the role of "representatirve of th.e
Sl~aks."
Keeipmg thls fact in mind, let us at least oorsorily
anal,yze the relationshilp of Dr. Osusky to Slovakia and vice-
�56
SLOVAKIA
versa. Hundreds of thousands of Slovaks in the free woTld,
many of whom Juwe e:,cpended much effort and surffering
in the struggle for the na,tural rights od' the Slovak nation,
certaim.y do have a right to speak their minds rubout the
question whether Dr. Stephen Osusky has the authority to
spealk for the SlovaJk nation, especially as long as his policy
is anti-Slaviak .
.Several years a:go this writer pointed to the hiStorical opportunity wh:i!ch circumstances in the contemporary sirbuation presented Dr. Osuslky with so that he mi1g ht
play a historic role in the Slovalk nation. As I said then I
repeat now: Dr. Osusky could have played that role only
if his political plans and his political activity were in accord with the aspirations and natural rights of the Slovak
nation. We must remetmlber that Dr. Osusky, excepti.ll!g for
the mandate giiven him by the Slovaik League oif America
af:ter Wodd War I, never possessed, nor does even nOIW poSsess, any mandate or legitimation from the peqple oif SlovaJkia to represenlt it in any manner whatsoever. By the fact
that he is o!f Sl'(Walk birth, Osuslky would have the right
to speak in the .rra,me of the Slovaks only when wihate;ver he
might say, pl1an, or present to the world would be in fuhl
accord with the will of the majority oif the SlovaJk nation.
Dr. Stephen Osusky grew wp and was educated outside
of Slovakia. He did not live in Slo;vakia for over thirty
years; he witnessed the temfiic struggle of the Slovak n:atinn for its b,asic ,h uman rights and its intense spiritual and
material development from a plush diplomatic chair, or as
a professor at various American unilversities. Dr. Osusky,
therefore, is not justified in considering his own conceptions better than those of the Slovak nation itsclf and those
of the majority oif Sloivak exiles, who during the past thirty
years grew up with the Slovak people, suffered with 1t and
fOUJght for its freedom and equality. If, .therefore, the politica:l credo of Dr. OsUJSky is expressed by his fUIIllctions and
by hls - presence in the "Council of Free Ozeichoslovakia,"
we must place him in the rruruks of those people oif Slo-vruk
origin, who con.scfously or unconsciously are working
ag,ainst the moot vital interests of the Slo1Vak nation and,
�57
SLOVAKIA
therefore, belong not among its representatives, but among
its evil-doers and enemies. In the question of whether we
are for or against the Ozecho-Slovak Repuiblic, we are not
concerned wiith partisan-political d~!fferences, with a diiffereTIJCe of opinion aJbout a poHrtical system o.r administraUve
adjustment, but definitely with the elementa!1y rughrt of the
Slo.va!ks to their OIW'.Il lid'e, their very own existence and
their future as a free nation.
After what the Slovaks have gone through and are
still suffering in the Ozecho-,Slwak Reipulblic, it is c!1ystal
clea:r that the Czechs and Slavak,s can live in one state only
at the expense af the Sfovaks. Therefore, flirting with the
idea of the cont-in1Ued existence of Ozecho-1SlovaJkia only
helps to uphold Ozech imperialistic tendencies in the world
which deny even a bare national exfatence to the Slovalk
nation. For that reason "Ozechoslovakism" is only a viariation of Magyarism, and, in the last ana'l ysis, a synonym for
trea:chery, such as was per.petrated by Kosurth and Masaryk,
and many others in the recent past.
We do not doubt in the least that these matters are
clear to the experienced dlipl'Olmat and learned university
professor, Dr. Stephen Osusky, unless his complete separiation from Slovakia during his l,i fetime, or the influences of
his enviironment, prevent him from seeing clearly Slovak
reality and the aJbiJ.ity of the Slovak nation to live. If, however, Dr. Osusky is not suffering from a feelring of national
inferiority and is not looildng at the Slovak Il!ation through
the spectacles, of several Slwailc Communist co1l a:borators,
who fear that they would niot be alble to return to Slovakia
without Czech aid, then we cannot regard his past a:cti,v ity
and his present memlbershirp in the "Council of Free CzechoSlovakia" as a matter of ta;c,tJics, as some of his adherents
claim.
The international puibliic thinks in completely clear
categories: if Dr. Osusky is in the "Council of Free O.reohds~ovaJkia," he is for the continuance of Czecho-Slo:vakia,
and, therefore, against the effort of the Sl01Vruks to lirve thei'l'
own indeipendent life. Inasmuch as the majority of the Slovak nation is for a different solution Of the Slovak problem
1
�58
SLOVAKIA
than being included in the framewo:r.k of the Czecho-Slovak
Repwblic, Dr. Stephen Osusky, with his presence in the
"Cou:nicil .o f Free Ozechoslova!kia," is really woTking against
the ldgitimaite aspirations of the Slovak nation for equality
with the other nations of central Europe and, consequently,
does not have the least authorization to s,pe,ak as a representaJtive of the S101V1ak nation. The SlovaJks in the s.o.- called
"Counoil of Free 0zechoslova:kia" are and can only be representaitives of the nation which no longer considers it
necessary to delbate with any one aJbout its SlovaJk individuality and its inherent right to its own political life.
ATgurrnents that the SlovaJk question can be aided by the
"Council of Free Ozecho:s!lova!kia," inasmlllich as oeritain circles on this continent are supporting the Council, are log,icaUy and olbjectively sheer nonsense. It must be quite olbvious
to ·a ll concerned that if there were no Slovaks in the service of Czech tendencies, then no democratic power would
recogn±ze the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," and the
Slovaks would then hawe their own representation recognized and surpported in New York, Washington and elsewihere, just as aN the other natfon:s from behind the Iron
CuTtain. Only as long as people a;re found to whom Rtpka,
Zenlcl, etc., are dearer than the American Slovaks and the·
entire Slovak nation at home, and to whom the 0zechoSlovaJk Repu!blic is closer than the freedom oif the Slovak
niation, can the State Dejpartment and the Foreign Office
prefer the recognition of the "Council of Free 0zechoslova.
kia" to a separate Slova;k representation, without prejudicing the future, as has been told to us on various 0::::::asions.
From this viewipoint, the presence of Dr. 0susky in the
"Council of Flree 0zecho,slova!kfa" means that he is against
the vitaJl interests of the Slovak nation. And his fight with
the Czechs for the recognition of Slovak rights, as some
would ha;ve us believe, evokes only the view that even in his
~e we are concerned with nothing else than what he himoolf wrote in his book "The Wiaiy of the Free": "His:to-ry
teaches, and practiocal eX!perience corroborates, that when
politicians are engaged in bitter struggle against their rivals, they never Like to admit plllblicly that they axe fight-
�SLO\.AKIA
59
ing for SUlpI'emacy and power. They prefer to disguise their
ambiti()IIlS by c1aiming to de.fend high principles."
The greatness of people in polii.tics res.ts on the fact
that they had recognized the Hand of God in history, the
needs of the times, and at critical moments spalce aibout
principles clearly and unequiivoca[ly. By cloa!king hiJI:nself in
a diplomatic fog and remaining in a Czech exile organization Dr. Osu!Sky can gain only one thing: in Sl0ivak history
he will be placed a[ongsride of Derer, Iivanka, Srolbar and
J ehl'rcka - and not among the greatest Sloivaks. But that
is Dr. Osusky's concern and not ours. The Slmnaik nation
will win in its fight for freedom and equality in central
Euro,pe even without his help and despite his opposition and
treachery. Czecho-SlQIVa/kia is today a Russi:a,n satelilite, and
in a free Europe there shall be no place for satellites. - (J. K.)
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
· " On November 23rd at the congress of the National
Socialist Agricultural and Forestry Workers the Minister of
Education, Stransky, appealed to those present 'not to allow
disgust to deprive them of their real love for Russia, or
of their admiration for the achievements of the Soviet Government. Nor must they allow disgust to make them lose
IDA.ST
their understanding of the National Front'." EUROPE, Dec. 4, 1947; London .
•
•
•
"Since, in the new situation, it was imposs~ble to colla-borate officially with the Soviet Union, we . . . did nothing
which might prejudice or prevent the reim.O!Val of co-0peration at the earliest possible moment; I need on!ly recall
how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many
others during the SQIViet-Finnish War. Morewer, even in
that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves. and
important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND
WEST, London, 1944.
1
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
Date
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1954
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SLOVAKIA
55
DR. STEPHEN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
The name of Dr. Stephen Osusky, mentioned from time
to time in the American press, has a)gam aippeared jll!st recently. Educated in Ameri'oo, Dr. OsUSlky went on a mission foT the Slovak Loogue of America aft~ WoI'ld War I ,
after Czeoho-lSlOVlaJkia was born, burt did not return to report to the Leaigue. Instead, he was retained by T. G. Masaryk to do special wo:vk and, later, was appointed amb.ass~doir of Czecho-Slovalkiia to F'ran'Ce. OSIUiSky served in that
capacity in Paris until the collapse of Czecho...SlwaJkia in
1939 and then fell out with Dr. Edward Benes. Today he is
one of the leaders orf the so-called "Council of Free CzechoSlovaki1a ," which is srtiJ1l dominated by the poilitical followers
of Dr. Edwiard Benes, the Czech National Socialists.
O'bjectiwty would not 'b e serwed if we were to deny
that Dr. Stephen Osusky is the best known living personafity of Slo vaik origin in international circles. At the same
time, however, we mu:st make it clear that Dr. Stephen
Os'USlky is so regarded both in Ozeich as well as international
cirrcles only becaJU!se he is of Slwak origin. Lt may be welJ,
then, to state cleady o'Il!ce rugain just how the Slovaks view
the po1iti~l !Plans and exile actiivity of the contradiotocy
personality of Dr. Oswsky.
If it were not for the fact that American puiblic opinion
suP!I)Orts anti-Oommunisrt politicians from behind the IToo
Ourlain and is seelking out a part of the Czooh poUticai
exiles - featuriing at ail costs Slovaks who support the plan
of contiinuing the Czecho-,Slova)k Repulblic - Dr. Stephen
Osusky woUJld not have a pla;tfo:r,m to stand on in foreign
circles. lif it were not fOT his "Czeoho.JSIJ.o!Va!kia must be preserved at a1l costs" stand, OSJU:Sky wotrld not eivoo be noticed. His broad education, his professiori,a i and pU!blicationaiJ.
activities would hardly be noticed, i.f it were not fo:r the
polii.tical ba)cikisitJa!ge scenes in which and f.or which Dr.
Osusky is represented in the role of "representatirve of th.e
Sl~aks."
Keeipmg thls fact in mind, let us at least oorsorily
anal,yze the relationshilp of Dr. Osusky to Slovakia and vice-
56
SLOVAKIA
versa. Hundreds of thousands of Slovaks in the free woTld,
many of whom Juwe e:,cpended much effort and surffering
in the struggle for the na,tural rights od' the Slovak nation,
certaim.y do have a right to speak their minds rubout the
question whether Dr. Stephen Osusky has the authority to
spealk for the SlovaJk nation, especially as long as his policy
is anti-Slaviak .
.Several years a:go this writer pointed to the hiStorical opportunity wh:i!ch circumstances in the contemporary sirbuation presented Dr. Osuslky with so that he mi1g ht
play a historic role in the Slovalk nation. As I said then I
repeat now: Dr. Osusky could have played that role only
if his political plans and his political activity were in accord with the aspirations and natural rights of the Slovak
nation. We must remetmlber that Dr. Osusky, excepti.ll!g for
the mandate giiven him by the Slovaik League oif America
af:ter Wodd War I, never possessed, nor does even nOIW poSsess, any mandate or legitimation from the peqple oif SlovaJkia to represenlt it in any manner whatsoever. By the fact
that he is o!f Sl'(Walk birth, Osuslky would have the right
to speak in the .rra,me of the Slovaks only when wihate;ver he
might say, pl1an, or present to the world would be in fuhl
accord with the will of the majority oif the SlovaJk nation.
Dr. Stephen Osusky grew wp and was educated outside
of Slovakia. He did not live in Slo;vakia for over thirty
years; he witnessed the temfiic struggle of the Slovak n:atinn for its b,asic ,h uman rights and its intense spiritual and
material development from a plush diplomatic chair, or as
a professor at various American unilversities. Dr. Osusky,
therefore, is not justified in considering his own conceptions better than those of the Slovak nation itsclf and those
of the majority oif Sloivak exiles, who during the past thirty
years grew up with the Slovak people, suffered with 1t and
fOUJght for its freedom and equality. If, .therefore, the politica:l credo of Dr. OsUJSky is expressed by his fUIIllctions and
by hls - presence in the "Council of Free Ozeichoslovakia,"
we must place him in the rruruks of those people oif Slo-vruk
origin, who con.scfously or unconsciously are working
ag,ainst the moot vital interests of the Slo1Vak nation and,
57
SLOVAKIA
therefore, belong not among its representatives, but among
its evil-doers and enemies. In the question of whether we
are for or against the Ozecho-Slovak Repuiblic, we are not
concerned wiith partisan-political d~!fferences, with a diiffereTIJCe of opinion aJbout a poHrtical system o.r administraUve
adjustment, but definitely with the elementa!1y rughrt of the
Slo.va!ks to their OIW'.Il lid'e, their very own existence and
their future as a free nation.
After what the Slovaks have gone through and are
still suffering in the Ozecho-,Slwak Reipulblic, it is c!1ystal
clea:r that the Czechs and Slavak,s can live in one state only
at the expense af the Sfovaks. Therefore, flirting with the
idea of the cont-in1Ued existence of Ozecho-1SlovaJkia only
helps to uphold Ozech imperialistic tendencies in the world
which deny even a bare national exfatence to the Slovalk
nation. For that reason "Ozechoslovakism" is only a viariation of Magyarism, and, in the last ana'l ysis, a synonym for
trea:chery, such as was per.petrated by Kosurth and Masaryk,
and many others in the recent past.
We do not doubt in the least that these matters are
clear to the experienced dlipl'Olmat and learned university
professor, Dr. Stephen Osusky, unless his complete separiation from Slovakia during his l,i fetime, or the influences of
his enviironment, prevent him from seeing clearly Slovak
reality and the aJbiJ.ity of the Slovak nation to live. If, however, Dr. Osusky is not suffering from a feelring of national
inferiority and is not looildng at the Slovak Il!ation through
the spectacles, of several Slwailc Communist co1l a:borators,
who fear that they would niot be alble to return to Slovakia
without Czech aid, then we cannot regard his past a:cti,v ity
and his present memlbershirp in the "Council of Free CzechoSlovakia" as a matter of ta;c,tJics, as some of his adherents
claim.
The international puibliic thinks in completely clear
categories: if Dr. Osusky is in the "Council of Free O.reohds~ovaJkia," he is for the continuance of Czecho-Slo:vakia,
and, therefore, against the effort of the Sl01Vruks to lirve thei'l'
own indeipendent life. Inasmuch as the majority of the Slovak nation is for a different solution Of the Slovak problem
1
58
SLOVAKIA
than being included in the framewo:r.k of the Czecho-Slovak
Repwblic, Dr. Stephen Osusky, with his presence in the
"Cou:nicil .o f Free Ozechoslova!kia," is really woTking against
the ldgitimaite aspirations of the Slovak nation for equality
with the other nations of central Europe and, consequently,
does not have the least authorization to s,pe,ak as a representaJtive of the S101V1ak nation. The SlovaJks in the s.o.- called
"Counoil of Free 0zechoslova:kia" are and can only be representaitives of the nation which no longer considers it
necessary to delbate with any one aJbout its SlovaJk individuality and its inherent right to its own political life.
ATgurrnents that the SlovaJk question can be aided by the
"Council of Free Ozecho:s!lova!kia," inasmlllich as oeritain circles on this continent are supporting the Council, are log,icaUy and olbjectively sheer nonsense. It must be quite olbvious
to ·a ll concerned that if there were no Slovaks in the service of Czech tendencies, then no democratic power would
recogn±ze the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," and the
Slovaks would then hawe their own representation recognized and surpported in New York, Washington and elsewihere, just as aN the other natfon:s from behind the Iron
CuTtain. Only as long as people a;re found to whom Rtpka,
Zenlcl, etc., are dearer than the American Slovaks and the·
entire Slovak nation at home, and to whom the 0zechoSlovaJk Repu!blic is closer than the freedom oif the Slovak
niation, can the State Dejpartment and the Foreign Office
prefer the recognition of the "Council of Free 0zechoslova.
kia" to a separate Slova;k representation, without prejudicing the future, as has been told to us on various 0::::::asions.
From this viewipoint, the presence of Dr. 0susky in the
"Council of Flree 0zecho,slova!kfa" means that he is against
the vitaJl interests of the Slovak nation. And his fight with
the Czechs for the recognition of Slovak rights, as some
would ha;ve us believe, evokes only the view that even in his
~e we are concerned with nothing else than what he himoolf wrote in his book "The Wiaiy of the Free": "His:to-ry
teaches, and practiocal eX!perience corroborates, that when
politicians are engaged in bitter struggle against their rivals, they never Like to admit plllblicly that they axe fight-
SLO\.AKIA
59
ing for SUlpI'emacy and power. They prefer to disguise their
ambiti()IIlS by c1aiming to de.fend high principles."
The greatness of people in polii.tics res.ts on the fact
that they had recognized the Hand of God in history, the
needs of the times, and at critical moments spalce aibout
principles clearly and unequiivoca[ly. By cloa!king hiJI:nself in
a diplomatic fog and remaining in a Czech exile organization Dr. Osu!Sky can gain only one thing: in Sl0ivak history
he will be placed a[ongsride of Derer, Iivanka, Srolbar and
J ehl'rcka - and not among the greatest Sloivaks. But that
is Dr. Osusky's concern and not ours. The Slmnaik nation
will win in its fight for freedom and equality in central
Euro,pe even without his help and despite his opposition and
treachery. Czecho-SlQIVa/kia is today a Russi:a,n satelilite, and
in a free Europe there shall be no place for satellites. - (J. K.)
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
· " On November 23rd at the congress of the National
Socialist Agricultural and Forestry Workers the Minister of
Education, Stransky, appealed to those present 'not to allow
disgust to deprive them of their real love for Russia, or
of their admiration for the achievements of the Soviet Government. Nor must they allow disgust to make them lose
IDA.ST
their understanding of the National Front'." EUROPE, Dec. 4, 1947; London .
•
•
•
"Since, in the new situation, it was imposs~ble to colla-borate officially with the Soviet Union, we . . . did nothing
which might prejudice or prevent the reim.O!Val of co-0peration at the earliest possible moment; I need on!ly recall
how strongly our attitude contrasted with that of many
others during the SQIViet-Finnish War. Morewer, even in
that period, there was no interruption of the personal contacts and exchange of information between ourse1ves. and
important Soviet representatives in London, Paris, Washington and elsewhere." - Dr. Hubert Ripka, EAST AND
WEST, London, 1944.
1
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Dr. Stephen Osuský and the Slovaks
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954
pp. 55-59
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/f2ad07509c80b9071281fcec807f2ce1.pdf
0a55e7d08c78272e510ec71b44796bee
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
47
have fought for the liberation. of his people from all alien
tyranny, including the Czech brand as represented by T. G.
Masaryk an.d Benes. S,lo,vaJks eveTywhere commemorate May
4th as Stefani'k Day, because it was on May 4, 1919, that
their beloved wair hero crashed to his death in a plaine which
was "a~cidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison at Vajnory, Slovakia. Many Slovaiks even todiay will tell you 1:!hat
Stefanik haid to die, because he never consented to his Slovakiia being a colony o,£ the imperialistic Czechs led by T. G.
Masarylk and Benes. On May 4, 1954, Slova,ks everywhere
will recall: "it was 35 yeaI'S ago thait Stefarnk was killed by
the men who resented his warnings rugainst Bolshevism.
"
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
GOLDILOCKS
Once UlpOn a time there was a very poor blacksmith.
At one time 'he fared weH, but then hard times struck, he
had little work to do., and his wiife and small children were
always hungry. Finally he lost everything; at hOlme he had
not!hing left but seven ,pennies. His undernourished children
cried constantly for something to eat until the blacksmith
could stand it no longer. In his despair he boU!ght a rope
witlh his last seven ,p ennies and started out for the hills to
end it all.
When he came into the hills, he sought out a stout
branch on a mighty tree to which he fixed the roipe. As the
bla;cksmith was a;bout to tie the rope albout his neck, a
,pretty black maiden suddenly appeared .b efore him and
pleaded wHJh him not to hang himself, 1b ecause that was not
a nice thing to do and, then, it was also a sin. The b,lacksmith was stunned when the black maiden disappeared into
the nowhere whence she had come. As he waliked along, his
mind wandered baok home where misery and want ruled and
again he became despondent. U!P went his rope onto another
stout ,h ranch. .&gain the blaJCk maiden s,uddemy appeaired
out of the blue and begged him not to commit such an ugly
deed. In a quadary, the blactksmith shoo'k his head, bwt
said nothing. He did not throw away his rope, but stood
�48
SLOVAKIA
motionless for some moments. When the maiden disa:ppea.rred
once a:gain, file hl.ooksmith pondered his misery over again
and again, reruched the deci'sion to end it all. Once more the
rope went wp airound the stQ!Ut branch. As he was nixing
the other end rubout his neck, however, file bea,utiful black
maiden aippeared directly before him and said:
"Do not ha:n1g yourself, iblalCiksmith, do not hang yourse1f ! I will he1p you in yoUT misery. I wiH give you all the
weali!h you desire, if you only promise me something you
haJVe at home but about whiich you are not awa,re."
"Huh, well whait can this be in my 'barren home about
which I know nothing?" pondered the blaclrnmith, "this
must undoulbtedly be some kind of a jo!ke!"
But the blaciksmith promised the black maiden what
she had requested, if she would only help him out of his
misery. Fortiliiwith, the lo;ve:ly yourng black maiden filled a
pouch with money and go ld and said:
"Here you have what I promised you. And for what you
ha,ve promised me I shall come in seven years."
The lovely blaiok lady disaippeared just as mysteriously
as she had appeared. The blaclksmith couhl scarcely believe
what had haippened, but there was· the pouch with money
and gold! He snatched it and hurried home.
He cried joyously as he burst into his humble shack
and poured the money and gold on the truble. His wife and
children were stunned momentarily. Soon they had plenty
of food on the taJble with which the SJtaI1Ved children stuffed
themselves. Mter aN had had their fill, the wife turned to
her husband and asked how he hrud come by all that money
and goJ.d.
"Thinlk nothing of it," reiplied the blacksmith, "it was
just some kind oif a jolke. To get this money and gold I only
had to promise to give something aJbout which I know
nothing."
As he sipoike these words, his wife beca:me frightened
and screaJmed: "Noiw you did it. Why, you sold yoUT own
child before it was born."
The blaok,s mith also became frightened, but what could
he do ? He gaJVe his word and had to keep it.
1
�49
SLOVAKIA
Soon after the blaciksmith's wife gave birth to a beautiful, deHghtful girl with golden hair and a golden star on
her forehead. Na:tura:lly, they called their little girl "Goldilocks." They cared for the child with love and tenderness
and brought her U!p as best the¥ could. Their haippiness was
marred only .by the thought that Goldilociks was their
own and, yet, she was not.
Exactly seven years after Goldilocks was bo rn, a
black coach stopped in front of the blacksmith's ho:rne and
out of it carrne the bladk maiden. The parents pleaded with
the maiden, but to no awail. She placed Goldilocks beside her
in the coach and started off. The blacksmith and his wife
wailed and cried as they ran after the coach to the end of
the viHruge. They woUJld hacve followed it farther, but the
black maiden threatened to bewitch them id: they did. Sorrowfully they returned home and cried pitifUJlly for their
beautiful Goidilociks, whom they thought they had lost
forever.
1
.
The blaick lady and· Goldilo:clks literally flew in the
bla~k coach OJVer desolate lands rund dense forests until
they firnillly came to a 'great, beaiutiful castle. The black
maiden took Goldilociks into the castle, led heir through
ninety-nine rooms and then said to her: "Here, my child,
you shall res,ide. Ta.O{e care of these ninety-nine rooms for
me. You can walk into and stay in any of the rooms yo:u
please, but do not dare to look in the remaining room the hundredth room - belcause you shall fare badly. In
seven years we shall meet again; until then fare thee weM!"
As she spoke these words, the !black maiden disa;ppeared.
For se'Ven whole years there was no sound or trace of
the black maiden. And for seven long years our Goldilocks
lived contentedly in the castle. She walked in and out of
the ninety-nine rooms, sweeipinig and cleaning them so that
everything glittered lilke gold. Of course, she was tempted
to look into t:he hundredth room manry times, but resisted
the temptation successfully, even though the thought of
that room kept her awake many ni'ghts.
�50
SLOVAKIA
SuTe enoUJgh, when seven years had passed by, the
blaclk maJden returned to the ,c astle and Goldilodks.
"Did you look into the hundredth room?" she asked.
GoldilO'C/k1s replied that she had not. Of course, the bl8.1Ck
maiden lkneiw that; she was very hruppy that Goldilocks
spO!ke the tmth. After repeating the order to Goldilocks,
the black maiden a;gain disaippeared.
·
Our Gold.ilodks kept going throUJg,h the 1beautifu:l, spacious ninety-nine rooms day after day, cileanmg them so
that they sparkled l.ilke mirrors.. Year after year ,p assed like
a drnrum. As the second seven year period was coming to a
close, our GoldUocks thoUJght how the black maiden would
praise her :fior keepmg the rooms in such good order, when
suddenly she heand deligh'bf.wl m1US1i.c flowing out of the last
room, the hiUildTetltih room. L:i!ke a deer she ran to the door
and paused mornentarilry. Enchanted by the sweet strains,
Go'1dilook,s turned the iknob and, before she could realize
what she had done, she was inside the room.
In this hlJIIldiredith room twelve b,ewitiched persons were
sitting behind •a talble. They were sitting there exa,ctly as
they had been ait the time they were put under the spell.
Still another man stood behind the door and this one said
to Goldi-looks :
"Goldilocks, for heaven's sake, do not diV11.1lge what you
harve nOIW seen in this room! No matter what the · b1ack
maiden does to you, do not let her know the sooret of thls
ro.om. If you sary e1Ven one wo,nd aJbout this, you yourse:llf
shall be unhappy eternaJlly and we wiU continue to remain
here ac-cursed.''
Witlh this a dead silence followed. Goldilocks, frightened
and stunned, ran out of the roo,m as speedily as she had
entered it.
Goldilocks did not e1Ven notice how or when the blaok
maiden a;ppearetl beifo.re her, but there s:he was! Of course,
t!he maiden knew that Goldilocks had seen that last room
in the castle. Pointing aocusingly at Goldilooks, the black
-ma,i den said: "Go1ldilociks, Goldilocks, what have you ·done?
You haive looked into that hundredth- r-oom! Now, tell me,
what did you see there'?"
�SLOVAKIA
51
Goldilocks, however, denied she had seen anything.
When the black maiiden realized that she could get no pl'cree
wit'h Goldi.looks iby being nice, she begaJil to threaten her in
various ways, but Goldilocks stood her ground and refused
to divulge what she had seen in that last room. Finally, the
bladk maiden screamed angrHy: "You have one more
chance to teH me what you sa;w in that last room. If you
do not tell, I shaJl throw you into the well and you shall become dumb!"
Goldiloclks stead!fastly refused to answer, and the black
maiden aictual:Iy threw her into a deep well and put a spell
on her so that she could not sipeaJk with any one except the
black lady.
When Goldilocks regaii.ned her senses in the weill, she
found herselrf on a sand bottom, and, lo and behold, she saw
a large tunnel on the one side. She went into the passage
and followed it until she eme11ged onto a delightful meadow.
She remained there feeding herse1f with strawiberries and
roots Olf plants. The blacik maiden, however, kept on appearing quite frequently. She continued to beg and threaten
Goldilocks to learn the secret of the hundredth room in the
castle, but Goldilocks fi:rnnly red'used to divulge the secret .
•
It so happened that in the vicinity of the meadow a
youthful king went ahuntmg. As he hunted, he came wpon
the meadow and fo.un.d our beautifiul Goldi.looks fast asleep
on the grass. The young king ga;zed on Goldilocks in amazement and wondered how in t.l-ie world such a 1beautirful girl
could be found on a meadow. And the more he looked at her,
the more he, was eniamored of her. Finally, he decided to
a,w aken her, taJke her home and maJke her his 'bride, no matter what t'he people might say aJbout it.
He touched Goldilocks and awoke her. The young king
asked her who she was and where she came from. But our
Goldifodks could utter not a worn. The king thought this
was 'because she was frightened or that she was bashful.
He repeated tJhe· questions and then asked her whether she
would go witih him to hi's castle. In answer to hi:s last question, Goldi-looks gesticulated with her hands and head that
�52
SLOVAKIA
she would be hruppy to go. So· the young king took her to his
castle, dressed her up in beautiful clothes and soon after
married her.
Althouigih Goldilooks could not utter a word, the youthful king loved her so mUJoh that he did not care whether she
could sipeaJk oir not and he lived with her peacefully and
h~ily. After rubout a year, Goldilocks became very sad and
fearf,u l; something troulbled her as the day drew near to
give birth to her clhild. Wihen that time ca'Ine, our Goldilocks
gruve birth to a delightd'ul boy with golden hair and witlh
a golden star on his forehead. The . young king was overcome with joy. Ii:mmediately he invited all the landlords of
the vicinity to a great feast so that they could share his
joy with him. His happiness, however, soon changed into. a
great sorrow.
One night the black maiden ruppeared before Goldilocks
and threatened to strangle her golden-haired boy, if she did
not divulge what she had seen in that last room of the
castle. Goldilooks became cold with fright and shook like an
aSlpell tree, but she revealed norbhi1llg. "You yourself shall
not fare well," screamed the blacik maiden. When Goldilocks
refused to reiveal what she saw in that last room, the lady
in black seized her beautiful boy and choked him. Smearing Goldilocks' mouth with blood, t!he 'blaclk maiden diSaippeared as mysteriously as she had appeared.
When the i:nlfant boy was found dead the next morning,
confusion and fright seized all in the castle. 'Dhe king was
paled with fear and sorrow. He had every nook and cranny
of the castle searched to find the guilty one, but the search
proved fruitless. Since GoldHoclks' mouth was covered with
blood, :people began to say that she had killed her own son:
Our Goldilocks, of course, was innocent, but she oould not
say a word in her own defense. The people of the castle said
that she desenved to die for what she had done. The king
heard all this, but continiued to liive with GoJidHooks in peace
because he loved her intensely.
A year later our Goldilocks gave birth to a charming
girl with golden loclcs and a golden star on her forehead.
The king was wi'ld with joy. To forestall all misfortune,
1
�SLOVAKIA
53
however, he immediately ordered a guard pla~ in Goldilocks' room throughout the night.
But even this precaution meant nothing, because the
blaok maiden bewitched the entire guard so that the men
fell a,sloop lhl{e logs of wood. Then she approached Goldilooks and saiid:
"You see, y;ou cannot escape me," she cacikled, "and
I aan deternnined to learn what you sa,w in that last room of
the castle. If you do not ten me noiw, you shall perish in o.ne
way or another. 1if I now strangle your daughter, the king
will most certainly haNe you burned."
Goldilocik.s, however, remained as firm as a rock and
said nothing. The black maiden then seized the infant girl
and choked her. Again she smeared Goldilocks' mouth with
blood and then disappeared.
When the infant princess was found dead the next
morning and the guard insisted that no one entered or left
the room all n~ght, the king became exiceedingly angry,
Again he had every nooik and cranny of the castle searched
for the murderer, but to no avail. The king simply could not
believe that Goldilociks was guilty of strangling her own
child. But people said that under the circumstan,ces no1body
could have ·k illed the child except the queen herself,
because the room was under guard the whole night. Even
her mouth was bloody, they sa,id, and she could not utter
a word. A strange, dreadful creature, indeed, they thought.
Overcome with grief, the king was at last influenced
by what was being said rubowt GoJ.dilocks and he ordered
her to be put to death. The hrupless GoldilO'dk:s wrus led outside the town and tied to a stake. A£ter dTy wood was placed
all around her, the kinig ordered it to be fired. But at that
moment a bla:cik coa:ch thundered through the dense throng
witnessing the exooution and came to .a sudden halt near
Goldilocks. Out came the black maiden who said:
"You see, my words are being fulfilled. Your destruction is at hand. This is your last opportunity to tell me what
you saiw in that last room in my castle. Now, tell me what
did you see there?"
�54
SLOVAKIA
Goldilocks, however, kept her silence a:nd adamantly
refused to tell the black maiden what she had seen. in that
hundrndth roam of her castle.
When the wood was lighted and the flames began to
lerup toward Goldtlook s, the bl,a ck maiden suddenly began to
chaJil!ge and her faJce became white. She ordered the fire extinguished, beca:U!se Goldilocks was innocent. Then she
turned to Goldilocks and said:
"It is your good fortune as well as mine, that you did
not betra.y the secret olf that laist room in my castle. And
because you keipt yoll!r secret well, the evil spell over me and
the twelve men you saiw in that last room is broken. If you
haid betrayed the seJCret, rul:I oif us, including y,ournelf, would
have been doomed eternally! "
To the utter SU11Prise olf the confoll!11ded throng, the
beautifwl maiden then reached Ol\lt to Gol<lilOIC:ks a:nd returned her tiwo ch!ildren U!Ilhairmed and. whole. Within a
flas h the coach disruppeared - a;s if a hurricane had carried
it away.
Goldilodkis then told the king the story from the very
beginmg. '!1he 'king was dwmfounded; he coi.rl.d scan:ely
believe his eyes and ears. But what could he do? His children, straingled under mysterious civcumstances, were alive
and haippy. Overtaken with joy, the king emlbrruced his wife
and his chi:1dren, tea:rfu!lly begging Goldilocks to forgirve
hi'In for the terrible mistaJke he had made. Then he too>k his
wife and ohildren to his east:le, where they lived happily
thereafter. Of course, the king sought out the parents of
Goldilocks, the b'la'dksmith and his wife, and had them
brought to his ca_stle where they all lived hruppily together
until the end of their da;ys.
1
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"LONG I.JIVE THE SOWET UNION AND MAY I'DS
SOVIET LEADER AND .SKllPPER, J. V. STA.LEN LIVE
IN FULL HEALTH TO SIDE M,ANY MORE OF ITS JOYOUS JUB1L:IDES!" - (Dr. Joseiph Lettrich, Vfoe-Chair1man
of the Execl.lltive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslava,kia," C.NS, Norvem/ber 7, 1947).
�
SLOVAKIA
47
have fought for the liberation. of his people from all alien
tyranny, including the Czech brand as represented by T. G.
Masaryk an.d Benes. S,lo,vaJks eveTywhere commemorate May
4th as Stefani'k Day, because it was on May 4, 1919, that
their beloved wair hero crashed to his death in a plaine which
was "a~cidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison at Vajnory, Slovakia. Many Slovaiks even todiay will tell you 1:!hat
Stefanik haid to die, because he never consented to his Slovakiia being a colony o,£ the imperialistic Czechs led by T. G.
Masarylk and Benes. On May 4, 1954, Slova,ks everywhere
will recall: "it was 35 yeaI'S ago thait Stefarnk was killed by
the men who resented his warnings rugainst Bolshevism.
"
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
GOLDILOCKS
Once UlpOn a time there was a very poor blacksmith.
At one time 'he fared weH, but then hard times struck, he
had little work to do., and his wiife and small children were
always hungry. Finally he lost everything; at hOlme he had
not!hing left but seven ,pennies. His undernourished children
cried constantly for something to eat until the blacksmith
could stand it no longer. In his despair he boU!ght a rope
witlh his last seven ,p ennies and started out for the hills to
end it all.
When he came into the hills, he sought out a stout
branch on a mighty tree to which he fixed the roipe. As the
bla;cksmith was a;bout to tie the rope albout his neck, a
,pretty black maiden suddenly appeared .b efore him and
pleaded wHJh him not to hang himself, 1b ecause that was not
a nice thing to do and, then, it was also a sin. The b,lacksmith was stunned when the black maiden disappeared into
the nowhere whence she had come. As he waliked along, his
mind wandered baok home where misery and want ruled and
again he became despondent. U!P went his rope onto another
stout ,h ranch. .&gain the blaJCk maiden s,uddemy appeaired
out of the blue and begged him not to commit such an ugly
deed. In a quadary, the blactksmith shoo'k his head, bwt
said nothing. He did not throw away his rope, but stood
�48
SLOVAKIA
motionless for some moments. When the maiden disa:ppea.rred
once a:gain, file hl.ooksmith pondered his misery over again
and again, reruched the deci'sion to end it all. Once more the
rope went wp airound the stQ!Ut branch. As he was nixing
the other end rubout his neck, however, file bea,utiful black
maiden aippeared directly before him and said:
"Do not ha:n1g yourself, iblalCiksmith, do not hang yourse1f ! I will he1p you in yoUT misery. I wiH give you all the
weali!h you desire, if you only promise me something you
haJVe at home but about whiich you are not awa,re."
"Huh, well whait can this be in my 'barren home about
which I know nothing?" pondered the blaclrnmith, "this
must undoulbtedly be some kind of a jo!ke!"
But the blaciksmith promised the black maiden what
she had requested, if she would only help him out of his
misery. Fortiliiwith, the lo;ve:ly yourng black maiden filled a
pouch with money and go ld and said:
"Here you have what I promised you. And for what you
ha,ve promised me I shall come in seven years."
The lovely blaiok lady disaippeared just as mysteriously
as she had appeared. The blaclksmith couhl scarcely believe
what had haippened, but there was· the pouch with money
and gold! He snatched it and hurried home.
He cried joyously as he burst into his humble shack
and poured the money and gold on the truble. His wife and
children were stunned momentarily. Soon they had plenty
of food on the taJble with which the SJtaI1Ved children stuffed
themselves. Mter aN had had their fill, the wife turned to
her husband and asked how he hrud come by all that money
and goJ.d.
"Thinlk nothing of it," reiplied the blacksmith, "it was
just some kind oif a jolke. To get this money and gold I only
had to promise to give something aJbout which I know
nothing."
As he sipoike these words, his wife beca:me frightened
and screaJmed: "Noiw you did it. Why, you sold yoUT own
child before it was born."
The blaok,s mith also became frightened, but what could
he do ? He gaJVe his word and had to keep it.
1
�49
SLOVAKIA
Soon after the blaciksmith's wife gave birth to a beautiful, deHghtful girl with golden hair and a golden star on
her forehead. Na:tura:lly, they called their little girl "Goldilocks." They cared for the child with love and tenderness
and brought her U!p as best the¥ could. Their haippiness was
marred only .by the thought that Goldilociks was their
own and, yet, she was not.
Exactly seven years after Goldilocks was bo rn, a
black coach stopped in front of the blacksmith's ho:rne and
out of it carrne the bladk maiden. The parents pleaded with
the maiden, but to no awail. She placed Goldilocks beside her
in the coach and started off. The blacksmith and his wife
wailed and cried as they ran after the coach to the end of
the viHruge. They woUJld hacve followed it farther, but the
black maiden threatened to bewitch them id: they did. Sorrowfully they returned home and cried pitifUJlly for their
beautiful Goidilociks, whom they thought they had lost
forever.
1
.
The blaick lady and· Goldilo:clks literally flew in the
bla~k coach OJVer desolate lands rund dense forests until
they firnillly came to a 'great, beaiutiful castle. The black
maiden took Goldilociks into the castle, led heir through
ninety-nine rooms and then said to her: "Here, my child,
you shall res,ide. Ta.O{e care of these ninety-nine rooms for
me. You can walk into and stay in any of the rooms yo:u
please, but do not dare to look in the remaining room the hundredth room - belcause you shall fare badly. In
seven years we shall meet again; until then fare thee weM!"
As she spoke these words, the !black maiden disa;ppeared.
For se'Ven whole years there was no sound or trace of
the black maiden. And for seven long years our Goldilocks
lived contentedly in the castle. She walked in and out of
the ninety-nine rooms, sweeipinig and cleaning them so that
everything glittered lilke gold. Of course, she was tempted
to look into t:he hundredth room manry times, but resisted
the temptation successfully, even though the thought of
that room kept her awake many ni'ghts.
�50
SLOVAKIA
SuTe enoUJgh, when seven years had passed by, the
blaclk maJden returned to the ,c astle and Goldilodks.
"Did you look into the hundredth room?" she asked.
GoldilO'C/k1s replied that she had not. Of course, the bl8.1Ck
maiden lkneiw that; she was very hruppy that Goldilocks
spO!ke the tmth. After repeating the order to Goldilocks,
the black maiden a;gain disaippeared.
·
Our Gold.ilodks kept going throUJg,h the 1beautifu:l, spacious ninety-nine rooms day after day, cileanmg them so
that they sparkled l.ilke mirrors.. Year after year ,p assed like
a drnrum. As the second seven year period was coming to a
close, our GoldUocks thoUJght how the black maiden would
praise her :fior keepmg the rooms in such good order, when
suddenly she heand deligh'bf.wl m1US1i.c flowing out of the last
room, the hiUildTetltih room. L:i!ke a deer she ran to the door
and paused mornentarilry. Enchanted by the sweet strains,
Go'1dilook,s turned the iknob and, before she could realize
what she had done, she was inside the room.
In this hlJIIldiredith room twelve b,ewitiched persons were
sitting behind •a talble. They were sitting there exa,ctly as
they had been ait the time they were put under the spell.
Still another man stood behind the door and this one said
to Goldi-looks :
"Goldilocks, for heaven's sake, do not diV11.1lge what you
harve nOIW seen in this room! No matter what the · b1ack
maiden does to you, do not let her know the sooret of thls
ro.om. If you sary e1Ven one wo,nd aJbout this, you yourse:llf
shall be unhappy eternaJlly and we wiU continue to remain
here ac-cursed.''
Witlh this a dead silence followed. Goldilocks, frightened
and stunned, ran out of the roo,m as speedily as she had
entered it.
Goldilocks did not e1Ven notice how or when the blaok
maiden a;ppearetl beifo.re her, but there s:he was! Of course,
t!he maiden knew that Goldilocks had seen that last room
in the castle. Pointing aocusingly at Goldilooks, the black
-ma,i den said: "Go1ldilociks, Goldilocks, what have you ·done?
You haive looked into that hundredth- r-oom! Now, tell me,
what did you see there'?"
�SLOVAKIA
51
Goldilocks, however, denied she had seen anything.
When the black maiiden realized that she could get no pl'cree
wit'h Goldi.looks iby being nice, she begaJil to threaten her in
various ways, but Goldilocks stood her ground and refused
to divulge what she had seen in that last room. Finally, the
bladk maiden screamed angrHy: "You have one more
chance to teH me what you sa;w in that last room. If you
do not tell, I shaJl throw you into the well and you shall become dumb!"
Goldiloclks stead!fastly refused to answer, and the black
maiden aictual:Iy threw her into a deep well and put a spell
on her so that she could not sipeaJk with any one except the
black lady.
When Goldilocks regaii.ned her senses in the weill, she
found herselrf on a sand bottom, and, lo and behold, she saw
a large tunnel on the one side. She went into the passage
and followed it until she eme11ged onto a delightful meadow.
She remained there feeding herse1f with strawiberries and
roots Olf plants. The blacik maiden, however, kept on appearing quite frequently. She continued to beg and threaten
Goldilocks to learn the secret of the hundredth room in the
castle, but Goldilocks fi:rnnly red'used to divulge the secret .
•
It so happened that in the vicinity of the meadow a
youthful king went ahuntmg. As he hunted, he came wpon
the meadow and fo.un.d our beautifiul Goldi.looks fast asleep
on the grass. The young king ga;zed on Goldilocks in amazement and wondered how in t.l-ie world such a 1beautirful girl
could be found on a meadow. And the more he looked at her,
the more he, was eniamored of her. Finally, he decided to
a,w aken her, taJke her home and maJke her his 'bride, no matter what t'he people might say aJbout it.
He touched Goldilocks and awoke her. The young king
asked her who she was and where she came from. But our
Goldifodks could utter not a worn. The king thought this
was 'because she was frightened or that she was bashful.
He repeated tJhe· questions and then asked her whether she
would go witih him to hi's castle. In answer to hi:s last question, Goldi-looks gesticulated with her hands and head that
�52
SLOVAKIA
she would be hruppy to go. So· the young king took her to his
castle, dressed her up in beautiful clothes and soon after
married her.
Althouigih Goldilooks could not utter a word, the youthful king loved her so mUJoh that he did not care whether she
could sipeaJk oir not and he lived with her peacefully and
h~ily. After rubout a year, Goldilocks became very sad and
fearf,u l; something troulbled her as the day drew near to
give birth to her clhild. Wihen that time ca'Ine, our Goldilocks
gruve birth to a delightd'ul boy with golden hair and witlh
a golden star on his forehead. The . young king was overcome with joy. Ii:mmediately he invited all the landlords of
the vicinity to a great feast so that they could share his
joy with him. His happiness, however, soon changed into. a
great sorrow.
One night the black maiden ruppeared before Goldilocks
and threatened to strangle her golden-haired boy, if she did
not divulge what she had seen in that last room of the
castle. Goldilooks became cold with fright and shook like an
aSlpell tree, but she revealed norbhi1llg. "You yourself shall
not fare well," screamed the blacik maiden. When Goldilocks
refused to reiveal what she saw in that last room, the lady
in black seized her beautiful boy and choked him. Smearing Goldilocks' mouth with blood, t!he 'blaclk maiden diSaippeared as mysteriously as she had appeared.
When the i:nlfant boy was found dead the next morning,
confusion and fright seized all in the castle. 'Dhe king was
paled with fear and sorrow. He had every nook and cranny
of the castle searched to find the guilty one, but the search
proved fruitless. Since GoldHoclks' mouth was covered with
blood, :people began to say that she had killed her own son:
Our Goldilocks, of course, was innocent, but she oould not
say a word in her own defense. The people of the castle said
that she desenved to die for what she had done. The king
heard all this, but continiued to liive with GoJidHooks in peace
because he loved her intensely.
A year later our Goldilocks gave birth to a charming
girl with golden loclcs and a golden star on her forehead.
The king was wi'ld with joy. To forestall all misfortune,
1
�SLOVAKIA
53
however, he immediately ordered a guard pla~ in Goldilocks' room throughout the night.
But even this precaution meant nothing, because the
blaok maiden bewitched the entire guard so that the men
fell a,sloop lhl{e logs of wood. Then she approached Goldilooks and saiid:
"You see, y;ou cannot escape me," she cacikled, "and
I aan deternnined to learn what you sa,w in that last room of
the castle. If you do not ten me noiw, you shall perish in o.ne
way or another. 1if I now strangle your daughter, the king
will most certainly haNe you burned."
Goldilocik.s, however, remained as firm as a rock and
said nothing. The black maiden then seized the infant girl
and choked her. Again she smeared Goldilocks' mouth with
blood and then disappeared.
When the infant princess was found dead the next
morning and the guard insisted that no one entered or left
the room all n~ght, the king became exiceedingly angry,
Again he had every nooik and cranny of the castle searched
for the murderer, but to no avail. The king simply could not
believe that Goldilociks was guilty of strangling her own
child. But people said that under the circumstan,ces no1body
could have ·k illed the child except the queen herself,
because the room was under guard the whole night. Even
her mouth was bloody, they sa,id, and she could not utter
a word. A strange, dreadful creature, indeed, they thought.
Overcome with grief, the king was at last influenced
by what was being said rubowt GoJ.dilocks and he ordered
her to be put to death. The hrupless GoldilO'dk:s wrus led outside the town and tied to a stake. A£ter dTy wood was placed
all around her, the kinig ordered it to be fired. But at that
moment a bla:cik coa:ch thundered through the dense throng
witnessing the exooution and came to .a sudden halt near
Goldilocks. Out came the black maiden who said:
"You see, my words are being fulfilled. Your destruction is at hand. This is your last opportunity to tell me what
you saiw in that last room in my castle. Now, tell me what
did you see there?"
�54
SLOVAKIA
Goldilocks, however, kept her silence a:nd adamantly
refused to tell the black maiden what she had seen. in that
hundrndth roam of her castle.
When the wood was lighted and the flames began to
lerup toward Goldtlook s, the bl,a ck maiden suddenly began to
chaJil!ge and her faJce became white. She ordered the fire extinguished, beca:U!se Goldilocks was innocent. Then she
turned to Goldilocks and said:
"It is your good fortune as well as mine, that you did
not betra.y the secret olf that laist room in my castle. And
because you keipt yoll!r secret well, the evil spell over me and
the twelve men you saiw in that last room is broken. If you
haid betrayed the seJCret, rul:I oif us, including y,ournelf, would
have been doomed eternally! "
To the utter SU11Prise olf the confoll!11ded throng, the
beautifwl maiden then reached Ol\lt to Gol<lilOIC:ks a:nd returned her tiwo ch!ildren U!Ilhairmed and. whole. Within a
flas h the coach disruppeared - a;s if a hurricane had carried
it away.
Goldilodkis then told the king the story from the very
beginmg. '!1he 'king was dwmfounded; he coi.rl.d scan:ely
believe his eyes and ears. But what could he do? His children, straingled under mysterious civcumstances, were alive
and haippy. Overtaken with joy, the king emlbrruced his wife
and his chi:1dren, tea:rfu!lly begging Goldilocks to forgirve
hi'In for the terrible mistaJke he had made. Then he too>k his
wife and ohildren to his east:le, where they lived happily
thereafter. Of course, the king sought out the parents of
Goldilocks, the b'la'dksmith and his wife, and had them
brought to his ca_stle where they all lived hruppily together
until the end of their da;ys.
1
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"LONG I.JIVE THE SOWET UNION AND MAY I'DS
SOVIET LEADER AND .SKllPPER, J. V. STA.LEN LIVE
IN FULL HEALTH TO SIDE M,ANY MORE OF ITS JOYOUS JUB1L:IDES!" - (Dr. Joseiph Lettrich, Vfoe-Chair1man
of the Execl.lltive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslava,kia," C.NS, Norvem/ber 7, 1947).
�
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Title
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1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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SLOVAKIA
47
have fought for the liberation. of his people from all alien
tyranny, including the Czech brand as represented by T. G.
Masaryk an.d Benes. S,lo,vaJks eveTywhere commemorate May
4th as Stefani'k Day, because it was on May 4, 1919, that
their beloved wair hero crashed to his death in a plaine which
was "a~cidentally" shot down by a Czech garrison at Vajnory, Slovakia. Many Slovaiks even todiay will tell you 1:!hat
Stefanik haid to die, because he never consented to his Slovakiia being a colony o,£ the imperialistic Czechs led by T. G.
Masarylk and Benes. On May 4, 1954, Slova,ks everywhere
will recall: "it was 35 yeaI'S ago thait Stefarnk was killed by
the men who resented his warnings rugainst Bolshevism.
"
•
•
•
SLOVAK FOLKLORE
GOLDILOCKS
Once UlpOn a time there was a very poor blacksmith.
At one time 'he fared weH, but then hard times struck, he
had little work to do., and his wiife and small children were
always hungry. Finally he lost everything; at hOlme he had
not!hing left but seven ,pennies. His undernourished children
cried constantly for something to eat until the blacksmith
could stand it no longer. In his despair he boU!ght a rope
witlh his last seven ,p ennies and started out for the hills to
end it all.
When he came into the hills, he sought out a stout
branch on a mighty tree to which he fixed the roipe. As the
bla;cksmith was a;bout to tie the rope albout his neck, a
,pretty black maiden suddenly appeared .b efore him and
pleaded wHJh him not to hang himself, 1b ecause that was not
a nice thing to do and, then, it was also a sin. The b,lacksmith was stunned when the black maiden disappeared into
the nowhere whence she had come. As he waliked along, his
mind wandered baok home where misery and want ruled and
again he became despondent. U!P went his rope onto another
stout ,h ranch. .&gain the blaJCk maiden s,uddemy appeaired
out of the blue and begged him not to commit such an ugly
deed. In a quadary, the blactksmith shoo'k his head, bwt
said nothing. He did not throw away his rope, but stood
48
SLOVAKIA
motionless for some moments. When the maiden disa:ppea.rred
once a:gain, file hl.ooksmith pondered his misery over again
and again, reruched the deci'sion to end it all. Once more the
rope went wp airound the stQ!Ut branch. As he was nixing
the other end rubout his neck, however, file bea,utiful black
maiden aippeared directly before him and said:
"Do not ha:n1g yourself, iblalCiksmith, do not hang yourse1f ! I will he1p you in yoUT misery. I wiH give you all the
weali!h you desire, if you only promise me something you
haJVe at home but about whiich you are not awa,re."
"Huh, well whait can this be in my 'barren home about
which I know nothing?" pondered the blaclrnmith, "this
must undoulbtedly be some kind of a jo!ke!"
But the blaciksmith promised the black maiden what
she had requested, if she would only help him out of his
misery. Fortiliiwith, the lo;ve:ly yourng black maiden filled a
pouch with money and go ld and said:
"Here you have what I promised you. And for what you
ha,ve promised me I shall come in seven years."
The lovely blaiok lady disaippeared just as mysteriously
as she had appeared. The blaclksmith couhl scarcely believe
what had haippened, but there was· the pouch with money
and gold! He snatched it and hurried home.
He cried joyously as he burst into his humble shack
and poured the money and gold on the truble. His wife and
children were stunned momentarily. Soon they had plenty
of food on the taJble with which the SJtaI1Ved children stuffed
themselves. Mter aN had had their fill, the wife turned to
her husband and asked how he hrud come by all that money
and goJ.d.
"Thinlk nothing of it," reiplied the blacksmith, "it was
just some kind oif a jolke. To get this money and gold I only
had to promise to give something aJbout which I know
nothing."
As he sipoike these words, his wife beca:me frightened
and screaJmed: "Noiw you did it. Why, you sold yoUT own
child before it was born."
The blaok,s mith also became frightened, but what could
he do ? He gaJVe his word and had to keep it.
1
49
SLOVAKIA
Soon after the blaciksmith's wife gave birth to a beautiful, deHghtful girl with golden hair and a golden star on
her forehead. Na:tura:lly, they called their little girl "Goldilocks." They cared for the child with love and tenderness
and brought her U!p as best the¥ could. Their haippiness was
marred only .by the thought that Goldilociks was their
own and, yet, she was not.
Exactly seven years after Goldilocks was bo rn, a
black coach stopped in front of the blacksmith's ho:rne and
out of it carrne the bladk maiden. The parents pleaded with
the maiden, but to no awail. She placed Goldilocks beside her
in the coach and started off. The blacksmith and his wife
wailed and cried as they ran after the coach to the end of
the viHruge. They woUJld hacve followed it farther, but the
black maiden threatened to bewitch them id: they did. Sorrowfully they returned home and cried pitifUJlly for their
beautiful Goidilociks, whom they thought they had lost
forever.
1
.
The blaick lady and· Goldilo:clks literally flew in the
bla~k coach OJVer desolate lands rund dense forests until
they firnillly came to a 'great, beaiutiful castle. The black
maiden took Goldilociks into the castle, led heir through
ninety-nine rooms and then said to her: "Here, my child,
you shall res,ide. Ta.O{e care of these ninety-nine rooms for
me. You can walk into and stay in any of the rooms yo:u
please, but do not dare to look in the remaining room the hundredth room - belcause you shall fare badly. In
seven years we shall meet again; until then fare thee weM!"
As she spoke these words, the !black maiden disa;ppeared.
For se'Ven whole years there was no sound or trace of
the black maiden. And for seven long years our Goldilocks
lived contentedly in the castle. She walked in and out of
the ninety-nine rooms, sweeipinig and cleaning them so that
everything glittered lilke gold. Of course, she was tempted
to look into t:he hundredth room manry times, but resisted
the temptation successfully, even though the thought of
that room kept her awake many ni'ghts.
50
SLOVAKIA
SuTe enoUJgh, when seven years had passed by, the
blaclk maJden returned to the ,c astle and Goldilodks.
"Did you look into the hundredth room?" she asked.
GoldilO'C/k1s replied that she had not. Of course, the bl8.1Ck
maiden lkneiw that; she was very hruppy that Goldilocks
spO!ke the tmth. After repeating the order to Goldilocks,
the black maiden a;gain disaippeared.
·
Our Gold.ilodks kept going throUJg,h the 1beautifu:l, spacious ninety-nine rooms day after day, cileanmg them so
that they sparkled l.ilke mirrors.. Year after year ,p assed like
a drnrum. As the second seven year period was coming to a
close, our GoldUocks thoUJght how the black maiden would
praise her :fior keepmg the rooms in such good order, when
suddenly she heand deligh'bf.wl m1US1i.c flowing out of the last
room, the hiUildTetltih room. L:i!ke a deer she ran to the door
and paused mornentarilry. Enchanted by the sweet strains,
Go'1dilook,s turned the iknob and, before she could realize
what she had done, she was inside the room.
In this hlJIIldiredith room twelve b,ewitiched persons were
sitting behind •a talble. They were sitting there exa,ctly as
they had been ait the time they were put under the spell.
Still another man stood behind the door and this one said
to Goldi-looks :
"Goldilocks, for heaven's sake, do not diV11.1lge what you
harve nOIW seen in this room! No matter what the · b1ack
maiden does to you, do not let her know the sooret of thls
ro.om. If you sary e1Ven one wo,nd aJbout this, you yourse:llf
shall be unhappy eternaJlly and we wiU continue to remain
here ac-cursed.''
Witlh this a dead silence followed. Goldilocks, frightened
and stunned, ran out of the roo,m as speedily as she had
entered it.
Goldilocks did not e1Ven notice how or when the blaok
maiden a;ppearetl beifo.re her, but there s:he was! Of course,
t!he maiden knew that Goldilocks had seen that last room
in the castle. Pointing aocusingly at Goldilooks, the black
-ma,i den said: "Go1ldilociks, Goldilocks, what have you ·done?
You haive looked into that hundredth- r-oom! Now, tell me,
what did you see there'?"
SLOVAKIA
51
Goldilocks, however, denied she had seen anything.
When the black maiiden realized that she could get no pl'cree
wit'h Goldi.looks iby being nice, she begaJil to threaten her in
various ways, but Goldilocks stood her ground and refused
to divulge what she had seen in that last room. Finally, the
bladk maiden screamed angrHy: "You have one more
chance to teH me what you sa;w in that last room. If you
do not tell, I shaJl throw you into the well and you shall become dumb!"
Goldiloclks stead!fastly refused to answer, and the black
maiden aictual:Iy threw her into a deep well and put a spell
on her so that she could not sipeaJk with any one except the
black lady.
When Goldilocks regaii.ned her senses in the weill, she
found herselrf on a sand bottom, and, lo and behold, she saw
a large tunnel on the one side. She went into the passage
and followed it until she eme11ged onto a delightful meadow.
She remained there feeding herse1f with strawiberries and
roots Olf plants. The blacik maiden, however, kept on appearing quite frequently. She continued to beg and threaten
Goldilocks to learn the secret of the hundredth room in the
castle, but Goldilocks fi:rnnly red'used to divulge the secret .
•
It so happened that in the vicinity of the meadow a
youthful king went ahuntmg. As he hunted, he came wpon
the meadow and fo.un.d our beautifiul Goldi.looks fast asleep
on the grass. The young king ga;zed on Goldilocks in amazement and wondered how in t.l-ie world such a 1beautirful girl
could be found on a meadow. And the more he looked at her,
the more he, was eniamored of her. Finally, he decided to
a,w aken her, taJke her home and maJke her his 'bride, no matter what t'he people might say aJbout it.
He touched Goldilocks and awoke her. The young king
asked her who she was and where she came from. But our
Goldifodks could utter not a worn. The king thought this
was 'because she was frightened or that she was bashful.
He repeated tJhe· questions and then asked her whether she
would go witih him to hi's castle. In answer to hi:s last question, Goldi-looks gesticulated with her hands and head that
52
SLOVAKIA
she would be hruppy to go. So· the young king took her to his
castle, dressed her up in beautiful clothes and soon after
married her.
Althouigih Goldilooks could not utter a word, the youthful king loved her so mUJoh that he did not care whether she
could sipeaJk oir not and he lived with her peacefully and
h~ily. After rubout a year, Goldilocks became very sad and
fearf,u l; something troulbled her as the day drew near to
give birth to her clhild. Wihen that time ca'Ine, our Goldilocks
gruve birth to a delightd'ul boy with golden hair and witlh
a golden star on his forehead. The . young king was overcome with joy. Ii:mmediately he invited all the landlords of
the vicinity to a great feast so that they could share his
joy with him. His happiness, however, soon changed into. a
great sorrow.
One night the black maiden ruppeared before Goldilocks
and threatened to strangle her golden-haired boy, if she did
not divulge what she had seen in that last room of the
castle. Goldilooks became cold with fright and shook like an
aSlpell tree, but she revealed norbhi1llg. "You yourself shall
not fare well," screamed the blacik maiden. When Goldilocks
refused to reiveal what she saw in that last room, the lady
in black seized her beautiful boy and choked him. Smearing Goldilocks' mouth with blood, t!he 'blaclk maiden diSaippeared as mysteriously as she had appeared.
When the i:nlfant boy was found dead the next morning,
confusion and fright seized all in the castle. 'Dhe king was
paled with fear and sorrow. He had every nook and cranny
of the castle searched to find the guilty one, but the search
proved fruitless. Since GoldHoclks' mouth was covered with
blood, :people began to say that she had killed her own son:
Our Goldilocks, of course, was innocent, but she oould not
say a word in her own defense. The people of the castle said
that she desenved to die for what she had done. The king
heard all this, but continiued to liive with GoJidHooks in peace
because he loved her intensely.
A year later our Goldilocks gave birth to a charming
girl with golden loclcs and a golden star on her forehead.
The king was wi'ld with joy. To forestall all misfortune,
1
SLOVAKIA
53
however, he immediately ordered a guard pla~ in Goldilocks' room throughout the night.
But even this precaution meant nothing, because the
blaok maiden bewitched the entire guard so that the men
fell a,sloop lhl{e logs of wood. Then she approached Goldilooks and saiid:
"You see, y;ou cannot escape me," she cacikled, "and
I aan deternnined to learn what you sa,w in that last room of
the castle. If you do not ten me noiw, you shall perish in o.ne
way or another. 1if I now strangle your daughter, the king
will most certainly haNe you burned."
Goldilocik.s, however, remained as firm as a rock and
said nothing. The black maiden then seized the infant girl
and choked her. Again she smeared Goldilocks' mouth with
blood and then disappeared.
When the infant princess was found dead the next
morning and the guard insisted that no one entered or left
the room all n~ght, the king became exiceedingly angry,
Again he had every nooik and cranny of the castle searched
for the murderer, but to no avail. The king simply could not
believe that Goldilociks was guilty of strangling her own
child. But people said that under the circumstan,ces no1body
could have ·k illed the child except the queen herself,
because the room was under guard the whole night. Even
her mouth was bloody, they sa,id, and she could not utter
a word. A strange, dreadful creature, indeed, they thought.
Overcome with grief, the king was at last influenced
by what was being said rubowt GoJ.dilocks and he ordered
her to be put to death. The hrupless GoldilO'dk:s wrus led outside the town and tied to a stake. A£ter dTy wood was placed
all around her, the kinig ordered it to be fired. But at that
moment a bla:cik coa:ch thundered through the dense throng
witnessing the exooution and came to .a sudden halt near
Goldilocks. Out came the black maiden who said:
"You see, my words are being fulfilled. Your destruction is at hand. This is your last opportunity to tell me what
you saiw in that last room in my castle. Now, tell me what
did you see there?"
54
SLOVAKIA
Goldilocks, however, kept her silence a:nd adamantly
refused to tell the black maiden what she had seen. in that
hundrndth roam of her castle.
When the wood was lighted and the flames began to
lerup toward Goldtlook s, the bl,a ck maiden suddenly began to
chaJil!ge and her faJce became white. She ordered the fire extinguished, beca:U!se Goldilocks was innocent. Then she
turned to Goldilocks and said:
"It is your good fortune as well as mine, that you did
not betra.y the secret olf that laist room in my castle. And
because you keipt yoll!r secret well, the evil spell over me and
the twelve men you saiw in that last room is broken. If you
haid betrayed the seJCret, rul:I oif us, including y,ournelf, would
have been doomed eternally! "
To the utter SU11Prise olf the confoll!11ded throng, the
beautifwl maiden then reached Ol\lt to Gol<lilOIC:ks a:nd returned her tiwo ch!ildren U!Ilhairmed and. whole. Within a
flas h the coach disruppeared - a;s if a hurricane had carried
it away.
Goldilodkis then told the king the story from the very
beginmg. '!1he 'king was dwmfounded; he coi.rl.d scan:ely
believe his eyes and ears. But what could he do? His children, straingled under mysterious civcumstances, were alive
and haippy. Overtaken with joy, the king emlbrruced his wife
and his chi:1dren, tea:rfu!lly begging Goldilocks to forgirve
hi'In for the terrible mistaJke he had made. Then he too>k his
wife and ohildren to his east:le, where they lived happily
thereafter. Of course, the king sought out the parents of
Goldilocks, the b'la'dksmith and his wife, and had them
brought to his ca_stle where they all lived hruppily together
until the end of their da;ys.
1
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"LONG I.JIVE THE SOWET UNION AND MAY I'DS
SOVIET LEADER AND .SKllPPER, J. V. STA.LEN LIVE
IN FULL HEALTH TO SIDE M,ANY MORE OF ITS JOYOUS JUB1L:IDES!" - (Dr. Joseiph Lettrich, Vfoe-Chair1man
of the Execl.lltive Committee of the "Council of Free Czechoslava,kia," C.NS, Norvem/ber 7, 1947).
Dublin Core
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Title
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Slovak Folklore: Goldilocks
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954
pp. 47-54
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
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936c2554efd6e85aac794bbc51ee0da8
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Text
26
SLOVAKIA
vruks soon became cOiIWinoed that Slova;kia was self-suffie,ient
economically and that they were mature enough politically
to live a free and independent life.
After the false legends, the puripose of which it was to
stupefy the Slovak naition and stifle in it the yearning for
independence, there came a period of suffering, misery and
enslavement. But the burden of this sad fate only strengthened in the Slovak nation the consciousness of its ri ght to
fz:eedom and fo11tified its desire for the restoration of the
state independence of Slovrukia. The Slovaik nation, ooe of
the oldest Christian nruti ons o,f central Europe, will never
rest satisfied until it is free of all tyranny and all foreign
domrinatioo..
1
1
•
•
•
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATI ON OF INDEPENDE NCE
N3 citiizens of the democraitic Republic of the United
States of America, we firimly hold to the beLief that all nations without exception. have the inherent, God-given right
the right to establish
to freedom and independence to- freely elect a
right
the
and
state
their own ,p olitical
government of their orwn choice.
On March 14, 1939, after centuries of alien domination,
the 1peo.ple of Slovrukia exercised their inherenit right when
their druly elected representative s in the autonomous Slovak Asseimlbly proclaimed the independence of their country and estaJblished the Republic of Slovakia. Of course,
the:re are people in Amen-ca even today who present this
historical fact in a false light and endeavor to debase and
vilify everything connected with it. Nevertheless, the utterly .s imple historical truth is that the Slovak Asse:m!bly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent
repulblic - the Republic of Slovakia.
The Slova'k Repll!blic, the dream of Slovak generations,
became a reality and was recogmzed by twenty-seven countries, ilncluili.ng the governments of Great Britain, France
and the Soviet Union. After Slovakia was declared inde-
�SLOVAKIA
27
pendent, the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence
began to howl, naturally. Speculating on their circumstances
under which the .SlovaJks gained their indeipenden:ce, the
followers of Dr. Edward Benes - the so-called Bein.es Czechs
(Socialists) and "CzechosiovaJks" {!SlovaJk renegades in the
pay of the Benes Czechs) - smeared and vilified true Slo~
v,aJk pat11iots who dared to speak up for what was rightfully
theirs. But no matter what the circumstances under which
the SlovaJks gained their independence, we as Americans
must contend that the Repwblic af Slovakia never should
have been destroyed against the will of the Slo.vaJk nation.
By what law of God or man was the Slovak Repulblic
destroyed? Certainly its destrlllCtion cannot 'be justified
by or reconciled with our poHtical beliefs. Its destruction
was cont11ary to 8Jll Christian and democratic principles in short., it was irnm<Yrail and criminal. And let us not f<Yrget that SlovaJkia was destro,yed: by the victorious United
Nations u;nder the guise of liiberation!
The present ter!1iible plight of the Slovak nation, like
that oif the other nations of central Europe which had been
"lilberated" in 1945, is due to the blundering, undemocratic
policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the
name of expediency hy men of democrati'C governments.
In a way, therefore, we are all resp<;msiible for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the
inhumanities suififered by them. Definitely, we should do
something aJbout it. Let us at least be honest with ourselves and the world amd admit th8Jt it was morally wrong
and contrary to every democratic and Chri'Sti8Jn principle
to surrender the SlovaJk nation and the other nations of
central and eastern Europe to the men of the Kremlin.
Today much is being said and written rubout crises, crucial days ahead, human rights and man's inhumanity to
man. The struggle a-gain.st tyranny, however, is nothing
new to the Slovaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a
history replete wi:th thrald:om and ex;ploitation. For over ten
centuries the Slovak nation - one of the oldest Christian
nations of central Europe - has been a pawn in the . hands
of alien rulers. Its econ01IDy, freedom, security and territo-
�28
SLOVAKIA
rial integrity haive a:lways been determined by foreigners.
The SlOIV'a'k s have suf.fered longer under alien domination
than any other nation Olf Europe. No other nation has been
so thoroughly misunders tood, misr~presented, degraded, maligned and vilified - at times even by the veJ"y people who
were supposed to represent it and protect its interests, by
men who prOlfessed to be and were g~o,r ified as the very
epitome of the democratic way of life.
Many of us thought, as did many SlovaJks at home, that
the trials anxl trilbulations of the Slovak nation were at an
end with the estaJblishment of the Cze:cho...Sl01Va'k Repulblic
in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Ozeichs were to govern
as equal partners. But we were mistaken, badly mistaiken.
It soon became evident that the Prague government, headed
by T. G. Masarylk, did not regard the SlovaJk,s as equal partners, but only as a colony to be e:x:ploited for the benefit
of the Czech nation. The Slovaks soon realized that they
had rid themselves of the Magyar despot only to be ruled
over by i.miperialistk Czechs, who sought to destroy them
eventually as a nation.
The Slovaiks, however, outlived the tyranny of the past
and today are more dete.I"mined than ever to outlive the presoot scourge of Ozecho.-Oommunist terror and violence and
to continue on their way to complete ·p olitical freedom and
independence. Despite the many 'bitter memories of injustices suffered from ruling groU!ps of neiighlboring nations,
some of whreh blatantly claimed to the exemplary democracies, the SlovaJks are fully consdous of the fact that
a free Poland, a free Ukraine, a free Bohemia, and even a
free Russia are also necessary to form a better, free and
more just order in EJurrope. The SlovaJks know that the
stru,ggle for freedom and independeil!ce cannot and must not
be waiged in isolation; the goal of Uberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aiim of all ensl:wed nations and Of all fri~ds of all the
oppressed peoples.
The Slovaik nation has proven itself one of the greatest small natiOillS of Europe. The Slov.alks are healthy of
mind and body, intelligent, industrious, intensely religious,
�SLOVAKIA
29
tolerant, and devoted to the pe,ace£ul development of their
national life and culture. As a nation they committed no
aggression against their neighbors, nor did they violate the
rights of others. It is a matter of record that they are always staunchly loyal to the countries of their adoption,
contributing handsomely, in proportion to their numbers,
to their material and spiritual growth. This is attested to
by our own America, the true friend of the perse<mited and
the oppressed. To Slovaks everyiwhere, at home and in
exile, America is looked upon as the living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. More than that, the Slovaks
look to America as their salvation; they expect to be truly
Hbemted by the land of Washington and Lincoln. Let us
pray God that we do not disruppoint them .
The descendants of the Slovak na:tion in America
should be hruppy amd proud to stress the fact that the
SlovaJk nation has fought the plague of materialistic Comm'UIIlism consistently and resolutely for over a hundTed
years. It is a matter of record that Louis Srur, Slovak
writer and champion of Slova'k freedom, repudiated the
godless philosophy of Marx in 1849 and warned his people against it; the political party of Monsignor Andrew
Hlilllka, the Slovaik Poipulist Party, repudiated Communism at its very first session in 1905; in 1919 General Milan
R. Stefanik, Sl01VaJk war hero and one of the founders of
the Czecho-1Slov.aJk Repulblic, cautioned T. G. Masaryk and
Edward Benes to maike no compromises with Bolshevism;
and Dr. Joseph Tiso, first president of the SlOIVaJk Republic, begged his peoiple to persevere in its fight against the
dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to
the gallows iby order of the Communist-dominated National
Front g01Vernment of Dr. Edward Benes on Arpril 18, 1947.
Indeed, it is a matter of record that the Slovalk people
fought Communism, the implacable foe of democracy, in
and out of season. And they are deter.mined to fight it until
it is w1ped off the face of the earth.
And what after Communism? Are the SlorvaJks willing
to be exploited by another form of Czeicho-iSlovaJkia? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfuUy belongs
�30
SLOVAKIA
to them. No more, no less. They want the United States of
America and the rest of the free world to reco:grtIBe and
respect their inherent ri1g ht to freedom and inde:pendence.
The Slov8Jks seek onl~ the opportunity to play a useful role
in the struiggle for freedom. And it is the responsiibility. of
the free democrat:iic world to afford them this opportiunity.
The S1'ovruks want the demO'cratJic world to recogni.!ze at long
last a s,imple truth which the Czechs and Slovaks have
knoiwn for many cenbITies past, that is, that the Czechs
are not and do not want to be SlovaJks, and that the Sl0iva:ks
are n!Ot and do not want to be Ozechs. This fact has been
clearly demonstrated by both the Czechs and the Slova;ks
during the past forty years, that is, ever since the start of
World War I.
The Slovaks do not want anything tha>l is not rightfully theirs; they do not c<1Vet the spiritual and material
wealth of the O.zech nation; they do not make any claims to
Ozooh history, national traditions and customs; they have
rubsolutely no desire for Ozech lMlds; and they do not ask
the Czechs to represent them in any field of endeavor,
whether spiritual, cultural or political.
And, of course, the Slovak nation did not and does not
make any claim to the criminal acts committed by the
post-iwar Communist-0ominated Czech National Front government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The
Slo,v,aks had nothing to do with the criminal exipulsion of
Ge.rnnans from Ozeicho-1SLovakia, o,r the brutal persecution
and swppression Of all anti-Communist opposition in that
hrupless country. Flor the betrayal of the Czech and Slovruk
nations to the Communists and Red Moscow, the Slo'V'aks
shall give full credit to. Dr. ffidward Benes and his socialist
foHawera, who a1w:ays 1promoted .pro-1Soviet policy.
The Slovruks respeot the r,i ght of the Czech nation to
c~lete freedom and politi·c al independence, ·b ut they also
eX!peot leaders of the Czech nation to realiize that the Slova:k nation, too, possesses that right. The Slovaks do not
intend to surrender their right to freedom and indeipendence; they are not willing to comirn:it national suicide.
A-nd it would be immoral for us even to surggest that they do
�SLOVAKIA
31
so. Why then should any governmen ts, especially governments of democratic countries, insist that the SlovaJks and
the territory they have inhabited for at lea.st the past 1500
years must continue to be exploited by another nation?
Let us .e ver be mindful of the farct that we are the
apostles of the true democratic way of life. As such, we
must always be willing and ready to share the blessings
of our democ11acy with the less fortunaJte and oppressed
peoples of the earth. 1it is our sacred duty to spread the
gospel and share the blessings of ,t he deanocraJtic way of
life which gives so much to so many for so little. True, at
times it is a diftfiimtlrt and unigrateful task, but it is one
which we must do for the sake of our country, for the cause
of freedom to wh:itch we are dedicated as a nation, the cause
which is common even to the nation the American Slovaks
are descended from.
America,ns of Slova!k descent must tell the story of the
long, enduring struggle of the Slovak nation for freedom
and ind~nden ce to all democratic peoples of the earth and
their governmen ts. Unfortunat el,y, many poople in governn:ient, particularl y in our own American Governmen t, hruve
allowed themse1ves to be influenced and corufused by the
slanderous, villainous and vicious anti-1Slovak campaign.
waged by the enemies of SlovaJk freedom and independen ce.
It is the duty of every true American, especially Americans
of SlOIViak descent, to expose and embarrass all streh pseudodemocratic elements and disamn them completel,y, because
the enemies of Slovak freedom amd independen ce are in fact
the enemies of the democraJtic way of life itself.
Naturally, the Slovia. ks cannot stand idly ·b y while sucll
people pe11petmte the destrwction of the nation they rure descended from. We must tell this story to om duly elected
representat ives in Washingto n and insist tihat they, in turn,
as our representrutiives, see to it thait our Governmen t adopts
a more realistic and just policy toward the Sl01Va!k nation
and its representat ives. It is, after all, in the intersts of
America and all other democratic coU'Iltries that the Slo;vaiks,
too, be free and independen t, that even they be allowed to
1
�32
SLOVAKIA
determine by their own free choice the state or form of
political organfaation under which they wish to li,v e.
History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation
can have a monopoly on freedom. Freedom is the grandest
of all of God',s gifts to manhnd; freedom is the universal
heritage of all the aiges. The more we ,p romote and share it,
the more aJbundant are its fruits. Of comse, peace without
freedom is unthink:ruble. If we li1re tru1y interested in a permanent and just -peace, let us not deny freedom to any
nation.
When evalll.l'ating the historical fact of the declaration
orf independence of the Slovak nation, let us bear in mind
thait the only question of real sig.nificance is whether the
Slova!k nation had the right to declare its country an independent repUJblic. Believing as Americans do, we know they
did and committed neither crime nor treason in exercising it.
Let people say what they will about MM'ch 14, 1939 Slovak Independence Day - or the circumstances that led
to it, Slova·k s at home and abroad stiH claim that it was the
most beautiful and joyous day in the history of the Slovak
nation. Today all SlOIVaks are storming the heruvens with
prayers that :Sloiva!kia's independence might soon be restored. And Americans believe that it will be. - P. A. Hrobak .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Our alliance with Russia was accepted UNANIMOUSLY BY ALL
OF US, not only by our Communists and Socialists, BUT BY ALL
THE PARTIES - and there are four of them in the government by Catholics and Protestants alike . . . . Any American or foreign cor.
respondent will tell you that WE HAVE NO CENSORSHIP on foreign news from the leading world agencies, including the Associated
Press and United Press. • . . WE are the ONLY Slav country which
has diplomatic and friendly relations with the Vatican. I have an
ambassador at the Holy See and there is a Nuncio In Prague." (Jan Masaryk, Address at the 15th Annual New York Herald Trf.bune
Forum on Current Problems, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, N . Y., October
30, 1946, 4th session) .
•
•
•
"Just as Munk·h was undone and does not exist, Just so there is
no Slovakia and it does not exist internationally as a state! There is
no Slovak problem, the Slovak problem is our Internal pro·blem and
It is reeognize<I as such even by our allies." - (Dr. Benes, 5-22-43).
�
26
SLOVAKIA
vruks soon became cOiIWinoed that Slova;kia was self-suffie,ient
economically and that they were mature enough politically
to live a free and independent life.
After the false legends, the puripose of which it was to
stupefy the Slovak naition and stifle in it the yearning for
independence, there came a period of suffering, misery and
enslavement. But the burden of this sad fate only strengthened in the Slovak nation the consciousness of its ri ght to
fz:eedom and fo11tified its desire for the restoration of the
state independence of Slovrukia. The Slovaik nation, ooe of
the oldest Christian nruti ons o,f central Europe, will never
rest satisfied until it is free of all tyranny and all foreign
domrinatioo..
1
1
•
•
•
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATI ON OF INDEPENDE NCE
N3 citiizens of the democraitic Republic of the United
States of America, we firimly hold to the beLief that all nations without exception. have the inherent, God-given right
the right to establish
to freedom and independence to- freely elect a
right
the
and
state
their own ,p olitical
government of their orwn choice.
On March 14, 1939, after centuries of alien domination,
the 1peo.ple of Slovrukia exercised their inherenit right when
their druly elected representative s in the autonomous Slovak Asseimlbly proclaimed the independence of their country and estaJblished the Republic of Slovakia. Of course,
the:re are people in Amen-ca even today who present this
historical fact in a false light and endeavor to debase and
vilify everything connected with it. Nevertheless, the utterly .s imple historical truth is that the Slovak Asse:m!bly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent
repulblic - the Republic of Slovakia.
The Slova'k Repll!blic, the dream of Slovak generations,
became a reality and was recogmzed by twenty-seven countries, ilncluili.ng the governments of Great Britain, France
and the Soviet Union. After Slovakia was declared inde-
�SLOVAKIA
27
pendent, the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence
began to howl, naturally. Speculating on their circumstances
under which the .SlovaJks gained their indeipenden:ce, the
followers of Dr. Edward Benes - the so-called Bein.es Czechs
(Socialists) and "CzechosiovaJks" {!SlovaJk renegades in the
pay of the Benes Czechs) - smeared and vilified true Slo~
v,aJk pat11iots who dared to speak up for what was rightfully
theirs. But no matter what the circumstances under which
the SlovaJks gained their independence, we as Americans
must contend that the Repwblic af Slovakia never should
have been destroyed against the will of the Slo.vaJk nation.
By what law of God or man was the Slovak Repulblic
destroyed? Certainly its destrlllCtion cannot 'be justified
by or reconciled with our poHtical beliefs. Its destruction
was cont11ary to 8Jll Christian and democratic principles in short., it was irnm<Yrail and criminal. And let us not f<Yrget that SlovaJkia was destro,yed: by the victorious United
Nations u;nder the guise of liiberation!
The present ter!1iible plight of the Slovak nation, like
that oif the other nations of central Europe which had been
"lilberated" in 1945, is due to the blundering, undemocratic
policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the
name of expediency hy men of democrati'C governments.
In a way, therefore, we are all resp<;msiible for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the
inhumanities suififered by them. Definitely, we should do
something aJbout it. Let us at least be honest with ourselves and the world amd admit th8Jt it was morally wrong
and contrary to every democratic and Chri'Sti8Jn principle
to surrender the SlovaJk nation and the other nations of
central and eastern Europe to the men of the Kremlin.
Today much is being said and written rubout crises, crucial days ahead, human rights and man's inhumanity to
man. The struggle a-gain.st tyranny, however, is nothing
new to the Slovaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a
history replete wi:th thrald:om and ex;ploitation. For over ten
centuries the Slovak nation - one of the oldest Christian
nations of central Europe - has been a pawn in the . hands
of alien rulers. Its econ01IDy, freedom, security and territo-
�28
SLOVAKIA
rial integrity haive a:lways been determined by foreigners.
The SlOIV'a'k s have suf.fered longer under alien domination
than any other nation Olf Europe. No other nation has been
so thoroughly misunders tood, misr~presented, degraded, maligned and vilified - at times even by the veJ"y people who
were supposed to represent it and protect its interests, by
men who prOlfessed to be and were g~o,r ified as the very
epitome of the democratic way of life.
Many of us thought, as did many SlovaJks at home, that
the trials anxl trilbulations of the Slovak nation were at an
end with the estaJblishment of the Cze:cho...Sl01Va'k Repulblic
in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Ozeichs were to govern
as equal partners. But we were mistaken, badly mistaiken.
It soon became evident that the Prague government, headed
by T. G. Masarylk, did not regard the SlovaJk,s as equal partners, but only as a colony to be e:x:ploited for the benefit
of the Czech nation. The Slovaks soon realized that they
had rid themselves of the Magyar despot only to be ruled
over by i.miperialistk Czechs, who sought to destroy them
eventually as a nation.
The Slovaiks, however, outlived the tyranny of the past
and today are more dete.I"mined than ever to outlive the presoot scourge of Ozecho.-Oommunist terror and violence and
to continue on their way to complete ·p olitical freedom and
independence. Despite the many 'bitter memories of injustices suffered from ruling groU!ps of neiighlboring nations,
some of whreh blatantly claimed to the exemplary democracies, the SlovaJks are fully consdous of the fact that
a free Poland, a free Ukraine, a free Bohemia, and even a
free Russia are also necessary to form a better, free and
more just order in EJurrope. The SlovaJks know that the
stru,ggle for freedom and independeil!ce cannot and must not
be waiged in isolation; the goal of Uberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aiim of all ensl:wed nations and Of all fri~ds of all the
oppressed peoples.
The Slovaik nation has proven itself one of the greatest small natiOillS of Europe. The Slov.alks are healthy of
mind and body, intelligent, industrious, intensely religious,
�SLOVAKIA
29
tolerant, and devoted to the pe,ace£ul development of their
national life and culture. As a nation they committed no
aggression against their neighbors, nor did they violate the
rights of others. It is a matter of record that they are always staunchly loyal to the countries of their adoption,
contributing handsomely, in proportion to their numbers,
to their material and spiritual growth. This is attested to
by our own America, the true friend of the perse<mited and
the oppressed. To Slovaks everyiwhere, at home and in
exile, America is looked upon as the living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. More than that, the Slovaks
look to America as their salvation; they expect to be truly
Hbemted by the land of Washington and Lincoln. Let us
pray God that we do not disruppoint them .
The descendants of the Slovak na:tion in America
should be hruppy amd proud to stress the fact that the
SlovaJk nation has fought the plague of materialistic Comm'UIIlism consistently and resolutely for over a hundTed
years. It is a matter of record that Louis Srur, Slovak
writer and champion of Slova'k freedom, repudiated the
godless philosophy of Marx in 1849 and warned his people against it; the political party of Monsignor Andrew
Hlilllka, the Slovaik Poipulist Party, repudiated Communism at its very first session in 1905; in 1919 General Milan
R. Stefanik, Sl01VaJk war hero and one of the founders of
the Czecho-1Slov.aJk Repulblic, cautioned T. G. Masaryk and
Edward Benes to maike no compromises with Bolshevism;
and Dr. Joseph Tiso, first president of the SlOIVaJk Republic, begged his peoiple to persevere in its fight against the
dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to
the gallows iby order of the Communist-dominated National
Front g01Vernment of Dr. Edward Benes on Arpril 18, 1947.
Indeed, it is a matter of record that the Slovalk people
fought Communism, the implacable foe of democracy, in
and out of season. And they are deter.mined to fight it until
it is w1ped off the face of the earth.
And what after Communism? Are the SlorvaJks willing
to be exploited by another form of Czeicho-iSlovaJkia? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfuUy belongs
�30
SLOVAKIA
to them. No more, no less. They want the United States of
America and the rest of the free world to reco:grtIBe and
respect their inherent ri1g ht to freedom and inde:pendence.
The Slov8Jks seek onl~ the opportunity to play a useful role
in the struiggle for freedom. And it is the responsiibility. of
the free democrat:iic world to afford them this opportiunity.
The S1'ovruks want the demO'cratJic world to recogni.!ze at long
last a s,imple truth which the Czechs and Slovaks have
knoiwn for many cenbITies past, that is, that the Czechs
are not and do not want to be SlovaJks, and that the Sl0iva:ks
are n!Ot and do not want to be Ozechs. This fact has been
clearly demonstrated by both the Czechs and the Slova;ks
during the past forty years, that is, ever since the start of
World War I.
The Slovaks do not want anything tha>l is not rightfully theirs; they do not c<1Vet the spiritual and material
wealth of the O.zech nation; they do not make any claims to
Ozooh history, national traditions and customs; they have
rubsolutely no desire for Ozech lMlds; and they do not ask
the Czechs to represent them in any field of endeavor,
whether spiritual, cultural or political.
And, of course, the Slovak nation did not and does not
make any claim to the criminal acts committed by the
post-iwar Communist-0ominated Czech National Front government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The
Slo,v,aks had nothing to do with the criminal exipulsion of
Ge.rnnans from Ozeicho-1SLovakia, o,r the brutal persecution
and swppression Of all anti-Communist opposition in that
hrupless country. Flor the betrayal of the Czech and Slovruk
nations to the Communists and Red Moscow, the Slo'V'aks
shall give full credit to. Dr. ffidward Benes and his socialist
foHawera, who a1w:ays 1promoted .pro-1Soviet policy.
The Slovruks respeot the r,i ght of the Czech nation to
c~lete freedom and politi·c al independence, ·b ut they also
eX!peot leaders of the Czech nation to realiize that the Slova:k nation, too, possesses that right. The Slovaks do not
intend to surrender their right to freedom and indeipendence; they are not willing to comirn:it national suicide.
A-nd it would be immoral for us even to surggest that they do
�SLOVAKIA
31
so. Why then should any governmen ts, especially governments of democratic countries, insist that the SlovaJks and
the territory they have inhabited for at lea.st the past 1500
years must continue to be exploited by another nation?
Let us .e ver be mindful of the farct that we are the
apostles of the true democratic way of life. As such, we
must always be willing and ready to share the blessings
of our democ11acy with the less fortunaJte and oppressed
peoples of the earth. 1it is our sacred duty to spread the
gospel and share the blessings of ,t he deanocraJtic way of
life which gives so much to so many for so little. True, at
times it is a diftfiimtlrt and unigrateful task, but it is one
which we must do for the sake of our country, for the cause
of freedom to wh:itch we are dedicated as a nation, the cause
which is common even to the nation the American Slovaks
are descended from.
America,ns of Slova!k descent must tell the story of the
long, enduring struggle of the Slovak nation for freedom
and ind~nden ce to all democratic peoples of the earth and
their governmen ts. Unfortunat el,y, many poople in governn:ient, particularl y in our own American Governmen t, hruve
allowed themse1ves to be influenced and corufused by the
slanderous, villainous and vicious anti-1Slovak campaign.
waged by the enemies of SlovaJk freedom and independen ce.
It is the duty of every true American, especially Americans
of SlOIViak descent, to expose and embarrass all streh pseudodemocratic elements and disamn them completel,y, because
the enemies of Slovak freedom amd independen ce are in fact
the enemies of the democraJtic way of life itself.
Naturally, the Slovia. ks cannot stand idly ·b y while sucll
people pe11petmte the destrwction of the nation they rure descended from. We must tell this story to om duly elected
representat ives in Washingto n and insist tihat they, in turn,
as our representrutiives, see to it thait our Governmen t adopts
a more realistic and just policy toward the Sl01Va!k nation
and its representat ives. It is, after all, in the intersts of
America and all other democratic coU'Iltries that the Slo;vaiks,
too, be free and independen t, that even they be allowed to
1
�32
SLOVAKIA
determine by their own free choice the state or form of
political organfaation under which they wish to li,v e.
History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation
can have a monopoly on freedom. Freedom is the grandest
of all of God',s gifts to manhnd; freedom is the universal
heritage of all the aiges. The more we ,p romote and share it,
the more aJbundant are its fruits. Of comse, peace without
freedom is unthink:ruble. If we li1re tru1y interested in a permanent and just -peace, let us not deny freedom to any
nation.
When evalll.l'ating the historical fact of the declaration
orf independence of the Slovak nation, let us bear in mind
thait the only question of real sig.nificance is whether the
Slova!k nation had the right to declare its country an independent repUJblic. Believing as Americans do, we know they
did and committed neither crime nor treason in exercising it.
Let people say what they will about MM'ch 14, 1939 Slovak Independence Day - or the circumstances that led
to it, Slova·k s at home and abroad stiH claim that it was the
most beautiful and joyous day in the history of the Slovak
nation. Today all SlOIVaks are storming the heruvens with
prayers that :Sloiva!kia's independence might soon be restored. And Americans believe that it will be. - P. A. Hrobak .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Our alliance with Russia was accepted UNANIMOUSLY BY ALL
OF US, not only by our Communists and Socialists, BUT BY ALL
THE PARTIES - and there are four of them in the government by Catholics and Protestants alike . . . . Any American or foreign cor.
respondent will tell you that WE HAVE NO CENSORSHIP on foreign news from the leading world agencies, including the Associated
Press and United Press. • . . WE are the ONLY Slav country which
has diplomatic and friendly relations with the Vatican. I have an
ambassador at the Holy See and there is a Nuncio In Prague." (Jan Masaryk, Address at the 15th Annual New York Herald Trf.bune
Forum on Current Problems, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, N . Y., October
30, 1946, 4th session) .
•
•
•
"Just as Munk·h was undone and does not exist, Just so there is
no Slovakia and it does not exist internationally as a state! There is
no Slovak problem, the Slovak problem is our Internal pro·blem and
It is reeognize<I as such even by our allies." - (Dr. Benes, 5-22-43).
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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
26
SLOVAKIA
vruks soon became cOiIWinoed that Slova;kia was self-suffie,ient
economically and that they were mature enough politically
to live a free and independent life.
After the false legends, the puripose of which it was to
stupefy the Slovak naition and stifle in it the yearning for
independence, there came a period of suffering, misery and
enslavement. But the burden of this sad fate only strengthened in the Slovak nation the consciousness of its ri ght to
fz:eedom and fo11tified its desire for the restoration of the
state independence of Slovrukia. The Slovaik nation, ooe of
the oldest Christian nruti ons o,f central Europe, will never
rest satisfied until it is free of all tyranny and all foreign
domrinatioo..
1
1
•
•
•
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATI ON OF INDEPENDE NCE
N3 citiizens of the democraitic Republic of the United
States of America, we firimly hold to the beLief that all nations without exception. have the inherent, God-given right
the right to establish
to freedom and independence to- freely elect a
right
the
and
state
their own ,p olitical
government of their orwn choice.
On March 14, 1939, after centuries of alien domination,
the 1peo.ple of Slovrukia exercised their inherenit right when
their druly elected representative s in the autonomous Slovak Asseimlbly proclaimed the independence of their country and estaJblished the Republic of Slovakia. Of course,
the:re are people in Amen-ca even today who present this
historical fact in a false light and endeavor to debase and
vilify everything connected with it. Nevertheless, the utterly .s imple historical truth is that the Slovak Asse:m!bly unanimously declared the land of the Slovaks an independent
repulblic - the Republic of Slovakia.
The Slova'k Repll!blic, the dream of Slovak generations,
became a reality and was recogmzed by twenty-seven countries, ilncluili.ng the governments of Great Britain, France
and the Soviet Union. After Slovakia was declared inde-
SLOVAKIA
27
pendent, the enemies of Slovak freedom and independence
began to howl, naturally. Speculating on their circumstances
under which the .SlovaJks gained their indeipenden:ce, the
followers of Dr. Edward Benes - the so-called Bein.es Czechs
(Socialists) and "CzechosiovaJks" {!SlovaJk renegades in the
pay of the Benes Czechs) - smeared and vilified true Slo~
v,aJk pat11iots who dared to speak up for what was rightfully
theirs. But no matter what the circumstances under which
the SlovaJks gained their independence, we as Americans
must contend that the Repwblic af Slovakia never should
have been destroyed against the will of the Slo.vaJk nation.
By what law of God or man was the Slovak Repulblic
destroyed? Certainly its destrlllCtion cannot 'be justified
by or reconciled with our poHtical beliefs. Its destruction
was cont11ary to 8Jll Christian and democratic principles in short., it was irnm<Yrail and criminal. And let us not f<Yrget that SlovaJkia was destro,yed: by the victorious United
Nations u;nder the guise of liiberation!
The present ter!1iible plight of the Slovak nation, like
that oif the other nations of central Europe which had been
"lilberated" in 1945, is due to the blundering, undemocratic
policy pursued and the secret agreements negotiated in the
name of expediency hy men of democrati'C governments.
In a way, therefore, we are all resp<;msiible for the Red enslavement of the nations behind the Iron Curtain and the
inhumanities suififered by them. Definitely, we should do
something aJbout it. Let us at least be honest with ourselves and the world amd admit th8Jt it was morally wrong
and contrary to every democratic and Chri'Sti8Jn principle
to surrender the SlovaJk nation and the other nations of
central and eastern Europe to the men of the Kremlin.
Today much is being said and written rubout crises, crucial days ahead, human rights and man's inhumanity to
man. The struggle a-gain.st tyranny, however, is nothing
new to the Slovaks. The history of the Slovak nation is a
history replete wi:th thrald:om and ex;ploitation. For over ten
centuries the Slovak nation - one of the oldest Christian
nations of central Europe - has been a pawn in the . hands
of alien rulers. Its econ01IDy, freedom, security and territo-
28
SLOVAKIA
rial integrity haive a:lways been determined by foreigners.
The SlOIV'a'k s have suf.fered longer under alien domination
than any other nation Olf Europe. No other nation has been
so thoroughly misunders tood, misr~presented, degraded, maligned and vilified - at times even by the veJ"y people who
were supposed to represent it and protect its interests, by
men who prOlfessed to be and were g~o,r ified as the very
epitome of the democratic way of life.
Many of us thought, as did many SlovaJks at home, that
the trials anxl trilbulations of the Slovak nation were at an
end with the estaJblishment of the Cze:cho...Sl01Va'k Repulblic
in 1918, which the Slovaks and the Ozeichs were to govern
as equal partners. But we were mistaken, badly mistaiken.
It soon became evident that the Prague government, headed
by T. G. Masarylk, did not regard the SlovaJk,s as equal partners, but only as a colony to be e:x:ploited for the benefit
of the Czech nation. The Slovaks soon realized that they
had rid themselves of the Magyar despot only to be ruled
over by i.miperialistk Czechs, who sought to destroy them
eventually as a nation.
The Slovaiks, however, outlived the tyranny of the past
and today are more dete.I"mined than ever to outlive the presoot scourge of Ozecho.-Oommunist terror and violence and
to continue on their way to complete ·p olitical freedom and
independence. Despite the many 'bitter memories of injustices suffered from ruling groU!ps of neiighlboring nations,
some of whreh blatantly claimed to the exemplary democracies, the SlovaJks are fully consdous of the fact that
a free Poland, a free Ukraine, a free Bohemia, and even a
free Russia are also necessary to form a better, free and
more just order in EJurrope. The SlovaJks know that the
stru,ggle for freedom and independeil!ce cannot and must not
be waiged in isolation; the goal of Uberation from communist tyranny and all foreign domination must be the unified aiim of all ensl:wed nations and Of all fri~ds of all the
oppressed peoples.
The Slovaik nation has proven itself one of the greatest small natiOillS of Europe. The Slov.alks are healthy of
mind and body, intelligent, industrious, intensely religious,
SLOVAKIA
29
tolerant, and devoted to the pe,ace£ul development of their
national life and culture. As a nation they committed no
aggression against their neighbors, nor did they violate the
rights of others. It is a matter of record that they are always staunchly loyal to the countries of their adoption,
contributing handsomely, in proportion to their numbers,
to their material and spiritual growth. This is attested to
by our own America, the true friend of the perse<mited and
the oppressed. To Slovaks everyiwhere, at home and in
exile, America is looked upon as the living symbol of freedom, tolerance, and justice. More than that, the Slovaks
look to America as their salvation; they expect to be truly
Hbemted by the land of Washington and Lincoln. Let us
pray God that we do not disruppoint them .
The descendants of the Slovak na:tion in America
should be hruppy amd proud to stress the fact that the
SlovaJk nation has fought the plague of materialistic Comm'UIIlism consistently and resolutely for over a hundTed
years. It is a matter of record that Louis Srur, Slovak
writer and champion of Slova'k freedom, repudiated the
godless philosophy of Marx in 1849 and warned his people against it; the political party of Monsignor Andrew
Hlilllka, the Slovaik Poipulist Party, repudiated Communism at its very first session in 1905; in 1919 General Milan
R. Stefanik, Sl01VaJk war hero and one of the founders of
the Czecho-1Slov.aJk Repulblic, cautioned T. G. Masaryk and
Edward Benes to maike no compromises with Bolshevism;
and Dr. Joseph Tiso, first president of the SlOIVaJk Republic, begged his peoiple to persevere in its fight against the
dread plague of Communism even as he was being led to
the gallows iby order of the Communist-dominated National
Front g01Vernment of Dr. Edward Benes on Arpril 18, 1947.
Indeed, it is a matter of record that the Slovalk people
fought Communism, the implacable foe of democracy, in
and out of season. And they are deter.mined to fight it until
it is w1ped off the face of the earth.
And what after Communism? Are the SlorvaJks willing
to be exploited by another form of Czeicho-iSlovaJkia? Certainly not! The Slovaks want only what rightfuUy belongs
30
SLOVAKIA
to them. No more, no less. They want the United States of
America and the rest of the free world to reco:grtIBe and
respect their inherent ri1g ht to freedom and inde:pendence.
The Slov8Jks seek onl~ the opportunity to play a useful role
in the struiggle for freedom. And it is the responsiibility. of
the free democrat:iic world to afford them this opportiunity.
The S1'ovruks want the demO'cratJic world to recogni.!ze at long
last a s,imple truth which the Czechs and Slovaks have
knoiwn for many cenbITies past, that is, that the Czechs
are not and do not want to be SlovaJks, and that the Sl0iva:ks
are n!Ot and do not want to be Ozechs. This fact has been
clearly demonstrated by both the Czechs and the Slova;ks
during the past forty years, that is, ever since the start of
World War I.
The Slovaks do not want anything tha>l is not rightfully theirs; they do not c<1Vet the spiritual and material
wealth of the O.zech nation; they do not make any claims to
Ozooh history, national traditions and customs; they have
rubsolutely no desire for Ozech lMlds; and they do not ask
the Czechs to represent them in any field of endeavor,
whether spiritual, cultural or political.
And, of course, the Slovak nation did not and does not
make any claim to the criminal acts committed by the
post-iwar Communist-0ominated Czech National Front government of Dr. Edward Benes and Clement Gottwald. The
Slo,v,aks had nothing to do with the criminal exipulsion of
Ge.rnnans from Ozeicho-1SLovakia, o,r the brutal persecution
and swppression Of all anti-Communist opposition in that
hrupless country. Flor the betrayal of the Czech and Slovruk
nations to the Communists and Red Moscow, the Slo'V'aks
shall give full credit to. Dr. ffidward Benes and his socialist
foHawera, who a1w:ays 1promoted .pro-1Soviet policy.
The Slovruks respeot the r,i ght of the Czech nation to
c~lete freedom and politi·c al independence, ·b ut they also
eX!peot leaders of the Czech nation to realiize that the Slova:k nation, too, possesses that right. The Slovaks do not
intend to surrender their right to freedom and indeipendence; they are not willing to comirn:it national suicide.
A-nd it would be immoral for us even to surggest that they do
SLOVAKIA
31
so. Why then should any governmen ts, especially governments of democratic countries, insist that the SlovaJks and
the territory they have inhabited for at lea.st the past 1500
years must continue to be exploited by another nation?
Let us .e ver be mindful of the farct that we are the
apostles of the true democratic way of life. As such, we
must always be willing and ready to share the blessings
of our democ11acy with the less fortunaJte and oppressed
peoples of the earth. 1it is our sacred duty to spread the
gospel and share the blessings of ,t he deanocraJtic way of
life which gives so much to so many for so little. True, at
times it is a diftfiimtlrt and unigrateful task, but it is one
which we must do for the sake of our country, for the cause
of freedom to wh:itch we are dedicated as a nation, the cause
which is common even to the nation the American Slovaks
are descended from.
America,ns of Slova!k descent must tell the story of the
long, enduring struggle of the Slovak nation for freedom
and ind~nden ce to all democratic peoples of the earth and
their governmen ts. Unfortunat el,y, many poople in governn:ient, particularl y in our own American Governmen t, hruve
allowed themse1ves to be influenced and corufused by the
slanderous, villainous and vicious anti-1Slovak campaign.
waged by the enemies of SlovaJk freedom and independen ce.
It is the duty of every true American, especially Americans
of SlOIViak descent, to expose and embarrass all streh pseudodemocratic elements and disamn them completel,y, because
the enemies of Slovak freedom amd independen ce are in fact
the enemies of the democraJtic way of life itself.
Naturally, the Slovia. ks cannot stand idly ·b y while sucll
people pe11petmte the destrwction of the nation they rure descended from. We must tell this story to om duly elected
representat ives in Washingto n and insist tihat they, in turn,
as our representrutiives, see to it thait our Governmen t adopts
a more realistic and just policy toward the Sl01Va!k nation
and its representat ives. It is, after all, in the intersts of
America and all other democratic coU'Iltries that the Slo;vaiks,
too, be free and independen t, that even they be allowed to
1
32
SLOVAKIA
determine by their own free choice the state or form of
political organfaation under which they wish to li,v e.
History has taught us this one great lesson: no nation
can have a monopoly on freedom. Freedom is the grandest
of all of God',s gifts to manhnd; freedom is the universal
heritage of all the aiges. The more we ,p romote and share it,
the more aJbundant are its fruits. Of comse, peace without
freedom is unthink:ruble. If we li1re tru1y interested in a permanent and just -peace, let us not deny freedom to any
nation.
When evalll.l'ating the historical fact of the declaration
orf independence of the Slovak nation, let us bear in mind
thait the only question of real sig.nificance is whether the
Slova!k nation had the right to declare its country an independent repUJblic. Believing as Americans do, we know they
did and committed neither crime nor treason in exercising it.
Let people say what they will about MM'ch 14, 1939 Slovak Independence Day - or the circumstances that led
to it, Slova·k s at home and abroad stiH claim that it was the
most beautiful and joyous day in the history of the Slovak
nation. Today all SlOIVaks are storming the heruvens with
prayers that :Sloiva!kia's independence might soon be restored. And Americans believe that it will be. - P. A. Hrobak .
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Our alliance with Russia was accepted UNANIMOUSLY BY ALL
OF US, not only by our Communists and Socialists, BUT BY ALL
THE PARTIES - and there are four of them in the government by Catholics and Protestants alike . . . . Any American or foreign cor.
respondent will tell you that WE HAVE NO CENSORSHIP on foreign news from the leading world agencies, including the Associated
Press and United Press. • . . WE are the ONLY Slav country which
has diplomatic and friendly relations with the Vatican. I have an
ambassador at the Holy See and there is a Nuncio In Prague." (Jan Masaryk, Address at the 15th Annual New York Herald Trf.bune
Forum on Current Problems, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, N . Y., October
30, 1946, 4th session) .
•
•
•
"Just as Munk·h was undone and does not exist, Just so there is
no Slovakia and it does not exist internationally as a state! There is
no Slovak problem, the Slovak problem is our Internal pro·blem and
It is reeognize<I as such even by our allies." - (Dr. Benes, 5-22-43).
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
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The Fifteenth Anniversary of Slovakia's Declaration of Independence
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 1 (10), March 1954
pp. 26-32
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7f68aa3b3ab73fc5174bfe9403bf490f.pdf
44843f16862ee9fedbfe590bc127c54e
PDF Text
Text
VOL . IV
MARCH 1954
NO. 1 (10)
IN THiJS ISSUE:
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
PUBLIC LAW IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA AFTER 1945
AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939
HISTORICAL TRUTH AND FALSE LEGENDS
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SLOVAKIA' S DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE
MILAN RASTISLAV STEF.ANIK
SLOVAK FOLKLORE: GOLDILOCKS
DR. STE PH EN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
CASTLES OF S L OVAKIA : LIETAVA
WHITE MOUNTAIN -
HISTORICAL FORGERY
WHO SAID I T? -- PP. 16, 32, 54, 59, 64
. .
Edit ed a nd co mpile d by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Published by
T H E SLOVA K LE A GUE OF AMERICA
�SLOV AKlA is µublished periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV AKI.A
1s 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
Middletown. Pa.
�SLOV AKIA
Publ ish ed
V OL. IV
q ua rterly
by
th e S lov a k
MARCH 1954
With this issu e SLOVAKIA is
beginning its tounth year. Thus
far it has appeared ten times:
twice the first year, three the
next, four times in 1Jl53, and once
this year. The total number of
issues ap·pears parentheticalliy
on the cover alongside the current number.
DR. HUBERT RIPKA , one of
the leading lights of the so-called
"Counci l of Free Czechoslovakia"
and former member oJ' the Communist-dominated
"Nation al
Front " government o.f Benes and
Gottwald, is all fury, because a
certain Senate sub-Commiittee
had dared to call him to Washington for qu estioning. His lamentations are published by the
" New Yorkske Listy" in Czech
and the " New Yorksky Dennik"
in Slovak, the very sheets which
just some years back featured
edito.rials 1by such Red worthies
as llja Ehrenburg, Zdenek NejedJy, Dezider Benau, Elo Sandor,
Joseph S oltesz, Vlado Clemerutiis,
Karol Schmidke, ·Alex 'Bogomolov, Gustav Husak, Ladislav Novomesky, Rudolph Slansky, Marek CuJen, A. Hoffineister, Karel
Leitner, etc., etc. Ripka certain·
ly -h as the connections - and has
had them in tbe past. He a lone
is responsible for them, and especially for his actions.
JAMES B. CAREY, secretarytreasurer of the Gl'O, took UJP the
caus-e of Mr. Rirpka and wrote a
letiter to Vice-,President Richard
Nixon, a.ocusing Senator Herman
Welker oJ' smearing the Czeclls
organized in the "Council of Free
Czechoslovakia," especially Dr.
Hwbert Ripka, former Minister
L ea gue
of
Americ a
NO. 1 ( 10)
of Fore i,g n Trade in the BenesGottwald regime. What made Mr.
Carey, one of the leading figures
of a great Labor organization,
exipose his neck and embarrass
the CIO for a man like Ripka
about whom he knew littl e or nothing_ It is obvious that Ripka
has connections; s ome one c lose
to Carey and the CLO, pro!balbly a
representative of some international labor outfit, used his infmence.
On e of the " A ces" of the Czech
National Soci alists of 'Dr. Edward Benes, Ripka o,penly admits that he collaborated with
the C-ze-ch Reds of Czecho-Slovakia and the Soviet Union. but
he deeply resen ts bein.g questioned on it by any congressional
committee, or anyone else. Of
course, there are many people
who, for obvious reasons, resent
being questioned today. If any of
our readers, and especially members of our Congress and the
Executive branch of our Government are interested in knowing
just how Mr. Ripka felt about the
Soviet Union. we recommend
that they read Ripka's "EAST
AND WESff" (Lincolns..Prage.r
Ltd., iLondon, 19,44). An avowed
Communist could hardly have
given the USSR a 1better plug!
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE
FOR A FREE EUROPE, which
sponsors Radio Free Europe and
other ,projects, took Ripka and
other Czech 'Socialists in s01Veral
years ago. ff/he NlOFE Is supposed
to operate on the money contr~buted by Ameri cans during the
annual "Crus.a de for Freedoon"
drives; and it has 1the blessing
�SLOVAKIA
2
of our State Department. Why
did the NCFE use this money
to pay Czech 1Socialis-ts, who
were members o.f the Communistdominatoo Ben-e.s•Gottr.vald gove r n m e n t of Czecho..Slovakia,
when Ameri-cans contriJburtie<l the
money to fight Communism? Another "GzechoslQlVak" hoax? Or
is the N0FE itself a socialist
venture? The people who voluntariJy contrilbute money to the
Crusad,e for Freed,om ha,ve a
right to ask ,that question. It's
time we knew who and what
rnake.s the NOFE tick.
JOHN
HVASTA, ex-GI, who
es,c aped from 1Czecho..Slovakia
some time ago and returned
home recently, is of SLOVAK
parentage. Willen he -escaped
fro m prison he hid out in Slovakia with various Slovak families,
not with Czech or ''Czechoslovak" peo,ple. The Czechs ar,e not
Slovaks, and 1\!he Slovaks are not
Czechs. Let's keep the records
straight.
" GET
McCARTH Y
N OW !"
seems to be th,e new 1,h,eme song
of the DAILY WORKIDR and
even others who call themselves
Aimerican.s but" are dds:satiSifioo
with 1the Senator's methods in
ferretting out \Reds and 1>roSoviets in Government and govel"hmental agencies. But it reailly
is ,nothing new, •exicept that it
mighb 1be a new version oif an old
Red theme: stop any one and
every one wlho dares to investigate Reds and pro,Soviets ! The
fact, ,however, remains that Communist agents in ,g overnment
still 1>resent ·a definite d,anger.
We .s hould spare no effort to unmask and eliminate them without regard for the pel.'sonal and
political stock of any individual.
The welfare and security of
America oversha,dows all parties,
all individuals, all political ofifices. McCarthy is doing the jo'b
he was assigned to do, is doing
it conscientiously a,nd as well as
mi,g ht be exipected under the circumstances, He, tlh-er€<fore, deserves help from all parties and
individuals primarily interested
in the welfare and security of
our c ountry. Let's not lose sight
of the main issue.
CZECHS and so-ea ll ed " Czech oslova ks"
(Slovak renegades
in the pay O'f the Czechs)
celebrated Masaryk Day March
Hh. Slovaks, how ever, did not;
they remember Masaryk as the
man who broke faiith with the
Slo:r,1k nation, -wh-en he repudiated the Pitt~bu11gh Pa;ct of May
30, 1918, W'.hich he drafted and
signed to gain the Slovaks in
AmeTica for the establishment ·
of a oommon Czecho..Slovak
State. T. G. Masaryk !belongs to
11lhe
"progressive" Ozechs, who
call ,th,e,mselves the nation of Masaryk, Hus and Zi~ka - some·
thing the Slovaks never were,
nor shall •be. And they can have
a ll of him.
March 14th marked the fif.
teenth anniversary O'f the procla•
mation of the ind®eindence of
Slovakia. It was on Mareh 14,
1939, that the duly elected re1>·
resentaitives of the S,lovak· nation
unanimously declared :their country an independent R•e11mb1ic.
Slovaks everywhere comm emorate March 14 as one of tne great
milestones in their history. Their
struggle for freooom and ind&
'J}endence is without .parallel.
Through no rfault of their own
they were lbetrayed to the Reds
and the Kremlin in 194'5, but are
determined to !fight to the last
man for the most precious of all
God's gifts: freedom.
�
VOL . IV
MARCH 1954
NO. 1 (10)
IN THiJS ISSUE:
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
PUBLIC LAW IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA AFTER 1945
AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939
HISTORICAL TRUTH AND FALSE LEGENDS
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SLOVAKIA' S DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE
MILAN RASTISLAV STEF.ANIK
SLOVAK FOLKLORE: GOLDILOCKS
DR. STE PH EN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
CASTLES OF S L OVAKIA : LIETAVA
WHITE MOUNTAIN -
HISTORICAL FORGERY
WHO SAID I T? -- PP. 16, 32, 54, 59, 64
. .
Edit ed a nd co mpile d by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Published by
T H E SLOVA K LE A GUE OF AMERICA
�SLOV AKlA is µublished periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV AKI.A
1s 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
Middletown. Pa.
�SLOV AKIA
Publ ish ed
V OL. IV
q ua rterly
by
th e S lov a k
MARCH 1954
With this issu e SLOVAKIA is
beginning its tounth year. Thus
far it has appeared ten times:
twice the first year, three the
next, four times in 1Jl53, and once
this year. The total number of
issues ap·pears parentheticalliy
on the cover alongside the current number.
DR. HUBERT RIPKA , one of
the leading lights of the so-called
"Counci l of Free Czechoslovakia"
and former member oJ' the Communist-dominated
"Nation al
Front " government o.f Benes and
Gottwald, is all fury, because a
certain Senate sub-Commiittee
had dared to call him to Washington for qu estioning. His lamentations are published by the
" New Yorkske Listy" in Czech
and the " New Yorksky Dennik"
in Slovak, the very sheets which
just some years back featured
edito.rials 1by such Red worthies
as llja Ehrenburg, Zdenek NejedJy, Dezider Benau, Elo Sandor,
Joseph S oltesz, Vlado Clemerutiis,
Karol Schmidke, ·Alex 'Bogomolov, Gustav Husak, Ladislav Novomesky, Rudolph Slansky, Marek CuJen, A. Hoffineister, Karel
Leitner, etc., etc. Ripka certain·
ly -h as the connections - and has
had them in tbe past. He a lone
is responsible for them, and especially for his actions.
JAMES B. CAREY, secretarytreasurer of the Gl'O, took UJP the
caus-e of Mr. Rirpka and wrote a
letiter to Vice-,President Richard
Nixon, a.ocusing Senator Herman
Welker oJ' smearing the Czeclls
organized in the "Council of Free
Czechoslovakia," especially Dr.
Hwbert Ripka, former Minister
L ea gue
of
Americ a
NO. 1 ( 10)
of Fore i,g n Trade in the BenesGottwald regime. What made Mr.
Carey, one of the leading figures
of a great Labor organization,
exipose his neck and embarrass
the CIO for a man like Ripka
about whom he knew littl e or nothing_ It is obvious that Ripka
has connections; s ome one c lose
to Carey and the CLO, pro!balbly a
representative of some international labor outfit, used his infmence.
On e of the " A ces" of the Czech
National Soci alists of 'Dr. Edward Benes, Ripka o,penly admits that he collaborated with
the C-ze-ch Reds of Czecho-Slovakia and the Soviet Union. but
he deeply resen ts bein.g questioned on it by any congressional
committee, or anyone else. Of
course, there are many people
who, for obvious reasons, resent
being questioned today. If any of
our readers, and especially members of our Congress and the
Executive branch of our Government are interested in knowing
just how Mr. Ripka felt about the
Soviet Union. we recommend
that they read Ripka's "EAST
AND WESff" (Lincolns..Prage.r
Ltd., iLondon, 19,44). An avowed
Communist could hardly have
given the USSR a 1better plug!
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE
FOR A FREE EUROPE, which
sponsors Radio Free Europe and
other ,projects, took Ripka and
other Czech 'Socialists in s01Veral
years ago. ff/he NlOFE Is supposed
to operate on the money contr~buted by Ameri cans during the
annual "Crus.a de for Freedoon"
drives; and it has 1the blessing
�SLOVAKIA
2
of our State Department. Why
did the NCFE use this money
to pay Czech 1Socialis-ts, who
were members o.f the Communistdominatoo Ben-e.s•Gottr.vald gove r n m e n t of Czecho..Slovakia,
when Ameri-cans contriJburtie<l the
money to fight Communism? Another "GzechoslQlVak" hoax? Or
is the N0FE itself a socialist
venture? The people who voluntariJy contrilbute money to the
Crusad,e for Freed,om ha,ve a
right to ask ,that question. It's
time we knew who and what
rnake.s the NOFE tick.
JOHN
HVASTA, ex-GI, who
es,c aped from 1Czecho..Slovakia
some time ago and returned
home recently, is of SLOVAK
parentage. Willen he -escaped
fro m prison he hid out in Slovakia with various Slovak families,
not with Czech or ''Czechoslovak" peo,ple. The Czechs ar,e not
Slovaks, and 1\!he Slovaks are not
Czechs. Let's keep the records
straight.
" GET
McCARTH Y
N OW !"
seems to be th,e new 1,h,eme song
of the DAILY WORKIDR and
even others who call themselves
Aimerican.s but" are dds:satiSifioo
with 1the Senator's methods in
ferretting out \Reds and 1>roSoviets in Government and govel"hmental agencies. But it reailly
is ,nothing new, •exicept that it
mighb 1be a new version oif an old
Red theme: stop any one and
every one wlho dares to investigate Reds and pro,Soviets ! The
fact, ,however, remains that Communist agents in ,g overnment
still 1>resent ·a definite d,anger.
We .s hould spare no effort to unmask and eliminate them without regard for the pel.'sonal and
political stock of any individual.
The welfare and security of
America oversha,dows all parties,
all individuals, all political ofifices. McCarthy is doing the jo'b
he was assigned to do, is doing
it conscientiously a,nd as well as
mi,g ht be exipected under the circumstances, He, tlh-er€<fore, deserves help from all parties and
individuals primarily interested
in the welfare and security of
our c ountry. Let's not lose sight
of the main issue.
CZECHS and so-ea ll ed " Czech oslova ks"
(Slovak renegades
in the pay O'f the Czechs)
celebrated Masaryk Day March
Hh. Slovaks, how ever, did not;
they remember Masaryk as the
man who broke faiith with the
Slo:r,1k nation, -wh-en he repudiated the Pitt~bu11gh Pa;ct of May
30, 1918, W'.hich he drafted and
signed to gain the Slovaks in
AmeTica for the establishment ·
of a oommon Czecho..Slovak
State. T. G. Masaryk !belongs to
11lhe
"progressive" Ozechs, who
call ,th,e,mselves the nation of Masaryk, Hus and Zi~ka - some·
thing the Slovaks never were,
nor shall •be. And they can have
a ll of him.
March 14th marked the fif.
teenth anniversary O'f the procla•
mation of the ind®eindence of
Slovakia. It was on Mareh 14,
1939, that the duly elected re1>·
resentaitives of the S,lovak· nation
unanimously declared :their country an independent R•e11mb1ic.
Slovaks everywhere comm emorate March 14 as one of tne great
milestones in their history. Their
struggle for freooom and ind&
'J}endence is without .parallel.
Through no rfault of their own
they were lbetrayed to the Reds
and the Kremlin in 194'5, but are
determined to !fight to the last
man for the most precious of all
God's gifts: freedom.
�
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
1954, Vol. 4
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 10), March 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 11), June 1954.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954.</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
1954
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 . IV
MARCH 1954
NO. 1 (10)
IN THiJS ISSUE:
SLOVAKIA'S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
PUBLIC LAW IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA AFTER 1945
AMERICAN SLOVAKS AND MARCH 14, 1939
HISTORICAL TRUTH AND FALSE LEGENDS
THE FIFTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SLOVAKIA' S DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE
MILAN RASTISLAV STEF.ANIK
SLOVAK FOLKLORE: GOLDILOCKS
DR. STE PH EN OSUSKY AND THE SLOVAKS
CASTLES OF S L OVAKIA : LIETAVA
WHITE MOUNTAIN -
HISTORICAL FORGERY
WHO SAID I T? -- PP. 16, 32, 54, 59, 64
. .
Edit ed a nd co mpile d by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
Published by
T H E SLOVA K LE A GUE OF AMERICA
SLOV AKlA is µublished periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV AKI.A
1s 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
Middletown. Pa.
SLOV AKIA
Publ ish ed
V OL. IV
q ua rterly
by
th e S lov a k
MARCH 1954
With this issu e SLOVAKIA is
beginning its tounth year. Thus
far it has appeared ten times:
twice the first year, three the
next, four times in 1Jl53, and once
this year. The total number of
issues ap·pears parentheticalliy
on the cover alongside the current number.
DR. HUBERT RIPKA , one of
the leading lights of the so-called
"Counci l of Free Czechoslovakia"
and former member oJ' the Communist-dominated
"Nation al
Front " government o.f Benes and
Gottwald, is all fury, because a
certain Senate sub-Commiittee
had dared to call him to Washington for qu estioning. His lamentations are published by the
" New Yorkske Listy" in Czech
and the " New Yorksky Dennik"
in Slovak, the very sheets which
just some years back featured
edito.rials 1by such Red worthies
as llja Ehrenburg, Zdenek NejedJy, Dezider Benau, Elo Sandor,
Joseph S oltesz, Vlado Clemerutiis,
Karol Schmidke, ·Alex 'Bogomolov, Gustav Husak, Ladislav Novomesky, Rudolph Slansky, Marek CuJen, A. Hoffineister, Karel
Leitner, etc., etc. Ripka certain·
ly -h as the connections - and has
had them in tbe past. He a lone
is responsible for them, and especially for his actions.
JAMES B. CAREY, secretarytreasurer of the Gl'O, took UJP the
caus-e of Mr. Rirpka and wrote a
letiter to Vice-,President Richard
Nixon, a.ocusing Senator Herman
Welker oJ' smearing the Czeclls
organized in the "Council of Free
Czechoslovakia," especially Dr.
Hwbert Ripka, former Minister
L ea gue
of
Americ a
NO. 1 ( 10)
of Fore i,g n Trade in the BenesGottwald regime. What made Mr.
Carey, one of the leading figures
of a great Labor organization,
exipose his neck and embarrass
the CIO for a man like Ripka
about whom he knew littl e or nothing_ It is obvious that Ripka
has connections; s ome one c lose
to Carey and the CLO, pro!balbly a
representative of some international labor outfit, used his infmence.
On e of the " A ces" of the Czech
National Soci alists of 'Dr. Edward Benes, Ripka o,penly admits that he collaborated with
the C-ze-ch Reds of Czecho-Slovakia and the Soviet Union. but
he deeply resen ts bein.g questioned on it by any congressional
committee, or anyone else. Of
course, there are many people
who, for obvious reasons, resent
being questioned today. If any of
our readers, and especially members of our Congress and the
Executive branch of our Government are interested in knowing
just how Mr. Ripka felt about the
Soviet Union. we recommend
that they read Ripka's "EAST
AND WESff" (Lincolns..Prage.r
Ltd., iLondon, 19,44). An avowed
Communist could hardly have
given the USSR a 1better plug!
THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE
FOR A FREE EUROPE, which
sponsors Radio Free Europe and
other ,projects, took Ripka and
other Czech 'Socialists in s01Veral
years ago. ff/he NlOFE Is supposed
to operate on the money contr~buted by Ameri cans during the
annual "Crus.a de for Freedoon"
drives; and it has 1the blessing
SLOVAKIA
2
of our State Department. Why
did the NCFE use this money
to pay Czech 1Socialis-ts, who
were members o.f the Communistdominatoo Ben-e.s•Gottr.vald gove r n m e n t of Czecho..Slovakia,
when Ameri-cans contriJburtie<l the
money to fight Communism? Another "GzechoslQlVak" hoax? Or
is the N0FE itself a socialist
venture? The people who voluntariJy contrilbute money to the
Crusad,e for Freed,om ha,ve a
right to ask ,that question. It's
time we knew who and what
rnake.s the NOFE tick.
JOHN
HVASTA, ex-GI, who
es,c aped from 1Czecho..Slovakia
some time ago and returned
home recently, is of SLOVAK
parentage. Willen he -escaped
fro m prison he hid out in Slovakia with various Slovak families,
not with Czech or ''Czechoslovak" peo,ple. The Czechs ar,e not
Slovaks, and 1\!he Slovaks are not
Czechs. Let's keep the records
straight.
" GET
McCARTH Y
N OW !"
seems to be th,e new 1,h,eme song
of the DAILY WORKIDR and
even others who call themselves
Aimerican.s but" are dds:satiSifioo
with 1the Senator's methods in
ferretting out \Reds and 1>roSoviets in Government and govel"hmental agencies. But it reailly
is ,nothing new, •exicept that it
mighb 1be a new version oif an old
Red theme: stop any one and
every one wlho dares to investigate Reds and pro,Soviets ! The
fact, ,however, remains that Communist agents in ,g overnment
still 1>resent ·a definite d,anger.
We .s hould spare no effort to unmask and eliminate them without regard for the pel.'sonal and
political stock of any individual.
The welfare and security of
America oversha,dows all parties,
all individuals, all political ofifices. McCarthy is doing the jo'b
he was assigned to do, is doing
it conscientiously a,nd as well as
mi,g ht be exipected under the circumstances, He, tlh-er€<fore, deserves help from all parties and
individuals primarily interested
in the welfare and security of
our c ountry. Let's not lose sight
of the main issue.
CZECHS and so-ea ll ed " Czech oslova ks"
(Slovak renegades
in the pay O'f the Czechs)
celebrated Masaryk Day March
Hh. Slovaks, how ever, did not;
they remember Masaryk as the
man who broke faiith with the
Slo:r,1k nation, -wh-en he repudiated the Pitt~bu11gh Pa;ct of May
30, 1918, W'.hich he drafted and
signed to gain the Slovaks in
AmeTica for the establishment ·
of a oommon Czecho..Slovak
State. T. G. Masaryk !belongs to
11lhe
"progressive" Ozechs, who
call ,th,e,mselves the nation of Masaryk, Hus and Zi~ka - some·
thing the Slovaks never were,
nor shall •be. And they can have
a ll of him.
March 14th marked the fif.
teenth anniversary O'f the procla•
mation of the ind®eindence of
Slovakia. It was on Mareh 14,
1939, that the duly elected re1>·
resentaitives of the S,lovak· nation
unanimously declared :their country an independent R•e11mb1ic.
Slovaks everywhere comm emorate March 14 as one of tne great
milestones in their history. Their
struggle for freooom and ind&
'J}endence is without .parallel.
Through no rfault of their own
they were lbetrayed to the Reds
and the Kremlin in 194'5, but are
determined to !fight to the last
man for the most precious of all
God's gifts: freedom.
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. 4, No. 1 (10)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1954
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d01df4810d9810f72e330513bc129662.pdf
c058f72321a3e992748eda642e65cf85
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Obio
•
Frances L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1~ 13 W. -18th Street
Chicago 9, Ill inois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
!'resident
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0. Dox 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenu e
Campbell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
Firs t Catholi c Slovak
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Francis
nion
H rusovsky
Fran k
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Sobus
National Preside nt
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasu rer
Stephen J . Tka ch
Milan V. Blaz ek
National President
nion
Penna. Slovak
-1922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J.
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLICKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADN E H LASY
Passaic, N. J.
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�~
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~
~XL
,.<l♦ ><«V;!o,o.;.
k 6 - "·
Jw♦ jt.fff<l<t.
"-
t.>'>J~!'°"
,.( .. 4,,'"i, ~.......
<>4',~y..,1d.-,mf;>,j><J>><,tt ♦ ><IM ... >
'""""'"'J,,,A
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lw'♦,-.i:,.j>>"l"''"'-"'i-!ml♦ h•<<f~l'I:♦,
'-<j ,..,,, ,x,lk). >>.folj ~I>! ~~ 4
--.fl♦lo;·:,:,,.(.>·,, .. ,.11,#lt<P.~<I
><> _, ~tl\okll. l>llt. ~~- •~ ' fl-"'
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.......... , lo
-~h'«< ti"'~,;-~,
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-~.,.~
~y
~""'l, ,-N:4•
!I,
; !!l-'4"f~n n:.Ut.~, ~---~"'~"
!.
Nebudeme sa pred nikym exkuzo·rcti'!
I
j
We heard and read that freedom of the press was guaranteed in the "Czecho-Slovak" democracy of T. G. Masaryk
and Dr. Edward Benes. This front page of Sept. 14, 1938,
is a typical example of the freedom the Slovaks enjoyed.
In the upper left hand corner we see "After confiscation a
new, corrected issue." In 1922 alone Slovak newspapers
suffered 1498 instances of censorship and confiscation.
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Obio
•
Frances L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1~ 13 W. -18th Street
Chicago 9, Ill inois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
!'resident
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0. Dox 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenu e
Campbell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
Firs t Catholi c Slovak
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Francis
nion
H rusovsky
Fran k
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Sobus
National Preside nt
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasu rer
Stephen J . Tka ch
Milan V. Blaz ek
National President
nion
Penna. Slovak
-1922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J.
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLICKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADN E H LASY
Passaic, N. J.
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�~
N:ddaa:«.w , ......... ~
~
~XL
,.<l♦ ><«V;!o,o.;.
k 6 - "·
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><> _, ~tl\okll. l>llt. ~~- •~ ' fl-"'
<I<
♦}:'
<,y.,, ... ,..:,
l~«' , ..,;
»·to
~
♦
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i
.......... , lo
-~h'«< ti"'~,;-~,
" ' ~ . , . ~ , ..~
-~.,.~
~y
~""'l, ,-N:4•
!I,
; !!l-'4"f~n n:.Ut.~, ~---~"'~"
!.
Nebudeme sa pred nikym exkuzo·rcti'!
I
j
We heard and read that freedom of the press was guaranteed in the "Czecho-Slovak" democracy of T. G. Masaryk
and Dr. Edward Benes. This front page of Sept. 14, 1938,
is a typical example of the freedom the Slovaks enjoyed.
In the upper left hand corner we see "After confiscation a
new, corrected issue." In 1922 alone Slovak newspapers
suffered 1498 instances of censorship and confiscation.
�
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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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 1907 in Cleveland, Obio
•
Frances L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1~ 13 W. -18th Street
Chicago 9, Ill inois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
!'resident
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0. Dox 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenu e
Campbell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
Firs t Catholi c Slovak
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholi c S lovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Francis
nion
H rusovsky
Fran k
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Sobus
National Preside nt
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasu rer
Stephen J . Tka ch
Milan V. Blaz ek
National President
nion
Penna. Slovak
-1922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J.
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLICKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADN E H LASY
Passaic, N. J.
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
~
N:ddaa:«.w , ......... ~
~
~XL
,.<l♦ ><«V;!o,o.;.
k 6 - "·
Jw♦ jt.fff<l<t.
"-
t.>'>J~!'°"
,.( .. 4,,'"i, ~.......
<>4',~y..,1d.-,mf;>,j><J>><,tt ♦ ><IM ... >
'""""'"'J,,,A
\,,-:4.?,1
,i ~<-W.«·:. . .,
lw'♦,-.i:,.j>>"l"''"'-"'i-!ml♦ h•<<f~l'I:♦,
'-<j ,..,,, ,x,lk). >>.folj ~I>! ~~ 4
--.fl♦lo;·:,:,,.(.>·,, .. ,.11,#lt<P.~<I
><> _, ~tl\okll. l>llt. ~~- •~ ' fl-"'
<I<
♦}:'
<,y.,, ... ,..:,
l~«' , ..,;
»·to
~
♦
!:S~ s.11>»,,.,. «<+~
i
.......... , lo
-~h'«< ti"'~,;-~,
" ' ~ . , . ~ , ..~
-~.,.~
~y
~""'l, ,-N:4•
!I,
; !!l-'4"f~n n:.Ut.~, ~---~"'~"
!.
Nebudeme sa pred nikym exkuzo·rcti'!
I
j
We heard and read that freedom of the press was guaranteed in the "Czecho-Slovak" democracy of T. G. Masaryk
and Dr. Edward Benes. This front page of Sept. 14, 1938,
is a typical example of the freedom the Slovaks enjoyed.
In the upper left hand corner we see "After confiscation a
new, corrected issue." In 1922 alone Slovak newspapers
suffered 1498 instances of censorship and confiscation.
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. 5, No. 4 (17)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9d0ab676ff2e6ce5e3da3c983e1f8c77.pdf
75e57d5c95416413d1a65f9325148d2f
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
63
cho--Slovia;kia was supposed to be a federation, patterned after the United States or Switzerland. Nevertheless, he knew
the "intent" of the "Czechoslorvak" founding fathers! Mr.
Graham fouled UJP on the false premise of "unity" of the
"Ozechoslovak" nation, which his fertile imagination traced
all the way ibaok to the "medieval Bohemian State."
(More Coming)
•
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIIA
THE NEW CASTLE OF LIPTOV
Beneath the Slovak Tatras, under the ibowed head of
Krivaii, in the valley of the serpentine Vah river, lies the
hidden town of Liiptovsky Hradok (the Little Castle of
Lipto,v) . :Lt is oompletely encircled by mountains and the
red roofs of the dwellings are shariply contrasted iby the fresh
green of the surrounding forests. The town has its name
from the castle there which today is in ruins, its walls increasing the romanticism of the reigion. The fortress, situated on a plain and surrounded 1by a moat, was built by
Magistrate Done, son of iDominic, at the ibeginning of the
14th century. It took twenty years to build. Novy Hrad
(New Castle), as Liptovsky Hradok is called, is near the
river Bela and behind it rises the cliff Skalka.
The vicinity of Hradok was once an ancient forest;
even today many forests exist there, the source of much
of the wood which can be seen on rafts ,p lying the Vah
during most of the year. The castle itself was a twowinged affair with a small courtyard with a well. The
center of the northern wall is ,completely demolished; the
western part resembles a wide bastion in which is pre~
served a vaulted room.
Done, the original occwpant of the castle, did not
enjoy it very long; he was followed hy many others. In 1398,
the Moravian warrior Procopius s'eiized it and held it for
a · short time; in 143·3 L:iiptovs:ky Hradok was ta:ken by
the Hussites and held several months. When they were
evicted in 141,1, the management of the castle was taken
over 'by magistrate Ladislaus z .u:baie Riikolf; the latter had
�64
SLOVAKIA
it only nine years, when he was thrown out of it in 1450
by Peter Komorovsky, one of John Jiskra's commanders.
King Mathias donated the castle to· the Pan:krac clan of
Llptovsky Svaty M~kulas; but Komo,11ovsky would not gi,ve
11; up . .Pankrac attaciked Liptovsky Hradok but could not
ta,ke it. King Mathias intervened, stormed the castle with
his army in 1'474 and forced Komorov,s ky to surrender it.
In 1485 the castle passed into the hands of the ·z apol'sky
clan who held it until 1'527, when it was seized by the imperial army under the command orf G€nera:l Katzianer.
The historic castle was then held :b y various magnates
until 1600, when Nicholas Sandorfi b,ecame the owner. He
it was who made additions to, the Liptovsky Hra,dok, lby
building a one-story renaissance structure around three
sides of the original structure. This part of the castle is
completely preserved and today is the home of the district court. In 1623, 'Stephen Ost:rosich bought the castle:
he lost it to the army of George Rakoczy in 1644. When
Rakoczy concluded 1peace with Ferdinand II[, Liptovsky
Hradok passed into the hands of Nicholas Ostrosich, who
held it to his death in 1660. The Ostrosich family held it
another ten years, G€neral Spork of the imperial army seizing it in 1670. Thereafter, the residents of Liiptovsky
Hradok changed often; rebellions. plagued the country;
when Francis Rakoczy II rebelled, the castle was practically ruined. !Prince Lichtenstein owned the castle from
1709 to 1731, when it_ was !bought from him by the state .
.Since the time it has been under state management and
now is controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Because of its location, Liptovsky Hradok is called a
paradise. Its scenic 'beauty attracts many visitors; it is a
verita)ble vacationla.nd. Thousands of visitors come to Liptovisky Hradok to make excursions into the High 'Datras,
the plateaus of Liptov, the Demauc;v Caverns, the Va-•
zec Cave, and the Lower Tatras .
•
•
•
'DRE SLOVAKS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in
every plliblic libra:ry, in every college ·a nd university, in the
home of every American oif Slovak descent. Get your copy
NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00.
�
SLOVAKIA
63
cho--Slovia;kia was supposed to be a federation, patterned after the United States or Switzerland. Nevertheless, he knew
the "intent" of the "Czechoslorvak" founding fathers! Mr.
Graham fouled UJP on the false premise of "unity" of the
"Ozechoslovak" nation, which his fertile imagination traced
all the way ibaok to the "medieval Bohemian State."
(More Coming)
•
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIIA
THE NEW CASTLE OF LIPTOV
Beneath the Slovak Tatras, under the ibowed head of
Krivaii, in the valley of the serpentine Vah river, lies the
hidden town of Liiptovsky Hradok (the Little Castle of
Lipto,v) . :Lt is oompletely encircled by mountains and the
red roofs of the dwellings are shariply contrasted iby the fresh
green of the surrounding forests. The town has its name
from the castle there which today is in ruins, its walls increasing the romanticism of the reigion. The fortress, situated on a plain and surrounded 1by a moat, was built by
Magistrate Done, son of iDominic, at the ibeginning of the
14th century. It took twenty years to build. Novy Hrad
(New Castle), as Liptovsky Hradok is called, is near the
river Bela and behind it rises the cliff Skalka.
The vicinity of Hradok was once an ancient forest;
even today many forests exist there, the source of much
of the wood which can be seen on rafts ,p lying the Vah
during most of the year. The castle itself was a twowinged affair with a small courtyard with a well. The
center of the northern wall is ,completely demolished; the
western part resembles a wide bastion in which is pre~
served a vaulted room.
Done, the original occwpant of the castle, did not
enjoy it very long; he was followed hy many others. In 1398,
the Moravian warrior Procopius s'eiized it and held it for
a · short time; in 143·3 L:iiptovs:ky Hradok was ta:ken by
the Hussites and held several months. When they were
evicted in 141,1, the management of the castle was taken
over 'by magistrate Ladislaus z .u:baie Riikolf; the latter had
�64
SLOVAKIA
it only nine years, when he was thrown out of it in 1450
by Peter Komorovsky, one of John Jiskra's commanders.
King Mathias donated the castle to· the Pan:krac clan of
Llptovsky Svaty M~kulas; but Komo,11ovsky would not gi,ve
11; up . .Pankrac attaciked Liptovsky Hradok but could not
ta,ke it. King Mathias intervened, stormed the castle with
his army in 1'474 and forced Komorov,s ky to surrender it.
In 1485 the castle passed into the hands of the ·z apol'sky
clan who held it until 1'527, when it was seized by the imperial army under the command orf G€nera:l Katzianer.
The historic castle was then held :b y various magnates
until 1600, when Nicholas Sandorfi b,ecame the owner. He
it was who made additions to, the Liptovsky Hra,dok, lby
building a one-story renaissance structure around three
sides of the original structure. This part of the castle is
completely preserved and today is the home of the district court. In 1623, 'Stephen Ost:rosich bought the castle:
he lost it to the army of George Rakoczy in 1644. When
Rakoczy concluded 1peace with Ferdinand II[, Liptovsky
Hradok passed into the hands of Nicholas Ostrosich, who
held it to his death in 1660. The Ostrosich family held it
another ten years, G€neral Spork of the imperial army seizing it in 1670. Thereafter, the residents of Liiptovsky
Hradok changed often; rebellions. plagued the country;
when Francis Rakoczy II rebelled, the castle was practically ruined. !Prince Lichtenstein owned the castle from
1709 to 1731, when it_ was !bought from him by the state .
.Since the time it has been under state management and
now is controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Because of its location, Liptovsky Hradok is called a
paradise. Its scenic 'beauty attracts many visitors; it is a
verita)ble vacationla.nd. Thousands of visitors come to Liptovisky Hradok to make excursions into the High 'Datras,
the plateaus of Liptov, the Demauc;v Caverns, the Va-•
zec Cave, and the Lower Tatras .
•
•
•
'DRE SLOVAKS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in
every plliblic libra:ry, in every college ·a nd university, in the
home of every American oif Slovak descent. Get your copy
NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00.
�
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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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
63
cho--Slovia;kia was supposed to be a federation, patterned after the United States or Switzerland. Nevertheless, he knew
the "intent" of the "Czechoslorvak" founding fathers! Mr.
Graham fouled UJP on the false premise of "unity" of the
"Ozechoslovak" nation, which his fertile imagination traced
all the way ibaok to the "medieval Bohemian State."
(More Coming)
•
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIIA
THE NEW CASTLE OF LIPTOV
Beneath the Slovak Tatras, under the ibowed head of
Krivaii, in the valley of the serpentine Vah river, lies the
hidden town of Liiptovsky Hradok (the Little Castle of
Lipto,v) . :Lt is oompletely encircled by mountains and the
red roofs of the dwellings are shariply contrasted iby the fresh
green of the surrounding forests. The town has its name
from the castle there which today is in ruins, its walls increasing the romanticism of the reigion. The fortress, situated on a plain and surrounded 1by a moat, was built by
Magistrate Done, son of iDominic, at the ibeginning of the
14th century. It took twenty years to build. Novy Hrad
(New Castle), as Liptovsky Hradok is called, is near the
river Bela and behind it rises the cliff Skalka.
The vicinity of Hradok was once an ancient forest;
even today many forests exist there, the source of much
of the wood which can be seen on rafts ,p lying the Vah
during most of the year. The castle itself was a twowinged affair with a small courtyard with a well. The
center of the northern wall is ,completely demolished; the
western part resembles a wide bastion in which is pre~
served a vaulted room.
Done, the original occwpant of the castle, did not
enjoy it very long; he was followed hy many others. In 1398,
the Moravian warrior Procopius s'eiized it and held it for
a · short time; in 143·3 L:iiptovs:ky Hradok was ta:ken by
the Hussites and held several months. When they were
evicted in 141,1, the management of the castle was taken
over 'by magistrate Ladislaus z .u:baie Riikolf; the latter had
64
SLOVAKIA
it only nine years, when he was thrown out of it in 1450
by Peter Komorovsky, one of John Jiskra's commanders.
King Mathias donated the castle to· the Pan:krac clan of
Llptovsky Svaty M~kulas; but Komo,11ovsky would not gi,ve
11; up . .Pankrac attaciked Liptovsky Hradok but could not
ta,ke it. King Mathias intervened, stormed the castle with
his army in 1'474 and forced Komorov,s ky to surrender it.
In 1485 the castle passed into the hands of the ·z apol'sky
clan who held it until 1'527, when it was seized by the imperial army under the command orf G€nera:l Katzianer.
The historic castle was then held :b y various magnates
until 1600, when Nicholas Sandorfi b,ecame the owner. He
it was who made additions to, the Liptovsky Hra,dok, lby
building a one-story renaissance structure around three
sides of the original structure. This part of the castle is
completely preserved and today is the home of the district court. In 1623, 'Stephen Ost:rosich bought the castle:
he lost it to the army of George Rakoczy in 1644. When
Rakoczy concluded 1peace with Ferdinand II[, Liptovsky
Hradok passed into the hands of Nicholas Ostrosich, who
held it to his death in 1660. The Ostrosich family held it
another ten years, G€neral Spork of the imperial army seizing it in 1670. Thereafter, the residents of Liiptovsky
Hradok changed often; rebellions. plagued the country;
when Francis Rakoczy II rebelled, the castle was practically ruined. !Prince Lichtenstein owned the castle from
1709 to 1731, when it_ was !bought from him by the state .
.Since the time it has been under state management and
now is controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Because of its location, Liptovsky Hradok is called a
paradise. Its scenic 'beauty attracts many visitors; it is a
verita)ble vacationla.nd. Thousands of visitors come to Liptovisky Hradok to make excursions into the High 'Datras,
the plateaus of Liptov, the Demauc;v Caverns, the Va-•
zec Cave, and the Lower Tatras .
•
•
•
'DRE SLOVAKS by Peter P. Yurchak, should be in
every plliblic libra:ry, in every college ·a nd university, in the
home of every American oif Slovak descent. Get your copy
NOW. Paper bound copy-· $2.00; in cloth $3.00.
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
Castles of Slovakia: The New Castle of Liptov
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 4 (17), December 1955
pp. 63-64
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 1955
castles
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b3f4e5263ce41309f048807e8d9ccfee.pdf
284f076f8b0d44613883b79dce9beb5a
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
Published quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica
VOL. V
DECEMBER, 1955
NO. 4 ( 17)
??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ???
Wa:nt to fight Communism? You
don 't know how? Well, here's the
answer, according to CRUSADE
FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with
"TRJUTH DOLJLARS"
that's
how! American "Truth Dollars,"
we are told, " send words of truth
a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron
Curtain." But have you ever read
or ·heard those "words of truth
and hope" which bombard the
Iron Curtain countries? Neither
have most Americans!
Take the case of ,Slovakia, which
was wantonly destroyed by the
victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the
war in total d'isregard o.f the will
of the Slovak nation, what have
your "Truth Dollars" done for the
unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to
the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE,
which
oper,a tes
RA'DIO
FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has
not been •s ending words of truth
and hope to the Slovak people.
The "Czechoslovak" division or
unit of RFE is completely under
the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are
Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists
and Red collabomtors former
members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of
the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic
Slovaks, because they are and have
been opposed to freedom and poli-
tical independence for their own
nation. Both these groups have
a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak,
anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before,
during and after the laist war. And
we have not heard that they have
publicly repudiated those policies.
American "TRUTH DOLLARS"
are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs
and S lovak J udases in the service
of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And
yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH
DOLLARS fight Communism "by
exposing
Red
lies ... reveallng
news suppressed by Moscow and
by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have ·
been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators
in the_ "Czechoslovak"
(really
CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e
it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have
been sent regularly to V'arious
leading lights of the Free Europe
Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican
Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM);
both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE
remains
practicall y unchanged.
Personal visits to the New York
Office of RFE have not helped
much either.
It seem s that the Fnee Europe
Committee people themseJ.ves are
not interested in knowing the
truth about what happened in
Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and.
after the war. In fact, they have
1
0
�2
SLOVAKIA
made it quite obvious that they
do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and
have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude
is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now
find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the
American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE
began operations with the blessing
of our State Department!
When the Slov·a ks fought the
Communists and pro-Soviet policy,
they were beaten down by the Be,.
nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer,
Vanek,
Tigrid,Schoenfeld,
Firt,
Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the
Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.).
These Red collaborators did not
know how to fight Communism at
home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and
.Czechs how to fight it. Of course,
for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" !
The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E
EUROPE is, we believe, a good
idea, but the way it is being put
a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit
or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo•
va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The
peopl,e preparing them certainly
must know that by now. But they
~e not in their jobs to tell that
Slovaks are entitled to freedom
,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing
or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the
.persons who got them the jobs,
so they are not impartial. And
those persons are the Benes
Czechs. If we wene to judge the
entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would
have to say that it is strictly a
socialistic enterpris·e. Since we
are not sufficiently informed on
the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time.
But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists.
"Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words
of truth; that's how hard 'Truth
Dollars' work. Your dollars will
.hel,2 70 million people resist the
Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are
by exiles in the native tongue of
the people to whom they a,re
beamed." All this, from a recent
advertisement of the Crusa,de for
Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well
as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent
say bluntly: We don't believe it
as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit
exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and
independence, distorts facts of the
past and favors enemies of the
Slov,a k nation, the enemies of
America, as well!
The Benes Czechs and •t heir
hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats,"
have deceived and embarrassed
Americans entirely too tong. Their
own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load
them with American "TRUTH
DOI,LARS"?
The Czechs are not and do not
want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to
be Czechs. That's all there 'is to
it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There
·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs
and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio
Free Europe are supposed to do.
Why not let them do it?
�
SLOVAKIA
Published quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica
VOL. V
DECEMBER, 1955
NO. 4 ( 17)
??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ???
Wa:nt to fight Communism? You
don 't know how? Well, here's the
answer, according to CRUSADE
FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with
"TRJUTH DOLJLARS"
that's
how! American "Truth Dollars,"
we are told, " send words of truth
a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron
Curtain." But have you ever read
or ·heard those "words of truth
and hope" which bombard the
Iron Curtain countries? Neither
have most Americans!
Take the case of ,Slovakia, which
was wantonly destroyed by the
victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the
war in total d'isregard o.f the will
of the Slovak nation, what have
your "Truth Dollars" done for the
unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to
the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE,
which
oper,a tes
RA'DIO
FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has
not been •s ending words of truth
and hope to the Slovak people.
The "Czechoslovak" division or
unit of RFE is completely under
the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are
Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists
and Red collabomtors former
members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of
the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic
Slovaks, because they are and have
been opposed to freedom and poli-
tical independence for their own
nation. Both these groups have
a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak,
anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before,
during and after the laist war. And
we have not heard that they have
publicly repudiated those policies.
American "TRUTH DOLLARS"
are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs
and S lovak J udases in the service
of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And
yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH
DOLLARS fight Communism "by
exposing
Red
lies ... reveallng
news suppressed by Moscow and
by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have ·
been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators
in the_ "Czechoslovak"
(really
CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e
it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have
been sent regularly to V'arious
leading lights of the Free Europe
Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican
Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM);
both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE
remains
practicall y unchanged.
Personal visits to the New York
Office of RFE have not helped
much either.
It seem s that the Fnee Europe
Committee people themseJ.ves are
not interested in knowing the
truth about what happened in
Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and.
after the war. In fact, they have
1
0
�2
SLOVAKIA
made it quite obvious that they
do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and
have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude
is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now
find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the
American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE
began operations with the blessing
of our State Department!
When the Slov·a ks fought the
Communists and pro-Soviet policy,
they were beaten down by the Be,.
nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer,
Vanek,
Tigrid,Schoenfeld,
Firt,
Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the
Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.).
These Red collaborators did not
know how to fight Communism at
home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and
.Czechs how to fight it. Of course,
for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" !
The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E
EUROPE is, we believe, a good
idea, but the way it is being put
a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit
or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo•
va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The
peopl,e preparing them certainly
must know that by now. But they
~e not in their jobs to tell that
Slovaks are entitled to freedom
,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing
or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the
.persons who got them the jobs,
so they are not impartial. And
those persons are the Benes
Czechs. If we wene to judge the
entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would
have to say that it is strictly a
socialistic enterpris·e. Since we
are not sufficiently informed on
the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time.
But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists.
"Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words
of truth; that's how hard 'Truth
Dollars' work. Your dollars will
.hel,2 70 million people resist the
Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are
by exiles in the native tongue of
the people to whom they a,re
beamed." All this, from a recent
advertisement of the Crusa,de for
Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well
as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent
say bluntly: We don't believe it
as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit
exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and
independence, distorts facts of the
past and favors enemies of the
Slov,a k nation, the enemies of
America, as well!
The Benes Czechs and •t heir
hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats,"
have deceived and embarrassed
Americans entirely too tong. Their
own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load
them with American "TRUTH
DOI,LARS"?
The Czechs are not and do not
want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to
be Czechs. That's all there 'is to
it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There
·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs
and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio
Free Europe are supposed to do.
Why not let them do it?
�
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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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 quarter ly by the S lovak League of Ame r ica
VOL. V
DECEMBER, 1955
NO. 4 ( 17)
??? "TRUTH DOLLARS" ???
Wa:nt to fight Communism? You
don 't know how? Well, here's the
answer, according to CRUSADE
FOR FREEDOM: Fight it with
"TRJUTH DOLJLARS"
that's
how! American "Truth Dollars,"
we are told, " send words of truth
a nd hop e to the 70 million freedom loving people behind the Iron
Curtain." But have you ever read
or ·heard those "words of truth
and hope" which bombard the
Iron Curtain countries? Neither
have most Americans!
Take the case of ,Slovakia, which
was wantonly destroyed by the
victorious ,United Nations ,a fter the
war in total d'isregard o.f the will
of the Slovak nation, what have
your "Truth Dollars" done for the
unfortunate people of that country? The iORUSADE F10 R FREEDOM collects the "TRUTH DOLLA•RS" and hands them over to
the FRIDE EUROPE COMMITTEE,
which
oper,a tes
RA'DIO
FRIDE IDUROBE. But the latter has
not been •s ending words of truth
and hope to the Slovak people.
The "Czechoslovak" division or
unit of RFE is completely under
the influence of persons who collaborated with Moscow .and the Communists for many years. They are
Benes Czechs - Czech Soci'alists
and Red collabomtors former
members of the ·Communist-dominated National Front ,g overnment of
the Benes-Gottwald coalition (19451948). The Slovaks (/Lettrich "democrats") in their service are regarded ,as Judases by all patriotic
Slovaks, because they are and have
been opposed to freedom and poli-
tical independence for their own
nation. Both these groups have
a ctively supported the anWS'.ovak,
anti°Chri'Stian, and pro-Soviet policies of Dr. Edward Benes before,
during and after the laist war. And
we have not heard that they have
publicly repudiated those policies.
American "TRUTH DOLLARS"
are used to pay t.he Benes Czechs
and S lovak J udases in the service
of RADIO F,RJEE EIUIROPE. And
yet, the CRUSA DE F OR FIREEJDOM tells you that your TRUTH
DOLLARS fight Communism "by
exposing
Red
lies ... reveallng
news suppressed by Moscow and
by unmasking Communist collaborators." Patriotic Slovaks have ·
been ener,g etically trying to unmask the Co m munist collaborators
in the_ "Czechoslovak"
(really
CZ ECH) unit of RFE ever sin<:e
it was founded, ,but with little success. The SLOVAK NlEWSLETTER and the SLOVA~Ii.A have
been sent regularly to V'arious
leading lights of the Free Europe
Committee ,a nd the Am,e rican
Heritaige Foundation (which sponsors CRUS•A'DE F10R FREEDOM);
both periodicals exposed the Benes Czechs and Lettrich "democrats," but the situation in RFE
remains
practicall y unchanged.
Personal visits to the New York
Office of RFE have not helped
much either.
It seem s that the Fnee Europe
Committee people themseJ.ves are
not interested in knowing the
truth about what happened in
Czecho Slovakia ,b efore, during and.
after the war. In fact, they have
1
0
2
SLOVAKIA
made it quite obvious that they
do not know the difference between a Czech and a Slovak and
have adopted a "so what?" attitude in the matter. This attitude
is not helping the cause of freedom or the cause of justice. Patriotic Slovaks in exile and in Slova,kia are confused by this behavior of the FEC and even now
find it hard. to believe that it reflects the policy of our Government and the sentiments of the
American public. I know definitely that it does not. And yet, RFE
began operations with the blessing
of our State Department!
When the Slov·a ks fought the
Communists and pro-Soviet policy,
they were beaten down by the Be,.
nes Czechs ('Ripka, Zenk!, Majer,
Vanek,
Tigrid,Schoenfeld,
Firt,
Stransky, Peroutka, etc.) and the
Judas Slovaks (Dr. Joseph Lettrich, Mudry-::§ebik, Kvetko, Belus, Viboch, Belak-Berger, etc.).
These Red collaborators did not
know how to fight Communism at
home, but we are supposed to !)elieve they can now show Americans and patriotic Slovaks and
.Czechs how to fight it. Of course,
for American "TRUTH DOLAIRS" !
The idea behind IRAIDIO FRE'E
EUROPE is, we believe, a good
idea, but the way it is being put
a.cross by the "Czechoslovak" unit
or division is defeating its purpose. The contents of the broadcasts ,are not the things the Slo•
va,ks at ho.me want to hear. The
peopl,e preparing them certainly
must know that by now. But they
~e not in their jobs to tell that
Slovaks are entitled to freedom
,a nd independence, or what Amerlcans of Slovak descent a.re doing
or thinking ,about various matters. They were instructed by the
.persons who got them the jobs,
so they are not impartial. And
those persons are the Benes
Czechs. If we wene to judge the
entire venture of •ThFE by the "Cz.echoslovak" unit, then we would
have to say that it is strictly a
socialistic enterpris·e. Since we
are not sufficiently informed on
the other sections of ThFE, we desist from saying so at this time.
But we do insist that the ",Cz-echoslovak" unit is under the influence of .Czec•h socialists.
"Every doU.ar 'buys 100 words
of truth; that's how hard 'Truth
Dollars' work. Your dollars will
.hel,2 70 million people resist the
Kremlin . . . . The broadcasts are
by exiles in the native tongue of
the people to whom they a,re
beamed." All this, from a recent
advertisement of the Crusa,de for
Freedom, sounds n~ce, but Slovaks at home ,a nd in exile, as well
as Ame1icans of •S lovak descent
say bluntly: We don't believe it
as long as the "Czechoslovak" unit
exists, because it denies our existence, our right to 'freedom and
independence, distorts facts of the
past and favors enemies of the
Slov,a k nation, the enemies of
America, as well!
The Benes Czechs and •t heir
hirelings, the Lettrich "democrats,"
have deceived and embarrassed
Americans entirely too tong. Their
own people at home have discredited them, so why should we load
them with American "TRUTH
DOI,LARS"?
The Czechs are not and do not
want to be Slovaks, and the Slovaks are not and do not want to
be Czechs. That's all there 'is to
it. And not even "T1RUTH iDO'LLARS" can alter that fact. There
·are plenty of non-Benes Czechs
and. non-Lettrich "democrat!!" all good characters, loved ,a nd esteemed by their people at ·home who can do the job the Free Europe Committee and its Radio
Free Europe are supposed to do.
Why not let them do it?
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
??? "Truth Dollars" ???
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 4 (17), December 1955
pp. 1-2
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0bc301038cf82cccbb95f298f39f3f3e.pdf
c8a6e974fab72cceddd5eba2f36fa9c7
PDF Text
Text
\t OL. V
DECEMBER , · 1955
IN THIS ISSUE:
??? "Truth Dollars"???
Th e Failur es o f C o mmunist Politi cs in Slovakia
( '
L ettri c h' s Hist o r y o f Slovakia
The, Slovaks and Slavonic Civilization
Ben es' s· Trip to Moscow and Cz ec ho-Slov ak Propaga nd a
l( ern er's ·"Czechoslovakia":
Cast les of Slovakia:
WHO S AID IT ? -
History or Propag a nda ?
Liptovsky H ra dok
54
*
*
*
. Ed ited and comp il ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Publi s h ed by
TH E SLOVAK L E AGU E O F AME1R ICA
NO. 4
( 17 )
�SLOVAKIA is' published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
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
Middletown, Pa,
�
\t OL. V
DECEMBER , · 1955
IN THIS ISSUE:
??? "Truth Dollars"???
Th e Failur es o f C o mmunist Politi cs in Slovakia
( '
L ettri c h' s Hist o r y o f Slovakia
The, Slovaks and Slavonic Civilization
Ben es' s· Trip to Moscow and Cz ec ho-Slov ak Propaga nd a
l( ern er's ·"Czechoslovakia":
Cast les of Slovakia:
WHO S AID IT ? -
History or Propag a nda ?
Liptovsky H ra dok
54
*
*
*
. Ed ited and comp il ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Publi s h ed by
TH E SLOVAK L E AGU E O F AME1R ICA
NO. 4
( 17 )
�SLOVAKIA is' published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
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
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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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
\t OL. V
DECEMBER , · 1955
IN THIS ISSUE:
??? "Truth Dollars"???
Th e Failur es o f C o mmunist Politi cs in Slovakia
( '
L ettri c h' s Hist o r y o f Slovakia
The, Slovaks and Slavonic Civilization
Ben es' s· Trip to Moscow and Cz ec ho-Slov ak Propaga nd a
l( ern er's ·"Czechoslovakia":
Cast les of Slovakia:
WHO S AID IT ? -
History or Propag a nda ?
Liptovsky H ra dok
54
*
*
*
. Ed ited and comp il ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Publi s h ed by
TH E SLOVAK L E AGU E O F AME1R ICA
NO. 4
( 17 )
SLOVAKIA is' published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAKIA
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
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. 5, No. 4 (17)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
December 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/14d56edbe08d0137ffd15ed7c9a9214b.pdf
564a93caabf378580091ac196aa402af
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
19-13 W.
Chicago
Fran ce s L. Mizenko
3756 Lee Road
Cl eve l and 2 , Ohio
President
P. H letko
I th Street
~. Illinoi s
J
President
Philip A . Hro ba k
P. 0. Box 150, Middl etown, Pa.
\'ice-Pre sident
Jacob Kocis
15-17 - 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. L th St.,
St ephen J . Tka c h
173 N . Main Street
Wi l kes-Barre, Pa .
A ndre w J . H amrock
61 Woodland Av enue
Campbel l , Ohio
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mi c hael J . Vargovich
National President
l•'irst Cathol i c Sl ovak Unio n
'hie-ago 8, Ill.
Recording 'ecretary
Franc is H rusovsky
2900 East Bou l evard
Cleveland I, Ohio
H e l en Ko c an
.'fationa l Pre sident
Fir st Catholic Sl ovak
Ladie s 1-nion
F ra n k Sobus
- :-lational President
lovak Cathol i c- Soko l
Secretary-Treasurer
Milan V . Blazek
.J922 S. Lec laire Avenu
Chicago 38, Ill.
St ephen J . Tkach
National President
nion
Penna . Sl ovak
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madi son St., Passaic, N. J.
· Gabri el a E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsy lvania
Sl ovak Union
Jo h n Rozbor il
~ational President
Sl ovak 'atholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliat ed with th e Slova k League of Am erica )
JEDNOTA
Middletown , Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleve l and, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi l kes-Barre , Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
C l eve l and, Ohio
ZORNICKA
Chica.go, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N. J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind .
�SLOVAK.IA: Ruins of Bzovik Castle, Hont County, built in the 12th century. It served as
a monastery for the Premonstratensians from 1130 until about 1433, when the Czech Hussites took it over and converted it into a fortress.
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
19-13 W.
Chicago
Fran ce s L. Mizenko
3756 Lee Road
Cl eve l and 2 , Ohio
President
P. H letko
I th Street
~. Illinoi s
J
President
Philip A . Hro ba k
P. 0. Box 150, Middl etown, Pa.
\'ice-Pre sident
Jacob Kocis
15-17 - 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. L th St.,
St ephen J . Tka c h
173 N . Main Street
Wi l kes-Barre, Pa .
A ndre w J . H amrock
61 Woodland Av enue
Campbel l , Ohio
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mi c hael J . Vargovich
National President
l•'irst Cathol i c Sl ovak Unio n
'hie-ago 8, Ill.
Recording 'ecretary
Franc is H rusovsky
2900 East Bou l evard
Cleveland I, Ohio
H e l en Ko c an
.'fationa l Pre sident
Fir st Catholic Sl ovak
Ladie s 1-nion
F ra n k Sobus
- :-lational President
lovak Cathol i c- Soko l
Secretary-Treasurer
Milan V . Blazek
.J922 S. Lec laire Avenu
Chicago 38, Ill.
St ephen J . Tkach
National President
nion
Penna . Sl ovak
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madi son St., Passaic, N. J.
· Gabri el a E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsy lvania
Sl ovak Union
Jo h n Rozbor il
~ational President
Sl ovak 'atholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliat ed with th e Slova k League of Am erica )
JEDNOTA
Middletown , Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleve l and, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi l kes-Barre , Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
C l eve l and, Ohio
ZORNICKA
Chica.go, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N. J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind .
�SLOVAK.IA: Ruins of Bzovik Castle, Hont County, built in the 12th century. It served as
a monastery for the Premonstratensians from 1130 until about 1433, when the Czech Hussites took it over and converted it into a fortress.
�
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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Honorary
Dr. Peter
19-13 W.
Chicago
Fran ce s L. Mizenko
3756 Lee Road
Cl eve l and 2 , Ohio
President
P. H letko
I th Street
~. Illinoi s
J
President
Philip A . Hro ba k
P. 0. Box 150, Middl etown, Pa.
\'ice-Pre sident
Jacob Kocis
15-17 - 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
1648 W. L th St.,
St ephen J . Tka c h
173 N . Main Street
Wi l kes-Barre, Pa .
A ndre w J . H amrock
61 Woodland Av enue
Campbel l , Ohio
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mi c hael J . Vargovich
National President
l•'irst Cathol i c Sl ovak Unio n
'hie-ago 8, Ill.
Recording 'ecretary
Franc is H rusovsky
2900 East Bou l evard
Cleveland I, Ohio
H e l en Ko c an
.'fationa l Pre sident
Fir st Catholic Sl ovak
Ladie s 1-nion
F ra n k Sobus
- :-lational President
lovak Cathol i c- Soko l
Secretary-Treasurer
Milan V . Blazek
.J922 S. Lec laire Avenu
Chicago 38, Ill.
St ephen J . Tkach
National President
nion
Penna . Sl ovak
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madi son St., Passaic, N. J.
· Gabri el a E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsy lvania
Sl ovak Union
Jo h n Rozbor il
~ational President
Sl ovak 'atholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliat ed with th e Slova k League of Am erica )
JEDNOTA
Middletown , Pa.
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
Scranton, Pa.
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleve l and, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi l kes-Barre , Pa.
SLOVENSKE NOVINY
C l eve l and, Ohio
ZORNICKA
Chica.go, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Passai c, N. J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind .
SLOVAK.IA: Ruins of Bzovik Castle, Hont County, built in the 12th century. It served as
a monastery for the Premonstratensians from 1130 until about 1433, when the Czech Hussites took it over and converted it into a fortress.
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. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Bzovík Castle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June-September 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3df390c146b8a19ed69021c960bfd41b.pdf
6b96444e10dcd12ca2c175bd4bb3614b
PDF Text
Text
22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
�SLOVAKIA
23
or form of political organization under which they wish
to live
This principle, not applied practically in the past with
respect to the Slovruk nation, must apply without any reservaJtion even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended.
We fully endorae the principle that the Government of
the United States of America shall refuse to recognize any
government and any state or form of political organization
which has been imposed upon any nation by the force of an
alien power and we respectfully request that this policy be
followed even in the case of the Slovak nation, which is tyrannized by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in
flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the
Charter of the United Nations and in utter contempt for
the fundamental principle of the American foreign policy
of self-detezmina.tion.
3. As Americans and Christians, we condemn all
forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarianism which has
no regard for the ri,g hts and liberties of the individual
and is determined to maJke individuals slaves of a political state.
We recognize godless, materialistic Communism as a
conspiracy against free humanity, as a ,p olitical and economic sy,stem which threatens mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore, we cannot snhs<!ribe to the policy
that doing business with the Savi.et Union and other Communist governments is in the best interests of the welfare
and security of the United States of America and the rest
of the free world. We have fought the plague of Communism openly and resolutely in the past and today are determined more than ever to persevere in the fight against
it until it is completely e:z,adicated from the face of the
earth.
We shall not be deceived by the "pea:ced:Uil co-exist..
ence" propagated by the Soviet Union. Peaceful co-existence with the USSR, the Communist world, is strictly a
myth and a hoax. To give it credence would be folly. To the
godless materialists of the Kremlin peaceful co-existence
�24
SLOVAKIA
means full collaboration with the USSR. And collaboration with the USSR means, in the end, a brutal suppression of all freedoms and liberties and utter enslavement.
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, China, and other countries are proof of that.
4. We heartily commend all efforts of the Administration and the Congress of the United States and of the
agencies of our Government to ferret out, unmask and
prosecute all subversive elements, specifically all Communists and pro-Communi sts, who propagate class hatreds,
economic strife, chaos and anarchy, and promote the interests of the USSR which is determined to destroy us.
We appreciate especially the work of the House Committee on Communist Aggression of the 83rd Congress,
under the chairmanship of the Hon. Charles J. Kersten
of Milwaukee, Wis. The Committee had a very difficult
task to perform, but did it admirrubly well. We believe it
was the first time that a real, honest effort was made by
a congressional committee to become acquainted with the
background of the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain,
the nations who always were and still are our friends, the
peoples who with all their hearts want to be our friends,
because to them America has always been a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and today is just about their
last hope of liberation from Communist tyranny.
5. We approve of the idea of a United Nations to promote peace and prosperity in all countries as far as is humanly possible. Ten years after the establishment of the
U. N., however, we note with regret that it has not been
very effective in doing the work it set out to do. As presently constituted the U. N. is not an organization of nations united in the common purpose, so nobly expressed in
its charter, but an organization of governments, several
of which definitely are not representative of the political
will and national interests of the nations they presume to
represent, but are dedicated to the enslavement of those
very nations and, furthermore, to the destruction of the
free political systems of the world, including our own
American Way of Life.
�SLOVAKIA
25
The sad experiences with the United Nations during
the past ten years have convinced us that the Soviet
Union definitely is not interested in promoting the noble
aims and purposes of the U. N. Moscow apparently accepted the U. N. only to mask and facilitate its program
of world domination; the Soviet Union is in fact promoting world revolution from within the General Assembly
and the Security Council of the United Nations.
As we see it, there is something monstrous about the
idea of associating in a pretended peace organization with
the godless mass murderers of the Kremlin, who have
enslaved one-third of the human race and vowed to bring
us all under their yoke.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States not only to oppose the
entrance of Red China to the United Nations, but also to
demand the expulsion of all nations and governments
espousing the godless philosophy of Marxistic materialism, so that the United Nations, rid of all tyrants and quislings of tyrants, might function effectively as an assembly of free men. Provisions for such expulsions, if already
not included in the Charter of the U. N., should be made
to that effect, and one of these provis,i ons definitely should
make it cause for expulsion if any member of the U. N.,
gives any aid and succor to any nation or government
which is judged guilty of aggression by the U. N.
6. We stand opposed to the Genocide Convention as
presently written, because we feel that it is dangerous
in the extreme to our Constitutional freedoms and fails in
its primary purpose - the outlawing of mass extermination of peoples by governments - and because it will
not apply to genocide as practiced by the USSR and in
countries captured by it. Genocide should be outlawed by
all nations. But genocide should be properly defined to include government approval, for then and only then is it
genocide. Furthermore, the Genocide Convention should
include "political groups" as well as national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups, and it should not be used as a
vehicle for domestic legislation.
�26
SLOVAKIA
7. Because we fear that the adoption of the International Covenant on Human Rights - as proposed by the
United Nations Commission - would destroy our basic Constitutional concept of inalienable God-given liberty, we do not
recommend its adoption as a treaty by the United States.
8. Once again we respectfully request the President
rund the Congress of the United States to re-examine the
question on the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945,
because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also request the President and the
Congress of the United States to instruct our delegate to
the United Nations to ask for an investigation by the U
N. of the destruction of the Slovak State, the independence
of which was proclaimed by duly elected r/ilpresentatives
of the Slovak people on March 14, 1939, th~t is, approximately six months before the start of World" War II.
We further petition the President and the Congress
of the United States to voice a strong protest against the
violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and politcal leaders by
the Czecho-Communis t regime of Prague.
9. We deeply resent the fact that even the present Administration of the United States Government is inclined
to recognize and favor former Czech and Slovak politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the Czech and Slovak nations. We refer particularly to the followers of Dr. Edward Bein.es who
promoted pro-Soviet and anti-Slovak policy - the Czech
and Slovak Socialists and radical left-wingers who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until 1948 as
members of the Communist-domin ated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia of the Benes-Gottwald coalition.
The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings organiized in
various so-called "Czechoslovak" organizations - no matter what their political plumage - never did and never
will represent the political will of the Slovak nation, even
if they continue to presume to do so. One such organization, the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," allegedly regarded as a semi-official provisional government-in-exi le
by our State Department, boasts that it is an organization
�SLOVAKIA
27
of "anti-Communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia, but, in fact, is an organization controlled by Czech
Socialists who were prominent members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Dr. Benes,
which collaborated closely with Moscow and outlawed all
anti-Socialistic and anti-Communistic elements in CzechoSlovakia after the war ended in 1945, when it came to power
with the blessing of Stalin and the force of the Red armies.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to recognize the members of this Council for what they really were in their
homeland - as promoters of Socialism and the pro-Soviet
policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists - and deal
with them accordingly.
We also respectfully request the President and Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoolovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information supplied by Dr. Eldward Benes
and other Czech Socialists and radical leftwingers. This
information, naturally, glorifies and favors the Czech
"progreflSives" who promoted Socialism and pro-Soviet policy, and maliciously smears and vilifies genuine political,
cultural and religious leaders of the Slovak nation who
fought Socialism and Communism all their lives. It is embarrassing to us, as it should also be to the present Administration and Congress of the United States, that such
people are employed by various agencies of government,
like the USIA (Voice of America), CIA, Library of Congress, and others, as well as by so-called "privately-sponsored" organizations, like the Free Europe Committee
(Radio Free Europe). The Benes Czechs have embarrassed and compromised the prestige of the United States
entirely too long and, therefore, should not be relied upon
any longer. We respectfully request the President and
Congress of the United States to give this matter their
serious attention, 1b ecause it does affect the security of
our country.
10. Since the Slovaks are not and do not wish to be
Czechs, and the Czeclls are ·n ot and do not want to be Slovaks, we believe that it is only just and proper in the in-
�28
SLOVAKIA
terests of all concerned that this ethnic distinction be observed when any so-<:alled "Czechoslovak" problem is considered.
The Slovak League of America, together with the organization.s affiliated with it, petition the President and
the Congress of the United States not to abandon the principle of nationality, the ethnic principle, with respect to
the Slovak nation, be<!ause it still is the most effective
weapon against Communism. We urge the liberation of
the Slov8Jk nation along with other nations behind the Iron
Curtain, including the Czech nation. We recommend moral
and financial aid to the fighters for Czech liberation, freedom and independence, but we certainly cannot recommend less for the genuine representatives of the nation we
are descended from. We protested when the fundamental
rights of other nations were threatened or violated and
we certainly cannot be expected to do less when the rights
of the SlovaJk nation are violated and its national existence is threatened.
As Americans who believe in inherent, God-given
rights of nations, we believe those same rights of the
Slovak naJtion must be recognized and respected not only
by the United States and other democratic countries, but
even by the Czech nation as well. As Christians and followers of the American Way of Life, dedicated to human
liberty and the dignity of the human person which are the
cornerstones of democracy, we resolutely oppose the dominaJtion and exiploiitaiticm of one nation by another nation or
political state. We seek no special benefits or grants for
the nation we are descended from, but only plead for the
recognition of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because the Slovak nation cannot voice itself freely today.
Approved and adopted this 23rd day of May, 1955,
with the unanimous consent of all the delegates to the
Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slov8Jk League of America,
in the City of Washington, D. C.
PIDLIP A. HROBAK, President.
DR. FRANCIS HRUSOVSK°£", Secretary
�
22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
�SLOVAKIA
23
or form of political organization under which they wish
to live
This principle, not applied practically in the past with
respect to the Slovruk nation, must apply without any reservaJtion even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended.
We fully endorae the principle that the Government of
the United States of America shall refuse to recognize any
government and any state or form of political organization
which has been imposed upon any nation by the force of an
alien power and we respectfully request that this policy be
followed even in the case of the Slovak nation, which is tyrannized by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in
flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the
Charter of the United Nations and in utter contempt for
the fundamental principle of the American foreign policy
of self-detezmina.tion.
3. As Americans and Christians, we condemn all
forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarianism which has
no regard for the ri,g hts and liberties of the individual
and is determined to maJke individuals slaves of a political state.
We recognize godless, materialistic Communism as a
conspiracy against free humanity, as a ,p olitical and economic sy,stem which threatens mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore, we cannot snhs<!ribe to the policy
that doing business with the Savi.et Union and other Communist governments is in the best interests of the welfare
and security of the United States of America and the rest
of the free world. We have fought the plague of Communism openly and resolutely in the past and today are determined more than ever to persevere in the fight against
it until it is completely e:z,adicated from the face of the
earth.
We shall not be deceived by the "pea:ced:Uil co-exist..
ence" propagated by the Soviet Union. Peaceful co-existence with the USSR, the Communist world, is strictly a
myth and a hoax. To give it credence would be folly. To the
godless materialists of the Kremlin peaceful co-existence
�24
SLOVAKIA
means full collaboration with the USSR. And collaboration with the USSR means, in the end, a brutal suppression of all freedoms and liberties and utter enslavement.
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, China, and other countries are proof of that.
4. We heartily commend all efforts of the Administration and the Congress of the United States and of the
agencies of our Government to ferret out, unmask and
prosecute all subversive elements, specifically all Communists and pro-Communi sts, who propagate class hatreds,
economic strife, chaos and anarchy, and promote the interests of the USSR which is determined to destroy us.
We appreciate especially the work of the House Committee on Communist Aggression of the 83rd Congress,
under the chairmanship of the Hon. Charles J. Kersten
of Milwaukee, Wis. The Committee had a very difficult
task to perform, but did it admirrubly well. We believe it
was the first time that a real, honest effort was made by
a congressional committee to become acquainted with the
background of the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain,
the nations who always were and still are our friends, the
peoples who with all their hearts want to be our friends,
because to them America has always been a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and today is just about their
last hope of liberation from Communist tyranny.
5. We approve of the idea of a United Nations to promote peace and prosperity in all countries as far as is humanly possible. Ten years after the establishment of the
U. N., however, we note with regret that it has not been
very effective in doing the work it set out to do. As presently constituted the U. N. is not an organization of nations united in the common purpose, so nobly expressed in
its charter, but an organization of governments, several
of which definitely are not representative of the political
will and national interests of the nations they presume to
represent, but are dedicated to the enslavement of those
very nations and, furthermore, to the destruction of the
free political systems of the world, including our own
American Way of Life.
�SLOVAKIA
25
The sad experiences with the United Nations during
the past ten years have convinced us that the Soviet
Union definitely is not interested in promoting the noble
aims and purposes of the U. N. Moscow apparently accepted the U. N. only to mask and facilitate its program
of world domination; the Soviet Union is in fact promoting world revolution from within the General Assembly
and the Security Council of the United Nations.
As we see it, there is something monstrous about the
idea of associating in a pretended peace organization with
the godless mass murderers of the Kremlin, who have
enslaved one-third of the human race and vowed to bring
us all under their yoke.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States not only to oppose the
entrance of Red China to the United Nations, but also to
demand the expulsion of all nations and governments
espousing the godless philosophy of Marxistic materialism, so that the United Nations, rid of all tyrants and quislings of tyrants, might function effectively as an assembly of free men. Provisions for such expulsions, if already
not included in the Charter of the U. N., should be made
to that effect, and one of these provis,i ons definitely should
make it cause for expulsion if any member of the U. N.,
gives any aid and succor to any nation or government
which is judged guilty of aggression by the U. N.
6. We stand opposed to the Genocide Convention as
presently written, because we feel that it is dangerous
in the extreme to our Constitutional freedoms and fails in
its primary purpose - the outlawing of mass extermination of peoples by governments - and because it will
not apply to genocide as practiced by the USSR and in
countries captured by it. Genocide should be outlawed by
all nations. But genocide should be properly defined to include government approval, for then and only then is it
genocide. Furthermore, the Genocide Convention should
include "political groups" as well as national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups, and it should not be used as a
vehicle for domestic legislation.
�26
SLOVAKIA
7. Because we fear that the adoption of the International Covenant on Human Rights - as proposed by the
United Nations Commission - would destroy our basic Constitutional concept of inalienable God-given liberty, we do not
recommend its adoption as a treaty by the United States.
8. Once again we respectfully request the President
rund the Congress of the United States to re-examine the
question on the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945,
because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also request the President and the
Congress of the United States to instruct our delegate to
the United Nations to ask for an investigation by the U
N. of the destruction of the Slovak State, the independence
of which was proclaimed by duly elected r/ilpresentatives
of the Slovak people on March 14, 1939, th~t is, approximately six months before the start of World" War II.
We further petition the President and the Congress
of the United States to voice a strong protest against the
violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and politcal leaders by
the Czecho-Communis t regime of Prague.
9. We deeply resent the fact that even the present Administration of the United States Government is inclined
to recognize and favor former Czech and Slovak politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the Czech and Slovak nations. We refer particularly to the followers of Dr. Edward Bein.es who
promoted pro-Soviet and anti-Slovak policy - the Czech
and Slovak Socialists and radical left-wingers who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until 1948 as
members of the Communist-domin ated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia of the Benes-Gottwald coalition.
The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings organiized in
various so-called "Czechoslovak" organizations - no matter what their political plumage - never did and never
will represent the political will of the Slovak nation, even
if they continue to presume to do so. One such organization, the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," allegedly regarded as a semi-official provisional government-in-exi le
by our State Department, boasts that it is an organization
�SLOVAKIA
27
of "anti-Communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia, but, in fact, is an organization controlled by Czech
Socialists who were prominent members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Dr. Benes,
which collaborated closely with Moscow and outlawed all
anti-Socialistic and anti-Communistic elements in CzechoSlovakia after the war ended in 1945, when it came to power
with the blessing of Stalin and the force of the Red armies.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to recognize the members of this Council for what they really were in their
homeland - as promoters of Socialism and the pro-Soviet
policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists - and deal
with them accordingly.
We also respectfully request the President and Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoolovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information supplied by Dr. Eldward Benes
and other Czech Socialists and radical leftwingers. This
information, naturally, glorifies and favors the Czech
"progreflSives" who promoted Socialism and pro-Soviet policy, and maliciously smears and vilifies genuine political,
cultural and religious leaders of the Slovak nation who
fought Socialism and Communism all their lives. It is embarrassing to us, as it should also be to the present Administration and Congress of the United States, that such
people are employed by various agencies of government,
like the USIA (Voice of America), CIA, Library of Congress, and others, as well as by so-called "privately-sponsored" organizations, like the Free Europe Committee
(Radio Free Europe). The Benes Czechs have embarrassed and compromised the prestige of the United States
entirely too long and, therefore, should not be relied upon
any longer. We respectfully request the President and
Congress of the United States to give this matter their
serious attention, 1b ecause it does affect the security of
our country.
10. Since the Slovaks are not and do not wish to be
Czechs, and the Czeclls are ·n ot and do not want to be Slovaks, we believe that it is only just and proper in the in-
�28
SLOVAKIA
terests of all concerned that this ethnic distinction be observed when any so-<:alled "Czechoslovak" problem is considered.
The Slovak League of America, together with the organization.s affiliated with it, petition the President and
the Congress of the United States not to abandon the principle of nationality, the ethnic principle, with respect to
the Slovak nation, be<!ause it still is the most effective
weapon against Communism. We urge the liberation of
the Slov8Jk nation along with other nations behind the Iron
Curtain, including the Czech nation. We recommend moral
and financial aid to the fighters for Czech liberation, freedom and independence, but we certainly cannot recommend less for the genuine representatives of the nation we
are descended from. We protested when the fundamental
rights of other nations were threatened or violated and
we certainly cannot be expected to do less when the rights
of the SlovaJk nation are violated and its national existence is threatened.
As Americans who believe in inherent, God-given
rights of nations, we believe those same rights of the
Slovak naJtion must be recognized and respected not only
by the United States and other democratic countries, but
even by the Czech nation as well. As Christians and followers of the American Way of Life, dedicated to human
liberty and the dignity of the human person which are the
cornerstones of democracy, we resolutely oppose the dominaJtion and exiploiitaiticm of one nation by another nation or
political state. We seek no special benefits or grants for
the nation we are descended from, but only plead for the
recognition of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because the Slovak nation cannot voice itself freely today.
Approved and adopted this 23rd day of May, 1955,
with the unanimous consent of all the delegates to the
Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slov8Jk League of America,
in the City of Washington, D. C.
PIDLIP A. HROBAK, President.
DR. FRANCIS HRUSOVSK°£", Secretary
�
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1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
Text
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Text
Any textual data included in the document
22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
SLOVAKIA
23
or form of political organization under which they wish
to live
This principle, not applied practically in the past with
respect to the Slovruk nation, must apply without any reservaJtion even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended.
We fully endorae the principle that the Government of
the United States of America shall refuse to recognize any
government and any state or form of political organization
which has been imposed upon any nation by the force of an
alien power and we respectfully request that this policy be
followed even in the case of the Slovak nation, which is tyrannized by the Czecho-Communist regime of Prague in
flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the
Charter of the United Nations and in utter contempt for
the fundamental principle of the American foreign policy
of self-detezmina.tion.
3. As Americans and Christians, we condemn all
forms of tyranny, every form of totalitarianism which has
no regard for the ri,g hts and liberties of the individual
and is determined to maJke individuals slaves of a political state.
We recognize godless, materialistic Communism as a
conspiracy against free humanity, as a ,p olitical and economic sy,stem which threatens mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore, we cannot snhs<!ribe to the policy
that doing business with the Savi.et Union and other Communist governments is in the best interests of the welfare
and security of the United States of America and the rest
of the free world. We have fought the plague of Communism openly and resolutely in the past and today are determined more than ever to persevere in the fight against
it until it is completely e:z,adicated from the face of the
earth.
We shall not be deceived by the "pea:ced:Uil co-exist..
ence" propagated by the Soviet Union. Peaceful co-existence with the USSR, the Communist world, is strictly a
myth and a hoax. To give it credence would be folly. To the
godless materialists of the Kremlin peaceful co-existence
24
SLOVAKIA
means full collaboration with the USSR. And collaboration with the USSR means, in the end, a brutal suppression of all freedoms and liberties and utter enslavement.
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, China, and other countries are proof of that.
4. We heartily commend all efforts of the Administration and the Congress of the United States and of the
agencies of our Government to ferret out, unmask and
prosecute all subversive elements, specifically all Communists and pro-Communi sts, who propagate class hatreds,
economic strife, chaos and anarchy, and promote the interests of the USSR which is determined to destroy us.
We appreciate especially the work of the House Committee on Communist Aggression of the 83rd Congress,
under the chairmanship of the Hon. Charles J. Kersten
of Milwaukee, Wis. The Committee had a very difficult
task to perform, but did it admirrubly well. We believe it
was the first time that a real, honest effort was made by
a congressional committee to become acquainted with the
background of the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain,
the nations who always were and still are our friends, the
peoples who with all their hearts want to be our friends,
because to them America has always been a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and today is just about their
last hope of liberation from Communist tyranny.
5. We approve of the idea of a United Nations to promote peace and prosperity in all countries as far as is humanly possible. Ten years after the establishment of the
U. N., however, we note with regret that it has not been
very effective in doing the work it set out to do. As presently constituted the U. N. is not an organization of nations united in the common purpose, so nobly expressed in
its charter, but an organization of governments, several
of which definitely are not representative of the political
will and national interests of the nations they presume to
represent, but are dedicated to the enslavement of those
very nations and, furthermore, to the destruction of the
free political systems of the world, including our own
American Way of Life.
SLOVAKIA
25
The sad experiences with the United Nations during
the past ten years have convinced us that the Soviet
Union definitely is not interested in promoting the noble
aims and purposes of the U. N. Moscow apparently accepted the U. N. only to mask and facilitate its program
of world domination; the Soviet Union is in fact promoting world revolution from within the General Assembly
and the Security Council of the United Nations.
As we see it, there is something monstrous about the
idea of associating in a pretended peace organization with
the godless mass murderers of the Kremlin, who have
enslaved one-third of the human race and vowed to bring
us all under their yoke.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States not only to oppose the
entrance of Red China to the United Nations, but also to
demand the expulsion of all nations and governments
espousing the godless philosophy of Marxistic materialism, so that the United Nations, rid of all tyrants and quislings of tyrants, might function effectively as an assembly of free men. Provisions for such expulsions, if already
not included in the Charter of the U. N., should be made
to that effect, and one of these provis,i ons definitely should
make it cause for expulsion if any member of the U. N.,
gives any aid and succor to any nation or government
which is judged guilty of aggression by the U. N.
6. We stand opposed to the Genocide Convention as
presently written, because we feel that it is dangerous
in the extreme to our Constitutional freedoms and fails in
its primary purpose - the outlawing of mass extermination of peoples by governments - and because it will
not apply to genocide as practiced by the USSR and in
countries captured by it. Genocide should be outlawed by
all nations. But genocide should be properly defined to include government approval, for then and only then is it
genocide. Furthermore, the Genocide Convention should
include "political groups" as well as national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups, and it should not be used as a
vehicle for domestic legislation.
26
SLOVAKIA
7. Because we fear that the adoption of the International Covenant on Human Rights - as proposed by the
United Nations Commission - would destroy our basic Constitutional concept of inalienable God-given liberty, we do not
recommend its adoption as a treaty by the United States.
8. Once again we respectfully request the President
rund the Congress of the United States to re-examine the
question on the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945,
because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also request the President and the
Congress of the United States to instruct our delegate to
the United Nations to ask for an investigation by the U
N. of the destruction of the Slovak State, the independence
of which was proclaimed by duly elected r/ilpresentatives
of the Slovak people on March 14, 1939, th~t is, approximately six months before the start of World" War II.
We further petition the President and the Congress
of the United States to voice a strong protest against the
violation of human rights in Slovakia, the brutal persecution of Slovak religious, cultural and politcal leaders by
the Czecho-Communis t regime of Prague.
9. We deeply resent the fact that even the present Administration of the United States Government is inclined
to recognize and favor former Czech and Slovak politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the Czech and Slovak nations. We refer particularly to the followers of Dr. Edward Bein.es who
promoted pro-Soviet and anti-Slovak policy - the Czech
and Slovak Socialists and radical left-wingers who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until 1948 as
members of the Communist-domin ated National Front Government of Czecho-Slovakia of the Benes-Gottwald coalition.
The Czechs and their Slovak hirelings organiized in
various so-called "Czechoslovak" organizations - no matter what their political plumage - never did and never
will represent the political will of the Slovak nation, even
if they continue to presume to do so. One such organization, the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia," allegedly regarded as a semi-official provisional government-in-exi le
by our State Department, boasts that it is an organization
SLOVAKIA
27
of "anti-Communist, democratic" exiles from Czecho-Slovakia, but, in fact, is an organization controlled by Czech
Socialists who were prominent members of the Communistdominated National Front Government of Dr. Benes,
which collaborated closely with Moscow and outlawed all
anti-Socialistic and anti-Communistic elements in CzechoSlovakia after the war ended in 1945, when it came to power
with the blessing of Stalin and the force of the Red armies.
We, therefore, respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to recognize the members of this Council for what they really were in their
homeland - as promoters of Socialism and the pro-Soviet
policy of the Czech Socialists and Communists - and deal
with them accordingly.
We also respectfully request the President and Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoolovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information supplied by Dr. Eldward Benes
and other Czech Socialists and radical leftwingers. This
information, naturally, glorifies and favors the Czech
"progreflSives" who promoted Socialism and pro-Soviet policy, and maliciously smears and vilifies genuine political,
cultural and religious leaders of the Slovak nation who
fought Socialism and Communism all their lives. It is embarrassing to us, as it should also be to the present Administration and Congress of the United States, that such
people are employed by various agencies of government,
like the USIA (Voice of America), CIA, Library of Congress, and others, as well as by so-called "privately-sponsored" organizations, like the Free Europe Committee
(Radio Free Europe). The Benes Czechs have embarrassed and compromised the prestige of the United States
entirely too long and, therefore, should not be relied upon
any longer. We respectfully request the President and
Congress of the United States to give this matter their
serious attention, 1b ecause it does affect the security of
our country.
10. Since the Slovaks are not and do not wish to be
Czechs, and the Czeclls are ·n ot and do not want to be Slovaks, we believe that it is only just and proper in the in-
28
SLOVAKIA
terests of all concerned that this ethnic distinction be observed when any so-<:alled "Czechoslovak" problem is considered.
The Slovak League of America, together with the organization.s affiliated with it, petition the President and
the Congress of the United States not to abandon the principle of nationality, the ethnic principle, with respect to
the Slovak nation, be<!ause it still is the most effective
weapon against Communism. We urge the liberation of
the Slov8Jk nation along with other nations behind the Iron
Curtain, including the Czech nation. We recommend moral
and financial aid to the fighters for Czech liberation, freedom and independence, but we certainly cannot recommend less for the genuine representatives of the nation we
are descended from. We protested when the fundamental
rights of other nations were threatened or violated and
we certainly cannot be expected to do less when the rights
of the SlovaJk nation are violated and its national existence is threatened.
As Americans who believe in inherent, God-given
rights of nations, we believe those same rights of the
Slovak naJtion must be recognized and respected not only
by the United States and other democratic countries, but
even by the Czech nation as well. As Christians and followers of the American Way of Life, dedicated to human
liberty and the dignity of the human person which are the
cornerstones of democracy, we resolutely oppose the dominaJtion and exiploiitaiticm of one nation by another nation or
political state. We seek no special benefits or grants for
the nation we are descended from, but only plead for the
recognition of and respect for its inherent and fundamental rights, because the Slovak nation cannot voice itself freely today.
Approved and adopted this 23rd day of May, 1955,
with the unanimous consent of all the delegates to the
Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slov8Jk League of America,
in the City of Washington, D. C.
PIDLIP A. HROBAK, President.
DR. FRANCIS HRUSOVSK°£", Secretary
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Title
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Memorandum of the 34th Congress of the Slovak League
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16), June-September 1955
pp. 22-28
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June-September 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9506db18b11df4019d53bd51040d4297.pdf
a2e6c1a3765de41d4c8d4aa33812bc58
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
11
REMAR~S OF HON. ALVIN M. BENTLEY
{iBefore the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak Lea gue
of America in Washington, May 23, 1955)
I am, of course, happy to be here with Mrs. Bentley
thts evening with so many of our good Slovak friends from
Michigan and elsewhere throughout the country. I remember two years ago when I had inserted in the Congressional Record an article from the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and how many letters of protest I received from
your members throughout the country. I was, frankly,
at that time quite amazed to learn how widespread was
your organization. For many reasons, of course, I am
happy that my subsequent actions have only evoked commendation from you.
In my talks with your members, both in Michigan and
here in Washington, I have come to realize that one of
your greatest difficulties lies with the Free Europe Committee and, specifically with Radio Free Europe and its
apparent tendency to swbordinate Slovak matters to Cze<:h
or, rather, to "Czecho~lovak" matters.
Now I have had occasion in the past to deal with
Radio Free Europe and with its director, Mr. Whitney
Shepardson. I have broadcast over their facilities, both
here in the United States and in Germany. Concerning
the work they are doing in their broadcasts to Poland,
Hungary and many of the other satellites, I think there
can be little or no criticism. From my own experiences
behind the Iron Curtain and from my contacts since I left
there, I should say that Radio Free Europe has as great,
if not greater, audience than any other media of propaganda used by the free world. So, on the whole, we must
admit the RFE is performing a useful and valuable task.
Only in this matter of Czech and Slovak programs have
we run into a problem.
About two months ago, I wrote Mr. Shepardson, expressing my concern in this matter and asking him for a
public statement of policy in this respect. I have here the
text of his reply, dated April 19, and I think it is important enough to read to you at this time:
�12
SLOVAKIA
Dear Congressman Bentley:
You ask in your letter of March 25 for a public statement of this Committee's policy with respect to the Slovruk question. I am glad to note that what you have in
mind, specifically, is that we arrive at as nearly an equal
balance as possible of Czech and Slovak persons on our
staff - and I presume, of air time on Radio Free Europe.
I say this because at bottom the Slovak question concerns
the future political status of the people of Slovakia. This
is, of course, something which lies wholly outside the competence of the Free Europe Committee. We are not a
foreign office, we are a political warfare organization. We
try to follow United States policy, we do not U111dertake to
make it.
United States policy, we are informed, favors the
eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of
Czechoslovak ia ; it does not favor the establishment of a
Republic of Slovakia. (As I will point out later, I think
Mr. Shepardson is mistaken in this belief). Radio Free
Europe is not obliged to reiterate this fact in its broadcasts to Czechs and Slovaks, and indeed it does not do so :
It refrains from discussing it. This means also that it refrains and indeed it should refrain, in view of U. S. policy
- from promoting Slovak separatism over its facilities.
As to Czech and Slovak personnel and air time, by
equal I take it you mean equitable, since, according to statistics as of February 1955 published by the Prague regime, the proportion of Slovaks to Czechs in Czechoslovakia was 34 percent. 2,990,000 Slovaks and 8,870,000
Czechs. As to Radio Free Europe air time. the Slovak proportion is 67 percent of the Czech ( 40 percent of the total
of 113½ hours a week). Here is a breakdown of our employment records:
Ratio of
Czech
RFE New York
1. Employees full time
18
Slovak
6
Slovaks
To Czech s
33 %
�13
SLOVAKIA
2.
Freelance employed in 1954
Total
RFffi Munich
l.Employees at radio desk
Employees Production Dept.
51
31
60 %
69
37
44 %
72
30
26
13
36 1/c
40 %
39 %
39
102
Broadcasting total
26 %
26
98
1954
in
employed
2. Freelance
%
16
6
36
Munich, non-broadcasting
The total broadcasting staff includes 120 Czechs and
45 Slovaks, the latter in the ratio of 38 percent. The freelance record for 1954 is 149 Czechs and 57 Slovaks, the
Slovak ratio being again 38 percent. In non~broadcasting
(common labor, etc.) the Slovak proportion is 16 percent
and is probably a fair reflection of the escapee situation
in Germany.
Statistics by themselves never tell the whole story,
and something must be added to these figures:
The function of the Free Europe Committee is not to
concern itself with future political and territorial arrangements in Europe. Its function is to carry on the present
fight against Communism, especially behind the Iron Curtain. To carry on that fight successfully, it must have the
good will of the peoples it addresses: Therefore, it seeks
to win the approval of the people of Slovakia. To this end,
it invites into the service Slovak escapees of talent who,
speaking in their own name (not in the name of the U. S.
Government or of the American people), inform their captive fellow-countrymen of what is going on in the free
world, report evidences of American (particularly SlovakAmericrun) concern for their fate, support them in their
struggle against the Communist oppressors, instill in them
the hope of eventually regaining their freedom, and sustain their deep spirit of non-cooperation with the Communist regime.
How do our Slovak co-workers contribute to our common purposes? They listen to the Comunist radio day and
night. They read the Communist press. They interview Slovaik escapees. They watch events in Soviet Russia and
neighboring countries and estimate the impact of those
�14
SLOV.MGA.
events upon Slovakia. They seek to learn and respond to
what is in the mind of the Slovak listeners this very day .
They ask themselves: What is the particular form of oppression the Slovaks are at this moment undergoing?
What is their present hope or fear? What is happening
to the wife and children, the church, the living standard,
the spiritual and cultural life of the Slovak peasant and
worker? How weak or strong are the regime and the party
at this time?
For these reasons, our Slovak staff must be chosen
for its intimate knowledge of present-day Slovakia and for
its professional competence, not its party allegiance. It
must be made u:e, so far as possible, of recent or fairly
recent escapees, men and women, who haVe had experience with life under Communism in Slovakia; but they
must at the same time be editors, writers, actors, radio producers and other professionals experienced in our work.
Our staff possesses this competence and this experience. And they are patriots, not partisans. The cause of
the people, not the cause of this or that faction is what
they work for. You are aware that they have been both
criticized and defended right inside Slov3Jk separatist circles. Some are Protestant, some are Catholic. Some are Czechoslovruk federalists, some even sepaTatists. We hono.r
them all for their belief that they must get on with the
fight against Communism and wait to cross the separatist
bridge, or federalist bridge, until they come to it, which is
to say, until the time when the Slavak people will be free
to speak for themselves.
I am sure that we have your sympathetic understanding. I am happy to think that you will interpret our position to the American Slovak League as you have interpreted theirs to us, and I send our respectful regrurds to
you.
Yours sincerely,
(s) WHITNEY S. SHEPARDSON.
There you have the official statement of policy of the
Free Europe Committee on the whole Slovak question.
�SLOVAKIA
15
Now I know that many, if not all of you, would have much
fault to find with this letter. Only ten days ago I received
a ten-page letter from Phil Hrobak after I had sent him a
copy of the Shepardson letter. But let me go back and refer to the one great mistake which I think Mr. Shepardson
maikes when he speaks of the policy of our government regarding the Slovak question and when he says: "United
States policy, we are informed, favors the eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia;
it does not favor the establishment of a Republic of Slovakia."
On April 25, I wrote the Secretary of State and directed his attention to that sentence. I went on to say:
"Although I am aware that thi,s government never entered
into diplomatic relations with the war-time government of
the Republic of Slovakia but, on the contrary, has maintained such recognition with the Republic of Czechoslovakia ever since its inception, I nevertheless presume to request a statement of the Department's
thinking in regard to tlhis i mp or t a n t matter. I
have always been under the firm impression that this government properly considered the political status of the enslaved countries, following their liberation, to be one for
the peo•ples of those countries to determine for themselves
That is to say, that such status would be resolved by
means o.f independent self-determination consistent with a
proper regard for the rights and privileges of their neighbors and founded upon the ideas of justice and freedom
for all.
"I, therefore, hesitate to believe that this government
has committed itself to a continuation of the Republic of
Czecho,s lovakia at such a time as the liberation of that
country may truke place. I would rather believe that the
Department has not committed itself in the future to either
the idea of Czechoslovakia or of independent Slovakia but
that it would make its own decision and base its own support on whatever form of government or governments the
people of that area should freely choose at the time they
may be aible to enjoy such freedom of choice."
�16
SLOVAKIA
The reply from the Department of State dated May 2
sets forth the official position of our government in this
respect and I presume you will be interested in hearing
this also:
"In dealing with Central and IDastern European states,
their territorial organization, and their national composition, the policy of the department has been predicated on
the belief that support for the principle of self-determination makes it incumbent on us to await a conclusive manifestation of the will of the people of those states under
free conditions, and to consider fully the consequences of
any action in favor o.f a new state from the standpoint of
the stability, security and economic viability of Central and
Eastern Europe generally. The focus of this policy is on
the creation of conditions under which the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe will be able freely to determine
their own governmental and economic institutions, as well
as their relationships with each other and with the other
peoples of Europe.
"With respect to the question of the future territorial
organization of Czechoslova;kia, it is the view of the department that the Czech and Slovak peoples should themselves determine under free conditions whether they will
continue to live together in a common Czechoslovak State.
"The Czechs and Slovaks have been united in one
state since 1918, except for the period of World War II
when the Czechoslovak Republic was dismembered through
Nazi aggression. Advocates of a separate Slovak State
seek to have this government take action which may be
construed 8/S an indication that the United States Government has changed its attitude toward the territorial State
of Czechoslovakia, apart from its attitude toward the
present Communist regime, and has come to favor the
break-up of that state and the creation of a separate Slovak State.
"'Dhe department believes, however, that a departure
along this line from continuing to deal with the historical
concept of a united Czechoslovakia until the Czechs and
Slovaks themselves may otherwise determine o.f their own
�SLOVAKIA
17
free choice would have fateful consequences in Eastern
Europe, consequences which would exist long after that
area wins independence of Soviet domination. These consequences would involve such matters as the eventual political organization of all of Eastern Europe, the status
of each of the many ethnic groups in that area, the relations of each such group to the United States and to Germany, Russia and other European powers, and safeguards
against the territorial, political and economic fragmentation of Eastern Europe and even of Slovakia itself, since it
includes national minorities."
So there you have the official views of the Free :mu.
rope Committee and of the Department of State as regards
the Slovaik question. It may seem to some of you that all
I have been doing this evening has been to read letters instead of giving a speech, but I believed that it was more
important for you to know these official viewpoints than
to hear anythtng which I might have to say.
You, of course, have noticed the outstanding discrepancy between these two viewpoints a discrepancy
which I intend to see is reconciled at the earliest possible
moment. Mr. Shepardson declared that our governmental
policy favors the restoration of the Republic of Czechoslova:lda and not an independent Republic of Slovakia.
However, the State Department, on the other hand, ta;kes
what appears to me to be the correct position and that
is that this is a matter for the Czech and Slovak peoples
themsel'Ves to determine following the li'beration of their
homeland.
I think that is a noteworthy admission on the part
of the State Department and I think it is something we
all should bear in mind. I know how all of you long for
the day when Slovakia will again be free and independent
and I sympathize with your viewpoint in that respect. But
there is one all-important task before us at the moment
and that is to work together in e<Very possible way for the
lrberation of the enslaved peoples from the grip of Communist tyranny. No purpose, no aim, however important,
should be allowed to take precedence over this task. So I
say to you that you do well indeed to keep up the fight for
�18
SLOVAKIA
an independent Slovakia but do not forget that Slovakia
must be free before she can be independent. The achie,vement of freedom from the Communists is something to
which we must devote our all.
Developments are taking place today in Europe which
are most important in the matter of considering liberation. For the first time since the war, the Iron Curtain is
being pushed eastwards with the signing of the Austrian
peace treaty and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from
Eastern Austria. According to the terms of the treaty,
they are supposed to withdraw from Hungary and Rumania. Now not only Hungary but also Slovakia will have
a common border with freedom. Now your fellow-countrymen in Bratislava can look across the Danube into free
Austria. Think what a tremendous attraction that will be
for them and think how it will add to the difficulties of the
Czech Communist regime in trying to retain its totalitarian control. I do believe the li,b eration of Eastern Austria will have far~reaching consequences for many other
enslaved peoples in that part of Europe .
And I do believe that this happy development has
come about because of the internal difficulties faced by the
Soviet Union as well as a result of the external pressures
engendered upon her by the free world of which this
country is the leader. I trust that these pressures will now
be intensified on the Soviet Union and I certainly intend to
do my small part in seeing that the heat remains on.
Take the work of the Select Committee on Communist
Aggression, the former Kersten Committee, on which I
had the honor to serve during the 83rd Congress, and
which did so much to reveal to the free world the story of
Communist enslavement and brutality, in Slovakia and
elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. This committee may or
may not be reactivated - I do not know. But every former member of the committee who is still in Congress four Democrats and two Republicans - has introduced an
identical resolution which would call on the Secretary of
State to have introduced in the United Nations a resolution declaring the Soviet Union to he an international aggressbr because of her takeover and occupation of Slova-
�SLOVAKIA
19
kia, the Baltic States and others of the satellites. Two
weeks ago, this resolution was overwhelmingly adopted
and approved by the House Foreign Affairs Oommittee,
of which I am also a member, and we hope soon to have a
rule to bring it to the floor of the House for consideration
and action. This is the type of pressure used against the
Soviet Union in the past and which is now paying dividends - this is the type of pressure which I want to see
continued in the future.
Some people, I know, have expressed misgivings regarding the forthcoming meeting "at the summit" between
the leaders of the Big Four. With the unhappy memories
of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam in mind, there are those
who have wondered if this would be another such meeting whereby the United States might agree to further
concessions which would further abandon the enslaved
people to their fate. I personally think there will be little,
if any, value to a Big Four meeting and that is why I
have consistently opposed it. But, if it does take place, I
give you the pledge of this government, of this administration, that there will be no sell-out of the captive peoples
such as took place at similar meetings in the past. Listen
to this letter which I received from the State Department
last December:
'During the past two years this goveTnment has issued, or subscribed to, a number of public statements indicating that it is not reconciled to the present fate of the
captive peoples of Eastern Europe; that it will not be a
party to any arrangement or treaty confirming or prolonging their subjection to Soviet despotism; and that it
seeks by peaceful means conditions permitting these enslaved national groups to recover genuine freedom and independence.
"Recently in a speech reviewing United States foreign
policy before the Thirty-Third Annual 4-H Club Congress
in Chicago, the Secretary spoke of our efforts in the
realistic pursuit of peace and at the same time of our action in many ways to sustain the hope of freedom among
the captive peoples. As of particular relevance in this connection, he stated that 'The scope of conferences with the
�20
Soviet government is necessarily limited by our attitude
toward the captive peoples, for the Soviets know that we
will not make ~y deal which would condone and perpetuate the captivity of men and nations.' The principles enunciated in this speech show that our objective remains unchanged, namely to work in all peaceful ways for the creation of a Europe in which the captive peoples will again
enjoy governments as well as social and economic institutions of their own free choice."
In regard to the Slovak League of America itself and
the value of the work you are doing, I can do no better
than to let you know what the Communists think about
you. We on the Kersten Committee found that the louder
the Commun~sts screamed about us the more effective was
our work, the more we were hurting them. Now last April
19 the Czech Communist foreign office in Prague delivered a note to our embassy there, a note of protest regarding many things. I inserted the text of this note in the
Congressional Record on May 10 and I want to read you a
few paragraphs from this Communist document to close
my remarks this evening:
"The report of the Kersten Committee extols the socalled Slovak State, covers up the crimes of the occupants
and their henchmen and stresses their merits in their fight
against the Soviet Union and Communism. The anti-fascist resistance of the Czechoslovak people is disparaged
in the repo.r t, the Slovak national uprising is described as
an improvised relbellion of suJbversive elements, and the
liberation of Czechoslovakia by the heroic Soviet army is
described with bitter sorrow at the defeat of Hitlerite occupants.
"The Kersten Committee reports are a gross provocation not only against all Czech and Slovak patriots, but
also against all honest and democratic Americans who, together with the peoples of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other Democratic countries, sacrificed their lirves
in the fight against their common fascist enemy.
"At the present time, reports, both in the American
and the world press, daily give the reader a picture of how
American justice and various congressional investigating
�SLOVAKIA
21
committees fabricate anti-Communist testimony. As to the
investigation of the so-called Kersten Committee and its
report on Czechoslovakia, however, it is worthy of note that
the principal witnesses and experts named and quoted by
the reiport are iprimarilly notorious fascists and coNaJborators from the time of World War II.
"Thus, for instance, the section dealing with the antifascist struggle of the Slovak people is based on the testimony of the former Charge D' Affaires of the so-called
Slovak State in Madrid, Jozef Mikus, to whom the report
gives his full title, obvio1.l1Sily in order to eliminaite any doUJbts
as to his qualifications or loyalty. The official circles of
the United States of America base their hostile activities
against Czechoslovakia on the most reactionary fascist
emigre groups.
"'Dhe present Government of the United States quite
openly gives support to and encourages those elements,
who, as early as the period before World War II, sided
with Hitler in the breaking up of the unity and territorial
integrity of the Czechoslovak Republic, who gave convincing proof of their political convictions by their servility
to the fascist occupants and who, speculating on a new
World War and a new occupation of Czechoslovakia, have
now placed themselves fully at the disposal of aggressive
groups in the United Sates of America.
"Similarly, the United States occupation -:mbhorities in
Western Germany, in the organization of plots against
Ozec'hoslovakia, cooperate closely with the traitors of the
people, with convicted war criminals. Thus, under the protection of the United States occupation authorities, the former minister of the so-called Slovak State in Berlin, Matus Cernak, together with a number of other traitors who
escaped from Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European
States, continue in their treacherous activities under a new
master but along the same fascist line."
So there you have it. You can readily perceive that the
work of our own Kersten Committee, the work done by
your own organization and its leaders, must be effective,
must be hurting the communists to judge by their pained
outcries. You know, for a great many years we were the
�22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
�
SLOVAKIA
11
REMAR~S OF HON. ALVIN M. BENTLEY
{iBefore the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak Lea gue
of America in Washington, May 23, 1955)
I am, of course, happy to be here with Mrs. Bentley
thts evening with so many of our good Slovak friends from
Michigan and elsewhere throughout the country. I remember two years ago when I had inserted in the Congressional Record an article from the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and how many letters of protest I received from
your members throughout the country. I was, frankly,
at that time quite amazed to learn how widespread was
your organization. For many reasons, of course, I am
happy that my subsequent actions have only evoked commendation from you.
In my talks with your members, both in Michigan and
here in Washington, I have come to realize that one of
your greatest difficulties lies with the Free Europe Committee and, specifically with Radio Free Europe and its
apparent tendency to swbordinate Slovak matters to Cze<:h
or, rather, to "Czecho~lovak" matters.
Now I have had occasion in the past to deal with
Radio Free Europe and with its director, Mr. Whitney
Shepardson. I have broadcast over their facilities, both
here in the United States and in Germany. Concerning
the work they are doing in their broadcasts to Poland,
Hungary and many of the other satellites, I think there
can be little or no criticism. From my own experiences
behind the Iron Curtain and from my contacts since I left
there, I should say that Radio Free Europe has as great,
if not greater, audience than any other media of propaganda used by the free world. So, on the whole, we must
admit the RFE is performing a useful and valuable task.
Only in this matter of Czech and Slovak programs have
we run into a problem.
About two months ago, I wrote Mr. Shepardson, expressing my concern in this matter and asking him for a
public statement of policy in this respect. I have here the
text of his reply, dated April 19, and I think it is important enough to read to you at this time:
�12
SLOVAKIA
Dear Congressman Bentley:
You ask in your letter of March 25 for a public statement of this Committee's policy with respect to the Slovruk question. I am glad to note that what you have in
mind, specifically, is that we arrive at as nearly an equal
balance as possible of Czech and Slovak persons on our
staff - and I presume, of air time on Radio Free Europe.
I say this because at bottom the Slovak question concerns
the future political status of the people of Slovakia. This
is, of course, something which lies wholly outside the competence of the Free Europe Committee. We are not a
foreign office, we are a political warfare organization. We
try to follow United States policy, we do not U111dertake to
make it.
United States policy, we are informed, favors the
eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of
Czechoslovak ia ; it does not favor the establishment of a
Republic of Slovakia. (As I will point out later, I think
Mr. Shepardson is mistaken in this belief). Radio Free
Europe is not obliged to reiterate this fact in its broadcasts to Czechs and Slovaks, and indeed it does not do so :
It refrains from discussing it. This means also that it refrains and indeed it should refrain, in view of U. S. policy
- from promoting Slovak separatism over its facilities.
As to Czech and Slovak personnel and air time, by
equal I take it you mean equitable, since, according to statistics as of February 1955 published by the Prague regime, the proportion of Slovaks to Czechs in Czechoslovakia was 34 percent. 2,990,000 Slovaks and 8,870,000
Czechs. As to Radio Free Europe air time. the Slovak proportion is 67 percent of the Czech ( 40 percent of the total
of 113½ hours a week). Here is a breakdown of our employment records:
Ratio of
Czech
RFE New York
1. Employees full time
18
Slovak
6
Slovaks
To Czech s
33 %
�13
SLOVAKIA
2.
Freelance employed in 1954
Total
RFffi Munich
l.Employees at radio desk
Employees Production Dept.
51
31
60 %
69
37
44 %
72
30
26
13
36 1/c
40 %
39 %
39
102
Broadcasting total
26 %
26
98
1954
in
employed
2. Freelance
%
16
6
36
Munich, non-broadcasting
The total broadcasting staff includes 120 Czechs and
45 Slovaks, the latter in the ratio of 38 percent. The freelance record for 1954 is 149 Czechs and 57 Slovaks, the
Slovak ratio being again 38 percent. In non~broadcasting
(common labor, etc.) the Slovak proportion is 16 percent
and is probably a fair reflection of the escapee situation
in Germany.
Statistics by themselves never tell the whole story,
and something must be added to these figures:
The function of the Free Europe Committee is not to
concern itself with future political and territorial arrangements in Europe. Its function is to carry on the present
fight against Communism, especially behind the Iron Curtain. To carry on that fight successfully, it must have the
good will of the peoples it addresses: Therefore, it seeks
to win the approval of the people of Slovakia. To this end,
it invites into the service Slovak escapees of talent who,
speaking in their own name (not in the name of the U. S.
Government or of the American people), inform their captive fellow-countrymen of what is going on in the free
world, report evidences of American (particularly SlovakAmericrun) concern for their fate, support them in their
struggle against the Communist oppressors, instill in them
the hope of eventually regaining their freedom, and sustain their deep spirit of non-cooperation with the Communist regime.
How do our Slovak co-workers contribute to our common purposes? They listen to the Comunist radio day and
night. They read the Communist press. They interview Slovaik escapees. They watch events in Soviet Russia and
neighboring countries and estimate the impact of those
�14
SLOV.MGA.
events upon Slovakia. They seek to learn and respond to
what is in the mind of the Slovak listeners this very day .
They ask themselves: What is the particular form of oppression the Slovaks are at this moment undergoing?
What is their present hope or fear? What is happening
to the wife and children, the church, the living standard,
the spiritual and cultural life of the Slovak peasant and
worker? How weak or strong are the regime and the party
at this time?
For these reasons, our Slovak staff must be chosen
for its intimate knowledge of present-day Slovakia and for
its professional competence, not its party allegiance. It
must be made u:e, so far as possible, of recent or fairly
recent escapees, men and women, who haVe had experience with life under Communism in Slovakia; but they
must at the same time be editors, writers, actors, radio producers and other professionals experienced in our work.
Our staff possesses this competence and this experience. And they are patriots, not partisans. The cause of
the people, not the cause of this or that faction is what
they work for. You are aware that they have been both
criticized and defended right inside Slov3Jk separatist circles. Some are Protestant, some are Catholic. Some are Czechoslovruk federalists, some even sepaTatists. We hono.r
them all for their belief that they must get on with the
fight against Communism and wait to cross the separatist
bridge, or federalist bridge, until they come to it, which is
to say, until the time when the Slavak people will be free
to speak for themselves.
I am sure that we have your sympathetic understanding. I am happy to think that you will interpret our position to the American Slovak League as you have interpreted theirs to us, and I send our respectful regrurds to
you.
Yours sincerely,
(s) WHITNEY S. SHEPARDSON.
There you have the official statement of policy of the
Free Europe Committee on the whole Slovak question.
�SLOVAKIA
15
Now I know that many, if not all of you, would have much
fault to find with this letter. Only ten days ago I received
a ten-page letter from Phil Hrobak after I had sent him a
copy of the Shepardson letter. But let me go back and refer to the one great mistake which I think Mr. Shepardson
maikes when he speaks of the policy of our government regarding the Slovak question and when he says: "United
States policy, we are informed, favors the eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia;
it does not favor the establishment of a Republic of Slovakia."
On April 25, I wrote the Secretary of State and directed his attention to that sentence. I went on to say:
"Although I am aware that thi,s government never entered
into diplomatic relations with the war-time government of
the Republic of Slovakia but, on the contrary, has maintained such recognition with the Republic of Czechoslovakia ever since its inception, I nevertheless presume to request a statement of the Department's
thinking in regard to tlhis i mp or t a n t matter. I
have always been under the firm impression that this government properly considered the political status of the enslaved countries, following their liberation, to be one for
the peo•ples of those countries to determine for themselves
That is to say, that such status would be resolved by
means o.f independent self-determination consistent with a
proper regard for the rights and privileges of their neighbors and founded upon the ideas of justice and freedom
for all.
"I, therefore, hesitate to believe that this government
has committed itself to a continuation of the Republic of
Czecho,s lovakia at such a time as the liberation of that
country may truke place. I would rather believe that the
Department has not committed itself in the future to either
the idea of Czechoslovakia or of independent Slovakia but
that it would make its own decision and base its own support on whatever form of government or governments the
people of that area should freely choose at the time they
may be aible to enjoy such freedom of choice."
�16
SLOVAKIA
The reply from the Department of State dated May 2
sets forth the official position of our government in this
respect and I presume you will be interested in hearing
this also:
"In dealing with Central and IDastern European states,
their territorial organization, and their national composition, the policy of the department has been predicated on
the belief that support for the principle of self-determination makes it incumbent on us to await a conclusive manifestation of the will of the people of those states under
free conditions, and to consider fully the consequences of
any action in favor o.f a new state from the standpoint of
the stability, security and economic viability of Central and
Eastern Europe generally. The focus of this policy is on
the creation of conditions under which the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe will be able freely to determine
their own governmental and economic institutions, as well
as their relationships with each other and with the other
peoples of Europe.
"With respect to the question of the future territorial
organization of Czechoslova;kia, it is the view of the department that the Czech and Slovak peoples should themselves determine under free conditions whether they will
continue to live together in a common Czechoslovak State.
"The Czechs and Slovaks have been united in one
state since 1918, except for the period of World War II
when the Czechoslovak Republic was dismembered through
Nazi aggression. Advocates of a separate Slovak State
seek to have this government take action which may be
construed 8/S an indication that the United States Government has changed its attitude toward the territorial State
of Czechoslovakia, apart from its attitude toward the
present Communist regime, and has come to favor the
break-up of that state and the creation of a separate Slovak State.
"'Dhe department believes, however, that a departure
along this line from continuing to deal with the historical
concept of a united Czechoslovakia until the Czechs and
Slovaks themselves may otherwise determine o.f their own
�SLOVAKIA
17
free choice would have fateful consequences in Eastern
Europe, consequences which would exist long after that
area wins independence of Soviet domination. These consequences would involve such matters as the eventual political organization of all of Eastern Europe, the status
of each of the many ethnic groups in that area, the relations of each such group to the United States and to Germany, Russia and other European powers, and safeguards
against the territorial, political and economic fragmentation of Eastern Europe and even of Slovakia itself, since it
includes national minorities."
So there you have the official views of the Free :mu.
rope Committee and of the Department of State as regards
the Slovaik question. It may seem to some of you that all
I have been doing this evening has been to read letters instead of giving a speech, but I believed that it was more
important for you to know these official viewpoints than
to hear anythtng which I might have to say.
You, of course, have noticed the outstanding discrepancy between these two viewpoints a discrepancy
which I intend to see is reconciled at the earliest possible
moment. Mr. Shepardson declared that our governmental
policy favors the restoration of the Republic of Czechoslova:lda and not an independent Republic of Slovakia.
However, the State Department, on the other hand, ta;kes
what appears to me to be the correct position and that
is that this is a matter for the Czech and Slovak peoples
themsel'Ves to determine following the li'beration of their
homeland.
I think that is a noteworthy admission on the part
of the State Department and I think it is something we
all should bear in mind. I know how all of you long for
the day when Slovakia will again be free and independent
and I sympathize with your viewpoint in that respect. But
there is one all-important task before us at the moment
and that is to work together in e<Very possible way for the
lrberation of the enslaved peoples from the grip of Communist tyranny. No purpose, no aim, however important,
should be allowed to take precedence over this task. So I
say to you that you do well indeed to keep up the fight for
�18
SLOVAKIA
an independent Slovakia but do not forget that Slovakia
must be free before she can be independent. The achie,vement of freedom from the Communists is something to
which we must devote our all.
Developments are taking place today in Europe which
are most important in the matter of considering liberation. For the first time since the war, the Iron Curtain is
being pushed eastwards with the signing of the Austrian
peace treaty and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from
Eastern Austria. According to the terms of the treaty,
they are supposed to withdraw from Hungary and Rumania. Now not only Hungary but also Slovakia will have
a common border with freedom. Now your fellow-countrymen in Bratislava can look across the Danube into free
Austria. Think what a tremendous attraction that will be
for them and think how it will add to the difficulties of the
Czech Communist regime in trying to retain its totalitarian control. I do believe the li,b eration of Eastern Austria will have far~reaching consequences for many other
enslaved peoples in that part of Europe .
And I do believe that this happy development has
come about because of the internal difficulties faced by the
Soviet Union as well as a result of the external pressures
engendered upon her by the free world of which this
country is the leader. I trust that these pressures will now
be intensified on the Soviet Union and I certainly intend to
do my small part in seeing that the heat remains on.
Take the work of the Select Committee on Communist
Aggression, the former Kersten Committee, on which I
had the honor to serve during the 83rd Congress, and
which did so much to reveal to the free world the story of
Communist enslavement and brutality, in Slovakia and
elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. This committee may or
may not be reactivated - I do not know. But every former member of the committee who is still in Congress four Democrats and two Republicans - has introduced an
identical resolution which would call on the Secretary of
State to have introduced in the United Nations a resolution declaring the Soviet Union to he an international aggressbr because of her takeover and occupation of Slova-
�SLOVAKIA
19
kia, the Baltic States and others of the satellites. Two
weeks ago, this resolution was overwhelmingly adopted
and approved by the House Foreign Affairs Oommittee,
of which I am also a member, and we hope soon to have a
rule to bring it to the floor of the House for consideration
and action. This is the type of pressure used against the
Soviet Union in the past and which is now paying dividends - this is the type of pressure which I want to see
continued in the future.
Some people, I know, have expressed misgivings regarding the forthcoming meeting "at the summit" between
the leaders of the Big Four. With the unhappy memories
of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam in mind, there are those
who have wondered if this would be another such meeting whereby the United States might agree to further
concessions which would further abandon the enslaved
people to their fate. I personally think there will be little,
if any, value to a Big Four meeting and that is why I
have consistently opposed it. But, if it does take place, I
give you the pledge of this government, of this administration, that there will be no sell-out of the captive peoples
such as took place at similar meetings in the past. Listen
to this letter which I received from the State Department
last December:
'During the past two years this goveTnment has issued, or subscribed to, a number of public statements indicating that it is not reconciled to the present fate of the
captive peoples of Eastern Europe; that it will not be a
party to any arrangement or treaty confirming or prolonging their subjection to Soviet despotism; and that it
seeks by peaceful means conditions permitting these enslaved national groups to recover genuine freedom and independence.
"Recently in a speech reviewing United States foreign
policy before the Thirty-Third Annual 4-H Club Congress
in Chicago, the Secretary spoke of our efforts in the
realistic pursuit of peace and at the same time of our action in many ways to sustain the hope of freedom among
the captive peoples. As of particular relevance in this connection, he stated that 'The scope of conferences with the
�20
Soviet government is necessarily limited by our attitude
toward the captive peoples, for the Soviets know that we
will not make ~y deal which would condone and perpetuate the captivity of men and nations.' The principles enunciated in this speech show that our objective remains unchanged, namely to work in all peaceful ways for the creation of a Europe in which the captive peoples will again
enjoy governments as well as social and economic institutions of their own free choice."
In regard to the Slovak League of America itself and
the value of the work you are doing, I can do no better
than to let you know what the Communists think about
you. We on the Kersten Committee found that the louder
the Commun~sts screamed about us the more effective was
our work, the more we were hurting them. Now last April
19 the Czech Communist foreign office in Prague delivered a note to our embassy there, a note of protest regarding many things. I inserted the text of this note in the
Congressional Record on May 10 and I want to read you a
few paragraphs from this Communist document to close
my remarks this evening:
"The report of the Kersten Committee extols the socalled Slovak State, covers up the crimes of the occupants
and their henchmen and stresses their merits in their fight
against the Soviet Union and Communism. The anti-fascist resistance of the Czechoslovak people is disparaged
in the repo.r t, the Slovak national uprising is described as
an improvised relbellion of suJbversive elements, and the
liberation of Czechoslovakia by the heroic Soviet army is
described with bitter sorrow at the defeat of Hitlerite occupants.
"The Kersten Committee reports are a gross provocation not only against all Czech and Slovak patriots, but
also against all honest and democratic Americans who, together with the peoples of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other Democratic countries, sacrificed their lirves
in the fight against their common fascist enemy.
"At the present time, reports, both in the American
and the world press, daily give the reader a picture of how
American justice and various congressional investigating
�SLOVAKIA
21
committees fabricate anti-Communist testimony. As to the
investigation of the so-called Kersten Committee and its
report on Czechoslovakia, however, it is worthy of note that
the principal witnesses and experts named and quoted by
the reiport are iprimarilly notorious fascists and coNaJborators from the time of World War II.
"Thus, for instance, the section dealing with the antifascist struggle of the Slovak people is based on the testimony of the former Charge D' Affaires of the so-called
Slovak State in Madrid, Jozef Mikus, to whom the report
gives his full title, obvio1.l1Sily in order to eliminaite any doUJbts
as to his qualifications or loyalty. The official circles of
the United States of America base their hostile activities
against Czechoslovakia on the most reactionary fascist
emigre groups.
"'Dhe present Government of the United States quite
openly gives support to and encourages those elements,
who, as early as the period before World War II, sided
with Hitler in the breaking up of the unity and territorial
integrity of the Czechoslovak Republic, who gave convincing proof of their political convictions by their servility
to the fascist occupants and who, speculating on a new
World War and a new occupation of Czechoslovakia, have
now placed themselves fully at the disposal of aggressive
groups in the United Sates of America.
"Similarly, the United States occupation -:mbhorities in
Western Germany, in the organization of plots against
Ozec'hoslovakia, cooperate closely with the traitors of the
people, with convicted war criminals. Thus, under the protection of the United States occupation authorities, the former minister of the so-called Slovak State in Berlin, Matus Cernak, together with a number of other traitors who
escaped from Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European
States, continue in their treacherous activities under a new
master but along the same fascist line."
So there you have it. You can readily perceive that the
work of our own Kersten Committee, the work done by
your own organization and its leaders, must be effective,
must be hurting the communists to judge by their pained
outcries. You know, for a great many years we were the
�22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
�
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1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
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1955
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SLOVAKIA
11
REMAR~S OF HON. ALVIN M. BENTLEY
{iBefore the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak Lea gue
of America in Washington, May 23, 1955)
I am, of course, happy to be here with Mrs. Bentley
thts evening with so many of our good Slovak friends from
Michigan and elsewhere throughout the country. I remember two years ago when I had inserted in the Congressional Record an article from the Council of Free Czechoslovakia and how many letters of protest I received from
your members throughout the country. I was, frankly,
at that time quite amazed to learn how widespread was
your organization. For many reasons, of course, I am
happy that my subsequent actions have only evoked commendation from you.
In my talks with your members, both in Michigan and
here in Washington, I have come to realize that one of
your greatest difficulties lies with the Free Europe Committee and, specifically with Radio Free Europe and its
apparent tendency to swbordinate Slovak matters to Cze<:h
or, rather, to "Czecho~lovak" matters.
Now I have had occasion in the past to deal with
Radio Free Europe and with its director, Mr. Whitney
Shepardson. I have broadcast over their facilities, both
here in the United States and in Germany. Concerning
the work they are doing in their broadcasts to Poland,
Hungary and many of the other satellites, I think there
can be little or no criticism. From my own experiences
behind the Iron Curtain and from my contacts since I left
there, I should say that Radio Free Europe has as great,
if not greater, audience than any other media of propaganda used by the free world. So, on the whole, we must
admit the RFE is performing a useful and valuable task.
Only in this matter of Czech and Slovak programs have
we run into a problem.
About two months ago, I wrote Mr. Shepardson, expressing my concern in this matter and asking him for a
public statement of policy in this respect. I have here the
text of his reply, dated April 19, and I think it is important enough to read to you at this time:
12
SLOVAKIA
Dear Congressman Bentley:
You ask in your letter of March 25 for a public statement of this Committee's policy with respect to the Slovruk question. I am glad to note that what you have in
mind, specifically, is that we arrive at as nearly an equal
balance as possible of Czech and Slovak persons on our
staff - and I presume, of air time on Radio Free Europe.
I say this because at bottom the Slovak question concerns
the future political status of the people of Slovakia. This
is, of course, something which lies wholly outside the competence of the Free Europe Committee. We are not a
foreign office, we are a political warfare organization. We
try to follow United States policy, we do not U111dertake to
make it.
United States policy, we are informed, favors the
eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of
Czechoslovak ia ; it does not favor the establishment of a
Republic of Slovakia. (As I will point out later, I think
Mr. Shepardson is mistaken in this belief). Radio Free
Europe is not obliged to reiterate this fact in its broadcasts to Czechs and Slovaks, and indeed it does not do so :
It refrains from discussing it. This means also that it refrains and indeed it should refrain, in view of U. S. policy
- from promoting Slovak separatism over its facilities.
As to Czech and Slovak personnel and air time, by
equal I take it you mean equitable, since, according to statistics as of February 1955 published by the Prague regime, the proportion of Slovaks to Czechs in Czechoslovakia was 34 percent. 2,990,000 Slovaks and 8,870,000
Czechs. As to Radio Free Europe air time. the Slovak proportion is 67 percent of the Czech ( 40 percent of the total
of 113½ hours a week). Here is a breakdown of our employment records:
Ratio of
Czech
RFE New York
1. Employees full time
18
Slovak
6
Slovaks
To Czech s
33 %
13
SLOVAKIA
2.
Freelance employed in 1954
Total
RFffi Munich
l.Employees at radio desk
Employees Production Dept.
51
31
60 %
69
37
44 %
72
30
26
13
36 1/c
40 %
39 %
39
102
Broadcasting total
26 %
26
98
1954
in
employed
2. Freelance
%
16
6
36
Munich, non-broadcasting
The total broadcasting staff includes 120 Czechs and
45 Slovaks, the latter in the ratio of 38 percent. The freelance record for 1954 is 149 Czechs and 57 Slovaks, the
Slovak ratio being again 38 percent. In non~broadcasting
(common labor, etc.) the Slovak proportion is 16 percent
and is probably a fair reflection of the escapee situation
in Germany.
Statistics by themselves never tell the whole story,
and something must be added to these figures:
The function of the Free Europe Committee is not to
concern itself with future political and territorial arrangements in Europe. Its function is to carry on the present
fight against Communism, especially behind the Iron Curtain. To carry on that fight successfully, it must have the
good will of the peoples it addresses: Therefore, it seeks
to win the approval of the people of Slovakia. To this end,
it invites into the service Slovak escapees of talent who,
speaking in their own name (not in the name of the U. S.
Government or of the American people), inform their captive fellow-countrymen of what is going on in the free
world, report evidences of American (particularly SlovakAmericrun) concern for their fate, support them in their
struggle against the Communist oppressors, instill in them
the hope of eventually regaining their freedom, and sustain their deep spirit of non-cooperation with the Communist regime.
How do our Slovak co-workers contribute to our common purposes? They listen to the Comunist radio day and
night. They read the Communist press. They interview Slovaik escapees. They watch events in Soviet Russia and
neighboring countries and estimate the impact of those
14
SLOV.MGA.
events upon Slovakia. They seek to learn and respond to
what is in the mind of the Slovak listeners this very day .
They ask themselves: What is the particular form of oppression the Slovaks are at this moment undergoing?
What is their present hope or fear? What is happening
to the wife and children, the church, the living standard,
the spiritual and cultural life of the Slovak peasant and
worker? How weak or strong are the regime and the party
at this time?
For these reasons, our Slovak staff must be chosen
for its intimate knowledge of present-day Slovakia and for
its professional competence, not its party allegiance. It
must be made u:e, so far as possible, of recent or fairly
recent escapees, men and women, who haVe had experience with life under Communism in Slovakia; but they
must at the same time be editors, writers, actors, radio producers and other professionals experienced in our work.
Our staff possesses this competence and this experience. And they are patriots, not partisans. The cause of
the people, not the cause of this or that faction is what
they work for. You are aware that they have been both
criticized and defended right inside Slov3Jk separatist circles. Some are Protestant, some are Catholic. Some are Czechoslovruk federalists, some even sepaTatists. We hono.r
them all for their belief that they must get on with the
fight against Communism and wait to cross the separatist
bridge, or federalist bridge, until they come to it, which is
to say, until the time when the Slavak people will be free
to speak for themselves.
I am sure that we have your sympathetic understanding. I am happy to think that you will interpret our position to the American Slovak League as you have interpreted theirs to us, and I send our respectful regrurds to
you.
Yours sincerely,
(s) WHITNEY S. SHEPARDSON.
There you have the official statement of policy of the
Free Europe Committee on the whole Slovak question.
SLOVAKIA
15
Now I know that many, if not all of you, would have much
fault to find with this letter. Only ten days ago I received
a ten-page letter from Phil Hrobak after I had sent him a
copy of the Shepardson letter. But let me go back and refer to the one great mistake which I think Mr. Shepardson
maikes when he speaks of the policy of our government regarding the Slovak question and when he says: "United
States policy, we are informed, favors the eventual restoration of a truly democratic Republic of Czechoslovakia;
it does not favor the establishment of a Republic of Slovakia."
On April 25, I wrote the Secretary of State and directed his attention to that sentence. I went on to say:
"Although I am aware that thi,s government never entered
into diplomatic relations with the war-time government of
the Republic of Slovakia but, on the contrary, has maintained such recognition with the Republic of Czechoslovakia ever since its inception, I nevertheless presume to request a statement of the Department's
thinking in regard to tlhis i mp or t a n t matter. I
have always been under the firm impression that this government properly considered the political status of the enslaved countries, following their liberation, to be one for
the peo•ples of those countries to determine for themselves
That is to say, that such status would be resolved by
means o.f independent self-determination consistent with a
proper regard for the rights and privileges of their neighbors and founded upon the ideas of justice and freedom
for all.
"I, therefore, hesitate to believe that this government
has committed itself to a continuation of the Republic of
Czecho,s lovakia at such a time as the liberation of that
country may truke place. I would rather believe that the
Department has not committed itself in the future to either
the idea of Czechoslovakia or of independent Slovakia but
that it would make its own decision and base its own support on whatever form of government or governments the
people of that area should freely choose at the time they
may be aible to enjoy such freedom of choice."
16
SLOVAKIA
The reply from the Department of State dated May 2
sets forth the official position of our government in this
respect and I presume you will be interested in hearing
this also:
"In dealing with Central and IDastern European states,
their territorial organization, and their national composition, the policy of the department has been predicated on
the belief that support for the principle of self-determination makes it incumbent on us to await a conclusive manifestation of the will of the people of those states under
free conditions, and to consider fully the consequences of
any action in favor o.f a new state from the standpoint of
the stability, security and economic viability of Central and
Eastern Europe generally. The focus of this policy is on
the creation of conditions under which the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe will be able freely to determine
their own governmental and economic institutions, as well
as their relationships with each other and with the other
peoples of Europe.
"With respect to the question of the future territorial
organization of Czechoslova;kia, it is the view of the department that the Czech and Slovak peoples should themselves determine under free conditions whether they will
continue to live together in a common Czechoslovak State.
"The Czechs and Slovaks have been united in one
state since 1918, except for the period of World War II
when the Czechoslovak Republic was dismembered through
Nazi aggression. Advocates of a separate Slovak State
seek to have this government take action which may be
construed 8/S an indication that the United States Government has changed its attitude toward the territorial State
of Czechoslovakia, apart from its attitude toward the
present Communist regime, and has come to favor the
break-up of that state and the creation of a separate Slovak State.
"'Dhe department believes, however, that a departure
along this line from continuing to deal with the historical
concept of a united Czechoslovakia until the Czechs and
Slovaks themselves may otherwise determine o.f their own
SLOVAKIA
17
free choice would have fateful consequences in Eastern
Europe, consequences which would exist long after that
area wins independence of Soviet domination. These consequences would involve such matters as the eventual political organization of all of Eastern Europe, the status
of each of the many ethnic groups in that area, the relations of each such group to the United States and to Germany, Russia and other European powers, and safeguards
against the territorial, political and economic fragmentation of Eastern Europe and even of Slovakia itself, since it
includes national minorities."
So there you have the official views of the Free :mu.
rope Committee and of the Department of State as regards
the Slovaik question. It may seem to some of you that all
I have been doing this evening has been to read letters instead of giving a speech, but I believed that it was more
important for you to know these official viewpoints than
to hear anythtng which I might have to say.
You, of course, have noticed the outstanding discrepancy between these two viewpoints a discrepancy
which I intend to see is reconciled at the earliest possible
moment. Mr. Shepardson declared that our governmental
policy favors the restoration of the Republic of Czechoslova:lda and not an independent Republic of Slovakia.
However, the State Department, on the other hand, ta;kes
what appears to me to be the correct position and that
is that this is a matter for the Czech and Slovak peoples
themsel'Ves to determine following the li'beration of their
homeland.
I think that is a noteworthy admission on the part
of the State Department and I think it is something we
all should bear in mind. I know how all of you long for
the day when Slovakia will again be free and independent
and I sympathize with your viewpoint in that respect. But
there is one all-important task before us at the moment
and that is to work together in e<Very possible way for the
lrberation of the enslaved peoples from the grip of Communist tyranny. No purpose, no aim, however important,
should be allowed to take precedence over this task. So I
say to you that you do well indeed to keep up the fight for
18
SLOVAKIA
an independent Slovakia but do not forget that Slovakia
must be free before she can be independent. The achie,vement of freedom from the Communists is something to
which we must devote our all.
Developments are taking place today in Europe which
are most important in the matter of considering liberation. For the first time since the war, the Iron Curtain is
being pushed eastwards with the signing of the Austrian
peace treaty and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from
Eastern Austria. According to the terms of the treaty,
they are supposed to withdraw from Hungary and Rumania. Now not only Hungary but also Slovakia will have
a common border with freedom. Now your fellow-countrymen in Bratislava can look across the Danube into free
Austria. Think what a tremendous attraction that will be
for them and think how it will add to the difficulties of the
Czech Communist regime in trying to retain its totalitarian control. I do believe the li,b eration of Eastern Austria will have far~reaching consequences for many other
enslaved peoples in that part of Europe .
And I do believe that this happy development has
come about because of the internal difficulties faced by the
Soviet Union as well as a result of the external pressures
engendered upon her by the free world of which this
country is the leader. I trust that these pressures will now
be intensified on the Soviet Union and I certainly intend to
do my small part in seeing that the heat remains on.
Take the work of the Select Committee on Communist
Aggression, the former Kersten Committee, on which I
had the honor to serve during the 83rd Congress, and
which did so much to reveal to the free world the story of
Communist enslavement and brutality, in Slovakia and
elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. This committee may or
may not be reactivated - I do not know. But every former member of the committee who is still in Congress four Democrats and two Republicans - has introduced an
identical resolution which would call on the Secretary of
State to have introduced in the United Nations a resolution declaring the Soviet Union to he an international aggressbr because of her takeover and occupation of Slova-
SLOVAKIA
19
kia, the Baltic States and others of the satellites. Two
weeks ago, this resolution was overwhelmingly adopted
and approved by the House Foreign Affairs Oommittee,
of which I am also a member, and we hope soon to have a
rule to bring it to the floor of the House for consideration
and action. This is the type of pressure used against the
Soviet Union in the past and which is now paying dividends - this is the type of pressure which I want to see
continued in the future.
Some people, I know, have expressed misgivings regarding the forthcoming meeting "at the summit" between
the leaders of the Big Four. With the unhappy memories
of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam in mind, there are those
who have wondered if this would be another such meeting whereby the United States might agree to further
concessions which would further abandon the enslaved
people to their fate. I personally think there will be little,
if any, value to a Big Four meeting and that is why I
have consistently opposed it. But, if it does take place, I
give you the pledge of this government, of this administration, that there will be no sell-out of the captive peoples
such as took place at similar meetings in the past. Listen
to this letter which I received from the State Department
last December:
'During the past two years this goveTnment has issued, or subscribed to, a number of public statements indicating that it is not reconciled to the present fate of the
captive peoples of Eastern Europe; that it will not be a
party to any arrangement or treaty confirming or prolonging their subjection to Soviet despotism; and that it
seeks by peaceful means conditions permitting these enslaved national groups to recover genuine freedom and independence.
"Recently in a speech reviewing United States foreign
policy before the Thirty-Third Annual 4-H Club Congress
in Chicago, the Secretary spoke of our efforts in the
realistic pursuit of peace and at the same time of our action in many ways to sustain the hope of freedom among
the captive peoples. As of particular relevance in this connection, he stated that 'The scope of conferences with the
20
Soviet government is necessarily limited by our attitude
toward the captive peoples, for the Soviets know that we
will not make ~y deal which would condone and perpetuate the captivity of men and nations.' The principles enunciated in this speech show that our objective remains unchanged, namely to work in all peaceful ways for the creation of a Europe in which the captive peoples will again
enjoy governments as well as social and economic institutions of their own free choice."
In regard to the Slovak League of America itself and
the value of the work you are doing, I can do no better
than to let you know what the Communists think about
you. We on the Kersten Committee found that the louder
the Commun~sts screamed about us the more effective was
our work, the more we were hurting them. Now last April
19 the Czech Communist foreign office in Prague delivered a note to our embassy there, a note of protest regarding many things. I inserted the text of this note in the
Congressional Record on May 10 and I want to read you a
few paragraphs from this Communist document to close
my remarks this evening:
"The report of the Kersten Committee extols the socalled Slovak State, covers up the crimes of the occupants
and their henchmen and stresses their merits in their fight
against the Soviet Union and Communism. The anti-fascist resistance of the Czechoslovak people is disparaged
in the repo.r t, the Slovak national uprising is described as
an improvised relbellion of suJbversive elements, and the
liberation of Czechoslovakia by the heroic Soviet army is
described with bitter sorrow at the defeat of Hitlerite occupants.
"The Kersten Committee reports are a gross provocation not only against all Czech and Slovak patriots, but
also against all honest and democratic Americans who, together with the peoples of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other Democratic countries, sacrificed their lirves
in the fight against their common fascist enemy.
"At the present time, reports, both in the American
and the world press, daily give the reader a picture of how
American justice and various congressional investigating
SLOVAKIA
21
committees fabricate anti-Communist testimony. As to the
investigation of the so-called Kersten Committee and its
report on Czechoslovakia, however, it is worthy of note that
the principal witnesses and experts named and quoted by
the reiport are iprimarilly notorious fascists and coNaJborators from the time of World War II.
"Thus, for instance, the section dealing with the antifascist struggle of the Slovak people is based on the testimony of the former Charge D' Affaires of the so-called
Slovak State in Madrid, Jozef Mikus, to whom the report
gives his full title, obvio1.l1Sily in order to eliminaite any doUJbts
as to his qualifications or loyalty. The official circles of
the United States of America base their hostile activities
against Czechoslovakia on the most reactionary fascist
emigre groups.
"'Dhe present Government of the United States quite
openly gives support to and encourages those elements,
who, as early as the period before World War II, sided
with Hitler in the breaking up of the unity and territorial
integrity of the Czechoslovak Republic, who gave convincing proof of their political convictions by their servility
to the fascist occupants and who, speculating on a new
World War and a new occupation of Czechoslovakia, have
now placed themselves fully at the disposal of aggressive
groups in the United Sates of America.
"Similarly, the United States occupation -:mbhorities in
Western Germany, in the organization of plots against
Ozec'hoslovakia, cooperate closely with the traitors of the
people, with convicted war criminals. Thus, under the protection of the United States occupation authorities, the former minister of the so-called Slovak State in Berlin, Matus Cernak, together with a number of other traitors who
escaped from Czechoslovakia and other Eastern European
States, continue in their treacherous activities under a new
master but along the same fascist line."
So there you have it. You can readily perceive that the
work of our own Kersten Committee, the work done by
your own organization and its leaders, must be effective,
must be hurting the communists to judge by their pained
outcries. You know, for a great many years we were the
22
SLOVAKIA
ones who were writing all the notes and doing all the pro·testing and that's as far as it ever got. Our notes were
snubbed and our protests were ignored. That passive attitude on the part of our government at that time was one
reason I resigned from the State Department in' disgust
five years ago. But how times have changed since then!
Isn't it with a feeling of pleasure and relief that we witness the other side writing notes and protests for a
change? Isn't it great to know that the initiative in this
cold war is really passing into our hands?
It is always a pleasure to meet with members of your
organization and it has been a great privilege for ·_ Mrs.
Bentley and me to be here this evening. Keep u,p the
good work.
Thank you very much .
•
•
•
MEMORANDUM
To the President and the Congress of the United States,
Adopted by the Delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America, May 23-24,
1955, Washington, D. C.
We, the delegates to the Thirty-Fourth Congress of
the Slovak League of America, assembled in Washington, D. C., May 23-24, 1955 - send most cordial greetings
to President Dwight D. Eisenho-w er and the members of
the Congress of the United States of America, and do
solemnly and unanimously resolve that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
principles upon which our Country was founded under
God, the American Way of Life, which has made our
America the envy of the world, and declare that the welfare and the security of the United States of America
shall continue to be our primary interest.
2. We subsor1be wihole'heartedly to the expressed printhe. fundamental principle
ciple of self-determination of American policy in Europe since the administration of
President Woodrow Wilson, which declares that all nations have the . right to determine for themselves the state
Dublin Core
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Title
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Remarks of the Hon. Alvin M. Bentley
Description
An account of the resource
Before the Thirty-Fourth Congress of the Slovak League of America in Washington, May 23, 1955)
Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16), June-September 1955
pp. 11-22
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June-September 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/93e414fffd506459bf7780cefd5c472b.pdf
54815f0a3b47f0a4352806044a567894
PDF Text
Text
IN TID!-1. ISSUE:
THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK
Remarks of the Hon . Alvin M. Bentley
Memorandum of the 34th Congress of the Slovak League
The Murder of Matus Cernak
Professor
Kerner's
"CZECHOSLOVAKIA":
History or Propaganda ?
The Significance of Small Nations
Czech Social Democrats and Red Espionage
WHO SAID IT?: 62-96
*
*
*
Edited and compi led by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�\
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Published quarterly by the Slovak
VOL. V
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JUNE-SEPTEMBER, 1955
NO. 2-3 (15-16 )
TEN YEARS AGO . ...
I
the Benes and Gottwald Czechs published report a bout the attempt
and the Lettrjch Slovak "de• of the Soviet Union to i:ncorporate
mocrats" celebrated the "libera• 1 Sub-Carpathian H.ussila into the So•
tion" of Czecho-Slovak ia by Sta- v'iet Ukmine "was absolutely w ith.
Jiu and his heroic armies. T<he out foundation. "
"joyous, historic" event was cele·
At t he same time Monsignor Jan
orated for months. By the ,g1,ace Sramek, leaoer of the Czech Peo·
of Stalin, Benes became president pie's Party and a member of Be·
again; the Czech communists and nes's London government, sent a
socialists ruled in Prague; and telegram to Marshal Stalin, telling
t he Slovak National Council - him :
" All
Czecho-Slovaks
are
Lettrich's newborn "demoC'rats" filled with joy. The Soviet Union 's
and Schmidke's Slovak commun· limitless sacrifices for our libera.
ists reigned supreme in Bra• tion will never be forgotten .....
tislava. The people of the Czech Your gesture, naming Red Army
lands .really were ,hap,py, we were units after Kosice and Presov, will
told, but the Slovak nation was perpetuate the m e mory of the fight
sorrowful and fearful of the fu· against the common enemy, this
ture . Benes and 'h is Czechs had being the foundation of lasting
a1ways promoted pro·SOV'iet, SO· brotherhood in arms."
cialiistic policy and philosophy,
Dr. Juraj Slavik, Slovak Judas
whereas the S~ovaks had c onsi~t- and member of Benes's political
ently and persistently opposed it. entourage, who as ambassador in
As early as February 14, 1945, Washington somehow could not
Jan Masaryk, broadcasting to Cze· I recognize known Reds in the Cze•
cha-Slovakia from London, pro· cho-Slovak embassy, bubbled with
claimed the Crimea Conference ·a unbridled
joy:
"Presov
aga in
I
I
i
"triumph of allied statesmanship." breathes a free life. Kosice is fib.
Czecho-Slovakia, he said, 'has no erated.. . . Slovakia and the Cze.
serious international µrob l ems and cho-Slovak Republic shall remain
"our lasting gratit,ude is due to eternally grateful to th e Red
our Slav liberators, the Great Army."
Powers, to Providence for putting
Before leaving Britain, Dr. Edmankind's d estiny in the hands ward Benes, broadcasting from
of Churchill , Roosevelt, and Sta- London to Czecho-Slovakia, said :
fi n, and giving us Benes."
"Do not allow yourselves to be
A month earlier, Dr. Jan Papa- frightened by the Goebbels bolshenek, minister plenipotentiary and vik bogey ..... We have a treaty
director of the information ser· of alliance with the Soviet Union ,
vice in New York of Benes's which we rate very highly and
government-in-exile in London, told which we will always fulfill In
the NEW YORK P OST that t-he spirit and letter, Just as the Soviet
�2
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Fedor Hodza - a Lettrich
Union will do." Later, after -b eing
welcomed in Moscow, Benes said: "de•m ocrat," member of the com"The road to Iiberated Czecho- munist-dominated National Front
SloVTakia leads through Moscow. government of the Benes-Gottwald
Soon the whole of Europe shall be coalition, but now in the USA, a
member of the so-called Council of
free."
Dr. Hubert Ripka, member of Free Czecho-Slo vak-ia and the A£Bene/i's London government, told sembly of Captive European Naa fa!'ffivell press conference in tions, as well as of the InternaLondon that he did not consider t'.onal Pea-s ant Union - said bethe Western .A:lhles' apprehensions fore the provis'ional National Aschat his country mi,ght become a sembly in Prague, in 1945: "The
vassal of the Soviet Un·i on were Sov,i et Union is our ally and our
grounded. He said: "it is natural friend, and we are its ally and
that Czecho-Slovakia should seek friends. Our friendship and alliance
her security primarily in the is not based only on ideological
friendship with the Soviet Union." ties. It is something more. It stems
from political and geographical
Dr. Joseph Lettrfoh, Slovak Jureality, from the depth of our
das and Red collaborator now enhearts and from the living idea of
joying freedom in tJhe USA, told
Slavic unity."
A. I. Goldberg of the NEW YORK
1:11MiES that "Russia has kept al I
The Benes Czechs (e:enkl, tR.ipthe terms of the occupation treaty ka, Majer, Has·a l, Taborsky, Heivery fairly." The s·ame Lettrich dirich, etc.) and Slovak Judases
who praised Stalin, the Red Army (•L ettri,ch, Papanek, Slavik, Hodza,
of "libemtion," and the g,reat So- Kocvara, Mudry, Kvetko, etc.) beviet Union.
Jleved that collaboration between
Dr. Vlado Clementis, Slovak Red the UISSR and CzeC'ho-Slov,a kia
who was a member of Lettrich's \W1S not only ,f easihle, but highly
Slovak National Council ·a nd Be- desirable. They •believed
that
ne/i's communist-dominated Prague peaceful coexistence with the Reds
government, broadcast over the was possible without the loss of
Pl'ague l'adio on June 13, 1945, freedoms and rights. They proabout the "conditions of Czecho- moted the disastrous pro-Soviet
Slovak seourity." Of course, there and anti-Slovak policy of Dr. Ed·
could be no security wit:Jhout the ward Benes to the bitter end. Why
Czecho-Slovak-Soviet
Treaty of should they not ,b e considered re1!943. His address was published sponsible for the present terrible
in the NrIDW YOR.KiSKY DIDNN1K plight of the Czech -a nd Slovak
as the leading editorial on July 18,
nations? And w·hy should they
1945.
Dr. Jaroslav Stransky, Benes's presently be favored by our State
minister now in the USA and glad Department, various agencies of
to serve the FR>EE IDUROPE COM- U. S. Government (USIA, CIA,
Mil'DTEE (Radio Free Europe), told j etc.), the Free Europe Committee
a mass meeting in Most in 1945:
.
"We shall be eternally grateful to (1Rad10 Free Europe), ·and some of
those who helped us, above all to our universities? Or must we beo-ur great Slav brother, the So- lieve that similar forces a.re enviet Union."
trenched in these institutions?
�
IN TID!-1. ISSUE:
THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK
Remarks of the Hon . Alvin M. Bentley
Memorandum of the 34th Congress of the Slovak League
The Murder of Matus Cernak
Professor
Kerner's
"CZECHOSLOVAKIA":
History or Propaganda ?
The Significance of Small Nations
Czech Social Democrats and Red Espionage
WHO SAID IT?: 62-96
*
*
*
Edited and compi led by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�\
:
\' I
SLO \ .AKlA ~s. 1mblishetl pei·iodically by the Slo,·ak League of .Arnel'ica,
a cu]hll'al and ciYit fedel'ation of Ame1·icans of SloYak: descent.
rl'he chief purpose of SLOYAKlA
is to 1J1·omote a bettel' w1derntanding
and aJJlJreciation o} the Slontk nation
and its long struggle for fl'eedom and
.i.J ulependence.
As Ame1·i cam,, members of the
Slontk League of Ame1·ica finnly beh eYe that the Slovak nation, just as all
natiorn,, has an i_n hel'ent and God-given
1·ight to freedom and .i.J1dependence.
!J.'hey al'e tledi<·ated to the cause of the
Amel'ican \Yay of life, Slovak freedom
and \\'Ol'lcl peaee arnl are detennined to
oppose the plague ot Communism and
all other totalih\_i-1ai1 lJOlitical systems.
Subscription to SloYakia $LOO pe1·
yea1· in the U. N. .A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKIA
l3ox ·+50
Middletown, Pa.
-------~------------------------Printed in the U . S. A.
i EDN OT A:
PR ES S
M iddletown, P a.
�SLOVAKIA
Published quarterly by the Slovak
VOL. V
League of America
JUNE-SEPTEMBER, 1955
NO. 2-3 (15-16 )
TEN YEARS AGO . ...
I
the Benes and Gottwald Czechs published report a bout the attempt
and the Lettrjch Slovak "de• of the Soviet Union to i:ncorporate
mocrats" celebrated the "libera• 1 Sub-Carpathian H.ussila into the So•
tion" of Czecho-Slovak ia by Sta- v'iet Ukmine "was absolutely w ith.
Jiu and his heroic armies. T<he out foundation. "
"joyous, historic" event was cele·
At t he same time Monsignor Jan
orated for months. By the ,g1,ace Sramek, leaoer of the Czech Peo·
of Stalin, Benes became president pie's Party and a member of Be·
again; the Czech communists and nes's London government, sent a
socialists ruled in Prague; and telegram to Marshal Stalin, telling
t he Slovak National Council - him :
" All
Czecho-Slovaks
are
Lettrich's newborn "demoC'rats" filled with joy. The Soviet Union 's
and Schmidke's Slovak commun· limitless sacrifices for our libera.
ists reigned supreme in Bra• tion will never be forgotten .....
tislava. The people of the Czech Your gesture, naming Red Army
lands .really were ,hap,py, we were units after Kosice and Presov, will
told, but the Slovak nation was perpetuate the m e mory of the fight
sorrowful and fearful of the fu· against the common enemy, this
ture . Benes and 'h is Czechs had being the foundation of lasting
a1ways promoted pro·SOV'iet, SO· brotherhood in arms."
cialiistic policy and philosophy,
Dr. Juraj Slavik, Slovak Judas
whereas the S~ovaks had c onsi~t- and member of Benes's political
ently and persistently opposed it. entourage, who as ambassador in
As early as February 14, 1945, Washington somehow could not
Jan Masaryk, broadcasting to Cze· I recognize known Reds in the Cze•
cha-Slovakia from London, pro· cho-Slovak embassy, bubbled with
claimed the Crimea Conference ·a unbridled
joy:
"Presov
aga in
I
I
i
"triumph of allied statesmanship." breathes a free life. Kosice is fib.
Czecho-Slovakia, he said, 'has no erated.. . . Slovakia and the Cze.
serious international µrob l ems and cho-Slovak Republic shall remain
"our lasting gratit,ude is due to eternally grateful to th e Red
our Slav liberators, the Great Army."
Powers, to Providence for putting
Before leaving Britain, Dr. Edmankind's d estiny in the hands ward Benes, broadcasting from
of Churchill , Roosevelt, and Sta- London to Czecho-Slovakia, said :
fi n, and giving us Benes."
"Do not allow yourselves to be
A month earlier, Dr. Jan Papa- frightened by the Goebbels bolshenek, minister plenipotentiary and vik bogey ..... We have a treaty
director of the information ser· of alliance with the Soviet Union ,
vice in New York of Benes's which we rate very highly and
government-in-exile in London, told which we will always fulfill In
the NEW YORK P OST that t-he spirit and letter, Just as the Soviet
�2
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Fedor Hodza - a Lettrich
Union will do." Later, after -b eing
welcomed in Moscow, Benes said: "de•m ocrat," member of the com"The road to Iiberated Czecho- munist-dominated National Front
SloVTakia leads through Moscow. government of the Benes-Gottwald
Soon the whole of Europe shall be coalition, but now in the USA, a
member of the so-called Council of
free."
Dr. Hubert Ripka, member of Free Czecho-Slo vak-ia and the A£Bene/i's London government, told sembly of Captive European Naa fa!'ffivell press conference in tions, as well as of the InternaLondon that he did not consider t'.onal Pea-s ant Union - said bethe Western .A:lhles' apprehensions fore the provis'ional National Aschat his country mi,ght become a sembly in Prague, in 1945: "The
vassal of the Soviet Un·i on were Sov,i et Union is our ally and our
grounded. He said: "it is natural friend, and we are its ally and
that Czecho-Slovakia should seek friends. Our friendship and alliance
her security primarily in the is not based only on ideological
friendship with the Soviet Union." ties. It is something more. It stems
from political and geographical
Dr. Joseph Lettrfoh, Slovak Jureality, from the depth of our
das and Red collaborator now enhearts and from the living idea of
joying freedom in tJhe USA, told
Slavic unity."
A. I. Goldberg of the NEW YORK
1:11MiES that "Russia has kept al I
The Benes Czechs (e:enkl, tR.ipthe terms of the occupation treaty ka, Majer, Has·a l, Taborsky, Heivery fairly." The s·ame Lettrich dirich, etc.) and Slovak Judases
who praised Stalin, the Red Army (•L ettri,ch, Papanek, Slavik, Hodza,
of "libemtion," and the g,reat So- Kocvara, Mudry, Kvetko, etc.) beviet Union.
Jleved that collaboration between
Dr. Vlado Clementis, Slovak Red the UISSR and CzeC'ho-Slov,a kia
who was a member of Lettrich's \W1S not only ,f easihle, but highly
Slovak National Council ·a nd Be- desirable. They •believed
that
ne/i's communist-dominated Prague peaceful coexistence with the Reds
government, broadcast over the was possible without the loss of
Pl'ague l'adio on June 13, 1945, freedoms and rights. They proabout the "conditions of Czecho- moted the disastrous pro-Soviet
Slovak seourity." Of course, there and anti-Slovak policy of Dr. Ed·
could be no security wit:Jhout the ward Benes to the bitter end. Why
Czecho-Slovak-Soviet
Treaty of should they not ,b e considered re1!943. His address was published sponsible for the present terrible
in the NrIDW YOR.KiSKY DIDNN1K plight of the Czech -a nd Slovak
as the leading editorial on July 18,
nations? And w·hy should they
1945.
Dr. Jaroslav Stransky, Benes's presently be favored by our State
minister now in the USA and glad Department, various agencies of
to serve the FR>EE IDUROPE COM- U. S. Government (USIA, CIA,
Mil'DTEE (Radio Free Europe), told j etc.), the Free Europe Committee
a mass meeting in Most in 1945:
.
"We shall be eternally grateful to (1Rad10 Free Europe), ·and some of
those who helped us, above all to our universities? Or must we beo-ur great Slav brother, the So- lieve that similar forces a.re enviet Union."
trenched in these institutions?
�
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
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1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
Text
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Text
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IN TID!-1. ISSUE:
THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK
Remarks of the Hon . Alvin M. Bentley
Memorandum of the 34th Congress of the Slovak League
The Murder of Matus Cernak
Professor
Kerner's
"CZECHOSLOVAKIA":
History or Propaganda ?
The Significance of Small Nations
Czech Social Democrats and Red Espionage
WHO SAID IT?: 62-96
*
*
*
Edited and compi led by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
Published by
THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA
\
:
\' I
SLO \ .AKlA ~s. 1mblishetl pei·iodically by the Slo,·ak League of .Arnel'ica,
a cu]hll'al and ciYit fedel'ation of Ame1·icans of SloYak: descent.
rl'he chief purpose of SLOYAKlA
is to 1J1·omote a bettel' w1derntanding
and aJJlJreciation o} the Slontk nation
and its long struggle for fl'eedom and
.i.J ulependence.
As Ame1·i cam,, members of the
Slontk League of Ame1·ica finnly beh eYe that the Slovak nation, just as all
natiorn,, has an i_n hel'ent and God-given
1·ight to freedom and .i.J1dependence.
!J.'hey al'e tledi<·ated to the cause of the
Amel'ican \Yay of life, Slovak freedom
and \\'Ol'lcl peaee arnl are detennined to
oppose the plague ot Communism and
all other totalih\_i-1ai1 lJOlitical systems.
Subscription to SloYakia $LOO pe1·
yea1· in the U. N. .A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKIA
l3ox ·+50
Middletown, Pa.
-------~------------------------Printed in the U . S. A.
i EDN OT A:
PR ES S
M iddletown, P a.
SLOVAKIA
Published quarterly by the Slovak
VOL. V
League of America
JUNE-SEPTEMBER, 1955
NO. 2-3 (15-16 )
TEN YEARS AGO . ...
I
the Benes and Gottwald Czechs published report a bout the attempt
and the Lettrjch Slovak "de• of the Soviet Union to i:ncorporate
mocrats" celebrated the "libera• 1 Sub-Carpathian H.ussila into the So•
tion" of Czecho-Slovak ia by Sta- v'iet Ukmine "was absolutely w ith.
Jiu and his heroic armies. T<he out foundation. "
"joyous, historic" event was cele·
At t he same time Monsignor Jan
orated for months. By the ,g1,ace Sramek, leaoer of the Czech Peo·
of Stalin, Benes became president pie's Party and a member of Be·
again; the Czech communists and nes's London government, sent a
socialists ruled in Prague; and telegram to Marshal Stalin, telling
t he Slovak National Council - him :
" All
Czecho-Slovaks
are
Lettrich's newborn "demoC'rats" filled with joy. The Soviet Union 's
and Schmidke's Slovak commun· limitless sacrifices for our libera.
ists reigned supreme in Bra• tion will never be forgotten .....
tislava. The people of the Czech Your gesture, naming Red Army
lands .really were ,hap,py, we were units after Kosice and Presov, will
told, but the Slovak nation was perpetuate the m e mory of the fight
sorrowful and fearful of the fu· against the common enemy, this
ture . Benes and 'h is Czechs had being the foundation of lasting
a1ways promoted pro·SOV'iet, SO· brotherhood in arms."
cialiistic policy and philosophy,
Dr. Juraj Slavik, Slovak Judas
whereas the S~ovaks had c onsi~t- and member of Benes's political
ently and persistently opposed it. entourage, who as ambassador in
As early as February 14, 1945, Washington somehow could not
Jan Masaryk, broadcasting to Cze· I recognize known Reds in the Cze•
cha-Slovakia from London, pro· cho-Slovak embassy, bubbled with
claimed the Crimea Conference ·a unbridled
joy:
"Presov
aga in
I
I
i
"triumph of allied statesmanship." breathes a free life. Kosice is fib.
Czecho-Slovakia, he said, 'has no erated.. . . Slovakia and the Cze.
serious international µrob l ems and cho-Slovak Republic shall remain
"our lasting gratit,ude is due to eternally grateful to th e Red
our Slav liberators, the Great Army."
Powers, to Providence for putting
Before leaving Britain, Dr. Edmankind's d estiny in the hands ward Benes, broadcasting from
of Churchill , Roosevelt, and Sta- London to Czecho-Slovakia, said :
fi n, and giving us Benes."
"Do not allow yourselves to be
A month earlier, Dr. Jan Papa- frightened by the Goebbels bolshenek, minister plenipotentiary and vik bogey ..... We have a treaty
director of the information ser· of alliance with the Soviet Union ,
vice in New York of Benes's which we rate very highly and
government-in-exile in London, told which we will always fulfill In
the NEW YORK P OST that t-he spirit and letter, Just as the Soviet
2
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Fedor Hodza - a Lettrich
Union will do." Later, after -b eing
welcomed in Moscow, Benes said: "de•m ocrat," member of the com"The road to Iiberated Czecho- munist-dominated National Front
SloVTakia leads through Moscow. government of the Benes-Gottwald
Soon the whole of Europe shall be coalition, but now in the USA, a
member of the so-called Council of
free."
Dr. Hubert Ripka, member of Free Czecho-Slo vak-ia and the A£Bene/i's London government, told sembly of Captive European Naa fa!'ffivell press conference in tions, as well as of the InternaLondon that he did not consider t'.onal Pea-s ant Union - said bethe Western .A:lhles' apprehensions fore the provis'ional National Aschat his country mi,ght become a sembly in Prague, in 1945: "The
vassal of the Soviet Un·i on were Sov,i et Union is our ally and our
grounded. He said: "it is natural friend, and we are its ally and
that Czecho-Slovakia should seek friends. Our friendship and alliance
her security primarily in the is not based only on ideological
friendship with the Soviet Union." ties. It is something more. It stems
from political and geographical
Dr. Joseph Lettrfoh, Slovak Jureality, from the depth of our
das and Red collaborator now enhearts and from the living idea of
joying freedom in tJhe USA, told
Slavic unity."
A. I. Goldberg of the NEW YORK
1:11MiES that "Russia has kept al I
The Benes Czechs (e:enkl, tR.ipthe terms of the occupation treaty ka, Majer, Has·a l, Taborsky, Heivery fairly." The s·ame Lettrich dirich, etc.) and Slovak Judases
who praised Stalin, the Red Army (•L ettri,ch, Papanek, Slavik, Hodza,
of "libemtion," and the g,reat So- Kocvara, Mudry, Kvetko, etc.) beviet Union.
Jleved that collaboration between
Dr. Vlado Clementis, Slovak Red the UISSR and CzeC'ho-Slov,a kia
who was a member of Lettrich's \W1S not only ,f easihle, but highly
Slovak National Council ·a nd Be- desirable. They •believed
that
ne/i's communist-dominated Prague peaceful coexistence with the Reds
government, broadcast over the was possible without the loss of
Pl'ague l'adio on June 13, 1945, freedoms and rights. They proabout the "conditions of Czecho- moted the disastrous pro-Soviet
Slovak seourity." Of course, there and anti-Slovak policy of Dr. Ed·
could be no security wit:Jhout the ward Benes to the bitter end. Why
Czecho-Slovak-Soviet
Treaty of should they not ,b e considered re1!943. His address was published sponsible for the present terrible
in the NrIDW YOR.KiSKY DIDNN1K plight of the Czech -a nd Slovak
as the leading editorial on July 18,
nations? And w·hy should they
1945.
Dr. Jaroslav Stransky, Benes's presently be favored by our State
minister now in the USA and glad Department, various agencies of
to serve the FR>EE IDUROPE COM- U. S. Government (USIA, CIA,
Mil'DTEE (Radio Free Europe), told j etc.), the Free Europe Committee
a mass meeting in Most in 1945:
.
"We shall be eternally grateful to (1Rad10 Free Europe), ·and some of
those who helped us, above all to our universities? Or must we beo-ur great Slav brother, the So- lieve that similar forces a.re enviet Union."
trenched in these institutions?
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. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June-September 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/73211fb74e35c4af309a97a7ffc1c7b8.pdf
31d167ba8598a1ec4055158275c90fba
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(O rganiz ed 1907 in C leveland . Ohio.)
•
John J . Sirotnak
610-612 Li:lcoln Trust Bl dg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
Honorar y Presillen1
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1943 W. 4Sth Street
Chi cago n. Illinoi s
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East ' Mason Street
Owoss o, Mich.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. O. Dux 150. i\l idd letuwn. Pa. St e phani e 0. H usek
Georgian Cour t Co ll ege
Vice-Pres ident
Lak e wood, N. J .
Jacob Kocis
A DVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Sll eet
Mic hae l J . Vargovich
Ha mmond , Ind .
Nat iona l President
First Catholi c Slovak Un ion
\'ice-Pr e s ident
of U. S. A.
Ju Iia K rajcovic
1/i.J W. 18th SL. Chicago 8, m. Helen Kocan
National President
Re cording Secretary
First Catholic Slovak
Francis H rusovsky
Ladies Union
2900 East Bo ul evard
Frank Sobus
Cle veland 4, Olli:>
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secr e tary-Tre asurer
Milan V. Blazek
Stephen J. Tkach
4205 W. Cull erton Street
National Presid ent
Chicago 23, Ill.
Penna. Slovak U ni on
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies P e nnsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
Sl O Montooth Street
PittRhurgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St .. Passaic, N. J .
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath o li c Cfldet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affil ia ted with th e S lovak Lea gue of Amer ica)
JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
BRATST VO
SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland , Ohio
Scrnn ton , P a.
Wilk es-Barre, Pa.
SL OV ENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio
ZORNICKA
Wilke.s -Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Pass ai c, N . J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa .
OSADNE HLASY
Chic,a go, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�Ruins of the S!pis Castle from the western side, Spis County, Slovakia. The fortress, built
in the 13th century, was destroyed by fire in 1780 .
•
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(O rganiz ed 1907 in C leveland . Ohio.)
•
John J . Sirotnak
610-612 Li:lcoln Trust Bl dg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
Honorar y Presillen1
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1943 W. 4Sth Street
Chi cago n. Illinoi s
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East ' Mason Street
Owoss o, Mich.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. O. Dux 150. i\l idd letuwn. Pa. St e phani e 0. H usek
Georgian Cour t Co ll ege
Vice-Pres ident
Lak e wood, N. J .
Jacob Kocis
A DVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Sll eet
Mic hae l J . Vargovich
Ha mmond , Ind .
Nat iona l President
First Catholi c Slovak Un ion
\'ice-Pr e s ident
of U. S. A.
Ju Iia K rajcovic
1/i.J W. 18th SL. Chicago 8, m. Helen Kocan
National President
Re cording Secretary
First Catholic Slovak
Francis H rusovsky
Ladies Union
2900 East Bo ul evard
Frank Sobus
Cle veland 4, Olli:>
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secr e tary-Tre asurer
Milan V. Blazek
Stephen J. Tkach
4205 W. Cull erton Street
National Presid ent
Chicago 23, Ill.
Penna. Slovak U ni on
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies P e nnsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
Sl O Montooth Street
PittRhurgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St .. Passaic, N. J .
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath o li c Cfldet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affil ia ted with th e S lovak Lea gue of Amer ica)
JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
BRATST VO
SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland , Ohio
Scrnn ton , P a.
Wilk es-Barre, Pa.
SL OV ENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio
ZORNICKA
Wilke.s -Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Pass ai c, N . J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa .
OSADNE HLASY
Chic,a go, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�Ruins of the S!pis Castle from the western side, Spis County, Slovakia. The fortress, built
in the 13th century, was destroyed by fire in 1780 .
•
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
Date
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1955
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Officers of the Slovak League of America
(O rganiz ed 1907 in C leveland . Ohio.)
•
John J . Sirotnak
610-612 Li:lcoln Trust Bl dg.
Scranton 3, Pa.
Honorar y Presillen1
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1943 W. 4Sth Street
Chi cago n. Illinoi s
Dr. Julius Janci
215 East ' Mason Street
Owoss o, Mich.
President
Philip A. Hrobak
P. O. Dux 150. i\l idd letuwn. Pa. St e phani e 0. H usek
Georgian Cour t Co ll ege
Vice-Pres ident
Lak e wood, N. J .
Jacob Kocis
A DVISORY COUNCIL
1547 - 167th Sll eet
Mic hae l J . Vargovich
Ha mmond , Ind .
Nat iona l President
First Catholi c Slovak Un ion
\'ice-Pr e s ident
of U. S. A.
Ju Iia K rajcovic
1/i.J W. 18th SL. Chicago 8, m. Helen Kocan
National President
Re cording Secretary
First Catholic Slovak
Francis H rusovsky
Ladies Union
2900 East Bo ul evard
Frank Sobus
Cle veland 4, Olli:>
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secr e tary-Tre asurer
Milan V. Blazek
Stephen J. Tkach
4205 W. Cull erton Street
National Presid ent
Chicago 23, Ill.
Penna. Slovak U ni on
Gabriela E. Vavrek
National President
Ladies P e nnsylvania
Slovak Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Paul P. Jamriska
Sl O Montooth Street
PittRhurgh 10, Pa.
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St .. Passaic, N. J .
John Rozboril
National President
S lovak Cath o li c Cfldet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affil ia ted with th e S lovak Lea gue of Amer ica)
JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
BRATST VO
SLOVENSKA OBRANA ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Cleveland , Ohio
Scrnn ton , P a.
Wilk es-Barre, Pa.
SL OV ENSKE NOVINY
Cleveland , Ohio
ZORNICKA
Wilke.s -Barre, Pa.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
Pass ai c, N . J.
SVORNOST
Whitaker, Pa .
OSADNE HLASY
Chic,a go, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
Ruins of the S!pis Castle from the western side, Spis County, Slovakia. The fortress, built
in the 13th century, was destroyed by fire in 1780 .
•
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Title
A name given to the resource
Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 1 (14)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Spiš Castle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/efa6f46e44b94f6f5c82ce212e023eec.pdf
dcb6d3cffabaa2213aae768b7623cc98
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. V
quarterly by the
Slovak
League of
MARCH 1955
America
NO . 1 (14)
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED SLOVAKIA
is told on the following pa,ges by
witnesses called upon to testify
by the Select Committee on Com•
mu.nist Aiggression of the House
of Representatives, headed by the
Hon. Ch:a.J'lles J . Kersten of Mil·
waukee, Wis.
Michael Galayda is an .American
citzen who experienced Communist terror in Slovakia. He was
there W1,d saw Communism at
work a mong his people w'ho had
persdstenUy ,and consistently fought
the Red plague for over a hundred
years. H e makes his home in
Hazleton, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. Smrekovsky, American citizens, also witnessed the
terror and horror of Red rule in
Slovakia ,f irst hand. They have relatives and many friends in S1ovakia and, hen.ce are using an assumed name.
Dr. Joseph Pauco, news.paperman and writer, c ame to America
in 1950; he is assistant editor of
the .TIIDDNOTA (Union), the official organ of the First Catholic
Slovak Union, and a1so chairman
of the U. S. Bran,ch of the Slov,a k
National Council Abroad.
Dr. Joseph Mikula studied law
1 and politics and was very active
' in student circ'les of Slovakia ,before he Jlled the Red terror which
invaded his native Slovakia.
Dr. Joseph Mikus, foraner Slovak dilplomat, lawyer and writer,
became the director of the Press
Bureau of the Slovak League of
America, Wash!lngton, D. C., soon
after his arrival in America several years ago.
Jan Dobrotka, now an exile in
West Germany, was a Sergeant of
the Department of National Security in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Jur Detviansky was an active
officer of the Sloviak Army before
he Hed to the West.
Rev. Anton Botek, S.T.D., editor
and former director of the Catholic Center in Bratd•slava, S-Jovakia,
is in charge of the S lovak Catholic Action in Exiile; he edits
"HLASY Z RiMA," (Voices From
Rome), Italy.
Rev.
Stephen
Nahalka,
S.T.D.,
ecclesiastical writer and former
personal secretary to Bishop John
Vojtassak of t'he Spis Diocese,
1Slovaki,a - who, by the way, was
sentenced to 24 years 1n prison
1by the Reds lives in Rome.
Italy.
Philip A. Hrobak, editor of the
JEDNl()TA since 1938 and president of t'he Slovak League of
America since 19'50, is a native
AmerLcan, born in Cleveland, Ohio,
in 1904. Active in Slovak aff.airs
for the past 35 years,, Mr. Hrobak
has devoted much time to the study of Czecho-Slovakda and Slovakia and the people responsible for
government. His
articles
and
pampb:lets in Engilish have contributed greatly to expose "Czechoslo,v ak" pseudo-democracy, the
maohinations of the Benes Czechs
(Socialists) and Lettri.ch "detnocrats", the people responsible for
the betrayal of the Slova;ks to the
men of the Kremlin - +and the
Reds and Socialists aictJ!ve In Slovak circles in Amertlca. ·
�SLOVAKIA
Communist Aggression Against Slovakia
(The Select Committee on Communist Aggression, House of Representatives, EJighty-Third Congress, 1954, under the ch·a irmans•h lp of
the HonoraJble Oharles J. Kersten, did quite a. remarkable jdb to
ascertain how the !Communists seized pO'wer in the various countries
of IDurope. I believe it is the first time in our history that an honest
attempt was made to understand the 'background of the -peoples behind the Iron Curtain. 1Slovak representatives were among those
who gave testimony of Communist a,ggression in S-tovakia, which differed in so.me respects from th.at in other countries. From the testimony of various witnesses who were heard, and the many others
who sent in their statements fl'Qm various countries, it is quite eviden,t that 1Slovrukia fell an easy prey to Moscow iand the C-Ommunlsts
because of the pro-Soviet -poli<:y of Dr. Edward ,B enes and the Czech
Socialists, who ruled in Czecho-Siovakia with the Communists after
World War ]I. Slovakia, traditionally anti-Communist, was jn fact
sold out by the National Front ,Government of Prague. The vast
masses of the Slovak population ,had no ,c•hoice; their wiH meant
nothin,g to Benes and tib.e Prague regime, whJ.ch took over Slovakia
with the help of Soviet bayonets, disregardin,g the pollti-cal wHl of
the peOII)le completely. Excerpts from the testimony of Slovak witnesses, l'\Vlhic,h are contained on these pages, definitely prove that. P.A. H.).
FROM THE SPECIAL REPORT NO. 8
SLOVAKIA
!Slovaki,a is situated between the Carpathian Mountains on the north and the Danube and the Tisa Rivers on
the south. The in!hrubitants are !known as Slov,aks and with
the !Poles a111d the Ozechs, belong to the group of western
Slaivs.
The political history of the ·S lov,a!ks goes back to the
beginnmg of the ninth century when ChmsUan civilization
was introduced into their territoTy, and it was during this
period that tlhe ruler, H;astisfav, 84~70, made himself
lmown by an intensiive ChTistiianmation of the country.
FoJilowing hls ti,nvitation, two brothers, Saints Cyril and
Methodius, who henceforth were to b.ecome the rupostles of
the Slaivs, came in 863 from Byoo.ntium to Great Moravia. B y their activities, they laid the foundations for church
organizaibions, the Slav liturgy, a'.Jiphrubet, •a nd literature. It
was in this way that the rwork of the two missionaries
�SLOVAKIA
3
from Byzruntrl:l.l!Ill brought ,t he western Slavs into the fold of
the Catholic OhuTch, an historical event of paramount ipolitic,al and oulturral importance.
In the tenth century, ,Slovakia ,b ecame for a time a
battlefie'ld in the struggles .among the SlaVIS, Magyars, and
Germans, and at the fbegiillnmg of the eleventh century,
she became a part of the kingdom of Hungary, organized
under the Arpad dynasty.
In the fifteenth and at the !beginning of the si~teenth
century the internal prOiblems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasions of •c entral Europe by the 'Dmks in tJhe ,s ixteenth and seventeenth ceinturies, however, reduced Hungary to the area of the Slovalda
of today and political and cultural liife was concentrated in
that area. For a long time sessions of the Hungarian Pa•r liament were held •a nd coronations of the Hungarian llings
were celebrated in BratisJava.
The end o,f the eighteenth and the first half of the
nineteenth centuries mark the /beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. At this time, the nationa1ities tin central Emope we,r e about to abrundon Latin as the literary
and spoken language of the cu!tiivated claS'S and to replace
it by their own national language. Consequently, a spiritual
rebirth stirred up national aspirations among the different peoples of the !Hapsburg monarchy.
In 1848, the Slov,a,ks -organiized a military uprising
against the centralism of 'BudaJpeSt and: helped 1:Jhe Emperor
crush the Kossuth rebellion against the Hapsburgs. They
did it with the hope that Slovrukia wocld ibe finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated
monaTohy, ibut thedr hopes in this respect were never
satisfied.
h1 the "Memorand'll!IIl of the Slovak Nation" of Jl.l'lle
7, 1861, a Slovak National Assemlbly, asked the Parliament
of Hungary to create an rarl!ministiratirve unit from the oounties imlhaJbited lby tlhe iSloviaJc population under the name of
"Slovak region." It was to ,b e ,provjdedJ with such a degree
of poaitical and oultural autonomy which would be compatible wiith the prniciiple of u.mty of the monarchy. But the
Hungarian Parlioonent failed to act.
�4
SLOVAKIA
In 1868 the Nationality Act was passed in the /Pairliament of Hunga:ry .b y which Magyar was proclaimed. the official language of the ,s tate administration in the kingdom,
except for some autonomous bodies.
1n 1895, the Serbs, the Rwmanians from Transylvania
and the Slovaks convOlked a congress of nationalities in Budapest in which they claimed ,respect for their national
rights and asked once more for a federative reform of the
kingdom on the ,p rinciple of equality. Such a reform was
not carried out. As a ,c onsequence the non.,Magy,ar nationa!lities lost, during the First World War, their interest in
the continued existence ()ff the dual monarchy oif AustriaHu.ngary.
1
World War I and Formation of the Czecho-Slovak State
Dwring World War [ the ,s pirit of nationalism was
greatly stimulated within the Alustro-Hungari:ain Empire.
Thi•s spirit was reflected iby increasing demands for greater
autonomy or ouwi:ght independence ,f or the clifforent nations within that empire. The advocacy of the principle of
nationa:l self-tdeter-mination by President Wilson further
stimulated these iaJS!)iratiOill,s. and dlid much to set the stage
for the peace settlements.
Dur:i.ng the course of the war Czech political leaders
established a secret committee wh~ch directed the ,a ctivities of Ozech nationalists at home and abroad. Thomas G.
Masaryk, as the leader of this movement, toured Europe
and the United 'States Wlhere h e recei.:ved encouragement
and support.
Meanwhile a movement ,a rose among the ·l arge number oif Americans of Slovaik descent promoting Slovak!ia's
separation from Hungary. Th.Tee different solutions of the
Slovaik prob1em were oovi,saged: Slovakia as a new state,
as ia partner orf a Czecho-Slovruk Federation •o r a·s a territory forming a pollitircal union with the prospectirve Polish
Republic.
Finally, the SloivaJk -League of Amerioa entered into
contact with the Amemcans of Czech descent and signed
with their organilzations, in 191 5, t;he Cleveland agreement,
and in 1918 the Pittsburgh Parct, 'both of which aim·e d at
1
1
1
�5
SLOVAKIA
the creation of a Czecho-.Slova1k federal state. In these doouments the Slov,aik organi•z ation stipulated that Slovakfa
should 'be an equal mem1ber iwitJh the Czech lands ·a nd have
complete legislative, executive, judiciary and cultural autonomy in strictly national matters, while matters of common interest, such as foreign affairs and defense, should
be within the competence '()!f a common parlitailllent.
1
A tangi!ble proof of the aspi-rabions of 1:Jhe Ozec:h and
Slo:vruk peoples toiward foll mdependence iwas demonstrated
by the thousands of thei:r soldiers who had swrendeired on
the 'Various fronts. They formed the Czecho-Slovak Legions
in Russia, France, amd Ita1y and fought on the side of the
Al[ied and Associated \P,o wers.
1
In order to convince ·W estern statesmen that the concept of national states 1was, ~n concern with the iwill of the
people a Congress otf !Peop1es Oppressed ·b y the Hrups'burg
Monarchy was commenced in Apilil 191'8 at Rome. This congress did much to mfl,uence the th,i nking in western Europe
and in the United States. ln the summer of 1918, F'ra.nce,
Great Britain, the United States, and Italy offici,all,y recognized the Czecho-1Slovak National Council as a defacto gOIVerrunent and the Gzecho-lSlwak forces as an Allied army
waging regu~ar warfare agarl.nst kustria-Hungary and Germany.
A Ozeoho-4Slwak IPro:visionrul Government •w as set up
in Paris with Masaryik as President and was recogn.iized de
jure by the Aflied and Associated Powers. It issued the Declaration of Czecho..SlovaJk Independence on October 18,
1918, in Paris. On the saime day President Wilson rejected
the Austrian ,proiposa:l for the organi zation of Austria-Hungary on a federa l !b asis iby reiplyiing that !he could no longer
accept •~ere autonomy of these peoples as a basis of
peace .. ."
On Octolber 28, 1918, the Ozecho-Slo,yak Nationial Colllllcil in !P:mgue proclaimed the deiposibion of the Austrian
Emperor as so,yereign of the Czech and Slcxvak lands and the
estrublishment of a free and united Republic ,of Ozecho-4SlovavaJda. The ,SiovaJk National Counchl, a revolutionary 'body
composed of Slovak patriots, convened on October 30, 1918,
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
6
and ,pwb1isihed a document known •a s the Dec1aration of
Turcia.nsky rSv. Martlin. In. this document they proclaimed
the separation of Slo.va:lci<a from the Kiingdom of Hungary
and their intention to form with the Ozech lands a CzeohoSlOWlik .state. On November 14, 1918, this decision was ratified 1~ the Crecho--iSlvoruk National Assembly which elected
T. G. 1M as•aryik as President of the Republic and set up the
first ,caJbinet.
However, it was not long !b efore serious dlisagreement
developed between the Ozechs and ISlovaJks on the form of
government for the new state. The Ozeohs farvored a Czecho~Sl01Vak ,centralist state whHe the Sllo,vaiks ins.i:sted upon
a Czecho~SlQl\llaJk feder.ation ~n whioo the identity and individrua:lity of each nation would ibe •recognized and preserved.
In the opinion of !Slovak leadJers the Ozecho,..slovak state,
for all practical purposes, was to become a Czech ,s tate, enlarged 'by Slovakia ra nd :sulb-Oaripathlian Ruthenia. This situation resulted .in the !Slovaks taking a firm ,position a,g ainst
the centralist form of government. Monsignor Andrew Hilinka, a great patriotic [eader from the time of pre~a:r HrUlllgar.y, went dandestine1y in !September 1919 to Pairis in order to present S1ova;kia's cause before the Peace Conference, ,a dvocating an international guaranty fo·r the selfgovernment of the ,Slovruk nation withi:n OzechoJSlova!kia.
Denounced to the •French authorities !by the Ozecho,.;Slovak
delegation as a Hapsburg spy, he was foTced to return to
Slovaikia without any result. Toniprisoned 1by order of Prague
at Mirov, Mara'Via, Hlinka was to stay tJhere until April
1920, when he was elected deputy of the 'Slovak People's
Party, founded iby him under the Hungarian regime and
reestabllished in December 19'18.
1
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
ConstitutJional Structure
Althowg,h the !basic ,constitution was not adopted until.
February 1920, its .gener.al principles had been B!pplied
from the very •b eginning of Cze.cho-Slovaik independence.
The philosophy underlying this fundamental law is expressed in the preamble, whfoh is striikingly similar to the
�SLOVAKIA
7
preamble of the Constitution of the United States.
The main body of the Consbitution provided for a
popularly elected Parliament, a President selected by both
houses of Parliament and an independent judiciary.
Parties and Politics
The politics of the period may ibe divided into four
phases:
1. Nationalistic phase (1918-19)
Following the proclamation of independence, ,a ll Czech
political parties agreed on the fundamental principles on
which the new state ,w as to be bui1t. Having reaohed this
major consensus and the necessary leg,islation having been
enacted, the coalition had accomplished its task and a
split on partisan lines followed.
2. Swing toward Social Democraicy (1919-20)
The period of Socia.dist rule in the Czecho-Slovruk Republic did not accom;plish too many changes in the country's economy although the r,a,iUwa,ys, mines, and water
power were socialiized. The division of the 1Soci:alists into
Socialist amd Communist ranks ended the brief era of Socialist eJQ!)erimentation in Czooho-Slovrukia.
3. The agrarian era (1922-35)
This was a period of Telative ·parliamentary stability
under the leadershiip of the Agrarian Party, which managed
the government along m.iddile-of~the-road policies. A satisfactory coalition government was maintained throughout
this period.
4. The crisis ( 1935-38)
This period iwas the touchstone of the solidity of the
Czecho-1Slovruk state. Confronted with the serious iproblem
of the Sudeten Germain poipuil.ation, Czecho-6lovakia betrayed no signs, of political panic.
The .principal political ,parties in Ozecho-Slovrukia in the
period betiween the two World Wars formed the following
groups:
National 'Democrats. - This party, conservative and intensely nationalist, drew its princi'pa:l support from businessmen, the professions, and hi,gher cirvil servants. It never
beoame very ,powenfu:l.
�8
SLOVAKIA
Populists. - Under the name of the Czech Populist
Party and the Slovak Pe>ipulist Party, respectiively, this
group endeavored to bring CathoiJ.ic ideas into plllblic life.
The Sllllall faruners and workers in rural districts were its
strongholds, especially in Slovakia.
Agrarians. - This poJitica-1 groUJp, the largest in the
subsequent parliaments, was solidly entrenched in both
rural aind town districts by means 0£ a widespread network
of cooperat:1ve, economic, and mtlturnJl organimtions. Its
broaid economic and so.cia'l program att•r acted wide support.
National Socialists. - Thi1s non-Marxian Socialist Party may ibie described as a "radicai national party of the
lower middle class and of the wonkers." It had rather more
influence than its moderate numerical strength would indii;cate.
Social Democrats. - This, party, resembling the social
democratic parties of other European countries, had more
influence during the first two years of bhe Republic. Though
outwardly united it was, however, undermined by dissension within its own ranks, whicih finally resulted in the expu1lsion of the Communist faction .
Communists. - The Ozecho-Sloivaik Commll!Ilist Party
was created in 1920 as a result of the e~ulsion of Communist elements from the 'Social Democratic Party. Though
equia:lly subversive and aggressiive as elsewhere in Europe,
the Ozecho-iSlovaJk Communists never secured a la:rge foll-owing during the two decades before the Second World
War.
Economic, Social and Cultural Development
Agrarian reform
iRediistribu:tion of land was an urgent iprOlblem facing
the IIlew government and a Land Reform Act, therefore,
was one of the first measures passed ,b y the Czecho-Slovak
Parliament. This ,a ct entitled the state to truke over, •a,fter
com;pensation, all ,1and :from the great estates in excess of a
fixed maximum and to permit land purcha,se by those who
needed it most. The agr,ariam. refomi program substantially improved the material conditions of the rural popula-
�SLOVAKIA
9
tion aml averted the diam.ger of ,agrarian disturbances.
Economic development
While Czecho-1Slovruk agricl.l!ltura:l resources almost
covered domestic req,uiTements, indrustrial prodUJCtion was
far in excess of the needs of the home market since Ozecho-1Slovakia had been the industrial center of the former
Austro..lHJungarian Empire.
'Since the Danulbiian countries, originally Czooho-Slovakia'•s principal foreign ma,r ket fOT manufadured goods,
were increasing the tempo of their industria;lization with a
view to :restricting tihe import orf industrial µvoducts, Ozecho..JSlovruk foreign trade was olbJiiged to look for new outlets. These were found ma,i nly in those western and oversea
countries which were Czecho-1SloV1aJkia's .principal suppliers
of •r aw materials, especially the United States and Great
Britain.
Economically aJnd fin!andalil.y Czecho-Slorvaikia was a
sound state in central Europe. As an exporting country it
was severely hlt by the wodd economic depression of the
early thirties, hut, lby timely adtj:ustments to new price and
exchange levels, it was one orf the first Eiurropean countries
to weather the crisis.
Education and social progress
The cl.l!ltmrra1 level orf the Czechs was hlgh and their passion fOT education was prQIVeribial in central Eur.ope. The
new R.ep'Ulblic fostered educaition by establishing additional
free schools •a nd by, improving the existing ,schools.
The Ozecho-1Slorva,k :S tate a,lso forged ahead in the
field of social impmve:ment. All groU!ps and interests pos,sessed the rig:ht of organi,z ation ,a nd thus organized lalbor
had its trade unio,n s, farmers their cooperative societies,
and white--coUar worker,s and businessmen their associations. Health a,nd other types of ,social insurance were either
provided for or encouraged iby the State and pro¥i:sion was
made for State assistance to hoursing and cooperatives.
The Religious Situation
The re1igious .situation created after the esmblishment
of the Repu'blic in 19'18 must, like many other of the coun-
�SLOVAKIA
:iO
try's developments, ibe rvieiwed against its historical backgrou!Ild.
A strong Czech groUJp of modernist, nationalistic Roman clergy insisted on radicall reforms, such as the use of
the vernacuiliar in the lituvgy ,and the abolition of compulsory celibacy, Wlhich the Roman Curia could not accept. As
a result, this group seceded from Rome and esta:blished an
independent "Ozecho-1S1ovak Church" ,w hioh originally numbered aJbout one million adherents, lbut ,w hich lost half its
meimlbership by 1939, so that Roman Catholics still comprised 80 •p er cent of the popul,a tion. In spite of adverse
circu:mstl8Jnces, the Roman Cathoilic ChUTch adjusted itself,
therefore, to the new millieu and recovered much for its former influence.
In the political and cultural life of the new Repwblic,
the Protestant element played a role far beyond its numerical strength. Many ,prominent political leaders, Thomas
G. Masaryk among them, 1be'longed to the Protestant faith.
1
Internal Problems
'J.'lhe OOIIlstituition of 1920, in }airge measure disiregarding the ethnographic realities of Czecho-Slovakia, was to
become a bone of contention 1b ,etween the Czechs on the
one side, and 1:Jhe. 1Slova:k,s, Ger.mans, Mag,yar:s, and Ruthenians on the other. The Slovaks demanded the incorporation
of the main clauses of the Pittsburgh Pa-ct into the Constitution. The Ruthemans, whose autonomy within CzechoSlovakia had ,b een granted by the Treaty of St. Germain,
asked that this international obligation be respected 'by the
Prague Government. The Ge:rana:ns ,and the Magyars solicited oulturaJ rig,hts and adnninistr,a,ti,ve autonomy on the
local level, as granted iby the same Treaty of St. Germain.
'Dhis psychological split among the ,populatiOIIl of OzechoSlova1ki,a wea:kened consideriaJbly the new state from both
the internal and international point of rview. The Czech
statesmen tried to iremedy this situation by creating a system of international treaties such as the Little Entente,
1920, the Pact of Alliance and FriendsihiJp with France,
1924, and a similar pact with the Soviet Union, 1935. Uke
the Austro-Hunga1rian staite'Smen in 1867, Benes believed
�11
SLOVAKIA
that the transformation of Czech~Slova!kia into a federation of three memlbers, the Czech lands, 1Slov,a kia, and Subcarpaitlliian iRuthenia, would weaken the international position of the centralized state, I)a)rticularly with reference
to HW11gary and Germany. Consequently, in the field of internal ,administraJtio,n he developed a system, in which aJll
branches of Gove:rnment in Slov.a:kia and Sulbca rpathiian Ruthenia ,w ere reserved iprimari1y to 1:Jhe Czec,hs.
Politicall'Y, al·l problems of these bwo lands we.re to ibe
decided in the Pa:-ag,ue Parliament, where !Slovakia had only
58 and Ruthenia 9 deputies out of 300. Thus, even the most
important questions such a;s the relation betlween state
and church, official language, system of schools, the economy, were to be decided ib;y the Ozech parliamentarian majority.
Ai3 to the cutural aspect, secondary schodls in Slovakia as wel[ ,as the Bratislava Universirty lbecaJm.e an officiaJl
domain of Ozech ,professors, teacihing the UJnitarian concept of a "Czechoslovak" nation m ithe ethnic sense. On October 1, 1938, there were 523 Czech and 345 Sloviaik instructors teaching in the secondary schools of Slovaikia. At the
same time, there were 66 Czech and only 24 Slov~k professors in the Bratisl,a,va Uruversity.
From the standpoint of the economy Slovakia was to
remain a predominantly agrarian land, while the Czech
part of the Repulblic was highly induskialized. This policy
of two dif,ferent measures is shown by the share of Slovakia and Ruthenia ~n the industrial production of the RepU!blic. The participation of these two lands in the whole
industry, !between 1934 and 1937, was only 8.5 per cent,
while 91.5 iper cent went to the Czec,h lands. The proper
importance of these figures is stressed by the fact, that
Slwakia constituted 23 per cent and Rutheinia 5.5 per cent
of the total popuJation of the Re1pulblic.
From the adlministratifve ,p oint of view, the district and
county offices in Slo,vakia and iRuthenia were mostly direcited iby Czech off,iciais who were directly responsible to
Prague ,as were the police. In 1938 there were 120,926 Czech
pwb1ic offici,a ls in 'Slovakia.
All these aspects created in Ozecho-Slovakia what has
1
1
�12
SLOVAKIA
been knoiWn as the "Sll.ova;k problem." The Slovak People's
Party which, in 1925 had 23 deputies, became not only the
strongest single party in Slav,aJkia, lbut a majority party of
the Slovak people (not counting minorities and the Comm1.1!11ists) endorsed 1:Jhe federative reform of the Republic
asking for the accomplishment of stipulations contained in
the ,PittslblllI'gh Pact. A:s early as Jianuary 25, 1922, this
party presented its fiTst project for c01I1stituti01I1al reform
in Czecho-Slovakia. The prog,ram hatl the following main
points:
!Slovakia to be granted her own Diet and Government.
As common affairs would ,b e considered: The President, the
Army, Foreign Affairs, and Communications. The Sloviak Diet to harve exolU1Sive competence in such matters as
natiOIIlal eduoaJtion, denominations, justice, commerce, agriculture, publric works, social welifare, and corresponding
finances. The executive ;power in Slov-rukia, as iregards b.oth
the laws which wound be :voted by the Central Parliament
in Prague and those which would be enacted. lby the Diet
of Bratis:larva, would belong to the Slovruk Gorvernment.
Laws voted ,by ithe Central Parliament would lbe without
validity in .Slovakia if rejected by a two-.thirds majority in
the •Sll.ovak Diet. This proposal would have satisfied !Slovak
aspirations, but it was 111ever put on the agenda o;f Parliament.
A second proposed reform concerning the decentirali>zation of the state administration was presented to the Czecho4S1avruk Parliiament by the 1Slovak People's 1Party, May
8, 1930. More modest in -i ts scope than the first one, this
document claimed for -Slovakia the same constitutional position which had 1b een gr8.lllted ihwt never carried out by
article 3 of the constitwtion relating to Sub.carpathian Ruthenia. According to this proposal, IS1ovakta should have
had her own 'Diet as a national legislative ,b ody and a governor as chief of the land executiive.
The iDiet would have lbeen competent to enact laws concerning [anguage, education, religion, municipal, and district administration and justice as well as other matters
whioh the laws of the Central ,Parliament would comer wpon
it. Laws enacted by the <Diet of Slovakia and .si:gned by the
1
�SLOVAKIA
13
President of the Republic would ibe promulgated, under sigruature of the gavemor, in a sipecial col1ection of laiws for
Slova:kia. Although presented in due form, this proposal
was never discussed in the Parliament.
Octdber 16, 1932, the Slovak People's Party of Andrew
H!linika and the Slova!k National Party of M. Ra;zus (a small
traditionailist <Protestant party) having joined in an agreement a;b,out the necessity of autonomy for Slovakia,
stressed their detemnination to pursue the fight for Slovakia's national rights, "even ,t houg,h it may ,bring the disintegration of >the Ozecho..,Slov,a;k Republic."
Fol1.owing the resignation of T. G. Masaryk as President of the Repulblic, E. Benes became 1a candidate in Deceimber 19315 for that office. After some consultations, the
Slovak People's Party end!orsed his election, stiipwlating,
however, that a ,pol,icy of national equality between the
Czechs and the 1Slava:kis should ibe inaugrnrated by the President aind a law concerning 'Slovak~a's autonomy ,be promulgated in one year. Nevertheless, it was two years later
before the Prague Government was ready to, consider the
Sl()IVruk prdblem and this ooourred in connection wit!h the
Sudeto·- German claims for nation,a,1 rights within the Republic.
This nationality group had been integrated into CzechoSlovakia in spite of their protest. -Since the very foTlffiation
of Czecho,..,Sl'ovakia, the German minority had been soliciting a form of cultural autonomy in the schools, local administration, and in the courts. Later on they asked for
a better economic amd social <poll.icy in the German areas
suffering from unemployment. For a long time, Prague
did not lristen to such :voices. But with Hitler's accession in
Gennany, the Sudeto-Germans recei;ved the !backing of the
'I1hl1rd Reich. Consequent11 theiT claims increased at the
same time as their courage. In 1935 the ,Sudeto-German
P,a rty, with 44 deputies, lbeoame the second ,g reatest party
in the Repuiblic. The (P,raigue Goverll!!Ilent, not willing to ~ppear as acting under foreign pressure, remained reluctant.
T.he stiffer the Czecho..jSlovak Government 1becaime, the more
Hitler determined to annihilate Czecho ... Slovakia.
�14
SLOVAKIA
PairalJel to this evolution was Sfovrukia's struggle for
its own rrights. JU/Ile 5, 1938, a third projed concerning the
federalization of the Repulblic was pU!blished lby the SlovaJk
People's Party, a!lld presented to the Central Government.
It was only one week !before the, Munich Conference, 1Septem'be:r 22, 1'938, that E . Benes sent a counteriproject to the
Praesidium of the Sllovaik ,People's Barty.
Shortly after, the conflict :betiween Prague and: the Sudeto-Ge:rrmans was resolrved in Munich, where, on the basis
of Lord Rundman's rrecommendation, the Sudetenl:and went
to Germany.
This decision created for ISlovaikia a new situation. As
a consequence of a policy in whioh she had praotically no
share, Sllovrukia was ,a lso to surrender in favor Olf ifllUJilgary
her Southern !boundary ·zone, ,s ettled mostly ,b y Magyar population. This was a psychdlo,gical blow which brought an
agreement among all Slova!k ,political parties, except for
the Communist, Social-Democrat and minority parties, rubout
Slovakia's autonomy. Thus on October 6, 1938, one day
after the resignation of ,E . Benes, six ipolitica,,l parties of
SlovaJkia, representing 36 out of 58 deputies, puiblished a
dedarration in which they agreed that the third project of
constitutional reform shO'llld be immediat~ly put in practice
and l8Jil autonomous gorverrnment for Slovakia 1b e appointed
,u nder the chairmanship of iDr. Joseph Tiso.
1
November 2, 1938, lby the ar,bi,tration of Ciano and Von
Ribbentrop in Vienna, 10,309 .s quare kilometers with ·853,670
inhafbitants were to .b,e ceded by :Slovakia to Hungary. This
included 503,980 'Magyars and 272,145 Slovaks. ISfovakia
saw that she was becoming a viotim of an international
po1itica1 game ,w ithout aniy faJllJlt of her own. The Vienna
decision proved the futility of the fomner party dirvisions
and produced ra n integrating effect upon the Slo:va;k politica:l
spectrum. Parties which had signed rt.he Declaration of Zilina on October 6, agreed on NovembeT 10, 1938, on the
formation of a common party !known henceforth as the
Party of National Unity.
This political evolution in 1Slovrukia was f:inal:ly sanctioned by the Ozech and Slovak representatives irn the
�15
SLOVAKIA
Prague Parliament on No-vemlber 19, 193'8. Then, by a constitutionall ,amendiment, Ozecho-Slovrukia became a federation of Bohemi!a-<Maravfa, !Slovakia and! Oa:rpathian Ukraine
(,Ruthenia). Burt the relations between Prague and the Slova:k Government remained tenJSe, because of 9,000 Czech
officia1s who 1Were removed lby the Slovak Goivernment, and
the share of Slovakia in the income and expense, orf the
common <budget.
FOREIGN ,R ELATIONS
Beforre Munich
The principal aim of Ozecho-Slovakia's foreign policy
was the preserivation of the status quo as estaJblished by
the 19~9 peace settlements, and the estaJblishment of friend-ly relations with all her neighlbors through ,a n exten1Sive
system of adequate agreements. Eduard Benes, Minister of
Foreign Affairs until 11936 and 1ater 1P resident of the Repulblic, was the girniding sipiirit of this policy.
A solid :f oundation for rthe, presewation .o f the status
quo in cenibral Europe was laid !by the CTeation of the Little
Entente formed by Ozecho-Sfoivakia, Yugos1a;vfa and Rumania, and three victorious Danulbian states bordering on
vanquished Austda and Hungary.
Ozecho-1Slovalda was ·a n enthusiastic supporter of the
League of Nations and colktJborated ,w holeiheartedly in the
negotiations which brought Germany and the ,Soiviet Union
into the League.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Ozecho-iSlovakia's
foreign relations entered into a critical phase and two
ye31rs of vi,r,uJent Nazi pro,paganda among the Sudeten Germans !bore frwt in the results of the 1935 elections. The
NaJZi..sponsored :Sudetendeutsche IPartei poiiled over 62 per
cent of the total Ge1riman vote and c01Wed the smaller German parties .i nto submission.
1
Later .on, acting on instructioillS from iBer,Hn, the <leaders od: the Sudeten German movement put fomvard demands
which no Czecho-S1,orva'k 1g overnment •c ould a·c cept and, with
the anne:,ration of Austria, the srtage was set for final action.
De.seprately anxious to avert a new war, France and
�16
SLOVAKIA
Great Britain proposed to Czecho-Slovakia that she should
cede to Germany all areas with a German majority. When
Ozecho--srtovakia demwred, she was informed that she must
ae<!ept the proposal or bear the conisequences alone. The result was tihat the Czechs gave in and at Munich their
country was di vided on the lines dictated by Hitler.
1
After Munich
After MU1J1ioh, Czecho-.Slova:kia tried to adjust itself to
the new situation. President Benes resigned and left the
country. He was succeeded 1b y Emil Hacha, an eldeI1ly and
experienced jurist with no politioa1 affiliations, who believed that close cooperation with the Third Reich was the
country's only hope of sur:vival.
The tra,nsition to Hitler's New Order was swift. Obnoxious parties were dissolived and the Government was
given wide power,s to govern by decree. The ,administration
was purged, the 1press put under rigorous control and antiSemitic measures were ena,cted.
The situation in central Europe after Mlliilloh became
even more confused. Germany began to remind the Bohemian puibLic of the role the Kingdom of Bohemia had played
within the Holy Roman Empire. !Hungary started to speak
about her histor,i,cal boundaries and the necessity of a common frontier with Poland. According to the Nuremberg
documents, Hitler 1at that time. had already decided to destroy Czecho-Slovakia. But there was apparently no definite decision o.n S1ova:kia as to wihether to place it under German OCOU1pation or to ha;ve it occU1pied by Hungary. In this
situation, the Slovak GOIVernment had only one preoccupation: to preserve what unity had remained of Sloviakia after the Vienna a11bitration and to avoid:, as far as possible,
direct domination lby a:ny of her neighbors.
On Ma11ch 10, 1969, the Prague Government dismissed
the government of Dr. Joseph Tiso and proclaimed martial
law in 'Slovakia. The Slova!k people considered this a violation
of agreements that had /been si,gned ~tween Prague and
Bratislaiva and incorporated into the Constitution. Puibl~c
demonstrations spread throll!g.hout 'Slova:kia.
Invited to a consultation by Hitler in Berlin, Dr. Joseph
�SLOVAKIA
17
Tiso, the dismissed chairman of the Slov,ak Gooernment
was shown a telegram by Von Ribbentrop, according to
which HUIIlgary iwas ready to occupy Slova,kia. Hlitler then
suggested that this eventuality may be prevented by the
declaration of 1Slovakia's independence. Consequently, Dr.
Tiso returned to Bratisl,aiva where, om March 14, 1939, following his report, the IS'lovak Diet proclaimed independence.
President Hacha was then summoned to Berlin and presented with an ultimatum aiming at the i.mJpos.ition of a
protectorate upon Bohemia-Moravia. Forced into submission, the Presiderut ,s igned ,a declruration by w1hich he "ip1aced
the destiny of the Czech people and country with confidence in the 'hands of the Fuehrer of the German Reich."
German troo1ps marched into Bohemia and from Prague
(March 16) Hitler issued the proclamation establishing the
"Protectorate of Bohemia-Mora'Via."
Thereafter, Hungary annexed Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Czecho-SlovaJkia was dead.
The Establishment of the Slovak Republic
Even though the Slovak state was largely the result
of a tense international situation, it nevertheless co.rresponded to· the aspirations of the Slovak ~ple for freedom
and the principle of self-determination a,nd seltf-1govern.ment.
After Munich, central EUTotpe became a part of the German
orbit. Therefore, in oroer to. d.~scourage Hungary in her
armed attack launched against Eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded •w ith Germany a treaty of protection, March 23, 1939, by which the <Reich assured the existence of Sloiva;kia without destroying its .national pe,r sonality. In exchange, S1ova:kia ha,d to, follow the German line
in foreign policy.
Altogether, 2:l states. reoogniiized the international .i ndividuality of Slovaikia. Besides the countries which were
later to become members of the Axis, S~ovaikia was recognized by the Holy See, the -Soviet Union, iSpain, 1Switzedand,
Sweden, Grea,t Britain (de facto) , France (de facto), Liberia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.
According to the constitution voted on July 21, 1939,
�18
SLOVAKIA
SlovaJkiia became a Repulblic with a Parliament of 80 members and a Government of nine.
The constitution contained princi!pleis, which in some
aspects combined features of the liberal staite, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state,. In the beginning all poweT of the 'Slova:k Reipu'blic was vested in the
Parliiamenrt !but later on, in 19·41, after Slovakia had entered
the war against the S'Oviet Union, the executive was to prevail over the legislature.
The numlber of political parties was reduced. The Communist and the :Social il)emocrat pa·r ties, representing only
ten deputies, had been 1s uppressed as suJbversive, in October
1938. Six other parties merged mto the Slov,ak Unity Party, the baokibone of the ipolitcal system of the SLovak state,
and tlhere were two minority parties: German and Magyar.
The SlOIVaJk state was far froon being a perfect democracy in the trarlitional sense. R reflected a compromise
between the past and the present, between an old tradition
and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. lBut, in ,general, it was an expression of the
se'Lf-q>reservation instinct of the 1SlO'Vak nation.
The Sloviruk Government, in 1941, joined Gernnany, with
two armored dirvisions, in :the war against the Soviet Union.
Although on [)ecemlber 1:2, 1941, the Slovak Press Bureau
had pulb'lished an anno'UIIlcement that the ISlovia;k Repulblic
was in a state of war with the United !States and Great Britain, neither the President nO'r the tS lovak Pa:rliament or
Government ever made such a decision or declaration. In
fact, the Sl01Vruk forces, during the Second World War, did
not engage in comlbat against any of the Western Powers.
1
World War B and the Restoration of Czecho-Slovakia
Czechs in the protectorate of Bohemia-Morawa ,w ere
not directly iDJVolved in the •S econd World War. They were
exempt from militaJry service hut had to work for the German war machine. Though their contribution in the fight
for freedom was not Sipectacular, thousands of Czech patriots ipaid with their live'S for their efforts to 1keep the flame
of freedom fHalrering.
After Munich, many Czechs and SlovaJks left the coun-
�SLOVAKIA
19
try and established themsel,ves talbroad, mostly in Paris and
London, which became the cenrters of their political activities.
Headed by Eduaxd Benes, these emigres set urp a National Committee to taJke up the struggle for the restoration
of a free Czecho-iSlovakia.
The committee was recognized first as the provisional
and eventwall.'y as the regulaT Government of Czecho-Sloviakia, by Great Britain and, later, iby the United !S tates and
the Soviet Union. Czecho-'Sl01Vaikia was thus given the status of an allied state under foreign ocoupation. The Munich
agreement was declared null and void and Czecho-.Slova.kia's
original frontiein; were guaranteed.
While the C!zecho-.Slovak GQI\Ternment-ii.n-exile was primarily concerned with the consolidation of the international
position of the Republic, the Czecho-Sfovak Communist
leaders in Moscow were com1pleting their plan for immediately seizing power after the li/beration. Moscow knew precisely what Ozecho-Slovalkia's <international .p osition would
be once the Red army was stationed within the ter.ritory
and was concerned on:ly with tadica:l movements aimed at
bringing ahout a speedy sovietfomtion of the country.
Toward the end of 1943, E. Benes went to Mosco.w
where, on Decembe:r 12, 1943, he signed with Stalin a treaty
of alliance, friendship, and mutual help between the Soviet
Union and Czecho-Slovakia. tBy this treaty, the ·S oviet
Uruon was to approach Ozecho-1Slova1kia after the end of
the war as an ally.
No. such treaty having been <:oncluded. with the Western Powers, the influence of Moscow on the future of emergent Ozecho-Slovakia became predominant. In Soviet tactics, this treaty was to create a favora!ble atmosphere in
Bohemia-lMo:ravia fm: tbe idea of a Soviet ·l iberation.
During his visit in Moscow, E. Benes came to a,n agreement with K. Gottwald, the ex,iled chief of the Czech Communist Party, aJbouit the main prindples upon which the
edifice of the future Ozecho-,Slovakia wouJd rely: (1) The
state admin.stration 'wouJld be repla<:ed by "natio,n_aa committees" (IS01Viet.s); (2) the .fOI1II1er right-of--center parties
would 1b e eliiminaited; (3) the non-Communist parties in ire-
�20
SLOVAKIA
,s tored Ozecho ..Slovak,ia would form ,w ith the Communists a
"government of National 1F ront"; (4) "people's courts"
would lbe established to eliminate all war criminals. These
principles with an extensive inter,pretation and -aipplication
of ipoints (2) and ( 4) and the nationali2ation of indiustcy
were to, lay the fou:ndaitions for a "People's !Democracy" in
Czecho-1Slovakia.
In Slov:alkia, the treaty of friendship , mutual help, and
coJ1aboration with the Soviet Union iProduced a stimulating
effect upon the Commun1st .and Social Democrat undergroUIIlds and also on a group of lilberals whose imaigiination,
with respect to central Europe, was tempted more lb y the
absent Soviet Union than 'by the present Germany.
These ,groll!ps met secretly on Christmas 1943 in Bratislava and signed what is known as the "ChristJmas agreement." In this declaration they reaffirmed their will to
work for the restoration of "Ozecho·-IS1ov•a kia," for a Illarrow collalboration with the iSov.ieit Union in the field of foreign policy, for the estaiblishment of political justice and
for the continuation oif resistance against the Germans and
the Slovak Government.
:FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL GALAYDA,
AMERICAN CITIZEN FROM HAZLETON, PA.
Mr. McTigue. The Russians deported to Russia the
teachers and iwell-educated ,peoip le?
Mr. G alayda. Yes, t eachers and educated people.
Mr. McTigue. And you were in Slova:kia while this was
going on; is that correct?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. :McTigue. Now, while these deportations were going
on did you then endeavor to get a visa o.ut ·o f the country ?
Mr. GaJayda. I :tried a couple of times but it was impossible at that time. I was put in ja•il two tim es.
Mr. tM cTigue. Who puit you in jail?
Mr . Galayda. The Ozecho-Sloivak Army. They asked me
to fight ,a gainst the Germans. I ref,u:sed. I said, "I am an
American citizen and I refuse to serve in the Czec,ho..,Slovaik
Army."
�SLOVAKIA
21
!Mr. (McTigue. 1S0, you were put in jail because. you refused to serve?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, thaJt's right.
MT. !MoTigue. Now, when was t1he second time you were
put in jail?
Mr. Galayda. Wel1, the second time was in 1946.
Mr. Mc'Digue. iBy the Communists?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Why?
Mr. Galayda. Well, because I was campaigning against
communism.
Mr. McT,i gue. You were making taiks against communism?
Mir. Ga1ayda. Yes, I made ,a couple speeches in the villages against communi sm. That is why I was jailed.
'M r. iMcTigue. Noiw, in 1'94fi, at the end of the war, did
you try to get a Un~ted States passport?
Mir. Galayda. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTiig ue To return to the United States?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. [n 1945, when the war was 0 1ver, me
and my brothers decided to Oeaive, because at that time the
United States was ,stil'l fighting with the Japanese. So we
decided to leave and join the American Army.
Mr. iMcTigue. iDecided to come home?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. We went to the American cons,ul in
Prague. He refused. He saiid, "You have to get your passport
finst, then you can join American Army." So ,J came home.
Mir. McTigue. How did you go about gettiing your passpont?
Mr. Galadya. Well, we went to Hungary. On the way
from Budapest to Bratislava - weH, i will tell you something 3:borut the !Russian s-oldd.ers, what they did.
Mr. McTigue. Yes, I wish you woiuld. This is while you
are taiking the train to 'Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda Yes. 'l never am going to forget that time
what happened.
Mr. McTigue. You are on the train now?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Is this what you are describing?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
1
1
�22
SLOVAKIA
Mir. McTigue. And you rure en route to Prague lby way
of Budapest and Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda. The Russians pulled the emergency brake.
They had guns; they took the money frOirn .the ipoople, and
in every coach was one soldier. He had a gun. They robbed
the people. They ta!ke everything. Then I heard some
screaming, a girl, a couple of giTls started screaming. I
know that. I remember that. And I don't know what happened because 1I didn't see because in every coach was one
soldier and we can't move.
Mr. McTigue. And they -to ok the girls off the tra,i n ?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. How long did they hold the train up?
Mr. Gailay<la. Oh, Irt was, I think, at least one hour.
Mr. Boll!in. One hour.
Mr. :Mc'I'igue. And everybody on the train ·w as relieved
of his valualbles, jewelry, money?
Mr. Galaiyda. They took everything.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what !hia:ppened when you finally
reached .Prague ?
Mr. Galayda. Well, when I reached the Prague, liike I
said, I went to the American consul. I itold hd.m I ,wanted to
join the American Army. H~ said, "!No. You have to get
your Arnevican ,p assport first." So then I came home.
Mr. McTigue. You came home to Slovakia?
Mr. Galadya. Yes. I came baok home. Then I start
speruking agafast communism.
Mr. Mc'lligue. You started writing against communism ;
you made some speeches against communism?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. ls that correct?
Mr. Bonin. Now, did any,body ma!ke any complaint rubout
theiir activities, itaking this property aJway from them?
Mr. Ga1ayd:a. No, 'alt that time it rwaiS impossible to say
something.
iMr. Bonin. You had nobody to turn to to even make a
Mr. Galayda. No.
complaint?
Mr. Bonin. If you did ma!ke a compla int you would probably ·b e arre&t ed ?
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
23
Mr. Galayda. Then yOl\l are sent ito Russia.
Mr. Bonin. In other wocds, tllere was a c0111Stant fear
in the minds of the peoiple that they would go to a concentration camp?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, that's tight.
Mrr. Bonin. Into 'Si-ber-ia?
Mr. Ga:layda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Which, of course, is nothing ito .p leasant to
M1ybody living ·b ehind the Iron Curtain?
Mr. Gafayda. No, I don't think so.
Mr. Bonin. You were very happy to get ou:t of there?
Mr. Galayda. Yes,. The Communist Party is no good for
this world; a!bsoI1U1telly no good. Becaiuse ,I was over there -and
I lb.ave experience: ,I lived in Czecho-lS1ovakia for 20 years,
and I know. They iaire no good in this world.
Mr. Bonin. They are no good for this world. Well, do
you have any moos-a ge to tell ,to the people of the United
States who may feel that communism is a good system of
government?
Mr. Galayda. Well, there is one thing I can say, and that
is the American ,p eople should be proud of what they have,
freedom of speech and everything They should ibe ,p roud o.f
what they have.
Mr. Bomn. ls, it-here any freedom of religion under the
Communists?
iMr. Galayda. No.
Mir. Bonoin. Is there Mly freedom iof the press?
Mr. Galayda. No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom of assembly?
Mr. Galayda . No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom to use radio and teleMr. Galayda. No.
visi'o n as we do !ill America here.?
Mr. Bonin. [t i,s a ,pretty lblack picture, this lirving behind t.he Iron Curtain; isn't iit?
Mir. Galayda. That's ~ight.
(Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ISeptemiber 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MR. SMREKOVSKY
MT. McTigue. You came to this country in 1928; is that
correct?
Mr. Smrekiovsky. 1928 is correct.
Mr. MoTigue. And did you become a:n American citizen
at that time?
�2-l
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir, after being five years in this
country.
Mr. McTi!gue. I under,stand that you returned to Slovakfa in 1939; is that cor.root?
Mr. 1Smrekovgky_ 1939; yes.
Mr. !l\foTigue. What iwas the purpose for returning to
Slova·k ia at that time?
Mr. Smrekovsky. To. visit my father because he was
reaching 90 rund wrote me that he was i'll; so I wanted to
visit him and see him.
Mr. Mc'figue. Now, did you return to Slovakia before
the 'Outlbreak oif wa;r between Germa;ny a.ind Polamd?
Mr. 1Sm.rekovsky. Yes. We had a little difficll'l,ty crossing
t:he ·Polish boroer, lbut ,that didn't amount to much.
Mr . .McTigiue. Noiw, at thait time, conditions were good
in ,Slovakia; is that correct?
Mr. Smreko'V'sky. Yes, they were.
Mr. Mc'figue. There wasn't any difficulty as far as
Mr. ,S mrekovs,k y. We didn't .know anything about wa:r
then.
Mr. McTigue. There was ,c omplete fu-eedom of ithe
Mr. ISm.rekovsky. Yes.
press...
Mr. McTigue. Freedom of ireligion . . .
Mr. 1Smerkovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And freedom of assembly
Mr. Smerkov:sky. Yes.
iMr. iMcTigue. Hoiw long did you stay in 1Slovakia?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. 1Seven years.
Mr. McTigue. Then you were there at the time the Rus1M r. !Smrekov.s ky. Ye·s, I was.
sians C'aime into 1Slovaikia?
Mrr. Mc'figue. What - or, w:hen did you first come .in
contact with the Commun.ists?
Mr. Smrekovsky. After the German Army was defeated,
they started to drop parachutists to organize Communist
bands to pers.e cute and rob middle class and decent people.
1M r. Mc'.Dig,ue. Noiw, did this haJppen in 1944?
Mr. IS mrekovs.ky. Yes.
lMr. Mcrrigue. And thls i1s the Communist-inspir ed uprising that you are talk,i ng a:bout.
�SLOVAKIA
25
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTi,g ue And in the community where you were
liviing rthey had parachuted agents into the community to organi1ze Communist bands in order to continue the uprising?
Mr. Smreko,v,s ky. That's right.
Mr. McTi'gue. And bring it to a successful conclusion, if
necessary?
!Mr. ISmrekovsky. Yes, and spread commurnsm at the
same time.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. Now, can you teH us some of the things
you wit:ne.ssed, yourself, during the course of this Communist-inspired uprising?
Mr. Smrekovsky. I remember a family cruptured by the
OommUIIllists. There were five memlbers in the fami'ly, a twoyear-old giirl, there was another bigger girl, a son-in-laiw, a,n
old man, and his wife. They were dragged to the edge of
the forest and shot from ithe back. Then they dug a hole for
them and buried them.
Mr. Bonin. Mr. Counsel, I just want to interrupt here.
We hea.ird testimony .b efore from different witnesses when stating that ithey were shot in the back, do you mean
that the . . .
Mr. Smrekoivsky. They start •t o run.
Mr. Bonin. They ,s tarted to run?
Mr. Smrekovsky. They started to run and they shot
them from the back.
iMr. Bonin. And they shot tlhem firom the bru~k whiie
they were trying to get away from them?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Now, they were agents of the Russian Government - that were doing that?
Mr. Smrekovs:ky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. .A!nd were they armed, these people that were
shot, or were they with01Ut a,r,ms?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. They were without arms.
Mir. Bonin. They were without arms?
Mr. '.Smrekovsky. Without arr-ms, innocent people.
Mr. Bonin. But, nevertheless, they were all .s hot in the
baC'k, the one two years of a,ge, four years of age, the two
larger ones, the son-in...,Jaw, and the father?
1
1
�26
SLOVAKIA
,M r. Smrekovsky. And the mother, too. Five persons.
Mr. Bonin. Five persons? Now, you say that they were
tossed in •a mass grave; is that correct?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. Bonin. They were a:11 placed in the same g:raJVe?
MT. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Was there any re1iigious burirul service involrved?
MT. Smrekovsky. No, sir. No, sir. They just buried them
there like any criminals. It ha:ppened around Oot:ctber, and
during tJhe winter they dug them out and :p ut them in the
cemetery, in the corner of the cemetery, where they are
Mr. Bonin. Continue Mr. Counsel.
sti1l buried.
'Mr. IMcTiigue. Now, after the Communists had occuipied
Slovwkia, did there come a time when you were put in
jail your1self?
1Mr. Smreikovsky. Yes. r:r was there 14 days.
Mr. Mcfl'igue. Why?
Mir. 1Smrekovsky. Of course, they had no reason. They
wanted to get rid of the middle-class people. My ·brother-4nlaw and a friend of mine were an-ested. Finally, my wife
went to the authorities <a!Ild they let me free after 14 days.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to your brother-in~law?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Well, he was jailed also, hut they released him.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. But there were others whom they didn't
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
,r elease?
~fr. lMc'l'igue. You know that of your own personal
Mr. 'Sm~kOIV'sky. Yes.
knowledge?
Mr. Mc'.Digue. They were friends of yours?
Mr. 'Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Leading people in the community?
•M r. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Priests?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. McTigue. Nuns?
of different rel,i gious faiths?
people
And
lMcTigu.e.
Mr.
Mr. SmTekovsky. Yes.
MT McTigue.·· Now, when did you and how did you get
back to the United States?
�SLOVAKIA
27
Mr. SmrekoV!Siky. As soon as the American constcl came
to Prague, I a,pplied for visa to the United States, and as
soon as my transportation was ready I lef.t and came to the
United States, first of Octolber 1946. I left my we there
for three years until I could bring her 'O'Ver.
Mr. iMcTigue. Now, at the time you le.flt you awned some
Mr. Smrelwvsky. Yes.
·
property; didn't you?
Mr. iMcTigue. What lhaippened to that iproperty af.ter
you left? .
Mr. Smrekovsky. Well, that was a1l confiscated. My
wife had to sign a statement tha,t it's gi;ven to ,the Govem.ment. And every'body ,w ho wamts to come to America had to
do that. Otherwise she would't get a !Visa.
The Chairman. That is a method of highway robbery that
they hold against somebody that wants to migraJte from one
country to. another?
Mr. S'mrekovsky. Yes, sir.
Mr. Bonin. They compel them to transfer their i)roperty
to the Government.
(Wil:kes-iBarre, Pa., September 30, 1954).
a
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MRS. SMREKOVSKY
iMr. McTigue. When yoUJr husband left Slova!kia in 1946
to come to the Untted States, he left you in Slovakia; is
(Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct.
Mr. iMcTigue. And at the time he left you in 1946 you
had under yourr care the property which you both owned; is
Mrs. :SmrekoV'Slky. Yes.
thaJt correct?
Mr. McTigue. rNow, when your husband left and you had
the ipropeirty under your management, what experience did
you have with the Communists?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Very ibad.
Mr. McTigue. Did they make efforts to frig,hten you in
--any way so that you would give your property ;to them?
Mrs. Sinreko1Vsky. ThaJt was the only hope to come to
this country, unless if agreed that the property is transferred to the Government.
Mr. McTigue. So until you signed over your property to
�28
SLOVAKIA
the Government you 'had no chance of leaving Slovakia; is
!Mrs. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct?
MT. iMcTigue. iln it.he meantime, while you were still
there, in 1946 and b,efore you left the country, were your
friends mistreated by the Comrnurusts? Were any of yoll'I'
close friends that you harve personal ikno,w ledge of mistreated
in any way by the Communists?
!Mrs. Smrekorvsky. In my hometown there were shot or
massacred four 1people while I was wiith my ,p arents - there
was a senator, a notary public, a mayo.r , and a foo-ester. DuTing the night, in theilr ntght clothes, they loaded them UJp in
one truck rund took them away.
Mr. McTigue. What was their crime? Why were they
shot?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Because they were not Communists
and they never a:gireed with the Comml.llilists.
MT. Bonin. Oongressman Feighan. Just a minute. In
other words, even though the Communists ,have been in Slo1Mrs.
Smre~ovsky. Yes.
va:kia since 1945 . . .
Mir. Bonin. StiM your relatives ·a nd friends have not beMrs. Smrekovsky. Right.
come Communists?
Mr. Bonin. They still belie·v e in ,t he religion and the freedom of religion that they had before?.
Mrs. Smrekovsky. And they hope they wihl be £.reed and
live again like decent people.
MT. Bonin. In other words, regardless of how long the
Communists may dominate Slorvrukia, there is still that desire for freedom on theiiT prurt and to live as they used to
prior to the Communist regime that has been imposed upon
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
them?
Mr. Bonin. Now, I understand that t:hese four influential 1poople, a senator, a mayor, a t:imiber man and a notary
public, were also shot because rthey failed to accept communism and to lead the people through Communist doctrines and
princilples under the domination of the Russian system?
Mrs. Smrekorvsky. Right.
Mr. Bottin. That is the type of freedom thaJt is being
sold to the ,people behind the lTOn Currtain?
Mrs. -Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
�SLOVAKIA
29
MT. Bonin. Force, threats, violence, and intimidation, in
order to constantly keep them in fear of whait is apt to happen to them?
1M rs. Smrekovsky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. Now, your wifo came out of Czecho-iSliovrukia
in 1'9 49; ts thart: correct?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. Yes, sirr.
Mr. !Bonin. And the principal reason ,w hy you aTe testifying under an assumed name is lbecaUJSe you are fearrful of
what might haJppen to your relaUves and ,t he friends. that
you ,s till 1haJVe in 1s1ova~ia?
Mr. Srnrekovsky. Exactly.
(WiJJkes-iBarre, Pa., ,September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH PAU00
Mr. McTigue. 1Mr. Pall'co, where are you living at the
present ,t ime? - - - Dr. Pauco. ln Middletown, Pa.
Mr. McTigue. H ow are yiou employed?
Dr. Pa:ll!co. I am assistant editor of the Slova.k weekly,
Jednota.
Mr. McTigue. Mir. !PauJco, I understand that you were
born in Slovakia, is that correct.
Dr. PaU!co. Yes; that is true.
Mr. ,M cTigue. What part of Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. In ceilltraJl Slovakia.
Mr. McTigue. Central ISlovaJkia. And it's my understanding that you spent most of your adult life as a journalist; is
that coTrect?
[)r. ,Pawc'O. Yes; that is correct, sir.
Mr. McTi:gue. W1hiile yiou were in Slova!kia, it is also my
understanding that in yiour capacity as -a journa:list, you had
the occasion to witness the Communist~in,s;pired uprising in
1944; is that correct?
Dr. Pa'Ulco. Yes, that's true.
Mr. Mc'lligue. And were, you also present at the uncovering of the mass graves at Vinnitsia in the Ukraine?
Dr. Pauico. Yes; that's right.
Mr. McTigue . . How d!id you happen to be there?
Dr. 1Pau'co. I was a member of a journalist expedition in
July 1943 It wa:s an e~pedition of all journalists firom cen.trrul Europe. I came to Vmnitsia in July 1943 and I wais there
four days. In those four days I saw five ,o.r six maSIS grarves
of the Ukrainian people and some Polish people, who were
�30
SLOVAKIA
murdered by the ,Soviets. An eX!planation was girven to us
by the Geamam.. dootors that these people were shot between
1939 and 1941.
I spoke with the local people, Ukrainia:n and Polish people, some dozens of these people, because we were allowed
to spealk to those people - a,t the mass graves there in Vinnitsia, in the town of Vinnitsia. For example, I was shaved
twice in a local lba'.l'bershop, and I spoke to these men and
with some. other people ,i n Vinnitsi,a. A concert was gurven
in t'he town of Vinnitsia in honor of ,t he journaliSll:s' e,q;>edition, and after this concert, I spoke with several men and
women, and all these Ukrairuian people trul'ked to me. They
said what I saiw there in mass graJVes is true, and that their
relaitirves were shot by the Soviets between 1939 and 1941,
after the occupation of west Uikra,inia in 1939. Some people
of Ukrainian nationality known as strong anti-Communists
were deported in the Illight. And late,r , at the begmning of the
wa:r !between 1Sovieit Russia and Germany, deporta:tion was in
~eat masses. Nob,ody ,w as sure that hls, relatives, hrusbands,
sons, or some other of the family, wilhl not be shot in the
night. I have in my memory six ox seven cases of the wives
and daughters of the shot fathers and brothers, who told
me their relatives were deported in the night. The people
knew nothing. Their husbands and fathers were sent to Siberia or probably shot.
Mir. McTigu:e. How many people were killed
Dr. Pauco. Several 'hundred.
iMr. McTigue. At Vinnitsia?
Dr. Pau'co. 1Severrul hundred. I was at the graves four
days and I spoke with several dozens of Ukrainian women,
and, I learned, several ·hundred were buried in these mass
grarves.
iMr. McTigue. In these mass grarves that you knew
about?
Dr. ·P auco. Yes; in Vinniitsi.a.
Mr. McTigue. Yes. But there were other mass graves
disc01Vered later on; is that correct?
Dr. Pau'CO. I heard about it. I know a;bout Katyn, but I
wasn't there. ,I was in Vinnitsia and I can state only what l
saw at these mass graves. I have here a statement of what
�SLOVAKIA
:n
I saJW at these mass graves.
Mr. McTigue. iMay I suggest, Mir. Chairman, since we
hawe other testimony that we want to develop, and since we
haJVe other witnesses, t:ha.t we admit this statement into the
reoord, but not have it read at this time?
Dr. Paulco. All right.
Mr. ,McTig;ue. IMaJke it a ,p art of the reoord.
Mr. !Bo:nin. Woll!ld you have any objection if we make
this staitement a part of the record at this time and you g;ilVe
us the highlights of it as of thJis moment?
Dr. PaUlc<>. All right.
Mr. Bonin. Without oibjootion, we will take the statement and place it in the committee files.
Mr. iMcTigue. You may recall, Mr. Chairman, tllait we
had testimony at our hearings in Munich on the Vinnd.tsia
murders very much ,a long the same 1ines Mr. Paruoo is testifying. This testimony that he has given today on the subject of the Vin.nlitsi.ai massacre eertainlly corroibo,rates wha,t we
hea.Td from many ,wiit:nesses in Munich. You aJlso recall in
connection with that testimony that one of ibhe witnesses
descri1bed the finding of hundreds of bod!ies of Vinnitsi:a \'i,ctims under the floor of a d'ance hall in one of the amusement •pariks iw:hen these mass graves were investig;ated. iI am
sure you recall thait testimony.
Mr. Bonin. Yes. I distinctly recall that, a'lld this corroborates the faot tJhat these mass graves and the mass kfiling of citizens of Vinnirtsia was deli;b erate and ,pe~trated
entirely by ,t he Communist regime in Russia.
Now, I understand, Mr. Pauioo., that you have some addition.al testimony suipplementing what 1happene:d in V!innitsia aind what took ,p lace in 'Slov,aikia; is that C()lrrect?
Dr. PaU!co. Yes. I woltld iiJke to say thiat the same thing
that h~ppened in Vinnitsia in 1939-41 happened in Slovakia in lr944. The Sovli.ets' s~hool oif prurtisans were parachuted
in the s,prmg of 1'94'4 in the mou:nrtains of Slorvaki1a, and then
in August 1'9414 they orga.ruzed a so-calil ed uprising against
the SlovaJk Government a'lld shot hundredlS and thousands of
Slovaks of anti..Communist feeling. Im Slova1ci(a, we had at
this time, 1944, several mass graves of innocent Slovak ciiti-
�32
SLOVAKIA
zens, Slova.ik ainti-Oommunist patriots. The Communist part~,s ans ,w ere 1pariachUJted, as I mentioned, by the Soviets, and
the partisans were also furnh,,hed Soviiet ammunition. This
so-called upris,i ng in 1Slov-akia started with prepairations in
194'3. Some so.-,called underground politicians made an 8.'greement with the Communist leader, Karol Schmidke. And
this Karol ;Schmidke saiid in 1946 that this action in 1943,
this preparation of the uprising, was the merit o;f the illegal
Communist Party. All the people who declined to collaborate
with the Communist ieaders in 1944 were shot. Thiiis happened in central 1Slova.ikia because central Slovakia is a
mountainous land. Then the German armies came to S1ova-kia and :Slorvak ter:nitory was a battlefield. After this Communist uprising in ,Slovrukia, I heard f.rom my friends, from
my relatives in ISJ.ovakria thrut many innocent ,p eople, farmers, ,w orkei,s, priests, ,s ome ipriesits, ,s ome congressmen,
were shot by the Communists. I recall a congressman, a Catholic priest Anthony Salat. He was of very strnnig feeling
against the Communists. He wrote several books againist
communism and, iin the first week of the uprising, he was
shot. In 1Slw8!kia were liquidated about forty to fifty thousand :S lovaks in this Communist putsch.
1
Mr. IMc'Digue. T1hey were shot?
Dr. Pauco. They were shot 1b y the Soviets, b,y the Soviets' paritisan,s and by the collaborators in Slovakia.
!Mr. McTigue. About '50,000?
Dr. Paufo. Yes, aJbout '50,000.
Mr. McTigue. 1In the period of one year?
Dr. Pauco. In the period of three months.
Mr. McTigue. Three months?
Dr. Pauco. The purtsch was defeated in two months, but
after there were some battles in the mountains in Slovakia,
and in December the Red Army ,c ame to Slovalkia. Several
thousand Slo.vaJks fr,om eas,t ern Sl01viakia were sent by the
NK_,V il) to Russia, to Siberia and concentration camps. and
to the mines in Dombas.
Mr. IMcTigue. Norw, when and how did ,t he uprising finally
end?
�33
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Pauco. The German Army came into Slovakia in
September 1944.
Mr. McTigue. Now, you had a close relationship with
Monsignor Tiso; isn't that correct?
Dr. Pauco. 'f.hat's true.
Ylr. McTigue. Now, will you tell the committee who Monsignor Tiso is and briefly explain your relationship with him
and your discussion with h~m afte,r the putsch?
Dr. Pauco. I was editor-in-chief of the greatest daily in
Slovakia, the "Slovak." This daily was the organ ,o f Monsignor Tiso. Joseph Tiso was the first Slovak President. He was
the legal President of the SlovaJk Republic, which came into
being on March 14, 1939. The ,Slovaik Republic had diplomatic relations with 27 naJtions, of them 17 or 18 were on the
side of the western allies. Monsignor Tiso was a Christian
ruler - after a thousand years, the first Slovak irll'ler and I had the opportunity to spea:k with him practically
every week . I reca:11 thrut on August 20, 1944, I was in Presov at a meeting called by the Government, by the army,
and by the Slovak People's Party. At that time, in eastern
Slovrukia the situation was very critica•l and the delegates
practicaly from every village and every town from eastern
Slovakda told the Government and government representatirves of Bratislava, tha:t something wliitl hruppen if the Slovak
Army and Slovak police do not interlere. Pradically the
whole of eastern Slovakia was, parachuted at this ,t ime by
the So;yiets, the Soviet parti,sans and Soviet a;genrts. I spoke
after this meeting with Dr. Tiso, and ag,ain when the pUJtsch
was liquidated. Dr. Tiso at this time was ready to resign.
He hoped that some Slovak politician would take the Slovak
question to the International Tribunal.
Mr. Bonin. Tribunal?
Dr. Pauco . Tribunal, yes, because he would iiike to
change the regime, but to preserve independent Slovakia.
That was the goal of Monsignor Dr. Tiso.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to Monsignor Tiso eventuallv?
Dr. Pauco. Monsignor Tiso was hanged, executed by the
Communist nation:i.l court, April 18, 1947, in Bratislava. Dr.
1
�34
SLOVAKIA
Tiso wa.s the first among the Catholic prelrates in central
Europe who were executed by the Communists afte,r Warld
War Iil.
Mr McTigue. The usual phony charges, I suppose, were
applied, and the usurul phony court procedures were set in
motion?
Dr. Pauco. Just becallise he had anti-Communist feelings; I know, 'Il!Ot from Dr. Ttso, but from his personal secretary who its living now i n Caniada, seiveral times, Soviet
agents were ready to assuire to Slova.ks and Dr. Tiso himself
a seperate Slovak-,Soviet Repulblic if Dr. Tiso will go wtth the
Soviets, and Dr. Tiso refused. Tiso said one time, I recall,
that tf his own brother were a Communist, he would fii.ght
him. And I am SJure that i·s why Dr. Tiso wa:s executed by
the Commtmists' so-called nahonal court in April 1947.
Mr. Fetghain When you state that Monsirgnor Tiso was
the first of the clergymen to he executed by the Russian
Communists, you mean the first outstanding figure, both in
the spiritual and politic8il world?
Dr. Pll!uico. Yes, sn-. That's correct.
Mr. Feiigihain. That's 1a ll.
Mir. Bonin. W-ell, Mr. Pauco, it is nothing uncommon for
a priest or a member of the clergy in central EUI'Opean
countries to be in political life; isn't that correct?
Dr. Paooo . Yes, that's ri.ghit.
Mr. Bonin. And, therefore, they would be permitted to
engBlge in political lifo . . .
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
MT. Bonin. Bllit they took a leave od' absence from their
clerical life; isn't that coreivct?
Dr. Pauco. No, that was not so in S1ovakiia. Monsignoir
Tiso, as Prresident of the Slovak RepU!blic, was the adm~nistrator of his own parish in Bano:vce, rund sang Holy Mass
there practically every Sunday.
'Mr. McTigue. Tell me, Mr. P8iuoo., how and why did you
escaipe from Slo1Va!kia arnd come to this country?
Dr. Praulco. After what I ,s aw in Vinnitsia, then in Slovakia , and what I hearo from many hundreds orf escll!pees
from Ukrainia, from Poland, from Russia, from Hu'Il!gary,
�SLOVAKIA
35
from Ruman:i:a ., from Lithiuani:a, about ·p ractices of 1S01Viets,
I could not stay in rS1()1VlaJk:J,a, because I hated communism ; I
hated oolsiheiv:ism, and I hoped to live in the free Western
World. I am happy that 1 am here in this free ,a nd democratic couliltTy. I haive my relatives over there, ,a nd one of
my relatives came through the border just several months
ago to Austriia. He. ~s: now in the American Zone, and he
writes to me. thlat Oill!r ;p eople over there behind the Iron
Curtain have friends. here in the United States, and they
are praying every d·a y that the Gorvernmen t of the United
States wHl win the battle against communism . ,A nd Slorvaks,
like IPoles, the Uikrairuans , the Baltic nations, or Rum•a nia,
Hung,ary, the Czechs:, Croatians,, :Serbians, and so on, they
like to be free like you are here in this country; they like to
be independen t, and, maybe, wiH sometime be ruinified in a
great European federation li,k e yoru are here urnfied in the
United States.
Mr. M:c~•g ue. When di:d you say you left Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. It wa:s in Apr.ii 1945.
Mr. McTigue. And when did you arrive in this country?
Dr. 'P auco. WoUT years aglO, in Apri[ 1950.
Mr. McTigue. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bonin. Mir. Feiglha:n.
Mr. Feighan. Mr. Pau!co, we have heard testimony with
reference to the Vinnitsia massacres ,w hich stated' to us that
after the Commllllllists were diriiven out of the Ukm.i.ne in
1943 and the Naizis came in, they opened up graves of which
there were 38, each of them the same length, and widlhh, and
depth, that they conWned ov:er 10,000 rpeople they
weiI'en't aill U!kirruinians; some were IPoJes, and of other nationalities ; 'that the people there were of various status ;
they were, :farmers, armsan;s, wovkers, ,a nd rinteilleotUJals, and
the testimony th1at we rnceived also. indicated, at iJ.east with
reference to those particulaT graves, that tlhey were done by
the So;viet Russ,i ans durJng the years 1937 and 1938, but I assume that they did many othera besides those.
Dr. Pa:uco. I spoke ,t o the 1people of Vinniitsia, these
�SLOVAKIA
36
people, Ukramiians and Poles, were all liquidated tb y the
Soviet agents.
,MT. Feighan. Yes. That ~s my understanding.
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. The testimony that we had shows that.
I 1have no further que,s1t1:ons
Mr. Bonin. WeH, Mr. Pa.'Ulco, you stated that this alleged uprising in Slovakiia was clearly Communist inspired,
is that OOlITect..
Mr. Pauco. Yes, that is correct.
Mr. BODJin. They created dissension and they created an
atmospheTe Olf revolt within Slova:ki:a?
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
!Mr. !Bonin. And a.gents had been sent in there, is that
cor,rec.t, to irritate and agitate this revolt?
Dr. Pauico. That is correct.
Mr. iBonin. And by thait means using the Commurnst
tecfunique to wipe out the ,people that were undesiralble to
them?
Dr. Pauco. Yes
Mr. !Bonin. Of coU1I1Se, iwe lhruve had testimony where thait
same identicaJl truing was used in- other countries that have
come under the domi'Il'ation of the Russians throughout different parts of Ea;sitern EuTope, lbut this is <the fhist time,
I beli'e!V'e, that we had testimony that they were aotually
dvopped in by pamchute to iITitate and agitaite rund crnate
the trouble.
Dr. Pauc·o. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. But, in the meantime, they !had some agitators in there already; iis tlhat correct?
Dr. Pauico. Oh, yes.
Mr. Bonin. And they had le:6twingers ,i n there?
iDr. Pallico. Yes.
iMr. !Bonin. Who were ready to follow the agents tha:t
were dTopped in?
Dr. PauJco. Yes.
Mir. !Bonin. In other words, isome people in the United
States fool that there are not many Communistls, lb ut they
are aliways :ready, willing w:hen the o.p portune time cOllnes,
to seize that opportunity to overthrow the existing governmenrt: in any partioular place .
Dr. Pauco. Thait's wue.
Mr. Bondn. Now, of course, since you have lbeen in the
1
�SLOVAKIA
37
United States, you have been trying to. bring to the attention
of the people of the free world this Commwnist threat; is
that correct?
Dr. P,a uco. Yes, that is oorredt.
Mrr. Bonin. And in each instance where you haive an opportUillity, and I understand that you are still a newspaperman and a joornalist, you bring these facts to .t he attention of the people that Tead your newspaper, the Je<lnota?
Dr. fuuco. Yes, that's correct
Mr. Boniin. This isn't tJhe fiiirst part, of Eastern Europe
that we have heard of where forty to f,i fty thousand people
have boon slaughtered.; O'Ilce a;gain demonstrating that the
Communist regime holds power only because 1t UJSeS force
and threats and intimidation to keep the people ias helpless
as they possibly can.
Dr. Paiu100. That is correct.
Mr. Bonin. WeH, on behalf of the committee.. I 'Wish to
thank yow for your splendid staJte:rnent tlhat you haive made
as a part of thii:s ree-0,r d and for the reswme orf yo'lllI' experiences in Ozecho-Siovakia and in .Slov•a kia.
Dr. Pauco. Thank you.
Mr. Boiruin. Mr. Feighan has another question 'h e would
like to as!k you, Mr. Pauco.
Mr. Fei,ghan. Do you not feel that it is correct, Mr.
Pautco, that the people of 1Slo;v;akia are imbued with the nationali-stic -spirit, a love of God and a love of colUllltry, and
they just seek the right of self-deteTmination as ~ sovereign
nation?
- Dr. Pauco. That is co,r rect, Slir.
Mr Bonin. In other words, they are asking nothing
more than some of the principles: that have been em.mcia:ted
through long yea.rs, that each people have the right to de- ·
termine the kmd o.f government they wish to have, the type
of leaders they wish to have, and to conooct their Lives and
thei,r g01Vernment in theiT own nationialistic spirit and attitude. The people orf R!Umania, Hung,a ry, Po•land, Lithuania,
Latvia, EJSltooila, ruid o:their nations ha,v e the same desire to
goveTn themselves; is that correct.
Dr. Pauico. Yes; iliat iis correct.
MT. Bomn. Welil., I 'Wliish to thank you ,v ery much for
your testimony, and we sincerely hope thait the opportunity
1
�SLOVAKIA
38
presents itself to defeat thls Communist threat, not only to
the Ewopean natio111S., burt: also to the peoples of the free
world. Thank you ve,r y much.
Dr. P,aulco. Thank you.
Mr. Feiighan. Waiit a minute, Mr. Pauco·.
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. During your experience in Slova>lcia, did
you haive an opportunity to witness the manner by which
the Russian Commlln!isbs tried to break up the culture, the
1,anguage, the customs, and the religion of the Slovak people?
Dr. Pauco. I lived in Bratislava. Bvatislava is the capital
of Sllo;v,rukdoa, and is on fille west border of Slovrukia. The Soviets came from the east. The whole of Slov-akJa was occupied on April 7 or 8, ,a nd I escaped from Bratis lav,a on
April 4.
Mr. Feighan. I see.
Dr. Paulco. I wasn't there after the Soviets occupied the
whole of Slov.alk,i a, ·b ut I was in Braitiosla:va during three
months thait the eastern part of Sl()!Va:kia was occupied by
the !Soviets, and I heard from my relatives, from my f11iends ,
of the methods which I mentioned before.
Mr. !Feighan. Yes; but you were noi there yourself t o
see it and observe .iit?
Dr. Pmrco. No, no.
Mr. Feigihan. Well thank you, Mr. Pauco
Or. Paulco. You are wekome.
Mr. Bonin. Thank you <very much.
(Wil'kes-,Barre, Pa. , September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DR. JOSEPH l\1IKULA
IMr. iMcTigue. Were you in Sl'OVlaJkia during World War
Dr. Miku1a. Yes, I was.
Mr. iMcTigue. Were you a pairt of the underground
movemerut in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikul,a. Yes, sir. We started the underground movement at the end of World War II. I was one of those who
started it.
iMr. Mc'Digue. When did it start ?
Dr. Mi1kula. It was in 1944.
tr?
�SLOVAKIA
39
:Mir. McTigue. What caused you amd others to form this
underground moivement?
Dr. Mikula. I will read a short statement in this connection. The inception of the anti-Communist arganirlation
is attrilbutafule to the iintellectuals wlho foresaw the necessity
of truking preventive measures aga,inst the imminent d001ger
of communism. They studied communism and decided to
combat it, ~cause tlhey had no false illusions of whether or
not the Communists wOIU!ld Telax their demands after World
War II.
The first communistic pressur~ was expected in the
field of religion. Conseqiue.ntly, the preparations were directed for the defense of re!l,i gious freed.om and the preservation of religious life in the event of intensive persecutions.
The second fi.eld was the po[iltical field. Ourr ca1cuJations
at the !beginning w&e wrong. They didn't staTt at the beginning in religiious _peil'Sooution, but it:Jhey concentrated an theliir
activities in the political field.
Mr. Kersten. Have you finished with your s1:Jatement?
Dir. Mikul,a. No; very briefly about this polii!tical field.
The most essential elements in tlhe polritical life of the nation
are political parties. The Communists knew it, and acted accordingly. They were verry cautious. that no par.ty existed
which by attracting the sympathy of a majority of the _population wouild endanger t'he position of the Commumst Party.
So, the parties which airose after the war with the petrmisSlion of the Communusts were incapable of eiffecting
strong anti-Communist oipposition, because, first, theiy had
no roots, no tradition, a;mong the population.
Second, part of their leadeffi, were either tools of Communists ior opportunists who, /because of l,a ck of principles
and courage, completely sulbmitted to the Communist pressure, and third, throug;h the assistance of the ColIIlm.unist
Party, they were s'h ackJed - aM other parties were shackled
by the coordinating comrruttee of all the parrties, the socalled National Front. This Nationa'l Front was nothing else
but a machine in the ih ands of the Communists to control
aU o,pposiition against the Communist Party.
Mr. Mc'l'igue. Were you the recognized leader of the un-
�40
SLOVAKIA
derground in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula I woll!ldn't say so.
Mr McTig;ue. Were you one of ,t he leaders?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. !Did you ar.ronge to have some of your
members sent abroad in order to assist in the underground
movement from without ?
Dr. Mtkula. I thin:k I can state it quite openly. Our program was to prepa1re things, firs,t, at home, and, second, we
had some people out aibroad. I mean, out of ,the count.Ty. We
,s end them out of the country ,a nd directed the situ.aitiion,
informed them, they ind'ormed us. The illlformatiion we receirved we direoted to ,proper aut'horitie;,
iMr. Keirsiten. Now, just at this ipoint - we want to
ma:ke sure that you understand ,p erfectly clearly, Mr. Mikula. We know, of course, that you did operate in the underground in Slovakia, and there are undou!btedly a number of things that you would not wish to spea;k a.'bout specifiicaHy and openly. 1S0 that any question the oounseil or
any member here might ask in that regard, you just use
yom own judgment. We don':t want you to disclose pU!blicly
anything t hat would in any way endanger the ipresent situation there, a:nd that is what you 'ha,,ve in mind, Mr. Counsel, I am sure.
Mr McTigue. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. [Mikula. Yes. I 'Wl3.'Ilted to ask yo u for this permission.
Mr. Mc'Tugue. How long were you a part of the undergroU1I1d in Slovakia.?
Dr. Miikwla. I was wor,king directly in the field almost
fiiive years to the. end ,o f 1'949. 1Iin Feb:rua.ry 11950 I left for
the United States.
·Mr. McTigue. And did you emigrate to the Uniited
States in 1950?
Dr. Milkula. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTigue. Now, when you left 1S1ova.ki.a in 1949, were
you furced to !leave your wife b e hind'(
Dr. Mikula. No, I was one of tho se who was sent
abroad when the Communists took over and legia.l opposition
was ailimost iimpossilble in ,the country. So, I went out from
Slova:kfa in 1945, and I was wonk,i ng outside of Sfoviakia.. I
was worlcing abroad. I have here a little bo~ldet edited by
1
1
�41
SLOVAKIA
the Ministry of l!nterior in .Prague; the head of the Ministry
of Interior was a well-iknown Oommunist •o y the name of Nosek. It was edited and published by the Ministry of Interior, 5,000 issues were distrilbuted over here. My name is
mentioned aJbout 70 or 80 times in this booklet.
Mr. Kersten. Just .so we get th•a t clearly, as I understand it, you ~eift Sloivaikia in 1945.
Dr. Mikuia. Yes, I did.
Mr. Kersten. And you were outside the country?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. !But while you were outside the coll!Ilitry
during the fullowmg yerurs up 'll'Iltil -about 1949 or 1950, you
were woriking in t'hiis movement, is that correct?
Mr. '.Mhlm~ia. I was in steady contact, and I was one of
the leaders outside.
MT. Kersten. Of the lllillderground freedom m01vement in
Slova,kiia?
Dr. Mii kula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And this :book ,t hat you have ha,nded us
here is a booldet put out by the Communists in Bratislava?
Dr. Miikula. 1:rl ·P rague. The Ministry of InteriOT, Czecho-Slovakia.
Mr. [Kersten. Maylbe we 1had better mark this.
Dr. Milrula. The title of .the book is "Conspiracy Agaiinst
the Repl]blic."
iMT•. Kersten. Would you mark thi<s "Milwaukee Exhibit 4."
And you have stated rthat this Milwaukee Exhibit 4 is a
Communist ,pubH1cation ipulblished in what year?
Dr. Miiktl'l.a:. ffit was printed Noivemlber 1947.
Mr. Kersten. And it contains rtJhe accounts of operations
2.gainst the Communist g01Vernmen t; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And you are named in here, as you say,
70 or 80 times?
[)r. Mii:ku1 a !Something liike that.
Mr. Kersten. In rw1hat crupacity?
Dr. Miikuila. Someitiiimes as ibhe leadeT of the underground, sometimes as an American agenrt, sometimes
Mr. Kerstein. Always in a derogatory sense?
Dr. M~kuJ1a. Absolutely.
1
1
1
�42
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Kersten. I notice on 1:Jhe first page of the printing
here - one of the first rpages - it is aotually page 7,, but it
seems to be the start "Of the body of t'he article - I notice
a name - Joseph rMi!kufa. Is that you?
Dr. Mikula. That i:s me.
Mr. Kersten. Then you are named frequently therearfter;
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
is t:Jhiat rig1ht?
Mr. Kersten. Proceed, Mr. Coltl7lsel.
Mr. McTigue. I w,ant to •ask you two questions. Dr. Mikula. Wi'fil you briefly tell uis something about the ac'tiivities
of the ll!Ilderground, and secondly, were these actiivities effectiive, in y;our j,udg,menit?
Mr. iKersten. Keeping in mind tJhe safety maitters that
we tahlced albout.
Dr. Miikua,a. As I mentioned before, the legaiJ. resistance
or Jega!l oppositilion againJSt communism was foiling. So, the
people 1wirt:Jh ra nti-Oommunist tendencies lost faith m their
weaik and oppo:rbuni,stic party leaders, and consequently,
sought -0ther mea.lilS wiherelby they might prevenit the Communists from ·aocompl:iishing their ,plans.
Now, the diTect answer to your question, "Wihat were
the actiivities ?" Fiirst, to do e,verythiing that would undermine the Coimmu!nist IP .arty, and the ends of tfue Oommunist
Party. We knew that they will try to Sovietize, to taike over
the counwy.
So, we rpuibliiished leaflets. We published booklets. We
pu'b1is,ihed pe;riodiools. IDverytilimg was hllegal and underground. That w.as at 'the b~imling. Laiter on, when it wiIB
pretty hrurd to distrilbute mimeographed leaflets or publications - because they were against the Communists - we
started an illegal triansimi-titer - a shortwaive radio station.
It is not necessairy to teH where and how it was, but it
existed and rit worked very effectively. Then, later on, we
tried to collect all possible rnformaitiorn from political, economical, military, oullJtu,r,a-1 life; get it out and mfomi the
worild 1aJbout the si•tUJatiion over there.
JUJst to show you how it was done, here are some photostatic copies of the orders issued by the commander in
ohlef of the nati'Onal security guard. It was a gend:armery
police.
�SLOVAKIA
43
Mr. McTigue. Communis t police?
Dr. Milrula. CommUIIlist, yes.
Mr. McTiguei. What did the ·o rder say?
Dr. Mikula. They are different o:rders. For example, I
will just ~ k of the first one. lt i,s dated Bratislava, March
4, 1947, firom the head{l_uall'lters of Nationail !S ecurity Guiard.
The orders to the lower units of National Security Guards :
il order that ,s pecial attention be paid to tJhe transports
of Volhyi.ruia Ozechs cOIInli.ng from tihe U. S. S. R. - thait is
the Soviet Union - they have already settled on the territory of Slovrukia. They have to lbe constantly watched arid
fO!Nowed, because they are spreadling internationr uUy false
infurmation a:bOUJt iour eastern ally, the U. S. S. R.
Mr. !McTigue. Wha:t people is he talking rubout in tlhis
order?
Dr. !M.ikiula. One of the tactics of Commt.Lll!ist takeover
was tramsplanta tion; movements of the people. Right after
t'he war we had a HUJngarian minority in 1Slcwakia and a SlovaJki,a n minoniity in iH ungary. Now , right aft.er the war
started the transportru tion orf these minorities frQiffi HUI11gary
to Slovwkia, a,:nd from 1S1ova!kfa. to Hungary.
What happened to Slovakia? From H1.1!11.g,acy came the
people who couldn't sipealk any word of Sloviak. To Hungacy
came people from Slova:kiia.
There were Ozeohs iwho Hived about 200 or 300 years in
one province of [Russia calllled Vo1hynia. Just to show good
faith tor something like bha.t, the Sowet moved those Volhynia: Czechs to Ozeciho-Slovaikia.
'Dhe movements of the population are very serious
thinigs, because they !bring insecurity. Noibody knows how
long he stays in his ()IWll house., in his 01W11 neighlborllood, and
so insecure people are aliways much easier for the CommUilasts to handle.
Mr. McTigue. That is the grnup to whiioh he has reference in the order?
Dr. Mikula. That is tihe explanation . So further:
Specifically , I ask the units of Nationa,] Soourity Guard
to watch the tI"ansports corning in and the transient transports orf V oohyniia Czec:hs going through the railroad station.
�44
SLOVAKIA
Those Czechs wouldn't come !into any contact with the
public. I mea.n witJh the popu1ati10n. Then you hiwe here the
order to maintain ~ continuous oontro1l on ail calls in post
offices and telephone-Office excihanges. This was done by
the ipol!ice. They ccmtr.ol all calls ·c oming in and W:hait was
said. If they find something against the regime they wt
accorcmng to regufations.
Thls here is concerning the control of the pop.wlation in
traiins. Everyone - they sa,y here, "Everyone is Slllpposed to
have this ridentificaitioo. card1." So, the units of SiNB - lower
units - are ordered lh:ere to control the population, and if
somebody hasn't his idenitificatlion card, he ris supposed to
be arrested am.cl brougiht ilil for investigation to the nearest
police station.
This order ooncerns the former gendarmes orr mem!bers
of the National Security Guard poiice who were deported to
Russia, were coniiined there, and later on brought 1b ack to
Slovakia. Same of them were put in the!ir fonner positions.
They were ·agaiin rcinsitated a:s gendarmes, but the order says:
To the Ministry ()If Interior came the information t:Jhat
the behavior ()If these returned former memlbers of gendarme is not satisfactory. They taJlk very sharply against
the !S oviets iand are doring that even in the company of the
other members of the unit.
I order you to follow those memlbers in your d±sbr.icits
and remind them that for bad talk aibout the brother nation, Russia, they can be ,p unished and arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what you haNe been de.scmbing to
the oommittee . . .
Dr. Mikll!la. These •a re just the examples of how information was oolle_c ted and brought out and utilized.
Mr. McTigue. Now, do you know, or oan you tell the
oommittee whether there is an wnderground operating in
SwvaJkia ,a t the present time?
Dr. Miilmla. l am posritive there is. First, I would just
say from the general point of vtl.ew, so long as the Comm'Ulilists are unaJble to change human nait'UT'e, there wiU [be the
will. to 1be free. It means there will be the will to rresist. That
is a general rea:son
�SLOVAKIA
45
Second, the best proof ,i s that you still read in the papers how much troulble they haJVe in .t his or that group or
with this group, and so on. These are the 1best documents
that the :resistance is not only aJlii.ve, but is acti1Ve.
Mr. iMcTigue. Do you fool thaJt the underground is the
heart of the resistance, the core of the resisltance, in Slovaki,a today?
Dr. Mhlrul'a. I would say so. I would dare say that albout
80 or 90 per cent of the population is anti-Communist, but
not aU of these 80 o:r 90 per cent are willing to ta!ke am.
acti:ve part to fight oommundsm.
Mr. iMcrrigiue. Why?
Dr. (Mlikula. Because of the advances of oommumsm
they are very cautious ito. d:o nothing which could provoke or
cailll for Communist reprisals This is one reason.
!Second, urSU1ally the people WOII'king activei1y and directly are, in my opinion, heroes, and not everyone cam. be a
hero. So, from thds group, from this 80 per cent, we can sruy
whaJt is in tlhe underground is the most ii.miporllant and most
vaJLuiaJble co,re of passive and ,a ctive resistam.ce.
Mr. McTigue. You were in Slov,rukia at the time of the
Communist taikeover; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. IMc'Digue. Were there wholesaile arrests and deportations in Slovakia. as there were in the other C-Ollll!tries?
Dr. Milkllll,a. Slovakia. is a small counrtry of 31bou,t 3½
million poipuilation. So the figures. are not so enormous, but
in relatio1I1, in proportion to ,t he whole popll'laition, they are
pretty big They deported in :t'he fi.rst month aifteir the occupa1tion of Slovakia rubout 38,000 people.
Besides this, in tlhe !first half year, when they took over,
aibout 133,000 people were put in ja,i1s, in camps, amd taken
out of theiir normal life.
Mr.' Mcrrigue. [ ha;ve M further questions.
Mir. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
.
Mr. Be1I1tley. When did you leave Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula. I lefit Slovalci.a in 1945.
Mr. Bentley. That was just the beginni.DJg of the antiCornmi.mist resistance then,, I presume.
Dr. Mitkula. Yes.
�46
SLOVAKIA
Mir. Bentley. ilfaJVe you mamta.ined contacits, or how
have yiou gotten yml'I' worrunaJtion regarding the activities
of the underground since that time?
Dr. MikU!la. As I Wld you, we haJVe steady contact
through couriers. I wi!ll j!U'st mention one thing: In 1945
our coUJriers hrougiht over my wife with two little children.
Mr. Chai:run:an rememJbers those l.ititle children. One w:as four
and one was ,s ix.
Mr. Bentley. How l01ng was co111tact of this kind maintained?
Dr. Miikulia. ,J t.hinik that contac.t is stiH mamtarlned, but
I could rta1k 3111d testify ,t o the end of 1'949.
Mr. Bentley. Until the end of 1949, which was a,bout
two years after the coup d'etat in Pra,gue?
Dr. Milrula. Yes.
!Mr. Bentley. And srunce .that time, your ilmowledge has
been 01JJ.ly fTom information, not direct; rum I correct?
Dr. Miku]a. lit is secondary. Before I reccived mormatron diirecil,y. I was ll'S'lllally the first who received it. Now I
a'In receiving informia,tion, but later.
Mr. Bentley. How dloes the situation in Slovakia compare wi;th that of otfuer countries in the Soviet satellite,
would YOIU say? Iis it -b etter or worae?
DT. MikU!la. I thiinlk .t he condifti,ons a;re generaHy the
same in all the coU!Iltries. As for the resistance, maybe in
S'lovakira, the resistance is a little bit stronger and maybe a
little bit more success:fluil, 1becall!se, as you iknow, Slovakia is
a country orf farnners, a country of mountainee:ris, ·a nd the
people i1I1: Slovaiki'a are deeply reliigtlous. T.he hardest thing
for the Communists to break ~re the farmers and /besides
that, to remove Teligion from the sow of the rpeoiple and
rep}ace it by Leninism is not so easy. You know .t hat.
Mr. Bentley. So you would say that the cond!itiOIIl!S are
about the same, but -the resistance itJhere is a little bit
·stronger?
Dr. Mikula. Yes. The same. The same concentration
camps, liaJbor orumps, the same tendency to create Kollkhozes
and co[lectiive farms, the same tendency to brealk any possible resistance, and if there dsn't any hope, arrest the peo-
�SLOVAKIA
47
ple, seind them ,t o uranii.ium mines; tJhe same everywhere,
the same procedure.
Mr. Bentley. Am ,I correct in believing that part of Slovakiia has been incorporiated in the 'Soviet Union?
Dr. Mi:kula. A very small eastern part. Abowt 15 or 18
villages of S1ova1-da were inconporated inito the Soviet Ull!ion.
Mr. Bentley. '.Dhe fiact that this resi,s tance dioes exist or
does not exist in 'SlrovaJkia to the extent you say it does,
what, in your opinio!Il, can lbe done most effectiively to eniruble
this resistance to continue ,and maintain itself. Whrut encouragement or assistrunce can be givan, if any?
Dr. 1M:iikuil.a. I would state .it in ·one way: To increase
the hopes of ipeople lh'ling over there that soonetime there
will be a cha1I1ge.
iMr. Bentley. We ,a:re ta:lking specificailly of SLovaik:i!a.
Dr. M:ikula. Spooiffioa.My, for 1Slovakia, it is absolutely
necessary to reassure a;gaiin and again those people tlhat we
are not forgetting them, we are not •giviing them up, and we
have unde.rstaind!i!Il!g for their specific prolblems.
Mr. Bentley. Including the right 'O'f self-determination?
Dr. iMitkullia. '.Dhia.t is w!hat I walllted to say. We should
not stick to the owtmoded, ourtlived st'I'luctures. '.Dhey have
proved to be un:successfol, and rwe should give to the people
the right to be free and to have therr OIWIIl: government, ·a ccording to their own c1hooce. That is one o.f the most important t'hd.ngs. Then th'i<s po<l.tnt: The people are, I wou!l.d say, 90
per cent 'llillited in Slovalk:ta. .Anyrt;hin,g whioh .poi.nrt:s o.wt thait
we are forgetting them, rwe are not undersibanding them, is
cutting otff the will to resist.
iMr. Bentley. Thank you very much. Thiat i'S a:11, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Kersten. Congressman Feighan?
MT. Feighan. Dr. 'Mikula, as I understand it, you feel
thrut the people of 1SIOV1akia should be ,giiven assurances that
the free ,w orld would sirnpport their desire for seiltf national
determiniation of thei:r own identity as a nation if they so
desiire?
·
Dr. Miikula. Wihen you are talking generally albout the
popu1ation of Slovakia, that is one of the most important
�48
SLOVAKIA
things that they need; some kind of good will that we have
a.!11 understanding oif thei'l' problem.
MT. Feighan. Then if ,w e ,w ould tell the whole world that
we stand by the principle upon which our Naition was founded, thiat is, the ri!ght of self-determi:ri:ati-cm, that would be
he'l!pful to them. 'In other words, Mr. Mikula, if the free
w0irld shO'Uld gi,ve the Communists a free hand !in t!hese
caiptiive nations,, this would cause those people to lose hope,
ilS that right?
Dr. iM:ikuil:a. Absolutely. One of the most •i mportant
things is to show those people :tlhait we are really l!Iliform.etl
a'boUJt their plight, a.Jbout tlhe conditions under ,w hich they
are 11ivimg, that rwe hacve actually access to the most secret
communistic conspiracies. 'We shouJ.d convey t:his knowledge
to the masses. That is one of the moot imlportant th,i ngs.
Mr. Kersten. Does thrat hellp to sha:ke and lessen the
Communist ipawer in 'Uhose countries?
Dr. iMikul1a. It is •curttin.g off the arrogamt communistic
se!lf-corufiderice, amd when we ta.Jke such a cut through the
Communist Party, we see there are just a few intellectuals,
a group of fanatics, and a great nuim ber of opportunists.
The greatest ipart of them a.Te oppoiitun:ists. Activities must
be directed against those opportunists, because they are
afmid. They betrayed, first, second, thoird time. They a.re
readty to betray todlay and every day.
Mr. Kersten. ~irst o;f iaU, let me ask you this: YO!U have
gone to Detroit from iMHrwaUJkee?
Dr. M~kula. Yes. MHiwaiUJkee is my ,h ome.
Mr. Ker,s ten. You li:ved 1here several years and ~eft for
Detroit a short whlle ago wlhere you now live and :work
Dr. MikuiJ.a. Yes.
with your family?
Mr. Kersten. Dr. MikU'la, you iha,ve given us a great deal
of valuable inlfoirmation, rparticula:rly the knowledge that
I know you ha'V'e, of the existence of the undeiig,round in
Slocvakii a, resi,s tance, opposition, which our evidence indicates exists in all the other cOUIIltries likewise to a very
great extent.
!Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Dr. ~u!la, for yOUT aippear~Milwaukee, Wis., October 22, 1954).
ance here today. 1
�SLOVAKIA
49
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PHILIP A. HROBAK
Mir. Kersten. I want to say we are rvery honored and
happy to haive you here with us, Mr. Hrobak, as the president of the Slovak League of America.
:Mr. Hrobak. And tihe editor of the Jednota, the official organ of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union of the United
States and Canada.
·
Mr. Kersten. I notice through several years of knowledge of your activities that you have keen understa:ndmg
of whaJt it means for a nation or a country or a people
to be occupied lby the Communists and some of the ways
in whioh they fight and some of the thinigs that we should
do to combat this new kind of enemy.
Mr. iMcTigue. How many memlb:ers, Mr. Hro'bak, are
a:ssociated or affiliated with the Slo:vak League of
America?
Mr. Hroba:k. The SloviaJk League .o f America, rubout
300,000.
!Mr. Mo'Dig,ue. What, ibriefly, is the Slovak League of
.America?
Mr. Hrobaik. The pur:poses?
Mr. McTigue. Yes.
1Mr. HTdbak. A cirvic and culturial origarnzation of
Americans of Slov,a;k descent. It was organized in Oleveland in 1907.
'Mr. Mc'lligue. It is mry understanding, MT. Chaimnan,
that !Mr. HrdbaJk has a statement which he wiSlhes to present to the committee, and if there is no objection, may I
sugigest that the witness be permitted to proceed wiith
the statement?
· Mr. Kersten. Without objection, it is so ordered.
!Mr. Hrdbalk. If you permit me, I would like to first
express my deep appreciation to this committee for the
opportunity given me to present the Slovruk chaipter in the
dread detail of Communist aggression.
I believe it is for the first time, at least as far as I
know, that ,a real, honest effort is :being miade to know
the background olf the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain, nations who always were and still are our friends,
�50
SLOVAKIA
peoiples who with all their hearts want to be our friends
because to them America has always lbee:n a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and now is just aJbout their
last hope of sa1vation from Red tyranny. I harve the greatest respect for the hono-raJble gentlemen on this committee
and its chairman, Charles Kersten. The coonmittee has a
difficult taslk, b,ut it is doing that task admiraJbliy well.
Helping the nations behind the Ixon Curtain to helrp
liberate themselves from the curse of communism cannot
and must not become ipOlitically a partisan a:flf1air. It is the
business, the duty, of every American to take part in it;
every Almerican must see it in that perspectirve, because
it is, after all, in the interest of the security of our own
America.
I would li!ke to e~press one point ,b efore I read my
statement, and that is that the SlovaJks have no quarreJ
with the Czech nation as such. The Czech nation today is
in the same Red fix as the SlovaJk nation.
The Sfovak•s, however, cannot remain silent about
Czech .p olitical leaders who were in a very large measure
responsible for the present terrilble plight of the Ozech and
Slovak nations over there, and who made it possilble foc
the Communists to seize power in Czecho-Slova!kia practically without any troUJble.
("How the Communists Seized Power in SlovaJkia" the statement by P. A. Hrobaik, president of the Slovak
League of America and Editor of the "J ednota," official
011gan of the First CathoHc Slorvak Union, •b efore the Kersten Committee on Communist Aggr(}SSion, in the County
Court House, Milwaukee, Wis., Friday afternoon, October 22, 1954 - was .pulblished in full in the iprevious issue
[Septemlber.,Decemlber 19541 of SLOVAKIA and, hence,, is
not repeated here.)
Mr. iMcTi,gue. 1I take it from your statement, Mrr. Hrobaik, that you consider the National Socialistic Party of
Czecho-,Slovalda a:s the one which was responsible for the
sellout to Moscow; is that correct?
Mr. HrrobaJk. I do, sir.
Mr. McTigue. Do you consider that the case of Czecho1
�SLOVAKIA
51
Slovakia is a practical or typical example of what happens to a nation that attemipts to coo,peirate or coexist with
Communists?
Mr. Hroba:k. Definitely.
Mr. McTigue. What do you think of the present Kremlin campaign to sell the nati0'11s of the free world on peaceful coexistence?
Mr. Hrohak. That is the Kremilin's way of trying to
lull us to sleep; forget our problems, our troubles; forget
what communism is, and just let them get strong enough
until they can take all of us.
Mr. McTigue. In your opinion, what do you think we
can do to keeip the ho,pes of the people of Slovakia alive?
How can we most help them at a time like this?
Mr. Hrolba!k. We must let them know that we a;re behind them; that we have not forgotten them; that .Americans stiH believe in the principles uip on which their country was founded, in the principle of freedom and independence ; and let them know that we shall do everything
to help them he1p themselves to overthrow the regime
they have.
~fir. McTigue. You agree with Mr. Mikula, who testified
here earlier today, that the resistance is still strong among
the ,people of SlovaJkia?
Mr. Hrabaik. It certainly is. We have had cootact with
the people directly and indirectly right through the war,
and we still get letters from people, who come from Slovakia today.
Mr. McT-fgue. You are able to maintain an effective
system of communicati10n with the Slovakian people with
what is going on over there today; is that correct?
Mr. Hrobalk. indirectly. Certain people get the info;rmation from persons in Sl>ova~ia and then we get it.
Mr. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
Mr. Bentley. Mr. HrobaJk, I want to go 1b aclt a little
bit before the period of Communist domanation of Slovakia
and look at the situation there !b:rfofly during the Second
World War. When SlO'V'aJkia was an independent reipulblic,
what exactly was the relationship at that time between
Slovakia and Germany?
�52
SLOVAKIA
Mr. HrOlbalk. Foveign policy was undoulbtedlly dictaited
by Germmy, /but the domestic policy was not, until the uprising of 1944, when the German Aiimy came in to occupy
Sloval~ia. Then bhe Slova.ks were in for it.
Mr. Bentley. -Would you say that the fad, for example,
that Slovalkia had troops on the Russian f.vont was a voluntary action or wa:s that dd.otated b:y Genmany?
Mr. Hvdbalk. I think it was both. I think th13Jt the Germans expected it, and the Slovaks, to make it aippear that
they aire really taking the business seriously, s.e nt a token
division there. The Slovaks had a way of exchanging men
by classes; they never had many men in the field.
Mr. Bentley. Did -Slov:akia take any action toward the
UTrited States at the time or shortlly after Pearl Harbor
when the Germans declared war?
Mr. Hrobaac. No; we tried to ascertain thait business.
We found out that some ,p erson, I believe it was the German radlio in Vienrna, d'id ma.Ike a statement that Slovakia
declared warr, but as far as- we could find out from our
own State Department and War Department, there is absolUJtely no formal declaration of war aga:inst the United
States.
iMr. Bentley. Never was at any time?
Mr. Hlrolbruk. Never was at any time. We couldn't find
that out from our own United States Goveirnment because
that point interested us rvery much, and so far there is
absolutely no record of it.
Mr. Bentley. Now, you say there was a distinction between the foreign policy of the Slov,a k Repulbl:ic which was
exercised and the domesti'c .poHicy. You mean -t he domestic
policy of the Slovak Repulblic was independent of Gennany?
Mr. HrobaJk. Yes; just about all independent; I mean,
running the country of Slovakia itself.
Mr. Bentley. Was there any form of oppression at
thait time?
Mr. Hrobaik. There was no oppression of religion or any
other thing. Some laiws. were enacted that ha;d to coincide
with some of the laiws that · the Germans had, but oUJtside
of that, the economic conditions - even Mr. Sr0ib31r, one of
�SLOVAKIA
53
the most intimate foiends of Benes had to admit after the
wax, were good.
Mr. Kersten. You say there was no oppression. There
was freedom of religion and the other political freedoms
that you normally would expect?
Mr. HrOlb.ak. None. Some claim that there was ,political swppression in Sl01Va!kia, but they don't explain the
problem correctly. The fact is that the ISlovaik parties, the
two only genuine !Slovak parties, are the Hlinka People's
Barty sometimes called the Catholic Party, and the Razus
Slwalk National Party, whi·c h was considered the Lutheran
Parby. Now these worked for the same program with one
accoro.
Mr. Bent-ley. Following the wprising of August 1944,
when the German mHitary came in to ,p ut it down, from
that time Slovakia lost its. independence?
Mr. Hrrolbak Yes. The Slovaks got it from both sides.
They were murdered by the occupation troops a.ind then by
the partisans on the other end.
Mr. Bentley. After the German military occupation
did the Tiso government continue in po,w er?
Mr. HrdbaJk. They continued. in ,power until 1945. Tiso
tried to explain away as best he coui'd that it was not a
national uprising; that the Slovruk Army and the Slovak
gendarmerie couild ta.Ike care olf the troubles in Slova:kia
themselves. The Germans firral,l y did not believe the Slovaks rufter General Otto's military mission was stopped at
Turciansky :S vaty Martin. I believe it was on August 25;
the group of aJbout 25 or 30 people, women and children
included, were taken off the train and put up in barracks
for the night. The neoct morning ~l were lined up against
a wall and mowed down with machine guns by the prurtisans.
Then there were other murders, sabotage, terrorrist
activities, which all came too soon, even for Benes's liberation movement which he had allegedly organized. The
leader of that movement was supposed to be General Golian. The uiprising was Communist-in spired and did not
have popular support.
�54
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Bentley. The Rm!ssian military OCCUipation of Slovalkia took place about when?
Mr. HrQbak. Albout Easter Sunday, 1945.
Mr. Bentley. And at that time the Slovak Government escaped to Germany?
Mr. Hlrobak. The Slovak Government went to Austria.
Mr. Bentley. And I believe they were finally captured
with the American troops?
Mr. Hrobak They were not captured. They surrendered to General Walker's army at that time. We had a
copy of the surrender papers and we gave it to, our State
Department, and, of course, the Army Department.
Mr. Bentley. And what happened to the members of
the Slovak Goivernment?
Mr. Hrohak. Well, unfortunately, even despite all our
effovts in America to preivent their being handed over to
Benes and his governrrnent in London, unfortunately, I
say, our pleas availed us nothing, and Tiso's Slovak Government was gi'Ven up to Benes and the Benes.Gottwald
coalition government. Tiso, after being tried by a "people's" court, was hanged on April 18, 1947, while members of the Slovak Govenunent were sentenced to prison.
Mr. Bentley. They were tried as war criminals?
Mr. Hrabaik. Yes, "war criminals," according to Prague.
Mr. Bentley. What is the sit'lllation in Slovakia today
under the Commrunist government of Prague? Is there any
form of committee for Slo;vaikia or is there a completely
unified government?
Mr. Hrobaik. Prague is still trying to tell us that the
Slovaiks themselves govern the.ir part of the state and the
Czechs govern their part, and so on, but that is not true.
The Czech Red centralized government in Prague is running the whole show. Even Slovak Communists are not
safe; Clementis is gone, so are others, and the secretary
general of the Slovak Communist Party is Karel Bacilek,
a Czech.
Mr. Bentley. You say the Communists are trying to
appeal to Slovak nationa1ism somewhat?
Mr. Hrobak. They did. Today it doesn't mean any-
�SLOVAKIA
55
thing. They are done for. In fact, 1S lovak Reds were for
separation in 1926, long ibefore Hlinka's pa,r ty.
Mr. Bentley. Who?
Mr. Hrdba.lk. The Communists. It is a matter of record.
They knew what the people wanted. They figtN"ed that there
are no people in any country who, do not desire to be free
and independent and they used that to gain their SUipport.
Hlinka's Party fought for autonomy; in the beginning, you
know, it wanted to haive a federation where SlovaJk,i a would
simply have states' rights.
The fight was simply for states' rights, as we understand them here in the States. The Slovaks wanted to elect
their own governor, their own judges, their school di,rectors, and so on. They were not for separatism until much
later.
Mr. Bentley. Mr. Hrobak, you were here, I imagine,
when Dr. Milkiu.la was testifying, and he said it was his belief that so far as the people of Slovakia are concerned,
what they really wanted was the right to self-determination. Do, you concur in that?
Mr. HroibaJk. That is correct.
Mr. Bentley. Thanik you ivery much. Your statement
and your testimony has contributed to the hearings, I am
sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
1Mr. Kersten. Mr. Hrolbak, l
think at this time it is
quite clear from the records of recent history that the attempts of the Benes government to collaborate with and
have coexistence with the Soviet Union is a classic case
of what it means to make this attempt. I meant merely
for that government to put itsel1' in a position to be swallowed wp by the COll'Il.Illunists.
Mr. Hrobak. That is correct.
Mr. Kersten. It is a classic case in that regard.
Mr. Hrobak. Correct.
iMr. Kersten. And I believe one of the ministers of the
Benes government in London, Dr. Stransky, thought that
Mr. Hrobak Yes.
too.
Mr. Kersten. And that, along with other similar epi-
�56
SLOVAKIA
sod.es, certainly proves that there is no such thing as peaceful coexistence with the Communist s.
Mr. HTolbaik. That is correct.
Mr. Ker.sten. Well, I want to than!k you. The records
show if it doesn't already that Congressm an Bentley knows
a great deal about this situation in Ea:stern Europe because
he was an American diplomat in Hungary for several
yeairs, and he knows firsthand sOime of the real maichinations of the Communist s when they truke aver a country.
Mr. Bentley. I was ailso in Slova-kia.
Mr. Kersten. I am sure he has firstha:nd knowledge
of that, too.
Mr. HrolbaJk. Mr. Chairman, -t he statement that I have
made is based not only on what we haive from Slovaks,
patriotic Slovaks, 'but it iis also based O!t1 the 'book that the
regime put out in 1946, that is by the Lettrich "Demo-.
crats" arid the Husak Communist s; the name of it is
"Natl Tatrou sa Blyska" - (Lightning over the Tatras).
The booik has contr~butio ns from both sides, MT. Lettrich's
men and the Husaik men. And, of coocse, on the book that
was already introduced, there were only 5,000 of these,
The Conspiracy .Aigainst the Republic, which was introd uced as testimony by Dr. Mikula. That is my oopy. Then
on a boolk that was published here in America by the Communists called "Parti:zani na Slovensku" - (Partisans in
Slovakia), published in Chicago. And, I believe, another
booklet called "Verni ostruli," (They Remained Faithful). This book dealt with the uprising; it was written by
Deso Benau, ,w ho was editor of the New Yonksky Dennik (The New York Daily), in 1946.
Mr. Benau wa:s editor of that paper from 1942 to 1946
and tod!ay is doing an admiraJble job for the Communist s
in BraUshwa.
In this pamphlet - I will leaNe you this copy - you
can see the organizatio ns that are affiliated with us The SlovaJk League of America -- and the me:rrubers they
have. - I might add here that our papers were outlaiwed
from Ozecho-Slovakia by the Communist s on October 10,
�57
SLOVAKIA
1946 - that is this paper, the Jednota. and three other
Slova!k p8{!)ers.
Now, as you see here in this particular paper dated
Decemlber 13, 1944, we didn't wait until 1948 to tell America that Benes sold out the Czechs and Slova!ks to Stalin.
The big headline in that Decemlber 13, 1944, issue right on
the front page reads: "Sl()IVakia soJd out by Dr. Ed/ward
Benes."
Mr. Mc'Digue. What is that .pu!blication?
Mr. Hro!b.ruk. This is the Jednota, the official organ of
the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States and
Canada.
And my statement is further ·b ased on the information contained in the booklet "The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Party in Slovakia," which was written by Constantine Cu1en, a new:spruperman from Slova;kia now residing in Canada, and ipu!blished in Slovaik by the Slovaik League
of America. I have translated it into English and the committee is welcome to it any time.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Mr. Hrobak.
(Milwaukee, Wis., Octo'ber 22, 1954).
1
STATEMENT BY DR. JOSEPH A. MIKUS
Fram 1944 until my escape from Soviet-dominated
Czecho-Slovakra, i:n March, 1948, I resided in Bratislava.
During this period I was three times imprisoned by the National Front Government: in 1945, 1946, and 1947. Now,
as a Slovalk refugee in the United States, I am glad to
have the opportunity of exposing to the Committee on
Communist A!ggression the tactics which, to miy own
knowledge and ibased on my personal experience, were
utilized 'b y the Communists in Slovakia to establish themselves first as a politca.-1 party and finally as a dominant
force in tha,t country.
Introduction
Before entering upon a discussion of the subject: proper, I would like to outline in general terms what has until now been the main trend in Slovakia's political history.
�58
SLOVAKIA
After losing her political independe nce in the ninth
century, Slovakia existed for a thousand years under for
eign dominatio n. Desrpite this fact, the Sl01Va!k nation did
not lose its ethnograp hic and cultural individua lity. Within
the nraime~o rik of the Austro-H ungarian Empire, it was
ruble to survive all the ;pressure of the Magyar cultural
and political centralism whioh seriously menaced its very
naJtional existence in the 19th century. World War I finally
providied an opportun ity for the 1SlovaJks to rid themsel'Ves
of the restrictin g grip of this ancient and obsolete power
structure .
On May 30, 1918, at the close of World War I, the
Slovak League of America signed together with the organilzatio ns of .Amemcans of Czech descent the so-called
Pittsburg h Agreeme nt, aimed at creating a dualist federal
union of the Czechs and Slov,atk,s which a little later entered the world communi ty of nations under the name of
Ozecho-!Slio:vakia. Although provision s guarantee ing the
preservat ion of the Slovak national and po1itical individuality were, according to the principle of self-deter mination, the essential condition of this solution, the Ozech political leaders, T. G. Masaryik and E. Benes, never made
any real attempt to fulfill their pledges. Instead of a federal union providing for a reasonaib le degree of self-gover nment for the Slovaks, and in utter disregard of the political will of the Slo1V.:\k people, Prague organized a strongly
centralize d state. On !February 29, 1920, the first so-called
revolutio nary parliame nt Oif Oze:cho..JSlovakia, ~inted !by
the Prague revolutio nary governme nt, voted for the first
Czecho-lSlovak Constitut ion which suibmerge d the Slovak
national individua lity through the device of a speciousl y
conceirved "Ozecho-!Slorvaik" nation, wherein the Czechs
wouid always lbe assured of their majority status and their
predomin ance. Not being a minority group in the sense
provided for under internatio nal treaties signed after
World War I, Slovakia ·r emained without any internatio nal
protection . Contrary to the famous definition of democracy by Abraham Lincoln, the regime a:rfuitrarily established by Prague in Slo:vaJkia could be described not as
a governme nt of the people, by the people, for the
"
�SLOVAKIA
69
people," 'but rather as "the g,overnment of the Ozech bureaucracy by the concept of the 'Czecho..:Slovak' nation
foisted upon the Sl01Vak people."
For 20 years SlovaJkia sought to· haive the principle
of equality between the Czechs and the Slovalks inco:r.porated into the constitution. The Slo,vak political leaders
argued that the Pittsburgh Agreement was of international relevance and that it should 'be respected by both
parties in the very interest of the joint Czecho-Slovalk
state. Prague, conrfident of the support implicit in the
Little Entente (1920), thie Mutual Defense Treaty with
France (1924), and, last but not least, the 'Dreaty of
Friendship and Mutual Aid concluded with the Soviet
Union (1935), felt strong enough to refuse any discU1ssion
on this pomt at any time.
The Munich Oonference of Septemlber 28, 1938, the
primary sig.niificance of which was the coUaipse of the
Ozecho~SlovaJk sysltem · of military a,lliances, inevitaJbly
brouight the nationality problem of the heterogeneous
Ozecho-Slovak State into the foreground. By the policy o;f
E. Benes, and in accordance with the Vienna arbitration
of Von R~bentro,p and Ciano on Novemb,er 2, 1938, SlOIVakia, lost over 10,000 square kilometers of territory to Hungary; an a·rea which included 853,000 inhabitants. This
was a national catastrophe. Ha,ving experienced this and
other deceptions,, and !being confronted in MaTch 193,9 with
the alternative of the partition of her territory among
Germany, Hung,a ry, and Poland, or of falling under direct
German administration, Slovakia voted on March 14, 1939,
thrnugh her legitimately constituted Diet in Bratislava, for
independence.
During World War II -E. Benes, who had voluntarily
resigned his oflice of President of Czecho-Slovakia, found
refuge as a ,pri'Vl8.te indilvidual in ,London. His basic goal
was to reestrublish Czecho"'Slo,valkia and, in spite of the oppositi'on. of the SlOIValk people, he was able to achieve this
goal ,b y relying essentially on the help of the Red army
and a grourp of domestic colla!borato~s. lirl the main body of
my statement I will explain the ;principal facts of this evo-
�SLOVAKIA
60
lution, but I would first of all li!ke to stress one important
point :
All 'Slovaiks in the free world greatly ruppreciate the
fact that the House Committee on Oommunist Aggression
has paid particul ar attention to the tactics• which communism aipplied in Slovaikia. As a matter of fact, these tactics
were very difforenit 'from - for exMn1ple - those adopted
in the Czech area. This fine distinction - an a,rt in which
Moscow h•a s aliways been a master - resllilted from the clifference of attitude demonstrated toward the Sovieit Union
by the population of Slova:kia at the end of World Wa:r II.
As is kno,wn, during World War IT the Czech lands were a
German protectorate. At that time and until 1944, Slovaikia
was a relatively fTee state, imbued with only one desire:
To reaffirm her status as a national state after the end
of the war. Whereas the populaition of Bohemia and Moravia loolked fonwa:rd with high hO!pe to its liberation from
German domination 1by the Soviets, that of Slovakia considered the approach of the Soviet Army as a dista:ster
which would put an end to the Slovak national state.
Because of this difference in psychological attitude,
Moscow decided from the•outset on a policy of appeasement
of the Czechs and on a prog,r am designed to smash the resistance of the Slova:ks. A detailed ,plan for this program
had ibeen elalborated, with the Kremlin's blessing, by E. Benes and K. Gottwald, who as early as 1943 were in Moscow.
1
A. The Blueprint for Sovietization
After the Teheran Conference, which toolk place Novemlber 28 - December 1, 1943, it b,ecame clear that the
Soviet Union would inevitaJbly play an important role in
post-war Europe . This conference gave substantial encouragement to the hopes of the Communists and certain
pro.-Soviet non~ommunists in Slovakia. Immediately thereafter, on December 12, 1943, Dr. Edward Benes, as chief of
the Czecho-Slova:k: Government-rn-exile, signed the Treaity
of F'riends·hip, Mutual Aid and Col1ia/boration ,w ith Stalin in
Moscow. In article 4 of this treaty the two· signafories
agreed upon close political and economic cooperaition. "Talking into consideration their respective peaceful interests,"
�SLOVAKIA
61
says the treaty, "the high contracting parties have decided,
after the restoration of peace, to estaiblish a close and
friendly collaboration . . ." They will develop to the maximum their economic relations and will grant each other,
after the war, all possilble economic help."
No such treaty haw.ing been signed with the United
States, Great Britain, or France, this international a:greement predetermined the orientation of Ozecho~SlovaJkia
toward Moscow in the post-iwar European scheme of politica:l relations.
The Benes-Stalin treaty served as a strong stimulus
for those who had been aspiring to political power within
the framework of Soviet influence in central Europe. In
this category were included, among others, fOTmer memJbers
of the Slova:k Communist P,arty. In the 1935 elections, this
party had gained six sea:ts of the 58 corresponding to
Slo;vaikia in the Pmgue Pa:rliament. Consequently, around
10 per cent of the total ,p opulation of the country had voted
for this party, which the Government of the Sl01Vak Republic had suppressed as a subversive group in 1938.
The non-Communist growp, smaller and weaker in its
common punpose, was composed mostly of descendants of
Czech exiles who in the seventeenth century, at the time
of the Count er Refiormation, had settled in Slovakia.
Both of these factions, equally willing to back " ... the
apocaly,ptical horse from the E}ast" (as communism was
perfervidly described lby one of the factional leaders, r..udovit Sensel ), met secretly on Christmas Day, 1943, and
created a joint r evolutionary organization under the name
of the Slovak National Council. The goal of this movement,
as estaJblished under article 2 of the respective secret document, was: " . . . to ta:ke over, at the expedient time, all
political, legislative, military, and governmental executive
power in Slova:kia and to use it according to the will of the
,people until such time as their freely elected reipresentati<ves
shall themsel,ves ibe ruble to take it over."
The b.asic political tenets of the so-called Christmas
Agreement were laid down in another document, the first
three articles of which read as follows :
�62
SLOVAKIA
"(1) It is our desire that the Slovaks and the Czechs,
as the two most closely related Slav nations, shall unite
their destinies in a Czecho-Slovalk Republic which will be
their common government organized on the principle of
equality.
"(2) We desire close collaboration with all Slav states
and peoples, particularly with the Soviet Union, in whioh
we see a protecting shield for the free life and welfare of
all small nations in general, and of the Slav nations in particular.
"(3) The future Czecho..Slovak Republic shall conduct
its foreign policy in the spirit of these .principles and should
therefore, lean on the Soviet Union."
It is appropriate to mention here that, during his visit
to Moscow in Deceimib er 1943, E. Benes had in principle
agreed with K. Gottwald to set up a So'Viet ty;pe of internal administration in Cze.cho-Slovakia after its reestablishment as a dualist union ; to eliminate all traditional conservative political parties in the Ozech area, as well as in
Slovakia; and to esta:bli,s h the regime of a so-called National Front Government. In his Memoirs, published in
Prague in 1947, E . Benes recognized this in the following
passage (pp. 408-409) :
''Thereafter Gottwald e,opressed his opinion a'bout the
way in which this revolution should be prepared. He stressed
the necessity of forming national committees (i.e., So¥iets) ,
which would not only constitute the revolutionary cells of
insurrection, but would even se:rve as embryos for the whole
revolutionary political administration, I was not apposed.''
- wrote Benes - "to this opinion . . ."
1
"Then Deputy Gottwald," continued Benes, "went on
to consider the question of the structure of political parties after the revolution in Czecho-Slovakia. He was certain of a great Te1volutionary shift to the leift, of a great
Socialist majority, rund of a great defeat of our block of
right-of-center parties as it existed before the war: agrarians, national democrats, and artisans . . . As to the admission of the Agrarian Party, our Communists were not
willing to commit themselves in any specific way in De-
�SLOVAKIA
63
cember 1943. For all of us the merciless liquidation of
fasoism was without any distinction the basic and obvious issue."
In the same discussion., Benes and Gottwald touched
on the problem of the National Front Government: "It
will be necessary," ~ote Benes, "for the governmental
parties to form a unified national front after the Uberation, to form a common reivolutionary program, and to
pledge themselves to put it jointly into practiice. I then expressed my agreement with the plan concerning a national
front ." (pp. 409-410).
On the basis of these three principles,: Sovietization
of administTati'ons, elimination of the conservative parties,
and organization of the National Front Government as it
emerged in 194'5, Cze'cho-1Siovakia was inevitrubly fated to
become a "people's" democrwcy.
Wihat was the practical result for SlorvaJkia of the
Benes-Gottwald agreement? The Communist and the nonCommunist pro~Soviet group conspiring a.gain.st the Slovak Repulblic, although not representing more than 24
percent of the population, became the future leading force
of Slwakia.
B. The August 1944 Insurrection
Since early 1944 the Soviet partisan headqll!arters in
Kiev, with Rudo1ph Slanslky as i.ts main political adviser,
had 1been pouring Red ,p arachutists and Communist agents
into the mountains of central Slovakia, far behind the
German frontlines. Through contacts with many Communists and non-Communist symjpathizers, Sfova'ks, Czeehs,
and fornigners in various cities and villages of the country, these agents maI11a,g ed to create a network of informants and future collruborators.
More recent documents reveal that as early as Fehrua·r y 7, 1944. Proif. Viladimir Jershov of Russian· origin,
Gregorij Soloshenko, second lieutenant of the Red army,
and William Zingor, a Slo~-ak Communist, came to an
agreement in Tureiansky Sv. Martin that " . . . all future
partisan activities in Slovakia would follow instructions
�64
SLOVAKIA
from Mos:cow."l It was also agreed that 2ingor would be
the chief of the Slova:k partisans, with Soloshenko as his
sulbstitute. These self-appointments were later " . . . recognized by partisan headquarters in Kiev, and the Turiec
County group was integrated into the general Soviet partisan system. By this act the partisan movement in Turiec assumed the character of a militaTy organ~tion." 2
Moreover, in the summer of 1944 the following Sol\Tiet
rugents were, a.mong many others, actiive in Slovakia: Ing.
Nicolai Avenaria, as liaison officer in Myjawa; Jmfa Nikolaiev, a graduate of the Leningrad Naival Academy, as distrilbutor of arnns; Ing. Dimitrij Venero:vsky am.d Ivan Platonovich, active in preparing the partisan or.ganization of
Liptov County. In Turiec, whioh was the center of the So·viet partisan activities, I·v:an Stepanol\Tich and Alexander
Fjodorovich Krajushkin were actively operating. The real
Soviet partisan camp was organized in the Kantorska Valle~, near Sklabina. It was commanded by a second lieutenant of the Red Army, Ilvan VySOIC!ldj. Nikola Sur:kov, second
lieutenant of the Red army, was in command of a similar
camp near Priekopa. The most effective of these Soviet
agents was Alexei Velichko, captain oif the Soviet paratroopers, who, in fact, ibecame the chief of all partisan actil\Tity in Central Slovakia. Even General Osmolov was sent
to SlovaJda for a period of time to assure coordination of
the activity of the different groups.
In the meantime, on August 1, 1944, Gen. Bar Komorovs:ki, in command of the Polis:h underground army, ordered a general insurrection in Wa.rsa.w. H e did this after
hea.iring an a;ppeal of _Radio Moscow encouraging the people
of Warsaiw to carry out a ·general uprising. "The hour of
a·ction has already arriived," declared Moscow. Bor Komor-ovski was consequently firmly conivinced that he would
receive eiffoctiive aid from the Red army, which had just
reached the gates of the Praga sulbwr.b, 10 miles from Warsaw. But the e~pected hel.p neyer came. In his telegram of
(1) Cont ributions to the H istory of th e Slo vak Nationa:l Insurrection (In Slovalk ) , Turcians ky Sv. M.arrt in , 1947, p . 26.
( 2 ) IbM.. , p. 29.
�SLOVAKIA
66
August 16, 1944, to Prime Minister Churchill, Stalin dissociated himself from the "Wa1rsaiw venture." And so under the very eyes of the Red .army, the German units were
able to carry out their m8Sllicre of those Polish patTiots
who to Strulin (,according to his telegram of August 22,
1944, to Churchill) were but "a groU!p of criminals." On
Octdber 2 the uiprising collapsed 1because Stalin was unwilling to help "the Polish reactionaries."
The Waraaw insurrection seemed to ha:ve no effect on
Slovalkia. This was a ibloiw to Soviet expectations. To the
U. S. S. R., Sl~i,a, in the summer of 1944 was, from a
military viewpoint, an eID1Pty tera'itory with a "reactionary
government and nationalist populations," with some "deviated Communists" and some opporturustic non-Communist elements looking hopefully to Benes in London. A
civH W8JI' in Ozecho~Sloiwukia wouild haive been immensely helpful to the political aim!s of Moscow. But patriotic Slovaks
were too wise to begin an internal struggle. Three weeks
had passed siI11Ce the beginning of the Warsaw U!prising,
and still no rea.c,tion in Slovakia. In order to purge this
country of its "reactionary" elements before the impending occupat:rion, Moscow needed German military intervention there. ft was up to the Soviet aigen.ts to provoke it and
their opportunity was not long in arising.
On August 24, 1944, a spec,ial German military train
stopped in Tureiansky Sv. Martin, some miles from the
Soviet partisan headquarters illl ,Sklabina. The chief of
the railway station, in collusion with Captain Velichko,
refused to let it leaive. G€aleral Otto, former chielf olf the
Gernnan milimry mission in Rumania and now retwrmng
from Bucharest to .Berlin with his suite of 28 ;persons, was
then oonducted to the military barracik,s, held a prisoner
on instructions from Velichko, and together with all his
aides was killed by a unit of revolting soldiers the fohlawirtg day.
ThereUJPOn Hitler, infuriated with a Slovaik Government which was "unalble to 'k eep oroer in the hinterland
of the German lines," decided to send General Hloeffle into
Slovakia with an army of six di,visions to arunihrilate the
�66
SLOVAKIA
partisan movement. It was as a result of this decision that
the political and military leaders of the pro-Soviet conspiracy started the U[>rising whioh was announced on August
29, by Radio Banslka Bystrica. Within two months General
Hoeffle crushed this Sorviet-inspired venture. Although the
political chiefs of the insurrection, such as the "Demo ..
crats" Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, iMatej Josiko, Martin
Kvetko, Samuel Bellus, etc., and the Commum,s ts Gusta,v
Husak, Laco Novomesky, Karol Schmidke, etc., were aible
to escrupe, its military chiefs, General Viest and General
Golian, were not so fortunate. As they were attempting to
escrupe by plane, the latter was burned by their angry and
disillusioned soldiers. Both of them were then captured by
the Germans and ta:ken to a concentration camip in the
Reich from ,w hich they were never to return.
Wihile alll of this was going on, the Soviet Army was
quietly resting on the north side of the Carpathian Mountams where it had been stationed for ove,r four months,
tranquilly ruwaiting the last act in this &ama. It is evident
that the U!prising was only a trrup set b.y the Soviet partisans to ensnare the ". . . Sl~ak reactionary and opportunist elements." This pur,pose of the insurrection was revealed during the trial against Slansky in Prague in 1952.
As has already been mentioned, the former secretary general of the Comm.1N1ist Party of Ozeoho-1Slovakia had been
the main ctivil adviser for the 1944 insurrection in Kiev.
With respect to this function the state prosecutor ques~
tioned him as follows:
Prosecutor: Why did th.e Anglo-iAmerican agent (general) P1ka show an interest in placing the partisan units in
Slovakia under the command of (General) Golian?
Slanslky: He sought to place all partisan units under
the command of the reactionary General Golian at Banska
Bys:trica so as to faciJ.itate Golian's supervision of their
activities. Pika tried, in the interest of the imperialists and
of the London Government of Dr. Benes, to reduce the influence of the par1Usa.n.s as far as possdible.3
(3) Marcel Peju: Hier et Aujourd1hui: Le sens du proces Slansky II. Les Temps Modernes. P.ari,s, June 1953, p. 2013.
�SLOVAKIA
67
Thus Slansky revealed many years later what the Soviets really thought of the leading non-Communist personalities in the 1944 insurrection in Slovaikia.
This event is a great national tragedy. Whereas during the thref' years of her participation in the struggle
against bolshevism, Slovakia lost only 2,500 soldiers on
the eastern front, she lost around 30,000 persons in the insurrection in the short space of two months. Unlike the
insurrection of Warsaw, that of Banska Bystrica has nothing to do with Slovak ~triotism. It is quite clear that
Slovak patriots would have never organized an insurrection the purpose of which was to reestablish foreign external and internal control in their country.
C. The "Liberation" of Slovakia
What is known as the liberation of Slovakia by the
Soviets is in fact a misnomer and a grave distortion of the
historical facts. During World War II, though subject to
a certain international supervision by Germany, Slovalkia
was a relatively free country. During five years, until the
insurrection of Banska Bystrica, no one was executed for
political reasons . The Slovak Government in Bratislava
was able to master all the difficulties of the war period
during these years. Then the Red army came.
I waited for the Soviet "liberation" with a family
which lived on the outskirts of a small town, S., in western Slovakia. They had a nice, or as the Communists would
say, a '~bourgeois" home here. On the morning of a day of
mid-April 1945, the Soviet Army entered the town. The
house in question, which was located on a hill, was then
chosen as headquarters for the Soviet commanding generral in that sector of the front. During the two days that
the general stayed in the house, the conduct of the Russians was exemplary.
After the general and his staff had left, we congratulated ourselves on our not too bad experience with the
Soviet Army and prepared to cel~brate this event with a
good family dinner that evening. At p. m., just as we were
sitting down to table, a first lieutenant and a sergeant of
�68
SLOVAKJA
the Red army entered the house. The latter put his gun on
the dining-room ta>ble and began checking on our identity.
Meanwhile the officer began to inspect the house "looking for hidden German spies." In the course of this inspection he found our ,p ersonal effects in Oiile of the bedrooms
and ·b rought them into the dining room. He then proceeded
to examine these things in detail and chose for himself
whatever happened to please him: A watch, a leather
suitcase, etc.
We then saw that a second lieutenant of the Red
army had entered the house and began in turn to forage
through it. After a while he ordered a young lady to go
into the kitchen to give him a glass of water. When these
three left, after 9 :30 p. m., the lady in question colJapsed
because she had been violated. After this visit by offi ..
cers, two other groups of soldiers, many of them drunk,
successively entered bhe house, each one having held us,
that is, four men and three ladies, under terror in their
own way, until 2 :30 a. m.
In the city of Bratislava, which numbered around
200,000 inhabitants, more than 4,000 dishonored women
had to go to the hospital for examination.
During the "liberation" of SlovaJkia by the Soviets,
around 20,000 Slovaks, mostly intellectuals, were sent by
po1itical commissarias into la;bor camps of Russia, while
various tens of thousands of inhaJbitants were imprisoned.
D. Political Evolution Aft.er 1945
On April 5, 1945, the government of Dr. E. Benes
followed the advancing Red army from Moscow into the
easVSlovaikian city of Kosice and estaJblished the Third
Czecho-iSlova!k Republic in the shadow of Soviet bayonets,
through the so-called Kosice declaration. Thus a foreign
government was imposed upon the Slovaik people which,
except for two small :factions of political opportunists, had
been loyal to the Slova>k State - all of this without any
plebiscite. The Communists and pro-Soviet "Democrats",
who had already rendered a great service to Moscow in
the 1944 uprising, became the ex cutors of the n w state
will in Slovaikia.
�SuOVA.KIA
69
According to. the Benes-Gotlbwald agreement of December 1943 in Mos'coiw, they eliminated from the political
life of Slovrukia all other former political ,parties, namely,
the Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, and the Artisans Party. These parties }:lad received in the 1935 elections 19 plus 112, plus 1,
plus 1, or a total of 33 seats in the Prague Parliament out
of the grand total of 58 seats corresponding to Slovalkia.
Not countiing the Magyar and the German minorities which
had then elected 11 deputies and did not take part in the
uprising, the two pro-Soviet factions cor,r esiponded in
strengbh to only 1'4 deputies of the pre~war Slova,k representation in the Prague Parliament, six of them being
Communists, four Social Democrats, and four others.
Now, after haiving assured the mo!Ilopoly of political
re,presentation for themselves, the Communist and pro~
Soviet "Democrat" fa.c tions agreed upon a spo.ils system
exipressed in the form of a 50-50 share in the political
aJff~irs of Slovakia. In this way the political irufl:uence of
the Communists increased, in comparison with the year
1935, from 10 to 50 percent, and that of the pro...Soviet
"Democrntic" faction from 13 to 50 percent. Afthough this
50--50 relation 'between the two factions was corrected
by the elections of May 26, 1946, in favor of the "Democrats" who, 'becauS€ of the exdusion of other traditional
,parties, gained 62 .p ercent of all voters in SlovaJkia, while
the Communists got only 30 percent, the actual influence
of the Communist Party did not diminish at all. From the
outset the Communists had taken oiver the Commissariat
of Interior, including the Police; o;f EducatiOIIl; and of Industry, together with other key ,p ositions in the administration Oif Slovakia. They also retained the chairmanship of
the Board of Commissioners, i.e., the regional g01vernment
for Slo:vaikia.
MeaI11Whhle the Sovietizaition of Czecho~Slovaikia was
progressing in every field of Government activity: In the
field of industry, President Benes, ever olbedient to the
Communi,s ts, nationalized the main branches of industry
by Decrees Nos. 100, 102 and 103 of October 28, 1945, and
this without any consultation with the nation - mines,
1
�70
SLOVAKIA
100 percent; steel industry, 100 percent; sugar production,
80 percent; electricity, 73 percent; chemical industry, 72
percent; metallurgy, 68.5 percent; glass industry, 65 percent; leather, 53.5 percent; gas, 50 percent; textiles, 47
percent; ceramics, 46.5 percent; pruper industry, 4'5.5 percent; distilleries, 31.5 percent; breweries, 27.5 percent;
clothing, 25 percent; mills, 14 percent; food, 9 percent;
wood industry, 8 percent.
By these acts the IIlum!ber of wor.kers in the nationalized sector ,b ecame 570,000, whereas only 430,000 working
people fell within the field of private industry.
ln the field of education all the schools were nationalized by decree of the Slovalk National Council (No. 34,
dated May 16, 1945). Decree No. 47 of 1945 comiscated
the property of pri:viate schools, without compensation.
By decree of the Slovak National Council • (No. 33 of
May 15, 1945) the following institubions of political justice
were created: Oommunit,y and <list.riot "people's courts"
and a national court in Bratislava. The legal task of these
courts was to judge war criminals, but their political pmpose was to get rid of the -p olitical adversaries of the two
factions in power, under the pretext of collaboration with
Germany.
The political character of this distorted justice was
determined by three circumstances :
1. According to article 42 of Executive Decree No. 55
Board of Commissioner s, dated June 5, 1945, the
the
of
memlbers of these courts were to be ruppoinrted by the two
political ,parties in power.
2. These courts, disregarding the classiical principle
nulla poena, sine lege, were made component to decide
upon cases which were not punishable according to the
Penal Code.
3. This legislation introduced the principle of collective guilt and collective :responsilbility.
4. Art.i.cle 5 of Decree No. 33 of May 15, 194!5, provided
for labor camps, which were estaJblished through Executive
Decree No. 105 of August 23, 1945. According to the provisions of article 2 of this last decree, the following cate-
�SLOVAKIA
71
gories of persons were to be sent to lrubor camps:
a. Those sentenced by the "ipeople's courts";
b. Tho,s e whose activities were a threat to "the people's demoeratic regime," public security, puib1ic peace and
order, rpulblic nutrition and the reconstruction o:f economic
life; or those who were enemies of the state or conspirators against it;
c. Those who· do not work;
d. Those who declined to do the work assigned to them
within the framework of laibor duty.
'5. No plea was admissible agaiinst the act of indictment; the defendant did not have a free choice in selecting
his defender; no ·a ppeal was granted to a sentenced de. fendaJI11t.
6. Sentences to imprisonment usually involved the
confiscation of the ded'endant's property.
It 4, ruppropriate to add here tha,t before being .brought
to· trial the "traitors," "Fasci.Sits," "collaJborationists," and
"unreliable persons" were entirely at the memy of their
indictor~. There was no impartial court, as the grand jury
in America, to examine into the basis of an accusation.
This was an era of arlbitrary indictments and personal
revenge.
By its decree No. 5,1 of May 2, 1945, the Sloivaik Natiooal Council dissolved in Slorvakia all assodations, except for those few which were eixipressly exempted from
thls general ,p rovision. Freedom of the press, of assembly,
and other human rights were likewise a;bolished.
E. The "Coup de Force" of November 1947 in Slovakia
All these measures were aimed at the weakening of
traditional political forces and the estaiblishmenrt of an exclusively Communist power. For a long time the leading
personalities of the Sloivak Democratic Party, such as Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, Matej Josko, Martin Kvetko,
Stephen Koovara, etc., did not know whether they should
remain loyal to their "gentleman's agreement" of 1945 with
the Communists or follow the anti-Communist line orf the
great ma;j.ority of the Slwak people. Finally they decided
�SLOVAK.IA
72
to remain loyal to their agreements with the Communist s.
Instead of getting .r id of the Oommunist s, as would have
been normal for a party which had won 62 percent of all
the votes of SlovaJkia, the "Democrat s" did not alb.andon
the principle of the National Front G01Vernment. This
loyalty was to prove their fatal undoing later on.
In Selptemlber 1947, under the pretext of having disc01Vexed a conspiracy a,gainst the governmen t in the Democratic Party, the Communist s decided to liqUJidate this party. Jan Kempny, Milos iBugar, and Joseph St8!sko., three
deputies of the Catholic wing of this party, were imprisoned, as well as a,bout 2,000 other Slova\k patriots. Thereafter the Communist s organized demonstrat ions against
" . . . the reactionari es hidden within the Democratic Party." In this violent dispute between the two political parties in Slo vaJkia, the Ozech-1Soci alist block - i.e., the Communists, the Social Democrats , and the National Socialists
of Benes - representin g togeither 18'5 deputies (93 plus 37
plus 55) out of the 300 in the Prague Parliament , threw
their weight on the side of the Slovak Communis ts (23
deputies) and against the Democratic Party (43 deputies).
The Czech Catholics ( 44 deputies) remained undecided.
There was only one honora,ble way to prevent the constant intewenUo n of Prague in the internal affairs of Slova!kia, name ly, to proclaim the inde pendence of Slovakia.
Instead of doing that, Joseph Lettrich, chaimnan of :the
Slovaik Demooratic Party, gave his consent to further
limitatio!Ils on the politi>Cal preirogative s of his own party.
1
After a visit of Klement Gottwald to Bratislava, the
Democratic Party was relegated on Novemlber 18, 1947,
to a minority status in the regional governmen t of Slova1kia. Out of 15 seats there, it retained only 7, while the
triumphant Communist bloc got 8: The Communist Party
itself (including the chairman), 5; the Wreedom Party, 1;
the Social Democratic La,bor Pairty, 1; and the last seat
fell to General M~kttlas Ferjencik, "the neutral Oommis,s ioner of the Interior," playing in fact into the hands of
the Communist s. Such a hll!IIliliating change would have
been impossi!ble without a Czech coup de force in SloV3Jkia.
�SI.IOVAKIA
73
Having thus eliminated the greatest obstacle from the
way of their ambition for exclusive power, the Czech Marxist rbloc (includ!ing 56 percent of aU Czech voters of 1946
and 130 deputies (93 Communists and 37 Social Democrats) out of 23,1 corresponding to the Ozec<h area) was
finally able, on February 25, 1948, to, peacefully consolidate
its position and, by eliminating the Czech Catholics and
National Socialists, to pass over from the priniciple od' the
National Front Gorvernment to a sheer Communist dictatorshilp.
Conclusion
As a conolusion to this statement, I wish to repeat
that I welcome this. opportunity of finally putting the
events which took place in Ozecho-iSlovia'k ia between 19451948 in the pro.per historical light. It is with regret that I
must state. that neither of the two congressional documents dealing with the Communist subjtu gation of CzechoSlovakia - i.e., House Document No. 154, part I, on The
Coup de Force in Prague, pulblished in 1,9 49 by the Foreign
Affairs Committee, and DoCIU!Illent No. 70, pa,rt 4, on internal tensions in Ozecho-,Slovalkia, recently pulblished by
the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate (July 1954),
contain aipproprfate facts and analyses of the acts of
Commun.ist aggression committed during that period in
Slovrukia.
(Wa,s hington, D. C., December 3, 1954).
fflE TESTIMONY OF FATHER ANTON BOTEK
Mr. Kersten. 'Dhe hearings will come to orde•r .
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Anton Botelk, is
that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were fOl'!Illerly director of Catholic Action in Slo:vahla, is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTi:gue. fa it true you were in prison a total
number of seven times?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Imprisoned by the Communists.?
Father Botek. Yes.
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SLOVAKIA
Mr. iMcTigue. From 1945 to 1949?
Father Botek. No, from 1949 till 1950.
Mr. McTigue. When did the Communists occupy SlovaFather Botek. In 1944.
kia, Father?
Mr. McTigue. Norw, Father, tell us something a!bout
the f,i ght to !keep the Catholic schools open in 1945 and
1946 following the Communist occupation.
Father Botek. As early as 1944, during the 1944 CommUJili.st uprising in SlovaJkia, the so-,ca,lled Slovakian National Council was concerned with the abolition of all
church-Operated school,s.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aJbout the
tactics of the Communists used to destroy the organizations of the church?
Father Botek. At first they rubolished all Catholic
Church operated schools; then they disbanded all Catholic associations, and fina:lly they sll!ppressed the Catholic
press.
Mr. McTigue. Slo:v akia is predominantly Catholic in
Father Botek. Yes.
religion, is tihat right, Father?
Mr. McTigue. What are the percentages of Catholics
in Slo;vakia?
Father Botek. Eighty-two ,p ercent are Catholic.
Mr. McTigue. Is there anything you can tell us, Father, rubout the so-called elections in 1946 in Slovaikia?
F1a:ther Bote:k. As early as 1944, there were only two
political .p arties admitted; that is, the Communist Party
and the so-.c alled Slovaikiian Democratic Party. .The Slovakian Democratic Party denied any political party that
would be able to defend their rights by democratic method.
Mr. MoTigue. Wasn't there some agreement between
the Slova1kian bishops amd the Democratic Party, Father?
Father Botek. Since there was no political representation of Slovakian Catholics, the Sloviakian bishops and
clergy tried to find means by which Slovitkian Catholics
could exipress their political will. This was necessary especially since the Communasts were anxious to win the sympathies of the Slovakian people. The Communists tried to
use, especially, the Sloivakian Nation's. feelings for their
1
�SLOVAKIA
75
pu~ses and they suggested to the SlovaJkian people the
creation of an independent SlovaJkian State after the end
of World War II. This, howerver, wasn't approved by Mos~
cow. Therefore, the Commurusts tried to achieve a selfrule for ISlovaJkia within the frame of the Czecho...Slovakian
Re,pulblic and they finally succeeded in it; this was then
inco:riporated into the so-called
Kosice agreement concluded in 1945.
The Communists also tried to win the sympathy and
support of SlovaJkian Oathol.ics, promising the former members of the CathoJic Slova;kian People's Party tha;t they
woU!ldn't be punished for their wrur-time activities if they
joined the Communist Party. They also wanted some priests
for their policies; for instance, a certain priest, Joseph
Straka, who was previously suspended from his office b,y
his bishop because of irregularities in administration. The
bishOipS foribade Catholic priests to make any canvassing
prior to the 1946 elections and the Catholic priests were
also fonbidden to be candidates for any political party in
those elections. Father Straka, however, disobeyed this
order of the Catholic bishops and made .propaganda for
the Communist Party in winning Catholics for that party.
He promised Slovakian Catholics that the Com1rm.11n.ist
Party would guarantee complete religious freedom to CathoJics and he issued also several ~itten statements to
the peoiple, one of which I am in position to furnish to this
committee. The Slovafidan people, however, didn't let themselves be misled by the Communist propa;ganda and they
trusted the bishops because they knew their a;ttitude toward the Communists was the only correct one, since the
bishops warned them agaiinst the Communists even during
the time Oif Worlld War fil. Therefore, we tried to find some
cooperation with the Democrati:c Party of Slovakia, which
was not at least Communist, even tho.ugh this party was
also coresponsilble for the fact that the Communists were
aJble to penetrate SloiV'a!kia. The Catholics were es'peci'ally
indignant aigainst the Democratic Barty of Slova1cia ~
cause they rug-reed to the confiscation of 1,800 elementary
schools and 80 schools of higher grade which were prevfo:us..
ly operated by the Catholic Church, because this conifisca1
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SLOVAKIA
tion took place. i,n 19'115, at the time when the commissioner
for education was the chairman of the Democratic Party,
Dr. Joseph Lettriich, T.he so-called "Democrats," however,
became aware of the great pressure, and the great activities developed by the Communists and therefore they
also, on their part, tried to win su>ppo•r t of the Catholic
population of SlovaJkia for themseJves. At tha,t time we
Catholics still conducted negotiations with both the Communists and the Democratic Pa·:rity since we still hoip ed that
we would be aJble to achieve from the Communists the admission of a Catholic Party to be on the other side.
There were also preparations made for an ag,r eement
with the Democratic Party. The Communists, during the
negotia.tions, always applied the tactics of postponement
of a final decision. They made indications that they might
be inclined ·to admit, if not an ex,plicity Catholic party but
a P'arty which would at least, to some extent, aP\peal to the
Catholic population of Slovaikia. However, it soon became
apparent that no agreement could be reached with the
Communists. Therefore, on the 30th of March, 1946, we
concluded an agreement with the Democratic Party of
SlovaJkia. In this agreement, the Democratic Party of SlovaJkia pledged itself to admit Catholics as candidates on
their list of candidates in the 1946 elections. When the
Communists realized this they qtlliokly allowed another
party, which was called the Freedom Pa,rty and of which
they claimed this was a Catholic party. In this party there
were several good Catholics, even such persons who previously part-icilpated in the negotiations with the Democratic Party, but the chief leaders of that party couldn't
be trusted. The Communists also made propaganda or encouraged voters to cast inrvalid votes beca:UJSe they calculated that Slovakians who• disrug,reed both with the Communist and Democratk Pa!r ty would prefer to cast invalid
votes which then would diminish the percentage of votes
received by the Democratic Party. These irnvalid votes
were. generally referred to as "white ballots" because they
were plain slips ()If ,paper. This oppovtunity to use these white
ballots was voted in the Parliament prim· to the elections,
and the Communists and the representative s of the Free-
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SLOVAKIA
dom Party were in favor of this policy. Then it became ob.viou:s thalt the Fireedom Party was merely a pwppet party
under control orf the Communist s. We therefore started
,pmpagand a among the Catholics to vote for the Democratic Party.
We couldn't deve1orp this propaganda publicly, hut we
r equested Slovakian bishops to issue a statement to the Slovalkian voters. In this statement orf the bishops, Caltholics
were called upon to vote according to their Christian conscience; they we<re forihidden to vote for an undemocra tic
party which would .not admit religious freedom and they
were called upon to vote for the party wh~,ch would guarantee demncratic freedom. This statement clearly indicated thalt SlovaJkiam. CathoUcs were foiibidden to vote in
favor of the Communist Party but it still was necessary
to instruct the Slovakian Catholics that it ,w asn't good for
them to vote for the Freedom Party either. Therefore, a
statement was included in this aipipeal by the bi shops stating that it was not true; that the rumors were not true
which stated that the Slovakian bishops joined the Freedom Party and that they were inclined to vote for that
party. Those :mimors we.re spread by the Communis t Party
and hy the Freedom Party. Copies of this proclamati on oif
the bishops were sent to all iparish priests; it was also published in the Catholic press and we had couriers talking
them personally to each priest. As a result of this campaign, the Democratic Party won in the 1946 elections and
receiived 61 ½ percent of all votes cast. HO!Wever, we found
out that the Democratic Party didn't de.fend the interests
of the Slovakian Catholics and that this ,p arty even failed
to defend its own memlbers of Parliament who were Catholics. The Oomnmniirst-controlled Commissio n of the Interior in SlovaJkia had arrested the leaders of the Catholic
group within the Pairliame.nrt who were members of the
Democratic Party. In the a,greement reruohed between the
Catholic representati v,es and the representat ives of the
Democratic Party, the Democratic Pat-ty pledged itself, or
guaranteed to, Catholics that the schools would be returned to. the Catholiircs ag·a:in and that the press would
also be allowed, as well as Catholic organrzatio ns. How1
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SLOVAKIA
ever, the Democratic Party failed to honor these promises
and in arguments with the Communists they always
yielded to the Communist demands in order to avoid personal troubles with them. Therefore, Catholics decided to
take up direct negotiations with the Government itself in
order to defend their rights.
Bishop Jantausch persona1ly called on the chairman
of the Board of Commissioner s in Slovakia trying to achieve
the fulfillment of the promises given by the Democrats
and the guarantees for the democratic rights of Catholics. However, he failed to achieive any results. I accompanied him on his visits to the Communist Commissioner
HusaJk, and the Communist Commissioner Viktory, and
neither of these two ever agreed to any concessions to the
Catholics. Then a commission was. introduced which was to
find a solution of all ,pr01blems of the Catholics. In this
commission, representative s of the Communist Party were
Husak and Novomesky, and the representative s of the
Demooratic Party were Filo and Frastacky. On the part of
the Catholics, the representative s were Bishop Lazik, Cannon Cvincek, Carnogursky, and myself. The pro!blems to
be solved were the reesta!blishme nt of church-Operat ed
schools, a free Catholic press, admission of Catholic organizations, discontinuatio n of inhuman deportations of the
Germans and Hungarians from Slovakia, confiscation of
property and cancellation of work on Sundays. This commission convened only twice in the winter of 1947, but no
results were achieved. In 1945 the Communists abolished
the following Catholic organizations : Organization of Catholic women, with a memlbership of 100,000; the Organization of Catholic Men, with 30,000, and the Association
of Catholic Youth, with a membership of 50,000.
Mr. MoTigue. In 1948, is it true that the central office of Catholic Action, of which you were director, was
liquidated and you were arrested?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. What were you charged with when you
were arrested, Fathoc?
Father Botek. The Central Catholic Bureau received
�SLOVAKIA
instructions from the Catholic bishops to taJke over all
acti,v ities previously carried out by the Catholic Action.
However, we were aware of the fad that all organrizations didn't haive a legal background, a legal footing, and
therefore any acttvities developed by this organization
oould be stopped by the Communists any time they wanted.
The activitie.g of the Central Bureau, the Catholic Action
Bureaiu, were carried on with a great risk. I knew I was
collSltantly shadowed by one or two secret policemen and
that offic:ially all persons who entered the offices of our orgaruza.tions were super.vised by the· Communists. Instances
happened that visitors at or1.1r office were then apprehended
by these policemen, searched, beaten Uip , and adivised to
omit further visits to our bureau. Therefore, we were
anx,ious to keep our activities in the field of the Cathohl.c
Action strictly within the limits of religion a,nd not to mix
in any political aspects. Nevertheless, the Communists
didn't permit our activities and on December 7, 1948, eigiht
Communist po1icemen inivaded our bureau and declared
that our organization was disbanded and that the 'b,ureau
had to be closed dQIWiJl. The employees at the bureau we.r e
sent to a room where they were searched while, in the
meantime, in the ibwreau itself, all documents were
searched by the Communist police. This search la,s ted from
8 o'clook in the morning until evening hours, but finally
the employees of the bureau were released to their homes,
and I was t aiken by the police to my apartment which also
was searched by the police. The office rooms of the bureau were then sealed by the Communist police. 1:'he Communists then entered the office rooms of the Catholic bureau twice more and also, I, myself, was twice investigated by the pol,ice. Likewise, my assistant at the bureau
was investigated by the police.
On the 29th of January 1949, three policemen oame
to my apartment at 6 :30 o'clock in the · morning and intended to ta ke me to. the police station. At that time I was
just saying my daily Mass and I was notified that the
policemen were waiting for me. I could escrupe, but I decided aga,inst this, because I suspected that I would discredit, by esca,ping, the Central Catholic Bureau and also
1
�80
SLOVAKlA
the Slovakian bishops. I was taken to the police station
at Bra:tislav and held for seven days U1I1der very poor conditions. The iinrvestigators tried to force me to confess
that I had connections with the Western Powers, that I
engaged in espionage activities, and that I develO!I)ed subversive activities against the Peoiple's Democratic regime
in Ozecho-iSlO!Vak.ia. They didn't have any evidence a,gainst
me and, therefore, the]' tr8.lllsferred me to the regional
court's prison where they held me for another five months
pending investigation. At the end of these five months,
my foI1IDer assistant at the Catholic Bureau, as well as
the expert for pastoral activities in the border areas, were
released and I was put on trial. Since they couldn't produce any evidence in support of the charges that I wo:riked
for foreign powers and that I engaged in espionage activities, they forced a student to testif,y against me, that I
knew of his espionage activities and failed to reiport this
to the police. For this offense I was sentenced to seven
months' imprisonment. On July 7, 1'949, I was transferred
to the Leopoldov penitentiary b.eca:use, at the time the
Communists organized their so-called CathoHc Action,
which was controlled by them, many Catholics who supported the genuine Catholic Action were imprisoned, so
that the prisons were crowded. I served the rest of my
term at LeO!poldov and on the 28th of August 1949 I was
released. I was in poor health as a result of my imprisonment and, therefore, I had to go to a hosip ital, but after
a month I myself requested to ibe assigned to a small parish so as to disappear from the eyes od' the Communists.
Mr. McTigue. Was this in 1950, Father?
F,8 /ther Botek. 1949. While at this small parish, we were
preparing an ecdesiastical sermon and at this time a local
Communist called on me and requested me, pleaded with
me, that I shouldn't launch any attacks against Communists in my sermon, bec3/Use he stated he was charged with
my suI1veillance and was to report everything on me, including that whicih I told in my sermons, and he stated
he was a Catholic, too, and was the father of eight children he couldn't refuse this Communist order to spy on me
and on the other hand, if another .person would be given
�SLOVAKIA
81
the same instructions, this other person could do harm
to me. When I was approximatel,y two months at this
par,ish, the local chairman of the Communist Party called
on me and notified me that I was swpposed to report at
the district national committee for some discussion. I
was afraid, however, that this was just a triok and that
people were previously sentenced on charges of underground activities and were sent to forced-.JaJb.or camps even
after they had served their terms imposed by the courts.
However, the Communists are very cautious while proceeding against Catholic priests since the parishioners defended their ,priest$ against arrest and there were clashes
between the population and the Communist police who a,r rived to arrest Catholic priests, especially at the time when
the Communists started their own sponsored Catholic Action. There.fore, they endeavored to lure our parish priests
fronn their parishes and to arrest them at a place where
such resistance by local parishioners couldn't be offered.
TherefoiI'e, I decided not to report at the district national
committee and await my arrest at the parish office, and
on the same day the police arrived and took me to a
forced-labor camp at Nova:ky
My parishioners protested against my arrest; however,
they didn't put up any ·physical resistance since they already experienced that such resistance was followed by
arrests of hundreds of innocent people and that it still was
to no avail because the pTiests were always eventuaUy arrested. I could tell you about conditions there, albout my
experiences which I had at that time when I was held at
the Bmtisl8'va County jail. At that time there were members at least of ten underground groups held at that prison. When I had an opportunity to talik to them, I asked
how they became involved in underground activities and
how it happened that they were arrested since there were
always rubout 50 persons from each group arrested. Most
of these for.mer members of the undengr.ound groups stated
that there was always a Communist spy planted by the
Communists within their organizations, and that this Communist spy even encouraged them to develop underground
activ:ities which he then reported to the Communist police.
�82
SLOVAKIA
I realized that the Communists had put under sur:veill~e
all people whom they suspected might engage in underground activ-ities and if they failed to find anything, any
underground actiivities, they encouraged such people to
develop such activities, and be.fore a group could actually
start its undeirground activities, the spy denounced them
to the police and the memJbers of the group were arrested.
In 1,9 49, the Communists realized that they were U!Ilaible to
win the Catholic bishops for their puriposes; therefore,
they decided to organize their o,w n Catholic Action. They
coTI1Vened a meeting of the so-<:aJled representaUves of the
Catholic Church in Prague on June 10, 1949. To this
meeting they invited several priests under false pretexts,
stating that this was to he a conference to negotiate and
discuss church pro1b lems. In addition, there were also several Catholic laymen invited to this meeting, who were
mostly mem!bers of the Communist Party but didn't play
any decisive role in the Catholic life, and the Communists
eventually declared this meeting as the new leadership of
the Catholic Action.
The Communists declared that since the Vatican was
against the people and since the bishops supported the
v ,a tican in this policy, they intended to leave to the Ohu:rch
only the spiritual care and admit only the kind of questions and morals that the Pope could rule in .the affairs
concerning the Catholic morals a:nd the· Catholic faith; but
all other religious· questions would be taken care of by this
Catholic Action. This evidently was an attempt by the Communists to seize control over the administration of the Catholic Church in Czecho-Slovakia. However, they real.ized
that they didn't haNe the sU1pport of the people. Therefore,
they initiated an aotion of signatures which were to be rutta,c hed by the entire population of C!zecho-Sloivakia, to a
memorandUllll issued by the rubove-mentioned meeting at
which this Communist Catholic Action was founded.
Branches of the Communist Party organization were entrusted with the carrying out of this signature action. They
convened meetings in towns and in viUages, and also at
wo:rikiplaces. at which the present people were called uipon
to put their signatu:re on the memorandum. The bishops,
�SLOVAKIA
83
however, condemned this Catholic Action, and the Holy See
declared every person who would sign this memorandum as
excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
Mr. McTigue. Father, you were in a forced labor camp
in 1950; is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Did you get sick at that time and were
you sent to a hospital?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us very briefly something
about how the Communists treated the Sister,s at the
hospital?
Father Botek. A Communist order previously arrested
all nuns those who were nurses at hospitals because
there was a great laclk of trained nurses at the hospitals.
These nuns, however, who were left as nurses at the hospitals, were e~posed to various Communist chicaneries.
That was done by Communist functionaries at the hospital, by Communist doctors, and men, and assistants.
They were called upon to renounce their mernlbership in
their religious orders and to become civilian nurses. The
Communists tried to Lure · the younger nuns with a promise that if they agreed to renounce their membership in
the religious order, tihey would be permitted to go to a
university without any previous education, which was
otheIWise required from university students. This was the
same pattern as was rupplied in the case of young Communist woI'kers who also were admitted to university studies without adequate education and just attend a short
preparatory course. Except for a few exceptions, most of
these nuns refused the Communist demands and so the
Communists started to remove the nun nur,ses from hospitals.
MT. McTigue. When did you learve Slovrukia, Father?
Father Botek. On the 26th of June 1951.
Mir. McT,~giue. Did you have any trouble in getting out
of SlQIVakia?
Father Botek. I made a previous attempt to escrupe.
At that time we were a group of 22 escapees. However,
�84
SLOVAKIA
this escrupe mdn't succeed and. so I had to try it a second
time, at which time we were only four escapees and we
succeeded in crossing the border.
,M r. McTigue. Your present assignment at this time
is in Rome; is that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Busby. Father Botek, we know that communism
is opposed to all religions, but I think the comm~ttee might
like t-0 know how successful the Communists were in their
efforts to infiltrate and to destroy the Catholic religion
in SlovaJkia.
Father Botek. Previously, when I still was at the Central Catholic Bureau, we intercepted a secret Communist
instruction in continuing a Commumst plian for destruc,tion
of the Church and for its seizure and control. Under these
instructions, the indirvidual phases were to be the following: At first the ibishops of the Catholic Church in Czecho-,Slova:kia were to be separated from the Vatican; the
second step was to be. that the bishops were t-0 be discredited in the eyes of the priests, as well as of the laymen Catholics, and finally, the last phase was to be the
separation of the Catholic laymen from their priests.
IMr. Busbey. Now, that leads ri,ght up to my question.
Up until the time you left Slovakia, and from yOIUI' own
personal olbservation, h ow successful was this plan of the
Communists?
Father Botek. They succeeded in accomplishing the
first oibjective; that is, to separate the Catholic Church in
Czecho'"'Slorvrukia from the Vatican. They expelled the Annuncias from the Vatican to Ozech0-Slovakia so that contacts of Ozecho-iSl01Vakian authorities with the Vatican
were interrupted. Nevertheless, the Catholics in OzechoSlovaJkia remained faithful to the Vatican, to the Holy See.
However, they failed in achieving their second olbjective.
to make the Catholic bishops bend to their demands and
to have them - to maJke them tools in the propagation of
communism in Slovakia. Therefore, the Communists ,pliaced
a commissary to each episcoipal office who was to taike
care that the bjsho,ps didn't have any contacts with the
�SLOVAKIA
86
clergy and with the congregation. These Communist commissars controlled the in- and out-going mail; they controlled the visitors who intended to call on the bishops,
and admitted only those whom they considered harmless;
but even the talks of such visitors with the bishops were
monitored.
Mr. Busbey. Father, can you tell us aJbout the methods
and technics used by the Communists to indoctrinate the
pupils with the, theory of Marxism?
Father Botek. The Communists innoculated the Marxist ideology and way of thin'king to the pupils from the
very first grade of elementary school. When I was in hiding with a family who had an 8-year-old daughter, I overheard her tal!ks with her parents and I heard that this
girl was thinking in Communist terms and that her way
of thinking was completely inJfiluenced by the Communist doctrine.
Mr. Busbey. Father, do you agree with some of the
other witnesses we have heard, in the belief that if something isn't done in the immediate future and that if we let
the Communists ikeep on educating the real young boys and
girls, it will be more difficult, as time goes on, to defeat
this Communist march toward worrld revolution?
Father Botek. lt is a fact that the Communists have
had great successes in educating the very young people
in their ideology and the parents are almost unable to influence or to counteract against this Communist ideology
implanted inrto the chlldren because these children are instructed to report at school any attempts ,b y their parents
to dissuade them :13rom communism. Therefore, it is a fact;
that if communism is given enough time, that these youths
will become completely communistic and the Communist
strength will be increased.
Mr. Busbey. Can you give the committee any illustrations of the technics used by the Communists to make
the children believe in Stalin before he died, instead of God?
Father Botek. Yes, I saw the mrugazines for children,
for school-children, containing slogans such as "Stalin is
our sun; everything we haive, we've got from Stalin," and
�86
SLOVAK IA
"Stalin is ouT benefac tor, Stalin is our greatest benefac tor,
Stalin is the greatest man, Stalin is the most beautifu l man."
Mr. Busbey. Father, are you qualified to. tell the committee how the Commu nists rocploited the economy of Slovakia?
Father Botek. In these economi c aspects, I am not
well versed; I only Olbse,r:ved thait there was a general lack
of all consum er goods and that the living conditio ns were
poor.
Mr. Busbey. WhiJe you were in prison, were you given
any consider ation at all because of the fact that you were
a member of the clergy?
Father Botek. This ,prdbaJbly was the case 'b ecause I
never was maltreat ed, never was beaten at interrog ations,
and I observe d that many fello•w prisoner s were beaten,
so that I prolbaibly enjoyed preferen tial treatme nt. This,
may!be, was due to the faot that there was still a trace of
Catholic faith in my investig ators so that they were reluctant to rai,se their hands aigainst me as a priest. I also
had the followin g experien ce. While I was in ,prison, a prison guard caime to me and asked me whether he should
give his signatur e to the Commu nist Ac~ion Manifes to.
IMT. Busbey. My final question ; do you lbelieve tha,t any
agreeme nt made with the Commu nists is worth the paper
it is written on?
Father Botek. From my e~perience, I had negotiat ions
with the Commu nists, I can sta:te thait the Commu nists
never honor their word thait they gave in such negotiations, and this is in accorda nce with their general policy
which goes that everyth ing is good that promote s the Communist cause, and therefor e I am convinced thait any negotiatio ns or any agreeme nts reached with the Communists are worthle ss.
Mr. Madden . Father Botek, you in your testimon y
haive covered very well your experien ces back over the
years with the Commu nist Party in Slovakia and the only
question I would like to ask is what percenta ge of the
populati on of Sloviahla today are Commun ists, true Communists at heart; what percent age: 5 percent; 10 percent; 20 ; or what would you say?
�SLOVAKIA
87
Father Botclc. I thin!k that the percentage doesn't exceed 10 ,p ercent.
Mr. No71blad. Is the Voice of America or Radio Free
Europe listened to by many of the people in the area you
come from?
F1ather Botclc. While I was in hiding with several fa ..
milies in Slovakia, we frequently listened to the Voice of
America and Free EuTope programs. However, I heard
from these ipeople many objections against the spirit of
those programs beamed to Ozecho-.S1ovaJkia.
Mr. Nor.blad. What were the dbjoctions, generally, in
Slovakia? I am refemnig to the conditions in Slovakia.
Father Botek. The objections were mainly of a national and religious nature. The Slavaikian peqple are a
very religious people. They are 82 percent Catholics and
13 pereent Protestants, who also are active Protestaints.
Therefore, programs promoting ideas of a reformer, Jan
Huss, or the religious ideas of Masaryk and the other socalled free thinlkers, are not appeaJ.ing to the Sl01Vakian
population.
Ma-. Noy,blad. Do they believe the world news, the
straight news given on those programs?
Father Botek. Well, the Slovallcian people listen eagerly to the news broadcasts by the Voice of America. However, once OT twice I .w itnessed the following incident. Slovakian listeners who listened to the program of the Voice
of America, said, after the news was over, just said, "Well,
turn it off because the news is over and they are now
going to stam their propaganda for the Czech Republic
and we do not want any Oze<!h Republic."
Mr. Norblad. Do you feel that the radio broadoasts are
doing some good behind the Iron Curtain?
Father Botek They certainly are of great use and
great efficiency but this efficiency would still be greater
if the rest of the pro.grams, except for the news, was also
adjusted to those two major feelings of the Slovakian
popufation, the religious feelin:g and the national feeling.
Mr. No:rlblad. Do you get the programs clearly or are
they j&mmed by the Soviets?
�88
SLOVAKIA
Father Botek. The programs are being jammed but
on la11ger radio sets they still can be received and if the
transmission is jammed on one wave, on one b,and of the
radio,, it may ,be still tuned in on another one.
Mr. Feighan. There is, is there not, a very strict feeling of healthy nationalism within Slovakia?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. And that of course. is the reason why
there has been some resentment to the broadcasts?
F1ather Botek. Yes. I also heard comments by listeners to the Radio Free Europe, and Voice of America programs to ·the effect that in spite of the fact that there are
almost one million SlO'Vitk immigrants in the United States,
who ha.ve their own homes there and national life in the
United States, these programs do not bring any reports on
the activities developed by these Slovak organi~atrons in
the United States; they only bring reports. of aotivities
of organi•z ations which are not sympathetic to the Slovak
people and, therefore, the Slova!kian population, in order
to learn of the activities of the Slov:ak organizations in
the United States, tune in on Radio Rome, which also
beams SlO'Vakian programs.
Mr. Feighan. Well, it is a pity that the pe-o:ple within
Slovak,ia are not acquainted with the tremendous contribution of the Slovakian immigrants to the culture and ciivic
development of our cotmtry. l!"'ather, would y;ou relate. in
a U.ttle more detail, if you are familiar with the fact that
the Communists in 1948, I believe, offered Slovakia the
opportunity to ·b ecome a Slovak S01Viet Republic?
Fiather Botek. That was actually in 1944 and 1945,
not in 1948. At that time this policy was promoted by the
S]pvaikian Communists, Husak and Novomesky. However,
Moscow disapproved. of this policy and, therefore, the
Slovakian Communists had to put up with Czecho-Slovakia, within which SlO'V•a!kia was to have broad autonomy,
self-rule.
Mr. Feighan. Was it no,t the Slo¥ak Government that refused rather than Moscow's refusing?
Father Botek. Naturally the Slovak Government was
�SLOVAKIA
89
opposed to this idea since it was a Catholic Government.
Mr. Feighan. Well, you've got it both ways; now there
is only one way.
Flather Botek. I would like to explain this apparent
discrepancy. This was due to the fact that there was in
1944, there was a Sl,QIV'a)ldan Govemment of an independent Slovakian State which to some extent - whose sovereignty was to some extent restricted by Germans. When
the Communists started their wprising, in August 1944,
they tried to arouse the sympathies of the SlOIVa:k people
with promises of an independent Slovakian State but
within the framework of the S01Viet Socialist Repulblic. Rusruk and N ovomesky were leading organizers of the wprising in 1944. This policy of the Slovakian Communists,
however, was disapproved by Moscow.
Mr. Feighan. Is it not true thait because of the spirit
of healthy nationalism within Slovrukia that the Slovak
people would not accept the offer to be a part of the U. S.
S. R., ~a,use they knew that such a so-.called independence of Slo,vaikia would be national in structme only, but
in su!bstance it would be socialistic?
Father Botek This is possible. This is possilble, but
President Booes, who was at Moscow at that time, persuaded the Moscow leaders to drop that idea; and he made
also great concessions to the Russia,ns so that they considered it more profitruble for them to hruve a CzechoSlovak Republic rather than a small Slovakian Repulblic.
Mr. Feighan. F'ather, did thi s Communist Catholic Action still function between that time of its first meeting
in June 1949 until you left in Jll!Ile of 1951?
Father Botek. This Communist- sponsored Catholic
action prorved to be a complete failure. They still held an
anniversary meeting the following year but they didn't
celebra,te the foundation of thls Catholic Action in the
third year any more.
Mr. Kersten. I hope you understand, Father, that all of
ourr questions are asked in the spirit of inquiry regarding
the Communist aggression upon Slovakia. That is our
overall purpose, and thank you, Father, for the testimony.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
1
�90
SLOVAKIA
TESTIMONY OF FATHER STEFAN NAHALKA
(The witness wa:s sworn. The same interipreter was utilized as for the previous witness.)
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Stefan N ahal!ka, is
Father Nahalka. Yes.
that correct?
Mr. McTigue. Were you born in Slovakia?
Father N ahalka. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Were you ordained a priest in Slov,aJkia?
Father N ahalka. I studiied theology in Rome, so I was
ordained in Rome.
Mir. McTigue. And assigned to parish duties in Slovakia,
is that correct?
!Father Naha1ka. Since 1943, I was a'SSigned to duty in
Slovakia.
Mr. MicTigue. And at one time, Father, you were secretary to Bishop Vojtassa!k, is that correct?
Father Naha1ka. Yes, I was in that capacity from 1946
to 1949.
Mr. McTigue. Do you recall the uprising, so-called,
Father Nrahalka. Yes.
in Slovakia?
Mr. McTigue. When did the t11prising taike place?
Flather NahaLka. At the place in which I resided, the
uprising started on the 26th of August 1944, when this
town was occupied by Communist guerillas.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aborut what
the guerillas did in that town?
Father Nrahalka. At that time I was chruplain at the
town of Ruio:miberoik and during the firist days of the
Communist uprising, the relbels forced the popll!lation, the
men in tha;t town, forcibly to join the rebel army even
though they were completely disiruterested and even opposed to the uprising. They also committed grave atroci~ies. In a valley called Podsucha, they murdered over 80
innocent people and buried them in a mass grave. In a
nea'Iiby village, the partisans mwdered without any connection with the military, a Catholic priest named Martin:ko. In the Lupca valley, the Communist guerillas tortured to death there a Catholic priest named Seda; they cut
�SLOVAKIA
91
stri!Ps of hi,s skin from his back and finally even cut off
his genitals. Since the population was not in favor of the
uprising, the rebels used this deceptive propa,ganda to wm
the sympathles of the popul ation. To this end they spread
the rumor,s that the president of the Slovakian R~Ulbl,ic,
Dr. Tiso, was arrested and de1p orted by the Germans and
that, therefore, Slovrukia should arise.
Mr. McTigue. Father, in 1949, did each b:i,shop have a
political commissar assigned to him so that he could watch
over the bishop's activiities?
FaJther Naha1ka. In 1949, when the negotia,tions between the Communists and the Slovakian bishops broke
down, the Communists placed Communist commissars into
every ibishop's oftfice and they also placed one commissar
into Bishop Vojtassa:k's oft:Eice, who was a young Communist, ,a former tailor. He was approximately 24 years old
at that time, and t'here was aJil'Other Co:mmun,ist placed in
the main entrance to the ,b ishop's office who chooked on all
visitors at the bishop's office. The. commissar opened: the
bishop's mail, in- and out...going, and overheard all conversations the bishop had with his visitors and also acoompanied him on ,a ll his trips,. He also seized control O'Ver the
files of the bishop's office and he tooik out items firom
those files.
Mr. McTigue. Were the rooms in the hishoip's home,
for example, wired ?
Father N ahallm. There were no microphones in the
rooms of the bishoip's office because the commissar wa,s
present at all conversations, ibut I know orf a case. when the
Communists placed microphones in the conference room
for the bishop's conferences.
Mr. McTi,g ue. Were you secretary to Bishop Vojtassa.k
in 1949?
Father Nahalika. Well, I was secretary to Bishop Vojta:ssaik until January 1'949 and afterwards I lived in the
'Vicinity of the bish0tp's residence, in the priest's seminary.
Mr. McTigue. Were you arrested by the Communists,
Father?
1
Fruther N ahalika. I was arrested in December 1945 and
held in imprisonment until January 1946.
1
�92
SLOVAKIA
,Mr. McTigue. When did you leaive Slovakia, Father?
-Father Nahalk,a. llll May 1953.
Mr. McTigue. That is a little more than a year ago.
Did you hawe any difficulty in getting out of Slovakia?
FaJther Nahiallk,a. Well, the crossing of the bo,rder was
very difficult. At first we had to wait fo~ 14 days for run
opportunity, for a favnrruble time to cross the border and
we had to ~ very cautious while crossing to a :border area
in which the border g,u ards are authorized to fire at anybody whom they see, without warning and finally we h,ad
to cut through the barbed wire fences directly on the
border.
Mr. Madden. Father Nahallka, when Father Boteik was
testifying, he mentioned something regarding certain broadcasts thaJt were cormng over the Voice of . Arrnerioa and
Radio Wree Europe; do you know anything regarding the
broadcasts th·a t come 01Ver? Do you have any knowldge
on th-at?
Father Nahallka. I was in hiding f.or two years with
the viarious people from almost all social striafa and during
this time I had ample opportUillity to 1isten to foreign
broadcasts.
Mr. Madden. Oou:ld you tell us regarding your knowledge of the hmadcasts that come into, Slovaikia?
Father Nruha.1':ma. The people in Slovakia eaigerly listen
to democriaitic broadcasts. However, the preferences a.re
different and also the foreign broadcasts axe hOON'ily
jammed by the Communists. The people in Slovakia listen
to news broadcasts in the Slovak language by Riadio Free
Europe, Voice of America and also BBC in London; however, they disaigree on many aspects in the poJ.i;tical comments broadcast from these stations. They are opposed
to the political part of the program of those broad~asts
mainly beca'll'Se they realize that such programs do not
state the entire Communist case in Slovakia.
Mr. Madden. You mean anti-Communist?
Father Nahalka. Are not efficient enough to inspire
anti.Communist feelinig or to keep up the ainti-Communist
attitude of the population. This opposition to the programs,
�93
SLOVAKIA
the poJitical programs of those stations is due to the fact
that they do not appeal to the national and religious fee~
ings of the Slovakians and a.iso from the ideological viewpoint, there are some oibjections, since they are sometimes very much alike with the Communist propaganda.
'.Dhey teJl people who know, in these broadcasts, there are
people who formerly collaiborated with the Communists
and they are now talking aib,out anti-Communists. For instance, the reports of the so~called Slovia,kian national uprising was a very, very - was a great mistake. At the
time when the transmitters were still in operation, people
in Slovakia eagerly listened to an illegal transmitter called
the Wlhite Legion transmitter and the people in Slo;vakia also :5requently listened to the religious programs
broadoost by Radio Vatican.
IMr. Madden. Do yoo think the programs broadcast
by the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe do any
good - I mean, against the Communists?
Father Nahalka. These broadcasts have their effects
in the line of anti-communism, but especially thr01Ugh their
news which they broadlcast. However, they could be still
more efficient if they adjusted their political programs
also to the needs and desires of the Slovak population.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JAN DOBROTKA
Mr. McTigue. You are a Slovak, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. ¥ es.
iMr. McTigue. And you were 'bom on OctOlber 20, 1913
at Dechtice, Slovakia, is that correct?
Mr. Dolbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. During the Communist occupation of
SlovaJkia you were a master sergeant in the SiN.B, socalled, which is known as the Bureau of Internal Security,
is that correct?
Mr. Dob:mtka. Yes, sir.
Mr. McTigue. And you were a uniformed master sergeant in the Buireau of Internal Security from 1947 to
1951, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. That is right.
1
�94
SLOVAKIA
Mr. McTigue. Was the Bureau of Internal Security
completely controlled by the Communists,?
Mr. DobTOtka. As of 194'8 it was completely under
Communist control.
Mr. M'CTigue. But you were a member of the Bureau
of Internal Security prior to the time that it was under
Communist control, isn't that correct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were required to stay on as
a member of the Bureau of Internal Security after the
Communists got control, is that corerct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Well, I was automatically taken over.
Mr. McTigiue. After the Bureau of Internal Security
was taiken over by the Communists, did you from time
to time receive orders to arrest priests, to make house
searches, and so forth and so on?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, I received such orders.
Mr. McTigue. Were there many of such arrests made?
Mr. Dobrotka. Many wealthy farmers were arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something about the
orders that were given to suppress and liquidate the Slovak Democratic Party members and the Slovak League?
Mr. Dobrotka. As of 1948 memlbers of the Democratic
Party were removed from all leadmg positioos in the administraJtion. The Slovak League was completely liquidated
because the Communists considered this organization a
swbversive and reactionary organizati'on, because it wa3
supporteq by the Slovak Leagiue of America.
iMr. McTigue. Did you ever rec{:ive orde~s to give close
supervision to the activity of certain parish priests in
Slovakia?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I recei,v ed such orders.
Mr. McTigue. What kind of orders were they?
iMr. Dobrotka. We received such orders through channels from the government down to our posts and such
orders arrived in sealed envelopes and were classified as
secret, and we were instructed to open these eI1JVeloipes only
u:pon special order by telephone.
!Mr. McTigue. Who were the men that actually handed
�SLOVAKIA
95
you the orders, were they uniformed Soviet police or were
they plain-clothes men?
Mr. Dolbrotka. These were members of the uniformed
police. They were my immedia,te superiors and they related these orders to me.
Mr. McTigue. Iif you were instructed under sealed orders to report on certain priests, what kind of reports did
you m0lke,?
Mr. Dobrotka. Under these orders we were to Sllipervise the sernnons of priests and to report periodically on
whether there were any political aspects in those sermons by priests.
Mr. McTigue. Did you ever report, for example, that
there was any political significance to what a priest
had to say?
Mr. Dobrotka. I <know I sulbmitted annual reports to
this effect, and I can state approximately 60 to 70 percent
of the memlbers of the SNB did not reporit any priests
to their superiors. This was also due to the fact that the
priests were aware of the fact that they were Slllpervised
by the police and, therefore, they avoided any political
speeches within their sermons.
Mr. MoTigue. Did the same kind of procedure, that is
reporting on their activities, apply to businessmen and
peasants and the PQpulace in general?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; we received such orders to supervise the activities of the entire population, especially to
observe whether the former mem!bers of the partially liquidated Democratic Party developed any underground
acti<vities.
Mr. McTigue. Were many priests arrested and interned at the time you were in the Bureau of Internal
Security?
Mr. Ddbratka. From the entire district in which I
was active there were approximately three cases of arrests
of priests, however, not a single priest was arrested in the
area under my jurisdiction.
Mr. McTigue. Tha,t is because you kept reporting
to your superiors that the priests were only talking to
God, is that correct?
�96
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Ddbrotka. That is right; there was no reason for
their arrest.
Mr. McTigue. When did you manage to esca,pe from
SlorvaJkia?
Mr. Dobrotka. On Deoomlber 3, 1951.
Mr. McTigue. Did yiou haive any troUJble in getting out of
Slorvalcia?
Mr. Dobrotka. No; I did not have any tro'Ulble in
escaping.
Mr. McTigue. You are now a member of the Labor
Service unit at Bad Kreuznach?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kersten. Any questions?
Mr. Busbey. When did you ·become a mem!ber of the
Bureau of Internal Security? Is that the correct name?
Mr. Dobrotka. In 1938. At that time the name of my
headquarterrs was Provincial Command of Gendarmerie,
which was under the Minister of Interior.
Mr. Buskey. That was in 1938?
Mr. DOlbrotlra. Yes, in 1938, at which time Slovakia became an independent state.
Mr. Busbey. Were you a memlber of the Communist
Party at that time in 1938?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir ; at that time memibers of the
gendarmerie were fonbidden to become memlbers of any
political parties.
Mr. Busbey. In what year was, it that you assumed
your duties of reporting on priesrts?
Mr. Dabrotka. That was after February 1948, at the
time when the Catholic Action was started.
Mr. Busbey. You were a member of the Communist
Party at that time ?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir.
Mr. Busbey. Were you ever a memlber of the Communist Party?
Mr. Dobrotka. In March 1948 all members orf the SNB
in order to protect their own existence were forced to file
an application fur mem'bership in the COIIDmunist Party.
Mr. BUS1bey. In order to saive your life, you had to
become a member of the Communi'St Party at that time?
�SLOVAKIA
97
Inter:preter. He became a memiber in March 1M8, but
your previous quesltion was whether he was a member in
February 1948.
Mr. Busbey. Did you attend church prior to March
1948?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I did. I am a practical Catholic
and I attended Mass every Sunday.
Mr. Bustbey. And how rubout after March 1948?
Mr. Do!brotka. After March 1948 I continued attending Mass regularly, however, we were aware that from
that time on we were under supervision by the Communists, particularly all our contacts with priests, with the
local priest, local teacher and local government officer
were suspicious, because these persons were considered as
reactionary, and our activities and connections with the people were supervised by Communists spies which were set
on us by the Communist Party.
Mr. Busbey. Would you agree with me that the greatest bulrwark ag,ainst communism, and the hope of the whole
world for e:venrual elimination of communism and for
world peace, is the fact that the people, not only behind
the Iron Curtain, 'b ut all over the world, will continue to
belie:ve in God?
Mr. DO!brotka. This I 'believe.
Mr. Buslbey. In other words, as long as the people have
a deep-seated, strong belief in God, we can be sure that
we will eventually eradicate communism from the earth?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes. May this ha,ppen as soon as
possilble.
Mr. Bus•bey. Thank you. No further questions.
(The witness was excused.)
(,Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JUR DETVIANSKY
Mr. Det'Vianslky was called a:nd duly sworn and testified through the Slo,vak interpreter as follows:
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Jur Detviansky?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue And you were born on September 6, 1919,
�98
SLOVAKIA
in Slovakia in the village of Ladomila, is that correct?
_Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. You were a recorder of vital statistics
in the town of Deitv:a until August 1950, is that correct?
Mr. DetvfanSlky. That is correct.
Mr. McTigue. This is the time, of course,, that Slovakia was under the Communist domination or occupation?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
iMr. McTigue. Later you were an administrative officer at Zvolen until Septemlber 1951, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir.
,M r. McTi,gue. Were you discharged from this office
by the Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. Why?
Mr. Detviansiky. As a politically unreliable person.
Mr. McTigue. In your ,p osition you know something
about the quotas which were set for the farmers lby the
Communists, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. Will you speaJk a little louder in Slovaik
and in English.
Mr. McTigue. How were these quotas set?
Mr. Detrviansky. The quotas were estalbJished for individual farmers in the presence of a representative of the
Communist Party. The •p rinci:p le for this establishment,
this prescrilbing of quotas, was· to prescribe those quotas
to wealthy farmers in such a manner that nothing would
be left for their own needs. This policy was aimed at desiroying the independenec of farmers and forcing them to
join the farmers' cooperative wh[ch would make them the
farmers dependent on the Communists. To the same end
also several other measures were taken by the Communists, such as, for instance, that all laJbor force was taken
away from the farmers and transferred to industrial
pul'p()ses.
Mr. McTigue. So it was impossible for these farmers, big and small, to meet the quotas imposed by the
Communists, is that correct?
,M r. Detvianslky. At first the farmers managed to
meet the delivery quotas because they helped each other
�SWVAKIA
99
in tendmg the soil. But later this task became imposs~b'l.e
to fttlfill and famJ.ers rubandoned. their farms and/ or were
arrested for not ful£illing their deliivery quotas.
~- McTigue. Can you give any examples which you
know of from your own personal knowledge, of how some
of the peasants on small farims reacted to the quotas?
Mr. Debviansky. There were several instances, but the
most significant of them was that which occurred at
Detva-lKostolna. It was on: Decemiber 5, 1951, when a farmer named Jan Ba/bic from despair because of the hard
delivery quotas prescriibed to him 1knifed his three children, 1, 3 and 5 years old. His wife and two older children succeeded in escaping his desperate aJCt. He committed
this action of despair because he stated that since they
took aiway from him everything they should take away
also his family.
Mr. McTigue. When did you escape to the West?
Mr. Detviansky. In Decemlber 1951.
Mr. McTigrue. And you are now a caiptain in one of
the Labor Service COIJ:Il!pany units at Kaiserslautern , is
that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. No:rlblad. Is the treatment which you harve been
receiving here aH you expected?
Mr. Detvfansky. Well, the treatment l received here
meets my expectations, however, I am dissatisfied with the
slow progress of the struggle rugainst the Communists and
I am impatient to return to my home country.
Mr. Norblad. Many of us are quite dissatisfied with
the progress of OUI' fight against communism.
Mr. Kersten. In other words I understrund you feel
that the men, the young men of Slovakia as well as the
people of the other captive nations that are in the free
world would like to try to help the people ibaok in those
countries and your country to regain their fireedom, is
that right?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir, the sooner the better.
Mr. Kersten. And you likewise feel that the young
main back behind the Iron Curtain, even those under arms,
�100
S!LOVAIHA
would if they have the Oipportunity help get rid of Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. As far as Slovakia is concerned, I
can srtaite that since I was previously an active army officer and knew the mentality of the Sl01Vakian soldiers, I
can state that 90 percent orf the Slova,kian young men
would use such an oipportunity.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you.
The witness was. excused.
(Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
When the Kersten Committee pwblished its findings,
the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the Slovak renegades the Lettrich "democrats" - and the Reds began to scream
"murder!" That, of course, is quite understandaJble. For
the ladk of positive al'gument, they resort to the smear
technique, the usua,l line of the Reds. "CAS" (TIME) the official propaganda sheet of the Lettrich "we-got-6'2 %of-the,JSlovak-vote-in-1946" democrats, who actively collaborated with the Reds and Moscow from 1943 to Fe!bruary
25, 1948 - in its issue of February 1, 195:5, attaciked the
Kersten Committee and the testimony of most of the Slovak
witnesses, laJbeling the report "scandalous."
It is unfortunate that the Keraten Committee did not
call wpon the Lettrioh "democrats" to testify; the story
would have been more complete. At least Dr. Joseph Lettrich, "leader" of the Slovak "democrats," and Gen. Nicholas
Ferjencik, "non-!I)artisan" head of Lettrich's gestapo, should
have ,b een given the opportunity to confess that the "democrats" did .conclude agreements with the Reds in 1943 and
1945 to collaJborate closely on all issues. The Kersten Committee did a good job in the time allotted to it. The wol1k
initiated: should !be completed. Albove all else, leading Benes
Czechs (Socialists) and Lettrich "democrats" - former
members of the Communist-d ominated National Front government of Prague - should be girven the opportunity to
"sing"!
�
SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. V
quarterly by the
Slovak
League of
MARCH 1955
America
NO . 1 (14)
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED SLOVAKIA
is told on the following pa,ges by
witnesses called upon to testify
by the Select Committee on Com•
mu.nist Aiggression of the House
of Representatives, headed by the
Hon. Ch:a.J'lles J . Kersten of Mil·
waukee, Wis.
Michael Galayda is an .American
citzen who experienced Communist terror in Slovakia. He was
there W1,d saw Communism at
work a mong his people w'ho had
persdstenUy ,and consistently fought
the Red plague for over a hundred
years. H e makes his home in
Hazleton, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. Smrekovsky, American citizens, also witnessed the
terror and horror of Red rule in
Slovakia ,f irst hand. They have relatives and many friends in S1ovakia and, hen.ce are using an assumed name.
Dr. Joseph Pauco, news.paperman and writer, c ame to America
in 1950; he is assistant editor of
the .TIIDDNOTA (Union), the official organ of the First Catholic
Slovak Union, and a1so chairman
of the U. S. Bran,ch of the Slov,a k
National Council Abroad.
Dr. Joseph Mikula studied law
1 and politics and was very active
' in student circ'les of Slovakia ,before he Jlled the Red terror which
invaded his native Slovakia.
Dr. Joseph Mikus, foraner Slovak dilplomat, lawyer and writer,
became the director of the Press
Bureau of the Slovak League of
America, Wash!lngton, D. C., soon
after his arrival in America several years ago.
Jan Dobrotka, now an exile in
West Germany, was a Sergeant of
the Department of National Security in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Jur Detviansky was an active
officer of the Sloviak Army before
he Hed to the West.
Rev. Anton Botek, S.T.D., editor
and former director of the Catholic Center in Bratd•slava, S-Jovakia,
is in charge of the S lovak Catholic Action in Exiile; he edits
"HLASY Z RiMA," (Voices From
Rome), Italy.
Rev.
Stephen
Nahalka,
S.T.D.,
ecclesiastical writer and former
personal secretary to Bishop John
Vojtassak of t'he Spis Diocese,
1Slovaki,a - who, by the way, was
sentenced to 24 years 1n prison
1by the Reds lives in Rome.
Italy.
Philip A. Hrobak, editor of the
JEDNl()TA since 1938 and president of t'he Slovak League of
America since 19'50, is a native
AmerLcan, born in Cleveland, Ohio,
in 1904. Active in Slovak aff.airs
for the past 35 years,, Mr. Hrobak
has devoted much time to the study of Czecho-Slovakda and Slovakia and the people responsible for
government. His
articles
and
pampb:lets in Engilish have contributed greatly to expose "Czechoslo,v ak" pseudo-democracy, the
maohinations of the Benes Czechs
(Socialists) and Lettri.ch "detnocrats", the people responsible for
the betrayal of the Slova;ks to the
men of the Kremlin - +and the
Reds and Socialists aictJ!ve In Slovak circles in Amertlca. ·
�SLOVAKIA
Communist Aggression Against Slovakia
(The Select Committee on Communist Aggression, House of Representatives, EJighty-Third Congress, 1954, under the ch·a irmans•h lp of
the HonoraJble Oharles J. Kersten, did quite a. remarkable jdb to
ascertain how the !Communists seized pO'wer in the various countries
of IDurope. I believe it is the first time in our history that an honest
attempt was made to understand the 'background of the -peoples behind the Iron Curtain. 1Slovak representatives were among those
who gave testimony of Communist a,ggression in S-tovakia, which differed in so.me respects from th.at in other countries. From the testimony of various witnesses who were heard, and the many others
who sent in their statements fl'Qm various countries, it is quite eviden,t that 1Slovrukia fell an easy prey to Moscow iand the C-Ommunlsts
because of the pro-Soviet -poli<:y of Dr. Edward ,B enes and the Czech
Socialists, who ruled in Czecho-Siovakia with the Communists after
World War ]I. Slovakia, traditionally anti-Communist, was jn fact
sold out by the National Front ,Government of Prague. The vast
masses of the Slovak population ,had no ,c•hoice; their wiH meant
nothin,g to Benes and tib.e Prague regime, whJ.ch took over Slovakia
with the help of Soviet bayonets, disregardin,g the pollti-cal wHl of
the peOII)le completely. Excerpts from the testimony of Slovak witnesses, l'\Vlhic,h are contained on these pages, definitely prove that. P.A. H.).
FROM THE SPECIAL REPORT NO. 8
SLOVAKIA
!Slovaki,a is situated between the Carpathian Mountains on the north and the Danube and the Tisa Rivers on
the south. The in!hrubitants are !known as Slov,aks and with
the !Poles a111d the Ozechs, belong to the group of western
Slaivs.
The political history of the ·S lov,a!ks goes back to the
beginnmg of the ninth century when ChmsUan civilization
was introduced into their territoTy, and it was during this
period that tlhe ruler, H;astisfav, 84~70, made himself
lmown by an intensiive ChTistiianmation of the country.
FoJilowing hls ti,nvitation, two brothers, Saints Cyril and
Methodius, who henceforth were to b.ecome the rupostles of
the Slaivs, came in 863 from Byoo.ntium to Great Moravia. B y their activities, they laid the foundations for church
organizaibions, the Slav liturgy, a'.Jiphrubet, •a nd literature. It
was in this way that the rwork of the two missionaries
�SLOVAKIA
3
from Byzruntrl:l.l!Ill brought ,t he western Slavs into the fold of
the Catholic OhuTch, an historical event of paramount ipolitic,al and oulturral importance.
In the tenth century, ,Slovakia ,b ecame for a time a
battlefie'ld in the struggles .among the SlaVIS, Magyars, and
Germans, and at the fbegiillnmg of the eleventh century,
she became a part of the kingdom of Hungary, organized
under the Arpad dynasty.
In the fifteenth and at the !beginning of the si~teenth
century the internal prOiblems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasions of •c entral Europe by the 'Dmks in tJhe ,s ixteenth and seventeenth ceinturies, however, reduced Hungary to the area of the Slovalda
of today and political and cultural liife was concentrated in
that area. For a long time sessions of the Hungarian Pa•r liament were held •a nd coronations of the Hungarian llings
were celebrated in BratisJava.
The end o,f the eighteenth and the first half of the
nineteenth centuries mark the /beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. At this time, the nationa1ities tin central Emope we,r e about to abrundon Latin as the literary
and spoken language of the cu!tiivated claS'S and to replace
it by their own national language. Consequently, a spiritual
rebirth stirred up national aspirations among the different peoples of the !Hapsburg monarchy.
In 1848, the Slov,a,ks -organiized a military uprising
against the centralism of 'BudaJpeSt and: helped 1:Jhe Emperor
crush the Kossuth rebellion against the Hapsburgs. They
did it with the hope that Slovrukia wocld ibe finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated
monaTohy, ibut thedr hopes in this respect were never
satisfied.
h1 the "Memorand'll!IIl of the Slovak Nation" of Jl.l'lle
7, 1861, a Slovak National Assemlbly, asked the Parliament
of Hungary to create an rarl!ministiratirve unit from the oounties imlhaJbited lby tlhe iSloviaJc population under the name of
"Slovak region." It was to ,b e ,provjdedJ with such a degree
of poaitical and oultural autonomy which would be compatible wiith the prniciiple of u.mty of the monarchy. But the
Hungarian Parlioonent failed to act.
�4
SLOVAKIA
In 1868 the Nationality Act was passed in the /Pairliament of Hunga:ry .b y which Magyar was proclaimed. the official language of the ,s tate administration in the kingdom,
except for some autonomous bodies.
1n 1895, the Serbs, the Rwmanians from Transylvania
and the Slovaks convOlked a congress of nationalities in Budapest in which they claimed ,respect for their national
rights and asked once more for a federative reform of the
kingdom on the ,p rinciple of equality. Such a reform was
not carried out. As a ,c onsequence the non.,Magy,ar nationa!lities lost, during the First World War, their interest in
the continued existence ()ff the dual monarchy oif AustriaHu.ngary.
1
World War I and Formation of the Czecho-Slovak State
Dwring World War [ the ,s pirit of nationalism was
greatly stimulated within the Alustro-Hungari:ain Empire.
Thi•s spirit was reflected iby increasing demands for greater
autonomy or ouwi:ght independence ,f or the clifforent nations within that empire. The advocacy of the principle of
nationa:l self-tdeter-mination by President Wilson further
stimulated these iaJS!)iratiOill,s. and dlid much to set the stage
for the peace settlements.
Dur:i.ng the course of the war Czech political leaders
established a secret committee wh~ch directed the ,a ctivities of Ozech nationalists at home and abroad. Thomas G.
Masaryk, as the leader of this movement, toured Europe
and the United 'States Wlhere h e recei.:ved encouragement
and support.
Meanwhile a movement ,a rose among the ·l arge number oif Americans of Slovaik descent promoting Slovak!ia's
separation from Hungary. Th.Tee different solutions of the
Slovaik prob1em were oovi,saged: Slovakia as a new state,
as ia partner orf a Czecho-Slovruk Federation •o r a·s a territory forming a pollitircal union with the prospectirve Polish
Republic.
Finally, the SloivaJk -League of Amerioa entered into
contact with the Amemcans of Czech descent and signed
with their organilzations, in 191 5, t;he Cleveland agreement,
and in 1918 the Pittsburgh Parct, 'both of which aim·e d at
1
1
1
�5
SLOVAKIA
the creation of a Czecho-.Slova1k federal state. In these doouments the Slov,aik organi•z ation stipulated that Slovakfa
should 'be an equal mem1ber iwitJh the Czech lands ·a nd have
complete legislative, executive, judiciary and cultural autonomy in strictly national matters, while matters of common interest, such as foreign affairs and defense, should
be within the competence '()!f a common parlitailllent.
1
A tangi!ble proof of the aspi-rabions of 1:Jhe Ozec:h and
Slo:vruk peoples toiward foll mdependence iwas demonstrated
by the thousands of thei:r soldiers who had swrendeired on
the 'Various fronts. They formed the Czecho-Slovak Legions
in Russia, France, amd Ita1y and fought on the side of the
Al[ied and Associated \P,o wers.
1
In order to convince ·W estern statesmen that the concept of national states 1was, ~n concern with the iwill of the
people a Congress otf !Peop1es Oppressed ·b y the Hrups'burg
Monarchy was commenced in Apilil 191'8 at Rome. This congress did much to mfl,uence the th,i nking in western Europe
and in the United States. ln the summer of 1918, F'ra.nce,
Great Britain, the United States, and Italy offici,all,y recognized the Czecho-1Slovak National Council as a defacto gOIVerrunent and the Gzecho-lSlwak forces as an Allied army
waging regu~ar warfare agarl.nst kustria-Hungary and Germany.
A Ozeoho-4Slwak IPro:visionrul Government •w as set up
in Paris with Masaryik as President and was recogn.iized de
jure by the Aflied and Associated Powers. It issued the Declaration of Czecho..SlovaJk Independence on October 18,
1918, in Paris. On the saime day President Wilson rejected
the Austrian ,proiposa:l for the organi zation of Austria-Hungary on a federa l !b asis iby reiplyiing that !he could no longer
accept •~ere autonomy of these peoples as a basis of
peace .. ."
On Octolber 28, 1918, the Ozecho-Slo,yak Nationial Colllllcil in !P:mgue proclaimed the deiposibion of the Austrian
Emperor as so,yereign of the Czech and Slcxvak lands and the
estrublishment of a free and united Republic ,of Ozecho-4SlovavaJda. The ,SiovaJk National Counchl, a revolutionary 'body
composed of Slovak patriots, convened on October 30, 1918,
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
6
and ,pwb1isihed a document known •a s the Dec1aration of
Turcia.nsky rSv. Martlin. In. this document they proclaimed
the separation of Slo.va:lci<a from the Kiingdom of Hungary
and their intention to form with the Ozech lands a CzeohoSlOWlik .state. On November 14, 1918, this decision was ratified 1~ the Crecho--iSlvoruk National Assembly which elected
T. G. 1M as•aryik as President of the Republic and set up the
first ,caJbinet.
However, it was not long !b efore serious dlisagreement
developed between the Ozechs and ISlovaJks on the form of
government for the new state. The Ozeohs farvored a Czecho~Sl01Vak ,centralist state whHe the Sllo,vaiks ins.i:sted upon
a Czecho~SlQl\llaJk feder.ation ~n whioo the identity and individrua:lity of each nation would ibe •recognized and preserved.
In the opinion of !Slovak leadJers the Ozecho,..slovak state,
for all practical purposes, was to become a Czech ,s tate, enlarged 'by Slovakia ra nd :sulb-Oaripathlian Ruthenia. This situation resulted .in the !Slovaks taking a firm ,position a,g ainst
the centralist form of government. Monsignor Andrew Hilinka, a great patriotic [eader from the time of pre~a:r HrUlllgar.y, went dandestine1y in !September 1919 to Pairis in order to present S1ova;kia's cause before the Peace Conference, ,a dvocating an international guaranty fo·r the selfgovernment of the ,Slovruk nation withi:n OzechoJSlova!kia.
Denounced to the •French authorities !by the Ozecho,.;Slovak
delegation as a Hapsburg spy, he was foTced to return to
Slovaikia without any result. Toniprisoned 1by order of Prague
at Mirov, Mara'Via, Hlinka was to stay tJhere until April
1920, when he was elected deputy of the 'Slovak People's
Party, founded iby him under the Hungarian regime and
reestabllished in December 19'18.
1
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
ConstitutJional Structure
Althowg,h the !basic ,constitution was not adopted until.
February 1920, its .gener.al principles had been B!pplied
from the very •b eginning of Cze.cho-Slovaik independence.
The philosophy underlying this fundamental law is expressed in the preamble, whfoh is striikingly similar to the
�SLOVAKIA
7
preamble of the Constitution of the United States.
The main body of the Consbitution provided for a
popularly elected Parliament, a President selected by both
houses of Parliament and an independent judiciary.
Parties and Politics
The politics of the period may ibe divided into four
phases:
1. Nationalistic phase (1918-19)
Following the proclamation of independence, ,a ll Czech
political parties agreed on the fundamental principles on
which the new state ,w as to be bui1t. Having reaohed this
major consensus and the necessary leg,islation having been
enacted, the coalition had accomplished its task and a
split on partisan lines followed.
2. Swing toward Social Democraicy (1919-20)
The period of Socia.dist rule in the Czecho-Slovruk Republic did not accom;plish too many changes in the country's economy although the r,a,iUwa,ys, mines, and water
power were socialiized. The division of the 1Soci:alists into
Socialist amd Communist ranks ended the brief era of Socialist eJQ!)erimentation in Czooho-Slovrukia.
3. The agrarian era (1922-35)
This was a period of Telative ·parliamentary stability
under the leadershiip of the Agrarian Party, which managed
the government along m.iddile-of~the-road policies. A satisfactory coalition government was maintained throughout
this period.
4. The crisis ( 1935-38)
This period iwas the touchstone of the solidity of the
Czecho-1Slovruk state. Confronted with the serious iproblem
of the Sudeten Germain poipuil.ation, Czecho-6lovakia betrayed no signs, of political panic.
The .principal political ,parties in Ozecho-Slovrukia in the
period betiween the two World Wars formed the following
groups:
National 'Democrats. - This party, conservative and intensely nationalist, drew its princi'pa:l support from businessmen, the professions, and hi,gher cirvil servants. It never
beoame very ,powenfu:l.
�8
SLOVAKIA
Populists. - Under the name of the Czech Populist
Party and the Slovak Pe>ipulist Party, respectiively, this
group endeavored to bring CathoiJ.ic ideas into plllblic life.
The Sllllall faruners and workers in rural districts were its
strongholds, especially in Slovakia.
Agrarians. - This poJitica-1 groUJp, the largest in the
subsequent parliaments, was solidly entrenched in both
rural aind town districts by means 0£ a widespread network
of cooperat:1ve, economic, and mtlturnJl organimtions. Its
broaid economic and so.cia'l program att•r acted wide support.
National Socialists. - Thi1s non-Marxian Socialist Party may ibie described as a "radicai national party of the
lower middle class and of the wonkers." It had rather more
influence than its moderate numerical strength would indii;cate.
Social Democrats. - This, party, resembling the social
democratic parties of other European countries, had more
influence during the first two years of bhe Republic. Though
outwardly united it was, however, undermined by dissension within its own ranks, whicih finally resulted in the expu1lsion of the Communist faction .
Communists. - The Ozecho-Sloivaik Commll!Ilist Party
was created in 1920 as a result of the e~ulsion of Communist elements from the 'Social Democratic Party. Though
equia:lly subversive and aggressiive as elsewhere in Europe,
the Ozecho-iSlovaJk Communists never secured a la:rge foll-owing during the two decades before the Second World
War.
Economic, Social and Cultural Development
Agrarian reform
iRediistribu:tion of land was an urgent iprOlblem facing
the IIlew government and a Land Reform Act, therefore,
was one of the first measures passed ,b y the Czecho-Slovak
Parliament. This ,a ct entitled the state to truke over, •a,fter
com;pensation, all ,1and :from the great estates in excess of a
fixed maximum and to permit land purcha,se by those who
needed it most. The agr,ariam. refomi program substantially improved the material conditions of the rural popula-
�SLOVAKIA
9
tion aml averted the diam.ger of ,agrarian disturbances.
Economic development
While Czecho-1Slovruk agricl.l!ltura:l resources almost
covered domestic req,uiTements, indrustrial prodUJCtion was
far in excess of the needs of the home market since Ozecho-1Slovakia had been the industrial center of the former
Austro..lHJungarian Empire.
'Since the Danulbiian countries, originally Czooho-Slovakia'•s principal foreign ma,r ket fOT manufadured goods,
were increasing the tempo of their industria;lization with a
view to :restricting tihe import orf industrial µvoducts, Ozecho..JSlovruk foreign trade was olbJiiged to look for new outlets. These were found ma,i nly in those western and oversea
countries which were Czecho-1SloV1aJkia's .principal suppliers
of •r aw materials, especially the United States and Great
Britain.
Economically aJnd fin!andalil.y Czecho-Slorvaikia was a
sound state in central Europe. As an exporting country it
was severely hlt by the wodd economic depression of the
early thirties, hut, lby timely adtj:ustments to new price and
exchange levels, it was one orf the first Eiurropean countries
to weather the crisis.
Education and social progress
The cl.l!ltmrra1 level orf the Czechs was hlgh and their passion fOT education was prQIVeribial in central Eur.ope. The
new R.ep'Ulblic fostered educaition by establishing additional
free schools •a nd by, improving the existing ,schools.
The Ozecho-1Slorva,k :S tate a,lso forged ahead in the
field of social impmve:ment. All groU!ps and interests pos,sessed the rig:ht of organi,z ation ,a nd thus organized lalbor
had its trade unio,n s, farmers their cooperative societies,
and white--coUar worker,s and businessmen their associations. Health a,nd other types of ,social insurance were either
provided for or encouraged iby the State and pro¥i:sion was
made for State assistance to hoursing and cooperatives.
The Religious Situation
The re1igious .situation created after the esmblishment
of the Repu'blic in 19'18 must, like many other of the coun-
�SLOVAKIA
:iO
try's developments, ibe rvieiwed against its historical backgrou!Ild.
A strong Czech groUJp of modernist, nationalistic Roman clergy insisted on radicall reforms, such as the use of
the vernacuiliar in the lituvgy ,and the abolition of compulsory celibacy, Wlhich the Roman Curia could not accept. As
a result, this group seceded from Rome and esta:blished an
independent "Ozecho-1S1ovak Church" ,w hioh originally numbered aJbout one million adherents, lbut ,w hich lost half its
meimlbership by 1939, so that Roman Catholics still comprised 80 •p er cent of the popul,a tion. In spite of adverse
circu:mstl8Jnces, the Roman Cathoilic ChUTch adjusted itself,
therefore, to the new millieu and recovered much for its former influence.
In the political and cultural life of the new Repwblic,
the Protestant element played a role far beyond its numerical strength. Many ,prominent political leaders, Thomas
G. Masaryk among them, 1be'longed to the Protestant faith.
1
Internal Problems
'J.'lhe OOIIlstituition of 1920, in }airge measure disiregarding the ethnographic realities of Czecho-Slovakia, was to
become a bone of contention 1b ,etween the Czechs on the
one side, and 1:Jhe. 1Slova:k,s, Ger.mans, Mag,yar:s, and Ruthenians on the other. The Slovaks demanded the incorporation
of the main clauses of the Pittsburgh Pa-ct into the Constitution. The Ruthemans, whose autonomy within CzechoSlovakia had ,b een granted by the Treaty of St. Germain,
asked that this international obligation be respected 'by the
Prague Government. The Ge:rana:ns ,and the Magyars solicited oulturaJ rig,hts and adnninistr,a,ti,ve autonomy on the
local level, as granted iby the same Treaty of St. Germain.
'Dhis psychological split among the ,populatiOIIl of OzechoSlova1ki,a wea:kened consideriaJbly the new state from both
the internal and international point of rview. The Czech
statesmen tried to iremedy this situation by creating a system of international treaties such as the Little Entente,
1920, the Pact of Alliance and FriendsihiJp with France,
1924, and a similar pact with the Soviet Union, 1935. Uke
the Austro-Hunga1rian staite'Smen in 1867, Benes believed
�11
SLOVAKIA
that the transformation of Czech~Slova!kia into a federation of three memlbers, the Czech lands, 1Slov,a kia, and Subcarpaitlliian iRuthenia, would weaken the international position of the centralized state, I)a)rticularly with reference
to HW11gary and Germany. Consequently, in the field of internal ,administraJtio,n he developed a system, in which aJll
branches of Gove:rnment in Slov.a:kia and Sulbca rpathiian Ruthenia ,w ere reserved iprimari1y to 1:Jhe Czec,hs.
Politicall'Y, al·l problems of these bwo lands we.re to ibe
decided in the Pa:-ag,ue Parliament, where !Slovakia had only
58 and Ruthenia 9 deputies out of 300. Thus, even the most
important questions such a;s the relation betlween state
and church, official language, system of schools, the economy, were to be decided ib;y the Ozech parliamentarian majority.
Ai3 to the cutural aspect, secondary schodls in Slovakia as wel[ ,as the Bratislava Universirty lbecaJm.e an officiaJl
domain of Ozech ,professors, teacihing the UJnitarian concept of a "Czechoslovak" nation m ithe ethnic sense. On October 1, 1938, there were 523 Czech and 345 Sloviaik instructors teaching in the secondary schools of Slovaikia. At the
same time, there were 66 Czech and only 24 Slov~k professors in the Bratisl,a,va Uruversity.
From the standpoint of the economy Slovakia was to
remain a predominantly agrarian land, while the Czech
part of the Repulblic was highly induskialized. This policy
of two dif,ferent measures is shown by the share of Slovakia and Ruthenia ~n the industrial production of the RepU!blic. The participation of these two lands in the whole
industry, !between 1934 and 1937, was only 8.5 per cent,
while 91.5 iper cent went to the Czec,h lands. The proper
importance of these figures is stressed by the fact, that
Slwakia constituted 23 per cent and Rutheinia 5.5 per cent
of the total popuJation of the Re1pulblic.
From the adlministratifve ,p oint of view, the district and
county offices in Slo,vakia and iRuthenia were mostly direcited iby Czech off,iciais who were directly responsible to
Prague ,as were the police. In 1938 there were 120,926 Czech
pwb1ic offici,a ls in 'Slovakia.
All these aspects created in Ozecho-Slovakia what has
1
1
�12
SLOVAKIA
been knoiWn as the "Sll.ova;k problem." The Slovak People's
Party which, in 1925 had 23 deputies, became not only the
strongest single party in Slav,aJkia, lbut a majority party of
the Slovak people (not counting minorities and the Comm1.1!11ists) endorsed 1:Jhe federative reform of the Republic
asking for the accomplishment of stipulations contained in
the ,PittslblllI'gh Pact. A:s early as Jianuary 25, 1922, this
party presented its fiTst project for c01I1stituti01I1al reform
in Czecho-Slovakia. The prog,ram hatl the following main
points:
!Slovakia to be granted her own Diet and Government.
As common affairs would ,b e considered: The President, the
Army, Foreign Affairs, and Communications. The Sloviak Diet to harve exolU1Sive competence in such matters as
natiOIIlal eduoaJtion, denominations, justice, commerce, agriculture, publric works, social welifare, and corresponding
finances. The executive ;power in Slov-rukia, as iregards b.oth
the laws which wound be :voted by the Central Parliament
in Prague and those which would be enacted. lby the Diet
of Bratis:larva, would belong to the Slovruk Gorvernment.
Laws voted ,by ithe Central Parliament would lbe without
validity in .Slovakia if rejected by a two-.thirds majority in
the •Sll.ovak Diet. This proposal would have satisfied !Slovak
aspirations, but it was 111ever put on the agenda o;f Parliament.
A second proposed reform concerning the decentirali>zation of the state administration was presented to the Czecho4S1avruk Parliiament by the 1Slovak People's 1Party, May
8, 1930. More modest in -i ts scope than the first one, this
document claimed for -Slovakia the same constitutional position which had 1b een gr8.lllted ihwt never carried out by
article 3 of the constitwtion relating to Sub.carpathian Ruthenia. According to this proposal, IS1ovakta should have
had her own 'Diet as a national legislative ,b ody and a governor as chief of the land executiive.
The iDiet would have lbeen competent to enact laws concerning [anguage, education, religion, municipal, and district administration and justice as well as other matters
whioh the laws of the Central ,Parliament would comer wpon
it. Laws enacted by the <Diet of Slovakia and .si:gned by the
1
�SLOVAKIA
13
President of the Republic would ibe promulgated, under sigruature of the gavemor, in a sipecial col1ection of laiws for
Slova:kia. Although presented in due form, this proposal
was never discussed in the Parliament.
Octdber 16, 1932, the Slovak People's Party of Andrew
H!linika and the Slova!k National Party of M. Ra;zus (a small
traditionailist <Protestant party) having joined in an agreement a;b,out the necessity of autonomy for Slovakia,
stressed their detemnination to pursue the fight for Slovakia's national rights, "even ,t houg,h it may ,bring the disintegration of >the Ozecho..,Slov,a;k Republic."
Fol1.owing the resignation of T. G. Masaryk as President of the Repulblic, E. Benes became 1a candidate in Deceimber 19315 for that office. After some consultations, the
Slovak People's Party end!orsed his election, stiipwlating,
however, that a ,pol,icy of national equality between the
Czechs and the 1Slava:kis should ibe inaugrnrated by the President aind a law concerning 'Slovak~a's autonomy ,be promulgated in one year. Nevertheless, it was two years later
before the Prague Government was ready to, consider the
Sl()IVruk prdblem and this ooourred in connection wit!h the
Sudeto·- German claims for nation,a,1 rights within the Republic.
This nationality group had been integrated into CzechoSlovakia in spite of their protest. -Since the very foTlffiation
of Czecho,..,Sl'ovakia, the German minority had been soliciting a form of cultural autonomy in the schools, local administration, and in the courts. Later on they asked for
a better economic amd social <poll.icy in the German areas
suffering from unemployment. For a long time, Prague
did not lristen to such :voices. But with Hitler's accession in
Gennany, the Sudeto-Germans recei;ved the !backing of the
'I1hl1rd Reich. Consequent11 theiT claims increased at the
same time as their courage. In 1935 the ,Sudeto-German
P,a rty, with 44 deputies, lbeoame the second ,g reatest party
in the Repuiblic. The (P,raigue Goverll!!Ilent, not willing to ~ppear as acting under foreign pressure, remained reluctant.
T.he stiffer the Czecho..jSlovak Government 1becaime, the more
Hitler determined to annihilate Czecho ... Slovakia.
�14
SLOVAKIA
PairalJel to this evolution was Sfovrukia's struggle for
its own rrights. JU/Ile 5, 1938, a third projed concerning the
federalization of the Repulblic was pU!blished lby the SlovaJk
People's Party, a!lld presented to the Central Government.
It was only one week !before the, Munich Conference, 1Septem'be:r 22, 1'938, that E . Benes sent a counteriproject to the
Praesidium of the Sllovaik ,People's Barty.
Shortly after, the conflict :betiween Prague and: the Sudeto-Ge:rrmans was resolrved in Munich, where, on the basis
of Lord Rundman's rrecommendation, the Sudetenl:and went
to Germany.
This decision created for ISlovaikia a new situation. As
a consequence of a policy in whioh she had praotically no
share, Sllovrukia was ,a lso to surrender in favor Olf ifllUJilgary
her Southern !boundary ·zone, ,s ettled mostly ,b y Magyar population. This was a psychdlo,gical blow which brought an
agreement among all Slova!k ,political parties, except for
the Communist, Social-Democrat and minority parties, rubout
Slovakia's autonomy. Thus on October 6, 1938, one day
after the resignation of ,E . Benes, six ipolitica,,l parties of
SlovaJkia, representing 36 out of 58 deputies, puiblished a
dedarration in which they agreed that the third project of
constitutional reform shO'llld be immediat~ly put in practice
and l8Jil autonomous gorverrnment for Slovakia 1b e appointed
,u nder the chairmanship of iDr. Joseph Tiso.
1
November 2, 1938, lby the ar,bi,tration of Ciano and Von
Ribbentrop in Vienna, 10,309 .s quare kilometers with ·853,670
inhafbitants were to .b,e ceded by :Slovakia to Hungary. This
included 503,980 'Magyars and 272,145 Slovaks. ISfovakia
saw that she was becoming a viotim of an international
po1itica1 game ,w ithout aniy faJllJlt of her own. The Vienna
decision proved the futility of the fomner party dirvisions
and produced ra n integrating effect upon the Slo:va;k politica:l
spectrum. Parties which had signed rt.he Declaration of Zilina on October 6, agreed on NovembeT 10, 1938, on the
formation of a common party !known henceforth as the
Party of National Unity.
This political evolution in 1Slovrukia was f:inal:ly sanctioned by the Ozech and Slovak representatives irn the
�15
SLOVAKIA
Prague Parliament on No-vemlber 19, 193'8. Then, by a constitutionall ,amendiment, Ozecho-Slovrukia became a federation of Bohemi!a-<Maravfa, !Slovakia and! Oa:rpathian Ukraine
(,Ruthenia). Burt the relations between Prague and the Slova:k Government remained tenJSe, because of 9,000 Czech
officia1s who 1Were removed lby the Slovak Goivernment, and
the share of Slovakia in the income and expense, orf the
common <budget.
FOREIGN ,R ELATIONS
Beforre Munich
The principal aim of Ozecho-Slovakia's foreign policy
was the preserivation of the status quo as estaJblished by
the 19~9 peace settlements, and the estaJblishment of friend-ly relations with all her neighlbors through ,a n exten1Sive
system of adequate agreements. Eduard Benes, Minister of
Foreign Affairs until 11936 and 1ater 1P resident of the Repulblic, was the girniding sipiirit of this policy.
A solid :f oundation for rthe, presewation .o f the status
quo in cenibral Europe was laid !by the CTeation of the Little
Entente formed by Ozecho-Sfoivakia, Yugos1a;vfa and Rumania, and three victorious Danulbian states bordering on
vanquished Austda and Hungary.
Ozecho-1Slovalda was ·a n enthusiastic supporter of the
League of Nations and colktJborated ,w holeiheartedly in the
negotiations which brought Germany and the ,Soiviet Union
into the League.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Ozecho-iSlovakia's
foreign relations entered into a critical phase and two
ye31rs of vi,r,uJent Nazi pro,paganda among the Sudeten Germans !bore frwt in the results of the 1935 elections. The
NaJZi..sponsored :Sudetendeutsche IPartei poiiled over 62 per
cent of the total Ge1riman vote and c01Wed the smaller German parties .i nto submission.
1
Later .on, acting on instructioillS from iBer,Hn, the <leaders od: the Sudeten German movement put fomvard demands
which no Czecho-S1,orva'k 1g overnment •c ould a·c cept and, with
the anne:,ration of Austria, the srtage was set for final action.
De.seprately anxious to avert a new war, France and
�16
SLOVAKIA
Great Britain proposed to Czecho-Slovakia that she should
cede to Germany all areas with a German majority. When
Ozecho--srtovakia demwred, she was informed that she must
ae<!ept the proposal or bear the conisequences alone. The result was tihat the Czechs gave in and at Munich their
country was di vided on the lines dictated by Hitler.
1
After Munich
After MU1J1ioh, Czecho-.Slova:kia tried to adjust itself to
the new situation. President Benes resigned and left the
country. He was succeeded 1b y Emil Hacha, an eldeI1ly and
experienced jurist with no politioa1 affiliations, who believed that close cooperation with the Third Reich was the
country's only hope of sur:vival.
The tra,nsition to Hitler's New Order was swift. Obnoxious parties were dissolived and the Government was
given wide power,s to govern by decree. The ,administration
was purged, the 1press put under rigorous control and antiSemitic measures were ena,cted.
The situation in central Europe after Mlliilloh became
even more confused. Germany began to remind the Bohemian puibLic of the role the Kingdom of Bohemia had played
within the Holy Roman Empire. !Hungary started to speak
about her histor,i,cal boundaries and the necessity of a common frontier with Poland. According to the Nuremberg
documents, Hitler 1at that time. had already decided to destroy Czecho-Slovakia. But there was apparently no definite decision o.n S1ova:kia as to wihether to place it under German OCOU1pation or to ha;ve it occU1pied by Hungary. In this
situation, the Slovak GOIVernment had only one preoccupation: to preserve what unity had remained of Sloviakia after the Vienna a11bitration and to avoid:, as far as possible,
direct domination lby a:ny of her neighbors.
On Ma11ch 10, 1969, the Prague Government dismissed
the government of Dr. Joseph Tiso and proclaimed martial
law in 'Slovakia. The Slova!k people considered this a violation
of agreements that had /been si,gned ~tween Prague and
Bratislaiva and incorporated into the Constitution. Puibl~c
demonstrations spread throll!g.hout 'Slova:kia.
Invited to a consultation by Hitler in Berlin, Dr. Joseph
�SLOVAKIA
17
Tiso, the dismissed chairman of the Slov,ak Gooernment
was shown a telegram by Von Ribbentrop, according to
which HUIIlgary iwas ready to occupy Slova,kia. Hlitler then
suggested that this eventuality may be prevented by the
declaration of 1Slovakia's independence. Consequently, Dr.
Tiso returned to Bratisl,aiva where, om March 14, 1939, following his report, the IS'lovak Diet proclaimed independence.
President Hacha was then summoned to Berlin and presented with an ultimatum aiming at the i.mJpos.ition of a
protectorate upon Bohemia-Moravia. Forced into submission, the Presiderut ,s igned ,a declruration by w1hich he "ip1aced
the destiny of the Czech people and country with confidence in the 'hands of the Fuehrer of the German Reich."
German troo1ps marched into Bohemia and from Prague
(March 16) Hitler issued the proclamation establishing the
"Protectorate of Bohemia-Mora'Via."
Thereafter, Hungary annexed Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Czecho-SlovaJkia was dead.
The Establishment of the Slovak Republic
Even though the Slovak state was largely the result
of a tense international situation, it nevertheless co.rresponded to· the aspirations of the Slovak ~ple for freedom
and the principle of self-determination a,nd seltf-1govern.ment.
After Munich, central EUTotpe became a part of the German
orbit. Therefore, in oroer to. d.~scourage Hungary in her
armed attack launched against Eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded •w ith Germany a treaty of protection, March 23, 1939, by which the <Reich assured the existence of Sloiva;kia without destroying its .national pe,r sonality. In exchange, S1ova:kia ha,d to, follow the German line
in foreign policy.
Altogether, 2:l states. reoogniiized the international .i ndividuality of Slovaikia. Besides the countries which were
later to become members of the Axis, S~ovaikia was recognized by the Holy See, the -Soviet Union, iSpain, 1Switzedand,
Sweden, Grea,t Britain (de facto) , France (de facto), Liberia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.
According to the constitution voted on July 21, 1939,
�18
SLOVAKIA
SlovaJkiia became a Repulblic with a Parliament of 80 members and a Government of nine.
The constitution contained princi!pleis, which in some
aspects combined features of the liberal staite, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state,. In the beginning all poweT of the 'Slova:k Reipu'blic was vested in the
Parliiamenrt !but later on, in 19·41, after Slovakia had entered
the war against the S'Oviet Union, the executive was to prevail over the legislature.
The numlber of political parties was reduced. The Communist and the :Social il)emocrat pa·r ties, representing only
ten deputies, had been 1s uppressed as suJbversive, in October
1938. Six other parties merged mto the Slov,ak Unity Party, the baokibone of the ipolitcal system of the SLovak state,
and tlhere were two minority parties: German and Magyar.
The SlOIVaJk state was far froon being a perfect democracy in the trarlitional sense. R reflected a compromise
between the past and the present, between an old tradition
and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. lBut, in ,general, it was an expression of the
se'Lf-q>reservation instinct of the 1SlO'Vak nation.
The Sloviruk Government, in 1941, joined Gernnany, with
two armored dirvisions, in :the war against the Soviet Union.
Although on [)ecemlber 1:2, 1941, the Slovak Press Bureau
had pulb'lished an anno'UIIlcement that the ISlovia;k Repulblic
was in a state of war with the United !States and Great Britain, neither the President nO'r the tS lovak Pa:rliament or
Government ever made such a decision or declaration. In
fact, the Sl01Vruk forces, during the Second World War, did
not engage in comlbat against any of the Western Powers.
1
World War B and the Restoration of Czecho-Slovakia
Czechs in the protectorate of Bohemia-Morawa ,w ere
not directly iDJVolved in the •S econd World War. They were
exempt from militaJry service hut had to work for the German war machine. Though their contribution in the fight
for freedom was not Sipectacular, thousands of Czech patriots ipaid with their live'S for their efforts to 1keep the flame
of freedom fHalrering.
After Munich, many Czechs and SlovaJks left the coun-
�SLOVAKIA
19
try and established themsel,ves talbroad, mostly in Paris and
London, which became the cenrters of their political activities.
Headed by Eduaxd Benes, these emigres set urp a National Committee to taJke up the struggle for the restoration
of a free Czecho-iSlovakia.
The committee was recognized first as the provisional
and eventwall.'y as the regulaT Government of Czecho-Sloviakia, by Great Britain and, later, iby the United !S tates and
the Soviet Union. Czecho-'Sl01Vaikia was thus given the status of an allied state under foreign ocoupation. The Munich
agreement was declared null and void and Czecho-.Slova.kia's
original frontiein; were guaranteed.
While the C!zecho-.Slovak GQI\Ternment-ii.n-exile was primarily concerned with the consolidation of the international
position of the Republic, the Czecho-Sfovak Communist
leaders in Moscow were com1pleting their plan for immediately seizing power after the li/beration. Moscow knew precisely what Ozecho-Slovalkia's <international .p osition would
be once the Red army was stationed within the ter.ritory
and was concerned on:ly with tadica:l movements aimed at
bringing ahout a speedy sovietfomtion of the country.
Toward the end of 1943, E. Benes went to Mosco.w
where, on Decembe:r 12, 1943, he signed with Stalin a treaty
of alliance, friendship, and mutual help between the Soviet
Union and Czecho-Slovakia. tBy this treaty, the ·S oviet
Uruon was to approach Ozecho-1Slova1kia after the end of
the war as an ally.
No. such treaty having been <:oncluded. with the Western Powers, the influence of Moscow on the future of emergent Ozecho-Slovakia became predominant. In Soviet tactics, this treaty was to create a favora!ble atmosphere in
Bohemia-lMo:ravia fm: tbe idea of a Soviet ·l iberation.
During his visit in Moscow, E. Benes came to a,n agreement with K. Gottwald, the ex,iled chief of the Czech Communist Party, aJbouit the main prindples upon which the
edifice of the future Ozecho-,Slovakia wouJd rely: (1) The
state admin.stration 'wouJld be repla<:ed by "natio,n_aa committees" (IS01Viet.s); (2) the .fOI1II1er right-of--center parties
would 1b e eliiminaited; (3) the non-Communist parties in ire-
�20
SLOVAKIA
,s tored Ozecho ..Slovak,ia would form ,w ith the Communists a
"government of National 1F ront"; (4) "people's courts"
would lbe established to eliminate all war criminals. These
principles with an extensive inter,pretation and -aipplication
of ipoints (2) and ( 4) and the nationali2ation of indiustcy
were to, lay the fou:ndaitions for a "People's !Democracy" in
Czecho-1Slovakia.
In Slov:alkia, the treaty of friendship , mutual help, and
coJ1aboration with the Soviet Union iProduced a stimulating
effect upon the Commun1st .and Social Democrat undergroUIIlds and also on a group of lilberals whose imaigiination,
with respect to central Europe, was tempted more lb y the
absent Soviet Union than 'by the present Germany.
These ,groll!ps met secretly on Christmas 1943 in Bratislava and signed what is known as the "ChristJmas agreement." In this declaration they reaffirmed their will to
work for the restoration of "Ozecho·-IS1ov•a kia," for a Illarrow collalboration with the iSov.ieit Union in the field of foreign policy, for the estaiblishment of political justice and
for the continuation oif resistance against the Germans and
the Slovak Government.
:FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL GALAYDA,
AMERICAN CITIZEN FROM HAZLETON, PA.
Mr. McTigue. The Russians deported to Russia the
teachers and iwell-educated ,peoip le?
Mr. G alayda. Yes, t eachers and educated people.
Mr. McTigue. And you were in Slova:kia while this was
going on; is that correct?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. :McTigue. Now, while these deportations were going
on did you then endeavor to get a visa o.ut ·o f the country ?
Mr. GaJayda. I :tried a couple of times but it was impossible at that time. I was put in ja•il two tim es.
Mr. tM cTigue. Who puit you in jail?
Mr . Galayda. The Ozecho-Sloivak Army. They asked me
to fight ,a gainst the Germans. I ref,u:sed. I said, "I am an
American citizen and I refuse to serve in the Czec,ho..,Slovaik
Army."
�SLOVAKIA
21
!Mr. (McTigue. 1S0, you were put in jail because. you refused to serve?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, thaJt's right.
MT. !MoTigue. Now, when was t1he second time you were
put in jail?
Mr. Galayda. Wel1, the second time was in 1946.
Mr. Mc'Digue. iBy the Communists?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Why?
Mr. Galayda. Well, because I was campaigning against
communism.
Mr. McT,i gue. You were making taiks against communism?
Mir. Ga1ayda. Yes, I made ,a couple speeches in the villages against communi sm. That is why I was jailed.
'M r. iMcTigue. Noiw, in 1'94fi, at the end of the war, did
you try to get a Un~ted States passport?
Mir. Galayda. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTiig ue To return to the United States?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. [n 1945, when the war was 0 1ver, me
and my brothers decided to Oeaive, because at that time the
United States was ,stil'l fighting with the Japanese. So we
decided to leave and join the American Army.
Mr. iMcTigue. iDecided to come home?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. We went to the American cons,ul in
Prague. He refused. He saiid, "You have to get your passport
finst, then you can join American Army." So ,J came home.
Mir. McTigue. How did you go about gettiing your passpont?
Mr. Galadya. Well, we went to Hungary. On the way
from Budapest to Bratislava - weH, i will tell you something 3:borut the !Russian s-oldd.ers, what they did.
Mr. McTigue. Yes, I wish you woiuld. This is while you
are taiking the train to 'Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda Yes. 'l never am going to forget that time
what happened.
Mr. McTigue. You are on the train now?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Is this what you are describing?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
1
1
�22
SLOVAKIA
Mir. McTigue. And you rure en route to Prague lby way
of Budapest and Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda. The Russians pulled the emergency brake.
They had guns; they took the money frOirn .the ipoople, and
in every coach was one soldier. He had a gun. They robbed
the people. They ta!ke everything. Then I heard some
screaming, a girl, a couple of giTls started screaming. I
know that. I remember that. And I don't know what happened because 1I didn't see because in every coach was one
soldier and we can't move.
Mr. McTigue. And they -to ok the girls off the tra,i n ?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. How long did they hold the train up?
Mr. Gailay<la. Oh, Irt was, I think, at least one hour.
Mr. Boll!in. One hour.
Mr. :Mc'I'igue. And everybody on the train ·w as relieved
of his valualbles, jewelry, money?
Mr. Galaiyda. They took everything.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what !hia:ppened when you finally
reached .Prague ?
Mr. Galayda. Well, when I reached the Prague, liike I
said, I went to the American consul. I itold hd.m I ,wanted to
join the American Army. H~ said, "!No. You have to get
your Arnevican ,p assport first." So then I came home.
Mr. McTigue. You came home to Slovakia?
Mr. Galadya. Yes. I came baok home. Then I start
speruking agafast communism.
Mr. Mc'lligue. You started writing against communism ;
you made some speeches against communism?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. ls that correct?
Mr. Bonin. Now, did any,body ma!ke any complaint rubout
theiir activities, itaking this property aJway from them?
Mr. Ga1ayd:a. No, 'alt that time it rwaiS impossible to say
something.
iMr. Bonin. You had nobody to turn to to even make a
Mr. Galayda. No.
complaint?
Mr. Bonin. If you did ma!ke a compla int you would probably ·b e arre&t ed ?
1
1
�SLOVAKIA
23
Mr. Galayda. Then yOl\l are sent ito Russia.
Mr. Bonin. In other wocds, tllere was a c0111Stant fear
in the minds of the peoiple that they would go to a concentration camp?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, that's tight.
Mrr. Bonin. Into 'Si-ber-ia?
Mr. Ga:layda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Which, of course, is nothing ito .p leasant to
M1ybody living ·b ehind the Iron Curtain?
Mr. Gafayda. No, I don't think so.
Mr. Bonin. You were very happy to get ou:t of there?
Mr. Galayda. Yes,. The Communist Party is no good for
this world; a!bsoI1U1telly no good. Becaiuse ,I was over there -and
I lb.ave experience: ,I lived in Czecho-lS1ovakia for 20 years,
and I know. They iaire no good in this world.
Mr. Bonin. They are no good for this world. Well, do
you have any moos-a ge to tell ,to the people of the United
States who may feel that communism is a good system of
government?
Mr. Galayda. Well, there is one thing I can say, and that
is the American ,p eople should be proud of what they have,
freedom of speech and everything They should ibe ,p roud o.f
what they have.
Mr. Bomn. ls, it-here any freedom of religion under the
Communists?
iMr. Galayda. No.
Mir. Bonoin. Is there Mly freedom iof the press?
Mr. Galayda. No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom of assembly?
Mr. Galayda . No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom to use radio and teleMr. Galayda. No.
visi'o n as we do !ill America here.?
Mr. Bonin. [t i,s a ,pretty lblack picture, this lirving behind t.he Iron Curtain; isn't iit?
Mir. Galayda. That's ~ight.
(Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ISeptemiber 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MR. SMREKOVSKY
MT. McTigue. You came to this country in 1928; is that
correct?
Mr. Smrekiovsky. 1928 is correct.
Mr. MoTigue. And did you become a:n American citizen
at that time?
�2-l
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir, after being five years in this
country.
Mr. McTi!gue. I under,stand that you returned to Slovakfa in 1939; is that cor.root?
Mr. 1Smrekovgky_ 1939; yes.
Mr. !l\foTigue. What iwas the purpose for returning to
Slova·k ia at that time?
Mr. Smrekovsky. To. visit my father because he was
reaching 90 rund wrote me that he was i'll; so I wanted to
visit him and see him.
Mr. Mc'figue. Now, did you return to Slovakia before
the 'Outlbreak oif wa;r between Germa;ny a.ind Polamd?
Mr. 1Sm.rekovsky. Yes. We had a little difficll'l,ty crossing
t:he ·Polish boroer, lbut ,that didn't amount to much.
Mr . .McTigiue. Noiw, at thait time, conditions were good
in ,Slovakia; is that correct?
Mr. Smreko'V'sky. Yes, they were.
Mr. Mc'figue. There wasn't any difficulty as far as
Mr. ,S mrekovs,k y. We didn't .know anything about wa:r
then.
Mr. McTigue. There was ,c omplete fu-eedom of ithe
Mr. ISm.rekovsky. Yes.
press...
Mr. McTigue. Freedom of ireligion . . .
Mr. 1Smerkovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And freedom of assembly
Mr. Smerkov:sky. Yes.
iMr. iMcTigue. Hoiw long did you stay in 1Slovakia?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. 1Seven years.
Mr. McTigue. Then you were there at the time the Rus1M r. !Smrekov.s ky. Ye·s, I was.
sians C'aime into 1Slovaikia?
Mrr. Mc'figue. What - or, w:hen did you first come .in
contact with the Commun.ists?
Mr. Smrekovsky. After the German Army was defeated,
they started to drop parachutists to organize Communist
bands to pers.e cute and rob middle class and decent people.
1M r. Mc'.Dig,ue. Noiw, did this haJppen in 1944?
Mr. IS mrekovs.ky. Yes.
lMr. Mcrrigue. And thls i1s the Communist-inspir ed uprising that you are talk,i ng a:bout.
�SLOVAKIA
25
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTi,g ue And in the community where you were
liviing rthey had parachuted agents into the community to organi1ze Communist bands in order to continue the uprising?
Mr. Smreko,v,s ky. That's right.
Mr. McTi'gue. And bring it to a successful conclusion, if
necessary?
!Mr. ISmrekovsky. Yes, and spread commurnsm at the
same time.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. Now, can you teH us some of the things
you wit:ne.ssed, yourself, during the course of this Communist-inspired uprising?
Mr. Smrekovsky. I remember a family cruptured by the
OommUIIllists. There were five memlbers in the fami'ly, a twoyear-old giirl, there was another bigger girl, a son-in-laiw, a,n
old man, and his wife. They were dragged to the edge of
the forest and shot from ithe back. Then they dug a hole for
them and buried them.
Mr. Bonin. Mr. Counsel, I just want to interrupt here.
We hea.ird testimony .b efore from different witnesses when stating that ithey were shot in the back, do you mean
that the . . .
Mr. Smrekoivsky. They start •t o run.
Mr. Bonin. They ,s tarted to run?
Mr. Smrekovsky. They started to run and they shot
them from the back.
iMr. Bonin. And they shot tlhem firom the bru~k whiie
they were trying to get away from them?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Now, they were agents of the Russian Government - that were doing that?
Mr. Smrekovs:ky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. .A!nd were they armed, these people that were
shot, or were they with01Ut a,r,ms?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. They were without arms.
Mir. Bonin. They were without arms?
Mr. '.Smrekovsky. Without arr-ms, innocent people.
Mr. Bonin. But, nevertheless, they were all .s hot in the
baC'k, the one two years of a,ge, four years of age, the two
larger ones, the son-in...,Jaw, and the father?
1
1
�26
SLOVAKIA
,M r. Smrekovsky. And the mother, too. Five persons.
Mr. Bonin. Five persons? Now, you say that they were
tossed in •a mass grave; is that correct?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. Bonin. They were a:11 placed in the same g:raJVe?
MT. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Was there any re1iigious burirul service involrved?
MT. Smrekovsky. No, sir. No, sir. They just buried them
there like any criminals. It ha:ppened around Oot:ctber, and
during tJhe winter they dug them out and :p ut them in the
cemetery, in the corner of the cemetery, where they are
Mr. Bonin. Continue Mr. Counsel.
sti1l buried.
'Mr. IMcTiigue. Now, after the Communists had occuipied
Slovwkia, did there come a time when you were put in
jail your1self?
1Mr. Smreikovsky. Yes. r:r was there 14 days.
Mr. Mcfl'igue. Why?
Mir. 1Smrekovsky. Of course, they had no reason. They
wanted to get rid of the middle-class people. My ·brother-4nlaw and a friend of mine were an-ested. Finally, my wife
went to the authorities <a!Ild they let me free after 14 days.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to your brother-in~law?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Well, he was jailed also, hut they released him.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. But there were others whom they didn't
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
,r elease?
~fr. lMc'l'igue. You know that of your own personal
Mr. 'Sm~kOIV'sky. Yes.
knowledge?
Mr. Mc'.Digue. They were friends of yours?
Mr. 'Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Leading people in the community?
•M r. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Priests?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. McTigue. Nuns?
of different rel,i gious faiths?
people
And
lMcTigu.e.
Mr.
Mr. SmTekovsky. Yes.
MT McTigue.·· Now, when did you and how did you get
back to the United States?
�SLOVAKIA
27
Mr. SmrekoV!Siky. As soon as the American constcl came
to Prague, I a,pplied for visa to the United States, and as
soon as my transportation was ready I lef.t and came to the
United States, first of Octolber 1946. I left my we there
for three years until I could bring her 'O'Ver.
Mr. iMcTigue. Now, at the time you le.flt you awned some
Mr. Smrelwvsky. Yes.
·
property; didn't you?
Mr. iMcTigue. What lhaippened to that iproperty af.ter
you left? .
Mr. Smrekovsky. Well, that was a1l confiscated. My
wife had to sign a statement tha,t it's gi;ven to ,the Govem.ment. And every'body ,w ho wamts to come to America had to
do that. Otherwise she would't get a !Visa.
The Chairman. That is a method of highway robbery that
they hold against somebody that wants to migraJte from one
country to. another?
Mr. S'mrekovsky. Yes, sir.
Mr. Bonin. They compel them to transfer their i)roperty
to the Government.
(Wil:kes-iBarre, Pa., September 30, 1954).
a
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MRS. SMREKOVSKY
iMr. McTigue. When yoUJr husband left Slova!kia in 1946
to come to the Untted States, he left you in Slovakia; is
(Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct.
Mr. iMcTigue. And at the time he left you in 1946 you
had under yourr care the property which you both owned; is
Mrs. :SmrekoV'Slky. Yes.
thaJt correct?
Mr. McTigue. rNow, when your husband left and you had
the ipropeirty under your management, what experience did
you have with the Communists?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Very ibad.
Mr. McTigue. Did they make efforts to frig,hten you in
--any way so that you would give your property ;to them?
Mrs. Sinreko1Vsky. ThaJt was the only hope to come to
this country, unless if agreed that the property is transferred to the Government.
Mr. McTigue. So until you signed over your property to
�28
SLOVAKIA
the Government you 'had no chance of leaving Slovakia; is
!Mrs. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct?
MT. iMcTigue. iln it.he meantime, while you were still
there, in 1946 and b,efore you left the country, were your
friends mistreated by the Comrnurusts? Were any of yoll'I'
close friends that you harve personal ikno,w ledge of mistreated
in any way by the Communists?
!Mrs. Smrekorvsky. In my hometown there were shot or
massacred four 1people while I was wiith my ,p arents - there
was a senator, a notary public, a mayo.r , and a foo-ester. DuTing the night, in theilr ntght clothes, they loaded them UJp in
one truck rund took them away.
Mr. McTigue. What was their crime? Why were they
shot?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Because they were not Communists
and they never a:gireed with the Comml.llilists.
MT. Bonin. Oongressman Feighan. Just a minute. In
other words, even though the Communists ,have been in Slo1Mrs.
Smre~ovsky. Yes.
va:kia since 1945 . . .
Mir. Bonin. StiM your relatives ·a nd friends have not beMrs. Smrekovsky. Right.
come Communists?
Mr. Bonin. They still belie·v e in ,t he religion and the freedom of religion that they had before?.
Mrs. Smrekovsky. And they hope they wihl be £.reed and
live again like decent people.
MT. Bonin. In other words, regardless of how long the
Communists may dominate Slorvrukia, there is still that desire for freedom on theiiT prurt and to live as they used to
prior to the Communist regime that has been imposed upon
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
them?
Mr. Bonin. Now, I understand that t:hese four influential 1poople, a senator, a mayor, a t:imiber man and a notary
public, were also shot because rthey failed to accept communism and to lead the people through Communist doctrines and
princilples under the domination of the Russian system?
Mrs. Smrekorvsky. Right.
Mr. Bottin. That is the type of freedom thaJt is being
sold to the ,people behind the lTOn Currtain?
Mrs. -Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
�SLOVAKIA
29
MT. Bonin. Force, threats, violence, and intimidation, in
order to constantly keep them in fear of whait is apt to happen to them?
1M rs. Smrekovsky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. Now, your wifo came out of Czecho-iSliovrukia
in 1'9 49; ts thart: correct?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. Yes, sirr.
Mr. !Bonin. And the principal reason ,w hy you aTe testifying under an assumed name is lbecaUJSe you are fearrful of
what might haJppen to your relaUves and ,t he friends. that
you ,s till 1haJVe in 1s1ova~ia?
Mr. Srnrekovsky. Exactly.
(WiJJkes-iBarre, Pa., ,September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH PAU00
Mr. McTigue. 1Mr. Pall'co, where are you living at the
present ,t ime? - - - Dr. Pauco. ln Middletown, Pa.
Mr. McTigue. H ow are yiou employed?
Dr. Pa:ll!co. I am assistant editor of the Slova.k weekly,
Jednota.
Mr. McTigue. Mir. !PauJco, I understand that you were
born in Slovakia, is that correct.
Dr. PaU!co. Yes; that is true.
Mr. ,M cTigue. What part of Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. In ceilltraJl Slovakia.
Mr. McTigue. Central ISlovaJkia. And it's my understanding that you spent most of your adult life as a journalist; is
that coTrect?
[)r. ,Pawc'O. Yes; that is correct, sir.
Mr. McTi:gue. W1hiile yiou were in Slova!kia, it is also my
understanding that in yiour capacity as -a journa:list, you had
the occasion to witness the Communist~in,s;pired uprising in
1944; is that correct?
Dr. Pa'Ulco. Yes, that's true.
Mr. Mc'lligue. And were, you also present at the uncovering of the mass graves at Vinnitsia in the Ukraine?
Dr. Pauico. Yes; that's right.
Mr. McTigue . . How d!id you happen to be there?
Dr. 1Pau'co. I was a member of a journalist expedition in
July 1943 It wa:s an e~pedition of all journalists firom cen.trrul Europe. I came to Vmnitsia in July 1943 and I wais there
four days. In those four days I saw five ,o.r six maSIS grarves
of the Ukrainian people and some Polish people, who were
�30
SLOVAKIA
murdered by the ,Soviets. An eX!planation was girven to us
by the Geamam.. dootors that these people were shot between
1939 and 1941.
I spoke with the local people, Ukrainia:n and Polish people, some dozens of these people, because we were allowed
to spealk to those people - a,t the mass graves there in Vinnitsia, in the town of Vinnitsia. For example, I was shaved
twice in a local lba'.l'bershop, and I spoke to these men and
with some. other people ,i n Vinnitsi,a. A concert was gurven
in t'he town of Vinnitsia in honor of ,t he journaliSll:s' e,q;>edition, and after this concert, I spoke with several men and
women, and all these Ukrairuian people trul'ked to me. They
said what I saiw there in mass graJVes is true, and that their
relaitirves were shot by the Soviets between 1939 and 1941,
after the occupation of west Uikra,inia in 1939. Some people
of Ukrainian nationality known as strong anti-Communists
were deported in the Illight. And late,r , at the begmning of the
wa:r !between 1Sovieit Russia and Germany, deporta:tion was in
~eat masses. Nob,ody ,w as sure that hls, relatives, hrusbands,
sons, or some other of the family, wilhl not be shot in the
night. I have in my memory six ox seven cases of the wives
and daughters of the shot fathers and brothers, who told
me their relatives were deported in the night. The people
knew nothing. Their husbands and fathers were sent to Siberia or probably shot.
Mir. McTigu:e. How many people were killed
Dr. Pauco. Several 'hundred.
iMr. McTigue. At Vinnitsia?
Dr. Pau'co. 1Severrul hundred. I was at the graves four
days and I spoke with several dozens of Ukrainian women,
and, I learned, several ·hundred were buried in these mass
grarves.
iMr. McTigue. In these mass grarves that you knew
about?
Dr. ·P auco. Yes; in Vinniitsi.a.
Mr. McTigue. Yes. But there were other mass graves
disc01Vered later on; is that correct?
Dr. Pau'CO. I heard about it. I know a;bout Katyn, but I
wasn't there. ,I was in Vinnitsia and I can state only what l
saw at these mass graves. I have here a statement of what
�SLOVAKIA
:n
I saJW at these mass graves.
Mr. McTigue. iMay I suggest, Mir. Chairman, since we
hawe other testimony that we want to develop, and since we
haJVe other witnesses, t:ha.t we admit this statement into the
reoord, but not have it read at this time?
Dr. Paulco. All right.
Mr. ,McTig;ue. IMaJke it a ,p art of the reoord.
Mr. !Bo:nin. Woll!ld you have any objection if we make
this staitement a part of the record at this time and you g;ilVe
us the highlights of it as of thJis moment?
Dr. PaUlc<>. All right.
Mr. Bonin. Without oibjootion, we will take the statement and place it in the committee files.
Mr. iMcTigue. You may recall, Mr. Chairman, tllait we
had testimony at our hearings in Munich on the Vinnd.tsia
murders very much ,a long the same 1ines Mr. Paruoo is testifying. This testimony that he has given today on the subject of the Vin.nlitsi.ai massacre eertainlly corroibo,rates wha,t we
hea.Td from many ,wiit:nesses in Munich. You aJlso recall in
connection with that testimony that one of ibhe witnesses
descri1bed the finding of hundreds of bod!ies of Vinnitsi:a \'i,ctims under the floor of a d'ance hall in one of the amusement •pariks iw:hen these mass graves were investig;ated. iI am
sure you recall thait testimony.
Mr. Bonin. Yes. I distinctly recall that, a'lld this corroborates the faot tJhat these mass graves and the mass kfiling of citizens of Vinnirtsia was deli;b erate and ,pe~trated
entirely by ,t he Communist regime in Russia.
Now, I understand, Mr. Pauioo., that you have some addition.al testimony suipplementing what 1happene:d in V!innitsia aind what took ,p lace in 'Slov,aikia; is that C()lrrect?
Dr. PaU!co. Yes. I woltld iiJke to say thiat the same thing
that h~ppened in Vinnitsia in 1939-41 happened in Slovakia in lr944. The Sovli.ets' s~hool oif prurtisans were parachuted
in the s,prmg of 1'94'4 in the mou:nrtains of Slorvaki1a, and then
in August 1'9414 they orga.ruzed a so-calil ed uprising against
the SlovaJk Government a'lld shot hundredlS and thousands of
Slovaks of anti..Communist feeling. Im Slova1ci(a, we had at
this time, 1944, several mass graves of innocent Slovak ciiti-
�32
SLOVAKIA
zens, Slova.ik ainti-Oommunist patriots. The Communist part~,s ans ,w ere 1pariachUJted, as I mentioned, by the Soviets, and
the partisans were also furnh,,hed Soviiet ammunition. This
so-called upris,i ng in 1Slov-akia started with prepairations in
194'3. Some so.-,called underground politicians made an 8.'greement with the Communist leader, Karol Schmidke. And
this Karol ;Schmidke saiid in 1946 that this action in 1943,
this preparation of the uprising, was the merit o;f the illegal
Communist Party. All the people who declined to collaborate
with the Communist ieaders in 1944 were shot. Thiiis happened in central 1Slova.ikia because central Slovakia is a
mountainous land. Then the German armies came to S1ova-kia and :Slorvak ter:nitory was a battlefield. After this Communist uprising in ,Slovrukia, I heard f.rom my friends, from
my relatives in ISJ.ovakria thrut many innocent ,p eople, farmers, ,w orkei,s, priests, ,s ome ipriesits, ,s ome congressmen,
were shot by the Communists. I recall a congressman, a Catholic priest Anthony Salat. He was of very strnnig feeling
against the Communists. He wrote several books againist
communism and, iin the first week of the uprising, he was
shot. In 1Slw8!kia were liquidated about forty to fifty thousand :S lovaks in this Communist putsch.
1
Mr. IMc'Digue. T1hey were shot?
Dr. Pauco. They were shot 1b y the Soviets, b,y the Soviets' paritisan,s and by the collaborators in Slovakia.
!Mr. McTigue. About '50,000?
Dr. Paufo. Yes, aJbout '50,000.
Mr. McTigue. 1In the period of one year?
Dr. Pauco. In the period of three months.
Mr. McTigue. Three months?
Dr. Pauco. The purtsch was defeated in two months, but
after there were some battles in the mountains in Slovakia,
and in December the Red Army ,c ame to Slovalkia. Several
thousand Slo.vaJks fr,om eas,t ern Sl01viakia were sent by the
NK_,V il) to Russia, to Siberia and concentration camps. and
to the mines in Dombas.
Mr. IMcTigue. Norw, when and how did ,t he uprising finally
end?
�33
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Pauco. The German Army came into Slovakia in
September 1944.
Mr. McTigue. Now, you had a close relationship with
Monsignor Tiso; isn't that correct?
Dr. Pauco. 'f.hat's true.
Ylr. McTigue. Now, will you tell the committee who Monsignor Tiso is and briefly explain your relationship with him
and your discussion with h~m afte,r the putsch?
Dr. Pauco. I was editor-in-chief of the greatest daily in
Slovakia, the "Slovak." This daily was the organ ,o f Monsignor Tiso. Joseph Tiso was the first Slovak President. He was
the legal President of the SlovaJk Republic, which came into
being on March 14, 1939. The ,Slovaik Republic had diplomatic relations with 27 naJtions, of them 17 or 18 were on the
side of the western allies. Monsignor Tiso was a Christian
ruler - after a thousand years, the first Slovak irll'ler and I had the opportunity to spea:k with him practically
every week . I reca:11 thrut on August 20, 1944, I was in Presov at a meeting called by the Government, by the army,
and by the Slovak People's Party. At that time, in eastern
Slovrukia the situation was very critica•l and the delegates
practicaly from every village and every town from eastern
Slovakda told the Government and government representatirves of Bratislava, tha:t something wliitl hruppen if the Slovak
Army and Slovak police do not interlere. Pradically the
whole of eastern Slovakia was, parachuted at this ,t ime by
the So;yiets, the Soviet parti,sans and Soviet a;genrts. I spoke
after this meeting with Dr. Tiso, and ag,ain when the pUJtsch
was liquidated. Dr. Tiso at this time was ready to resign.
He hoped that some Slovak politician would take the Slovak
question to the International Tribunal.
Mr. Bonin. Tribunal?
Dr. Pauco . Tribunal, yes, because he would iiike to
change the regime, but to preserve independent Slovakia.
That was the goal of Monsignor Dr. Tiso.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to Monsignor Tiso eventuallv?
Dr. Pauco. Monsignor Tiso was hanged, executed by the
Communist nation:i.l court, April 18, 1947, in Bratislava. Dr.
1
�34
SLOVAKIA
Tiso wa.s the first among the Catholic prelrates in central
Europe who were executed by the Communists afte,r Warld
War Iil.
Mr McTigue. The usual phony charges, I suppose, were
applied, and the usurul phony court procedures were set in
motion?
Dr. Pauco. Just becallise he had anti-Communist feelings; I know, 'Il!Ot from Dr. Ttso, but from his personal secretary who its living now i n Caniada, seiveral times, Soviet
agents were ready to assuire to Slova.ks and Dr. Tiso himself
a seperate Slovak-,Soviet Repulblic if Dr. Tiso will go wtth the
Soviets, and Dr. Tiso refused. Tiso said one time, I recall,
that tf his own brother were a Communist, he would fii.ght
him. And I am SJure that i·s why Dr. Tiso wa:s executed by
the Commtmists' so-called nahonal court in April 1947.
Mr. Fetghain When you state that Monsirgnor Tiso was
the first of the clergymen to he executed by the Russian
Communists, you mean the first outstanding figure, both in
the spiritual and politic8il world?
Dr. Pll!uico. Yes, sn-. That's correct.
Mr. Feiigihain. That's 1a ll.
Mir. Bonin. W-ell, Mr. Pauco, it is nothing uncommon for
a priest or a member of the clergy in central EUI'Opean
countries to be in political life; isn't that correct?
Dr. Paooo . Yes, that's ri.ghit.
Mr. Bonin. And, therefore, they would be permitted to
engBlge in political lifo . . .
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
MT. Bonin. Bllit they took a leave od' absence from their
clerical life; isn't that coreivct?
Dr. Pauco. No, that was not so in S1ovakiia. Monsignoir
Tiso, as Prresident of the Slovak RepU!blic, was the adm~nistrator of his own parish in Bano:vce, rund sang Holy Mass
there practically every Sunday.
'Mr. McTigue. Tell me, Mr. P8iuoo., how and why did you
escaipe from Slo1Va!kia arnd come to this country?
Dr. Praulco. After what I ,s aw in Vinnitsia, then in Slovakia , and what I hearo from many hundreds orf escll!pees
from Ukrainia, from Poland, from Russia, from Hu'Il!gary,
�SLOVAKIA
35
from Ruman:i:a ., from Lithiuani:a, about ·p ractices of 1S01Viets,
I could not stay in rS1()1VlaJk:J,a, because I hated communism ; I
hated oolsiheiv:ism, and I hoped to live in the free Western
World. I am happy that 1 am here in this free ,a nd democratic couliltTy. I haive my relatives over there, ,a nd one of
my relatives came through the border just several months
ago to Austriia. He. ~s: now in the American Zone, and he
writes to me. thlat Oill!r ;p eople over there behind the Iron
Curtain have friends. here in the United States, and they
are praying every d·a y that the Gorvernmen t of the United
States wHl win the battle against communism . ,A nd Slorvaks,
like IPoles, the Uikrairuans , the Baltic nations, or Rum•a nia,
Hung,ary, the Czechs:, Croatians,, :Serbians, and so on, they
like to be free like you are here in this country; they like to
be independen t, and, maybe, wiH sometime be ruinified in a
great European federation li,k e yoru are here urnfied in the
United States.
Mr. M:c~•g ue. When di:d you say you left Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. It wa:s in Apr.ii 1945.
Mr. McTigue. And when did you arrive in this country?
Dr. 'P auco. WoUT years aglO, in Apri[ 1950.
Mr. McTigue. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bonin. Mir. Feiglha:n.
Mr. Feighan. Mr. Pau!co, we have heard testimony with
reference to the Vinnitsia massacres ,w hich stated' to us that
after the Commllllllists were diriiven out of the Ukm.i.ne in
1943 and the Naizis came in, they opened up graves of which
there were 38, each of them the same length, and widlhh, and
depth, that they conWned ov:er 10,000 rpeople they
weiI'en't aill U!kirruinians; some were IPoJes, and of other nationalities ; 'that the people there were of various status ;
they were, :farmers, armsan;s, wovkers, ,a nd rinteilleotUJals, and
the testimony th1at we rnceived also. indicated, at iJ.east with
reference to those particulaT graves, that tlhey were done by
the So;viet Russ,i ans durJng the years 1937 and 1938, but I assume that they did many othera besides those.
Dr. Pa:uco. I spoke ,t o the 1people of Vinniitsia, these
�SLOVAKIA
36
people, Ukramiians and Poles, were all liquidated tb y the
Soviet agents.
,MT. Feighan. Yes. That ~s my understanding.
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. The testimony that we had shows that.
I 1have no further que,s1t1:ons
Mr. Bonin. WeH, Mr. Pa.'Ulco, you stated that this alleged uprising in Slovakiia was clearly Communist inspired,
is that OOlITect..
Mr. Pauco. Yes, that is correct.
Mr. BODJin. They created dissension and they created an
atmospheTe Olf revolt within Slova:ki:a?
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
!Mr. !Bonin. And a.gents had been sent in there, is that
cor,rec.t, to irritate and agitate this revolt?
Dr. Pauico. That is correct.
Mr. iBonin. And by thait means using the Commurnst
tecfunique to wipe out the ,people that were undesiralble to
them?
Dr. Pauco. Yes
Mr. !Bonin. Of coU1I1Se, iwe lhruve had testimony where thait
same identicaJl truing was used in- other countries that have
come under the domi'Il'ation of the Russians throughout different parts of Ea;sitern EuTope, lbut this is <the fhist time,
I beli'e!V'e, that we had testimony that they were aotually
dvopped in by pamchute to iITitate and agitaite rund crnate
the trouble.
Dr. Pauc·o. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. But, in the meantime, they !had some agitators in there already; iis tlhat correct?
Dr. Pauico. Oh, yes.
Mr. Bonin. And they had le:6twingers ,i n there?
iDr. Pallico. Yes.
iMr. !Bonin. Who were ready to follow the agents tha:t
were dTopped in?
Dr. PauJco. Yes.
Mir. !Bonin. In other words, isome people in the United
States fool that there are not many Communistls, lb ut they
are aliways :ready, willing w:hen the o.p portune time cOllnes,
to seize that opportunity to overthrow the existing governmenrt: in any partioular place .
Dr. Pauco. Thait's wue.
Mr. Bondn. Now, of course, since you have lbeen in the
1
�SLOVAKIA
37
United States, you have been trying to. bring to the attention
of the people of the free world this Commwnist threat; is
that correct?
Dr. P,a uco. Yes, that is oorredt.
Mrr. Bonin. And in each instance where you haive an opportUillity, and I understand that you are still a newspaperman and a joornalist, you bring these facts to .t he attention of the people that Tead your newspaper, the Je<lnota?
Dr. fuuco. Yes, that's correct
Mr. Boniin. This isn't tJhe fiiirst part, of Eastern Europe
that we have heard of where forty to f,i fty thousand people
have boon slaughtered.; O'Ilce a;gain demonstrating that the
Communist regime holds power only because 1t UJSeS force
and threats and intimidation to keep the people ias helpless
as they possibly can.
Dr. Paiu100. That is correct.
Mr. Bonin. WeH, on behalf of the committee.. I 'Wish to
thank yow for your splendid staJte:rnent tlhat you haive made
as a part of thii:s ree-0,r d and for the reswme orf yo'lllI' experiences in Ozecho-Siovakia and in .Slov•a kia.
Dr. Pauco. Thank you.
Mr. Boiruin. Mr. Feighan has another question 'h e would
like to as!k you, Mr. Pauco.
Mr. Fei,ghan. Do you not feel that it is correct, Mr.
Pautco, that the people of 1Slo;v;akia are imbued with the nationali-stic -spirit, a love of God and a love of colUllltry, and
they just seek the right of self-deteTmination as ~ sovereign
nation?
- Dr. Pauco. That is co,r rect, Slir.
Mr Bonin. In other words, they are asking nothing
more than some of the principles: that have been em.mcia:ted
through long yea.rs, that each people have the right to de- ·
termine the kmd o.f government they wish to have, the type
of leaders they wish to have, and to conooct their Lives and
thei,r g01Vernment in theiT own nationialistic spirit and attitude. The people orf R!Umania, Hung,a ry, Po•land, Lithuania,
Latvia, EJSltooila, ruid o:their nations ha,v e the same desire to
goveTn themselves; is that correct.
Dr. Pauico. Yes; iliat iis correct.
MT. Bomn. Welil., I 'Wliish to thank you ,v ery much for
your testimony, and we sincerely hope thait the opportunity
1
�SLOVAKIA
38
presents itself to defeat thls Communist threat, not only to
the Ewopean natio111S., burt: also to the peoples of the free
world. Thank you ve,r y much.
Dr. P,aulco. Thank you.
Mr. Feiighan. Waiit a minute, Mr. Pauco·.
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. During your experience in Slova>lcia, did
you haive an opportunity to witness the manner by which
the Russian Commlln!isbs tried to break up the culture, the
1,anguage, the customs, and the religion of the Slovak people?
Dr. Pauco. I lived in Bratislava. Bvatislava is the capital
of Sllo;v,rukdoa, and is on fille west border of Slovrukia. The Soviets came from the east. The whole of Slov-akJa was occupied on April 7 or 8, ,a nd I escaped from Bratis lav,a on
April 4.
Mr. Feighan. I see.
Dr. Paulco. I wasn't there after the Soviets occupied the
whole of Slov.alk,i a, ·b ut I was in Braitiosla:va during three
months thait the eastern part of Sl()!Va:kia was occupied by
the !Soviets, and I heard from my relatives, from my f11iends ,
of the methods which I mentioned before.
Mr. !Feighan. Yes; but you were noi there yourself t o
see it and observe .iit?
Dr. Pmrco. No, no.
Mr. Feigihan. Well thank you, Mr. Pauco
Or. Paulco. You are wekome.
Mr. Bonin. Thank you <very much.
(Wil'kes-,Barre, Pa. , September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DR. JOSEPH l\1IKULA
IMr. iMcTigue. Were you in Sl'OVlaJkia during World War
Dr. Miku1a. Yes, I was.
Mr. iMcTigue. Were you a pairt of the underground
movemerut in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikul,a. Yes, sir. We started the underground movement at the end of World War II. I was one of those who
started it.
iMr. Mc'Digue. When did it start ?
Dr. Mi1kula. It was in 1944.
tr?
�SLOVAKIA
39
:Mir. McTigue. What caused you amd others to form this
underground moivement?
Dr. Mikula. I will read a short statement in this connection. The inception of the anti-Communist arganirlation
is attrilbutafule to the iintellectuals wlho foresaw the necessity
of truking preventive measures aga,inst the imminent d001ger
of communism. They studied communism and decided to
combat it, ~cause tlhey had no false illusions of whether or
not the Communists wOIU!ld Telax their demands after World
War II.
The first communistic pressur~ was expected in the
field of religion. Conseqiue.ntly, the preparations were directed for the defense of re!l,i gious freed.om and the preservation of religious life in the event of intensive persecutions.
The second fi.eld was the po[iltical field. Ourr ca1cuJations
at the !beginning w&e wrong. They didn't staTt at the beginning in religiious _peil'Sooution, but it:Jhey concentrated an theliir
activities in the political field.
Mr. Kersten. Have you finished with your s1:Jatement?
Dir. Mikul,a. No; very briefly about this polii!tical field.
The most essential elements in tlhe polritical life of the nation
are political parties. The Communists knew it, and acted accordingly. They were verry cautious. that no par.ty existed
which by attracting the sympathy of a majority of the _population wouild endanger t'he position of the Commumst Party.
So, the parties which airose after the war with the petrmisSlion of the Communusts were incapable of eiffecting
strong anti-Communist oipposition, because, first, theiy had
no roots, no tradition, a;mong the population.
Second, part of their leadeffi, were either tools of Communists ior opportunists who, /because of l,a ck of principles
and courage, completely sulbmitted to the Communist pressure, and third, throug;h the assistance of the ColIIlm.unist
Party, they were s'h ackJed - aM other parties were shackled
by the coordinating comrruttee of all the parrties, the socalled National Front. This Nationa'l Front was nothing else
but a machine in the ih ands of the Communists to control
aU o,pposiition against the Communist Party.
Mr. Mc'l'igue. Were you the recognized leader of the un-
�40
SLOVAKIA
derground in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula I woll!ldn't say so.
Mr McTig;ue. Were you one of ,t he leaders?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. !Did you ar.ronge to have some of your
members sent abroad in order to assist in the underground
movement from without ?
Dr. Mtkula. I thin:k I can state it quite openly. Our program was to prepa1re things, firs,t, at home, and, second, we
had some people out aibroad. I mean, out of ,the count.Ty. We
,s end them out of the country ,a nd directed the situ.aitiion,
informed them, they ind'ormed us. The illlformatiion we receirved we direoted to ,proper aut'horitie;,
iMr. Keirsiten. Now, just at this ipoint - we want to
ma:ke sure that you understand ,p erfectly clearly, Mr. Mikula. We know, of course, that you did operate in the underground in Slovakia, and there are undou!btedly a number of things that you would not wish to spea;k a.'bout specifiicaHy and openly. 1S0 that any question the oounseil or
any member here might ask in that regard, you just use
yom own judgment. We don':t want you to disclose pU!blicly
anything t hat would in any way endanger the ipresent situation there, a:nd that is what you 'ha,,ve in mind, Mr. Counsel, I am sure.
Mr McTigue. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. [Mikula. Yes. I 'Wl3.'Ilted to ask yo u for this permission.
Mr. Mc'Tugue. How long were you a part of the undergroU1I1d in Slovakia.?
Dr. Miikwla. I was wor,king directly in the field almost
fiiive years to the. end ,o f 1'949. 1Iin Feb:rua.ry 11950 I left for
the United States.
·Mr. McTigue. And did you emigrate to the Uniited
States in 1950?
Dr. Milkula. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTigue. Now, when you left 1S1ova.ki.a in 1949, were
you furced to !leave your wife b e hind'(
Dr. Mikula. No, I was one of tho se who was sent
abroad when the Communists took over and legia.l opposition
was ailimost iimpossilble in ,the country. So, I went out from
Slova:kfa in 1945, and I was wonk,i ng outside of Sfoviakia.. I
was worlcing abroad. I have here a little bo~ldet edited by
1
1
�41
SLOVAKIA
the Ministry of l!nterior in .Prague; the head of the Ministry
of Interior was a well-iknown Oommunist •o y the name of Nosek. It was edited and published by the Ministry of Interior, 5,000 issues were distrilbuted over here. My name is
mentioned aJbout 70 or 80 times in this booklet.
Mr. Kersten. Just .so we get th•a t clearly, as I understand it, you ~eift Sloivaikia in 1945.
Dr. Mikuia. Yes, I did.
Mr. Kersten. And you were outside the country?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. !But while you were outside the coll!Ilitry
during the fullowmg yerurs up 'll'Iltil -about 1949 or 1950, you
were woriking in t'hiis movement, is that correct?
Mr. '.Mhlm~ia. I was in steady contact, and I was one of
the leaders outside.
MT. Kersten. Of the lllillderground freedom m01vement in
Slova,kiia?
Dr. Mii kula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And this :book ,t hat you have ha,nded us
here is a booldet put out by the Communists in Bratislava?
Dr. Miikula. 1:rl ·P rague. The Ministry of InteriOT, Czecho-Slovakia.
Mr. [Kersten. Maylbe we 1had better mark this.
Dr. Milrula. The title of .the book is "Conspiracy Agaiinst
the Repl]blic."
iMT•. Kersten. Would you mark thi<s "Milwaukee Exhibit 4."
And you have stated rthat this Milwaukee Exhibit 4 is a
Communist ,pubH1cation ipulblished in what year?
Dr. Miiktl'l.a:. ffit was printed Noivemlber 1947.
Mr. Kersten. And it contains rtJhe accounts of operations
2.gainst the Communist g01Vernmen t; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And you are named in here, as you say,
70 or 80 times?
[)r. Mii:ku1 a !Something liike that.
Mr. Kersten. In rw1hat crupacity?
Dr. Miikuila. Someitiiimes as ibhe leadeT of the underground, sometimes as an American agenrt, sometimes
Mr. Kerstein. Always in a derogatory sense?
Dr. M~kuJ1a. Absolutely.
1
1
1
�42
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Kersten. I notice on 1:Jhe first page of the printing
here - one of the first rpages - it is aotually page 7,, but it
seems to be the start "Of the body of t'he article - I notice
a name - Joseph rMi!kufa. Is that you?
Dr. Mikula. That i:s me.
Mr. Kersten. Then you are named frequently therearfter;
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
is t:Jhiat rig1ht?
Mr. Kersten. Proceed, Mr. Coltl7lsel.
Mr. McTigue. I w,ant to •ask you two questions. Dr. Mikula. Wi'fil you briefly tell uis something about the ac'tiivities
of the ll!Ilderground, and secondly, were these actiivities effectiive, in y;our j,udg,menit?
Mr. iKersten. Keeping in mind tJhe safety maitters that
we tahlced albout.
Dr. Miikua,a. As I mentioned before, the legaiJ. resistance
or Jega!l oppositilion againJSt communism was foiling. So, the
people 1wirt:Jh ra nti-Oommunist tendencies lost faith m their
weaik and oppo:rbuni,stic party leaders, and consequently,
sought -0ther mea.lilS wiherelby they might prevenit the Communists from ·aocompl:iishing their ,plans.
Now, the diTect answer to your question, "Wihat were
the actiivities ?" Fiirst, to do e,verythiing that would undermine the Coimmu!nist IP .arty, and the ends of tfue Oommunist
Party. We knew that they will try to Sovietize, to taike over
the counwy.
So, we rpuibliiished leaflets. We published booklets. We
pu'b1is,ihed pe;riodiools. IDverytilimg was hllegal and underground. That w.as at 'the b~imling. Laiter on, when it wiIB
pretty hrurd to distrilbute mimeographed leaflets or publications - because they were against the Communists - we
started an illegal triansimi-titer - a shortwaive radio station.
It is not necessairy to teH where and how it was, but it
existed and rit worked very effectively. Then, later on, we
tried to collect all possible rnformaitiorn from political, economical, military, oullJtu,r,a-1 life; get it out and mfomi the
worild 1aJbout the si•tUJatiion over there.
JUJst to show you how it was done, here are some photostatic copies of the orders issued by the commander in
ohlef of the nati'Onal security guard. It was a gend:armery
police.
�SLOVAKIA
43
Mr. McTigue. Communis t police?
Dr. Milrula. CommUIIlist, yes.
Mr. McTiguei. What did the ·o rder say?
Dr. Mikula. They are different o:rders. For example, I
will just ~ k of the first one. lt i,s dated Bratislava, March
4, 1947, firom the head{l_uall'lters of Nationail !S ecurity Guiard.
The orders to the lower units of National Security Guards :
il order that ,s pecial attention be paid to tJhe transports
of Volhyi.ruia Ozechs cOIInli.ng from tihe U. S. S. R. - thait is
the Soviet Union - they have already settled on the territory of Slovrukia. They have to lbe constantly watched arid
fO!Nowed, because they are spreadling internationr uUy false
infurmation a:bOUJt iour eastern ally, the U. S. S. R.
Mr. !McTigue. Wha:t people is he talking rubout in tlhis
order?
Dr. !M.ikiula. One of the tactics of Commt.Lll!ist takeover
was tramsplanta tion; movements of the people. Right after
t'he war we had a HUJngarian minority in 1Slcwakia and a SlovaJki,a n minoniity in iH ungary. Now , right aft.er the war
started the transportru tion orf these minorities frQiffi HUI11gary
to Slovwkia, a,:nd from 1S1ova!kfa. to Hungary.
What happened to Slovakia? From H1.1!11.g,acy came the
people who couldn't sipealk any word of Sloviak. To Hungacy
came people from Slova:kiia.
There were Ozeohs iwho Hived about 200 or 300 years in
one province of [Russia calllled Vo1hynia. Just to show good
faith tor something like bha.t, the Sowet moved those Volhynia: Czechs to Ozeciho-Slovaikia.
'Dhe movements of the population are very serious
thinigs, because they !bring insecurity. Noibody knows how
long he stays in his ()IWll house., in his 01W11 neighlborllood, and
so insecure people are aliways much easier for the CommUilasts to handle.
Mr. McTigue. That is the grnup to whiioh he has reference in the order?
Dr. Mikula. That is tihe explanation . So further:
Specifically , I ask the units of Nationa,] Soourity Guard
to watch the tI"ansports corning in and the transient transports orf V oohyniia Czec:hs going through the railroad station.
�44
SLOVAKIA
Those Czechs wouldn't come !into any contact with the
public. I mea.n witJh the popu1ati10n. Then you hiwe here the
order to maintain ~ continuous oontro1l on ail calls in post
offices and telephone-Office excihanges. This was done by
the ipol!ice. They ccmtr.ol all calls ·c oming in and W:hait was
said. If they find something against the regime they wt
accorcmng to regufations.
Thls here is concerning the control of the pop.wlation in
traiins. Everyone - they sa,y here, "Everyone is Slllpposed to
have this ridentificaitioo. card1." So, the units of SiNB - lower
units - are ordered lh:ere to control the population, and if
somebody hasn't his idenitificatlion card, he ris supposed to
be arrested am.cl brougiht ilil for investigation to the nearest
police station.
This order ooncerns the former gendarmes orr mem!bers
of the National Security Guard poiice who were deported to
Russia, were coniiined there, and later on brought 1b ack to
Slovakia. Same of them were put in the!ir fonner positions.
They were ·agaiin rcinsitated a:s gendarmes, but the order says:
To the Ministry ()If Interior came the information t:Jhat
the behavior ()If these returned former memlbers of gendarme is not satisfactory. They taJlk very sharply against
the !S oviets iand are doring that even in the company of the
other members of the unit.
I order you to follow those memlbers in your d±sbr.icits
and remind them that for bad talk aibout the brother nation, Russia, they can be ,p unished and arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what you haNe been de.scmbing to
the oommittee . . .
Dr. Mikll!la. These •a re just the examples of how information was oolle_c ted and brought out and utilized.
Mr. McTigue. Now, do you know, or oan you tell the
oommittee whether there is an wnderground operating in
SwvaJkia ,a t the present time?
Dr. Miilmla. l am posritive there is. First, I would just
say from the general point of vtl.ew, so long as the Comm'Ulilists are unaJble to change human nait'UT'e, there wiU [be the
will. to 1be free. It means there will be the will to rresist. That
is a general rea:son
�SLOVAKIA
45
Second, the best proof ,i s that you still read in the papers how much troulble they haJVe in .t his or that group or
with this group, and so on. These are the 1best documents
that the :resistance is not only aJlii.ve, but is acti1Ve.
Mr. iMcTigue. Do you fool thaJt the underground is the
heart of the resistance, the core of the resisltance, in Slovaki,a today?
Dr. Mhlrul'a. I would say so. I would dare say that albout
80 or 90 per cent of the population is anti-Communist, but
not aU of these 80 o:r 90 per cent are willing to ta!ke am.
acti:ve part to fight oommundsm.
Mr. iMcrrigiue. Why?
Dr. (Mlikula. Because of the advances of oommumsm
they are very cautious ito. d:o nothing which could provoke or
cailll for Communist reprisals This is one reason.
!Second, urSU1ally the people WOII'king activei1y and directly are, in my opinion, heroes, and not everyone cam. be a
hero. So, from thds group, from this 80 per cent, we can sruy
whaJt is in tlhe underground is the most ii.miporllant and most
vaJLuiaJble co,re of passive and ,a ctive resistam.ce.
Mr. McTigue. You were in Slov,rukia at the time of the
Communist taikeover; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. IMc'Digue. Were there wholesaile arrests and deportations in Slovakia. as there were in the other C-Ollll!tries?
Dr. Milkllll,a. Slovakia. is a small counrtry of 31bou,t 3½
million poipuilation. So the figures. are not so enormous, but
in relatio1I1, in proportion to ,t he whole popll'laition, they are
pretty big They deported in :t'he fi.rst month aifteir the occupa1tion of Slovakia rubout 38,000 people.
Besides this, in tlhe !first half year, when they took over,
aibout 133,000 people were put in ja,i1s, in camps, amd taken
out of theiir normal life.
Mr.' Mcrrigue. [ ha;ve M further questions.
Mir. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
.
Mr. Be1I1tley. When did you leave Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula. I lefit Slovalci.a in 1945.
Mr. Bentley. That was just the beginni.DJg of the antiCornmi.mist resistance then,, I presume.
Dr. Mitkula. Yes.
�46
SLOVAKIA
Mir. Bentley. ilfaJVe you mamta.ined contacits, or how
have yiou gotten yml'I' worrunaJtion regarding the activities
of the underground since that time?
Dr. MikU!la. As I Wld you, we haJVe steady contact
through couriers. I wi!ll j!U'st mention one thing: In 1945
our coUJriers hrougiht over my wife with two little children.
Mr. Chai:run:an rememJbers those l.ititle children. One w:as four
and one was ,s ix.
Mr. Bentley. How l01ng was co111tact of this kind maintained?
Dr. Miikulia. ,J t.hinik that contac.t is stiH mamtarlned, but
I could rta1k 3111d testify ,t o the end of 1'949.
Mr. Bentley. Until the end of 1949, which was a,bout
two years after the coup d'etat in Pra,gue?
Dr. Milrula. Yes.
!Mr. Bentley. And srunce .that time, your ilmowledge has
been 01JJ.ly fTom information, not direct; rum I correct?
Dr. Miku]a. lit is secondary. Before I reccived mormatron diirecil,y. I was ll'S'lllally the first who received it. Now I
a'In receiving informia,tion, but later.
Mr. Bentley. How dloes the situation in Slovakia compare wi;th that of otfuer countries in the Soviet satellite,
would YOIU say? Iis it -b etter or worae?
DT. MikU!la. I thiinlk .t he condifti,ons a;re generaHy the
same in all the coU!Iltries. As for the resistance, maybe in
S'lovakira, the resistance is a little bit stronger and maybe a
little bit more success:fluil, 1becall!se, as you iknow, Slovakia is
a country orf farnners, a country of mountainee:ris, ·a nd the
people i1I1: Slovaiki'a are deeply reliigtlous. T.he hardest thing
for the Communists to break ~re the farmers and /besides
that, to remove Teligion from the sow of the rpeoiple and
rep}ace it by Leninism is not so easy. You know .t hat.
Mr. Bentley. So you would say that the cond!itiOIIl!S are
about the same, but -the resistance itJhere is a little bit
·stronger?
Dr. Mikula. Yes. The same. The same concentration
camps, liaJbor orumps, the same tendency to create Kollkhozes
and co[lectiive farms, the same tendency to brealk any possible resistance, and if there dsn't any hope, arrest the peo-
�SLOVAKIA
47
ple, seind them ,t o uranii.ium mines; tJhe same everywhere,
the same procedure.
Mr. Bentley. Am ,I correct in believing that part of Slovakiia has been incorporiated in the 'Soviet Union?
Dr. Mi:kula. A very small eastern part. Abowt 15 or 18
villages of S1ova1-da were inconporated inito the Soviet Ull!ion.
Mr. Bentley. '.Dhe fiact that this resi,s tance dioes exist or
does not exist in 'SlrovaJkia to the extent you say it does,
what, in your opinio!Il, can lbe done most effectiively to eniruble
this resistance to continue ,and maintain itself. Whrut encouragement or assistrunce can be givan, if any?
Dr. 1M:iikuil.a. I would state .it in ·one way: To increase
the hopes of ipeople lh'ling over there that soonetime there
will be a cha1I1ge.
iMr. Bentley. We ,a:re ta:lking specificailly of SLovaik:i!a.
Dr. M:ikula. Spooiffioa.My, for 1Slovakia, it is absolutely
necessary to reassure a;gaiin and again those people tlhat we
are not forgetting them, we are not •giviing them up, and we
have unde.rstaind!i!Il!g for their specific prolblems.
Mr. Bentley. Including the right 'O'f self-determination?
Dr. iMitkullia. '.Dhia.t is w!hat I walllted to say. We should
not stick to the owtmoded, ourtlived st'I'luctures. '.Dhey have
proved to be un:successfol, and rwe should give to the people
the right to be free and to have therr OIWIIl: government, ·a ccording to their own c1hooce. That is one o.f the most important t'hd.ngs. Then th'i<s po<l.tnt: The people are, I wou!l.d say, 90
per cent 'llillited in Slovalk:ta. .Anyrt;hin,g whioh .poi.nrt:s o.wt thait
we are forgetting them, rwe are not undersibanding them, is
cutting otff the will to resist.
iMr. Bentley. Thank you very much. Thiat i'S a:11, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Kersten. Congressman Feighan?
MT. Feighan. Dr. 'Mikula, as I understand it, you feel
thrut the people of 1SIOV1akia should be ,giiven assurances that
the free ,w orld would sirnpport their desire for seiltf national
determiniation of thei:r own identity as a nation if they so
desiire?
·
Dr. Miikula. Wihen you are talking generally albout the
popu1ation of Slovakia, that is one of the most important
�48
SLOVAKIA
things that they need; some kind of good will that we have
a.!11 understanding oif thei'l' problem.
MT. Feighan. Then if ,w e ,w ould tell the whole world that
we stand by the principle upon which our Naition was founded, thiat is, the ri!ght of self-determi:ri:ati-cm, that would be
he'l!pful to them. 'In other words, Mr. Mikula, if the free
w0irld shO'Uld gi,ve the Communists a free hand !in t!hese
caiptiive nations,, this would cause those people to lose hope,
ilS that right?
Dr. iM:ikuil:a. Absolutely. One of the most •i mportant
things is to show those people :tlhait we are really l!Iliform.etl
a'boUJt their plight, a.Jbout tlhe conditions under ,w hich they
are 11ivimg, that rwe hacve actually access to the most secret
communistic conspiracies. 'We shouJ.d convey t:his knowledge
to the masses. That is one of the moot imlportant th,i ngs.
Mr. Kersten. Does thrat hellp to sha:ke and lessen the
Communist ipawer in 'Uhose countries?
Dr. iMikul1a. It is •curttin.g off the arrogamt communistic
se!lf-corufiderice, amd when we ta.Jke such a cut through the
Communist Party, we see there are just a few intellectuals,
a group of fanatics, and a great nuim ber of opportunists.
The greatest ipart of them a.Te oppoiitun:ists. Activities must
be directed against those opportunists, because they are
afmid. They betrayed, first, second, thoird time. They a.re
readty to betray todlay and every day.
Mr. Kersten. ~irst o;f iaU, let me ask you this: YO!U have
gone to Detroit from iMHrwaUJkee?
Dr. M~kula. Yes. MHiwaiUJkee is my ,h ome.
Mr. Ker,s ten. You li:ved 1here several years and ~eft for
Detroit a short whlle ago wlhere you now live and :work
Dr. MikuiJ.a. Yes.
with your family?
Mr. Kersten. Dr. MikU'la, you iha,ve given us a great deal
of valuable inlfoirmation, rparticula:rly the knowledge that
I know you ha'V'e, of the existence of the undeiig,round in
Slocvakii a, resi,s tance, opposition, which our evidence indicates exists in all the other cOUIIltries likewise to a very
great extent.
!Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Dr. ~u!la, for yOUT aippear~Milwaukee, Wis., October 22, 1954).
ance here today. 1
�SLOVAKIA
49
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PHILIP A. HROBAK
Mir. Kersten. I want to say we are rvery honored and
happy to haive you here with us, Mr. Hrobak, as the president of the Slovak League of America.
:Mr. Hrobak. And tihe editor of the Jednota, the official organ of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union of the United
States and Canada.
·
Mr. Kersten. I notice through several years of knowledge of your activities that you have keen understa:ndmg
of whaJt it means for a nation or a country or a people
to be occupied lby the Communists and some of the ways
in whioh they fight and some of the thinigs that we should
do to combat this new kind of enemy.
Mr. iMcTigue. How many memlb:ers, Mr. Hro'bak, are
a:ssociated or affiliated with the Slo:vak League of
America?
Mr. Hroba:k. The SloviaJk League .o f America, rubout
300,000.
!Mr. Mo'Dig,ue. What, ibriefly, is the Slovak League of
.America?
Mr. Hrobaik. The pur:poses?
Mr. McTigue. Yes.
1Mr. HTdbak. A cirvic and culturial origarnzation of
Americans of Slov,a;k descent. It was organized in Oleveland in 1907.
'Mr. Mc'lligue. It is mry understanding, MT. Chaimnan,
that !Mr. HrdbaJk has a statement which he wiSlhes to present to the committee, and if there is no objection, may I
sugigest that the witness be permitted to proceed wiith
the statement?
· Mr. Kersten. Without objection, it is so ordered.
!Mr. Hrdbalk. If you permit me, I would like to first
express my deep appreciation to this committee for the
opportunity given me to present the Slovruk chaipter in the
dread detail of Communist aggression.
I believe it is for the first time, at least as far as I
know, that ,a real, honest effort is :being miade to know
the background olf the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain, nations who always were and still are our friends,
�50
SLOVAKIA
peoiples who with all their hearts want to be our friends
because to them America has always lbee:n a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and now is just aJbout their
last hope of sa1vation from Red tyranny. I harve the greatest respect for the hono-raJble gentlemen on this committee
and its chairman, Charles Kersten. The coonmittee has a
difficult taslk, b,ut it is doing that task admiraJbliy well.
Helping the nations behind the Ixon Curtain to helrp
liberate themselves from the curse of communism cannot
and must not become ipOlitically a partisan a:flf1air. It is the
business, the duty, of every American to take part in it;
every Almerican must see it in that perspectirve, because
it is, after all, in the interest of the security of our own
America.
I would li!ke to e~press one point ,b efore I read my
statement, and that is that the SlovaJks have no quarreJ
with the Czech nation as such. The Czech nation today is
in the same Red fix as the SlovaJk nation.
The Sfovak•s, however, cannot remain silent about
Czech .p olitical leaders who were in a very large measure
responsible for the present terrilble plight of the Ozech and
Slovak nations over there, and who made it possilble foc
the Communists to seize power in Czecho-Slova!kia practically without any troUJble.
("How the Communists Seized Power in SlovaJkia" the statement by P. A. Hrobaik, president of the Slovak
League of America and Editor of the "J ednota," official
011gan of the First CathoHc Slorvak Union, •b efore the Kersten Committee on Communist Aggr(}SSion, in the County
Court House, Milwaukee, Wis., Friday afternoon, October 22, 1954 - was .pulblished in full in the iprevious issue
[Septemlber.,Decemlber 19541 of SLOVAKIA and, hence,, is
not repeated here.)
Mr. iMcTi,gue. 1I take it from your statement, Mrr. Hrobaik, that you consider the National Socialistic Party of
Czecho-,Slovalda a:s the one which was responsible for the
sellout to Moscow; is that correct?
Mr. HrrobaJk. I do, sir.
Mr. McTigue. Do you consider that the case of Czecho1
�SLOVAKIA
51
Slovakia is a practical or typical example of what happens to a nation that attemipts to coo,peirate or coexist with
Communists?
Mr. Hroba:k. Definitely.
Mr. McTigue. What do you think of the present Kremlin campaign to sell the nati0'11s of the free world on peaceful coexistence?
Mr. Hrohak. That is the Kremilin's way of trying to
lull us to sleep; forget our problems, our troubles; forget
what communism is, and just let them get strong enough
until they can take all of us.
Mr. McTigue. In your opinion, what do you think we
can do to keeip the ho,pes of the people of Slovakia alive?
How can we most help them at a time like this?
Mr. Hrolba!k. We must let them know that we a;re behind them; that we have not forgotten them; that .Americans stiH believe in the principles uip on which their country was founded, in the principle of freedom and independence ; and let them know that we shall do everything
to help them he1p themselves to overthrow the regime
they have.
~fir. McTigue. You agree with Mr. Mikula, who testified
here earlier today, that the resistance is still strong among
the ,people of SlovaJkia?
Mr. Hrabaik. It certainly is. We have had cootact with
the people directly and indirectly right through the war,
and we still get letters from people, who come from Slovakia today.
Mr. McT-fgue. You are able to maintain an effective
system of communicati10n with the Slovakian people with
what is going on over there today; is that correct?
Mr. Hrobalk. indirectly. Certain people get the info;rmation from persons in Sl>ova~ia and then we get it.
Mr. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
Mr. Bentley. Mr. HrobaJk, I want to go 1b aclt a little
bit before the period of Communist domanation of Slovakia
and look at the situation there !b:rfofly during the Second
World War. When SlO'V'aJkia was an independent reipulblic,
what exactly was the relationship at that time between
Slovakia and Germany?
�52
SLOVAKIA
Mr. HrOlbalk. Foveign policy was undoulbtedlly dictaited
by Germmy, /but the domestic policy was not, until the uprising of 1944, when the German Aiimy came in to occupy
Sloval~ia. Then bhe Slova.ks were in for it.
Mr. Bentley. -Would you say that the fad, for example,
that Slovalkia had troops on the Russian f.vont was a voluntary action or wa:s that dd.otated b:y Genmany?
Mr. Hvdbalk. I think it was both. I think th13Jt the Germans expected it, and the Slovaks, to make it aippear that
they aire really taking the business seriously, s.e nt a token
division there. The Slovaks had a way of exchanging men
by classes; they never had many men in the field.
Mr. Bentley. Did -Slov:akia take any action toward the
UTrited States at the time or shortlly after Pearl Harbor
when the Germans declared war?
Mr. Hrobaac. No; we tried to ascertain thait business.
We found out that some ,p erson, I believe it was the German radlio in Vienrna, d'id ma.Ike a statement that Slovakia
declared warr, but as far as- we could find out from our
own State Department and War Department, there is absolUJtely no formal declaration of war aga:inst the United
States.
iMr. Bentley. Never was at any time?
Mr. Hlrolbruk. Never was at any time. We couldn't find
that out from our own United States Goveirnment because
that point interested us rvery much, and so far there is
absolutely no record of it.
Mr. Bentley. Now, you say there was a distinction between the foreign policy of the Slov,a k Repulbl:ic which was
exercised and the domesti'c .poHicy. You mean -t he domestic
policy of the Slovak Repulblic was independent of Gennany?
Mr. HrobaJk. Yes; just about all independent; I mean,
running the country of Slovakia itself.
Mr. Bentley. Was there any form of oppression at
thait time?
Mr. Hrobaik. There was no oppression of religion or any
other thing. Some laiws. were enacted that ha;d to coincide
with some of the laiws that · the Germans had, but oUJtside
of that, the economic conditions - even Mr. Sr0ib31r, one of
�SLOVAKIA
53
the most intimate foiends of Benes had to admit after the
wax, were good.
Mr. Kersten. You say there was no oppression. There
was freedom of religion and the other political freedoms
that you normally would expect?
Mr. HrOlb.ak. None. Some claim that there was ,political swppression in Sl01Va!kia, but they don't explain the
problem correctly. The fact is that the ISlovaik parties, the
two only genuine !Slovak parties, are the Hlinka People's
Barty sometimes called the Catholic Party, and the Razus
Slwalk National Party, whi·c h was considered the Lutheran
Parby. Now these worked for the same program with one
accoro.
Mr. Bent-ley. Following the wprising of August 1944,
when the German mHitary came in to ,p ut it down, from
that time Slovakia lost its. independence?
Mr. Hrrolbak Yes. The Slovaks got it from both sides.
They were murdered by the occupation troops a.ind then by
the partisans on the other end.
Mr. Bentley. After the German military occupation
did the Tiso government continue in po,w er?
Mr. HrdbaJk. They continued. in ,power until 1945. Tiso
tried to explain away as best he coui'd that it was not a
national uprising; that the Slovruk Army and the Slovak
gendarmerie couild ta.Ike care olf the troubles in Slova:kia
themselves. The Germans firral,l y did not believe the Slovaks rufter General Otto's military mission was stopped at
Turciansky :S vaty Martin. I believe it was on August 25;
the group of aJbout 25 or 30 people, women and children
included, were taken off the train and put up in barracks
for the night. The neoct morning ~l were lined up against
a wall and mowed down with machine guns by the prurtisans.
Then there were other murders, sabotage, terrorrist
activities, which all came too soon, even for Benes's liberation movement which he had allegedly organized. The
leader of that movement was supposed to be General Golian. The uiprising was Communist-in spired and did not
have popular support.
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SLOVAKIA
Mr. Bentley. The Rm!ssian military OCCUipation of Slovalkia took place about when?
Mr. HrQbak. Albout Easter Sunday, 1945.
Mr. Bentley. And at that time the Slovak Government escaped to Germany?
Mr. Hlrobak. The Slovak Government went to Austria.
Mr. Bentley. And I believe they were finally captured
with the American troops?
Mr. Hrobak They were not captured. They surrendered to General Walker's army at that time. We had a
copy of the surrender papers and we gave it to, our State
Department, and, of course, the Army Department.
Mr. Bentley. And what happened to the members of
the Slovak Goivernment?
Mr. Hrohak. Well, unfortunately, even despite all our
effovts in America to preivent their being handed over to
Benes and his governrrnent in London, unfortunately, I
say, our pleas availed us nothing, and Tiso's Slovak Government was gi'Ven up to Benes and the Benes.Gottwald
coalition government. Tiso, after being tried by a "people's" court, was hanged on April 18, 1947, while members of the Slovak Govenunent were sentenced to prison.
Mr. Bentley. They were tried as war criminals?
Mr. Hrabaik. Yes, "war criminals," according to Prague.
Mr. Bentley. What is the sit'lllation in Slovakia today
under the Commrunist government of Prague? Is there any
form of committee for Slo;vaikia or is there a completely
unified government?
Mr. Hrobaik. Prague is still trying to tell us that the
Slovaiks themselves govern the.ir part of the state and the
Czechs govern their part, and so on, but that is not true.
The Czech Red centralized government in Prague is running the whole show. Even Slovak Communists are not
safe; Clementis is gone, so are others, and the secretary
general of the Slovak Communist Party is Karel Bacilek,
a Czech.
Mr. Bentley. You say the Communists are trying to
appeal to Slovak nationa1ism somewhat?
Mr. Hrobak. They did. Today it doesn't mean any-
�SLOVAKIA
55
thing. They are done for. In fact, 1S lovak Reds were for
separation in 1926, long ibefore Hlinka's pa,r ty.
Mr. Bentley. Who?
Mr. Hrdba.lk. The Communists. It is a matter of record.
They knew what the people wanted. They figtN"ed that there
are no people in any country who, do not desire to be free
and independent and they used that to gain their SUipport.
Hlinka's Party fought for autonomy; in the beginning, you
know, it wanted to haive a federation where SlovaJk,i a would
simply have states' rights.
The fight was simply for states' rights, as we understand them here in the States. The Slovaks wanted to elect
their own governor, their own judges, their school di,rectors, and so on. They were not for separatism until much
later.
Mr. Bentley. Mr. Hrobak, you were here, I imagine,
when Dr. Milkiu.la was testifying, and he said it was his belief that so far as the people of Slovakia are concerned,
what they really wanted was the right to self-determination. Do, you concur in that?
Mr. HroibaJk. That is correct.
Mr. Bentley. Thanik you ivery much. Your statement
and your testimony has contributed to the hearings, I am
sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
1Mr. Kersten. Mr. Hrolbak, l
think at this time it is
quite clear from the records of recent history that the attempts of the Benes government to collaborate with and
have coexistence with the Soviet Union is a classic case
of what it means to make this attempt. I meant merely
for that government to put itsel1' in a position to be swallowed wp by the COll'Il.Illunists.
Mr. Hrobak. That is correct.
Mr. Kersten. It is a classic case in that regard.
Mr. Hrobak. Correct.
iMr. Kersten. And I believe one of the ministers of the
Benes government in London, Dr. Stransky, thought that
Mr. Hrobak Yes.
too.
Mr. Kersten. And that, along with other similar epi-
�56
SLOVAKIA
sod.es, certainly proves that there is no such thing as peaceful coexistence with the Communist s.
Mr. HTolbaik. That is correct.
Mr. Ker.sten. Well, I want to than!k you. The records
show if it doesn't already that Congressm an Bentley knows
a great deal about this situation in Ea:stern Europe because
he was an American diplomat in Hungary for several
yeairs, and he knows firsthand sOime of the real maichinations of the Communist s when they truke aver a country.
Mr. Bentley. I was ailso in Slova-kia.
Mr. Kersten. I am sure he has firstha:nd knowledge
of that, too.
Mr. HrolbaJk. Mr. Chairman, -t he statement that I have
made is based not only on what we haive from Slovaks,
patriotic Slovaks, 'but it iis also based O!t1 the 'book that the
regime put out in 1946, that is by the Lettrich "Demo-.
crats" arid the Husak Communist s; the name of it is
"Natl Tatrou sa Blyska" - (Lightning over the Tatras).
The booik has contr~butio ns from both sides, MT. Lettrich's
men and the Husaik men. And, of coocse, on the book that
was already introduced, there were only 5,000 of these,
The Conspiracy .Aigainst the Republic, which was introd uced as testimony by Dr. Mikula. That is my oopy. Then
on a boolk that was published here in America by the Communists called "Parti:zani na Slovensku" - (Partisans in
Slovakia), published in Chicago. And, I believe, another
booklet called "Verni ostruli," (They Remained Faithful). This book dealt with the uprising; it was written by
Deso Benau, ,w ho was editor of the New Yonksky Dennik (The New York Daily), in 1946.
Mr. Benau wa:s editor of that paper from 1942 to 1946
and tod!ay is doing an admiraJble job for the Communist s
in BraUshwa.
In this pamphlet - I will leaNe you this copy - you
can see the organizatio ns that are affiliated with us The SlovaJk League of America -- and the me:rrubers they
have. - I might add here that our papers were outlaiwed
from Ozecho-Slovakia by the Communist s on October 10,
�57
SLOVAKIA
1946 - that is this paper, the Jednota. and three other
Slova!k p8{!)ers.
Now, as you see here in this particular paper dated
Decemlber 13, 1944, we didn't wait until 1948 to tell America that Benes sold out the Czechs and Slova!ks to Stalin.
The big headline in that Decemlber 13, 1944, issue right on
the front page reads: "Sl()IVakia soJd out by Dr. Ed/ward
Benes."
Mr. Mc'Digue. What is that .pu!blication?
Mr. Hro!b.ruk. This is the Jednota, the official organ of
the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States and
Canada.
And my statement is further ·b ased on the information contained in the booklet "The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Party in Slovakia," which was written by Constantine Cu1en, a new:spruperman from Slova;kia now residing in Canada, and ipu!blished in Slovaik by the Slovaik League
of America. I have translated it into English and the committee is welcome to it any time.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Mr. Hrobak.
(Milwaukee, Wis., Octo'ber 22, 1954).
1
STATEMENT BY DR. JOSEPH A. MIKUS
Fram 1944 until my escape from Soviet-dominated
Czecho-Slovakra, i:n March, 1948, I resided in Bratislava.
During this period I was three times imprisoned by the National Front Government: in 1945, 1946, and 1947. Now,
as a Slovalk refugee in the United States, I am glad to
have the opportunity of exposing to the Committee on
Communist A!ggression the tactics which, to miy own
knowledge and ibased on my personal experience, were
utilized 'b y the Communists in Slovakia to establish themselves first as a politca.-1 party and finally as a dominant
force in tha,t country.
Introduction
Before entering upon a discussion of the subject: proper, I would like to outline in general terms what has until now been the main trend in Slovakia's political history.
�58
SLOVAKIA
After losing her political independe nce in the ninth
century, Slovakia existed for a thousand years under for
eign dominatio n. Desrpite this fact, the Sl01Va!k nation did
not lose its ethnograp hic and cultural individua lity. Within
the nraime~o rik of the Austro-H ungarian Empire, it was
ruble to survive all the ;pressure of the Magyar cultural
and political centralism whioh seriously menaced its very
naJtional existence in the 19th century. World War I finally
providied an opportun ity for the 1SlovaJks to rid themsel'Ves
of the restrictin g grip of this ancient and obsolete power
structure .
On May 30, 1918, at the close of World War I, the
Slovak League of America signed together with the organilzatio ns of .Amemcans of Czech descent the so-called
Pittsburg h Agreeme nt, aimed at creating a dualist federal
union of the Czechs and Slov,atk,s which a little later entered the world communi ty of nations under the name of
Ozecho-!Slio:vakia. Although provision s guarantee ing the
preservat ion of the Slovak national and po1itical individuality were, according to the principle of self-deter mination, the essential condition of this solution, the Ozech political leaders, T. G. Masaryik and E. Benes, never made
any real attempt to fulfill their pledges. Instead of a federal union providing for a reasonaib le degree of self-gover nment for the Slovaks, and in utter disregard of the political will of the Slo1V.:\k people, Prague organized a strongly
centralize d state. On !February 29, 1920, the first so-called
revolutio nary parliame nt Oif Oze:cho..JSlovakia, ~inted !by
the Prague revolutio nary governme nt, voted for the first
Czecho-lSlovak Constitut ion which suibmerge d the Slovak
national individua lity through the device of a speciousl y
conceirved "Ozecho-!Slorvaik" nation, wherein the Czechs
wouid always lbe assured of their majority status and their
predomin ance. Not being a minority group in the sense
provided for under internatio nal treaties signed after
World War I, Slovakia ·r emained without any internatio nal
protection . Contrary to the famous definition of democracy by Abraham Lincoln, the regime a:rfuitrarily established by Prague in Slo:vaJkia could be described not as
a governme nt of the people, by the people, for the
"
�SLOVAKIA
69
people," 'but rather as "the g,overnment of the Ozech bureaucracy by the concept of the 'Czecho..:Slovak' nation
foisted upon the Sl01Vak people."
For 20 years SlovaJkia sought to· haive the principle
of equality between the Czechs and the Slovalks inco:r.porated into the constitution. The Slo,vak political leaders
argued that the Pittsburgh Agreement was of international relevance and that it should 'be respected by both
parties in the very interest of the joint Czecho-Slovalk
state. Prague, conrfident of the support implicit in the
Little Entente (1920), thie Mutual Defense Treaty with
France (1924), and, last but not least, the 'Dreaty of
Friendship and Mutual Aid concluded with the Soviet
Union (1935), felt strong enough to refuse any discU1ssion
on this pomt at any time.
The Munich Oonference of Septemlber 28, 1938, the
primary sig.niificance of which was the coUaipse of the
Ozecho~SlovaJk sysltem · of military a,lliances, inevitaJbly
brouight the nationality problem of the heterogeneous
Ozecho-Slovak State into the foreground. By the policy o;f
E. Benes, and in accordance with the Vienna arbitration
of Von R~bentro,p and Ciano on Novemb,er 2, 1938, SlOIVakia, lost over 10,000 square kilometers of territory to Hungary; an a·rea which included 853,000 inhabitants. This
was a national catastrophe. Ha,ving experienced this and
other deceptions,, and !being confronted in MaTch 193,9 with
the alternative of the partition of her territory among
Germany, Hung,a ry, and Poland, or of falling under direct
German administration, Slovakia voted on March 14, 1939,
thrnugh her legitimately constituted Diet in Bratislava, for
independence.
During World War II -E. Benes, who had voluntarily
resigned his oflice of President of Czecho-Slovakia, found
refuge as a ,pri'Vl8.te indilvidual in ,London. His basic goal
was to reestrublish Czecho"'Slo,valkia and, in spite of the oppositi'on. of the SlOIValk people, he was able to achieve this
goal ,b y relying essentially on the help of the Red army
and a grourp of domestic colla!borato~s. lirl the main body of
my statement I will explain the ;principal facts of this evo-
�SLOVAKIA
60
lution, but I would first of all li!ke to stress one important
point :
All 'Slovaiks in the free world greatly ruppreciate the
fact that the House Committee on Oommunist Aggression
has paid particul ar attention to the tactics• which communism aipplied in Slovaikia. As a matter of fact, these tactics
were very difforenit 'from - for exMn1ple - those adopted
in the Czech area. This fine distinction - an a,rt in which
Moscow h•a s aliways been a master - resllilted from the clifference of attitude demonstrated toward the Sovieit Union
by the population of Slova:kia at the end of World Wa:r II.
As is kno,wn, during World War IT the Czech lands were a
German protectorate. At that time and until 1944, Slovaikia
was a relatively fTee state, imbued with only one desire:
To reaffirm her status as a national state after the end
of the war. Whereas the populaition of Bohemia and Moravia loolked fonwa:rd with high hO!pe to its liberation from
German domination 1by the Soviets, that of Slovakia considered the approach of the Soviet Army as a dista:ster
which would put an end to the Slovak national state.
Because of this difference in psychological attitude,
Moscow decided from the•outset on a policy of appeasement
of the Czechs and on a prog,r am designed to smash the resistance of the Slova:ks. A detailed ,plan for this program
had ibeen elalborated, with the Kremlin's blessing, by E. Benes and K. Gottwald, who as early as 1943 were in Moscow.
1
A. The Blueprint for Sovietization
After the Teheran Conference, which toolk place Novemlber 28 - December 1, 1943, it b,ecame clear that the
Soviet Union would inevitaJbly play an important role in
post-war Europe . This conference gave substantial encouragement to the hopes of the Communists and certain
pro.-Soviet non~ommunists in Slovakia. Immediately thereafter, on December 12, 1943, Dr. Edward Benes, as chief of
the Czecho-Slova:k: Government-rn-exile, signed the Treaity
of F'riends·hip, Mutual Aid and Col1ia/boration ,w ith Stalin in
Moscow. In article 4 of this treaty the two· signafories
agreed upon close political and economic cooperaition. "Talking into consideration their respective peaceful interests,"
�SLOVAKIA
61
says the treaty, "the high contracting parties have decided,
after the restoration of peace, to estaiblish a close and
friendly collaboration . . ." They will develop to the maximum their economic relations and will grant each other,
after the war, all possilble economic help."
No such treaty haw.ing been signed with the United
States, Great Britain, or France, this international a:greement predetermined the orientation of Ozecho~SlovaJkia
toward Moscow in the post-iwar European scheme of politica:l relations.
The Benes-Stalin treaty served as a strong stimulus
for those who had been aspiring to political power within
the framework of Soviet influence in central Europe. In
this category were included, among others, fOTmer memJbers
of the Slova:k Communist P,arty. In the 1935 elections, this
party had gained six sea:ts of the 58 corresponding to
Slo;vaikia in the Pmgue Pa:rliament. Consequently, around
10 per cent of the total ,p opulation of the country had voted
for this party, which the Government of the Sl01Vak Republic had suppressed as a subversive group in 1938.
The non-Communist growp, smaller and weaker in its
common punpose, was composed mostly of descendants of
Czech exiles who in the seventeenth century, at the time
of the Count er Refiormation, had settled in Slovakia.
Both of these factions, equally willing to back " ... the
apocaly,ptical horse from the E}ast" (as communism was
perfervidly described lby one of the factional leaders, r..udovit Sensel ), met secretly on Christmas Day, 1943, and
created a joint r evolutionary organization under the name
of the Slovak National Council. The goal of this movement,
as estaJblished under article 2 of the respective secret document, was: " . . . to ta:ke over, at the expedient time, all
political, legislative, military, and governmental executive
power in Slova:kia and to use it according to the will of the
,people until such time as their freely elected reipresentati<ves
shall themsel,ves ibe ruble to take it over."
The b.asic political tenets of the so-called Christmas
Agreement were laid down in another document, the first
three articles of which read as follows :
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SLOVAKIA
"(1) It is our desire that the Slovaks and the Czechs,
as the two most closely related Slav nations, shall unite
their destinies in a Czecho-Slovalk Republic which will be
their common government organized on the principle of
equality.
"(2) We desire close collaboration with all Slav states
and peoples, particularly with the Soviet Union, in whioh
we see a protecting shield for the free life and welfare of
all small nations in general, and of the Slav nations in particular.
"(3) The future Czecho..Slovak Republic shall conduct
its foreign policy in the spirit of these .principles and should
therefore, lean on the Soviet Union."
It is appropriate to mention here that, during his visit
to Moscow in Deceimib er 1943, E. Benes had in principle
agreed with K. Gottwald to set up a So'Viet ty;pe of internal administration in Cze.cho-Slovakia after its reestablishment as a dualist union ; to eliminate all traditional conservative political parties in the Ozech area, as well as in
Slovakia; and to esta:bli,s h the regime of a so-called National Front Government. In his Memoirs, published in
Prague in 1947, E . Benes recognized this in the following
passage (pp. 408-409) :
''Thereafter Gottwald e,opressed his opinion a'bout the
way in which this revolution should be prepared. He stressed
the necessity of forming national committees (i.e., So¥iets) ,
which would not only constitute the revolutionary cells of
insurrection, but would even se:rve as embryos for the whole
revolutionary political administration, I was not apposed.''
- wrote Benes - "to this opinion . . ."
1
"Then Deputy Gottwald," continued Benes, "went on
to consider the question of the structure of political parties after the revolution in Czecho-Slovakia. He was certain of a great Te1volutionary shift to the leift, of a great
Socialist majority, rund of a great defeat of our block of
right-of-center parties as it existed before the war: agrarians, national democrats, and artisans . . . As to the admission of the Agrarian Party, our Communists were not
willing to commit themselves in any specific way in De-
�SLOVAKIA
63
cember 1943. For all of us the merciless liquidation of
fasoism was without any distinction the basic and obvious issue."
In the same discussion., Benes and Gottwald touched
on the problem of the National Front Government: "It
will be necessary," ~ote Benes, "for the governmental
parties to form a unified national front after the Uberation, to form a common reivolutionary program, and to
pledge themselves to put it jointly into practiice. I then expressed my agreement with the plan concerning a national
front ." (pp. 409-410).
On the basis of these three principles,: Sovietization
of administTati'ons, elimination of the conservative parties,
and organization of the National Front Government as it
emerged in 194'5, Cze'cho-1Siovakia was inevitrubly fated to
become a "people's" democrwcy.
Wihat was the practical result for SlorvaJkia of the
Benes-Gottwald agreement? The Communist and the nonCommunist pro~Soviet group conspiring a.gain.st the Slovak Repulblic, although not representing more than 24
percent of the population, became the future leading force
of Slwakia.
B. The August 1944 Insurrection
Since early 1944 the Soviet partisan headqll!arters in
Kiev, with Rudo1ph Slanslky as i.ts main political adviser,
had 1been pouring Red ,p arachutists and Communist agents
into the mountains of central Slovakia, far behind the
German frontlines. Through contacts with many Communists and non-Communist symjpathizers, Sfova'ks, Czeehs,
and fornigners in various cities and villages of the country, these agents maI11a,g ed to create a network of informants and future collruborators.
More recent documents reveal that as early as Fehrua·r y 7, 1944. Proif. Viladimir Jershov of Russian· origin,
Gregorij Soloshenko, second lieutenant of the Red army,
and William Zingor, a Slo~-ak Communist, came to an
agreement in Tureiansky Sv. Martin that " . . . all future
partisan activities in Slovakia would follow instructions
�64
SLOVAKIA
from Mos:cow."l It was also agreed that 2ingor would be
the chief of the Slova:k partisans, with Soloshenko as his
sulbstitute. These self-appointments were later " . . . recognized by partisan headquarters in Kiev, and the Turiec
County group was integrated into the general Soviet partisan system. By this act the partisan movement in Turiec assumed the character of a militaTy organ~tion." 2
Moreover, in the summer of 1944 the following Sol\Tiet
rugents were, a.mong many others, actiive in Slovakia: Ing.
Nicolai Avenaria, as liaison officer in Myjawa; Jmfa Nikolaiev, a graduate of the Leningrad Naival Academy, as distrilbutor of arnns; Ing. Dimitrij Venero:vsky am.d Ivan Platonovich, active in preparing the partisan or.ganization of
Liptov County. In Turiec, whioh was the center of the So·viet partisan activities, I·v:an Stepanol\Tich and Alexander
Fjodorovich Krajushkin were actively operating. The real
Soviet partisan camp was organized in the Kantorska Valle~, near Sklabina. It was commanded by a second lieutenant of the Red Army, Ilvan VySOIC!ldj. Nikola Sur:kov, second
lieutenant of the Red army, was in command of a similar
camp near Priekopa. The most effective of these Soviet
agents was Alexei Velichko, captain oif the Soviet paratroopers, who, in fact, ibecame the chief of all partisan actil\Tity in Central Slovakia. Even General Osmolov was sent
to SlovaJda for a period of time to assure coordination of
the activity of the different groups.
In the meantime, on August 1, 1944, Gen. Bar Komorovs:ki, in command of the Polis:h underground army, ordered a general insurrection in Wa.rsa.w. H e did this after
hea.iring an a;ppeal of _Radio Moscow encouraging the people
of Warsaiw to carry out a ·general uprising. "The hour of
a·ction has already arriived," declared Moscow. Bor Komor-ovski was consequently firmly conivinced that he would
receive eiffoctiive aid from the Red army, which had just
reached the gates of the Praga sulbwr.b, 10 miles from Warsaw. But the e~pected hel.p neyer came. In his telegram of
(1) Cont ributions to the H istory of th e Slo vak Nationa:l Insurrection (In Slovalk ) , Turcians ky Sv. M.arrt in , 1947, p . 26.
( 2 ) IbM.. , p. 29.
�SLOVAKIA
66
August 16, 1944, to Prime Minister Churchill, Stalin dissociated himself from the "Wa1rsaiw venture." And so under the very eyes of the Red .army, the German units were
able to carry out their m8Sllicre of those Polish patTiots
who to Strulin (,according to his telegram of August 22,
1944, to Churchill) were but "a groU!p of criminals." On
Octdber 2 the uiprising collapsed 1because Stalin was unwilling to help "the Polish reactionaries."
The Waraaw insurrection seemed to ha:ve no effect on
Slovalkia. This was a ibloiw to Soviet expectations. To the
U. S. S. R., Sl~i,a, in the summer of 1944 was, from a
military viewpoint, an eID1Pty tera'itory with a "reactionary
government and nationalist populations," with some "deviated Communists" and some opporturustic non-Communist elements looking hopefully to Benes in London. A
civH W8JI' in Ozecho~Sloiwukia wouild haive been immensely helpful to the political aim!s of Moscow. But patriotic Slovaks
were too wise to begin an internal struggle. Three weeks
had passed siI11Ce the beginning of the Warsaw U!prising,
and still no rea.c,tion in Slovakia. In order to purge this
country of its "reactionary" elements before the impending occupat:rion, Moscow needed German military intervention there. ft was up to the Soviet aigen.ts to provoke it and
their opportunity was not long in arising.
On August 24, 1944, a spec,ial German military train
stopped in Tureiansky Sv. Martin, some miles from the
Soviet partisan headquarters illl ,Sklabina. The chief of
the railway station, in collusion with Captain Velichko,
refused to let it leaive. G€aleral Otto, former chielf olf the
Gernnan milimry mission in Rumania and now retwrmng
from Bucharest to .Berlin with his suite of 28 ;persons, was
then oonducted to the military barracik,s, held a prisoner
on instructions from Velichko, and together with all his
aides was killed by a unit of revolting soldiers the fohlawirtg day.
ThereUJPOn Hitler, infuriated with a Slovaik Government which was "unalble to 'k eep oroer in the hinterland
of the German lines," decided to send General Hloeffle into
Slovakia with an army of six di,visions to arunihrilate the
�66
SLOVAKIA
partisan movement. It was as a result of this decision that
the political and military leaders of the pro-Soviet conspiracy started the U[>rising whioh was announced on August
29, by Radio Banslka Bystrica. Within two months General
Hoeffle crushed this Sorviet-inspired venture. Although the
political chiefs of the insurrection, such as the "Demo ..
crats" Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, iMatej Josiko, Martin
Kvetko, Samuel Bellus, etc., and the Commum,s ts Gusta,v
Husak, Laco Novomesky, Karol Schmidke, etc., were aible
to escrupe, its military chiefs, General Viest and General
Golian, were not so fortunate. As they were attempting to
escrupe by plane, the latter was burned by their angry and
disillusioned soldiers. Both of them were then captured by
the Germans and ta:ken to a concentration camip in the
Reich from ,w hich they were never to return.
Wihile alll of this was going on, the Soviet Army was
quietly resting on the north side of the Carpathian Mountams where it had been stationed for ove,r four months,
tranquilly ruwaiting the last act in this &ama. It is evident
that the U!prising was only a trrup set b.y the Soviet partisans to ensnare the ". . . Sl~ak reactionary and opportunist elements." This pur,pose of the insurrection was revealed during the trial against Slansky in Prague in 1952.
As has already been mentioned, the former secretary general of the Comm.1N1ist Party of Ozeoho-1Slovakia had been
the main ctivil adviser for the 1944 insurrection in Kiev.
With respect to this function the state prosecutor ques~
tioned him as follows:
Prosecutor: Why did th.e Anglo-iAmerican agent (general) P1ka show an interest in placing the partisan units in
Slovakia under the command of (General) Golian?
Slanslky: He sought to place all partisan units under
the command of the reactionary General Golian at Banska
Bys:trica so as to faciJ.itate Golian's supervision of their
activities. Pika tried, in the interest of the imperialists and
of the London Government of Dr. Benes, to reduce the influence of the par1Usa.n.s as far as possdible.3
(3) Marcel Peju: Hier et Aujourd1hui: Le sens du proces Slansky II. Les Temps Modernes. P.ari,s, June 1953, p. 2013.
�SLOVAKIA
67
Thus Slansky revealed many years later what the Soviets really thought of the leading non-Communist personalities in the 1944 insurrection in Slovaikia.
This event is a great national tragedy. Whereas during the thref' years of her participation in the struggle
against bolshevism, Slovakia lost only 2,500 soldiers on
the eastern front, she lost around 30,000 persons in the insurrection in the short space of two months. Unlike the
insurrection of Warsaw, that of Banska Bystrica has nothing to do with Slovak ~triotism. It is quite clear that
Slovak patriots would have never organized an insurrection the purpose of which was to reestablish foreign external and internal control in their country.
C. The "Liberation" of Slovakia
What is known as the liberation of Slovakia by the
Soviets is in fact a misnomer and a grave distortion of the
historical facts. During World War II, though subject to
a certain international supervision by Germany, Slovalkia
was a relatively free country. During five years, until the
insurrection of Banska Bystrica, no one was executed for
political reasons . The Slovak Government in Bratislava
was able to master all the difficulties of the war period
during these years. Then the Red army came.
I waited for the Soviet "liberation" with a family
which lived on the outskirts of a small town, S., in western Slovakia. They had a nice, or as the Communists would
say, a '~bourgeois" home here. On the morning of a day of
mid-April 1945, the Soviet Army entered the town. The
house in question, which was located on a hill, was then
chosen as headquarters for the Soviet commanding generral in that sector of the front. During the two days that
the general stayed in the house, the conduct of the Russians was exemplary.
After the general and his staff had left, we congratulated ourselves on our not too bad experience with the
Soviet Army and prepared to cel~brate this event with a
good family dinner that evening. At p. m., just as we were
sitting down to table, a first lieutenant and a sergeant of
�68
SLOVAKJA
the Red army entered the house. The latter put his gun on
the dining-room ta>ble and began checking on our identity.
Meanwhile the officer began to inspect the house "looking for hidden German spies." In the course of this inspection he found our ,p ersonal effects in Oiile of the bedrooms
and ·b rought them into the dining room. He then proceeded
to examine these things in detail and chose for himself
whatever happened to please him: A watch, a leather
suitcase, etc.
We then saw that a second lieutenant of the Red
army had entered the house and began in turn to forage
through it. After a while he ordered a young lady to go
into the kitchen to give him a glass of water. When these
three left, after 9 :30 p. m., the lady in question colJapsed
because she had been violated. After this visit by offi ..
cers, two other groups of soldiers, many of them drunk,
successively entered bhe house, each one having held us,
that is, four men and three ladies, under terror in their
own way, until 2 :30 a. m.
In the city of Bratislava, which numbered around
200,000 inhabitants, more than 4,000 dishonored women
had to go to the hospital for examination.
During the "liberation" of SlovaJkia by the Soviets,
around 20,000 Slovaks, mostly intellectuals, were sent by
po1itical commissarias into la;bor camps of Russia, while
various tens of thousands of inhaJbitants were imprisoned.
D. Political Evolution Aft.er 1945
On April 5, 1945, the government of Dr. E. Benes
followed the advancing Red army from Moscow into the
easVSlovaikian city of Kosice and estaJblished the Third
Czecho-iSlova!k Republic in the shadow of Soviet bayonets,
through the so-called Kosice declaration. Thus a foreign
government was imposed upon the Slovaik people which,
except for two small :factions of political opportunists, had
been loyal to the Slova>k State - all of this without any
plebiscite. The Communists and pro-Soviet "Democrats",
who had already rendered a great service to Moscow in
the 1944 uprising, became the ex cutors of the n w state
will in Slovaikia.
�SuOVA.KIA
69
According to. the Benes-Gotlbwald agreement of December 1943 in Mos'coiw, they eliminated from the political
life of Slovrukia all other former political ,parties, namely,
the Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, and the Artisans Party. These parties }:lad received in the 1935 elections 19 plus 112, plus 1,
plus 1, or a total of 33 seats in the Prague Parliament out
of the grand total of 58 seats corresponding to Slovalkia.
Not countiing the Magyar and the German minorities which
had then elected 11 deputies and did not take part in the
uprising, the two pro-Soviet factions cor,r esiponded in
strengbh to only 1'4 deputies of the pre~war Slova,k representation in the Prague Parliament, six of them being
Communists, four Social Democrats, and four others.
Now, after haiving assured the mo!Ilopoly of political
re,presentation for themselves, the Communist and pro~
Soviet "Democrat" fa.c tions agreed upon a spo.ils system
exipressed in the form of a 50-50 share in the political
aJff~irs of Slovakia. In this way the political irufl:uence of
the Communists increased, in comparison with the year
1935, from 10 to 50 percent, and that of the pro...Soviet
"Democrntic" faction from 13 to 50 percent. Afthough this
50--50 relation 'between the two factions was corrected
by the elections of May 26, 1946, in favor of the "Democrats" who, 'becauS€ of the exdusion of other traditional
,parties, gained 62 .p ercent of all voters in SlovaJkia, while
the Communists got only 30 percent, the actual influence
of the Communist Party did not diminish at all. From the
outset the Communists had taken oiver the Commissariat
of Interior, including the Police; o;f EducatiOIIl; and of Industry, together with other key ,p ositions in the administration Oif Slovakia. They also retained the chairmanship of
the Board of Commissioners, i.e., the regional g01vernment
for Slo:vaikia.
MeaI11Whhle the Sovietizaition of Czecho~Slovaikia was
progressing in every field of Government activity: In the
field of industry, President Benes, ever olbedient to the
Communi,s ts, nationalized the main branches of industry
by Decrees Nos. 100, 102 and 103 of October 28, 1945, and
this without any consultation with the nation - mines,
1
�70
SLOVAKIA
100 percent; steel industry, 100 percent; sugar production,
80 percent; electricity, 73 percent; chemical industry, 72
percent; metallurgy, 68.5 percent; glass industry, 65 percent; leather, 53.5 percent; gas, 50 percent; textiles, 47
percent; ceramics, 46.5 percent; pruper industry, 4'5.5 percent; distilleries, 31.5 percent; breweries, 27.5 percent;
clothing, 25 percent; mills, 14 percent; food, 9 percent;
wood industry, 8 percent.
By these acts the IIlum!ber of wor.kers in the nationalized sector ,b ecame 570,000, whereas only 430,000 working
people fell within the field of private industry.
ln the field of education all the schools were nationalized by decree of the Slovalk National Council (No. 34,
dated May 16, 1945). Decree No. 47 of 1945 comiscated
the property of pri:viate schools, without compensation.
By decree of the Slovak National Council • (No. 33 of
May 15, 1945) the following institubions of political justice
were created: Oommunit,y and <list.riot "people's courts"
and a national court in Bratislava. The legal task of these
courts was to judge war criminals, but their political pmpose was to get rid of the -p olitical adversaries of the two
factions in power, under the pretext of collaboration with
Germany.
The political character of this distorted justice was
determined by three circumstances :
1. According to article 42 of Executive Decree No. 55
Board of Commissioner s, dated June 5, 1945, the
the
of
memlbers of these courts were to be ruppoinrted by the two
political ,parties in power.
2. These courts, disregarding the classiical principle
nulla poena, sine lege, were made component to decide
upon cases which were not punishable according to the
Penal Code.
3. This legislation introduced the principle of collective guilt and collective :responsilbility.
4. Art.i.cle 5 of Decree No. 33 of May 15, 194!5, provided
for labor camps, which were estaJblished through Executive
Decree No. 105 of August 23, 1945. According to the provisions of article 2 of this last decree, the following cate-
�SLOVAKIA
71
gories of persons were to be sent to lrubor camps:
a. Those sentenced by the "ipeople's courts";
b. Tho,s e whose activities were a threat to "the people's demoeratic regime," public security, puib1ic peace and
order, rpulblic nutrition and the reconstruction o:f economic
life; or those who were enemies of the state or conspirators against it;
c. Those who· do not work;
d. Those who declined to do the work assigned to them
within the framework of laibor duty.
'5. No plea was admissible agaiinst the act of indictment; the defendant did not have a free choice in selecting
his defender; no ·a ppeal was granted to a sentenced de. fendaJI11t.
6. Sentences to imprisonment usually involved the
confiscation of the ded'endant's property.
It 4, ruppropriate to add here tha,t before being .brought
to· trial the "traitors," "Fasci.Sits," "collaJborationists," and
"unreliable persons" were entirely at the memy of their
indictor~. There was no impartial court, as the grand jury
in America, to examine into the basis of an accusation.
This was an era of arlbitrary indictments and personal
revenge.
By its decree No. 5,1 of May 2, 1945, the Sloivaik Natiooal Council dissolved in Slorvakia all assodations, except for those few which were eixipressly exempted from
thls general ,p rovision. Freedom of the press, of assembly,
and other human rights were likewise a;bolished.
E. The "Coup de Force" of November 1947 in Slovakia
All these measures were aimed at the weakening of
traditional political forces and the estaiblishmenrt of an exclusively Communist power. For a long time the leading
personalities of the Sloivak Democratic Party, such as Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, Matej Josko, Martin Kvetko,
Stephen Koovara, etc., did not know whether they should
remain loyal to their "gentleman's agreement" of 1945 with
the Communists or follow the anti-Communist line orf the
great ma;j.ority of the Slwak people. Finally they decided
�SLOVAK.IA
72
to remain loyal to their agreements with the Communist s.
Instead of getting .r id of the Oommunist s, as would have
been normal for a party which had won 62 percent of all
the votes of SlovaJkia, the "Democrat s" did not alb.andon
the principle of the National Front G01Vernment. This
loyalty was to prove their fatal undoing later on.
In Selptemlber 1947, under the pretext of having disc01Vexed a conspiracy a,gainst the governmen t in the Democratic Party, the Communist s decided to liqUJidate this party. Jan Kempny, Milos iBugar, and Joseph St8!sko., three
deputies of the Catholic wing of this party, were imprisoned, as well as a,bout 2,000 other Slova\k patriots. Thereafter the Communist s organized demonstrat ions against
" . . . the reactionari es hidden within the Democratic Party." In this violent dispute between the two political parties in Slo vaJkia, the Ozech-1Soci alist block - i.e., the Communists, the Social Democrats , and the National Socialists
of Benes - representin g togeither 18'5 deputies (93 plus 37
plus 55) out of the 300 in the Prague Parliament , threw
their weight on the side of the Slovak Communis ts (23
deputies) and against the Democratic Party (43 deputies).
The Czech Catholics ( 44 deputies) remained undecided.
There was only one honora,ble way to prevent the constant intewenUo n of Prague in the internal affairs of Slova!kia, name ly, to proclaim the inde pendence of Slovakia.
Instead of doing that, Joseph Lettrich, chaimnan of :the
Slovaik Demooratic Party, gave his consent to further
limitatio!Ils on the politi>Cal preirogative s of his own party.
1
After a visit of Klement Gottwald to Bratislava, the
Democratic Party was relegated on Novemlber 18, 1947,
to a minority status in the regional governmen t of Slova1kia. Out of 15 seats there, it retained only 7, while the
triumphant Communist bloc got 8: The Communist Party
itself (including the chairman), 5; the Wreedom Party, 1;
the Social Democratic La,bor Pairty, 1; and the last seat
fell to General M~kttlas Ferjencik, "the neutral Oommis,s ioner of the Interior," playing in fact into the hands of
the Communist s. Such a hll!IIliliating change would have
been impossi!ble without a Czech coup de force in SloV3Jkia.
�SI.IOVAKIA
73
Having thus eliminated the greatest obstacle from the
way of their ambition for exclusive power, the Czech Marxist rbloc (includ!ing 56 percent of aU Czech voters of 1946
and 130 deputies (93 Communists and 37 Social Democrats) out of 23,1 corresponding to the Ozec<h area) was
finally able, on February 25, 1948, to, peacefully consolidate
its position and, by eliminating the Czech Catholics and
National Socialists, to pass over from the priniciple od' the
National Front Gorvernment to a sheer Communist dictatorshilp.
Conclusion
As a conolusion to this statement, I wish to repeat
that I welcome this. opportunity of finally putting the
events which took place in Ozecho-iSlovia'k ia between 19451948 in the pro.per historical light. It is with regret that I
must state. that neither of the two congressional documents dealing with the Communist subjtu gation of CzechoSlovakia - i.e., House Document No. 154, part I, on The
Coup de Force in Prague, pulblished in 1,9 49 by the Foreign
Affairs Committee, and DoCIU!Illent No. 70, pa,rt 4, on internal tensions in Ozecho-,Slovalkia, recently pulblished by
the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate (July 1954),
contain aipproprfate facts and analyses of the acts of
Commun.ist aggression committed during that period in
Slovrukia.
(Wa,s hington, D. C., December 3, 1954).
fflE TESTIMONY OF FATHER ANTON BOTEK
Mr. Kersten. 'Dhe hearings will come to orde•r .
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Anton Botelk, is
that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were fOl'!Illerly director of Catholic Action in Slo:vahla, is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTi:gue. fa it true you were in prison a total
number of seven times?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Imprisoned by the Communists.?
Father Botek. Yes.
�74
SLOVAKIA
Mr. iMcTigue. From 1945 to 1949?
Father Botek. No, from 1949 till 1950.
Mr. McTigue. When did the Communists occupy SlovaFather Botek. In 1944.
kia, Father?
Mr. McTigue. Norw, Father, tell us something a!bout
the f,i ght to !keep the Catholic schools open in 1945 and
1946 following the Communist occupation.
Father Botek. As early as 1944, during the 1944 CommUJili.st uprising in SlovaJkia, the so-,ca,lled Slovakian National Council was concerned with the abolition of all
church-Operated school,s.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aJbout the
tactics of the Communists used to destroy the organizations of the church?
Father Botek. At first they rubolished all Catholic
Church operated schools; then they disbanded all Catholic associations, and fina:lly they sll!ppressed the Catholic
press.
Mr. McTigue. Slo:v akia is predominantly Catholic in
Father Botek. Yes.
religion, is tihat right, Father?
Mr. McTigue. What are the percentages of Catholics
in Slo;vakia?
Father Botek. Eighty-two ,p ercent are Catholic.
Mr. McTigue. Is there anything you can tell us, Father, rubout the so-called elections in 1946 in Slovaikia?
F1a:ther Bote:k. As early as 1944, there were only two
political .p arties admitted; that is, the Communist Party
and the so-.c alled Slovaikiian Democratic Party. .The Slovakian Democratic Party denied any political party that
would be able to defend their rights by democratic method.
Mr. MoTigue. Wasn't there some agreement between
the Slova1kian bishops amd the Democratic Party, Father?
Father Botek. Since there was no political representation of Slovakian Catholics, the Sloviakian bishops and
clergy tried to find means by which Slovitkian Catholics
could exipress their political will. This was necessary especially since the Communasts were anxious to win the sympathies of the Slovakian people. The Communists tried to
use, especially, the Sloivakian Nation's. feelings for their
1
�SLOVAKIA
75
pu~ses and they suggested to the SlovaJkian people the
creation of an independent SlovaJkian State after the end
of World War II. This, howerver, wasn't approved by Mos~
cow. Therefore, the Commurusts tried to achieve a selfrule for ISlovaJkia within the frame of the Czecho...Slovakian
Re,pulblic and they finally succeeded in it; this was then
inco:riporated into the so-called
Kosice agreement concluded in 1945.
The Communists also tried to win the sympathy and
support of SlovaJkian Oathol.ics, promising the former members of the CathoJic Slova;kian People's Party tha;t they
woU!ldn't be punished for their wrur-time activities if they
joined the Communist Party. They also wanted some priests
for their policies; for instance, a certain priest, Joseph
Straka, who was previously suspended from his office b,y
his bishop because of irregularities in administration. The
bishOipS foribade Catholic priests to make any canvassing
prior to the 1946 elections and the Catholic priests were
also fonbidden to be candidates for any political party in
those elections. Father Straka, however, disobeyed this
order of the Catholic bishops and made .propaganda for
the Communist Party in winning Catholics for that party.
He promised Slovakian Catholics that the Com1rm.11n.ist
Party would guarantee complete religious freedom to CathoJics and he issued also several ~itten statements to
the peoiple, one of which I am in position to furnish to this
committee. The Slovafidan people, however, didn't let themselves be misled by the Communist propa;ganda and they
trusted the bishops because they knew their a;ttitude toward the Communists was the only correct one, since the
bishops warned them agaiinst the Communists even during
the time Oif Worlld War fil. Therefore, we tried to find some
cooperation with the Democrati:c Party of Slovakia, which
was not at least Communist, even tho.ugh this party was
also coresponsilble for the fact that the Communists were
aJble to penetrate SloiV'a!kia. The Catholics were es'peci'ally
indignant aigainst the Democratic Barty of Slova1cia ~
cause they rug-reed to the confiscation of 1,800 elementary
schools and 80 schools of higher grade which were prevfo:us..
ly operated by the Catholic Church, because this conifisca1
�76
SLOVAKIA
tion took place. i,n 19'115, at the time when the commissioner
for education was the chairman of the Democratic Party,
Dr. Joseph Lettriich, T.he so-called "Democrats," however,
became aware of the great pressure, and the great activities developed by the Communists and therefore they
also, on their part, tried to win su>ppo•r t of the Catholic
population of SlovaJkia for themseJves. At tha,t time we
Catholics still conducted negotiations with both the Communists and the Democratic Pa·:rity since we still hoip ed that
we would be aJble to achieve from the Communists the admission of a Catholic Party to be on the other side.
There were also preparations made for an ag,r eement
with the Democratic Party. The Communists, during the
negotia.tions, always applied the tactics of postponement
of a final decision. They made indications that they might
be inclined ·to admit, if not an ex,plicity Catholic party but
a P'arty which would at least, to some extent, aP\peal to the
Catholic population of Slovaikia. However, it soon became
apparent that no agreement could be reached with the
Communists. Therefore, on the 30th of March, 1946, we
concluded an agreement with the Democratic Party of
SlovaJkia. In this agreement, the Democratic Party of SlovaJkia pledged itself to admit Catholics as candidates on
their list of candidates in the 1946 elections. When the
Communists realized this they qtlliokly allowed another
party, which was called the Freedom Pa,rty and of which
they claimed this was a Catholic party. In this party there
were several good Catholics, even such persons who previously part-icilpated in the negotiations with the Democratic Party, but the chief leaders of that party couldn't
be trusted. The Communists also made propaganda or encouraged voters to cast inrvalid votes beca:UJSe they calculated that Slovakians who• disrug,reed both with the Communist and Democratk Pa!r ty would prefer to cast invalid
votes which then would diminish the percentage of votes
received by the Democratic Party. These irnvalid votes
were. generally referred to as "white ballots" because they
were plain slips ()If ,paper. This oppovtunity to use these white
ballots was voted in the Parliament prim· to the elections,
and the Communists and the representative s of the Free-
�77
SLOVAKIA
dom Party were in favor of this policy. Then it became ob.viou:s thalt the Fireedom Party was merely a pwppet party
under control orf the Communist s. We therefore started
,pmpagand a among the Catholics to vote for the Democratic Party.
We couldn't deve1orp this propaganda publicly, hut we
r equested Slovakian bishops to issue a statement to the Slovalkian voters. In this statement orf the bishops, Caltholics
were called upon to vote according to their Christian conscience; they we<re forihidden to vote for an undemocra tic
party which would .not admit religious freedom and they
were called upon to vote for the party wh~,ch would guarantee demncratic freedom. This statement clearly indicated thalt SlovaJkiam. CathoUcs were foiibidden to vote in
favor of the Communist Party but it still was necessary
to instruct the Slovakian Catholics that it ,w asn't good for
them to vote for the Freedom Party either. Therefore, a
statement was included in this aipipeal by the bi shops stating that it was not true; that the rumors were not true
which stated that the Slovakian bishops joined the Freedom Party and that they were inclined to vote for that
party. Those :mimors we.re spread by the Communis t Party
and hy the Freedom Party. Copies of this proclamati on oif
the bishops were sent to all iparish priests; it was also published in the Catholic press and we had couriers talking
them personally to each priest. As a result of this campaign, the Democratic Party won in the 1946 elections and
receiived 61 ½ percent of all votes cast. HO!Wever, we found
out that the Democratic Party didn't de.fend the interests
of the Slovakian Catholics and that this ,p arty even failed
to defend its own memlbers of Parliament who were Catholics. The Oomnmniirst-controlled Commissio n of the Interior in SlovaJkia had arrested the leaders of the Catholic
group within the Pairliame.nrt who were members of the
Democratic Party. In the a,greement reruohed between the
Catholic representati v,es and the representat ives of the
Democratic Party, the Democratic Pat-ty pledged itself, or
guaranteed to, Catholics that the schools would be returned to. the Catholiircs ag·a:in and that the press would
also be allowed, as well as Catholic organrzatio ns. How1
�78
SLOVAKIA
ever, the Democratic Party failed to honor these promises
and in arguments with the Communists they always
yielded to the Communist demands in order to avoid personal troubles with them. Therefore, Catholics decided to
take up direct negotiations with the Government itself in
order to defend their rights.
Bishop Jantausch persona1ly called on the chairman
of the Board of Commissioner s in Slovakia trying to achieve
the fulfillment of the promises given by the Democrats
and the guarantees for the democratic rights of Catholics. However, he failed to achieive any results. I accompanied him on his visits to the Communist Commissioner
HusaJk, and the Communist Commissioner Viktory, and
neither of these two ever agreed to any concessions to the
Catholics. Then a commission was. introduced which was to
find a solution of all ,pr01blems of the Catholics. In this
commission, representative s of the Communist Party were
Husak and Novomesky, and the representative s of the
Demooratic Party were Filo and Frastacky. On the part of
the Catholics, the representative s were Bishop Lazik, Cannon Cvincek, Carnogursky, and myself. The pro!blems to
be solved were the reesta!blishme nt of church-Operat ed
schools, a free Catholic press, admission of Catholic organizations, discontinuatio n of inhuman deportations of the
Germans and Hungarians from Slovakia, confiscation of
property and cancellation of work on Sundays. This commission convened only twice in the winter of 1947, but no
results were achieved. In 1945 the Communists abolished
the following Catholic organizations : Organization of Catholic women, with a memlbership of 100,000; the Organization of Catholic Men, with 30,000, and the Association
of Catholic Youth, with a membership of 50,000.
Mr. MoTigue. In 1948, is it true that the central office of Catholic Action, of which you were director, was
liquidated and you were arrested?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. What were you charged with when you
were arrested, Fathoc?
Father Botek. The Central Catholic Bureau received
�SLOVAKIA
instructions from the Catholic bishops to taJke over all
acti,v ities previously carried out by the Catholic Action.
However, we were aware of the fad that all organrizations didn't haive a legal background, a legal footing, and
therefore any acttvities developed by this organization
oould be stopped by the Communists any time they wanted.
The activitie.g of the Central Bureau, the Catholic Action
Bureaiu, were carried on with a great risk. I knew I was
collSltantly shadowed by one or two secret policemen and
that offic:ially all persons who entered the offices of our orgaruza.tions were super.vised by the· Communists. Instances
happened that visitors at or1.1r office were then apprehended
by these policemen, searched, beaten Uip , and adivised to
omit further visits to our bureau. Therefore, we were
anx,ious to keep our activities in the field of the Cathohl.c
Action strictly within the limits of religion a,nd not to mix
in any political aspects. Nevertheless, the Communists
didn't permit our activities and on December 7, 1948, eigiht
Communist po1icemen inivaded our bureau and declared
that our organization was disbanded and that the 'b,ureau
had to be closed dQIWiJl. The employees at the bureau we.r e
sent to a room where they were searched while, in the
meantime, in the ibwreau itself, all documents were
searched by the Communist police. This search la,s ted from
8 o'clook in the morning until evening hours, but finally
the employees of the bureau were released to their homes,
and I was t aiken by the police to my apartment which also
was searched by the police. The office rooms of the bureau were then sealed by the Communist police. 1:'he Communists then entered the office rooms of the Catholic bureau twice more and also, I, myself, was twice investigated by the pol,ice. Likewise, my assistant at the bureau
was investigated by the police.
On the 29th of January 1949, three policemen oame
to my apartment at 6 :30 o'clock in the · morning and intended to ta ke me to. the police station. At that time I was
just saying my daily Mass and I was notified that the
policemen were waiting for me. I could escrupe, but I decided aga,inst this, because I suspected that I would discredit, by esca,ping, the Central Catholic Bureau and also
1
�80
SLOVAKlA
the Slovakian bishops. I was taken to the police station
at Bra:tislav and held for seven days U1I1der very poor conditions. The iinrvestigators tried to force me to confess
that I had connections with the Western Powers, that I
engaged in espionage activities, and that I develO!I)ed subversive activities against the Peoiple's Democratic regime
in Ozecho-iSlO!Vak.ia. They didn't have any evidence a,gainst
me and, therefore, the]' tr8.lllsferred me to the regional
court's prison where they held me for another five months
pending investigation. At the end of these five months,
my foI1IDer assistant at the Catholic Bureau, as well as
the expert for pastoral activities in the border areas, were
released and I was put on trial. Since they couldn't produce any evidence in support of the charges that I wo:riked
for foreign powers and that I engaged in espionage activities, they forced a student to testif,y against me, that I
knew of his espionage activities and failed to reiport this
to the police. For this offense I was sentenced to seven
months' imprisonment. On July 7, 1'949, I was transferred
to the Leopoldov penitentiary b.eca:use, at the time the
Communists organized their so-called CathoHc Action,
which was controlled by them, many Catholics who supported the genuine Catholic Action were imprisoned, so
that the prisons were crowded. I served the rest of my
term at LeO!poldov and on the 28th of August 1949 I was
released. I was in poor health as a result of my imprisonment and, therefore, I had to go to a hosip ital, but after
a month I myself requested to ibe assigned to a small parish so as to disappear from the eyes od' the Communists.
Mr. McTigue. Was this in 1950, Father?
F,8 /ther Botek. 1949. While at this small parish, we were
preparing an ecdesiastical sermon and at this time a local
Communist called on me and requested me, pleaded with
me, that I shouldn't launch any attacks against Communists in my sermon, bec3/Use he stated he was charged with
my suI1veillance and was to report everything on me, including that whicih I told in my sermons, and he stated
he was a Catholic, too, and was the father of eight children he couldn't refuse this Communist order to spy on me
and on the other hand, if another .person would be given
�SLOVAKIA
81
the same instructions, this other person could do harm
to me. When I was approximatel,y two months at this
par,ish, the local chairman of the Communist Party called
on me and notified me that I was swpposed to report at
the district national committee for some discussion. I
was afraid, however, that this was just a triok and that
people were previously sentenced on charges of underground activities and were sent to forced-.JaJb.or camps even
after they had served their terms imposed by the courts.
However, the Communists are very cautious while proceeding against Catholic priests since the parishioners defended their ,priest$ against arrest and there were clashes
between the population and the Communist police who a,r rived to arrest Catholic priests, especially at the time when
the Communists started their own sponsored Catholic Action. There.fore, they endeavored to lure our parish priests
fronn their parishes and to arrest them at a place where
such resistance by local parishioners couldn't be offered.
TherefoiI'e, I decided not to report at the district national
committee and await my arrest at the parish office, and
on the same day the police arrived and took me to a
forced-labor camp at Nova:ky
My parishioners protested against my arrest; however,
they didn't put up any ·physical resistance since they already experienced that such resistance was followed by
arrests of hundreds of innocent people and that it still was
to no avail because the pTiests were always eventuaUy arrested. I could tell you about conditions there, albout my
experiences which I had at that time when I was held at
the Bmtisl8'va County jail. At that time there were members at least of ten underground groups held at that prison. When I had an opportunity to talik to them, I asked
how they became involved in underground activities and
how it happened that they were arrested since there were
always rubout 50 persons from each group arrested. Most
of these for.mer members of the undengr.ound groups stated
that there was always a Communist spy planted by the
Communists within their organizations, and that this Communist spy even encouraged them to develop underground
activ:ities which he then reported to the Communist police.
�82
SLOVAKIA
I realized that the Communists had put under sur:veill~e
all people whom they suspected might engage in underground activ-ities and if they failed to find anything, any
underground actiivities, they encouraged such people to
develop such activities, and be.fore a group could actually
start its undeirground activities, the spy denounced them
to the police and the memJbers of the group were arrested.
In 1,9 49, the Communists realized that they were U!Ilaible to
win the Catholic bishops for their puriposes; therefore,
they decided to organize their o,w n Catholic Action. They
coTI1Vened a meeting of the so-<:aJled representaUves of the
Catholic Church in Prague on June 10, 1949. To this
meeting they invited several priests under false pretexts,
stating that this was to he a conference to negotiate and
discuss church pro1b lems. In addition, there were also several Catholic laymen invited to this meeting, who were
mostly mem!bers of the Communist Party but didn't play
any decisive role in the Catholic life, and the Communists
eventually declared this meeting as the new leadership of
the Catholic Action.
The Communists declared that since the Vatican was
against the people and since the bishops supported the
v ,a tican in this policy, they intended to leave to the Ohu:rch
only the spiritual care and admit only the kind of questions and morals that the Pope could rule in .the affairs
concerning the Catholic morals a:nd the· Catholic faith; but
all other religious· questions would be taken care of by this
Catholic Action. This evidently was an attempt by the Communists to seize control over the administration of the Catholic Church in Czecho-Slovakia. However, they real.ized
that they didn't haNe the sU1pport of the people. Therefore,
they initiated an aotion of signatures which were to be rutta,c hed by the entire population of C!zecho-Sloivakia, to a
memorandUllll issued by the rubove-mentioned meeting at
which this Communist Catholic Action was founded.
Branches of the Communist Party organization were entrusted with the carrying out of this signature action. They
convened meetings in towns and in viUages, and also at
wo:rikiplaces. at which the present people were called uipon
to put their signatu:re on the memorandum. The bishops,
�SLOVAKIA
83
however, condemned this Catholic Action, and the Holy See
declared every person who would sign this memorandum as
excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
Mr. McTigue. Father, you were in a forced labor camp
in 1950; is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Did you get sick at that time and were
you sent to a hospital?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us very briefly something
about how the Communists treated the Sister,s at the
hospital?
Father Botek. A Communist order previously arrested
all nuns those who were nurses at hospitals because
there was a great laclk of trained nurses at the hospitals.
These nuns, however, who were left as nurses at the hospitals, were e~posed to various Communist chicaneries.
That was done by Communist functionaries at the hospital, by Communist doctors, and men, and assistants.
They were called upon to renounce their mernlbership in
their religious orders and to become civilian nurses. The
Communists tried to Lure · the younger nuns with a promise that if they agreed to renounce their membership in
the religious order, tihey would be permitted to go to a
university without any previous education, which was
otheIWise required from university students. This was the
same pattern as was rupplied in the case of young Communist woI'kers who also were admitted to university studies without adequate education and just attend a short
preparatory course. Except for a few exceptions, most of
these nuns refused the Communist demands and so the
Communists started to remove the nun nur,ses from hospitals.
MT. McTigue. When did you learve Slovrukia, Father?
Father Botek. On the 26th of June 1951.
Mir. McT,~giue. Did you have any trouble in getting out
of SlQIVakia?
Father Botek. I made a previous attempt to escrupe.
At that time we were a group of 22 escapees. However,
�84
SLOVAKIA
this escrupe mdn't succeed and. so I had to try it a second
time, at which time we were only four escapees and we
succeeded in crossing the border.
,M r. McTigue. Your present assignment at this time
is in Rome; is that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Busby. Father Botek, we know that communism
is opposed to all religions, but I think the comm~ttee might
like t-0 know how successful the Communists were in their
efforts to infiltrate and to destroy the Catholic religion
in SlovaJkia.
Father Botek. Previously, when I still was at the Central Catholic Bureau, we intercepted a secret Communist
instruction in continuing a Commumst plian for destruc,tion
of the Church and for its seizure and control. Under these
instructions, the indirvidual phases were to be the following: At first the ibishops of the Catholic Church in Czecho-,Slova:kia were to be separated from the Vatican; the
second step was to be. that the bishops were t-0 be discredited in the eyes of the priests, as well as of the laymen Catholics, and finally, the last phase was to be the
separation of the Catholic laymen from their priests.
IMr. Busbey. Now, that leads ri,ght up to my question.
Up until the time you left Slovakia, and from yOIUI' own
personal olbservation, h ow successful was this plan of the
Communists?
Father Botek. They succeeded in accomplishing the
first oibjective; that is, to separate the Catholic Church in
Czecho'"'Slorvrukia from the Vatican. They expelled the Annuncias from the Vatican to Ozech0-Slovakia so that contacts of Ozecho-iSl01Vakian authorities with the Vatican
were interrupted. Nevertheless, the Catholics in OzechoSlovaJkia remained faithful to the Vatican, to the Holy See.
However, they failed in achieving their second olbjective.
to make the Catholic bishops bend to their demands and
to have them - to maJke them tools in the propagation of
communism in Slovakia. Therefore, the Communists ,pliaced
a commissary to each episcoipal office who was to taike
care that the bjsho,ps didn't have any contacts with the
�SLOVAKIA
86
clergy and with the congregation. These Communist commissars controlled the in- and out-going mail; they controlled the visitors who intended to call on the bishops,
and admitted only those whom they considered harmless;
but even the talks of such visitors with the bishops were
monitored.
Mr. Busbey. Father, can you tell us aJbout the methods
and technics used by the Communists to indoctrinate the
pupils with the, theory of Marxism?
Father Botek. The Communists innoculated the Marxist ideology and way of thin'king to the pupils from the
very first grade of elementary school. When I was in hiding with a family who had an 8-year-old daughter, I overheard her tal!ks with her parents and I heard that this
girl was thinking in Communist terms and that her way
of thinking was completely inJfiluenced by the Communist doctrine.
Mr. Busbey. Father, do you agree with some of the
other witnesses we have heard, in the belief that if something isn't done in the immediate future and that if we let
the Communists ikeep on educating the real young boys and
girls, it will be more difficult, as time goes on, to defeat
this Communist march toward worrld revolution?
Father Botek. lt is a fact that the Communists have
had great successes in educating the very young people
in their ideology and the parents are almost unable to influence or to counteract against this Communist ideology
implanted inrto the chlldren because these children are instructed to report at school any attempts ,b y their parents
to dissuade them :13rom communism. Therefore, it is a fact;
that if communism is given enough time, that these youths
will become completely communistic and the Communist
strength will be increased.
Mr. Busbey. Can you give the committee any illustrations of the technics used by the Communists to make
the children believe in Stalin before he died, instead of God?
Father Botek. Yes, I saw the mrugazines for children,
for school-children, containing slogans such as "Stalin is
our sun; everything we haive, we've got from Stalin," and
�86
SLOVAK IA
"Stalin is ouT benefac tor, Stalin is our greatest benefac tor,
Stalin is the greatest man, Stalin is the most beautifu l man."
Mr. Busbey. Father, are you qualified to. tell the committee how the Commu nists rocploited the economy of Slovakia?
Father Botek. In these economi c aspects, I am not
well versed; I only Olbse,r:ved thait there was a general lack
of all consum er goods and that the living conditio ns were
poor.
Mr. Busbey. WhiJe you were in prison, were you given
any consider ation at all because of the fact that you were
a member of the clergy?
Father Botek. This ,prdbaJbly was the case 'b ecause I
never was maltreat ed, never was beaten at interrog ations,
and I observe d that many fello•w prisoner s were beaten,
so that I prolbaibly enjoyed preferen tial treatme nt. This,
may!be, was due to the faot that there was still a trace of
Catholic faith in my investig ators so that they were reluctant to rai,se their hands aigainst me as a priest. I also
had the followin g experien ce. While I was in ,prison, a prison guard caime to me and asked me whether he should
give his signatur e to the Commu nist Ac~ion Manifes to.
IMT. Busbey. My final question ; do you lbelieve tha,t any
agreeme nt made with the Commu nists is worth the paper
it is written on?
Father Botek. From my e~perience, I had negotiat ions
with the Commu nists, I can sta:te thait the Commu nists
never honor their word thait they gave in such negotiations, and this is in accorda nce with their general policy
which goes that everyth ing is good that promote s the Communist cause, and therefor e I am convinced thait any negotiatio ns or any agreeme nts reached with the Communists are worthle ss.
Mr. Madden . Father Botek, you in your testimon y
haive covered very well your experien ces back over the
years with the Commu nist Party in Slovakia and the only
question I would like to ask is what percenta ge of the
populati on of Sloviahla today are Commun ists, true Communists at heart; what percent age: 5 percent; 10 percent; 20 ; or what would you say?
�SLOVAKIA
87
Father Botclc. I thin!k that the percentage doesn't exceed 10 ,p ercent.
Mr. No71blad. Is the Voice of America or Radio Free
Europe listened to by many of the people in the area you
come from?
F1ather Botclc. While I was in hiding with several fa ..
milies in Slovakia, we frequently listened to the Voice of
America and Free EuTope programs. However, I heard
from these ipeople many objections against the spirit of
those programs beamed to Ozecho-.S1ovaJkia.
Mr. Nor.blad. What were the dbjoctions, generally, in
Slovakia? I am refemnig to the conditions in Slovakia.
Father Botek. The objections were mainly of a national and religious nature. The Slavaikian peqple are a
very religious people. They are 82 percent Catholics and
13 pereent Protestants, who also are active Protestaints.
Therefore, programs promoting ideas of a reformer, Jan
Huss, or the religious ideas of Masaryk and the other socalled free thinlkers, are not appeaJ.ing to the Sl01Vakian
population.
Ma-. Noy,blad. Do they believe the world news, the
straight news given on those programs?
Father Botek. Well, the Slovallcian people listen eagerly to the news broadcasts by the Voice of America. However, once OT twice I .w itnessed the following incident. Slovakian listeners who listened to the program of the Voice
of America, said, after the news was over, just said, "Well,
turn it off because the news is over and they are now
going to stam their propaganda for the Czech Republic
and we do not want any Oze<!h Republic."
Mr. Norblad. Do you feel that the radio broadoasts are
doing some good behind the Iron Curtain?
Father Botek They certainly are of great use and
great efficiency but this efficiency would still be greater
if the rest of the pro.grams, except for the news, was also
adjusted to those two major feelings of the Slovakian
popufation, the religious feelin:g and the national feeling.
Mr. No:rlblad. Do you get the programs clearly or are
they j&mmed by the Soviets?
�88
SLOVAKIA
Father Botek. The programs are being jammed but
on la11ger radio sets they still can be received and if the
transmission is jammed on one wave, on one b,and of the
radio,, it may ,be still tuned in on another one.
Mr. Feighan. There is, is there not, a very strict feeling of healthy nationalism within Slovakia?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. And that of course. is the reason why
there has been some resentment to the broadcasts?
F1ather Botek. Yes. I also heard comments by listeners to the Radio Free Europe, and Voice of America programs to ·the effect that in spite of the fact that there are
almost one million SlO'Vitk immigrants in the United States,
who ha.ve their own homes there and national life in the
United States, these programs do not bring any reports on
the activities developed by these Slovak organi~atrons in
the United States; they only bring reports. of aotivities
of organi•z ations which are not sympathetic to the Slovak
people and, therefore, the Slova!kian population, in order
to learn of the activities of the Slov:ak organizations in
the United States, tune in on Radio Rome, which also
beams SlO'Vakian programs.
Mr. Feighan. Well, it is a pity that the pe-o:ple within
Slovak,ia are not acquainted with the tremendous contribution of the Slovakian immigrants to the culture and ciivic
development of our cotmtry. l!"'ather, would y;ou relate. in
a U.ttle more detail, if you are familiar with the fact that
the Communists in 1948, I believe, offered Slovakia the
opportunity to ·b ecome a Slovak S01Viet Republic?
Fiather Botek. That was actually in 1944 and 1945,
not in 1948. At that time this policy was promoted by the
S]pvaikian Communists, Husak and Novomesky. However,
Moscow disapproved. of this policy and, therefore, the
Slovakian Communists had to put up with Czecho-Slovakia, within which SlO'V•a!kia was to have broad autonomy,
self-rule.
Mr. Feighan. Was it no,t the Slo¥ak Government that refused rather than Moscow's refusing?
Father Botek. Naturally the Slovak Government was
�SLOVAKIA
89
opposed to this idea since it was a Catholic Government.
Mr. Feighan. Well, you've got it both ways; now there
is only one way.
Flather Botek. I would like to explain this apparent
discrepancy. This was due to the fact that there was in
1944, there was a Sl,QIV'a)ldan Govemment of an independent Slovakian State which to some extent - whose sovereignty was to some extent restricted by Germans. When
the Communists started their wprising, in August 1944,
they tried to arouse the sympathies of the SlOIVa:k people
with promises of an independent Slovakian State but
within the framework of the S01Viet Socialist Repulblic. Rusruk and N ovomesky were leading organizers of the wprising in 1944. This policy of the Slovakian Communists,
however, was disapproved by Moscow.
Mr. Feighan. Is it not true thait because of the spirit
of healthy nationalism within Slovrukia that the Slovak
people would not accept the offer to be a part of the U. S.
S. R., ~a,use they knew that such a so-.called independence of Slo,vaikia would be national in structme only, but
in su!bstance it would be socialistic?
Father Botek This is possible. This is possilble, but
President Booes, who was at Moscow at that time, persuaded the Moscow leaders to drop that idea; and he made
also great concessions to the Russia,ns so that they considered it more profitruble for them to hruve a CzechoSlovak Republic rather than a small Slovakian Repulblic.
Mr. Feighan. F'ather, did thi s Communist Catholic Action still function between that time of its first meeting
in June 1949 until you left in Jll!Ile of 1951?
Father Botek. This Communist- sponsored Catholic
action prorved to be a complete failure. They still held an
anniversary meeting the following year but they didn't
celebra,te the foundation of thls Catholic Action in the
third year any more.
Mr. Kersten. I hope you understand, Father, that all of
ourr questions are asked in the spirit of inquiry regarding
the Communist aggression upon Slovakia. That is our
overall purpose, and thank you, Father, for the testimony.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
1
�90
SLOVAKIA
TESTIMONY OF FATHER STEFAN NAHALKA
(The witness wa:s sworn. The same interipreter was utilized as for the previous witness.)
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Stefan N ahal!ka, is
Father Nahalka. Yes.
that correct?
Mr. McTigue. Were you born in Slovakia?
Father N ahalka. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Were you ordained a priest in Slov,aJkia?
Father N ahalka. I studiied theology in Rome, so I was
ordained in Rome.
Mir. McTigue. And assigned to parish duties in Slovakia,
is that correct?
!Father Naha1ka. Since 1943, I was a'SSigned to duty in
Slovakia.
Mr. MicTigue. And at one time, Father, you were secretary to Bishop Vojtassa!k, is that correct?
Father Naha1ka. Yes, I was in that capacity from 1946
to 1949.
Mr. McTigue. Do you recall the uprising, so-called,
Father Nrahalka. Yes.
in Slovakia?
Mr. McTigue. When did the t11prising taike place?
Flather NahaLka. At the place in which I resided, the
uprising started on the 26th of August 1944, when this
town was occupied by Communist guerillas.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aborut what
the guerillas did in that town?
Father Nrahalka. At that time I was chruplain at the
town of Ruio:miberoik and during the firist days of the
Communist uprising, the relbels forced the popll!lation, the
men in tha;t town, forcibly to join the rebel army even
though they were completely disiruterested and even opposed to the uprising. They also committed grave atroci~ies. In a valley called Podsucha, they murdered over 80
innocent people and buried them in a mass grave. In a
nea'Iiby village, the partisans mwdered without any connection with the military, a Catholic priest named Martin:ko. In the Lupca valley, the Communist guerillas tortured to death there a Catholic priest named Seda; they cut
�SLOVAKIA
91
stri!Ps of hi,s skin from his back and finally even cut off
his genitals. Since the population was not in favor of the
uprising, the rebels used this deceptive propa,ganda to wm
the sympathles of the popul ation. To this end they spread
the rumor,s that the president of the Slovakian R~Ulbl,ic,
Dr. Tiso, was arrested and de1p orted by the Germans and
that, therefore, Slovrukia should arise.
Mr. McTigue. Father, in 1949, did each b:i,shop have a
political commissar assigned to him so that he could watch
over the bishop's activiities?
FaJther Naha1ka. In 1949, when the negotia,tions between the Communists and the Slovakian bishops broke
down, the Communists placed Communist commissars into
every ibishop's oftfice and they also placed one commissar
into Bishop Vojtassa:k's oft:Eice, who was a young Communist, ,a former tailor. He was approximately 24 years old
at that time, and t'here was aJil'Other Co:mmun,ist placed in
the main entrance to the ,b ishop's office who chooked on all
visitors at the bishop's office. The. commissar opened: the
bishop's mail, in- and out...going, and overheard all conversations the bishop had with his visitors and also acoompanied him on ,a ll his trips,. He also seized control O'Ver the
files of the bishop's office and he tooik out items firom
those files.
Mr. McTigue. Were the rooms in the hishoip's home,
for example, wired ?
Father N ahallm. There were no microphones in the
rooms of the bishoip's office because the commissar wa,s
present at all conversations, ibut I know orf a case. when the
Communists placed microphones in the conference room
for the bishop's conferences.
Mr. McTi,g ue. Were you secretary to Bishop Vojtassa.k
in 1949?
Father Nahalika. Well, I was secretary to Bishop Vojta:ssaik until January 1'949 and afterwards I lived in the
'Vicinity of the bish0tp's residence, in the priest's seminary.
Mr. McTigue. Were you arrested by the Communists,
Father?
1
Fruther N ahalika. I was arrested in December 1945 and
held in imprisonment until January 1946.
1
�92
SLOVAKIA
,Mr. McTigue. When did you leaive Slovakia, Father?
-Father Nahalk,a. llll May 1953.
Mr. McTigue. That is a little more than a year ago.
Did you hawe any difficulty in getting out of Slovakia?
FaJther Nahiallk,a. Well, the crossing of the bo,rder was
very difficult. At first we had to wait fo~ 14 days for run
opportunity, for a favnrruble time to cross the border and
we had to ~ very cautious while crossing to a :border area
in which the border g,u ards are authorized to fire at anybody whom they see, without warning and finally we h,ad
to cut through the barbed wire fences directly on the
border.
Mr. Madden. Father Nahallka, when Father Boteik was
testifying, he mentioned something regarding certain broadcasts thaJt were cormng over the Voice of . Arrnerioa and
Radio Wree Europe; do you know anything regarding the
broadcasts th·a t come 01Ver? Do you have any knowldge
on th-at?
Father Nahallka. I was in hiding f.or two years with
the viarious people from almost all social striafa and during
this time I had ample opportUillity to 1isten to foreign
broadcasts.
Mr. Madden. Oou:ld you tell us regarding your knowledge of the hmadcasts that come into, Slovaikia?
Father Nruha.1':ma. The people in Slovakia eaigerly listen
to democriaitic broadcasts. However, the preferences a.re
different and also the foreign broadcasts axe hOON'ily
jammed by the Communists. The people in Slovakia listen
to news broadcasts in the Slovak language by Riadio Free
Europe, Voice of America and also BBC in London; however, they disaigree on many aspects in the poJ.i;tical comments broadcast from these stations. They are opposed
to the political part of the program of those broad~asts
mainly beca'll'Se they realize that such programs do not
state the entire Communist case in Slovakia.
Mr. Madden. You mean anti-Communist?
Father Nahalka. Are not efficient enough to inspire
anti.Communist feelinig or to keep up the ainti-Communist
attitude of the population. This opposition to the programs,
�93
SLOVAKIA
the poJitical programs of those stations is due to the fact
that they do not appeal to the national and religious fee~
ings of the Slovakians and a.iso from the ideological viewpoint, there are some oibjections, since they are sometimes very much alike with the Communist propaganda.
'.Dhey teJl people who know, in these broadcasts, there are
people who formerly collaiborated with the Communists
and they are now talking aib,out anti-Communists. For instance, the reports of the so~called Slovia,kian national uprising was a very, very - was a great mistake. At the
time when the transmitters were still in operation, people
in Slovakia eagerly listened to an illegal transmitter called
the Wlhite Legion transmitter and the people in Slo;vakia also :5requently listened to the religious programs
broadoost by Radio Vatican.
IMr. Madden. Do yoo think the programs broadcast
by the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe do any
good - I mean, against the Communists?
Father Nahalka. These broadcasts have their effects
in the line of anti-communism, but especially thr01Ugh their
news which they broadlcast. However, they could be still
more efficient if they adjusted their political programs
also to the needs and desires of the Slovak population.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JAN DOBROTKA
Mr. McTigue. You are a Slovak, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. ¥ es.
iMr. McTigue. And you were 'bom on OctOlber 20, 1913
at Dechtice, Slovakia, is that correct?
Mr. Dolbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. During the Communist occupation of
SlovaJkia you were a master sergeant in the SiN.B, socalled, which is known as the Bureau of Internal Security,
is that correct?
Mr. Dob:mtka. Yes, sir.
Mr. McTigue. And you were a uniformed master sergeant in the Buireau of Internal Security from 1947 to
1951, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. That is right.
1
�94
SLOVAKIA
Mr. McTigue. Was the Bureau of Internal Security
completely controlled by the Communists,?
Mr. DobTOtka. As of 194'8 it was completely under
Communist control.
Mr. M'CTigue. But you were a member of the Bureau
of Internal Security prior to the time that it was under
Communist control, isn't that correct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were required to stay on as
a member of the Bureau of Internal Security after the
Communists got control, is that corerct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Well, I was automatically taken over.
Mr. McTigiue. After the Bureau of Internal Security
was taiken over by the Communists, did you from time
to time receive orders to arrest priests, to make house
searches, and so forth and so on?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, I received such orders.
Mr. McTigue. Were there many of such arrests made?
Mr. Dobrotka. Many wealthy farmers were arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something about the
orders that were given to suppress and liquidate the Slovak Democratic Party members and the Slovak League?
Mr. Dobrotka. As of 1948 memlbers of the Democratic
Party were removed from all leadmg positioos in the administraJtion. The Slovak League was completely liquidated
because the Communists considered this organization a
swbversive and reactionary organizati'on, because it wa3
supporteq by the Slovak Leagiue of America.
iMr. McTigue. Did you ever rec{:ive orde~s to give close
supervision to the activity of certain parish priests in
Slovakia?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I recei,v ed such orders.
Mr. McTigue. What kind of orders were they?
iMr. Dobrotka. We received such orders through channels from the government down to our posts and such
orders arrived in sealed envelopes and were classified as
secret, and we were instructed to open these eI1JVeloipes only
u:pon special order by telephone.
!Mr. McTigue. Who were the men that actually handed
�SLOVAKIA
95
you the orders, were they uniformed Soviet police or were
they plain-clothes men?
Mr. Dolbrotka. These were members of the uniformed
police. They were my immedia,te superiors and they related these orders to me.
Mr. McTigue. Iif you were instructed under sealed orders to report on certain priests, what kind of reports did
you m0lke,?
Mr. Dobrotka. Under these orders we were to Sllipervise the sernnons of priests and to report periodically on
whether there were any political aspects in those sermons by priests.
Mr. McTigue. Did you ever report, for example, that
there was any political significance to what a priest
had to say?
Mr. Dobrotka. I <know I sulbmitted annual reports to
this effect, and I can state approximately 60 to 70 percent
of the memlbers of the SNB did not reporit any priests
to their superiors. This was also due to the fact that the
priests were aware of the fact that they were Slllpervised
by the police and, therefore, they avoided any political
speeches within their sermons.
Mr. MoTigue. Did the same kind of procedure, that is
reporting on their activities, apply to businessmen and
peasants and the PQpulace in general?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; we received such orders to supervise the activities of the entire population, especially to
observe whether the former mem!bers of the partially liquidated Democratic Party developed any underground
acti<vities.
Mr. McTigue. Were many priests arrested and interned at the time you were in the Bureau of Internal
Security?
Mr. Ddbratka. From the entire district in which I
was active there were approximately three cases of arrests
of priests, however, not a single priest was arrested in the
area under my jurisdiction.
Mr. McTigue. Tha,t is because you kept reporting
to your superiors that the priests were only talking to
God, is that correct?
�96
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Ddbrotka. That is right; there was no reason for
their arrest.
Mr. McTigue. When did you manage to esca,pe from
SlorvaJkia?
Mr. Dobrotka. On Deoomlber 3, 1951.
Mr. McTigue. Did yiou haive any troUJble in getting out of
Slorvalcia?
Mr. Dobrotka. No; I did not have any tro'Ulble in
escaping.
Mr. McTigue. You are now a member of the Labor
Service unit at Bad Kreuznach?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kersten. Any questions?
Mr. Busbey. When did you ·become a mem!ber of the
Bureau of Internal Security? Is that the correct name?
Mr. Dobrotka. In 1938. At that time the name of my
headquarterrs was Provincial Command of Gendarmerie,
which was under the Minister of Interior.
Mr. Buskey. That was in 1938?
Mr. DOlbrotlra. Yes, in 1938, at which time Slovakia became an independent state.
Mr. Busbey. Were you a memlber of the Communist
Party at that time in 1938?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir ; at that time memibers of the
gendarmerie were fonbidden to become memlbers of any
political parties.
Mr. Busbey. In what year was, it that you assumed
your duties of reporting on priesrts?
Mr. Dabrotka. That was after February 1948, at the
time when the Catholic Action was started.
Mr. Busbey. You were a member of the Communist
Party at that time ?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir.
Mr. Busbey. Were you ever a memlber of the Communist Party?
Mr. Dobrotka. In March 1948 all members orf the SNB
in order to protect their own existence were forced to file
an application fur mem'bership in the COIIDmunist Party.
Mr. BUS1bey. In order to saive your life, you had to
become a member of the Communi'St Party at that time?
�SLOVAKIA
97
Inter:preter. He became a memiber in March 1M8, but
your previous quesltion was whether he was a member in
February 1948.
Mr. Busbey. Did you attend church prior to March
1948?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I did. I am a practical Catholic
and I attended Mass every Sunday.
Mr. Bustbey. And how rubout after March 1948?
Mr. Do!brotka. After March 1948 I continued attending Mass regularly, however, we were aware that from
that time on we were under supervision by the Communists, particularly all our contacts with priests, with the
local priest, local teacher and local government officer
were suspicious, because these persons were considered as
reactionary, and our activities and connections with the people were supervised by Communists spies which were set
on us by the Communist Party.
Mr. Busbey. Would you agree with me that the greatest bulrwark ag,ainst communism, and the hope of the whole
world for e:venrual elimination of communism and for
world peace, is the fact that the people, not only behind
the Iron Curtain, 'b ut all over the world, will continue to
belie:ve in God?
Mr. DO!brotka. This I 'believe.
Mr. Buslbey. In other words, as long as the people have
a deep-seated, strong belief in God, we can be sure that
we will eventually eradicate communism from the earth?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes. May this ha,ppen as soon as
possilble.
Mr. Bus•bey. Thank you. No further questions.
(The witness was excused.)
(,Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JUR DETVIANSKY
Mr. Det'Vianslky was called a:nd duly sworn and testified through the Slo,vak interpreter as follows:
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Jur Detviansky?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue And you were born on September 6, 1919,
�98
SLOVAKIA
in Slovakia in the village of Ladomila, is that correct?
_Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. You were a recorder of vital statistics
in the town of Deitv:a until August 1950, is that correct?
Mr. DetvfanSlky. That is correct.
Mr. McTigue. This is the time, of course,, that Slovakia was under the Communist domination or occupation?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
iMr. McTigue. Later you were an administrative officer at Zvolen until Septemlber 1951, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir.
,M r. McTi,gue. Were you discharged from this office
by the Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. Why?
Mr. Detviansiky. As a politically unreliable person.
Mr. McTigue. In your ,p osition you know something
about the quotas which were set for the farmers lby the
Communists, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. Will you speaJk a little louder in Slovaik
and in English.
Mr. McTigue. How were these quotas set?
Mr. Detrviansky. The quotas were estalbJished for individual farmers in the presence of a representative of the
Communist Party. The •p rinci:p le for this establishment,
this prescrilbing of quotas, was· to prescribe those quotas
to wealthy farmers in such a manner that nothing would
be left for their own needs. This policy was aimed at desiroying the independenec of farmers and forcing them to
join the farmers' cooperative wh[ch would make them the
farmers dependent on the Communists. To the same end
also several other measures were taken by the Communists, such as, for instance, that all laJbor force was taken
away from the farmers and transferred to industrial
pul'p()ses.
Mr. McTigue. So it was impossible for these farmers, big and small, to meet the quotas imposed by the
Communists, is that correct?
,M r. Detvianslky. At first the farmers managed to
meet the delivery quotas because they helped each other
�SWVAKIA
99
in tendmg the soil. But later this task became imposs~b'l.e
to fttlfill and famJ.ers rubandoned. their farms and/ or were
arrested for not ful£illing their deliivery quotas.
~- McTigue. Can you give any examples which you
know of from your own personal knowledge, of how some
of the peasants on small farims reacted to the quotas?
Mr. Debviansky. There were several instances, but the
most significant of them was that which occurred at
Detva-lKostolna. It was on: Decemiber 5, 1951, when a farmer named Jan Ba/bic from despair because of the hard
delivery quotas prescriibed to him 1knifed his three children, 1, 3 and 5 years old. His wife and two older children succeeded in escaping his desperate aJCt. He committed
this action of despair because he stated that since they
took aiway from him everything they should take away
also his family.
Mr. McTigue. When did you escape to the West?
Mr. Detviansky. In Decemlber 1951.
Mr. McTigrue. And you are now a caiptain in one of
the Labor Service COIJ:Il!pany units at Kaiserslautern , is
that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. No:rlblad. Is the treatment which you harve been
receiving here aH you expected?
Mr. Detvfansky. Well, the treatment l received here
meets my expectations, however, I am dissatisfied with the
slow progress of the struggle rugainst the Communists and
I am impatient to return to my home country.
Mr. Norblad. Many of us are quite dissatisfied with
the progress of OUI' fight against communism.
Mr. Kersten. In other words I understrund you feel
that the men, the young men of Slovakia as well as the
people of the other captive nations that are in the free
world would like to try to help the people ibaok in those
countries and your country to regain their fireedom, is
that right?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir, the sooner the better.
Mr. Kersten. And you likewise feel that the young
main back behind the Iron Curtain, even those under arms,
�100
S!LOVAIHA
would if they have the Oipportunity help get rid of Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. As far as Slovakia is concerned, I
can srtaite that since I was previously an active army officer and knew the mentality of the Sl01Vakian soldiers, I
can state that 90 percent orf the Slova,kian young men
would use such an oipportunity.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you.
The witness was. excused.
(Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
When the Kersten Committee pwblished its findings,
the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the Slovak renegades the Lettrich "democrats" - and the Reds began to scream
"murder!" That, of course, is quite understandaJble. For
the ladk of positive al'gument, they resort to the smear
technique, the usua,l line of the Reds. "CAS" (TIME) the official propaganda sheet of the Lettrich "we-got-6'2 %of-the,JSlovak-vote-in-1946" democrats, who actively collaborated with the Reds and Moscow from 1943 to Fe!bruary
25, 1948 - in its issue of February 1, 195:5, attaciked the
Kersten Committee and the testimony of most of the Slovak
witnesses, laJbeling the report "scandalous."
It is unfortunate that the Keraten Committee did not
call wpon the Lettrioh "democrats" to testify; the story
would have been more complete. At least Dr. Joseph Lettrich, "leader" of the Slovak "democrats," and Gen. Nicholas
Ferjencik, "non-!I)artisan" head of Lettrich's gestapo, should
have ,b een given the opportunity to confess that the "democrats" did .conclude agreements with the Reds in 1943 and
1945 to collaJborate closely on all issues. The Kersten Committee did a good job in the time allotted to it. The wol1k
initiated: should !be completed. Albove all else, leading Benes
Czechs (Socialists) and Lettrich "democrats" - former
members of the Communist-d ominated National Front government of Prague - should be girven the opportunity to
"sing"!
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1955
Text
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SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. V
quarterly by the
Slovak
League of
MARCH 1955
America
NO . 1 (14)
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED SLOVAKIA
is told on the following pa,ges by
witnesses called upon to testify
by the Select Committee on Com•
mu.nist Aiggression of the House
of Representatives, headed by the
Hon. Ch:a.J'lles J . Kersten of Mil·
waukee, Wis.
Michael Galayda is an .American
citzen who experienced Communist terror in Slovakia. He was
there W1,d saw Communism at
work a mong his people w'ho had
persdstenUy ,and consistently fought
the Red plague for over a hundred
years. H e makes his home in
Hazleton, Pa.
Mr. and Mrs. Smrekovsky, American citizens, also witnessed the
terror and horror of Red rule in
Slovakia ,f irst hand. They have relatives and many friends in S1ovakia and, hen.ce are using an assumed name.
Dr. Joseph Pauco, news.paperman and writer, c ame to America
in 1950; he is assistant editor of
the .TIIDDNOTA (Union), the official organ of the First Catholic
Slovak Union, and a1so chairman
of the U. S. Bran,ch of the Slov,a k
National Council Abroad.
Dr. Joseph Mikula studied law
1 and politics and was very active
' in student circ'les of Slovakia ,before he Jlled the Red terror which
invaded his native Slovakia.
Dr. Joseph Mikus, foraner Slovak dilplomat, lawyer and writer,
became the director of the Press
Bureau of the Slovak League of
America, Wash!lngton, D. C., soon
after his arrival in America several years ago.
Jan Dobrotka, now an exile in
West Germany, was a Sergeant of
the Department of National Security in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Jur Detviansky was an active
officer of the Sloviak Army before
he Hed to the West.
Rev. Anton Botek, S.T.D., editor
and former director of the Catholic Center in Bratd•slava, S-Jovakia,
is in charge of the S lovak Catholic Action in Exiile; he edits
"HLASY Z RiMA," (Voices From
Rome), Italy.
Rev.
Stephen
Nahalka,
S.T.D.,
ecclesiastical writer and former
personal secretary to Bishop John
Vojtassak of t'he Spis Diocese,
1Slovaki,a - who, by the way, was
sentenced to 24 years 1n prison
1by the Reds lives in Rome.
Italy.
Philip A. Hrobak, editor of the
JEDNl()TA since 1938 and president of t'he Slovak League of
America since 19'50, is a native
AmerLcan, born in Cleveland, Ohio,
in 1904. Active in Slovak aff.airs
for the past 35 years,, Mr. Hrobak
has devoted much time to the study of Czecho-Slovakda and Slovakia and the people responsible for
government. His
articles
and
pampb:lets in Engilish have contributed greatly to expose "Czechoslo,v ak" pseudo-democracy, the
maohinations of the Benes Czechs
(Socialists) and Lettri.ch "detnocrats", the people responsible for
the betrayal of the Slova;ks to the
men of the Kremlin - +and the
Reds and Socialists aictJ!ve In Slovak circles in Amertlca. ·
SLOVAKIA
Communist Aggression Against Slovakia
(The Select Committee on Communist Aggression, House of Representatives, EJighty-Third Congress, 1954, under the ch·a irmans•h lp of
the HonoraJble Oharles J. Kersten, did quite a. remarkable jdb to
ascertain how the !Communists seized pO'wer in the various countries
of IDurope. I believe it is the first time in our history that an honest
attempt was made to understand the 'background of the -peoples behind the Iron Curtain. 1Slovak representatives were among those
who gave testimony of Communist a,ggression in S-tovakia, which differed in so.me respects from th.at in other countries. From the testimony of various witnesses who were heard, and the many others
who sent in their statements fl'Qm various countries, it is quite eviden,t that 1Slovrukia fell an easy prey to Moscow iand the C-Ommunlsts
because of the pro-Soviet -poli<:y of Dr. Edward ,B enes and the Czech
Socialists, who ruled in Czecho-Siovakia with the Communists after
World War ]I. Slovakia, traditionally anti-Communist, was jn fact
sold out by the National Front ,Government of Prague. The vast
masses of the Slovak population ,had no ,c•hoice; their wiH meant
nothin,g to Benes and tib.e Prague regime, whJ.ch took over Slovakia
with the help of Soviet bayonets, disregardin,g the pollti-cal wHl of
the peOII)le completely. Excerpts from the testimony of Slovak witnesses, l'\Vlhic,h are contained on these pages, definitely prove that. P.A. H.).
FROM THE SPECIAL REPORT NO. 8
SLOVAKIA
!Slovaki,a is situated between the Carpathian Mountains on the north and the Danube and the Tisa Rivers on
the south. The in!hrubitants are !known as Slov,aks and with
the !Poles a111d the Ozechs, belong to the group of western
Slaivs.
The political history of the ·S lov,a!ks goes back to the
beginnmg of the ninth century when ChmsUan civilization
was introduced into their territoTy, and it was during this
period that tlhe ruler, H;astisfav, 84~70, made himself
lmown by an intensiive ChTistiianmation of the country.
FoJilowing hls ti,nvitation, two brothers, Saints Cyril and
Methodius, who henceforth were to b.ecome the rupostles of
the Slaivs, came in 863 from Byoo.ntium to Great Moravia. B y their activities, they laid the foundations for church
organizaibions, the Slav liturgy, a'.Jiphrubet, •a nd literature. It
was in this way that the rwork of the two missionaries
SLOVAKIA
3
from Byzruntrl:l.l!Ill brought ,t he western Slavs into the fold of
the Catholic OhuTch, an historical event of paramount ipolitic,al and oulturral importance.
In the tenth century, ,Slovakia ,b ecame for a time a
battlefie'ld in the struggles .among the SlaVIS, Magyars, and
Germans, and at the fbegiillnmg of the eleventh century,
she became a part of the kingdom of Hungary, organized
under the Arpad dynasty.
In the fifteenth and at the !beginning of the si~teenth
century the internal prOiblems of Hungary reached a certain degree of consolidation. The invasions of •c entral Europe by the 'Dmks in tJhe ,s ixteenth and seventeenth ceinturies, however, reduced Hungary to the area of the Slovalda
of today and political and cultural liife was concentrated in
that area. For a long time sessions of the Hungarian Pa•r liament were held •a nd coronations of the Hungarian llings
were celebrated in BratisJava.
The end o,f the eighteenth and the first half of the
nineteenth centuries mark the /beginning of the Slovak national renaissance. At this time, the nationa1ities tin central Emope we,r e about to abrundon Latin as the literary
and spoken language of the cu!tiivated claS'S and to replace
it by their own national language. Consequently, a spiritual
rebirth stirred up national aspirations among the different peoples of the !Hapsburg monarchy.
In 1848, the Slov,a,ks -organiized a military uprising
against the centralism of 'BudaJpeSt and: helped 1:Jhe Emperor
crush the Kossuth rebellion against the Hapsburgs. They
did it with the hope that Slovrukia wocld ibe finally acknowledged as an autonomous land within a federated
monaTohy, ibut thedr hopes in this respect were never
satisfied.
h1 the "Memorand'll!IIl of the Slovak Nation" of Jl.l'lle
7, 1861, a Slovak National Assemlbly, asked the Parliament
of Hungary to create an rarl!ministiratirve unit from the oounties imlhaJbited lby tlhe iSloviaJc population under the name of
"Slovak region." It was to ,b e ,provjdedJ with such a degree
of poaitical and oultural autonomy which would be compatible wiith the prniciiple of u.mty of the monarchy. But the
Hungarian Parlioonent failed to act.
4
SLOVAKIA
In 1868 the Nationality Act was passed in the /Pairliament of Hunga:ry .b y which Magyar was proclaimed. the official language of the ,s tate administration in the kingdom,
except for some autonomous bodies.
1n 1895, the Serbs, the Rwmanians from Transylvania
and the Slovaks convOlked a congress of nationalities in Budapest in which they claimed ,respect for their national
rights and asked once more for a federative reform of the
kingdom on the ,p rinciple of equality. Such a reform was
not carried out. As a ,c onsequence the non.,Magy,ar nationa!lities lost, during the First World War, their interest in
the continued existence ()ff the dual monarchy oif AustriaHu.ngary.
1
World War I and Formation of the Czecho-Slovak State
Dwring World War [ the ,s pirit of nationalism was
greatly stimulated within the Alustro-Hungari:ain Empire.
Thi•s spirit was reflected iby increasing demands for greater
autonomy or ouwi:ght independence ,f or the clifforent nations within that empire. The advocacy of the principle of
nationa:l self-tdeter-mination by President Wilson further
stimulated these iaJS!)iratiOill,s. and dlid much to set the stage
for the peace settlements.
Dur:i.ng the course of the war Czech political leaders
established a secret committee wh~ch directed the ,a ctivities of Ozech nationalists at home and abroad. Thomas G.
Masaryk, as the leader of this movement, toured Europe
and the United 'States Wlhere h e recei.:ved encouragement
and support.
Meanwhile a movement ,a rose among the ·l arge number oif Americans of Slovaik descent promoting Slovak!ia's
separation from Hungary. Th.Tee different solutions of the
Slovaik prob1em were oovi,saged: Slovakia as a new state,
as ia partner orf a Czecho-Slovruk Federation •o r a·s a territory forming a pollitircal union with the prospectirve Polish
Republic.
Finally, the SloivaJk -League of Amerioa entered into
contact with the Amemcans of Czech descent and signed
with their organilzations, in 191 5, t;he Cleveland agreement,
and in 1918 the Pittsburgh Parct, 'both of which aim·e d at
1
1
1
5
SLOVAKIA
the creation of a Czecho-.Slova1k federal state. In these doouments the Slov,aik organi•z ation stipulated that Slovakfa
should 'be an equal mem1ber iwitJh the Czech lands ·a nd have
complete legislative, executive, judiciary and cultural autonomy in strictly national matters, while matters of common interest, such as foreign affairs and defense, should
be within the competence '()!f a common parlitailllent.
1
A tangi!ble proof of the aspi-rabions of 1:Jhe Ozec:h and
Slo:vruk peoples toiward foll mdependence iwas demonstrated
by the thousands of thei:r soldiers who had swrendeired on
the 'Various fronts. They formed the Czecho-Slovak Legions
in Russia, France, amd Ita1y and fought on the side of the
Al[ied and Associated \P,o wers.
1
In order to convince ·W estern statesmen that the concept of national states 1was, ~n concern with the iwill of the
people a Congress otf !Peop1es Oppressed ·b y the Hrups'burg
Monarchy was commenced in Apilil 191'8 at Rome. This congress did much to mfl,uence the th,i nking in western Europe
and in the United States. ln the summer of 1918, F'ra.nce,
Great Britain, the United States, and Italy offici,all,y recognized the Czecho-1Slovak National Council as a defacto gOIVerrunent and the Gzecho-lSlwak forces as an Allied army
waging regu~ar warfare agarl.nst kustria-Hungary and Germany.
A Ozeoho-4Slwak IPro:visionrul Government •w as set up
in Paris with Masaryik as President and was recogn.iized de
jure by the Aflied and Associated Powers. It issued the Declaration of Czecho..SlovaJk Independence on October 18,
1918, in Paris. On the saime day President Wilson rejected
the Austrian ,proiposa:l for the organi zation of Austria-Hungary on a federa l !b asis iby reiplyiing that !he could no longer
accept •~ere autonomy of these peoples as a basis of
peace .. ."
On Octolber 28, 1918, the Ozecho-Slo,yak Nationial Colllllcil in !P:mgue proclaimed the deiposibion of the Austrian
Emperor as so,yereign of the Czech and Slcxvak lands and the
estrublishment of a free and united Republic ,of Ozecho-4SlovavaJda. The ,SiovaJk National Counchl, a revolutionary 'body
composed of Slovak patriots, convened on October 30, 1918,
1
1
SLOVAKIA
6
and ,pwb1isihed a document known •a s the Dec1aration of
Turcia.nsky rSv. Martlin. In. this document they proclaimed
the separation of Slo.va:lci<a from the Kiingdom of Hungary
and their intention to form with the Ozech lands a CzeohoSlOWlik .state. On November 14, 1918, this decision was ratified 1~ the Crecho--iSlvoruk National Assembly which elected
T. G. 1M as•aryik as President of the Republic and set up the
first ,caJbinet.
However, it was not long !b efore serious dlisagreement
developed between the Ozechs and ISlovaJks on the form of
government for the new state. The Ozeohs farvored a Czecho~Sl01Vak ,centralist state whHe the Sllo,vaiks ins.i:sted upon
a Czecho~SlQl\llaJk feder.ation ~n whioo the identity and individrua:lity of each nation would ibe •recognized and preserved.
In the opinion of !Slovak leadJers the Ozecho,..slovak state,
for all practical purposes, was to become a Czech ,s tate, enlarged 'by Slovakia ra nd :sulb-Oaripathlian Ruthenia. This situation resulted .in the !Slovaks taking a firm ,position a,g ainst
the centralist form of government. Monsignor Andrew Hilinka, a great patriotic [eader from the time of pre~a:r HrUlllgar.y, went dandestine1y in !September 1919 to Pairis in order to present S1ova;kia's cause before the Peace Conference, ,a dvocating an international guaranty fo·r the selfgovernment of the ,Slovruk nation withi:n OzechoJSlova!kia.
Denounced to the •French authorities !by the Ozecho,.;Slovak
delegation as a Hapsburg spy, he was foTced to return to
Slovaikia without any result. Toniprisoned 1by order of Prague
at Mirov, Mara'Via, Hlinka was to stay tJhere until April
1920, when he was elected deputy of the 'Slovak People's
Party, founded iby him under the Hungarian regime and
reestabllished in December 19'18.
1
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
ConstitutJional Structure
Althowg,h the !basic ,constitution was not adopted until.
February 1920, its .gener.al principles had been B!pplied
from the very •b eginning of Cze.cho-Slovaik independence.
The philosophy underlying this fundamental law is expressed in the preamble, whfoh is striikingly similar to the
SLOVAKIA
7
preamble of the Constitution of the United States.
The main body of the Consbitution provided for a
popularly elected Parliament, a President selected by both
houses of Parliament and an independent judiciary.
Parties and Politics
The politics of the period may ibe divided into four
phases:
1. Nationalistic phase (1918-19)
Following the proclamation of independence, ,a ll Czech
political parties agreed on the fundamental principles on
which the new state ,w as to be bui1t. Having reaohed this
major consensus and the necessary leg,islation having been
enacted, the coalition had accomplished its task and a
split on partisan lines followed.
2. Swing toward Social Democraicy (1919-20)
The period of Socia.dist rule in the Czecho-Slovruk Republic did not accom;plish too many changes in the country's economy although the r,a,iUwa,ys, mines, and water
power were socialiized. The division of the 1Soci:alists into
Socialist amd Communist ranks ended the brief era of Socialist eJQ!)erimentation in Czooho-Slovrukia.
3. The agrarian era (1922-35)
This was a period of Telative ·parliamentary stability
under the leadershiip of the Agrarian Party, which managed
the government along m.iddile-of~the-road policies. A satisfactory coalition government was maintained throughout
this period.
4. The crisis ( 1935-38)
This period iwas the touchstone of the solidity of the
Czecho-1Slovruk state. Confronted with the serious iproblem
of the Sudeten Germain poipuil.ation, Czecho-6lovakia betrayed no signs, of political panic.
The .principal political ,parties in Ozecho-Slovrukia in the
period betiween the two World Wars formed the following
groups:
National 'Democrats. - This party, conservative and intensely nationalist, drew its princi'pa:l support from businessmen, the professions, and hi,gher cirvil servants. It never
beoame very ,powenfu:l.
8
SLOVAKIA
Populists. - Under the name of the Czech Populist
Party and the Slovak Pe>ipulist Party, respectiively, this
group endeavored to bring CathoiJ.ic ideas into plllblic life.
The Sllllall faruners and workers in rural districts were its
strongholds, especially in Slovakia.
Agrarians. - This poJitica-1 groUJp, the largest in the
subsequent parliaments, was solidly entrenched in both
rural aind town districts by means 0£ a widespread network
of cooperat:1ve, economic, and mtlturnJl organimtions. Its
broaid economic and so.cia'l program att•r acted wide support.
National Socialists. - Thi1s non-Marxian Socialist Party may ibie described as a "radicai national party of the
lower middle class and of the wonkers." It had rather more
influence than its moderate numerical strength would indii;cate.
Social Democrats. - This, party, resembling the social
democratic parties of other European countries, had more
influence during the first two years of bhe Republic. Though
outwardly united it was, however, undermined by dissension within its own ranks, whicih finally resulted in the expu1lsion of the Communist faction .
Communists. - The Ozecho-Sloivaik Commll!Ilist Party
was created in 1920 as a result of the e~ulsion of Communist elements from the 'Social Democratic Party. Though
equia:lly subversive and aggressiive as elsewhere in Europe,
the Ozecho-iSlovaJk Communists never secured a la:rge foll-owing during the two decades before the Second World
War.
Economic, Social and Cultural Development
Agrarian reform
iRediistribu:tion of land was an urgent iprOlblem facing
the IIlew government and a Land Reform Act, therefore,
was one of the first measures passed ,b y the Czecho-Slovak
Parliament. This ,a ct entitled the state to truke over, •a,fter
com;pensation, all ,1and :from the great estates in excess of a
fixed maximum and to permit land purcha,se by those who
needed it most. The agr,ariam. refomi program substantially improved the material conditions of the rural popula-
SLOVAKIA
9
tion aml averted the diam.ger of ,agrarian disturbances.
Economic development
While Czecho-1Slovruk agricl.l!ltura:l resources almost
covered domestic req,uiTements, indrustrial prodUJCtion was
far in excess of the needs of the home market since Ozecho-1Slovakia had been the industrial center of the former
Austro..lHJungarian Empire.
'Since the Danulbiian countries, originally Czooho-Slovakia'•s principal foreign ma,r ket fOT manufadured goods,
were increasing the tempo of their industria;lization with a
view to :restricting tihe import orf industrial µvoducts, Ozecho..JSlovruk foreign trade was olbJiiged to look for new outlets. These were found ma,i nly in those western and oversea
countries which were Czecho-1SloV1aJkia's .principal suppliers
of •r aw materials, especially the United States and Great
Britain.
Economically aJnd fin!andalil.y Czecho-Slorvaikia was a
sound state in central Europe. As an exporting country it
was severely hlt by the wodd economic depression of the
early thirties, hut, lby timely adtj:ustments to new price and
exchange levels, it was one orf the first Eiurropean countries
to weather the crisis.
Education and social progress
The cl.l!ltmrra1 level orf the Czechs was hlgh and their passion fOT education was prQIVeribial in central Eur.ope. The
new R.ep'Ulblic fostered educaition by establishing additional
free schools •a nd by, improving the existing ,schools.
The Ozecho-1Slorva,k :S tate a,lso forged ahead in the
field of social impmve:ment. All groU!ps and interests pos,sessed the rig:ht of organi,z ation ,a nd thus organized lalbor
had its trade unio,n s, farmers their cooperative societies,
and white--coUar worker,s and businessmen their associations. Health a,nd other types of ,social insurance were either
provided for or encouraged iby the State and pro¥i:sion was
made for State assistance to hoursing and cooperatives.
The Religious Situation
The re1igious .situation created after the esmblishment
of the Repu'blic in 19'18 must, like many other of the coun-
SLOVAKIA
:iO
try's developments, ibe rvieiwed against its historical backgrou!Ild.
A strong Czech groUJp of modernist, nationalistic Roman clergy insisted on radicall reforms, such as the use of
the vernacuiliar in the lituvgy ,and the abolition of compulsory celibacy, Wlhich the Roman Curia could not accept. As
a result, this group seceded from Rome and esta:blished an
independent "Ozecho-1S1ovak Church" ,w hioh originally numbered aJbout one million adherents, lbut ,w hich lost half its
meimlbership by 1939, so that Roman Catholics still comprised 80 •p er cent of the popul,a tion. In spite of adverse
circu:mstl8Jnces, the Roman Cathoilic ChUTch adjusted itself,
therefore, to the new millieu and recovered much for its former influence.
In the political and cultural life of the new Repwblic,
the Protestant element played a role far beyond its numerical strength. Many ,prominent political leaders, Thomas
G. Masaryk among them, 1be'longed to the Protestant faith.
1
Internal Problems
'J.'lhe OOIIlstituition of 1920, in }airge measure disiregarding the ethnographic realities of Czecho-Slovakia, was to
become a bone of contention 1b ,etween the Czechs on the
one side, and 1:Jhe. 1Slova:k,s, Ger.mans, Mag,yar:s, and Ruthenians on the other. The Slovaks demanded the incorporation
of the main clauses of the Pittsburgh Pa-ct into the Constitution. The Ruthemans, whose autonomy within CzechoSlovakia had ,b een granted by the Treaty of St. Germain,
asked that this international obligation be respected 'by the
Prague Government. The Ge:rana:ns ,and the Magyars solicited oulturaJ rig,hts and adnninistr,a,ti,ve autonomy on the
local level, as granted iby the same Treaty of St. Germain.
'Dhis psychological split among the ,populatiOIIl of OzechoSlova1ki,a wea:kened consideriaJbly the new state from both
the internal and international point of rview. The Czech
statesmen tried to iremedy this situation by creating a system of international treaties such as the Little Entente,
1920, the Pact of Alliance and FriendsihiJp with France,
1924, and a similar pact with the Soviet Union, 1935. Uke
the Austro-Hunga1rian staite'Smen in 1867, Benes believed
11
SLOVAKIA
that the transformation of Czech~Slova!kia into a federation of three memlbers, the Czech lands, 1Slov,a kia, and Subcarpaitlliian iRuthenia, would weaken the international position of the centralized state, I)a)rticularly with reference
to HW11gary and Germany. Consequently, in the field of internal ,administraJtio,n he developed a system, in which aJll
branches of Gove:rnment in Slov.a:kia and Sulbca rpathiian Ruthenia ,w ere reserved iprimari1y to 1:Jhe Czec,hs.
Politicall'Y, al·l problems of these bwo lands we.re to ibe
decided in the Pa:-ag,ue Parliament, where !Slovakia had only
58 and Ruthenia 9 deputies out of 300. Thus, even the most
important questions such a;s the relation betlween state
and church, official language, system of schools, the economy, were to be decided ib;y the Ozech parliamentarian majority.
Ai3 to the cutural aspect, secondary schodls in Slovakia as wel[ ,as the Bratislava Universirty lbecaJm.e an officiaJl
domain of Ozech ,professors, teacihing the UJnitarian concept of a "Czechoslovak" nation m ithe ethnic sense. On October 1, 1938, there were 523 Czech and 345 Sloviaik instructors teaching in the secondary schools of Slovaikia. At the
same time, there were 66 Czech and only 24 Slov~k professors in the Bratisl,a,va Uruversity.
From the standpoint of the economy Slovakia was to
remain a predominantly agrarian land, while the Czech
part of the Repulblic was highly induskialized. This policy
of two dif,ferent measures is shown by the share of Slovakia and Ruthenia ~n the industrial production of the RepU!blic. The participation of these two lands in the whole
industry, !between 1934 and 1937, was only 8.5 per cent,
while 91.5 iper cent went to the Czec,h lands. The proper
importance of these figures is stressed by the fact, that
Slwakia constituted 23 per cent and Rutheinia 5.5 per cent
of the total popuJation of the Re1pulblic.
From the adlministratifve ,p oint of view, the district and
county offices in Slo,vakia and iRuthenia were mostly direcited iby Czech off,iciais who were directly responsible to
Prague ,as were the police. In 1938 there were 120,926 Czech
pwb1ic offici,a ls in 'Slovakia.
All these aspects created in Ozecho-Slovakia what has
1
1
12
SLOVAKIA
been knoiWn as the "Sll.ova;k problem." The Slovak People's
Party which, in 1925 had 23 deputies, became not only the
strongest single party in Slav,aJkia, lbut a majority party of
the Slovak people (not counting minorities and the Comm1.1!11ists) endorsed 1:Jhe federative reform of the Republic
asking for the accomplishment of stipulations contained in
the ,PittslblllI'gh Pact. A:s early as Jianuary 25, 1922, this
party presented its fiTst project for c01I1stituti01I1al reform
in Czecho-Slovakia. The prog,ram hatl the following main
points:
!Slovakia to be granted her own Diet and Government.
As common affairs would ,b e considered: The President, the
Army, Foreign Affairs, and Communications. The Sloviak Diet to harve exolU1Sive competence in such matters as
natiOIIlal eduoaJtion, denominations, justice, commerce, agriculture, publric works, social welifare, and corresponding
finances. The executive ;power in Slov-rukia, as iregards b.oth
the laws which wound be :voted by the Central Parliament
in Prague and those which would be enacted. lby the Diet
of Bratis:larva, would belong to the Slovruk Gorvernment.
Laws voted ,by ithe Central Parliament would lbe without
validity in .Slovakia if rejected by a two-.thirds majority in
the •Sll.ovak Diet. This proposal would have satisfied !Slovak
aspirations, but it was 111ever put on the agenda o;f Parliament.
A second proposed reform concerning the decentirali>zation of the state administration was presented to the Czecho4S1avruk Parliiament by the 1Slovak People's 1Party, May
8, 1930. More modest in -i ts scope than the first one, this
document claimed for -Slovakia the same constitutional position which had 1b een gr8.lllted ihwt never carried out by
article 3 of the constitwtion relating to Sub.carpathian Ruthenia. According to this proposal, IS1ovakta should have
had her own 'Diet as a national legislative ,b ody and a governor as chief of the land executiive.
The iDiet would have lbeen competent to enact laws concerning [anguage, education, religion, municipal, and district administration and justice as well as other matters
whioh the laws of the Central ,Parliament would comer wpon
it. Laws enacted by the <Diet of Slovakia and .si:gned by the
1
SLOVAKIA
13
President of the Republic would ibe promulgated, under sigruature of the gavemor, in a sipecial col1ection of laiws for
Slova:kia. Although presented in due form, this proposal
was never discussed in the Parliament.
Octdber 16, 1932, the Slovak People's Party of Andrew
H!linika and the Slova!k National Party of M. Ra;zus (a small
traditionailist <Protestant party) having joined in an agreement a;b,out the necessity of autonomy for Slovakia,
stressed their detemnination to pursue the fight for Slovakia's national rights, "even ,t houg,h it may ,bring the disintegration of >the Ozecho..,Slov,a;k Republic."
Fol1.owing the resignation of T. G. Masaryk as President of the Repulblic, E. Benes became 1a candidate in Deceimber 19315 for that office. After some consultations, the
Slovak People's Party end!orsed his election, stiipwlating,
however, that a ,pol,icy of national equality between the
Czechs and the 1Slava:kis should ibe inaugrnrated by the President aind a law concerning 'Slovak~a's autonomy ,be promulgated in one year. Nevertheless, it was two years later
before the Prague Government was ready to, consider the
Sl()IVruk prdblem and this ooourred in connection wit!h the
Sudeto·- German claims for nation,a,1 rights within the Republic.
This nationality group had been integrated into CzechoSlovakia in spite of their protest. -Since the very foTlffiation
of Czecho,..,Sl'ovakia, the German minority had been soliciting a form of cultural autonomy in the schools, local administration, and in the courts. Later on they asked for
a better economic amd social <poll.icy in the German areas
suffering from unemployment. For a long time, Prague
did not lristen to such :voices. But with Hitler's accession in
Gennany, the Sudeto-Germans recei;ved the !backing of the
'I1hl1rd Reich. Consequent11 theiT claims increased at the
same time as their courage. In 1935 the ,Sudeto-German
P,a rty, with 44 deputies, lbeoame the second ,g reatest party
in the Repuiblic. The (P,raigue Goverll!!Ilent, not willing to ~ppear as acting under foreign pressure, remained reluctant.
T.he stiffer the Czecho..jSlovak Government 1becaime, the more
Hitler determined to annihilate Czecho ... Slovakia.
14
SLOVAKIA
PairalJel to this evolution was Sfovrukia's struggle for
its own rrights. JU/Ile 5, 1938, a third projed concerning the
federalization of the Repulblic was pU!blished lby the SlovaJk
People's Party, a!lld presented to the Central Government.
It was only one week !before the, Munich Conference, 1Septem'be:r 22, 1'938, that E . Benes sent a counteriproject to the
Praesidium of the Sllovaik ,People's Barty.
Shortly after, the conflict :betiween Prague and: the Sudeto-Ge:rrmans was resolrved in Munich, where, on the basis
of Lord Rundman's rrecommendation, the Sudetenl:and went
to Germany.
This decision created for ISlovaikia a new situation. As
a consequence of a policy in whioh she had praotically no
share, Sllovrukia was ,a lso to surrender in favor Olf ifllUJilgary
her Southern !boundary ·zone, ,s ettled mostly ,b y Magyar population. This was a psychdlo,gical blow which brought an
agreement among all Slova!k ,political parties, except for
the Communist, Social-Democrat and minority parties, rubout
Slovakia's autonomy. Thus on October 6, 1938, one day
after the resignation of ,E . Benes, six ipolitica,,l parties of
SlovaJkia, representing 36 out of 58 deputies, puiblished a
dedarration in which they agreed that the third project of
constitutional reform shO'llld be immediat~ly put in practice
and l8Jil autonomous gorverrnment for Slovakia 1b e appointed
,u nder the chairmanship of iDr. Joseph Tiso.
1
November 2, 1938, lby the ar,bi,tration of Ciano and Von
Ribbentrop in Vienna, 10,309 .s quare kilometers with ·853,670
inhafbitants were to .b,e ceded by :Slovakia to Hungary. This
included 503,980 'Magyars and 272,145 Slovaks. ISfovakia
saw that she was becoming a viotim of an international
po1itica1 game ,w ithout aniy faJllJlt of her own. The Vienna
decision proved the futility of the fomner party dirvisions
and produced ra n integrating effect upon the Slo:va;k politica:l
spectrum. Parties which had signed rt.he Declaration of Zilina on October 6, agreed on NovembeT 10, 1938, on the
formation of a common party !known henceforth as the
Party of National Unity.
This political evolution in 1Slovrukia was f:inal:ly sanctioned by the Ozech and Slovak representatives irn the
15
SLOVAKIA
Prague Parliament on No-vemlber 19, 193'8. Then, by a constitutionall ,amendiment, Ozecho-Slovrukia became a federation of Bohemi!a-<Maravfa, !Slovakia and! Oa:rpathian Ukraine
(,Ruthenia). Burt the relations between Prague and the Slova:k Government remained tenJSe, because of 9,000 Czech
officia1s who 1Were removed lby the Slovak Goivernment, and
the share of Slovakia in the income and expense, orf the
common <budget.
FOREIGN ,R ELATIONS
Beforre Munich
The principal aim of Ozecho-Slovakia's foreign policy
was the preserivation of the status quo as estaJblished by
the 19~9 peace settlements, and the estaJblishment of friend-ly relations with all her neighlbors through ,a n exten1Sive
system of adequate agreements. Eduard Benes, Minister of
Foreign Affairs until 11936 and 1ater 1P resident of the Repulblic, was the girniding sipiirit of this policy.
A solid :f oundation for rthe, presewation .o f the status
quo in cenibral Europe was laid !by the CTeation of the Little
Entente formed by Ozecho-Sfoivakia, Yugos1a;vfa and Rumania, and three victorious Danulbian states bordering on
vanquished Austda and Hungary.
Ozecho-1Slovalda was ·a n enthusiastic supporter of the
League of Nations and colktJborated ,w holeiheartedly in the
negotiations which brought Germany and the ,Soiviet Union
into the League.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Ozecho-iSlovakia's
foreign relations entered into a critical phase and two
ye31rs of vi,r,uJent Nazi pro,paganda among the Sudeten Germans !bore frwt in the results of the 1935 elections. The
NaJZi..sponsored :Sudetendeutsche IPartei poiiled over 62 per
cent of the total Ge1riman vote and c01Wed the smaller German parties .i nto submission.
1
Later .on, acting on instructioillS from iBer,Hn, the <leaders od: the Sudeten German movement put fomvard demands
which no Czecho-S1,orva'k 1g overnment •c ould a·c cept and, with
the anne:,ration of Austria, the srtage was set for final action.
De.seprately anxious to avert a new war, France and
16
SLOVAKIA
Great Britain proposed to Czecho-Slovakia that she should
cede to Germany all areas with a German majority. When
Ozecho--srtovakia demwred, she was informed that she must
ae<!ept the proposal or bear the conisequences alone. The result was tihat the Czechs gave in and at Munich their
country was di vided on the lines dictated by Hitler.
1
After Munich
After MU1J1ioh, Czecho-.Slova:kia tried to adjust itself to
the new situation. President Benes resigned and left the
country. He was succeeded 1b y Emil Hacha, an eldeI1ly and
experienced jurist with no politioa1 affiliations, who believed that close cooperation with the Third Reich was the
country's only hope of sur:vival.
The tra,nsition to Hitler's New Order was swift. Obnoxious parties were dissolived and the Government was
given wide power,s to govern by decree. The ,administration
was purged, the 1press put under rigorous control and antiSemitic measures were ena,cted.
The situation in central Europe after Mlliilloh became
even more confused. Germany began to remind the Bohemian puibLic of the role the Kingdom of Bohemia had played
within the Holy Roman Empire. !Hungary started to speak
about her histor,i,cal boundaries and the necessity of a common frontier with Poland. According to the Nuremberg
documents, Hitler 1at that time. had already decided to destroy Czecho-Slovakia. But there was apparently no definite decision o.n S1ova:kia as to wihether to place it under German OCOU1pation or to ha;ve it occU1pied by Hungary. In this
situation, the Slovak GOIVernment had only one preoccupation: to preserve what unity had remained of Sloviakia after the Vienna a11bitration and to avoid:, as far as possible,
direct domination lby a:ny of her neighbors.
On Ma11ch 10, 1969, the Prague Government dismissed
the government of Dr. Joseph Tiso and proclaimed martial
law in 'Slovakia. The Slova!k people considered this a violation
of agreements that had /been si,gned ~tween Prague and
Bratislaiva and incorporated into the Constitution. Puibl~c
demonstrations spread throll!g.hout 'Slova:kia.
Invited to a consultation by Hitler in Berlin, Dr. Joseph
SLOVAKIA
17
Tiso, the dismissed chairman of the Slov,ak Gooernment
was shown a telegram by Von Ribbentrop, according to
which HUIIlgary iwas ready to occupy Slova,kia. Hlitler then
suggested that this eventuality may be prevented by the
declaration of 1Slovakia's independence. Consequently, Dr.
Tiso returned to Bratisl,aiva where, om March 14, 1939, following his report, the IS'lovak Diet proclaimed independence.
President Hacha was then summoned to Berlin and presented with an ultimatum aiming at the i.mJpos.ition of a
protectorate upon Bohemia-Moravia. Forced into submission, the Presiderut ,s igned ,a declruration by w1hich he "ip1aced
the destiny of the Czech people and country with confidence in the 'hands of the Fuehrer of the German Reich."
German troo1ps marched into Bohemia and from Prague
(March 16) Hitler issued the proclamation establishing the
"Protectorate of Bohemia-Mora'Via."
Thereafter, Hungary annexed Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Czecho-SlovaJkia was dead.
The Establishment of the Slovak Republic
Even though the Slovak state was largely the result
of a tense international situation, it nevertheless co.rresponded to· the aspirations of the Slovak ~ple for freedom
and the principle of self-determination a,nd seltf-1govern.ment.
After Munich, central EUTotpe became a part of the German
orbit. Therefore, in oroer to. d.~scourage Hungary in her
armed attack launched against Eastern Slovakia, the Slovak Government concluded •w ith Germany a treaty of protection, March 23, 1939, by which the <Reich assured the existence of Sloiva;kia without destroying its .national pe,r sonality. In exchange, S1ova:kia ha,d to, follow the German line
in foreign policy.
Altogether, 2:l states. reoogniiized the international .i ndividuality of Slovaikia. Besides the countries which were
later to become members of the Axis, S~ovaikia was recognized by the Holy See, the -Soviet Union, iSpain, 1Switzedand,
Sweden, Grea,t Britain (de facto) , France (de facto), Liberia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.
According to the constitution voted on July 21, 1939,
18
SLOVAKIA
SlovaJkiia became a Repulblic with a Parliament of 80 members and a Government of nine.
The constitution contained princi!pleis, which in some
aspects combined features of the liberal staite, the Christian democracy, and the authoritarian state,. In the beginning all poweT of the 'Slova:k Reipu'blic was vested in the
Parliiamenrt !but later on, in 19·41, after Slovakia had entered
the war against the S'Oviet Union, the executive was to prevail over the legislature.
The numlber of political parties was reduced. The Communist and the :Social il)emocrat pa·r ties, representing only
ten deputies, had been 1s uppressed as suJbversive, in October
1938. Six other parties merged mto the Slov,ak Unity Party, the baokibone of the ipolitcal system of the SLovak state,
and tlhere were two minority parties: German and Magyar.
The SlOIVaJk state was far froon being a perfect democracy in the trarlitional sense. R reflected a compromise
between the past and the present, between an old tradition
and a temporarily determined political dynamism in Central Europe. lBut, in ,general, it was an expression of the
se'Lf-q>reservation instinct of the 1SlO'Vak nation.
The Sloviruk Government, in 1941, joined Gernnany, with
two armored dirvisions, in :the war against the Soviet Union.
Although on [)ecemlber 1:2, 1941, the Slovak Press Bureau
had pulb'lished an anno'UIIlcement that the ISlovia;k Repulblic
was in a state of war with the United !States and Great Britain, neither the President nO'r the tS lovak Pa:rliament or
Government ever made such a decision or declaration. In
fact, the Sl01Vruk forces, during the Second World War, did
not engage in comlbat against any of the Western Powers.
1
World War B and the Restoration of Czecho-Slovakia
Czechs in the protectorate of Bohemia-Morawa ,w ere
not directly iDJVolved in the •S econd World War. They were
exempt from militaJry service hut had to work for the German war machine. Though their contribution in the fight
for freedom was not Sipectacular, thousands of Czech patriots ipaid with their live'S for their efforts to 1keep the flame
of freedom fHalrering.
After Munich, many Czechs and SlovaJks left the coun-
SLOVAKIA
19
try and established themsel,ves talbroad, mostly in Paris and
London, which became the cenrters of their political activities.
Headed by Eduaxd Benes, these emigres set urp a National Committee to taJke up the struggle for the restoration
of a free Czecho-iSlovakia.
The committee was recognized first as the provisional
and eventwall.'y as the regulaT Government of Czecho-Sloviakia, by Great Britain and, later, iby the United !S tates and
the Soviet Union. Czecho-'Sl01Vaikia was thus given the status of an allied state under foreign ocoupation. The Munich
agreement was declared null and void and Czecho-.Slova.kia's
original frontiein; were guaranteed.
While the C!zecho-.Slovak GQI\Ternment-ii.n-exile was primarily concerned with the consolidation of the international
position of the Republic, the Czecho-Sfovak Communist
leaders in Moscow were com1pleting their plan for immediately seizing power after the li/beration. Moscow knew precisely what Ozecho-Slovalkia's <international .p osition would
be once the Red army was stationed within the ter.ritory
and was concerned on:ly with tadica:l movements aimed at
bringing ahout a speedy sovietfomtion of the country.
Toward the end of 1943, E. Benes went to Mosco.w
where, on Decembe:r 12, 1943, he signed with Stalin a treaty
of alliance, friendship, and mutual help between the Soviet
Union and Czecho-Slovakia. tBy this treaty, the ·S oviet
Uruon was to approach Ozecho-1Slova1kia after the end of
the war as an ally.
No. such treaty having been <:oncluded. with the Western Powers, the influence of Moscow on the future of emergent Ozecho-Slovakia became predominant. In Soviet tactics, this treaty was to create a favora!ble atmosphere in
Bohemia-lMo:ravia fm: tbe idea of a Soviet ·l iberation.
During his visit in Moscow, E. Benes came to a,n agreement with K. Gottwald, the ex,iled chief of the Czech Communist Party, aJbouit the main prindples upon which the
edifice of the future Ozecho-,Slovakia wouJd rely: (1) The
state admin.stration 'wouJld be repla<:ed by "natio,n_aa committees" (IS01Viet.s); (2) the .fOI1II1er right-of--center parties
would 1b e eliiminaited; (3) the non-Communist parties in ire-
20
SLOVAKIA
,s tored Ozecho ..Slovak,ia would form ,w ith the Communists a
"government of National 1F ront"; (4) "people's courts"
would lbe established to eliminate all war criminals. These
principles with an extensive inter,pretation and -aipplication
of ipoints (2) and ( 4) and the nationali2ation of indiustcy
were to, lay the fou:ndaitions for a "People's !Democracy" in
Czecho-1Slovakia.
In Slov:alkia, the treaty of friendship , mutual help, and
coJ1aboration with the Soviet Union iProduced a stimulating
effect upon the Commun1st .and Social Democrat undergroUIIlds and also on a group of lilberals whose imaigiination,
with respect to central Europe, was tempted more lb y the
absent Soviet Union than 'by the present Germany.
These ,groll!ps met secretly on Christmas 1943 in Bratislava and signed what is known as the "ChristJmas agreement." In this declaration they reaffirmed their will to
work for the restoration of "Ozecho·-IS1ov•a kia," for a Illarrow collalboration with the iSov.ieit Union in the field of foreign policy, for the estaiblishment of political justice and
for the continuation oif resistance against the Germans and
the Slovak Government.
:FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL GALAYDA,
AMERICAN CITIZEN FROM HAZLETON, PA.
Mr. McTigue. The Russians deported to Russia the
teachers and iwell-educated ,peoip le?
Mr. G alayda. Yes, t eachers and educated people.
Mr. McTigue. And you were in Slova:kia while this was
going on; is that correct?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. :McTigue. Now, while these deportations were going
on did you then endeavor to get a visa o.ut ·o f the country ?
Mr. GaJayda. I :tried a couple of times but it was impossible at that time. I was put in ja•il two tim es.
Mr. tM cTigue. Who puit you in jail?
Mr . Galayda. The Ozecho-Sloivak Army. They asked me
to fight ,a gainst the Germans. I ref,u:sed. I said, "I am an
American citizen and I refuse to serve in the Czec,ho..,Slovaik
Army."
SLOVAKIA
21
!Mr. (McTigue. 1S0, you were put in jail because. you refused to serve?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, thaJt's right.
MT. !MoTigue. Now, when was t1he second time you were
put in jail?
Mr. Galayda. Wel1, the second time was in 1946.
Mr. Mc'Digue. iBy the Communists?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Why?
Mr. Galayda. Well, because I was campaigning against
communism.
Mr. McT,i gue. You were making taiks against communism?
Mir. Ga1ayda. Yes, I made ,a couple speeches in the villages against communi sm. That is why I was jailed.
'M r. iMcTigue. Noiw, in 1'94fi, at the end of the war, did
you try to get a Un~ted States passport?
Mir. Galayda. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTiig ue To return to the United States?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. [n 1945, when the war was 0 1ver, me
and my brothers decided to Oeaive, because at that time the
United States was ,stil'l fighting with the Japanese. So we
decided to leave and join the American Army.
Mr. iMcTigue. iDecided to come home?
Mr. Galayda. Yes. We went to the American cons,ul in
Prague. He refused. He saiid, "You have to get your passport
finst, then you can join American Army." So ,J came home.
Mir. McTigue. How did you go about gettiing your passpont?
Mr. Galadya. Well, we went to Hungary. On the way
from Budapest to Bratislava - weH, i will tell you something 3:borut the !Russian s-oldd.ers, what they did.
Mr. McTigue. Yes, I wish you woiuld. This is while you
are taiking the train to 'Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda Yes. 'l never am going to forget that time
what happened.
Mr. McTigue. You are on the train now?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Is this what you are describing?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
1
1
22
SLOVAKIA
Mir. McTigue. And you rure en route to Prague lby way
of Budapest and Bratislava?
Mr. Galayda. The Russians pulled the emergency brake.
They had guns; they took the money frOirn .the ipoople, and
in every coach was one soldier. He had a gun. They robbed
the people. They ta!ke everything. Then I heard some
screaming, a girl, a couple of giTls started screaming. I
know that. I remember that. And I don't know what happened because 1I didn't see because in every coach was one
soldier and we can't move.
Mr. McTigue. And they -to ok the girls off the tra,i n ?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. How long did they hold the train up?
Mr. Gailay<la. Oh, Irt was, I think, at least one hour.
Mr. Boll!in. One hour.
Mr. :Mc'I'igue. And everybody on the train ·w as relieved
of his valualbles, jewelry, money?
Mr. Galaiyda. They took everything.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what !hia:ppened when you finally
reached .Prague ?
Mr. Galayda. Well, when I reached the Prague, liike I
said, I went to the American consul. I itold hd.m I ,wanted to
join the American Army. H~ said, "!No. You have to get
your Arnevican ,p assport first." So then I came home.
Mr. McTigue. You came home to Slovakia?
Mr. Galadya. Yes. I came baok home. Then I start
speruking agafast communism.
Mr. Mc'lligue. You started writing against communism ;
you made some speeches against communism?
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Galayda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. ls that correct?
Mr. Bonin. Now, did any,body ma!ke any complaint rubout
theiir activities, itaking this property aJway from them?
Mr. Ga1ayd:a. No, 'alt that time it rwaiS impossible to say
something.
iMr. Bonin. You had nobody to turn to to even make a
Mr. Galayda. No.
complaint?
Mr. Bonin. If you did ma!ke a compla int you would probably ·b e arre&t ed ?
1
1
SLOVAKIA
23
Mr. Galayda. Then yOl\l are sent ito Russia.
Mr. Bonin. In other wocds, tllere was a c0111Stant fear
in the minds of the peoiple that they would go to a concentration camp?
Mr. Galayda. Yes, that's tight.
Mrr. Bonin. Into 'Si-ber-ia?
Mr. Ga:layda. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Which, of course, is nothing ito .p leasant to
M1ybody living ·b ehind the Iron Curtain?
Mr. Gafayda. No, I don't think so.
Mr. Bonin. You were very happy to get ou:t of there?
Mr. Galayda. Yes,. The Communist Party is no good for
this world; a!bsoI1U1telly no good. Becaiuse ,I was over there -and
I lb.ave experience: ,I lived in Czecho-lS1ovakia for 20 years,
and I know. They iaire no good in this world.
Mr. Bonin. They are no good for this world. Well, do
you have any moos-a ge to tell ,to the people of the United
States who may feel that communism is a good system of
government?
Mr. Galayda. Well, there is one thing I can say, and that
is the American ,p eople should be proud of what they have,
freedom of speech and everything They should ibe ,p roud o.f
what they have.
Mr. Bomn. ls, it-here any freedom of religion under the
Communists?
iMr. Galayda. No.
Mir. Bonoin. Is there Mly freedom iof the press?
Mr. Galayda. No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom of assembly?
Mr. Galayda . No.
Mr. Bonin. Is there any freedom to use radio and teleMr. Galayda. No.
visi'o n as we do !ill America here.?
Mr. Bonin. [t i,s a ,pretty lblack picture, this lirving behind t.he Iron Curtain; isn't iit?
Mir. Galayda. That's ~ight.
(Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ISeptemiber 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MR. SMREKOVSKY
MT. McTigue. You came to this country in 1928; is that
correct?
Mr. Smrekiovsky. 1928 is correct.
Mr. MoTigue. And did you become a:n American citizen
at that time?
2-l
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir, after being five years in this
country.
Mr. McTi!gue. I under,stand that you returned to Slovakfa in 1939; is that cor.root?
Mr. 1Smrekovgky_ 1939; yes.
Mr. !l\foTigue. What iwas the purpose for returning to
Slova·k ia at that time?
Mr. Smrekovsky. To. visit my father because he was
reaching 90 rund wrote me that he was i'll; so I wanted to
visit him and see him.
Mr. Mc'figue. Now, did you return to Slovakia before
the 'Outlbreak oif wa;r between Germa;ny a.ind Polamd?
Mr. 1Sm.rekovsky. Yes. We had a little difficll'l,ty crossing
t:he ·Polish boroer, lbut ,that didn't amount to much.
Mr . .McTigiue. Noiw, at thait time, conditions were good
in ,Slovakia; is that correct?
Mr. Smreko'V'sky. Yes, they were.
Mr. Mc'figue. There wasn't any difficulty as far as
Mr. ,S mrekovs,k y. We didn't .know anything about wa:r
then.
Mr. McTigue. There was ,c omplete fu-eedom of ithe
Mr. ISm.rekovsky. Yes.
press...
Mr. McTigue. Freedom of ireligion . . .
Mr. 1Smerkovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And freedom of assembly
Mr. Smerkov:sky. Yes.
iMr. iMcTigue. Hoiw long did you stay in 1Slovakia?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. 1Seven years.
Mr. McTigue. Then you were there at the time the Rus1M r. !Smrekov.s ky. Ye·s, I was.
sians C'aime into 1Slovaikia?
Mrr. Mc'figue. What - or, w:hen did you first come .in
contact with the Commun.ists?
Mr. Smrekovsky. After the German Army was defeated,
they started to drop parachutists to organize Communist
bands to pers.e cute and rob middle class and decent people.
1M r. Mc'.Dig,ue. Noiw, did this haJppen in 1944?
Mr. IS mrekovs.ky. Yes.
lMr. Mcrrigue. And thls i1s the Communist-inspir ed uprising that you are talk,i ng a:bout.
SLOVAKIA
25
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. McTi,g ue And in the community where you were
liviing rthey had parachuted agents into the community to organi1ze Communist bands in order to continue the uprising?
Mr. Smreko,v,s ky. That's right.
Mr. McTi'gue. And bring it to a successful conclusion, if
necessary?
!Mr. ISmrekovsky. Yes, and spread commurnsm at the
same time.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. Now, can you teH us some of the things
you wit:ne.ssed, yourself, during the course of this Communist-inspired uprising?
Mr. Smrekovsky. I remember a family cruptured by the
OommUIIllists. There were five memlbers in the fami'ly, a twoyear-old giirl, there was another bigger girl, a son-in-laiw, a,n
old man, and his wife. They were dragged to the edge of
the forest and shot from ithe back. Then they dug a hole for
them and buried them.
Mr. Bonin. Mr. Counsel, I just want to interrupt here.
We hea.ird testimony .b efore from different witnesses when stating that ithey were shot in the back, do you mean
that the . . .
Mr. Smrekoivsky. They start •t o run.
Mr. Bonin. They ,s tarted to run?
Mr. Smrekovsky. They started to run and they shot
them from the back.
iMr. Bonin. And they shot tlhem firom the bru~k whiie
they were trying to get away from them?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Now, they were agents of the Russian Government - that were doing that?
Mr. Smrekovs:ky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. .A!nd were they armed, these people that were
shot, or were they with01Ut a,r,ms?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. They were without arms.
Mir. Bonin. They were without arms?
Mr. '.Smrekovsky. Without arr-ms, innocent people.
Mr. Bonin. But, nevertheless, they were all .s hot in the
baC'k, the one two years of a,ge, four years of age, the two
larger ones, the son-in...,Jaw, and the father?
1
1
26
SLOVAKIA
,M r. Smrekovsky. And the mother, too. Five persons.
Mr. Bonin. Five persons? Now, you say that they were
tossed in •a mass grave; is that correct?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. Bonin. They were a:11 placed in the same g:raJVe?
MT. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. Was there any re1iigious burirul service involrved?
MT. Smrekovsky. No, sir. No, sir. They just buried them
there like any criminals. It ha:ppened around Oot:ctber, and
during tJhe winter they dug them out and :p ut them in the
cemetery, in the corner of the cemetery, where they are
Mr. Bonin. Continue Mr. Counsel.
sti1l buried.
'Mr. IMcTiigue. Now, after the Communists had occuipied
Slovwkia, did there come a time when you were put in
jail your1self?
1Mr. Smreikovsky. Yes. r:r was there 14 days.
Mr. Mcfl'igue. Why?
Mir. 1Smrekovsky. Of course, they had no reason. They
wanted to get rid of the middle-class people. My ·brother-4nlaw and a friend of mine were an-ested. Finally, my wife
went to the authorities <a!Ild they let me free after 14 days.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to your brother-in~law?
Mr. 1Smrekovsky. Well, he was jailed also, hut they released him.
Mr. Mc'I'igue. But there were others whom they didn't
Mr. Smrekovsky. Yes.
,r elease?
~fr. lMc'l'igue. You know that of your own personal
Mr. 'Sm~kOIV'sky. Yes.
knowledge?
Mr. Mc'.Digue. They were friends of yours?
Mr. 'Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Leading people in the community?
•M r. Smrekovsky. Yes.
Mr. Smrekov,s ky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Priests?
Mr. Smrekovsky. That's right.
Mr. McTigue. Nuns?
of different rel,i gious faiths?
people
And
lMcTigu.e.
Mr.
Mr. SmTekovsky. Yes.
MT McTigue.·· Now, when did you and how did you get
back to the United States?
SLOVAKIA
27
Mr. SmrekoV!Siky. As soon as the American constcl came
to Prague, I a,pplied for visa to the United States, and as
soon as my transportation was ready I lef.t and came to the
United States, first of Octolber 1946. I left my we there
for three years until I could bring her 'O'Ver.
Mr. iMcTigue. Now, at the time you le.flt you awned some
Mr. Smrelwvsky. Yes.
·
property; didn't you?
Mr. iMcTigue. What lhaippened to that iproperty af.ter
you left? .
Mr. Smrekovsky. Well, that was a1l confiscated. My
wife had to sign a statement tha,t it's gi;ven to ,the Govem.ment. And every'body ,w ho wamts to come to America had to
do that. Otherwise she would't get a !Visa.
The Chairman. That is a method of highway robbery that
they hold against somebody that wants to migraJte from one
country to. another?
Mr. S'mrekovsky. Yes, sir.
Mr. Bonin. They compel them to transfer their i)roperty
to the Government.
(Wil:kes-iBarre, Pa., September 30, 1954).
a
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF MRS. SMREKOVSKY
iMr. McTigue. When yoUJr husband left Slova!kia in 1946
to come to the Untted States, he left you in Slovakia; is
(Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct.
Mr. iMcTigue. And at the time he left you in 1946 you
had under yourr care the property which you both owned; is
Mrs. :SmrekoV'Slky. Yes.
thaJt correct?
Mr. McTigue. rNow, when your husband left and you had
the ipropeirty under your management, what experience did
you have with the Communists?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Very ibad.
Mr. McTigue. Did they make efforts to frig,hten you in
--any way so that you would give your property ;to them?
Mrs. Sinreko1Vsky. ThaJt was the only hope to come to
this country, unless if agreed that the property is transferred to the Government.
Mr. McTigue. So until you signed over your property to
28
SLOVAKIA
the Government you 'had no chance of leaving Slovakia; is
!Mrs. 1Smrekovsky. Yes.
that correct?
MT. iMcTigue. iln it.he meantime, while you were still
there, in 1946 and b,efore you left the country, were your
friends mistreated by the Comrnurusts? Were any of yoll'I'
close friends that you harve personal ikno,w ledge of mistreated
in any way by the Communists?
!Mrs. Smrekorvsky. In my hometown there were shot or
massacred four 1people while I was wiith my ,p arents - there
was a senator, a notary public, a mayo.r , and a foo-ester. DuTing the night, in theilr ntght clothes, they loaded them UJp in
one truck rund took them away.
Mr. McTigue. What was their crime? Why were they
shot?
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Because they were not Communists
and they never a:gireed with the Comml.llilists.
MT. Bonin. Oongressman Feighan. Just a minute. In
other words, even though the Communists ,have been in Slo1Mrs.
Smre~ovsky. Yes.
va:kia since 1945 . . .
Mir. Bonin. StiM your relatives ·a nd friends have not beMrs. Smrekovsky. Right.
come Communists?
Mr. Bonin. They still belie·v e in ,t he religion and the freedom of religion that they had before?.
Mrs. Smrekovsky. And they hope they wihl be £.reed and
live again like decent people.
MT. Bonin. In other words, regardless of how long the
Communists may dominate Slorvrukia, there is still that desire for freedom on theiiT prurt and to live as they used to
prior to the Communist regime that has been imposed upon
Mrs. Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
them?
Mr. Bonin. Now, I understand that t:hese four influential 1poople, a senator, a mayor, a t:imiber man and a notary
public, were also shot because rthey failed to accept communism and to lead the people through Communist doctrines and
princilples under the domination of the Russian system?
Mrs. Smrekorvsky. Right.
Mr. Bottin. That is the type of freedom thaJt is being
sold to the ,people behind the lTOn Currtain?
Mrs. -Smrekovsky. Yes, sir.
SLOVAKIA
29
MT. Bonin. Force, threats, violence, and intimidation, in
order to constantly keep them in fear of whait is apt to happen to them?
1M rs. Smrekovsky. Exactly.
Mr. Bonin. Now, your wifo came out of Czecho-iSliovrukia
in 1'9 49; ts thart: correct?
Mr. IS mrekovsky. Yes, sirr.
Mr. !Bonin. And the principal reason ,w hy you aTe testifying under an assumed name is lbecaUJSe you are fearrful of
what might haJppen to your relaUves and ,t he friends. that
you ,s till 1haJVe in 1s1ova~ia?
Mr. Srnrekovsky. Exactly.
(WiJJkes-iBarre, Pa., ,September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH PAU00
Mr. McTigue. 1Mr. Pall'co, where are you living at the
present ,t ime? - - - Dr. Pauco. ln Middletown, Pa.
Mr. McTigue. H ow are yiou employed?
Dr. Pa:ll!co. I am assistant editor of the Slova.k weekly,
Jednota.
Mr. McTigue. Mir. !PauJco, I understand that you were
born in Slovakia, is that correct.
Dr. PaU!co. Yes; that is true.
Mr. ,M cTigue. What part of Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. In ceilltraJl Slovakia.
Mr. McTigue. Central ISlovaJkia. And it's my understanding that you spent most of your adult life as a journalist; is
that coTrect?
[)r. ,Pawc'O. Yes; that is correct, sir.
Mr. McTi:gue. W1hiile yiou were in Slova!kia, it is also my
understanding that in yiour capacity as -a journa:list, you had
the occasion to witness the Communist~in,s;pired uprising in
1944; is that correct?
Dr. Pa'Ulco. Yes, that's true.
Mr. Mc'lligue. And were, you also present at the uncovering of the mass graves at Vinnitsia in the Ukraine?
Dr. Pauico. Yes; that's right.
Mr. McTigue . . How d!id you happen to be there?
Dr. 1Pau'co. I was a member of a journalist expedition in
July 1943 It wa:s an e~pedition of all journalists firom cen.trrul Europe. I came to Vmnitsia in July 1943 and I wais there
four days. In those four days I saw five ,o.r six maSIS grarves
of the Ukrainian people and some Polish people, who were
30
SLOVAKIA
murdered by the ,Soviets. An eX!planation was girven to us
by the Geamam.. dootors that these people were shot between
1939 and 1941.
I spoke with the local people, Ukrainia:n and Polish people, some dozens of these people, because we were allowed
to spealk to those people - a,t the mass graves there in Vinnitsia, in the town of Vinnitsia. For example, I was shaved
twice in a local lba'.l'bershop, and I spoke to these men and
with some. other people ,i n Vinnitsi,a. A concert was gurven
in t'he town of Vinnitsia in honor of ,t he journaliSll:s' e,q;>edition, and after this concert, I spoke with several men and
women, and all these Ukrairuian people trul'ked to me. They
said what I saiw there in mass graJVes is true, and that their
relaitirves were shot by the Soviets between 1939 and 1941,
after the occupation of west Uikra,inia in 1939. Some people
of Ukrainian nationality known as strong anti-Communists
were deported in the Illight. And late,r , at the begmning of the
wa:r !between 1Sovieit Russia and Germany, deporta:tion was in
~eat masses. Nob,ody ,w as sure that hls, relatives, hrusbands,
sons, or some other of the family, wilhl not be shot in the
night. I have in my memory six ox seven cases of the wives
and daughters of the shot fathers and brothers, who told
me their relatives were deported in the night. The people
knew nothing. Their husbands and fathers were sent to Siberia or probably shot.
Mir. McTigu:e. How many people were killed
Dr. Pauco. Several 'hundred.
iMr. McTigue. At Vinnitsia?
Dr. Pau'co. 1Severrul hundred. I was at the graves four
days and I spoke with several dozens of Ukrainian women,
and, I learned, several ·hundred were buried in these mass
grarves.
iMr. McTigue. In these mass grarves that you knew
about?
Dr. ·P auco. Yes; in Vinniitsi.a.
Mr. McTigue. Yes. But there were other mass graves
disc01Vered later on; is that correct?
Dr. Pau'CO. I heard about it. I know a;bout Katyn, but I
wasn't there. ,I was in Vinnitsia and I can state only what l
saw at these mass graves. I have here a statement of what
SLOVAKIA
:n
I saJW at these mass graves.
Mr. McTigue. iMay I suggest, Mir. Chairman, since we
hawe other testimony that we want to develop, and since we
haJVe other witnesses, t:ha.t we admit this statement into the
reoord, but not have it read at this time?
Dr. Paulco. All right.
Mr. ,McTig;ue. IMaJke it a ,p art of the reoord.
Mr. !Bo:nin. Woll!ld you have any objection if we make
this staitement a part of the record at this time and you g;ilVe
us the highlights of it as of thJis moment?
Dr. PaUlc<>. All right.
Mr. Bonin. Without oibjootion, we will take the statement and place it in the committee files.
Mr. iMcTigue. You may recall, Mr. Chairman, tllait we
had testimony at our hearings in Munich on the Vinnd.tsia
murders very much ,a long the same 1ines Mr. Paruoo is testifying. This testimony that he has given today on the subject of the Vin.nlitsi.ai massacre eertainlly corroibo,rates wha,t we
hea.Td from many ,wiit:nesses in Munich. You aJlso recall in
connection with that testimony that one of ibhe witnesses
descri1bed the finding of hundreds of bod!ies of Vinnitsi:a \'i,ctims under the floor of a d'ance hall in one of the amusement •pariks iw:hen these mass graves were investig;ated. iI am
sure you recall thait testimony.
Mr. Bonin. Yes. I distinctly recall that, a'lld this corroborates the faot tJhat these mass graves and the mass kfiling of citizens of Vinnirtsia was deli;b erate and ,pe~trated
entirely by ,t he Communist regime in Russia.
Now, I understand, Mr. Pauioo., that you have some addition.al testimony suipplementing what 1happene:d in V!innitsia aind what took ,p lace in 'Slov,aikia; is that C()lrrect?
Dr. PaU!co. Yes. I woltld iiJke to say thiat the same thing
that h~ppened in Vinnitsia in 1939-41 happened in Slovakia in lr944. The Sovli.ets' s~hool oif prurtisans were parachuted
in the s,prmg of 1'94'4 in the mou:nrtains of Slorvaki1a, and then
in August 1'9414 they orga.ruzed a so-calil ed uprising against
the SlovaJk Government a'lld shot hundredlS and thousands of
Slovaks of anti..Communist feeling. Im Slova1ci(a, we had at
this time, 1944, several mass graves of innocent Slovak ciiti-
32
SLOVAKIA
zens, Slova.ik ainti-Oommunist patriots. The Communist part~,s ans ,w ere 1pariachUJted, as I mentioned, by the Soviets, and
the partisans were also furnh,,hed Soviiet ammunition. This
so-called upris,i ng in 1Slov-akia started with prepairations in
194'3. Some so.-,called underground politicians made an 8.'greement with the Communist leader, Karol Schmidke. And
this Karol ;Schmidke saiid in 1946 that this action in 1943,
this preparation of the uprising, was the merit o;f the illegal
Communist Party. All the people who declined to collaborate
with the Communist ieaders in 1944 were shot. Thiiis happened in central 1Slova.ikia because central Slovakia is a
mountainous land. Then the German armies came to S1ova-kia and :Slorvak ter:nitory was a battlefield. After this Communist uprising in ,Slovrukia, I heard f.rom my friends, from
my relatives in ISJ.ovakria thrut many innocent ,p eople, farmers, ,w orkei,s, priests, ,s ome ipriesits, ,s ome congressmen,
were shot by the Communists. I recall a congressman, a Catholic priest Anthony Salat. He was of very strnnig feeling
against the Communists. He wrote several books againist
communism and, iin the first week of the uprising, he was
shot. In 1Slw8!kia were liquidated about forty to fifty thousand :S lovaks in this Communist putsch.
1
Mr. IMc'Digue. T1hey were shot?
Dr. Pauco. They were shot 1b y the Soviets, b,y the Soviets' paritisan,s and by the collaborators in Slovakia.
!Mr. McTigue. About '50,000?
Dr. Paufo. Yes, aJbout '50,000.
Mr. McTigue. 1In the period of one year?
Dr. Pauco. In the period of three months.
Mr. McTigue. Three months?
Dr. Pauco. The purtsch was defeated in two months, but
after there were some battles in the mountains in Slovakia,
and in December the Red Army ,c ame to Slovalkia. Several
thousand Slo.vaJks fr,om eas,t ern Sl01viakia were sent by the
NK_,V il) to Russia, to Siberia and concentration camps. and
to the mines in Dombas.
Mr. IMcTigue. Norw, when and how did ,t he uprising finally
end?
33
SLOVAKIA
Dr. Pauco. The German Army came into Slovakia in
September 1944.
Mr. McTigue. Now, you had a close relationship with
Monsignor Tiso; isn't that correct?
Dr. Pauco. 'f.hat's true.
Ylr. McTigue. Now, will you tell the committee who Monsignor Tiso is and briefly explain your relationship with him
and your discussion with h~m afte,r the putsch?
Dr. Pauco. I was editor-in-chief of the greatest daily in
Slovakia, the "Slovak." This daily was the organ ,o f Monsignor Tiso. Joseph Tiso was the first Slovak President. He was
the legal President of the SlovaJk Republic, which came into
being on March 14, 1939. The ,Slovaik Republic had diplomatic relations with 27 naJtions, of them 17 or 18 were on the
side of the western allies. Monsignor Tiso was a Christian
ruler - after a thousand years, the first Slovak irll'ler and I had the opportunity to spea:k with him practically
every week . I reca:11 thrut on August 20, 1944, I was in Presov at a meeting called by the Government, by the army,
and by the Slovak People's Party. At that time, in eastern
Slovrukia the situation was very critica•l and the delegates
practicaly from every village and every town from eastern
Slovakda told the Government and government representatirves of Bratislava, tha:t something wliitl hruppen if the Slovak
Army and Slovak police do not interlere. Pradically the
whole of eastern Slovakia was, parachuted at this ,t ime by
the So;yiets, the Soviet parti,sans and Soviet a;genrts. I spoke
after this meeting with Dr. Tiso, and ag,ain when the pUJtsch
was liquidated. Dr. Tiso at this time was ready to resign.
He hoped that some Slovak politician would take the Slovak
question to the International Tribunal.
Mr. Bonin. Tribunal?
Dr. Pauco . Tribunal, yes, because he would iiike to
change the regime, but to preserve independent Slovakia.
That was the goal of Monsignor Dr. Tiso.
Mr. McTigue. What happened to Monsignor Tiso eventuallv?
Dr. Pauco. Monsignor Tiso was hanged, executed by the
Communist nation:i.l court, April 18, 1947, in Bratislava. Dr.
1
34
SLOVAKIA
Tiso wa.s the first among the Catholic prelrates in central
Europe who were executed by the Communists afte,r Warld
War Iil.
Mr McTigue. The usual phony charges, I suppose, were
applied, and the usurul phony court procedures were set in
motion?
Dr. Pauco. Just becallise he had anti-Communist feelings; I know, 'Il!Ot from Dr. Ttso, but from his personal secretary who its living now i n Caniada, seiveral times, Soviet
agents were ready to assuire to Slova.ks and Dr. Tiso himself
a seperate Slovak-,Soviet Repulblic if Dr. Tiso will go wtth the
Soviets, and Dr. Tiso refused. Tiso said one time, I recall,
that tf his own brother were a Communist, he would fii.ght
him. And I am SJure that i·s why Dr. Tiso wa:s executed by
the Commtmists' so-called nahonal court in April 1947.
Mr. Fetghain When you state that Monsirgnor Tiso was
the first of the clergymen to he executed by the Russian
Communists, you mean the first outstanding figure, both in
the spiritual and politic8il world?
Dr. Pll!uico. Yes, sn-. That's correct.
Mr. Feiigihain. That's 1a ll.
Mir. Bonin. W-ell, Mr. Pauco, it is nothing uncommon for
a priest or a member of the clergy in central EUI'Opean
countries to be in political life; isn't that correct?
Dr. Paooo . Yes, that's ri.ghit.
Mr. Bonin. And, therefore, they would be permitted to
engBlge in political lifo . . .
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
MT. Bonin. Bllit they took a leave od' absence from their
clerical life; isn't that coreivct?
Dr. Pauco. No, that was not so in S1ovakiia. Monsignoir
Tiso, as Prresident of the Slovak RepU!blic, was the adm~nistrator of his own parish in Bano:vce, rund sang Holy Mass
there practically every Sunday.
'Mr. McTigue. Tell me, Mr. P8iuoo., how and why did you
escaipe from Slo1Va!kia arnd come to this country?
Dr. Praulco. After what I ,s aw in Vinnitsia, then in Slovakia , and what I hearo from many hundreds orf escll!pees
from Ukrainia, from Poland, from Russia, from Hu'Il!gary,
SLOVAKIA
35
from Ruman:i:a ., from Lithiuani:a, about ·p ractices of 1S01Viets,
I could not stay in rS1()1VlaJk:J,a, because I hated communism ; I
hated oolsiheiv:ism, and I hoped to live in the free Western
World. I am happy that 1 am here in this free ,a nd democratic couliltTy. I haive my relatives over there, ,a nd one of
my relatives came through the border just several months
ago to Austriia. He. ~s: now in the American Zone, and he
writes to me. thlat Oill!r ;p eople over there behind the Iron
Curtain have friends. here in the United States, and they
are praying every d·a y that the Gorvernmen t of the United
States wHl win the battle against communism . ,A nd Slorvaks,
like IPoles, the Uikrairuans , the Baltic nations, or Rum•a nia,
Hung,ary, the Czechs:, Croatians,, :Serbians, and so on, they
like to be free like you are here in this country; they like to
be independen t, and, maybe, wiH sometime be ruinified in a
great European federation li,k e yoru are here urnfied in the
United States.
Mr. M:c~•g ue. When di:d you say you left Slovakia?
Dr. Pauco. It wa:s in Apr.ii 1945.
Mr. McTigue. And when did you arrive in this country?
Dr. 'P auco. WoUT years aglO, in Apri[ 1950.
Mr. McTigue. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bonin. Mir. Feiglha:n.
Mr. Feighan. Mr. Pau!co, we have heard testimony with
reference to the Vinnitsia massacres ,w hich stated' to us that
after the Commllllllists were diriiven out of the Ukm.i.ne in
1943 and the Naizis came in, they opened up graves of which
there were 38, each of them the same length, and widlhh, and
depth, that they conWned ov:er 10,000 rpeople they
weiI'en't aill U!kirruinians; some were IPoJes, and of other nationalities ; 'that the people there were of various status ;
they were, :farmers, armsan;s, wovkers, ,a nd rinteilleotUJals, and
the testimony th1at we rnceived also. indicated, at iJ.east with
reference to those particulaT graves, that tlhey were done by
the So;viet Russ,i ans durJng the years 1937 and 1938, but I assume that they did many othera besides those.
Dr. Pa:uco. I spoke ,t o the 1people of Vinniitsia, these
SLOVAKIA
36
people, Ukramiians and Poles, were all liquidated tb y the
Soviet agents.
,MT. Feighan. Yes. That ~s my understanding.
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. The testimony that we had shows that.
I 1have no further que,s1t1:ons
Mr. Bonin. WeH, Mr. Pa.'Ulco, you stated that this alleged uprising in Slovakiia was clearly Communist inspired,
is that OOlITect..
Mr. Pauco. Yes, that is correct.
Mr. BODJin. They created dissension and they created an
atmospheTe Olf revolt within Slova:ki:a?
Dr. Pauoo. Yes.
!Mr. !Bonin. And a.gents had been sent in there, is that
cor,rec.t, to irritate and agitate this revolt?
Dr. Pauico. That is correct.
Mr. iBonin. And by thait means using the Commurnst
tecfunique to wipe out the ,people that were undesiralble to
them?
Dr. Pauco. Yes
Mr. !Bonin. Of coU1I1Se, iwe lhruve had testimony where thait
same identicaJl truing was used in- other countries that have
come under the domi'Il'ation of the Russians throughout different parts of Ea;sitern EuTope, lbut this is <the fhist time,
I beli'e!V'e, that we had testimony that they were aotually
dvopped in by pamchute to iITitate and agitaite rund crnate
the trouble.
Dr. Pauc·o. Yes.
Mr. Bonin. But, in the meantime, they !had some agitators in there already; iis tlhat correct?
Dr. Pauico. Oh, yes.
Mr. Bonin. And they had le:6twingers ,i n there?
iDr. Pallico. Yes.
iMr. !Bonin. Who were ready to follow the agents tha:t
were dTopped in?
Dr. PauJco. Yes.
Mir. !Bonin. In other words, isome people in the United
States fool that there are not many Communistls, lb ut they
are aliways :ready, willing w:hen the o.p portune time cOllnes,
to seize that opportunity to overthrow the existing governmenrt: in any partioular place .
Dr. Pauco. Thait's wue.
Mr. Bondn. Now, of course, since you have lbeen in the
1
SLOVAKIA
37
United States, you have been trying to. bring to the attention
of the people of the free world this Commwnist threat; is
that correct?
Dr. P,a uco. Yes, that is oorredt.
Mrr. Bonin. And in each instance where you haive an opportUillity, and I understand that you are still a newspaperman and a joornalist, you bring these facts to .t he attention of the people that Tead your newspaper, the Je<lnota?
Dr. fuuco. Yes, that's correct
Mr. Boniin. This isn't tJhe fiiirst part, of Eastern Europe
that we have heard of where forty to f,i fty thousand people
have boon slaughtered.; O'Ilce a;gain demonstrating that the
Communist regime holds power only because 1t UJSeS force
and threats and intimidation to keep the people ias helpless
as they possibly can.
Dr. Paiu100. That is correct.
Mr. Bonin. WeH, on behalf of the committee.. I 'Wish to
thank yow for your splendid staJte:rnent tlhat you haive made
as a part of thii:s ree-0,r d and for the reswme orf yo'lllI' experiences in Ozecho-Siovakia and in .Slov•a kia.
Dr. Pauco. Thank you.
Mr. Boiruin. Mr. Feighan has another question 'h e would
like to as!k you, Mr. Pauco.
Mr. Fei,ghan. Do you not feel that it is correct, Mr.
Pautco, that the people of 1Slo;v;akia are imbued with the nationali-stic -spirit, a love of God and a love of colUllltry, and
they just seek the right of self-deteTmination as ~ sovereign
nation?
- Dr. Pauco. That is co,r rect, Slir.
Mr Bonin. In other words, they are asking nothing
more than some of the principles: that have been em.mcia:ted
through long yea.rs, that each people have the right to de- ·
termine the kmd o.f government they wish to have, the type
of leaders they wish to have, and to conooct their Lives and
thei,r g01Vernment in theiT own nationialistic spirit and attitude. The people orf R!Umania, Hung,a ry, Po•land, Lithuania,
Latvia, EJSltooila, ruid o:their nations ha,v e the same desire to
goveTn themselves; is that correct.
Dr. Pauico. Yes; iliat iis correct.
MT. Bomn. Welil., I 'Wliish to thank you ,v ery much for
your testimony, and we sincerely hope thait the opportunity
1
SLOVAKIA
38
presents itself to defeat thls Communist threat, not only to
the Ewopean natio111S., burt: also to the peoples of the free
world. Thank you ve,r y much.
Dr. P,aulco. Thank you.
Mr. Feiighan. Waiit a minute, Mr. Pauco·.
Dr. Pauco. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. During your experience in Slova>lcia, did
you haive an opportunity to witness the manner by which
the Russian Commlln!isbs tried to break up the culture, the
1,anguage, the customs, and the religion of the Slovak people?
Dr. Pauco. I lived in Bratislava. Bvatislava is the capital
of Sllo;v,rukdoa, and is on fille west border of Slovrukia. The Soviets came from the east. The whole of Slov-akJa was occupied on April 7 or 8, ,a nd I escaped from Bratis lav,a on
April 4.
Mr. Feighan. I see.
Dr. Paulco. I wasn't there after the Soviets occupied the
whole of Slov.alk,i a, ·b ut I was in Braitiosla:va during three
months thait the eastern part of Sl()!Va:kia was occupied by
the !Soviets, and I heard from my relatives, from my f11iends ,
of the methods which I mentioned before.
Mr. !Feighan. Yes; but you were noi there yourself t o
see it and observe .iit?
Dr. Pmrco. No, no.
Mr. Feigihan. Well thank you, Mr. Pauco
Or. Paulco. You are wekome.
Mr. Bonin. Thank you <very much.
(Wil'kes-,Barre, Pa. , September 30, 1954).
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DR. JOSEPH l\1IKULA
IMr. iMcTigue. Were you in Sl'OVlaJkia during World War
Dr. Miku1a. Yes, I was.
Mr. iMcTigue. Were you a pairt of the underground
movemerut in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikul,a. Yes, sir. We started the underground movement at the end of World War II. I was one of those who
started it.
iMr. Mc'Digue. When did it start ?
Dr. Mi1kula. It was in 1944.
tr?
SLOVAKIA
39
:Mir. McTigue. What caused you amd others to form this
underground moivement?
Dr. Mikula. I will read a short statement in this connection. The inception of the anti-Communist arganirlation
is attrilbutafule to the iintellectuals wlho foresaw the necessity
of truking preventive measures aga,inst the imminent d001ger
of communism. They studied communism and decided to
combat it, ~cause tlhey had no false illusions of whether or
not the Communists wOIU!ld Telax their demands after World
War II.
The first communistic pressur~ was expected in the
field of religion. Conseqiue.ntly, the preparations were directed for the defense of re!l,i gious freed.om and the preservation of religious life in the event of intensive persecutions.
The second fi.eld was the po[iltical field. Ourr ca1cuJations
at the !beginning w&e wrong. They didn't staTt at the beginning in religiious _peil'Sooution, but it:Jhey concentrated an theliir
activities in the political field.
Mr. Kersten. Have you finished with your s1:Jatement?
Dir. Mikul,a. No; very briefly about this polii!tical field.
The most essential elements in tlhe polritical life of the nation
are political parties. The Communists knew it, and acted accordingly. They were verry cautious. that no par.ty existed
which by attracting the sympathy of a majority of the _population wouild endanger t'he position of the Commumst Party.
So, the parties which airose after the war with the petrmisSlion of the Communusts were incapable of eiffecting
strong anti-Communist oipposition, because, first, theiy had
no roots, no tradition, a;mong the population.
Second, part of their leadeffi, were either tools of Communists ior opportunists who, /because of l,a ck of principles
and courage, completely sulbmitted to the Communist pressure, and third, throug;h the assistance of the ColIIlm.unist
Party, they were s'h ackJed - aM other parties were shackled
by the coordinating comrruttee of all the parrties, the socalled National Front. This Nationa'l Front was nothing else
but a machine in the ih ands of the Communists to control
aU o,pposiition against the Communist Party.
Mr. Mc'l'igue. Were you the recognized leader of the un-
40
SLOVAKIA
derground in Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula I woll!ldn't say so.
Mr McTig;ue. Were you one of ,t he leaders?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. !Did you ar.ronge to have some of your
members sent abroad in order to assist in the underground
movement from without ?
Dr. Mtkula. I thin:k I can state it quite openly. Our program was to prepa1re things, firs,t, at home, and, second, we
had some people out aibroad. I mean, out of ,the count.Ty. We
,s end them out of the country ,a nd directed the situ.aitiion,
informed them, they ind'ormed us. The illlformatiion we receirved we direoted to ,proper aut'horitie;,
iMr. Keirsiten. Now, just at this ipoint - we want to
ma:ke sure that you understand ,p erfectly clearly, Mr. Mikula. We know, of course, that you did operate in the underground in Slovakia, and there are undou!btedly a number of things that you would not wish to spea;k a.'bout specifiicaHy and openly. 1S0 that any question the oounseil or
any member here might ask in that regard, you just use
yom own judgment. We don':t want you to disclose pU!blicly
anything t hat would in any way endanger the ipresent situation there, a:nd that is what you 'ha,,ve in mind, Mr. Counsel, I am sure.
Mr McTigue. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. [Mikula. Yes. I 'Wl3.'Ilted to ask yo u for this permission.
Mr. Mc'Tugue. How long were you a part of the undergroU1I1d in Slovakia.?
Dr. Miikwla. I was wor,king directly in the field almost
fiiive years to the. end ,o f 1'949. 1Iin Feb:rua.ry 11950 I left for
the United States.
·Mr. McTigue. And did you emigrate to the Uniited
States in 1950?
Dr. Milkula. Yes, I did.
Mr. McTigue. Now, when you left 1S1ova.ki.a in 1949, were
you furced to !leave your wife b e hind'(
Dr. Mikula. No, I was one of tho se who was sent
abroad when the Communists took over and legia.l opposition
was ailimost iimpossilble in ,the country. So, I went out from
Slova:kfa in 1945, and I was wonk,i ng outside of Sfoviakia.. I
was worlcing abroad. I have here a little bo~ldet edited by
1
1
41
SLOVAKIA
the Ministry of l!nterior in .Prague; the head of the Ministry
of Interior was a well-iknown Oommunist •o y the name of Nosek. It was edited and published by the Ministry of Interior, 5,000 issues were distrilbuted over here. My name is
mentioned aJbout 70 or 80 times in this booklet.
Mr. Kersten. Just .so we get th•a t clearly, as I understand it, you ~eift Sloivaikia in 1945.
Dr. Mikuia. Yes, I did.
Mr. Kersten. And you were outside the country?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. !But while you were outside the coll!Ilitry
during the fullowmg yerurs up 'll'Iltil -about 1949 or 1950, you
were woriking in t'hiis movement, is that correct?
Mr. '.Mhlm~ia. I was in steady contact, and I was one of
the leaders outside.
MT. Kersten. Of the lllillderground freedom m01vement in
Slova,kiia?
Dr. Mii kula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And this :book ,t hat you have ha,nded us
here is a booldet put out by the Communists in Bratislava?
Dr. Miikula. 1:rl ·P rague. The Ministry of InteriOT, Czecho-Slovakia.
Mr. [Kersten. Maylbe we 1had better mark this.
Dr. Milrula. The title of .the book is "Conspiracy Agaiinst
the Repl]blic."
iMT•. Kersten. Would you mark thi<s "Milwaukee Exhibit 4."
And you have stated rthat this Milwaukee Exhibit 4 is a
Communist ,pubH1cation ipulblished in what year?
Dr. Miiktl'l.a:. ffit was printed Noivemlber 1947.
Mr. Kersten. And it contains rtJhe accounts of operations
2.gainst the Communist g01Vernmen t; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. And you are named in here, as you say,
70 or 80 times?
[)r. Mii:ku1 a !Something liike that.
Mr. Kersten. In rw1hat crupacity?
Dr. Miikuila. Someitiiimes as ibhe leadeT of the underground, sometimes as an American agenrt, sometimes
Mr. Kerstein. Always in a derogatory sense?
Dr. M~kuJ1a. Absolutely.
1
1
1
42
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Kersten. I notice on 1:Jhe first page of the printing
here - one of the first rpages - it is aotually page 7,, but it
seems to be the start "Of the body of t'he article - I notice
a name - Joseph rMi!kufa. Is that you?
Dr. Mikula. That i:s me.
Mr. Kersten. Then you are named frequently therearfter;
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
is t:Jhiat rig1ht?
Mr. Kersten. Proceed, Mr. Coltl7lsel.
Mr. McTigue. I w,ant to •ask you two questions. Dr. Mikula. Wi'fil you briefly tell uis something about the ac'tiivities
of the ll!Ilderground, and secondly, were these actiivities effectiive, in y;our j,udg,menit?
Mr. iKersten. Keeping in mind tJhe safety maitters that
we tahlced albout.
Dr. Miikua,a. As I mentioned before, the legaiJ. resistance
or Jega!l oppositilion againJSt communism was foiling. So, the
people 1wirt:Jh ra nti-Oommunist tendencies lost faith m their
weaik and oppo:rbuni,stic party leaders, and consequently,
sought -0ther mea.lilS wiherelby they might prevenit the Communists from ·aocompl:iishing their ,plans.
Now, the diTect answer to your question, "Wihat were
the actiivities ?" Fiirst, to do e,verythiing that would undermine the Coimmu!nist IP .arty, and the ends of tfue Oommunist
Party. We knew that they will try to Sovietize, to taike over
the counwy.
So, we rpuibliiished leaflets. We published booklets. We
pu'b1is,ihed pe;riodiools. IDverytilimg was hllegal and underground. That w.as at 'the b~imling. Laiter on, when it wiIB
pretty hrurd to distrilbute mimeographed leaflets or publications - because they were against the Communists - we
started an illegal triansimi-titer - a shortwaive radio station.
It is not necessairy to teH where and how it was, but it
existed and rit worked very effectively. Then, later on, we
tried to collect all possible rnformaitiorn from political, economical, military, oullJtu,r,a-1 life; get it out and mfomi the
worild 1aJbout the si•tUJatiion over there.
JUJst to show you how it was done, here are some photostatic copies of the orders issued by the commander in
ohlef of the nati'Onal security guard. It was a gend:armery
police.
SLOVAKIA
43
Mr. McTigue. Communis t police?
Dr. Milrula. CommUIIlist, yes.
Mr. McTiguei. What did the ·o rder say?
Dr. Mikula. They are different o:rders. For example, I
will just ~ k of the first one. lt i,s dated Bratislava, March
4, 1947, firom the head{l_uall'lters of Nationail !S ecurity Guiard.
The orders to the lower units of National Security Guards :
il order that ,s pecial attention be paid to tJhe transports
of Volhyi.ruia Ozechs cOIInli.ng from tihe U. S. S. R. - thait is
the Soviet Union - they have already settled on the territory of Slovrukia. They have to lbe constantly watched arid
fO!Nowed, because they are spreadling internationr uUy false
infurmation a:bOUJt iour eastern ally, the U. S. S. R.
Mr. !McTigue. Wha:t people is he talking rubout in tlhis
order?
Dr. !M.ikiula. One of the tactics of Commt.Lll!ist takeover
was tramsplanta tion; movements of the people. Right after
t'he war we had a HUJngarian minority in 1Slcwakia and a SlovaJki,a n minoniity in iH ungary. Now , right aft.er the war
started the transportru tion orf these minorities frQiffi HUI11gary
to Slovwkia, a,:nd from 1S1ova!kfa. to Hungary.
What happened to Slovakia? From H1.1!11.g,acy came the
people who couldn't sipealk any word of Sloviak. To Hungacy
came people from Slova:kiia.
There were Ozeohs iwho Hived about 200 or 300 years in
one province of [Russia calllled Vo1hynia. Just to show good
faith tor something like bha.t, the Sowet moved those Volhynia: Czechs to Ozeciho-Slovaikia.
'Dhe movements of the population are very serious
thinigs, because they !bring insecurity. Noibody knows how
long he stays in his ()IWll house., in his 01W11 neighlborllood, and
so insecure people are aliways much easier for the CommUilasts to handle.
Mr. McTigue. That is the grnup to whiioh he has reference in the order?
Dr. Mikula. That is tihe explanation . So further:
Specifically , I ask the units of Nationa,] Soourity Guard
to watch the tI"ansports corning in and the transient transports orf V oohyniia Czec:hs going through the railroad station.
44
SLOVAKIA
Those Czechs wouldn't come !into any contact with the
public. I mea.n witJh the popu1ati10n. Then you hiwe here the
order to maintain ~ continuous oontro1l on ail calls in post
offices and telephone-Office excihanges. This was done by
the ipol!ice. They ccmtr.ol all calls ·c oming in and W:hait was
said. If they find something against the regime they wt
accorcmng to regufations.
Thls here is concerning the control of the pop.wlation in
traiins. Everyone - they sa,y here, "Everyone is Slllpposed to
have this ridentificaitioo. card1." So, the units of SiNB - lower
units - are ordered lh:ere to control the population, and if
somebody hasn't his idenitificatlion card, he ris supposed to
be arrested am.cl brougiht ilil for investigation to the nearest
police station.
This order ooncerns the former gendarmes orr mem!bers
of the National Security Guard poiice who were deported to
Russia, were coniiined there, and later on brought 1b ack to
Slovakia. Same of them were put in the!ir fonner positions.
They were ·agaiin rcinsitated a:s gendarmes, but the order says:
To the Ministry ()If Interior came the information t:Jhat
the behavior ()If these returned former memlbers of gendarme is not satisfactory. They taJlk very sharply against
the !S oviets iand are doring that even in the company of the
other members of the unit.
I order you to follow those memlbers in your d±sbr.icits
and remind them that for bad talk aibout the brother nation, Russia, they can be ,p unished and arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Now, what you haNe been de.scmbing to
the oommittee . . .
Dr. Mikll!la. These •a re just the examples of how information was oolle_c ted and brought out and utilized.
Mr. McTigue. Now, do you know, or oan you tell the
oommittee whether there is an wnderground operating in
SwvaJkia ,a t the present time?
Dr. Miilmla. l am posritive there is. First, I would just
say from the general point of vtl.ew, so long as the Comm'Ulilists are unaJble to change human nait'UT'e, there wiU [be the
will. to 1be free. It means there will be the will to rresist. That
is a general rea:son
SLOVAKIA
45
Second, the best proof ,i s that you still read in the papers how much troulble they haJVe in .t his or that group or
with this group, and so on. These are the 1best documents
that the :resistance is not only aJlii.ve, but is acti1Ve.
Mr. iMcTigue. Do you fool thaJt the underground is the
heart of the resistance, the core of the resisltance, in Slovaki,a today?
Dr. Mhlrul'a. I would say so. I would dare say that albout
80 or 90 per cent of the population is anti-Communist, but
not aU of these 80 o:r 90 per cent are willing to ta!ke am.
acti:ve part to fight oommundsm.
Mr. iMcrrigiue. Why?
Dr. (Mlikula. Because of the advances of oommumsm
they are very cautious ito. d:o nothing which could provoke or
cailll for Communist reprisals This is one reason.
!Second, urSU1ally the people WOII'king activei1y and directly are, in my opinion, heroes, and not everyone cam. be a
hero. So, from thds group, from this 80 per cent, we can sruy
whaJt is in tlhe underground is the most ii.miporllant and most
vaJLuiaJble co,re of passive and ,a ctive resistam.ce.
Mr. McTigue. You were in Slov,rukia at the time of the
Communist taikeover; is that correct?
Dr. Mikula. Yes.
Mr. IMc'Digue. Were there wholesaile arrests and deportations in Slovakia. as there were in the other C-Ollll!tries?
Dr. Milkllll,a. Slovakia. is a small counrtry of 31bou,t 3½
million poipuilation. So the figures. are not so enormous, but
in relatio1I1, in proportion to ,t he whole popll'laition, they are
pretty big They deported in :t'he fi.rst month aifteir the occupa1tion of Slovakia rubout 38,000 people.
Besides this, in tlhe !first half year, when they took over,
aibout 133,000 people were put in ja,i1s, in camps, amd taken
out of theiir normal life.
Mr.' Mcrrigue. [ ha;ve M further questions.
Mir. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
.
Mr. Be1I1tley. When did you leave Slovakia?
Dr. Mikula. I lefit Slovalci.a in 1945.
Mr. Bentley. That was just the beginni.DJg of the antiCornmi.mist resistance then,, I presume.
Dr. Mitkula. Yes.
46
SLOVAKIA
Mir. Bentley. ilfaJVe you mamta.ined contacits, or how
have yiou gotten yml'I' worrunaJtion regarding the activities
of the underground since that time?
Dr. MikU!la. As I Wld you, we haJVe steady contact
through couriers. I wi!ll j!U'st mention one thing: In 1945
our coUJriers hrougiht over my wife with two little children.
Mr. Chai:run:an rememJbers those l.ititle children. One w:as four
and one was ,s ix.
Mr. Bentley. How l01ng was co111tact of this kind maintained?
Dr. Miikulia. ,J t.hinik that contac.t is stiH mamtarlned, but
I could rta1k 3111d testify ,t o the end of 1'949.
Mr. Bentley. Until the end of 1949, which was a,bout
two years after the coup d'etat in Pra,gue?
Dr. Milrula. Yes.
!Mr. Bentley. And srunce .that time, your ilmowledge has
been 01JJ.ly fTom information, not direct; rum I correct?
Dr. Miku]a. lit is secondary. Before I reccived mormatron diirecil,y. I was ll'S'lllally the first who received it. Now I
a'In receiving informia,tion, but later.
Mr. Bentley. How dloes the situation in Slovakia compare wi;th that of otfuer countries in the Soviet satellite,
would YOIU say? Iis it -b etter or worae?
DT. MikU!la. I thiinlk .t he condifti,ons a;re generaHy the
same in all the coU!Iltries. As for the resistance, maybe in
S'lovakira, the resistance is a little bit stronger and maybe a
little bit more success:fluil, 1becall!se, as you iknow, Slovakia is
a country orf farnners, a country of mountainee:ris, ·a nd the
people i1I1: Slovaiki'a are deeply reliigtlous. T.he hardest thing
for the Communists to break ~re the farmers and /besides
that, to remove Teligion from the sow of the rpeoiple and
rep}ace it by Leninism is not so easy. You know .t hat.
Mr. Bentley. So you would say that the cond!itiOIIl!S are
about the same, but -the resistance itJhere is a little bit
·stronger?
Dr. Mikula. Yes. The same. The same concentration
camps, liaJbor orumps, the same tendency to create Kollkhozes
and co[lectiive farms, the same tendency to brealk any possible resistance, and if there dsn't any hope, arrest the peo-
SLOVAKIA
47
ple, seind them ,t o uranii.ium mines; tJhe same everywhere,
the same procedure.
Mr. Bentley. Am ,I correct in believing that part of Slovakiia has been incorporiated in the 'Soviet Union?
Dr. Mi:kula. A very small eastern part. Abowt 15 or 18
villages of S1ova1-da were inconporated inito the Soviet Ull!ion.
Mr. Bentley. '.Dhe fiact that this resi,s tance dioes exist or
does not exist in 'SlrovaJkia to the extent you say it does,
what, in your opinio!Il, can lbe done most effectiively to eniruble
this resistance to continue ,and maintain itself. Whrut encouragement or assistrunce can be givan, if any?
Dr. 1M:iikuil.a. I would state .it in ·one way: To increase
the hopes of ipeople lh'ling over there that soonetime there
will be a cha1I1ge.
iMr. Bentley. We ,a:re ta:lking specificailly of SLovaik:i!a.
Dr. M:ikula. Spooiffioa.My, for 1Slovakia, it is absolutely
necessary to reassure a;gaiin and again those people tlhat we
are not forgetting them, we are not •giviing them up, and we
have unde.rstaind!i!Il!g for their specific prolblems.
Mr. Bentley. Including the right 'O'f self-determination?
Dr. iMitkullia. '.Dhia.t is w!hat I walllted to say. We should
not stick to the owtmoded, ourtlived st'I'luctures. '.Dhey have
proved to be un:successfol, and rwe should give to the people
the right to be free and to have therr OIWIIl: government, ·a ccording to their own c1hooce. That is one o.f the most important t'hd.ngs. Then th'i<s po<l.tnt: The people are, I wou!l.d say, 90
per cent 'llillited in Slovalk:ta. .Anyrt;hin,g whioh .poi.nrt:s o.wt thait
we are forgetting them, rwe are not undersibanding them, is
cutting otff the will to resist.
iMr. Bentley. Thank you very much. Thiat i'S a:11, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Kersten. Congressman Feighan?
MT. Feighan. Dr. 'Mikula, as I understand it, you feel
thrut the people of 1SIOV1akia should be ,giiven assurances that
the free ,w orld would sirnpport their desire for seiltf national
determiniation of thei:r own identity as a nation if they so
desiire?
·
Dr. Miikula. Wihen you are talking generally albout the
popu1ation of Slovakia, that is one of the most important
48
SLOVAKIA
things that they need; some kind of good will that we have
a.!11 understanding oif thei'l' problem.
MT. Feighan. Then if ,w e ,w ould tell the whole world that
we stand by the principle upon which our Naition was founded, thiat is, the ri!ght of self-determi:ri:ati-cm, that would be
he'l!pful to them. 'In other words, Mr. Mikula, if the free
w0irld shO'Uld gi,ve the Communists a free hand !in t!hese
caiptiive nations,, this would cause those people to lose hope,
ilS that right?
Dr. iM:ikuil:a. Absolutely. One of the most •i mportant
things is to show those people :tlhait we are really l!Iliform.etl
a'boUJt their plight, a.Jbout tlhe conditions under ,w hich they
are 11ivimg, that rwe hacve actually access to the most secret
communistic conspiracies. 'We shouJ.d convey t:his knowledge
to the masses. That is one of the moot imlportant th,i ngs.
Mr. Kersten. Does thrat hellp to sha:ke and lessen the
Communist ipawer in 'Uhose countries?
Dr. iMikul1a. It is •curttin.g off the arrogamt communistic
se!lf-corufiderice, amd when we ta.Jke such a cut through the
Communist Party, we see there are just a few intellectuals,
a group of fanatics, and a great nuim ber of opportunists.
The greatest ipart of them a.Te oppoiitun:ists. Activities must
be directed against those opportunists, because they are
afmid. They betrayed, first, second, thoird time. They a.re
readty to betray todlay and every day.
Mr. Kersten. ~irst o;f iaU, let me ask you this: YO!U have
gone to Detroit from iMHrwaUJkee?
Dr. M~kula. Yes. MHiwaiUJkee is my ,h ome.
Mr. Ker,s ten. You li:ved 1here several years and ~eft for
Detroit a short whlle ago wlhere you now live and :work
Dr. MikuiJ.a. Yes.
with your family?
Mr. Kersten. Dr. MikU'la, you iha,ve given us a great deal
of valuable inlfoirmation, rparticula:rly the knowledge that
I know you ha'V'e, of the existence of the undeiig,round in
Slocvakii a, resi,s tance, opposition, which our evidence indicates exists in all the other cOUIIltries likewise to a very
great extent.
!Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Dr. ~u!la, for yOUT aippear~Milwaukee, Wis., October 22, 1954).
ance here today. 1
SLOVAKIA
49
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PHILIP A. HROBAK
Mir. Kersten. I want to say we are rvery honored and
happy to haive you here with us, Mr. Hrobak, as the president of the Slovak League of America.
:Mr. Hrobak. And tihe editor of the Jednota, the official organ of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union of the United
States and Canada.
·
Mr. Kersten. I notice through several years of knowledge of your activities that you have keen understa:ndmg
of whaJt it means for a nation or a country or a people
to be occupied lby the Communists and some of the ways
in whioh they fight and some of the thinigs that we should
do to combat this new kind of enemy.
Mr. iMcTigue. How many memlb:ers, Mr. Hro'bak, are
a:ssociated or affiliated with the Slo:vak League of
America?
Mr. Hroba:k. The SloviaJk League .o f America, rubout
300,000.
!Mr. Mo'Dig,ue. What, ibriefly, is the Slovak League of
.America?
Mr. Hrobaik. The pur:poses?
Mr. McTigue. Yes.
1Mr. HTdbak. A cirvic and culturial origarnzation of
Americans of Slov,a;k descent. It was organized in Oleveland in 1907.
'Mr. Mc'lligue. It is mry understanding, MT. Chaimnan,
that !Mr. HrdbaJk has a statement which he wiSlhes to present to the committee, and if there is no objection, may I
sugigest that the witness be permitted to proceed wiith
the statement?
· Mr. Kersten. Without objection, it is so ordered.
!Mr. Hrdbalk. If you permit me, I would like to first
express my deep appreciation to this committee for the
opportunity given me to present the Slovruk chaipter in the
dread detail of Communist aggression.
I believe it is for the first time, at least as far as I
know, that ,a real, honest effort is :being miade to know
the background olf the many peoples behind the Iron Curtain, nations who always were and still are our friends,
50
SLOVAKIA
peoiples who with all their hearts want to be our friends
because to them America has always lbee:n a living symbol
of freedom and independence, and now is just aJbout their
last hope of sa1vation from Red tyranny. I harve the greatest respect for the hono-raJble gentlemen on this committee
and its chairman, Charles Kersten. The coonmittee has a
difficult taslk, b,ut it is doing that task admiraJbliy well.
Helping the nations behind the Ixon Curtain to helrp
liberate themselves from the curse of communism cannot
and must not become ipOlitically a partisan a:flf1air. It is the
business, the duty, of every American to take part in it;
every Almerican must see it in that perspectirve, because
it is, after all, in the interest of the security of our own
America.
I would li!ke to e~press one point ,b efore I read my
statement, and that is that the SlovaJks have no quarreJ
with the Czech nation as such. The Czech nation today is
in the same Red fix as the SlovaJk nation.
The Sfovak•s, however, cannot remain silent about
Czech .p olitical leaders who were in a very large measure
responsible for the present terrilble plight of the Ozech and
Slovak nations over there, and who made it possilble foc
the Communists to seize power in Czecho-Slova!kia practically without any troUJble.
("How the Communists Seized Power in SlovaJkia" the statement by P. A. Hrobaik, president of the Slovak
League of America and Editor of the "J ednota," official
011gan of the First CathoHc Slorvak Union, •b efore the Kersten Committee on Communist Aggr(}SSion, in the County
Court House, Milwaukee, Wis., Friday afternoon, October 22, 1954 - was .pulblished in full in the iprevious issue
[Septemlber.,Decemlber 19541 of SLOVAKIA and, hence,, is
not repeated here.)
Mr. iMcTi,gue. 1I take it from your statement, Mrr. Hrobaik, that you consider the National Socialistic Party of
Czecho-,Slovalda a:s the one which was responsible for the
sellout to Moscow; is that correct?
Mr. HrrobaJk. I do, sir.
Mr. McTigue. Do you consider that the case of Czecho1
SLOVAKIA
51
Slovakia is a practical or typical example of what happens to a nation that attemipts to coo,peirate or coexist with
Communists?
Mr. Hroba:k. Definitely.
Mr. McTigue. What do you think of the present Kremlin campaign to sell the nati0'11s of the free world on peaceful coexistence?
Mr. Hrohak. That is the Kremilin's way of trying to
lull us to sleep; forget our problems, our troubles; forget
what communism is, and just let them get strong enough
until they can take all of us.
Mr. McTigue. In your opinion, what do you think we
can do to keeip the ho,pes of the people of Slovakia alive?
How can we most help them at a time like this?
Mr. Hrolba!k. We must let them know that we a;re behind them; that we have not forgotten them; that .Americans stiH believe in the principles uip on which their country was founded, in the principle of freedom and independence ; and let them know that we shall do everything
to help them he1p themselves to overthrow the regime
they have.
~fir. McTigue. You agree with Mr. Mikula, who testified
here earlier today, that the resistance is still strong among
the ,people of SlovaJkia?
Mr. Hrabaik. It certainly is. We have had cootact with
the people directly and indirectly right through the war,
and we still get letters from people, who come from Slovakia today.
Mr. McT-fgue. You are able to maintain an effective
system of communicati10n with the Slovakian people with
what is going on over there today; is that correct?
Mr. Hrobalk. indirectly. Certain people get the info;rmation from persons in Sl>ova~ia and then we get it.
Mr. Kersten. Mr. Bentley?
Mr. Bentley. Mr. HrobaJk, I want to go 1b aclt a little
bit before the period of Communist domanation of Slovakia
and look at the situation there !b:rfofly during the Second
World War. When SlO'V'aJkia was an independent reipulblic,
what exactly was the relationship at that time between
Slovakia and Germany?
52
SLOVAKIA
Mr. HrOlbalk. Foveign policy was undoulbtedlly dictaited
by Germmy, /but the domestic policy was not, until the uprising of 1944, when the German Aiimy came in to occupy
Sloval~ia. Then bhe Slova.ks were in for it.
Mr. Bentley. -Would you say that the fad, for example,
that Slovalkia had troops on the Russian f.vont was a voluntary action or wa:s that dd.otated b:y Genmany?
Mr. Hvdbalk. I think it was both. I think th13Jt the Germans expected it, and the Slovaks, to make it aippear that
they aire really taking the business seriously, s.e nt a token
division there. The Slovaks had a way of exchanging men
by classes; they never had many men in the field.
Mr. Bentley. Did -Slov:akia take any action toward the
UTrited States at the time or shortlly after Pearl Harbor
when the Germans declared war?
Mr. Hrobaac. No; we tried to ascertain thait business.
We found out that some ,p erson, I believe it was the German radlio in Vienrna, d'id ma.Ike a statement that Slovakia
declared warr, but as far as- we could find out from our
own State Department and War Department, there is absolUJtely no formal declaration of war aga:inst the United
States.
iMr. Bentley. Never was at any time?
Mr. Hlrolbruk. Never was at any time. We couldn't find
that out from our own United States Goveirnment because
that point interested us rvery much, and so far there is
absolutely no record of it.
Mr. Bentley. Now, you say there was a distinction between the foreign policy of the Slov,a k Repulbl:ic which was
exercised and the domesti'c .poHicy. You mean -t he domestic
policy of the Slovak Repulblic was independent of Gennany?
Mr. HrobaJk. Yes; just about all independent; I mean,
running the country of Slovakia itself.
Mr. Bentley. Was there any form of oppression at
thait time?
Mr. Hrobaik. There was no oppression of religion or any
other thing. Some laiws. were enacted that ha;d to coincide
with some of the laiws that · the Germans had, but oUJtside
of that, the economic conditions - even Mr. Sr0ib31r, one of
SLOVAKIA
53
the most intimate foiends of Benes had to admit after the
wax, were good.
Mr. Kersten. You say there was no oppression. There
was freedom of religion and the other political freedoms
that you normally would expect?
Mr. HrOlb.ak. None. Some claim that there was ,political swppression in Sl01Va!kia, but they don't explain the
problem correctly. The fact is that the ISlovaik parties, the
two only genuine !Slovak parties, are the Hlinka People's
Barty sometimes called the Catholic Party, and the Razus
Slwalk National Party, whi·c h was considered the Lutheran
Parby. Now these worked for the same program with one
accoro.
Mr. Bent-ley. Following the wprising of August 1944,
when the German mHitary came in to ,p ut it down, from
that time Slovakia lost its. independence?
Mr. Hrrolbak Yes. The Slovaks got it from both sides.
They were murdered by the occupation troops a.ind then by
the partisans on the other end.
Mr. Bentley. After the German military occupation
did the Tiso government continue in po,w er?
Mr. HrdbaJk. They continued. in ,power until 1945. Tiso
tried to explain away as best he coui'd that it was not a
national uprising; that the Slovruk Army and the Slovak
gendarmerie couild ta.Ike care olf the troubles in Slova:kia
themselves. The Germans firral,l y did not believe the Slovaks rufter General Otto's military mission was stopped at
Turciansky :S vaty Martin. I believe it was on August 25;
the group of aJbout 25 or 30 people, women and children
included, were taken off the train and put up in barracks
for the night. The neoct morning ~l were lined up against
a wall and mowed down with machine guns by the prurtisans.
Then there were other murders, sabotage, terrorrist
activities, which all came too soon, even for Benes's liberation movement which he had allegedly organized. The
leader of that movement was supposed to be General Golian. The uiprising was Communist-in spired and did not
have popular support.
54
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Bentley. The Rm!ssian military OCCUipation of Slovalkia took place about when?
Mr. HrQbak. Albout Easter Sunday, 1945.
Mr. Bentley. And at that time the Slovak Government escaped to Germany?
Mr. Hlrobak. The Slovak Government went to Austria.
Mr. Bentley. And I believe they were finally captured
with the American troops?
Mr. Hrobak They were not captured. They surrendered to General Walker's army at that time. We had a
copy of the surrender papers and we gave it to, our State
Department, and, of course, the Army Department.
Mr. Bentley. And what happened to the members of
the Slovak Goivernment?
Mr. Hrohak. Well, unfortunately, even despite all our
effovts in America to preivent their being handed over to
Benes and his governrrnent in London, unfortunately, I
say, our pleas availed us nothing, and Tiso's Slovak Government was gi'Ven up to Benes and the Benes.Gottwald
coalition government. Tiso, after being tried by a "people's" court, was hanged on April 18, 1947, while members of the Slovak Govenunent were sentenced to prison.
Mr. Bentley. They were tried as war criminals?
Mr. Hrabaik. Yes, "war criminals," according to Prague.
Mr. Bentley. What is the sit'lllation in Slovakia today
under the Commrunist government of Prague? Is there any
form of committee for Slo;vaikia or is there a completely
unified government?
Mr. Hrobaik. Prague is still trying to tell us that the
Slovaiks themselves govern the.ir part of the state and the
Czechs govern their part, and so on, but that is not true.
The Czech Red centralized government in Prague is running the whole show. Even Slovak Communists are not
safe; Clementis is gone, so are others, and the secretary
general of the Slovak Communist Party is Karel Bacilek,
a Czech.
Mr. Bentley. You say the Communists are trying to
appeal to Slovak nationa1ism somewhat?
Mr. Hrobak. They did. Today it doesn't mean any-
SLOVAKIA
55
thing. They are done for. In fact, 1S lovak Reds were for
separation in 1926, long ibefore Hlinka's pa,r ty.
Mr. Bentley. Who?
Mr. Hrdba.lk. The Communists. It is a matter of record.
They knew what the people wanted. They figtN"ed that there
are no people in any country who, do not desire to be free
and independent and they used that to gain their SUipport.
Hlinka's Party fought for autonomy; in the beginning, you
know, it wanted to haive a federation where SlovaJk,i a would
simply have states' rights.
The fight was simply for states' rights, as we understand them here in the States. The Slovaks wanted to elect
their own governor, their own judges, their school di,rectors, and so on. They were not for separatism until much
later.
Mr. Bentley. Mr. Hrobak, you were here, I imagine,
when Dr. Milkiu.la was testifying, and he said it was his belief that so far as the people of Slovakia are concerned,
what they really wanted was the right to self-determination. Do, you concur in that?
Mr. HroibaJk. That is correct.
Mr. Bentley. Thanik you ivery much. Your statement
and your testimony has contributed to the hearings, I am
sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
1Mr. Kersten. Mr. Hrolbak, l
think at this time it is
quite clear from the records of recent history that the attempts of the Benes government to collaborate with and
have coexistence with the Soviet Union is a classic case
of what it means to make this attempt. I meant merely
for that government to put itsel1' in a position to be swallowed wp by the COll'Il.Illunists.
Mr. Hrobak. That is correct.
Mr. Kersten. It is a classic case in that regard.
Mr. Hrobak. Correct.
iMr. Kersten. And I believe one of the ministers of the
Benes government in London, Dr. Stransky, thought that
Mr. Hrobak Yes.
too.
Mr. Kersten. And that, along with other similar epi-
56
SLOVAKIA
sod.es, certainly proves that there is no such thing as peaceful coexistence with the Communist s.
Mr. HTolbaik. That is correct.
Mr. Ker.sten. Well, I want to than!k you. The records
show if it doesn't already that Congressm an Bentley knows
a great deal about this situation in Ea:stern Europe because
he was an American diplomat in Hungary for several
yeairs, and he knows firsthand sOime of the real maichinations of the Communist s when they truke aver a country.
Mr. Bentley. I was ailso in Slova-kia.
Mr. Kersten. I am sure he has firstha:nd knowledge
of that, too.
Mr. HrolbaJk. Mr. Chairman, -t he statement that I have
made is based not only on what we haive from Slovaks,
patriotic Slovaks, 'but it iis also based O!t1 the 'book that the
regime put out in 1946, that is by the Lettrich "Demo-.
crats" arid the Husak Communist s; the name of it is
"Natl Tatrou sa Blyska" - (Lightning over the Tatras).
The booik has contr~butio ns from both sides, MT. Lettrich's
men and the Husaik men. And, of coocse, on the book that
was already introduced, there were only 5,000 of these,
The Conspiracy .Aigainst the Republic, which was introd uced as testimony by Dr. Mikula. That is my oopy. Then
on a boolk that was published here in America by the Communists called "Parti:zani na Slovensku" - (Partisans in
Slovakia), published in Chicago. And, I believe, another
booklet called "Verni ostruli," (They Remained Faithful). This book dealt with the uprising; it was written by
Deso Benau, ,w ho was editor of the New Yonksky Dennik (The New York Daily), in 1946.
Mr. Benau wa:s editor of that paper from 1942 to 1946
and tod!ay is doing an admiraJble job for the Communist s
in BraUshwa.
In this pamphlet - I will leaNe you this copy - you
can see the organizatio ns that are affiliated with us The SlovaJk League of America -- and the me:rrubers they
have. - I might add here that our papers were outlaiwed
from Ozecho-Slovakia by the Communist s on October 10,
57
SLOVAKIA
1946 - that is this paper, the Jednota. and three other
Slova!k p8{!)ers.
Now, as you see here in this particular paper dated
Decemlber 13, 1944, we didn't wait until 1948 to tell America that Benes sold out the Czechs and Slova!ks to Stalin.
The big headline in that Decemlber 13, 1944, issue right on
the front page reads: "Sl()IVakia soJd out by Dr. Ed/ward
Benes."
Mr. Mc'Digue. What is that .pu!blication?
Mr. Hro!b.ruk. This is the Jednota, the official organ of
the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States and
Canada.
And my statement is further ·b ased on the information contained in the booklet "The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Party in Slovakia," which was written by Constantine Cu1en, a new:spruperman from Slova;kia now residing in Canada, and ipu!blished in Slovaik by the Slovaik League
of America. I have translated it into English and the committee is welcome to it any time.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you, Mr. Hrobak.
(Milwaukee, Wis., Octo'ber 22, 1954).
1
STATEMENT BY DR. JOSEPH A. MIKUS
Fram 1944 until my escape from Soviet-dominated
Czecho-Slovakra, i:n March, 1948, I resided in Bratislava.
During this period I was three times imprisoned by the National Front Government: in 1945, 1946, and 1947. Now,
as a Slovalk refugee in the United States, I am glad to
have the opportunity of exposing to the Committee on
Communist A!ggression the tactics which, to miy own
knowledge and ibased on my personal experience, were
utilized 'b y the Communists in Slovakia to establish themselves first as a politca.-1 party and finally as a dominant
force in tha,t country.
Introduction
Before entering upon a discussion of the subject: proper, I would like to outline in general terms what has until now been the main trend in Slovakia's political history.
58
SLOVAKIA
After losing her political independe nce in the ninth
century, Slovakia existed for a thousand years under for
eign dominatio n. Desrpite this fact, the Sl01Va!k nation did
not lose its ethnograp hic and cultural individua lity. Within
the nraime~o rik of the Austro-H ungarian Empire, it was
ruble to survive all the ;pressure of the Magyar cultural
and political centralism whioh seriously menaced its very
naJtional existence in the 19th century. World War I finally
providied an opportun ity for the 1SlovaJks to rid themsel'Ves
of the restrictin g grip of this ancient and obsolete power
structure .
On May 30, 1918, at the close of World War I, the
Slovak League of America signed together with the organilzatio ns of .Amemcans of Czech descent the so-called
Pittsburg h Agreeme nt, aimed at creating a dualist federal
union of the Czechs and Slov,atk,s which a little later entered the world communi ty of nations under the name of
Ozecho-!Slio:vakia. Although provision s guarantee ing the
preservat ion of the Slovak national and po1itical individuality were, according to the principle of self-deter mination, the essential condition of this solution, the Ozech political leaders, T. G. Masaryik and E. Benes, never made
any real attempt to fulfill their pledges. Instead of a federal union providing for a reasonaib le degree of self-gover nment for the Slovaks, and in utter disregard of the political will of the Slo1V.:\k people, Prague organized a strongly
centralize d state. On !February 29, 1920, the first so-called
revolutio nary parliame nt Oif Oze:cho..JSlovakia, ~inted !by
the Prague revolutio nary governme nt, voted for the first
Czecho-lSlovak Constitut ion which suibmerge d the Slovak
national individua lity through the device of a speciousl y
conceirved "Ozecho-!Slorvaik" nation, wherein the Czechs
wouid always lbe assured of their majority status and their
predomin ance. Not being a minority group in the sense
provided for under internatio nal treaties signed after
World War I, Slovakia ·r emained without any internatio nal
protection . Contrary to the famous definition of democracy by Abraham Lincoln, the regime a:rfuitrarily established by Prague in Slo:vaJkia could be described not as
a governme nt of the people, by the people, for the
"
SLOVAKIA
69
people," 'but rather as "the g,overnment of the Ozech bureaucracy by the concept of the 'Czecho..:Slovak' nation
foisted upon the Sl01Vak people."
For 20 years SlovaJkia sought to· haive the principle
of equality between the Czechs and the Slovalks inco:r.porated into the constitution. The Slo,vak political leaders
argued that the Pittsburgh Agreement was of international relevance and that it should 'be respected by both
parties in the very interest of the joint Czecho-Slovalk
state. Prague, conrfident of the support implicit in the
Little Entente (1920), thie Mutual Defense Treaty with
France (1924), and, last but not least, the 'Dreaty of
Friendship and Mutual Aid concluded with the Soviet
Union (1935), felt strong enough to refuse any discU1ssion
on this pomt at any time.
The Munich Oonference of Septemlber 28, 1938, the
primary sig.niificance of which was the coUaipse of the
Ozecho~SlovaJk sysltem · of military a,lliances, inevitaJbly
brouight the nationality problem of the heterogeneous
Ozecho-Slovak State into the foreground. By the policy o;f
E. Benes, and in accordance with the Vienna arbitration
of Von R~bentro,p and Ciano on Novemb,er 2, 1938, SlOIVakia, lost over 10,000 square kilometers of territory to Hungary; an a·rea which included 853,000 inhabitants. This
was a national catastrophe. Ha,ving experienced this and
other deceptions,, and !being confronted in MaTch 193,9 with
the alternative of the partition of her territory among
Germany, Hung,a ry, and Poland, or of falling under direct
German administration, Slovakia voted on March 14, 1939,
thrnugh her legitimately constituted Diet in Bratislava, for
independence.
During World War II -E. Benes, who had voluntarily
resigned his oflice of President of Czecho-Slovakia, found
refuge as a ,pri'Vl8.te indilvidual in ,London. His basic goal
was to reestrublish Czecho"'Slo,valkia and, in spite of the oppositi'on. of the SlOIValk people, he was able to achieve this
goal ,b y relying essentially on the help of the Red army
and a grourp of domestic colla!borato~s. lirl the main body of
my statement I will explain the ;principal facts of this evo-
SLOVAKIA
60
lution, but I would first of all li!ke to stress one important
point :
All 'Slovaiks in the free world greatly ruppreciate the
fact that the House Committee on Oommunist Aggression
has paid particul ar attention to the tactics• which communism aipplied in Slovaikia. As a matter of fact, these tactics
were very difforenit 'from - for exMn1ple - those adopted
in the Czech area. This fine distinction - an a,rt in which
Moscow h•a s aliways been a master - resllilted from the clifference of attitude demonstrated toward the Sovieit Union
by the population of Slova:kia at the end of World Wa:r II.
As is kno,wn, during World War IT the Czech lands were a
German protectorate. At that time and until 1944, Slovaikia
was a relatively fTee state, imbued with only one desire:
To reaffirm her status as a national state after the end
of the war. Whereas the populaition of Bohemia and Moravia loolked fonwa:rd with high hO!pe to its liberation from
German domination 1by the Soviets, that of Slovakia considered the approach of the Soviet Army as a dista:ster
which would put an end to the Slovak national state.
Because of this difference in psychological attitude,
Moscow decided from the•outset on a policy of appeasement
of the Czechs and on a prog,r am designed to smash the resistance of the Slova:ks. A detailed ,plan for this program
had ibeen elalborated, with the Kremlin's blessing, by E. Benes and K. Gottwald, who as early as 1943 were in Moscow.
1
A. The Blueprint for Sovietization
After the Teheran Conference, which toolk place Novemlber 28 - December 1, 1943, it b,ecame clear that the
Soviet Union would inevitaJbly play an important role in
post-war Europe . This conference gave substantial encouragement to the hopes of the Communists and certain
pro.-Soviet non~ommunists in Slovakia. Immediately thereafter, on December 12, 1943, Dr. Edward Benes, as chief of
the Czecho-Slova:k: Government-rn-exile, signed the Treaity
of F'riends·hip, Mutual Aid and Col1ia/boration ,w ith Stalin in
Moscow. In article 4 of this treaty the two· signafories
agreed upon close political and economic cooperaition. "Talking into consideration their respective peaceful interests,"
SLOVAKIA
61
says the treaty, "the high contracting parties have decided,
after the restoration of peace, to estaiblish a close and
friendly collaboration . . ." They will develop to the maximum their economic relations and will grant each other,
after the war, all possilble economic help."
No such treaty haw.ing been signed with the United
States, Great Britain, or France, this international a:greement predetermined the orientation of Ozecho~SlovaJkia
toward Moscow in the post-iwar European scheme of politica:l relations.
The Benes-Stalin treaty served as a strong stimulus
for those who had been aspiring to political power within
the framework of Soviet influence in central Europe. In
this category were included, among others, fOTmer memJbers
of the Slova:k Communist P,arty. In the 1935 elections, this
party had gained six sea:ts of the 58 corresponding to
Slo;vaikia in the Pmgue Pa:rliament. Consequently, around
10 per cent of the total ,p opulation of the country had voted
for this party, which the Government of the Sl01Vak Republic had suppressed as a subversive group in 1938.
The non-Communist growp, smaller and weaker in its
common punpose, was composed mostly of descendants of
Czech exiles who in the seventeenth century, at the time
of the Count er Refiormation, had settled in Slovakia.
Both of these factions, equally willing to back " ... the
apocaly,ptical horse from the E}ast" (as communism was
perfervidly described lby one of the factional leaders, r..udovit Sensel ), met secretly on Christmas Day, 1943, and
created a joint r evolutionary organization under the name
of the Slovak National Council. The goal of this movement,
as estaJblished under article 2 of the respective secret document, was: " . . . to ta:ke over, at the expedient time, all
political, legislative, military, and governmental executive
power in Slova:kia and to use it according to the will of the
,people until such time as their freely elected reipresentati<ves
shall themsel,ves ibe ruble to take it over."
The b.asic political tenets of the so-called Christmas
Agreement were laid down in another document, the first
three articles of which read as follows :
62
SLOVAKIA
"(1) It is our desire that the Slovaks and the Czechs,
as the two most closely related Slav nations, shall unite
their destinies in a Czecho-Slovalk Republic which will be
their common government organized on the principle of
equality.
"(2) We desire close collaboration with all Slav states
and peoples, particularly with the Soviet Union, in whioh
we see a protecting shield for the free life and welfare of
all small nations in general, and of the Slav nations in particular.
"(3) The future Czecho..Slovak Republic shall conduct
its foreign policy in the spirit of these .principles and should
therefore, lean on the Soviet Union."
It is appropriate to mention here that, during his visit
to Moscow in Deceimib er 1943, E. Benes had in principle
agreed with K. Gottwald to set up a So'Viet ty;pe of internal administration in Cze.cho-Slovakia after its reestablishment as a dualist union ; to eliminate all traditional conservative political parties in the Ozech area, as well as in
Slovakia; and to esta:bli,s h the regime of a so-called National Front Government. In his Memoirs, published in
Prague in 1947, E . Benes recognized this in the following
passage (pp. 408-409) :
''Thereafter Gottwald e,opressed his opinion a'bout the
way in which this revolution should be prepared. He stressed
the necessity of forming national committees (i.e., So¥iets) ,
which would not only constitute the revolutionary cells of
insurrection, but would even se:rve as embryos for the whole
revolutionary political administration, I was not apposed.''
- wrote Benes - "to this opinion . . ."
1
"Then Deputy Gottwald," continued Benes, "went on
to consider the question of the structure of political parties after the revolution in Czecho-Slovakia. He was certain of a great Te1volutionary shift to the leift, of a great
Socialist majority, rund of a great defeat of our block of
right-of-center parties as it existed before the war: agrarians, national democrats, and artisans . . . As to the admission of the Agrarian Party, our Communists were not
willing to commit themselves in any specific way in De-
SLOVAKIA
63
cember 1943. For all of us the merciless liquidation of
fasoism was without any distinction the basic and obvious issue."
In the same discussion., Benes and Gottwald touched
on the problem of the National Front Government: "It
will be necessary," ~ote Benes, "for the governmental
parties to form a unified national front after the Uberation, to form a common reivolutionary program, and to
pledge themselves to put it jointly into practiice. I then expressed my agreement with the plan concerning a national
front ." (pp. 409-410).
On the basis of these three principles,: Sovietization
of administTati'ons, elimination of the conservative parties,
and organization of the National Front Government as it
emerged in 194'5, Cze'cho-1Siovakia was inevitrubly fated to
become a "people's" democrwcy.
Wihat was the practical result for SlorvaJkia of the
Benes-Gottwald agreement? The Communist and the nonCommunist pro~Soviet group conspiring a.gain.st the Slovak Repulblic, although not representing more than 24
percent of the population, became the future leading force
of Slwakia.
B. The August 1944 Insurrection
Since early 1944 the Soviet partisan headqll!arters in
Kiev, with Rudo1ph Slanslky as i.ts main political adviser,
had 1been pouring Red ,p arachutists and Communist agents
into the mountains of central Slovakia, far behind the
German frontlines. Through contacts with many Communists and non-Communist symjpathizers, Sfova'ks, Czeehs,
and fornigners in various cities and villages of the country, these agents maI11a,g ed to create a network of informants and future collruborators.
More recent documents reveal that as early as Fehrua·r y 7, 1944. Proif. Viladimir Jershov of Russian· origin,
Gregorij Soloshenko, second lieutenant of the Red army,
and William Zingor, a Slo~-ak Communist, came to an
agreement in Tureiansky Sv. Martin that " . . . all future
partisan activities in Slovakia would follow instructions
64
SLOVAKIA
from Mos:cow."l It was also agreed that 2ingor would be
the chief of the Slova:k partisans, with Soloshenko as his
sulbstitute. These self-appointments were later " . . . recognized by partisan headquarters in Kiev, and the Turiec
County group was integrated into the general Soviet partisan system. By this act the partisan movement in Turiec assumed the character of a militaTy organ~tion." 2
Moreover, in the summer of 1944 the following Sol\Tiet
rugents were, a.mong many others, actiive in Slovakia: Ing.
Nicolai Avenaria, as liaison officer in Myjawa; Jmfa Nikolaiev, a graduate of the Leningrad Naival Academy, as distrilbutor of arnns; Ing. Dimitrij Venero:vsky am.d Ivan Platonovich, active in preparing the partisan or.ganization of
Liptov County. In Turiec, whioh was the center of the So·viet partisan activities, I·v:an Stepanol\Tich and Alexander
Fjodorovich Krajushkin were actively operating. The real
Soviet partisan camp was organized in the Kantorska Valle~, near Sklabina. It was commanded by a second lieutenant of the Red Army, Ilvan VySOIC!ldj. Nikola Sur:kov, second
lieutenant of the Red army, was in command of a similar
camp near Priekopa. The most effective of these Soviet
agents was Alexei Velichko, captain oif the Soviet paratroopers, who, in fact, ibecame the chief of all partisan actil\Tity in Central Slovakia. Even General Osmolov was sent
to SlovaJda for a period of time to assure coordination of
the activity of the different groups.
In the meantime, on August 1, 1944, Gen. Bar Komorovs:ki, in command of the Polis:h underground army, ordered a general insurrection in Wa.rsa.w. H e did this after
hea.iring an a;ppeal of _Radio Moscow encouraging the people
of Warsaiw to carry out a ·general uprising. "The hour of
a·ction has already arriived," declared Moscow. Bor Komor-ovski was consequently firmly conivinced that he would
receive eiffoctiive aid from the Red army, which had just
reached the gates of the Praga sulbwr.b, 10 miles from Warsaw. But the e~pected hel.p neyer came. In his telegram of
(1) Cont ributions to the H istory of th e Slo vak Nationa:l Insurrection (In Slovalk ) , Turcians ky Sv. M.arrt in , 1947, p . 26.
( 2 ) IbM.. , p. 29.
SLOVAKIA
66
August 16, 1944, to Prime Minister Churchill, Stalin dissociated himself from the "Wa1rsaiw venture." And so under the very eyes of the Red .army, the German units were
able to carry out their m8Sllicre of those Polish patTiots
who to Strulin (,according to his telegram of August 22,
1944, to Churchill) were but "a groU!p of criminals." On
Octdber 2 the uiprising collapsed 1because Stalin was unwilling to help "the Polish reactionaries."
The Waraaw insurrection seemed to ha:ve no effect on
Slovalkia. This was a ibloiw to Soviet expectations. To the
U. S. S. R., Sl~i,a, in the summer of 1944 was, from a
military viewpoint, an eID1Pty tera'itory with a "reactionary
government and nationalist populations," with some "deviated Communists" and some opporturustic non-Communist elements looking hopefully to Benes in London. A
civH W8JI' in Ozecho~Sloiwukia wouild haive been immensely helpful to the political aim!s of Moscow. But patriotic Slovaks
were too wise to begin an internal struggle. Three weeks
had passed siI11Ce the beginning of the Warsaw U!prising,
and still no rea.c,tion in Slovakia. In order to purge this
country of its "reactionary" elements before the impending occupat:rion, Moscow needed German military intervention there. ft was up to the Soviet aigen.ts to provoke it and
their opportunity was not long in arising.
On August 24, 1944, a spec,ial German military train
stopped in Tureiansky Sv. Martin, some miles from the
Soviet partisan headquarters illl ,Sklabina. The chief of
the railway station, in collusion with Captain Velichko,
refused to let it leaive. G€aleral Otto, former chielf olf the
Gernnan milimry mission in Rumania and now retwrmng
from Bucharest to .Berlin with his suite of 28 ;persons, was
then oonducted to the military barracik,s, held a prisoner
on instructions from Velichko, and together with all his
aides was killed by a unit of revolting soldiers the fohlawirtg day.
ThereUJPOn Hitler, infuriated with a Slovaik Government which was "unalble to 'k eep oroer in the hinterland
of the German lines," decided to send General Hloeffle into
Slovakia with an army of six di,visions to arunihrilate the
66
SLOVAKIA
partisan movement. It was as a result of this decision that
the political and military leaders of the pro-Soviet conspiracy started the U[>rising whioh was announced on August
29, by Radio Banslka Bystrica. Within two months General
Hoeffle crushed this Sorviet-inspired venture. Although the
political chiefs of the insurrection, such as the "Demo ..
crats" Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, iMatej Josiko, Martin
Kvetko, Samuel Bellus, etc., and the Commum,s ts Gusta,v
Husak, Laco Novomesky, Karol Schmidke, etc., were aible
to escrupe, its military chiefs, General Viest and General
Golian, were not so fortunate. As they were attempting to
escrupe by plane, the latter was burned by their angry and
disillusioned soldiers. Both of them were then captured by
the Germans and ta:ken to a concentration camip in the
Reich from ,w hich they were never to return.
Wihile alll of this was going on, the Soviet Army was
quietly resting on the north side of the Carpathian Mountams where it had been stationed for ove,r four months,
tranquilly ruwaiting the last act in this &ama. It is evident
that the U!prising was only a trrup set b.y the Soviet partisans to ensnare the ". . . Sl~ak reactionary and opportunist elements." This pur,pose of the insurrection was revealed during the trial against Slansky in Prague in 1952.
As has already been mentioned, the former secretary general of the Comm.1N1ist Party of Ozeoho-1Slovakia had been
the main ctivil adviser for the 1944 insurrection in Kiev.
With respect to this function the state prosecutor ques~
tioned him as follows:
Prosecutor: Why did th.e Anglo-iAmerican agent (general) P1ka show an interest in placing the partisan units in
Slovakia under the command of (General) Golian?
Slanslky: He sought to place all partisan units under
the command of the reactionary General Golian at Banska
Bys:trica so as to faciJ.itate Golian's supervision of their
activities. Pika tried, in the interest of the imperialists and
of the London Government of Dr. Benes, to reduce the influence of the par1Usa.n.s as far as possdible.3
(3) Marcel Peju: Hier et Aujourd1hui: Le sens du proces Slansky II. Les Temps Modernes. P.ari,s, June 1953, p. 2013.
SLOVAKIA
67
Thus Slansky revealed many years later what the Soviets really thought of the leading non-Communist personalities in the 1944 insurrection in Slovaikia.
This event is a great national tragedy. Whereas during the thref' years of her participation in the struggle
against bolshevism, Slovakia lost only 2,500 soldiers on
the eastern front, she lost around 30,000 persons in the insurrection in the short space of two months. Unlike the
insurrection of Warsaw, that of Banska Bystrica has nothing to do with Slovak ~triotism. It is quite clear that
Slovak patriots would have never organized an insurrection the purpose of which was to reestablish foreign external and internal control in their country.
C. The "Liberation" of Slovakia
What is known as the liberation of Slovakia by the
Soviets is in fact a misnomer and a grave distortion of the
historical facts. During World War II, though subject to
a certain international supervision by Germany, Slovalkia
was a relatively free country. During five years, until the
insurrection of Banska Bystrica, no one was executed for
political reasons . The Slovak Government in Bratislava
was able to master all the difficulties of the war period
during these years. Then the Red army came.
I waited for the Soviet "liberation" with a family
which lived on the outskirts of a small town, S., in western Slovakia. They had a nice, or as the Communists would
say, a '~bourgeois" home here. On the morning of a day of
mid-April 1945, the Soviet Army entered the town. The
house in question, which was located on a hill, was then
chosen as headquarters for the Soviet commanding generral in that sector of the front. During the two days that
the general stayed in the house, the conduct of the Russians was exemplary.
After the general and his staff had left, we congratulated ourselves on our not too bad experience with the
Soviet Army and prepared to cel~brate this event with a
good family dinner that evening. At p. m., just as we were
sitting down to table, a first lieutenant and a sergeant of
68
SLOVAKJA
the Red army entered the house. The latter put his gun on
the dining-room ta>ble and began checking on our identity.
Meanwhile the officer began to inspect the house "looking for hidden German spies." In the course of this inspection he found our ,p ersonal effects in Oiile of the bedrooms
and ·b rought them into the dining room. He then proceeded
to examine these things in detail and chose for himself
whatever happened to please him: A watch, a leather
suitcase, etc.
We then saw that a second lieutenant of the Red
army had entered the house and began in turn to forage
through it. After a while he ordered a young lady to go
into the kitchen to give him a glass of water. When these
three left, after 9 :30 p. m., the lady in question colJapsed
because she had been violated. After this visit by offi ..
cers, two other groups of soldiers, many of them drunk,
successively entered bhe house, each one having held us,
that is, four men and three ladies, under terror in their
own way, until 2 :30 a. m.
In the city of Bratislava, which numbered around
200,000 inhabitants, more than 4,000 dishonored women
had to go to the hospital for examination.
During the "liberation" of SlovaJkia by the Soviets,
around 20,000 Slovaks, mostly intellectuals, were sent by
po1itical commissarias into la;bor camps of Russia, while
various tens of thousands of inhaJbitants were imprisoned.
D. Political Evolution Aft.er 1945
On April 5, 1945, the government of Dr. E. Benes
followed the advancing Red army from Moscow into the
easVSlovaikian city of Kosice and estaJblished the Third
Czecho-iSlova!k Republic in the shadow of Soviet bayonets,
through the so-called Kosice declaration. Thus a foreign
government was imposed upon the Slovaik people which,
except for two small :factions of political opportunists, had
been loyal to the Slova>k State - all of this without any
plebiscite. The Communists and pro-Soviet "Democrats",
who had already rendered a great service to Moscow in
the 1944 uprising, became the ex cutors of the n w state
will in Slovaikia.
SuOVA.KIA
69
According to. the Benes-Gotlbwald agreement of December 1943 in Mos'coiw, they eliminated from the political
life of Slovrukia all other former political ,parties, namely,
the Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, and the Artisans Party. These parties }:lad received in the 1935 elections 19 plus 112, plus 1,
plus 1, or a total of 33 seats in the Prague Parliament out
of the grand total of 58 seats corresponding to Slovalkia.
Not countiing the Magyar and the German minorities which
had then elected 11 deputies and did not take part in the
uprising, the two pro-Soviet factions cor,r esiponded in
strengbh to only 1'4 deputies of the pre~war Slova,k representation in the Prague Parliament, six of them being
Communists, four Social Democrats, and four others.
Now, after haiving assured the mo!Ilopoly of political
re,presentation for themselves, the Communist and pro~
Soviet "Democrat" fa.c tions agreed upon a spo.ils system
exipressed in the form of a 50-50 share in the political
aJff~irs of Slovakia. In this way the political irufl:uence of
the Communists increased, in comparison with the year
1935, from 10 to 50 percent, and that of the pro...Soviet
"Democrntic" faction from 13 to 50 percent. Afthough this
50--50 relation 'between the two factions was corrected
by the elections of May 26, 1946, in favor of the "Democrats" who, 'becauS€ of the exdusion of other traditional
,parties, gained 62 .p ercent of all voters in SlovaJkia, while
the Communists got only 30 percent, the actual influence
of the Communist Party did not diminish at all. From the
outset the Communists had taken oiver the Commissariat
of Interior, including the Police; o;f EducatiOIIl; and of Industry, together with other key ,p ositions in the administration Oif Slovakia. They also retained the chairmanship of
the Board of Commissioners, i.e., the regional g01vernment
for Slo:vaikia.
MeaI11Whhle the Sovietizaition of Czecho~Slovaikia was
progressing in every field of Government activity: In the
field of industry, President Benes, ever olbedient to the
Communi,s ts, nationalized the main branches of industry
by Decrees Nos. 100, 102 and 103 of October 28, 1945, and
this without any consultation with the nation - mines,
1
70
SLOVAKIA
100 percent; steel industry, 100 percent; sugar production,
80 percent; electricity, 73 percent; chemical industry, 72
percent; metallurgy, 68.5 percent; glass industry, 65 percent; leather, 53.5 percent; gas, 50 percent; textiles, 47
percent; ceramics, 46.5 percent; pruper industry, 4'5.5 percent; distilleries, 31.5 percent; breweries, 27.5 percent;
clothing, 25 percent; mills, 14 percent; food, 9 percent;
wood industry, 8 percent.
By these acts the IIlum!ber of wor.kers in the nationalized sector ,b ecame 570,000, whereas only 430,000 working
people fell within the field of private industry.
ln the field of education all the schools were nationalized by decree of the Slovalk National Council (No. 34,
dated May 16, 1945). Decree No. 47 of 1945 comiscated
the property of pri:viate schools, without compensation.
By decree of the Slovak National Council • (No. 33 of
May 15, 1945) the following institubions of political justice
were created: Oommunit,y and <list.riot "people's courts"
and a national court in Bratislava. The legal task of these
courts was to judge war criminals, but their political pmpose was to get rid of the -p olitical adversaries of the two
factions in power, under the pretext of collaboration with
Germany.
The political character of this distorted justice was
determined by three circumstances :
1. According to article 42 of Executive Decree No. 55
Board of Commissioner s, dated June 5, 1945, the
the
of
memlbers of these courts were to be ruppoinrted by the two
political ,parties in power.
2. These courts, disregarding the classiical principle
nulla poena, sine lege, were made component to decide
upon cases which were not punishable according to the
Penal Code.
3. This legislation introduced the principle of collective guilt and collective :responsilbility.
4. Art.i.cle 5 of Decree No. 33 of May 15, 194!5, provided
for labor camps, which were estaJblished through Executive
Decree No. 105 of August 23, 1945. According to the provisions of article 2 of this last decree, the following cate-
SLOVAKIA
71
gories of persons were to be sent to lrubor camps:
a. Those sentenced by the "ipeople's courts";
b. Tho,s e whose activities were a threat to "the people's demoeratic regime," public security, puib1ic peace and
order, rpulblic nutrition and the reconstruction o:f economic
life; or those who were enemies of the state or conspirators against it;
c. Those who· do not work;
d. Those who declined to do the work assigned to them
within the framework of laibor duty.
'5. No plea was admissible agaiinst the act of indictment; the defendant did not have a free choice in selecting
his defender; no ·a ppeal was granted to a sentenced de. fendaJI11t.
6. Sentences to imprisonment usually involved the
confiscation of the ded'endant's property.
It 4, ruppropriate to add here tha,t before being .brought
to· trial the "traitors," "Fasci.Sits," "collaJborationists," and
"unreliable persons" were entirely at the memy of their
indictor~. There was no impartial court, as the grand jury
in America, to examine into the basis of an accusation.
This was an era of arlbitrary indictments and personal
revenge.
By its decree No. 5,1 of May 2, 1945, the Sloivaik Natiooal Council dissolved in Slorvakia all assodations, except for those few which were eixipressly exempted from
thls general ,p rovision. Freedom of the press, of assembly,
and other human rights were likewise a;bolished.
E. The "Coup de Force" of November 1947 in Slovakia
All these measures were aimed at the weakening of
traditional political forces and the estaiblishmenrt of an exclusively Communist power. For a long time the leading
personalities of the Sloivak Democratic Party, such as Joseph Lettrich, Jan Ursiny, Matej Josko, Martin Kvetko,
Stephen Koovara, etc., did not know whether they should
remain loyal to their "gentleman's agreement" of 1945 with
the Communists or follow the anti-Communist line orf the
great ma;j.ority of the Slwak people. Finally they decided
SLOVAK.IA
72
to remain loyal to their agreements with the Communist s.
Instead of getting .r id of the Oommunist s, as would have
been normal for a party which had won 62 percent of all
the votes of SlovaJkia, the "Democrat s" did not alb.andon
the principle of the National Front G01Vernment. This
loyalty was to prove their fatal undoing later on.
In Selptemlber 1947, under the pretext of having disc01Vexed a conspiracy a,gainst the governmen t in the Democratic Party, the Communist s decided to liqUJidate this party. Jan Kempny, Milos iBugar, and Joseph St8!sko., three
deputies of the Catholic wing of this party, were imprisoned, as well as a,bout 2,000 other Slova\k patriots. Thereafter the Communist s organized demonstrat ions against
" . . . the reactionari es hidden within the Democratic Party." In this violent dispute between the two political parties in Slo vaJkia, the Ozech-1Soci alist block - i.e., the Communists, the Social Democrats , and the National Socialists
of Benes - representin g togeither 18'5 deputies (93 plus 37
plus 55) out of the 300 in the Prague Parliament , threw
their weight on the side of the Slovak Communis ts (23
deputies) and against the Democratic Party (43 deputies).
The Czech Catholics ( 44 deputies) remained undecided.
There was only one honora,ble way to prevent the constant intewenUo n of Prague in the internal affairs of Slova!kia, name ly, to proclaim the inde pendence of Slovakia.
Instead of doing that, Joseph Lettrich, chaimnan of :the
Slovaik Demooratic Party, gave his consent to further
limitatio!Ils on the politi>Cal preirogative s of his own party.
1
After a visit of Klement Gottwald to Bratislava, the
Democratic Party was relegated on Novemlber 18, 1947,
to a minority status in the regional governmen t of Slova1kia. Out of 15 seats there, it retained only 7, while the
triumphant Communist bloc got 8: The Communist Party
itself (including the chairman), 5; the Wreedom Party, 1;
the Social Democratic La,bor Pairty, 1; and the last seat
fell to General M~kttlas Ferjencik, "the neutral Oommis,s ioner of the Interior," playing in fact into the hands of
the Communist s. Such a hll!IIliliating change would have
been impossi!ble without a Czech coup de force in SloV3Jkia.
SI.IOVAKIA
73
Having thus eliminated the greatest obstacle from the
way of their ambition for exclusive power, the Czech Marxist rbloc (includ!ing 56 percent of aU Czech voters of 1946
and 130 deputies (93 Communists and 37 Social Democrats) out of 23,1 corresponding to the Ozec<h area) was
finally able, on February 25, 1948, to, peacefully consolidate
its position and, by eliminating the Czech Catholics and
National Socialists, to pass over from the priniciple od' the
National Front Gorvernment to a sheer Communist dictatorshilp.
Conclusion
As a conolusion to this statement, I wish to repeat
that I welcome this. opportunity of finally putting the
events which took place in Ozecho-iSlovia'k ia between 19451948 in the pro.per historical light. It is with regret that I
must state. that neither of the two congressional documents dealing with the Communist subjtu gation of CzechoSlovakia - i.e., House Document No. 154, part I, on The
Coup de Force in Prague, pulblished in 1,9 49 by the Foreign
Affairs Committee, and DoCIU!Illent No. 70, pa,rt 4, on internal tensions in Ozecho-,Slovalkia, recently pulblished by
the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate (July 1954),
contain aipproprfate facts and analyses of the acts of
Commun.ist aggression committed during that period in
Slovrukia.
(Wa,s hington, D. C., December 3, 1954).
fflE TESTIMONY OF FATHER ANTON BOTEK
Mr. Kersten. 'Dhe hearings will come to orde•r .
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Anton Botelk, is
that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were fOl'!Illerly director of Catholic Action in Slo:vahla, is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTi:gue. fa it true you were in prison a total
number of seven times?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Imprisoned by the Communists.?
Father Botek. Yes.
74
SLOVAKIA
Mr. iMcTigue. From 1945 to 1949?
Father Botek. No, from 1949 till 1950.
Mr. McTigue. When did the Communists occupy SlovaFather Botek. In 1944.
kia, Father?
Mr. McTigue. Norw, Father, tell us something a!bout
the f,i ght to !keep the Catholic schools open in 1945 and
1946 following the Communist occupation.
Father Botek. As early as 1944, during the 1944 CommUJili.st uprising in SlovaJkia, the so-,ca,lled Slovakian National Council was concerned with the abolition of all
church-Operated school,s.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aJbout the
tactics of the Communists used to destroy the organizations of the church?
Father Botek. At first they rubolished all Catholic
Church operated schools; then they disbanded all Catholic associations, and fina:lly they sll!ppressed the Catholic
press.
Mr. McTigue. Slo:v akia is predominantly Catholic in
Father Botek. Yes.
religion, is tihat right, Father?
Mr. McTigue. What are the percentages of Catholics
in Slo;vakia?
Father Botek. Eighty-two ,p ercent are Catholic.
Mr. McTigue. Is there anything you can tell us, Father, rubout the so-called elections in 1946 in Slovaikia?
F1a:ther Bote:k. As early as 1944, there were only two
political .p arties admitted; that is, the Communist Party
and the so-.c alled Slovaikiian Democratic Party. .The Slovakian Democratic Party denied any political party that
would be able to defend their rights by democratic method.
Mr. MoTigue. Wasn't there some agreement between
the Slova1kian bishops amd the Democratic Party, Father?
Father Botek. Since there was no political representation of Slovakian Catholics, the Sloviakian bishops and
clergy tried to find means by which Slovitkian Catholics
could exipress their political will. This was necessary especially since the Communasts were anxious to win the sympathies of the Slovakian people. The Communists tried to
use, especially, the Sloivakian Nation's. feelings for their
1
SLOVAKIA
75
pu~ses and they suggested to the SlovaJkian people the
creation of an independent SlovaJkian State after the end
of World War II. This, howerver, wasn't approved by Mos~
cow. Therefore, the Commurusts tried to achieve a selfrule for ISlovaJkia within the frame of the Czecho...Slovakian
Re,pulblic and they finally succeeded in it; this was then
inco:riporated into the so-called
Kosice agreement concluded in 1945.
The Communists also tried to win the sympathy and
support of SlovaJkian Oathol.ics, promising the former members of the CathoJic Slova;kian People's Party tha;t they
woU!ldn't be punished for their wrur-time activities if they
joined the Communist Party. They also wanted some priests
for their policies; for instance, a certain priest, Joseph
Straka, who was previously suspended from his office b,y
his bishop because of irregularities in administration. The
bishOipS foribade Catholic priests to make any canvassing
prior to the 1946 elections and the Catholic priests were
also fonbidden to be candidates for any political party in
those elections. Father Straka, however, disobeyed this
order of the Catholic bishops and made .propaganda for
the Communist Party in winning Catholics for that party.
He promised Slovakian Catholics that the Com1rm.11n.ist
Party would guarantee complete religious freedom to CathoJics and he issued also several ~itten statements to
the peoiple, one of which I am in position to furnish to this
committee. The Slovafidan people, however, didn't let themselves be misled by the Communist propa;ganda and they
trusted the bishops because they knew their a;ttitude toward the Communists was the only correct one, since the
bishops warned them agaiinst the Communists even during
the time Oif Worlld War fil. Therefore, we tried to find some
cooperation with the Democrati:c Party of Slovakia, which
was not at least Communist, even tho.ugh this party was
also coresponsilble for the fact that the Communists were
aJble to penetrate SloiV'a!kia. The Catholics were es'peci'ally
indignant aigainst the Democratic Barty of Slova1cia ~
cause they rug-reed to the confiscation of 1,800 elementary
schools and 80 schools of higher grade which were prevfo:us..
ly operated by the Catholic Church, because this conifisca1
76
SLOVAKIA
tion took place. i,n 19'115, at the time when the commissioner
for education was the chairman of the Democratic Party,
Dr. Joseph Lettriich, T.he so-called "Democrats," however,
became aware of the great pressure, and the great activities developed by the Communists and therefore they
also, on their part, tried to win su>ppo•r t of the Catholic
population of SlovaJkia for themseJves. At tha,t time we
Catholics still conducted negotiations with both the Communists and the Democratic Pa·:rity since we still hoip ed that
we would be aJble to achieve from the Communists the admission of a Catholic Party to be on the other side.
There were also preparations made for an ag,r eement
with the Democratic Party. The Communists, during the
negotia.tions, always applied the tactics of postponement
of a final decision. They made indications that they might
be inclined ·to admit, if not an ex,plicity Catholic party but
a P'arty which would at least, to some extent, aP\peal to the
Catholic population of Slovaikia. However, it soon became
apparent that no agreement could be reached with the
Communists. Therefore, on the 30th of March, 1946, we
concluded an agreement with the Democratic Party of
SlovaJkia. In this agreement, the Democratic Party of SlovaJkia pledged itself to admit Catholics as candidates on
their list of candidates in the 1946 elections. When the
Communists realized this they qtlliokly allowed another
party, which was called the Freedom Pa,rty and of which
they claimed this was a Catholic party. In this party there
were several good Catholics, even such persons who previously part-icilpated in the negotiations with the Democratic Party, but the chief leaders of that party couldn't
be trusted. The Communists also made propaganda or encouraged voters to cast inrvalid votes beca:UJSe they calculated that Slovakians who• disrug,reed both with the Communist and Democratk Pa!r ty would prefer to cast invalid
votes which then would diminish the percentage of votes
received by the Democratic Party. These irnvalid votes
were. generally referred to as "white ballots" because they
were plain slips ()If ,paper. This oppovtunity to use these white
ballots was voted in the Parliament prim· to the elections,
and the Communists and the representative s of the Free-
77
SLOVAKIA
dom Party were in favor of this policy. Then it became ob.viou:s thalt the Fireedom Party was merely a pwppet party
under control orf the Communist s. We therefore started
,pmpagand a among the Catholics to vote for the Democratic Party.
We couldn't deve1orp this propaganda publicly, hut we
r equested Slovakian bishops to issue a statement to the Slovalkian voters. In this statement orf the bishops, Caltholics
were called upon to vote according to their Christian conscience; they we<re forihidden to vote for an undemocra tic
party which would .not admit religious freedom and they
were called upon to vote for the party wh~,ch would guarantee demncratic freedom. This statement clearly indicated thalt SlovaJkiam. CathoUcs were foiibidden to vote in
favor of the Communist Party but it still was necessary
to instruct the Slovakian Catholics that it ,w asn't good for
them to vote for the Freedom Party either. Therefore, a
statement was included in this aipipeal by the bi shops stating that it was not true; that the rumors were not true
which stated that the Slovakian bishops joined the Freedom Party and that they were inclined to vote for that
party. Those :mimors we.re spread by the Communis t Party
and hy the Freedom Party. Copies of this proclamati on oif
the bishops were sent to all iparish priests; it was also published in the Catholic press and we had couriers talking
them personally to each priest. As a result of this campaign, the Democratic Party won in the 1946 elections and
receiived 61 ½ percent of all votes cast. HO!Wever, we found
out that the Democratic Party didn't de.fend the interests
of the Slovakian Catholics and that this ,p arty even failed
to defend its own memlbers of Parliament who were Catholics. The Oomnmniirst-controlled Commissio n of the Interior in SlovaJkia had arrested the leaders of the Catholic
group within the Pairliame.nrt who were members of the
Democratic Party. In the a,greement reruohed between the
Catholic representati v,es and the representat ives of the
Democratic Party, the Democratic Pat-ty pledged itself, or
guaranteed to, Catholics that the schools would be returned to. the Catholiircs ag·a:in and that the press would
also be allowed, as well as Catholic organrzatio ns. How1
78
SLOVAKIA
ever, the Democratic Party failed to honor these promises
and in arguments with the Communists they always
yielded to the Communist demands in order to avoid personal troubles with them. Therefore, Catholics decided to
take up direct negotiations with the Government itself in
order to defend their rights.
Bishop Jantausch persona1ly called on the chairman
of the Board of Commissioner s in Slovakia trying to achieve
the fulfillment of the promises given by the Democrats
and the guarantees for the democratic rights of Catholics. However, he failed to achieive any results. I accompanied him on his visits to the Communist Commissioner
HusaJk, and the Communist Commissioner Viktory, and
neither of these two ever agreed to any concessions to the
Catholics. Then a commission was. introduced which was to
find a solution of all ,pr01blems of the Catholics. In this
commission, representative s of the Communist Party were
Husak and Novomesky, and the representative s of the
Demooratic Party were Filo and Frastacky. On the part of
the Catholics, the representative s were Bishop Lazik, Cannon Cvincek, Carnogursky, and myself. The pro!blems to
be solved were the reesta!blishme nt of church-Operat ed
schools, a free Catholic press, admission of Catholic organizations, discontinuatio n of inhuman deportations of the
Germans and Hungarians from Slovakia, confiscation of
property and cancellation of work on Sundays. This commission convened only twice in the winter of 1947, but no
results were achieved. In 1945 the Communists abolished
the following Catholic organizations : Organization of Catholic women, with a memlbership of 100,000; the Organization of Catholic Men, with 30,000, and the Association
of Catholic Youth, with a membership of 50,000.
Mr. MoTigue. In 1948, is it true that the central office of Catholic Action, of which you were director, was
liquidated and you were arrested?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. What were you charged with when you
were arrested, Fathoc?
Father Botek. The Central Catholic Bureau received
SLOVAKIA
instructions from the Catholic bishops to taJke over all
acti,v ities previously carried out by the Catholic Action.
However, we were aware of the fad that all organrizations didn't haive a legal background, a legal footing, and
therefore any acttvities developed by this organization
oould be stopped by the Communists any time they wanted.
The activitie.g of the Central Bureau, the Catholic Action
Bureaiu, were carried on with a great risk. I knew I was
collSltantly shadowed by one or two secret policemen and
that offic:ially all persons who entered the offices of our orgaruza.tions were super.vised by the· Communists. Instances
happened that visitors at or1.1r office were then apprehended
by these policemen, searched, beaten Uip , and adivised to
omit further visits to our bureau. Therefore, we were
anx,ious to keep our activities in the field of the Cathohl.c
Action strictly within the limits of religion a,nd not to mix
in any political aspects. Nevertheless, the Communists
didn't permit our activities and on December 7, 1948, eigiht
Communist po1icemen inivaded our bureau and declared
that our organization was disbanded and that the 'b,ureau
had to be closed dQIWiJl. The employees at the bureau we.r e
sent to a room where they were searched while, in the
meantime, in the ibwreau itself, all documents were
searched by the Communist police. This search la,s ted from
8 o'clook in the morning until evening hours, but finally
the employees of the bureau were released to their homes,
and I was t aiken by the police to my apartment which also
was searched by the police. The office rooms of the bureau were then sealed by the Communist police. 1:'he Communists then entered the office rooms of the Catholic bureau twice more and also, I, myself, was twice investigated by the pol,ice. Likewise, my assistant at the bureau
was investigated by the police.
On the 29th of January 1949, three policemen oame
to my apartment at 6 :30 o'clock in the · morning and intended to ta ke me to. the police station. At that time I was
just saying my daily Mass and I was notified that the
policemen were waiting for me. I could escrupe, but I decided aga,inst this, because I suspected that I would discredit, by esca,ping, the Central Catholic Bureau and also
1
80
SLOVAKlA
the Slovakian bishops. I was taken to the police station
at Bra:tislav and held for seven days U1I1der very poor conditions. The iinrvestigators tried to force me to confess
that I had connections with the Western Powers, that I
engaged in espionage activities, and that I develO!I)ed subversive activities against the Peoiple's Democratic regime
in Ozecho-iSlO!Vak.ia. They didn't have any evidence a,gainst
me and, therefore, the]' tr8.lllsferred me to the regional
court's prison where they held me for another five months
pending investigation. At the end of these five months,
my foI1IDer assistant at the Catholic Bureau, as well as
the expert for pastoral activities in the border areas, were
released and I was put on trial. Since they couldn't produce any evidence in support of the charges that I wo:riked
for foreign powers and that I engaged in espionage activities, they forced a student to testif,y against me, that I
knew of his espionage activities and failed to reiport this
to the police. For this offense I was sentenced to seven
months' imprisonment. On July 7, 1'949, I was transferred
to the Leopoldov penitentiary b.eca:use, at the time the
Communists organized their so-called CathoHc Action,
which was controlled by them, many Catholics who supported the genuine Catholic Action were imprisoned, so
that the prisons were crowded. I served the rest of my
term at LeO!poldov and on the 28th of August 1949 I was
released. I was in poor health as a result of my imprisonment and, therefore, I had to go to a hosip ital, but after
a month I myself requested to ibe assigned to a small parish so as to disappear from the eyes od' the Communists.
Mr. McTigue. Was this in 1950, Father?
F,8 /ther Botek. 1949. While at this small parish, we were
preparing an ecdesiastical sermon and at this time a local
Communist called on me and requested me, pleaded with
me, that I shouldn't launch any attacks against Communists in my sermon, bec3/Use he stated he was charged with
my suI1veillance and was to report everything on me, including that whicih I told in my sermons, and he stated
he was a Catholic, too, and was the father of eight children he couldn't refuse this Communist order to spy on me
and on the other hand, if another .person would be given
SLOVAKIA
81
the same instructions, this other person could do harm
to me. When I was approximatel,y two months at this
par,ish, the local chairman of the Communist Party called
on me and notified me that I was swpposed to report at
the district national committee for some discussion. I
was afraid, however, that this was just a triok and that
people were previously sentenced on charges of underground activities and were sent to forced-.JaJb.or camps even
after they had served their terms imposed by the courts.
However, the Communists are very cautious while proceeding against Catholic priests since the parishioners defended their ,priest$ against arrest and there were clashes
between the population and the Communist police who a,r rived to arrest Catholic priests, especially at the time when
the Communists started their own sponsored Catholic Action. There.fore, they endeavored to lure our parish priests
fronn their parishes and to arrest them at a place where
such resistance by local parishioners couldn't be offered.
TherefoiI'e, I decided not to report at the district national
committee and await my arrest at the parish office, and
on the same day the police arrived and took me to a
forced-labor camp at Nova:ky
My parishioners protested against my arrest; however,
they didn't put up any ·physical resistance since they already experienced that such resistance was followed by
arrests of hundreds of innocent people and that it still was
to no avail because the pTiests were always eventuaUy arrested. I could tell you about conditions there, albout my
experiences which I had at that time when I was held at
the Bmtisl8'va County jail. At that time there were members at least of ten underground groups held at that prison. When I had an opportunity to talik to them, I asked
how they became involved in underground activities and
how it happened that they were arrested since there were
always rubout 50 persons from each group arrested. Most
of these for.mer members of the undengr.ound groups stated
that there was always a Communist spy planted by the
Communists within their organizations, and that this Communist spy even encouraged them to develop underground
activ:ities which he then reported to the Communist police.
82
SLOVAKIA
I realized that the Communists had put under sur:veill~e
all people whom they suspected might engage in underground activ-ities and if they failed to find anything, any
underground actiivities, they encouraged such people to
develop such activities, and be.fore a group could actually
start its undeirground activities, the spy denounced them
to the police and the memJbers of the group were arrested.
In 1,9 49, the Communists realized that they were U!Ilaible to
win the Catholic bishops for their puriposes; therefore,
they decided to organize their o,w n Catholic Action. They
coTI1Vened a meeting of the so-<:aJled representaUves of the
Catholic Church in Prague on June 10, 1949. To this
meeting they invited several priests under false pretexts,
stating that this was to he a conference to negotiate and
discuss church pro1b lems. In addition, there were also several Catholic laymen invited to this meeting, who were
mostly mem!bers of the Communist Party but didn't play
any decisive role in the Catholic life, and the Communists
eventually declared this meeting as the new leadership of
the Catholic Action.
The Communists declared that since the Vatican was
against the people and since the bishops supported the
v ,a tican in this policy, they intended to leave to the Ohu:rch
only the spiritual care and admit only the kind of questions and morals that the Pope could rule in .the affairs
concerning the Catholic morals a:nd the· Catholic faith; but
all other religious· questions would be taken care of by this
Catholic Action. This evidently was an attempt by the Communists to seize control over the administration of the Catholic Church in Czecho-Slovakia. However, they real.ized
that they didn't haNe the sU1pport of the people. Therefore,
they initiated an aotion of signatures which were to be rutta,c hed by the entire population of C!zecho-Sloivakia, to a
memorandUllll issued by the rubove-mentioned meeting at
which this Communist Catholic Action was founded.
Branches of the Communist Party organization were entrusted with the carrying out of this signature action. They
convened meetings in towns and in viUages, and also at
wo:rikiplaces. at which the present people were called uipon
to put their signatu:re on the memorandum. The bishops,
SLOVAKIA
83
however, condemned this Catholic Action, and the Holy See
declared every person who would sign this memorandum as
excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
Mr. McTigue. Father, you were in a forced labor camp
in 1950; is that correct?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Did you get sick at that time and were
you sent to a hospital?
Father Botelk. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us very briefly something
about how the Communists treated the Sister,s at the
hospital?
Father Botek. A Communist order previously arrested
all nuns those who were nurses at hospitals because
there was a great laclk of trained nurses at the hospitals.
These nuns, however, who were left as nurses at the hospitals, were e~posed to various Communist chicaneries.
That was done by Communist functionaries at the hospital, by Communist doctors, and men, and assistants.
They were called upon to renounce their mernlbership in
their religious orders and to become civilian nurses. The
Communists tried to Lure · the younger nuns with a promise that if they agreed to renounce their membership in
the religious order, tihey would be permitted to go to a
university without any previous education, which was
otheIWise required from university students. This was the
same pattern as was rupplied in the case of young Communist woI'kers who also were admitted to university studies without adequate education and just attend a short
preparatory course. Except for a few exceptions, most of
these nuns refused the Communist demands and so the
Communists started to remove the nun nur,ses from hospitals.
MT. McTigue. When did you learve Slovrukia, Father?
Father Botek. On the 26th of June 1951.
Mir. McT,~giue. Did you have any trouble in getting out
of SlQIVakia?
Father Botek. I made a previous attempt to escrupe.
At that time we were a group of 22 escapees. However,
84
SLOVAKIA
this escrupe mdn't succeed and. so I had to try it a second
time, at which time we were only four escapees and we
succeeded in crossing the border.
,M r. McTigue. Your present assignment at this time
is in Rome; is that correct, Father?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Busby. Father Botek, we know that communism
is opposed to all religions, but I think the comm~ttee might
like t-0 know how successful the Communists were in their
efforts to infiltrate and to destroy the Catholic religion
in SlovaJkia.
Father Botek. Previously, when I still was at the Central Catholic Bureau, we intercepted a secret Communist
instruction in continuing a Commumst plian for destruc,tion
of the Church and for its seizure and control. Under these
instructions, the indirvidual phases were to be the following: At first the ibishops of the Catholic Church in Czecho-,Slova:kia were to be separated from the Vatican; the
second step was to be. that the bishops were t-0 be discredited in the eyes of the priests, as well as of the laymen Catholics, and finally, the last phase was to be the
separation of the Catholic laymen from their priests.
IMr. Busbey. Now, that leads ri,ght up to my question.
Up until the time you left Slovakia, and from yOIUI' own
personal olbservation, h ow successful was this plan of the
Communists?
Father Botek. They succeeded in accomplishing the
first oibjective; that is, to separate the Catholic Church in
Czecho'"'Slorvrukia from the Vatican. They expelled the Annuncias from the Vatican to Ozech0-Slovakia so that contacts of Ozecho-iSl01Vakian authorities with the Vatican
were interrupted. Nevertheless, the Catholics in OzechoSlovaJkia remained faithful to the Vatican, to the Holy See.
However, they failed in achieving their second olbjective.
to make the Catholic bishops bend to their demands and
to have them - to maJke them tools in the propagation of
communism in Slovakia. Therefore, the Communists ,pliaced
a commissary to each episcoipal office who was to taike
care that the bjsho,ps didn't have any contacts with the
SLOVAKIA
86
clergy and with the congregation. These Communist commissars controlled the in- and out-going mail; they controlled the visitors who intended to call on the bishops,
and admitted only those whom they considered harmless;
but even the talks of such visitors with the bishops were
monitored.
Mr. Busbey. Father, can you tell us aJbout the methods
and technics used by the Communists to indoctrinate the
pupils with the, theory of Marxism?
Father Botek. The Communists innoculated the Marxist ideology and way of thin'king to the pupils from the
very first grade of elementary school. When I was in hiding with a family who had an 8-year-old daughter, I overheard her tal!ks with her parents and I heard that this
girl was thinking in Communist terms and that her way
of thinking was completely inJfiluenced by the Communist doctrine.
Mr. Busbey. Father, do you agree with some of the
other witnesses we have heard, in the belief that if something isn't done in the immediate future and that if we let
the Communists ikeep on educating the real young boys and
girls, it will be more difficult, as time goes on, to defeat
this Communist march toward worrld revolution?
Father Botek. lt is a fact that the Communists have
had great successes in educating the very young people
in their ideology and the parents are almost unable to influence or to counteract against this Communist ideology
implanted inrto the chlldren because these children are instructed to report at school any attempts ,b y their parents
to dissuade them :13rom communism. Therefore, it is a fact;
that if communism is given enough time, that these youths
will become completely communistic and the Communist
strength will be increased.
Mr. Busbey. Can you give the committee any illustrations of the technics used by the Communists to make
the children believe in Stalin before he died, instead of God?
Father Botek. Yes, I saw the mrugazines for children,
for school-children, containing slogans such as "Stalin is
our sun; everything we haive, we've got from Stalin," and
86
SLOVAK IA
"Stalin is ouT benefac tor, Stalin is our greatest benefac tor,
Stalin is the greatest man, Stalin is the most beautifu l man."
Mr. Busbey. Father, are you qualified to. tell the committee how the Commu nists rocploited the economy of Slovakia?
Father Botek. In these economi c aspects, I am not
well versed; I only Olbse,r:ved thait there was a general lack
of all consum er goods and that the living conditio ns were
poor.
Mr. Busbey. WhiJe you were in prison, were you given
any consider ation at all because of the fact that you were
a member of the clergy?
Father Botek. This ,prdbaJbly was the case 'b ecause I
never was maltreat ed, never was beaten at interrog ations,
and I observe d that many fello•w prisoner s were beaten,
so that I prolbaibly enjoyed preferen tial treatme nt. This,
may!be, was due to the faot that there was still a trace of
Catholic faith in my investig ators so that they were reluctant to rai,se their hands aigainst me as a priest. I also
had the followin g experien ce. While I was in ,prison, a prison guard caime to me and asked me whether he should
give his signatur e to the Commu nist Ac~ion Manifes to.
IMT. Busbey. My final question ; do you lbelieve tha,t any
agreeme nt made with the Commu nists is worth the paper
it is written on?
Father Botek. From my e~perience, I had negotiat ions
with the Commu nists, I can sta:te thait the Commu nists
never honor their word thait they gave in such negotiations, and this is in accorda nce with their general policy
which goes that everyth ing is good that promote s the Communist cause, and therefor e I am convinced thait any negotiatio ns or any agreeme nts reached with the Communists are worthle ss.
Mr. Madden . Father Botek, you in your testimon y
haive covered very well your experien ces back over the
years with the Commu nist Party in Slovakia and the only
question I would like to ask is what percenta ge of the
populati on of Sloviahla today are Commun ists, true Communists at heart; what percent age: 5 percent; 10 percent; 20 ; or what would you say?
SLOVAKIA
87
Father Botclc. I thin!k that the percentage doesn't exceed 10 ,p ercent.
Mr. No71blad. Is the Voice of America or Radio Free
Europe listened to by many of the people in the area you
come from?
F1ather Botclc. While I was in hiding with several fa ..
milies in Slovakia, we frequently listened to the Voice of
America and Free EuTope programs. However, I heard
from these ipeople many objections against the spirit of
those programs beamed to Ozecho-.S1ovaJkia.
Mr. Nor.blad. What were the dbjoctions, generally, in
Slovakia? I am refemnig to the conditions in Slovakia.
Father Botek. The objections were mainly of a national and religious nature. The Slavaikian peqple are a
very religious people. They are 82 percent Catholics and
13 pereent Protestants, who also are active Protestaints.
Therefore, programs promoting ideas of a reformer, Jan
Huss, or the religious ideas of Masaryk and the other socalled free thinlkers, are not appeaJ.ing to the Sl01Vakian
population.
Ma-. Noy,blad. Do they believe the world news, the
straight news given on those programs?
Father Botek. Well, the Slovallcian people listen eagerly to the news broadcasts by the Voice of America. However, once OT twice I .w itnessed the following incident. Slovakian listeners who listened to the program of the Voice
of America, said, after the news was over, just said, "Well,
turn it off because the news is over and they are now
going to stam their propaganda for the Czech Republic
and we do not want any Oze<!h Republic."
Mr. Norblad. Do you feel that the radio broadoasts are
doing some good behind the Iron Curtain?
Father Botek They certainly are of great use and
great efficiency but this efficiency would still be greater
if the rest of the pro.grams, except for the news, was also
adjusted to those two major feelings of the Slovakian
popufation, the religious feelin:g and the national feeling.
Mr. No:rlblad. Do you get the programs clearly or are
they j&mmed by the Soviets?
88
SLOVAKIA
Father Botek. The programs are being jammed but
on la11ger radio sets they still can be received and if the
transmission is jammed on one wave, on one b,and of the
radio,, it may ,be still tuned in on another one.
Mr. Feighan. There is, is there not, a very strict feeling of healthy nationalism within Slovakia?
Father Botek. Yes.
Mr. Feighan. And that of course. is the reason why
there has been some resentment to the broadcasts?
F1ather Botek. Yes. I also heard comments by listeners to the Radio Free Europe, and Voice of America programs to ·the effect that in spite of the fact that there are
almost one million SlO'Vitk immigrants in the United States,
who ha.ve their own homes there and national life in the
United States, these programs do not bring any reports on
the activities developed by these Slovak organi~atrons in
the United States; they only bring reports. of aotivities
of organi•z ations which are not sympathetic to the Slovak
people and, therefore, the Slova!kian population, in order
to learn of the activities of the Slov:ak organizations in
the United States, tune in on Radio Rome, which also
beams SlO'Vakian programs.
Mr. Feighan. Well, it is a pity that the pe-o:ple within
Slovak,ia are not acquainted with the tremendous contribution of the Slovakian immigrants to the culture and ciivic
development of our cotmtry. l!"'ather, would y;ou relate. in
a U.ttle more detail, if you are familiar with the fact that
the Communists in 1948, I believe, offered Slovakia the
opportunity to ·b ecome a Slovak S01Viet Republic?
Fiather Botek. That was actually in 1944 and 1945,
not in 1948. At that time this policy was promoted by the
S]pvaikian Communists, Husak and Novomesky. However,
Moscow disapproved. of this policy and, therefore, the
Slovakian Communists had to put up with Czecho-Slovakia, within which SlO'V•a!kia was to have broad autonomy,
self-rule.
Mr. Feighan. Was it no,t the Slo¥ak Government that refused rather than Moscow's refusing?
Father Botek. Naturally the Slovak Government was
SLOVAKIA
89
opposed to this idea since it was a Catholic Government.
Mr. Feighan. Well, you've got it both ways; now there
is only one way.
Flather Botek. I would like to explain this apparent
discrepancy. This was due to the fact that there was in
1944, there was a Sl,QIV'a)ldan Govemment of an independent Slovakian State which to some extent - whose sovereignty was to some extent restricted by Germans. When
the Communists started their wprising, in August 1944,
they tried to arouse the sympathies of the SlOIVa:k people
with promises of an independent Slovakian State but
within the framework of the S01Viet Socialist Repulblic. Rusruk and N ovomesky were leading organizers of the wprising in 1944. This policy of the Slovakian Communists,
however, was disapproved by Moscow.
Mr. Feighan. Is it not true thait because of the spirit
of healthy nationalism within Slovrukia that the Slovak
people would not accept the offer to be a part of the U. S.
S. R., ~a,use they knew that such a so-.called independence of Slo,vaikia would be national in structme only, but
in su!bstance it would be socialistic?
Father Botek This is possible. This is possilble, but
President Booes, who was at Moscow at that time, persuaded the Moscow leaders to drop that idea; and he made
also great concessions to the Russia,ns so that they considered it more profitruble for them to hruve a CzechoSlovak Republic rather than a small Slovakian Repulblic.
Mr. Feighan. F'ather, did thi s Communist Catholic Action still function between that time of its first meeting
in June 1949 until you left in Jll!Ile of 1951?
Father Botek. This Communist- sponsored Catholic
action prorved to be a complete failure. They still held an
anniversary meeting the following year but they didn't
celebra,te the foundation of thls Catholic Action in the
third year any more.
Mr. Kersten. I hope you understand, Father, that all of
ourr questions are asked in the spirit of inquiry regarding
the Communist aggression upon Slovakia. That is our
overall purpose, and thank you, Father, for the testimony.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
1
90
SLOVAKIA
TESTIMONY OF FATHER STEFAN NAHALKA
(The witness wa:s sworn. The same interipreter was utilized as for the previous witness.)
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Father Stefan N ahal!ka, is
Father Nahalka. Yes.
that correct?
Mr. McTigue. Were you born in Slovakia?
Father N ahalka. Yes.
Mir. McTigue. Were you ordained a priest in Slov,aJkia?
Father N ahalka. I studiied theology in Rome, so I was
ordained in Rome.
Mir. McTigue. And assigned to parish duties in Slovakia,
is that correct?
!Father Naha1ka. Since 1943, I was a'SSigned to duty in
Slovakia.
Mr. MicTigue. And at one time, Father, you were secretary to Bishop Vojtassa!k, is that correct?
Father Naha1ka. Yes, I was in that capacity from 1946
to 1949.
Mr. McTigue. Do you recall the uprising, so-called,
Father Nrahalka. Yes.
in Slovakia?
Mr. McTigue. When did the t11prising taike place?
Flather NahaLka. At the place in which I resided, the
uprising started on the 26th of August 1944, when this
town was occupied by Communist guerillas.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something aborut what
the guerillas did in that town?
Father Nrahalka. At that time I was chruplain at the
town of Ruio:miberoik and during the firist days of the
Communist uprising, the relbels forced the popll!lation, the
men in tha;t town, forcibly to join the rebel army even
though they were completely disiruterested and even opposed to the uprising. They also committed grave atroci~ies. In a valley called Podsucha, they murdered over 80
innocent people and buried them in a mass grave. In a
nea'Iiby village, the partisans mwdered without any connection with the military, a Catholic priest named Martin:ko. In the Lupca valley, the Communist guerillas tortured to death there a Catholic priest named Seda; they cut
SLOVAKIA
91
stri!Ps of hi,s skin from his back and finally even cut off
his genitals. Since the population was not in favor of the
uprising, the rebels used this deceptive propa,ganda to wm
the sympathles of the popul ation. To this end they spread
the rumor,s that the president of the Slovakian R~Ulbl,ic,
Dr. Tiso, was arrested and de1p orted by the Germans and
that, therefore, Slovrukia should arise.
Mr. McTigue. Father, in 1949, did each b:i,shop have a
political commissar assigned to him so that he could watch
over the bishop's activiities?
FaJther Naha1ka. In 1949, when the negotia,tions between the Communists and the Slovakian bishops broke
down, the Communists placed Communist commissars into
every ibishop's oftfice and they also placed one commissar
into Bishop Vojtassa:k's oft:Eice, who was a young Communist, ,a former tailor. He was approximately 24 years old
at that time, and t'here was aJil'Other Co:mmun,ist placed in
the main entrance to the ,b ishop's office who chooked on all
visitors at the bishop's office. The. commissar opened: the
bishop's mail, in- and out...going, and overheard all conversations the bishop had with his visitors and also acoompanied him on ,a ll his trips,. He also seized control O'Ver the
files of the bishop's office and he tooik out items firom
those files.
Mr. McTigue. Were the rooms in the hishoip's home,
for example, wired ?
Father N ahallm. There were no microphones in the
rooms of the bishoip's office because the commissar wa,s
present at all conversations, ibut I know orf a case. when the
Communists placed microphones in the conference room
for the bishop's conferences.
Mr. McTi,g ue. Were you secretary to Bishop Vojtassa.k
in 1949?
Father Nahalika. Well, I was secretary to Bishop Vojta:ssaik until January 1'949 and afterwards I lived in the
'Vicinity of the bish0tp's residence, in the priest's seminary.
Mr. McTigue. Were you arrested by the Communists,
Father?
1
Fruther N ahalika. I was arrested in December 1945 and
held in imprisonment until January 1946.
1
92
SLOVAKIA
,Mr. McTigue. When did you leaive Slovakia, Father?
-Father Nahalk,a. llll May 1953.
Mr. McTigue. That is a little more than a year ago.
Did you hawe any difficulty in getting out of Slovakia?
FaJther Nahiallk,a. Well, the crossing of the bo,rder was
very difficult. At first we had to wait fo~ 14 days for run
opportunity, for a favnrruble time to cross the border and
we had to ~ very cautious while crossing to a :border area
in which the border g,u ards are authorized to fire at anybody whom they see, without warning and finally we h,ad
to cut through the barbed wire fences directly on the
border.
Mr. Madden. Father Nahallka, when Father Boteik was
testifying, he mentioned something regarding certain broadcasts thaJt were cormng over the Voice of . Arrnerioa and
Radio Wree Europe; do you know anything regarding the
broadcasts th·a t come 01Ver? Do you have any knowldge
on th-at?
Father Nahallka. I was in hiding f.or two years with
the viarious people from almost all social striafa and during
this time I had ample opportUillity to 1isten to foreign
broadcasts.
Mr. Madden. Oou:ld you tell us regarding your knowledge of the hmadcasts that come into, Slovaikia?
Father Nruha.1':ma. The people in Slovakia eaigerly listen
to democriaitic broadcasts. However, the preferences a.re
different and also the foreign broadcasts axe hOON'ily
jammed by the Communists. The people in Slovakia listen
to news broadcasts in the Slovak language by Riadio Free
Europe, Voice of America and also BBC in London; however, they disaigree on many aspects in the poJ.i;tical comments broadcast from these stations. They are opposed
to the political part of the program of those broad~asts
mainly beca'll'Se they realize that such programs do not
state the entire Communist case in Slovakia.
Mr. Madden. You mean anti-Communist?
Father Nahalka. Are not efficient enough to inspire
anti.Communist feelinig or to keep up the ainti-Communist
attitude of the population. This opposition to the programs,
93
SLOVAKIA
the poJitical programs of those stations is due to the fact
that they do not appeal to the national and religious fee~
ings of the Slovakians and a.iso from the ideological viewpoint, there are some oibjections, since they are sometimes very much alike with the Communist propaganda.
'.Dhey teJl people who know, in these broadcasts, there are
people who formerly collaiborated with the Communists
and they are now talking aib,out anti-Communists. For instance, the reports of the so~called Slovia,kian national uprising was a very, very - was a great mistake. At the
time when the transmitters were still in operation, people
in Slovakia eagerly listened to an illegal transmitter called
the Wlhite Legion transmitter and the people in Slo;vakia also :5requently listened to the religious programs
broadoost by Radio Vatican.
IMr. Madden. Do yoo think the programs broadcast
by the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe do any
good - I mean, against the Communists?
Father Nahalka. These broadcasts have their effects
in the line of anti-communism, but especially thr01Ugh their
news which they broadlcast. However, they could be still
more efficient if they adjusted their political programs
also to the needs and desires of the Slovak population.
(Munich, Germany, June 26, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JAN DOBROTKA
Mr. McTigue. You are a Slovak, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. ¥ es.
iMr. McTigue. And you were 'bom on OctOlber 20, 1913
at Dechtice, Slovakia, is that correct?
Mr. Dolbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. During the Communist occupation of
SlovaJkia you were a master sergeant in the SiN.B, socalled, which is known as the Bureau of Internal Security,
is that correct?
Mr. Dob:mtka. Yes, sir.
Mr. McTigue. And you were a uniformed master sergeant in the Buireau of Internal Security from 1947 to
1951, is that correct?
Mr. Dobrotka. That is right.
1
94
SLOVAKIA
Mr. McTigue. Was the Bureau of Internal Security
completely controlled by the Communists,?
Mr. DobTOtka. As of 194'8 it was completely under
Communist control.
Mr. M'CTigue. But you were a member of the Bureau
of Internal Security prior to the time that it was under
Communist control, isn't that correct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Yes.
Mr. McTigue. And you were required to stay on as
a member of the Bureau of Internal Security after the
Communists got control, is that corerct?
Mr. Ddbrotka. Well, I was automatically taken over.
Mr. McTigiue. After the Bureau of Internal Security
was taiken over by the Communists, did you from time
to time receive orders to arrest priests, to make house
searches, and so forth and so on?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, I received such orders.
Mr. McTigue. Were there many of such arrests made?
Mr. Dobrotka. Many wealthy farmers were arrested.
Mr. McTigue. Can you tell us something about the
orders that were given to suppress and liquidate the Slovak Democratic Party members and the Slovak League?
Mr. Dobrotka. As of 1948 memlbers of the Democratic
Party were removed from all leadmg positioos in the administraJtion. The Slovak League was completely liquidated
because the Communists considered this organization a
swbversive and reactionary organizati'on, because it wa3
supporteq by the Slovak Leagiue of America.
iMr. McTigue. Did you ever rec{:ive orde~s to give close
supervision to the activity of certain parish priests in
Slovakia?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I recei,v ed such orders.
Mr. McTigue. What kind of orders were they?
iMr. Dobrotka. We received such orders through channels from the government down to our posts and such
orders arrived in sealed envelopes and were classified as
secret, and we were instructed to open these eI1JVeloipes only
u:pon special order by telephone.
!Mr. McTigue. Who were the men that actually handed
SLOVAKIA
95
you the orders, were they uniformed Soviet police or were
they plain-clothes men?
Mr. Dolbrotka. These were members of the uniformed
police. They were my immedia,te superiors and they related these orders to me.
Mr. McTigue. Iif you were instructed under sealed orders to report on certain priests, what kind of reports did
you m0lke,?
Mr. Dobrotka. Under these orders we were to Sllipervise the sernnons of priests and to report periodically on
whether there were any political aspects in those sermons by priests.
Mr. McTigue. Did you ever report, for example, that
there was any political significance to what a priest
had to say?
Mr. Dobrotka. I <know I sulbmitted annual reports to
this effect, and I can state approximately 60 to 70 percent
of the memlbers of the SNB did not reporit any priests
to their superiors. This was also due to the fact that the
priests were aware of the fact that they were Slllpervised
by the police and, therefore, they avoided any political
speeches within their sermons.
Mr. MoTigue. Did the same kind of procedure, that is
reporting on their activities, apply to businessmen and
peasants and the PQpulace in general?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; we received such orders to supervise the activities of the entire population, especially to
observe whether the former mem!bers of the partially liquidated Democratic Party developed any underground
acti<vities.
Mr. McTigue. Were many priests arrested and interned at the time you were in the Bureau of Internal
Security?
Mr. Ddbratka. From the entire district in which I
was active there were approximately three cases of arrests
of priests, however, not a single priest was arrested in the
area under my jurisdiction.
Mr. McTigue. Tha,t is because you kept reporting
to your superiors that the priests were only talking to
God, is that correct?
96
SLOVAKIA
Mr. Ddbrotka. That is right; there was no reason for
their arrest.
Mr. McTigue. When did you manage to esca,pe from
SlorvaJkia?
Mr. Dobrotka. On Deoomlber 3, 1951.
Mr. McTigue. Did yiou haive any troUJble in getting out of
Slorvalcia?
Mr. Dobrotka. No; I did not have any tro'Ulble in
escaping.
Mr. McTigue. You are now a member of the Labor
Service unit at Bad Kreuznach?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kersten. Any questions?
Mr. Busbey. When did you ·become a mem!ber of the
Bureau of Internal Security? Is that the correct name?
Mr. Dobrotka. In 1938. At that time the name of my
headquarterrs was Provincial Command of Gendarmerie,
which was under the Minister of Interior.
Mr. Buskey. That was in 1938?
Mr. DOlbrotlra. Yes, in 1938, at which time Slovakia became an independent state.
Mr. Busbey. Were you a memlber of the Communist
Party at that time in 1938?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir ; at that time memibers of the
gendarmerie were fonbidden to become memlbers of any
political parties.
Mr. Busbey. In what year was, it that you assumed
your duties of reporting on priesrts?
Mr. Dabrotka. That was after February 1948, at the
time when the Catholic Action was started.
Mr. Busbey. You were a member of the Communist
Party at that time ?
Mr. Dobrotka. No, sir.
Mr. Busbey. Were you ever a memlber of the Communist Party?
Mr. Dobrotka. In March 1948 all members orf the SNB
in order to protect their own existence were forced to file
an application fur mem'bership in the COIIDmunist Party.
Mr. BUS1bey. In order to saive your life, you had to
become a member of the Communi'St Party at that time?
SLOVAKIA
97
Inter:preter. He became a memiber in March 1M8, but
your previous quesltion was whether he was a member in
February 1948.
Mr. Busbey. Did you attend church prior to March
1948?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes; I did. I am a practical Catholic
and I attended Mass every Sunday.
Mr. Bustbey. And how rubout after March 1948?
Mr. Do!brotka. After March 1948 I continued attending Mass regularly, however, we were aware that from
that time on we were under supervision by the Communists, particularly all our contacts with priests, with the
local priest, local teacher and local government officer
were suspicious, because these persons were considered as
reactionary, and our activities and connections with the people were supervised by Communists spies which were set
on us by the Communist Party.
Mr. Busbey. Would you agree with me that the greatest bulrwark ag,ainst communism, and the hope of the whole
world for e:venrual elimination of communism and for
world peace, is the fact that the people, not only behind
the Iron Curtain, 'b ut all over the world, will continue to
belie:ve in God?
Mr. DO!brotka. This I 'believe.
Mr. Buslbey. In other words, as long as the people have
a deep-seated, strong belief in God, we can be sure that
we will eventually eradicate communism from the earth?
Mr. Dobrotka. Yes. May this ha,ppen as soon as
possilble.
Mr. Bus•bey. Thank you. No further questions.
(The witness was excused.)
(,Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
THE TESTIMONY OF JUR DETVIANSKY
Mr. Det'Vianslky was called a:nd duly sworn and testified through the Slo,vak interpreter as follows:
Mr. McTigue. Your name is Jur Detviansky?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTigue And you were born on September 6, 1919,
98
SLOVAKIA
in Slovakia in the village of Ladomila, is that correct?
_Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. You were a recorder of vital statistics
in the town of Deitv:a until August 1950, is that correct?
Mr. DetvfanSlky. That is correct.
Mr. McTigue. This is the time, of course,, that Slovakia was under the Communist domination or occupation?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
iMr. McTigue. Later you were an administrative officer at Zvolen until Septemlber 1951, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir.
,M r. McTi,gue. Were you discharged from this office
by the Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. McTig,ue. Why?
Mr. Detviansiky. As a politically unreliable person.
Mr. McTigue. In your ,p osition you know something
about the quotas which were set for the farmers lby the
Communists, is that correct?
Mr. Detviansiky. Yes.
Mr. Kersten. Will you speaJk a little louder in Slovaik
and in English.
Mr. McTigue. How were these quotas set?
Mr. Detrviansky. The quotas were estalbJished for individual farmers in the presence of a representative of the
Communist Party. The •p rinci:p le for this establishment,
this prescrilbing of quotas, was· to prescribe those quotas
to wealthy farmers in such a manner that nothing would
be left for their own needs. This policy was aimed at desiroying the independenec of farmers and forcing them to
join the farmers' cooperative wh[ch would make them the
farmers dependent on the Communists. To the same end
also several other measures were taken by the Communists, such as, for instance, that all laJbor force was taken
away from the farmers and transferred to industrial
pul'p()ses.
Mr. McTigue. So it was impossible for these farmers, big and small, to meet the quotas imposed by the
Communists, is that correct?
,M r. Detvianslky. At first the farmers managed to
meet the delivery quotas because they helped each other
SWVAKIA
99
in tendmg the soil. But later this task became imposs~b'l.e
to fttlfill and famJ.ers rubandoned. their farms and/ or were
arrested for not ful£illing their deliivery quotas.
~- McTigue. Can you give any examples which you
know of from your own personal knowledge, of how some
of the peasants on small farims reacted to the quotas?
Mr. Debviansky. There were several instances, but the
most significant of them was that which occurred at
Detva-lKostolna. It was on: Decemiber 5, 1951, when a farmer named Jan Ba/bic from despair because of the hard
delivery quotas prescriibed to him 1knifed his three children, 1, 3 and 5 years old. His wife and two older children succeeded in escaping his desperate aJCt. He committed
this action of despair because he stated that since they
took aiway from him everything they should take away
also his family.
Mr. McTigue. When did you escape to the West?
Mr. Detviansky. In Decemlber 1951.
Mr. McTigrue. And you are now a caiptain in one of
the Labor Service COIJ:Il!pany units at Kaiserslautern , is
that correct?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes.
Mr. No:rlblad. Is the treatment which you harve been
receiving here aH you expected?
Mr. Detvfansky. Well, the treatment l received here
meets my expectations, however, I am dissatisfied with the
slow progress of the struggle rugainst the Communists and
I am impatient to return to my home country.
Mr. Norblad. Many of us are quite dissatisfied with
the progress of OUI' fight against communism.
Mr. Kersten. In other words I understrund you feel
that the men, the young men of Slovakia as well as the
people of the other captive nations that are in the free
world would like to try to help the people ibaok in those
countries and your country to regain their fireedom, is
that right?
Mr. Detviansky. Yes, sir, the sooner the better.
Mr. Kersten. And you likewise feel that the young
main back behind the Iron Curtain, even those under arms,
100
S!LOVAIHA
would if they have the Oipportunity help get rid of Communists?
Mr. Detviansky. As far as Slovakia is concerned, I
can srtaite that since I was previously an active army officer and knew the mentality of the Sl01Vakian soldiers, I
can state that 90 percent orf the Slova,kian young men
would use such an oipportunity.
Mr. Kersten. Thank you.
The witness was. excused.
(Munich, Germany, June 29, 1954).
When the Kersten Committee pwblished its findings,
the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the Slovak renegades the Lettrich "democrats" - and the Reds began to scream
"murder!" That, of course, is quite understandaJble. For
the ladk of positive al'gument, they resort to the smear
technique, the usua,l line of the Reds. "CAS" (TIME) the official propaganda sheet of the Lettrich "we-got-6'2 %of-the,JSlovak-vote-in-1946" democrats, who actively collaborated with the Reds and Moscow from 1943 to Fe!bruary
25, 1948 - in its issue of February 1, 195:5, attaciked the
Kersten Committee and the testimony of most of the Slovak
witnesses, laJbeling the report "scandalous."
It is unfortunate that the Keraten Committee did not
call wpon the Lettrioh "democrats" to testify; the story
would have been more complete. At least Dr. Joseph Lettrich, "leader" of the Slovak "democrats," and Gen. Nicholas
Ferjencik, "non-!I)artisan" head of Lettrich's gestapo, should
have ,b een given the opportunity to confess that the "democrats" did .conclude agreements with the Reds in 1943 and
1945 to collaJborate closely on all issues. The Kersten Committee did a good job in the time allotted to it. The wol1k
initiated: should !be completed. Albove all else, leading Benes
Czechs (Socialists) and Lettrich "democrats" - former
members of the Communist-d ominated National Front government of Prague - should be girven the opportunity to
"sing"!
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
How the Communists Seized Slovakia (special issue)
Description
An account of the resource
From the testimony of witnesses before the Select Committee on Communist Aggression of the House of Representatives<br /><ol><li>From the Special Report No. 8</li>
<li>Michael Galayda</li>
<li>Mr. and Mrs. Smrekovský</li>
<li>Dr. Joseph Paučo</li>
<li>Dr. Joseph Mikula</li>
<li>Philip A. Hrobák</li>
<li>Dr. Joseph A. Mikuš</li>
<li>Father Anton Botek</li>
<li>Father Stephen Náhalka</li>
<li>Ján Dobrotka</li>
<li>Jur Detviansky</li>
<li>Reaction of Beneš Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Czecho-Slovak Reds</li>
</ol>
Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 1 (14), March 1955<br />pp. 1-100
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1955
specialissue
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/289e982e1ea11932791357752174d95c.pdf
40d13f557c6a9506f09893826987ea60
PDF Text
Text
MARCH 1955
VOL. V
NO . 1 ( 14)
o,~:o STAT E
U ~1 sl qr=-,~. J; T~
t
_; :L\UG 16 J960
LIBRAR'V
IN THIS ISSUE:
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED S1LOVAKIA
From the testimony of witnesses before the Select Committee on
Communist Aggression of the House of Representatives
1.
From the Special Report No . 8
2.
Michael Galayda
3.
Mr. and
4.
Dr. Joseph Pauco
Mr!l. Smrekovsky
5.
Dr. Joseph Mikula
6.
Philip A. Hrobak
7.
.Dr. Joseph A. Mikus
8.
Father Anton
9.
Father Stephen Nahalka
Botek
10.
Jan Dobrotka
11.
J ur
12.
Reaction of Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Czecho-
Detviansky
Slovak Reds
*
•
Edited and compiled by
PHILIP - A. HROBAK
Published by
THE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�I'
SLOVAKIA is prnblish d periodically by the Slovak Leaigue of Ameri ca, a cultural and civi c federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV A_KIA is to promote
a better und,entanding and appreciation of the S lovak natio n and its long s truggl e for freedom and
i.nd ependence.
As Americans, memb er of the Slovak League o[
America firm ly believe that the Slovak nation, just
as all n,ations, has an inherent and God-given right
to freedom and inde,pend e nce. They are decli<'atecl
to the cause of the Am erican way nf life, Slovak freedom and world peace, ::rnd are determ ·ned to oppose
the plague of Co=unism and all other totalitarian
political systems.
Subscri•ption to SLOVAK IA is $1.00 per year in
the U. S. A. - $2 .00 elsewhere.
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
MiclcIJetown , Pa.
CORREC'l'ION - ln the pTevious issue of SLOVAKIA several mistakes were made inadvertently
in the ,a rticle written by Dr. George W. Cesarich,
"The Apo,s tles o.f Bogus Federa lism ." Please mak e
the foll01wing cor,rection s : p,g. 68, first three lin,e,s
shoul d r ead: "the, sufferings o,f subjugated nation s
in the artificial .states which th e Croats an.cl the S lovak,s definitely an,d finall y r efus e to accept as theiT
own", instead of " ... definitely anrl finally do ac cept
as their own;" p,g. 69 , par 3, lin e -1, to read "is not
true that these states have e v er corresponded to ,"
instead of "nev e r corres-ponded to;" pg. 73, par. 2.
line 2, " unc onceivable" should read "i ncon ceivabl e."
We regret the errors in printing and hope to avoid
t h em in the future.
P,r inted in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA PRESS
Middletown , Pa.
�
MARCH 1955
VOL. V
NO . 1 ( 14)
o,~:o STAT E
U ~1 sl qr=-,~. J; T~
t
_; :L\UG 16 J960
LIBRAR'V
IN THIS ISSUE:
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED S1LOVAKIA
From the testimony of witnesses before the Select Committee on
Communist Aggression of the House of Representatives
1.
From the Special Report No . 8
2.
Michael Galayda
3.
Mr. and
4.
Dr. Joseph Pauco
Mr!l. Smrekovsky
5.
Dr. Joseph Mikula
6.
Philip A. Hrobak
7.
.Dr. Joseph A. Mikus
8.
Father Anton
9.
Father Stephen Nahalka
Botek
10.
Jan Dobrotka
11.
J ur
12.
Reaction of Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Czecho-
Detviansky
Slovak Reds
*
•
Edited and compiled by
PHILIP - A. HROBAK
Published by
THE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
�I'
SLOVAKIA is prnblish d periodically by the Slovak Leaigue of Ameri ca, a cultural and civi c federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV A_KIA is to promote
a better und,entanding and appreciation of the S lovak natio n and its long s truggl e for freedom and
i.nd ependence.
As Americans, memb er of the Slovak League o[
America firm ly believe that the Slovak nation, just
as all n,ations, has an inherent and God-given right
to freedom and inde,pend e nce. They are decli<'atecl
to the cause of the Am erican way nf life, Slovak freedom and world peace, ::rnd are determ ·ned to oppose
the plague of Co=unism and all other totalitarian
political systems.
Subscri•ption to SLOVAK IA is $1.00 per year in
the U. S. A. - $2 .00 elsewhere.
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
MiclcIJetown , Pa.
CORREC'l'ION - ln the pTevious issue of SLOVAKIA several mistakes were made inadvertently
in the ,a rticle written by Dr. George W. Cesarich,
"The Apo,s tles o.f Bogus Federa lism ." Please mak e
the foll01wing cor,rection s : p,g. 68, first three lin,e,s
shoul d r ead: "the, sufferings o,f subjugated nation s
in the artificial .states which th e Croats an.cl the S lovak,s definitely an,d finall y r efus e to accept as theiT
own", instead of " ... definitely anrl finally do ac cept
as their own;" p,g. 69 , par 3, lin e -1, to read "is not
true that these states have e v er corresponded to ,"
instead of "nev e r corres-ponded to;" pg. 73, par. 2.
line 2, " unc onceivable" should read "i ncon ceivabl e."
We regret the errors in printing and hope to avoid
t h em in the future.
P,r inted 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
1955, Vol. 5
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 14), March 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 2-3 (No. 15-16), June-September 1955.</li>
<li>Issue 4 (No. 17), December 1955.</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
1955
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 1955
VOL. V
NO . 1 ( 14)
o,~:o STAT E
U ~1 sl qr=-,~. J; T~
t
_; :L\UG 16 J960
LIBRAR'V
IN THIS ISSUE:
HOW THE COMMUNISTS SEIZED S1LOVAKIA
From the testimony of witnesses before the Select Committee on
Communist Aggression of the House of Representatives
1.
From the Special Report No . 8
2.
Michael Galayda
3.
Mr. and
4.
Dr. Joseph Pauco
Mr!l. Smrekovsky
5.
Dr. Joseph Mikula
6.
Philip A. Hrobak
7.
.Dr. Joseph A. Mikus
8.
Father Anton
9.
Father Stephen Nahalka
Botek
10.
Jan Dobrotka
11.
J ur
12.
Reaction of Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Czecho-
Detviansky
Slovak Reds
*
•
Edited and compiled by
PHILIP - A. HROBAK
Published by
THE S LOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
I'
SLOVAKIA is prnblish d periodically by the Slovak Leaigue of Ameri ca, a cultural and civi c federation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOV A_KIA is to promote
a better und,entanding and appreciation of the S lovak natio n and its long s truggl e for freedom and
i.nd ependence.
As Americans, memb er of the Slovak League o[
America firm ly believe that the Slovak nation, just
as all n,ations, has an inherent and God-given right
to freedom and inde,pend e nce. They are decli<'atecl
to the cause of the Am erican way nf life, Slovak freedom and world peace, ::rnd are determ ·ned to oppose
the plague of Co=unism and all other totalitarian
political systems.
Subscri•ption to SLOVAK IA is $1.00 per year in
the U. S. A. - $2 .00 elsewhere.
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
MiclcIJetown , Pa.
CORREC'l'ION - ln the pTevious issue of SLOVAKIA several mistakes were made inadvertently
in the ,a rticle written by Dr. George W. Cesarich,
"The Apo,s tles o.f Bogus Federa lism ." Please mak e
the foll01wing cor,rection s : p,g. 68, first three lin,e,s
shoul d r ead: "the, sufferings o,f subjugated nation s
in the artificial .states which th e Croats an.cl the S lovak,s definitely an,d finall y r efus e to accept as theiT
own", instead of " ... definitely anrl finally do ac cept
as their own;" p,g. 69 , par 3, lin e -1, to read "is not
true that these states have e v er corresponded to ,"
instead of "nev e r corres-ponded to;" pg. 73, par. 2.
line 2, " unc onceivable" should read "i ncon ceivabl e."
We regret the errors in printing and hope to avoid
t h em in the future.
P,r inted 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. 5, No. 1 (14)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1955
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/24e8fa8553d5868a5dbd5d6161ae2ee5.pdf
87c33b9236be42a4365e2bb736ebe2da
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
1
(Orwanized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh:io
•
Honorary President
Frances L. Mizenko
37 56 Lee R oad
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1!143 W. 48th Street
Chica.go 9, lllinois
Stephen J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
President
Philip
A.
Hrobak
P . 0 . Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenue
Camp bell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Koci&
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J. Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W . 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
2900 East Boulevard
Clevaland 4, Ohio
Paul Fallat
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secreta.ry-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
ational President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
ational President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Pa.ssaic, N . J.
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa..
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�GAN'S.ER LIBRARY
MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MfLLERSVILLE, PA. 17551
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
1
(Orwanized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh:io
•
Honorary President
Frances L. Mizenko
37 56 Lee R oad
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1!143 W. 48th Street
Chica.go 9, lllinois
Stephen J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
President
Philip
A.
Hrobak
P . 0 . Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenue
Camp bell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Koci&
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J. Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W . 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
2900 East Boulevard
Clevaland 4, Ohio
Paul Fallat
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secreta.ry-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
ational President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
ational President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Pa.ssaic, N . J.
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa..
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�GAN'S.ER LIBRARY
MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MfLLERSVILLE, PA. 17551
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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
1
(Orwanized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh:io
•
Honorary President
Frances L. Mizenko
37 56 Lee R oad
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. H letko
1!143 W. 48th Street
Chica.go 9, lllinois
Stephen J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
President
Philip
A.
Hrobak
P . 0 . Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodland Avenue
Camp bell, Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Koci&
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Michael J. Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-President
Julia Krajcovic
Helen Kocan
1648 W . 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
2900 East Boulevard
Clevaland 4, Ohio
Paul Fallat
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secreta.ry-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak Union
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
ational President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
ational President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Pa.ssaic, N . J.
Whitaker, Pa.
OSADNE HLASY
Chicago, Ill.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa..
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
GAN'S.ER LIBRARY
MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MfLLERSVILLE, PA. 17551
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. 6, No. 3-4 (20-21)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Spiš Castle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9843ecdca4096265cc4fb2022a13eb49.pdf
42ff8cdfb2154da3f2bfedd6c328972b
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SLOVAKIA
86
first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem..
ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed
young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the
greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe
his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel
did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the
study of his people and their language.
In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-.
venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a
job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own
name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in
1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"'
goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved
mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however,
knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it
was only thus that he could keep his state job.
:S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot
live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of
his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel
Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-.
guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists .
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV
The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of
the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find
the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from
Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of
the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On
these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e
mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the
valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the
highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va.
'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper-
�86
SLOVAKIA
ty of Done; in the fifteenth it belonged to Pankrac of Lip-.
:tovsky Svaty Miku:las and then to Peter KiomO'.rovsky. The
county administratorrs resided there. In 1433 Starohrad
W<3JS taken by the Czech Hussites who came from Bohemia
to ra.vage and plunder Slovaikia. King Mathias took the
castle from Komorovsky and had it completely destroyed
in 1474. Little remains of the ruins today, but Starohrad
lives on in many legends.
The 'brook called Sestrca separates the fortress of
Sielnica, with its historical Starohrad, from the mighty
cliff of 2ipov; with the .passage of years it cut a narrow
but deep valley. People say that when King Mathias besieged Starohrad, his army encamped Oiil 2ipov, cannonaded :Starohrad with such foTce that the walls giwe in. One
of the cannon balls, the story goes, flew all the way to
Sielnica, and since that time the inhab,itants of Sielnica
claim the entire cliff as, their property, even though they
a.re separated from it by three communit>ie~.
People of the community of St. Ann also have pre~
served a legend 8Jbout Starohrad. They say that Starohrad
was at one time besieged by unknown enemies, who were
as numerous as flies, so that one could not even see a
blade of grass on the slope beneath the castle.. Try as they
might, however, they could not ta;ke the castle. That is, at
least, not until love ,prompted treason. People say that the
daughter of Starohrad's owner fell in love with one of the
lrnights of the besieging army and one .night threw him the
keys to the main gate. And that is the way the enemy was
able to get in:to fue courtyard of the castle.
The Joni of the castie, however, as is always the C8Jse
in such legends, was ,prepared for su~h an eventuality. He
and hi!S family escruped through an underground passage.
It was only after they were '3afe from the enemy that the
lord learned that the castle was betrayed by his own daughter. Thereupon he flew into a great rage and cursed her.
And a father's curse is never without effect. The unfor...
tunate girl wandered about the ruins of Starohrad for
seven years, longingly awaiting her liberation. The people
of the vicinity, however, would have nothing to do with her
and ke;pt their distance from her. Well, ,i t so happened that
�SLOVAKIA
87
a certain shepherd finally did get UJP enough courage to
talk to, the cursed girl.
She begged him to help her and liberate her from the
infinite sufferings. The shepheTd promised that he would
come to the same spot the very next day and when she ap,peairs in :the form of a pig, he would snatch the golden
1keys
from her snout. She ,i n turn ;promised him to reveal
the spot on rS'tarohrad where her father had concealed a
great treasure when he was attacked by the enemy, which
would be his ~eward.
'l'he $hepherd did as he had promised. He came to
the spot, but when a pig did maJke its aippearance, fear overcame him and he began to shake all over. The pig was so
ugly that he .took to flight. The pig, however, ran after
him. ln terror the shepherd shouted: "Would to God that
you wouid vanish!" Right then and there the apparition
sto[Pped and said "Now you did it; you cursed me even
more." And with that the girl did ,v anish, leaving not a
single trace behind herself.
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Let me be allowed to point to the example given by
Dr. H. Ripka ... It was no accident that he was entrusted
with the leadership of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that
he was entrusted with the care of our foreign press and radio, that he was entrusted to negotiate an agreement of our
alliamce with the Soviet Union, that he was the head of
practically ail negotiation s by which the foundation was
placed for the greatest success of our national revolution,
the transfer of Germans from our lands. And neither was it
an accident, but it emanated from the stand of our brethren,
that it was a National Socialist who was unanimous ly
elected as president of the State Council of our parliament
abroad, that a National Socialist was the Chairman of the
British-Cze choslovak Friendship Society, that a National
Socialist was the Chairman of the Society to cultivate cultural and economical contacts with the USSR." - (J. Firt,
a Benes Czech, in the SVOBODN E SLOVO, 3-2-47).
�
SLOVAKIA
86
first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem..
ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed
young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the
greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe
his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel
did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the
study of his people and their language.
In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-.
venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a
job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own
name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in
1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"'
goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved
mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however,
knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it
was only thus that he could keep his state job.
:S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot
live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of
his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel
Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-.
guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists .
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV
The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of
the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find
the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from
Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of
the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On
these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e
mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the
valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the
highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va.
'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper-
�86
SLOVAKIA
ty of Done; in the fifteenth it belonged to Pankrac of Lip-.
:tovsky Svaty Miku:las and then to Peter KiomO'.rovsky. The
county administratorrs resided there. In 1433 Starohrad
W<3JS taken by the Czech Hussites who came from Bohemia
to ra.vage and plunder Slovaikia. King Mathias took the
castle from Komorovsky and had it completely destroyed
in 1474. Little remains of the ruins today, but Starohrad
lives on in many legends.
The 'brook called Sestrca separates the fortress of
Sielnica, with its historical Starohrad, from the mighty
cliff of 2ipov; with the .passage of years it cut a narrow
but deep valley. People say that when King Mathias besieged Starohrad, his army encamped Oiil 2ipov, cannonaded :Starohrad with such foTce that the walls giwe in. One
of the cannon balls, the story goes, flew all the way to
Sielnica, and since that time the inhab,itants of Sielnica
claim the entire cliff as, their property, even though they
a.re separated from it by three communit>ie~.
People of the community of St. Ann also have pre~
served a legend 8Jbout Starohrad. They say that Starohrad
was at one time besieged by unknown enemies, who were
as numerous as flies, so that one could not even see a
blade of grass on the slope beneath the castle.. Try as they
might, however, they could not ta;ke the castle. That is, at
least, not until love ,prompted treason. People say that the
daughter of Starohrad's owner fell in love with one of the
lrnights of the besieging army and one .night threw him the
keys to the main gate. And that is the way the enemy was
able to get in:to fue courtyard of the castle.
The Joni of the castie, however, as is always the C8Jse
in such legends, was ,prepared for su~h an eventuality. He
and hi!S family escruped through an underground passage.
It was only after they were '3afe from the enemy that the
lord learned that the castle was betrayed by his own daughter. Thereupon he flew into a great rage and cursed her.
And a father's curse is never without effect. The unfor...
tunate girl wandered about the ruins of Starohrad for
seven years, longingly awaiting her liberation. The people
of the vicinity, however, would have nothing to do with her
and ke;pt their distance from her. Well, ,i t so happened that
�SLOVAKIA
87
a certain shepherd finally did get UJP enough courage to
talk to, the cursed girl.
She begged him to help her and liberate her from the
infinite sufferings. The shepheTd promised that he would
come to the same spot the very next day and when she ap,peairs in :the form of a pig, he would snatch the golden
1keys
from her snout. She ,i n turn ;promised him to reveal
the spot on rS'tarohrad where her father had concealed a
great treasure when he was attacked by the enemy, which
would be his ~eward.
'l'he $hepherd did as he had promised. He came to
the spot, but when a pig did maJke its aippearance, fear overcame him and he began to shake all over. The pig was so
ugly that he .took to flight. The pig, however, ran after
him. ln terror the shepherd shouted: "Would to God that
you wouid vanish!" Right then and there the apparition
sto[Pped and said "Now you did it; you cursed me even
more." And with that the girl did ,v anish, leaving not a
single trace behind herself.
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Let me be allowed to point to the example given by
Dr. H. Ripka ... It was no accident that he was entrusted
with the leadership of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that
he was entrusted with the care of our foreign press and radio, that he was entrusted to negotiate an agreement of our
alliamce with the Soviet Union, that he was the head of
practically ail negotiation s by which the foundation was
placed for the greatest success of our national revolution,
the transfer of Germans from our lands. And neither was it
an accident, but it emanated from the stand of our brethren,
that it was a National Socialist who was unanimous ly
elected as president of the State Council of our parliament
abroad, that a National Socialist was the Chairman of the
British-Cze choslovak Friendship Society, that a National
Socialist was the Chairman of the Society to cultivate cultural and economical contacts with the USSR." - (J. Firt,
a Benes Czech, in the SVOBODN E SLOVO, 3-2-47).
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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
86
first the Vice-Commissa;r of Zvolen County and then a mem..
ber of the Hungarian Diet. It was Grunwald who placed
young Czambel in the press bureau of the Premier at Budin. And Gri.inwald, we know, ,w as for some 25 years the
greatest oppressor of the Slovaks in Hungary. We can imagine then what it meant to a young Slo;va!k ;patriot to hawe
his protection. Because of that, however, young CZiambel
did not become a Magyarone, but devoted himself to the
study of his people and their language.
In 1890, Czambel was persuaded to write for the "Slo-.
venske Pohl'ady" (Slovak Review); of course, holding a
job under the Magyars, he could not write under his own
name. When he published his book, "Slovaci a ich rec" in
1903, iJ>resenting t'he theory that the Slovaks were a Yu"'
goslav tribe, Czambel was severely criticized by the "Na:rodne Noviny" and the "Slovenske Pohl'ady," which proved
mm wrong and condemned him. Informed ,p ersons, however,
knew t'hat Czambel proposed the Yugoslav theory not because of convictions, lbut rather as a matter of tactics: it
was only thus that he could keep his state job.
:S amuel Czambel definitely proved that man does ,n ot
live by lbreoo alone. Suspected as a Magyarone by some of
his own people, and as a Pan-Slarv by the Magyars, Samuel
Czambel nevertheless rendered a g,reat service to his people by his literary efforts. His grammar of the Slovak lan-.
guage is, still the best, according to Slovak philologists .
•
•
CASTLES OF SLOVAKIA
STAROHRAD (THE OLD CASTLE) OF LIPTOV
The village of Liptovska Tepla in Slovakia lies east of
the ,city of Ruzomlberok. Not far from the village we find
the mineral springs called Lucky. Traveling by train from
Ruizomberok to Lucky we see the mighty roC'ky cliffs of
the Sielinica fortress, which is almost as high as Sitno. On
these rocky cliffs can still. be seen the remnants of the on~e
mighty Old Castle (Starohroo). It is accessi1b le from the
valley of Sestrca; at one time it served as a guard for the
highway that led from Liptov to Ora:va.
'In the fourteenth century Starohrad wa:s the proper-
86
SLOVAKIA
ty of Done; in the fifteenth it belonged to Pankrac of Lip-.
:tovsky Svaty Miku:las and then to Peter KiomO'.rovsky. The
county administratorrs resided there. In 1433 Starohrad
W<3JS taken by the Czech Hussites who came from Bohemia
to ra.vage and plunder Slovaikia. King Mathias took the
castle from Komorovsky and had it completely destroyed
in 1474. Little remains of the ruins today, but Starohrad
lives on in many legends.
The 'brook called Sestrca separates the fortress of
Sielnica, with its historical Starohrad, from the mighty
cliff of 2ipov; with the .passage of years it cut a narrow
but deep valley. People say that when King Mathias besieged Starohrad, his army encamped Oiil 2ipov, cannonaded :Starohrad with such foTce that the walls giwe in. One
of the cannon balls, the story goes, flew all the way to
Sielnica, and since that time the inhab,itants of Sielnica
claim the entire cliff as, their property, even though they
a.re separated from it by three communit>ie~.
People of the community of St. Ann also have pre~
served a legend 8Jbout Starohrad. They say that Starohrad
was at one time besieged by unknown enemies, who were
as numerous as flies, so that one could not even see a
blade of grass on the slope beneath the castle.. Try as they
might, however, they could not ta;ke the castle. That is, at
least, not until love ,prompted treason. People say that the
daughter of Starohrad's owner fell in love with one of the
lrnights of the besieging army and one .night threw him the
keys to the main gate. And that is the way the enemy was
able to get in:to fue courtyard of the castle.
The Joni of the castie, however, as is always the C8Jse
in such legends, was ,prepared for su~h an eventuality. He
and hi!S family escruped through an underground passage.
It was only after they were '3afe from the enemy that the
lord learned that the castle was betrayed by his own daughter. Thereupon he flew into a great rage and cursed her.
And a father's curse is never without effect. The unfor...
tunate girl wandered about the ruins of Starohrad for
seven years, longingly awaiting her liberation. The people
of the vicinity, however, would have nothing to do with her
and ke;pt their distance from her. Well, ,i t so happened that
SLOVAKIA
87
a certain shepherd finally did get UJP enough courage to
talk to, the cursed girl.
She begged him to help her and liberate her from the
infinite sufferings. The shepheTd promised that he would
come to the same spot the very next day and when she ap,peairs in :the form of a pig, he would snatch the golden
1keys
from her snout. She ,i n turn ;promised him to reveal
the spot on rS'tarohrad where her father had concealed a
great treasure when he was attacked by the enemy, which
would be his ~eward.
'l'he $hepherd did as he had promised. He came to
the spot, but when a pig did maJke its aippearance, fear overcame him and he began to shake all over. The pig was so
ugly that he .took to flight. The pig, however, ran after
him. ln terror the shepherd shouted: "Would to God that
you wouid vanish!" Right then and there the apparition
sto[Pped and said "Now you did it; you cursed me even
more." And with that the girl did ,v anish, leaving not a
single trace behind herself.
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"Let me be allowed to point to the example given by
Dr. H. Ripka ... It was no accident that he was entrusted
with the leadership of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that
he was entrusted with the care of our foreign press and radio, that he was entrusted to negotiate an agreement of our
alliamce with the Soviet Union, that he was the head of
practically ail negotiation s by which the foundation was
placed for the greatest success of our national revolution,
the transfer of Germans from our lands. And neither was it
an accident, but it emanated from the stand of our brethren,
that it was a National Socialist who was unanimous ly
elected as president of the State Council of our parliament
abroad, that a National Socialist was the Chairman of the
British-Cze choslovak Friendship Society, that a National
Socialist was the Chairman of the Society to cultivate cultural and economical contacts with the USSR." - (J. Firt,
a Benes Czech, in the SVOBODN E SLOVO, 3-2-47).
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
Castles of Slovakia: Starohrad (The Old Castle) of Liptov
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 3-4 (20-21), September-December 1956
pp. 85-87
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1956
castles
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PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
55
MEMORANDUM
TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS OF TID~
UNITED STATES FROM THE PITTSBURGH-JOHNSTOWN, PA. REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, SLOVAK BAND HALL,
JOHNSTOWN, PA., NOVEMBER 3, 1956
Assembled in the Slovak Band Hall, in the interest of
the welfare and security of our America and the rest of the
free world, we solemnly declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic principles set forth in the American Declaration of
Independence and of the basic law of our country, the Constitution of the United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form orf totalitarian political system. We recognize the godless philosophy of materialistic communism as the greatest conspiracy against free humanity, as a political system which
threatens all of mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore
we cannot subscribe to the policy that doing business with
the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best interests
of the welfare and security of the United States and the
rest of the free world.
We commend our Government for its efforts to resist
and to resolutely count~ract the aggressive policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and material forces at
our command and heartily endorse all actions of our Government to expose, demobilize, and outlaw the evil forces
of brutal godless Communism in our country - the forces
that are dedicated to our destruction.
3. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet
Union in the internal affairs of Poland and Hungary, as
well as other countries of Europe and Asia. We express our
deepest sympathy with the peoples of Hungary and Poland
and urge our Government to denounce in the strongest
terms the massacre of these liberty-loving and liberty-seeking peoples, immediately initiating all steps that may be
taken by our Government to end the brutal treatment and
repression of the Polish and Hungarian nations.
�56
SLOVAKIA
4. We oppose the admission of Red China into the
United Nations. We fully endorse the principle that our
Government shall refuse to recogmze every form of government and political formation which is imposed on any
nation by the force of an alien power and we respectfully
request that this policy be followed even in the case of the
nation we are descended from, the Slovak nation, which is
tyrannized by the Czecho-Comm unist regime of Prague
in flagrant violation of the political will of the Slovak
people and of the fundamental principles of the Charter
of the United Nations and in utter contempt for the basic
principle of the American foreign policy of self-determina tion.
Once again, we respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to re-examine the question of the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945, because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also respectfully request our President to instruct our delegate to the United Nations to ask
for an investigation by the U. N. of the destruction of the
Slovak State in 1945, the independence of which was pro_
claimed by the duly elected representative s of the Slovak
people on March 14, 1939, and eventually reco,g nized by
twenty-seven countries.
5. We deeply resent the fact that our Government is
inclined to recognize and favor former Slovak and Czech
politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the
present terrible plight of the Slovaks and the Czechs. We
refer particularly to the politicians who promoted the proSoviet and anti-Slovak policies of the late Dr. Edward Benes - the Czech Socialists and Judas Slovaks, now organized in the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia,·,
who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until
1948 as members of the Communist-do minated National
Front Government of the Benes-Gottwa ld coalition.
We respectfully request the President and the Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoslovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information and actions of Dr. Edward Benes
�SLOVAKIA
57
and other Czech Socialists. It is embarrassing to us, as it
also should be to our Government, that the members of
Benes's pro-Soviet political clique are employed by various
departments and agencies of our Government. They have
compromised the good name of the United States entirely
too long and, therefore, should no longer enjoy our trust
and favor.
The Slovak League of America, with the organizations
affiliated with it, has expressed itself in the past more
than once on the subject of U. S. policy in regard to Czecho-Slovakia, and especially in regard to the Slovak nation, but little or nothing has been done to correct the situation. Representing the vast majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent, the Slovak League of America feels
that it has the right and the obligation to speak for them
in matters of general and particular concern, both domestic and foreign. As loyal Americans, we are not, we trust.
overly presumptuous in assuming that we merit at least
the same measure of consideration and trust from our Government as the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political entourage of
Dr. Edward Benes, which suddenly became "anti-Communist and democratic" after February, 1948. when the
Communists, with their collaboration, seized all power in
Czecho-Slovakia.
6. We stand opposed to the concept that the power
and size of the federal government of the United States
should be increased to the detriment of the powers of the
individual States of the Union. We, therefore, respectfully
request the adoption of the recommendations of the Hoover
Commission as speedily as possible.
7. Furthermore, we respectfully request the President
and the Congress of the United States to promote legislation to decrease federal taxes, particularly the income tax
and withholding tax laws during the next session of Congress, because we belie'Ve this can be done without endangering the welfare and security of our country.
8. Finally, we recommend the President of the United
States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, for his stand on the crisis
in the Middle East to oppose and condemn all aggressors
and violators of others natural rights
�58
SLOVAKIA
Adopted unanimously this third day of November
1956, by the Conference of the Pittsburgh-Johnstown,
Pa. Region of the Slovak League of America, Slovak Band
Hall, Johnstown, Pa.
For the Conference :
PHILIP A. HROBAK. President
Slovak League of America.
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO, Chairlady
of Conference and president of Johnstown Assembly S. L. A.
MICHAEL BERES, Chairman
Pittsburgh District S. L. A.
•
• •
WHO SAID IT?
"Never in his,tory was Russia so mighty, illever were
the forces of socia1isrrn so colossally foi,ged together. This
is a new historical epoch. N e,v ertheless some pecxple think
in a stiClk-in-the-mud fashion. It has not yet been possible
to convince everyone cxf the necessity for the orverthrow of
crupitalism." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, in his
book TAK NEBO TAK, 1947, pg. 8).
• • •
"The gossip that the Democratic Party is not fur cooperation with the Soviet Union is wtroI11g. rt is clear to
every Slovak, regardless oif his polftica'1 and religio;us beliefs,
that the existence of the Czechoslovak Reipulblic is 100 per
cent dependent on the e~stence and the .p ower cxf our
strongest Slavic ally. This a1lli.ance cannot be regarded as a
matter of onJ.y feeHng graciorus for erverything the Soviet
Union has done for us. It is, a matter oif rationa:1 thinking
and of our unaJteraJble foreign policy." - (Dr. Joseph Let.
trich, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee cxf the
"Council of Free Czechoslovakia," NOV:E PRUDY, No.
28-29, 1947, pg. 658).
• • •
"Let us declare war against the fear oif Bolshevism and
forbid at the same time, the for.mation of any anti-COlln-
(Va;olav Majer, PRAVO
mlIDist f:ront whatsoever." LIDU, officirul organ orf the O;ech Sooi!al Demooratic Party,
Novemlber 25, 1947)
�
SLOVAKIA
55
MEMORANDUM
TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS OF TID~
UNITED STATES FROM THE PITTSBURGH-JOHNSTOWN, PA. REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, SLOVAK BAND HALL,
JOHNSTOWN, PA., NOVEMBER 3, 1956
Assembled in the Slovak Band Hall, in the interest of
the welfare and security of our America and the rest of the
free world, we solemnly declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic principles set forth in the American Declaration of
Independence and of the basic law of our country, the Constitution of the United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form orf totalitarian political system. We recognize the godless philosophy of materialistic communism as the greatest conspiracy against free humanity, as a political system which
threatens all of mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore
we cannot subscribe to the policy that doing business with
the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best interests
of the welfare and security of the United States and the
rest of the free world.
We commend our Government for its efforts to resist
and to resolutely count~ract the aggressive policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and material forces at
our command and heartily endorse all actions of our Government to expose, demobilize, and outlaw the evil forces
of brutal godless Communism in our country - the forces
that are dedicated to our destruction.
3. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet
Union in the internal affairs of Poland and Hungary, as
well as other countries of Europe and Asia. We express our
deepest sympathy with the peoples of Hungary and Poland
and urge our Government to denounce in the strongest
terms the massacre of these liberty-loving and liberty-seeking peoples, immediately initiating all steps that may be
taken by our Government to end the brutal treatment and
repression of the Polish and Hungarian nations.
�56
SLOVAKIA
4. We oppose the admission of Red China into the
United Nations. We fully endorse the principle that our
Government shall refuse to recogmze every form of government and political formation which is imposed on any
nation by the force of an alien power and we respectfully
request that this policy be followed even in the case of the
nation we are descended from, the Slovak nation, which is
tyrannized by the Czecho-Comm unist regime of Prague
in flagrant violation of the political will of the Slovak
people and of the fundamental principles of the Charter
of the United Nations and in utter contempt for the basic
principle of the American foreign policy of self-determina tion.
Once again, we respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to re-examine the question of the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945, because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also respectfully request our President to instruct our delegate to the United Nations to ask
for an investigation by the U. N. of the destruction of the
Slovak State in 1945, the independence of which was pro_
claimed by the duly elected representative s of the Slovak
people on March 14, 1939, and eventually reco,g nized by
twenty-seven countries.
5. We deeply resent the fact that our Government is
inclined to recognize and favor former Slovak and Czech
politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the
present terrible plight of the Slovaks and the Czechs. We
refer particularly to the politicians who promoted the proSoviet and anti-Slovak policies of the late Dr. Edward Benes - the Czech Socialists and Judas Slovaks, now organized in the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia,·,
who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until
1948 as members of the Communist-do minated National
Front Government of the Benes-Gottwa ld coalition.
We respectfully request the President and the Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoslovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information and actions of Dr. Edward Benes
�SLOVAKIA
57
and other Czech Socialists. It is embarrassing to us, as it
also should be to our Government, that the members of
Benes's pro-Soviet political clique are employed by various
departments and agencies of our Government. They have
compromised the good name of the United States entirely
too long and, therefore, should no longer enjoy our trust
and favor.
The Slovak League of America, with the organizations
affiliated with it, has expressed itself in the past more
than once on the subject of U. S. policy in regard to Czecho-Slovakia, and especially in regard to the Slovak nation, but little or nothing has been done to correct the situation. Representing the vast majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent, the Slovak League of America feels
that it has the right and the obligation to speak for them
in matters of general and particular concern, both domestic and foreign. As loyal Americans, we are not, we trust.
overly presumptuous in assuming that we merit at least
the same measure of consideration and trust from our Government as the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political entourage of
Dr. Edward Benes, which suddenly became "anti-Communist and democratic" after February, 1948. when the
Communists, with their collaboration, seized all power in
Czecho-Slovakia.
6. We stand opposed to the concept that the power
and size of the federal government of the United States
should be increased to the detriment of the powers of the
individual States of the Union. We, therefore, respectfully
request the adoption of the recommendations of the Hoover
Commission as speedily as possible.
7. Furthermore, we respectfully request the President
and the Congress of the United States to promote legislation to decrease federal taxes, particularly the income tax
and withholding tax laws during the next session of Congress, because we belie'Ve this can be done without endangering the welfare and security of our country.
8. Finally, we recommend the President of the United
States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, for his stand on the crisis
in the Middle East to oppose and condemn all aggressors
and violators of others natural rights
�58
SLOVAKIA
Adopted unanimously this third day of November
1956, by the Conference of the Pittsburgh-Johnstown,
Pa. Region of the Slovak League of America, Slovak Band
Hall, Johnstown, Pa.
For the Conference :
PHILIP A. HROBAK. President
Slovak League of America.
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO, Chairlady
of Conference and president of Johnstown Assembly S. L. A.
MICHAEL BERES, Chairman
Pittsburgh District S. L. A.
•
• •
WHO SAID IT?
"Never in his,tory was Russia so mighty, illever were
the forces of socia1isrrn so colossally foi,ged together. This
is a new historical epoch. N e,v ertheless some pecxple think
in a stiClk-in-the-mud fashion. It has not yet been possible
to convince everyone cxf the necessity for the orverthrow of
crupitalism." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, in his
book TAK NEBO TAK, 1947, pg. 8).
• • •
"The gossip that the Democratic Party is not fur cooperation with the Soviet Union is wtroI11g. rt is clear to
every Slovak, regardless oif his polftica'1 and religio;us beliefs,
that the existence of the Czechoslovak Reipulblic is 100 per
cent dependent on the e~stence and the .p ower cxf our
strongest Slavic ally. This a1lli.ance cannot be regarded as a
matter of onJ.y feeHng graciorus for erverything the Soviet
Union has done for us. It is, a matter oif rationa:1 thinking
and of our unaJteraJble foreign policy." - (Dr. Joseph Let.
trich, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee cxf the
"Council of Free Czechoslovakia," NOV:E PRUDY, No.
28-29, 1947, pg. 658).
• • •
"Let us declare war against the fear oif Bolshevism and
forbid at the same time, the for.mation of any anti-COlln-
(Va;olav Majer, PRAVO
mlIDist f:ront whatsoever." LIDU, officirul organ orf the O;ech Sooi!al Demooratic Party,
Novemlber 25, 1947)
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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
MEMORANDUM
TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE CONGRESS OF TID~
UNITED STATES FROM THE PITTSBURGH-JOHNSTOWN, PA. REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA, SLOVAK BAND HALL,
JOHNSTOWN, PA., NOVEMBER 3, 1956
Assembled in the Slovak Band Hall, in the interest of
the welfare and security of our America and the rest of the
free world, we solemnly declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic principles set forth in the American Declaration of
Independence and of the basic law of our country, the Constitution of the United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny, every form orf totalitarian political system. We recognize the godless philosophy of materialistic communism as the greatest conspiracy against free humanity, as a political system which
threatens all of mankind with utter enslavement. Therefore
we cannot subscribe to the policy that doing business with
the Soviet Union and its satellites is in the best interests
of the welfare and security of the United States and the
rest of the free world.
We commend our Government for its efforts to resist
and to resolutely count~ract the aggressive policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and material forces at
our command and heartily endorse all actions of our Government to expose, demobilize, and outlaw the evil forces
of brutal godless Communism in our country - the forces
that are dedicated to our destruction.
3. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet
Union in the internal affairs of Poland and Hungary, as
well as other countries of Europe and Asia. We express our
deepest sympathy with the peoples of Hungary and Poland
and urge our Government to denounce in the strongest
terms the massacre of these liberty-loving and liberty-seeking peoples, immediately initiating all steps that may be
taken by our Government to end the brutal treatment and
repression of the Polish and Hungarian nations.
56
SLOVAKIA
4. We oppose the admission of Red China into the
United Nations. We fully endorse the principle that our
Government shall refuse to recogmze every form of government and political formation which is imposed on any
nation by the force of an alien power and we respectfully
request that this policy be followed even in the case of the
nation we are descended from, the Slovak nation, which is
tyrannized by the Czecho-Comm unist regime of Prague
in flagrant violation of the political will of the Slovak
people and of the fundamental principles of the Charter
of the United Nations and in utter contempt for the basic
principle of the American foreign policy of self-determina tion.
Once again, we respectfully request the President and
the Congress of the United States to re-examine the question of the destruction of the Slovak Republic in 1945, because we are certain that the political will of the Slovak
nation was violated. We also respectfully request our President to instruct our delegate to the United Nations to ask
for an investigation by the U. N. of the destruction of the
Slovak State in 1945, the independence of which was pro_
claimed by the duly elected representative s of the Slovak
people on March 14, 1939, and eventually reco,g nized by
twenty-seven countries.
5. We deeply resent the fact that our Government is
inclined to recognize and favor former Slovak and Czech
politicians who are in a large measure responsible for the
present terrible plight of the Slovaks and the Czechs. We
refer particularly to the politicians who promoted the proSoviet and anti-Slovak policies of the late Dr. Edward Benes - the Czech Socialists and Judas Slovaks, now organized in the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia,·,
who collaborated with Moscow and the Communists until
1948 as members of the Communist-do minated National
Front Government of the Benes-Gottwa ld coalition.
We respectfully request the President and the Congress of the United States to re-examine the so-called
"Czechoslovak" policy of our Government, which is still
based on the information and actions of Dr. Edward Benes
SLOVAKIA
57
and other Czech Socialists. It is embarrassing to us, as it
also should be to our Government, that the members of
Benes's pro-Soviet political clique are employed by various
departments and agencies of our Government. They have
compromised the good name of the United States entirely
too long and, therefore, should no longer enjoy our trust
and favor.
The Slovak League of America, with the organizations
affiliated with it, has expressed itself in the past more
than once on the subject of U. S. policy in regard to Czecho-Slovakia, and especially in regard to the Slovak nation, but little or nothing has been done to correct the situation. Representing the vast majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent, the Slovak League of America feels
that it has the right and the obligation to speak for them
in matters of general and particular concern, both domestic and foreign. As loyal Americans, we are not, we trust.
overly presumptuous in assuming that we merit at least
the same measure of consideration and trust from our Government as the bankrupt, pro-Soviet political entourage of
Dr. Edward Benes, which suddenly became "anti-Communist and democratic" after February, 1948. when the
Communists, with their collaboration, seized all power in
Czecho-Slovakia.
6. We stand opposed to the concept that the power
and size of the federal government of the United States
should be increased to the detriment of the powers of the
individual States of the Union. We, therefore, respectfully
request the adoption of the recommendations of the Hoover
Commission as speedily as possible.
7. Furthermore, we respectfully request the President
and the Congress of the United States to promote legislation to decrease federal taxes, particularly the income tax
and withholding tax laws during the next session of Congress, because we belie'Ve this can be done without endangering the welfare and security of our country.
8. Finally, we recommend the President of the United
States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, for his stand on the crisis
in the Middle East to oppose and condemn all aggressors
and violators of others natural rights
58
SLOVAKIA
Adopted unanimously this third day of November
1956, by the Conference of the Pittsburgh-Johnstown,
Pa. Region of the Slovak League of America, Slovak Band
Hall, Johnstown, Pa.
For the Conference :
PHILIP A. HROBAK. President
Slovak League of America.
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO, Chairlady
of Conference and president of Johnstown Assembly S. L. A.
MICHAEL BERES, Chairman
Pittsburgh District S. L. A.
•
• •
WHO SAID IT?
"Never in his,tory was Russia so mighty, illever were
the forces of socia1isrrn so colossally foi,ged together. This
is a new historical epoch. N e,v ertheless some pecxple think
in a stiClk-in-the-mud fashion. It has not yet been possible
to convince everyone cxf the necessity for the orverthrow of
crupitalism." - (Ferdinand Peroutka, a Benes Czech, in his
book TAK NEBO TAK, 1947, pg. 8).
• • •
"The gossip that the Democratic Party is not fur cooperation with the Soviet Union is wtroI11g. rt is clear to
every Slovak, regardless oif his polftica'1 and religio;us beliefs,
that the existence of the Czechoslovak Reipulblic is 100 per
cent dependent on the e~stence and the .p ower cxf our
strongest Slavic ally. This a1lli.ance cannot be regarded as a
matter of onJ.y feeHng graciorus for erverything the Soviet
Union has done for us. It is, a matter oif rationa:1 thinking
and of our unaJteraJble foreign policy." - (Dr. Joseph Let.
trich, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee cxf the
"Council of Free Czechoslovakia," NOV:E PRUDY, No.
28-29, 1947, pg. 658).
• • •
"Let us declare war against the fear oif Bolshevism and
forbid at the same time, the for.mation of any anti-COlln-
(Va;olav Majer, PRAVO
mlIDist f:ront whatsoever." LIDU, officirul organ orf the O;ech Sooi!al Demooratic Party,
Novemlber 25, 1947)
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
Description
An account of the resource
Memorandum to the President and the Congress of the United States from the Pittsburgh-Johnstown, Pa. Regional Conference of the Slovak League of America, Slovak Band Hall, Johnstown, Pa., November 3, 1956
Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 3-4 (20-21), September-December 1956
pp. 55-58
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/b0b685aef7c07dbb342358e5437d2bff.pdf
e3d4df6e966d30fa8948b0060381b473
PDF Text
Text
VO L. V I
SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER , 1956
NO . 3-4 ( 20-21)
IN THIS ISSUE:
R. I. P . Dr. Fra n c is H rusovsky ,
Monsignor Jo zef Tiso -
Controv ersial Personality
-
Cz ec h o-S l o vaki a or Czechos lo vakii!l.
S t,~r a n d the Slov a k In depe nd e n ce Moveme nt
B en es a nd t h e Communization of Czecho-S lo vak i a
~saryk ' ~ D(}-IQ:l9oPaoy
aiqs
i!ile"alt+a
Why Di d Benes Resi gn in 1938?
M emora ndum
Th e History of S lovak i a
1856 -
Dr. Samu e l Cz a mb el -
1956
Castles of S lovak i a : Starohrad ( Th e Old Cast l e) of Li ptov
K ern e r 's "Czec h os l ovak i a" ( Cont 'd.):
History or Pro paganda?
WHO SA ID IT : 24, 39, 54, 58, 62, 87
*
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown , P a .
•
Pub I ished by
~~v
t1-BkA'Wf
E
oF
AM ER I CA
.MlU.£RSV1LLE STATE cqu.EGE
~Ji.SV41.lt, l>A. 17551
�SLOVAK IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fedel'ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAK .IA
is to pl'omote a better understan ding
and appreciat ion of the Slovak nation
and its long stl'uggle fol' freedom and
independe nce.
As American s, 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 independe nce.
They are dedicated to the cause of the
American way of life, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determine d to
oppose the plague of Communi sm and
all other totalitaria n political systems.
Subscript ion to Slovakia $1.00 per
year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscripti ons to:
SLOV AKIA
Box 150
Middletow n, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SLO VAK IA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly by the Slovak
League of America
SEPTEMBER-DECEM BER, 1956
NO. 3-4 (2{}-21)
SLOVA.KIA AND THE RECENT REBELLIONS
Whatever happened and is happening in Poland, Hungary, the
Middle East, and other countTies
of Europe ,a nd .A!si.a must be
blamed on the policies followed by
the western democracies, on the
so many "wise men" from the
West, who knew how to win another war, ,b ut could not win an
honorable and just peace.
The press has done a little to
help the situation; an,d intelligence agencies of our Government
did even less to clarify it. We always had and still ·h ave our
embassies, employing hundreds of
thousands of ,people, in the many
countries of Europe and Asia, but
still do not know the nations
thereof sufficiently well to work
with them effectively in the interests of genuine democracy. mhe
Poles, we are supposed to 1b elieve,
would lbe satisfied with ,G omulka
Communism, the Yugoslavs like
the "Tito" ,b rand, while the Slovaks go for the Czeoh type of the
late Dr. Edward ·B enes. Nothing
could be !farther from the truth:
.all these nations pray fervently
that they might be Hberated
.s peedily from the scouTge of godCommunism
materialistic
less,
which was :forced upon them durIng ,a nd iafter World War illl.
Much has ,b een said and .w ritten recently about the disturbances in Poland and Hungary, but
little or nothing ,about what is going on in Slovakia. But the met
is that Slov,akia is not and never
will be satisfied with the situation it w,a s forced into after
World War II .against the will of
her people. The Slovaks proved it
on many occasions . .A!nd they did ti
again during 1956. The students
of Slovakia demonstrated in May;
this was followed ,b y Poznan In
Poland in June; then Hungary
rebelled In October, and iPo1and
a:gain was heard from. What was
the situation in Slov,ak.ia when
open Tebellion broke out in Budapest on October 23?
,several Slovak escapees said
that the Czech Red Army immediately sealed the Slovak-iHungarian border to prevent Slovaks
from helping the, Magyars; Czeoh
"security police" and the Czech
Army ocoupied all of Slovakia; all
former Slovak deputies, ministers
of government, and political leaders were rounded up as "unreliable
elements" and shipped to Bohemia
and Moravia. Even Gustav Husi!.k,
Slovak Red leader, was transferred
from a .Slovak jail to o.ne in Czech
territory. The Prague Ministry of
Defense ousted all Slovak oMicers
from Lt. Col. up from .the "CzechoSlovak" Army and replaced Slovak militia In d'actol'ies iby Czech
workers' militia.
'The Slovaks -s~pathized with
the MagY'ars ,and ·h elped as much
as they could under the most difficult ciTcumstances. Thousands of
Slovaks and M.agyar.s from Slova-
�2
SLOVAKIA
while Czech reserves served with
the army in Slovakia.
A second Slovak escapee wrote:
"Twenty-two Soviet divisions came
into Hungary many of them through
Slovakia. Besides that a special
Czech military unit of five divisions
operated in the Kosice-Miskovec
aTea. . . . Controls a r e v er y
Border guards have
strict. . .
been tripled; they shoot at practically anyone not in uniform."
·R eporters and writers for the
world press still do not distinguish between Slovakia and Bohemia, the Slovaks and the Czechs:
they write about the "Hung,a,rianCzechoslovak" frontier, when they
actually mean the "Hungarian-SloThe Czechs took no ohances vak" frontier; for them the Reo
with the Slovaks; they knew that Czech Army becomes the "Czechothe sentiment jn Slovakia was not slovak" Army. The Slovaks, it
only strongly anti-Communist and seems, are bound to ,b e involved
anti-Soviet, ,b ut also strongly anti- in everything the Czechs do since
Czech. As one Slovak escapee, who the birth o.f the political monwitnessed the disturbances in Bra- strosity known as Czecho-Slovakia.
tisla'V'a, put it: ",S ince the execuTo keep t!h e record straight,
tion of President Tiso, the sentiment in Slovakia was never so ,allow us to remind all uninformed,
anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, and misinformed and "slightly" confused writers, and the reading ;pubanti-Czech as it is now."
lic that: the Slovaks are not
During the M~.gyar revolt Slo- Czechs; Slovakia is not Bohemia;
vakia iresembled ,a large military so-called "Czecho-Slovak" policy is
camp; the streets of 'Bratislava strictly Czech policy; the Slovaks
were •f ull of tanks, all roads -were outlawed Communism in their Re·b locked •b y the Czech Army, and public in 1939, while the Czechs
machine-gun nests were planted umler .Benes would not govern with
everywihere. Bratislava was the al- out them; the Slovaks were and
leged headquarters of 1both the still are anti 0 Soviet, while the
Soviet and Magyar ,R eds: the lat- Czechs under M-asaryk and Benes,
ter were quartered in Hotel Carl- Gottwald and Zapotocky, were
ton, the former in iHotel Devin. and still are :pro-Soviet; the SloBoth hotels were ,h eavily guarded, va:ks sym:pathized with the Hunas were all vublic builoing.s. All I garian "rebels" and helved them
Slovak reserves were called into as much as they could under the
service, 1but were not allowed to circumstances, while the Czechs
serve in Slovakia; ,t hey were /collaborated with the Soviet armies
shipped to Moravia ,and Bohemia, to crush the Magyar revolt.
kia joined the Hungarian patriota
to help shake off the halter of
Moscow. Lively demonstrations
against the Soviets ,and the Czechs
were staged in Bratislava, Surany,
Nove ZAmky, Lucenec, Kosice, and
other Slovak towns. They destroyed large sections of track to hinder the movement of Red soldiers
and supplies through Slovakia;
heavy fighting took place near
Presov. Demonstrating in Bratislava, October 27, students shouted:
"Freedom for Hunga,ry - Freedom
for Slovakia - Get out Russi•a ns
- Go home Czechs - No more
Czecho-Slovakia - ,Down with the
Reds," etc.
I
�
VO L. V I
SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER , 1956
NO . 3-4 ( 20-21)
IN THIS ISSUE:
R. I. P . Dr. Fra n c is H rusovsky ,
Monsignor Jo zef Tiso -
Controv ersial Personality
-
Cz ec h o-S l o vaki a or Czechos lo vakii!l.
S t,~r a n d the Slov a k In depe nd e n ce Moveme nt
B en es a nd t h e Communization of Czecho-S lo vak i a
~saryk ' ~ D(}-IQ:l9oPaoy
aiqs
i!ile"alt+a
Why Di d Benes Resi gn in 1938?
M emora ndum
Th e History of S lovak i a
1856 -
Dr. Samu e l Cz a mb el -
1956
Castles of S lovak i a : Starohrad ( Th e Old Cast l e) of Li ptov
K ern e r 's "Czec h os l ovak i a" ( Cont 'd.):
History or Pro paganda?
WHO SA ID IT : 24, 39, 54, 58, 62, 87
*
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown , P a .
•
Pub I ished by
~~v
t1-BkA'Wf
E
oF
AM ER I CA
.MlU.£RSV1LLE STATE cqu.EGE
~Ji.SV41.lt, l>A. 17551
�SLOVAK IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fedel'ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAK .IA
is to pl'omote a better understan ding
and appreciat ion of the Slovak nation
and its long stl'uggle fol' freedom and
independe nce.
As American s, 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 independe nce.
They are dedicated to the cause of the
American way of life, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determine d to
oppose the plague of Communi sm and
all other totalitaria n political systems.
Subscript ion to Slovakia $1.00 per
year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscripti ons to:
SLOV AKIA
Box 150
Middletow n, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SLO VAK IA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly by the Slovak
League of America
SEPTEMBER-DECEM BER, 1956
NO. 3-4 (2{}-21)
SLOVA.KIA AND THE RECENT REBELLIONS
Whatever happened and is happening in Poland, Hungary, the
Middle East, and other countTies
of Europe ,a nd .A!si.a must be
blamed on the policies followed by
the western democracies, on the
so many "wise men" from the
West, who knew how to win another war, ,b ut could not win an
honorable and just peace.
The press has done a little to
help the situation; an,d intelligence agencies of our Government
did even less to clarify it. We always had and still ·h ave our
embassies, employing hundreds of
thousands of ,people, in the many
countries of Europe and Asia, but
still do not know the nations
thereof sufficiently well to work
with them effectively in the interests of genuine democracy. mhe
Poles, we are supposed to 1b elieve,
would lbe satisfied with ,G omulka
Communism, the Yugoslavs like
the "Tito" ,b rand, while the Slovaks go for the Czeoh type of the
late Dr. Edward ·B enes. Nothing
could be !farther from the truth:
.all these nations pray fervently
that they might be Hberated
.s peedily from the scouTge of godCommunism
materialistic
less,
which was :forced upon them durIng ,a nd iafter World War illl.
Much has ,b een said and .w ritten recently about the disturbances in Poland and Hungary, but
little or nothing ,about what is going on in Slovakia. But the met
is that Slov,akia is not and never
will be satisfied with the situation it w,a s forced into after
World War II .against the will of
her people. The Slovaks proved it
on many occasions . .A!nd they did ti
again during 1956. The students
of Slovakia demonstrated in May;
this was followed ,b y Poznan In
Poland in June; then Hungary
rebelled In October, and iPo1and
a:gain was heard from. What was
the situation in Slov,ak.ia when
open Tebellion broke out in Budapest on October 23?
,several Slovak escapees said
that the Czech Red Army immediately sealed the Slovak-iHungarian border to prevent Slovaks
from helping the, Magyars; Czeoh
"security police" and the Czech
Army ocoupied all of Slovakia; all
former Slovak deputies, ministers
of government, and political leaders were rounded up as "unreliable
elements" and shipped to Bohemia
and Moravia. Even Gustav Husi!.k,
Slovak Red leader, was transferred
from a .Slovak jail to o.ne in Czech
territory. The Prague Ministry of
Defense ousted all Slovak oMicers
from Lt. Col. up from .the "CzechoSlovak" Army and replaced Slovak militia In d'actol'ies iby Czech
workers' militia.
'The Slovaks -s~pathized with
the MagY'ars ,and ·h elped as much
as they could under the most difficult ciTcumstances. Thousands of
Slovaks and M.agyar.s from Slova-
�2
SLOVAKIA
while Czech reserves served with
the army in Slovakia.
A second Slovak escapee wrote:
"Twenty-two Soviet divisions came
into Hungary many of them through
Slovakia. Besides that a special
Czech military unit of five divisions
operated in the Kosice-Miskovec
aTea. . . . Controls a r e v er y
Border guards have
strict. . .
been tripled; they shoot at practically anyone not in uniform."
·R eporters and writers for the
world press still do not distinguish between Slovakia and Bohemia, the Slovaks and the Czechs:
they write about the "Hung,a,rianCzechoslovak" frontier, when they
actually mean the "Hungarian-SloThe Czechs took no ohances vak" frontier; for them the Reo
with the Slovaks; they knew that Czech Army becomes the "Czechothe sentiment jn Slovakia was not slovak" Army. The Slovaks, it
only strongly anti-Communist and seems, are bound to ,b e involved
anti-Soviet, ,b ut also strongly anti- in everything the Czechs do since
Czech. As one Slovak escapee, who the birth o.f the political monwitnessed the disturbances in Bra- strosity known as Czecho-Slovakia.
tisla'V'a, put it: ",S ince the execuTo keep t!h e record straight,
tion of President Tiso, the sentiment in Slovakia was never so ,allow us to remind all uninformed,
anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, and misinformed and "slightly" confused writers, and the reading ;pubanti-Czech as it is now."
lic that: the Slovaks are not
During the M~.gyar revolt Slo- Czechs; Slovakia is not Bohemia;
vakia iresembled ,a large military so-called "Czecho-Slovak" policy is
camp; the streets of 'Bratislava strictly Czech policy; the Slovaks
were •f ull of tanks, all roads -were outlawed Communism in their Re·b locked •b y the Czech Army, and public in 1939, while the Czechs
machine-gun nests were planted umler .Benes would not govern with
everywihere. Bratislava was the al- out them; the Slovaks were and
leged headquarters of 1both the still are anti 0 Soviet, while the
Soviet and Magyar ,R eds: the lat- Czechs under M-asaryk and Benes,
ter were quartered in Hotel Carl- Gottwald and Zapotocky, were
ton, the former in iHotel Devin. and still are :pro-Soviet; the SloBoth hotels were ,h eavily guarded, va:ks sym:pathized with the Hunas were all vublic builoing.s. All I garian "rebels" and helved them
Slovak reserves were called into as much as they could under the
service, 1but were not allowed to circumstances, while the Czechs
serve in Slovakia; ,t hey were /collaborated with the Soviet armies
shipped to Moravia ,and Bohemia, to crush the Magyar revolt.
kia joined the Hungarian patriota
to help shake off the halter of
Moscow. Lively demonstrations
against the Soviets ,and the Czechs
were staged in Bratislava, Surany,
Nove ZAmky, Lucenec, Kosice, and
other Slovak towns. They destroyed large sections of track to hinder the movement of Red soldiers
and supplies through Slovakia;
heavy fighting took place near
Presov. Demonstrating in Bratislava, October 27, students shouted:
"Freedom for Hunga,ry - Freedom
for Slovakia - Get out Russi•a ns
- Go home Czechs - No more
Czecho-Slovakia - ,Down with the
Reds," etc.
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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
VO L. V I
SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER , 1956
NO . 3-4 ( 20-21)
IN THIS ISSUE:
R. I. P . Dr. Fra n c is H rusovsky ,
Monsignor Jo zef Tiso -
Controv ersial Personality
-
Cz ec h o-S l o vaki a or Czechos lo vakii!l.
S t,~r a n d the Slov a k In depe nd e n ce Moveme nt
B en es a nd t h e Communization of Czecho-S lo vak i a
~saryk ' ~ D(}-IQ:l9oPaoy
aiqs
i!ile"alt+a
Why Di d Benes Resi gn in 1938?
M emora ndum
Th e History of S lovak i a
1856 -
Dr. Samu e l Cz a mb el -
1956
Castles of S lovak i a : Starohrad ( Th e Old Cast l e) of Li ptov
K ern e r 's "Czec h os l ovak i a" ( Cont 'd.):
History or Pro paganda?
WHO SA ID IT : 24, 39, 54, 58, 62, 87
*
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
SLOVAKIA
Box 150
Middletown , P a .
•
Pub I ished by
~~v
t1-BkA'Wf
E
oF
AM ER I CA
.MlU.£RSV1LLE STATE cqu.EGE
~Ji.SV41.lt, l>A. 17551
SLOVAK IA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fedel'ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
The chief purpose of SLOVAK .IA
is to pl'omote a better understan ding
and appreciat ion of the Slovak nation
and its long stl'uggle fol' freedom and
independe nce.
As American s, 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 independe nce.
They are dedicated to the cause of the
American way of life, Slovak freedom
and world peace and are determine d to
oppose the plague of Communi sm and
all other totalitaria n political systems.
Subscript ion to Slovakia $1.00 per
year in the U. S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscripti ons to:
SLOV AKIA
Box 150
Middletow n, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
SLO VAK IA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly by the Slovak
League of America
SEPTEMBER-DECEM BER, 1956
NO. 3-4 (2{}-21)
SLOVA.KIA AND THE RECENT REBELLIONS
Whatever happened and is happening in Poland, Hungary, the
Middle East, and other countTies
of Europe ,a nd .A!si.a must be
blamed on the policies followed by
the western democracies, on the
so many "wise men" from the
West, who knew how to win another war, ,b ut could not win an
honorable and just peace.
The press has done a little to
help the situation; an,d intelligence agencies of our Government
did even less to clarify it. We always had and still ·h ave our
embassies, employing hundreds of
thousands of ,people, in the many
countries of Europe and Asia, but
still do not know the nations
thereof sufficiently well to work
with them effectively in the interests of genuine democracy. mhe
Poles, we are supposed to 1b elieve,
would lbe satisfied with ,G omulka
Communism, the Yugoslavs like
the "Tito" ,b rand, while the Slovaks go for the Czeoh type of the
late Dr. Edward ·B enes. Nothing
could be !farther from the truth:
.all these nations pray fervently
that they might be Hberated
.s peedily from the scouTge of godCommunism
materialistic
less,
which was :forced upon them durIng ,a nd iafter World War illl.
Much has ,b een said and .w ritten recently about the disturbances in Poland and Hungary, but
little or nothing ,about what is going on in Slovakia. But the met
is that Slov,akia is not and never
will be satisfied with the situation it w,a s forced into after
World War II .against the will of
her people. The Slovaks proved it
on many occasions . .A!nd they did ti
again during 1956. The students
of Slovakia demonstrated in May;
this was followed ,b y Poznan In
Poland in June; then Hungary
rebelled In October, and iPo1and
a:gain was heard from. What was
the situation in Slov,ak.ia when
open Tebellion broke out in Budapest on October 23?
,several Slovak escapees said
that the Czech Red Army immediately sealed the Slovak-iHungarian border to prevent Slovaks
from helping the, Magyars; Czeoh
"security police" and the Czech
Army ocoupied all of Slovakia; all
former Slovak deputies, ministers
of government, and political leaders were rounded up as "unreliable
elements" and shipped to Bohemia
and Moravia. Even Gustav Husi!.k,
Slovak Red leader, was transferred
from a .Slovak jail to o.ne in Czech
territory. The Prague Ministry of
Defense ousted all Slovak oMicers
from Lt. Col. up from .the "CzechoSlovak" Army and replaced Slovak militia In d'actol'ies iby Czech
workers' militia.
'The Slovaks -s~pathized with
the MagY'ars ,and ·h elped as much
as they could under the most difficult ciTcumstances. Thousands of
Slovaks and M.agyar.s from Slova-
2
SLOVAKIA
while Czech reserves served with
the army in Slovakia.
A second Slovak escapee wrote:
"Twenty-two Soviet divisions came
into Hungary many of them through
Slovakia. Besides that a special
Czech military unit of five divisions
operated in the Kosice-Miskovec
aTea. . . . Controls a r e v er y
Border guards have
strict. . .
been tripled; they shoot at practically anyone not in uniform."
·R eporters and writers for the
world press still do not distinguish between Slovakia and Bohemia, the Slovaks and the Czechs:
they write about the "Hung,a,rianCzechoslovak" frontier, when they
actually mean the "Hungarian-SloThe Czechs took no ohances vak" frontier; for them the Reo
with the Slovaks; they knew that Czech Army becomes the "Czechothe sentiment jn Slovakia was not slovak" Army. The Slovaks, it
only strongly anti-Communist and seems, are bound to ,b e involved
anti-Soviet, ,b ut also strongly anti- in everything the Czechs do since
Czech. As one Slovak escapee, who the birth o.f the political monwitnessed the disturbances in Bra- strosity known as Czecho-Slovakia.
tisla'V'a, put it: ",S ince the execuTo keep t!h e record straight,
tion of President Tiso, the sentiment in Slovakia was never so ,allow us to remind all uninformed,
anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, and misinformed and "slightly" confused writers, and the reading ;pubanti-Czech as it is now."
lic that: the Slovaks are not
During the M~.gyar revolt Slo- Czechs; Slovakia is not Bohemia;
vakia iresembled ,a large military so-called "Czecho-Slovak" policy is
camp; the streets of 'Bratislava strictly Czech policy; the Slovaks
were •f ull of tanks, all roads -were outlawed Communism in their Re·b locked •b y the Czech Army, and public in 1939, while the Czechs
machine-gun nests were planted umler .Benes would not govern with
everywihere. Bratislava was the al- out them; the Slovaks were and
leged headquarters of 1both the still are anti 0 Soviet, while the
Soviet and Magyar ,R eds: the lat- Czechs under M-asaryk and Benes,
ter were quartered in Hotel Carl- Gottwald and Zapotocky, were
ton, the former in iHotel Devin. and still are :pro-Soviet; the SloBoth hotels were ,h eavily guarded, va:ks sym:pathized with the Hunas were all vublic builoing.s. All I garian "rebels" and helved them
Slovak reserves were called into as much as they could under the
service, 1but were not allowed to circumstances, while the Czechs
serve in Slovakia; ,t hey were /collaborated with the Soviet armies
shipped to Moravia ,and Bohemia, to crush the Magyar revolt.
kia joined the Hungarian patriota
to help shake off the halter of
Moscow. Lively demonstrations
against the Soviets ,and the Czechs
were staged in Bratislava, Surany,
Nove ZAmky, Lucenec, Kosice, and
other Slovak towns. They destroyed large sections of track to hinder the movement of Red soldiers
and supplies through Slovakia;
heavy fighting took place near
Presov. Demonstrating in Bratislava, October 27, students shouted:
"Freedom for Hunga,ry - Freedom
for Slovakia - Get out Russi•a ns
- Go home Czechs - No more
Czecho-Slovakia - ,Down with the
Reds," etc.
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
Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 3-4 (20-21)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/43a5e633737a1609f4967bb5245a3162.pdf
7d2207eb8924135491f8a0d50f062174
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Hono r ary President
Franc es L. Mizenko
3756 Lee !Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. Hletko
1943 W. -ISth Street
Chicago ~. Illinois
IStephen
President
A . Hroba k
Ph i l i p
P. 0. Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J . Hamrock
61 Wood-land Avenue
Campbell , Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mic hael J. Vargovi c h
15n -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic S lornk Cnion
Vice-President
Julia K rajcovlc
Hel en Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, 111.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secreta.ry
Fra nc is
J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
\ Vilkes-Barre, Pa.
H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Pau l Fallat
, ational President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V . Blazek
National President
Penna. S lovak Uni on
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill .
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Cath erine
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pitts burgh 10, Pa.
Volosin
N ati onaJ President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Uni on
John Rozbor i l
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
Nati onal President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Aff il iated with th e Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
:\fiddletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
K ATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic, N . J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill .
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIK E
Whiting, Ind.
�1856 - 1956
LOUIS STUR: Father of Modern Slovak Nationalism
GANSER LIBRAR"Y
·~!~~~~~X!·~~~ ~1:ATE__f9!-1EG£
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Hono r ary President
Franc es L. Mizenko
3756 Lee !Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. Hletko
1943 W. -ISth Street
Chicago ~. Illinois
IStephen
President
A . Hroba k
Ph i l i p
P. 0. Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J . Hamrock
61 Wood-land Avenue
Campbell , Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mic hael J. Vargovi c h
15n -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic S lornk Cnion
Vice-President
Julia K rajcovlc
Hel en Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, 111.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secreta.ry
Fra nc is
J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
\ Vilkes-Barre, Pa.
H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Pau l Fallat
, ational President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V . Blazek
National President
Penna. S lovak Uni on
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill .
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Cath erine
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pitts burgh 10, Pa.
Volosin
N ati onaJ President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Uni on
John Rozbor i l
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
Nati onal President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Aff il iated with th e Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
:\fiddletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
K ATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic, N . J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill .
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIK E
Whiting, Ind.
�1856 - 1956
LOUIS STUR: Father of Modern Slovak Nationalism
GANSER LIBRAR"Y
·~!~~~~~X!·~~~ ~1:ATE__f9!-1EG£
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio
•
Hono r ary President
Franc es L. Mizenko
3756 Lee !Road
Cleveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Peter P. Hletko
1943 W. -ISth Street
Chicago ~. Illinois
IStephen
President
A . Hroba k
Ph i l i p
P. 0. Box 150, Middletown, Pa.
Andrew J . Hamrock
61 Wood-land Avenue
Campbell , Ohio
Vice-President
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mic hael J. Vargovi c h
15n -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind.
National President
First Catholic S lornk Cnion
Vice-President
Julia K rajcovlc
Hel en Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, 111.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secreta.ry
Fra nc is
J . Tkach
173 N. Main Street
\ Vilkes-Barre, Pa.
H rusovsky
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
Pau l Fallat
, ational President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J. Tkach
Milan V . Blazek
National President
Penna. S lovak Uni on
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill .
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Cath erine
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pitts burgh 10, Pa.
Volosin
N ati onaJ President
Ladies Pennsylvania
Slovak Uni on
John Rozbor i l
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
Nati onal President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
( Aff il iated with th e Slovak League of America )
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
:\fiddletown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
ZORNICKA
Cleveland, Ohio
Chicago, Ill.
K ATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic, N . J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill .
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVAK V AMERIK E
Whiting, Ind.
1856 - 1956
LOUIS STUR: Father of Modern Slovak Nationalism
GANSER LIBRAR"Y
·~!~~~~~X!·~~~ ~1:ATE__f9!-1EG£
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. 6, No. 2 (19)
Description
An account of the resource
includes drawing of Louis Štúr
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/435d5e0a1885ef6b9a7b8e06b05bd14d.pdf
c5c748f9d85af7e64d5dbc4d33532fa6
PDF Text
Text
52
SLOVAKIA
ENSLAVERS OF THE CZECH NATION: HOW BENES
"GOT" STRiBRNf
(From the September 23, 1955, issue of "BOHEMIA," Czech monthl,y
published by the Czech Democratic Federalists in Munich, Germany.)
BY: SIRIUS
Flrequently we fail to notice the flow of hi story. What
to some of us is iapparently self-evident, that is fo.r many
veiled by a cu:rtain of forgetfulness 'rund to the younger
generation is something unknown. Forgetfulness and ignorance have created many Je,g ends, which have fatefully extended into the politic~ development of our natiOlll and
have placed in ,power forces which had to coMapse again
and again, ,b ecause they betrayed everything upon which
the state was built .and that which formed its ideological
substa:nce. Perhwps dt is ,t imely to remind the Czech public
about the tirings we had witnessed, so that it might be
able to form its own judgment and to create its own view.
When the press reported the death of George Stribrny
in the Ilava prison last summer (1955), the news shodked
only those who knew him and witnessed his struggles. Not
all these struggles were wa,ged "cleverly," ibut they were
waged to the end which 'Stribmy ,guessed and supposed
more than he reasonably knew: for the consolidation of
democracy agai:ns,t aJl'bitrary power and violence.
George Strib.rny was one of the "men of October 28th."
This designation was no:t simply ,a n empty phvase. The
Czecho-Slavak Republic did not come into existence just oult
of nothing from the minds of statesmen; in the beginning
its existence was doubtfuJ; aJD.d when T. G. Masaryk went
out of Austria-Hung ary to attempt to Liberate the Czech
nation from aibsolutism, he wanted only to gain respect for
the constitutional rights o.f his nation, which aliready were
guaranteed by the so-.caJled "October Rescript," in which
the emperor solemnly :promised rto have ,h imself crowned
as Czech king in /Prague. While aJbroad Masaryk had no
other ooorception in the beginning. In a memorandum to
the British foreign office, dated in April of 1915, T. G.
Masaryk wrote:
1
�SLOVAKIA
53
"We intended to make Bohemia a monarchist State; a Czech Republic is wanted only by a few radicals ••• Either the Allied Powers
will give us one of their Princes, or there will be a personal union
between Bohemia and Serbia ••• A Russian dynasty would be in every
way popular ••. Russia's wishes and plans will have to be of decisive
influence ••• "
The idea of ,a Czecho~Slovak State ripened only gradually; the republican concept won out only under the influence of American Czec'llis and Slova!ks.. In the Pit,tsburgh
Agreement, concluded by T. G. ,M asaryk with the American
Slovaks on May '30, 1918, we read: "The Czecho-.Slovak
StaJte shall be a Republic ... " This a,greement guaTanteed
the Slovaks equal rights with the Czech nation, tha,t is,
their own state government and assembly. Afl later attempts to explain this a;greement as only a private agreement, wihich did not bind in l aw, only sharpened the tensions
between the Czechs and Slovaros and led to coil!Sequeinces
which are stiH fresh in our minds.
1
Stribrny a Member of the "Committee of Five"
During the period that .Masaryk traveled abroad, lectured and organlized the legions, Stffbo:ny was mi active
member of the Vienna parliament where he represented the
Czech National !Socialist Party, which formerly was called
the Czech Nationa;l Labor Parity. This party came into being ais 3Jil opposi,tiO!Il paJrty to the inoceasing :influence of
international social democracy, and its founder was the
journalist Vaclav Klofac, a convinced anti-militarist. Later
he became the fi~st Minister ,o f [Defense in the first Cre<!hoS1o:va;k government of iDr. Chades Kramaf.
Klofac and Stfibrny were the two lea,ding personalities
of the movement of na;tional workers. During the first
World WaT the Czech anarchists joined with them, led by
Dr. iBohumil Vrbensky, a dentist, who was named Min:ister
of Supplies !in the first Czceho-Slo:va:k government. When
Kiofac wa;s jailed by the Austrian authorities soon after
the outbreak of the war and later conrvicted, Stfibmy became the leading personality of the Czech National Socialists and represented ,t hem on the "Committee of Five",the other members being: Dr. Alois Rasin (Czech National
Democrat), Arrtonirn Svehla (Agrarian), DT. Francis Sou-
�54
SLOVAKIA
ikup (Soeial Democrat), who was later replaced by deputy
Haibrman, :and a depresentative of the Czech People's Party
whkh had separated from the conservative wing represented
by the perfodicai •~CEoH"; the latter became a member of
the committee laiter.
Benes Arrives on the Scene
A plaque on ,t he House of Deputies in the city of
Prague told one (•I do inot know if it is still there) that
the Committee of ,F ive, Jin Stribrny among them, had a
session in tlris house on October 28, 1918, to proclaim the
first la:w of the Czecho-.Slovak Republic, the proclamatioo.
of the existence af the new State. This act really was :revolutionary. Even though Czecho-Slovakia was recognized.
by the Allied Governments, it was not certain when the
practical transfer of power would take place. The seizure
of power, which :these men managed, surprised even the
Czech ,political delegaitfon which at that moment was in
session in the Beau iRivage Hotel in Geneva, where it had
gOille with ,t he permission of the Austrian government to
ma'ke oontacts with the Czech politicians rub.road, among
whom was a new personality, a young docent of sociology
at the Prague University, ,D r. Edtwa:rd (Benes.
Dr. !Benes was a very ambitious and energetic man.
Originally a member of the Social Democratic iPa:rty, like
his brother, he became a correspondent for the social-democratic daily •~BRAVIO UIDU" (The People's Right) tn
Paris, where his lire waJS anything but pleaSia'D!t. IHe learned
French, English much fater, ibut he could never speak it
correctly. Benes was attracted ,b y Masaryk's person:ality.
Masaryk at that ti.me was iintroducing in the Charles University methods of English p:nactical thought, which are
often mistakenly reg,arded rus same kind of independent
philosophical system. iMasaryk was quite well known because of his appearrunces before the public, ,b ut he was not
too well liked. His ireailism rather shocked Ith.an inspired
Czech 111.ationaliism in-Austria-Hunga ry. A reflection of the
valiant stand of 'Z ola in France was the participation of
Masaryk in the Hilsner murder case, in which he proved
the fals1ty of the so'-'Called "Mrunuscripts," but :it evoked
�SLOVAKIA
55
a wave of hostility agaJinst him. When deputy Sviil:a sued
Alllyz, it.he editor of t:he N.ARODNE DISTY, !because he ac..
cused Sviha of !being an informer for the Austrian police,
Masaryk took sides with Anyz and so turned the Czech
N atio:rraJ Socialists against himself.
Antagonism 'between Masaryk and the N ationai Socialist
Party had existed fo~ some time. :Since Benes always sfu'essed 3,nd underil!ined the intention and :aims of his master,
it was expected th:a,t !lie would soon get into an a;rgument
with ithe National Socialists. 'Dhe fight was a strange one,
indeed. When it became clear that the Social Democrats
would not place [)r. Benes on ,t he baJlOlt as their candidaite,
and since Dr. Benes could not count OIIl being a candidate
on the -ballot of the National Democrats, because of his
opposition to ,t hem, there rernamed little '1.ef.t for him to do
butt try to get on the !ballot as a candidate of the Czech
NatiOIIlal 1Socialists. At that time it was still thought that
a minister must be a deputy and that it was necessary to
uphold the rules of parliamb.'lltary democracy. The National
Socialist Party, which Benes wanted to 'balilot him, however, was over:whelmingily a .p arty of the workers and not
intellectuals.
But danger threatened Benes from another quarter. At
t hat time Dr. iKramar was quite a power and naJtional hero.
Benes !mnew that. But he also was determined to wreck the
prur.ty of Kramar and, if need be, Kramar himself. He set
himself to the taslk. The group associated with Dr. Jaro,.
slav Stransky, a yoU1I1g deputy of the National Democratic
Party, quit the party ,t o, join the so-called "Labor Party"
which rwas in a transitiOIIlal stage; it ,w as through this party that the g,roup ent&ed the Czech National Socialist
Party. The first attack within the party was made against
Stflbrny, directed behind the scenes ,b y !Benes. [t ended
with the expulsion ,oif Stribrny from the party.
1
Stfibrny Organizes the "Castle" Opposition
Stribmy was hurt, but 111ort helpless. He knew his enemy
very well.. In Prague, on Jungman iS treet, he began to build
up his own publishing enterprises; his "Vecemi list" (Eveni1nig News) soon ibecame a feared boulevard newspaper.
�56
SLOVAKIA
Stribrny consolidated practically the entire "am.ti-Castle"
opposition. 1Many persons who did not like Benes's methods
were aHowed space in his paper, among them: J. S. Machar,
fo:mner intimate of T. G. Masaryk, the writer Francis Zavfola, whom Dr. Benes never forgave for criticizing him in
the novel "For.tinbras," Arnost Dvorak, author of the co..
medy "Matej 'Poctivy (Honest Matt), and many others.
Wlhat did the opposition hold . against the ambitious,
vainglorious Benes? IJ:t would take seve,r al pages just to
enumerate all reproaches, complaints and charges, but sub.struintially all were concerned with one matter: Benes's
dictatorial methods, which he developed throughout his life
as ·a confirmed socialist. Dr. Benes came to parliament from
the outside; he did not bother attending meetings, did not
seek favor of the voters, and thought that his foreign activity was fin itself so great that he should be trusted without question in ·all things. If any one doubted the correotness of his views or of his politics and dared to express
an opposite view, Benes considered that as a sign of enmity. Benes had no wide support among the voters; if the
system of "binding ballots of candidates" did not exist,
Benes never would have become a deputy of pa'I'liament.
Benes was conscious of his unpopularity with the voters
and his lack of ipoilitical ba:ckg,r ound, and .t his he coil'.Sidoced
as his greatest personal defioiency. Naturally, this meant,
if he wanted to stay in power - 3Jlld he certainly did Benes would have to find other methods of disposing of
his political opponents. Of course, we know he not only
found them, but also used them quite effectively.
Whi~e Benes studied in Dijon one name attracted his
attention: Fouche. The methods applied by th.is man, Na,.
poleon's police director, !impressed the youthful, ambitious
Benes. He reC"alled them later when he decided to become
a power in Czech politics. He knew that a person could be
destroyed ,pol1ticailly by malicious smeair and vilification;
and he also learned• how the criminal courts aided Fouche,
who bought witnesses who were wiHing to testify to anything for pay. Dr. Benes, who tested' this method when he
rem()IVed Jirak, sectional ,chief o,f the !M:inistry of Trade,
�SLOVAKIA
57
thought he was strong enough to try it against Stribrny.
At that itime Dr. K,a,reil Larry in the Ministry oif Justice
was Benes's righit hand. ·L awyer Drobny, who complained
of a meagre law practice, !became an all-powerful perso..,
nalii.ty in the Ministry of Justice and Bene.s's willing servant.
It was not easy to fabric-a te a ca:se against Stribrny; Benes
knew he had to be very cautions. Stribrny was a publisher
and was ba,cked by a small burt very ·a ctive political party;
Dr. Charles iPergler, American-born Czech and outspoken
adversary of Benes's policies, rulso joined •t he opposition
headed by Stribmy.
Dr. Lany worked haTd and long to come up with something against Stfibmy and ,so to please Benes. Finally, he
cooked up something which Be111es thought would finish
Stribrny: Larry said Stribrny had perjured ihimseJf during
one of his trials. A great number of witnesses was rounded
up to testify as l.<I1Slbructed by 'Larry; the trial got under
way ·a nd the press featured it. Everything seemed to be
running smoothly for Lany until a certain detective was
called upon to testify; that detective sruid thait he saw Stribrny with the accused Sichrovsky in the Hotel de Saxe in
Prague; he mentioned the point from which he saw them;
it was from not rtoo, great a di,s tance, but a corner came
into the picture. O.vdinary people cannot see a-r ound a corner, but the detective Lany produced as a witness was
blessed, it •seems, with airOU!Ild-the-corner-sighrt. The court
at thart time could not 1b e influenced; it did not believe thaJt
the detective could see aToun.d corners. So the court threw
out the case against Strib,rny.
1
Benes was :fm-ious, but he was by no means through
with 1Stfibrny. '.I1lwough the staJte pmcUI1ator he made application for -a wrirt of error, which was gra111ted; the request rto ihave the trial tramsferred to another city "to re..,
move the influence of the iPrague street" was also granted
- Jihlava was ,given the honor. The second .part of the
drarrna dragged on .in Ji'hlava · a nd caused no end of worry
to Stribrny. Benes, however, had nothing to lose, except
possibly a: ,b it of face. When the trial ended, Stribmy won
out -again.
�58
SLOVAKIA
In the meantime, time marched on. Benes was kept
busy with the cOI11sequences of his polides MJ.d ideological
constructions. Afraid of 1osing his influence, he still thoug,ht
that the [Habsburgs were 's till dangerous, so he oreated the
Little Entente (Yugoslavia, Rumamfa ·a nd Czecho-!Slova'kia:) ,
wh!ich f,1opped when faced with rthe first crisis. Autocrat
that he was, Benes ,a lways waited nntil he was forced to
negotirution or to 0.!g.reement.
No matter :how we judge the event,s of that time, one
thing stands: out quite clear and certain: Benes failed to
;recognize two problems whicli were of vital .importance to
the Repuiblic - the German p:mblem and the Slovak problem. He thought both would be solved by silence and proCTaJStination. Because he was a man who iregaroed discussion ·a s a personal atta0k, there never were any objective
discussions about the vital proiblerns orf the country.
Truthfully speaking, it must be said that Benes did
not even have the desired understanding for those two problems. He was a man who gloried in moving in foreign circles; he saiw his strength on the diplomatic parquets among
his a,oquaintances, club, colleagues, wd hi-red journ.ailists.
Problems of internal politics neveir reaJ.Iy interested Benes.
Una:ble to tolerate criticism, he contriived the laiw "for the
protection of the (Republic," which was enthusiastically endorsed by the other "coalition" parties, becall!Se it put a
perfect muzZJle io n the mouths o.f the opposition. Benes paid
lip service to democracy, but sinned against it gravely. P&haps inexperience, a ilaclr of honest courage to give in when
wrong, affiliaiting politics too much with person:al advantages run:d gains, commerc.iali·z ing politics at the ~nse of
the ideal interests of ,t he nation - all this .became the hot/bed of dictatorial whims which culminated in whait Benes
began rto do in 1945, when without even consuWng the nation he pu:bli,s:hed -and enforC"ed his famous- "decrees." He
had become a dictator, something he had always striven
for. To Benes it did not matter that he served the forces
which ilater rwere to orvercome him, ibeca:use rthey were more
powerful, experienced .and tactically more mature. The
Czech nation tolerated dictatorship. Wea:kened by the war,
�SLOVAKIA
69
confused and befuddled by the political situation which was
not presented in its :tirue colors, and led by ·a personality
who thought he had won the war, the nation hum!bly sue..
cumbed to serious breaches and limitations of its rights
and freedoms.
Benes Finally "Gets" Stribrny
Just before the war ended, as I recaill, while several
of us were discussing the future, one of iBenes's very close
friends Temarked: "Things will not be as they were under
Masairyk. Benes is a vengeful man and will not forgive any
one!"
This characterization of Benes hit me hard later, when
I learned that Stfibrny was arrested at the Grii.fenberg
Baths in Silesia. Every one was convinced that this was
a m~staJke. Wha;t could any o.ne have against Stribrny? During the war he was not active politically ·a t all. Benes nevertheless came out against Stribrny because of his pre ...war
activity, which did not fall under the notion of "retribution" at all. Stfibrny's journalists, we know, frequently
criticized Benes, as did many others. The court could not
resolve whether the criticism was proper or not, but omy
whether criticism was allowed and whether free criticism
comes under the notion of "retribution." The defendant's
counsel, a brilliant iPrague lawyer, was convinced that Stribrny could not be convicted. When the trial was over and
tha,t lawyer heard the verdiot of life in jail, he wanted to
give up his law practice. Stfibrny's son, hearing ,t he verdict,
said only one word: "Dad!" and for that he was accused
of disturbing public order and later sentenced to 18 months
in jail.
Jin 1S tribrny probably could have gotten out of the
·n ava prison, if he would have requested amnesty. But he
refused to ask Benes for mercy. Stfibrny was not indicted
and tried ·e ven by the Oommunists. "The mrun of October
28th," one of the founders of the Republic, apparently did
not consider it dignified and proper to ask any one for
mercy, for pardon for anything that he did not commit,
for pardon because at the moment his antagonist was
stronger than he was.
�60
SLOVAKIA
Let people think what they like a;bout Stribrny. One.
thlng .they ml.l!st admit: he was am enthusiastic and stouthearted man. If he did do wrong, he was willing to admit
it; often he may have attacked hairder than he should have
and let himself be guided ,b y personal bitterness more than
by political motive, but he was one orf the few moo who
did found the Republic. The founders of states of civilized
nations ·a re usualty glorified by monuments and a;rticles in
school reade:ra. But Sitribrrny was allowed to die in jail. A
shame? !indeed, it was a shame, but it was not Stribrny's
shame.
Getting rid of opponents. by any and all methods leads
in ,p olitics to dictatorship. As soon as "liberaito:ris" cha:nge
into enslavers of their nation, it is up to the na,tion to defend its rig,hts.. It cannot stand idly on the sidelines. Tihe
ipeople who do that beair the responsibility for the victims
of dictatorship. Stribrny was one of the victims. His deeply
furrowed countenance will be long remembered iby those
who knew him. His high forehead was crowned with a rich
set of hair - ,w avy, beautiful lrair. 'Dhe physic,a l personality
of Stribrny is slowly disappearing in the chasms of oblivion,
ibut hiis hair still waves as if it were a li'Viing torch!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his
Irutest statemenJts rulways stressed, tiliait ouir pact of a.Hiance
with Soviet Russia and ouir friendshiip with other S1 av Ill8.tions must not encrooch on o.ur friendly and cordirul relations with other democratic states. This is .t he natuiral desire, shared by an enormous ma;jority of oor people, and
nothing .p revents us from keeping the comidence of the
democratic states and stroogthenmg and deepening OUT
friendship with ouT great western Allies. Moscow, too,
wanlts tio ful~ow thi s line of poliic y. rt will., however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to
the Soviet Union, which are stiU existing, to be swept
away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozecho-Slorvakia, OW7I Bulletin, June 1, 194'5.
1
1
�
52
SLOVAKIA
ENSLAVERS OF THE CZECH NATION: HOW BENES
"GOT" STRiBRNf
(From the September 23, 1955, issue of "BOHEMIA," Czech monthl,y
published by the Czech Democratic Federalists in Munich, Germany.)
BY: SIRIUS
Flrequently we fail to notice the flow of hi story. What
to some of us is iapparently self-evident, that is fo.r many
veiled by a cu:rtain of forgetfulness 'rund to the younger
generation is something unknown. Forgetfulness and ignorance have created many Je,g ends, which have fatefully extended into the politic~ development of our natiOlll and
have placed in ,power forces which had to coMapse again
and again, ,b ecause they betrayed everything upon which
the state was built .and that which formed its ideological
substa:nce. Perhwps dt is ,t imely to remind the Czech public
about the tirings we had witnessed, so that it might be
able to form its own judgment and to create its own view.
When the press reported the death of George Stribrny
in the Ilava prison last summer (1955), the news shodked
only those who knew him and witnessed his struggles. Not
all these struggles were wa,ged "cleverly," ibut they were
waged to the end which 'Stribmy ,guessed and supposed
more than he reasonably knew: for the consolidation of
democracy agai:ns,t aJl'bitrary power and violence.
George Strib.rny was one of the "men of October 28th."
This designation was no:t simply ,a n empty phvase. The
Czecho-Slavak Republic did not come into existence just oult
of nothing from the minds of statesmen; in the beginning
its existence was doubtfuJ; aJD.d when T. G. Masaryk went
out of Austria-Hung ary to attempt to Liberate the Czech
nation from aibsolutism, he wanted only to gain respect for
the constitutional rights o.f his nation, which aliready were
guaranteed by the so-.caJled "October Rescript," in which
the emperor solemnly :promised rto have ,h imself crowned
as Czech king in /Prague. While aJbroad Masaryk had no
other ooorception in the beginning. In a memorandum to
the British foreign office, dated in April of 1915, T. G.
Masaryk wrote:
1
�SLOVAKIA
53
"We intended to make Bohemia a monarchist State; a Czech Republic is wanted only by a few radicals ••• Either the Allied Powers
will give us one of their Princes, or there will be a personal union
between Bohemia and Serbia ••• A Russian dynasty would be in every
way popular ••. Russia's wishes and plans will have to be of decisive
influence ••• "
The idea of ,a Czecho~Slovak State ripened only gradually; the republican concept won out only under the influence of American Czec'llis and Slova!ks.. In the Pit,tsburgh
Agreement, concluded by T. G. ,M asaryk with the American
Slovaks on May '30, 1918, we read: "The Czecho-.Slovak
StaJte shall be a Republic ... " This a,greement guaTanteed
the Slovaks equal rights with the Czech nation, tha,t is,
their own state government and assembly. Afl later attempts to explain this a;greement as only a private agreement, wihich did not bind in l aw, only sharpened the tensions
between the Czechs and Slovaros and led to coil!Sequeinces
which are stiH fresh in our minds.
1
Stribrny a Member of the "Committee of Five"
During the period that .Masaryk traveled abroad, lectured and organlized the legions, Stffbo:ny was mi active
member of the Vienna parliament where he represented the
Czech National !Socialist Party, which formerly was called
the Czech Nationa;l Labor Parity. This party came into being ais 3Jil opposi,tiO!Il paJrty to the inoceasing :influence of
international social democracy, and its founder was the
journalist Vaclav Klofac, a convinced anti-militarist. Later
he became the fi~st Minister ,o f [Defense in the first Cre<!hoS1o:va;k government of iDr. Chades Kramaf.
Klofac and Stfibrny were the two lea,ding personalities
of the movement of na;tional workers. During the first
World WaT the Czech anarchists joined with them, led by
Dr. iBohumil Vrbensky, a dentist, who was named Min:ister
of Supplies !in the first Czceho-Slo:va:k government. When
Kiofac wa;s jailed by the Austrian authorities soon after
the outbreak of the war and later conrvicted, Stfibmy became the leading personality of the Czech National Socialists and represented ,t hem on the "Committee of Five",the other members being: Dr. Alois Rasin (Czech National
Democrat), Arrtonirn Svehla (Agrarian), DT. Francis Sou-
�54
SLOVAKIA
ikup (Soeial Democrat), who was later replaced by deputy
Haibrman, :and a depresentative of the Czech People's Party
whkh had separated from the conservative wing represented
by the perfodicai •~CEoH"; the latter became a member of
the committee laiter.
Benes Arrives on the Scene
A plaque on ,t he House of Deputies in the city of
Prague told one (•I do inot know if it is still there) that
the Committee of ,F ive, Jin Stribrny among them, had a
session in tlris house on October 28, 1918, to proclaim the
first la:w of the Czecho-.Slovak Republic, the proclamatioo.
of the existence af the new State. This act really was :revolutionary. Even though Czecho-Slovakia was recognized.
by the Allied Governments, it was not certain when the
practical transfer of power would take place. The seizure
of power, which :these men managed, surprised even the
Czech ,political delegaitfon which at that moment was in
session in the Beau iRivage Hotel in Geneva, where it had
gOille with ,t he permission of the Austrian government to
ma'ke oontacts with the Czech politicians rub.road, among
whom was a new personality, a young docent of sociology
at the Prague University, ,D r. Edtwa:rd (Benes.
Dr. !Benes was a very ambitious and energetic man.
Originally a member of the Social Democratic iPa:rty, like
his brother, he became a correspondent for the social-democratic daily •~BRAVIO UIDU" (The People's Right) tn
Paris, where his lire waJS anything but pleaSia'D!t. IHe learned
French, English much fater, ibut he could never speak it
correctly. Benes was attracted ,b y Masaryk's person:ality.
Masaryk at that ti.me was iintroducing in the Charles University methods of English p:nactical thought, which are
often mistakenly reg,arded rus same kind of independent
philosophical system. iMasaryk was quite well known because of his appearrunces before the public, ,b ut he was not
too well liked. His ireailism rather shocked Ith.an inspired
Czech 111.ationaliism in-Austria-Hunga ry. A reflection of the
valiant stand of 'Z ola in France was the participation of
Masaryk in the Hilsner murder case, in which he proved
the fals1ty of the so'-'Called "Mrunuscripts," but :it evoked
�SLOVAKIA
55
a wave of hostility agaJinst him. When deputy Sviil:a sued
Alllyz, it.he editor of t:he N.ARODNE DISTY, !because he ac..
cused Sviha of !being an informer for the Austrian police,
Masaryk took sides with Anyz and so turned the Czech
N atio:rraJ Socialists against himself.
Antagonism 'between Masaryk and the N ationai Socialist
Party had existed fo~ some time. :Since Benes always sfu'essed 3,nd underil!ined the intention and :aims of his master,
it was expected th:a,t !lie would soon get into an a;rgument
with ithe National Socialists. 'Dhe fight was a strange one,
indeed. When it became clear that the Social Democrats
would not place [)r. Benes on ,t he baJlOlt as their candidaite,
and since Dr. Benes could not count OIIl being a candidate
on the -ballot of the National Democrats, because of his
opposition to ,t hem, there rernamed little '1.ef.t for him to do
butt try to get on the !ballot as a candidate of the Czech
NatiOIIlal 1Socialists. At that time it was still thought that
a minister must be a deputy and that it was necessary to
uphold the rules of parliamb.'lltary democracy. The National
Socialist Party, which Benes wanted to 'balilot him, however, was over:whelmingily a .p arty of the workers and not
intellectuals.
But danger threatened Benes from another quarter. At
t hat time Dr. iKramar was quite a power and naJtional hero.
Benes !mnew that. But he also was determined to wreck the
prur.ty of Kramar and, if need be, Kramar himself. He set
himself to the taslk. The group associated with Dr. Jaro,.
slav Stransky, a yoU1I1g deputy of the National Democratic
Party, quit the party ,t o, join the so-called "Labor Party"
which rwas in a transitiOIIlal stage; it ,w as through this party that the g,roup ent&ed the Czech National Socialist
Party. The first attack within the party was made against
Stflbrny, directed behind the scenes ,b y !Benes. [t ended
with the expulsion ,oif Stribrny from the party.
1
Stfibrny Organizes the "Castle" Opposition
Stribmy was hurt, but 111ort helpless. He knew his enemy
very well.. In Prague, on Jungman iS treet, he began to build
up his own publishing enterprises; his "Vecemi list" (Eveni1nig News) soon ibecame a feared boulevard newspaper.
�56
SLOVAKIA
Stribrny consolidated practically the entire "am.ti-Castle"
opposition. 1Many persons who did not like Benes's methods
were aHowed space in his paper, among them: J. S. Machar,
fo:mner intimate of T. G. Masaryk, the writer Francis Zavfola, whom Dr. Benes never forgave for criticizing him in
the novel "For.tinbras," Arnost Dvorak, author of the co..
medy "Matej 'Poctivy (Honest Matt), and many others.
Wlhat did the opposition hold . against the ambitious,
vainglorious Benes? IJ:t would take seve,r al pages just to
enumerate all reproaches, complaints and charges, but sub.struintially all were concerned with one matter: Benes's
dictatorial methods, which he developed throughout his life
as ·a confirmed socialist. Dr. Benes came to parliament from
the outside; he did not bother attending meetings, did not
seek favor of the voters, and thought that his foreign activity was fin itself so great that he should be trusted without question in ·all things. If any one doubted the correotness of his views or of his politics and dared to express
an opposite view, Benes considered that as a sign of enmity. Benes had no wide support among the voters; if the
system of "binding ballots of candidates" did not exist,
Benes never would have become a deputy of pa'I'liament.
Benes was conscious of his unpopularity with the voters
and his lack of ipoilitical ba:ckg,r ound, and .t his he coil'.Sidoced
as his greatest personal defioiency. Naturally, this meant,
if he wanted to stay in power - 3Jlld he certainly did Benes would have to find other methods of disposing of
his political opponents. Of course, we know he not only
found them, but also used them quite effectively.
Whi~e Benes studied in Dijon one name attracted his
attention: Fouche. The methods applied by th.is man, Na,.
poleon's police director, !impressed the youthful, ambitious
Benes. He reC"alled them later when he decided to become
a power in Czech politics. He knew that a person could be
destroyed ,pol1ticailly by malicious smeair and vilification;
and he also learned• how the criminal courts aided Fouche,
who bought witnesses who were wiHing to testify to anything for pay. Dr. Benes, who tested' this method when he
rem()IVed Jirak, sectional ,chief o,f the !M:inistry of Trade,
�SLOVAKIA
57
thought he was strong enough to try it against Stribrny.
At that itime Dr. K,a,reil Larry in the Ministry oif Justice
was Benes's righit hand. ·L awyer Drobny, who complained
of a meagre law practice, !became an all-powerful perso..,
nalii.ty in the Ministry of Justice and Bene.s's willing servant.
It was not easy to fabric-a te a ca:se against Stribrny; Benes
knew he had to be very cautions. Stribrny was a publisher
and was ba,cked by a small burt very ·a ctive political party;
Dr. Charles iPergler, American-born Czech and outspoken
adversary of Benes's policies, rulso joined •t he opposition
headed by Stribmy.
Dr. Lany worked haTd and long to come up with something against Stfibmy and ,so to please Benes. Finally, he
cooked up something which Be111es thought would finish
Stribrny: Larry said Stribrny had perjured ihimseJf during
one of his trials. A great number of witnesses was rounded
up to testify as l.<I1Slbructed by 'Larry; the trial got under
way ·a nd the press featured it. Everything seemed to be
running smoothly for Lany until a certain detective was
called upon to testify; that detective sruid thait he saw Stribrny with the accused Sichrovsky in the Hotel de Saxe in
Prague; he mentioned the point from which he saw them;
it was from not rtoo, great a di,s tance, but a corner came
into the picture. O.vdinary people cannot see a-r ound a corner, but the detective Lany produced as a witness was
blessed, it •seems, with airOU!Ild-the-corner-sighrt. The court
at thart time could not 1b e influenced; it did not believe thaJt
the detective could see aToun.d corners. So the court threw
out the case against Strib,rny.
1
Benes was :fm-ious, but he was by no means through
with 1Stfibrny. '.I1lwough the staJte pmcUI1ator he made application for -a wrirt of error, which was gra111ted; the request rto ihave the trial tramsferred to another city "to re..,
move the influence of the iPrague street" was also granted
- Jihlava was ,given the honor. The second .part of the
drarrna dragged on .in Ji'hlava · a nd caused no end of worry
to Stribrny. Benes, however, had nothing to lose, except
possibly a: ,b it of face. When the trial ended, Stribmy won
out -again.
�58
SLOVAKIA
In the meantime, time marched on. Benes was kept
busy with the cOI11sequences of his polides MJ.d ideological
constructions. Afraid of 1osing his influence, he still thoug,ht
that the [Habsburgs were 's till dangerous, so he oreated the
Little Entente (Yugoslavia, Rumamfa ·a nd Czecho-!Slova'kia:) ,
wh!ich f,1opped when faced with rthe first crisis. Autocrat
that he was, Benes ,a lways waited nntil he was forced to
negotirution or to 0.!g.reement.
No matter :how we judge the event,s of that time, one
thing stands: out quite clear and certain: Benes failed to
;recognize two problems whicli were of vital .importance to
the Repuiblic - the German p:mblem and the Slovak problem. He thought both would be solved by silence and proCTaJStination. Because he was a man who iregaroed discussion ·a s a personal atta0k, there never were any objective
discussions about the vital proiblerns orf the country.
Truthfully speaking, it must be said that Benes did
not even have the desired understanding for those two problems. He was a man who gloried in moving in foreign circles; he saiw his strength on the diplomatic parquets among
his a,oquaintances, club, colleagues, wd hi-red journ.ailists.
Problems of internal politics neveir reaJ.Iy interested Benes.
Una:ble to tolerate criticism, he contriived the laiw "for the
protection of the (Republic," which was enthusiastically endorsed by the other "coalition" parties, becall!Se it put a
perfect muzZJle io n the mouths o.f the opposition. Benes paid
lip service to democracy, but sinned against it gravely. P&haps inexperience, a ilaclr of honest courage to give in when
wrong, affiliaiting politics too much with person:al advantages run:d gains, commerc.iali·z ing politics at the ~nse of
the ideal interests of ,t he nation - all this .became the hot/bed of dictatorial whims which culminated in whait Benes
began rto do in 1945, when without even consuWng the nation he pu:bli,s:hed -and enforC"ed his famous- "decrees." He
had become a dictator, something he had always striven
for. To Benes it did not matter that he served the forces
which ilater rwere to orvercome him, ibeca:use rthey were more
powerful, experienced .and tactically more mature. The
Czech nation tolerated dictatorship. Wea:kened by the war,
�SLOVAKIA
69
confused and befuddled by the political situation which was
not presented in its :tirue colors, and led by ·a personality
who thought he had won the war, the nation hum!bly sue..
cumbed to serious breaches and limitations of its rights
and freedoms.
Benes Finally "Gets" Stribrny
Just before the war ended, as I recaill, while several
of us were discussing the future, one of iBenes's very close
friends Temarked: "Things will not be as they were under
Masairyk. Benes is a vengeful man and will not forgive any
one!"
This characterization of Benes hit me hard later, when
I learned that Stfibrny was arrested at the Grii.fenberg
Baths in Silesia. Every one was convinced that this was
a m~staJke. Wha;t could any o.ne have against Stribrny? During the war he was not active politically ·a t all. Benes nevertheless came out against Stribrny because of his pre ...war
activity, which did not fall under the notion of "retribution" at all. Stfibrny's journalists, we know, frequently
criticized Benes, as did many others. The court could not
resolve whether the criticism was proper or not, but omy
whether criticism was allowed and whether free criticism
comes under the notion of "retribution." The defendant's
counsel, a brilliant iPrague lawyer, was convinced that Stribrny could not be convicted. When the trial was over and
tha,t lawyer heard the verdiot of life in jail, he wanted to
give up his law practice. Stfibrny's son, hearing ,t he verdict,
said only one word: "Dad!" and for that he was accused
of disturbing public order and later sentenced to 18 months
in jail.
Jin 1S tribrny probably could have gotten out of the
·n ava prison, if he would have requested amnesty. But he
refused to ask Benes for mercy. Stfibrny was not indicted
and tried ·e ven by the Oommunists. "The mrun of October
28th," one of the founders of the Republic, apparently did
not consider it dignified and proper to ask any one for
mercy, for pardon for anything that he did not commit,
for pardon because at the moment his antagonist was
stronger than he was.
�60
SLOVAKIA
Let people think what they like a;bout Stribrny. One.
thlng .they ml.l!st admit: he was am enthusiastic and stouthearted man. If he did do wrong, he was willing to admit
it; often he may have attacked hairder than he should have
and let himself be guided ,b y personal bitterness more than
by political motive, but he was one orf the few moo who
did found the Republic. The founders of states of civilized
nations ·a re usualty glorified by monuments and a;rticles in
school reade:ra. But Sitribrrny was allowed to die in jail. A
shame? !indeed, it was a shame, but it was not Stribrny's
shame.
Getting rid of opponents. by any and all methods leads
in ,p olitics to dictatorship. As soon as "liberaito:ris" cha:nge
into enslavers of their nation, it is up to the na,tion to defend its rig,hts.. It cannot stand idly on the sidelines. Tihe
ipeople who do that beair the responsibility for the victims
of dictatorship. Stribrny was one of the victims. His deeply
furrowed countenance will be long remembered iby those
who knew him. His high forehead was crowned with a rich
set of hair - ,w avy, beautiful lrair. 'Dhe physic,a l personality
of Stribrny is slowly disappearing in the chasms of oblivion,
ibut hiis hair still waves as if it were a li'Viing torch!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his
Irutest statemenJts rulways stressed, tiliait ouir pact of a.Hiance
with Soviet Russia and ouir friendshiip with other S1 av Ill8.tions must not encrooch on o.ur friendly and cordirul relations with other democratic states. This is .t he natuiral desire, shared by an enormous ma;jority of oor people, and
nothing .p revents us from keeping the comidence of the
democratic states and stroogthenmg and deepening OUT
friendship with ouT great western Allies. Moscow, too,
wanlts tio ful~ow thi s line of poliic y. rt will., however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to
the Soviet Union, which are stiU existing, to be swept
away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozecho-Slorvakia, OW7I Bulletin, June 1, 194'5.
1
1
�
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Title
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1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
Date
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1956
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52
SLOVAKIA
ENSLAVERS OF THE CZECH NATION: HOW BENES
"GOT" STRiBRNf
(From the September 23, 1955, issue of "BOHEMIA," Czech monthl,y
published by the Czech Democratic Federalists in Munich, Germany.)
BY: SIRIUS
Flrequently we fail to notice the flow of hi story. What
to some of us is iapparently self-evident, that is fo.r many
veiled by a cu:rtain of forgetfulness 'rund to the younger
generation is something unknown. Forgetfulness and ignorance have created many Je,g ends, which have fatefully extended into the politic~ development of our natiOlll and
have placed in ,power forces which had to coMapse again
and again, ,b ecause they betrayed everything upon which
the state was built .and that which formed its ideological
substa:nce. Perhwps dt is ,t imely to remind the Czech public
about the tirings we had witnessed, so that it might be
able to form its own judgment and to create its own view.
When the press reported the death of George Stribrny
in the Ilava prison last summer (1955), the news shodked
only those who knew him and witnessed his struggles. Not
all these struggles were wa,ged "cleverly," ibut they were
waged to the end which 'Stribmy ,guessed and supposed
more than he reasonably knew: for the consolidation of
democracy agai:ns,t aJl'bitrary power and violence.
George Strib.rny was one of the "men of October 28th."
This designation was no:t simply ,a n empty phvase. The
Czecho-Slavak Republic did not come into existence just oult
of nothing from the minds of statesmen; in the beginning
its existence was doubtfuJ; aJD.d when T. G. Masaryk went
out of Austria-Hung ary to attempt to Liberate the Czech
nation from aibsolutism, he wanted only to gain respect for
the constitutional rights o.f his nation, which aliready were
guaranteed by the so-.caJled "October Rescript," in which
the emperor solemnly :promised rto have ,h imself crowned
as Czech king in /Prague. While aJbroad Masaryk had no
other ooorception in the beginning. In a memorandum to
the British foreign office, dated in April of 1915, T. G.
Masaryk wrote:
1
SLOVAKIA
53
"We intended to make Bohemia a monarchist State; a Czech Republic is wanted only by a few radicals ••• Either the Allied Powers
will give us one of their Princes, or there will be a personal union
between Bohemia and Serbia ••• A Russian dynasty would be in every
way popular ••. Russia's wishes and plans will have to be of decisive
influence ••• "
The idea of ,a Czecho~Slovak State ripened only gradually; the republican concept won out only under the influence of American Czec'llis and Slova!ks.. In the Pit,tsburgh
Agreement, concluded by T. G. ,M asaryk with the American
Slovaks on May '30, 1918, we read: "The Czecho-.Slovak
StaJte shall be a Republic ... " This a,greement guaTanteed
the Slovaks equal rights with the Czech nation, tha,t is,
their own state government and assembly. Afl later attempts to explain this a;greement as only a private agreement, wihich did not bind in l aw, only sharpened the tensions
between the Czechs and Slovaros and led to coil!Sequeinces
which are stiH fresh in our minds.
1
Stribrny a Member of the "Committee of Five"
During the period that .Masaryk traveled abroad, lectured and organlized the legions, Stffbo:ny was mi active
member of the Vienna parliament where he represented the
Czech National !Socialist Party, which formerly was called
the Czech Nationa;l Labor Parity. This party came into being ais 3Jil opposi,tiO!Il paJrty to the inoceasing :influence of
international social democracy, and its founder was the
journalist Vaclav Klofac, a convinced anti-militarist. Later
he became the fi~st Minister ,o f [Defense in the first Cre<!hoS1o:va;k government of iDr. Chades Kramaf.
Klofac and Stfibrny were the two lea,ding personalities
of the movement of na;tional workers. During the first
World WaT the Czech anarchists joined with them, led by
Dr. iBohumil Vrbensky, a dentist, who was named Min:ister
of Supplies !in the first Czceho-Slo:va:k government. When
Kiofac wa;s jailed by the Austrian authorities soon after
the outbreak of the war and later conrvicted, Stfibmy became the leading personality of the Czech National Socialists and represented ,t hem on the "Committee of Five",the other members being: Dr. Alois Rasin (Czech National
Democrat), Arrtonirn Svehla (Agrarian), DT. Francis Sou-
54
SLOVAKIA
ikup (Soeial Democrat), who was later replaced by deputy
Haibrman, :and a depresentative of the Czech People's Party
whkh had separated from the conservative wing represented
by the perfodicai •~CEoH"; the latter became a member of
the committee laiter.
Benes Arrives on the Scene
A plaque on ,t he House of Deputies in the city of
Prague told one (•I do inot know if it is still there) that
the Committee of ,F ive, Jin Stribrny among them, had a
session in tlris house on October 28, 1918, to proclaim the
first la:w of the Czecho-.Slovak Republic, the proclamatioo.
of the existence af the new State. This act really was :revolutionary. Even though Czecho-Slovakia was recognized.
by the Allied Governments, it was not certain when the
practical transfer of power would take place. The seizure
of power, which :these men managed, surprised even the
Czech ,political delegaitfon which at that moment was in
session in the Beau iRivage Hotel in Geneva, where it had
gOille with ,t he permission of the Austrian government to
ma'ke oontacts with the Czech politicians rub.road, among
whom was a new personality, a young docent of sociology
at the Prague University, ,D r. Edtwa:rd (Benes.
Dr. !Benes was a very ambitious and energetic man.
Originally a member of the Social Democratic iPa:rty, like
his brother, he became a correspondent for the social-democratic daily •~BRAVIO UIDU" (The People's Right) tn
Paris, where his lire waJS anything but pleaSia'D!t. IHe learned
French, English much fater, ibut he could never speak it
correctly. Benes was attracted ,b y Masaryk's person:ality.
Masaryk at that ti.me was iintroducing in the Charles University methods of English p:nactical thought, which are
often mistakenly reg,arded rus same kind of independent
philosophical system. iMasaryk was quite well known because of his appearrunces before the public, ,b ut he was not
too well liked. His ireailism rather shocked Ith.an inspired
Czech 111.ationaliism in-Austria-Hunga ry. A reflection of the
valiant stand of 'Z ola in France was the participation of
Masaryk in the Hilsner murder case, in which he proved
the fals1ty of the so'-'Called "Mrunuscripts," but :it evoked
SLOVAKIA
55
a wave of hostility agaJinst him. When deputy Sviil:a sued
Alllyz, it.he editor of t:he N.ARODNE DISTY, !because he ac..
cused Sviha of !being an informer for the Austrian police,
Masaryk took sides with Anyz and so turned the Czech
N atio:rraJ Socialists against himself.
Antagonism 'between Masaryk and the N ationai Socialist
Party had existed fo~ some time. :Since Benes always sfu'essed 3,nd underil!ined the intention and :aims of his master,
it was expected th:a,t !lie would soon get into an a;rgument
with ithe National Socialists. 'Dhe fight was a strange one,
indeed. When it became clear that the Social Democrats
would not place [)r. Benes on ,t he baJlOlt as their candidaite,
and since Dr. Benes could not count OIIl being a candidate
on the -ballot of the National Democrats, because of his
opposition to ,t hem, there rernamed little '1.ef.t for him to do
butt try to get on the !ballot as a candidate of the Czech
NatiOIIlal 1Socialists. At that time it was still thought that
a minister must be a deputy and that it was necessary to
uphold the rules of parliamb.'lltary democracy. The National
Socialist Party, which Benes wanted to 'balilot him, however, was over:whelmingily a .p arty of the workers and not
intellectuals.
But danger threatened Benes from another quarter. At
t hat time Dr. iKramar was quite a power and naJtional hero.
Benes !mnew that. But he also was determined to wreck the
prur.ty of Kramar and, if need be, Kramar himself. He set
himself to the taslk. The group associated with Dr. Jaro,.
slav Stransky, a yoU1I1g deputy of the National Democratic
Party, quit the party ,t o, join the so-called "Labor Party"
which rwas in a transitiOIIlal stage; it ,w as through this party that the g,roup ent&ed the Czech National Socialist
Party. The first attack within the party was made against
Stflbrny, directed behind the scenes ,b y !Benes. [t ended
with the expulsion ,oif Stribrny from the party.
1
Stfibrny Organizes the "Castle" Opposition
Stribmy was hurt, but 111ort helpless. He knew his enemy
very well.. In Prague, on Jungman iS treet, he began to build
up his own publishing enterprises; his "Vecemi list" (Eveni1nig News) soon ibecame a feared boulevard newspaper.
56
SLOVAKIA
Stribrny consolidated practically the entire "am.ti-Castle"
opposition. 1Many persons who did not like Benes's methods
were aHowed space in his paper, among them: J. S. Machar,
fo:mner intimate of T. G. Masaryk, the writer Francis Zavfola, whom Dr. Benes never forgave for criticizing him in
the novel "For.tinbras," Arnost Dvorak, author of the co..
medy "Matej 'Poctivy (Honest Matt), and many others.
Wlhat did the opposition hold . against the ambitious,
vainglorious Benes? IJ:t would take seve,r al pages just to
enumerate all reproaches, complaints and charges, but sub.struintially all were concerned with one matter: Benes's
dictatorial methods, which he developed throughout his life
as ·a confirmed socialist. Dr. Benes came to parliament from
the outside; he did not bother attending meetings, did not
seek favor of the voters, and thought that his foreign activity was fin itself so great that he should be trusted without question in ·all things. If any one doubted the correotness of his views or of his politics and dared to express
an opposite view, Benes considered that as a sign of enmity. Benes had no wide support among the voters; if the
system of "binding ballots of candidates" did not exist,
Benes never would have become a deputy of pa'I'liament.
Benes was conscious of his unpopularity with the voters
and his lack of ipoilitical ba:ckg,r ound, and .t his he coil'.Sidoced
as his greatest personal defioiency. Naturally, this meant,
if he wanted to stay in power - 3Jlld he certainly did Benes would have to find other methods of disposing of
his political opponents. Of course, we know he not only
found them, but also used them quite effectively.
Whi~e Benes studied in Dijon one name attracted his
attention: Fouche. The methods applied by th.is man, Na,.
poleon's police director, !impressed the youthful, ambitious
Benes. He reC"alled them later when he decided to become
a power in Czech politics. He knew that a person could be
destroyed ,pol1ticailly by malicious smeair and vilification;
and he also learned• how the criminal courts aided Fouche,
who bought witnesses who were wiHing to testify to anything for pay. Dr. Benes, who tested' this method when he
rem()IVed Jirak, sectional ,chief o,f the !M:inistry of Trade,
SLOVAKIA
57
thought he was strong enough to try it against Stribrny.
At that itime Dr. K,a,reil Larry in the Ministry oif Justice
was Benes's righit hand. ·L awyer Drobny, who complained
of a meagre law practice, !became an all-powerful perso..,
nalii.ty in the Ministry of Justice and Bene.s's willing servant.
It was not easy to fabric-a te a ca:se against Stribrny; Benes
knew he had to be very cautions. Stribrny was a publisher
and was ba,cked by a small burt very ·a ctive political party;
Dr. Charles iPergler, American-born Czech and outspoken
adversary of Benes's policies, rulso joined •t he opposition
headed by Stribmy.
Dr. Lany worked haTd and long to come up with something against Stfibmy and ,so to please Benes. Finally, he
cooked up something which Be111es thought would finish
Stribrny: Larry said Stribrny had perjured ihimseJf during
one of his trials. A great number of witnesses was rounded
up to testify as l.<I1Slbructed by 'Larry; the trial got under
way ·a nd the press featured it. Everything seemed to be
running smoothly for Lany until a certain detective was
called upon to testify; that detective sruid thait he saw Stribrny with the accused Sichrovsky in the Hotel de Saxe in
Prague; he mentioned the point from which he saw them;
it was from not rtoo, great a di,s tance, but a corner came
into the picture. O.vdinary people cannot see a-r ound a corner, but the detective Lany produced as a witness was
blessed, it •seems, with airOU!Ild-the-corner-sighrt. The court
at thart time could not 1b e influenced; it did not believe thaJt
the detective could see aToun.d corners. So the court threw
out the case against Strib,rny.
1
Benes was :fm-ious, but he was by no means through
with 1Stfibrny. '.I1lwough the staJte pmcUI1ator he made application for -a wrirt of error, which was gra111ted; the request rto ihave the trial tramsferred to another city "to re..,
move the influence of the iPrague street" was also granted
- Jihlava was ,given the honor. The second .part of the
drarrna dragged on .in Ji'hlava · a nd caused no end of worry
to Stribrny. Benes, however, had nothing to lose, except
possibly a: ,b it of face. When the trial ended, Stribmy won
out -again.
58
SLOVAKIA
In the meantime, time marched on. Benes was kept
busy with the cOI11sequences of his polides MJ.d ideological
constructions. Afraid of 1osing his influence, he still thoug,ht
that the [Habsburgs were 's till dangerous, so he oreated the
Little Entente (Yugoslavia, Rumamfa ·a nd Czecho-!Slova'kia:) ,
wh!ich f,1opped when faced with rthe first crisis. Autocrat
that he was, Benes ,a lways waited nntil he was forced to
negotirution or to 0.!g.reement.
No matter :how we judge the event,s of that time, one
thing stands: out quite clear and certain: Benes failed to
;recognize two problems whicli were of vital .importance to
the Repuiblic - the German p:mblem and the Slovak problem. He thought both would be solved by silence and proCTaJStination. Because he was a man who iregaroed discussion ·a s a personal atta0k, there never were any objective
discussions about the vital proiblerns orf the country.
Truthfully speaking, it must be said that Benes did
not even have the desired understanding for those two problems. He was a man who gloried in moving in foreign circles; he saiw his strength on the diplomatic parquets among
his a,oquaintances, club, colleagues, wd hi-red journ.ailists.
Problems of internal politics neveir reaJ.Iy interested Benes.
Una:ble to tolerate criticism, he contriived the laiw "for the
protection of the (Republic," which was enthusiastically endorsed by the other "coalition" parties, becall!Se it put a
perfect muzZJle io n the mouths o.f the opposition. Benes paid
lip service to democracy, but sinned against it gravely. P&haps inexperience, a ilaclr of honest courage to give in when
wrong, affiliaiting politics too much with person:al advantages run:d gains, commerc.iali·z ing politics at the ~nse of
the ideal interests of ,t he nation - all this .became the hot/bed of dictatorial whims which culminated in whait Benes
began rto do in 1945, when without even consuWng the nation he pu:bli,s:hed -and enforC"ed his famous- "decrees." He
had become a dictator, something he had always striven
for. To Benes it did not matter that he served the forces
which ilater rwere to orvercome him, ibeca:use rthey were more
powerful, experienced .and tactically more mature. The
Czech nation tolerated dictatorship. Wea:kened by the war,
SLOVAKIA
69
confused and befuddled by the political situation which was
not presented in its :tirue colors, and led by ·a personality
who thought he had won the war, the nation hum!bly sue..
cumbed to serious breaches and limitations of its rights
and freedoms.
Benes Finally "Gets" Stribrny
Just before the war ended, as I recaill, while several
of us were discussing the future, one of iBenes's very close
friends Temarked: "Things will not be as they were under
Masairyk. Benes is a vengeful man and will not forgive any
one!"
This characterization of Benes hit me hard later, when
I learned that Stfibrny was arrested at the Grii.fenberg
Baths in Silesia. Every one was convinced that this was
a m~staJke. Wha;t could any o.ne have against Stribrny? During the war he was not active politically ·a t all. Benes nevertheless came out against Stribrny because of his pre ...war
activity, which did not fall under the notion of "retribution" at all. Stfibrny's journalists, we know, frequently
criticized Benes, as did many others. The court could not
resolve whether the criticism was proper or not, but omy
whether criticism was allowed and whether free criticism
comes under the notion of "retribution." The defendant's
counsel, a brilliant iPrague lawyer, was convinced that Stribrny could not be convicted. When the trial was over and
tha,t lawyer heard the verdiot of life in jail, he wanted to
give up his law practice. Stfibrny's son, hearing ,t he verdict,
said only one word: "Dad!" and for that he was accused
of disturbing public order and later sentenced to 18 months
in jail.
Jin 1S tribrny probably could have gotten out of the
·n ava prison, if he would have requested amnesty. But he
refused to ask Benes for mercy. Stfibrny was not indicted
and tried ·e ven by the Oommunists. "The mrun of October
28th," one of the founders of the Republic, apparently did
not consider it dignified and proper to ask any one for
mercy, for pardon for anything that he did not commit,
for pardon because at the moment his antagonist was
stronger than he was.
60
SLOVAKIA
Let people think what they like a;bout Stribrny. One.
thlng .they ml.l!st admit: he was am enthusiastic and stouthearted man. If he did do wrong, he was willing to admit
it; often he may have attacked hairder than he should have
and let himself be guided ,b y personal bitterness more than
by political motive, but he was one orf the few moo who
did found the Republic. The founders of states of civilized
nations ·a re usualty glorified by monuments and a;rticles in
school reade:ra. But Sitribrrny was allowed to die in jail. A
shame? !indeed, it was a shame, but it was not Stribrny's
shame.
Getting rid of opponents. by any and all methods leads
in ,p olitics to dictatorship. As soon as "liberaito:ris" cha:nge
into enslavers of their nation, it is up to the na,tion to defend its rig,hts.. It cannot stand idly on the sidelines. Tihe
ipeople who do that beair the responsibility for the victims
of dictatorship. Stribrny was one of the victims. His deeply
furrowed countenance will be long remembered iby those
who knew him. His high forehead was crowned with a rich
set of hair - ,w avy, beautiful lrair. 'Dhe physic,a l personality
of Stribrny is slowly disappearing in the chasms of oblivion,
ibut hiis hair still waves as if it were a li'Viing torch!
•
•
•
WHO SAID IT?
"President Benes was always of the opinion, and in his
Irutest statemenJts rulways stressed, tiliait ouir pact of a.Hiance
with Soviet Russia and ouir friendshiip with other S1 av Ill8.tions must not encrooch on o.ur friendly and cordirul relations with other democratic states. This is .t he natuiral desire, shared by an enormous ma;jority of oor people, and
nothing .p revents us from keeping the comidence of the
democratic states and stroogthenmg and deepening OUT
friendship with ouT great western Allies. Moscow, too,
wanlts tio ful~ow thi s line of poliic y. rt will., however, be necessary for certain prejudices of the West with regard to
the Soviet Union, which are stiU existing, to be swept
away." - Premier Fierlinger of Ozecho-Slorvakia, OW7I Bulletin, June 1, 194'5.
1
1
Dublin Core
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Title
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Enslavers of the Czech Nation: How Beneš "Got" Stříbrný
Description
An account of the resource
Sirius
Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 2 (19), June 1956
pp. 52-60
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/1ea81ef7ac20ecc1142e0ee1f3cad84f.pdf
8660dfaae8183109b1e033eeba43f7c6
PDF Text
Text
VOL. VI
JUNE, 1956
NO . 2 ( 19)
IN THIS ISSUE:
Our Tradition and Louis Stur
Th e Politi ca l Messag e of M a't us Ce rn a k
Labor and th e Slovak Republi c
Israe l and Slovaki a
Slovak Lit eratur e Und er th e So vi et Impact
Enslav e rs of the Cz ech Nation : How Ben es Got Stribrny
Kern er ' s "Czechoslov a ki a":
Histo ry o r Propagand a?
WHO SAID IT: 51, 60, 64
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
SLO VA KIA
Box 150
Middl etown , Pa .
•
Pub li sh ed by
T H E S LOVAK
LEA GUE O F A MER ICA
GAN SER LlBRARY
MI LLERSVl.ltE STATE COLLEGE
fy11 LLERSVJL LE, PA 17551
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fede1·ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
'rhe chief purpo e of SLOVAKIA
is to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle f 01' 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.
'rhey 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 t . S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKI A
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
JUNE, 1956
STUDENT RIOTS took rp,la,ce in
Slovakia, in the cities of Bratislava, Nitra, and Banska Bystrica,
on May 12, 1!}56, a ccording to reports emanating from Vienna. S.tudent demon strations against the
Prague regime ,also occurred in
Prague but on a smaller scale. The
police arrested some 60 Slovak
students, but jailed only four
Czechs. They were a,ccused of
presenting ultimatums demanding
reduction in Marx-Leninism
,c ourses, shorter military training
periods, and a complete restoration of academic freedom.
Acting with unusual daring, the
Slovak students asked the government to permit considerably
more freedom than has existed in
Czecho-Slovakla since the Reds
took over complete control of the
country in 1948. Their requests
were submitted in the form of a
Tesolution to the Minister of Education, Francis Kahuda, on May
12, when the demonstrations first
started, to be repeated on May 1'5
and 20. The students' riots in
Czecho-Slovakia appeared to be
centered in Slovakia, although
Prague has ha.d a taste of it.
Parts of the resolution, dealing
with student complaints a.bout
housing, courses of study, and
food, were published, but no publicity was permitted .for the parts
which reportedly criticized some
aspects of the present political
way of life in Czecho-Slova.kia.
Officials had previously approved
a .series of student meetings in
Prague and the Slovak cities as
part of the liberalization movement then under way throughout
League of America
NO. 2 (19)
the Soviet sateLlites. They figured that the students would, at
most, indulge in criticism in a
limited way, and not in the manner they actually did. Some of the
points made by the students, but
not published, included the following:
1. Political parties should be put
on an equal footing, with none
specially favored. The people
should have the means of controlling members of the National
Assembly, including the right to
recall elected deputies.
2. Unrestricted freedom to travel independently of the Governm ent Travel Office.
3. A demand for a ge.neral amnesty for political prisoners; making public court records; and punishing those responsible for extorting confessions and using
other illegal metheds.
4. A demand for a free press,
ra;dio and films to .present information truthfuUy, quickly and independently; no interference with
foreign broadcasts; and the importation of new.spapers, magazines, and books from all countries regardless of their political
systems. (Slovak newspapers published in America, which advocate a free Slovakia, were banned
in Czecho-Slovakia on Oc tober 10,
1946).
Slovak students were nermitted
for the first time since-1948 to
hold their traditional May Parade and Carnival (MAJALES) on
May 20; they used the occasion
to lampoon the government. A
group of gagged a.nd 'blindfolded
�2
SLOVAKIA
students, representing editors of
the newspapers published for the
youth, paraded ,g leefully through
the streets. Another group in Bratisiava carried a coffin on whioh
Wlas inscribed "aca,demic freedom." ,B ut particularly impressive
was the ban-d of students in death
shrouds carrying the banner "We
board in student Dining Halls Paradise" ! They really did look
star:ved (,the picture was J-eproduced in several American Slov.ak newspapers from ,a German
paper) !
Wihen ;newsmen questioned Premier William i:§iroky on :reports
that many students had been arrested, he replied that this was
riot so and ,a dded: "The students
have the right to openly express
their views at a11 times, and we,
in turn, have the right to say to
them that we agree or di-sagree
with them on any particular question." The BratLslava newspapers
Pi:aca and Pravda, however, did
not share the Premier's tolerant
attitude toward recent student
demonstrations, con.demning as
"dem,agogic" the demands of Slovak students.
•
•
•
Czech Communist agents resid·
ing in various countries, including
our America, are doing their utmo.s t to have eminent Slovak and
Czech exiles to return .to their
homelands. "All is forgiven; come
home; nothi.ng shall haJPpen to
you; help us build our new democratic country" - that seems
to •b e the theme song of •a ll of
them. Some of the professional
men an,d intelJectuats have been
promised attractive salaries, new
homes, freedom to work a·s they
se.e -fit in their ,p rofessions, but no
Slovak to our knowledge has
!4ken the bait thus far. Relatives,
friends and acquaintances,
it
seems have been organized in a
Iletter-writing
campaign to induce
, exiles to return home. The movement, however, has failed to lure
the Slovaks to the "people's democracy" establi-shed by Benes
ami Gottwald in 1945.
•
•
•
STALi N labors for the Ki-emlin even in his box and gladly assumes the blame for all the violenoe, terror and murder perpetrated against innocent populations of the USSR, the satellite
EurOII)ean -c ountries, Korea, China, etc. As a result of this "blameit-all-on-Stalin" campaign, every
satellite country ha.s exculpated
some of its Red leaders, posthumously exonerating even liquidated comrades (iBulgaria, Hungary, Poland), but this is not the
case in regal'd to Slova'k 1Reds
whose h earts at one time ·b led
for Stalin. There has been no vindication for Vladimir Clementis,
Slovak Red and former Minister
o.f 'Foreign Aff.ai:rs of Czecho-Slovakia, who was executed as a "deviationist"; and no amnesty for
Laco Novomesky and Gustav Husak, both of whom •a re still languishing in jail for preferring a
Slovak Soviet RepubUc to a Czecho-'Slovak State. Of course, it
may be that they shall have to
wait till the Czech Reds of Pr,ague
start an anti-Gottwald campaign.
• • •
IN SLOVAKIA: The mention of
GOO has been ordered out of aJ.l
texts. . . . Taxes in Slovakia today, ·u nder the Czech Reds, are
four times higher than they were
during the life of the Slovak Republic (19,39-1'945) . . . . Slovakia
,s howed the gr,eatest increase in
population of all European countries in 1'955 and. ranked third in
this regard among the nations of
the world; the increase was 17
per thousand, •a nd the population
of Slovakia is now 3,7'30,000.
�
VOL. VI
JUNE, 1956
NO . 2 ( 19)
IN THIS ISSUE:
Our Tradition and Louis Stur
Th e Politi ca l Messag e of M a't us Ce rn a k
Labor and th e Slovak Republi c
Israe l and Slovaki a
Slovak Lit eratur e Und er th e So vi et Impact
Enslav e rs of the Cz ech Nation : How Ben es Got Stribrny
Kern er ' s "Czechoslov a ki a":
Histo ry o r Propagand a?
WHO SAID IT: 51, 60, 64
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
SLO VA KIA
Box 150
Middl etown , Pa .
•
Pub li sh ed by
T H E S LOVAK
LEA GUE O F A MER ICA
GAN SER LlBRARY
MI LLERSVl.ltE STATE COLLEGE
fy11 LLERSVJL LE, PA 17551
�SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fede1·ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
'rhe chief purpo e of SLOVAKIA
is to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle f 01' 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.
'rhey 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 t . S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKI A
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
�SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
JUNE, 1956
STUDENT RIOTS took rp,la,ce in
Slovakia, in the cities of Bratislava, Nitra, and Banska Bystrica,
on May 12, 1!}56, a ccording to reports emanating from Vienna. S.tudent demon strations against the
Prague regime ,also occurred in
Prague but on a smaller scale. The
police arrested some 60 Slovak
students, but jailed only four
Czechs. They were a,ccused of
presenting ultimatums demanding
reduction in Marx-Leninism
,c ourses, shorter military training
periods, and a complete restoration of academic freedom.
Acting with unusual daring, the
Slovak students asked the government to permit considerably
more freedom than has existed in
Czecho-Slovakla since the Reds
took over complete control of the
country in 1948. Their requests
were submitted in the form of a
Tesolution to the Minister of Education, Francis Kahuda, on May
12, when the demonstrations first
started, to be repeated on May 1'5
and 20. The students' riots in
Czecho-Slovakia appeared to be
centered in Slovakia, although
Prague has ha.d a taste of it.
Parts of the resolution, dealing
with student complaints a.bout
housing, courses of study, and
food, were published, but no publicity was permitted .for the parts
which reportedly criticized some
aspects of the present political
way of life in Czecho-Slova.kia.
Officials had previously approved
a .series of student meetings in
Prague and the Slovak cities as
part of the liberalization movement then under way throughout
League of America
NO. 2 (19)
the Soviet sateLlites. They figured that the students would, at
most, indulge in criticism in a
limited way, and not in the manner they actually did. Some of the
points made by the students, but
not published, included the following:
1. Political parties should be put
on an equal footing, with none
specially favored. The people
should have the means of controlling members of the National
Assembly, including the right to
recall elected deputies.
2. Unrestricted freedom to travel independently of the Governm ent Travel Office.
3. A demand for a ge.neral amnesty for political prisoners; making public court records; and punishing those responsible for extorting confessions and using
other illegal metheds.
4. A demand for a free press,
ra;dio and films to .present information truthfuUy, quickly and independently; no interference with
foreign broadcasts; and the importation of new.spapers, magazines, and books from all countries regardless of their political
systems. (Slovak newspapers published in America, which advocate a free Slovakia, were banned
in Czecho-Slovakia on Oc tober 10,
1946).
Slovak students were nermitted
for the first time since-1948 to
hold their traditional May Parade and Carnival (MAJALES) on
May 20; they used the occasion
to lampoon the government. A
group of gagged a.nd 'blindfolded
�2
SLOVAKIA
students, representing editors of
the newspapers published for the
youth, paraded ,g leefully through
the streets. Another group in Bratisiava carried a coffin on whioh
Wlas inscribed "aca,demic freedom." ,B ut particularly impressive
was the ban-d of students in death
shrouds carrying the banner "We
board in student Dining Halls Paradise" ! They really did look
star:ved (,the picture was J-eproduced in several American Slov.ak newspapers from ,a German
paper) !
Wihen ;newsmen questioned Premier William i:§iroky on :reports
that many students had been arrested, he replied that this was
riot so and ,a dded: "The students
have the right to openly express
their views at a11 times, and we,
in turn, have the right to say to
them that we agree or di-sagree
with them on any particular question." The BratLslava newspapers
Pi:aca and Pravda, however, did
not share the Premier's tolerant
attitude toward recent student
demonstrations, con.demning as
"dem,agogic" the demands of Slovak students.
•
•
•
Czech Communist agents resid·
ing in various countries, including
our America, are doing their utmo.s t to have eminent Slovak and
Czech exiles to return .to their
homelands. "All is forgiven; come
home; nothi.ng shall haJPpen to
you; help us build our new democratic country" - that seems
to •b e the theme song of •a ll of
them. Some of the professional
men an,d intelJectuats have been
promised attractive salaries, new
homes, freedom to work a·s they
se.e -fit in their ,p rofessions, but no
Slovak to our knowledge has
!4ken the bait thus far. Relatives,
friends and acquaintances,
it
seems have been organized in a
Iletter-writing
campaign to induce
, exiles to return home. The movement, however, has failed to lure
the Slovaks to the "people's democracy" establi-shed by Benes
ami Gottwald in 1945.
•
•
•
STALi N labors for the Ki-emlin even in his box and gladly assumes the blame for all the violenoe, terror and murder perpetrated against innocent populations of the USSR, the satellite
EurOII)ean -c ountries, Korea, China, etc. As a result of this "blameit-all-on-Stalin" campaign, every
satellite country ha.s exculpated
some of its Red leaders, posthumously exonerating even liquidated comrades (iBulgaria, Hungary, Poland), but this is not the
case in regal'd to Slova'k 1Reds
whose h earts at one time ·b led
for Stalin. There has been no vindication for Vladimir Clementis,
Slovak Red and former Minister
o.f 'Foreign Aff.ai:rs of Czecho-Slovakia, who was executed as a "deviationist"; and no amnesty for
Laco Novomesky and Gustav Husak, both of whom •a re still languishing in jail for preferring a
Slovak Soviet RepubUc to a Czecho-'Slovak State. Of course, it
may be that they shall have to
wait till the Czech Reds of Pr,ague
start an anti-Gottwald campaign.
• • •
IN SLOVAKIA: The mention of
GOO has been ordered out of aJ.l
texts. . . . Taxes in Slovakia today, ·u nder the Czech Reds, are
four times higher than they were
during the life of the Slovak Republic (19,39-1'945) . . . . Slovakia
,s howed the gr,eatest increase in
population of all European countries in 1'955 and. ranked third in
this regard among the nations of
the world; the increase was 17
per thousand, •a nd the population
of Slovakia is now 3,7'30,000.
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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. VI
JUNE, 1956
NO . 2 ( 19)
IN THIS ISSUE:
Our Tradition and Louis Stur
Th e Politi ca l Messag e of M a't us Ce rn a k
Labor and th e Slovak Republi c
Israe l and Slovaki a
Slovak Lit eratur e Und er th e So vi et Impact
Enslav e rs of the Cz ech Nation : How Ben es Got Stribrny
Kern er ' s "Czechoslov a ki a":
Histo ry o r Propagand a?
WHO SAID IT: 51, 60, 64
*
*
Edit ed a nd co mpil ed by
PHILIP A . HROBAK
SLO VA KIA
Box 150
Middl etown , Pa .
•
Pub li sh ed by
T H E S LOVAK
LEA GUE O F A MER ICA
GAN SER LlBRARY
MI LLERSVl.ltE STATE COLLEGE
fy11 LLERSVJL LE, PA 17551
SLOVAKIA is published periodically by the Slovak League of America,
a cultural and civic fede1·ation of Americans of Slovak descent.
'rhe chief purpo e of SLOVAKIA
is to promote a better understanding
and appreciation of the Slovak nation
and its long struggle f 01' 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.
'rhey 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 t . S. A. - $2.00 elsewhere.
Send subscriptions to:
SLOVAKI A
Box 150
Middletown, Pa.
Printed in the U. S. A.
JEDNOTA
PRESS
Middletown, Pa.
SLOVAKIA
Published
VOL. VI
quarterly
by
the
Slovak
JUNE, 1956
STUDENT RIOTS took rp,la,ce in
Slovakia, in the cities of Bratislava, Nitra, and Banska Bystrica,
on May 12, 1!}56, a ccording to reports emanating from Vienna. S.tudent demon strations against the
Prague regime ,also occurred in
Prague but on a smaller scale. The
police arrested some 60 Slovak
students, but jailed only four
Czechs. They were a,ccused of
presenting ultimatums demanding
reduction in Marx-Leninism
,c ourses, shorter military training
periods, and a complete restoration of academic freedom.
Acting with unusual daring, the
Slovak students asked the government to permit considerably
more freedom than has existed in
Czecho-Slovakla since the Reds
took over complete control of the
country in 1948. Their requests
were submitted in the form of a
Tesolution to the Minister of Education, Francis Kahuda, on May
12, when the demonstrations first
started, to be repeated on May 1'5
and 20. The students' riots in
Czecho-Slovakia appeared to be
centered in Slovakia, although
Prague has ha.d a taste of it.
Parts of the resolution, dealing
with student complaints a.bout
housing, courses of study, and
food, were published, but no publicity was permitted .for the parts
which reportedly criticized some
aspects of the present political
way of life in Czecho-Slova.kia.
Officials had previously approved
a .series of student meetings in
Prague and the Slovak cities as
part of the liberalization movement then under way throughout
League of America
NO. 2 (19)
the Soviet sateLlites. They figured that the students would, at
most, indulge in criticism in a
limited way, and not in the manner they actually did. Some of the
points made by the students, but
not published, included the following:
1. Political parties should be put
on an equal footing, with none
specially favored. The people
should have the means of controlling members of the National
Assembly, including the right to
recall elected deputies.
2. Unrestricted freedom to travel independently of the Governm ent Travel Office.
3. A demand for a ge.neral amnesty for political prisoners; making public court records; and punishing those responsible for extorting confessions and using
other illegal metheds.
4. A demand for a free press,
ra;dio and films to .present information truthfuUy, quickly and independently; no interference with
foreign broadcasts; and the importation of new.spapers, magazines, and books from all countries regardless of their political
systems. (Slovak newspapers published in America, which advocate a free Slovakia, were banned
in Czecho-Slovakia on Oc tober 10,
1946).
Slovak students were nermitted
for the first time since-1948 to
hold their traditional May Parade and Carnival (MAJALES) on
May 20; they used the occasion
to lampoon the government. A
group of gagged a.nd 'blindfolded
2
SLOVAKIA
students, representing editors of
the newspapers published for the
youth, paraded ,g leefully through
the streets. Another group in Bratisiava carried a coffin on whioh
Wlas inscribed "aca,demic freedom." ,B ut particularly impressive
was the ban-d of students in death
shrouds carrying the banner "We
board in student Dining Halls Paradise" ! They really did look
star:ved (,the picture was J-eproduced in several American Slov.ak newspapers from ,a German
paper) !
Wihen ;newsmen questioned Premier William i:§iroky on :reports
that many students had been arrested, he replied that this was
riot so and ,a dded: "The students
have the right to openly express
their views at a11 times, and we,
in turn, have the right to say to
them that we agree or di-sagree
with them on any particular question." The BratLslava newspapers
Pi:aca and Pravda, however, did
not share the Premier's tolerant
attitude toward recent student
demonstrations, con.demning as
"dem,agogic" the demands of Slovak students.
•
•
•
Czech Communist agents resid·
ing in various countries, including
our America, are doing their utmo.s t to have eminent Slovak and
Czech exiles to return .to their
homelands. "All is forgiven; come
home; nothi.ng shall haJPpen to
you; help us build our new democratic country" - that seems
to •b e the theme song of •a ll of
them. Some of the professional
men an,d intelJectuats have been
promised attractive salaries, new
homes, freedom to work a·s they
se.e -fit in their ,p rofessions, but no
Slovak to our knowledge has
!4ken the bait thus far. Relatives,
friends and acquaintances,
it
seems have been organized in a
Iletter-writing
campaign to induce
, exiles to return home. The movement, however, has failed to lure
the Slovaks to the "people's democracy" establi-shed by Benes
ami Gottwald in 1945.
•
•
•
STALi N labors for the Ki-emlin even in his box and gladly assumes the blame for all the violenoe, terror and murder perpetrated against innocent populations of the USSR, the satellite
EurOII)ean -c ountries, Korea, China, etc. As a result of this "blameit-all-on-Stalin" campaign, every
satellite country ha.s exculpated
some of its Red leaders, posthumously exonerating even liquidated comrades (iBulgaria, Hungary, Poland), but this is not the
case in regal'd to Slova'k 1Reds
whose h earts at one time ·b led
for Stalin. There has been no vindication for Vladimir Clementis,
Slovak Red and former Minister
o.f 'Foreign Aff.ai:rs of Czecho-Slovakia, who was executed as a "deviationist"; and no amnesty for
Laco Novomesky and Gustav Husak, both of whom •a re still languishing in jail for preferring a
Slovak Soviet RepubUc to a Czecho-'Slovak State. Of course, it
may be that they shall have to
wait till the Czech Reds of Pr,ague
start an anti-Gottwald campaign.
• • •
IN SLOVAKIA: The mention of
GOO has been ordered out of aJ.l
texts. . . . Taxes in Slovakia today, ·u nder the Czech Reds, are
four times higher than they were
during the life of the Slovak Republic (19,39-1'945) . . . . Slovakia
,s howed the gr,eatest increase in
population of all European countries in 1'955 and. ranked third in
this regard among the nations of
the world; the increase was 17
per thousand, •a nd the population
of Slovakia is now 3,7'30,000.
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
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Front Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 2 (19)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
June 1956
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https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/77dd8aa556e9ce42e98b2048de70cd19.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh io
•
Franc es L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee IJload
C leveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Pet er P . Hletko
1943 W. 48th Street
Chicago 9, Illinois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N . Main Street
Wilkes-Bar re, Pa.
President
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0 . I..:ox 150, Middletown , Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodlan<! Avenu e
Camp bell , Ohio
Vice-Presid ent
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vlichael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind .
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Presid ent
J ulia Krajcovic
:-te le n Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Unio n
Recording Secretary
Francis
Hrusovsky
Frank Bobus
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-T re asurer
Mi l an
St ephen J . Tkach
V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak U nion
4922 S. L eclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIV E COMMITT EE
Gabriela E . Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvan ia
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
National President
Slo vak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAP ERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middl etown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cl eveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSK E
NOVINY
ZORNltKA
Chica.go,
m.
Wilkes-Bar re, P a.
Clevela nd, Ohi o
KATOLiCK Y SOKOL
SVORNOS T
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic:, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�SLOVAKIA: the ruins of the STARA I'.iUBOVNA above
the Poprad Valley.
GANSt::R LIBRARY
. MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MILLERSVILLE, PA 17551
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh io
•
Franc es L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee IJload
C leveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Pet er P . Hletko
1943 W. 48th Street
Chicago 9, Illinois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N . Main Street
Wilkes-Bar re, Pa.
President
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0 . I..:ox 150, Middletown , Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodlan<! Avenu e
Camp bell , Ohio
Vice-Presid ent
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vlichael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind .
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Presid ent
J ulia Krajcovic
:-te le n Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Unio n
Recording Secretary
Francis
Hrusovsky
Frank Bobus
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-T re asurer
Mi l an
St ephen J . Tkach
V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak U nion
4922 S. L eclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIV E COMMITT EE
Gabriela E . Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvan ia
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
National President
Slo vak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAP ERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middl etown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cl eveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSK E
NOVINY
ZORNltKA
Chica.go,
m.
Wilkes-Bar re, P a.
Clevela nd, Ohi o
KATOLiCK Y SOKOL
SVORNOS T
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic:, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
�SLOVAKIA: the ruins of the STARA I'.iUBOVNA above
the Poprad Valley.
GANSt::R LIBRARY
. MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MILLERSVILLE, PA 17551
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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
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Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized 1907 in Cleveland, Oh io
•
Franc es L. Mizenko
Honorary President
3756 Lee IJload
C leveland 28, Ohio
Dr. Pet er P . Hletko
1943 W. 48th Street
Chicago 9, Illinois
Stephen J. Tkach
173 N . Main Street
Wilkes-Bar re, Pa.
President
A.
Philip
Hrobak
P. 0 . I..:ox 150, Middletown , Pa.
Andrew J. Hamrock
61 Woodlan<! Avenu e
Camp bell , Ohio
Vice-Presid ent
Jacob Kocis
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vlichael J . Vargovich
1547 -- 167th Street
Hammond, Ind .
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
Vice-Presid ent
J ulia Krajcovic
:-te le n Kocan
1648 W. 18th St., Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Unio n
Recording Secretary
Francis
Hrusovsky
Frank Bobus
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-T re asurer
Mi l an
St ephen J . Tkach
V. Blazek
National President
Penna. Slovak U nion
4922 S. L eclaire Avenue
Chicago 38, Ill.
EXECUTIV E COMMITT EE
Gabriela E . Vavrek
National President
Ladies Pennsylvan ia
Slovak Union
Paul P. Jamriska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsburgh 10, Pa.
John Rozboril
Joseph Prusa
205 Madison St., Passaic, N. J .
National President
Slo vak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAP ERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVEN SKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Middl etown, Pa.
Scranton, Pa.
Cl eveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
SLOVENSK E
NOVINY
ZORNltKA
Chica.go,
m.
Wilkes-Bar re, P a.
Clevela nd, Ohi o
KATOLiCK Y SOKOL
SVORNOS T
OSADNE HLASY
Passaic:, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa.
Chicago, Ill.
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Ind.
SLOVAKIA: the ruins of the STARA I'.iUBOVNA above
the Poprad Valley.
GANSt::R LIBRARY
. MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE
MILLERSVILLE, PA 17551
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Title
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Back Matter, Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 1 (18)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of ruins of Stará Ľubovňa above the Poprad Valley
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fed6a7427845d9eafd3d4e7ad9830efd.pdf
de3ae01b6ed6bfffa03e8f8c2fbf95e5
PDF Text
Text
VOL. VI
MARCH, 1956
NO. 1 (18)
IN THIS ISSUE:
"MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES" -
R eview
Louis Stur Centennial
Stur: Father of Modern Slovak N ation a lism
Stur's Group in th e Servic e of the P eople
Radio Fr ee Europe (Reprint from "FACTS FORUM " )
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia":
History or Propaganda?
WHO SAID IT : 16
*
*
*
Edited and· compi l ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
S LO VA KIA
Box 150
Middletown , Pa .
•
Published by
THE - SLOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
GANSER LIBRARY
M!LLERSV1LLE Si.ATE COLLEGE
'MlLLERSVILLE, PA 17551
�JIRI (GEORGE) BRADA
author of the article on RAD IO FRE>E EUROPE, which was publi~h od
in the "FACTS FQJRIUM" (Dallas, Texas; $2.00 per annum) and is reprinted in this issue. of the "SLOV,A KIA," was born of CZECH parents
in Brno, Moravia (,Czecho-Slovakia), on March 8, 1923. He is a student
of psychology and sociology, and is well versed i,n several languages.
During the years of the Nazi occupation, Brada worked in a factory
and a lso managed to do some studying at the Englis:h Institute in Brno
and the University of Rostock. Unlike many other Cz echs of his age,
he never joined the Nazi Party, nor any of the organizations which
upon the defeat of Nazi Germany, were dec lared to be fascist either
by the Allies, or the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia.
After the war, Brada studied history, philosophy and law at the
University of Brno. When the Czech Reels se.izecl a ll power in CzechoSlovakia, , in February, 194 , he was expelled from the university by
the Czech Communist Action Committee and dec lai,e.cl ineligible for
study at any otJher school behind the Iron Curtain. Threatened with
iirrest, after he refused to become. an informer for the Czech Communist government, Brada illegally crossed the Czech-Austrian border,
October 2, 1948. Since January, 1949, he has been active in several
refugee organizations in Germany. From May till July 1951, he was
employed by RAD·IO FREE EUROPE, as a reference assistant and
librarian. At present he. is ,a journalist in Germany.
Brada vigorously opposed -socialism and communism. In his testimony for the Committee on Communist Aggression , I.. S. House of
Representatives (Hon. Charles J. Kersten, chairman), of June 28, 1954 ,
Brada mad,e a number of statements which wa.rrant the attention o[
thoughtful a,ncl a lert Americans . For example, M r . Brada made the
serious dharge that "the Amer ican Int ell igence Servi c e (CIC and CIA )
is not interest e d in invest igat ing anyth ing about th e communist system."
' 'The American authorities," Bracla testified, "take as source of
information not the opinions of the a,nti-communist refugees but the
communist radio and pne.ss -in the East . . . they swallow every communist swi ndle and show to the East clearly tha.t they a lso are eit,he-r
unint-elligent enough to be misled or are communist-dominated . . ."
"The center of the communist world conspi~·acy," sajcl Brada, concluding his sworn testimony for the Kersten Committee, "seems thus
to be situated in the West, in all these radio stations, as the VOICE
OF A'MERLOA (,a nd) RAID IO :FlRIDE EUIROPE, the CIA and the CIC,
in the western crypto-communist press and radio , in the CR!USADE
l•'OR FREEOOM, and F'REE EUROPE, INC."'
'Dhe revelations of Jifi Bracla in the 'FACTS FORUM" are not
entirely ne w to !Jhe readers of "SLOVAKIA" and the monthly " SLOVAK NEJWrSLETTER" which are published by the Slovak League of
America. TiJley fu ll y support and su bstantiate what has been written
in the two per iodicals rubout Radio Free Europe and the Voice of
America. Again we urge our readers: ASK YOUR SENATORS AND
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES T O DEMAND AN INVESnGATION OF
RADIO FREE EUIROBE AND THE VO ICE OF AMEJUCA nY co:--.;.
GRESS, ES.PEClA.LLY THEIH ··C~EC'HO, LOVAK" DIVISIO'.\IS 1
Printed in the U. S. A.
�SLOV AKIA
Published quarterly by the Slovak League of America
MARCH, 1956
VOL. VI
"HE
TRUSTED
THE
NO. 1 (18)
RUS- foreign policy in his country -
SIANS" is the title of the r eview may have in at least some measure
written {The New York Times Book contributed to the eventual downReview, March 4, 1956) by Mr. fall of Czecho-Slovakia.
The book, it is true, is didactic
Gordon A. Craig, professor of History at Princeton University, about in tone quite laborious in style,
the "MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD freq uently repetitious, but it is not
BEJNES," which were translated "almost devoid of personal anecfrom the Czech by Godfrey Lias dotes or even personal judgments,"
(346 p.p.) and published by the as Mr. Craig states. In fact, it is
Houghton Mifflin Company of Bos- a record of almost nothing else but
Benes's personal judgments (Benes
ton. The book sells for $7.50.
According to Mr. Craig, Mr. Be- always knew, thought, foresaw,
nes and T. G. Masaryk "laid the decided, recommended, etc.).
In Mr. Craig's opinion, Dr. Benes
fo undations of free "Czecho-Slovakia," but mentions n o thing about may have been the "chief victim
the socialistic state they promoted of Munich," but that others were
from the outset. Gen. Milan R- i:§te- less "chief" victims is, I believe,
fanik, also one of the founders, is questionable. He says that "levity,
completely forgotten. At Geneva egotism, unscrupulousness anlll cri(League of Nations), Benes was minal ignorance" are among the
"an indefatigable worker for the mildest of the terms used by Benes
rights of the lesser nations." Mr. to characterize the ,p olicy of the
Craig, it seems, knows nothing Western powers before Munich, but
about the fact that Benes denied the same terms may be used, and
the existence of the Slovak nation, probably more rightly, to characw it ho u t which Czecho-Slovakia terize Benes and his policies.
would never have come into exist- Benes lambasts the Western
ence; and if Mr. Craig really did Powers who created and financed
a little research, he might !ind it Czecho-Slovakia (which did not
difficult to name the " lesser even pay her debt to the United
nations" for which Benes fought States), but in contrast, as Mr.
so indefatigably. For example, what Craig admits, "is almost comdid he do or say about the "lesser pletely uncritical of Soviet policy
nations" which were gobbled up in the same years." Mr. Craig does
not attempt to explain this attitude
by the Soviet Union ?
Munich, we are told, was forced of Dr. Benes; it seems he is comupon Benes; there was nothing he pletely unaware of the fact that
could do about it. Ten years later, Benes, too, promoted materialistic
however, after Czecho-Slovakia had socialism.
The Soviet Union, as soon as
regained her freedom, Benes once
again was forced to see his country Benes succeeded in getting it into
conquered by totalitarianism. Mr. the League of Nations, was, accordCr aig does not consider the :possibi- , ing to Benes, .t he on ly major power
lity that the policies of Dr. Benes that sought consistently to mainhimself - who was responsible for tain the princtple of collective
�2
SLOVAKIA
security and that, until Munich, remained true to its treaty obligations. With Czecho-Slovakia, as well
as other countries? And what were
these treaty obligations? Mr. Craig
preferred not to expand on this subject. Benes did not criticize Soviet
policy before Munich and could only
,p raise it after, because his becoming president again depended on
Stalin. Nothing else mattered.
Benes was obsessed with the idea
that he had to revenge himself on
all who opposed his socialistic
policies in the past and tried to embarrass him. With the help of Stalin
and, of course, the other members
of the victorious United Nations,
Benes got what he wanted. At the
expense of the Slovak and Czech
nations!
The accounts of Benes's wartime
discussions with Roosevelt, Eden,
Stalin and other Soviet diplomats,
and statesmen - printed in notes
and in the appendices - are, as
Craig describes it, "perhaps the
meatiest part of this book." And
Benes did rely heavily on the Soviet
Union ,a nd believed in it, because
he was a part of the policy of the
Soviet Union, even though most
historians and reviewers of books
fail to recognize this fact.
Benes boasted that he knew the
Russians and the Soviet Union very
well; and, of course, he always
knew what he was doing and where
he was going; he advised Great
Britain, the United States, the
Soviet Union, France, etc.; no one
knew anything better than Benes
when it came to politics; he was
the little man who always had a
plan, always the GREAT "democratic'' statesman, diplomat, politician, and international lawyer!
How else could Czecho-Slovakia
end than it did?
After the Munich debacle and the
capitulation to •Hitler, which he. did
not even refer to parliament, Benes
simply placed the blame for every-
thing on the Western Powers, resigned and cowardly fled his country to let others sweat it out; then
in 1945 he returned behind Soviet
bayonets to ac~use all members of
the "protectorate" Czech Government and of the independent State
of Slovakia of collaboration with
the Nazis and treason. As far as
Benes was concerned, he was still
"legally" the ,president, CzechoSlovakia never ceased to exist as
such, Munich never "legally" happened, the Slovaks had no right to
declare their country independent,
and international law was only
what Benes interpreted it to be.
That was the incomparable Benes!
The Memoirs of Dr. Eduard
Benes, like his other published
works, are to all intents and ,purposes meant to justify everything
that Dr. Benes did, even if, in fact,
it meant rendering a gross disservice to democracy and betraying
not only his own people, the Czechs,
but even the Slovaks and other
nations as well to the men of the
Kremlin. With Hitler, Stalin, and
Mussolini the State was supreme.
And so it was with Benes, even
though he promoted the ideology
of Godless, materialistic socialism
in a less crude and violent fashion:
the end he sought was the same.
His MEMOIRS and various other
works prove that, even though less
eloquently and forcefully than does
the "end of the road" Czecho-.Slovakia reached under his guidance.
In his review, Mr. Craig does not
mention that the very s am e
MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES, translated by Godfrey Lias,
were first .published in 1954 by
George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London). The readers of the Times
·Book Review may, therefore, even
as I did, purchase a book that they
already have, a1isuming that it is
an additional volume of Dr. Benes's
Memoirs. Did Mr. Craig know that?
- P.A. H.
�
VOL. VI
MARCH, 1956
NO. 1 (18)
IN THIS ISSUE:
"MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES" -
R eview
Louis Stur Centennial
Stur: Father of Modern Slovak N ation a lism
Stur's Group in th e Servic e of the P eople
Radio Fr ee Europe (Reprint from "FACTS FORUM " )
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia":
History or Propaganda?
WHO SAID IT : 16
*
*
*
Edited and· compi l ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
S LO VA KIA
Box 150
Middletown , Pa .
•
Published by
THE - SLOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
GANSER LIBRARY
M!LLERSV1LLE Si.ATE COLLEGE
'MlLLERSVILLE, PA 17551
�JIRI (GEORGE) BRADA
author of the article on RAD IO FRE>E EUROPE, which was publi~h od
in the "FACTS FQJRIUM" (Dallas, Texas; $2.00 per annum) and is reprinted in this issue. of the "SLOV,A KIA," was born of CZECH parents
in Brno, Moravia (,Czecho-Slovakia), on March 8, 1923. He is a student
of psychology and sociology, and is well versed i,n several languages.
During the years of the Nazi occupation, Brada worked in a factory
and a lso managed to do some studying at the Englis:h Institute in Brno
and the University of Rostock. Unlike many other Cz echs of his age,
he never joined the Nazi Party, nor any of the organizations which
upon the defeat of Nazi Germany, were dec lared to be fascist either
by the Allies, or the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia.
After the war, Brada studied history, philosophy and law at the
University of Brno. When the Czech Reels se.izecl a ll power in CzechoSlovakia, , in February, 194 , he was expelled from the university by
the Czech Communist Action Committee and dec lai,e.cl ineligible for
study at any otJher school behind the Iron Curtain. Threatened with
iirrest, after he refused to become. an informer for the Czech Communist government, Brada illegally crossed the Czech-Austrian border,
October 2, 1948. Since January, 1949, he has been active in several
refugee organizations in Germany. From May till July 1951, he was
employed by RAD·IO FREE EUROPE, as a reference assistant and
librarian. At present he. is ,a journalist in Germany.
Brada vigorously opposed -socialism and communism. In his testimony for the Committee on Communist Aggression , I.. S. House of
Representatives (Hon. Charles J. Kersten, chairman), of June 28, 1954 ,
Brada mad,e a number of statements which wa.rrant the attention o[
thoughtful a,ncl a lert Americans . For example, M r . Brada made the
serious dharge that "the Amer ican Int ell igence Servi c e (CIC and CIA )
is not interest e d in invest igat ing anyth ing about th e communist system."
' 'The American authorities," Bracla testified, "take as source of
information not the opinions of the a,nti-communist refugees but the
communist radio and pne.ss -in the East . . . they swallow every communist swi ndle and show to the East clearly tha.t they a lso are eit,he-r
unint-elligent enough to be misled or are communist-dominated . . ."
"The center of the communist world conspi~·acy," sajcl Brada, concluding his sworn testimony for the Kersten Committee, "seems thus
to be situated in the West, in all these radio stations, as the VOICE
OF A'MERLOA (,a nd) RAID IO :FlRIDE EUIROPE, the CIA and the CIC,
in the western crypto-communist press and radio , in the CR!USADE
l•'OR FREEOOM, and F'REE EUROPE, INC."'
'Dhe revelations of Jifi Bracla in the 'FACTS FORUM" are not
entirely ne w to !Jhe readers of "SLOVAKIA" and the monthly " SLOVAK NEJWrSLETTER" which are published by the Slovak League of
America. TiJley fu ll y support and su bstantiate what has been written
in the two per iodicals rubout Radio Free Europe and the Voice of
America. Again we urge our readers: ASK YOUR SENATORS AND
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES T O DEMAND AN INVESnGATION OF
RADIO FREE EUIROBE AND THE VO ICE OF AMEJUCA nY co:--.;.
GRESS, ES.PEClA.LLY THEIH ··C~EC'HO, LOVAK" DIVISIO'.\IS 1
Printed in the U. S. A.
�SLOV AKIA
Published quarterly by the Slovak League of America
MARCH, 1956
VOL. VI
"HE
TRUSTED
THE
NO. 1 (18)
RUS- foreign policy in his country -
SIANS" is the title of the r eview may have in at least some measure
written {The New York Times Book contributed to the eventual downReview, March 4, 1956) by Mr. fall of Czecho-Slovakia.
The book, it is true, is didactic
Gordon A. Craig, professor of History at Princeton University, about in tone quite laborious in style,
the "MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD freq uently repetitious, but it is not
BEJNES," which were translated "almost devoid of personal anecfrom the Czech by Godfrey Lias dotes or even personal judgments,"
(346 p.p.) and published by the as Mr. Craig states. In fact, it is
Houghton Mifflin Company of Bos- a record of almost nothing else but
Benes's personal judgments (Benes
ton. The book sells for $7.50.
According to Mr. Craig, Mr. Be- always knew, thought, foresaw,
nes and T. G. Masaryk "laid the decided, recommended, etc.).
In Mr. Craig's opinion, Dr. Benes
fo undations of free "Czecho-Slovakia," but mentions n o thing about may have been the "chief victim
the socialistic state they promoted of Munich," but that others were
from the outset. Gen. Milan R- i:§te- less "chief" victims is, I believe,
fanik, also one of the founders, is questionable. He says that "levity,
completely forgotten. At Geneva egotism, unscrupulousness anlll cri(League of Nations), Benes was minal ignorance" are among the
"an indefatigable worker for the mildest of the terms used by Benes
rights of the lesser nations." Mr. to characterize the ,p olicy of the
Craig, it seems, knows nothing Western powers before Munich, but
about the fact that Benes denied the same terms may be used, and
the existence of the Slovak nation, probably more rightly, to characw it ho u t which Czecho-Slovakia terize Benes and his policies.
would never have come into exist- Benes lambasts the Western
ence; and if Mr. Craig really did Powers who created and financed
a little research, he might !ind it Czecho-Slovakia (which did not
difficult to name the " lesser even pay her debt to the United
nations" for which Benes fought States), but in contrast, as Mr.
so indefatigably. For example, what Craig admits, "is almost comdid he do or say about the "lesser pletely uncritical of Soviet policy
nations" which were gobbled up in the same years." Mr. Craig does
not attempt to explain this attitude
by the Soviet Union ?
Munich, we are told, was forced of Dr. Benes; it seems he is comupon Benes; there was nothing he pletely unaware of the fact that
could do about it. Ten years later, Benes, too, promoted materialistic
however, after Czecho-Slovakia had socialism.
The Soviet Union, as soon as
regained her freedom, Benes once
again was forced to see his country Benes succeeded in getting it into
conquered by totalitarianism. Mr. the League of Nations, was, accordCr aig does not consider the :possibi- , ing to Benes, .t he on ly major power
lity that the policies of Dr. Benes that sought consistently to mainhimself - who was responsible for tain the princtple of collective
�2
SLOVAKIA
security and that, until Munich, remained true to its treaty obligations. With Czecho-Slovakia, as well
as other countries? And what were
these treaty obligations? Mr. Craig
preferred not to expand on this subject. Benes did not criticize Soviet
policy before Munich and could only
,p raise it after, because his becoming president again depended on
Stalin. Nothing else mattered.
Benes was obsessed with the idea
that he had to revenge himself on
all who opposed his socialistic
policies in the past and tried to embarrass him. With the help of Stalin
and, of course, the other members
of the victorious United Nations,
Benes got what he wanted. At the
expense of the Slovak and Czech
nations!
The accounts of Benes's wartime
discussions with Roosevelt, Eden,
Stalin and other Soviet diplomats,
and statesmen - printed in notes
and in the appendices - are, as
Craig describes it, "perhaps the
meatiest part of this book." And
Benes did rely heavily on the Soviet
Union ,a nd believed in it, because
he was a part of the policy of the
Soviet Union, even though most
historians and reviewers of books
fail to recognize this fact.
Benes boasted that he knew the
Russians and the Soviet Union very
well; and, of course, he always
knew what he was doing and where
he was going; he advised Great
Britain, the United States, the
Soviet Union, France, etc.; no one
knew anything better than Benes
when it came to politics; he was
the little man who always had a
plan, always the GREAT "democratic'' statesman, diplomat, politician, and international lawyer!
How else could Czecho-Slovakia
end than it did?
After the Munich debacle and the
capitulation to •Hitler, which he. did
not even refer to parliament, Benes
simply placed the blame for every-
thing on the Western Powers, resigned and cowardly fled his country to let others sweat it out; then
in 1945 he returned behind Soviet
bayonets to ac~use all members of
the "protectorate" Czech Government and of the independent State
of Slovakia of collaboration with
the Nazis and treason. As far as
Benes was concerned, he was still
"legally" the ,president, CzechoSlovakia never ceased to exist as
such, Munich never "legally" happened, the Slovaks had no right to
declare their country independent,
and international law was only
what Benes interpreted it to be.
That was the incomparable Benes!
The Memoirs of Dr. Eduard
Benes, like his other published
works, are to all intents and ,purposes meant to justify everything
that Dr. Benes did, even if, in fact,
it meant rendering a gross disservice to democracy and betraying
not only his own people, the Czechs,
but even the Slovaks and other
nations as well to the men of the
Kremlin. With Hitler, Stalin, and
Mussolini the State was supreme.
And so it was with Benes, even
though he promoted the ideology
of Godless, materialistic socialism
in a less crude and violent fashion:
the end he sought was the same.
His MEMOIRS and various other
works prove that, even though less
eloquently and forcefully than does
the "end of the road" Czecho-.Slovakia reached under his guidance.
In his review, Mr. Craig does not
mention that the very s am e
MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES, translated by Godfrey Lias,
were first .published in 1954 by
George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London). The readers of the Times
·Book Review may, therefore, even
as I did, purchase a book that they
already have, a1isuming that it is
an additional volume of Dr. Benes's
Memoirs. Did Mr. Craig know that?
- P.A. H.
�
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
1956, Vol. 6
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 18), March 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 19), June 1956.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 20-21), September-December 1956.</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
1956
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. VI
MARCH, 1956
NO. 1 (18)
IN THIS ISSUE:
"MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES" -
R eview
Louis Stur Centennial
Stur: Father of Modern Slovak N ation a lism
Stur's Group in th e Servic e of the P eople
Radio Fr ee Europe (Reprint from "FACTS FORUM " )
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia":
History or Propaganda?
WHO SAID IT : 16
*
*
*
Edited and· compi l ed by
PHILIP A. HROBAK
S LO VA KIA
Box 150
Middletown , Pa .
•
Published by
THE - SLOVAK
LEAGUE OF AMERICA
GANSER LIBRARY
M!LLERSV1LLE Si.ATE COLLEGE
'MlLLERSVILLE, PA 17551
JIRI (GEORGE) BRADA
author of the article on RAD IO FRE>E EUROPE, which was publi~h od
in the "FACTS FQJRIUM" (Dallas, Texas; $2.00 per annum) and is reprinted in this issue. of the "SLOV,A KIA," was born of CZECH parents
in Brno, Moravia (,Czecho-Slovakia), on March 8, 1923. He is a student
of psychology and sociology, and is well versed i,n several languages.
During the years of the Nazi occupation, Brada worked in a factory
and a lso managed to do some studying at the Englis:h Institute in Brno
and the University of Rostock. Unlike many other Cz echs of his age,
he never joined the Nazi Party, nor any of the organizations which
upon the defeat of Nazi Germany, were dec lared to be fascist either
by the Allies, or the postwar government of Czecho-Slovakia.
After the war, Brada studied history, philosophy and law at the
University of Brno. When the Czech Reels se.izecl a ll power in CzechoSlovakia, , in February, 194 , he was expelled from the university by
the Czech Communist Action Committee and dec lai,e.cl ineligible for
study at any otJher school behind the Iron Curtain. Threatened with
iirrest, after he refused to become. an informer for the Czech Communist government, Brada illegally crossed the Czech-Austrian border,
October 2, 1948. Since January, 1949, he has been active in several
refugee organizations in Germany. From May till July 1951, he was
employed by RAD·IO FREE EUROPE, as a reference assistant and
librarian. At present he. is ,a journalist in Germany.
Brada vigorously opposed -socialism and communism. In his testimony for the Committee on Communist Aggression , I.. S. House of
Representatives (Hon. Charles J. Kersten, chairman), of June 28, 1954 ,
Brada mad,e a number of statements which wa.rrant the attention o[
thoughtful a,ncl a lert Americans . For example, M r . Brada made the
serious dharge that "the Amer ican Int ell igence Servi c e (CIC and CIA )
is not interest e d in invest igat ing anyth ing about th e communist system."
' 'The American authorities," Bracla testified, "take as source of
information not the opinions of the a,nti-communist refugees but the
communist radio and pne.ss -in the East . . . they swallow every communist swi ndle and show to the East clearly tha.t they a lso are eit,he-r
unint-elligent enough to be misled or are communist-dominated . . ."
"The center of the communist world conspi~·acy," sajcl Brada, concluding his sworn testimony for the Kersten Committee, "seems thus
to be situated in the West, in all these radio stations, as the VOICE
OF A'MERLOA (,a nd) RAID IO :FlRIDE EUIROPE, the CIA and the CIC,
in the western crypto-communist press and radio , in the CR!USADE
l•'OR FREEOOM, and F'REE EUROPE, INC."'
'Dhe revelations of Jifi Bracla in the 'FACTS FORUM" are not
entirely ne w to !Jhe readers of "SLOVAKIA" and the monthly " SLOVAK NEJWrSLETTER" which are published by the Slovak League of
America. TiJley fu ll y support and su bstantiate what has been written
in the two per iodicals rubout Radio Free Europe and the Voice of
America. Again we urge our readers: ASK YOUR SENATORS AND
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES T O DEMAND AN INVESnGATION OF
RADIO FREE EUIROBE AND THE VO ICE OF AMEJUCA nY co:--.;.
GRESS, ES.PEClA.LLY THEIH ··C~EC'HO, LOVAK" DIVISIO'.\IS 1
Printed in the U. S. A.
SLOV AKIA
Published quarterly by the Slovak League of America
MARCH, 1956
VOL. VI
"HE
TRUSTED
THE
NO. 1 (18)
RUS- foreign policy in his country -
SIANS" is the title of the r eview may have in at least some measure
written {The New York Times Book contributed to the eventual downReview, March 4, 1956) by Mr. fall of Czecho-Slovakia.
The book, it is true, is didactic
Gordon A. Craig, professor of History at Princeton University, about in tone quite laborious in style,
the "MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD freq uently repetitious, but it is not
BEJNES," which were translated "almost devoid of personal anecfrom the Czech by Godfrey Lias dotes or even personal judgments,"
(346 p.p.) and published by the as Mr. Craig states. In fact, it is
Houghton Mifflin Company of Bos- a record of almost nothing else but
Benes's personal judgments (Benes
ton. The book sells for $7.50.
According to Mr. Craig, Mr. Be- always knew, thought, foresaw,
nes and T. G. Masaryk "laid the decided, recommended, etc.).
In Mr. Craig's opinion, Dr. Benes
fo undations of free "Czecho-Slovakia," but mentions n o thing about may have been the "chief victim
the socialistic state they promoted of Munich," but that others were
from the outset. Gen. Milan R- i:§te- less "chief" victims is, I believe,
fanik, also one of the founders, is questionable. He says that "levity,
completely forgotten. At Geneva egotism, unscrupulousness anlll cri(League of Nations), Benes was minal ignorance" are among the
"an indefatigable worker for the mildest of the terms used by Benes
rights of the lesser nations." Mr. to characterize the ,p olicy of the
Craig, it seems, knows nothing Western powers before Munich, but
about the fact that Benes denied the same terms may be used, and
the existence of the Slovak nation, probably more rightly, to characw it ho u t which Czecho-Slovakia terize Benes and his policies.
would never have come into exist- Benes lambasts the Western
ence; and if Mr. Craig really did Powers who created and financed
a little research, he might !ind it Czecho-Slovakia (which did not
difficult to name the " lesser even pay her debt to the United
nations" for which Benes fought States), but in contrast, as Mr.
so indefatigably. For example, what Craig admits, "is almost comdid he do or say about the "lesser pletely uncritical of Soviet policy
nations" which were gobbled up in the same years." Mr. Craig does
not attempt to explain this attitude
by the Soviet Union ?
Munich, we are told, was forced of Dr. Benes; it seems he is comupon Benes; there was nothing he pletely unaware of the fact that
could do about it. Ten years later, Benes, too, promoted materialistic
however, after Czecho-Slovakia had socialism.
The Soviet Union, as soon as
regained her freedom, Benes once
again was forced to see his country Benes succeeded in getting it into
conquered by totalitarianism. Mr. the League of Nations, was, accordCr aig does not consider the :possibi- , ing to Benes, .t he on ly major power
lity that the policies of Dr. Benes that sought consistently to mainhimself - who was responsible for tain the princtple of collective
2
SLOVAKIA
security and that, until Munich, remained true to its treaty obligations. With Czecho-Slovakia, as well
as other countries? And what were
these treaty obligations? Mr. Craig
preferred not to expand on this subject. Benes did not criticize Soviet
policy before Munich and could only
,p raise it after, because his becoming president again depended on
Stalin. Nothing else mattered.
Benes was obsessed with the idea
that he had to revenge himself on
all who opposed his socialistic
policies in the past and tried to embarrass him. With the help of Stalin
and, of course, the other members
of the victorious United Nations,
Benes got what he wanted. At the
expense of the Slovak and Czech
nations!
The accounts of Benes's wartime
discussions with Roosevelt, Eden,
Stalin and other Soviet diplomats,
and statesmen - printed in notes
and in the appendices - are, as
Craig describes it, "perhaps the
meatiest part of this book." And
Benes did rely heavily on the Soviet
Union ,a nd believed in it, because
he was a part of the policy of the
Soviet Union, even though most
historians and reviewers of books
fail to recognize this fact.
Benes boasted that he knew the
Russians and the Soviet Union very
well; and, of course, he always
knew what he was doing and where
he was going; he advised Great
Britain, the United States, the
Soviet Union, France, etc.; no one
knew anything better than Benes
when it came to politics; he was
the little man who always had a
plan, always the GREAT "democratic'' statesman, diplomat, politician, and international lawyer!
How else could Czecho-Slovakia
end than it did?
After the Munich debacle and the
capitulation to •Hitler, which he. did
not even refer to parliament, Benes
simply placed the blame for every-
thing on the Western Powers, resigned and cowardly fled his country to let others sweat it out; then
in 1945 he returned behind Soviet
bayonets to ac~use all members of
the "protectorate" Czech Government and of the independent State
of Slovakia of collaboration with
the Nazis and treason. As far as
Benes was concerned, he was still
"legally" the ,president, CzechoSlovakia never ceased to exist as
such, Munich never "legally" happened, the Slovaks had no right to
declare their country independent,
and international law was only
what Benes interpreted it to be.
That was the incomparable Benes!
The Memoirs of Dr. Eduard
Benes, like his other published
works, are to all intents and ,purposes meant to justify everything
that Dr. Benes did, even if, in fact,
it meant rendering a gross disservice to democracy and betraying
not only his own people, the Czechs,
but even the Slovaks and other
nations as well to the men of the
Kremlin. With Hitler, Stalin, and
Mussolini the State was supreme.
And so it was with Benes, even
though he promoted the ideology
of Godless, materialistic socialism
in a less crude and violent fashion:
the end he sought was the same.
His MEMOIRS and various other
works prove that, even though less
eloquently and forcefully than does
the "end of the road" Czecho-.Slovakia reached under his guidance.
In his review, Mr. Craig does not
mention that the very s am e
MEMOIRS OF DR. EDUARD BENES, translated by Godfrey Lias,
were first .published in 1954 by
George Allen & Unwin Ltd. (London). The readers of the Times
·Book Review may, therefore, even
as I did, purchase a book that they
already have, a1isuming that it is
an additional volume of Dr. Benes's
Memoirs. Did Mr. Craig know that?
- P.A. H.
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. 6, No. 1 (18)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
March 1956
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/edfb0e587f6c9ed1f461b555ec3533c1.pdf
3f834d3b18894afbc96d9b5791cfd64a
PDF Text
Text
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio)
Honorary Presidents
And r ew J. Hamrock
Dr. Peter P. H letko
61 Woodland Avenue
Car,1pbell, Ohio
Batavia Rd., Box 17
Warrenville, Ill.
Stephen Dubi el
Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A.
12210 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio
12608 Madison Avenue
Lakewood 7, Ohio
E l izab et h Andr ejko
President
Ph i lip A. Hrobak
551 Grove Avenue
Johnstown, Pa.
P. 0. Box 150
Midd letown, Pa.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vice-Presidents
Rev. John W. Krisp i nsky
M ich ael
2425 W. 11th Street
Cleveland, Ohio
Ju l ia
Krajcov ic
H e le n K ocan
1648 W. 18th Street
Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
Paul F <1 llat
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J . Tkach
Mi Ian V . Blazek
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chic<tgo 38, Ill.
Nationa l President
Penna. Slov::tk Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
National President
Ladies Pennsylvanit_
Slovak Union
Pau l P. Jamri ska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsb:J.rgh 10, Pa.
Josepr, G. Prusa
J . Vargovi c
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
John
205 Madison Street
Passaic, N. J.
Rozbo r il
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
Scranton. Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
Cleveland, Ohio
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Passaic, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Lnd
ZORNICKA
Chicago, Ill.
OSADNE HLASY
Chica.go, m
�SLOVAKIA: Cathedral of Spisska Kapitul'a and, in the background, the ruins of the Spis Castle
�
Officers of the Slovak League of America
(Organized May 26, 1907, Cleveland, Ohio)
Honorary Presidents
And r ew J. Hamrock
Dr. Peter P. H letko
61 Woodland Avenue
Car,1pbell, Ohio
Batavia Rd., Box 17
Warrenville, Ill.
Stephen Dubi el
Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A.
12210 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio
12608 Madison Avenue
Lakewood 7, Ohio
E l izab et h Andr ejko
President
Ph i lip A. Hrobak
551 Grove Avenue
Johnstown, Pa.
P. 0. Box 150
Midd letown, Pa.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vice-Presidents
Rev. John W. Krisp i nsky
M ich ael
2425 W. 11th Street
Cleveland, Ohio
Ju l ia
Krajcov ic
H e le n K ocan
1648 W. 18th Street
Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
Paul F <1 llat
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J . Tkach
Mi Ian V . Blazek
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chic<tgo 38, Ill.
Nationa l President
Penna. Slov::tk Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
National President
Ladies Pennsylvanit_
Slovak Union
Pau l P. Jamri ska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsb:J.rgh 10, Pa.
Josepr, G. Prusa
J . Vargovi c
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
John
205 Madison Street
Passaic, N. J.
Rozbo r il
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
Scranton. Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
Cleveland, Ohio
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Passaic, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Lnd
ZORNICKA
Chicago, Ill.
OSADNE HLASY
Chica.go, m
�SLOVAKIA: Cathedral of Spisska Kapitul'a and, in the background, the ruins of the Spis Castle
�
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
1957, Vol. 7
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</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
1957
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 Presidents
And r ew J. Hamrock
Dr. Peter P. H letko
61 Woodland Avenue
Car,1pbell, Ohio
Batavia Rd., Box 17
Warrenville, Ill.
Stephen Dubi el
Msgr. F. J. Dubosh, P.A.
12210 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio
12608 Madison Avenue
Lakewood 7, Ohio
E l izab et h Andr ejko
President
Ph i lip A. Hrobak
551 Grove Avenue
Johnstown, Pa.
P. 0. Box 150
Midd letown, Pa.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Vice-Presidents
Rev. John W. Krisp i nsky
M ich ael
2425 W. 11th Street
Cleveland, Ohio
Ju l ia
Krajcov ic
H e le n K ocan
1648 W. 18th Street
Chicago 8, Ill.
National President
First Catholic Slovak
Ladies Union
Recording Secretary
Constantine Culen
Paul F <1 llat
2900 East Boulevard
Cleveland 4, Ohio
National President
Slovak Catholic Sokol
Secretary-Treasurer
Stephen J . Tkach
Mi Ian V . Blazek
4922 S. Leclaire Avenue
Chic<tgo 38, Ill.
Nationa l President
Penna. Slov::tk Union
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Anna Sotak
National President
Ladies Pennsylvanit_
Slovak Union
Pau l P. Jamri ska
810 Montooth Street
Pittsb:J.rgh 10, Pa.
Josepr, G. Prusa
J . Vargovi c
National President
First Catholic Slovak Union
John
205 Madison Street
Passaic, N. J.
Rozbo r il
National President
Slovak Catholic Cadet Union
SLOVAK NEWSPAPERS
(Affiliated with the Slovak League of America)
JEDNOTA
SLOVENSKA OBRANA
ZENSKA JEDNOTA
Midd letown, Pa.
Scranton. Pa.
Cleveland, Ohio
BRATSTVO
Wi lkes-Barre, Pa.
SLOVENSKE
NOVINY
Cleveland, Ohio
KATOLiCKY SOKOL
SVORNOST
Passaic, N. J .
Whitaker, Pa
SLOVAK V AMERIKE
Whiting, Lnd
ZORNICKA
Chicago, Ill.
OSADNE HLASY
Chica.go, m
SLOVAKIA: Cathedral of Spisska Kapitul'a and, in the background, the ruins of the Spis Castle
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. 7, No. 3-4 (24-25)
Description
An account of the resource
includes photo of Cathedral of Spišská Kapituľa and, in the background, the ruins of Spiš Castle
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1957
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8534412d8641d0b5d9a0de8dfe911fad.pdf
08a3a0dc0b145a9d3398e78412eb677d
PDF Text
Text
SLOVAKIA
83
failed utterly to satisfy the aspirations of the Slovaks and
other non-Czech nations of Czecho-Slovakia for political
self-expression. Twenty years of Masaryk-Benes rule in
Czecho-Slovakia definitely proved that true liberty was
more foreign to the Masaryk and Benes regimes than it
was to the Habsburgs, hence, the seed of federalism was
not even planted by them. Czecho-Slovakia was supposed
to be patterned after Switzerland or the United States, but
the fact is that she was not.
(The End.)
•
•
•
THE SLOVAKS WERE THERE :
MAJOR JOHN L. POLERECKY FOUGHT FOR
AMERICA'S INDEPENDENCE
In 1781, when the defeated army of Cornwallis surrendered its arms to General George Washington at Yorktown, Va., among the "French Hussars" who encircled the
defeated, as the ceremony of "surrendering arms" took
place, was a son of Slovakia, Major John L. Polerecky,
whose father hailed from Polerieka, Turiec Province, Slovakia.
The story of John Polerecky's participation in the
American Revolution for the independence of America was
unfolded by Dr. Joseph Cincik, Ph.D., professor of history and art, Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of the Slovak
Institute there. Mr. Cincik, a distant relative of Major Polerecky, spent much time and money in travel and research to gather the facts of the Polerecky story. When
the complete story of Polerecky is published, it will be fully
documented with photocopies of original documents from
Slovakia, France, and the National Archives in Washington, D. C. What is presented here is from a portion of Dr.
Cincik's manuscript on Major Polerecky.
When Francis Rakoczy of Hungary revolted against
the Habsburgs and lost, he was forced to flee for his life
in 1711. He fled to Poland and later made his way to
France. Rakoczy was not through with his fight against
Vienna, and Louis XIV was happy to accept his services
when he offered them to him in 1713. Rakoczy was ac-
�84
SLOVAKIA
companied by, among others, two of his most trusted
soldiers: Count Andrew Polerecky and Count Nicholas
Bercsenyi, who were excellent horsemen. They formed the
core of command of Rak6czy's light cavalry. In time King
Louis ordered them to organize two regiments of riders in
the Alsace region. Polerecky organized a regiment of Hussars in Rosenheim-Malsheim.
It was in Alsace that Andrew Polerecky fathered two
sons, Frederick and John, the latter being the man of
Yorktown, Va. Both of Andrew's sons studied at the Royal
Military Academy. While Frederick remained in the service of the French kings till the end of the monarchy,
John promoted to a Major by royal decree of Louis XV
(original in the National Archives), chose to go to America with the expeditionary army of Rochambeau to help
the colonists rid themselves of British rule. His immediate
superior was the Duke de Lauzun, commander of the light
cavalry of French Volunteers, or the Duke's deputy, Theobald de Dillon. Major Polerecky was often entrusted with
the communication and dispatch services, among other
things. They participated in the battles along the Hudson
river above present-day New York City in the first half
of 1781 and then in the White Plains and Kingsbridge regions before June 21, 1781, in the battle for the city. Polerecky and the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun harrassed
the British "Green Dragoons" under Lt. Col. Banaster
Tarleton, who was known as "bloody Tarleton."
At the beginning of the siege of Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Lauzun's legion, or a large part of it, implemented Weedon's Militia from Virginia near Gloucester to
neutralize Tarleton's Dragoons. Major John Polerecky and
his men moved between Yorktown and Gloucester Point,
keeping communications open between the two points for
the benefit of coordinating the movements of the allied
armies of the French and the American colonists. It was
during the siege of Yorktown, at the beginning of October,
1781, that Major Polerecky became acquainted with Col.
Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), who had just been named
Deputy Quarter Master General, and with Col. Benjamin
Lincoln (1733-1810), who later became Generals of the
�SLOVAKIA
85
American Army and Secretaries of the War after the Revolution. They became fast friends, and it was this friendship that decided for Polerecky to remain permanently in
America.
With the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington's Army on October 19, 1781, Col. Lincoln, representing George Washington, accepted the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis from the hands of Col. Charles O'Hara, representing Cornwallis. Several moments later, Major John Polerecky "under the poplars" south of Yorktown, with the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun encircling the defeated units of
the British Army, took over the arms of the defeated.
As stated, Dearborn and Lincoln had something to do
with Major Polerecky's decision to settle in America. There
is a document in the National Archives, Washington, D. C.,
which tells us that Polerecky requested his commander
Due de Lauzun, permission to resign from the French Hussars, and the request was granted in Philadelpjhia, October 1, 1783. But conditions in France after 1781 undoubtedly settled the problem for Polerecky more than anything
else. On October 20, 1781, the day after Cornwallis's surrender, General Rochambeau, Commander-in-Chief of the
French forces in America, sent the Due de Lauzun to Paris
to report personally to King Louis XVI the victory over
the British. Polerecky accompanied his commander.
France was not the France they knew before embarking for America with Rochambeau to help the colonists
win their independence from the British. The remnants of
the Hussars of Lauzun's Legion, which remained in France,
while the main force fought in America were spiritless;
their numbers had dwindled, because the Hussars were sent
to other wars than the American, and Lauzun felt badly
about it, since it was not done with his knowledge and approval. In Paris intrigue was rampant against the Due de
Lauzun and his Volunteer Legion of Hussars. Major Polerecky was informed about the situation that prevailed by
his brother, Brigadier General Andrew F. Polerecky who
served with the French forces at the Royal Court in Versailles. Polerecky left France disheartened and returned
to America.
�86
SLOVAKIA
Upon his return, Major John Polerecky resumed his
friendship with General Dearborn and General Lincoln.
He went to Boston and at the end of 1784 decided to buy
a farm in Maine, near that of Henry Dearborn, who had
settled in Monmouth, Maine, in June of 1784. Through Lincoln, who was now in the real estate business, Major Polerecky bought 40 acres of land early in 1785 from one Luis
Cavalier in the village of Pownalborough (today it's Dresden), between the East and Kenebeck rivers, a territory
settled by the French, particularly the descendants of the
Huguenots. It was in Pownalborough that Major John Polerecky became acquainted with and married Nancy Pushard (sometimes - "Pochard") in June, 1785. Nancy,
the youngest of the Puschard children, was born in America.
By an act of the Massachusetts Congress, signed by
the famous John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Polerecky became a naturalized citizen of the country he had
helped to become independent of alien rule. His friendship
with Dearborn and Lincoln added to his prestige among
the old settlers. Polerecky held various public offices from
1789 to 1794 in his community ( "Hogreeve; Pound Keeper;
Surveyor of Highways"). Gen. Henry Dearborn frequently
visited Polerecky in the "Old Court House" in Dresden.
When General Dearborn was appointed Military Marshal for the District of Maine on August 26, 1790, he appointed John Polerecky as his Deputy Marshal. That year
a census of the people in Maine was made; Dearborn appointed Polerecky as Census Commissioner of the southeastern coastal district of Maine and the outlying islands.
In 1794, when the western part of Pownalborough was incorporated as the town of "Fayette" ( changed later for
reasons unrecorded to "Dresden"), Polerecky was elected
Town Clerk. In 1796, he applied for the job of lighthouse
keeper on the Island of Seguin, which he got with the help
of Dearborn and Lincoln, In 1805, John Polerecky resigned his job and was again elected Town Clerk, serving
in this capacity for twenty-three years more.
From the records of the town of Dresden, Dr. Joseph
Cincik learned that Polerecky's older brother, Andrew, also
�SLOVAKIA
87
settled there. A Brigadier General in the French Army and
a Knight of the Order of St. Louis, Andrew, with the aid
of other officers of Chamborant's Hussar Regiment, attempted to aid the escape of King Louis XVI and Queen
Marie Antoinette and their family, after their first unsuccessful attempt to escape to Varennes (June 20-21, 1791).
Andrew Polerecky's plan, however, was betrayed and he
himself had to flee to save his life. In time he came to
America, to his brother's home in Dresden.
When Major John L. Polerecky gave up the office of
Town Clerk of Dresden, Maine, on March 3, 1828, he was
eighty years old. Did John Polerecky and Nancy have any
children? Yes - seven. When John Polerecky died, his
wife had him buried in the courtyard of their home, under the trees which John had planted - the home which
is today called the "Frank Cates House" in Dresden. Nancy
had her husband's remains removed to Pine Grove Cemetery in 1858, when the cemetery was opened; she bought
a spacious lot in it. On the right of John Polerecky's tombstone, there is one of white marble - Nancy's - and then
the stones of all the children and some grandchildren. Daniel, it appears, outlived the others, dying October 23,
1891 ... and with Daniel G. Polerecky went the family
name. The daughters married, too, and their descendants
had English names; they settled in Maine and Massachusetts. Lucy Polerecky, who became Mrs. Kidder, outlived
her sisters.
The American Legion never forgets the grave of
Major John L. Polerecky. Every year, behind a large bronze
plaque of the American Revolution, a new American Flag
is placed, the eternal symbol of the freedom for which
John L. Polerecky fought and was ready to give his life.
Because of Polerecky the Slovaks can say that they were
there, too, close to George Washington, when the fight
for independence was won. And they say it proudly, at the
same time uttering a prayer and a resolve that America
shall ever remain free and independent to help Slovakia,
the land of the Polereckys, gain its freedom and independence from the hostile forces of the present Czecho-Communist regime of Prague and Moscow.
�
SLOVAKIA
83
failed utterly to satisfy the aspirations of the Slovaks and
other non-Czech nations of Czecho-Slovakia for political
self-expression. Twenty years of Masaryk-Benes rule in
Czecho-Slovakia definitely proved that true liberty was
more foreign to the Masaryk and Benes regimes than it
was to the Habsburgs, hence, the seed of federalism was
not even planted by them. Czecho-Slovakia was supposed
to be patterned after Switzerland or the United States, but
the fact is that she was not.
(The End.)
•
•
•
THE SLOVAKS WERE THERE :
MAJOR JOHN L. POLERECKY FOUGHT FOR
AMERICA'S INDEPENDENCE
In 1781, when the defeated army of Cornwallis surrendered its arms to General George Washington at Yorktown, Va., among the "French Hussars" who encircled the
defeated, as the ceremony of "surrendering arms" took
place, was a son of Slovakia, Major John L. Polerecky,
whose father hailed from Polerieka, Turiec Province, Slovakia.
The story of John Polerecky's participation in the
American Revolution for the independence of America was
unfolded by Dr. Joseph Cincik, Ph.D., professor of history and art, Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of the Slovak
Institute there. Mr. Cincik, a distant relative of Major Polerecky, spent much time and money in travel and research to gather the facts of the Polerecky story. When
the complete story of Polerecky is published, it will be fully
documented with photocopies of original documents from
Slovakia, France, and the National Archives in Washington, D. C. What is presented here is from a portion of Dr.
Cincik's manuscript on Major Polerecky.
When Francis Rakoczy of Hungary revolted against
the Habsburgs and lost, he was forced to flee for his life
in 1711. He fled to Poland and later made his way to
France. Rakoczy was not through with his fight against
Vienna, and Louis XIV was happy to accept his services
when he offered them to him in 1713. Rakoczy was ac-
�84
SLOVAKIA
companied by, among others, two of his most trusted
soldiers: Count Andrew Polerecky and Count Nicholas
Bercsenyi, who were excellent horsemen. They formed the
core of command of Rak6czy's light cavalry. In time King
Louis ordered them to organize two regiments of riders in
the Alsace region. Polerecky organized a regiment of Hussars in Rosenheim-Malsheim.
It was in Alsace that Andrew Polerecky fathered two
sons, Frederick and John, the latter being the man of
Yorktown, Va. Both of Andrew's sons studied at the Royal
Military Academy. While Frederick remained in the service of the French kings till the end of the monarchy,
John promoted to a Major by royal decree of Louis XV
(original in the National Archives), chose to go to America with the expeditionary army of Rochambeau to help
the colonists rid themselves of British rule. His immediate
superior was the Duke de Lauzun, commander of the light
cavalry of French Volunteers, or the Duke's deputy, Theobald de Dillon. Major Polerecky was often entrusted with
the communication and dispatch services, among other
things. They participated in the battles along the Hudson
river above present-day New York City in the first half
of 1781 and then in the White Plains and Kingsbridge regions before June 21, 1781, in the battle for the city. Polerecky and the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun harrassed
the British "Green Dragoons" under Lt. Col. Banaster
Tarleton, who was known as "bloody Tarleton."
At the beginning of the siege of Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Lauzun's legion, or a large part of it, implemented Weedon's Militia from Virginia near Gloucester to
neutralize Tarleton's Dragoons. Major John Polerecky and
his men moved between Yorktown and Gloucester Point,
keeping communications open between the two points for
the benefit of coordinating the movements of the allied
armies of the French and the American colonists. It was
during the siege of Yorktown, at the beginning of October,
1781, that Major Polerecky became acquainted with Col.
Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), who had just been named
Deputy Quarter Master General, and with Col. Benjamin
Lincoln (1733-1810), who later became Generals of the
�SLOVAKIA
85
American Army and Secretaries of the War after the Revolution. They became fast friends, and it was this friendship that decided for Polerecky to remain permanently in
America.
With the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington's Army on October 19, 1781, Col. Lincoln, representing George Washington, accepted the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis from the hands of Col. Charles O'Hara, representing Cornwallis. Several moments later, Major John Polerecky "under the poplars" south of Yorktown, with the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun encircling the defeated units of
the British Army, took over the arms of the defeated.
As stated, Dearborn and Lincoln had something to do
with Major Polerecky's decision to settle in America. There
is a document in the National Archives, Washington, D. C.,
which tells us that Polerecky requested his commander
Due de Lauzun, permission to resign from the French Hussars, and the request was granted in Philadelpjhia, October 1, 1783. But conditions in France after 1781 undoubtedly settled the problem for Polerecky more than anything
else. On October 20, 1781, the day after Cornwallis's surrender, General Rochambeau, Commander-in-Chief of the
French forces in America, sent the Due de Lauzun to Paris
to report personally to King Louis XVI the victory over
the British. Polerecky accompanied his commander.
France was not the France they knew before embarking for America with Rochambeau to help the colonists
win their independence from the British. The remnants of
the Hussars of Lauzun's Legion, which remained in France,
while the main force fought in America were spiritless;
their numbers had dwindled, because the Hussars were sent
to other wars than the American, and Lauzun felt badly
about it, since it was not done with his knowledge and approval. In Paris intrigue was rampant against the Due de
Lauzun and his Volunteer Legion of Hussars. Major Polerecky was informed about the situation that prevailed by
his brother, Brigadier General Andrew F. Polerecky who
served with the French forces at the Royal Court in Versailles. Polerecky left France disheartened and returned
to America.
�86
SLOVAKIA
Upon his return, Major John Polerecky resumed his
friendship with General Dearborn and General Lincoln.
He went to Boston and at the end of 1784 decided to buy
a farm in Maine, near that of Henry Dearborn, who had
settled in Monmouth, Maine, in June of 1784. Through Lincoln, who was now in the real estate business, Major Polerecky bought 40 acres of land early in 1785 from one Luis
Cavalier in the village of Pownalborough (today it's Dresden), between the East and Kenebeck rivers, a territory
settled by the French, particularly the descendants of the
Huguenots. It was in Pownalborough that Major John Polerecky became acquainted with and married Nancy Pushard (sometimes - "Pochard") in June, 1785. Nancy,
the youngest of the Puschard children, was born in America.
By an act of the Massachusetts Congress, signed by
the famous John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Polerecky became a naturalized citizen of the country he had
helped to become independent of alien rule. His friendship
with Dearborn and Lincoln added to his prestige among
the old settlers. Polerecky held various public offices from
1789 to 1794 in his community ( "Hogreeve; Pound Keeper;
Surveyor of Highways"). Gen. Henry Dearborn frequently
visited Polerecky in the "Old Court House" in Dresden.
When General Dearborn was appointed Military Marshal for the District of Maine on August 26, 1790, he appointed John Polerecky as his Deputy Marshal. That year
a census of the people in Maine was made; Dearborn appointed Polerecky as Census Commissioner of the southeastern coastal district of Maine and the outlying islands.
In 1794, when the western part of Pownalborough was incorporated as the town of "Fayette" ( changed later for
reasons unrecorded to "Dresden"), Polerecky was elected
Town Clerk. In 1796, he applied for the job of lighthouse
keeper on the Island of Seguin, which he got with the help
of Dearborn and Lincoln, In 1805, John Polerecky resigned his job and was again elected Town Clerk, serving
in this capacity for twenty-three years more.
From the records of the town of Dresden, Dr. Joseph
Cincik learned that Polerecky's older brother, Andrew, also
�SLOVAKIA
87
settled there. A Brigadier General in the French Army and
a Knight of the Order of St. Louis, Andrew, with the aid
of other officers of Chamborant's Hussar Regiment, attempted to aid the escape of King Louis XVI and Queen
Marie Antoinette and their family, after their first unsuccessful attempt to escape to Varennes (June 20-21, 1791).
Andrew Polerecky's plan, however, was betrayed and he
himself had to flee to save his life. In time he came to
America, to his brother's home in Dresden.
When Major John L. Polerecky gave up the office of
Town Clerk of Dresden, Maine, on March 3, 1828, he was
eighty years old. Did John Polerecky and Nancy have any
children? Yes - seven. When John Polerecky died, his
wife had him buried in the courtyard of their home, under the trees which John had planted - the home which
is today called the "Frank Cates House" in Dresden. Nancy
had her husband's remains removed to Pine Grove Cemetery in 1858, when the cemetery was opened; she bought
a spacious lot in it. On the right of John Polerecky's tombstone, there is one of white marble - Nancy's - and then
the stones of all the children and some grandchildren. Daniel, it appears, outlived the others, dying October 23,
1891 ... and with Daniel G. Polerecky went the family
name. The daughters married, too, and their descendants
had English names; they settled in Maine and Massachusetts. Lucy Polerecky, who became Mrs. Kidder, outlived
her sisters.
The American Legion never forgets the grave of
Major John L. Polerecky. Every year, behind a large bronze
plaque of the American Revolution, a new American Flag
is placed, the eternal symbol of the freedom for which
John L. Polerecky fought and was ready to give his life.
Because of Polerecky the Slovaks can say that they were
there, too, close to George Washington, when the fight
for independence was won. And they say it proudly, at the
same time uttering a prayer and a resolve that America
shall ever remain free and independent to help Slovakia,
the land of the Polereckys, gain its freedom and independence from the hostile forces of the present Czecho-Communist regime of Prague and Moscow.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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1957, Vol. 7
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</li>
</ul>
Publisher
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The Slovak League of America
Date
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1957
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Text
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SLOVAKIA
83
failed utterly to satisfy the aspirations of the Slovaks and
other non-Czech nations of Czecho-Slovakia for political
self-expression. Twenty years of Masaryk-Benes rule in
Czecho-Slovakia definitely proved that true liberty was
more foreign to the Masaryk and Benes regimes than it
was to the Habsburgs, hence, the seed of federalism was
not even planted by them. Czecho-Slovakia was supposed
to be patterned after Switzerland or the United States, but
the fact is that she was not.
(The End.)
•
•
•
THE SLOVAKS WERE THERE :
MAJOR JOHN L. POLERECKY FOUGHT FOR
AMERICA'S INDEPENDENCE
In 1781, when the defeated army of Cornwallis surrendered its arms to General George Washington at Yorktown, Va., among the "French Hussars" who encircled the
defeated, as the ceremony of "surrendering arms" took
place, was a son of Slovakia, Major John L. Polerecky,
whose father hailed from Polerieka, Turiec Province, Slovakia.
The story of John Polerecky's participation in the
American Revolution for the independence of America was
unfolded by Dr. Joseph Cincik, Ph.D., professor of history and art, Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of the Slovak
Institute there. Mr. Cincik, a distant relative of Major Polerecky, spent much time and money in travel and research to gather the facts of the Polerecky story. When
the complete story of Polerecky is published, it will be fully
documented with photocopies of original documents from
Slovakia, France, and the National Archives in Washington, D. C. What is presented here is from a portion of Dr.
Cincik's manuscript on Major Polerecky.
When Francis Rakoczy of Hungary revolted against
the Habsburgs and lost, he was forced to flee for his life
in 1711. He fled to Poland and later made his way to
France. Rakoczy was not through with his fight against
Vienna, and Louis XIV was happy to accept his services
when he offered them to him in 1713. Rakoczy was ac-
84
SLOVAKIA
companied by, among others, two of his most trusted
soldiers: Count Andrew Polerecky and Count Nicholas
Bercsenyi, who were excellent horsemen. They formed the
core of command of Rak6czy's light cavalry. In time King
Louis ordered them to organize two regiments of riders in
the Alsace region. Polerecky organized a regiment of Hussars in Rosenheim-Malsheim.
It was in Alsace that Andrew Polerecky fathered two
sons, Frederick and John, the latter being the man of
Yorktown, Va. Both of Andrew's sons studied at the Royal
Military Academy. While Frederick remained in the service of the French kings till the end of the monarchy,
John promoted to a Major by royal decree of Louis XV
(original in the National Archives), chose to go to America with the expeditionary army of Rochambeau to help
the colonists rid themselves of British rule. His immediate
superior was the Duke de Lauzun, commander of the light
cavalry of French Volunteers, or the Duke's deputy, Theobald de Dillon. Major Polerecky was often entrusted with
the communication and dispatch services, among other
things. They participated in the battles along the Hudson
river above present-day New York City in the first half
of 1781 and then in the White Plains and Kingsbridge regions before June 21, 1781, in the battle for the city. Polerecky and the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun harrassed
the British "Green Dragoons" under Lt. Col. Banaster
Tarleton, who was known as "bloody Tarleton."
At the beginning of the siege of Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Lauzun's legion, or a large part of it, implemented Weedon's Militia from Virginia near Gloucester to
neutralize Tarleton's Dragoons. Major John Polerecky and
his men moved between Yorktown and Gloucester Point,
keeping communications open between the two points for
the benefit of coordinating the movements of the allied
armies of the French and the American colonists. It was
during the siege of Yorktown, at the beginning of October,
1781, that Major Polerecky became acquainted with Col.
Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), who had just been named
Deputy Quarter Master General, and with Col. Benjamin
Lincoln (1733-1810), who later became Generals of the
SLOVAKIA
85
American Army and Secretaries of the War after the Revolution. They became fast friends, and it was this friendship that decided for Polerecky to remain permanently in
America.
With the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to Washington's Army on October 19, 1781, Col. Lincoln, representing George Washington, accepted the surrender of Lord
Cornwallis from the hands of Col. Charles O'Hara, representing Cornwallis. Several moments later, Major John Polerecky "under the poplars" south of Yorktown, with the Hussars of the Due de Lauzun encircling the defeated units of
the British Army, took over the arms of the defeated.
As stated, Dearborn and Lincoln had something to do
with Major Polerecky's decision to settle in America. There
is a document in the National Archives, Washington, D. C.,
which tells us that Polerecky requested his commander
Due de Lauzun, permission to resign from the French Hussars, and the request was granted in Philadelpjhia, October 1, 1783. But conditions in France after 1781 undoubtedly settled the problem for Polerecky more than anything
else. On October 20, 1781, the day after Cornwallis's surrender, General Rochambeau, Commander-in-Chief of the
French forces in America, sent the Due de Lauzun to Paris
to report personally to King Louis XVI the victory over
the British. Polerecky accompanied his commander.
France was not the France they knew before embarking for America with Rochambeau to help the colonists
win their independence from the British. The remnants of
the Hussars of Lauzun's Legion, which remained in France,
while the main force fought in America were spiritless;
their numbers had dwindled, because the Hussars were sent
to other wars than the American, and Lauzun felt badly
about it, since it was not done with his knowledge and approval. In Paris intrigue was rampant against the Due de
Lauzun and his Volunteer Legion of Hussars. Major Polerecky was informed about the situation that prevailed by
his brother, Brigadier General Andrew F. Polerecky who
served with the French forces at the Royal Court in Versailles. Polerecky left France disheartened and returned
to America.
86
SLOVAKIA
Upon his return, Major John Polerecky resumed his
friendship with General Dearborn and General Lincoln.
He went to Boston and at the end of 1784 decided to buy
a farm in Maine, near that of Henry Dearborn, who had
settled in Monmouth, Maine, in June of 1784. Through Lincoln, who was now in the real estate business, Major Polerecky bought 40 acres of land early in 1785 from one Luis
Cavalier in the village of Pownalborough (today it's Dresden), between the East and Kenebeck rivers, a territory
settled by the French, particularly the descendants of the
Huguenots. It was in Pownalborough that Major John Polerecky became acquainted with and married Nancy Pushard (sometimes - "Pochard") in June, 1785. Nancy,
the youngest of the Puschard children, was born in America.
By an act of the Massachusetts Congress, signed by
the famous John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Polerecky became a naturalized citizen of the country he had
helped to become independent of alien rule. His friendship
with Dearborn and Lincoln added to his prestige among
the old settlers. Polerecky held various public offices from
1789 to 1794 in his community ( "Hogreeve; Pound Keeper;
Surveyor of Highways"). Gen. Henry Dearborn frequently
visited Polerecky in the "Old Court House" in Dresden.
When General Dearborn was appointed Military Marshal for the District of Maine on August 26, 1790, he appointed John Polerecky as his Deputy Marshal. That year
a census of the people in Maine was made; Dearborn appointed Polerecky as Census Commissioner of the southeastern coastal district of Maine and the outlying islands.
In 1794, when the western part of Pownalborough was incorporated as the town of "Fayette" ( changed later for
reasons unrecorded to "Dresden"), Polerecky was elected
Town Clerk. In 1796, he applied for the job of lighthouse
keeper on the Island of Seguin, which he got with the help
of Dearborn and Lincoln, In 1805, John Polerecky resigned his job and was again elected Town Clerk, serving
in this capacity for twenty-three years more.
From the records of the town of Dresden, Dr. Joseph
Cincik learned that Polerecky's older brother, Andrew, also
SLOVAKIA
87
settled there. A Brigadier General in the French Army and
a Knight of the Order of St. Louis, Andrew, with the aid
of other officers of Chamborant's Hussar Regiment, attempted to aid the escape of King Louis XVI and Queen
Marie Antoinette and their family, after their first unsuccessful attempt to escape to Varennes (June 20-21, 1791).
Andrew Polerecky's plan, however, was betrayed and he
himself had to flee to save his life. In time he came to
America, to his brother's home in Dresden.
When Major John L. Polerecky gave up the office of
Town Clerk of Dresden, Maine, on March 3, 1828, he was
eighty years old. Did John Polerecky and Nancy have any
children? Yes - seven. When John Polerecky died, his
wife had him buried in the courtyard of their home, under the trees which John had planted - the home which
is today called the "Frank Cates House" in Dresden. Nancy
had her husband's remains removed to Pine Grove Cemetery in 1858, when the cemetery was opened; she bought
a spacious lot in it. On the right of John Polerecky's tombstone, there is one of white marble - Nancy's - and then
the stones of all the children and some grandchildren. Daniel, it appears, outlived the others, dying October 23,
1891 ... and with Daniel G. Polerecky went the family
name. The daughters married, too, and their descendants
had English names; they settled in Maine and Massachusetts. Lucy Polerecky, who became Mrs. Kidder, outlived
her sisters.
The American Legion never forgets the grave of
Major John L. Polerecky. Every year, behind a large bronze
plaque of the American Revolution, a new American Flag
is placed, the eternal symbol of the freedom for which
John L. Polerecky fought and was ready to give his life.
Because of Polerecky the Slovaks can say that they were
there, too, close to George Washington, when the fight
for independence was won. And they say it proudly, at the
same time uttering a prayer and a resolve that America
shall ever remain free and independent to help Slovakia,
the land of the Polereckys, gain its freedom and independence from the hostile forces of the present Czecho-Communist regime of Prague and Moscow.
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The Slovaks Were There: Major John L. Polerecký Fought for America's Independence
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 7, No. 3-4 (24-25), September-December 1957
pp. 83-87
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1957
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Text
SLOVAKI A
67
MEMORANDUM
to the President of the United States of America, the Hon.
Secretary of State of the United States of America, and
the Hon. Ambassador of the United States of America to
the United Nations, by the Thirty-Fifth Congress of the
Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1957
GREETINGS!
Solemnly assembled in the regular 35th Congress on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the
Slovak League of America here in the great Slovak center
of Cleveland, Ohio, the officers and delegates of the Slovak
League of America hereby declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic moral principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights of the
United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny and totalitarian
political systems, especially repudiating the atheistic philosophy of materialistic Communism as the most ruthless
conspiracy against free humanity.
3. We commend our Government for every effort expended to resist and to resolutely counteract the aggressive
policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and
material forces at its command and we heartily endorse
every action of our Government to expose, demobilize, and
outlaw the evil forces of Communism in the United States
of America - these forces which are dedicated to the destruction of our Country and the Western Civilization.
4. We respectfully request that - in accordance with
the basic principle that every political formation and form
of government imposed on any people by the force of an
alien power should be refused recognition - our Government should no longer recognize the Czecho-Communist
regime in Slovakia, the land of our ancestors.
5. We respectfully submit that a re-examination be
undertaken by the United States of America of the question of the validity of the Slovak independent nation which,
we hasten to recall was recognized by twenty-seven (27)
�68
SLOVAKIA
countries of the family of nations, large and small, but
unfortunately, not by the United States of America with
whose support Slovakia would continue today and for
many future years as a great force for peace in the "powder keg of Europe."
6. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet Socialistic Republics in the internal affairs of other
countries, particularly in the affairs of the land of our
fathers, Slovakia, and we urge that our Government, insist on the withdrawal of all Soviet forces from non-Soviet territories, including Slovakia, as rapidly and as expeditiously as will be in keeping with the best interest of
the United States of America.
7. As stated so often in the past, we, individually and
as representatives of the 300,000 organized Americans of
Slovak descent - having rejoiced on so many occasions
when the various nations of the world attained their
freedom and independence - submit that in all justice and
fairness, the nation we have descended from should likewise enjoy the blessings of true freedom and independence.
In support of the above outlined principles, all of
which are in keeping with the basic fundamental truths of
our American Way of Life, we have prepared and make
available the research and historic proof which justify our
legitimate claims and aspirations.
Therefore, on the solemn occasion of our Golden Jubilee, as representatives of the vast majority of the Slovak ethnic group, we deem it our moral right and obligation to respectfully request, seek and, if the need arises,
to insist that our Government through its executive
branch, in its various sections and divisions, not excluding our able Ambassador to the United Nations, take all
legitimate avenue of action in keeping with the sacred moral law of God and the law of nations to make certain that
a true and lasting independent Slovakia may again take
its rightful place in the community of nations which seek to
preserve peace and promulgate the brotherhood of man
and the fatherhood of God.
In pursuance of these privileges and duties which we
honorably accept and carry out, we seek, Mr. President,
�SLOVAKIA
69
Mr. Secretary, and Mr. Ambassador, your personal as well
as official support.
As loyal sons and daughters of this great Republic,
we beseech God's blessings upon You and your efforts to
bring about His greater honor and glory, and we convey
to each of You our sincerest and warmest personal regards.
In witness whereof, we have unanimously adopted the
above sentiments at this historic 35th Congress at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1957, the 50th anniversary of the
first enunciation of these principles by our predecessors, of
happy memory, our founding fathers and the organizers of
the Slovak League of America.
The Memorandum Committee of the Slovak League:
(Signatures)
JOHN J. SIROTNAK (Pa.)
JOHN J . LESKOVJANSKY (Ohio)
EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK (Conn.)
JOHN B. HASSAY (Ohio)
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO (Pa.)
PHILIP A. HROBAK, President
The Slovak League of America
• • •
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" (Cont'd.)
IDSTORY OR PROPAGANDA?
P.A.HROBAK
CHAPTER XVI - "Education in a Democracy" - by
Francis H . Stuerm, Ph.D.; "Member, faculty of New York
University; educated in Switzerland and the United States;
Ph.D., New York University; author of Training in Democracy: The New Schools of Czechoslovakia (1938), published
under the auspices of the Progressive Education Association."
Another "progressive" report by a "progressive" professor! Thirteen pages, all of them devoted to the Czechs
(Bohemia-Moravia), except this single paragraph which
contained the word "Slovakia":
"One of the Republic's lar gest educational tasks was to set up
a complete system of education in the provinces of Slovakia and Sub-
�
SLOVAKI A
67
MEMORANDUM
to the President of the United States of America, the Hon.
Secretary of State of the United States of America, and
the Hon. Ambassador of the United States of America to
the United Nations, by the Thirty-Fifth Congress of the
Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1957
GREETINGS!
Solemnly assembled in the regular 35th Congress on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the
Slovak League of America here in the great Slovak center
of Cleveland, Ohio, the officers and delegates of the Slovak
League of America hereby declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic moral principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights of the
United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny and totalitarian
political systems, especially repudiating the atheistic philosophy of materialistic Communism as the most ruthless
conspiracy against free humanity.
3. We commend our Government for every effort expended to resist and to resolutely counteract the aggressive
policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and
material forces at its command and we heartily endorse
every action of our Government to expose, demobilize, and
outlaw the evil forces of Communism in the United States
of America - these forces which are dedicated to the destruction of our Country and the Western Civilization.
4. We respectfully request that - in accordance with
the basic principle that every political formation and form
of government imposed on any people by the force of an
alien power should be refused recognition - our Government should no longer recognize the Czecho-Communist
regime in Slovakia, the land of our ancestors.
5. We respectfully submit that a re-examination be
undertaken by the United States of America of the question of the validity of the Slovak independent nation which,
we hasten to recall was recognized by twenty-seven (27)
�68
SLOVAKIA
countries of the family of nations, large and small, but
unfortunately, not by the United States of America with
whose support Slovakia would continue today and for
many future years as a great force for peace in the "powder keg of Europe."
6. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet Socialistic Republics in the internal affairs of other
countries, particularly in the affairs of the land of our
fathers, Slovakia, and we urge that our Government, insist on the withdrawal of all Soviet forces from non-Soviet territories, including Slovakia, as rapidly and as expeditiously as will be in keeping with the best interest of
the United States of America.
7. As stated so often in the past, we, individually and
as representatives of the 300,000 organized Americans of
Slovak descent - having rejoiced on so many occasions
when the various nations of the world attained their
freedom and independence - submit that in all justice and
fairness, the nation we have descended from should likewise enjoy the blessings of true freedom and independence.
In support of the above outlined principles, all of
which are in keeping with the basic fundamental truths of
our American Way of Life, we have prepared and make
available the research and historic proof which justify our
legitimate claims and aspirations.
Therefore, on the solemn occasion of our Golden Jubilee, as representatives of the vast majority of the Slovak ethnic group, we deem it our moral right and obligation to respectfully request, seek and, if the need arises,
to insist that our Government through its executive
branch, in its various sections and divisions, not excluding our able Ambassador to the United Nations, take all
legitimate avenue of action in keeping with the sacred moral law of God and the law of nations to make certain that
a true and lasting independent Slovakia may again take
its rightful place in the community of nations which seek to
preserve peace and promulgate the brotherhood of man
and the fatherhood of God.
In pursuance of these privileges and duties which we
honorably accept and carry out, we seek, Mr. President,
�SLOVAKIA
69
Mr. Secretary, and Mr. Ambassador, your personal as well
as official support.
As loyal sons and daughters of this great Republic,
we beseech God's blessings upon You and your efforts to
bring about His greater honor and glory, and we convey
to each of You our sincerest and warmest personal regards.
In witness whereof, we have unanimously adopted the
above sentiments at this historic 35th Congress at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1957, the 50th anniversary of the
first enunciation of these principles by our predecessors, of
happy memory, our founding fathers and the organizers of
the Slovak League of America.
The Memorandum Committee of the Slovak League:
(Signatures)
JOHN J. SIROTNAK (Pa.)
JOHN J . LESKOVJANSKY (Ohio)
EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK (Conn.)
JOHN B. HASSAY (Ohio)
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO (Pa.)
PHILIP A. HROBAK, President
The Slovak League of America
• • •
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" (Cont'd.)
IDSTORY OR PROPAGANDA?
P.A.HROBAK
CHAPTER XVI - "Education in a Democracy" - by
Francis H . Stuerm, Ph.D.; "Member, faculty of New York
University; educated in Switzerland and the United States;
Ph.D., New York University; author of Training in Democracy: The New Schools of Czechoslovakia (1938), published
under the auspices of the Progressive Education Association."
Another "progressive" report by a "progressive" professor! Thirteen pages, all of them devoted to the Czechs
(Bohemia-Moravia), except this single paragraph which
contained the word "Slovakia":
"One of the Republic's lar gest educational tasks was to set up
a complete system of education in the provinces of Slovakia and Sub-
�
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
1957, Vol. 7
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</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
1957
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
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SLOVAKI A
67
MEMORANDUM
to the President of the United States of America, the Hon.
Secretary of State of the United States of America, and
the Hon. Ambassador of the United States of America to
the United Nations, by the Thirty-Fifth Congress of the
Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1957
GREETINGS!
Solemnly assembled in the regular 35th Congress on
the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the
Slovak League of America here in the great Slovak center
of Cleveland, Ohio, the officers and delegates of the Slovak
League of America hereby declare that:
1. We rededicate ourselves to the preservation of the
basic moral principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights of the
United States of America.
2. We condemn all forms of tyranny and totalitarian
political systems, especially repudiating the atheistic philosophy of materialistic Communism as the most ruthless
conspiracy against free humanity.
3. We commend our Government for every effort expended to resist and to resolutely counteract the aggressive
policies of Soviet imperialism with all the spiritual and
material forces at its command and we heartily endorse
every action of our Government to expose, demobilize, and
outlaw the evil forces of Communism in the United States
of America - these forces which are dedicated to the destruction of our Country and the Western Civilization.
4. We respectfully request that - in accordance with
the basic principle that every political formation and form
of government imposed on any people by the force of an
alien power should be refused recognition - our Government should no longer recognize the Czecho-Communist
regime in Slovakia, the land of our ancestors.
5. We respectfully submit that a re-examination be
undertaken by the United States of America of the question of the validity of the Slovak independent nation which,
we hasten to recall was recognized by twenty-seven (27)
68
SLOVAKIA
countries of the family of nations, large and small, but
unfortunately, not by the United States of America with
whose support Slovakia would continue today and for
many future years as a great force for peace in the "powder keg of Europe."
6. We strongly denounce the intervention of the Soviet Socialistic Republics in the internal affairs of other
countries, particularly in the affairs of the land of our
fathers, Slovakia, and we urge that our Government, insist on the withdrawal of all Soviet forces from non-Soviet territories, including Slovakia, as rapidly and as expeditiously as will be in keeping with the best interest of
the United States of America.
7. As stated so often in the past, we, individually and
as representatives of the 300,000 organized Americans of
Slovak descent - having rejoiced on so many occasions
when the various nations of the world attained their
freedom and independence - submit that in all justice and
fairness, the nation we have descended from should likewise enjoy the blessings of true freedom and independence.
In support of the above outlined principles, all of
which are in keeping with the basic fundamental truths of
our American Way of Life, we have prepared and make
available the research and historic proof which justify our
legitimate claims and aspirations.
Therefore, on the solemn occasion of our Golden Jubilee, as representatives of the vast majority of the Slovak ethnic group, we deem it our moral right and obligation to respectfully request, seek and, if the need arises,
to insist that our Government through its executive
branch, in its various sections and divisions, not excluding our able Ambassador to the United Nations, take all
legitimate avenue of action in keeping with the sacred moral law of God and the law of nations to make certain that
a true and lasting independent Slovakia may again take
its rightful place in the community of nations which seek to
preserve peace and promulgate the brotherhood of man
and the fatherhood of God.
In pursuance of these privileges and duties which we
honorably accept and carry out, we seek, Mr. President,
SLOVAKIA
69
Mr. Secretary, and Mr. Ambassador, your personal as well
as official support.
As loyal sons and daughters of this great Republic,
we beseech God's blessings upon You and your efforts to
bring about His greater honor and glory, and we convey
to each of You our sincerest and warmest personal regards.
In witness whereof, we have unanimously adopted the
above sentiments at this historic 35th Congress at Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, 1957, the 50th anniversary of the
first enunciation of these principles by our predecessors, of
happy memory, our founding fathers and the organizers of
the Slovak League of America.
The Memorandum Committee of the Slovak League:
(Signatures)
JOHN J. SIROTNAK (Pa.)
JOHN J . LESKOVJANSKY (Ohio)
EDWARD J. BEHUNCIK (Conn.)
JOHN B. HASSAY (Ohio)
ELIZABETH ANDREJKO (Pa.)
PHILIP A. HROBAK, President
The Slovak League of America
• • •
Kerner's "Czechoslovakia" (Cont'd.)
IDSTORY OR PROPAGANDA?
P.A.HROBAK
CHAPTER XVI - "Education in a Democracy" - by
Francis H . Stuerm, Ph.D.; "Member, faculty of New York
University; educated in Switzerland and the United States;
Ph.D., New York University; author of Training in Democracy: The New Schools of Czechoslovakia (1938), published
under the auspices of the Progressive Education Association."
Another "progressive" report by a "progressive" professor! Thirteen pages, all of them devoted to the Czechs
(Bohemia-Moravia), except this single paragraph which
contained the word "Slovakia":
"One of the Republic's lar gest educational tasks was to set up
a complete system of education in the provinces of Slovakia and Sub-
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
Description
An account of the resource
Memorandum to the President of the United States of America, the Hon. Secretary of State of the United States of America, and the Hon. Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations, by the Thirty-Fifth Congress of the Slovak League of America, Cleveland, Ohio, May 28, 1957
Slovakia, Vol. 7, No. 3-4 (24-25), September-December 1957
pp. 67-69
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1957
-
https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/dc0fc6e45cde3bca2d25a2352cd8abb1.pdf
1649cde7255967a3e2cd0c12f0aac9af
PDF Text
Text
28
SLOVAKIA
THE 1944 COMMUNISTIC REBELLION IN SLOVAKIA
In late August, 1944, a rebellion to overthrow the government
of the free Slovak Republic was set in motion by Communist partisan
forces that were parachuted into the country by Moscow. Although
the predominant element among the invaders was Czech, there were
also Russians and Frenchmen among them. Conspicuous as one of
the leaders promoting this putsch was Dr. Joseph Lettrich who is
now an official of the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" and resides
in the United States.
The objective of this offensive strategy was not only the ruthless subjugation of the Slovak government, but also the occupation
of Slovakia and the integration of the crushed republic into the politically hybridized Czecho-Slovak Republic. With the help of Soviet
troops this goal was achieved in the spring of 1945 .
Some of the tactics and activities of these Red invaders are
reliably described by Dr. Joseph Pauco in his latest book SLOVACI
A KOMUNIZMUS (THE SLOVAKS AND COMMUNISM; Middletown,
Pa.; 1957). We quote here in part from the chapter "Dielo pomsty"
("An Act of Revenge" - Ed.)
The depravity of the partisans literally knew no
bounds: They looted and plundered at will and murdered
wantonly. Consequently the toll of the struggle was tragic
even though the encounters did not last exceptionally long.
Co,Ionel Otto Klement reports that "official statistics, released early in 1945, indicate that the so-called national uprising in 1944 cost the Slova:k nation close to 80,000 lives
sacrificed on Slovak territrory."
The partisans and their henchmen terrorized Slovak
villages. They categorically seized all citizens of noite who
had shown opposition to Cornmuni,s m. "They robbed their
rupartments, homes, castles, factories, places of business,
warehouses; they indulged in drunken orgies and began
to annoy innocent victims, torturing and !killing them,"
states Colonel Otto Klement who was fully informed on all
that happened.
Thousands of Sloivruks were su!bjected to unspeakable
tortures and inhuman torments. Among the first victims in
this wave of terror was the Slo:v.a:k lalbor leader and mem1b ers o.f iParliament, Francis S1amen, who met his cruel fate
in the town of Brezno nad Hronom .. He was a typical Slovruk laborer, one of thousands of diligent and honest Slava:k
worikingmen, providing for his family by the toil of his
hands. He was interested in the welfare of Slovak workers,
�29
SLOVAKIA
but his "crime" was that he based his interest on the principles of fundamental Christian equity. He organized a
Christian-social wonkers' association and, as president of
the group, he was shown a certain degree of deference by
his co-iworkers who came to realize that the problems of
the l8iboring class can be resolved without recourse to revolutionary methods, without violence, bloodshed, and the
confiscation o.f private property.
When Francis Slamen noticed thaJt there was a concentration of questionable elements in rthe neighborhood of
Brezno, he decided to go to Bratislava in order to inform
the state authorities. His planned to leave in the evening
of August 27, 1944, but an informer foiled his plans. A
few hours before train time, he was forced into a partisan
truck
The partisans then rounded up other influential loyal
patriots in this town, driving them out of their homes at
the point of leveled automatics. They ,padked them into
the fore section of the truck while heavily armed guards
took up the rear. At a;bout eleven o'clock at night, the
truck started on its way, but it halted every fifty meters
or so, in order to take on mo:re unfortunate capti'Ves.
Shortly before midnight, the truck loaded with captives left the heart of town. When the trngic company
reached the town limits, two oif the partisans, wh 0 were
sta.ltio.ned as guards in the truck, opened fire on the victims.
Several of them died on the spot; others lived a few hours
longer.
The sole survivor in this instance was Judge Denk.
His face and head were spattered with the brain fragments
o.f Slamen and Dolnan and both his hands, as well as his
head and nedk, were torn with shot. But he did not lose
consciousness and was able to save himself. When the partisams came to carry a,way the corpses, Denk let himself
be taken as a dead man with the dead. They left him in
the cemetery for !burial with the rest, and it was there
that he spoke to the gendarme who was left to take over,
begging him to take him to a hospital from where his wife
later smuggled him out to safety and survival.
The heartless partisans who carried out this coldblood1
�30
SLOVAKIA
ed task of political vengeance appropriated all the valuables
on the pevsons of their victims right where they fell. They
even stripped the dead of their shoes and before lea ving
the scene, they 1kicked the bodies about with violent brutality.
Another notable victim of the partisans was a Catholic
priest and Parliamentary deputy, Rev. Anthony Salat, who
died in the first weeik of the rebellion. He was a man of
noble character and his was the stature of an earnest SlovaJk patriot, a brilliant popular writer, a matchless public
speaker, and one of the most out-spoken and determined
opponents of Communism.
Through the years, dating baok as far as 1929, Father
Salat serwed as a Parliamentary representative of the Slovak Populist Party. In public life he merited distinction
not only as a gifted amd objecti;ve speaker, a defender of
Slovak rights in the forum of Prague's hall of Parliament,
but also as a journalist.
Because of all this, the partisans marked as one of
their earlist targets, a figure to be cut down mercilessly,
this Father Anthony Salat, a distinguished national leader
and an intrepid fighter for justice. They dragged him out
of the quiet orf his parish to the bridge that spans the
Hron River. He begged to be allowed to make his confession but the rabble refused him this spiritual consolation.
fu answer to his request they sounded off rounds of satanic la,ughter and piercing ridicule which alternated with
sal:vos from their automatics, felling the good priest to
the cold pa,vement of the bridge that he had built for the
community.
But even this did not satisfy the savage "liberators."
They ,b eset the cor;pse of the murdered Father Salat and
robbed it. Out of his vest poc!ket they removed his gold
watch; out of his coat pocket they took his wallet. They
even knoc:ked out several of his teeth and claimed the gold
caps from his dental work. Then they hurled the brutally
albused a.111d rifled body in.to the Bron.
Father Anthony Salat was not the only Slovak Catholic priest done to cruel death iby the partisans. Among
others who perished under the violent hand of the oppres1
�SLOVAKIA
31
sons were Fathers J ohn Nemec, Martinka of Liptovsk y
Svaty Michal, and the seminaria n Milan of Povazska Bystrica. A frightful death befell Father Seda, the pastor in
L1ptovsky Svaty Jan.
In his report at a hearing of the U. S. Congress ional
Committe e, the Catholic priest, Dr. Stephen Nahalka, related the suffering s inflicted on Father Seda: "They t::ut
strips of slkin and flesh from his back and in the end even
amputate d his genitals." Father Nicholas Sprinc, a priest
of the same diocese as Father Seda, reported the following: "Father Seda was killed. The Reds first flayed him
and then subjected him to tortures which it is not proper
to describe in the press. His skin was stripped in thick
layers. His tormento rs then kept cutting off parts of his
body and forcing them into his mouth to the accompan iment of blasphenm ous exdamati ons about 'Holy Communion'."
Another witness before the Congress ional Committe e
was the Rev. Joseph Poess of Slorvakia whom the partisans had severely wounded in the mass grarve near Sklenne
where he sewed as pastor. Ninety men perished in this
mass grave, but Father Poess saved himself despite the
fact that he had been buried alive. He made his escaipe
out of the shallow grave and, after untold suffering s and
imprisonm ent, made his way to freedom. The indictmen t
which the Partisans fabricate d against him was that he
had a secret sending station operating from the church and
that he cached weapons in the church sacristy and under
the altar in his church.
Colonel Otto Klement had informati on on many individual instances of brutality wreaiked upon helple ss and innocent citizens by the partisans . In Turiec the ailing Mary
R. fell into their hands; they struck her unconscio us with
a heavy millk can. They tortured her by wedging pins under
her nails and, after she was completel y spent, she had to
kiss the feet of a common prostitute . F1inally the partisan
band bound her in chains and bore her off to their headquarters, Sklabina in Turiec, where they shot her and
threw her body into a mass burial pit.
Her father, John R., was an old man of 78. The parti-
�32
SLOVAKIA
sans trussed him up and left him, barefoot and half na!ked,
exiposed outdoors all night. When he accepted a pair of
shoes offered hi.Im by a lady, the gypsy who was guarding
him beat him brutally. Then the partisan horde took the
old man to Siklabina, aimed a ,shat at the naJPe of his necik,
just as they had dispatched his d:mghter, and threw him
into the mass grave too.
AH these people had no connection whatever with political activities of any kind. Their "offense" was that they
were, to some extent, propertied people.
Singled out for ,s,rucrifiice were also a number of valiant
o:£ficers who chnse to accept no command in the uprising.
For this service to their country, Colonels Kruna'k and Zverin, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Kfucik and First Lieutenants Frecer and SindJer, were shot to death. The distinguished General Turanec was put under house arrest in
Bans:ka Bystrica right at the outset of the putsch. Once
they let .Joose the full strength of their partisan activities,
they had General Turanec flown to Moscow, where they tortured him for his uncompromising stand against communism.
One of the major stigmas of the putsch is the concentration camp which the partisans arranged in the castle
fortress Sl()IVenska L'wpca. Here they tormented and persecuted aver a th'Ousand viictims - not only men, but women
and children, too. The sUJperintendent of this concentratiorn
camp was the sa,v age Communist Staudinger. One of the
prisoners, R. Rudohorsiky, recalls some of the sufferings
experienced in Slovenska L'wpca:
"The housing of the 1prisoners was horrible. The overseer packed over 150 ,people into a single room. Other sections were croweded with as many persons as eoouJd possibly be forced into them. Househo1d furnishings were remover. From the !beginning, the prisonern were bedded on
the bare floor; later the authorities allowed them to bring
in some straw. Spies, informers, and instigators of trouble
were planted among the prisoners. Hygienic requirements
in this concentration camp became a thing of the past. The
iplace was a real hell.
"Inmates tooik sick ,a s a result of the undernourishment, starvation, filth and foulness that prevailed. Instead
�SLOVAKIA
33
of iprorviding medical help or relief for them, the vindictive
jailer turned on them with aJbuse and emibittered their lives
still further with inhuman treatment. Even when the doctor
did come into the camp, he was allowed to examine a sick
unfortunate only in the presence of the commandant of the
guard of National Security . . . The physician prescribed
medication for which the prisoner paid but never received .
. . Fare: potatoes and caJbbage. Anything by wa,y of shorttening or grease that may have been allotted to the kitchen
wa:s either appropriated by a woman-coolk o.f ill-repute or
the suiperintendent o.f the institution and the commandant
of National ,S ecurity, or it was sold. But conditions worsened to, such an extent that later not even potatoes or caJbbage ,w ere to be had. There was actual starvation. Red pa:rtiisans, armed to the teeth, visited the castle fortress daily
to conduct investigations among the inmates. They heard
the grievances orf the prisoners and freely dealt them resounding sla.ps and blows; they 1b eat the:n and tortured
them unmercifuUy.
"Many of the wretches were taken away under cover
of night never to return again. Conditions became such
that no prisoner' felt that his life wais safe. Everyone lived
in dread expectation, wondering just when the partisans
woU!ld come to claim this oo.e or that one who would vanish
fureve,r in the abyss of death ... The barbaric superintendent, a former shooma'ker, on visiting the confining quarters
abused the miseraible inmates by kic<king them a,bout like
dogs while he cursed them fiendishly and threatened every
one of them with the gall01Ws. If any of them ha,ppened to
have a covering of any ,k ind, he ripped it -away, spewing
insults upon them and calling them Nazis and Fascist swine..
"Little children begged their mothers for bread or m.i1'k
but what were the un.ha,ppy mothers to do when the p-2rfidious scum that jaHed them had no mercy or feeling in
its heart to allow at least to the children some substantial
food. Wives were isolated from their husbands; they were
:permitted to have no contact whatever, not even a brief .exchange from one to the other as they went for their daily
rations. Husbands were the unwilling and helpless witnesses
of the appalling sufferings of their wives and children."
�34
SLOVAKIA
Only prayer and hymns sustained balance and some
,semlblance of morale among the tortured prisoners whose
.sufferings defied description.
An evil reputation came to be associated with Kunerad,
one of the headquarters of the partisan band located near
the city 2ilina. V. 2ingor testified that the Czech Karel
Bacilek was "the political commissar in the fortress Kunerad." Brutal in the extreme was the punishment meted out
to anti-Communistic fighters and quick sentences were
readily executed. It was comparable to SkJa;bina.
To date it has not been ascertained precisely how many
victims met maximum penalties in these two ,plaic-es. Colonel
Klement reports that in Slklaib:itna O'Ver a thousand citirens
were murdered from Turiec region aJone.
In. the mass gra,ve in Podsucha, as the Rev. Stephen
Naha1ka testified, there were found eighty victims of parti:sa,n ferocity. Father Poess revealed that in the mass
graves near Sklenne rubout two hundred of his parishioners
met their deaths.
An American citizen, Mr. Smr~ov,s ky, declared before
.U. S. Congressional Committee that in the Slovaik community where he had lived in the days of the Slovak Republic,
,the partisans on one occasion destroyed an entire family
of five ipersons among whom were a two year old and a
four year old child. All were then consigned to a mass grave.
Other mass graves were also found at Kovacova, in
Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza valley, at Humenne, Lucivna,
Bosany, L'wbietova, Nemeoka L'upca Mld Kremnioka.
During this Communist putsch, material -losses in SlovaJkia were extremely great. The state statistical and planning office in Bratislava 1published in its "Statistical Hand1book of Slo:vaikia 1947" an evalution of damage inflicted on
-buildings, projects and their equipment, art objects, communications, livestock, and other ravaged properties as in
excess of 114,461,000,000 crowns or two and a half billion
dollars.
The arrival of the Soviet in Slovakia in the bloody August putsch of 1944 was a clear foreclast of what would
befall the Slovak people in the event of the downfall of
their independent State.
�
28
SLOVAKIA
THE 1944 COMMUNISTIC REBELLION IN SLOVAKIA
In late August, 1944, a rebellion to overthrow the government
of the free Slovak Republic was set in motion by Communist partisan
forces that were parachuted into the country by Moscow. Although
the predominant element among the invaders was Czech, there were
also Russians and Frenchmen among them. Conspicuous as one of
the leaders promoting this putsch was Dr. Joseph Lettrich who is
now an official of the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" and resides
in the United States.
The objective of this offensive strategy was not only the ruthless subjugation of the Slovak government, but also the occupation
of Slovakia and the integration of the crushed republic into the politically hybridized Czecho-Slovak Republic. With the help of Soviet
troops this goal was achieved in the spring of 1945 .
Some of the tactics and activities of these Red invaders are
reliably described by Dr. Joseph Pauco in his latest book SLOVACI
A KOMUNIZMUS (THE SLOVAKS AND COMMUNISM; Middletown,
Pa.; 1957). We quote here in part from the chapter "Dielo pomsty"
("An Act of Revenge" - Ed.)
The depravity of the partisans literally knew no
bounds: They looted and plundered at will and murdered
wantonly. Consequently the toll of the struggle was tragic
even though the encounters did not last exceptionally long.
Co,Ionel Otto Klement reports that "official statistics, released early in 1945, indicate that the so-called national uprising in 1944 cost the Slova:k nation close to 80,000 lives
sacrificed on Slovak territrory."
The partisans and their henchmen terrorized Slovak
villages. They categorically seized all citizens of noite who
had shown opposition to Cornmuni,s m. "They robbed their
rupartments, homes, castles, factories, places of business,
warehouses; they indulged in drunken orgies and began
to annoy innocent victims, torturing and !killing them,"
states Colonel Otto Klement who was fully informed on all
that happened.
Thousands of Sloivruks were su!bjected to unspeakable
tortures and inhuman torments. Among the first victims in
this wave of terror was the Slo:v.a:k lalbor leader and mem1b ers o.f iParliament, Francis S1amen, who met his cruel fate
in the town of Brezno nad Hronom .. He was a typical Slovruk laborer, one of thousands of diligent and honest Slava:k
worikingmen, providing for his family by the toil of his
hands. He was interested in the welfare of Slovak workers,
�29
SLOVAKIA
but his "crime" was that he based his interest on the principles of fundamental Christian equity. He organized a
Christian-social wonkers' association and, as president of
the group, he was shown a certain degree of deference by
his co-iworkers who came to realize that the problems of
the l8iboring class can be resolved without recourse to revolutionary methods, without violence, bloodshed, and the
confiscation o.f private property.
When Francis Slamen noticed thaJt there was a concentration of questionable elements in rthe neighborhood of
Brezno, he decided to go to Bratislava in order to inform
the state authorities. His planned to leave in the evening
of August 27, 1944, but an informer foiled his plans. A
few hours before train time, he was forced into a partisan
truck
The partisans then rounded up other influential loyal
patriots in this town, driving them out of their homes at
the point of leveled automatics. They ,padked them into
the fore section of the truck while heavily armed guards
took up the rear. At a;bout eleven o'clock at night, the
truck started on its way, but it halted every fifty meters
or so, in order to take on mo:re unfortunate capti'Ves.
Shortly before midnight, the truck loaded with captives left the heart of town. When the trngic company
reached the town limits, two oif the partisans, wh 0 were
sta.ltio.ned as guards in the truck, opened fire on the victims.
Several of them died on the spot; others lived a few hours
longer.
The sole survivor in this instance was Judge Denk.
His face and head were spattered with the brain fragments
o.f Slamen and Dolnan and both his hands, as well as his
head and nedk, were torn with shot. But he did not lose
consciousness and was able to save himself. When the partisams came to carry a,way the corpses, Denk let himself
be taken as a dead man with the dead. They left him in
the cemetery for !burial with the rest, and it was there
that he spoke to the gendarme who was left to take over,
begging him to take him to a hospital from where his wife
later smuggled him out to safety and survival.
The heartless partisans who carried out this coldblood1
�30
SLOVAKIA
ed task of political vengeance appropriated all the valuables
on the pevsons of their victims right where they fell. They
even stripped the dead of their shoes and before lea ving
the scene, they 1kicked the bodies about with violent brutality.
Another notable victim of the partisans was a Catholic
priest and Parliamentary deputy, Rev. Anthony Salat, who
died in the first weeik of the rebellion. He was a man of
noble character and his was the stature of an earnest SlovaJk patriot, a brilliant popular writer, a matchless public
speaker, and one of the most out-spoken and determined
opponents of Communism.
Through the years, dating baok as far as 1929, Father
Salat serwed as a Parliamentary representative of the Slovak Populist Party. In public life he merited distinction
not only as a gifted amd objecti;ve speaker, a defender of
Slovak rights in the forum of Prague's hall of Parliament,
but also as a journalist.
Because of all this, the partisans marked as one of
their earlist targets, a figure to be cut down mercilessly,
this Father Anthony Salat, a distinguished national leader
and an intrepid fighter for justice. They dragged him out
of the quiet orf his parish to the bridge that spans the
Hron River. He begged to be allowed to make his confession but the rabble refused him this spiritual consolation.
fu answer to his request they sounded off rounds of satanic la,ughter and piercing ridicule which alternated with
sal:vos from their automatics, felling the good priest to
the cold pa,vement of the bridge that he had built for the
community.
But even this did not satisfy the savage "liberators."
They ,b eset the cor;pse of the murdered Father Salat and
robbed it. Out of his vest poc!ket they removed his gold
watch; out of his coat pocket they took his wallet. They
even knoc:ked out several of his teeth and claimed the gold
caps from his dental work. Then they hurled the brutally
albused a.111d rifled body in.to the Bron.
Father Anthony Salat was not the only Slovak Catholic priest done to cruel death iby the partisans. Among
others who perished under the violent hand of the oppres1
�SLOVAKIA
31
sons were Fathers J ohn Nemec, Martinka of Liptovsk y
Svaty Michal, and the seminaria n Milan of Povazska Bystrica. A frightful death befell Father Seda, the pastor in
L1ptovsky Svaty Jan.
In his report at a hearing of the U. S. Congress ional
Committe e, the Catholic priest, Dr. Stephen Nahalka, related the suffering s inflicted on Father Seda: "They t::ut
strips of slkin and flesh from his back and in the end even
amputate d his genitals." Father Nicholas Sprinc, a priest
of the same diocese as Father Seda, reported the following: "Father Seda was killed. The Reds first flayed him
and then subjected him to tortures which it is not proper
to describe in the press. His skin was stripped in thick
layers. His tormento rs then kept cutting off parts of his
body and forcing them into his mouth to the accompan iment of blasphenm ous exdamati ons about 'Holy Communion'."
Another witness before the Congress ional Committe e
was the Rev. Joseph Poess of Slorvakia whom the partisans had severely wounded in the mass grarve near Sklenne
where he sewed as pastor. Ninety men perished in this
mass grave, but Father Poess saved himself despite the
fact that he had been buried alive. He made his escaipe
out of the shallow grave and, after untold suffering s and
imprisonm ent, made his way to freedom. The indictmen t
which the Partisans fabricate d against him was that he
had a secret sending station operating from the church and
that he cached weapons in the church sacristy and under
the altar in his church.
Colonel Otto Klement had informati on on many individual instances of brutality wreaiked upon helple ss and innocent citizens by the partisans . In Turiec the ailing Mary
R. fell into their hands; they struck her unconscio us with
a heavy millk can. They tortured her by wedging pins under
her nails and, after she was completel y spent, she had to
kiss the feet of a common prostitute . F1inally the partisan
band bound her in chains and bore her off to their headquarters, Sklabina in Turiec, where they shot her and
threw her body into a mass burial pit.
Her father, John R., was an old man of 78. The parti-
�32
SLOVAKIA
sans trussed him up and left him, barefoot and half na!ked,
exiposed outdoors all night. When he accepted a pair of
shoes offered hi.Im by a lady, the gypsy who was guarding
him beat him brutally. Then the partisan horde took the
old man to Siklabina, aimed a ,shat at the naJPe of his necik,
just as they had dispatched his d:mghter, and threw him
into the mass grave too.
AH these people had no connection whatever with political activities of any kind. Their "offense" was that they
were, to some extent, propertied people.
Singled out for ,s,rucrifiice were also a number of valiant
o:£ficers who chnse to accept no command in the uprising.
For this service to their country, Colonels Kruna'k and Zverin, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Kfucik and First Lieutenants Frecer and SindJer, were shot to death. The distinguished General Turanec was put under house arrest in
Bans:ka Bystrica right at the outset of the putsch. Once
they let .Joose the full strength of their partisan activities,
they had General Turanec flown to Moscow, where they tortured him for his uncompromising stand against communism.
One of the major stigmas of the putsch is the concentration camp which the partisans arranged in the castle
fortress Sl()IVenska L'wpca. Here they tormented and persecuted aver a th'Ousand viictims - not only men, but women
and children, too. The sUJperintendent of this concentratiorn
camp was the sa,v age Communist Staudinger. One of the
prisoners, R. Rudohorsiky, recalls some of the sufferings
experienced in Slovenska L'wpca:
"The housing of the 1prisoners was horrible. The overseer packed over 150 ,people into a single room. Other sections were croweded with as many persons as eoouJd possibly be forced into them. Househo1d furnishings were remover. From the !beginning, the prisonern were bedded on
the bare floor; later the authorities allowed them to bring
in some straw. Spies, informers, and instigators of trouble
were planted among the prisoners. Hygienic requirements
in this concentration camp became a thing of the past. The
iplace was a real hell.
"Inmates tooik sick ,a s a result of the undernourishment, starvation, filth and foulness that prevailed. Instead
�SLOVAKIA
33
of iprorviding medical help or relief for them, the vindictive
jailer turned on them with aJbuse and emibittered their lives
still further with inhuman treatment. Even when the doctor
did come into the camp, he was allowed to examine a sick
unfortunate only in the presence of the commandant of the
guard of National Security . . . The physician prescribed
medication for which the prisoner paid but never received .
. . Fare: potatoes and caJbbage. Anything by wa,y of shorttening or grease that may have been allotted to the kitchen
wa:s either appropriated by a woman-coolk o.f ill-repute or
the suiperintendent o.f the institution and the commandant
of National ,S ecurity, or it was sold. But conditions worsened to, such an extent that later not even potatoes or caJbbage ,w ere to be had. There was actual starvation. Red pa:rtiisans, armed to the teeth, visited the castle fortress daily
to conduct investigations among the inmates. They heard
the grievances orf the prisoners and freely dealt them resounding sla.ps and blows; they 1b eat the:n and tortured
them unmercifuUy.
"Many of the wretches were taken away under cover
of night never to return again. Conditions became such
that no prisoner' felt that his life wais safe. Everyone lived
in dread expectation, wondering just when the partisans
woU!ld come to claim this oo.e or that one who would vanish
fureve,r in the abyss of death ... The barbaric superintendent, a former shooma'ker, on visiting the confining quarters
abused the miseraible inmates by kic<king them a,bout like
dogs while he cursed them fiendishly and threatened every
one of them with the gall01Ws. If any of them ha,ppened to
have a covering of any ,k ind, he ripped it -away, spewing
insults upon them and calling them Nazis and Fascist swine..
"Little children begged their mothers for bread or m.i1'k
but what were the un.ha,ppy mothers to do when the p-2rfidious scum that jaHed them had no mercy or feeling in
its heart to allow at least to the children some substantial
food. Wives were isolated from their husbands; they were
:permitted to have no contact whatever, not even a brief .exchange from one to the other as they went for their daily
rations. Husbands were the unwilling and helpless witnesses
of the appalling sufferings of their wives and children."
�34
SLOVAKIA
Only prayer and hymns sustained balance and some
,semlblance of morale among the tortured prisoners whose
.sufferings defied description.
An evil reputation came to be associated with Kunerad,
one of the headquarters of the partisan band located near
the city 2ilina. V. 2ingor testified that the Czech Karel
Bacilek was "the political commissar in the fortress Kunerad." Brutal in the extreme was the punishment meted out
to anti-Communistic fighters and quick sentences were
readily executed. It was comparable to SkJa;bina.
To date it has not been ascertained precisely how many
victims met maximum penalties in these two ,plaic-es. Colonel
Klement reports that in Slklaib:itna O'Ver a thousand citirens
were murdered from Turiec region aJone.
In. the mass gra,ve in Podsucha, as the Rev. Stephen
Naha1ka testified, there were found eighty victims of parti:sa,n ferocity. Father Poess revealed that in the mass
graves near Sklenne rubout two hundred of his parishioners
met their deaths.
An American citizen, Mr. Smr~ov,s ky, declared before
.U. S. Congressional Committee that in the Slovaik community where he had lived in the days of the Slovak Republic,
,the partisans on one occasion destroyed an entire family
of five ipersons among whom were a two year old and a
four year old child. All were then consigned to a mass grave.
Other mass graves were also found at Kovacova, in
Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza valley, at Humenne, Lucivna,
Bosany, L'wbietova, Nemeoka L'upca Mld Kremnioka.
During this Communist putsch, material -losses in SlovaJkia were extremely great. The state statistical and planning office in Bratislava 1published in its "Statistical Hand1book of Slo:vaikia 1947" an evalution of damage inflicted on
-buildings, projects and their equipment, art objects, communications, livestock, and other ravaged properties as in
excess of 114,461,000,000 crowns or two and a half billion
dollars.
The arrival of the Soviet in Slovakia in the bloody August putsch of 1944 was a clear foreclast of what would
befall the Slovak people in the event of the downfall of
their independent State.
�
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
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1957, Vol. 7
Description
An account of the resource
<ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 22), March 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 2 (No. 23), June 1957.</li>
<li>Issue 3-4 (No. 24-25), September-December 1957.</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
1957
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Text
Any textual data included in the document
28
SLOVAKIA
THE 1944 COMMUNISTIC REBELLION IN SLOVAKIA
In late August, 1944, a rebellion to overthrow the government
of the free Slovak Republic was set in motion by Communist partisan
forces that were parachuted into the country by Moscow. Although
the predominant element among the invaders was Czech, there were
also Russians and Frenchmen among them. Conspicuous as one of
the leaders promoting this putsch was Dr. Joseph Lettrich who is
now an official of the "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" and resides
in the United States.
The objective of this offensive strategy was not only the ruthless subjugation of the Slovak government, but also the occupation
of Slovakia and the integration of the crushed republic into the politically hybridized Czecho-Slovak Republic. With the help of Soviet
troops this goal was achieved in the spring of 1945 .
Some of the tactics and activities of these Red invaders are
reliably described by Dr. Joseph Pauco in his latest book SLOVACI
A KOMUNIZMUS (THE SLOVAKS AND COMMUNISM; Middletown,
Pa.; 1957). We quote here in part from the chapter "Dielo pomsty"
("An Act of Revenge" - Ed.)
The depravity of the partisans literally knew no
bounds: They looted and plundered at will and murdered
wantonly. Consequently the toll of the struggle was tragic
even though the encounters did not last exceptionally long.
Co,Ionel Otto Klement reports that "official statistics, released early in 1945, indicate that the so-called national uprising in 1944 cost the Slova:k nation close to 80,000 lives
sacrificed on Slovak territrory."
The partisans and their henchmen terrorized Slovak
villages. They categorically seized all citizens of noite who
had shown opposition to Cornmuni,s m. "They robbed their
rupartments, homes, castles, factories, places of business,
warehouses; they indulged in drunken orgies and began
to annoy innocent victims, torturing and !killing them,"
states Colonel Otto Klement who was fully informed on all
that happened.
Thousands of Sloivruks were su!bjected to unspeakable
tortures and inhuman torments. Among the first victims in
this wave of terror was the Slo:v.a:k lalbor leader and mem1b ers o.f iParliament, Francis S1amen, who met his cruel fate
in the town of Brezno nad Hronom .. He was a typical Slovruk laborer, one of thousands of diligent and honest Slava:k
worikingmen, providing for his family by the toil of his
hands. He was interested in the welfare of Slovak workers,
29
SLOVAKIA
but his "crime" was that he based his interest on the principles of fundamental Christian equity. He organized a
Christian-social wonkers' association and, as president of
the group, he was shown a certain degree of deference by
his co-iworkers who came to realize that the problems of
the l8iboring class can be resolved without recourse to revolutionary methods, without violence, bloodshed, and the
confiscation o.f private property.
When Francis Slamen noticed thaJt there was a concentration of questionable elements in rthe neighborhood of
Brezno, he decided to go to Bratislava in order to inform
the state authorities. His planned to leave in the evening
of August 27, 1944, but an informer foiled his plans. A
few hours before train time, he was forced into a partisan
truck
The partisans then rounded up other influential loyal
patriots in this town, driving them out of their homes at
the point of leveled automatics. They ,padked them into
the fore section of the truck while heavily armed guards
took up the rear. At a;bout eleven o'clock at night, the
truck started on its way, but it halted every fifty meters
or so, in order to take on mo:re unfortunate capti'Ves.
Shortly before midnight, the truck loaded with captives left the heart of town. When the trngic company
reached the town limits, two oif the partisans, wh 0 were
sta.ltio.ned as guards in the truck, opened fire on the victims.
Several of them died on the spot; others lived a few hours
longer.
The sole survivor in this instance was Judge Denk.
His face and head were spattered with the brain fragments
o.f Slamen and Dolnan and both his hands, as well as his
head and nedk, were torn with shot. But he did not lose
consciousness and was able to save himself. When the partisams came to carry a,way the corpses, Denk let himself
be taken as a dead man with the dead. They left him in
the cemetery for !burial with the rest, and it was there
that he spoke to the gendarme who was left to take over,
begging him to take him to a hospital from where his wife
later smuggled him out to safety and survival.
The heartless partisans who carried out this coldblood1
30
SLOVAKIA
ed task of political vengeance appropriated all the valuables
on the pevsons of their victims right where they fell. They
even stripped the dead of their shoes and before lea ving
the scene, they 1kicked the bodies about with violent brutality.
Another notable victim of the partisans was a Catholic
priest and Parliamentary deputy, Rev. Anthony Salat, who
died in the first weeik of the rebellion. He was a man of
noble character and his was the stature of an earnest SlovaJk patriot, a brilliant popular writer, a matchless public
speaker, and one of the most out-spoken and determined
opponents of Communism.
Through the years, dating baok as far as 1929, Father
Salat serwed as a Parliamentary representative of the Slovak Populist Party. In public life he merited distinction
not only as a gifted amd objecti;ve speaker, a defender of
Slovak rights in the forum of Prague's hall of Parliament,
but also as a journalist.
Because of all this, the partisans marked as one of
their earlist targets, a figure to be cut down mercilessly,
this Father Anthony Salat, a distinguished national leader
and an intrepid fighter for justice. They dragged him out
of the quiet orf his parish to the bridge that spans the
Hron River. He begged to be allowed to make his confession but the rabble refused him this spiritual consolation.
fu answer to his request they sounded off rounds of satanic la,ughter and piercing ridicule which alternated with
sal:vos from their automatics, felling the good priest to
the cold pa,vement of the bridge that he had built for the
community.
But even this did not satisfy the savage "liberators."
They ,b eset the cor;pse of the murdered Father Salat and
robbed it. Out of his vest poc!ket they removed his gold
watch; out of his coat pocket they took his wallet. They
even knoc:ked out several of his teeth and claimed the gold
caps from his dental work. Then they hurled the brutally
albused a.111d rifled body in.to the Bron.
Father Anthony Salat was not the only Slovak Catholic priest done to cruel death iby the partisans. Among
others who perished under the violent hand of the oppres1
SLOVAKIA
31
sons were Fathers J ohn Nemec, Martinka of Liptovsk y
Svaty Michal, and the seminaria n Milan of Povazska Bystrica. A frightful death befell Father Seda, the pastor in
L1ptovsky Svaty Jan.
In his report at a hearing of the U. S. Congress ional
Committe e, the Catholic priest, Dr. Stephen Nahalka, related the suffering s inflicted on Father Seda: "They t::ut
strips of slkin and flesh from his back and in the end even
amputate d his genitals." Father Nicholas Sprinc, a priest
of the same diocese as Father Seda, reported the following: "Father Seda was killed. The Reds first flayed him
and then subjected him to tortures which it is not proper
to describe in the press. His skin was stripped in thick
layers. His tormento rs then kept cutting off parts of his
body and forcing them into his mouth to the accompan iment of blasphenm ous exdamati ons about 'Holy Communion'."
Another witness before the Congress ional Committe e
was the Rev. Joseph Poess of Slorvakia whom the partisans had severely wounded in the mass grarve near Sklenne
where he sewed as pastor. Ninety men perished in this
mass grave, but Father Poess saved himself despite the
fact that he had been buried alive. He made his escaipe
out of the shallow grave and, after untold suffering s and
imprisonm ent, made his way to freedom. The indictmen t
which the Partisans fabricate d against him was that he
had a secret sending station operating from the church and
that he cached weapons in the church sacristy and under
the altar in his church.
Colonel Otto Klement had informati on on many individual instances of brutality wreaiked upon helple ss and innocent citizens by the partisans . In Turiec the ailing Mary
R. fell into their hands; they struck her unconscio us with
a heavy millk can. They tortured her by wedging pins under
her nails and, after she was completel y spent, she had to
kiss the feet of a common prostitute . F1inally the partisan
band bound her in chains and bore her off to their headquarters, Sklabina in Turiec, where they shot her and
threw her body into a mass burial pit.
Her father, John R., was an old man of 78. The parti-
32
SLOVAKIA
sans trussed him up and left him, barefoot and half na!ked,
exiposed outdoors all night. When he accepted a pair of
shoes offered hi.Im by a lady, the gypsy who was guarding
him beat him brutally. Then the partisan horde took the
old man to Siklabina, aimed a ,shat at the naJPe of his necik,
just as they had dispatched his d:mghter, and threw him
into the mass grave too.
AH these people had no connection whatever with political activities of any kind. Their "offense" was that they
were, to some extent, propertied people.
Singled out for ,s,rucrifiice were also a number of valiant
o:£ficers who chnse to accept no command in the uprising.
For this service to their country, Colonels Kruna'k and Zverin, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Kfucik and First Lieutenants Frecer and SindJer, were shot to death. The distinguished General Turanec was put under house arrest in
Bans:ka Bystrica right at the outset of the putsch. Once
they let .Joose the full strength of their partisan activities,
they had General Turanec flown to Moscow, where they tortured him for his uncompromising stand against communism.
One of the major stigmas of the putsch is the concentration camp which the partisans arranged in the castle
fortress Sl()IVenska L'wpca. Here they tormented and persecuted aver a th'Ousand viictims - not only men, but women
and children, too. The sUJperintendent of this concentratiorn
camp was the sa,v age Communist Staudinger. One of the
prisoners, R. Rudohorsiky, recalls some of the sufferings
experienced in Slovenska L'wpca:
"The housing of the 1prisoners was horrible. The overseer packed over 150 ,people into a single room. Other sections were croweded with as many persons as eoouJd possibly be forced into them. Househo1d furnishings were remover. From the !beginning, the prisonern were bedded on
the bare floor; later the authorities allowed them to bring
in some straw. Spies, informers, and instigators of trouble
were planted among the prisoners. Hygienic requirements
in this concentration camp became a thing of the past. The
iplace was a real hell.
"Inmates tooik sick ,a s a result of the undernourishment, starvation, filth and foulness that prevailed. Instead
SLOVAKIA
33
of iprorviding medical help or relief for them, the vindictive
jailer turned on them with aJbuse and emibittered their lives
still further with inhuman treatment. Even when the doctor
did come into the camp, he was allowed to examine a sick
unfortunate only in the presence of the commandant of the
guard of National Security . . . The physician prescribed
medication for which the prisoner paid but never received .
. . Fare: potatoes and caJbbage. Anything by wa,y of shorttening or grease that may have been allotted to the kitchen
wa:s either appropriated by a woman-coolk o.f ill-repute or
the suiperintendent o.f the institution and the commandant
of National ,S ecurity, or it was sold. But conditions worsened to, such an extent that later not even potatoes or caJbbage ,w ere to be had. There was actual starvation. Red pa:rtiisans, armed to the teeth, visited the castle fortress daily
to conduct investigations among the inmates. They heard
the grievances orf the prisoners and freely dealt them resounding sla.ps and blows; they 1b eat the:n and tortured
them unmercifuUy.
"Many of the wretches were taken away under cover
of night never to return again. Conditions became such
that no prisoner' felt that his life wais safe. Everyone lived
in dread expectation, wondering just when the partisans
woU!ld come to claim this oo.e or that one who would vanish
fureve,r in the abyss of death ... The barbaric superintendent, a former shooma'ker, on visiting the confining quarters
abused the miseraible inmates by kic<king them a,bout like
dogs while he cursed them fiendishly and threatened every
one of them with the gall01Ws. If any of them ha,ppened to
have a covering of any ,k ind, he ripped it -away, spewing
insults upon them and calling them Nazis and Fascist swine..
"Little children begged their mothers for bread or m.i1'k
but what were the un.ha,ppy mothers to do when the p-2rfidious scum that jaHed them had no mercy or feeling in
its heart to allow at least to the children some substantial
food. Wives were isolated from their husbands; they were
:permitted to have no contact whatever, not even a brief .exchange from one to the other as they went for their daily
rations. Husbands were the unwilling and helpless witnesses
of the appalling sufferings of their wives and children."
34
SLOVAKIA
Only prayer and hymns sustained balance and some
,semlblance of morale among the tortured prisoners whose
.sufferings defied description.
An evil reputation came to be associated with Kunerad,
one of the headquarters of the partisan band located near
the city 2ilina. V. 2ingor testified that the Czech Karel
Bacilek was "the political commissar in the fortress Kunerad." Brutal in the extreme was the punishment meted out
to anti-Communistic fighters and quick sentences were
readily executed. It was comparable to SkJa;bina.
To date it has not been ascertained precisely how many
victims met maximum penalties in these two ,plaic-es. Colonel
Klement reports that in Slklaib:itna O'Ver a thousand citirens
were murdered from Turiec region aJone.
In. the mass gra,ve in Podsucha, as the Rev. Stephen
Naha1ka testified, there were found eighty victims of parti:sa,n ferocity. Father Poess revealed that in the mass
graves near Sklenne rubout two hundred of his parishioners
met their deaths.
An American citizen, Mr. Smr~ov,s ky, declared before
.U. S. Congressional Committee that in the Slovaik community where he had lived in the days of the Slovak Republic,
,the partisans on one occasion destroyed an entire family
of five ipersons among whom were a two year old and a
four year old child. All were then consigned to a mass grave.
Other mass graves were also found at Kovacova, in
Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza valley, at Humenne, Lucivna,
Bosany, L'wbietova, Nemeoka L'upca Mld Kremnioka.
During this Communist putsch, material -losses in SlovaJkia were extremely great. The state statistical and planning office in Bratislava 1published in its "Statistical Hand1book of Slo:vaikia 1947" an evalution of damage inflicted on
-buildings, projects and their equipment, art objects, communications, livestock, and other ravaged properties as in
excess of 114,461,000,000 crowns or two and a half billion
dollars.
The arrival of the Soviet in Slovakia in the bloody August putsch of 1944 was a clear foreclast of what would
befall the Slovak people in the event of the downfall of
their independent State.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
The 1944 Communistic Rebellion in Slovakia
Description
An account of the resource
Slovakia, Vol. 7, No. 3-4 (24-25), September-December 1957
pp. 28-34
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
September-December 1957